Nicholas "phi" Shectman
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totient.bsky.social
Nicholas "phi" Shectman
@totient.bsky.social
Professional generalist. Four season cyclist. Conrunner. Photographer. Process geek.
MORE SANDWICH SHOPS
January 3, 2026 at 5:46 PM
Right now I think _The Death and Life of Great American Cities_ is top of mind for this.
January 2, 2026 at 4:39 PM
"somewhat".
December 28, 2025 at 2:10 PM
Speaking of enormous 100mph trains, it's not functional but you can stand in the cab of the 999 at Chicago's museum of science and industry, and they have some other excellent train content. Worth a trip if you haven't been.
December 28, 2025 at 1:58 PM
I have one that has already stopped working and you're welcome to it.
December 27, 2025 at 2:38 PM
Do you just want a souvenir or do you need it to work?
December 27, 2025 at 4:34 AM
Reposted by Nicholas "phi" Shectman
Had we but falcons enough, and time,
This widening gyre would be no crime.
Yet the blood-dimmed tide shall flow,
Vaster than empires, far less slow.
And if the center cannot hold—
Well then, lady, let’s be bold!
December 23, 2025 at 3:05 PM
A relevant bit that was missing in 1988 is the now more or less universal understanding that cops are all as much assholes as Kevin Kline's character in _A Fish Called Wanda_. If we'd had that it'd have made the cynical take on that interaction plausible even if the straight take wasn't.
December 23, 2025 at 4:42 AM
3, I worked for a time with the folks who designed the metal detectors that airports all use and while I can't divulge details, no that trick would not work in the real world so don't try it at home.
December 22, 2025 at 10:54 PM
I finally got around to watching that clip to see what you were talking about. Three points.

1, I remember thinking that was a cute trick.

2, In the world of the film it works because of the security folks' inattention and that was perfectly plausible.
December 22, 2025 at 10:53 PM
Travel yes. Conventions maybe not so much. There is so much genre art in the mainstream art world now, at every level.

Especially, and I have no idea why this is, in Azerbaijan. For instance www.azerbaijanvenicebiennale.com/vusala-aghar... but it has been all over the Biennale entries for years now
December 21, 2025 at 1:29 AM
My most important mentor was postmenopausal and there were a lot of things she did not give a single fuck about. But when she did give a fuck she moved not only heaven and earth but something even harder to move than those: *the entire schedule of the high school she taught at*.
December 18, 2025 at 2:29 AM
Put another way Bruce Willis is the white man's white man.
December 16, 2025 at 9:57 PM
I mean. In 1988 I, a minor, walked into the American Airlines office in Pasadena with $400 in sequenced $20 bills and bought a paper airline ticket, onto which flight I then brought a lockblade knife and a bare hard drive that I wouldn't let them X ray. It was a different world.
December 16, 2025 at 9:54 PM