Nicholas "phi" Shectman
@totient.bsky.social
Professional generalist. Four season cyclist. Conrunner. Photographer. Process geek.
Somehow I have never done this one.
"I get my news from a reliable source."
"I get my news from a reliable source."
February 6, 2026 at 4:56 PM
Somehow I have never done this one.
"I get my news from a reliable source."
"I get my news from a reliable source."
No new pictures. Where are you at mentally?
February 6, 2026 at 4:09 PM
No new pictures. Where are you at mentally?
This gem was buried in a thread. One of the most profound statements I have read in quite a while, and applicable to all art and not just comics or storytelling. I am by no means a newcomer to deconstructivism, but my mind was still blown by the idea of art as a verb, not a noun.
90% of storytelling is putting the correct beat in the correct place. Art occurs in the nervous system.
February 6, 2026 at 3:58 PM
This gem was buried in a thread. One of the most profound statements I have read in quite a while, and applicable to all art and not just comics or storytelling. I am by no means a newcomer to deconstructivism, but my mind was still blown by the idea of art as a verb, not a noun.
How have I not seen ICE framed as voter intimidation before now?
The "meaningful reforms" are too timid and not responding to the continual stakes-raising of the administration. At a minimum, bring back safe zones of schools and daycare, hospitals, places of worship, courts, and POLLING PLACES. @schumer.senate.gov
February 5, 2026 at 1:55 PM
How have I not seen ICE framed as voter intimidation before now?
Reposted by Nicholas "phi" Shectman
Speaking as a lifelong Democrat: That's not what we want, you dumb fuck
Democrats want commonsense reform for ICE:
End the roving patrols and racial profiling.
Take accountability and abide by the same rules as local police.
Masks need to come off, body cameras need to stay on—no secret police in the United States of America.
End the roving patrols and racial profiling.
Take accountability and abide by the same rules as local police.
Masks need to come off, body cameras need to stay on—no secret police in the United States of America.
February 3, 2026 at 11:29 PM
Speaking as a lifelong Democrat: That's not what we want, you dumb fuck
Never mind the jobs you had, tell me five classes you took in college:
1. The expository writing class taught by an adjunct who can't have been doing it for the money, who taught me not just how to write, but why and when
(1/3)
1. The expository writing class taught by an adjunct who can't have been doing it for the money, who taught me not just how to write, but why and when
(1/3)
Never mind the jobs you had, tell me five classes you took in college:
1. The philosophy of time
2. The really cool history class where we looked at historical American living spaces and what the architecture/archaeology tells us al
3. History of American women
4. Baltimore History
5. World cinema
1. The philosophy of time
2. The really cool history class where we looked at historical American living spaces and what the architecture/archaeology tells us al
3. History of American women
4. Baltimore History
5. World cinema
Never mind the jobs you had, tell me five classes you took in college:
1. Medieval Welsh
2. Old English Runes
3. Geology of the Oceans
4. The Crusades
5. Latin
1. Medieval Welsh
2. Old English Runes
3. Geology of the Oceans
4. The Crusades
5. Latin
January 31, 2026 at 2:56 PM
Never mind the jobs you had, tell me five classes you took in college:
1. The expository writing class taught by an adjunct who can't have been doing it for the money, who taught me not just how to write, but why and when
(1/3)
1. The expository writing class taught by an adjunct who can't have been doing it for the money, who taught me not just how to write, but why and when
(1/3)
Post a game you remember playing that nobody else remembers
archive.org/details/msdo...
Ryan and I wrote it so that we could play it. I don't think anyone else ever did. Not even Patrick, who did the map.
archive.org/details/msdo...
Ryan and I wrote it so that we could play it. I don't think anyone else ever did. Not even Patrick, who did the map.
January 29, 2026 at 6:06 AM
Post a game you remember playing that nobody else remembers
archive.org/details/msdo...
Ryan and I wrote it so that we could play it. I don't think anyone else ever did. Not even Patrick, who did the map.
archive.org/details/msdo...
Ryan and I wrote it so that we could play it. I don't think anyone else ever did. Not even Patrick, who did the map.
Name your fav film that's around three hours long.
Incredibly, only one of the hundreds of replies to and quote posts of the original meme post mention this movie, and that just as one of several options.
Incredibly, only one of the hundreds of replies to and quote posts of the original meme post mention this movie, and that just as one of several options.
January 25, 2026 at 3:22 PM
Name your fav film that's around three hours long.
Incredibly, only one of the hundreds of replies to and quote posts of the original meme post mention this movie, and that just as one of several options.
Incredibly, only one of the hundreds of replies to and quote posts of the original meme post mention this movie, and that just as one of several options.
Reposted by Nicholas "phi" Shectman
Here are the seven Democrats who voted for ICE funding:
•Davis (NC-01)
•Cuellar (TX-28)
•Gillen (NY-04)
•Gluesenkamp Perez (WA-03)
•Gonzalez (TX-34)
•Golden (ME-02)
•Suozzi (NY-03)
Wouldn’t it be nice to see them all challenged? But alas…. See 🧵
•Davis (NC-01)
•Cuellar (TX-28)
•Gillen (NY-04)
•Gluesenkamp Perez (WA-03)
•Gonzalez (TX-34)
•Golden (ME-02)
•Suozzi (NY-03)
Wouldn’t it be nice to see them all challenged? But alas…. See 🧵
January 23, 2026 at 4:26 AM
Here are the seven Democrats who voted for ICE funding:
•Davis (NC-01)
•Cuellar (TX-28)
•Gillen (NY-04)
•Gluesenkamp Perez (WA-03)
•Gonzalez (TX-34)
•Golden (ME-02)
•Suozzi (NY-03)
Wouldn’t it be nice to see them all challenged? But alas…. See 🧵
•Davis (NC-01)
•Cuellar (TX-28)
•Gillen (NY-04)
•Gluesenkamp Perez (WA-03)
•Gonzalez (TX-34)
•Golden (ME-02)
•Suozzi (NY-03)
Wouldn’t it be nice to see them all challenged? But alas…. See 🧵
On some needlessly slow internet and thinking about the slowest internet I've ever used. Somehow I had not previously put together that baud rate and words per minute touch typing are exactly 1:1.
January 16, 2026 at 2:11 PM
On some needlessly slow internet and thinking about the slowest internet I've ever used. Somehow I had not previously put together that baud rate and words per minute touch typing are exactly 1:1.
The San Gabriel river. In whose watershed, it turns out, I was neither born nor grew up, despite it being the closest river to the places in question and the river I interacted with the most.
[reskeet this with your home river.]
[reskeet this with your home river.]
The Charles, obviously. I was even born right next to it.
[prompt is, "reskeet this with your home river.]
[prompt is, "reskeet this with your home river.]
The Neponset!
January 13, 2026 at 6:22 AM
The San Gabriel river. In whose watershed, it turns out, I was neither born nor grew up, despite it being the closest river to the places in question and the river I interacted with the most.
[reskeet this with your home river.]
[reskeet this with your home river.]
TIL there is a sequel to _Dogville_. It is not as well reviewed but I might have to go watch it anyway.
January 9, 2026 at 1:12 PM
TIL there is a sequel to _Dogville_. It is not as well reviewed but I might have to go watch it anyway.
Reposted by Nicholas "phi" Shectman
Reposted by Nicholas "phi" Shectman
I taught Plato when I was at Texas A&M so this hits hard for me. 😡 It was REQUIRED for history majors then.
Plato remains a great teaching text. For many of my A&M students it meant grappling with big ideas for the first time, including ethics, social class, self-determination, and feminism.
Plato remains a great teaching text. For many of my A&M students it meant grappling with big ideas for the first time, including ethics, social class, self-determination, and feminism.
January 7, 2026 at 2:36 PM
I taught Plato when I was at Texas A&M so this hits hard for me. 😡 It was REQUIRED for history majors then.
Plato remains a great teaching text. For many of my A&M students it meant grappling with big ideas for the first time, including ethics, social class, self-determination, and feminism.
Plato remains a great teaching text. For many of my A&M students it meant grappling with big ideas for the first time, including ethics, social class, self-determination, and feminism.
What's the *best* ending to a show you've ever seen?
The Good Place.
The Good Place.
Babylon 5. Makes me cry every time.
Given that apparently the Stranger Things finale was meh (idk, didn't watch it, just the scuttlebutt) and we're not that far removed from the disastrous GOT finale that retroactively made everyone have never cared about the show:
What's the *best* ending to a show you've ever seen? Quote/reply etc
What's the *best* ending to a show you've ever seen? Quote/reply etc
January 7, 2026 at 3:15 AM
What's the *best* ending to a show you've ever seen?
The Good Place.
The Good Place.
BU Bridge: an edge case where a bike/ped bridge makes sense | "Amateur" Planner Blog
ariofsevit.com
January 3, 2026 at 11:32 PM
Reposted by Nicholas "phi" Shectman
A helpful list of protests planned for today: www.answercoalition.org/venezuela
No War on Venezuela! National Day of Action Saturday, Jan. 3
Act Now to Stop War & End Racism
www.answercoalition.org
January 3, 2026 at 3:54 PM
A helpful list of protests planned for today: www.answercoalition.org/venezuela
Introduce yourself as what almost killed you:
Hi, my name is Cadiz Summit.
Hi, my name is Cadiz Summit.
Introduce yourself as what almost killed you:
Hi there, I'm an oxyacetylene torch setup with no flashback arrestor and junky old valves whose fuel lines have just been introduced to molten steel!
Hi there, I'm an oxyacetylene torch setup with no flashback arrestor and junky old valves whose fuel lines have just been introduced to molten steel!
Introduce yourself as what almost killed you:
Hey! I'm a vestigial meaty organ that was on the wrong side of my body when it went time-bomby and the doctors didn't realise.
Hey! I'm a vestigial meaty organ that was on the wrong side of my body when it went time-bomby and the doctors didn't realise.
January 2, 2026 at 4:35 PM
Introduce yourself as what almost killed you:
Hi, my name is Cadiz Summit.
Hi, my name is Cadiz Summit.
Going into 2026 like
January 1, 2026 at 8:56 PM
Going into 2026 like
When I was eight years old, NASA ran an ad in the newspaper advertising for astronauts. A friend of my dad's was one of 8000 people to apply for 35 slots and made it to the final round. My dad drove him and another applicant up to Edwards to watch a drop test. I didn't go, so I never met Sally Ride.
Please quote this from the time you didn't interact with someone famous.
I was visiting with family in New Bedford, Massachusetts, at the same time that Mother Theresa was there visiting her Missionaries of Charity. The bishop held a Mass for her at the church where I was baptized. I didn't go.
I was visiting with family in New Bedford, Massachusetts, at the same time that Mother Theresa was there visiting her Missionaries of Charity. The bishop held a Mass for her at the church where I was baptized. I didn't go.
Catching a train from Bristol Temple Meads, but they shifted the service along the platform because a scene from THE OUTLAWS was being shot where it would usually come in. The scene featured Christopher Walken and Stephen Merchant, but my train came before they shot it so I didn't see either of 'em.
December 30, 2025 at 4:45 PM
When I was eight years old, NASA ran an ad in the newspaper advertising for astronauts. A friend of my dad's was one of 8000 people to apply for 35 slots and made it to the final round. My dad drove him and another applicant up to Edwards to watch a drop test. I didn't go, so I never met Sally Ride.
30 years ago I was getting ready to chair my first Arisia and working at the MIT AI lab as a direct report to its then assistant director Rod Brooks. He had a lot of wrong ideas but it was a place of lively discourse. The most incontrovertible fact I learned then was:
"AI" is not a technical term.
"AI" is not a technical term.
December 28, 2025 at 5:06 PM
30 years ago I was getting ready to chair my first Arisia and working at the MIT AI lab as a direct report to its then assistant director Rod Brooks. He had a lot of wrong ideas but it was a place of lively discourse. The most incontrovertible fact I learned then was:
"AI" is not a technical term.
"AI" is not a technical term.
Reposted by Nicholas "phi" Shectman
THE FIVE FLAVORS:
*sweet
*salty
*sour
*bitter
*nostalgia
*sweet
*salty
*sour
*bitter
*nostalgia
December 28, 2025 at 1:52 AM
THE FIVE FLAVORS:
*sweet
*salty
*sour
*bitter
*nostalgia
*sweet
*salty
*sour
*bitter
*nostalgia
Post a perfect album from the 90s that isn't nirvana, soundgarden, pearl jam, or alice in chains.
December 28, 2025 at 3:03 AM
Post a perfect album from the 90s that isn't nirvana, soundgarden, pearl jam, or alice in chains.
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!
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
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!
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!
There was a meme context for this and I am even following it, but it's kind of better without.
December 19, 2025 at 7:30 PM
There was a meme context for this and I am even following it, but it's kind of better without.