Philip Nelson 💻🧙
LightNews LightNews
blu3r4d0n.shutdown.network
Philip Nelson 💻🧙
@blu3r4d0n.shutdown.network
2K followers 1.2K following 8.5K posts
public servant data scientist
🚈🚝🚊🚌
this account does not represent the views of my employer

big Tolkien and Le Guin fan, hockey lover, and coffee addict

South Carolina is my home

transparency is non-negotiable!
https://shutdown.network/links.html
Posts Replies Media Videos
blu3r4d0n.shutdown.network
politician slowly realizing lobbying works *after* damage has already been done
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — If Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine could turn back time, he would not have signed the law that legalized sports betting in his state. With two Cleveland Guardians pitchers and an Ohio-born guard for the Miami Heat snared in separate betting-related criminal probes, the second-term Republican says he now “absolutely” regrets unleashing this unbridled new industry on Ohioans with his 2021 signature. “Look, we’ve always had gambling, we’re always going to have gambling,” DeWine told The Associated Press last week. “But just the power of these companies and the deep, deep, deep pockets they have to advertise and do everything they can to get someone to place that bet is really different once you have legalization of them.”
November 24, 2025 at 1:40 PM
blu3r4d0n.shutdown.network
I had another strange experience. Matched with someone. I've redacted identifying details. this was with a separate person.

I don't have context for what what's going on with her life, but this happens consistently to me on dating apps when I do get a rare match

And it is really disheartening.
A hinge chat with someone. Part of it has been redacted, but the first message is a reply to a prompt that says a life goal of mine is get my master's in, redacted. The reply says, okay, I know this is a terrible introduction, but that is so, comma, so hot to me. The match's reply says, honest opinion is great. So now I'm going to give you one. You look very British. My response says, well that is honestly a new one to me. I asked my friend and she said she thinks so too. Then I said, I guess I'm gonna have to do a British accent for you now. The match's response was, no, you don't have to. I replied, I would if you asked! I aim to please. A continuation of the previous hinge chat. My match responded, that's crazy because I aim to disappoint. My response was, well you haven't disappointed me yet. What made you want to get into redacted? Full disclosure, I'm a programmer who really wishes he had done something like redacted. The match didn't respond, so later on the next day I said, hope you had a nice day today, and that your weekend is lovely. The match responded, I'm so sorry, I had full intention to respond to you. These last two days have been very crazy and I haven't been on my phone a lot. I've always wanted to work in a redacted, like ACTUALLY work in one. A continuation of the previous Hinge Chat. I replied, it is absolutely fine. I understand people get busy. I sincerely hope your weekend is less crazy for you. Oh, that's a wonderful desire! Maybe one day? The match replied the next morning, you have a very extensive vocabulary. I asked, is that good or bad? She replied, neutral. I responded, so you redacted? Do you enjoy it? She replied, I love it. I said, that's wonderful. For what it's worth, I have the utmost respect for redacted. My mother was a redacted for 30 plus years. It's not something just anyone can do. Then I sent another message the next day, because I did not get a response, and said, hope you're having a nice Sunday. I didn't get a response, so the next day, I said, this might be a little forward, but would you like to go to a hockey game? I saw your profile on duet and thought you might like that. I love hockey a lot, actually. It's not gonna hurt my feelings if you say no, I just thought I would ask. She replied, I'm so sorry, I meant to put on pause, and this on pause for the time being. I replied, okay, no worries.
November 19, 2025 at 6:03 AM
blu3r4d0n.shutdown.network
So uh @queencelebrian.bsky.social told me not to watch Stranger Things season 3 because I've been having weird dreams due to consuming scary content, but I did it anyway and when I confirmed that this was a bad idea, she sent me this as a reaction GIF

I laughed for a solid minute.
November 19, 2025 at 1:18 AM
blu3r4d0n.shutdown.network
This picture was just taken on my phone and it doesn't do it near justice. It was so much more vibrant when I saw it.

This is in Greenville
A street. Behind the streetlight you can see a patch of red sky
November 12, 2025 at 3:22 AM
blu3r4d0n.shutdown.network
High is 45°F today so it coincided perfectly with breaking out the Edmund Fitzgerald sweatshirt
A man taking a mirror selfie. He's wearing a blue sweatshirt with an image of a cargo ship on it.
November 10, 2025 at 9:50 PM
blu3r4d0n.shutdown.network
And then I also got this picture of a private jet landing right in front of them.
A private jet landing in front of a line of historical warplanes
November 9, 2025 at 8:13 PM
blu3r4d0n.shutdown.network
Four of them landed, one of them broke off!
Four historic warplanes flying in formation. Five historic warplanes flying in formation.
November 9, 2025 at 8:09 PM
blu3r4d0n.shutdown.network
So part of my routine is just to go and sit and watch the planes at Greenville Municipal Airport and today I got a real treat.
A blue historic warplane, taxiing on a runway. A gray historic warplane, taxiing on a runway. A yellow historic warplane taxiing on a runway. A tan historic warplane taxiing on a runway.
November 9, 2025 at 8:09 PM
blu3r4d0n.shutdown.network
love the Elisabeth / Gollum listing in doubles lol
Part of the credits for the substance showing the doubles and one of the characters listed under doubles is Elisabeth slash Gollum.
November 6, 2025 at 6:33 AM
blu3r4d0n.shutdown.network
hooray scvotes locks their machine readable election results data behind a captcha if you try to get it from a datacenter so I gave up on my live results for greenville's city council races lol
had everything ready to go except for the automatically running the code

pic with mocked data
what the live results site would've looked like there's a graph showing the at large city council race and a map showing the various precincts
November 4, 2025 at 7:16 PM
blu3r4d0n.shutdown.network
🥹🥹🥹🥹🥹
A text message thread. I sent a text that says, I just want to say again, I had so much fun on Halloween. If y'all decide to go to the movies at some point and wouldn't mind a tag along, let me know. i'm not big on jump-scare type horror, but anything else is fair game. My friend replied, absolutely. I think we're gonna see Bugonia this weekend if we have time. I'll keep you in the loop. Everyone adored you by the way. Saw person A and person B Sunday and they both said you were super nice and cool and they wanted to like hang out with you in an environment where they could hear everyone talk so they could get to know you better.
November 4, 2025 at 1:42 PM
blu3r4d0n.shutdown.network
except for the one building with an obviously incorrect height value lol
a three dimensional view of data in a geographic information. There is a 2 dimensional purple layer showing the city limits, and a 2 dimensional red layer showing streets. The 3d layer shows building footprint data but one of the buildings is clearly much taller than the rest
November 3, 2025 at 9:40 PM
blu3r4d0n.shutdown.network
Someone holding a sticker that says Halloween Voter 2025 and has a picture of a ghost with a jack-o'-lantern basket and there are bats flying around.
October 31, 2025 at 10:04 PM
blu3r4d0n.shutdown.network
just early voted!!
Me standing next to a banner that says early voting in front of the Greenville County Elections Office. I'm holding an I voted sticker.
October 20, 2025 at 8:20 PM
blu3r4d0n.shutdown.network
Made the last minute decision to come to a bits game. If you're here, come say hi! I'm in section 101 row bb :) #gobitsgo
A hockey rink with players
October 19, 2025 at 7:48 PM
blu3r4d0n.shutdown.network
Kind of obsessed with Guantlet
An arcade cabinet for the game Gauntlet
October 18, 2025 at 10:28 PM
blu3r4d0n.shutdown.network
this is weird AP lol
a live blog entry on the associated press website. the entry is about Newt Gingrich being in the oval office. the title on the entry is Spotted in the Oval: Newt!
October 15, 2025 at 8:10 PM
blu3r4d0n.shutdown.network
Y'all
fettuccine noodles in flour
October 3, 2025 at 11:30 PM
blu3r4d0n.shutdown.network
If they need a backup for Adrian in the future I'm right here

#peacemaker #vigilante #adrianchase
October 1, 2025 at 3:22 AM
blu3r4d0n.shutdown.network
the inspo (also lands end stopped selling the exact rugby shirt a while ago! but the one I found is a fairly close match)
a man with curly hair, in a rugby shirt with white stripes and jeans. he is dancing
September 30, 2025 at 1:49 AM
blu3r4d0n.shutdown.network
so I guess I'm cosplaying someone this weekend at the greenville comicon?

(glasses should arrive v soon)
me in baggy jeans and a green white-striped rugby shirt. I'm wearing a brown belt and there's a dalmation beanie baby clipped to my belt loop. my hands are behind my head and my legs are positioned as if I'm about to start dancing
September 30, 2025 at 1:31 AM
blu3r4d0n.shutdown.network
This was my little moment of happiness today
A crepe with cranberries, turkey, and hot mustard. Beside the plate is a carafe with coffee and an empty mug.
September 28, 2025 at 7:44 PM
blu3r4d0n.shutdown.network
It didn't rain and I found a v easy route to where I had to go.

I can cross doing a campaign event with a candidate I support off my list of things I've done (will do more events with Tina soon lol)
A t shirt in plastic packaging that says Tina Belge city council
September 27, 2025 at 12:24 AM
blu3r4d0n.shutdown.network
Just pre-ordered @teawithtolkien.com's book! Excited for it.

here's a link where you can get it, too

www.teawithtolkien.com/book
Part of an email show a pre-order for a book called Into the Heart of Middle-earth
September 26, 2025 at 5:57 PM
blu3r4d0n.shutdown.network
for some reason I think the @signalawards.bsky.social isn't working properly lol
a website showing a bunch of templated variables not rendering actual data
September 24, 2025 at 5:08 PM