Philip Setnik
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philipsetnik.bsky.social
Philip Setnik
@philipsetnik.bsky.social
1.1K followers 700 following 740 posts
Oleh Hadash. Trying not to take things too seriously.
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philipsetnik.bsky.social
View just after sunset, Netanya.
View to the west just after sunset overlooking Seasons Beach and the Mediterranean, Netanya. There are trees in the foreground along paved paths. The sky is yellow and orange close to the horizon, fading to pink and purple into darkness above.
October 16, 2025 at 4:42 PM
philipsetnik.bsky.social
Dawn from our apartment window. Facing east over Netanya. That's the moon, Jupiter, and Venus in the triangle in the middle. I love this view in the morning. (It's also great at night.)
City skyline with dawn on the horizon. The Moon, Jupiter, and Venus appear in a triangle in the top-center of the shot. Tall buildings under construction in the middle distance. Construction cranes top some of the buildings.
August 20, 2025 at 7:01 AM
philipsetnik.bsky.social
Famous spy and pillar of his community.
A bollard with a face, hair, and beard drawn. There is text that says "Jonathan Bollard."
July 30, 2025 at 10:10 AM
philipsetnik.bsky.social
Today is Lag B'Omer, the 33rd day of a period of mourning - we don't shave and we don't have weddings or listen to live music during this time.

But today I get to shave! Take a look at the before and after pictures!
A man with glasses and a very scruffy beard. A man with glasses and a neat, closely trimmed beard and a shaved head.
May 16, 2025 at 3:12 PM
philipsetnik.bsky.social
Meanwhile, on the streets of Netanya....

(Take 2)
Picture is a meme. On the left is a rack of sandals, with the caption "Birkenstock." On the right is a rack without sandals, with the caption "Birkoutofstock."
April 24, 2025 at 7:12 PM
philipsetnik.bsky.social
Is the Bluesky algorithm just messing with me?

Sometimes serendipitous juxtaposition (or #streamsync as it's been called) can be horrifying.

But what better "coincidence" than a post about the Eugenicist in Chief followed by Auschwitz.....
A screen grab from the Bluesky timeline, showing a post about RFK, Jr. launching a government registry to track autistic Americans, followed immediately about a post from the Auschwitz Memorial.
April 23, 2025 at 8:18 AM
philipsetnik.bsky.social
I am so happy to be a Jew right now. Dodged that bullet....
A screen grab showing Donald Trump's Easter Message.
April 20, 2025 at 6:02 PM
philipsetnik.bsky.social
Me right now.
Gif of the Mediterranean washing over a man's feet, taken from eye level.
April 15, 2025 at 2:28 PM
philipsetnik.bsky.social
Shabbat Shalom! A less-than-spectacular week productivity-wise, but there shall be renewed purpose next week.

Oh, and the wedding singing was well received. There is that.

See you in 25 hours or so!
Photo of the Mediterranean Sea. The sun is behind a cloud bank, but its rays are reflected in the water. In the middle distance stands a row of palm trees. Foreground has a row of cars and a small art gallery to the cars' left. A glassed-in enclosure is seen in the lower left corner, and some vacant lot is at the very lower edge of the picture.
March 21, 2025 at 2:47 PM
philipsetnik.bsky.social
Will there be a visible transit of Venus? I have pictures from the last one - from 2012 (seen from Cleveland).
Photo of a solar projection of the sun, showing several sunspots along the solar equator, and the planet Venus crossing the sun along the lower edge. It looks like a hole has been punched out of the solar disk.
March 20, 2025 at 7:28 AM
philipsetnik.bsky.social
This is the view from atop my apartment building today.

I'm waiting to hear "Mr. Carpenter, Ms. Barbeau, we're ready for you on the set!"

Netanya, IL. The Mediterranean is out there somewhere, and the rest of the city.
Photo shows fog over the ledge of the roof of a tall building. The fog is uniformly grey in color. There are no features of the city visible. Photo shows fog over the ledge of the roof of a tall building. The fog is uniformly grey in color. There are no features of the city visible. Photo shows fog over the ledge of the roof of a tall building. The fog is uniformly grey in color. There are no features of the city visible. Photo shows fog over the ledge of the roof of a tall building. The fog is uniformly grey in color. There are no features of the city visible.
March 16, 2025 at 7:04 AM
philipsetnik.bsky.social
I'm pretty sure he didn't, however. He voted "no" on the
censure resolution, according to edition.cnn.com/2025/03/06/p...
Snippet from a CNN table showing how the voting went on the resolution to censure Rep. Al Green. Jamie Raskin is shown as voting "no."
March 10, 2025 at 1:58 PM
philipsetnik.bsky.social
Shabbat Shalom and Good Shabbos, everyone! See you in 25 hours or so!
View over the Mediterranean as the sun, hidden by clouds, is setting.
March 7, 2025 at 2:52 PM
philipsetnik.bsky.social
Oh, it's so cute and fuzzy and OH MY G_D!!!!!!!

(ChatGPT is good for something, I guess. Next, we need it to do alt text, because I'm lazy.)
Image is of a mouse with long, woolly hair, a trunk, and long, curling tusks, so that it looks like a tiny woolly Mammoth. Created by DALL-E/ChatGPT. The creature sits on a plain of snow; there are some icicles handing off the tusks. The creature has beady mouse eyes, and a tail with a tuft at the end of it.
March 5, 2025 at 10:49 AM
philipsetnik.bsky.social
One more before shutting down.

Good Shabbos and Shabbat Shalom!
Photo shows sunset on the Mediterranean. Palm trees in the foreground, two boats on the horizon.
February 21, 2025 at 3:08 PM
philipsetnik.bsky.social
Good morning, Bluesky and all the ships at sea!

In the category of dubious accomplishments, there's this:
Screen grab from a message from LinkedIn, congratulating me on my 21st anniversary on the platform. There's a small picture of a cake with candles, on a cake stand, in the middle of the picture. My profile picture, name, and titles are toward the bottom of the picture.
February 17, 2025 at 7:11 AM
philipsetnik.bsky.social
This is what shows up here in Israel. I am curious what others in countries not The United States are seeing.
Screenshot showing a piece of a map, specifically of The Gulf of Mexico (which has in parenthesis "Gulf of America"). Florida is to the upper right, Cuba to the lower right, and the Gulf Coast of Texas is on the left edge of the screen.
February 11, 2025 at 6:25 AM
philipsetnik.bsky.social
There's this bodacious wind storm happening here in Netanya - up here on the ninth floor, the whistling and shaking and howling didn't stop all night.

Plus there was a wind storm.

Thank you very much.

I went up on the roof to have a look. One defiant sun ray encapsulates it all today.
Photo looking east over the city of Netanya, Israel. It's very cloudy and the buildings are oddly contrasting with the gray of the clouds. In the distance, a break in the clouds is letting through a single sunbeam, falling at about a forty-five degree angle, from the clouds down to the ground.
February 6, 2025 at 6:18 AM
philipsetnik.bsky.social
Today's fresh hell is brought to you by Meetgeek.ai. Considering I can't get it to work, their chatbot message is appropriate:
Screen shot from a Chatbot from Meetgeek. It says, "Hi there, how can i hell you today?" instead of "help."
January 30, 2025 at 7:39 AM
philipsetnik.bsky.social
If it helps, here is a picture of a rainbow over the Mediterranean.
Photo shows a partial rainbow rising up from the Mediterranean. Palm trees and beach waves are in the foreground.
January 23, 2025 at 8:35 AM
philipsetnik.bsky.social
This:
January 22, 2025 at 10:32 AM
philipsetnik.bsky.social
Better than throwing somebody else's heart out to the crowd.

I guess.
Via Mashable, classic clip for Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, where a pagan priest rips the heart of a living man and shows it to the crowd.
January 21, 2025 at 10:23 AM
philipsetnik.bsky.social
I took a couple of pictures today from the roof of my apartment building. I hope you enjoy them. I like the colors in the sky in the first one, and the hills in the second.

Taken with a Samsung S22 Ultra; one at 1x and one at 3x (optical) zoom.
A view from the roof of an apartment building, facing East, overlooking the city of Netanya, Israel. There are numerous low-rise buildings in the foreground, extending about half-way up the frame. The Hills of the Shomron region are visible through the haze in the distance. The ledge of the roof is in the foreground of the picture. The sky is multi-colored clouds back-lit by the morning sun, about 20 degrees or so above the horizon. (Local time was about 7:45 am.) Several taller buildings can be seen in the middle distance. An unzoomed photo. A view from the roof of an apartment building, facing East, overlooking the city of Netanya, Israel. There are numerous low-rise buildings in the foreground, extending about half-way up the frame. The Hills of the Shomron region are visible through the haze in the distance. The ledge of the roof is in the foreground of the picture. The sky is multi-colored clouds back-lit by the morning sun, about 20 degrees or so above the horizon. (Local time was about 7:45 am.) Several taller buildings can be seen in the middle distance. Taken at a zoom of 3x from my Samsung S22 Ultra phone.
January 21, 2025 at 6:32 AM
philipsetnik.bsky.social
Well, it's been real, folks, but the sun is setting on another week, and I must prepare!

May you have a restful 25 hours! Be kind to each other.

Shabbat Shalom, Good Shabbos!
Glowing sky over the Mediterranean. A building in the left foreground blocks the setting sun from view.
January 3, 2025 at 1:50 PM
philipsetnik.bsky.social
ChatGPT doesn't quite know what a Cybertruck looks like, but not bad otherwise!
A Tesla SUV sits atop a funeral pyre, engulfed in flames, on a body of water, surrounded by Vikings, in the general style of a Viking Funeral. ChatGPT generated the image.
January 3, 2025 at 11:13 AM