Nicholas "phi" Shectman

COVID is the dot in the Jeremy Bearimy.

Dayum. Sounds amazing. And I have all those things on hand. I see tomorrow's lunch plan forming.

Sliced almonds, or whole?

If you see this, post a knight.

Amateurs think about the Roman Empire. Pros think about the Bronze Age city states.

Surfacing this to a top level post instead of a comment because I found myself referring back to it and want it to be easier to find next time I do that.

(The myth in question is that you can't publish a ban list)

Also: I count _London Calling_ as having been released in 1980 (as does Pazz & Jop) and not by the late-December-1979 UK-only release date, which makes the case for "best album of the 1980s" tougher for anything else.

I 100% agree that DDN is their best and that they had several perfect albums. But it's a lot harder for a double album to be perfect because it's that many more songs that have to all be good. Do you skip "Providence" when you listen to the album through? I bet I'm not the only one that does.

It is not my favorite album of the year by a fair ways but sorted by the quality of the weakest track—perfection, as applied to albums—it rises to the top.

No one else—not even REM, that absolute factory of perfect albums—managed to release a perfect album that year.

The cover to Tracy Chapman's 1988 eponymous debut album.

Same year, and same relationship to the album. And yet. I am going to have to stand on the definition of "Perfect Album" here and go with this thing.

Also the smaller the gun the more recoil it has. I am not butch enough, as a fairly athletic guy, for a .38 special.

For reasons I will never understand we were shown _L'Argent de Poche_ one time in school.

Hahaha I bet she thinks _Casablanca_ is trite and full of clichés too.

We are not done with the rollercoasters yet. bsky.app/profile/jenw...

@bluedroplet.bsky.social points out that the AI business model is exactly the Underpants Gnomes business model, with intellectual property substituting for underpants.

If you do find it please post it here because that was my reaction too.

When the person doing the cover was Johnny Cash yes, in fact, it was generally a improvement over the original.

It's right there in the name after all.

Mid century US censuses did in fact ask respondents whose birthplace was Canada to specify English or French. I don't think they gave any further instruction than that, but the examples I have seen most often refer to the part of Canada and not to the ethnicity or native language of the respondent.

All y'all nominating for the Hugos need to be aware of this thing.

Damn. I don't think there is any possible response to that other than "I'll be in my bunk".

Pretty sure I have posted about this before, but seeing _The Empire Strikes Back_ on opening night *at Mann's Chinese Theater* is absolutely my biggest first run cinema flex.

Daisywheel printer here! Man that thing was loud.

Age verification? I had the Lego Galaxy Explorer set.

I'm with you on this not being in English, in the sense that English is the language it isn't in. But I see how some might quibble.

Post a banger that’s not in English.

youtu.be/q3k58kZCRlM?...

Whistle Up 2: Rise of the Whistle Goblins | dansinker.com

We are very much still at the bottom of the S curve here. dansinker.com/posts/2026-0...

This morning, liminal waking brain figured that the several hours that had passed weren't enough time for them to have finished watching and continued to chew on that question.

(No, it was not a real Magnolia spoiler, just a dream artifact.)

2/2

Last night I dreamt that some friends were watching Magnolia for the first time and I was considering whether to give them a small spoiler that I thought would make the experience more enjoyable for them.

1/2

I'm honestly OK with not knowing.