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Tony Coppoletta @tonycoppoletta.com · 03/10/2026

Are they the people who made these?

BEST stores were a bizarre architectural thing. Each had a unique design, one here that looks like it's in ruins with bricks fallen over the entrance (but just the big box with false parapet walls to create the effect.

Also another that looked like the building cracked apart at a random diagonal and one part shifted away like during an earthquake, creating a massive illusion of a jagged separation between portions of it—with primary-color and white balloons rising out of the ominous schism during an opening celebration.

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Tony Coppoletta @tonycoppoletta.com · 03/10/2026

Well, apparently they've finally invented cheese for men. Or these are a dishwasher tab. Hard to tell.

Babybel PRO cheese. It is in a blue wrapper instead of red, has a electrolyte drink-like lightning bolt highlights protein and probiotics.

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Tony Coppoletta @tonycoppoletta.com · 27/09/2026

One wonders: Is a lox bagel toroidal sushi?

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Tony Coppoletta @tonycoppoletta.com · 20/09/2026

I actually did find a place to sit, potentially, seeing an open seat at the T1 Chilis, but I'd rather sleep in a GateGourmet truck than be seen at a Chilis.

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Tony Coppoletta @tonycoppoletta.com · 20/09/2026

Oh, it was fully an out-of-body experience. I was buying sparkling wines with ice to make a strong spritzer and started wandering the terminals' liminal extremities, like the little regional wing of T1 that Wisconsin Air used, and the connection to T2 that has like exhibits and stuff.

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Tony Coppoletta @tonycoppoletta.com · 19/09/2026

Skimming through this journey... I spent 11 hours in that purgatory the day all the computers bluescreened. I, too, know what it's like to start finding absurd nuance in O'Hare's canned PSAs.

Malfunctioning displays showing blue screens of death in July 2024 when a security company's failed software update prevented computers from booting around the world for their clients.

Malfunctioning displays in July 2024 when a security company's failed software update prevented computers from booting around the world for their clients.

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Tony Coppoletta @tonycoppoletta.com · 19/09/2026

Hear me out: market mRNA as "protein vaxxxing."

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Tony Coppoletta @tonycoppoletta.com · 19/09/2026

I mean, when one is in Terminal 1, one must! It'd be rude not to.

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Tony Coppoletta @tonycoppoletta.com · 19/09/2026

My favorite thing about that subgenre was that it ended up being nicknamed "stomp and holler".

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Tony Coppoletta @tonycoppoletta.com · 19/09/2026

I'm not sure if I'm now going to listen to Symphony in Blue or Music for Airports but it's gonna be one of the two.

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Tony Coppoletta @tonycoppoletta.com · 17/09/2026

These or even the diesel locos could theoretically be converted and then they're not paying for diesel. (Diesel locomotives tend to be "electromotive" where it's just got a big diesel generator to power electric motors to move rather diesel mechanical direct-drive, yeah?) Wonder how that maths out.

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Reposted by Tony Coppoletta

derek guy @dieworkwear.bsky.social · 06/09/2026

this is the kind of design costume designers make to tell you who are the bad guys in a space movie

Donald Trump posts an image on his Truth Social account. It shows a new uniform for US Space Force members, comprising of an all-black outfit with knee-high black leather boots, black cap, and minimalist looking suit.

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Tony Coppoletta @tonycoppoletta.com · 02/09/2026

I'll see your Δ with an Ω!

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Tony Coppoletta @tonycoppoletta.com · 02/09/2026

Such a cromulent roulette wheel, Bally's!

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Tony Coppoletta @tonycoppoletta.com · 01/09/2026

I mean, a little Meatloaf makes everything better.

Link to random recipe for recently deceased theatre icon Tim Curry with headline: "Tim Curry's 5-ingredient chicken recipe is worth remembering."

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Tony Coppoletta @tonycoppoletta.com · 30/08/2026

This may be your most rational musing ever. No additional notes.

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Tony Coppoletta @tonycoppoletta.com · 27/08/2026

As for CPS kids getting driven, I just find that wild. And tho door-to-door busing to magnet schools may be hard to do, they switched when I was in elementary school to having to walk to your neighborhood school for a potential group pickup. Is that still not the case? That wasn't so bad.

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Tony Coppoletta @tonycoppoletta.com · 25/08/2026

Luring the chaos that is @jcsalterego.bsky.social over here so he can't do as much damage in the real world.

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Tony Coppoletta @tonycoppoletta.com · 22/08/2026

Might've done. Don't remember the exact date but it was just before the '24 DNC.

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Tony Coppoletta @tonycoppoletta.com · 22/08/2026

It's such an instant gem. Love that station!

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Tony Coppoletta @tonycoppoletta.com · 22/08/2026

I suppose one can get by if everything has the hell cooked out of it... Including *checks notes, sighs* iced cream. 😠

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Tony Coppoletta @tonycoppoletta.com · 21/08/2026

I feel like where we've ended up is this sense of entitlement that's like "oh, someone's blocking my lane so, even though I have to overtake in yours, I get priority as compensation for the inconvenience" or everyone at a 4-way feeling like they deserve to go first for *reasons*.

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Tony Coppoletta @tonycoppoletta.com · 21/08/2026

Sometimes I wonder if we should have a rule like England that's just "at a junction, the main road has priority, and the smaller road has to yield" instead of four way stops where everyone has to burn extra fuel and is frustrated and greedy about time. But I don't think it really works with a grid.

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Tony Coppoletta @tonycoppoletta.com · 12/08/2026

Any thoughts on why the California corridor is poppin' right now? It's not all near transit stations. Is it an extension of the West Loop boom? Would you speculate that adding a stop at Western/Lake (which interestingly there never was—the closest was, I think, Campbell) also might be a boon?

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Tony Coppoletta @tonycoppoletta.com · 12/08/2026

Fascinating. I'm not a planner but I look at this and feel like reopening the abandoned California stop on the Forest Park branch of the Blue Line might be a good move. Not sure what all would be involved to do that but sorta imagine it'd make this an even more attractive and density-growth area.

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Tony Coppoletta @tonycoppoletta.com · 11/08/2026

Curious: Can you overlay this with both rapid transit and high capacity roadways?

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Tony Coppoletta @tonycoppoletta.com · 10/08/2026

"Your chances of being stalked by," etc.

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Tony Coppoletta @tonycoppoletta.com · 05/08/2026

This is exactly the kind of pedantry I'm here for.

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Tony Coppoletta @tonycoppoletta.com · 05/08/2026

I'd be doing the safety dance right the fuck out of there.

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Tony Coppoletta @tonycoppoletta.com · 01/08/2026

Yep. Normal day here in Uptown.

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Tony Coppoletta @tonycoppoletta.com · 01/08/2026

1. That's beyond absurd. 2. Cub's still exists‽ It was our favorite supermarket for the minute it was in the Chicago area.

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Tony Coppoletta @tonycoppoletta.com · 30/07/2026

You know, good points. It's all about balance and creativity that makes it. I had a pizza in London once that was Spanish chorizo, rocket, chopped thai chili and sweet thai chili sauce and it blew my mind. So did a clam and garlic pizza with pecorino Romano in Saugatuk.

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Tony Coppoletta @tonycoppoletta.com · 30/07/2026

Indeed, a real risk. Considering it's pretty clearly foodservice frozen breaded chicken patties that've been "party cut" like a Chicago pizza, I'll bet the broccoli is pre-chopped frozen that's like 30% florets. But I make a fancy version at home with like good freezer chicken and broccolini.

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Tony Coppoletta @tonycoppoletta.com · 30/07/2026

*with the exception of al pastor... I'd definitely eat that pizza.

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Tony Coppoletta @tonycoppoletta.com · 30/07/2026

That sounds amazing, as does the place doing Indian pizzas up north of me. desiboyspizza.com I will say: No to pineapple, yes to anchovies and, honestly, one of my guilty pleasures is a fairly common NY slice option with broccoli and breaded chicken patty chunks.

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Tony Coppoletta @tonycoppoletta.com · 28/07/2026

Now that said, @techconnectify.bsky.social would, I imagine, agree with this as a general baseline attitude, but also point out that wind and solar are incredible and may make all of this moot very soon, if it hasn't already.

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Tony Coppoletta @tonycoppoletta.com · 28/07/2026

And don't get me started on how utterly fascinating (if necessary for long term safety of any and all left-behinds) the field of nuclear semiotics is.

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Tony Coppoletta @tonycoppoletta.com · 28/07/2026

I know! I could go on forever. No tech is perfect but I'd put my faith in modern designs—even PWRs with post-Fukushima mitigations—over living anywhere near a coal plant (where you're guaranteed ionizing radiation exposure well beyond anything a nuke plant would make ambient).

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Tony Coppoletta @tonycoppoletta.com · 28/07/2026

One positive: it was so busy Saturday evening after I spent hours downtown inspecting the info plan (and looking for anything to improve for future major reroute events as ridership evolves) to ride home surrounded by people who are taking the train back after a fun evening out, like pre-Uber days.

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Tony Coppoletta @tonycoppoletta.com · 28/07/2026

Oh I thought I made up a genre, but naturally both "atompunks" and "atomicpunks" is a thing, also associated with "raypunks" (raygun fiction era). Hi, I'm Tony, and I really like Futurama and Star Trek, advanced power gen without CO² emissions and watching YouTubes about and radiological incidents.

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Tony Coppoletta @tonycoppoletta.com · 28/07/2026

I know how to find the steampunks, but where are my atompunks at? Or is it just like, Nena, Devo, Peter Sellers and Fishbone?

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Tony Coppoletta @tonycoppoletta.com · 28/07/2026

Oh, I imagine that could be possible with any electrical equipment! But also, power outage during a lift? Prolly could disable motors and it be difficult to get the slightly up-weighted cantilevered leafs of a Trunnion-Bascule bridge (I don't know that one but most Chicago bridges are that style).

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