Nicks of Time

There are at least two Nicks very concerned with time. Particularly with optimizing trade per time, Nick Szabo, Nick Srnicek, and Nick Land who refers to the Blockchain as the Absolutisation of Spacetime. It is thus not wrong to refer to a bitcoin as a Nick of Time—nor, given Nick Land's fascination with Time, to Nick Land as a Nick of Time.
We ould include Nicki Minaj, since she likes to play characters as if from multiple time periods—and appears as the Noon in Music Videos—in the middle. All three associate themselves with Mercenary Activities and "Assassination Politics".
It may not be immediately obvious what the nick of time is, but we do know what it means to be in it, that is, arriving at the last propitious moment. Prior to the 16th century there was another expression used to convey that meaning - 'pudding time'. This relates to the fact that pudding was the dish served first at medieval mealtimes. To arrive at pudding time was to arrive at the start of the meal, just in time to eat. Pudding was then a savoury dish - a form of sausage or haggis (see also the proof is in the pudding). Pudding time is first referred to in print in John Heywood's invaluable glossary A dialogue conteinyng the nomber in effect of all the prouerbes in the Englishe tongue, 1546:That seems a perfectly serviceable idiom, so why did the Tudors change it to 'the nick of time'? The motivation appears to be the desire to express a finer degree of timing than the vague 'around the beginning of the meal'. The nick that was being referred to was a notch or small cut and was synonymous with precision. Such notches were used on 'tally' sticks to measure or keep score. Also, during the 16th century, pudding began being used as the name of sweet dishes and they were usually served at the end of the meal. As this trend continued 'pudding time' being used to mean 'in good time' made less and less sense.