Mike Hicks's avatar

Mike Hicks

@mulad.bsky.social

243 followers 286 following 1234 posts

Tech guy into transpo and urbanism, politics to push the needle. Once a streets.mn person. A Swiftie to ease my unhappy singleness

Transit blog: hizeph400.blogspot.com/

Mike Hicks's avatar Mike Hicks @mulad.bsky.social
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It feels like the people continuing to freak out the most about Biden's debate performance are the wealthy donors who blocked anyone else from meaningfully getting into the race last year

1 replies 1 reposts 13 likes

Reposted by Mike Hicks

mesh's avatar mesh @meshm.bsky.social
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Flash flood in Longfellow, Minneapolis. Shout out to my neighbors for clearing the storm drains so all this water is gone already

0 replies 3 reposts 24 likes

Mike Hicks's avatar Mike Hicks @mulad.bsky.social
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That was a hell of a downburst. I went to move my car into the apartment garage (annual/seasonal cleaning), and in the moment or two it took to get downstairs, it looks like it went from sprinkling to pouring inches every few minutes). Extreme winds, too

0 replies 0 reposts 1 likes

Mike Hicks's avatar Mike Hicks @mulad.bsky.social
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Well that was a close lightning bolt

1 replies 0 reposts 1 likes

Reposted by Mike Hicks

Reposted by Mike Hicks

Adam Miller's avatar Adam Miller @ajm6792.bsky.social
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Early voting for the CD5 primary is happening now. Go vote for Ilhan.

0 replies 4 reposts 9 likes

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Doug Gordon's avatar Doug Gordon @brooklynspoke.bsky.social
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Vehicular cycling is a decent skill to have in places where there isn’t a lot of good bicycle infrastructure but a big part of the reason we don’t have a lot of good bicycle infrastructure is because of vehicular cyclists. As we will get to in part two, Forester had a big impact on this for decades.

8 replies 15 reposts 104 likes

Reposted by Mike Hicks

Mike Hicks's avatar Mike Hicks @mulad.bsky.social
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Interesting to me that The Power Broker uses the word "rendering" for depictions of what a new building/structure would look like. I associate that word with computer graphics, which was not a widely known technology at the time

1 replies 0 reposts 5 likes

Reposted by Mike Hicks

Reposted by Mike Hicks

Brendon Slotterback's avatar Brendon Slotterback @bslotterback.bsky.social
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The potential upside of the death of the Chevron doctrine, from Evergreen Action. Agency rules are often the product of compromise rulemaking with (or capture by) industry. That no longer need be the case. 🔌💡 subscriber.politicopro.com/f/?id=000001...

2 replies 1 reposts 4 likes

Reposted by Mike Hicks

Mort & Son's avatar Mort & Son @jk9.bsky.social
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See a story like this and you have an initial reaction like "huh, rural DA holding a cop accountable for a horrible action" but then: "Roper's discipline records revealed four prior crashes he has been involved in while driving his squad car either due to inattentive driving or excessive speed" smh

2 replies 4 reposts 9 likes

Reposted by Mike Hicks

David Brauer's avatar David Brauer @dbrauer.bsky.social
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“South Cedar Lake & Minnesota River Bluffs trails are now open for public use from the Midtown Greenway in Minneapolis to Shady Oak Road in Minnetonka” - this means you can bike further west from the west end of the Greenway, all the way past 169 and Hopkins now.

3 replies 4 reposts 18 likes

Reposted by Mike Hicks

Reposted by Mike Hicks

Rob Levine's avatar Rob Levine @roblevine82.bsky.social
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No one can possibly look at the Heritage Foundation's 2025 and think, 'Gee, that's not political.' Yet - it's all done tax-free and Heritage is a nonprofit in good standing. Rich people launder their politics through nonpofits and no one says boo

1 replies 20 reposts 51 likes

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Aaron Huertas's avatar Aaron Huertas @aaronhuertas.bsky.social
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Sen. Inhofe delayed climate action for years and personally harassed climate scientists to try to bully them into silence. His legacy is based on lies and should be a source of shame on par with Joe McCarthy’s.

tulsaworld.com/news/local/f...

14 replies 87 reposts 303 likes

Reposted by Mike Hicks

Reposted by Mike Hicks

Homeless JJ 🏳️‍⚧️'s avatar Homeless JJ 🏳️‍⚧️ @day10machine.bsky.social
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Just a city boy (gastropod)

3 replies 2 reposts 18 likes

Reposted by Mike Hicks

Ian Gaida's avatar Ian Gaida @trainsfan.bsky.social
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The Pennsylvanian is the closest I'd say, only slightly longer and has a similar mix of overlapping services. It normally runs with 7 cars but "only" gets 193k riders/ year. pre-covid it was basically the same as Borealis, so there's a strong argument that they need to run longer trains

1 replies 2 reposts 4 likes

Reposted by Mike Hicks

Ian Gaida's avatar Ian Gaida @trainsfan.bsky.social
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I was basically going to write this exact article, but instead I'll just add a few more points 1. Compared to similar state supported routes the Borealis is a strong performer. The most similar are the Pennsylvanian and 318/319, the Missouri River Runner that runs through to Chicago 🧵

2 replies 3 reposts 10 likes

Reposted by Mike Hicks

Reposted by Mike Hicks

Reposted by Mike Hicks

Max Kennerly's avatar Max Kennerly @maxkennerly.bsky.social
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Worth noting the EPA's brief correctly uses "nitrogen oxide" 7 times, and the EPA submitted a declaration from an official who used it twice. But nobody involved in the majority opinion, Justices and clerks, bothered to take the EPA's brief seriously, and so none of them noticed the error.

25 replies 221 reposts 685 likes

Reposted by Mike Hicks

Mike Hicks's avatar Mike Hicks @mulad.bsky.social
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Amtrak has started using the second platform in Columbus, WI, a spot where the Borealis and Empire Builder trains are scheduled to arrive and depart at almost the same time. Platforms remain under construction for ADA upgrades, but there's enough room now to use it
www.facebook.com/share/p/tYct...

0 replies 1 reposts 5 likes

Mike Hicks's avatar Mike Hicks @mulad.bsky.social
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If you want to know more about the candidates running for Amy Klobuchar's senate seat in the primary, Naomi has you covered (basically, vote for Amy)

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Mike Hicks's avatar Mike Hicks @mulad.bsky.social
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Might also be whoever runs the outdoor goods place next to the bakery

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Mike Hicks's avatar Mike Hicks @mulad.bsky.social
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The Borealis had a slight increase in ridership, going from 604 passengers daily in the first 11 days in May to 619 per day in June, or 18,557 passengers for the month www.allaboardmn.org/about/new-2n...

0 replies 1 reposts 7 likes

Mike Hicks's avatar Mike Hicks @mulad.bsky.social
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There's a Cybertruck parked next to the auto repair shop across from the bakery I visit on weekends. Another big truck used to park there regularly, so I presume it's the shop owner's vehicle.

1 replies 0 reposts 1 likes

Reposted by Mike Hicks

David Roberts's avatar David Roberts @volts.wtf
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Today on Volts: you've probably heard some of the hype around "solid-state" batteries. What are they? What are their advantages, in terms of energy density & safety? When will they come to market? I get into all of it with a SSB CEO.
www.volts.wtf/p/whats-up-w...

1 replies 5 reposts 32 likes

Reposted by Mike Hicks

Reposted by Mike Hicks

Mike Hicks's avatar Mike Hicks @mulad.bsky.social
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Congrats to Keefe Starmer on becoming UK Prime Minister

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Mike Hicks's avatar Mike Hicks @mulad.bsky.social
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It's possible, but hard to say. There had been some sold-out trains in the first couple weeks, which don't seem to have returned, but Amtrak may have still been tuning their dynamic pricing. I'm expecting a little lull, then a slow rise as people get used to it. but we'll see.

1 replies 0 reposts 0 likes

Reposted by Mike Hicks

J Johnston 's avatar J Johnston @leonlavinski.bsky.social
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Twin Cities blowing freedom all over Wisconsin.

1 replies 5 reposts 10 likes

Mike Hicks's avatar Mike Hicks @mulad.bsky.social
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The Borealis is doing well, but I need to be a bit of a wet blanket about the "profit" headline. Tickets covered ~60% of costs in May, better than most others, but Amtrak confusingly counts state-level funding as revenue for routes like this
hizeph400.blogspot.com/2024/07/be-c...

1 replies 0 reposts 5 likes

Reposted by Mike Hicks

Gregory Hays's avatar Gregory Hays @aristofontes.bsky.social
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Wow, real banana republic stuff. I'm glad our presidents can launder money and associate criminally without worrying about this kind of thing.

22 replies 732 reposts 3212 likes

Reposted by Mike Hicks

Interurban Era 's avatar Interurban Era @interurbanera.bsky.social
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Also, their laser sintering printing technology produced inferior detail models compared to SLA resin for the last few years. Very few of the "fine detail plastic" parts I ordered were good enough to use in HO scale models because they were so gritty. I will definitely miss the passive income tho.

2 replies 1 reposts 8 likes

Reposted by Mike Hicks

Frank Conniff's avatar Frank Conniff @frankconniff.bsky.social
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What frightens dogs today: 1. Fireworks. 2. RFK Jr having a July 4th barbecue.

3 replies 29 reposts 122 likes

Mike Hicks's avatar Mike Hicks @mulad.bsky.social
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Well... "Surplus" rather than "profit," as ticket sales don't cover expenses -- Amtrak confusingly counts the state funding as revenue, so there was apparently about $300k from passengers, $300k from the states, but only $500k in expenses, leaving $100k left over. It's good, though

1 replies 0 reposts 4 likes

Reposted by Mike Hicks