Mike Hicks

BBC International Editor Jeremy Bowen has confirmed that the entire Al Jazeera team in Gaza City has been killed.

In 1939 you could take one of many electric streetcar lines downtown to one of two main railway stations and be in downtown Chicago in 6-1/2 hours, under steam power. A remarkable achievement in its day, not just faster than our current trains, but faster than you can DRIVE it now.

Opinion | Why aren’t we calling Vance Boelter a Christian terrorist? "His warped faith seems to have led to his bloody suburban rampage, just as the warped faith of other religious fanatics have led to horrific deeds done in the name of their religious beliefs," Lois T...

Why isn’t the press calling Boelter a Christian terrorist? “If Vance Boelter had a different faith or a different skin tone, we might have an easier time seeing him as a religious terrorist.” YES, Lois Thielen.

The Rocketeer

Full of pulp comic sensibilities, daring stunts, and practical effects, The Rocketeer re-creates 1930s Hollywood, complete with gangsters, Nazi spies, and the birth of the Age of Aviation.
www.trylon.org/film/the-roc...

The last time we went through this - 1995’s Nixon stamps - a brilliant entrepreneur developed the appropriate envelopes (I know because I bought a bunch). I’m sure someone can come up with something as good, maybe Baldwin owning Buckley.

Tis true! Senator Dziedzic figured out the necessary funding path in a convoluted, multi-jurisdictional situation and ensured that the Stone Arch Bridge will last for another couple of generations.

The Dead of Winter review – Emma Thompson lights up icy Fargo country thriller Thompson turns up the accent dial to play a good-natured Minnesota widow bringing her charm – and her gun – to tackle some concentrated nastiness

The Dead of Winter review – Emma Thompson lights up icy Fargo country thriller

A man pushing a wooden crate through a warehouse with the stenciled label TOP SECRET ARMY INTEL 9906753 DO NOT OPEN!

It was precisely Watergate that set off a multi-decade effort on the right to protect Republicans from ever again facing real accountability. The experience of facing consequences for their actions was deeply traumatic for them.

A colorful CT scan. There is a blue square in the center (the silicon die). Multicolored blobs reach out from the die, a bit like a sunburst in blues, greens, and yellows, or maybe like a tentacled sea creature. A grid of red dots over the image corresponds to the pins. Thin reddish-orange lines reach out to the edges of the ceramic package. The ceramic package itself is visible as a blue square background. The four corners of the package are clipped, three very slightly clipped and one clipped a bit more.

The CT scan of a signal layer inside the 386's package. The wide abstract-looking regions connect the pins (red dots) to the chip in the middle. Unexpectedly, I spotted thin wires running to the edges of the chip. These are used during manufacturing to electroplate the pins with gold.

For those who aren't entirely sold on the idea of ranking Omar Fateh, consider the lifetime of pain and regret you could inflict on people who thought it was the best idea ever to change the city's government structure to a strong mayor system just four years ago.

Feels like something similarly dramatic might be needed to reopen sidewalks through the Franklin/Hiawatha/Cedar area

Communities need walkable streets.

Little Earth of the United Tribes is the largest indigenous urban housing community in the United States. Established in 1973 just south of downtown Minneapolis, it was originally called the South High Housing Project. ...

Scene at a grade crossing with a gate arm raised but a yellow diamond "← LOOK →" sign with red "Second train" text lit up. A disused grain silo is in the background and several cars are on the main roadway

The Blue Line grade crossing along Hiawatha at 42nd St is misbehaving, probably from the storm, with gate arms up and other signal lights off, but the "second train" indicators flashing. Trains are stopping short and honking before proceeding

Halloween has arrived at Menards.

🎃 👻 🦇

Facebook post by the North Shore Scenic Railroad, showing a single white tennis shoe on the roof of a vista dome train car, reading " Lost & Found... & Fabulous? We've seen a lot of things on top of the train-leaves, bugs, the occasional squirrel joyriding-but today... we found a shoe. Just one. Perched proudly like it was enjoying the view. Now we have questions: on top of a moving train? Who loses a shoe Was it a dramatic Should we add a Cinderella moment or an intense game of "the floor is lava"? lost-and-found section to the roof? If you're missing a stylish stowaway, we've got your sole-mate waiting for you. (And if the other shoe turns up in Two Harbors, we'll know it went the full round trip.) #TrainMysteries #ShoeOnTheRoof #NorthShoreScenic Railroad #LostButMakeltFashion" Plus some very stupid MetaAI suggested questions below.

Meanwhile in Duluth....

I think this guy has picked up another project car or two

In other news, someone's Cybertruck was briefly parked at a house in the neighborhood that's had a Trump sign and beat-up trucks out front for a long time

This is a lie. It's not even open to interpretation. Cashman was elected in 2023 - voted for historic police raises and increases to budget. The Frey PAC strategy is to scare you into electing a council majority for the rich & powerful - on all the issues that have nothing to do with police & crime.

A government-sanctioned "truth arbiter" will soon arrive at CBS. Their role will be to ensure that journalists do not criticize this Administration or express views that conflict with its agenda.

This is a betrayal—not just of journalistic independence, but of the public trust. 🧵

The virtues of the fathers are afforded no visitation rights upon the sons.

Current transpacific traffic avoiding Klyuchevskoy eruption.

Transpacific traffic last week following regular routes.

🌋🚨 Klyuchevskoy is erupting and that is a problem for transpacific air traffic.

Here’s traffic now (with current and forecast ash cloud locations) compared to same time last week.

Flights are re-routing, with some now requiring a fuel stop.

Amtrak FINALLY sets a date for the NextGen Acela lauch, the STB dismisses the Amtrak/UP OTP case, the FTA has a new boss (lots of acronyms today), and all the latest & greatest.

See you onboard: www.railpassengers.o...

Highball! #HotlineFriday

A view on a B&O viaduct shows off the very advanced boat-tail observation car, 30 years ahead of them entering service elsewhere.

Closeup of the tail, showing off the access hatches opened for lubricating the truck journal boxes. The corrugated metal exterior reminiscent of a Ford Tri-motor or Ju-52 25 years later was even done before the Wright bros flew in their powered kite.

The fully-faired tender is so far ahead of its time, the only clue being the ancient leaf-spring archbar giving away this isn't from 1935.

The major mistake they made seemed to be just using regular locomotives on the point and not streamlining the engine, so it was still a brick through the air otherwise.

Good read of the day: Industrial designer of real streamlined locomotives Otto Kuhler writes about the 1899-1909 tests of wacky inventor Adam's very first streamlined train on the B&O:

dl.mospace.umsystem.edu/umsl/islando...

Astronaut Jim Lovell, famed Apollo 13 commander, dies at 97 Lovell was also the first astronaut to go to space four times and part of the Apollo 8 crew, the first to launch on the Saturn V rocket and first to orbit the moon.

BREAKING: Astronaut Jim Lovell, famed for leading the Apollo 13 mission safely back to Earth after a life-threatening explosion, dies at 97, according to a family statement.

There should be a "just visually merge" tool for cells in speadsheets and HTML tables. Standard cell merging makes it a member of the first row/column, but none of the others. If there's data, it's probably relevant for all the rows/columns that it spans!

I saw a little girl on an electric toy riding mower as I was driving through a small town. We train them to do women’s work young. She even lifted two fingers off the steering wheel to give me the traditional farmers wave (iykyk).

The Boring Company is like a piece of performance art -- a prank to see just how gullible elected officials will be in the face of extravagant billionaire promises.

For Entertainment Purposes Only

Instagram decided to start sharing everyone's locations in a new map view in their app