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mmjs86.bsky.social
vlado
@mmjs86.bsky.social
Brooklyn, NY

Bikes, buses, trains and the Balkans. I build things with computers and networks. I write about cities, transit and bikes. he/him.
I'd add that progression through unofficial tiers is already built into enlargement -- it's been a while since the last opt out expired, but a major "tier" is the temporary opt out of freedom of movement for workers, which can last up to 7 years after accession

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freedom...
Everybody says you can't have a two-tier EU, but in practice different tiers already exist: for countries inside the Euro and those outside; for those covered by the mutual defence clause and those not. So this plan would put even more forms of EU integration in this same category.
🚨🚨Welcome news: The #EU is hatching an unprecedented plan that could give #Ukraine partial #membership in the bloc as early as next year, as Brussels tries to shore up the country’s position in Europe and away from #Moscow. 🧵
www.politico.eu/article/5-st...
February 11, 2026 at 3:37 PM
Reposted by vlado
None of this makes any sense, but the TFR over El Paso is apparently being lifted. If I slept another hour today I would have missed this event entirely.

WTF

bsky.app/profile/repe...
At the urging of my office, the FAA is rightfully lifting the Temporary Restricted Airspace.

I will again reiterate there is no threat to El Paso or the surrounding areas.
February 11, 2026 at 2:18 PM
Reposted by vlado
One of the questions I am often asked about the forthcoming EU reform of rail ticketing is how to handle disruption when trains are compulsory reservation

The solution: safe overcrowding, and deploying an idea from PKP IC

All explained here 👇
jonworth.eu/how-to-safel...
How to safely overload a high speed train (and why it matters for the debate about ticketing reform in the EU)
Imagine you're making a simple international trip: Frankfurt (Main) Hbf to Lyon Part Dieu. One change of train, in Strasbourg*. But your Frankfurt - Strasbourg train is delayed, and you miss the Stra...
jonworth.eu
February 11, 2026 at 9:01 AM
Reposted by vlado
After four freezing weeks on the picket line, it finally looks like the nurses strike in New York City is nearing its conclusion.

Nurses have seemingly won agreements that will give them a lot, but not all, of what they were after.

hellgatenyc.com/nysna-strike...
February 9, 2026 at 8:47 PM
Reposted by vlado
Not at all surprised to learn that Bad Bunny has a historical adviser. His halftime show was a reminder that our history and culture are deeply intertwined with the rest of the western hemisphere. We should think of his performance as part of #America250. #SuperBowl
news.wisc.edu/pop-star-bad...
Pop star Bad Bunny needed a Puerto Rican history scholar. UW–Madison had just the one.
Bad Bunny collaborated with UW–Madison history professor Jorell Meléndez-Badillo on Puerto Rican narratives that accompany the new album “DeBÍ TiRAR MáS FOToS.”
news.wisc.edu
February 9, 2026 at 11:38 AM
Bad Bunny's halftime show is the best of the America that I got to know as an immigrant, its weird and complicated and full of contraindications, and yet it's home to all of us no matter where we come from or who we are

Anti fascism in America is everywhere and it comes in uniquely American flavors
What a moment.
February 9, 2026 at 2:27 PM
Reposted by vlado
Shutting it down for the night. I hope everyone revels in the fact that antifascists are going to win. May tomorrow bring us more justice and some peace.
February 9, 2026 at 2:43 AM
Reposted by vlado
the web edition of New Session Issue 4 is now live!

featuring work from:
@jana-aych-ess.bsky.social
@asterolsen.bsky.social
@mbbischoff.com
@ultraviolet.gay
@mhn-hello.bsky.social
@moribund.club
...and more!

read it here: web.issue4.anewsession.com
February 8, 2026 at 12:40 AM
Reposted by vlado
Man I have a ton of great memories and emotional attachments to Lloyd Center. Also, it’s time for it to go
February 8, 2026 at 4:15 PM
Reposted by vlado
It is not true that "no one cares unless it's in their backyard." ICE has been built up for yrs, & many Americans have been opposed to these camps (& to incarceration in general) for years. Ofc, when abstract plans turn into concrete plans, local communities resist in concrete ways. This make sent.
It only took them 12 months to build massive concentration camps all over the USA. You’d think there would be more uproar, but no. No one cares unless it’s in their backyard.
February 8, 2026 at 9:52 AM
Reposted by vlado
February 7, 2026 at 5:29 PM
Reposted by vlado
o rly
February 7, 2026 at 5:08 PM
February 7, 2026 at 3:20 PM
Prekrasno obnovljen spomenik Vojina Bakića žrtvama željezničke nesreće na Glavnom kolodvoru 1974. Spomenik je na Mirogoju.
February 7, 2026 at 12:43 PM
Reposted by vlado
Once again, it turns out “fully autonomous” means “a guy in the Philippines.”
It Turns Out Waymos Are Being Controlled by Workers in the Philippines
During a Congressional hearing, Waymo's chief safety officer, Mauricio Peña, was grilled over the company's reliance on overseas workers.
futurism.com
February 6, 2026 at 3:37 PM
At first I struggled to explain to my partner what was happening, since there's no good English word for it (it's not booing), and then I settled on whistling, but derogatorily
Italians typically whistle instead of booing. It’s the overwhelming sound you hear.

Bravo Milano, bravo 👏🏻
JD Vance loudly booed at the Winter Olympics today.
February 7, 2026 at 8:53 AM
Reposted by vlado
In my wildest dreams I could never have imagined a more gratuitous sign that AI is a bubble than “chance the rapper, sponsored by coreweave.” It’s beautiful. It’ll be in a movie someday
February 7, 2026 at 6:33 AM
Reposted by vlado
I stuck my Gender Floppy to the fridge many years ago
February 7, 2026 at 8:25 AM
Reposted by vlado
The official Olympics account on X (obviously they're not on Bsky🙄) proudly posted this image showing the ghost of a poster among the pine trees on the right.

We must kill this pride in mediocrity (which sums up this decade so well, doesn't it?).
February 6, 2026 at 9:49 PM
Reposted by vlado
Either the animated sequence in the Olympics opening ceremony is a weird tribute to AI slop, or it's an insult to Italian artists and animators. In any case, it's in poor taste.
February 6, 2026 at 9:26 PM
Reposted by vlado
Modetechnisch ist diese Olympia-Eröffnung traumatisierend.
February 6, 2026 at 8:19 PM
Reposted by vlado
Vance wird ausgebuht 👏

#Olympics #MilanoCortina2026
February 6, 2026 at 9:09 PM
Reposted by vlado
One of my favourite pictures from there (2014)
February 6, 2026 at 7:59 PM
If you're watching the Winter Olympics, I encourage you to check out The Track, a just released documentary about the Sarajevo bobsleigh and luge track and the three friends who train on the derelict track, dreaming of reaching the Winter Olympics

www.thetrackmovie.com
February 6, 2026 at 7:43 PM
I found a bunch of pre-euro coins and compared their value from when they were pegged to the euro on January 1 1999

Wild difference in value for what was a similar amount of coins
February 5, 2026 at 11:38 PM