iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Andy Fenelon @andyfenelon.bsky.social · 03/09/2026

Theories for why the first two Fair days were blowout record attendances and since then attendance has been middling?

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Andy Fenelon @andyfenelon.bsky.social · 31/08/2026

Packed A Line to the state fair.

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Evan Roberts @evanrobertsnz.bsky.social · 09/06/2026

Could be updated, but to a close approximation they used to stop 50-100 people a day for speeding/red lights/DWI suspicion etc. Then they just decided not to do that from about June 2020.

traffic envorcement in Minneapolis, 2017-24

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Andy Fenelon @andyfenelon.bsky.social · 23/05/2026

More evidence that Minneapolis residents—even the Mayor—don’t know where the neighborhoods actually are

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Heather Randell @heatherrandell.bsky.social · 06/05/2026

A few weeks ago I posted about the negatives we found behind our kitchen wall during renovation. We figured out that they are from the family who lived in our house in the 1940s and 50s. Well well just got the negatives developed and the photos look so good for being buried in rubble for 70 years!

Photo of a man and woman standing in front of our home, taken sometime in the 1950s.

Photo of a man and boy standing in front of our home, with a view of our neighbors' homes, sometime in the 1950s.

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Heather Randell @heatherrandell.bsky.social · 03/05/2026

Each time I go to a quirky Minneapolis event, I think to myself “This is amazing, it can’t get better than this!” But the May Day Parade tops it all, especially after the winter we had here. I love this city so damn much.

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Andy Fenelon @andyfenelon.bsky.social · 01/05/2026

The biannual appearance of “Whoa look at what you can afford for cheap in Minneapolis” in the New York Times www.nytimes.com/interactive/...

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Andy Fenelon @andyfenelon.bsky.social · 21/04/2026

Great cities deserve great things. I would love to hop on the 18 instead of driving to Golden Valley.

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Heather Randell @heatherrandell.bsky.social · 18/04/2026

We’re renovating our kitchen in South Minneapolis and found some photo negatives in the rubble under the stairs—these two are taken in front of our house. After some sleuthing, we’ve determined that this is the family who lived here in the 1940s and 50s!

Photo negative of a man a kid standing in front of our house.

Photo negative of a man and woman standing in front of our house.

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Evan Roberts @evanrobertsnz.bsky.social · 15/04/2026

The four quadrants of Minneapolis, as distinguished by their typical non-roadworthy cars in the alley South Minneapolis: It's a 1980s car and its Gen X owner hopes to restore it one day, either to drive themself or for their teenage kid to drive to hockey practice

Two non-roadworth MGs in a Diamond Lake alley

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Andy Fenelon @andyfenelon.bsky.social · 26/03/2026

Wow, this seems like a pretty big deal.

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Heather Randell @heatherrandell.bsky.social · 18/03/2026

This is...just terrible. My husband is really good at coming up with clever names for trivia teams and I'm 100% sure he could have branded our university WAY better than this.

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Andy Fenelon @andyfenelon.bsky.social · 18/03/2026

I still feel like Uptown's primary issue is that it used to be the center of urban development demand in the region and that center has shifted to include more places (North Loop, Mill, Northeast etc). Combine that with the fact that demand is only so high (we're not Seattle) and you get cycles

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Andy Fenelon @andyfenelon.bsky.social · 04/03/2026

Gotta show the whole distribution. It’s all good biking weather

A foggy bike path next to light rail tracks

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Aaron Sojourner @aaronsojourner.org · 25/02/2026

Many workers have missed shifts without jobs being destroyed making it challenging to measure labor impacts with conventional sources. We use real-time daily data from Homebase to measure impacts. Thanks to UChicago and Homebase for making the data available. #EconSky #NumbersDay

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Andy Fenelon @andyfenelon.bsky.social · 19/02/2026

Minnesota natives/long-time residents, is this something? Here we experience many different stages of winter (chilly, snowy, frigid, snowy, chilly etc.) while on, say, the east coast there’s only one winter with varying temps.

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Andy Fenelon @andyfenelon.bsky.social · 18/02/2026

Impossible not to tear up reading this absolutely beautiful essay about the Minneapolis grassroots resistance from the talented Will McGrath. www.nytimes.com/2026/02/18/o...

nytimes.com

Opinion | In the Resistance, We Drive Minivans

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Andy Fenelon @andyfenelon.bsky.social · 08/02/2026

The Luminary Loppet: far superior to Groundhog Day as a middle-of-winter celebration event.

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Andy Fenelon @andyfenelon.bsky.social · 05/02/2026

You should absolutely visit. And if you’re like me, you might just want to move here.

View of downtown and the Mississippi River from Bridge 9

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Heather Randell @heatherrandell.bsky.social · 04/02/2026

I wrote a song for our immigrant neighbors here in Minnesota. Pardon my rusty guitar skills—it’s been over 10 years since I wrote my last song, but this moment called for music. youtube.com/shorts/B7Csu...

youtube.com

In a Minnesota Winter by Heather Randell

YouTube video by Heather Randell

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Andy Fenelon @andyfenelon.bsky.social · 28/01/2026

My home city of Santa Barbara taking my current city’s lead www.noozhawk.com/federal-ice-...

Dozens of communities members took to the streets to record and protest ICE activity in the area.

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Heather Randell @heatherrandell.bsky.social · 27/01/2026

From a friend who works at an MPS school with hundreds of families in hiding: "The thing REALLY needed is money for rent/utilities/cell phone bills. It looks like there is a lot of money raised but across 5 schools it’s not enough with February rent coming due." givebutter.com/rent4mplsfam...

givebutter.com

Rent Relief for Minneapolis School Families

By Mpls Families

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Andy Fenelon @andyfenelon.bsky.social · 26/01/2026

I grew up in California and knew little about Minneapolis until I visited for a conference in 2015. I immediately knew it was my place, and it took 8 years to finally get here. I truly believe it is America’s greatest city, all things considered. People are starting to see why.

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Andy Fenelon @andyfenelon.bsky.social · 25/01/2026

Tired: City of Lakes Wired: the City that De-Ices Inspired: Woke Hoth

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Andy Fenelon @andyfenelon.bsky.social · 19/01/2026

Since 1950, only 1 state has ranked in the top 5 for life expectancy every year

The flag of the great state of Minnesota

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Andy Fenelon @andyfenelon.bsky.social · 18/01/2026

How much of this Greenland thing can be blamed directly on the Mercator projection?

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Heather Randell @heatherrandell.bsky.social · 12/01/2026

The Minnesota Population Center at the University of Minnesota (@minnpop.bsky.social) is hiring a postdoc in Population Health. Happy to chat about the MPC, UMN, and the Twin Cities, which are all awesome in my humble opinion! pop.umn.edu/training/pos...

APPLY NOW:
Postdoctoral Fellowship Available
Population Health Training Program

JOIN OUR INNOVATIVE PROGRAM!

Fellows in this Population Health Science Training Program work closely with academic mentors in social and health science fields to build skills in interdisciplinary population health research to prepare them for academic careers focused on addressing pressing public health problems. We seek
exceptional candidates in either social science or health science fields who have earned a PhD to join our diverse and accomplished cohort of trainees, and we particularly welcome candidates from backgrounds underrepresented in research.

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Andy Fenelon @andyfenelon.bsky.social · 07/01/2026

A tornado comes in a whirlwind and tears apart a community - I can think of no better metaphor for ICE upon hearing the siren

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Andy Fenelon @andyfenelon.bsky.social · 31/12/2025

Me on January 1st 2025 vs. me on December 31st 2025. It’s been a long year.

Marty Mcfly age 17 in Back to the Future

Marty McFly age 47 in Back to the Future II

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Heather Randell @heatherrandell.bsky.social · 13/12/2025

In my past life (read: pre-kids and tenure track job), I sang in a band. We recorded this 10 years ago for npr’s Tiny Desk contest. youtu.be/LaW64S85gBI?...

youtu.be

"A Little More" by Gin Mill Jane

YouTube video by Gin Mill Jane

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Andy Fenelon @andyfenelon.bsky.social · 06/12/2025

Rode the E Line today with my three-year-old for the opening. Great line and I could see it rivaling the B and D ridership

A three year old with a transit coloring book and a fold up transit bus

Arrival board for E line at 44th and France

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Heather Randell @heatherrandell.bsky.social · 14/11/2025

I moved to Minnesota in June 2023 during a day when the air smelled like a campfire. When I’ve asked longtime Minnesotans about the increasingly severe smoke during our summers, they all say it was never a problem until a few years ago. And wow, this graph has got the receipts.

Graph showing the number of air quality alerts in MN from 2010 to 2025. Very poor air quality did not exist until 2021.

Source: Minnesota Pollution Control Agency • Jake Steinberg, The Minnesota Star Tribune

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Andy Fenelon @andyfenelon.bsky.social · 03/11/2025

Just occurred to me: Fall has the same hours of daylight as Winter, and Spring has the same hours of daylight as Summer

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Andy Fenelon @andyfenelon.bsky.social · 30/10/2025

Trend that seems like it would have a simple explanation, but I'm not sure does - pedestrian deaths among US children: 1970 - ~2,400 deaths (4.2/100K) 1990 - ~950 deaths (1.8.100K) 2005 - ~380 deaths (0.6/100K) 2023 - ~260 deaths (0.4/100K)

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Andy Fenelon @andyfenelon.bsky.social · 29/10/2025

This is great - the federal government supports both homeowners and renters. But support for low-income renters through rental assistance is a direct expenditure always on the budget chopping block. In contrast the homeowner support is hidden in the tax code and people think it's just the default.

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Andy Fenelon @andyfenelon.bsky.social · 28/10/2025

The coveted 60 degree bike commute during peak foliage.

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Andy Fenelon @andyfenelon.bsky.social · 17/10/2025

Flagship state universities with urban campuses in large cities* HI CA WA AZ NM NE TX MN OH KY Flagships that are in the state’s largest city: WA HI UT NM MN OH VT Did not expect it to skew so heavily west of the Mississippi *subjective

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Andy Fenelon @andyfenelon.bsky.social · 12/10/2025

A list of reasons for this in order of importance: 1. Even density. Few high-density neighborhood centers. 2. Streetcar corners. Fewer long main drags. 3. Ease of parking. You’d think this would be #1, but it’s downstream of 1 and 2 4. Winter (minor) But I think we have the bones for walkabillity

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David Brauer @dbrauer.net · 28/09/2025

Was in Northeast by the river and North Loop and both were *hopping*. It’s like I say about Uptown: it was once an epicenter but if you look at all the new smaller epicenters that have sprung up in the last 15 years, it explains a lot of the falloff beyond “someone fucked something up.”

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Andy Fenelon @andyfenelon.bsky.social · 23/09/2025

This weekend, my son and I took the B-Line to Downtown St. Paul to the Science Museum. It took about 40 min from Nicollet. On the way back we took the Green Line. To my surprise, it took about the same amount of time - 43 minutes to downtown MPLS. Why? The Green Line waited at several red lights.

43 Minute green line ride from downtown Saint Paul to downtown Minneapolis

44 minute B-line ride from South Minneapolis to downtown Saint Paul

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Heather Randell @heatherrandell.bsky.social · 10/09/2025

We in Minnesota have not shrugged and moved on. And we in Minneapolis are still reeling from the school shooting at Annunciation, which I assume is already long gone from the news cycle. America.

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Andy Fenelon @andyfenelon.bsky.social · 03/09/2025

Circling back on this, I think I’m vindicated! Attendance this year topped both 2024 and 2023 despite only one record day and rising entry fees. The beautiful weather just spread it out. www.mnstatefair.org/about/attend...

mnstatefair.org

Attendance

Day of the Week Aug. 21 to Sept. 1, 2025 Aug. 22 to Sept. 2, 2024 Aug. 24 to Sept. 4, 2023 Record Daily Attendance (Year) Thursday 137,148 138,875* 106,327 138,875 (2024) Friday 153,988 171,233* 164,7...

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Heather Randell @heatherrandell.bsky.social · 30/08/2025

But seriously Portland Airport, what is up with this signage?!?!

A sign in the parking garage of the Portland Airport says:

“Stairs & Elevators & Terminal & Stairs & Elevators & Terminal & Stairs”

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Andy Fenelon @andyfenelon.bsky.social · 21/08/2025

Granted I’m often an over enthusiastic booster of the cities, but I wonder if MSP has underlying structural characteristics that hinder a transit recovery. More job sprawl, more remote-potential jobs, cheaper parking? I don’t know, I just don’t want to quickly lay this at the feet of metro transit.

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Andy Fenelon @andyfenelon.bsky.social · 16/08/2025

Three South Minneapolis public schools of the past that closed and are now housing. 1. Louis Agassiz - 38th and Harriet. Closed in 1981 after sustaining tornado damage. Now the site of a few dozen townhouses.

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