Alon

Alon, 11 hours ago to random

Conspiracy theory: Ebrahim Raisi's tragically untimely death (36 years too late) was caused by rogue Mossad agents who are hoping Iran retaliates in kind and gets Israel better leadership.

Alon, 13 hours ago to random

The ICC is based today. https://apnews.com/article/icc-khan-netanyahu-070941d21ccd1f2b9611032b88527575?taid=664b31fad9bd100001761a9e

Alon, 1 day ago to random

Via @kechpaja, I'm learning of a proposed tram project in Turku: https://www.turku.fi/en/tramway

The projected cost is 344M€/12 km, which is sort of okay for France or Germany in the 2020s but higher than I'd expect given how low Nordic costs used to be.

Projected ridership is 22,000/day by 2030 and 43,600 by 2050; 15,636€/rider is fine for a tram these days (for a metro, it's very good).

Alon, 2 days ago to random

TIL Uncle Tom was based on a real slave who managed to escape the plantation, made it to Canada, opened a sawmill, and repeatedly traveled back to the US to free more than 100 slaves. His name was Josiah Henson and he was treated as a hero of abolitionism by some black Americans, who criticized Harriet Beecher Stowe for not sharing her considerable profit from writing the book with him.

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/story-josiah-henson-real-inspiration-uncle-toms-cabin-180969094/

Alon, 2 days ago to random

Germany wyd?

https://twitter.com/jburnmurdoch/status/1791412202219446614?t=9ERbVKt-ZacPKT2Ct6QnwA&s=19

Alon, 3 days ago to random

Machine learning is prime for a "what people think I do" vs. "what I actually do" meme, where the public discourse about it is that it's some kind of AI revolution that will change the nature of work, and what it actually does is provide better modeling for predicting public transit ridership.

Alon, 3 days ago to random

Noun compounding works strangely: catgirls and cat ladies are not at all the same.

Alon, 7 days ago to random

Israel is starting to crack under pressure by the US and the IDF and proposing to have Palestinian Authority members staff the Rafah crossing, but it's still on copium and wants them to pretend to be members of a local aid committee, to avoid broadcasting that there's collaboration between Israel and the PA. Mahmoud Abbas, wisely, is saying that he wants this to be official. https://www.axios.com/2024/05/13/israel-palestinian-authority-rafah-crossing

Alon, 8 days ago to Eurovision

Okay, I'm finally listening to the top 5 #Eurovision songs, and I like Rim Tim Tagi Dim. Hurricane is great, but it doesn't feel as Eurovision-y?

Alon, 9 days ago to random

TIL the Israeli ambassador showed up at Putin's sham election victory celebration two months ago. For shame. No wonder Ukraine and Poland aren't bothering to vote with Israel at the UN.

Alon, 9 days ago to random

I'm streaming in 20 minutes about the Northeast Corridor south of New York. We have a timetable; with padding, the New York-Washington intercities could do the trip in 1:54, making one stop per state.

Alon, 10 days ago to random

New poll from Israel by Lazar, the most consistent pollster since the war started, has the prewar coalition back at 47. They were polling in the 45-48 range for most of the war, went up to 50 after the Netzah Yehuda sanctions and walkback, and are now back down.

Alon, 10 days ago to random

At #Amaze2024, at a talk about solarpunk and Games for Future. Speaker talks about positive change needed for decarbonization and gives the historic examples of women's suffrage in 1918 (1971 in Switzerland), indoor public place smoking bans starting 2017... and the closure of the nuclear plants last year. In a talk about the future and climate change.

Alon, 10 days ago to random

This elevator is making me think - all the elevators I keep seeing here on the U-Bahn have doors open in one direction on the street and the opposite direction on the platform, even when it's possible to have same-direction opening as is the norm in most buildings. Is this an intentional decision to allow wheelchair users to get in and out without reversing direction?

Alon, 11 days ago to random

Pedestrian Observations: American Myths of European Poverty https://pedestrianobservations.com/2024/05/09/american-myths-of-european-poverty/

Alon, 11 days ago to random

So, @cidney and I are thinking of famous literary and historic incels, to see if Young Werther was the original example... and then Cid pointed out that Sappho was femcel millennia earlier.

Alon, 12 days ago to random

Pedestrian Observations: The Politics of QueensLink https://pedestrianobservations.com/2024/05/07/the-politics-of-queenslink/

Alon, 13 days ago to random

On the one hand, Hamas turns out to have offered to deliver dead bodies to Israel in lieu of living hostages, and that's why Israel is restarting talks but not accepting its offer.

On the other hand, in Barak Ravid's reporting at least, the biggest concerns that Israeli negotiators have are not about the dead hostages but about Hamas's demand for a stage-two withdrawal from Gaza.

Alon, 13 days ago to random

Amy Plitt is hiring a digital content producer for the MTA: https://careers.mta.org/jobs/14349683-digital-content-producer#:~:text=SUMMARY%3A,as%20its%20website%20and%20newsletters

Alon, 13 days ago to random

Stream is back (in about half an hour); I'm going to talk about regime type and infrastructure, and the myth of authoritarian efficiency.

Alon, 14 days ago to random

Al-Jazeera is reporting that Hamas says it accepts the Egyptian ceasefire proposal, and showing celebrations in Gaza in response to this announcement. Now it's entirely on Bibi 🙃 .

Alon, 15 days ago to random

Are there good histories of the origin of the social democrat/green split? Because these days those parties are extremely similar throughout Europe (and in the Netherlands they just merged), and generally they prefer to govern with each other when possible.

Alon, 15 days ago to random

Wasn't there supposed to be a deal agreed to within hours yesterday? Or is it one of these situations in which Egypt/Qatar/the US says there's a deal hoping that this gets Hamas or Israel or both to say yes and then it doesn't?

Alon, 16 days ago (edited 15 days ago) to random

Stone Mountain, Georgia should be reused as

Alon, 16 days ago to random

Haaretz reports that Hamas will accept the Egyptian ceasefire deal within hours. https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/2024-05-04/ty-article-live/report-u-s-tells-qatar-to-expel-hamas-leaders-if-they-refuse-cease-fire-deal/0000018f-412e-d17f-adcf-f9eff5aa0000