Alon

Alon, 4 days ago to random

EPP 181
S&D 135
Renew 82
ECR 71
ID 62
G/EFA 53
GUE/NGL 31
Non-inscrits 51 (inc. AfD)
Independents 51

Can someone with a clue explain to me why G/EFA is doing so poorly? In particular, the Greens here are doing a couple points worse than in the federal election polls.

https://www.dw.com/en/eu-elections-far-right-makes-gains-in-germany-france/live-69312194

Alon, 4 days ago to random

Election update: no line at all. In and out in three minutes, the longest element being figuring out how to refold the ballot correctly.

Alon, 4 days ago to random

@sk76 That's not the ratio, not this time. The majority of people killed in the rescue operation appear to have been Hamas combatants. See analysis here: https://mastodon.social/@BenRossTransit/112586484718885299

Alon, 5 days ago to random

Pedestrian Observations: Quick Note on Respecting the Civil Service https://pedestrianobservations.com/2024/06/08/quick-note-on-respecting-the-civil-service/

Alon, 5 days ago to random

Do I need to stream about New York congestion pricing in 2.5 hours?

Alon, 7 days ago to random

I'm on the Climate and Community Project's email list; are people interested in me explaining why their latest "look at all the emissions caused by Israel's war" report is garbage? I have the entire thing, not just the talking points that stenographers at the Guardians wrote up.

Alon, 8 days ago to random

What the fuck, Kathy Hochul? https://www.nytimes.com/2024/06/04/nyregion/congestion-pricing-hochul-delayed.html

Alon, 9 days ago to random

It looks like 293-234-16. The NDA is relying on two regional parties for its majority, both of which are notorious alliance switchers: JD(U) by Bihar's chief minister for life, Nitish Kumar; and TDP by the corrupt N. Chandrababu Naidu. INDIA is reaching out to both, but both have said they'll attend the NDA meeting today. https://www.livemint.com/politics/news/elections-results-2024-yashwant-singh-asks-chandrababu-naidu-nitish-kumar-to-switch-to-india-bloc-nda-pm-modi-11717519502678.html https://www.thehindu.com/elections/lok-sabha/elections-results-2024-nitish-kumar-chandrababu-naidu-emerge-kingmakers/article68252063.ece

Alon, 9 days ago to random

35 years ago, nothing happened in Beijing. Here's a serene photo of a city center attraction.

Alon, 10 days ago to random

...275 seats for the NDA out of 543 is incredibly frustrating. A BJP landslide means it was not possible to do much about this; a BJP majority of seven seats means a slightly more competent Congress could have beaten them. This is not at all final - it's assigning who is leading in each constituency - but it looks like the maximally frustrating outcome: BJP still in power but INDIA could have won. https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/elections/results

Alon, 12 days ago to random

The Moral Economy of the Shire: https://nathangoldwag.wordpress.com/2024/05/31/the-moral-economy-of-the-shire/

Alon, 14 days ago to random

Guilty. https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/05/30/trump-hush-money-trial-live-updates-jury-deliberations/

Alon, 15 days ago to random

Timetabling Northeast Corridor commuter and intercity trains in New Jersey is as close to a "God exists and is good" moment as possible. Local commuter trains, express commuter trains, and intercity trains... and they somehow all naturally overtake on the long six-track Linden-Rahway section.

Alon, 15 days ago to random

Paul Lewis on construction costs in the US vs. Germany. The principles shouldn't be too surprising to people who've read my posts or our Transit Costs Project reports, but the example of how in Germany contracts are broken into pieces sized about 100-200 million euros instead of much bigger ones as is the emerging Anglo norm is interesting. https://railway-news.com/how-to-get-more-tracks-for-your-greenbacks/

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

What's the worst thing to see on public transportation? StarCraft references edition.

Alon, 17 days ago to random

For all of the nationalist and populist desire to decentralize cities, today, for military defense purposes, it's best to keep investing in your large cities for both insurgents and counterinsurgents. An insurgent wants their cities to be like Gaza - defensible in urban warfare, allowing terrorists to blend into the civilian population. A counterinsurgent likewise wants dense cities in the metropole, because those can be defended from cheap rockets by Iron Dome-type systems more easily.

Alon, 18 days ago to random

Pedestrian Observations: Stop Spacing on Crosstown Routes https://pedestrianobservations.com/2024/05/26/stop-spacing-on-crosstown-routes/

Alon, 19 days ago to random

Is FAZ nutpicking here (wouldn't surprise me, it's a pretty racist paper), or is "free Palestine from German guilt" an actually common line among pro-Palestine protesters? Because that line needs to be treated in the same way as Björn Höcke's line that Holocaust denial should be legal. (Remember, Austria represses Palestinians and other nonwhites a lot and nobody blames this on its lack of Holocaust guilt.)

https://www.faz.net/aktuell/feuilleton/kolumnen/muslimisch-juedisches-abendbrot/palaestina-protest-camp-an-uni-frankfurt-antisemitisch-oder-israel-kritisch-19736328.html

Alon, 19 days ago to random

I feel seen by @philipncohen's post on American girls' names coming from surnames over time: https://familyinequality.wordpress.com/2024/05/25/giving-girls-surnames-as-first-names-has-peaked-for-now/

Among the 12 names in this chart, four are used for four of the characters in A Second Chance for Wings (the fifth character is C.J.), because we wanted gender-neutral names and went with very modern ones.

Alon, 20 days ago to random

Pedestrian Observations: Militarized and Other New Capital Cities https://pedestrianobservations.com/2024/05/24/militarized-and-other-new-capital-cities/

Alon, 20 days ago to random

It's very likely that the majority, probably a large majority, of people who are considered to be hostages in Gaza were killed on or right after 7.10 and Hamas is just holding their bodies. https://www.timesofisrael.com/under-a-rug-in-gazan-home-idf-troops-found-shaft-leading-to-bodies-of-4-hostages/

Alon, 20 days ago to random

In the Lazar poll from yesterday, the prewar coalition is at 46 seats. The opposition's 74-46 advantage is a bit soft in that Religious Zionism is below-threshold, and in an actual election when it had any risk of not clearing the threshold it would run with Otzma again, but even that only softens the advantage to 73-47 or at worst 72-48. The poll was taken after the ICC indictment of Bibi, Gallant, and Hamas leaders; Bibi is not getting any rally-around-the-flag bounce from this.

Alon, 22 days ago to random

Pedestrian Observations: Bus Stop Consolidation and Blocks https://pedestrianobservations.com/2024/05/22/bus-stop-consolidation-and-blocks/

Alon, 22 days ago to random

Travel plans to the US are getting more solid: flying in shortly before the 15th to visit Boston for a few days, then down to New York until early July. If people in Philly and DC really want I can come down there, but no guarantees.

Alon, 22 days ago to random

I can't believe I'm saying it, but, Renew Europe is based. https://www.euronews.com/my-europe/2024/05/21/renew-europe-will-vote-to-expel-dutch-vvd-party-on-june-10-group-leader-says