Alon (they/them)

@alonlevy.bsky.social

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Transit researcher in Berlin. Lived in Tel Aviv, Singapore, the Riviera, New York, Providence, Vancouver, Stockholm, Paris. https://pedestrianobservations.com/ http://patreon.com/alonlevy [email protected] @[email protected]

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Most of my subway crayon is more realistic than Biden's latest on mandatory retirement for Supreme Court justices and a new constitutional amendment.

Live now, talking about elevators and other housing construction issues. See Stephen Smith's report as a starting point: www.centerforbuilding.org/elevators www.twitch.tv/alon_levy

General 1 — Center for Building in North Americawww.centerforbuilding.org

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Alon (they/them)

We can tolerate diverse views in the left-liberal coalition without resorting to name-calling and derision. The Biden or Harris decision is genuinely hard, there are arguments on both sides, and I respect all of Beutler, Pelosi, AOC, and Ron Klain. 1/ bsky.app/profile/john...

Brian Beutler has become such a loser

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Alon (they/them)

Reply to

drow zelensky

This is a good definition because it encapsulates Melenchon, Macron and Le Pen all at the same time.

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Alon (they/them)

Reply to

drow zelensky

It's basically what I said above, or more precisely: Populism is the idea that all of society's ills derive from a small group of unrepresentative elites divorced from the general population, and that a good politician would enact the General Will of the People, which is currently being denied.

I don't think any of them is - a big difference between mid-20c fascists and modern-day democratic backsliders is that the former had Man of Action as a key identity whereas the latter are indecisive and never take responsibility (which is a major criticism of Bibi from both left and right).

Which 20th century autocrat is the best comparison to Donald Trump? Salazar?

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Alon (they/them)

Israel's inciter in chief Netanyahu never fails to make himself the victim www.haaretz.com/opinion/edit...

Editorial | Israel's Inciter in Chief Netanyahu never fails to make himself the victimwww.haaretz.com ***

My video from Saturday about BRT and developing-world transit is on YouTube: www.youtube.com/watch?v=8wjS... I'm going to stream today at 19:00 (in 19 hours), on elevators and other issues of housing construction costs.

- YouTubewww.youtube.com Enjoy the videos and music you love, upload original content, and share it all with friends, family, and the world on YouTube.

In international law, too! The ICJ is very easy to understand if you're a legal realist and puzzling otherwise.

i think the past couple of years have shown the legal realists were absolutely correct and the legal positivists entirely incorrect imo

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Alon (they/them)

Women in Egypt graduate from STEM fields at parity with men but encounter significant barriers to entering STEM careers due to gender bias and societal norms. egyptianstreets.com/2024/07/15/g...

Gender Bias Has an Impact on Women’s Participation in Egypt’s STEM Sector | Egyptian Streetsegyptianstreets.com Women and men graduate in almost equal numbers in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) degrees in Egypt, yet far fewer women pursue careers in these fields, a study on women in STE...

My biggest complaint about Mastodon has long been that the userbase isn't interested in news and thus has low media literacy, but it's getting much better with the bridge to Threads; a Fedi feed that has some Threads accounts like Jamelle Bouie in addition to natively-Fedi accounts works very well.

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Alon (they/them)

It’s An Honor To Continue Being Valued Over Countless Human Lives www.nytimes.com/live/2024/07...

Israel Says Airstrike Killed Top Hamas Deputy but Shadowy Commander’s Fate Unclearwww.nytimes.com Muhammad Deif’s fate was uncertain after Saturday’s assassination attempt, which killed dozens of Palestinians. Israeli officials said the strike followed weeks of surveillance of a compound used by o...

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Alon (they/them)

Do we have anyone in Nassau? They’re trying to pass a mask ban and there’s a hearing in Mineola Monday. Take action from home too— covidadvocacyny.org/nassau #NoNYMaskBan ht @covidadvocacy.bsky.social

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Alon (they/them)

A lot of progressive accounts are spreading this claim and it is not true. I have verified the FEC records myself. They match the alleged gunman's street address.

The frustrating thing is that air travel can be shrunk - there's already the concept of Flight Shame - and it's not going to reduce tourism, because people can do tourism by train instead. This is much more sustainable growth than degrowth.

If the hotel and airline industries were radically shrunk, as degrowth proposes, then travel would be prohibitively expensive for most people. The distinction seems purely aesthetic.

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Alon (they/them)

The degrowth framework is very straightforward: When I (geography masters degree, anti capitalist, cool) go to CDMX for a week, it is a virtuous cultural exchange. When you (business undergrad, uncool, Biden voter) visit Mexico City it’s a commodified, exploitative transaction.

It's suddenly quiet at Hackescher Markt as everyone's watching the game instead of making noise. (That's also how I can know it's still 0-0 without checking the score or watching myself.)

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Alon (they/them)

fun fact: In the '60s Belgian language wars, the formerly bilingual University of Louvain (Leuven), became Dutch only So an ENTIRE NEW CITY was created, "Louvain la Neuve" ("new Louvain"), in Wallonia, so the French wing could reboot & retain its name en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louvain...

Louvain-la-Neuve - Wikipediaen.m.wikipedia.org

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Alon (they/them)

Trump rally shooter: Registered Republican, young white man, with an AR-15. That says nothing about Republicans (or young people, white people, men, or gun owners). And it clearly says nothing about Democrats, people of color, women, or other groups he wasn't a part of.

Why is Bibi using a foreign and not domestic example of incitement, like the coffin at the protests?

In Israel, Netanyahu and his allies are using Trump’s assassination attempt to claim there massive incitement against Netanyahu that goes untreated by opposition, protest mvmts, and legal establishment. Screened a video of violent statements against him in cabinet meeting and media blitz.

Pedestrian Observations: Quick Preliminary Notes on Rolling Stock Costs pedestrianobservations.com/2024/07/13/q...

Quick Preliminary Notes on Rolling Stock Costspedestrianobservations.com At the Transit Costs Project, we're starting to build a database not just of infrastructure construction costs but also rolling stock acquisition costs. The database is extremely incomplete and not at...

Live now, talking about BRT and transit in general in developing-world cities. www.twitch.tv/alon_levy

Alon_Levy - Twitchwww.twitch.tv I study and write about trains, especially how they compare in different places. I live in Berlin, but have lived in a bunch of other cities (Tel Aviv, Singapore, French Riviera, New York, Providence,...

Stream is back today, at the usual time of 19:00. Which topic should I cover? Options include BRT and developing country transit models, which was considered last week, or housing construction and elevators as in Stephen Smith's report. www.centerforbuilding.org/elevators

General 1 — Center for Building in North Americawww.centerforbuilding.org

RETVRN to tradition, bring back videos of people holding today's newspaper as proof of life.

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Alon (they/them)

Jamelle Bouie: so I had a sandwich today Guy with 21 followers and a bio about being a huge fan of gardening: you wouldn't fucking dare

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Alon (they/them)

I’m sure the NYT is going to get even more fond of trans people now that we ran their only columnist who will write essays about our issues off a website with brigading. So glad to be part of a minority group that knows how to form coalitions and play nice with others

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Alon (they/them)

I was on The Urbanist Agenda with Jason Slaughter of Not Just Bikes ranting about Kathy Hochul and her disastrous decision to cancel — I mean “pause” — congestion pricing. Available wherever you listen to podcasts. overcast.fm/+BARYq7K3Ck

NYC REALLY Screwed Up Congestion Pricing (with Doug Gordon) — The Urbanist Agendaovercast.fm New York City was about to roll out congestion charging. The cameras were up, the staff were hired, the metro projects were financed, and thousands of people were lined up to make public transit bette...

Bluesky is reproducing all of the worst aspects of Mastodon, isn't it?

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Alon (they/them)

people on here need to stop being so fucking weird about jamelle bouie

Dutch infrastructure maintenance quality: more segments on HSL-South are being slowed down, to as little as 80 km/h, adding up to previous slowdown to produce a 10 minute delay on the line. www.railjournal.com/passenger/hi...

Speed restrictions tightened on HSL-Southwww.railjournal.com Dutch infrastructure manager ProRail has lowered speed restrictions to 80km/h at five viaducts on HSL-South where cracks have been discovered.