Alon (they/them)
@alonlevy.bsky.social
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]
Is it significant enough a change to warrant an Ali Khamenei Award or is it too small and the award should keep going to Israeli cabinet members for their services to making Israel worse?
February 6, 2026 at 3:48 AM
Is it significant enough a change to warrant an Ali Khamenei Award or is it too small and the award should keep going to Israeli cabinet members for their services to making Israel worse?
AIPAC instead chose to attack a pro-Israel but anti-Netanyahu Democrat.
February 6, 2026 at 3:45 AM
AIPAC instead chose to attack a pro-Israel but anti-Netanyahu Democrat.
Socialism has been foolish for many decades now.
February 6, 2026 at 3:34 AM
Socialism has been foolish for many decades now.
A lot hinges on the city's ability to reduce construction costs; unfortunately the 125th Street subway paper the MTA just put out assumes double the previous costs, at which point little to none of this is worth it.
February 6, 2026 at 3:24 AM
A lot hinges on the city's ability to reduce construction costs; unfortunately the 125th Street subway paper the MTA just put out assumes double the previous costs, at which point little to none of this is worth it.
Yes, and Icelandic is not at all mutually intelligible with Swedish or Norwegian or Danish at a time depth of about 1,000 years, and the same is true of the Slavic languages (can you have a conversation with a monolingual Russian?).
February 6, 2026 at 1:26 AM
Yes, and Icelandic is not at all mutually intelligible with Swedish or Norwegian or Danish at a time depth of about 1,000 years, and the same is true of the Slavic languages (can you have a conversation with a monolingual Russian?).
FWIW, a Yiddish speaker can't converse with a German speaker at similar time depth.
February 6, 2026 at 1:17 AM
FWIW, a Yiddish speaker can't converse with a German speaker at similar time depth.
Scotland had literacy early but Scots and English are only marginally intelligible, at maybe one third the time depth (16th-19th century - once railroads come in, there's homogenization).
February 6, 2026 at 1:16 AM
Scotland had literacy early but Scots and English are only marginally intelligible, at maybe one third the time depth (16th-19th century - once railroads come in, there's homogenization).
Yes, and his books are explicitly a parody of the genre.
February 6, 2026 at 1:15 AM
Yes, and his books are explicitly a parody of the genre.
Ladino and Spanish diverged something like 1/6th the time ago that passed between Isildur's time and the War of the Ring.
February 6, 2026 at 1:05 AM
Ladino and Spanish diverged something like 1/6th the time ago that passed between Isildur's time and the War of the Ring.
All the attributes that make cops so hatable - racism, casual violence, domestic violence - are a lot worse among criminal groups. The mafia is an incredibly racist institution, and is so sexist that an Italian prosecutor managed to flip wives who were being beaten by their mafiosi husbands.
February 6, 2026 at 1:04 AM
All the attributes that make cops so hatable - racism, casual violence, domestic violence - are a lot worse among criminal groups. The mafia is an incredibly racist institution, and is so sexist that an Italian prosecutor managed to flip wives who were being beaten by their mafiosi husbands.
(Because genre fantasy is about toffs and not people who have jobs, and stories written from the perspective of the commoners are so profoundly different they don't even register as part of the same genre.)
February 6, 2026 at 1:02 AM
(Because genre fantasy is about toffs and not people who have jobs, and stories written from the perspective of the commoners are so profoundly different they don't even register as part of the same genre.)
There were occasional traders going all over Europe. If anything, the extent of trade that appears on the page of Lord of the Rings is a lot less than that in medieval Europe - we don't see anything like the Hanseatic League (in either Tolkien or Martin).
February 6, 2026 at 1:01 AM
There were occasional traders going all over Europe. If anything, the extent of trade that appears on the page of Lord of the Rings is a lot less than that in medieval Europe - we don't see anything like the Hanseatic League (in either Tolkien or Martin).
Wait, I thought it was Pippin's line, not Sam. Nvm.
February 6, 2026 at 12:57 AM
Wait, I thought it was Pippin's line, not Sam. Nvm.
On the other hand, the literal heir of the hereditary mayor has his "this is the farthest from home I've ever gone" line. This is not a society with a lot of mobility.
February 6, 2026 at 12:54 AM
On the other hand, the literal heir of the hereditary mayor has his "this is the farthest from home I've ever gone" line. This is not a society with a lot of mobility.
Mass literacy slows down language drift but doesn't prevent it, not at the time depths or the physical separation depicted in these stories.
February 6, 2026 at 12:51 AM
Mass literacy slows down language drift but doesn't prevent it, not at the time depths or the physical separation depicted in these stories.
I mean, everyone in Lord of the Ring who's fighting is idle gentry, except maybe the orcs. Aragorn doesn't have a job.
February 6, 2026 at 12:49 AM
I mean, everyone in Lord of the Ring who's fighting is idle gentry, except maybe the orcs. Aragorn doesn't have a job.
I just cut Tolkien less slack on this because of his background, same way I cut GRRM less slack on the army numbers than Tolkien because GRRM is supposed to be history-based whereas Tolkien is mythology-based.
February 6, 2026 at 12:49 AM
I just cut Tolkien less slack on this because of his background, same way I cut GRRM less slack on the army numbers than Tolkien because GRRM is supposed to be history-based whereas Tolkien is mythology-based.
It does. To only use book examples and not Ros: Tyrion should not be able to communicate with anyone from the Night's Watch with commoner background unless it's someone from King's Landing or Lannisport. This isn't a GRRM-good-Tolkien-bad issue, this is an epic-fantasy-bad issue.
February 6, 2026 at 12:47 AM
It does. To only use book examples and not Ros: Tyrion should not be able to communicate with anyone from the Night's Watch with commoner background unless it's someone from King's Landing or Lannisport. This isn't a GRRM-good-Tolkien-bad issue, this is an epic-fantasy-bad issue.
Fell how many ages ago? Speaking of medieval stasis...
February 6, 2026 at 12:45 AM
Fell how many ages ago? Speaking of medieval stasis...
And Merry and Pippin aren't the champions of theirs?
February 6, 2026 at 12:45 AM
And Merry and Pippin aren't the champions of theirs?
Yes, but the idea that Frodo should be able to communicate from the Shire to Gondor is uncertain and the idea that Sam should is preposterous.
February 6, 2026 at 12:43 AM
Yes, but the idea that Frodo should be able to communicate from the Shire to Gondor is uncertain and the idea that Sam should is preposterous.
Yeah, and cultures like that end up being provinces of cultures that do have heavy mail armor, and not with the extremely loose "the king is not allowed to enter" vassalage either.
February 6, 2026 at 12:43 AM
Yeah, and cultures like that end up being provinces of cultures that do have heavy mail armor, and not with the extremely loose "the king is not allowed to enter" vassalage either.
>great spies
Are they? They literally can't pretend to be non-hobbits.
Are they? They literally can't pretend to be non-hobbits.
February 6, 2026 at 12:42 AM
>great spies
Are they? They literally can't pretend to be non-hobbits.
Are they? They literally can't pretend to be non-hobbits.
They can't ride (it's a huge plot point!), they can't hold place in a line of battle, and they aren't being used as auxiliary slingers at scale. We are seeing Merry be useful as in effect a D&D rogue but that's still while helping a human heavy fighter who delivers the main blow.
February 6, 2026 at 12:36 AM
They can't ride (it's a huge plot point!), they can't hold place in a line of battle, and they aren't being used as auxiliary slingers at scale. We are seeing Merry be useful as in effect a D&D rogue but that's still while helping a human heavy fighter who delivers the main blow.
Halflings are garbage at fighting, so make of that what you will.
February 6, 2026 at 12:30 AM
Halflings are garbage at fighting, so make of that what you will.