Jeudredi Roundup 30/3/23

It’s not just the Brussels weather that makes me think it might be January. I’ve been knee-deep in work stress that have given me no time to read things other than spreadsheets and climate city contracts. Apologies for the writer’s block. I’d like to say work things are all sorted out, but I would never lie to my subscribers. Nonetheless, it is time to get back in the saddle. Onwards!

Tram lines

I didn’t think black bears would eat my face. (New Republic) What happened when a group of libertarian fanatics took over public services in a small New Hampshire town in black bear country. Summary: “Some kept feeding the bears, some built traps, others holed up in their homes, and still others went everywhere toting increasingly larger-caliber handguns.”

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A better social internet. Between ChatGPT and Musk it feels like we are living the last days of text-based social media platforms, at least global ad-funded ones. What might replace them? The Initiative for Digital Public Infrastructure has come up with a "three-legged stool”, three essential elements of a better digital public sphere - smaller scale, but still connected, and with shared services on things like moderation.

How BART built the Bay Area. Inadvertently US-focused Tram Lines this week, but I enjoyed this history of the Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART), focused on how it changed the towns and villages it connected rather than the trains or the service.

Radio-Télévision Bruxelles

📺 I had to finish it on catchup but 1985 (RTBF/VRT) was very good, using the interconnected stories of three young people arriving in Brussels to explore the tense times around the murderous supermarket raids of the Tueurs de Brabant (in Dutch, de Bende van Nijvel, after the site of one of their early attacks). The Gendarmerie play a big role, and if you are wondering why there isn’t a Gendarmerie any more … watch the show. [FR/NL]

🎧 BBC In Our Time often struggles with science and maths, but I thought it did a very good job of handling the life of the brilliant and odd Paul Erdős, and through him some of the elements of number theory and combinatorics.

Vijfhoek

The KANAL gallery on Place de l’Yser / IJzerplein will be opening in 2025, but until then the skeleton of the building is being covered by art. The first piece in the FAÇADE series is by Molenbeek-based Laure Provoust, and is hard to miss.

BRUZZ is running a series on the 80s (linked to 1985) and a walk around the Ste-Catherine / Sint Katelijne neighbourhood with local resident and philosopher Lieven De Cauter discusses its revival since those times to become one of the best - if not the best neighbourhood in Brussels. [NL]

Finally, the results are in, and the controversial GoodMove plan has improved traffic flow in the Pentagon and Schaerbeek. After a difficult initial period, including multiple protests and acts of violence by those opposed to the plans, I think it is time for us to come together as a community of Brusseleirs and say, HA! We TOLD you! We were RIGHT! [FR]

Have a good weekend!

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