My take is it's mostly irrelevant, but read the lobsters post mentioned elsewhere.

Yes, and it doesn't matter if they do read the terms- to the average user they sound totally innocuous, especially placed next to a big shiny "GET 500 FREE COINS" button.

I think a better way of looking at it might be that there are plenty of other museums that fit the bill, but the Louvre is no longer one of them.

It makes so much sense on one level. At the same time, I worry in the long run this could have the effect of trimming the budget for less selfie-worthy exhibits. I love stuff like the Napoleon III apartments.

Nope, they're not talking about reducing access to anything existing. It's a win-win.

They're not talking about it because they have the best intentions; the problem isn't this administration, it's market forces.

Borrow, rent, pay someone else to do it, or throw your hands up in the air when you've tried nothing, are all out of ideas, and fuck the externalities.

While I don't deny there are pockets of abnormality like you suggest, having grown up on a dirt road in rural America and spent most of my adult life in cities, suburbia comes across as the antithesis of community. It was founded on the very promise of insularity. Obviously, that's not everyone's agenda, but it's beyond debate that its defining principle was segregation (followed by uniformity and convenience). I want to be sympathetic but I don't understand how people buy into it without accepting this. We've made some progress as a society, but having visited a lot of suburban neighborhoods all over the U.S., the remnants of the original mindset still come across loud and clear.

I think a key component is that “suburb” has multiple meanings - and which one comes to mind when it’s mentioned depends on where you were raised/lived.

Some suburbs are the stereotypical miles and miles of identical homes with no sidewalks.

Others are actual older rural towns that have been consumed by the nearby metropolis - and these ones feel quite different.

There’s a kind of “suburb” that is usually quite lively - the rural suburb, often a pocket of relatively dense homes in a sea of wheat.

One of my indicators is lemonade stands. If they appear regularly, the area is alive.

My guess is while there are few people swimming in the river now, it's easy to imagine there will be tens of thousands in a couple years. Paris-Plages is a huge hit. The city probably figures it's better to ease people into the habit rather than try to force it on everyone afterward.

> I mean, you could demolish half of it and build highways and parking lots

Right, and sadly this describes the downtowns of many U.S. cities since Robert Moses.

This is true, but shortsighted. The overall Paris-Plage plan is a resounding success. Re-opening the Seine to swimming is likely to be just as popular.

Absolutely, and if you like the Musée des Égouts de Paris, you'll also enjoy the sewer museum in Brussels.