I do this every workday, coming from the blue ferries on the right, exiting the plein on the red path at the bottom. It’s not inconceivable that I’m in the shot somewhere.

Timelapse van de shared space bij Centraal Station from Gemeente Amsterdam on Vimeo.

It is exactly as chaotic as it looks, but it’s the chaos of people making thousands of tiny, dynamic, one-off accommodations for each other. Call it artisanal small-batch traffic management, the distributed-processing alternative to a people-flow problem that no one has been able to find a systemic solution to: mixed wheeled and foot traffic coming from multiple directions, going multiple places, some in bursts and some in steady flows. It’s weird and improbable that it works.

But if you think about cycling in general, it’s a weird and improbable way to get around. How did anyone ever think that hurtling along on two narrow bands of rubber would work? It’s inherently ludicrous.

Mind you, walking’s pretty odd too.

Be an editorial assistant to me and a couple of other Tor editors. (I’m the Executive Editor mentioned in the job description; the other two are Miriam Weinberg and Jen Gunnels.) Hard work, long hours, and you will learn SF and fantasy publishing like whoa.

If this interests you, respond online at the linked job description, not by emailing me your resume. My inbox thanks you.

This job is one of two editorial-assistant positions we’re listing today. The other one will involve working for my colleague Liz Gorinsky and serving as Tor’s in-house liaison/coordinator with manga publisher Seven Seas, which Tor distributes.

To quote both listings, “We are an Equal Opportunity Employer committed to reflecting a broad representation of differences—race, ethnicity, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity/expression, physical ability, age, family status, economic background and status, geographical background and status, and perspective—in our workplace.” We mean it, too.