Is this image AI? the reflections in the window, the perfect snowman, that film grain filter… it looks too perfect to me.

Source: https://geekculture.com/joyoftech/joyarchives/2212.html

When did you last visit? i wonder if they changed it since i last visited in late 2023. I needed to pass through security checks to get into the general premises - gardens and such, and could stand under tower. No payment required.

Edited: this review on google maps (sorry) from two days ago says it’s free to pass through: https://goo.gl/maps/ARW1jYzt3mGUEKgE8

Isn’t it free to stand under it? Going up costs money, yes.

https://www.toureiffel.paris/en/faq/spot/can-you-walk-beneath-eiffel-tower-without-paying-ticket

I was there last year, and I only paid for an éclair and a coffee at one of the cafés / restaurants underneath the tower.

Answers in Progress made a (great) video about this:

why you were forced to learn the recorder in school

Highlight begins at 8:06.

There’s a decent bit of history involved, going back to the Nazis in WW2.

It’s not because it’s cheap to manufacture, because it wasn’t back in the day. It became cheaper because it grew popular. It was about unity and cultural identity.