Ethan Freedman

Ethan Freedman

@ethanpfreedman.com

Just be cool, man. Reporter: science, nature, agriculture, climate. Bylines at Scientific American, PopSci, Sierra, Slate, Fatherly, etc. He/Him. RTs =/= Endorsement. Opinions solely mine. Old posts delete en masse. Chicago www.ethanpfreedman.com

13.2K followers1.8K following95 posts

My two thoughts on the new season of Nobody Wants This is that it’s incredible how the show has managed to not mention Israel once, and that when Adam Brody said “Jews don’t really go camping” I felt, again, that my experience as an American Jew was not remotely close to being represented here

Reading a non-fiction book that fails at doing actual journalism, from both an interrogative and storytelling perspective — and I think it goes unsaid how many non-fiction books published each year would have been much better off as a mid-length article

If you are writing a book I want narrative! I want complications to your thesis! I want something that goes beyond fawning admiration for your main sources and their viewpoints, with a little tension to move me along!

Every time I check my phone to see what just happened in the Steelers game it either says “Jaylen Warren runs for 15 yards” or “Aaron Rodgers throws an incomplete pass”

"high-tech, low-book" is like, the exact opposite of the direction education should be heading

The New York Times@nytimes.com

Alpha School, a fast-growing private school network, promises to use A.I. to teach kids twice as much in half the time. While its students’ test scores are high, some parents and educators are questioning its high-tech, low-book model. nyti.ms/4BoCEtK

I want the ghost of Eugene Debs to fly from Omaha to Ogallala while trailing a chorus of Solidarity Forever. I want the sandhill cranes of the Platte River to unionize. Every grain elevator along I-80 painted red with the unity of the working class.

This is unrelated to the current news, but I've always thought I’ve always found the debate about whether Sally Rooney's novels are Marxist because the characters talk about Marxism not the point –– her novels (at the least ones I'm familiar with) explore how people become alienated from each other

This often happens due to social and economic class trappings. It’s not exactly Das Capital, but it is an exploration of how societal structures shape our lives — sometimes in ways we see and sometimes in ways we don’t see.

This is truly great news – I've been to this corner of Arizona twice, and it's stunning. The first time I went, I stayed the night in a small cabin in a canyon and woke up surrounded by deer, skunk, hummingbirds, and other wildlife. I felt like a Disney princess.

nytimes.comAmerica Mints a New National Park, Elevating an Arizonan ‘Sky Island’After years of bipartisan effort, the former Chiricahua National Monument, in southeast Arizona, has become the United States’ 64th national park.

This is also the only spot in the US where you can spot Coppery-tailed Trogons and one of the few places where jaguars have been spotted in the US in recent years

It is sunny with a high of 70 degrees today and after work I am going to have a $12 martini with a sandwich. These are things I only dreamed about living in New York.

Wading into a minefield here, but I have been disappointed to see that many of the progressive candidates for Chicago school board don’t have anything on their websites about the value and quality of the education students are getting — the whole reason schools exist in the first place!

There’s a lot about funding and resources and services and other aspects of how schools play a vital role in a community, all of which is so important and so good. But it’s also important that students are challenged and get a holistic, strong education. You only get one chance to grow up!

I think what I chafe against is his combination of deception and reveling in making people squirm. Whatever the stated intention of the work, there's something off-putting and sad about tackling an idea through this smug sort-of laughing down at people who aren't in on the bit.

Ethan Freedman@ethanpfreedman.com

I have not seen the new Nathan Fielder movie, nor have I watched entire episodes of his shows. But every clip I have seen of this guy feels like mean-spirited pseudo-intellectual content for internet-poisoned nihilists. Yet I read about how his work is, apparently, transcendent. What am I missing?

I have not seen the new Nathan Fielder movie, nor have I watched entire episodes of his shows. But every clip I have seen of this guy feels like mean-spirited pseudo-intellectual content for internet-poisoned nihilists. Yet I read about how his work is, apparently, transcendent. What am I missing?

A friend of mine recently got me a very nice fountain pen –– and I have to apologize to fountain pens, for I was not familiar with their game. Truly an unparalleled writing experience.

This story is a perfect microcosm of the ineptitude of most American policymaking decisions. There's a real, important infrastructure-based problem (dangerous cars and roads) and the chosen solution is ... a big gate to keep those cars out, instead of fixing the infrastructure's design flaws

nytimes.comA Colorado Town Was Beset by Traffic. Its Fix Led to a Border Battle.Bow Mar says restricting access to its public streets is a safety necessity. Critics see a miniature border wall.

In what world is “quality of life” in Chicago way worse than in Tampa, OKC, or Orlando?

Ben Raderstorf@raders.bsky.social

Sacramento is, by these metrics, the best value and some of the highest quality of life anywhere in the west. California incomes and sunshine with Portland’s prices and Denver’s access to nature is I guess a ranking-friendly combo?

I understand this metric may be based off of some measure of costs/space/etc. But that’s a flawed and incomplete measure of “quality”! Show me the public transit in Orlando. The theater scene in Tampa. The hot dogs in OKC.

Steelers look like absolute garbage. Pens look like absolute garbage. Pirates off for at least 5 months, maybe more. Mets are a joke. Nets are such a joke the rest of the NBA forgets they exist. Sky were terrible and off for 7 more months. Perhaps it’s finally time to get into soccer.

It might have been unpleasant for someone who doesn’t like being around other people, and my take is that those people should not live in major cities

I'm going to the game in Chicago next week and was very excited about this after the first two games and am now... let's say a little more worried about if I will have a good time

I am standing up as a proud pumpkin beer apologist — going on record to say there is nothing wrong with a delicious brown ale with cinnamon and nutmeg and cloves, and a hint of roasted gourd

One thing most people probably don't understand about science is that there is a researcher for every question –– I was just searching for someone to provide insight on a story I'm writing and found somebody who studies the exact thing I'm writing about, in exactly the same region I'm writing about

What might it feel like to play football on Mars? There's a scientist for that. What are tapir boogers like? There's a scientist for that. If you drank a glass of dark matter, what would happen? Can that happen? There's a scientist for that.