Asher Elbein
@asherelbein.bsky.social
Freelance writing about the wild, old and dead. (Plus comics.) Bylines in The New York Times, SciAm, Undark, Texas Monthly, and lots of other places. Repped by @desir.ee at Looking Glass Literary.
Pinned
The Suburbs Sprawl on a Grave of Wildfire
How the crusade against nature made — and perhaps doomed — American development.
heat-death.ghost.io
In the 1890s, Gifford Pinchot — often hailed as America's first serious forest conservationist — went on a quest to make forests that could be tightly controlled. In doing so, Marin Scotten writes, he helped birth both the American suburb and a new age of wildfires.
New, on Heat Death!
New, on Heat Death!
Unfair, frankly, that this is how things work
IT HAPPENED TO ME: I stopped faffing about and Did The Thing and it turns out that this is What Gets Things Done.
November 10, 2025 at 11:12 PM
Unfair, frankly, that this is how things work
Fantasy publishing had an immunodeficiency well before the AI infection set in
I am at the fantasy bookstore. There are basically only two book covers nowadays, and that trend started well before gen ai, sadly
November 10, 2025 at 10:24 PM
Fantasy publishing had an immunodeficiency well before the AI infection set in
Reposted by Asher Elbein
🚨PTEROSAUR NEWS🚨
a warm welcome to bakiribu waridza, a filter-feeding ctenochasmatid from the early cretaceous romualdo formation of brazil. described by @alinemghilardi.bsky.social et al., it is recovered as a sibling taxon to the 'flamingo pterosaur' pterodaustro
(art by julio lacerda)
a warm welcome to bakiribu waridza, a filter-feeding ctenochasmatid from the early cretaceous romualdo formation of brazil. described by @alinemghilardi.bsky.social et al., it is recovered as a sibling taxon to the 'flamingo pterosaur' pterodaustro
(art by julio lacerda)
November 10, 2025 at 12:11 PM
🚨PTEROSAUR NEWS🚨
a warm welcome to bakiribu waridza, a filter-feeding ctenochasmatid from the early cretaceous romualdo formation of brazil. described by @alinemghilardi.bsky.social et al., it is recovered as a sibling taxon to the 'flamingo pterosaur' pterodaustro
(art by julio lacerda)
a warm welcome to bakiribu waridza, a filter-feeding ctenochasmatid from the early cretaceous romualdo formation of brazil. described by @alinemghilardi.bsky.social et al., it is recovered as a sibling taxon to the 'flamingo pterosaur' pterodaustro
(art by julio lacerda)
Reposted by Asher Elbein
Hi writers! I’m looking to assign a couple of features for Slate before the end of the year. If you have anything in mind that you think would be a fit please send me a pitch! Jenée.Desmond- harris@slate.com or dm me.
RTs are appreciated so this can reach more people. Thanks!
RTs are appreciated so this can reach more people. Thanks!
November 10, 2025 at 6:06 PM
Hi writers! I’m looking to assign a couple of features for Slate before the end of the year. If you have anything in mind that you think would be a fit please send me a pitch! Jenée.Desmond- harris@slate.com or dm me.
RTs are appreciated so this can reach more people. Thanks!
RTs are appreciated so this can reach more people. Thanks!
Reposted by Asher Elbein
In my old town the GOP had run basically without serious challenge for decades. A bunch of us "millennials" joined the local Dem party and basically asked to help.
We were running it in a year. Within 4 years we had a majority of town seats flipped Dem. A FAR more progressive Dem than old party
We were running it in a year. Within 4 years we had a majority of town seats flipped Dem. A FAR more progressive Dem than old party
“Rather than taking over the Democratic Party the same way the right took over the Republican Party, we should take the easier route and just start up a new party ourselves!”
I’m about to fill my pockets with stones and walk into the sea.
I’m about to fill my pockets with stones and walk into the sea.
November 10, 2025 at 8:44 PM
In my old town the GOP had run basically without serious challenge for decades. A bunch of us "millennials" joined the local Dem party and basically asked to help.
We were running it in a year. Within 4 years we had a majority of town seats flipped Dem. A FAR more progressive Dem than old party
We were running it in a year. Within 4 years we had a majority of town seats flipped Dem. A FAR more progressive Dem than old party
this is hysterically funny given that the prevailing tone of my various feeds has been "DEATH. WAR. FIRE. BLOOD"
the hipsters, they’re ordering double frufru mocha soy frappuccino. doesn’t anybody order a black coffee anymore
November 10, 2025 at 8:44 PM
this is hysterically funny given that the prevailing tone of my various feeds has been "DEATH. WAR. FIRE. BLOOD"
Reposted by Asher Elbein
if you are tired of moderate cavers who stand for nothing and answer to no one, join us. dsausa.org/join
November 10, 2025 at 8:04 PM
if you are tired of moderate cavers who stand for nothing and answer to no one, join us. dsausa.org/join
Reposted by Asher Elbein
The “Syncretic Vader“ hypothesis explains why various documents purporting to depict the ”individual” inside the armor vary so widely in physical characteristics
“Darth Vader” was an amalgamation of various Imperial Era generals and cyborgs that were combined in histories written centuries after the fact
November 10, 2025 at 8:01 PM
The “Syncretic Vader“ hypothesis explains why various documents purporting to depict the ”individual” inside the armor vary so widely in physical characteristics
It's often said that no book is ever finished, just taken away from an author. I'm finding that the same is true of research before you start writing the book, too
November 10, 2025 at 8:11 PM
It's often said that no book is ever finished, just taken away from an author. I'm finding that the same is true of research before you start writing the book, too
Reposted by Asher Elbein
In the 1890s, Gifford Pinchot — often hailed as America's first serious forest conservationist — went on a quest to make forests that could be tightly controlled. In doing so, Marin Scotten writes, he helped birth both the American suburb and a new age of wildfires.
New, on Heat Death!
New, on Heat Death!
The Suburbs Sprawl on a Grave of Wildfire
How the crusade against nature made — and perhaps doomed — American development.
heat-death.ghost.io
November 7, 2025 at 2:13 PM
In the 1890s, Gifford Pinchot — often hailed as America's first serious forest conservationist — went on a quest to make forests that could be tightly controlled. In doing so, Marin Scotten writes, he helped birth both the American suburb and a new age of wildfires.
New, on Heat Death!
New, on Heat Death!
Reposted by Asher Elbein
Critical Minerals? There’s a Plant for That
Could phytomining—using plants to pull metal out of the soil—put the green in “green transition”?
by @sarahdeweerdt.bsky.social
www.biographic.com/critical-min...
Could phytomining—using plants to pull metal out of the soil—put the green in “green transition”?
by @sarahdeweerdt.bsky.social
www.biographic.com/critical-min...
Critical Minerals? There’s a Plant for That - bioGraphic
Could phytomining—using plants to pull metal out of the soil—put the green in “green transition”?
www.biographic.com
November 6, 2025 at 2:06 PM
Critical Minerals? There’s a Plant for That
Could phytomining—using plants to pull metal out of the soil—put the green in “green transition”?
by @sarahdeweerdt.bsky.social
www.biographic.com/critical-min...
Could phytomining—using plants to pull metal out of the soil—put the green in “green transition”?
by @sarahdeweerdt.bsky.social
www.biographic.com/critical-min...
Reposted by Asher Elbein
I don’t do intro posts but every now and then I repost the greatest images ever: HORSES WITH DOG MOUTHS.
August 19, 2023 at 5:05 AM
I don’t do intro posts but every now and then I repost the greatest images ever: HORSES WITH DOG MOUTHS.
Oh, it was *Zionists* that corrupted "our" politicians and helped usher in fascism in this country, was it? Good thing it was them and not a larger, long-festering homegrown issue in American political life. If we just purge them it all be better
Zionists have been highly instrumental in corrupting our politicians and bringing about fascism in this country, those this information is very relevant.
November 10, 2025 at 4:37 PM
Oh, it was *Zionists* that corrupted "our" politicians and helped usher in fascism in this country, was it? Good thing it was them and not a larger, long-festering homegrown issue in American political life. If we just purge them it all be better
Hard mode: do not invoke Indiana Jones
November 10, 2025 at 4:09 PM
Hard mode: do not invoke Indiana Jones
It's worse, sometimes, *because* it's so casual. Why are you, British writer, capping off a charming anecdote about a Brazilian crowd repeatedly (and with increasingly visible exasperation) standing for a recording of the National Anthem by offhandedly referring to one of them by the N-word?
The trouble with any travelogue published by a European or American in the 1930s is that -- the more genuinely funny or engaging it is -- the more of a record scratch the invitable explosions of casual racism become
November 10, 2025 at 4:01 PM
It's worse, sometimes, *because* it's so casual. Why are you, British writer, capping off a charming anecdote about a Brazilian crowd repeatedly (and with increasingly visible exasperation) standing for a recording of the National Anthem by offhandedly referring to one of them by the N-word?
The trouble with any travelogue published by a European or American in the 1930s is that -- the more genuinely funny or engaging it is -- the more of a record scratch the invitable explosions of casual racism become
November 10, 2025 at 3:55 PM
The trouble with any travelogue published by a European or American in the 1930s is that -- the more genuinely funny or engaging it is -- the more of a record scratch the invitable explosions of casual racism become
Reposted by Asher Elbein
"Great Britain used to be a peninsula that had civilizations living on it" or "it's possible that the Black Sea was a freshwater lake hundreds of feet lower than it is today before a waterfall bigger than anything you could possible imagine filled it up from the Sea of Marmara in one year" are cool!
November 10, 2025 at 3:49 PM
"Great Britain used to be a peninsula that had civilizations living on it" or "it's possible that the Black Sea was a freshwater lake hundreds of feet lower than it is today before a waterfall bigger than anything you could possible imagine filled it up from the Sea of Marmara in one year" are cool!
Reposted by Asher Elbein
A fun thing about the Biblical flood story is that most every culture that lived anywhere near an ocean 10,000 years ago has a flood story; they're clearly all cultural memories of sea level rise in the wake of the melting of the Wisconsin glaciation; and credulous rubes ignore how cool that is.
The Today Show is currently giving a credulous report on researchers maybe "discovering" Noah's Ark. Like, the one from the Bible. A breathless, big-if-true report in which the principle "researcher" is quoting Genesis and the reporter is acting like the biblical flood story is a factual account.
November 10, 2025 at 3:43 PM
A fun thing about the Biblical flood story is that most every culture that lived anywhere near an ocean 10,000 years ago has a flood story; they're clearly all cultural memories of sea level rise in the wake of the melting of the Wisconsin glaciation; and credulous rubes ignore how cool that is.
AIPAC should be abolished but they and Israel have absolutely nothing to do with the shut down or the Senate democrats caving on it. Y'all please get a *grip*
November 10, 2025 at 3:45 PM
AIPAC should be abolished but they and Israel have absolutely nothing to do with the shut down or the Senate democrats caving on it. Y'all please get a *grip*
Jesus fucking christ
November 10, 2025 at 3:26 PM
Jesus fucking christ
Reposted by Asher Elbein
In 2022 I wrote about how cities die, the Musk takeover of Twitter, the "dead internet theory," and the increasingly demon-haunted online world. It's held up...distressingly well, I'd say
November 10, 2025 at 3:18 AM
In 2022 I wrote about how cities die, the Musk takeover of Twitter, the "dead internet theory," and the increasingly demon-haunted online world. It's held up...distressingly well, I'd say
Reposted by Asher Elbein
Kyle Kingsbury is not a journalist. He is not an op-ed writer.
He is a computer safety researcher.
And he has written one of the most compelling, comprehensive accounts of the ongoing hell in Chicago that you could possibly imagine.
In under 1600 words.
aphyr.com/posts/397-i-...
He is a computer safety researcher.
And he has written one of the most compelling, comprehensive accounts of the ongoing hell in Chicago that you could possibly imagine.
In under 1600 words.
aphyr.com/posts/397-i-...
November 9, 2025 at 8:49 PM
Kyle Kingsbury is not a journalist. He is not an op-ed writer.
He is a computer safety researcher.
And he has written one of the most compelling, comprehensive accounts of the ongoing hell in Chicago that you could possibly imagine.
In under 1600 words.
aphyr.com/posts/397-i-...
He is a computer safety researcher.
And he has written one of the most compelling, comprehensive accounts of the ongoing hell in Chicago that you could possibly imagine.
In under 1600 words.
aphyr.com/posts/397-i-...
Reposted by Asher Elbein
[whispers] it's legal to sign up with both Indivisible and DSA. you don't even have to decide who you're doing entryism on until later.
Alternatively if that's not your cup of tea and you're more center left or whatnot like go sign up with Indivisible or some local group or whatever
November 10, 2025 at 4:04 AM
[whispers] it's legal to sign up with both Indivisible and DSA. you don't even have to decide who you're doing entryism on until later.