Ethan Blonder

@austin_way Got plans to do this for AP Micro/Macro? I teach it "old school" right now and, although my students are consistently above 4 avg, I recognize this isn't the best way anymore. Tried building something but need to develop my skills further as pure vibe coding wasn't enough.

At 17, I pitched my school's founder to let me build the AP social science edtech. (AP = Advanced Placement.) That was 2 months ago. Today the practice test results are in. AP Human Geography (13 students): avg 5.00 AP US History (9 students): avg 5.00 AP World History (9 students): avg 5.00 A 5 is a perfect score. The national average on these exams is a 2.91. Only 14% of students ever score a 5. In just 6 weeks of using the program, students' practice test scores jumped: Student 1: 1 → 5 Student 2: 2 → 5 Student 3: 2 → 5 Every student got there through advanced, personalized edtech. ( @AlphaSchoolATX is the future of education )

I've seen a lot of friends' "first look" photos and everyone looked the same as usual + more makeup. Why are we crying here, guys?

Saw Project Hail Mary. Loved it. Saw it in IMAX. Don't understand the hype *at all.* Just looked like a movie to me.

When you need like 8 more words to hit the minimum word count for the essay

How sure are we that early years are peak language learning years? I feel like if you gave me 5 years of pure immersion into a new language, multiple adults trying to help me learn it, and no responsibilities whatsoever, I could speak it as well as a native 5-year old for sure

Once you notice how cooking competition reality shows have deeply influenced the way we talk casually about restaurant food, you can't stop noticing it

@kaisoapbox Listen to almost anything by Fountains of Wayne. Schlesinger (RIP) wrote mostly from the perspective of a typicak anxious dude from Jersey. Whole song about waiting in line at the DMV hoping you get called to the counter of the attractive girl, dreaming about your life together.

I feel like i can't write lyrics for songs bc they're overwhelmingly written by deeply irresponsible people can you give me examples of music that was clearly written by and for the overly conscientious

Working on a theory that America's GDP growth drastically outpacing Europe's is mostly because of our atrocious health care system. Americans know that savings are never really safe, so they have to keep working and earning more at all costs, whereas Europeans just need "enough."

Bought a mid-rise courtyard apartment about 4 years ago...feeling more and more like this is the optimal form of urban living. Peaceful interior courtyard where you see friendly neighbors daily, but also enough density to support extremely high walkability. Loving life.

@BoredElonMusk Bathroom has a regular light switch and a dim light switch for middle-of-the-night trips. Dimmer switch would also work fine.

What is the best non-obvious feature of your home that you wish more people knew about? Asking for a friend who may be building a new one from scratch. (The friend is me)

I don't typically get food cravings of any kind. But right now I'm thinking real hard about the Sbarro in Chicago Union Station.

I've made it to 32 years old without remembering the difference between hen, chicken, and rooster. Just gonna wait til my son asks to re-learn this one

@CollinJHumphrey Did a gut renovation of our apartment. Best touch (and cheap too) was having different switches in the bathrooms for dim and full lighting. If you wake up to pee in the middle of the night, you turn on the dim lights - no more seared eyeballs at 3 AM.

Homeowners who’ve built their dream house: What’s the one thing you regret not adding? Or what a must have if you ever build again?

@devonzuegel Projects like this are always super interesting to me, but when price lists go up, they are usually only accessible to top ~10-20% income earners. What is the plan to make the town affordable to the countless middle-income people needed to make a place functional? Barbers, etc.

I've been quietly working on something for a while, so I'm excited to finally be able to share it with you... We are creating a new town called Esmeralda! Our team has an exclusive option on a beautiful piece of land 90 mins north of SF, in California wine country

Closest I've ever seen to a "here's what ______ taught me about B2B SaaS sales" LinkedIn post in real life

Cushiest job on Earth is the Lennar employee who plays with fridge magnets to make the soulless names for new character-less suburban subdivisions: Tower Hill Village Sunset View Ridge Green Valley Town

There are not a lot of celebrities that I care about, but I always stop to read every memorial thread for Adam Schlesinger. Probably the greatest songwriter of the modern era. You probably know way more of his music than you realize.

Boomer women posting about wine = guys in the mid-2000s posting about epic bacon

White people are physically incapable of being on a kayak, raft, or canoe in a foreign country without drinking that country's cheapest brand of beer

I've stayed quiet because my opinion ain't worth much, but... While yes, Hamas = bad, Israeli action in Gaza right now will go down with the Holocaust, Rape of Nanking, My Lai, etc. as an all-time atrocity. Feels like Israel was looking forward to having an excuse to do this.