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Jodi Ettenberg

@legalnomads.com
4.9K followers 364 following 688 posts

Once a lawyer, then a celiac travel writer. Now disabled, writing about curiosity & health. Travel writing & gluten-free guides: legalnomads.com The best things I read each month: jodiettenberg.substack.com MCAS, meditation, & health: jodiettenberg.com

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Jodi Ettenberg @legalnomads.com · 24/08/2026
I wrote about something I've wanted to discuss for some time: living grief. In losing my stepmom earlier this year, the difference between bereavement grief and the "living grief" of chronic illness became more clear. They diverge not only in terms of how it feels, but in how society treats them.
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Jodi Ettenberg @legalnomads.com · 21/08/2026
Incredible, fascinating pieces in this month's CAE, including some mysteries of science like why pigeons always find their way home, & why some people (like me!) are born left-handed (we still don't know), & whether crows are actually friends or whether they're just training us to give them treats.
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Jodi Ettenberg @legalnomads.com · 23/07/2026
I was so very excited to be the lead author on a recent paper about barriers to care in spinal CSF leak, and my friend surprised me with with the best gift: she had the abstract printed on a mug and sent it my way. SO THOUGHTFUL 😭
This photo is a white mug with a printed abstract from the American Journal of Neuroradiology for the paper "Patient-reported barriers to spinal cerebrospinal fluid leak: a cross-sectional survey"
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Jodi Ettenberg @legalnomads.com · 21/07/2026
NOPE.
gizmodo.com
Woman's Cornea Gets 'Eaten' by Parasite After Contact Lens Blunder
47-year-old Emma Marsden developed a rare corneal infection after washing her face with her contacts still on.
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Jodi Ettenberg @legalnomads.com · 20/07/2026
WHERE IS THE PIGEON EMOJI
jenniferdaniel.substack.com
Why do some new emoji look familiar?
You’re not going crazy
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Jodi Ettenberg @legalnomads.com · 12/05/2026
Very happy to read that Polycystic Ovary Syndrome has been officially renamed Polyendocrine Metabolic Ovarian Syndrome (PMOS) following a global consensus study published today in The Lancet. And it’s open access! www.thelancet.com/journals/lan...
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Jodi Ettenberg @legalnomads.com · 11/05/2026
A tale as old as time. www.theguardian.com/world/2026/m...
theguardian.com
French woman was told by doctors hantavirus symptoms were just anxiety
Spanish health minister says MV Hondius passenger, now in a ‘critical state’, had been suffering flu-like symptoms
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Jodi Ettenberg @legalnomads.com · 06/05/2026
I got my Canadian census this week, and it turns out that Stats Canada made a series of themed soundtracks we can play while filling it out. Love it. www.statcan.gc.ca/en/census/ce...
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Jodi Ettenberg @legalnomads.com · 10/03/2026
what.
dazeddigital.com
Could singles wrestling be an alternative to dating apps?
During a wrestling speed dating event in Brooklyn, hosted by community-focused group Grownkid, hundreds of 18 to 24-year-olds arrived for a chance to battle it out for love
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Jodi Ettenberg @legalnomads.com · 06/03/2026
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Jodi Ettenberg @legalnomads.com · 03/03/2026
I wrote this just before British Columbia announced it would be adopting DST permanently. BAD IDEA. Bad for the immune system; bad for our health. If we stop shifting time, we should be adopt permanent STANDARD time, not DST. All about why it matters: www.patreon.com/posts/rant-a...
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Jodi Ettenberg @legalnomads.com · 20/02/2026
Someone posted my deep dive about cross-contact vs. cross-contamination in food to reddit. SORRY I LIKE TO WRITE ABOUT ETYMOLOGY SUE ME. www.legalnomads.com/cross-contac... (The piece does have citations, but I know you can't please everyone ¯\_(ツ)_/¯. At least I learned a lot writing it)
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Jodi Ettenberg @legalnomads.com · 15/02/2026
Another paper about how Covid affects sperm count, yet antivaxxers are still going on and on about the vaccines being what causes it. Nope, like much else, it's the virus itself: www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti... (More on how vaccines don't affect fertility: www.cidrap.umn.edu/covid-19/lar...)
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Jodi Ettenberg @legalnomads.com · 12/02/2026
That first amendment is really coming in clutch these days
ew.com
Vice President JD Vance issues warning to U.S. Olympians over politics
JD Vance would like American athletes competing in the 2026 Winter Olympics to kindly stop speaking out against the Trump administration: 'You're not there to pop off about politics.'
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Jodi Ettenberg @legalnomads.com · 10/02/2026
We paid for it, we even hired US workers to help build it, and we lose out because it’s jointly owned. But sure, we’re the bad guy.
bbc.com
Trump threatens to block opening of US-Canada bridge
The White House has reiterated its demands even after a 'positive' call between Trump and Mark Carney.
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Eric Topol @erictopol.bsky.social · 07/02/2026
The CDC says it's fine to resume normal activities 24 hrs after Covid symptoms are improving. A new, large prospective study with digital tracking shows recovery takes much longer than that www.thelancet.com/journals/lan...
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Jodi Ettenberg @legalnomads.com · 05/02/2026
One of the most difficult aspects of having your life change overnight is how to reckon with the loss of identity. For a decade, I lived and breathed food and travel, & I loved the life I had built. Suddenly, I could barely stand up. About spinal CSF leak and loss of identity:
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Jodi Ettenberg @legalnomads.com · 05/02/2026
The idea that Covid could damage the brain appeared very early in the pandemic. Society can pretend all it wants that it's "not a big deal" to get infected, but the brain remembers (and not in a good way).
synergies.substack.com
You are probably getting brain damage from all those COVID infections.
A worrying look into the literature on COVID and brain health.
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Jodi Ettenberg @legalnomads.com · 04/02/2026
As someone living in that interstitial space, this hits: "We tend to understand illness as something you either die from, or recover from. Those of us who are chronically ill live in the awkward inbetween space. Not dying, but not getting better either. Not an emergency,not something fully resolved"
kristiedegaris.substack.com
Effort Without Improvement
Chronic illness, meritocracy, and the pressure to do more
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Jodi Ettenberg @legalnomads.com · 03/02/2026
NOT NOW, BATS
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Jo Wolfe, PhD @jopabinia.bsky.social · 02/02/2026
Do you ever wonder about trilobite appendages? Literally everything ever known has now been reviewed by Sarah Losso @thomashegna.bsky.social @invertebratepal.bsky.social 🧪⚒️🦑 osf.io/preprints/pa...
Caption from Figure 9 in paper:
Appendages of Ordovician Phacopida. A, B Anacheirurus adserai from the Fezouata Shale (Pérez-Peris et al., 2021). A, Endopodite (YPM 226573). B, Exopodite in dorsal view (YPM 517074). C, Bavaillia zemmourensis with antennae (MCZ:IP:20105; Martin et al., 2016; Richards et al., 2024). D – F, Ceraurus pleurexanthemus from the Rust Formation (Losso and Ortega-Hernández, 2024). D, Biramous appendages (MCZ:IP:110933). E, Biramous appendage (MCZ:IP:112018). F, Exopodite (MCZ:IP:104973). G – I, Flexicalymene senaria from the Rust Formation (Losso and Ortega-Hernández, 2024). D, Protopodites in cross section (MCZ:IP:104956). E, Biramous appendages (USNM 68379). F, Endopodites (USNM 68381). J, Placoparia cambriensis from the Llanfallteg Formation (NMW 91.46G; Whittington, 1993). Abbreviations: ant, antennae; cla, claw; en, endopodite; end, endite; hyp, hypostome; lm, lamellae; pn, podomere number; pt, protopodite.
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Jodi Ettenberg @legalnomads.com · 14/01/2026
CAE 58 is out, with the most interesting things I read in December, & some end of year lists: jodiettenberg.substack.com/p/fifty-eight Including: @matthabusby.bsky.social's profile of psychonaut Bruce Damer @occrp.org on a South Pacific Ponzi king @jstor.bsky.social on the Tonka bean
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Jodi Ettenberg @legalnomads.com · 01/01/2026
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Jodi Ettenberg @legalnomads.com · 30/12/2025
This a hard year, a compounded boulder of heath issues and other challenges. I haven't done a year-end recap in eons but it's a good reminder (to me, mostly!) that even in tiny increments, even if they're painful, you can still create something exciting. www.legalnomads.com/2025-year-end/
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Kimberly Prather PhD @kprather.bsky.social · 27/12/2025
Amazing that this review paper from 2021 just became my most cited paper of my 30+ yr career. I am honored to have been the lead first co-corresponding author with @ChiaWang8. COVID is indeed airborne--as are most other respiratory viruses. @ucsandiego.bsky.social www.science.org/doi/full/10....
science.org
Airborne transmission of respiratory viruses
A Review discusses the scientific basis of and factors controlling airborne transmission of respiratory viruses including coronavirus.
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Jodi Ettenberg @legalnomads.com · 28/12/2025
Meanwhile in Ottawa part deux: ottawacitizen.com/news/uber-to... a very cute story
ottawacitizen.com
Ottawa man takes his Uber driver tobogganing for first time
Dave Nguyen discovered his Uber driver, Chance Niryomugabo, had never been tobogganing. A few days later, the two new friends were ripping down the Charlie Rogers Place hill in Kanata
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Jodi Ettenberg @legalnomads.com · 23/12/2025
Meanwhile, here in Ottawa… toronto.citynews.ca/2025/12/19/o...
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Jodi Ettenberg @legalnomads.com · 17/12/2025
"As a physician, I empathize with the lack of familiarity; doctors only know what they know, and headache, after all, is a common complaint. But as a patient, I can’t help feeling angry. It seems that many doctors simply do not believe spinal CSF leak patients."
opmed.doximity.com
More Than Just a Headache: The Lonely Journey of a Spinal CSF Leak Patient
In early June 2024, I picked up my paddleboard, noting that it felt heavier than I’d remembered. Over the next few hours, I developed searing neck ...
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Jodi Ettenberg @legalnomads.com · 16/12/2025
This WSJ piece was so indelibly biased wow. I’m not estranged from my parents, but I know people who are (imo validly) & their parents constantly claim they are the victims. Why don’t we hear from the kids’ POV in this story? Smacks of missing missing reasons. archive.is/2025.12.16-1...
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Mark Harris @markharris.bsky.social · 15/12/2025
This is one of those times when all of the bad news just sucks the air out of your lungs.
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Jodi Ettenberg @legalnomads.com · 15/12/2025
The ages match Rob and his wife. 💔 Man, this year has been utterly exhausting in so many ways.
cnn.com
2 found dead at an address associated with Hollywood director Rob Reiner, source says | CNN
Homicide detectives from the Los Angeles Police Department are on scene and investigating after two people were found dead at an address associated with Hollywood director Rob Reiner, a law enforcemen...
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Don Moynihan @donmoyn.bsky.social · 14/12/2025
The anti-Semitic mass shooting in Australia will cause a national conversation and policy change. We know this because the 1996 Port Arthur massacre led to significant restrictions on guns. The shooting at Brown will do nothing. We know this because it occurred on the anniversary of Sandy Hook.
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Jodi Ettenberg @legalnomads.com · 10/12/2025
CAE 57 is now out, with the best things I read last month. This month's great pieces include: - @thelocal.to on a freelancer not being what she seemed - @rosalindadams.bsky.social on the godmother of weed in NY - @defaultfriend.bsky.social on how trad culture was never counterculture & more!
jodiettenberg.substack.com
The Curious About Everything Newsletter #57
The many interesting things I read in November 2025
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Jodi Ettenberg @legalnomads.com · 09/12/2025
Obsessively good list of gift suggestions for the curious child courtesy of @tksst.bsky.social. Bookmarked many items in here! thekidshouldseethis.com/giftguide (via @kottke.org's gift guide roundup)
thekidshouldseethis.com
The TKSST Gift Guide • Smart STEAM Gift Ideas for all ages, curated
Over 350 smart, STEAM + mostly screen-free gift ideas for all ages, curated by The Kid Should See This™.
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Jodi Ettenberg @legalnomads.com · 08/12/2025
Some not terrible news for a change: “A wild beaver has been spotted in Norfolk for the first time since beavers were hunted to extinction in England at the beginning of the 16th century.”
theguardian.com
‘No one knows where it came from’: first wild beaver spotted in Norfolk in 500 years
Cameras capture lone creature collecting materials for its lodge in riverside nature reserve
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Jodi Ettenberg @legalnomads.com · 04/12/2025
This week, thanks to this @defector piece, I learned that saying something is a gong show to indicate it’s a chaotic mess is classic Canadiana. I thought this was an expression in the US too until I read it.
defector.com
How A Campy 1970s Game Show Became Part Of Canada's National Lexicon | Defector
On tiny Hornby Island northwest of Vancouver, after the Women’s World Cup in the summer of 2015, our bed-and-breakfast host was telling us about the town. The pizza place in the park is terrific, he s...
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Jodi Ettenberg @legalnomads.com · 23/11/2025
Depressing field study in Milan of 138 metro rides found that 67% of passengers offered their seat to a pregnant woman when a person dressed as Batman was on the train, vs 38% without Batman. It also says of the 67%, 44% of them “didn’t notice Batman” so it’s a subconscious conscience. ?!?!
nature.com
Unexpected events and prosocial behavior: the Batman effect - npj Mental Health Research
npj Mental Health Research - Unexpected events and prosocial behavior: the Batman effect
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Jodi Ettenberg @legalnomads.com · 21/11/2025
1) a clear definition of UPFs, including infographics that are easy to share 2) making less processed foods more affordable, since often UPFs are what is cheapest 3) making healthier food available earlier - vending machines, school meals, etc www.cbc.ca/news/health/...
cbc.ca
Experts call ultra-processed foods a threat to public health. Why can't Canadians stop eating them? | CBC News
Researchers have linked ultra-processed foods to chronic diseases like obesity, Type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular diseases. But helping Canadians make healthier choices comes with obstacles, experts ...
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Jodi Ettenberg @legalnomads.com · 21/11/2025
In the chaos of this month, I forgot to share CAE 56! Some incredible reads in here this month, about the venus fly trap (it's from North Carolina — I had no idea!), ethical collapse, the strangest letter of the alphabet (also had no idea!), the physics behind ocean waves, & much more.
jodiettenberg.substack.com
The Curious About Everything Newsletter #56
The many interesting things I read in October 2025
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Jodi Ettenberg @legalnomads.com · 20/11/2025
On behalf of anteaters everywhere, I have written a short compilation of anteater facts. You're welcome. www.patreon.com/posts/on-ant...
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Jodi Ettenberg @legalnomads.com · 13/10/2025
This article is written like Canada is just randomly boycotting American goods because it misses its friend — “amid bruised feelings” about tariffs? How about amid a climate of increasingly authoritarian actions and with Canada being threatened with annexation. Why can’t the press get it right?
cnn.com
Canada’s boycott America movement is hurting innocent bystanders | CNN Business
Virginia Distillery CEO Gareth Moore was bullish on his company’s American single malt whisky sales north of the border when 2025 kicked off.
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Jodi Ettenberg @legalnomads.com · 13/10/2025
CAE 55 is out, with the best things I read in September: jodiettenberg.substack.com/p/fifty-five This month's featured artist is Martin Wittfooth, whose evocative image below of a pelican feasting on the detritus of our consumerism fit well with this month’s reads:
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Jodi Ettenberg @legalnomads.com · 12/10/2025
What a COMPLETE mystery that people are more sick than average right now. It's not like their immune systems are affected by anything that would interfere with normal function, right? RIGHT?
bbc.com
Common cold, flu, Covid: Why is Britain so sick right now?
Why coughs and colds seem to be taking hold currently - and what you can do to protect yourself.
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Jodi Ettenberg @legalnomads.com · 07/09/2025
Love this so much, and not because I’m a lefty myself. (TIL that left spiral snails can only mate with other left spiral snails, though!) If you’re in NZ, can you help find Ned a mate? If you’re elsewhere, pls read this piece anyhow because it’s profoundly adorable: www.nzgeo.com/stories/lets...
nzgeo.com
Let's find a mate for Ned
One in 40,000 snails have the spiral on the left side of the shell, and they can only mate with other lefties. Can you help Ned find true love?
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Jodi Ettenberg @legalnomads.com · 04/09/2025
Curious About Everything 54 is out, with the best things I read in August: jodiettenberg.substack.com/p/fifty-four This month's featured artist is Christian Ruiz-Berman, whose work draws from histories of adaptation & migration, addressing the surreal nature of being stuck between 2 worlds:
"Cadenas de Amor" from 2024, by Christian Ruiz-Berman. Acrylic on panel.
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Jodi Ettenberg @legalnomads.com · 30/08/2025
Too close to the world they want, I guess? Handmaid's Tale to be pulled from Edmonton schools, proving yet again that Canada is just as susceptible to fascism as anywhere else. And yet another example of the that group screeches about 'free speech' engaging in censorship.
cbc.ca
The Handmaid's Tale among more than 200 books to be pulled at Edmonton public schools | CBC News
A list confirmed by CBC News shows titles like The Handmaid's Tale and Brave New World are among books to be pulled. The development comes after a policy from Alberta's education minister outlines new...
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Jodi Ettenberg @legalnomads.com · 22/08/2025
Our immune systems are different than pre-2019 — and it’s not because of “immunity debt” during lockdowns years ago. It’s because of Covid itself. People have got more fungal & other infections, more inflammation, more comorbidities. And it’s only likely to worsen as reinfections stack up.
bmj.com
Why scientists are rethinking the immune effects of SARS-CoV-2
“Immunity debt,” a theory to explain the global surge in non-covid infections since pandemic restrictions were lifted, is increasingly being challenged by emerging evidence. Nick Tsergas reports Myco...
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Jodi Ettenberg @legalnomads.com · 13/08/2025
Curious About Everything # 53 is out, with the best things I read in July: jodiettenberg.substack.com/p/fifty-three Feat. artist is Benjamin Barakat, with the stunning composite of dragon tree star trails in Yemen, below. The photo comprises 300 different exposures, all superimposed into one image.
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Jodi Ettenberg @legalnomads.com · 09/08/2025
My grandfather would have been 107 this week, and I miss him terribly. When he passed away, I wrote this piece — half eulogy, half a love story about how he & my grandmother got engaged the day they met. He was a remarkable man, with a remarkable story: www.legalnomads.com/grandpa/
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