The Morning News

Camp ToB 2021

Week Seven: Whereabouts

Moving as briskly along as the summer heat allows, this week we’re in Italy to discuss the first half of Jhumpa Lahiri’s Whereabouts.

by The Tournament of Books Staff

Researchers say keeping your phone 10 inches away from your body results in a 10,000-fold reduction in radiation exposure.

↩︎ KTVU 1d

Solar panels are degraded by sunlight over time. "Doping" the silicon could make solar cells more stable and efficient.

↩︎ The Conversation 1d

Artist Geoff McFetridge describes his love for the outdoors. "I think I get pretty deep into things. Deep and fringe-y."

↩︎ Hyperlite Mountain Gear 1d

Semi-pastoral illustrations by Amber Leia Jones.

↩︎ It's Nice That 1d

"Owls move in a buoyant manner, as if lighter than air." A naturalist captures the flight of almost 50 birds in a 1778 letter.

↩︎ Futility Closet 1d

This is a cheesecake with capybara on top soaking in an onsen.

↩︎ Spoon & Tamago 1d

Recent footage of the exceptionally rare glass octopus, spotted in the remote Phoenix Islands Archipelago, north of Samoa.

During the expedition, scientists made two rare sightings of a glass octopus, a nearly transparent species whose only visible features are its optic nerve, eyeballs and digestive tract. Before this expedition, there has been limited live footage of the glass octopus, forcing scientists to learn about the animal by studying specimens found in the gut contents of predators.

Via Colossal

Researchers find that only 1.5 to 7% of the modern human genome is uniquely human.

↩︎ VICE 1d

Why should I be called “Professor Cowen,” but few people would address the person fixing their toilet as “Plumber Jones”? Aren’t we giving some professionals too much status automatically?

Tyler Cowen: Titles are complex, and we cannot abolish them outright, “but perhaps professional titles are due for a rethink?”

↩︎ Bloomberg

Your weekly white paper: Studies find that tipping and requirements for positive gestures drive sexual harassment in restaurants.

↩︎ NPR 1d

Up for auction: The Airstream trailer used by Tom Hanks on movie sets since 1993, complete with several espresso makers.

↩︎ Bonhams 2d

Plates from 1851's "Prentzinger’s Atlas of Astronomy."

↩︎ Flashbak 2d

Entrepreneurs, especially in New York, are throwing "business showers" for their start-ups, even asking for gifts.

↩︎ The New York Times 2d

Johnston also throws found change into gutters and garbage bins and cuts out serial numbers on bills. Before 2011, when banknotes were still made of paper instead of polymer, they were easier to destroy—he could just burn them.

Profile of a man who hasn’t spent money in 18 years.

↩︎ Capital Daily

"Guys walk around with spray bottles of disinfectant and randomly spray people’s luggage." Some notes on Covid-travel in Peru.

↩︎ Matt Lakeman 2d

A group of artists floats an enormous head over Tokyo, intended to serve as an observer of the pandemic Olympics.

↩︎ designboom 2d

From FiveThirtyEight, "How An Armless Archer Trains His Brain To Win Olympic Medals."

Paralympian Matt Stutzman, born without arms, has become a world-class archer by shooting with his feet. He trains in remote Iowa, where his only competition is in his mind. So he imagines matches in extreme detail, from the feel of the wind to the sound of a crowd—a technique scientists have shown can register in the brain as if he were physically there.

“If you didn’t know, I posted a TikTok that introduced the world to the word ‘cheugy,’ and I’ve gotta live with that now. That’s my life. I’ve got to watch girls call black leggings cheugy. I have to live knowing that I gave them the verbiage to do that.”

The young woman who popularized the word cheugy—who is said to have “spawned a whole cheugy discourse”—regrets her contribution.

↩︎ The Cut

Oakley, Utah, is one of the first towns in the United States to purposely halt growth for a lack of water.

↩︎ The New York Times 3d