July 12, 2017

Fashion history of women who broke convention at Wimbledon long before Venus Williams came along. / Messy Nessy

Chinese troops sail to Djibouti to establish Beijing’s first foreign military base. / BBC News

Why Trump Jr. may have broken the law: “soliciting” a “thing of value” from a foreign national is clearly illegal. / Vox

“Pretend you’re hosting a party at a hospital where they treat sadness and it’s your job to get everyone to dance. But not too much.” Paul Ford explains how to prepare for different interactions with the media, any media, from basement podcasts to cable television. / Track Changes

Poetry doesn’t require any special training to read or write, but too many experts—especially poets—act otherwise. / The New York Times

Thu-Huong Ha makes a good case for ultra-slow reading: one book in small bites, in the same place, over months. / Quartz

A study finds that tomato plants can defend themselves by encouraging caterpillars toward cannibalism. / Nature

The FCC wants to end net neutrality, which keeps independent sites like TMN accessible. Voice your support today. / Battle for the Net

To keep a Transformers movie in-state, California pays out its biggest-ever break: a $22 million tax credit. / The Los Angeles Times

“Today, a banker listening to a theologian seems like a curiosity, a category error. But for most of history, this kind of dialogue was the norm.” An interesting proposal on how to restore ethics in the world of finance. The public rightly blames bankers for their ethical failings, “but the bankers themselves have also been failed by our ethical authorities.” / Aeon

The muralist who wanted stock to paint Facebook’s offices (and got rich) is making people apply to see his new show. / LA Weekly

During a restoration project, the Liberty Hall Museum discovers wine dating back to the American Revolution. / NJ.com