Summer Rooster-ing: It's August in Camp ToB!

Social reading in the time of social distancing! August in Camp ToB 2020 means much about writers & lovers & waitresses & orthodontia.

The Morning News

By the law of averages, you will take 670m breaths over your lifetime. Maybe you’ve already taken half of those. Maybe you’re on breath 669,000,000. Maybe you’d like to take a few million more.

James Nestor explains how sitting crosslegged and breathing for an hour triggered a life-changing reaction.
↩︎ The Guardian
6d
More Headlines
Global funding for police training from the United States has increased to about $146 million in 2019 from $4.3 million in 2001.
↩︎ The Ballot 9m

A different shot of the explosions in Beirut: "As bride Dr. Israa Seblani stood smiling in a square close to the couple's wedding venue, the blast could be heard and the bouquet and the bottom of her dress were blown away in the aftermath that saw damage to buildings and smoke in the street. Seblani quickly ran away towards a building."

Via NextDraft

13m
As a racist term, "master bedroom" is on its way out among realtors. Many home builders dropped it years ago for "primary suite."
↩︎ MarketWatch 2h
With Trump, the GOP totally abandoned its 2013 "autopsy" for short-term gains and long-term failure.
↩︎ NPR 5h
A survey of rents during the pandemic: falling in San Francisco, Denver, New York; rising in Cleveland, Indianapolis, and Reno.
↩︎ Wolf Street 6h

NPR's "Code Switch" does a good video episode to explain why, until recently, it's been a lot easier in the running community to talk about safety for white women than for runners of color.

Via Drawing Links

6h

“Tarahumara runners are just as challenged as Western ultramarathoners,” the authors write, “and they too suffer from injuries, cramps, nausea, and other problems when racing long distances.”

A new study says the 2009 hit Born to Run suffered from “the fallacy of the athletic savage.”
↩︎ Outside
6h
Better than Trump's National Garden would be a monument to American nothingness, similar to Roman altars to the "Unknown God."
↩︎ The New York Times 6h
The modern radiator was invented to fight epidemics like 1918's Spanish Influenza, heating housing without sharing airflow.
↩︎ Bloomberg CityLab 6h

Why do we have so few big telecom companies? Because Robert Bork once wrote a book.

Some good podcast episodes we discovered recently, thanks to the (always good) weekly links roundup by Innovations for Poverty Action, that explain why your cable and phone bills are so high.

And, related/unrelated:

1d
For academics and business travelers: An analysis from July of methods to decarbonize conference travel after COVID-19.
↩︎ Nature 1d
How long have you been reading TMN? When did you discover the Tournament of Books? Is today the day you become a Sustainer?
↩︎ TMN Memberships 1d
Reformist Republicans are divided over how to remake their party after Trump, but one problem unifies them: the Republican voter.
↩︎ The Week 1d

I’m heading into the kind of rural emptiness where you double-check the gas level and rearview mirror. I’m outdoorsy enough to find all of this achingly romantic, but my less generous city friends might call it serial killer country.

Sarah Hepola hits the road for some pandemic-era travel. Destination: Uncertain, Texas.
↩︎ Texas Highways
1d

“The job loss has made us talk about the future more. Not just our future together, but our goals and what we want for ourselves as individuals.”

Three African American couples discuss how they’ve strengthened their bonds despite unemployment due to the coronavirus.
↩︎ Essence
1d
Chemicals used for making nonstick or water-resistant products can be found in the blood of an estimated 99 percent of Americans.
↩︎ Vox 1d
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