Bear with me. I’m going to use the word “membrane” 17 times in the next three minutes. Also “waterproof and breathable.” No, “membrane” is all we’ve got. And no again, I don’t think “sheath,” “lamina,” or “mucosa” are any better. And, yes, we focus-grouped “waterproof-breathable placenta.” It didn’t score well. You look like a sample size, would you like to try on this concept piece? The membrane goes directly against your skin.
What I’m reading
A Beginner’s Guide to Dating a Birder: Get ready to hike very, very slowly and stop your car for every LBJ you see. [Will Ford for Outside]
Why a Race Ceases to Be a Race When It Awards Unequal Recognition to Men and Women: After learning that the Vermont 100 mile trail race (VT100) gives awards to the top ten men and only to the top five women, I became upset. Upon reading the race director’s rationale for justifying this decision, I became even more upset. [Clare Gallagher on her blog]
Liz Parrish Wants to Live Forever: In 2015, in a secret medical procedure carried out in Bogota, Colombia, the 44-year-old woman got dozens of experimental gene-therapy injections. Why? Because Parrish, the creator of a longevity company called BioViva, believes that science is on the cusp of delivering radically longer lifespans—and she wants to help bring on the revolution. [McKenzie Funk for Outside]
Aly Raisman Takes the Floor: In her fight to end sexual abuse, the Olympic champion is challenging the very institutions she led to glory. [Mina Kimes for ESPN]
Having a Baby Isn’t the End of Your Adventures: “Massage her feet. Read books about pregnancy and parenting. Go to her prenatal checkups. Take on extra chores. Tell her every day how beautiful she is, how strong she is, and how lucky you are to be with her.” [Blair Braverman for Outside]
Other good stuff
My coach @MountainRoche never ceases to amaze me. If you do one thing this week: read this article. https://t.co/cpTOCe3Sq4
July 16, 2018Last but not least
I’d highly recommend giving this Time article a read: “Why Dogs and Humans Love Each Other More Than Anyone Else”
What began as a mutual-services contract between two very different species became something much more like love. None of that makes a lick of sense, but it doesn’t have to. Love rarely touches the reasoning parts of the brain. It touches the dreamy parts, the devoted parts—it touches the parts we sometimes call the heart. For many thousands of years, it’s there that our dogs have lived.