Time to Close Some Tabs

A quick too-many-tabs post...

A recent archaeological study found that prehistoric farming women had arms stronger than contemporary women who are elite rowers. Which is interesting, but not as interesting (to me) as the fact that before this study, archaeologists thought prehistoric farming women were couch potatoes because their bones weren't as dense as the men of the same era. See, the earlier archaeologists had only compared the women's bones to men, not to women from other eras. Duh.

My recent favorite facts-I-never-knew article is the paradox of persistent vacancies and high prices from Strong Towns. When there is a high office vacancy rate in an area, why don't the "laws" of supply and demand force rents down until the vacancies are filled? Well, it has to do with banks and how loans are made. Or why aren't those offices made into housing, which we're clearly short on? That also has to do with banking and how loans are made.

Well, those are the two articles among these tabs that I read and fully recommend. Here are the others that are sitting in my tabs waiting for me to read them.

More from Strong Towns:
America's economic problems demand a strong solution. A podcast about the American growth model from Chuck Marohn.

From The Atlantic's CityLab:
We have to be careful not to romanticize cities. Writers Ta-Nehisi Coates and Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie confront the limits of urbanism.

From Alternet:

• American hyper-capitalism breeds the lonely, alienated men who become mass killers. Despair, rage and lack of human connection among white men are key culprits in America's mass shooting epidemic.
• The profound misunderstanding the public has about how the military operates. Connecting the dots between systemic patriarchy, white supremacy and permanent war.

From Dave Roberts at Vox:

• Here’s a road map for solving three of the world’s biggest problems. How to address climate change, energy access, and air pollution, at once.
• Electric buses are coming, and they’re going to help fix 4 big urban problems.
• The McKibben effect: a case study in how radical environmentalism can work. Extreme proposals can shift polarized debates.

From Mother Jones:

• He was a professional climate skeptic. Then he switched sides.
• What if everything you knew about disciplining kids was wrong? Negative consequences, timeouts, and punishment just make bad behavior worse. But a new approach really works.

From the Guardian:
Electric cars are not the answer to air pollution, says top UK adviser. "...while electric vehicles emit no exhaust fumes, they still produce large amounts of tiny pollution particles from brake and tyre dust.... A recent European commission research paper found that about half of all particulate matter comes from these sources." The good news: it's not carbon! The bad news: it's still bad for human health.

From New Scientist:
SUVs double pedestrians' risk of death. And that's for small SUVs... large vans, SUVs and pickup trucks triple the risk of death.

From Truthout:
How to fund a universal basic income without increasing taxes or inflation.

From the Washington Post:
Canada tests "basic income" effect on poverty amid lost jobs.

From Matt Breunig:
What if everyone benefited when stocks soared?

From Slate:
Is violence the only way to end inequality? A certain read of history says yes. "[The] collapse of states [reduces inequality] because the rich and the powerful are either the same people or are very closely allied, and if you destroy state structures, then the rich simply have more to lose."

From Demos:
Why are we not making progress against racism? "We need Americans to go on fact-finding missions on racism, not try to engage in conversation when there is no agreement on the basic facts."

From Huffington Post:
Thrutopias: Why neither dystopias nor utopias are enough to get us through the climate crisis. (By British philosopher Rupert Read. I have to check him out more thoroughly!)

From Salon:
Reconsidering “The Reactionary Mind” in the age of you-know-who. Is Trump “not a conservative”? Political theorist Corey Robin begs to differ, in a new edition of his landmark book.

From Fast Company:
The Airbnb for affordable housing is here. Nesterly, a new platform that pairs older homeowners with young renters, is riding a wave of interest in multigenerational living.

From The Atlantic:
How American politics went insane. It happened gradually—and until the U.S. figures out how to treat the problem, it will only get worse. (Update: I just realized this article is from summer 2016—before Trump was elected!)

From the Niskanen Center:
How Libertarian democracy skepticism infected the American Right.

From Signature:
Language matters: the true definition of "working class." A critique of J.D. Vance's Hillbilly Elegy.

From Cracked:
Seven reasons so many men don't understand sexual consent. Starting with this film trope: "assault a woman until she loves you."