On LinkedIn this week I saw a post from LL Bean. And as an exiled Mainer, I had to click the link. Its headline was arresting: “Social distancing does not mean staying inside.” One wouldn’t think this needed to be said. On the other hand, endlessly online celebrities having been telling us to stay inside at home. But, keeping a safe distance from others and aiming not to spread the virus doesn’t require endless Netflix on the couch. We can be safe and be outside. Perhaps, it’s even safer to be outside.
(Don’t @ me about the killer hornets.)
And so this week, I have a few interesting and well-written articles, as usual, on the theme of being outside. Read them–and then get outside for your bug bites and sunburns. Tis the season!
Agriculture
Here’s a long, fascinating read about one of California’s agricultural giants. Farming’s basic ingredients, land, water, and work, are unchanged from the eons. But the modern farm in America is a fascinating beast and, as this writer chronicles, is difficult to comprehend, justify, and to criticize.
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Technopoly
I’ve been interested by Isaiah McPeak’s recent Daily Self Talk, which has been discussing the pitfall of specialists and the strength of generalists. If you ask the skin doctors, the sun is a great evil, up there in the sky, to be hidden from. If you ask just about anyone else, the sun is a vital source of life. In this piece from Outside, we learn that, for most people, sunscreen may do more harm than good.
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Travel
Nature is awesome. Read this one until the end. That’s all I’ll say.
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Simplicity
Here’s a cool story about how the worst thing we can imagine didn’t happen when six boys were stranded for a year on a desert island. Much like how the worst thing we can imagine (say the first 20 minutes of any zombie film) hasn’t happened in our pandemic.