Kickoff For May 12, 2025
I thought I'd start this week's edition of the letter by doing something I don't do often enough: thanking you for subscribing. I'm glad you find this little weekly missive interesting enough to keep it coming back to your inbox.
With that out of the way, let's get Monday started with these links:
Springy poles and forehead straps: How to carry more than your own bodyweight — Wherein we learn about some low-tech ways in which people around the world move heavy weights, and how we can apply those techniques to personal fitness and strength building programs.
From the article:
One study examined the sherpa method of carrying by testing 10 physically fit agricultural workers, where each carried 10% then 40% of their body weight while walking on an inclined treadmill. It found that using supports such as a hip and shoulder strap meant that the heart rate and oxygen consumption of participants significantly decreased, as opposed to without the straps. Essentially, the straps help sherpas to either carry loads faster, or for a longer distance.
‘Stamp out paper mills’ — science sleuths on how to fight fake research — Wherein we're introduced to the efforts of scientists who are trying curb the flood of fraudulent papers being churned out by unscrupulous networks, and why that work is important.
From the article:
Paper mills flourish because of research systems that evaluate scientists using publication metrics, thereby inadvertently providing an incentive for misconduct. People with paper-mill publications might be promoted over those who have more modest — but honest — publication records. One study, for instance, reported that 95% of biomedical faculties use the number of peer-reviewed papers that a researcher has had published as a performance metric.
‘Headed for technofascism’: the rightwing roots of Silicon Valley — Wherein we dip once more into the what's new is old again files and learn that Silicon Valley's shift to the right is nothing new, learn about its origins, and why this time the stakes are higher and the consequences are more dire.
From the article:
Collectively, these efforts successfully generated controversy and attention. They showed that, in a world increasingly based on individual personalities and the ability to grab (mostly white, male) investors’ attention, politically incorrect showmanship could be good for business.
On Not Carrying a Camera — Wherein John Rosenthal ponders our obsession with visually recording everything with the cameras in our smartphones and whether or not snapping thousands of photos, because we can, is worth the effort.
From the article:
In the face of our present insatiability for miniaturized screen images, what could be more irrelevant than to suggest that these photographs, which lock us into certain moments, often organized photogenic moments, may deform the way in which we recall the past? Or that the uncultivated spaces in between our photographs may be the most fertile ground of memory.
The Battle for Better Air — Wherein we learn about why and how, over the centuries, humans have tried to better ventilate their indoor spaces and the benefits we've gained from doing that.
From the article:
Before the 20th century, most efforts aimed at improving air quality in the home were focused only on making the environment more “agreeable,” rather than measurably more beneficial to health. This included the most rudimentary of ventilation tools: windows. Opening windows is a simple and effective way to regulate indoor air quality by reducing particulate matter, the buildup of viruses and CO₂, and (aesthetically) bad smells.
A Dossier Container Dossier — Wherein we learn the origins of the Manila folder (and its sibling, the Manila envelope), why it's the colour that it is, and learn about which of the two came first.
From the article:
Manila paper gained a reputation of strength—perhaps carrying down its roots in rope to the resulting yellowish sheets of paper. It was tougher to tear than other kinds of paper, and its differences from other paper sources like cotton and wood pulp made it distinctive.