It’s Friday! In the last half of summer! Go find a pool and enjoy it while you can.

1. A little bit about Viking textile production–a women’s industry–and how that made the entire culture go.

2. Aw. Trucker beats smoking addiction with knitting. (Via one of Karen Templer’s link roundups.)

1. Via Jocelyn Glei’s newsletter, a research article about the positive impact of sending thank you notes:

The senders of the thank-you letters consistently underestimated how positive the recipients felt about receiving the letters and how surprised they were by the content. The senders also overestimated how awkward the recipients felt; and they underestimated how warm, and especially how competent, the recipients perceived them to be.

2. Via just about everywhere, the National Geographic piece about “The Science of Sleep” is really interesting.

1. What an exciting political week full of intrigue and maybe treason! And also fashion! There were a couple really neat threads on Twitter analyzing Queen Elizabeth’s brooch choices and the differences between Putin’s and Trump’s tailoring.

2. How about another weight lifting link, bro? Lifting Weights Helps Ease Anxiety and Depression. Jeah, bro!

1. All about grunting, bros:

When you exert yourself at or above your physical limit, as in lifting something heavy, you will reflexively close the vocal folds of the larynx in an attempt to seal off the respiratory tract. By doing so, you give yourself a slightly enhanced degree of trunk stability and therefore slightly increased leg and arm strength.

2. Funny, but also maddening, but also true: 17 Real Life Would-You-Rathers I, A Woman, Have Had To Ask Myself.

1. Fashion bloggers Tom & Lorenzo are doing a deep dive into the costuming of women heroes and it’s excellent (if you’ve never read their Mad Men style analysis series, do it).  Here’s the Star Wars one–Black Panther is coming soon!

2. My friend found what is perhaps the best gif of all time…

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…LASER HARP RACCOON

1. I neglected to mention yesterday that I found a nine-hour roller disco playlist to listen to while you imagine yourself roller skating like young Patrick Swayze. Enjoy!

2. I am HERE for this: Books Where the Dog Dies, Rewritten So the Dog Doesn’t Die

3. Everybody hang in there. Send a few letters suggesting that maybe we wait to confirm a new Supreme Court Justice, oh, say, maybe as long as the Republicans made Obama wait to confirm Merrick Garland. Just a thought.

1. This is scholarly and perfect and I love it and want to do a version for the elusive “lady bro”: Jeah! We Mapped Out The 4 Basic Aspects Of Being A ‘Bro’.  (Whispers: “Jeah, bro.”)

2. From The Paris Reveiw, Six Books We Could and Should All Write:

Every single thing I’m about to describe, you wouldn’t need any talent to produce it. You wouldn’t need any talent, and you wouldn’t need any understanding. All you’d have to do is stick with it. A little mimicry would help, but that’s really it. That’s why this list is good. Door’s wide open; everyone is invited. And you know what? You’d be producing something of value. At the very least, you yourself would value it. These are your models. Your versions will not be as good as these books. But they will be good just the same.

3. From Kottke again, Mr. Rogers would re-shoot parts of his show as needed to make sure they were still current.

1. Make It Work: Street Style for the Sensitive German Renaissance Man is your long read for the day, about a man’s illustrated log book of his entire life’s outfits.

2. It started with roller disco, moved on to You Can’t Stop the Music, and is now going deep into fringe disco artists, but my 70s obsession shows no sign of stopping. Currently in my head: