1. Fear not, it’s never too late in the week to work up a righteous head of steam about the state of our culture. From a few weeks ago, A Man explains What so many men are missing about #MeToo

If you take women seriously as full and equal human beings, and you contemplate the hundreds of thousands of victims of abuse who will never be heard or receive any recompense, and you contemplate the untold thousands of abusive acts and relationships ongoing in the US as we speak, and you contemplate the hostility and skepticism with which victims are still met when they come forward, and you contemplate the thuggish misogyny of the current administration and the real damage it is doing to American women, it just becomes really difficult to gin up a lot of sympathy for, oh, Al Franken.

2. Related (for real; here’s a history of pockets*), a survey of jeans pockets to proves that yes, women’s pockets are tiny and useless. “…Like so many things on the internet, we could find complaints and anecdotes galore but little data illustrating just how inferior women’s pockets really are to men’s. So, we went there.”

*”Women’s pockets were private spaces they carried into the public with increasing freedom, and during a revolutionary time, this freedom was very, very frightening. The less women could carry, the less freedom they had. Take away pockets happily hidden under garments, and you limit women’s ability to navigate public spaces, to carry seditious (or merely amorous) writing, or to travel unaccompanied.”

1. This exploded across the internet over the last few days, so you may have already seen it–but it deserves to explode. Weight hasn’t been a struggle of mine (I got mental health and bad skin in the draw instead) but this was a revelation. I don’t feel very generous towards the entire medical establishment right now and this didn’t do anything to foster better feelings.

Everything You Know About Obesity Is Wrong

A few years ago, on a routine visit, Andrew’s doctor weighed him, announced that he was “dangerously overweight” and told him to diet and exercise, offering no further specifics. Should he go on a low-fat diet? Low-carb? Become a vegetarian? Should he do Crossfit? Yoga? Should he buy a fucking ThighMaster?

“She didn’t even ask me what I was already doing for exercise,” he says. “At the time, I was training for serious winter mountaineering trips, hiking every weekend and going to the gym four times a week. Instead of a conversation, I got a sound bite. It felt like shaming me was the entire purpose.”

2. Google is celebrating Mr. Rogers today and it’s really great:

1. I’m not sure I’ll ever find a better thing on the internet. It’s just… *kisses fingers*

Beavis Was the Wokest Bae: “Was the Great Cornholio’s revolutionary intention to advance the lives of women? An incomplete investigation?”

2. I found the artist Egle Zvirblyte and her prints are fantastic:

May we all carry the banana of adult life as gracefully.

1. Via Kottke, how to make better decisions (I guess I need to move beyond the pro and con list)

2. Why we write, continued:

I don’t need to read any more think pieces about whether or not poetry matters. How about this short poem from THE SECOND O OF SORROW by Sean Thomas Dougherty. pic.twitter.com/tooXYFUGjJ

— W. Todd Kaneko (@ToddKaneko) August 25, 2018

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.