These Are a Few of My Favorite Links: 08/09/22

It’s been a few weeks since I’ve done a link round-up, which means I have some good stuff for ya today. Let’s do it.

“The Quiet Glory of Aging Into Athleticism” — I’ve thought a lot about this piece in the last couple weeks, particularly since this summer has been a season of my wife and I rediscovering our love for playing tennis. Athleticism (and fitness) changes as you get older, but it’s no less glorious, and often even more impressive.

“Pickleball Is Booming. Not Everyone Is Happy About That.” — Speaking of tennis, players around the country are bemoaning the loud clanging noises of their courts being turned into pickleball courts. Every tennis player I know, myself included, has complained about it. This article gets into the booming sport of the retirement community.

“Is the Silence of the Great Plains to Blame for ‘Prairie Madness’?” — I quite enjoyed this article about the high rates of mental illness among settlers of the Great Plains. Could some of the explanation be something as bizarre as the lack of a true soundscape?

“Everyone wants to Instagram the world’s most beautiful canyon. Should they?” — I recently discovered this three-year-old article and devoured every word of it. The natural world is a big part of our family spends our free time. Even with three young kids, we’re out on the trails more weekends than not. And I’ve certainly noticed the photographic boom of the West’s most photogenic places in the last handful of years. This article from Vox gets into every nook and cranny of that phenomenon.

“How John Stuart Mill Got Over His Existential Crisis, and You Can Too!” — The title here isn’t very sexy, but this is a great, short piece on the value of doing things for their own sake, with no practical end in mind. “Just do the thing because you want to do the thing. . . . Permission to do useless things granted.” We could all use a little more of this.

My 7-Year-Old’s New Favorite Game — Qwixx is a fun dice game that our family was introduced to by some friends. When you read the rules, it’ll seem a little confusing, but you quickly get the hang of it once you start playing. Perhaps the best part is that games are pretty . . . quick.

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Thanks so much for the time and inbox space! I appreciate it.

-Jeremy