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What are we reading? October 15, 2020

Each week, BIV staff will share with you some of the interesting stories we have found from around the web.
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Each week, BIV staff will share with you some of the interesting stories we have found from around the web.

Mark Falkenberg, deputy managing editor:

Eye-opening look at how Joe Biden has mastered a speaking style that overcomes his speech disorder – through the lens of a writer who has also struggled with stuttering. – New Yorker  

https://www.newyorker.com/culture/cultural-comment/joe-bidens-contest-with-his-words

A lament for MEC by a longtime member who wonders how the co-operative could have wandered so far from its founding spirit: “MEC has never been just a place to kit yourself out in gear. We were part of something—less haughty than a collective, more inclusive than a club. It was a shared space that brought down the mountain tops, turned day hikes into week-long trips, and made the unreachable feel reachable.” – Walrus

https://thewalrus.ca/how-mec-lost-touch-with-its-roots/

Timothy Renshaw, managing editor:

Big tobacco to the rescue in the COVID crisis. – NPR

https://www.npr.org/2020/10/14/923565305/how-tobacco-plants-may-be-key-in-preventing-covid-19?utm_

A lot of tough guys in UFC, MMA, NHL, NFL? Maybe. Reg Fleming, still the world's toughest milkman. Yes. But have any of the above survived the Earth's five major extinctions? Can any get by without food, water or oxygen? No? Well, meet a resident of Earth that has and can. Recently voted world's toughest all-round critter. – New Atlas

https://flipboard.com/@newatlas/tardigrade-tales-the-toughest-critters-on-the-planet-sqltv3nmblhtua3i

Glen Korstrom, reporter:

CNBC reporter Bob Pisani has this interesting take on why stock markets are booming while the real economy is lagging. 

One reason, he says, is that the real economy is suffering more because it involves more service-related businesses, while the stock market is tilted more toward selling goods. UBS estimates that services comprise 83% of U.S. economic activity but only 54% of S&P 500 profits. – CNBC.

https://www.cnbc.com/2020/10/14/wall-street-earnings-have-staged-a-sharp-recovery-but-main-street-lags-behind.html

I looked into the logistics of the Democrats packing the U.S. Supreme Court and found this transcript of an enlightening PBS interview that provides some historical perspective and makes clear that there is no limit to how many judges could be appointed to the court if there is a blue wave that elects Joe Biden as president as well as both houses of Congress. – PBS

https://www.npr.org/2020/09/21/915381446/is-it-possible-to-expand-the-supreme-court