It鈥檚 the Republican party鈥檚 official policy to steal 640 million acres of public land from the American people. And with both the legislative and executive branches of the federal government soon to be under their control, there appeard to be听little that could stop them. But then President-elect Donald Trump announced that he was nominating Ryan Zinke, a former Navy SEAL who voices strong opposition to the great public land heist, as the Secretary of the听Interior.听

Zinke is a听first-term Republican Congressman from Montana who has twice bucked the party line and听. In fact, he鈥檚 made the issue something of a calling card. 鈥淭he sale or transfer of our land is an extreme proposal and I won鈥檛 tolerate it,鈥� he said in a .听

“I never have, and never will sell your public land,”听Zinke听wrote in the听.

If confirmed for the cabinet position, Zinke will head the Department of the Interior, which manages federal land and its resources. It鈥檚 in charge of agencies like the Bureau of Land Management, the U.S. Geological Survey, and the National Park Service. As Interior Secretary, Zinke would be uniquely positioned to advocate for preserving public lands and able to work to save them.听

To briefly recap, you, I, and every other American owns vast tracts of land throughout the American West. It鈥檚 managed on our behalf by the federal government. The priority of federal land management is to facilitate multiple uses鈥攅nergy extraction, mining, forestry, recreation, wildlife conservation鈥攚hile preserving the land for future generations. It鈥檚 an expensive proposition, but one that gives our country the vast expanses听of wild places that make it so unique. We听go to our public lands to camp, hunt, fish, and hike, they're where our wildlife lives,听and they're what provide our country with critical resources, .

Not only does state management prioritize profit over preservation, the听states also can鈥檛 afford to manage the public lands within their borders鈥攙irtually guaranteeing their sale to private interests. It鈥檚 those energy and mining companies that are playing the long con here, conjuring up states鈥� rights arguments to empower Republican lawmakers听to try and reduce the lands鈥� protection by transferring control. It鈥檚 one of the most dastardly and un-American things taking place in this country right now, and it鈥檚 been repeatedly proven that there is no upside for the American people in this sale.听

Zinke is a fifth-generation Montanan who grew up in Whitefish. There, outdoor activities like skiing, mountain biking, hunting, and fishing are crucial to the local economy. The state鈥檚 economic reliance on outdoor recreation is a perfect microcosm of the contribution that industry brings to the nation.听鈥淲e use our land for hunting, fishing, hiking, and to create jobs,鈥� . 鈥淥ur outdoor economy is a billion dollar economic engine for the state that creates jobs.鈥�

Nationwide, the outdoor recreation industry is estimated to be worth . (An effort to determine its exact amount is underway.)听That鈥檚 a third larger than the auto industry, but it frequently flies under the radar because it鈥檚 composed of numerous small companies rather than three big ones. It鈥檚 an industry that would be irrevocably damaged by the loss of public lands鈥攑eople won鈥檛 buy backpacks if there鈥檚 nowhere left to go backpacking.听

News of Trump tapping Zinke for Interior Secretary has drawn praise from organizations that are working to protect our land. 鈥淗e really prides himself on being a Theodore Roosevelt Republican听and he lives that a little bit more than other people,鈥� Land Tawney, the CEO of Backcountry Hunter and Anglers, told the . Zinke is both a hunter and an angler.

It's his participation in those activities that鈥檚 said to have drawn the interest of Trump鈥檚 team. The President-elect鈥檚 son, Donald Trump Jr., is a prolific hunter and also an advocate for protecting public land. The ability to hunt on public land and the animal听conservation that activity provides in this country听is fundamental to the egalitarian identity of the American hunter. That Trump鈥檚 sons hunt, and that through hunting they are exposed to such a strong pro-public lands message, is possibly what鈥檚 going to keep this land in federal hands.听

Zinke isn鈥檛 universally lauded. While he advocates for retaining federal land management, he also wants to see that land opened up for more resource extraction. 鈥淭he need to keep dirty fuels in the ground is urgent, especially on public lands,鈥� stated the Sierra Club, in response. 鈥淲e cannot afford to have someone in charge who traffics in climate denial and acts accordingly.鈥�

Still, he may be the best environmental hope we have in this administration, given the other choices. The Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership is 鈥渧ery supportive鈥� of Zinke. Its president, Whit Fosburgh, stated, 鈥淗e鈥檚 shown courage and commitment to public lands and conservation and is someone we think would be an excellent secretary of Interior.鈥�

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Even though I made progress, there were things that triggered the bad old thoughts. Even now, every time we get to March and April, I can feel myself tensing up. Fire season is starting again. Despite all the investigations and reports on Yarnell, nothing鈥檚 really changed on the ground for hotshots. It鈥檚 still the same tools, the same procedures, the same fire conditions, if not worse. I dread waking up one day and hearing on the news that a crew got trapped in a wildfire and a bunch of guys died.听

It鈥檚 inevitable. Someone has to fight the flames and fire is an unpredictable and dangerous thing. But I wish there was a better way.

I wanted to change things. How can we make it safer out there? I got a call the other day from someone working on a new fire shelter. The old ones, the ones used in Yarnell, can withstand heats up to maybe 700 degrees of radiant heat. The guys working on this new one want a shelter than can take up to 1700 degrees.听

That鈥檚 great. That would be a big plus for hotshots. But every solution seems to have a hidden black lining. With the shelter, I know firefighters and fire chiefs, and the better equipment you give them, the deeper into the fire they鈥檙e going to want to push. They鈥檒l use the better equipment to become more effective firefighters. It鈥檚 a Catch-22: give a man a bulletproof vest, he鈥檒l get that much closer to his adversary.听

But there are things we can do to make hotshots safer. The first is a tracking system for each firefighter. Right now hotshots have GPS on them and can report in where they are by radio. But in extreme conditions, when the fire is bearing down on you, you鈥檙e not thinking about giving your position. You鈥檙e thinking about living for the next 120 seconds. Comms during a fire can be sketchy. The 鈥榮aw is buzzing in your ears and the fire is ripping up a stand of trees; it鈥檚 loud out there. Sometimes guys just don鈥檛 hear the radio. And sometimes it鈥檚 hard to hear what someone in the field is trying to tell you.听

So we need a locator that can transmit the hotshot鈥檚 position continuously and that everyone in the field can see in real time. A supervisor sitting in a truck somewhere would have a computer on his lap with the up-to-the-second location of every hotshot. With eyes on the fire, he could tell them what鈥檚 coming at them. The fire is shifting your way. Get out.

These locators exist. They鈥檙e called SENDs, or Satellite Emergency Notification Devices, and they look like a small walkie-talkies that can fit in the palm of your hand. They often work off satellite when there is no cell service available and they function even in the 20 percent of forest terrain that cannot get radio coverage, so they鈥檙e perfect for fighting fires in the wilderness. In April, 2012, over a year before Yarnell, the U.S. Forest Service notified tech companies that it was in the market to buy the device. They ended up purchasing thousands of them, but Granite Mountain didn鈥檛 have them at Yarnell.听

Every hotshot in America should have one.

A SEND also contains an SOS button. The firefighter hits it and the dispatchers monitoring the system instantly know two things: the hotshot is in trouble, and his exact location. That alert also warns his fellow hotshots that鈥檚 something really dangerous at the exact spot their buddy is working.

A helicopter pilot bringing in a load of water would be able to spot a trapped crew and dump right over them. Other hotshots could roll toward them on their UTV鈥檚. It would be a complete, coordinated response and it would be fast.

A system like that might have helped at Yarnell. The pilot in that VLAT that was hovering above the ridge would have known instantaneously that the crew was in trouble and their exact position. Could he have laid a line of retardant across them? He would have had only one shot at it. Maybe he makes it. Maybe not. But it was more of a chance than they had.

The tech part is easier than the philosophy. A lot of people think hotshots need to increase their margin of safety, get farther away from the burning edge. That鈥檚 a tough one. There鈥檚 a basic conflict between the effectiveness of a hotshot crew and their safety. How are you going to tell a crew, 鈥淭here are people鈥檚 houses over the next ridge that are under threat, but we鈥檙e holding you here.鈥� What鈥檚 the point of having firefighters in the field then? It鈥檚 like telling Marines, 鈥淎 village is being burned to the ground, but it鈥檚 too dangerous to send you in.鈥� The last people who want to hear that kind of thing is a hotshot.

One thing I do know: more helicopters, more firefighters and more tanker planes would help. The more resources you put into a wildfire, the safer it is for everyone. But either the money isn鈥檛 either there for new tankers or it鈥檚 not going to the places it needs to go.听

I don鈥檛 blame people who want their houses saved. But some people don鈥檛 want to pay the extra taxes to see that we have everything we need. An on-call tanker costs around $14,000 a day. Put it in the air, and the bill soars to $4,200 an hour. Big helicopters are even more expensive: upwards of $30,000 a day for on-call duty, and over $6,000 an hour for in flight.

Add in millions for a new tanker when the fire is gone? Nine times out of ten, the answer is no.听

Two years after Yarnell, I was listening to the news when I heard about a wildfire in Washington. A four-man engine crew听had been trying to get away from the flames and the men had crashed their truck. The fire caught them. Three of them died; one survived but was badly burned.**听

I sat down and cried and cried. I felt sick. It was happening again. The same elements as Yarnell: dry tinder. Fast-moving winds. A red flag warning in the area. A change in direction in the firewall. And hotshots trying to do their job, dying. I thought of their families, especially, the years of searing pain that lie ahead of them.听

Something has to change. Has to.

We need a hotshot union in America. It鈥檚 beyond clear to me that wildland firefighters are continuously being put into dangerous situations where they have no voice and no power. It鈥檚 time for a union that will fight for what hotshots need to do their job. Better pay. Better working conditions. More resources. And, most importantly of all, improved safety.听

When your house catches on fire, the men and women who show up to help you belong to a union. The International Association of Firefighters has a quarter million members, and they all have fairer pay and better working conditions than almost any hotshot in America. That鈥檚 just wrong.

Wildfires are getting bigger. They鈥檙e burning hotter, wider, and longer. As I write this, 20,000 firefighters are in the field in the West and it鈥檚 not enough. The government is giving National Guard troops emergency hotshot training so they can help out crews that are stretched beyond their limits. Even as I鈥檓 writing this, there鈥檚 a crew of 20 firefighters working a 32-hour shift on a fireline somewhere in California. They鈥檙e bone-tired. They haven鈥檛 seen their families in weeks. They鈥檙e working under supervisors who are exhausted and overworked. When that crew kills the fire they鈥檙e on, there are two or three more waiting for them. It鈥檚 inevitable that mistakes will be made.

2015 was a horrible year for wildfires. More are coming.听

I鈥檒l be the first to admit I鈥檓 not an expert. I鈥檓 not a veteran hotshot; I was a three-year seasonal employee who saw a lot of action during a time of drought. But three seasons was enough to at least see that there was a problem in how we fight wildfires nationally. One headline from Washington is enough, if it talks about fatalities. Innovation in how we fight wildfires needs to start somewhere. If I can help spark that change, I鈥檇 feel what I鈥檝e gone through had some meaning beyond me.

When I go around the country talking about this book, I鈥檓 going to meet with hotshots. I鈥檓 going to ask them about their lives and talk about the future of our profession. Hotshots have insights that the people making decisions about our lives don鈥檛 have. We know what works and what doesn鈥檛. We can be a force for good. Maybe joining together is the way to get there.

The system we have isn鈥檛 working, period. Guys are dying in the same exact scenarios that were killing hotshots 50 or 75 years ago. 听The exact same scenarios. These hard-working men and women need to come home at night to the people who love them.听

A union would be a beginning.

*This is an excerpt from Brendan McDonough鈥檚 new book, My Lost Brothers: The Untold Story by the Yarnell Hill Fire鈥檚 Lone Survivor. McDonough is the lone survivor of the Yarnell Hill wildfire that killed 19 hotshot firefighters in Arizona in 2013.

**CORRECTION: A previous version of this story incorrectly stated that the Washington crew that encountered a wildfire in 2015 was a three-man hotshot crew.

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There's a new fitness law floating around. Let's call it the Five-Minute Rule. It came from a paper published in the 听preaching that running just five minutes a day will reduce your risk of croaking from all causes, including cardiovascular disease.

An estimated of the U.S. population is sedentary, and heart disease annually, so the Five-Minute Rule is easy to champion鈥攆or the average person. (For the love of your own and your nation's well-being, just do something!) While there are benefits in those 300 seconds of movement, they are not enough to maximize your enjoyment of the outdoors.

You need all-around strength as well as cardiovascular conditioning to boost your endurance and keep you injury-free, says adventure racer and multisport coach . You aren't going to become an all-star athlete on five minutes of running a day, but 15 minutes of maintenance鈥攚ith a stiff dose of sport-specific sessions on the weekends鈥攚ill build a foundation of strength to help you become an adaptable athlete.

Below, Macy shares five quick and easy tips to stay ready for whatever adventure comes your way, no matter what sport or activity you choose to tackle.

Concentrate on Your Core

Time needed: 8 to 10 minutes
“General core strength is important for any sport, whether it's running or biking, cross-country skiing or snowshoeing,” Macy says. An eight- to 10-minute circuit of abs work (crunches, planks), pushups, and pullups is enough to give you a killer core.

Macy does it like this: 30 pushups, two minutes of crunches, 30 pushups, two minutes of reverse crunches, 30 pullups, two minutes of side crunches. Can't do that many of each exercise? Do what you can, then rest a minute. Taking on too much too fast can lead to injury. Even a one-minute plank performed once a day can help improve your core strength. Planks, “pushups, and pullups work a variety of muscles,” Macy says. Plus, there's no excuse not to do them. “It's easy to install a pullup bar over a door frame.”

Don't Neglect Your Ankles

Time needed: 5-plus minutes
“Ankle strength is important,” Macy says. Sturdy ankles will resist injury when walking or running on uneven terrain. Ironically, Macy says an easy way to develop ankle strength over time is to walk or run on uneven terrain. So watch your footing. Need a boost? Add two sets of 10 calf raises to your daily routine, or try some of from the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons.

Use Gravity to Your Advantage

Time needed: 5-plus minutes
“If you only have a short time outside, run or walk up a hill or up stairs at a park,” Macy says. “It's a great way to make the most of your limited time.” Your body will work harder to counteract gravity, making your quick jaunt more effective at strengthening your muscles and cardiovascular system.

Get Schooled

Time needed: 15-plus minutes
Sport-specific skill and knowledge are important. “Doing it right is a good way to not get hurt,” Macy says. If you know you're going to be mountain biking, for example, have a pro show you the correct technique, setup, and gear. REI stores all over the country in everything from climbing and cycling to paddling and skiing. Try one out. 听

Hit Play

Time needed: 5 minutes
Coaches, clinics, and camps are excellent resources. Yeah, you're not supposed to be sitting in front of a screen, but for a quick lesson, watch some online videos. At least you'll have an idea of what you're supposed to be doing. Thinking about ski mountaineering, for example? There's a video for that:听

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The Tururukari-Uka tribe will not go extinct under Francisco Uruma’s watch.

During this summer’s FIFA World Cup in Brazil, Uruma and his extended family to the tribe’s plot of land outside Manaus, hoping to kickstart an ecotourism business that could help the community balance heritage and modernity in the Internet age. But can their way of life be preserved鈥攁nd is tourism the right way to do it?

Uruma’s grandfather, Waldomiro Cruz, devoted his life to protecting the region’s remaining Kambeba tribes, fighting for land rights and rekindling their legends in the face of modernization. Now the survival of the tribe rests with 35-year-old Uruma. “I want every child to adapt and be prepared for today’s world,” he says.

That’s challenging when even basic needs aren’t always met. “The government doesn’t know our reality,” Uruma said. “We have basic desires. Water. Health. Education.” Last year, the young chief represented 10 regional tribes in Brasilia, lobbying lawmakers for more land and better services. “I met people who share the same vision. I learned how we can take matters into our own hands.”听

For Uruma, securing basic needs means transforming his village into an ecotourism start-up. With support from Guedes and the Amazonas state tourism agency, Uruma and his tribal counsel are preparing the village鈥攁nd building a website鈥攖o welcome paid visitors to the tribe beginning in November. The goal is for each of the tribe’s 15 families to earn $500 per month from tourist fees and the sale of merchandise and services.

Uruma has modeled that adaptability by working with a man he calls “Professor”鈥�, an executive coach from Manaus who has spent the last two years preparing the young chief to preserve an ancient culture in one of the most rapidly changing regions in South America.

“This is the only tribe in Brazil鈥攁nd possibly the only tribe in the world鈥攖hat has enlisted the help of leadership coaching,” Guedes said. “We focus on improving Francisco’s interpersonal skills, his self-awareness, his self-motivation, and his ability to respond to new situations.”

In June, I accompanied Guedes on a visit to the Tururukari-Uka village outside Manaus to watch Brazil and Cameroon play a World Cup match on satellite TV. After an hour-long bus ride north of the capital, we took a dirt road to a lakeshore. Guedes stood at the water’s edge, cupped his hands to his mouth, and hollered into the jungle. From the forest we heard the faint response of a World Cup noisemaker. A few minutes later, two boys in a canoe paddled through the trees and we climbed aboard.

“These boys are 10 years old,” Guedes said as the boys steered us to their waterside community. “At the age of 9, they are men. There is no adolescence here.”

After hundreds of years of nomadic life, the Tururukari-Uka settled here in 2004 when the elder chief persuaded local authorities that the tribe needed a stable home so their children could get a better education. Their plot of land is about the size of seven soccer fields (including one actual soccer field) where the 56-person tribe farms, hunts, and fishes for sustenance. In a grass-roofed schoolhouse at the center of the village, the children learn traditional subjects like math and geography alongside the Kambeba language and ancestral legends.

Generating their livelihood independently of other tribes will allow the Tururukari-Uka tribe to preserve the integrity of their own language and culture. Over time, he wants to invite up to 50 visitors per day to sample their food and drink, witness their dance and music, buy artisanal crafts鈥揺ven have their marriage vows renewed by a shaman.

Watching the game with the tribe, I felt an awkward mix of wonder and trespass, hanging out in their open-air living room to feast on slow-roasted fish, drink fresh-squeezed passion fruit, and bang drums to celebrate Brazil’s goals. At intermission the children performed dances and songs and demonstrated their prodigious ability to climb trees. I couldn’t help but wonder where Uruma’s culture ended and Guedes’ coaching began. Then the match resumed and we returned to our seats in front of the TV.

“I know,” Guedes said, looking almost apologetic. “They can show you more than 20 different things about Kambeba culture, and here we are watching soccer. But the World Cup has been a good warm-up for them. A chance to see what it’s like to have visitors.”

Those gathered around the television seemed to be enjoying the new experience, especially the children, but this was a highly curated visit. While most of the tribe seemed to be rallying around Uruma’s vision, it’s hard to say how attitudes might change once the novelty wears off. Walking around the village, I noticed at least one member of the tribe watching the game in the privacy of his own house, decidedly uninterested in entertaining.

As the match disintegrated into a blowout, my wonder turned to worry. To ensure his tribe’s future, Uruma is being urged to sell a romanticized vision of the past that’s not always authentic. What are the consequences of asking these children not only to learn their culture, but also to perform it for outsiders? To complicate matters, the Brazilian government wants more鈥攏ot less鈥攅cotourism. In September,听Guedes travelled to Boston to deliver a conference presentation on his progress with the Tururukari-Uka, arguing that his methodology is replicable in other indigeneous communities. By this time next year, thousands of their pictures could materialize on the social networks of the world, hashtag Indians hashtag Amazon hashtag wow. Will filtered and tagged tourist pics be the last evidence of this ancient way of life?

Guedes and Uruma will tell you that the benefits outweigh the potential consequences, but you have to wonder what conversations take place in private between Uruma and his grandfather. What rituals are not for sale?

When Brazil scored its fourth goal, the cheering tribe passed around a basket of popcorn. I had a second helping of fish, played a game of soccer with the kids, and set my worries aside for a while as the sunset filtered through the trees. I’ve seen the theme park version of tourism in the Amazon鈥損iranha fishing contests and Cayman night hunting and rubber tapping to make condoms鈥揾omogenized thrills that usually line the pockets of corporate operators in Manaus.

Uruma’s vision is to showcase the daily life of a single tribal group鈥攈is family鈥攁nd if there proves to be an appetite for that experience, the profits will go directly to his loved ones in this village. Yes, in a perfect world, the tribe could sustain itself on exactly its own terms, but maybe ecotourism is a step toward that world. When Uruma talks about Kambeba culture, he talks not about the past, but about the future.

“The way of life is different now,” Uruma says. “When they leave the tribe to study, it’s hard for them to come back and become farmers. Our vision is for our children to go to the city and show people our way of life, to learn how to become doctors and teachers and lawyers, then come back and help our tribe in other ways.”

So far, two young members of the Tururukari-Uka tribe have gone on to attend university. M谩rcia Kambeba recently graduated from the University of Amazonas with an M.A. in history and now lives at the mouth of the Amazon in Bel茅m, where she has formed a musical group that recites poetry and sings songs of Kambeba culture. At this moment, Adana Kambeba is in medical school at the Federal University of Minas Gerais and hopes to return to Amazonas to practice indigenous medicine.

“Our culture will not fall into oblivion,” Uruma says. “20 years from now, when my grandchildren are alive, I don’t want them to know their people through books.”

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So far this summer has been one of the wettest and coolest on record across much of North America. In Ontario, where my family and I spent a month at our island cottage, the thermometer topped 80 only a couple of times. Many days started out damp and chilly, but I鈥檇 bundle our two daughters in sweats and fleece and boat across the channel to Juniper Island for the usual morning drill: swimming, canoeing, and tennis lessons, a kind of retro DIY day camp that鈥檚 been a tradition on Stony Lake for more than 50 years.

By 4 p.m. most days, the wind would have scrubbed the sky clear of clouds, and my daughters would fling themselves off the front dock or we鈥檇 go paddle boarding or motor across the lake to visit friends. But when the wind was blowing hard out of the north or west, sending whitecaps barreling down on our point and making it too blustery to be on the water, Pippa, 6, and Maisy, 4, took a more laid-back, old-fashioned approach to summer: They played.听

A generation ago this wouldn鈥檛 have been worth noting. Playing was what kids did, naturally. But with the onset of schedules and screen time, since the mid-1950s. According to two studies out of the University of Michigan, as reported by Peter Gray, Ph.D., in the , children鈥檚 play time fell by 25 percent from 1981 to 1997; outdoor play has plunged by 50 percent, with kids today spending a mere 4-7 minutes per day goofing off outdoors.

Plenty of factors have conspired to take the fun out of childhood. As more children are raised in two-income households, middle-class kids have become increasingly regimented with sports and after-school activities. Competitive school sports have become default babysitters, just as they鈥檝e become lucrative businesses. Concerned that their children will fall behind in school and competitive sports, and worried about their safety when they鈥檙e on the loose outside, parents have unwittingly reigned in the creative and physical freedom children so desperately need. Rare are the kids who can wander down the block by themselves or walk home from school with their friends, a prime time for impromptu play that鈥檚 vanishing from children鈥檚 lives.听

All this to our children鈥檚 great detriment. In his research, Gray posits that children who don鈥檛 play are more likely to suffer from anxiety and depression; childhood obesity and diagnoses of attention-deficit disorders are on the rise. Play teaches children how to work together and mature into more socially well-adjusted adults; it has also been proven to build better brain function and improves academic performance. Dr. Stuart Brown, a psychiatrist and clinical researcher who founded the , calls play “a fundamental survival aspect of all social animals.” Through his research of homicidal males in the 1960s, he found that a lack of 鈥渘ormal give-and-take play behaviors鈥� may even be an indicator for mass violence.听

This includes what Brown calls “rough-and-tumble play”鈥攖he hitting, tackling screaming, physical rowdiness that parents have been taught to discourage but which Brown contends is actually a healthy outlet because it teaches limits and empathy. The 2011 book The Art of Roughhousing draws on decades of research supporting the perks of horseplay. Rowdy social interaction builds resilience, encourages problem-solving, and triggers feelings of true joy, according to authors Anthony DeBenedet and Lawrence Cohen, whose website听offers suggestions for popular parent-child roughhousing moves (think pillow fights and airplane). As kids in the late 70s, my sister and I made up an exciting and terrifying game that our dad called Morsel, in which he鈥檇 lie flat on the ground and try to grab us while we ran in frantic, panicky circles around him. The thrill of the chase in action.听

The science of roughhousing makes me feel better about the times when six-year-old Pippa clocks her four-year-old sister and chases her around the room, both shrieking with equal parts delight and possibly horror, but I鈥檓 still happier when they play nicely together. One blowy afternoon at the lake, they built sailboats using a cache of small, square wooden boards I fished out of the kindling box. Each had been cut with a round depression in the middle, about the diameter of a candles鈥攋ust the right size for a toy mast. I鈥檓 not a crafty person, and the last time I made anything by hand might have been a summer day on the same island some 30 years ago, when in a fit of desperate boredom, my sisters and I hammered together our own wooden sailboats.

The girls thought it was the greatest idea ever invented. They raced barefoot into the meadow to scavenge for sticks, thick ones for the mast and skinnier ones for the boom. With my husband, Steve鈥檚, help they whittled the sticks to fit into the holes and used a hammer to nail them partway into the blocks; an old cotton rag, which I cut into a triangle, became the sail. Wielding a needle and thread, six-year-old Pippa sewed the bottom of her sail around the boom and tied it with twine to the mast.

Once the boats were seemingly seaworthy, we trekked over to the leeward side of the island for an impromptu homemade sailboat regatta. At Flat Rock, a long slab of granite that slopes gently into the lake, Pippa waded in and launched her sloop, which sailed downwind with the eerie precision of a remote controlled boat. Maisy鈥檚 dingy, whose mainsail was fashioned from a Tropicana orange juice container cut in half, bobbed awkwardly and then promptly tipped over. No big deal. The girls spent an hour sloshing around in the lapping lake, pushing their boats with sticks and watching how the wind caught the sails until eventually it was time to go home for dinner.

And this was just the beginning of their summer of outdoor play. They hunted grasshoppers and turned a knobby granite outcropping into a downsized Mt. Everest (the summit team consisted of a miniature bear and a pig). Afternoons at their cousins鈥� cottage, they built fairy houses in a hollowed-out, spidery tree stumps and filled acorn caps with tiny juniper berries. While some of these summer activities came at our suggestion, the kids did what kids will do, if given the chance and the time: They took the ideas and ran, inventing their own elaborate worlds and rules, losing themselves in the magic of their own imaginations.

Stony Lake is a rare, old-fashioned bubble where we don’t have to worry about traffic or strangers, or any kind of serious schedule. Real life isn’t like that. The good news is that, for most of us, encouraging kids to play freely doesn’t have to cost a lot or be complicated. That’s the point. So much depends on your home environment and your child, so start by taking baby steps to gauge your comfort and theirs.

If you have a yard, shoo them out the door to build forts, climb trees, or kick a ball while you make dinner and can keep an eye on them. If you have neighbors close by with kids who don’t mind drop-ins鈥攕pontaneous, self-directed activity is the key to free play鈥攚alk them down after school to see if their friends can play, or invite them over to play outside. Once they’ve practiced with an adult several times and you’re both comfortable, they’re ready to try on their own. Help them by giving them rules: Stay on the sidewalk, stay with your brother (in our house the motto is “sisters stick together”), come right back if nobody’s home. It’s OK to call or text the neighbor parent to make sure they arrived or to tell them to come home, or to take them or meet them halfway.

In public parks鈥攗rban or rural鈥攇ive them parameters in which to explore freely. The key word is freely, and yes, it can be hard to do. A couple of weeks ago, we took our kids camping in Crested Butte with several other families, whose kids ranged from three to eight. The campground was undeveloped, a large meadow bordered by a quiet parking area and a small creek. There were few cars coming and going and the water was shallow and clear, but still both required respect and attention from parents and kids alike.

The first day, one parent kept tabs on the kids down by the water (all the kids are swimmers), and a careful eye on cars. By the end of the second afternoon, though, the children were moving as a pack, organizing their own mountain bike races on the dirt road, including a “bumps” course, and running contests through the grass while we cooked or cleaned or just hung out. Though they were out of sight for many minutes at a time, we’d observed the group long enough to know that the older kids would come for help if the needed us, and we drilled in the rules: Watch for cars, look after one another. They ran and rode for hours, until they straggled back into camp, happy and exhausted, the way it should be.

Summer may be fleeting, but childhood doesn’t have to be.

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Unless you work for an airline, cheap tickets can be hard to come by. But don鈥檛 lose hope鈥攜ou can book a great vacation without breaking the bank.

Search by Leg

When you鈥檙e booking flights on an online travel aggregator, search for each leg separately. Sometimes you can get better deals on one-way fares than by looking for the lowest-priced round-trip ticket.听

Book Fully Refundable

Sounds counterintuitive, but if you know your travel plans far in advance, book the cheapest fully refundable flight you can find. Then, keep shopping for bargains up until the last possible moment. When a better deal comes along, you can jettison your refundable ticket.

Sign Up for Alerts

The best way to know when a travel deal is available is when the airlines notify you directly of their latest getaway deals. You might consider creating a separate email address to sign up for travel alerts from all of the major airlines. Check it a couple of times a week to see where the deals are鈥攁nd if one includes your favorite destination.

Get Some Credit

Adding another credit card to your wallet isn鈥檛 an ideal situation, but airline-offered cards pay you back with some sweet deals. Just for enrolling, you often automatically receive 25,000 to 40,000 frequent-flier miles, which is already enough for a free domestic round-trip ticket. With most airline credit cards, you also accrue one or two miles for every $1 you spend with it鈥攁nd there are other bonuses. The , for example, gives you an additional 30,000 miles if you spend $1,000 in the first thee months. The 听gives you two free companion tickets per year when you buy one ticket. And the听 lets you check your first bag for free and gives you priority boarding and miles that don't expire.

Depart on a Wednesday

On average, Wednesday is the cheapest day to fly, according to many airline experts, such as CEO Rick Seaney.听Wednesdays and Tuesdays are also the best days to find cheap fares鈥攚ith the best deals often found in the morning.

Use Those 24 Hours

If you absolutely must book a flight as soon as possible, know that U.S. airlines are required to allow you to cancel your reservation and refund your money鈥攅ven if it鈥檚 a nonrefundable fare鈥攄uring the first 24 hours after you book it. If the price drops the next day, cancel the reservation. If it doesn鈥檛, hold onto it. If you plan to use this strategy, make sure you book directly through the airline, because it can be a hassle to cancel through a third party, regardless of the law.

Got a Student ID?

Some student-travel organizations still get bulk access to budget plane tickets. The most notable of these brokers is .

Use an Agent

Yes, even in the age of Internet pricing, travel agents can still sometimes find you better, unpublished deals.

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For years, we鈥檝e been discussing the media鈥檚 role in distorting female body image. and have fingered Photoshopped images in women鈥檚 . Well boys, it seems your time has come. The pressure to look good, bulk up, and build a “six-pack,” the supposed stamp of ideal male form, is gnawing away at your happiness, too, and prompting and . The question is: What are you gonna do about it?

Let鈥檚 back up a sec to look at just how bad the body image crisis is. of 394 British men found that more than “half of men questioned (58.6 percent) said that body talk affects them personally, mostly in a negative way,” with “beer belly” and “six pack” being two of the most popular terms men use to describe each other鈥檚 appearance. Even more disturbingly, more than 35 percent of men surveyed “would sacrifice a year of life to achieve their ideal body weight or shape.”

Well get ready to add that year back to your life, men, because “there really isn鈥檛 an ideal,” says , a Research Associate in the Department of Sports Medicine and Nutrition at the University of Pittsburgh. He鈥檚 also a dietitian, coach, and bodybuilding competitor. “Is there an ideal fruit or an ideal car? No. We need to change our terminology. What we should focus on more is: what is the healthy weight people should be at?”

There鈥檚 no magic formula for healthy weight. , often used to help determine healthy weight ranges in the general population, might not be as applicable to athletes who often carry more muscle mass than the average person.

“A good description of healthy weight,” Haubenstricker says, “is where you have the lowest risk for death and illness, and where it鈥檚 maintainable within your lifestyle.” That means you鈥檙e not overweight, which can set you up for heart disease and Type 2 diabetes, among other things. And that means you鈥檙e not underweight either.

The images you see in the media of men with six-pack abs and “,” Haubenstricker says, are often shot when those guys are at their absolute leanest. “Maintaining that level of leanness [around four to five percent bodyfat] isn鈥檛 typically recommended for very long,” Haubenstricker says. “You鈥檙e not getting enough energy to do all of the things you want to do and improve” your fitness. “You鈥檙e also increasing your risk of injury.”

As , “fat is crucial for normal physiology鈥攊t helps support the skin and keep it lubricated, cushions feet, sheaths neurons, stores vitamins, and is a building block of hormones.”

In other words, that “ideal” you constantly see splashed across magazine covers is bullshit. It鈥檚 an ephemeral state of being even for the people in the photos.

It鈥檚 going to take a long time for society to stop shoving that muscled-up ideal down men鈥檚 throats. As Eva Wiseman wrote :

The media is a construction鈥攖his is no secret. Magazines, film, TV, newspapers鈥攖hey all rely on advertising. So reminding ourselves that the body types we see represented are the body types that generate purchases. Asking ourselves: “Am I being sold something here?”

The answer is almost always yes. Diet pills. Diet programs. Workout DVDs. Ab rollers. You name it. All of those things generate billions of dollars in sales by making men feel inadequate. If you believed you looked perfectly great as you are, you wouldn鈥檛 need any of those things鈥攚hy fix what isn鈥檛 broken?

“Our culture has to change to be more tolerant” of different body types, Haubenstricker says. His suggestion? Start changing your terminology and perspective by checking out resources from 听补苍诲听.

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Think you鈥檙e 鈥渞esting鈥� at your desk job? Yet another study has attacked Americans’ favorite activity: sitting. The latest report, from the , finds that for every hour you sit, you lose eight percent of your fitness gains from each hour you worked out that day. Sound really depressing? We thought so. That鈥檚 why we鈥檙e happy it鈥檚 probably not true.

Much has been made over the past few years about our sedentary lifestyles and how they鈥檙e killing us and how we should probably never, ever sit down. In this latest jab at the seated position, researchers tried to figure out the relationship between exercise and time spent sitting. Depending on whose article you鈥檙e reading, and whether or not you鈥檙e an athlete, you鈥檒l either be really, really excited about the results, or really freaking depressed.听

: 鈥淏ecause exercise has a more powerful effect in helping the heart than sitting does in harming it, one hour of physical exercise could counteract the effects of sitting for six to seven hours a day.鈥澨�

: Each 鈥渢ime unit of sitting cancels out eight percent of your gain from the same amount of running. In other words, if you run for an hour in the morning, and then sit for 10 hours during the day, you lose roughly 80 percent of the health benefit from your morning workout.鈥�

[Note: Running counts as vigorous activity. If your activity has less vigor, you can count on losing 16 percent of your workout-induced fitness gains every hour you鈥檙e hunched over a desk.]

Fortunately, it鈥檚 not that black and white. 鈥淧eople forget the gray area,鈥� says Stanford exercise physiologist Dr. Stacy Sims. 鈥淚f you go for a run, you鈥檙e going to get the benefit, but it鈥檚 better if you go for a run, then don鈥檛 sit all day.鈥�

The issue here seems to stem from the study鈥檚 definition of fitness. Researchers looked into cardiorespiratory fitness, the kind involving your heart and lung capacity. Or, as many athletes may know it, the kind VO2 max indicates.

Look at it that way, and it鈥檚 not surprising athletes don鈥檛 have enormous gains from each day鈥檚 exercise, even if they don鈥檛 sit all day. It . And that鈥檚 with a concerted effort of high-intensity exercise.

As for your musculoskeletal and neuromotor fitness, this study did not look into those systems, which should improve with training even if you do sit during the day. 鈥淚f you plan your recovery right, like your nutrition recovery, you won鈥檛 be losing fitness as long as you get up and move around during the day, too,鈥� Sims says.

Neuromotor gains, for example, should be preserved if you follow the : walking up stairs at work; standing while talking on the phone; holding walking meetings; sitting on a fitness ball or using a standing desk; taking a lunchtime walk.

鈥淚f you鈥檙e training heavy weights,鈥� Sims says, 鈥渁nd then you sit on that muscle, it gets compressed, so you鈥檙e actually reducing that neuromuscular signaling.鈥� But just getting up and walking around will reduce pressure on that muscle so you don鈥檛 lose the signaling you built up.

As for strength gains, you won鈥檛 lose strength by the hour as you sit, either, Sims says. Just get up every hour so your muscles don鈥檛 tighten up, which can lead to imbalances, .

So don鈥檛 give up on your training. Just make an effort to stand up, stretch, and move a little throughout the day and you can kiss this new eight-percent rule goodbye.听

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“No man鈥檚 land” is a term that, to the modern ear, can sound like stepping onto a battlefield. In fact, the phrase refers back to the idea of unclaimed land (recorded as “听in the Domesday survey of England of 1086) and still carries an echo of perennial hopes for free land, for places beyond the control of others. Ordinary places become extraordinary in no man鈥檚 land.

Such in-between places remind us how dependent we are on borders鈥攖hat our sense of order and certainty draws deeply from the knowledge that we are in governed territory. No man鈥檚 lands may be vast stretches of unclaimed land or tiny scraps left over from the planning of cities, though the uncertainty of the no man鈥檚 land is especially keenly felt in places that the outside world refuses to recognize or that appear to be between borders.

The notion that places might slip down between borders led me on a geographical quest. I went looking for the farthest possible distance between the border posts of two contiguous nations, to see how far they could be stretched apart.

Most border posts face each other. A change of signage, a different flag, a line on the road, all combine to signal that no sooner have you stepped out of one country than you have arrived in another. But what happens if you keep on opening up that space?A few years ago, with the help of hours spent blinking at the tiny fonts favored on travelers鈥� Internet chat forums, I found what I was looking for. Along a road between in West Africa the distance between border posts is 27 kilometers.

It is not the world鈥檚 only attenuated border area. The Sani Pass, which runs up to the mountainous kingdom of Lesotho from South Africa, is the most famous. It鈥檚 a rough road, although much visited by tourists in 4x4s seeking out the highest pub in Africa, which sits near the top of the pass. The drama of the trip is heightened by the thrill that comes from learning that this is no man鈥檚 land. The South Africa border control, complete with “Welcome to South Africa” signs, is 5.6 kilometers away from the Lesotho border office.

Another specimen is to be found in the mountainous zone between border posts on the Torugart Pass that connects China and Kyrgyzstan. Central America also has a nice example in Paso Canoas, a town that can appear to be between Panama and Costa Rica. It is habitually described as no man鈥檚 land because, having left through one border post, you can go into the town without passing through immigration to enter the other country. Some visitors relish the impression that the town around them is beyond borders. Partly as a result, Paso Canoas has developed a darkly carnival atmosphere, as if it were some kind of escaped or twilight place.

What these gaps reflect back at us is our own desires, especially the wish to step outside, if only for a short time, the claustrophobic grid of nations. We probably already suspect that it鈥檚 an illusion. Shuffling forward in a queue and making it past the passport officer does not mean you are, at that exact moment, leaving or entering a country. Such points of control exist to verify that you are allowed to enter or leave. Their proximity to the borderline is a legal irrelevance.

Yet this legal interpretation fails to grasp either the symbolic importance of the border point or the pent-up urge to enter ungoverned territory.The fact that Paso Canoas is split by the Panama鈥� Costa Rica border rather than actually being between borders doesn鈥檛 stop people from describing it as an “escaped zone.”Similarly, the steep valley up the Sani Pass is nearly all in South Africa, and the road down from Senegal into Guinea is always in one nation or another, but that isn鈥檛 how travelers experience it or even what they want.

The attraction of these in-between spaces has a lot to do with the fact that they are on land. Going through passport control at an airport provides no comparable thrill, even though international airspace is far more like a genuine no man鈥檚 land than any number of dusty miles on the ground. It seems that escaping the nation-state isn鈥檛 all that is going on here. There is a primal attraction to entering somewhere real, a place that can be walked on, gotten lost in, even built on, and that appears to be utterly unclaimed.

Some of the overland tourist trips that occasionally rumble along the Senegal鈥揋uinea highway offer camping in the no man鈥檚 land as part of the package. Like other examples, it鈥檚 a zone that provokes people to muse on allegiance and belonging. In his essay , the American travel writer Matt Brown describes encounters with villagers along the Senegal鈥揋uinea road that provoke speculation on the nature of national identity:

I stopped my bike to chat with the woman pounding leaves. I asked in French (my Pular only goes so far), “Is this Guinea?” “Yes,” she answered. Surprised that she even understood French, I posed a follow-up question. “Is this Senegal?” I asked. “Yes,” came the reply.

A little later Brown sits on “a nationless rock”听and imagines these villagers as freed from the “archaic, nonsensical national borders drawn up by greedy European leaders at the Conference of Berlin over 100 years ago.” Stretching out border posts does seem to break the seal on the national unit. The resultant gap may not be of much legal import, but for travelers on the ground it creates a sense of openness and possibility.

Yet while travelers may relish this expansiveness, the consequences for those who have to live and work in such places can be less positive, such as heightened insecurity and a sense of abandonment. This is one of the reasons why African states have been trying to close the gap in such anomalous spaces. The , which supports economic infrastructure projects across the continent, has made “establishing juxtaposed checkpoints at the borders” of its member states a priority, including at the Guinea鈥揝enegal border.

What most concerns the fund鈥檚 members is the impact that these distant border posts have on the flow of trade. Along the Guinea鈥揝enegal route there are nightmare tales of vehicles being sent back and forth by officials who keep asking for new documentation or demanding new bribes. In-between land can easily turn into a place of bureaucratic limbo where both travelers and locals are uniquely vulnerable to tiresome and corrupt officialdom. Patches of ground “between” nations are places that can be thought of as free, but they are also places where we are reminded why people willingly give up freedoms for the order and security of being behind a border.听

Excerpt from Unruly Places: Lost Spaces, Secret Cities, and Other Inscrutable Geographies. Copyright 漏 2014 by Alastair Bonnett. Used by permission of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

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This year鈥檚 Tour de France has proven mysterious to even the most knowledgeable cycling fanatics, with both pre-Tour favorites Alberto Contador and Chris Froome out of the race due to heavy crashes. So we imagine that to the outsider, the race must seem almost incomprehensible. Presenting a beginner鈥檚 guide to the world鈥檚 most important cycling stage race.

#1: Does the race take place exclusively in France?听

Nope. It often starts in a nearby country, a tradition that dates to 1954, when the race set off in Amsterdam. ,听it began with three days in England, starting in Yorkshire and ending in London.

The Tour frequently passes into neighboring countries throughout the event, especially the mountains of Italy and Spain. This year鈥檚 edition also swung through Belgium for what became a contentious and slippery day on the cobbles.

#2: How many racers compete?

A total of 198 racers line up at the start. There are 22 teams, with nine riders per team. Throughout the event, racers drop out because of injuries. Riders must also finish within a certain percentage of time of the stage winner or they鈥檒l be eliminated from the race. The percentage of time varies, depending on the difficulty of the stage.

The race jury can grant exceptions to riders who don鈥檛 make the time cut. And if more than 20 percent of riders miss the time limit, generally they are exempted. That鈥檚 why, on mountainous stages, you鈥檒l often see a large group of riders, known as the autobus, group together at the back of the field鈥攊t鈥檚 safety in numbers.

#3: How does this stage racing stuff work? How do you win?

Each rider is timed on every one of the 21 stages. A rider鈥檚 time is added up from stage to stage for an overall elapsed time. The racer with the fastest elapsed time over three weeks wins the race.

So it鈥檚 possible to lose a lot of time one day, make it up throughout the length of the race, and still win. Maybe the best example came in 1958, when Frenchman Charly Gaul started the final day in the Alps 15 minutes behind but, thanks to atrocious weather, made up all but 28 seconds of that time. He went on to win the overall.

#4: Is it true that a racer can win the overall without ever winning a stage?

Yes. While it鈥檚 considered good style to win at least one stage en route to an overall win, it鈥檚 not a requirement. All that鈥檚 necessary is a racer finish with the fastest elapsed time over three weeks.听

Only six racers in 101 editions of the race have won the Tour without winning a stage. Spaniard 脫scar Pereiro did it most recently in 2006, while three-time Tour champ Greg Lemond took his final victory in 1990 without a stage win.

#5: Are there time bonuses for winning a stage?

Through 2008, time bonuses were awarded for both pre-set sprint intervals along a day鈥檚 course and for the fastest finishers. Intermediate sprints earned the top three racers 6, 4, and 2 seconds, respectively, while the first three racers to finish a stage took 20-, 12-, and eight-second bonuses.

Race director Christian Prudhomme eliminated the bonuses in 2009, arguing that the true winner of the race should be person who clocks the actual fastest elapsed time. Both the Giro d鈥橧talia and Vuelta a Espa帽a still award bonuses, and some argue that the extra incentives make for more exciting races.听

#6: What鈥檚 with all the special jerseys?

The yellow jersey, or maillot jaune in French, indicates the rider with the fastest elapsed overall time in the race at any given point during the Tour. It is awarded after each day鈥檚 finish. If a racer wins a stage but isn鈥檛 the overall leader, he is awarded a maillot jaune for his win, but he won鈥檛 get to wear it the next day, the overall leader will.听

Concurrent to the overall race, there are three additional competitions in the Tour. The green jersey, or maillot vert, is awarded based on a point system for winning sprint stages. The racer who wears the polka dot jersey, or maillot 脿 pois, is called the King of the Mountains. He earns the jersey by accruing points for reaching the tops of designated mountains first. And the young rider classification is awarded to the racer under 26 with the fastest elapsed time, who wears the white jersey, or maillot blanc.听

#7: Is the course the same every year? How do they decide on the route?

The course, often referred to as the parcours, changes every year, though given the long history of the race, towns and climbs cycle in and out from year to year. Towns bid to host race starts and finishes, which can bring in great revenue because of the influx of teams and spectators. The course is announced each fall, usually in October, in a gala celebration.

#8: How fast do the racers go?

On flats, the peloton moves along at around 30 miles per hour. On mountain stages, racers can descend in excess of 60 miles per hour. The fastest Tour de France on record was in 2005, in which Lance Armstrong averaged 25.882 miles per hour over the 2,241-mile course.

#9: Why do they shave their legs?

Arguably the biggest reason racers shave is because, in case of a crash, it鈥檚 easier to clean the wounds with no hair. Shaved legs are also said to be more aerodynamic, and though some people claim the differences are insignificant, Specialized recently refuted that. And if they鈥檙e honest, most cyclists will tell you shaving is also about identity.

#10: How do they go to the toilet?

Given that Tour riders can spend five or more hours a day in the saddle, it鈥檚 reasonable to wonder how they take care of business. Generally, the peloton will agree to stop somewhere discreet alongside the road for a 鈥渘ature break,鈥� when riders can go without being left behind. In some cases, if the race is on, riders will just go from the saddle, with other racers taking care to stay out of the way.

#11: How much money do you get if you win?

Winners of each day鈥檚 stage are awarded 鈧�22,500 (~$30,000), while the team time trial pays 鈧�25,000 (~$34,000). Overall winners of the green jersey and polka dot jersey take home 鈧�25,000 each, while the overall winner of the white jersey gets 鈧�20,000 ($27,000). There鈥檚 also an award for the most aggressive rider (鈧�20,000), which is decided by a jury of eight cycling specialists, and for the fastest overall team (鈧�50,000).

The grand prize for the racer who takes top honors at the Tour de France is 鈧�450,000 ($610,000), though traditionally he will share it among his team.

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