Thoughty Thursday: Things that made me go hmmmm on the interwebz, Oct 9-15, 2016

October 20, 2016October 16, 2016 / Melanie Marttila

Time to get your thoughty on!

This is the only post I’m sharing on the Trump thing from last week: every woman in America knows Donald Trump and Billy Bush. Erin Gloria Ryan for The Daily Beast. Seriously, after hearing him say that rapacious shit—I have no words.

Michelle Obama had plenty, however. I’ll let her speak for the outrage we should all be feeling right now:

John Ralston Saul on the CBC’s Unreserved: indigenous peoples don’t need your sympathy. They need you to take action.

And though he’s dying of brain cancer, this man is acting: watch Gord Downie’s Secret Path on CBC, October 23, 2016. It should be streamed on their web site, too, in case you’re not in Canada.

Colin Schultz remembers the day Canada burned the White House. The Smithsonian Magazine

The Roma in Peterborough. John Tyler Lyon for Canada’s History.

Medievalists.net lists ten great Anglo-Saxon girls’ names.

Marianne Ailes shares new Charlemagne research for the Medievlists.net.

This is what 18th century Paris sounded like. Erin Blakemore for The Smithsonian Magazine.

Lindsay Baker looks at the 20’s, the era that changed the way we dress. BBC

Meet the woman correspondent who scooped the world. Dominique Rowe for Time.

You know how much I love abandoned places and urban exploring. Sarah Laskow of Atlas Obscura takes us on a tour of the New York public library’s last, secret apartments.

Is there a limit to how long humans can live? Richard Faragher for Quartz.

Omid Safi states that being busy is a disease. On Being

Annette Heist looks at living with anosmia. NPR

Rose Eveleth reports that people put too much emphasis on Myers-Briggs Type Inventory results. The Smithsonian Magazine

Conversations with dolphins. CBC‘s The Nature of Things.

MIT creates a world of eternal May to help save bees. Mark Wilson for Fast Company.

The colonization of Mars could put astronauts at risk of chronic dementia. Victoria Woollaston for Wired.

Neil de Grasse Tyson and Bryan Cox debate the physics of lightsabers on StarTalk. National Geographic Channel

The good people of Minute Physics explain time’s arrow. Phil Plait for Slate.

Will you become a citizen of Asgardia, the first nation state in space? Nicola Davis for The Guardian.

And if you want to find out more, here’s the Asgardia web site.

Marcel Schwantes lists twenty ways to reduce your stress. Inc.

Grace Eire offers twelve signs that you may be an old soul. Little Things

Take a first listen to Tanya Tagaq’s Retribution, courtesy of Katie Presley of NPR.

And that’s how we pop your mental corn 🙂

See you Saturday for more WorldCon reportage.

Thoughty Thursday

Thoughty Thursday: Things that made me go hmmmm on the interwebz, Oct 2-8, 2016

October 13, 2016October 10, 2016 / Melanie Marttila

Thoughty Thursday’s all over the map!

The Vintage News reports that Amelia Earhart’s remains may have been found on an island.

Gabriel Samuels reports on a piece of engraved wood that suggests a Persian taught math in Japan 1,000 years ago. The Independent

Medievalists.net compiled this comprehensive list of online resources for researching the Black Death.

Medievalists.net shared this entertaining piece on Viking nicknames. My favourite? Eystein Foul-Fart 🙂

And, for the hat trick, Medievalists.net explains why cats were hated in medieval Europe.

An oldie from Barbara G. Walker of Church and State (2008!): local wise women who carried on ancient traditions were exterminated by Christianity.

Margaret Rhodes invites us to obsess over this infographic about the history of alternative music. Wired

Jonathan Jones looks at the legacy of painter Artemesia Gentileschi. The Guardian

Azeen Ghorayshi reports that transgender children as young as three are getting the help they need. Buzzfeed

Katrina Schwartz wonders why we’re so obsessed with teaching kids cursive handwriting. Mind/Shift

America is obsessed with happiness and it’s making everyone miserable. Ruth Whippman for Vox.

What it’s like to have “high-functioning” anxiety. The Mighty

Baby Boomers may be more susceptible to treatment-resistant depression. Anna Gorman for CNN.

Myke Cole writes about PTSD. This is from a few years ago (2013) but it’s still relevant.

Dominik Parisien shares his experience with Alice in Wonderland Syndrome. Uncanny

Justin Gammill lists ten things to keep in mind when loving a highly creative person. I heart intelligence

Paul Stamits talks about how fantastic fungi can save the world.

Bees are demonstrating problem-solving and transmission of knowledge. Daily Science

Scientists declare the dawn of the human-influenced epoch. Damian Carrington for The Guardian.

AI and deep machine learning are changing your life. Roger Parloff for Fortune.

What Emma Thompson learned from spending a week in the arctic. Time

Beware of dog, indeed. Upshout

Adieu until Saturday.

Be well until then 🙂

Thoughty Thursday

Thoughty Thursday: Things that made me go hmmmm on the interwebz, Aug 21-27, 2016

September 1, 2016August 28, 2016 / Melanie Marttila / 1 Comment

Brain food for creatives.

Kayla Brandon shares Heather Cross’s letter to the media on their (non) response to the Louisiana flooding. Independent journal

Makare Chi rounds up the studies on police violence and racial bias for Vanity Fair.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau writes a letter in support of One’s #PovertyIsSexist campaign.

Watch Kristen McCrea create one of Sudbury’s newest murals for the Up Here Festival. The Northern Life

The Scotsman presents the history of Scotland in nine maps.

Rob Bricken invites you to find out what third-century China thought about the Roman Empire. i09

Lily Kuo reports that the destruction of historical artefacts is now a war crime and perpetrators are being charged. Quartz

The strange folk custom of telling the bees of a family death is explored on Ask A Mortician’s “Morbid Minute.”

This article on your aging muscles will terrify you, but it just might change your life. Ginny Graves for Prevention. I’m walking more, I’ll tell you what 😉

Want the secret of happiness? Stay curious. Laura Garnett for Inc.

The Right By You campaign created three videos busting the myths of youth suicide prevention. Important stuff.

Kendra Syrdal wrote this wonderful piece on what it means to love a woman who’s used to being on her own for Thought catalog. I shared it with a particular singleton friend in mind, but the applies to any woman who’s become her own person prior to embarking on a new relationship.

Captain Awkward answers a couple of letters from two women whose groups of friends inexplicably cling to creepy dudes despite the potential for harassment and abuse they present. Important reading for any feminist.

Rebecca Boyle covers the epochal discovery of a potentially habitable planet orbiting our neighbouring star. The Atlantic

Will genome editing transform the world? Oxford Academic