Thoughty Thursday: Popping your mental corn, Oct 24-30, 2021

November 4, 2021November 1, 2021 / Melanie Marttila

And … this will be the last thought Thursday until December 9^th! Get your mental corn popping 🙂

The media and the missing; ‘Missing White Woman Syndrome’ explained | Khadija Mbowe

Tanya Talaga reveals that Canada has not truly released all residential school records. The Globe and Mail

Martha Troian: a Cree family’s canoe is returned, after sitting in a University of Saskatchewan storage room for years. Maclean’s

Haley Ott reports that UK women are being drugged by needles in nightclubs. It’s the evolution of the roofie, folks. CBS News

Mari Yamaguchi: Japan’s Princess Mako relinquishes royal status to marry commoner. Associated Press

Public Health Sudbury and District issues covid-19 order as region becomes a hot spot. And we were doing so well … CBC

Sarah Larson reveals Brené Brown’s empire of emotion. The New Yorker

Dopamine isn’t just a happy chemical. SciShow Psych

William Deresiewicz: human history gets a rewrite. The Atlantic

GM to install 4,000 electric car charging stations across Canada. CBC

Ben Turner: scientists capture images of bizarre “electron ice” for the first time. Space.com

Tariq Malik reports that the Sun fires off major solar flare from Earth-facing sunspot. Space.com

An alternative to dark matter? SciShow Space

Jackie Wattles reveals that the alarm that went off on SpaceX’s all-tourist spaceflight was … the toilet. Toilet humour in SPACE #FTW! CNN

Olivia Box explains why the belowground ecosystem matters. JSTOR Daily

Suzanne Simard, author of Finding the Mother Tree, heads up The Mother Tree Project.

Kelli Bender reports on very good doggo Bear, who saved koalas during the Australian wildfires, and was honoured with an award. People

Mary Jo DiLonardo announces that dozens of bison released on Sioux tribal lands in South Dakota. Treehugger

Squil-le-he-le Raynell Morris and Tah-Mahs Ellie Kinley: one stolen whale, the web of life, and our collective healing. Grist

Thank you for taking the time to visit, and I hope you took away something to inspire a future creative project.

I’ll pop in on the weekend for my first mini-update.

Until then, be well and stay safe; be kind and stay strong. The world needs your stories.

Thoughty Thursday: Things that made me go hmmmm on the interwebz, May 9-15, 2021

May 20, 2021May 16, 2021 / Melanie Marttila / 1 Comment

‘Tis time, once again, to get your mental corn popping!

Tsione Wolde-Michael: we should think differently about racist monuments. Hyperallergic

Britni de la Cretaz reports that at least four transgender women of color were killed within ten days. Them

Mary Louise Kelly, Karen Zamora, and Amy Isackson want us to meet America’s newest chess master, 10-year-old Tanitoluwa Adewumi. NPR

Joal Stein: spatial abolition and disability justice. Public Books

Nidal Al-mughrabi and Jeffery Heller: Jerusalem violence leads to rockets, air strikes. Reuters

Why do we have bright ideas in the shower? SciShow Psych

Pete Evans: Greyhound Canada shutting down all bus service permanently. CBC

Perseverance’s robotic arm begins to conduct science. NASA

Adam Mann wonders, is Mars ours? The New Yorker

Joanna Partridge reports that electric cars will be cheaper to produce than fossil fuel vehicles by 2027. The Guardian

Patrick Whittle: Vineyard Wind project key to clean energy, is approved. Associated Press

Rebecca Mead reveals the mysterious origins of the Cerne Abbas Giant. The New Yorker

Oliver Milman reports that a forest the size of France regrown worldwide over 20 years. The Guardian

Thanks for visiting. I hope you found something to inspire a future creative project.

Until next tipsday, be well and stay safe, be kind, and stay strong. The world needs your stories!

Thoughty Thursday: Things that made me go hmmmm on the interwebz, Jan 17-23, 2021

January 28, 2021January 24, 2021 / Melanie Marttila

It’s been another eventful week. Time to take stock and get your mental corn popping.

I’m not going to share anything about the inauguration itself. Everyone either watched it live or after the fact, I’m sure. The first 100 days is the proof in the pudding. I’m hopeful, but 2021’s rocky start enforces a certain caution. America has been collectively traumatized over the last four years and, as Chuck Wendig points out, healing takes time, and healing is painful.

Using your voice is a political choice | Amanda Gorman TED

Alexander Smith reports that the world watches as Biden leads a humbled US struggling to contain its crises. Day one gets off to a good start. NBC News

Maegen Vazquez: Trump administration releases racist school curriculum report on Martin Luther King Jr. Day. And then, on inauguration day, the 1776 report disappeared. CNN

Huw Jones and Estelle Shirbon report that London will remove statues linked to the slavery trade. Reuters

Ye Charlotte Ming: trapped in museums for centuries, Maori ancestors are coming home. Atlas Obscura

Marieke Walsh reports that as Pfizer covid-19 vaccine delays worsen, deliveries cut by 60%. And it’s not just Canada. The delays are affecting the US and some European countries, too. The Globe and Mail

Meanwhile, in Sudbury, where vaccines haven’t even been delivered yet, the health unit reports eight new confirmed cases of covid-19. On the large scale, it’s a drop in the bucket, but it just reflects that no where is safe, especially if people choose to travel and visit family in defiance of the stay-at-home order. Sudbury.com

Ashley Burke, who’s been following the story since the earliest allegations surfaced, gives us the scoop on the independent review into the claims of toxic workplace under Julie Payette. I am so disappointed that someone I respected could be capable of such abuse and mismanagement. CBC

Ian Austen: Canada’s Governor General resigns amid reports of a toxic workplace. The New York Times

Moonscapes. Dr. Noah Petro, Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter team, NASA Goddard