Europa

Thoughty Thursday: Popping your mental corn, Sept 25-Oct 1, 2022

/ Melanie Marttila

We’re rounding the bend to the weekend. Fortify yourself by getting your mental corn popping.

Amanda Connolly reports that Black public servants face trauma amid class action. Global News

Kimmy Yam and Shakshi Venkatraman reveal that Adnan Syed faced racial stereotypes in court that weren’t scrutinized. NBC News

Torture and ill-treatment of Haitian asylum-seekers rooted in anti-Black racism. Amnesty International

Jon Gambrell and Adam Schreck: Russia’s call-up splits EU; Ukraine says it shows weakness. Associated Press

Nadeem Badshah summarizes what we know on day 214 of the invasion. The Guardian

Ivana Saric: Nord Stream pipeline leaks were an act of sabotage, EU says. Axios

Amir-Hussein Radjy says Iran’s anti-veil protests draw on long history of resistance. Associated Press

Darren Major: on National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, Murray Sinclair challenges Canadians to be mindful, year-round. CBC

Peter Sagal puts a face on the senseless gun violence in the US: killed for walking a dog. The Atlantic

Rob Ferguson reports that Ontario tries to delay shutdown of Pickering nuclear station amid electricity “supply crunch,” sources say. The Toronto Star

Julia Simone-Rutgers: no place to live. One person’s search for a place to call home reveals a public housing system stretched to its limits. The Walrus

Jessica Stillman: a neuroscientist explains when it’s time to start worrying about your memory. Inc.

Shape-shifting fat cells fuel breast cancer growth. And they may lead to new treatments (!) Medical Xpress

Allie Volpe shares the sleep advice no one tells you. Vox

Ashawnta Jackson: vampires and public health. JSTOR Daily

Jenna Benchetrit says “quiet quitting” isn’t really quitting, but it’s forcing employers to adapt. Essentially, it’s the backlash against hustle culture. CBC

Clark Quinn considers the power of emotion. Learnlets

The fatal physics of falling objects. Veritasium

James Doubek: Jupiter is coming its closest to Earth in decades. NPR

NASA’s Juno shares first image from flyby of Jupiter’s moon Europa. NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory

Ashley Strickland reports that NASA’s DART mission successfully slams into an asteroid. One small collision for humankind … 🙂 Then, Webb, Hubble space telescopes share images of DART slamming into an asteroid. CNN

Sarah Collins says there’s new evidence of liquid water beneath the south polar ice cap of Mars. University of Cambridge

Smriti Mallapaty: China’s Mars rover finds evidence of catastrophic floods. Nature

Elizabeth Howell announces that SpaceX’s Crew-5 mission will carry Native American woman to orbit for first time. Space.com

Grace Toohey reports that Mexico earthquake triggers “desert tsunami” 1,500 miles away in Death Valley cave. Phys.org

John Bartlett: Gran Abuelo in Chile could be the world’s oldest tree. The Guardian

Dogs love the smell of stress. SciShow

More on the same: dogs can smell when we’re stressed, study finds. Phys.org

Thank you for spending a little time with me, and 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: Popping your mental corn, April 17-23, 2022

/ Melanie Marttila

It’s time, once again, to get your mental corn popping!

Ibram X. Kendi: the danger more republicans should be talking about. (Spoiler: it’s white supremacy.) The Atlantic

Whitney Bauck interviews Reverend Lennox Yearwood: culture-building as climate work. Atmos

Mariupol mayor urges residents to flee as Russia mounts eastern Ukraine offensive. CBC

Emily Zarevich introduces us to Lesya Ukrainka: Ukraine’s beloved writer and activist. JSTOR Daily

Amy Cassidy, Mostafa Salem, Caroline Faraj, Obayda Nafaa and Jack Bantock: dozens injured in Sweden in riots after Quran burning. CNN

Laurentian mess didn’t bubble up; it trickled down. Sudbury.com editorial board

Melody Wilding lists eight signs of overfunctioning that lead to burnout (and how to stop). Forbes

Sadhbh O’Sullivan says there’s a reason we procrastinate, and it isn’t laziness. Refinery 29

Deepa Purushothaman and Lisen Stromberg: leaders, stop rewarding toxic rock stars. Harvard Business Review

Clark Quinn says we’re using the wrong bucket lists. Learnlets

Harold Jarche considers writing at electric speed. Then, he looks at the power of story.

Erin Blakemore tries to explain why Easter is celebrated with bunnies and eggs. National Geographic

Doyle Rice and Dinah Voyles Pulver: UN IPCC report shows the globe is on “track toward an unlivable world.” USA Today

Solar superflares and aurora science. Physics Girl

Guy Kawasaki interviews Neil deGrasse Tyson: astrophysicist, planetary scientist, and author. The Remarkable People Podcast

Nadia Drake explains why NASA has been ignoring Uranus. That may soon change. National Geographic

Bob McDonald interviews Riley Culberg about how the ridges on the surface of Europa could mean water—and life. CBC’s “Quirks and Quarks”

Florence + the Machine – Free

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

Even though May first is Sunday, I won’t be composing my next chapter update until the first full weekend in May. That’s the May 7-8 weekend. Just so you know.

So, 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, Feb 10-16, 2019

/ Melanie Marttila

It’s time to get your mental corn popping!

Jessica Stewart shares the unromantic origins of Valentine’s Day. My Modern Met

Kevin Munger: emotional burnout is fueled by envy. It’s focused on Millennial burnout, but I think there’s something for most readers in the social media obsessed age. The Outline

SciShow Psych: you’re probably more likable than you think you are.

 

It’s okay to be smart brings the impossible hugeness of deep time down to (reasonable) size with string.

 

Matt Williams considers how big a generation ship have to be to keep a crew of 500 alive for the journey to another star. Universe Today

Szabolcs Nagy captures an extremely good ISS transit of the moon. Space Station Guys

Kevin Gill posts this fly-by of Europa.

 

Michael Greshko: the Mars Opportunity rover is dead. Here’s what it gave mankind. National Geographic

Charlotte Higgins examines the battle for the future of Stonehenge. The Guardian

Shoshi Parks shares in the quest for Gamalost cheese, Norway’s “Viking Viagra.” Munchies

BBC design looks at the homes of the future. They almost build themselves!

Bryan Armen Graham checks in with Jerry Grymek, dog concierge for the Westminster Dog Show. Then, he profiles the wire fox terrier who won best in show. The Guardian

For your puppy-loving pleasure: Purin, the super beagle.

 

And that was thoughty Thursday.

Until next week, be well, be kind, and stay strong. The world needs your stories 🙂

thoughtythursday2016

Thoughty Thursday: Things that made me go hmmmm on the interwebz, Oct 7-13, 2018

/ Melanie Marttila

Here are a few links to get your mental corn popping.

Steve LeVine shows us the state of current space exploration efforts worldwide: the new global race to space. Axios

SciShow Space News covers the potential discovery of the first exomoon and ice blades on Europa.

 

Diane Selkirk encounters North America’s nearly forgotten language. BBC

John Paul Brammer profiles eight LGBTQ+ and two-spirit Native Americans changing the world. them

Neri Oxman, working in MIT’s material ecology lab, has intrigued the likes of Björk and Brad Pitt. Penelope Green for The New York Times.

Samantha Nutt proposes the lessons women are asking men to learn. The Globe and Mail

SciShow takes a close, terrifying look at toxic shock syndrome.

 

I am mine. This is what Alzheimer’s looks like at 41. Shannon Proudfoot for McLean’s.

Jim C. Hines shares his thoughts on mental health awareness day (another post about depression).

Jenna Moreci does a special YouTube episode on mental illness, too (with bonus Cliff notes!)

 

Thanks for stopping by. I hope you found something you can use in your current creative project.

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

thoughtythursday2016

Thoughty Thursday: Things that made me go hmmmm on the interwebz June 22-28, 2014

/ Melanie Marttila

Another thoughty week runs the gamut from the sublime to the absurd. Just for you, my thoughty friends 🙂

This is from the learning and development side of my life, but, I figured, why not share the love? The social learning blog offers 22 free elearning and graphic design resources.

Author Media created this infographic that gives you ALL the sizes for all images on the most popular social media. Cheat sheet? AWESOME!

New technology for books! Check out the booktrack. Posted by Laurence MacNaughton on Jane Friedman’s blog.

All work and no play makes Johnny . . . crazy? Watch this TED talk and see what you think:

 

Five ways animals suffer from mental illness from ted.ideas.com. Phil and I have always been convinced we raise neurotic pets . . .

From the Telegraph: phobias may be memories passed down in our genes from our ancestors. Whoa, dude.

Brainpickings presents the theology of rest. “Rest, instead of being something passive, is actually an act of resistance.”

Try the Celtic version of the zodiac. The Celtic tree calendar from Irish Central.

A literary travel guide to the UK from ShortList.

Ted.ideas.com asks which country does the most good for the planet?

Six sites gain world heritage site status. Discovery news.

How much room would we need to supply the entire world with solar energy? I Fucking Love Science has the scoop.

Have a closer look at Europa with National Geographic. I love Europa. Wrote a poem about her once 🙂

The Atlantic present more of the entrants in the 2014 National Geographic Traveler Photo Contest.

Love pugs? How about Game of Thrones? A couple of creative souls decided to put the two together and this is what they came up with:

 

HelloGiggles brings us an ode to sloths.

Wired’s absurd creature of the week: the assassin bug. More like creepy creature. Gives me the wiggins.

The truth about public toilet seats from Lifehacker.

And now that you’re suitably grossed out, I shall bid thee adieu!

The best in edutainment. Nothing’s too good for my writerly friends 🙂

Thoughty Thursday