gun violence

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: Things that made me go hmmmm on the interwebz, Sept 1-7, 2019

/ Melanie Marttila

And now, it’s time to get your mental corn popping.

German Lopez: America’s problem with gun violence, explained. Vox

It’s okay to be smart debunks seven scientific myths.

Peter Coy explains why the periodic table is more important than ever before. Bloomberg

PBS Space Time considers whether Earth’s magnetic poles are flipping.

James Gallagher reports that scientists have identified the gene responsible for left-handedness—which also affects how the brain processes language. BBC

Josh Dzieza follows some storm chasers as they search the clouds for the key to climate change: thunderheads. The Verge

Jessica Stewart showcases the amazing winners of the 2019 bird photographer of the year contest. My Modern Met

Thank you for visiting. I hope you found something to inspire your next creative project.

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

ThoughtyThursday2019

Tipsday: Writerly Goodness found on the interwebz, Aug 11-17, 2019

/ Melanie Marttila

It’s time to dig into another week’s worth of informal writerly learnings 🙂

Elizabeth A. Harvey is remembering Toni Morrison. Then, Nancy Johnson shows us how Toni Morrison’s The Bluest Eye offers a masterclass in craft. Porter Anderson: murders she didn’t write, a provocation on writers in the context of real world gun violence. Rheea Mukherjee: negotiating social privilege as a writer. Jim Dempsey wants you to explore the wonders of your character’s world view. Sarah Callender forgets to remember that writing is an act of faith. Writer Unboxed

Jenna Moreci helps you get back into the writing habit after a break.

C.S. Lakin visits Helping Writers Become Authors: how to evoke reader emotions with “surprisingness.” Then, she heads over to Larry Brook’s Storyfix to explain how to effectively “tell” emotions in fiction.

Emily Wenstrom offers three tips for creating your author newsletter before you’re published. And here’s my latest column: find storytelling inspiration with the women of the Kalevala. Constance Emmett shares five tips for surviving rejection. DIY MFA

Lisa Hall-Wilson shares four ways to go deeper with point of view. Then, Laura Drake starts with character first. Writers in the Storm

Michelle Barker wants you to remember that the wand chooses the wizard. Writers Helping Writers

Janice Hardy explains why you want nitpicky critiquers. Fiction University

Robert Lee Brewer explains the difference between slight of hand and sleight of hand. Writer’s Digest

Some reassuring advice from Chris Winkle: why you shouldn’t worry about someone stealing your manuscript. Then, Oren Ashkenazi offers advice on choosing naval tactics for your pre-gunpowder world. Mythcreants

Sam Bleicher offers some unusual writing tips on dealing with facts in science fiction. The Creative Penn

Ferris Jabr: the story of storytelling. Harper’s

Thanks for visiting. Come back on Thursday for some thoughty.

Until then, be well!

Tipsday2019

Thoughty Thursday: Things that made me go hmmmm on the interwebz, July 17-23, 2016

/ Melanie Marttila

Less angsty this week, as promised, but there’s still some serious.

Germany finally apologizes for its other genocide—more than a century later. Lynsey Chutel for Quartz.

Physician groups representing 426,000 doctors demand a stop to gun violence. American Psychiatric Association.

How Americans came together after Orlando. Conor Friedersdorf for The Atlantic.

Jim C. Hines considers another pointless police shooting.

Ok. New direction.

Twelve female activists who are changing the world. Joe McCarthy for Global Citizen.

Got privilege? What Lori Lakin Hutcherson told a white friend asked her opinion about white privilege. Good Black News.

Why I’m a racist. Not what you think. Just read it. Beyond the Glass Wall.

Dr. Nadine Caron is Canada’s first female First Nations surgeon. CBC’s the Current.

Canadian doctors have successfully reversed the effect of MS in a patient using stem cells. Notable.ca

Chris Hadfield: Questions for a Star Man. Nova’s secret life of scientists and engineers.

 

Hubble takes a long look into the heart of the crab nebula. Phil Plait for Slate. Later, he shares a year of Earth’s days in time lapse.

A walk in the woods: how walks are improving mental health. S.A. Mathieson for The Guardian.

Jen Granneman lists twelve things every highly sensitive person needs. Introvert, dear.

Another brief dip, but it’s important.

Lauren McKeon breaks fifteen years of silence. Toronto Life.

The real reason women love witches. Anne Theriault for The Establishment.

Buzzfeed presents seventeen maps that will change the way you view the world.

An orca rescue on Newsiosity.

The Oregon Supreme Court rules that dogs are sentient beings and not merely property. Bark Post.

And on that positive note, I bid thee adieu.

Until the weekend.

Thoughty Thursday