hummingbirds

Thoughty Thursday: Things that made me go hmmmm on the interwebz, Aug 9-15, 2020

/ Melanie Marttila

Happy Friday eve! Celebrate the coming weekend by getting your mental corn popping 🙂

Elizabeth Gulino: recognizing racism as a public health crisis is only the beginning. Refinery 29

Lola Jaye explains why race matters when it comes to mental health. BBC

Neha Wadekar: climate change is undermining Kenya’s efforts to end child marriage. Time

Lalia Kerr: I’m a teacher at an elementary school, and I’m trying to figure out how to run my classroom during covid. The Halifax Examiner

Maya Wei-Haas explains what “airborne coronavirus” means and how to protect yourself. National Geographic

Kelly Boutsalis learns about teaching Indigenous star stories. The Walrus

Lauren Rock: Alen MacWeeney is documenting the Irish Travellers, a nomadic culture of yore. NPR

Abigail Bassett: what is music therapy? Shondaland

Sarah Buder reports that Norway’s next architectural masterpiece is a whale watching museum in the Artic Circle. Afar

Emily Zarka unlocks the mystery of the Loch Ness Monster. Monstrum | PBS Storied

Gretchen Vogel: doctors diagnose advanced cancer—in a dinosaur. Science

Ester Woolfson explains how we hurt the animals we cherish. The Guardian

And here is Ze Frank with some true facts about hummingbirds—warrior junkies.

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

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

ThoughtyThursday2019

Thoughty Thursday: Things that made me go hmmmm on the interwebz, July 19-25, 2020

/ Melanie Marttila

And here we are, at the end of July. You’ve survived another month of #pandemiclife. I hope you’ve found some way to come to terms with our ever-evolving new normal.

It’s time to reward yourself and get your mental corn popping!

Robert Evans: what you need to know about the Battle of Portland. Bellingcat

Uncomfortable conversations with a Black man. White parents raising Black and bi-racial kids. Just do yourself a favour: watch all six episodes and then subscribe. Emmanuel Acho

Channon Hodge and Tawanda Scott Sambou: these Black female soldiers brought order to chaos and struck a blow against inequality. CNN

Rep Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez responds to Rep Ted Yoho (in defense of women, everywhere). Systemic misogyny enables systemic racism.

Kaleigh Rogers explains how to make indoor air safer. FiveThirtyEight

A Dublin doctor effectively (and simply) debunks the idea that a face mask (or several) lowers oxygen levels or negatively affects the ability to breathe. Eyewitness News

Zoria Gorvett: the people with hidden immunity to covid-19. BBC

Maggie Koerth says, every decision is a risk and every risk is a decision. FiveThirtyEight

Carly Silver: before vaccines, variolation was seriously trendy. It’s okay. I had to look it up, too 😉 JSTOR Daily

Eugene S. Robinson wonders, what do killer robots dream of? Ozy

Mars in 4K. Elder Fox Documentaries

Sean Fleming: this is now the world’s greatest threat—and it’s not coronavirus. The World Economic Forum

Matt Simon considers the terrible consequences of Australia’s uber-bushfires. Wired

Christina Larson reveals that the mating call of the Ecuadorian hummingbird is ultrasonic. AP News

Andy Boyce and Andrew Dreelin: ecologists dig prairie dogs, and why you should, too. The Smithsonian Magazine

Thanks for visiting. I hope you took away something to inspire your next creative project.

This weekend, I’ll be tackling my next chapter update for July. I may not get it out on time, though, because I have an exam due on Sunday (more on that in the update).

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

ThoughtyThursday2019

Thoughty Thursday: Things that made me go hmmmm on the interwebz, Sept 15-21, 2019

/ Melanie Marttila

It’s the usual mixed bag, this Thursday. I hope you find something here to inspire your next creative project.

Nina Munteanu shares five perspectives on humanity’s relationship to our forests.

Maya Wei-Haas: mysterious waves have been pulsing across Oklahoma. National Geographic

Matthew Green introduces us to three young women racing to defuse a carbon bomb in the arctic: the climate hunters. Reuters

Stephen Kinzer recounts the secret history of Fort Dietrick, the CIA’s base for mind control experiments. Politico

Sarah Harvey suggests trying Japan’s Kaizen method to cure insomnia and sleep anxiety. Stylist

Dr. Becky considers the engraved hourglass nebula.

Veritasium looks at the Planet 9 hypothesis.

And PBS Space Time weighs the possibilities for terraforming Mars.

Dave Linkletter reveals the ten toughest math problems ever solved. Popular Mechanics

Finally, SciShow introduces us to a snail that makes its own armour (!)

Sara Barnes shows how a natural phenomenon transforms Christian Spenser’s hummingbird photographs into rainbows. My Modern Met

Thanks for stopping by and popping your mental corn with me.

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

ThoughtyThursday2019

Thoughty Thursday: Things that made me go hmmmm on the interwebz, April 29-May 5, 2018

/ Melanie Marttila

It’s Friday Eve and time to get your mental corn popping!

Isabel Bueno explains why Cinco de Mayo is celebrated. National Geographic

Madison Dapcevich reports on Sweden’s electric road that charges the cars that travel on it. IFLS

The Washington Post profiles the electronics-recycling innovator who’s going to prison for trying to extend computers’ lives.

Jonathan O’Callaghan reports on the discovery of a hidden galaxy orbiting the Milky Way. IFLS

Alfredo Carpineti: Hawking’s final theory about the universe has been published. IFLS

Matt Blitz takes us inside the epic search for extra terrestrial life. Popular Mechanics

This 50-km trail takes you through some of Ontario’s creepiest ghost towns. Narcity

Does your dog love you? Spoiler: turns out the jury’s still out on that one. SciShow Psych

 

Experts beg gardeners to check for hummingbird nests before they prune. Apost

Rosie McCall introduces you to the Superb Bird of Paradise, whose feathers are so black, they absorb 99.95% of light. IFLS

Florence + the Machine – Hunger

 

I hope you found something to inspire this Thoughty Thursday.

Be well until next Tipsday!

thoughtythursday2016

Thoughty Thursday: Things that made me go hmmmm on the interwebz, Jan 22-28, 2017

/ Melanie Marttila

Lookie, lookie, there’s a lot here to get your mental corn popping.

Chris Lonsdale reports on how Silicon Valley is teaching language to machines. Venture Beat

Jackson Landers: Harry Houdini was an ingenious inventor but didn’t want anyone to know about it. The Smithsonian Magazine

Alice Park discovers that a sedentary lifestyle can age you as many as eight years. Time

Chris Buckley and Adam Wu report on the disappearing Datang fishers. The New York Times

Medievalists.net reports on Rheged, the early medieval kingdom recently discovered in Galloway.

Hedges are the life-giving arteries of the land. Fionnuala Fallon for The Irish Times.

Liz Langley reports on how hummingbirds survive the winter. National Geographic

Carolanne Wright reports on the Harvard psychologist who says ADHD is largely a fraud. Wake Up World

Chitra Ramaswamy shares the secrets of people who never get sick. The Guardian

Alexandra Shimo learns first-hand about the high cost of food on First Nations Reserves. TVO

Gloria Galloway: a private donor funds Wapekeka’s suicide-prevention program. The Globe and Mail

Waking Times points out that 20 million Muslims marched in protest against ISIS, and mainstream media ignored it.

Matt Novak shares Carl Sagan’s eerie prediction. Paleofuture

You need to watch Aziz Ansari’s wonderful SNL monologue. Mother Jones

And here’s Ashley Judd’s epic rap:

 

For a little balance, Kid President explains how to disagree with someone 🙂

 

ASAP Thought: why you should never stop protesting.

 

More social consciousness raising. Prince EA: I am not black.

 

Now for some kawaii. Zoos get into epic #cuteanimaltweetoff. Bored Panda

Be well, be kind, and keep protesting!

thoughtythursday2016