quiet quitting

Thoughty Thursday: Popping your mental corn, Oct 16-22, 2022

/ Melanie Marttila

It’s time to bid farewell to October. Merry Samhain, to those who observe, and happy hallowe’en to everyone else 🙂

It’s time to get your mental corn popping!

Matthew Wills considers the reverse freedom rides in light of recent incidents of forced migration. JSTOR Daily

Guy Kawasaki interviews Dolly Chugh about how to drive social change. The Remarkable People Podcast

Putin tightens grip on Ukraine and Russia with martial law. Associated Press

Quiet quitting is the future of work culture. The Take

Eliza Strickland: with this bionic nose, covid survivors could smell the roses again. IEEE Spectrum

Fergus Walsh reports that BioNTech is using covid vaccine technology to crack cancer. BBC

Michelle Donovan explains how the Black Death shaped the evolution of immunity genes, setting the course for how we respond to disease today. Brighter World | McMaster University

Wyn Reynolds: DNA gives colloidal crystals shape-shifting and memory. Northwestern University

Sheon Han explains how to prove you know a secret without giving it away. The zero-knowledge proof. It’s a computer science thing. Quanta

NASA’s Webb takes star-filled portrait of Pillars of Creation. NASA

Jennifer Ouellette says, “It’s the BOAT”: astronomers observe brightest of all time gamma-ray burst. Ars Technica

Elizabeth Howell: entire known universe recreated in Minecraft by an 18-year-old. Watch the video. Both insane and awesome. Space.com

Jo Marchant reveals that first known map of night sky found hidden in medieval manuscript. Nature

A resource you can lose yourself in: old maps online.

Getting into the spirit of the season, Nathan Strauss suggests 16 spooky places to visit. National Geographic

Alex Lawson wonders, is the great hydrogen gamble: hot air, or the net-zero holy grail? The Guardian

James Ashworth reports that Siberian remains could represent the first known neanderthal community. Natural History Museum

Drs. Georg Hochberg and Tobias Erb (et al.) go back to the future of photosynthesis. Max Planck Gesellschaft

Scientists peel back banana DNA to reveal mystery ancestors. Phys.org

Tim Vernimmen reports that the world’s biggest marine reserve seems to be doing its job. National Geographic

Thanks for stopping by. 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, 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, Aug 7-13, 2022

/ Melanie Marttila

Happy Friday eve! Thoughty Thursday’s here to get your mental corn popping in time for the weekend.

Rich McKay reports that two of Ahmaud Arbery’s murderers get life sentences and the third 35 years. Reuters

Michael Goldberg and Allen G. Breed reveal that Grand Jury declines to indict woman in Emmet Till killing. Associated Press

Lauren Michele Jackson: Josephine Baker was the star France wanted—and the spy it needed. The New Yorker

Pavel Polityuk: Ukraine accuses Russia of using nuclear plant for deadly rocket attack. Reuters

Ista Bhattacharya considers Kolcata and Partition: between remembering and forgetting. JSTOR Daily

Rosa Saba says it’s “paycheque to paycheque.” Inflation is hitting low-income Canadians hard—and its effects are likely to be long-lasting. The Toronto Star

Christopher Zara: MRI brain scans are finally revealing why some people are left-handed. Fast Company

Kaitlyn McInnis explains why the design thinking process is so important. Fast Company

Raven Ishak says crying at work is only stigmatized because offices cater to the male experience. Well + Good

Things we’ve learned working from home. The Verge

Pema Bakshi writes in defense of quiet quitting. Refinery 29

Are we turning away from sex-positive feminism? Khadija Mbowe | You Can Always Change Your Mind

Ione Gamble says being “woman’d” is becoming a depressing inevitability for us all. Refinery 29

Mark Sullivan and Alex Pasternack: small nuclear reactors finally get the nod from regulators, but they still have a lot to prove. Fast Company

Tesla discloses lobbying effort to set up factory in Canada. Reuters

Jason Bittel and Martin Gregus want you to behold the bears of summer … snoozing in flower beds. National Geographic

Thanks for stopping by. 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, July 24-30, 2022

/ Melanie Marttila

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

Amy Forliti reports that the last to ex-cops involved in George Floyd’s murder have been sentenced. Associated Press

Porter Braswell explains the difference between cultural appropriation and cultural appreciation. Fast Company

Julia Métreaux: how to dismantle systemic ableism, according to disabled people. DAME

Matthew Rodriguez: the House passed the Respect for Marriage Act. 157 republicans voted against it. Them

Tom Yun and Melissa Lopez-Martinez report that Pope Francis issues apology for residential school abuses: “I ask forgiveness.” CTV News

Eric Reguly and Joy Spearchief-Morris: Pope Francis holds second mass amid calls for broader residential school apology. The Globe and Mail

Simon Lewis introduces us to the Ukrainian fighters standing in Russia’s way on the eastern front. Reuters

Helen Regan and Rhea Mogul report that Myanmar junta executes leading democracy activists. CNN

Maria Cheng: WHO declares monkeypox a global emergency; Canada confirms 681 cases. CTV News

Consent … is messy. Khadija Mbowe

Guy Kawasaki interviews Ayelet Fishbach about the art of goals, incentives, and motivation. The Remarkable People Podcast

Ellen Scott wonders, could “quiet quitting” be the answer to burnout? What you need to know. Metro

Darren MacDonald reports that more than $38 million in LU scholarship and bursary money gone, court filing shows. CTV News

Eclipses that don’t eclipse? SciShow Space

Vladimir Isachenkov and Marcia Dunn report that Russia to drop out of International Space Station after 2024. Associated Press

Amelia Soth: gold weights and wind scales in the Asante empire. JSTOR Daily

Willow Defebaugh: burning out. On the intersection of climate change and personal burnout. Atmos

Serge Pellissier wonders, can electric vehicle batteries be recycled? Fast Company

Olivia Box examines the interaction of ecosystems and extreme weather events. JSTOR Daily

Linda Geddes announces that fossil of earliest animal predator named after David Attenborough. The Guardian

Anna Kate Cannon introduces us to the plant of the month: white sage. JSTOR Daily

Vanessa Gera reports that Polish institute classifies cats as invasive alien species. And cats (and cat-lovers) ain’t too pleased. Associated Press

Thank you for visiting, and I hope you took away something to inspire a future creative project.

This weekend, I should have my super-massive July next chapter update posted (trying something new—we’ll see how it flies).

Until then, keep staying safe and well!