Thoughty Thursday: Popping your mental corn, Dec 5-11, 2021

December 16, 2021December 12, 2021 / Melanie Marttila

Now this is more like it! Get your mental corn popping in time for the weekend!

Elsa Keslassy announces that Josephine Baker becomes the first Black woman to enter France’s pantheon. Variety

Becky Sullivan: trial begins for ex-officer who fatally shot Daunte Wright. NPR

Khadija Mbowe explains youth liberation and why Gen Z will save us.

Ashley Belanger: the financial abuse shown in Netflix’s Maid is a growing problem offscreen. Teen Vogue

Reina Sultan reveals what it’s like when a climate disaster permanently alters your life. Vice

Rachel Aiello reports that conversion therapy will be illegal in Canada. CTV News

Jason Warick: residential school timelines, unmarked graves, part of new web resource for survivors. CBC

Shanti Escalante-de Mattei reports that the Nez Perce tribe paid $600,000 for their own artifacts. Now, they’ve been repaid. Art News

Lisa Respers France: Rebel Wilson got “pushback” from her team over weight loss. And do click through on that related Pop Life vid. CNN

Kim Fahner documents her experience with a breakthrough case: a covid diary. So, so important. You can still get covid, even if you’re double-vaccinated. The vaccine simply gives you a better chance of not going to the hospital or dying of the virus. Getting covid can still change your world, though. Please get vaccinated, get your booster when you can, and make sure your eligible children get vaccinated. More important than ever as cases rise again. The Republic of Poetry

Jacqueline Rose reveals how the pandemic has changed our psychic landscape: life after death. The Guardian

Collin Binkley and Hannah Fingerhut: poll reveals pandemic hit Gen-Z hardest. Associated Press

Anna Bruk assures you that other people don’t think you’re a mess. Scientific American

Jue Liang: Buddhist nuns and women scholars are gaining new leadership roles in a tradition that began with the ordination of Buddha’s foster mother. The Conversation

Erik White reports that the Ontario legislature to vote on issuing warrant for Laurentian University documents. CBC

Christopher Plain: DARPA-funded researchers accidentally create the world’s first warp bubble. Engage 🙂 The Debrief

NASA announces 2021 class of astronaut candidates.

Elizabeth Howell reports that NASA celebrates the life and career of Star Trek star, Nichelle Nichols. Space.com

Cody Delistraty: what if we’ve been misunderstanding monsters? JSTOR Daily

Thanks for stopping by. I hope you took away 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, Dec 1-4, 2021

December 9, 2021December 5, 2021 / Melanie Marttila

The thoughty was slow in coming last week. Admittedly, I didn’t resume curation until December 1^st, so it makes sense that this post is half the size of usual.

Bidisha: Tudor, English, and Black—and not a slave in sight. From Oct 29, 2017. The Guardian

Mike Householder and Ryan Kryska: student kills 3, wounds 8 at Michigan school. Associated Press

New research suggests social issues are down to neurotypicals more than autistics. Critical Neurodiversity

Imagining inscape: The Human Soul (1913). The Public Domain Review

What is nothing? It’s okay to be smart

Thank you for visiting, and I hope you took away 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, 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: Popping your mental corn, Oct 17-23, 2021

October 28, 2021October 24, 2021 / Melanie Marttila

We’re almost at the end of October! Will you NaNoWriMo this year? I’m still not sure. If I do, I’ll be a rebel and will probably set a goal considerably lower than 50k words. We’ll see.

Jesse Washington: history is made as reparations start to flow in Evanston, Illinois. The Undefeated

Olivia Sanchez and Meredith Kolodner explain why white students are 250% more likely to graduate than Black students at public universities. The Hechinger Report

Lizzo and the art of flaunting. Khadija Mbowe

Heidi Atter: Inuk woman creates language book to showcase fading Inuktitut dialect. CBC

John Reinan announces that the Mille Lacs Band launches Ojibwe language books. Star Tribune

Namrata Verghese explains Orientalism: a stereotyped, colonialist vision of Asian cultures. Teen Vogue

Hilary Whiteman reports that Australia’s offering money to help victims leave violent partners. CNN

Tanya Melendez reveals how TV lied about abortion. Vox

Sharon Pruitt-Young: covid 19 memes helped us cope with life in a pandemic, new study finds. NPR

Eleanor Cummins considers the self-help no one needs right now. The Atlantic

Monica Kidd reveals that Canada doesn’t know how bad its doctor shortage is, let alone how to fix it. The National Post

How to summon spirits. JSTOR Daily

Glaciers are disappearing as fast as you can ski down them. Climate Games | Physics Girl

Jonathan Watts: 99.9% of scientists agree climate emergency caused by humans. The Guardian

Justin Rowlatt and Tom Gerken uncover a document that reveals nations lobbying to change the “Red Alert” climate report ahead of COP26. BBC

Sand dunes shouldn’t exist. Here’s why they do. It’s okay to be smart

Michael Greshko: NASA’s Lucy mission blasts off to solve the mysteries of the solar system. National Geographic

Tom Metcalfe reports that signs of Vikings in North America found in tree rings and radioactive carbon. NBC News

David Graeber and David Wengrow unfreeze the ice age and reveal the truth about humanity’s deep past. The Guardian

How ancient whales may have changed the deep ocean. PBS Eons

Thanks for stopping by. I hope you took away something to inspire a future creative project.

Just to let you know, I probably won’t have a next chapter update for October if I decide to NaNo this year. Also, after the first week, weekly curation will be suspended for the rest of November. I’ll do weekly NaNo updates, as I have in past years, and do a double next chapter update for October and November in December.

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

Thoughty Thursday: Popping your mental corn, Oct 10-16, 2021

October 21, 2021October 17, 2021 / Melanie Marttila / 2 Comments

Welcome to thoughty Thursday, your chance to get our mental corn popping in time for the weekend!

Trone Dowd reports that the cops and paramedics involved in Elijah McClain’s death charged with homicide. Vice

Rashad Robinson: hurricane Ida’s destruction was the direct result of years of systemic racism. Salon

Howard W. French explains how Africa was erased from the history of the modern world: built on the bodies of slaves. The Guardian

Matthew Wills says that the Zoot Suit Riots were race riots. JSTOR Daily

Adeoluwa Atayero announces that the First Nations University of Canada launches journalism program. CBC

Nick Murray: Nunavut Inuit sue territorial government over right to education in Inuktut. CBC

Erin Pottie reports that IBM opens school program for Mi’kmaw students in Cape Breton. CBC

B.C. park name change recognizes ancestral home of the Tsleil-Waututh Nation. CBC

Amelia Mavis Christnot explains why Indigenous Peoples’ Day is gaining traction as an American Holiday (over Columbus Day). Second Nexus

Rowaida Abdelaziz reports that over two thirds of Muslim Americans have faced Islamophobia. The Huffington Post

Christine Byrne explains why budget cooking tips are useless for low-income families. I’m still trying to figure out if the featured video is self-consciously ironic (all-white anchors, white people featured)? The Huffington Post

Yessenia Funes wonders whether COP26 will be a climate summit or a superspreader event. Atmos

Olivia Campbell reveals that Hildegard von Bingen was all about a woman’s right to bodily autonomy. JSTOR Daily

Diana shows us something that travels faster than the speed of light. Physics Girl

Ethan Siegal reveals that the Big Bang isn’t the beginning of the universe anymore: surprise! Big Think

Chelsea Gohd reports how William Shatner was moved to tears by space launch with Blue Origin. Space.com

Ruth Hamilton rocked awake by meteorite chuck crashing into her bed. CBC

Olivia Box wonders, will we lose fall colors to climate change? I hope not. JSTOR Daily

Thanks for visiting. I hope you took away 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, Oct 3-9, 2021

October 14, 2021October 10, 2021 / Melanie Marttila

The weekend is in sight! It’s time to pull your head out of work and get your mental corn popping 🙂

Kimberly Brown Pellum reveals how Maryrose Reeves Allen taught Black women’s self-care during Jim Crow. JSTOR Daily

Renée Lilley reports that residential school day scholars may be able to start claims process in December. Students who went home at night suffered the same abuses but weren’t included in the 2006 Indian Residential Schools Settlement Agreement. CBC

Literacy program launched for Indigenous elders, residential school, and day school survivors. CBC

Amar Chebib (film) and Dan Greene (text) present the story of how Cree skateboarding legend Joe Buffalo grapples with the trauma of Canada’s residential schools. The New Yorker

University of Sudbury transfers online Indigenous studies courses to Kenjgewin Teg. CBC

Joe can’t believe he’s making another Covid video. It’s okay to be smart

Lizzy Davies reports that the WHO endorses use of first malaria vaccine in Africa. The Guardian

True facts: the mosquito. Ze Frank

Key findings from the Pandora Papers. The Washington Post

Our first glimpse of the dark side of the moon. SciShow Space

Stuart Campbell, Elizabeth Healey, Yaroslav Kuzmin, and Michael D. Glascock reflect on John Dee’s obsidian mirror: the mirror, the magus, and more. Yes. An actual scholarly paper 🙂 Cambridge University Press

Guy Kawasaki interviews Olympia Yarger: entrepreneur and maggot evangelist. The Remarkable People podcast

Olivia Box: what does a tree see? On the importance of “witness” trees. JSTOR Daily

Robby Berman says, crows are self-aware, just like us. Big Think

Thank you for taking the time to visit, 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, Sept 26-Oct 2, 2021

October 7, 2021October 3, 2021 / Melanie Marttila

Moar treats to get your mental corn popping.

Tim Arango and Shaila Dewan: more than half of police killings are mislabeled (and thus, uncounted), according to new study. The New York Times

Can we ever stop obsessing over race? Khadija Mbowe

Anastasia Tsioulcas reports that R. Kelly found guilty of racketeering and sex trafficking. NPR

Emma Farge and Hereward Holland reveal that WHO employees took part in Congo sex abuse during Ebola crisis. Et, tu, WHO? Reuters

Roberta Hill explains how she survived residential school. Toronto Life

Juanita Taylor reveals how the Inuit practice of Kakiniit is etched on the skin. CBC

Endangered Tlingit language has only a few hundred speakers. Mariella Wentzell is out to change that. CBC

Akiko Busch: the invisibility of older women. The Atlantic

Amy Davidson Sorkin explores the supply-chain mystery. The New Yorker

Danny Westneat is wondering why society went off-kilter during the pandemic. Apparently, there’s a book about it. Published in 2019. The Seattle Times

Cal Newport talks to Chris Herd: is going back to the office a broken way of working? The New Yorker

Totten Mine update: 35 trapped miners safe after rescue; 4 more on long trek out of mine. The Sudbury Star

Creating a template for habitable exoplanets. SciShow

Alexandra Larkin: Hubble discovers six mysteriously dead, massive galaxies from early universe. CBS News

Michelle Gamage and Zoe Yunker report that judge ends Fairy Creek injunction in a bombshell decision. The fight to protect old growth continues. The Tyee

On Ecological Disconnect, Climate Despair, and Our Changing Relation to “Nature.” Like Stories of Old

Angela Dewan: Greta Thunberg roasts world leaders for their “blah, blah, blah” on climate change. CNN

Simon Hattenstone documents the transformation of Greta Thunberg. The Guardian

Sierra Garcia: climate change and the criminal justice system. JSTOR Daily

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

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

Thoughty Thursday: Popping your mental corn, Sept 19-25, 2021

September 30, 2021September 26, 2021 / Melanie Marttila

It’s Truth and Reconciliation Day in Canada! Here’s how you can participate. Afterward, get your mental corn popping with any or all of the following:

Jessica Nordell explains why some people get dangerously different health care: the bias that blinds. The Guardian

Janelle Harris Dixon: when a Black woman disappears, who’s trying to find her? Zora

Kelsey Vlamis reports that 710 Indigenous people, mostly girls, were reported missing in Wyoming, the same state where Gabby Petito disappeared. Insider

London’s first Indigenous-led family centre with language and culture at its core gears up for official opening. CBC

George Monbiot is shocked to see so many leftwingers lured to the far right by conspiracy theories. The Guardian

Nick Boisvert: Michael Spavor and Michael Kovrig returned to Canada after being detained in China for almost three years. CBC

Erica Pandey: the pandemic made our work weeks longer. Beware burnout, people! Axios

Justin Bachman reports that SpaceX’s Inspiration4 flight touches down off Florida coast. Bloomberg

Was the big bang a white hole? Dr. Becky

Bill Gourgey presents the Brilliant 10: the most innovative, up-and-coming minds in science. Popular Science

Micha Hiugen: file not found (or, how digital natives don’t understand information management and architecture). The Verge

Sonia Fernandez cites evidence that a cosmic impact destroyed ancient city in the Jordan Valley. Phys.org

Dr. Kevin Dann: the spiralist. ‘Cause spirals! Public Domain Review

Joe Fassler reports that lab-grown meat is supposed to be inevitable, but the science tells a different story. Long, but worthwhile. Like many new, potentially climate saving technologies, the real costs aren’t apparent, but we can’t solve those problems unless further research is done. The Counter

This simple code is behind nature’s most complex patterns. It’s okay to be smart

Danny Funt says that pets can help fight climate change with an insect-based diet. Their owners just need to come around to the idea. The Washington Post

Thanks for taking the time to stop by. I hope you took away something to inspire a future creative project.

This weekend, I should be posting my next chapter update for September.

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

Thoughty Thursday: Popping your mental corn, Sept 12-18, 2021

September 23, 2021September 23, 2021 / Melanie Marttila

Welcome to fall! It’s thoughty Thursday, your opportunity to get your mental corn popping in time for the weekend!

Jelani Cobb: the man behind critical race theory. The New Yorker

Matt Lavietes reports that the Department of Justice limits use of chokeholds and no-knock warrants. Axios

Patty Nieberg: police in Elijah McClain’s hometown racially biased, officials say. Associated Press

Alysia Harris: “We have to evaluate the motives of health care institutions.” Scalawag

Curtis Bunn: digital records from 19^th century give Black families a glimpse of their ancestry. NBC News

Ashawnta Jackson explains how Eyes on the Prize, one of the most influential historical documentaries of all time, almost didn’t get made. JSTOR Daily

Sagamok Anishnawbek, Mississauga, and Serpent River First Nations to host ceremony before searching residential school site. CBC

Kelly Hayes reports that Line 3 resisters light the way in a battle for life on Earth. TruthOut

Lindsey Bark reports that Lawrence Panther teaches first Cherokee language class at University of Arkansas. Cherokee Phoenix

Leila Fadel: for many American Muslims, the legacy of 9/11 is the fight for civil rights. NPR

1,000 Dreams shares the stories of refugees. Compelling.

Livia Gershon: evading abortion bans with mutual aid. JSTOR Daily

Brian Naylor: Aly Raisman, Simone Biles, McKayla Maroney, and Maggie Nichols blast the FBI’s mishandling of their allegations about Larry Nassar. NPR

Joe Friessen and Molly Hayes: Western University reels as student dies from assault; social media sparks investigation into sexual violence. The Globe and Mail

Avis Favaro, Elizabeth St. Philip, and Alexandra Mae Jones take us inside an Ontario ICU where all the covid-19 patients are largely young, and all unvaccinated. CTV News

Guy Kawasaki interviews Juliet Funt (daughter of Alan, of Candid Camera fame) about how you can really be productive at work (spoiler: it’s not do more with less). The Remarkable People Podcast

The entire SpaceX Inspiration4 launch. The exciting part is in the last 30 minutes or so, but if you have the time, the commentary throughout is fascinating. NASA Spaceflight