solar eclipse

Thoughty Thursday: Popping your mental corn, Oct 23-29, 2022

/ Melanie Marttila

Welcome to the last thoughty Thursday until December 15th.  Get your mental corn popping while you can 🙂

I won’t disappear completely, though. I’ll be doing my NaNo mini updates every weekend.

Bill Hutchinson reports that former police officer J. Alexander Kueng pleads guilty in George Floyd death case. ABC News

Amy Romer explains how a First Nation rallied against the foster care system: “The new residential school system.” The Walrus

Jonathan Landay: Russia rehearses response to nuclear attack as tensions rise over “dirty bomb” allegation. Reuters

John Paul Tasker reports that Canadian handgun sales freeze takes effect. CBC

Laura Hensley wonders, why was the Lyme Disease vaccine thrown away? The Walrus

Harmeet Kaur says Diwali is having a mainstream moment in the US. CNN 

Ellen Walker unveils the horror of our favourite monsters. JSTOR Daily

Go inside the Great Pyramid of Giza. A virtual experience you can get lost in. The Giza Project

Amelia Soth: walking streetlamps for hire in seventeenth-century London. JSTOR Daily

Jessica Stillman says pretending to be extroverted doesn’t help introverts be more successful. Inc.

Marguerite Ward says the “glass cliff” is a serious problem in corporate America. Here’s how to dismantle it. Insider

Diana dove in a nuclear submarine. Physics Girl

Andreas Muller: a physicist explains what quantum entanglement is. Fast Company

Alex Wilkins: the lightest neutron star ever found could contain compressed quarks. New Scientist

Will Sullivan reports that NASA team begins study of UFOs. The Smithsonian Magazine

Camille Fine shares the last solar eclipse of the year in photos. USA Today

Steve Gorman: NASA instrument detects dozens of methane super-emitters from space. Reuters

Thomas Gualtieri and Kati Pohjanpalo explain how cold seawater can heat Helsinki’s homes. Bloomberg

Why eight eyes are better than two (if you’re a spider). Be Smart

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

Until my first NaNo mini update, 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, June 20-26, 2021

/ Melanie Marttila

It’s time to get your mental corn popping. Yeah, it’s also Canada Day, but I’m not celebrating.

Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor reveals the secret history of Black uprisings. The New Yorker

Ryan Eneas and Theresa Kliem contributed to this report: Cowessess First Nation finds hundreds of unmarked graves at Marieval Residential School in Saskatchewan. CBC

David A. Robertson: “My grandmother’s sister had a name. It was Maggie.” The Toronto Star

A history of Indigenous languages — and how to revitalize them | Lindsay Morcom TED

Shira Pinson: WWII codebreaker Alan Turing becomes the first gay man on a British bank note. NBC News

Jim Downs: how Jonathan Ned Katz rediscovered Eve Adams, the radical lesbian activist. The New Yorker

Total Solar Eclipses Shine a Light on the Solar Wind with Help from NASA’s ACE Mission. NASA

Life on Saturn’s moons? Not as we know it. Dr. Becky

Patrick Roberts excerpts from his latest book: how ancient societies reimagined what cities could be. The Guardian

Colin Packham: UN irks Australia by recommending that the Great Barrier Reef be listed “in danger.” Reuters

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

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

Until then, 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, June 6-12, 2021

/ Melanie Marttila / 1 Comment

Let’s get your mental corn popping, shall we?

Benjamin Wallace-Wells: what do conservatives fear about critical race theory? The New Yorker

Algorithms and skin tone bias, or, being dark on “breadtube.” Kadija Mbowe, your cool, millennial aunty

Pope calls for reconciliation and healing over Kamloops residential school discovery but falls short of true apology. CBC (via Reuters)

Andrew Lupton and Kate Dubinski: what we know about the Muslim family in the fatal London, ON truck attack. CBC

Jacqueline Howard: in controversial decision, FDA approves first new Alzheimer’s disease drug in nearly 20 years. CNN

Matt Grossman reports that Jeff Bezos and his brother will be on Blue Origin’s first human space flight. The Wall Street Journal

The “slow” crisis of space junk. PBS Space Time

Joe Hernandez shares pictures of the June 10th “ring of fire” solar eclipse for those who, like me, missed it. NPR

Joe Hernandez: scientists finally know (for sure) what causes the northern lights. NPR

Amanda Parrish Morgan: The Hunt of the Unicorn tapestries present a virgin capture legend. JSTOR Daily

Why do flamingos stand on one leg? SciShow

Alex Fox reports that puppies are born ready to communicate with humans. The Smithsonian Magazine

True facts about the dangerous tick. Ze Frank

Thank you 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: Things that made me go hmmmm on the interwebz, Aug 25-31, 2019

/ Melanie Marttila

You’ve made it this far through the week. Reward yourself. Get your mental corn popping!

Jennifer Walter explains that, to our brains, it doesn’t matter whether we read or listen. Discover

Gregory Barber: what science fiction can teach computer science about ethics. Wired

SciShow explains how projects for living on Mars can improve life on Earth (from climate change to affordable and recyclable homes).

Deborah Netburn shows you how the world can cut food waste in half. LA Times

Jeff Goodell wonders, can we survive extreme heat? Rolling Stone

Nithin Coca: as the Amazon burns, Indonesia shows the world how to fight forest fires. Ozy

Caroline Riseboro: why we’re losing ground in the fight for gender equality. TEDXDonMills

Dan Nosowitz says, respect the hammock, one of humanity’s greatest creations. Atlas Obscura

Michael Greshko explains how this “unprecedented” skull reveals the face of a human ancestor. National Geographic

Dr. Becky explains the proof of dark matter’s existence.

SciShow Space considers the propulsive potential of the Hall Thruster.

Then, SciShow Space news announces the collision of a black hole and a neutron star detected by LIGO and VIRGO plus, progress on the Europa Clipper mission.

Emma Taggart shows us artistically arranged time slice photos that display the stages of a total solar eclipse. My Modern Met

M.R. O’Connor experiences a day in the life of a tree. The New Yorker

Thanks for stopping by. I hope you found some inspiration to feed into your current of next creative project.

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, August 13-19, 2017

/ Melanie Marttila

Thoughty Thursday starts off a bit dark this week.

As we become more effective at keeping guns and bomb-making materials out of the hands of extremists and terrorists, they turn to more accessible weapons like knives and vehicles. Fewer people may die, but even one death is too many.

Jack Holmes shares the Vice documentary on Charlottesville. Esquire

Karen Attiah covers Charlottesville the way Western media covers other nations. The Washington Post

How to make fun of Nazis: an alternative to meeting violence with violence. Moises Velasquez-Manoff for The New York Times.

Raphael Minder and Patrick Kingsley report on the latest from Barcelona. The New York Times

Philip Oltermann covers the fatal stabbing in Turku, Finland. The Guardian

 

Gina Kolata: researchers track an unlikely culprit in weight gain. The New York Times

Samantha Leal looks at warrior women throughout history. Marie Claire

Mandy Oaklander introduces us to the new hope for depression. Time Magazine

Lily Carollo interviews Julie Rehmeyer about the loneliness of having an illness science doesn’t understand. The Science of Us

Why loneliness can be as unhealthy as smoking 15 cigarettes a day. CBC

And for balance, and because alone doesn’t have to mean lonely, check out these illustrations by Yaoyao Ma Van As that capture the happiness of living alone. Bored Panda

Trees with “crown shyness” mysteriously avoid touching each other. Kelly Richman-Abdou for My Modern Met.

David Baron: you owe it to yourself to see a full solar eclipse before you die. Ted Talks

 

Hilary Mitchell shares 19 facts about Elizabethan England that will blow your mind. Buzzfeed

Alexa Tanney lists 21 memes you need to send to your coworkers ASAP. Buzzfeed

I hope something got the mental corn popping.

Be well until the weekend.

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