Thoughty Thursday: Things that made me go hmmmm on the interwebz, Dec 24-30, 2017

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.

thoughtythursday2016

Thoughty Thursday: Things that made me go hmmmm on the interwebz, May 7-13, 2017

May 18, 2017May 15, 2017 / Melanie Marttila

Time to get your mental corn popping 🙂

Torey Van Oot sits down with Malala Yusafsai to discuss her Nobel and college. Refinery 29

Katie-Anne Laulumets explains how to love a daughter of the forest. The Elephant Journal

Thom Dunn shares 17 stunning photos of black Victorians that show what history really looked like. UpWorthy

Medievalists.net: women’s medicine and feminine embodiment in Morte D’Arthur, a middle English Trotula treatise, and The Mists of Avalon.

Nathan H. Lents, PhD, reveals the big news about homo naledi. Skeptic

Travis M. Andrews reports on a dinosaur fossil so well-preserved, it looks like a statue. The Washington Post

Here’s the additional cutural appropriation posts I promised:

Cathy Young thinks that the appropriation police are taking things too far. [My Facebook comments blew. Up. when I posted this. Agree or disagree, it’s out there.] The Washington Post
Maisha Z. Johnson lists the nine harms of cultural appropriation. Everyday Feminism

Alli Kirkham shares a comic about double standards. Everyday Feminism

A Fordham professor becomes an accidental icon. BoredPanda

Rania Naim says, you’re allowed to leave … Thought Catalog

Dave Booda promises, it’s not lame to ask a woman’s permission. The Good Men Project

Lesley Stahl: what the last Nuremburg prosecutor alive wants the world to know. 60 Minutes

Steve Paulson: Roger Penrose’s theory on how consciousness doesn’t compute and why some scientists disagree. Nautilus

Steve John Powell looks at mindfulness: the Japanese skill that everyone wants to copy. BBC

Emma Seppala: happiness research shows the biggest obstacle to creativity is being too busy. Quartz

Phil Plait: colliding clusters of galaxies make gorgeous waves. Blastr

NASA’s Juno spacecraft beams back the sharpest images of Jupiter yet. EWAO (Earth. We are one.)

Wasn’t sure where to put this … Kate Rose discusses the full moon crossing Vishika, or, as a friend said, full moon in scorpio. The post comes with a lovely disclaimer 😉 The Elephant Journal

Selena Chambers pays tribute to the women surrealists helping her through the new political reality. Literary Hub

Marissa Fessenden reports that Lake Michigan is so clear its shipwrecks are visible from the air. Smart News

Adam Rogers: all the trees will die, and then so will you. Wired

Thomas Dambo makes wooden giants and then hides them around Copenhagen. Can You Actually

The bucket, A.K.A. some guy put a go pro at the bottom of a bucket. It’s quite cool, though. And tranquil.

This weekend, I’ll have a post about Story Masters for you.

Until next I blog, be well.

thoughtythursday2016

Thoughty Thursday: Things that made me go hmmmm on the interwebz, April 16-22, 2017

April 27, 2017April 23, 2017 / Melanie Marttila

I hope something in this grab bag gets your mental corn popping! On with the thoughty!

Heather MacDougall explores the pagan roots of Easter. The Guardian

Zdravko Cvijetic lists thirteen things you need to give up if you want to be successful. Medium

George Monbiot: neolibralism encourages loneliness and that’s wrenching society apart. [Mel’s note: this introvert says being alone is not necessarily lonely. Keep the distinction in mind as you read.] The Guardian

For balance: Michael Harris promotes the benefits of solitude. The Walrus

Alice Klein reports that creative people see and process the world differently. New Scientist

Tracy Moore says, we have to talk about women who regret having children. Jezebel

Kat Chow: the “model minority” myth is again used to drive a wedge between Asians and blacks. NPR

Itai Palti thinks that the next industrial revolution will be driven by human creativity, not machines. We can always hope. Quartz

D.T. Max reviews how humans have shaped our evolution. National Geographic

Why are you so tired? ASAP Science

Following up on last week’s postmodernist post, have a look at an animated introduction to Roland Barthes’ Mythologies. Learn how to deconstruct popular culture. Open Culture

Carol Off interviews biologist David George Haskell about the songs of the trees. CBC

April 22 was Earth Day, so here are some topical posts:

Shaena Montanari lists eight reasons to be optimistic on Earth Day. Forbes
Eric Roston and Blacki Migliozzi explain how a melting arctic changes everything. Bloomberg
Meryl Pritchard offers five steps to living completely trash free. My Domaine

See you on the weekend. Be well until then.

thoughtythursday2016

Thoughty Thursday: Things that made me go hmmmm on the interwebz, June 12-18, 2016

June 23, 2016June 23, 2016 / Melanie Marttila

The tragic news of the week was, of course, the Orlando mass shooting. And all of them are writerly types . . .

Kim Fahner reflects on Orlando, loss, and soul connections. The Republic of Poetry.
Jim C. Hines presents some thoughts and facts, in no particular order.
Chuck Wendig offers his thoughts: recipe for a shooting. Terribleminds.
Porter Anderson tackles the topic for Writer Unboxed: writers in time of terror.

CIA undercover. Powerful message.

Will your job go extinct? Janet McFarland lists all the prospects for The Globe and Mail.

An estimated six million Canadians live in isolation. Social researchers are now calling it a hidden epidemic. Andre Picard for the UC Observer.

‘Forest bathing’ embraces the healing power of trees. CTV News.

Laser technology reveals cities concealed under the earth which would have made up the world’s largest empire in 12th century. The Guardian.

The Heraldic College of Arms includes rules for same sex couples.

13 untranslatable words that reflect the complexity of love. CBC.

A dying star metamorphoses into a butterfly. Phil Plait for Slate.

White curtain auroras over Finland. Design you trust.

The Public Domain Review features the Compendium of Demonology and Magic (c. 1775).

The unbelievable tale of Jesus’ wife. Ariel Sabar for The Atlantic. And for balance, Karen King responds to the unbelievable tale of Jesus’ wife.

It’s all good.

See you on the weekend for some DIYMFA catch-up 🙂

Thoughty Thursday: Things that made me go hmmmm on the interwebz, May 1-7, 2016

May 12, 2016May 12, 2016 / Melanie Marttila

CBC covers of the Fort McMurray wildfire and evacuation. Heart-wrenching.

Before you get teary (all over again), the answer to this somewhat sensationalist headline question is yes. Quite a bit, actually. Meagan Campbell asks, is there hope for the pets of Fort McMurray? MacLean’s Magazine.

In fact, West Jet made it possible for evacuees to take their pets with them. This feel-good piece from Buzzfeed.

NASA names a facility in honour of Katherine Johnson, the mathematician who calculated astronaut trajectories. Collect Space.

Jon Mooallem reports on the amateur cloud society that (sort of) rattled the scientific community. New York Times Magazine.

Alex Newman shares the story of a nurse who helps the homeless die with dignity. The Toronto Star.

Jerrold C. Winter examines what the reporting on Prince’s death reveals about our understanding of pain management. Slate.

Depression is a disease of civilization: hunter-gatherers hold the key to a cure. Return to now.

Maria Konnikova explores how people learn to become resilient. The New Yorker.

Being vulnerable is one of the more important things to master in our lives. Jodi Fraser for Elephant Journal.

More western doctors are prescribing yoga therapy. Susan Enfield for Yoga Journal.

Steven Pace reviews a study that finds trees are linked to the reduction of psychological stress. PsyPost

Terri Windling shares some May Day love 🙂

Linton Weeks looks at female husbands in the 19th century for NPR history.

I didn’t know where to put this. Something to keep in your back pocket for your next trivia night? Opium soaked tampons were the Midol of ancient Rome. Atlas Obscura.

Melissa Wiley shares stunning photos of Africa’s oldest trees, framed by starlight. The Smithsonian Magazine.

Hefty shares 20 pieces of ingenious street art.

Hope you got a few inklings from this.

Now it’s time to go write 🙂

This weekend: The Ad Astra 2016 reportage begins.

Tipsday

Thoughty Thursday: Things that made me go hmmmm on the interwebz, Jan 24-30, 2016

February 4, 2016 / Melanie Marttila / 2 Comments

Popping your mental corn for . . . a couple of years now, anyway 😉

Walking helps us think. Ferris Jabr for The New Yorker.

Diversity at the Oscars matters. #OscarsSoWhite Cameron Bailey for The Globe and Mail.

I am not black. You are not white.

The bitter experience of residential schools translated through ballet: Going Home. CBC.

Steven Page shared his mental health struggles in Sudbury last Thursday night. The Northern Life.

You are not weak by Devin Sarges.

New Alzheimer’s treatment fully restores memory. Science Alert.

The memory capacity of the brain is ten times greater than previously thought. New Universe Daily.

Mental Floss lists ten legendary monsters of North America.

Plants communicate using a network of fungi. Uplift.

Trees have social networks. Another article on the same topic. The New York Times.

Traces of a 9000 year old civilization discovered in Lake Huron by University of Michigan researchers. Message to Eagle.

Lupus 4 is a dark cloud in space. Phil Plait examines the mysteries of this tentacular hole for Slate.

Lady Science, a new anthology, is helping to stamp out sexism in the sciences. Slate.

A buried ‘daytime hotel’ is rediscovered in all its Art Nouveau splendour. Messy Nessy Chic.

Roger Boisjoly, the engineer who tried to stop the Challenger launch, dies at the age of 73. The LA Times.

Mimi Matthews explores cat funerals in the Victorian era.

And that was Thoughty Thursday.

And guess what? I lied last Saturday when I said I’d be back with more convention reportage. It’s actually Next Chapter time! So, I’ll be back on Saturday with that.

Thoughty Thursday

Thoughty Thursday: Things that made me go hmmmm on the interwebz, Nov 29-Dec 5, 2015

December 10, 2015December 11, 2015 / Melanie Marttila / 2 Comments

What you should do in an active shooter situation. I can’t believe we need posts like this, but an ex-pat friend confesses she’s already had active shooter drills at her workplace. The Art of Manliness.

Will Canada be able to resolve the problems of its First Nations as quickly as it’s providing homes for Syrian refugees? It’s a valid question. The Globe and Mail.

Not everything happens for a reason. Bright Side.

The Unbound Spirit offers thirteen things you need to remember if you love a person who suffers from anxiety.

The decline of play can result in the increase in children’s mental disorders. Psychology Today.

This special agent crow proves he’s more than a bird brain. Daily Megabyte.

Brainpickings shares The Silent Friends, a lovely short film about our abiding bond with trees.

Canadian home care is suffering, but what about its patients? The Globe and Mail.

Lovely photograph of a lazy fox. Joop Snijder.

The Budweiser 2015 Superbowl ad, lost dog. The feels.