Thoughty Thursday: Things that made me go hmmmm on the interwebz, Dec 3-9, 2017

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

Yes, it’s another short post. I’ve been recognizing the trend recently.

Gillian Flynn: … I don’t feel triumphant. I feel humiliated and angry. Time

Chuck Wendig sounds off (in his inimitable fashion) on issues of consent and basic human decency. Dear mens: your greasy demon hands are in time out. Terribleminds

Jaela Bernstein reports on the massive, ice-age cavern found beneath Montreal. CBC

Anthony Wood lists ten of the world’s most creative cities to live, work, and play in. Creative Boom

Vsauce from last year . . . Mind Field: Isolation.

 

Brian Resnick: what would it take to kill all the tardigrades (the toughest organism on Earth)? Vox

Dom Galeon reports that artificial life just moved a step closer to reality. NBC

George Dvorsky shares a surreal (and beautiful) picture of Jupiter’s clouds. Gizmodo

Be well until the weekend.

Virtual hugs all around.

thoughtythursday2016

Tipsday: Writerly Goodness found on the interwebz, September 20-26, 2015

One day left in September? Where did the time go?

It’s another tasty week of Writerly Goodness 🙂

K.M. Weiland invites you into her process as she corrects her story on her blog. Listen to the podcast and follow along with the screen shots on the blog.

Then, Katie shares what this past year preparing for publication has been like.

And for the hat trick: Foreshadowing and misdirection. Two sides of the same writerly skill best used in concert. Find out how in Katie’s Friday vlog.

Bonnie Randall returns to Janice Hardy’s Fiction University to explore the lessons writers can learn from The Killing. Phil and I are watching this on Netflix now. Just started season two. It’s definitely well-written.

Barbara Kyle shares five tips for writing a series on Chryssa Bazos’s blog.

Jane Friedman discusses the evolution of the literary agent. Writer’s Digest.

Porter Anderson digs deeper into the Authors Guild survey and what it means on Thought Catalog.

You may be surprised at what counts as a success in terms of book sales. Lynn Neary for NPR.

Ebook sales slip and the rumours of print book death are greatly exaggerated. The New York Times.

Summary judgement motions filed in ebook price fixing suit. Publishers Weekly.

How Oyster’s shut down (and movement of its employees to Google) is affecting attempts to create a “Netflix” for ebooks. Forbes.

Forbes’s Edmund Ingham interviews Reedsy founder, Emmanuel Nataf, about how his service is disrupting publishing.

Last week, I shared a post about a banned book in New Zealand. This week, the author speaks out. The Observer.

Messages to the future. Vsauce. I’ve chosen to put this in Tipsday because it’s about the stories we tell.

J.K. Rowling gets into the Potter family history on Pottermore.

Watch this fairy tale love story with a twist. i09.

Kate Beaton shares her top ten warrior princesses from Elizabeth I to Boudicca. The Guardian.

This. Is. Brilliant. #15secondShakespeare Radio Times.

Come back for Thoughty Thursday, y’all!

Tipsday

Tipsday: Writerly Goodness found on the interwebz, September 13-19, 2015

I can barely contain myself! This week’s Writerly Goodness is so . . . GOOD.

So, first Lorraine Devon Wilke publishes this article in The Huffington Post: Dear self-published author, do not write four books a year.

Then all this happened:

Larry Correia dissected and lampooned the article.

Chuck Wendig responded with, Dear any-kind-of-published author: write as much as you want.

And even John Scalzi felt compelled to post, how many books you should write in a year.

</Rant on>It all comes down to the individual. Write as much, or as little, as you want/need to. It was an interesting controversy, however, and worth the read. Wendig mentions the Stephen King article I shared a few weeks ago along with a few others on the topic. Never lose sight of your goals and don’t let stuff like this distract you. Read it and take what you need from it. The rest is noise. Interesting noise, but noise, nonetheless. </Rant off>


K.M. Weiland shares eight paragraph mistakes you may not know you’re making. These are good 🙂

How the poor choice of your character’s goal can kill your novel. Katie’s Friday vlog. Yes, she changed her schedule, like, a month ago, and I’m just getting used to it now . . . Make of that what you will.

Jane Friedman gets back to basics: writing the synopsis.

Bonnie Randall posts on Janice Hardy’s Fiction University about rejection and how to deal with it. I love this, because it’s basically my take on the experience.

Our fractured days: Steven Pressfield offers advice about staying on schedule when life (or other things) happens.

Gwen Hernandez joins Writer Unboxed with this post: Nine (or more) things I love about Scrivener.

Kameron Hurley asks what will you sacrifice and offers a review of The Traitor Baru Cormorant.

Later in the week, Kameron tackled cold publishing equations.

Porter Anderson weighs in on the latest Authors Earnings Report.

Mira Jacob writes about her experience with diversity (or lack thereof) in American publishing for Buzzfeed.

Usually, VSauce would appear on the Thoughty Thursday roundup, but this week, Michael was talking about language, linguistics, and math. IT’S AWESOME!

And the poetry of The Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows is back. Here are two lovely entires:

This is part of why I stopped at getting my MA (and still, in many ways regret going that far). The shit graduate studies asks you to vomit out in the name of “higher” education. Tickld.

Ursula K. Le Guin speaks to myth, modernism, and why she’s suspicious of the MFA. Salon.

Margaret Atwood waxes political and literary on the topic of our (un)freedom. The Guardian.

Aja Romano of the Daily Dot presents “dreadpunk” as a new subgenre. It seems like good ole Gothic to me. Do we really have to redefine these things? What do you think?

Electric Lit shares this poster about yoga for writers.

Buzzfeed presents 21 signs that prove booksellers are clever 🙂

Dogs and books! Two of my favourite things together! The cute! Bustle.

Eeee! Wasn’t this a tasty week? Yes. I equate writing craft and book porn to consumables 🙂 Nom. Nom. Nom.

See you Thursday!

Tipsday

Thoughty Thursday: Things that made me go hmmmm on the interwebz, March 29-April 4, 2015

Last week’s distressing news: another terrorist attack in Kenya. BBC.

Rinelle Harper gives a voice to the missing and murdered. The Globe and Mail.

The Boston Globe revisits Fukishima. Yes. Four years later, they are still cleaning up.

Related: Can you be socially conscious and happy? Vice.

Beautiful photos of gay and lesbian couples from the early part of the last century. Distractify.

George Takei is encouraging the boycotting of Indiana. MSNBC.

Some writers, like Chuck Wendig, have cancelled conference and convention appearances. Others, like Kameron Hurley, feel that despite their personal objections to Indiana’s new law, they a) don’t have the profile to make their non-appearance meaningful or financially viable, and b) don’t want to punish their fans by failing to show. It’s an interesting discussion.

Vsauce presents, the science of awkward:

HGTV goes inside Europe’s abandoned castles and chateaus.

Stanford’s new “pathfinding” class is pretty awesome. Wish I had that option when I went to university. Fast Company.

Assign people the tasks they love, not just the one’s they’re good at. 99u.

How to take a day off. Raptitude.com.

Eight reasons a vacation makes you better at your job. LifeHack.

Most antidepressants work based on an outdated theory. i09.

A medieval manuscript includes a potion that kills antibiotic-resistant MRSA. CBC.

How good is your eyesight? ASAP Science:

Philip Ball of the BBC writes about some of the best and oddest science-inspired music he’s discovered.

It turns out Carl Sagan’s billions of billions is about right:

The BBC shares this awesome infographic timeline of the future.

Tuktoyaktuk’s reindeer migration marks 80th year. CBC.

Strange but touching: dogs gather at the funeral of a woman who fed hungry animals. The Huffington Post.

This is just a bit of fun: 17 reasons you might have been thought a witch in 1692. Mental Floss.

Lindsey Stirling’s new video for “Take Flight” is Echser-esque 🙂

Walk off the Earth’s new video, Rule the World:

And that is your edutainment for the week.

Since I’m heading to Ad Astra this weekend, there may not be a Saturday post. I’ll try, but I can’t guarantee.

The good news: convention reportage will commence soon 🙂

Thoughty Thursday

Thoughty Thursday: Things that made me go hmmmm on the interwebz, Feb 8-14, 2015

Ten things that people who love their lives do differently. Higher Perspective.

Twenty beliefs happy people share. Lifehack. My favourite? #17: They comprehend that happiness isn’t everything.

How to live with mystery in a culture obsessed with certainty and definitive answers. Brainpickings.

RSA’s take on Susan Cain’s message on the power of introverts, plus a link to Susan’s TED Talk. Brainpickings.

The neuropsychiatric dimensions of movement disorders in sleep. Psychiatric Times.

The moon as you have never seen it before. NPR.

Veritasium interviews Commander Hadfield.

 

I love Vsauce rambles. It reminds me of being in university, when ideas ping-ponged off one another in my skull and inspired me:

 

What one artist is doing to educate us about everyday harassment (you know, cat-calls and wolf whistles?). UpWorthy.

Lauren Davis presents ten real-life female spies who deserve their own movies. Why not a novel? Giving you ideas with what Thoughty Thursday is all about! i09.

More training isn’t always the answer. Harold Jarche.

These kitsune (foxes) are so kawaii (cute) it’s kawai (scary). Foxes roam freely in the sanctuary of Zao Fox Village. My Modern Met.

Sister Rosetta Tharpe rocks Brainpickings 🙂

Sergei Polunen’s gorgeous interpretation of Hozier’s “Take me to church.” The Huffington Post.

See you again on the weekend!

Thoughty Thursday

Thoughty Thursday: Things that made me go hmmmm on the interwebz, Nov 9-15, 2014

Kindness and generosity can help your relationship last. The Business Insider.

Kare Anderson speaks about being an opportunity maker. TED.

The first real reason we need to sleep. The Business Insider.

Why psychological androgyny is essential for creativity. Brainpickings.

Like The Bletchley Circle? Read about one of the real code-breaking women the series was based on. The Edmonton Journal.

The grand unified theory of female pain by Leslie Jamison. VQR.

What has been discovered about the transmission of depression between mothers and daughters. Psychiatric Times.

Bryan Adams took these moving photos of wounded soldiers. The Independent.

Amazing buildings in Scotland. The Daily Record.

Some of the strangest and creepiest graves in the world. ViralNova.

A creative cartographer imagines a completely uncolonized Africa. i09.

The glow in the dark path inspired by Van Gogh’s Starry Night. Bored Panda.

Why tech leaders don’t want their kids using their products. The Unbounded Spirit.

Alberta fishermen find a fossil in the Castle River. The Huffington Post.

Nine TED Talks on how innovators are shaping the world of tomorrow.

Misnomers. Vsauce.

 

Just because it can be challenging to find your dog’s “presents” at certain times of the year. The dog tracker helps you find the dirt . . . Hack-a-day.

Sea otter pup cuteness. The Huffington Post.

Fun bubble experiments:

 

The Piano Guys. Ants Marching/Ode to Joy.

 

Hope you found some grist for your creative mill.

See you Saturday!

Thoughty Thursday

Thoughty Thursday: Things that made me go hmmmm on the interwebz, Oct 5-11, 2014

Psychology is back in the mix with a pile of interesting TED Talks.

What happened to #BringBackOurGirls? World Post.

How sleep patterns have changed over the years and why we might want to change back. Collective Evolution.

Andrew Solomon: Depression, the secret we all share. TED Talk.

JD Schramm on the silence surrounding suicide. TED Talk.

Eleanor Longden shares her journey from schizophrenia back to mental health. TED Talk.

Elyn Saks on her struggle with schizophrenia and what is taught her about seeing the mentally ill with compassion and clarity. TED Talk.

Vsauce answers the question, why are we morbidly curious? Three’s actually a fair amount of science and psychology backing this one up.

 

And as a follow up, here is Ask a Mortician, on the topic of necrophelia. It’s quite tastefully done, really.

 

Looks like climate change is escalating: 35,000 walrus gather in Alaska. National Geographic.

Remember Rikki Tikki Tavi? The Smithsonian Channel shared this video of the real thing:

 

i09 asks, are we over thinking the dangers of artificial intelligence?

David Brin on the spirit of exploration: comets, Pluto, Titan, and Mars. Contrary Brin.

Jackie Chan’s best story ever? Getting thrashed by Bruce Lee in Enter the Dragon.

 

The Pentatonix cover Clean Bandit’s Rather Be:

 

Get thoughty with it, my friends 🙂

Thoughty Thursday