Category Archives: Suggestion Saturday

Here is this week’s list of poems and other links from my favourite corners of the web.

Ode to a Head Cold. I don’t remember ever seeing a poem dedicated to the common cold before, but this was a lot of fun to read.

Being Shy – What It’s Really Like and What to Do About It via bloggerbythesea. Go read this if you’re not shy and you’ve ever wondered what it’s like to be this way.

Halloween Is Coming. Who else identifies with this feeling?

Autumn Colours. Now I’m craving pie.

Remember When via AbeLopezAuthor. Ooh, this was a good post. I can’t imagine spending this much time focusing on such a short period in your life, but it does happen.

Life Lessons from Playing Chess via eralbertson. I keep flirting with the idea of learning how to play chess. This post might push me to finally doing it.

Finally, this Harry Potter Homecoming Assembly performance is every bit as cool as it sounds.

Here is this week’s list of blog posts and other links from my favourite corners of the web.

National Coming Out Day. This is a good read.

Why Your Kid’s Sniffles Make Me Sweat. Cold and flu season is quickly sneaking up on us again. While I’m still young and healthy enough to only be annoyed by these diseases, there are many people out there who can become critically ill or even die if they’re sickened by those same germs.

Beware of Those Who Do Not Clap via FictionOfTruth. Yes, precisely. You can tell a lot about someone based on how they react to the successes of others.

Sometimes You Need to Reboot via JamesPackWriter. I couldn’t agree with this more.

10 Little Things Morning People Love via SophiaWhitte. There are so many people in my life who are not morning folks at all. If you’re one of them, go read this.

Pumpkins Prompts. This is a cool new weekly writing prompt thing that a friend of mine started. I highly recommend checking it out.

Harry Isn’t Quite Out of His Teens When It Fully Hits Him. Yes, this is about Harry Potter. I hope you all love it as much as I did.

Here is this week’s list of links from my favourite corners of the web.

Anxious Always via JamesPackWriter. If you’ve never had anxiety, go read this. It’s a wonderful explanation of what it feels like.

How Mars Will Be Policed. I sure hope someone writes a story about this soon. There’s so much material here waiting to be explored.

How Muscular Dystrophy Shaped Me as the Person I Am Now via kerrymThompson. This was a very interesting read. I’d never randomly ask someone who had muscular dystrophy such personal questions about their life, so it’s nice to find the blog of a person who is willing to talk about it.

End Procrastination in 1 Step via Iedab. I can’t stop laughing at this.

Diagnosing the Past. This is for you, mom. You’ll love it.

‘A Lot of Hate and Bigotry Around’: Church Terminates Sign Contract Over Refusal to Post Gay-Positive Message. If you need a pick-me-up, go read this. I wonder if I would have kept attending church for many more years if I’d had access to something like this? My best guess is that I would have…. and that my deconversion would have been a happier process. As much as I love the idea of a truly LGBT+ affirming congregation, even that wouldn’t have been enough to keep me around longterm. It’s hard to say for sure without inventing a time machine, though.

Finally, I have a short assignment for all of you. Go watch Lord of the Rings (but with Mice) if you had even the slightest bit of interest in the original story. I’ve embedded it at the bottom of this post, or you can click the link above.

Happy Autumn! If you live in a part of the world that isn’t about to erupt into dozens of various shades of reds, yellows, and oranges, this is a taste of what we’ll have here in Ontario soon. Here is this week’s list of links from my favourite corners of the web.

Herbs and Gardens – 17th Century Home Remedies in New England via pk_adams. There are a lot of reasons why I think it’s important for fiction writers to study the past. This is one of them. I appreciate it when I read a story set hundreds of years ago (or in a time and place where modern medicine is unavailable) that acknowledges the limits of traditional remedies for diseases. Were some of them effective? Absolutely, but many others either did nothing or made people even sicker. Finding the balance between showing what average people can and can’t treat under those circumstances based on the plants nearby is one of those things I’d love to see more of in the wide world of fiction.

Doctors Told Her She Was Just Fat. She Actually Had Cancer. I wonder how often this happens? If anyone who has experience with doctors not listening to them is willing to share their story, I’d be quite interesting in hearing it.

Thirty Days of Gratitude via GKSihat. Will any of you be taking on this challenge?

Inside the Slimy Underground Hunt for Humanity’s Antibiotic Saviour. As rare as they are right now, antibiotic-resistant bacteria are one of the things that scare me. The thought of scientists working this hard to find other antibiotics in such a remote place is reassuring to say the least.

Where Can You Find Royalty-Free Stock Photos and Images via audendj. This is an incredibly useful post for bloggers, writers, Youtubers, and anyone else who needs free stock photos.

A Premature Attempt at the 21st Century Canon. Ooh, this was good.

Here is this week’s list of links from my favourite corners of the web.

I Used Every Pumpkin Spice Product I Could Find for a Week. Now My Armpits Smell Like Nutmeg. I can’t stop giggling at this article. Whether you love or hate pumpkin spice, you should really go read this.

At Least There’s Potatoes via seanpaulmahoney. Now that cooler weather is around the corner, I’m going to have to go back to eating potatoes more often again. They’re something I especially enjoy on a cold, crisp day.

Leaves Changing. This is a comic strip I recently discovered. Expect to see quite a few more links to them in 2018 and 2019.

There Are More Microbial Species on Earth Than Stars in the Galaxy. Raise your hand if this blows your mind.

The Art of Saying No via lisaorchard1. I couldn’t agree with this post more.

Watch Your Step: Why the 10,000 Step Goal Is Built on Bad Science. Well, this is disappointing. I’m still going to stick to my step count goals while we wait for more data to emerge. As someone who is young and healthy, I don’t think it’s going to do my body any harm to be a little more active than what the current recommendations think is best.  Obviously, this won’t be the right answer for everyone.

From Unknown Unknowns – The Problem of Hypocognition:

Tudor’s ice tale contains an important point about human affairs. Often, human fate rests not on what people know but what they fail to know. Often, life’s outcomes are determined by hypocognition.

From The United States of Space via Rad_Francis:

I’m aware that SF has a long history of equating humanity with American culture – it’s sort of the whole guiding metaphor of Star Trek, for instance, though it goes back further than that. But it’s a side of SF that’s always sort of bothered me, and I think it’s somehow more glaring here than in other SF novels I’ve read.

Here is this week’s list of blog posts and other links from my favourite corners of the web.

7 Reason to Get On Your Bike via bloggerbythesea. Autumn is just around the corner, so it will soon be the perfect time of year for a bike ride.

Lineage. I’ve had similar thoughts about my ancestors. How about all of you?

Self-Care: How to Get More Done via SamAH4679. This was a good read.

Why Dogs and Humans Love Each Other More Than Anyone Else. Honestly, I have some mixed feelings about this article due to a video embedded in it that talks about why workplaces should become dog-friendly. I love dogs, but my allergy to them would cause health problems for me if it suddenly became socially acceptable for folks to take dogs everywhere with them. It’s been my experience that many of the people who want this change to happen don’t think about how hard it is to eliminate dander from a carpet or how sick someone can get if they’re allergic to dogs and must spend time with them in an enclosed space. I totally understand the exemption for service dogs, but I think the needs of those of us who have allergies should take precedence over the inclusion of any animal who isn’t performing medically-necessary tasks/services for their owners.

How to Give Yourself a Massage, No Matter Where It Hurts. I’m especially looking forward to trying the tips for shoulder blades and the upper back, but this entire list was helpful. I’m saving it for the next time I need a massage.

From Mentally Interesting Characters via bjornlarssen:

There is enough stigma around mental illness, and that stigma kills. Please don’t contribute to it.

Here is this week’s list of blog posts, poems, disgruntled dogs, and other links from my favourite corners of the web. I don’t know how it grew so large. Some weeks I struggle to find links for this feature, and others I want to add everything to it.

Ella in Cinders via tjtherien. Anyone who enjoys modern twists on classic fairy tales should click on this link right now.

The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction. Who else is planning to spend a lot of time reading this? It’s massive.

How Mindfulness Changes Your Brain via dlhampton. Ooh, I liked this.

What Waking Up to a Husky Looks Like. This is pure silliness, but it did make me chuckle.

Let People Love You via FictionOfTruth. Kat, the author, is a blogger I recently discovered on Twitter. If you’re not familiar with her writing yet, this is an excellent place to begin.

Good Humans Are Not a Scarcity. A short but good read. Sometimes after I hear about a shooting or a miscarriage of justice I’ve felt like there aren’t enough good people in the world, to be honest with you all. Posts like this give me hope that I’m completely wrong about that.

If Feeling Isn’t In It. Unlike the husky mentioned above, the dogs in this poem are much more content with humanity in general.

One Word After Another Book Club. No, this isn’t a blog post or an article. It’s a virtual book club a friend of mine started a few days ago that tries to find Indie authors to read. I think that’s a fabulous angle for a book club.  If you’re interested in this sort of thing, I’ll see you over there!

From Is the Future Female? Fixing Sci-Fi’s Women Problem:

I had succumbed to the same fallacy that seduces the tech world: the belief that diversity means seeking out more of the same, from different people. It is this idea that dictates every woman must learn to code, that expects people from diverse backgrounds to apply to organisations that show no sign of changing their monolithic cultures…

I read the 100 “Best” Fantasy and Sci-Fi Novels – and They Were Shockingly Offensive. If you enjoyed the article above about sci-fi women problem, go read this one as well. It was linked to early on in one of the paragraphs of Is the Future Female?

Here is this week’s list of links from my favourite corners of the web.

7 Reasons Why I Wish I Was Going to Hogwarts via bloggerbythesea. Honestly, can you blame her?

Are Cities Making Animals Smarter. This would make a great story. I’m just saying.

One Church, Twenty-Five ‘Witches” and a Thousand Skeletons via pk_adams. As grisly as this chapter in history was, I like the fact that these remains are going to be reburied and commemorated. It gives me hope that humanity is gradually learning from our past mistakes and will eventually stop doing this to each other at all.

Why Being Middle-Aged May Be the Best Part of Your Life. I hope this is right.

Is It Possible to Master More Than One Art Form via andre1begin. If you have a strong opinion about this either way, I hope you’ll hop over to Andre’s post and share it in the comment section.

Which is Better? Rewards? Punishments? This was so interesting.