Kickoff For July 5, 2021
Welcome to this week’s edition of the Monday Kickoff, a collection of what I’ve found interesting, informative, and insightful on the web over the last seven days.
Another month’s gone, and so is half of 2021. Has time always flown by this quickly, or is it that it seems to do so when you reach a certain age? No matter what, a new week means a new set of articles to read.
Let’s get this Monday started with these links:
Space
Worlds Beyond Ours, wherein Claire Webb muses how terrestrial troubles are entwined with hopes of discovering life, and of living, beyond Earth.
Marschitecture: The Glory and Folly of Space-Age Manifest Destiny, wherein Justin R. Wolf looks at the fancy and folly of initiatives to design viable habitats for the Martian surface.
The Crisis in Space, wherein we learn that space is definitely the next frontier for international tensions and conflict, and why space diplomacy is vital.
History
On the “Girl Stunt Reporters” Who Pioneered a New Genre of Investigative Journalism, wherein we learn about the daring female journalists at the turn of the 20th century who put it all on the line to do important investigative reporting.
“The Mark of the Beast”, wherein we learn about the original anti vaxxers, who feared bovine side effects from a smallpox jab.
The US’ lost, ancient megacity, wherein we learn about a massive, for its time, city called Cahokia and how its makeup is challenging many assumptions about how and why cities developed.
Writing
The Fear of Putting Our Work Out There, wherein Leo Babauta explains the problem and offers some advice that can help us conquer that fear.
All first drafts are bad drafts (and that’s what makes them good), wherein we learn a simple but valuable lesson: the first shot at writing anything won’t be great, but it’s a foundation upon which to build something good.
Notes on Craft, wherein novelist Kjersti A. Skomsvold discusses how she used writing push through various boundaries to write her novel The Child.
And that’s it for this Monday. Come back in seven days for another set of links to start off your week.