Media is changing. Out goes the old model in which what we saw or heard was filtered by publishers, record companies, radio stations, film studios, or TV networks. In the new model, writers self-publish, movies appear on Youtube, music or podcasts can be downloaded digitally, and private TV networks can be subscribed to on Youtube, (as of this week). Some artists thrive in the brave new world; a fascinating example is Amanda Palmer. Watch her riveting TED talk, about asking, trust, and the relationship between an artist and her audience. (People who really understand media give good TED.) Read her recent blog post (“and i thought: this is amazing. when was the last time a thousand people argued about a stupid poem?”) about the sound and fury that erupted over her previous post A Poem For Dzhokhar. And if you’re now curious about her music, visit her store, from which you can download music on a “pay what you want” basis, including for free. That’s part of the trust between an artist and her audience, that her TED talk was about. Explore… and you’ll come away thinking differently about media.

Back in the old world Israel bombs Syria, while the “peace talks” (or the discussion preparatory to the beginning of the continuation of the “peace talks”) continue. Uri Avnery, éminence grise of the Israeli peace movement, muses on John Kerry, “If the American Secretary of State really believes that he can nudge our government slowly and gradually to ‘meaningful’ negotiation with the Palestinians, he is deluding himself. If he does not believe it, he is trying to delude others.” Meanwhile Stephen Hawking boycotts an Israeli conference, saying, “The policy of the present Israeli government is likely to lead to disaster.” His move was supported by ⅔ of Guardian readers; an attempt to tally National Post responses failed when too many were so vituperative I couldn’t tell which side they were on. Qualitatively though, they seemed less supportive.

In the fight against a plutocracy run by (and for) the 1%, more voices are being heard. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) asks, “How do Fortune 500 companies pay zero in taxes while college loans go up to 6 percent? This game is rigged.” A report on resistance to austerity in Spain is headlined, “In Spain They Are All Indignados Nowadays.” The Guardian connects the dots in a fine piece, “From Texas To Dhaka, Economic Exploitation Continues To Spill Blood.” And in the sort of followup that is all too rare, Casey Danson has a scathing article, “The worst part about BP’s oil-spill cover-up: It worked”. which also covers the effects on people and marine ecology from Corexit, BP’s oil dispersant.

How’s your mental health? Depends on who you ask for an evaluation. For years Big Pharma’s the psychiatrists’ bible has been The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) published by the American Psychiatric Association, now in edition 5. But this week the New Scientist reports on how the world’s biggest mental health research institute (the US NIMH) attacks the validity of the DSM–5. A worthwhile followup in the New Yorker looks at why the NIMH is quitting the DSM and using Research Domain Criteria (R.D.O.C.) instead. This week Jason Collins (basketball player) became the latest sports star to come out as gay, also worth noting because earlier versions of the DSM classified homosexuality as a mental disease. The DSM matters because it is the basis on which drugs are prescribed by doctors, whether for overly bouncy (or shy) teens, or for astronauts. Discovery asks the question you’ve always wondered about: What Drugs Are Our Astronauts On? concluding “…the lesson here is to use zombie mind-control drugs responsibly while in orbit.” That’s about as good a basis for a short-story as I’ve seen recently, though it would take Hunter S. Thompson to do it justice. In his home state, Colorado, the current drug of choice is now (still?) marihuana as Colorado pot growers gear up for ‘green rush’, a state of affairs which gives Doonesbury stalwart Zonker flashbacks.

Slate magazine says, ”It’s not just wrong… It’s the wrongiest wrong that ever wronged,” about a Creationism test given to Grade 4s. Scarily, they could be right. As Mark Twain observed, “It ain’t what you don’t know that gets you into trouble. It’s what you know for sure that just ain’t so.” Another example is the much-touted Islamization of Europe, about which Quora readers were asked this week. (Answer: It’s not happening.) It turns out, very reassuringly, that people would not accept that “Day of the Dead” was a Walt Disney trademark, as Mouseco™ had hoped to persuade them. But are GMO opponents just the climate skeptics of the left? Slate says yes. Challenge yourself, and read the piece. Some fine counter-arguments in the responses.

Enough serious thinking. Don’t you need something funny, to help you calm down after that Creationism test? The Onion came out with meta-humour this week, responding to the highjacking of their Twitter feed by the ‘Syrian Electronic Army’ with a piece entitled, “Syrian Electronic Army Has A Little Fun Before Inevitable Upcoming Deaths At Hands Of Rebels”. Easy test: spot the moment when this 30 second Lego ad veers dramatically off script. Everyone get 100%? I thought so. That’s a better score than the guy who was obviously wondering, “And what does this button do?” a second before this picture was taken. One of the most surreal interviews ever is a catatonically frozen Anderson Cooper of CNN interviewing Charles Ramsey, who had just freed the Cleveland women.

Time for Geography, starting with a year on the surface of the sun, reduced to a single stunning photo. Then we’ll zoom in to a fascinating pictorial image of world population. And now a brilliantly angled photo of high rises in Hong Kong; a black and white of the Grand Canyon; performers from Naxi, Yi and Bai ethnic minorities beneath the 5,596-metre Jade Dragon Snow Mountain in Lijang, China; and the Ruks Museum burning down setting off celebratory fireworks. For dessert, we offer you this very tasty-looking multicoloured iceberg. I think it’s tutti-frutti.

But what good is geography without people? (Rhetorical question, thanks for not replying.) A one minute exercise video starts this section, and it’s worth waiting for the amazing ending. Next, a fascinating animated look at the similarity in the candidates for Miss Korea this year; The Telegraph’s entertainingly modern portraits of Queen Elizabeth I, William Shakespeare, Henry VIII, et al.; firefighters in a cardboard factory;and a tautly anticipatory Mercedes pit crew at an FI race. And in the first practical use of lenticular technology ever seen (go on, prove me wrong!), an ad with a secret anti-abuse message that only kids can see.

And what good are people without animals? (Not even rhetorical question. Meaningless, really. Ignore. Thank you.) We bring you the thrilling opening dash from the Annual Penguin Marathon, which this year took place, ironically, on Sea Lion Island. Check out the 16 metre (50 foot) rubber duck on its way to Hong Kong. Its creator claims “The Rubber Duck knows no frontiers, doesn’t discriminate against people, and has healing properties.” It is cute, as are Julian (5) and Labrador Max, a 75 kg (165 pound) Newfoundland. Nothing can follow this Mataram, Indonesia grasshopper shedding its old skin. Go, and do likewise.

Special closing section: Things That Don’t Really Fit Together But All Have Numbers in Their Title. Yes, it’s 22 Unbelievable Places that are Hard to Believe Really Exist, if you’re a bored panda. Meanwhile, Gizmodo offers 13 Ingenious Treehouses That Go Out on a Limb. And Twisted Sifter offers 50 Animated Gifs of Fighting Game Backgrounds, with a link to the full set of 125 should you need more. But you probably won’t.

Tikkunista present and past on our website. Tikkunista future on our Twitter feed. No Tikkunista next week, anywhere.

“Hooray, hooray, for the first of May….” Mayday is both a celebration of workers’ rights, and an emergency call for help. This year both meanings seemed appropriate. Al Jazeera leads with a roundup of demonstrations across the world on May Day demanding better workers’ rights; for visual learners here’s an excellent Flickr stream of photos of many of the same demonstrations. Thomas Walkom (Toronto Star) writes about Canada’s part in a worldwide effort to drive down wages and the growing resistance to that effort. It’s needed; the Prime Sinister announced this week his plans to tighten the reins on CBC, Via Rail and Canada Post. We should be glad we even heard the news: during Harpo’s reign Canada has dropped from 5th to 20th on the World Press Freedom Index. One increasingly oppressed working group is students: Elizabeth Warren speaks out for them, noting that. “Fortune 500 companies paying no tax while college loans go up to 6 percent? This game is rigged.” Also relevant is a fine piece from Slate, “The Case Against Grades: They lower self-esteem, discourage creativity, and reinforce the class divide.”

Indigenous peoples, of course, have been marginalized and oppressed far more brutally than any other group. John Pilger has an excellent Guardian piece, “The story of the first Australians is still poverty and humiliation, while their land yields the world’s biggest resources boom.” What is hopeful is that there’s a painfully slow recognition both of the wrongs done to Indigenous peoples, and an honouring of the knowledge that they have. Derek Rasmussin has a fine piece on Rabble, “Assimilating Canadians into the Wisdom of Indigenous Ancestors”, looking at the links between Idle No More, Mayday, and the Environmental movement. The EU is debating a ‘bio-piracy’ law, which would force pharmaceutical firms to  compensate Indigenous people for using their knowledge. And Mother Nature also needs to send out a Mayday call. Studies show that insecticide is killing off insects (who knew?) and far more than just the ones we didn’t want. In an effort to save the bees, the EU has just banned neonicotinoid pesticides. North-American calls for a similar ban, in response to studies showing bee and bird toxicity, have thus far been ignored. Offshore nature news? Sea surface temperatures reach highest level in 150 years, and there are empty fishing nets in Louisiana three years after the spill, (though of course BP’s ads deny that reality.)

“Revolution” was a word I remember tossing around a bit too freely late at night in the 60’s. But Salon reports that 3 in 10 US voters say “armed revolution might be necessary,” (mostly right-wingers, before you start to cheer). You may want to prepare by reading the Baffler: “A Practical Utopian’s Guide to the Coming Collapse: the age of revolutions is by no means over.” Ian Welsh points out exactly how that revolutionary attitude ties in to the Boston bombings, in his excellent analysis of both the terrorists and the over-arching response: “Boston is the end result of a broken system.” But Welsh is noted for committing sociology, isn’t he?

Next, we focus on the US. Amidst the widening recognition of the Afghani defeat, Stephen Walt examines why, “The biggest source of corruption in Afghanistan,” one American official said, “was the United States.” Juan Cole draws some logical conclusions from that, as he writes on why Obama doesn’t want to (and shouldn’t) intervene in Syria. Rabbi Brandt Rosen is scathing about John Kerry’s attempt to revitalize the two state solution: “The One-State Reality in Israel/Palestine,” and he’s right: the more time and energy we waste on impossible solutions, the less we have for working towards real ones. Walt also examines China’s grades on America’s human rights conduct, and finds them not objective but factually accurate. On the right-wing side of the sanity-lunacy divide, eco-friendly labels on energy-saving bulbs are a turn-off for conservative US shoppers, while (on boingboing) Lamar Smith (the goon who brought SOPA to the US) is now in charge of science funding in the House, and has drafted a bill that would replace peer review at the National Science Foundation with a set of funding criteria chosen by Congress. Presumably that’s because Congress understands science so much better than scientists do.

Hey, we live in the modern world, for better or worse. For better, it allows people to help one another in new and wondrous ways, as illustrated by Amanda Palmer’s offer to Morrissey: Let me help you crowdsource your next album. And if you don’t understand the offer, it’s even more important to read the quite moving article. Want the thrills and excitement of pro sports, but without the cost or violence? Professional Ultimate Frisbee has arrived. Read about it… tickets are $10 in Toronto. You can see the AUDL’s top 10 highlights from last week here. Other modern things worth admiring include boingboing’s HOWTO make a magnetic detachable stapler for venter-stapled booklets and the like; a brilliant way  to put time in perspective: (just keep clicking!); a way to see how rich you are compared to everyone else in the world; and… The 18 Most Horrifying Pairs Of Shoes Ever Made. (Mostly modern; some not.)

Another round of animals for my friends and me… we’ll start with this, about which I will say only that you have never seen anything like this in your life. Not only would you not believe it if I described it, you won’t believe you’ve seen it after you have. High up in the heart-warming category is “Savour Every Moment”, an excellent 4 minute film of pets, though “Big Cats Like Boxes Too” is pretty sweet (bonus: identify the breeds of cats.) If you’re obsessed with deep ocean invertebrates, this 9 minute film is the one you’ve been waiting for. Other beauty can be found in the painted landscapes of China Danxia region (painted by nature, not artists, just to be clear). IBM boffins have made an animated film using individual atoms. Conflict: I hate bottled water, but admire Evian’s latest advertisement for it. And we end with the Winners of the 2013 Sony World Photography Awards.

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It was a week when everyone weighed in on terrorism. In Canada, Conservative MP Pierre Poilievre embodied his party’s commitment to deep analysis by revealing, “The root cause of terrorism is terrorists”, while Prime Sinister Stephen Harper decreed, “This is not the time to commit sociology.” In the US, it wasn’t so simple. Our coverage of the Boston Marathon bombing has three sections: the Tsarnaevs, the media coverage, and terrorism in context. Tikkunista: We’re not afraid to commit sociology.

We have learned that the Tsarnaevs were incredibly inept terrorists (when Dzhokhar got into the Mercedes he’d carjacked, he immediately told the driver, “Did you hear about the Boston explosion? I did that.” They then let the driver go, but kept his cell phone so the police could track their movements.) Juan Cole looks at the brothers’ background, and feels it, “sounds like a father-son struggle; radical Muslim vigilanteism so young men can get back to their father.” David Remnick, in the New Yorker, offers a fine geopolitical and personal background piece on Tamerlan and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev. And their uncle has a fascinating response, touching on themes of family alienation, character, shame, and collective responsibility.

But what of the media coverage, twitter, and other social media, mainstream media? Slate has a very fine article, “Breaking news is broken. That’s the clearest lesson you can draw about the media from the last week…” Jeff Jarvis, on BuzzMachine, mourns the lost virtue of acknowledging uncertainty. “And now the news: Here’s what we *don’t* know at this hour…” There was a clear contrast between the huge ongoing bomber coverage, and the almost instant disappearance of the Texas fertilizer explosion coverage. The Washington Post asked, “How come there’s no manhunt for the owner of the Texas factory, which did far more damage than the Boston bombers?” And –inevitably– there are people convinced the Tsarnaevs were framed. You can read about them in the article, “Dzhokhar Tsarnaev is innocent!: the Cult of Stupid sinks to new depths.”

Amidst the sound and fury, it was pleasing to hear an increasing number of voices calling for rational perspective. WashingtonBlog offered calming statistics on the likelihood of dying from a terrorist attack.(You are 12 times more likely to die from accidental suffocation in bed than from a terrorist attack; 8 times more likely to be killed by a policeman than a terrorist.) Stephen Walt analyzes how the result of this obsession with terror “has been catastrophic,” and Adam Gopnik notes eloquently, “What terrorists want is to terrify; America always obliges.” An excellent Juan Cole column contrasts the number of violent deaths caused by Christians and Muslims in the 20th century. Alternet reminds the world that “America’s focus on terrorism blinds us to everyday violence: on the day of the bombing, 11 Americans were shot,” a theme echoed in the Guardian, which contrasted Boston’s lockdown to London and the IRA bombings. And in a delightful two minute video, a lot of the US’ s best loved cartoonists call on Congress to enact common sense gun laws. Fun game: identify the comic strip from the characters as they fly past….

Tibetan Buddhists seemed to keep breaking out this week with more wisdom. Pema Chodron notes that times of chaos can be spiritually powerful, and describes three ways to use our problems for awakening. The Dalai Lama, more progressive than some we won’t name, says he would support a woman successor. (An enjoyable meditation is to look at 77 wise sayings from the Dalai Lama on his 77th birthday celebrations). It might be arguable whether all animals are Buddhists, totally living in the present moment, but it is not arguable that this Tibetan mastiff puppy redlines the cuteness meter.

In Israel and Palestine, as always, this week offered contrasts between the forces of light, and other forces. Uri Avnery wisely notes that, “No peace movement can succeed without fraternization between Palestinians and Israelis.” The wonderful radio show This American Life has a podcast worth hearing on the tactic of “Israeli soldiers take snapshots of Palestinian boys, one house at a time, in the night,” which leads to a fascinating debate about the show on Mondoweiss.

Looking for interesting experiments to do? Well, here’s a simple way to easily cut the bottom off a wine bottle (and some images of why you might want to.) Wringing out a wet washcloth is amazingly cool, though you really have to be floating in the space station to get the full effect. And if you want to feel instant regret, you can see how in 3…2…1 second. When it comes to creativity, there is, of course, no beaten track; if others have gone there, it’s not creative to just follow. You can see the range of paths, in these 40 inspiring workspaces of the famously creative. Creative productions this week include a “hidden synagogue” from the photographer’s grandfather. It’s a teapot that contains secret Jewish religious objects. Or explore a gorgeous visualization of Kowloon’s Walled City; admire the the incredible painted handimals of Guido Daniele; or the stunning 3D Laser Cut Paper Art by Eric Standley, reminiscent of Gothic and Islamic architecture. And we end with photos from around the world: The 25th Annual National Geographic Traveler Photo Contest; Twisted Sifter’s 40 Gargoyles and Grotesques Around the World; the top 10 mightiest birds of prey. All of which offer fine reasons to stop being a prisoner of technology!

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Perhaps this is the week to start with some cheering pictures, before we get to political news and updates. So first, a picture of pure happiness. And we’ll follow up with a great photo of two baby common goldeneye ducks leaving the nest and taking to the air for their first ever flight, a golden retriever being spooked by a model Godzilla, and a mouth-wateringly skilled candy–maker in Istanbul. Need more cheering? OK, how about a series of exceedingly well done photos by Jason Lee of his cute kids. (Yes, Photoshop was involved.) And while we’re on a cheery roll, here are some (hopefully) amusing pieces. I’ll start with the latest Rui story, about my labradoodle; follow up with a Straight Dope story about a good blimp gone bad; and a series of Google map photos gone seriously awry. Need a shot of the surreal? “Panels to Ponder” presents strange single comic book panels taken out of their context. And to end it all, here’s a Unicorn Chaser.

The hunt for the presumed perpetrators of the Boston Marathon is happening, but there have already been some very interesting analyses of the media coverage. The New Yorker looks at how and why the Saudi victim got different treatment at the bombing, Glen Greenwald dissects how the events produced familiar and all-too-revealing reactions, and John Doyle writes a brilliant piece about how “We live in hooligan times. And we can’t not think about it.” In England, Maggie Thatcher was laid to rest, while the debate about her legacy raged on. Mikhail Gorbochev writes about his experiences with her, while days before he died in 2003, Guardian columnist and Thatcher biographer Hugo Young wrote her epitaph.

Time for a round of followups on world news. Robert Fisk writes about Syria, “Beware of wishful thinking. Assad isn’t going soon– the rebels are losing.” A very fine and balanced piece gives a final view of Pope Francis’ role in Argentina’s bloody ‘dirty war’. The Taureg people in Northern Mali retain their dream of independence amid persecution from both Mali and Islamists. A fine Guardian overview looks at North Korea’s strategy over the past 50 years for clues to understanding the present crisis. And at home, here are some glimpses of where Justin Trudeau would like to take Canada’s Liberal party. Meanwhile in the front lines of the War on Terror, which is about to get even uglier, this week saw a heart-rending story of a hunger-striker at Guantanamo in the New York Times, which also told us how the CIA kills enemies of Pakistan with drones so that the Pakistani govt won’t protest US drone killings. And on the global warming and food supply front two important stories: the Guardian reports food experts predict millions face starvation as our warming world turns parts of Africa into disaster areas. Which makes it all the more interesting to read why Mark Lynas, who fought and destroyed GMO crops for years, has told the world – and his ex-fellow activists – that he was wrong.

It’s hard to see how your culture’s views shape your own views. To help with that struggle, here are some fascinating stories about differences between cultures, or changing cultural views. A psychology study reports that belief in angry God associated with poor mental health; with benevolent God with good mental health. A fascinating look at the range of “parental ethnotheories” explores the differences between societies’ beliefs on correct child rearing. And a warning: this article on gay marriage, from Gary Younge in the Guardian, contains optimism..

And despite the tragedies of the week, it remains a beautiful world. Here are some shots of natural wonders: the Inca Tern, a bird with a glorious moustache; 12 gorgeous gorges; the strange beauty of salt mines; scallops swimming in the ocean (not in butter); 15 beautiful fungi; and super-macro close-ups of animal eyes. We close with assorted photos: 3D portraits of undersea creatures painted onto layers of resin by Keng Lye, the 2012 Pulitzer prize winning photo of two rebel soldiers in Syria guarding their sniper’s nest. Click to enbigify. And perennial favourite In Focus asked readers to send in their photo requests, and here’s 36 fine photos in response, ranging from Putin to Cappadocia.

Have a fine week… and you can catch all the latest tweets at https://twitter.com/Tikkunista