Mind Memes for Today: Lenin’s Brain, Mason’s Farewell, Woodward’s Fail and More
1. “First the pope and now Andrew Mason!?!”
Andrew Mason continued the popular Silicon Valley “I’ve just been fired” meme with a blunt note to employees at Groupon:
“After four and a half intense and wonderful years as CEO of Groupon, I’ve decided that I’d like to spend more time with my family. Just kidding — I was fired today.”
Read more here. Follow Mason on Twitter here.
2. Famous Brain of the Day: Vladimir Lenin
Lenin’s brain was preserved by the Soviets in order to provide proof that he was a genius. Now his brain is giving us insights into his death, which is a celebrated medical mystery. It turns out that blood vessels around Lenin’s brain were heavily calcified, suggesting he had a severe case of atherosclerosis. Read more here.
3. Today is Sequestration Day!
If you have to read one article on sequestration, Steven Rattner’s piece is a brief breakdown of the big mess. Here it is.
4. Woodward-Gate
“Measurable cerebral activity is virtually absent.” That was Joan Didion’s famous diss of Bob Woodward, whose post-Watergate reporting Didion claimed was not exactly up to snuff.
Then this happened:
“Bob Woodward Throws an Interception.”
5. The Colors of Mercury
Data gathered by the Mercury-orbiting MESSENGER spacecraft was used to create this image from NASA, which displays the chemical, mineralogical, and physical regions of Mercury.
