What the Thunder Said

"No one, of course, will ever forget Derek Jeter’s final at-bat. He came to the plate in the bottom of the third, one out, nobody on. He swung at the first pitch, hit a dribbler back to the mound and was thrown out in roughly two seconds. This, however, did not phase him. Jeter kept running at full speed, past first base, all the way into the outfield. He was running out one last ground ball."

” ‘Champion Champion Dignity Champion Dignity Champion’ The Legend of Derek Jeter: An Examination in five parts” Sam Anderson’s Riff in the April 3, 2011 NYT Magazine.

The most hilarious thing I’ve read in a long time.

"A study at University College London in the UK has found that conservatives’ brains have larger amygdalas than the brains of liberals. Amygdalas are responsible for fear and other “primitive” emotions. At the same time, conservatives’ brains were also found to have a smaller anterior cingulate — the part of the brain responsible for courage and optimism."

Study: Conservatives have larger ‘fear center’ in brain | Raw Story (via militantagnostic)

(via stfuconservatives)

My mom called last night to read me this story from my hometown. Enfield has been tallying up the ACLU-worthy violations: last year for holding its public school graduation in a church and now for cancelling “Sicko” because the mayor would prefer the library just “do nice stuff” like show ‘Finding Nemo.’ (One of the mayor’s main concerns seems to be that children will watch the movie. First of all, the movie was being shown at 1:00 in the afternoon on a weekday and clearly not as part of their children’s program. But also, what is he afraid of -that kids will (gasp!) learn something about our healthcare system?)

It’s not that I’m surprised that there are townspeople in Enfield who would complain at a town meeting about the film. I’ve accepted the fact that there are always people who are going to cry injustice or socialism every time their tax dollars are “wasted” on something they don’t like. But I am shocked that elected town officials would actually bend to that pressure.

austinimus:

(via wellitsnicetomeetyousir)

On my decorating to-do list. I love the look of this for above my bookshelves.

Via

doggabone:

psychotherapy:

Oliver Sacks, author of The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat and An Anthropologist on Mars, discusses the story of Tony Cicoria, an American surgeon. After being struck by lightning, and suffering cardiac arrest, Dr. Cicoria recovered completely. He later found, however, that he had “insatiable passion to hear piano music” and later began creating and performing his own compositions. The story related in the video comes from Musicophilia: Tales of Music and the Brain, Dr. Sacks’s latest book.

 (For more information, visit http://www.oliversacks.com) 

Oliver Sachs is on the A-List for our Brain Forum in February, so I picked up this book. How have I not read this before? It’s completely absorbing… I definitely recommend it.

This political ad is ridiculously entertaining. And a little scary.

notlikethecheese:

austinkleon:

This e-mail is making the rounds. I’d reblog it from someone, but that would seem pointless. What I really like are the bits about the Flaming Lips and “saying yes”:

The thing is, I really like saying yes. I like new things, projects, plans, getting people together and doing something, trying something, even when it’s corny or stupid. I am not good at saying no. And I do not get along with people who say no. When you die, and it really could be this afternoon, under the same bus wheels I’ll stick my head if need be, you will not be happy about having said no. You will be kicking your ass about all the no’s you’ve said. No to that opportunity, or no to that trip to Nova Scotia or no to that night out, or no to that project or no to that person who wants to be naked with you but you worry about what your friends will say.

No is for wimps. No is for pussies. No is to live small and embittered, cherishing the opportunities you missed because they might have sent the wrong message.

…

What matters is that you do good work. What matters is that you produce things that are true and will stand. What matters is that the Flaming Lips’s new album is ravishing and I’ve listened to it a thousand times already, sometimes for days on end, and it enriches me and makes me want to save people. What matters is that it will stand forever, long after any narrow-hearted curmudgeons have forgotten their appearance on goddamn 90210. What matters is not the perception, nor the fashion, not who’s up and who’s down, but what someone has done and if they meant it. What matters is that you want to see and make and do, on as grand a scale as you want, regardless of what the tiny voices of tiny people say. Do not be critics, you people, I beg you. I was a critic and I wish I could take it all back because it came from a smelly and ignorant place in me, and spoke with a voice that was all rage and envy. Do not dismiss a book until you have written one, and do not dismiss a movie until you have made one, and do not dismiss a person until you have met them. It is a fuckload of work to be open-minded and generous and understanding and forgiving and accepting, but Christ, that is what matters. What matters is saying yes.

Die, trolls, die.

*keeping this for inspiration*

Bobby McFerrin plays the audience like an instrument.

This one made me smile this morning.