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.