President Obama Delivers Morehouse College Commencement Address (by whitehouse)
(via Brilliant Speech by Obama, Ugly Reaction by Drudge - The Daily Beast)
amazing men of distinction
Displayed for the first time to the public in 1917, the mummified heart was once the property of Edward Lovett, an eccentric British erudite and wealthy chief cashier in the bank of the City of London who, in his spare time, was the most relentless archivist of his era. A member of the Folklore Society since 1900, Lovett had one very unusual obsession: once off work, he would spend his free time strolling through the slums of Edwardian London to collect evidence of magic and medicinal practices, vernacular beliefs that the century of industrialization and rational sciences hadn’t eliminated. From his urban explorations, conversation with street sellers, sailors, and working classes witches, Lovett accumulated an astonishing array of charms, an incredible collection of odds and ends that proved superstitions were an invisible, yet persistent, practice, even in modern England.Read more about the magic relics of modern England here !
(via wnycradiolab)
When indie rockstar Thao Nguyen isn’t rocking the stage around the globe, she’s listening to public radio. So of course we had to bring her in to tell a tale about her sweet, lovely grandma—who you definitely don’t want to mess with.
Thao composed all the instrumentals in this segment specifically for this story. The other two songs are from her album, We Brave Bee Stings and All. She is currently performing at Radiolab’s live show and is working on a new album.
There’s another (paywalled) John McPhee piece in this week’s New Yorker on his writing process. After he reads his second draft aloud and makes some adjustments, he starts drawing boxes around words that he thinks can be improved:
You draw a box not only around any word that does…
Neuroscientists are trying to work out why the brain does so much when it seems to be doing nothing at all.
(Source: wonderjunkieblog)
Childbirth vs. Getting Kicked in the Balls
This megamouth shark was fished in the Philippines on April 21, 2013. The megamouth shark (Megachasma pelagios) is an extremely rare species of deepwater shark, so rare that only over 50 sightings have been recorded since its discovery in 1976.
Of the now 56 megamouth sharks recorded worldwide, 11 specimens (20%, most numerous next to Japan) come from the Philippines.
The megamouth is the smallest of only three filter-feeding sharks (the others being whale sharks and basking sharks).
Photo from CJ Fives for Butuan Bay Divers.
