This is Your Brain on Brawn

Bulking Brains, The Flying Nones

During a doctor's appointment when my wife was pregnant with our first child, her gynecologist walked into the office, pointed to my head, and remarked, "Oh, you're gonna hate this guy by the time this is over." That was one of the more memorable times I've been reminded that I have a large noggin. Don't get me wrong. It's not Bruce Bochy big; he wears a 8 1/4 hat size. But it's apparently big enough to attract attention and to strike fear into any affiliated birth canal. The size of my skull, as longtime subscribers will surely attest, leaves plenty of room for brain growth—which it turns out can be achieved through exercise. And if that weren't enough to turn heads, it takes very little work to realize significant gains. And there's no need to bang your head against a wall. At least not for long. A recent study found that "men and women, of any age, who exercised for at least 25 minutes a week showed mostly greater brain volume than those who didn’t. The differences weren’t huge but were significant." And, "bigger brains typically mean healthier brains." You'd have to be a dumbbell not to hit the dumbbells. WaPo (Gift Article): How exercise increases brain volume — and may slow memory decline. (I've been trying this for a few weeks and my hippocampus can already bench 250.)

2

And Then There Were None

"They aren't all anti-religious. Most Nones say religion does some harm, but many also think it does some good. Most have more positive views of science than those who are religiously affiliated; however, they reject the idea that science can explain everything." NPR: Religious 'Nones' are now the largest single group in the US. (Let's hope they vote in November, or the size of their cohort will leave us none the wiser.)

3

A Real Choodunnit

"What made Victor Llamas memorable wasn’t his criminality so much as his giddy enthusiasm for trespassing. He was a self-taught expert of the supply chain, a connoisseur of shipping containers. Even in custody, as the detectives interrogated him numerous times, after multiple arrests, in a windowless police-station room in the spring of 2022, a kind of nostalgia would sweep over the man. 'He said that was the best feeling he’d ever had, jumping on the train while it was moving,' Joe Chavez, who supervised the task force’s detectives, told me. 'It was euphoric for him.'" Train robberies may bring up visions of black and white movies, but ecommerce transport has brought the crime into our technicolor times. NYT (Gift Article): A Strange 21st-Century Revival: The Train Robbery.

4

The Coach

Steve Kerr has led the Warriors to four championships. So he knows how to coach. But he's never had a challenge quite like helping his team mourn the loss of an assistant coach who died in front of many of them at a team dinner. "He’s been hit as hard as anyone with this ... And he’s had to take on the burden for all. He’s helped with the family, and with our team, with our staff, with our entire family along with Deki’s immediate family. There’s no one better in moments like this. … He’s an elite leader with a compassionate heart. His approach is meaningful and honest, and I don’t know if you get that from all leaders. But there is a heavy weight on him. I have thought more than once about how he’s going to get through this while he’s picking everybody else up." Marcus Thompson II in The Athletic: As Warriors mourn a terrible loss, Steve Kerr’s leadership lights a hard road ahead. (Here's an archived version if you're not a subscriber to The Athletic. It takes a little while to load.)

5

Extra, Extra

Drug Test: "Voters passed the pioneering decriminalization law, Measure 110, with 58% support in 2020. But Democratic legislators who championed it as a way to treat addiction as a public health matter, not a crime, are now contending with one of the nation’s largest spikes in overdose deaths, along with intensifying pressure from Republicans and growing calls from a well-funded campaign group to overhaul it." Our crazy drug laws have been wreaking havoc for decades. Trying to undo that with law changes isn't going to happen overnight. With Oregon facing rampant public drug use, lawmakers backpedal on pioneering decriminalization law.

+ House Arrested: You think you're frustrated with our joke of a Congress? Imagine how Ukrainian soldiers feel. Powerful weapons the US sent to Ukraine are breaking down — but the Pentagon says it can't help fix them. There were no survivors on plane Russia says was carrying 65 Ukrainian PoWs. (It's still unclear who shot down the plane. But every death in this war is on Putin.)

+ Deja Coup: "Former President Donald Trump’s victory in the New Hampshire primary Tuesday dealt a blow to the hopes of his strongest challenger and strengthened Trump’s hold on his party’s nomination. Biden’s reelection team took Trump’s win over Nikki Haley as the starting gun for what will now be the longest and most grueling general election campaign in modern American political history." After Trump’s NH win, Biden gets the opponent he wants.

+ GOP's Gender Bender: "Ohio has banned gender-affirming care for minors and restricted transgender women’s and girls’ participation on sports teams, a move that has families of transgender children scrambling over how best to care for them. The Republican-dominated Senate voted Wednesday to override GOP Gov. Mike DeWine’s veto." (What a sad, small era we live in.)

+ The Weekly Show: It's only gonna be one night a week, but... Jon Stewart Returns to ‘The Daily Show’ as Host. If American democracy is being driven into the bowels of hell, I suppose we might as well enjoy the ride?

+ Credit Report: "Credit Taylor Swift. Credit a close ballgame in doubt until the final minutes. Credit two of the NFL's marquee franchises for absolutely delivering in the clutch. Credit a nasty weather pattern that kept most of the United States huddling indoors. Wherever you want to direct the credit, the result is the same: Sunday night's divisional-round playoff game between the Chiefs and Bills was an absolute ratings monster, the most-watched program on American television since last year's Super Bowl." (Like most kids who shopped the husky section, I credit Jason Kelce.)

+ HBD, BFF: "As the Mac turns 40, it’s never been more successful — or more irrelevant to Apple’s bottom line. It’s undergone massive changes in the past few years that ensure its survival but also lash it to a hardware design process dominated by the iPhone. Being middle-aged can be complicated." The Mac turns 40 — and keeps on moving.

6

Bottom of the News

"Some bucket-listers summit Kilimanjaro, camp out for Springsteen tickets or travel to Arkansas to see the eclipse. Fried, 35, is among a different breed: fast-food superfans who go to extreme lengths to be the first served when a popular new chain opens up in their town." WSJ (Gift Article): There Are Superfans. Then There Are Fast-Food Superfans. These people make the Stanley bottle fans seem downright healthy. Police arrest California woman for allegedly stealing 65 Stanley cups. (If she has a teen daughter, then this was a crime of passion.)

+ When a passenger with gas causes a plane to return to the gate. It got so bad that other passengers were praying the plane was a Boeing 737 Max 9.