1. If you’re at all interested in psychology or autism, I recommend taking a look at this blog post about autism. Neuroskeptic is generally a pretty well-written blog, and this post is no exception; it’s pretty fascinating to wonder about how brain scans can affect diagnoses. I am wary of anything like this — we’re not there yet, I don’t think — but it’s still interesting. Not useful, though. Brain scans are still almost prohibitively expensive.

2. Go to your local library and check out Ilya Kaminsky’s slender volume of poems, Dancing in Odessa. Or purchase it from your local faltering-but-still-vibrant book store. (Call ahead and get them to order it for you if they don’t have it.) And then sit with your copy of the book and this youtube video open on your computer, and read along (he begins reading shortly after the 6 minute mark). I’ve linked to him reading before, perhaps? He’s got this almost religious sentiment in his voice. He was born in Russia and has been deaf since he was four, so the way he speaks is… I don’t know. I want to say transcendent. It brings the poems from good-and-perhaps-great to brilliance.