Bilateral gynandromporphism – half female, half male. This genetic anomaly is usually restricted to arthropods, but has been known to express itself in birds as well.

• An Inuit village, too remote for cars is on Google Street View via tricycle
• The medical case of the woman who needed to be upside down
• From The Atlantic: How Headphones Changed the World
• From BBC News: DNA test jailed innocent man for murder
• Finally some traction: UK clampdown on debit and credit cards surcharges
• The Verge interviewed Rian Johnson on Looper
• To ripen a tomato, place a ripe banana beside it
• There is a place called Monkey Island and it’s in the name of science!
• A top 10 list of strange topics that need more explaination
• Alternate Histories: 7 Ways the World Could Be Completely Different
• Water Worlds: 15 Real Floating Towns & Ocean Cities
• The Mysteries and Tragedy of Russia’s Bottomless Karst Lake
• Shame it’s only for the US, but still very cool: wind map site
• Word Dynamo: How many words do you know?

Also, this is a video of a guy fashioning some molten glass into a horse in under two minutes. Yeah, it’s impressive.

Using actual 1970’s Carl Zeiss Super Speed lenses, this music video successfully recreates the retro look and feel of 70s/80s action shows and with great tongue in cheek humor.

There’s also a great interview with the makers via Watch the Titles (also great).

• Yet to watch the Olympics opening ceremony, but I like Warren Ellis’ tweet-report version
• Plus, Danny Boyle’s programme introduction for the ceremony’s concept
• An interview with Alison Klayman, director of Ai Weiwei: Never Sorry
• Can Creativity be Automated?
• Editorial on how Writing is Acting
• Brian Lewis Saunders made self portraits for each drug he took
• Library of Congress’ map collection is basically a map-porn hub for enthusiasts
• 3 Really Long Wars and 3 Really Short Wars
• Video: Yeah, being in a dust storm would be pretty mental
• The sport science of table tennis is pretty wack too
• Mashable’s 25 Twitter Accounts That Will Make You Smarter

Also, this. Just cause.

It’s been a while since I’ve posted anything Werner Herzog related and as an added bonus, this one relates to John Waters too.

Taken from a 2007 documentary I’ve not heard of called On the Ecstasy of Ski Flying, Herzog explains how his wonderful documentarian eye has finally led him, after 35 years, to this observation:

For me a chair is a chair — and I do not reference to other possibilities. For me, a man is a man. I cannot distinguish a gay man from a straight man. I just cannot distinguish …

“After 35 years of knowing John Waters I turn to my wife and I said to her, ‘I have the feeling that this man is gay.’”

Man, he’s pretty awesome.

Video interview with illustrator, graphic designer and art director Christoph Niemann on his philosophy towards design, creativity and the visual language. Great stuff.

Shit, guess this is what happens when I don’t update regularly; all the left over tabs and bookmarks get to be so numerous, they have to be herded into a single, over-sized aggregated post. My bad. Good stuff to read and check out though. Honest.

• Boston teacher’s incredible speech to graduating class: ‘You are NOT special’ (brilliance)
  

  In a moment of pure untamed brilliance English teacher David McCullough went off on the graduating class of 2012 at Wellesley High, critiquing modern parenting techniques by saying that children are “pampered, cosseted, doted upon, helmeted, bubble wrapped… nudged, cajoled, wheedled .. feted and fawned over and called sweetie pie.”
  (transcript here and video here)

• Being the ‘good’ kind of narcissist
• P-p-p pick up a perverted penguin
  

  Newly discovered documents from Captain Scott’s ill-fated expedition to the Antarctic have revealed their shock at the “astonishing depravity” and sexual habits of the Adelie penguins they encountered around the South Pole.

• Scientists to Use Venus Transit to Hone Alien Planet Search Techniques
  Plus: video observations from the SDO and collected photos on the Big Picture.
• Toward a Dissident Architecture?
  

  The question posed by Wang’s Pritzker selection could be articulated like this: If you provide a particularly humane or humanist built environment within the context of occasionally inhumane political or economic conditions, to what extent are you reinforcing or resisting those conditions? Are you offering a tangible alternative or a mere respite?

• The Pirate Bay evades ISP blockade with IPv6, can do it 18 quintillion more times
• How search engines will develop sentient responses?
• Radiolab: The Art and Science of Digital Shamanism
• Why Great Television Is More Like A Novel Than A Play
  

  Why do still watch plays by Euripides, born some 2,500 years ago, or Shakespeare, who is nearly 450 years old? Writer orthodoxy says it’s because the fundamental rules for drama have never changed, since they are eternal, rooted in human nature.

• Why Americans See Racism Where The French See No Problem
• Wes Anderson: Whimsical Like a Fox
  See also: his collaborator’s radio interview on how he soundtracks his movies.
• Francis Ford Coppola: On Risk, Money, Craft & Collaboration

Finally, was pointed to an upcoming Ubisoft game titled “Watch Dogs”. Not much details have been released yet, but based on this E3 trailer, it looks to be one of those rare high concept, modernist thinking games that only get produced once in a blue moon. Plus the trailer itself is a magnificently designed video.

• Interview: Elon Musk on what’s next for SpaceX
• ‘Fair and square’ pricing? That’ll never work, JC Penney. We like being shafted
• In Seoul, retailer uses 3D QR codes and the sun to deliver discounts only during its quiet times
• What the Bible Says about Abortion
• Talking to Yourself: Not So Crazy After All
• The roar of the crowd: Crowdsourcing is transforming the science of psychology
• The Death of Method Acting

• Why politicians don’t get the internet
• Somebody please, for the love of god, fix shipping/couriers (YES!)
• George Lucas Does Something Likeable For a Change: Revenge on Rich Neighbors
  

  George Lucas’ rich neighbors don’t want him building a movie studio in their backyard. His response is the best thing he’s done in years.

• The Original Piece of Wood I Left in Your Head
  

  Wildcat pop-culture critic Perkus Tooth and Being John Malkovich director Spike Jonze met, at Tooth’s insistence, at Yonah Schimmel’s knishery on Houston Street in New York City. A small digital tape recorder was placed between them.

• 23 incredible new technologies you’ll see by 2021
• Reset Firefox – easily fix most problems

Nursing a hangover; this tv-hour long interview has been just the thing needed. Part 1 of 4.

Still dead. Still talking about our future.