Evolution of the New York City Skyline via Smithsonian Magazine

•  Good Luck: A web project dedicated to amalgamating a ‘universal’ terms of service system
• The demise of the daily deal website business model
• Hottest temps ever at LHC and more hints about early Universe
• Food and exercise are not matter and anti-matter
• Weird: Ron Howard Directing Documentary on Jay-Z’s Made in America Festival
• Jodie Foster on the Stewart/Pattinson spectacle
• Keanu Reeves spills what Bill & Ted 3 is actually gonna be about
• The Politically Incorrect Guide to U.S. Interests in the Middle East
• Surreal: The General Mills Lawn Protester Has Died
• Humor: 45-year-old salesman apologises for closing ceremony
• Today’s not for epileptics website: https://www.staggeringbeauty.com/

• Wheels Down on Mars. Now It’s Time to Reinvent America, Says Neil deGrasse Tyson
• Why NASA should abandon a manned mission to Mars
• How mobile phones will pioneer future space technology
• The implications of overpopulation are terrifying. But will we listen to them?
• Woo hoo! First pictures from the new set of Arrested Development
• US Olympian aren’t too thrilled about Fox news either
• Take a Cue from the Olympics to be the Best Business Athlete
• Why the Sikh temple shooting got less coverage than the Aurora massacre
• Why Do So Many Murderers Have Three Names?
• The Moral Significance of Sex Workers and People With Disabilities
• From Damn Interesting: Better Call Sol
• New type of chemical bond may form in extreme magnetic fields of stars
• How Big Is Infinity? An Animated Explanation from TED
• Probably should: Please turn on two-factor authentication
• The Science of “Breaking the Seal”
• 25 Behind-the-Scenes TV Photos That Will Mess With Your Mind
• Website: https://www.ilooklikebarackobama.com/
• Video: Animals Acting Like Sharks Week

Finally, a recording still for the ages: In 1996, just months before he died, Carl Sagan recorded this message to future colonists living on Mars.

A slideshow by renowned animal photographer Tim Flach with annotations about their body language

In science/tech:

• New Computer Will Simulate One Billion Neurons
• Microsoft reveals a muscle controlled computer interface
• Voyager 1 is getting close to ‘the edge’ of interstellar space
• The waves in Quantum Mechanics are real
• The discovery of a HIV protein’s structural change
• The Greenland Ice Melt might not be as apocalyptic as some would make it out to be
• Plants Can ‘Talk’ To Each Other by Clicking Their Roots

In society:

• Why Bronze Medalists Are Happier Than Silver Medalists
• A US Marine couple’s personal account of the Aurora Shooting
• Scientology’s insane concentration camp for it’s Executives
• A counter-editorial of Why Men Can’t Have It All
• Still haven’t seen ‘Girls’, but the parody trailer ‘Boys’ looks good
• Revealed, at last: why women live longer than men
• How to rewire your brain for success
• Do You Believe in Magic? Yes, You Do.
• Interesting Chronicling: history’s changing understanding of mammals
• Lost footage from The Karate Kid

Others:

• Project allRGB: creating images using only one pixel for each rgb color (16,777,216)
• Online app: based on weight/height, who’s your Olympic equivalent?
• The internet map: websites illustrated according to traffic and user activity
• Web-based Game Boy emulator with a slew of games to choose from
• Video: some guy almost walks into a bear while texting

• 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.

• Awesome: European Agency Backs Approval of a Gene Therapy
• The ‘chemputer’ that could print out any drug
• Global Warming’s Terrifying New Math
• The Artist’s Lens: What It Means to See the World With an Eye Toward a Facebook Update
• Silicon Valley Warns That Their Products Are Addictive
• Oldest record in the world: recreated from photographs
• The most polite cease and desist letter ever
• The ‘feasibility’ of gun control in the US
• A man’s penis stolen by thieves in his sleep
• Website: An ermahgerd translator/generator
• Gorilla Youngsters Seen Dismantling Poachers’ Traps
• Pretty visualisation: Prime number patterns
• Chart: Distribution of colours in movie posters between 1914 and 2012
• 30 Awesome Behind The Scenes Photos From Old Movies
• 15 Hacks That Will Make You Life A Whole Lot Easier
• 10 of the Most Doomed Expeditions in History

• Roger Ebert on the Aurora Shooting
• How a 70 year old and a 7 year old bonded over the loss of their legs
• The story of Jay-Z’s most obsessive fan and his ‘correspondence’
• Pennie Smith’s historic Clash photo: The greatest rock ‘n’ roll image of all time?
• Author Denise Mina predicts fiction revolution
• John McCain to Appear on Parks and Recreation
• Lowest crime rate in decades. Is Britain behaving better?
• Why Pot Is Illegal Everywhere in the World
• Traffic signs in New Zealand destroyed by prostitutes performing stunts
• 18 Chinese Police Officers Dispatched to Rescue Sex Doll From River
• Stephen Gough, ‘Naked Rambler,’ Allowed To Walk Home Nude From Scottish Prison
• Tosher Work: Quite Likely the Worst Job Ever
• Tumblr: Onion-like headlines in real life
• Meowbify a website
• How a 70 year old and a 7 year old bonded over the loss of their legs

Also, will have to try this sometime…

This site has been one of my favourites lately and a recent post highlighting Gene Wilder’s correspondence before commencing production on Willy Wonka & The Chocolate Factory is wonderfully insightful.

Prior to accepting the role, Wilder set out one condition to director Mel Stuart:

“When I make my first entrance, I’d like to come out of the door carrying a cane and then walk toward the crowd with a limp. After the crowd sees Willy Wonka is a cripple, they all whisper to themselves and then become deathly quiet. As I walk toward them, my cane sinks into one of the cobblestones I’m walking on and stands straight up, by itself; but I keep on walking, until I realize that I no longer have my cane. I start to fall forward, and just before I hit the ground, I do a beautiful forward somersault and bounce back up, to great applause.”

Asked why, Wilder explained: “Because from that time on, no one will know if I’m lying or telling the truth.”

It really is a great example of an actor whose thinking process works on multiple levels in creating and developing both a character and performance for an audience.

There’s also a second letter on his thoughts towards the costuming of Willy Wonka that’s equally fascinating, but I don’t want to post verbatim from such a great site, so check it out here.

Got properly drunk last night at the ‘A Night At The Pictures’ event, both cause there was a lot of free booze (yay sponsors Stella) and cause the auction event was a raging sucess… almost $3000 was raised from the auctions and $2000 from ticket and drink sales! Looks like Pictures of You is shaping up to have a nice budget indeed.

But yeah, drank a lot and came back to Auckland in the same night. Slept for a bit and suffered a massive hangover for the rest of the day. Actually, I’m still feeling a little under the weather, and spent most of my time finding interesting, wierd stuff on the internet.

Like, crying while eating.

And, Native American faces on Google Earth.

Re-uses of technology… totally cool.

And Ok Go on treadmills… awesomeness.