dra mig baklänge

Via the Awesomer, we are introduced to Vanity Fair’s very cosmopolitan series “Slang School” with the episode of actor and director Alexander Skarsgård (Zoolander, True Blood, Tarzan) giving an entertaining lesson on Swedish idiomatic words and phrases that ups one’s knowledge beyond fika and sup dig snygg.

ham and eggs, hammond organs

The ever inspired Things Magazine directs our attention to a fun little diversion from Hatsune Miku and Daniwell (of Nyan Cat Song fame) called Mikutap that transforms one’s keyboard into a musical instrument with unique visualisations and voices attached to each character, combination and gesture. Give it a try and discover more at the links above.

inflorescence

Via Fast Company, we learn that in response to the shocking, precipitous drop in flying insect populations and the consequence that has moving up the food-chain, designer Matilde Boelhouwer—with the consultation of entomologists—has created and installed oases for urban dwelling pollinators who might otherwise find themselves in a food desert.
Rather than copying Nature with her artificial flowers, Boelhouwer has instead studied the ways that butterflies, moths, honey bees and bumblebees feed and created a composite morphology that maximises attractiveness and access. The stations are even self-sustaining, replenishing the food supply with a catchment for rain water and operating through capillary action. It’s hard to say what the long term outcomes of such interventions might be but surely this act of kindness for the small and similar efforts are a step in the right direction to rehabilitate our stewardship of the planet.

jungenwort des jahres

What we found to be most interesting about the shortlisted words and phrases for the German Youth Word of the Year (DE/EN)—previously—was not the winner that the jury of Germany’s young people picked (they selected the fact that Ehrenmann, gentleman, gets a feminine equivalent and that being cavalier of character is not by dint of being wohlgeboren) was among its runners-up was the interjection Sheesh. Although Germans have adopted the English spelling and it still seems to be a pretty fluid expression, rather than a variant for Geez and to communicate annoyance or disbelief, its origins lay with the Turkish word çüş—meaning whoa or as a question, really.