TGIF

• Above: The Higgs boson explained, animated-style.
• Using your fingers to make "speech marks" judged the most annoying gesture. That's "fascinating".
• Brazilian student fakes kidnapping to avoid submitting paper.
• New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg asks "Who wrote this sh*t?" during pun-laden speech.
• That Wizard of Oz prequel you've been waiting for is coming. I've already seen Wicked.
• A Syrian commander has reportedly defected to Turkey.
• Ouch: MovieBob reviews The Amazing Spider-Man. By reviews I mean "rips apart".
• Scientists have discovered a black hole that may be evidence of an earlier universe.
• Inexplicable: Katy Perry's Part of Me is actually good.
• Tommy Lee is a douchetard, but you should already know that.

Teatime

• Ah crap: Mermaids probably don't exist.
• Thankfully, though, portals do.
• Will Facebook ever get things right? Users complain of address books changing, email lost.
• Leaked video apparently confirms existence of 'God Particle'.
• US approves over the counter HIV test.
• Human Rights Watch reports that Syria has an 'archipelago of torture centres'.
• Another superhero movie, another post-credits sequence (spoilers if you haven't seen The Amazing Spider-Man yet).
• Women in NZ more likely than men to put off a visit to the doctor.
• The magnitude 7.0 quake that hit last night is unrelated to Canterbury.
• Teatime list: 20 just out of frame famous movie moments.

[dpaf]

Teatime links

• If you want to lose weight, eat dessert with your breakfast tomorrow morning.
• The reason that tomato tasted bad? Its red colour, according to geneticists.
• What will they think of next: the spray-on battery.
• A leftist militant group has claimed responsibility for an attack on Microsoft's Greece headquarters.
• A UoC researcher has called for the legalisation of organ trading.
• The US Supreme Court has upheld "Obamacare". Here's how it all happened.
• Six New Zealand Universities feature in the top 200 in the World. 
• Here are New Zealand's worst real estate agents.
• Clearly, Bieber doesn't like being told he sounds like Timberlake.
• What happened to the idea of 'peak oil'?
• Adele is pregnant!
• What happens when you get the words wrong, Harry? Blood. Lots of blood.
• Because you asked for it: the personal underwear washing machine.
• Teatime list: 7 ways video games make us smarter.

[failblog]

Teatime links

• New Kiwisaver scheme aims to sign up 100,000 Maori.
• Bioware promises more DLC for Mass Effect 3.
• Researchers have twisted light beams, making them capable of carrying 2.5 terabits per second.
• Muse has unveiled the song for the 2012 London Olympics.
• Tennis umpires will have 'grunt-o-meters' in an effort to cut the noise in women's tennis.
• An Irish writer tells women to stop shaving.
• A new 'smoking vaccine' blocks nicotine in mice brains.
• New experimental website that collates embarrassing Facebook statuses. Check your privacy settings, people.
• UN to hold emergency meeting over Syria as violence continues.
• A court in Germany has decided that circumcision is 'grievous bodily harm'.
• Government MP's to vote against 'Monday-ising' Waitangi and ANZAC Days that fall on weekends.
• Apparently, not all calories are created equal.
• CTV building was inspected by Council workers with no engineering experience, hearing told.
• Teatime list: 10 essential dirty phrases in (US) sign langauge.

[bitsandpieces]

Tea time links

• Apparently, men actually enjoy doing housework.
• Another boat of asylum-seekers has capsized, North of Christmas Island.
• RIP: Writer/Director Nora Ephron, at 71.
• From today, you will be able to share your organ donor status on Facebook.
• New Zealand has one of the highest rates of cannabis use in the World, almost double the global average.
• Teatime reading: Reddit's "What Tricks did your Parents Play on You?" thread.
• This is what happens when The Avengers fill out customer comment cards.

[bitsandpieces]

Tea time links

  

• NZ: First car to be crushed under 'three strikes' law tomorrow.
• Tech: Is Microsoft pulling a Google with the new tablet?
• Here is the winner of the Nikon Snapshots of Auckland competition.
• Egypt: Hosni Mubarak either dead or alive. Meanwhile, both candidates in the Presidential elections claim victory.
• Talks over Tehran's nuclear program end in failure.
• These two terms were made for each other: 'Post-it' and 'desk'.
• China: 'Mystery mushroom' features on news report actually sex toy.
• Mark Wahlberg talks 50 Shades of Grey movie.
• NZ: Police identify skeleton found on beach as missing woman Jane Furlong, not sure how she died.
• Health: We are 17 million tons overweight.
• Above: 7 Super Excited 'Ermahgerd' Animals.

Tea time

Tauranga MP Simon Bridges announced today that the Government would donate $150,000.00 towards a waterfront sculpture of children's storybook character Hairy Maclary, created by Dame Lynley Dodd.

Dodd was "delighted" at the news, and Creative Tauranga Chief Executive Tracey Rudduck-Gudsell was pleased that the sculpture would begin work this week.

So, how's the Robocop sculpture coming, Detroit?

[source: nzherald]

Teatime

• Tech: Google 'surprised' at over 1000 censorship requests from governments.
• UK: Tony Blair thought Gordon Brown was 'bonkers'.
• Tragic: Jack Osbourne diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis. 
• Egypt: Muslim Brotherhood claims victory in elections, military holds on to power.
• Because everyone else is doing covers, here's Ushers "Pumped up Kicks".
• Gaming: YouTuber Totalbiscuit asks 'to cutscene or not to cutscene' in gaming.
• NZ: Which hurts more at the dentist, the drill or the bill?

[above: jokeroo]

Tea time links

• That baby soap you're using? You might cause your newborn to fail a drug test.
• Finally, motivation to hit the gym in pill form.
• In other health news, Ecstasy may be used to treat Parkinson's Disease.
• Ryan Cleary may escape extradition to the US if tried in the UK on the same charges. Just think about that for a minute.
• Too close to call: Greeks vote on a neck-and-neck election. Germany warns against renegotiating austerity measures.
• Environment: Corporates agree to more than 150 sustainability commitments in UN Rio+20 summit.
• Egypt: Presidential elections may decide fate of revolution.
• Science: "Gay gene" may have evolutionary benefits for families.
• Leaked: Details about Microsoft's next generation console, the XBox 720.
• Winston Peters refusing to name potential coalition partners.
• China names its first female astronaut, 33-year-old Liu Yang.
• Olympics: Who are our best medal hopes?
• Why can't Neil Patrick Harris host everything?
• This is what happens when a tarantula is colonised with cordyceps.

[above: uberhumor]

Tea time

Part 2 of the best news fails of 2012.

Best news fails of 2012 so far.

Tea time

• FunnyJunk v Oatmeal: FunnyJunk's lawyer surprised by the wrath of the interwebs. No, really.
• UN: Syria in a state of Civil War. Rebels retreat from al Haffa. Russia denies Washington allegations, make some of their own.
• John Key to continue negotations with SkyCity over convention centre through Auditor General's investigation.
• Lance Armstrong: Doping allegations "motivated by spite."
• Save the date: June 21, Mangere Mountain. South Auckland Violence Prevention Network to host a candlelight vigil for lives lost through domestic violence and child abuse.
• RIP: Enid Hills, 99, first woman to attend Massey University.
• Masterchef final ratings down but 2012 series most successful yet.
• Salvage work aboard the Rena comes to an end; all but 18 containers removed.
• Not sure if trolling... but I fear it's actually not.

[above: Cyanide & Happiness]