Weekly Rewind: July 7
Google's new offices, panda-shaped solar panels, Björk being Björk and 7 other of our favourite stories this week.
10. First Baby identified as Gender Neutral
A Canadian baby this week broke world records and gender norms when it was issued a gender-free health card (BBC). The baby's parent identifies as a non-binary transgender person, which is why they wanted the child to figure out their gender for themselves. However the authorities aren't happy and parent Kori Doty is applying for a judicial review of the case. Watch this space.
9. Find Out Why Tupac Ditched Madonna
This week, i-D revealed the real reason why Tupac - who was rumoured to date Madonna - broke up with the superstar... and it's down to racial reasons. In a handwritten letter that has recently surfaced, rapper Tupac Shakur admitted that if he continued to date Madonna, his career and reputation could be on the line. Well it's safe to say, she wasn't Hung Up on him.
8. Hate Has No Business Here in New York
Time Out proved that community spirit is strong in New York after a group of small local business came together to launch the Hate Has No Business Here campaign. Conceived by Amanda Neville, who owns Brooklyn-based booze store Tipsy, the idea is to challenge any naysayers and unite residents against divisiveness and hate. So far, more than 20 businesses have signed up to the initiative and pledged their allegiance to the campaign, by downloading anti-hate poster templates and installing them in their shop windows.
7. Tennis Stars Troubled by Ants
Tennis stars were tried and tested on Wimbledon's courts according to The Sun, when an invasion of flying ants disrupted play. Pictures showed players struggling to maintain focus, instead scratching and batting away the pests, who were out in swarms as it's their mating season and Wednesday in particular, marked Flying Ant Day. There's high hopes that their infestation will clear up soon.
6. It's Getting Easier Being Green
This week was full of good news for the climate change conscious among us (which should be all of us) as first Volvo announced their plans to only make electric or hybrid cars after 2019. Then the next day, The Guardian followed that story with news that France plans to ban sales of petrol and diesel cars by 2040, making the country far more 'vert' and 'respectueux de l'environnement'.
Click here to view Volvo's latest campaign starring a camera that can take pictures.
5. Panda Power!
On the subject of green breakthroughs, here's a solar farm shaped like a panda from Indy100. Created by Green Panda Power, it is certainly the cutest way to save the planet.
Click here to watch Gorillaz' music video starring 1000 solar-powered toys.
4. Do-nut Miss Out on the Donutella Versace
One kilogram of donut. 10 types of chocolate. Type 2 diabetes. All of these can be yours with the Donutella Versace, our new favourite triple entendre. As Mashable told us, Australian chain Doughnut Time have created it for World Chocolate Day (Friday July 7), and for Australian $34 it can be yours.
Click to read our World Chocolate Day round-up of the best chocolate ads.
3. Get Inside Google
We usually have pretty good offices in advertising, but no amount of in-house juice mixologists or hammock ping-pong will stop you from getting office envy at the proposed new Google offices in King's Cross. The Telegraph took us inside the plans this week in an architectural wet dream of a slideshow.
2. The Seedy Side of Streaming
The record industry? Crooked? While you digest the shock of that, check out Vulture's fascinating look at the scams and underhand tactics records labels and artists are using to make more money from streaming services and make their releases look more successful than they are.
1. Björk: Drag Queen DJ
We pretty much love anything Björk does here at shots, whether she's talking about Danish books while dismantling a TV or making a VR film set inside her mouth. What we especially love, however, is when she does normal things, like DJ at a gay club in New York. Unicorn Booty had a piece from someone who was there, and got to hear her mixing Beyoncé with 'dissident techno electronic that was mostly comprised of gun shots and explosions' before miming doing a load of washing up. God bless you, Björk, and all the little pixies that live inside your brain.