sunday short stack

"To see what's in front of one's nose needs a constant struggle." - George Orwell

• An exploration of why woodpeckers don't get headaches and an investigation into why people don't like the sound of fingernails on a chalkboard are among the winners of the 2006 Ig Nobel Prize (via 3quarksdaily).
• Married couples are now a minority in the U.S.
• Neatorama looks at the history of bananas.
• The new issue of Bookslut has interviews with Neil Gaiman, Mark Danielewski, and Irvine Welsh.
• Chan Marshall will be the new face of Chanel.
• YuppiePunk offers a (not so) complete history of band tattoos (via LA Weekly).
• Coetzee : Morrison :: UK : US
• Are weather infographics the worst designs in history?
• Justin Hawkins is quitting The Darkness (via Idolator).
• Daniel Mendelsohn reviews Jonathan Franzen in The New York Times.
• 49 musicians, producers, and writers reveal the underhyped album they bring out to amaze people (via The Wit of the Staircase).
• Can you see the band from here?