The Greek gods Hermes and Aphrodite had a child named Hermaphroditus. You can pretty much gather where the story leads from that alone. The legend of Hermaphroditus doesn’t quite explain why some people are born intersexual, but it’s an interesting tale. Link

This 3-way chessboard was purchased in the Czech Republic. The pieces move in the same way as normal chess, but that becomes a little weird in the center of the board, where six “squares” ajoin. The first person to checkmate either of the other two wins. The biggest problem I see is finding two people who want to play with you! http://meignorant.com/3-way_chess -via the Presurfer

(image credit: Joachim Pietsch)
Salar de Uyuni is the world's largest salt flat, high in the Andes mountains in Bolivia. In the rainy season when it is covered with a thin sheet of water, it reflects the sky.

Due to its large size, smooth surface, high surface reflectivity when covered with shallow water, and minimal elevation deviation, Salar de Uyuni makes an ideal target for the testing and calibration of remote sensing instruments on orbiting satellites used to study the Earth.

The salt flat contains an estimated ten billion tons of salt, in a layer ten feet thick. See more pictures and videos at Fogonazos. Link -via Reddit

The object of the game Whack Your Boss is to find all 17 ways to beat your supervisor up. Warning: lots of cartoon blood. http://www.attuworld.com/whack_your_boss -via Gorilla Mask

Residents of a French village are under orders not to die, because the cemetery is full!

In an ordinance posted in the council offices, Mayor Gerard Lalanne told the 260 residents of the village of Sarpourenx that "all persons not having a plot in the cemetery and wishing to be buried in Sarpourenx are forbidden from dying in the parish."

It added: "Offenders will be severely punished."

The manner of punishment was not specified. The order came after an administrative court ruled against the aquisition of private land to annex the existing parish cemetery. Link

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Cats prefer all-access housing arrangments. Simon Tofield, creator of Cat Man Do, has a new animation about a cat who wants in. -via Metafilter

Movie monsters are getting bigger and tougher over time, and it may take new technologies to defeat them. Danger Room takes a look at the new and improved monsters, and the weapons the military should use to defend humanity.

It's difficult to make accurate assumptions about 500 foot-tall fictional monsters whose very existence violates the laws of physics. But it's liable to have skin, scales or other outer with protective blubber or equivalent covering several feet thick. This will absorb anything except apart from an armor-piercing round. Flesh, like water, can stop virtually any projectile within a few feet – that's why you need something very exotic like a supercavitating round if you want to go through a lot of it. Those supercavitating Russian APS underwater assault rifles might be handy here... but you'd need a lot of rounds to have any effect.

http://blog.wired.com/defense/2008/02/monster-mash-ko.html to part one, http://blog.wired.com/defense/2008/03/how-to-stop-a-5.html to part two. -via Metafilter

Wilhelm Staehle created Victorian scenes by superimposing silhouettes over paintings, and gave them somewhat subversive captions. Link -via the Presurfer

Does your computer or entertainment system look like a chaotic spaghetti factory? Then read the Top 10 Ways to Get Cables Under Control. Each tip has a link to instructions. I know from experience that “just getting them out of the way” is an open invitation to herds of dust bunnies. Link

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Remember the Dove Evolution ads? Foster Farms took the concept and modified it just a bit to advertise chicken. -via YesButNoButYes

Eve, a hen in Worcestershire, had a leg amputated 18 months ago due to cancer. Now she has undergone surgery to remove a tumor from her remaining leg, at a cost of over £1,000. Owner Elaine Denney said money is not an issue.

"I wouldn't put Eve through it if I didn't think she still would have quality of life and if I thought she would suffer too much during the treatment."

Link -via Arbroath, who has the video report.

Evil Mad Scientist Laboratories has a new business card. It’s a working circuit board! See how they made it, what it can do, and how you can design one yourself. Link

How much do you know about Scrabble? Take the lunchtime quiz at mental_floss and see how your game knowledge stacks up against others. I must admit, I’m better at playing the game than taking a quiz about it! http://www.mentalfloss.com/blogs/archives/12902

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Who says three dimensions are better than two? This trailer for Echochrome, a yet-to-be-released game for the PlayStation Portable shows someone the things that are possible in 2D, but not 3D. -via the Presurfer

In this game, you are challenged to find ten gnomes hidden in a panoramic photograph. Click an area to zoom in, and click near the bottom of the picture to zoom out. But hurry! You’ve only got ten minutes. There are two games, one on the rooftops and one in the park. Link -via Militant Platypus