The extent of human creativity/weirdness always baffles me, but I have to say the Internet really won my heart this week. Here are some staff picks of weird, beautiful, smart stories and videos from the interwebs this week.

• Today was the final day to tweet #TornadoWeek to turn up the winds on interns at the Weather Channel. It seems the Weather Channel is embracing climate change with reckless abandon as it turns to an aggressively hilarious editorial strategy. [The Weather Channel] UPDATE: Unfortunately the livestream of the interns getting blasted is over, but you can watch a clip at CNBC »
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• If you were a kid growing up in the U.S. in the ’80s and ’90s, or raised a kid during this time, PBS was a testament to the power of good educational television. A satirical trailer-making group called Gritty Robots published a heart-warming video this week of beloved PBS personalities Carl Sagan, Mr. Rogers, Bill Nye the Science Guy (see his TED-Ed lesson above) and Bob Ross as as the Avengers, saving us from bad TV. [Gizmodo]
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• Did you know that being annoyed at the incorrect use of “literally” is about as old as the heinous act itself? Ben Yagoda has a literal breakdown. [Lingua Franca]
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• In response to Amanda Filipacci’s New York Times op-ed piece last week on Wikipedia’s creation of a separate category for American Women Novelists, James Gleick takes a detailed look at Wikipedia’s women problem. [NYRB]
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• New science magazine Nautilus launches its first issue, on the topic “What makes you so special.” We’re excited to see what’s next from this awesome publication. [Nautilus]
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• IBM puts out an animation of epically small proportions, moving atoms with extreme precision. The film holds the Guiness World Record for smallest stop-motion film. [YouTube]
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• How many countries are there in Africa? Answering the question isn’t as easy as it sounds. [Africa Check] Watch Chimamanda Adichie’s classic talk, “The danger of a single story” »
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• A quick, surprising synthesis of an extensive study published by PLoS One, about differences in learning between the sexes. [io9]
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• An inside story on the future of Guantanamo Bay and its history of hunger strikes, by Shihab Rattansi. [Al Jazeera]
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• The painted turtle is on the path to extinction. A sad, strange story of how it may soon become a 100 percent female species, due to the fact that its eggs are more likely to hatch as females if they are in warm nests. [New Scientist]
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• Behold: Nature. Donald Trump. … What? [io9]

That’s absurd!
5 quirky talks remind us that life is funny, weird, sweet, absurd. Watch talks by Improv Everywhere’s Charlie Todd and Postsecret’s Frank Warren, and more.

Spoken-word fireworks
7 brave and beautiful expressions from some of the world’s most talented spoken-word performers — like Anna Deavere Smith, Sarah Kay and Rives — who weave stories in words and gestures.

2012 was the year of radical openness at TED. In that spirit, while our office is closed for winter break, TED’s editorial staffers have selected their favorite talks of the year that, for a variety of reasons, didn’t get as many views as we would have hoped … giving you a peek into both our process and our personalities. We hope you enjoy.

It’s the end of 2012, and that means end-of-the-year lists. And while you’re scrambling to look at photos of 43 people you won’t believe actually exist, to relive the year in animated gifs, or to download the year’s best 100 tracks, you’re not watching TED Talks. Frankly, I’m disappointed. There’s a whole host of nerdy, serious, socially minded, mildly chiding, frankly bizarre talks you might have missed this year. BUMMER FOR YOU. Here are 11 of my favorite TED Talks from 2012 that I’m surprised — nay, appalled – you haven’t seen yet.

Let’s start with William Noel’s talk, “Revealing the lost codex of Archimedes.” Noel is the Director of the Special Collections Center at the University of Pennsylvania and, in this talk, he tells the story of the Archimedes palimpsest, a Byzantine prayer book containing three hidden and previously unknown original writings: one from Archimedes, one from 4th-century-B.C. Greek orator Hyperides, and one a 3rd-century-A.D. commentary on Aristotle’s “Categories” by an unknown source. These works were finally revealed, obviously, by using a powerful particle accelerator. This is easily my favorite talk from TEDxSummit in Doha this year.
This talk has intrigue, medieval manuscripts and a particle accelerator: Why the eff didn’t you watch it?

Bryan Stevenson: We need to talk about an injustice
No two ways about it: This is a really, really, really good talk. Bryan Stevenson delivered words at TED2012 that stunned the audience and received one of the longest standing ovations in the history of the conference. And not because he was selling perfume-scented technology flowers from behind well-designed rose-colored glasses, but because he asked us to face harsh truths about race, poverty, degradation, marginalization, incarceration and injustice. At turns candid, stat-filled, intensely personal and acutely aware of tragic moments in history, the talk is an absolute powerhouse. The next day Chris Anderson got on stage and asked for contributions, raising $1.12 million for Stevenson’s nonprofit, the Equal Justice Initiative.
Like I said: really, really, really good talk. Seriously: Why the eff haven’t you watched this?

Chip Kidd: Designing books is no laughing matter. OK, it is.
Try smelling an e-book the way you can smell a paperback. Welcome: Chip Kidd, design legend. In his talk from TED2012, Kidd showcases the creative process behind book covers he’s worked on at Knopf in the past 30 years, like Michael Crichton’s Jurassic Park, Augusten Burroughs’ Dry, and Haruki Murakami’s 1Q84. Also, he does a funny dance and is adorable.
Kidd, dinos, naked skeletons, rehab, the Buddha, weird dance: Why the eff didn’t you watch this talk?

Ed Gavagan: A story about knots and surgeons
I first heard about this guy from a friend who listened to his story on the Moth podcast. While walking down Sullivan Street in downtown New York one perfectly normal day, designer and builder Ed Gavagan found himself face to face with a group of teenagers about to partake in a gang initiation rite — to kill a complete stranger. That stranger: Ed Gavagan. The teenagers opened him hip to neck. Later in the hospital, the doctors gave him a 2% chance of living. In his TEDMED talk, Gavagan pays homage to the surgeons who saved his life.
Ed Gavagan gets stabbed in broad daylight and lives to tell the tale: Why the eff didn’t you watch this talk?

Karen Bass: Unseen footage, untamed nature
Filmmaker Karen Bass shows footage from her shows on BBC and National Geographic. Watch for an INSANE shot at 5:15 of a bat sucking up nectar with a tongue 1.4 times its height.
The bat tongue is ridiculous: Why the eff didn’t you watch this talk?

Leslie T. Chang: The voices of China’s workers
Journalist Leslie T. Chang takes a subtle look at Western guilt and the white-savior complex in this portrait of female factory workers from Dongguan, China. The western media portrays Chinese laborers as if they are forced into factories to slave away and suffer making smartphones for rich Westerners, but it’s simply not true, says Chang. Girls leave their villages with an entrepreneurial spirit, betting on the chance at a better life. It doesn’t matter that they can’t afford iPhones themselves, says Chang, because they don’t want them.
This talk predated the unforgettable SNL iPhone 5 Tech Talk sketch featuring peasant laborers from a Chinese Apple factory and hyperbolic iPhone critics from CNET, Wired and Gizmodo. So: Why the eff haven’t you watched it yet?

Beeban Kidron: The shared wonder of film
At a TED salon in London, Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason director Beeban Kidron talks about the importance of a good visual narrative. As a founder of FILMCLUB, an English organization devoted to improving the lives of students through after-school film screenings, Kidron seeks to return to today’s generation a sense of cultural heritage through film. In the words of TED’s content distribution editorial specialist Janet Lee, “Why doesn’t this talk have 1,000,000 views?”
Contains footage that will make you laugh and cry, and you won’t know why: Why the eff didn’t you watch this talk?

Rory Stewart: Why democracy matters
British MP Rory Stewart talks about why the Number 1 reason to support democracy isn’t that it promotes good things like economic growth or equal rights for women … but because it’s inherently a valuable way to approach government.
Rory Stewart talks about the intrinsic, not instrumental, value of democracy. WORD. Why the eff didn’t you watch it?

Leymah Gbowee: Unlock the intelligence, passion, greatness of girls
We should never forget that life can be truly absurd and completely horrible. At TEDActive this year, when I saw Nobel Peace Prize winner Leymah Gbowee’s heart-wrenching talk, you could hear a pin drop in the theater. She talks about a lifetime of having to turn away young Liberian girls who had been denied education and a life free from fear. Each time Gbowee had to say “no” to a girl in need, it spurred her to fight harder for peace and safety for women.
Leymah Gbowee puts the G in girls and gangsta: Why the eff didn’t you watch this talk?

Bandi Mbubi: Demand a fair trade cell phone
In case there weren’t enough things worrying you about your phone (see: aforementioned factory workers in China, the downfall of Apple Maps, 4-14 on Angry Birds), here’s one more for the list. At TEDxExeter, Congolese activist Bandi Mbubi explains that the tantalum necessary for computers and smartphones has a bloody history, and that the mining and trade of tantalum perpetuate the already devastating atrocities in eastern Congo.
People demand fair-trade food and clothes, so it’s only fair they also demand fair-trade phones. Why the eff didn’t you watch this talk?

Bobby Ghosh: Why global jihad is losing
“Jihad” is an insanely loaded word in “the West” (an equally loaded word), and that’s because people don’t really understand it. Before bin Laden made it one of the world’s most powerful and destructive memes, the media was totally happy never talking about jihad. At TEDxGeorgetown, Bobby Ghosh talks about the denigration of the concept of jihad by bin Laden and how his particular brand of jihad died along with him. Now, says Ghosh, it’s time to reclaim the word.
To be an informed consumer of the news, it’s important to understand the players in the failing “war of terror ” and the plurality of agents currently fighting local jihads in the Middle East and Africa. So: Why the eff didn’t you watch this talk?

Beeban Kidron at the TED Salon: Unseen Narratives, London. 10 May 2012, Photo: Dafydd Jones/TED

Comedian Maz Jobrani has some advice for anyone who happens to be Middle Eastern and getting on a plane in the United States.

“As a Middle Eastern male, I know there’s certain things I’m not supposed to say on an airplane in the U.S. I can’t walk down the aisle and be like, ‘Hi, Jack.’ Even if I’m there with my friend Jack, I say, ‘Greetings Jack,’” jokes Jobrani in today’s talk, filmed at the TEDxSummit in Doha, Qatar. “The key, my Arab brothers and sisters, is that you throw in good words as you’re walking down the aisle.”

Jobrani’s suggestions: ‘strawberry,’ ‘rainbow’ or ‘tutti frutti.’

Jobrani, an Iranian-American who was a founding member of the Axis of Evil Comedy Tour, is known for poking fun at the strained relations between the West and the Middle East.

“A lot of Americans don’t know a lot about us in the Middle East. People don’t know we laugh,” says Jobrani in today’s talk. “We like to laugh, we like to celebrate life … I always encourage my friends to travel and see the Middle East — and vice versa. It helps stop problems of misunderstanding and stereotyping.”

To see an example of a Middle Eastern audience cracking up, watch Jobrani’s talk. And after the jump, see more from this comedian and his compatriots.

At TEDGlobal 2010, Jobrani talked about founding the Axis of Evil Comedy Tour with Ahmed Ahmed, who is Egyptian-American, and Aron Kader, who is Palestinian-American. In this bold talk, Jobrani pokes fun at his dual identity. “It causes a lot of inner conflict. Part of me likes me, part of me hates me,” he says. “Part of me thinks I should have a nuclear program; the other part thinks I can’t be trusted.”

In his comedy special Brown and Friendly, Jobrani talks about growing up in Iran and doing his best to blend in when he came to the United States. “I would play baseball, I would eat apple pie,” he says. “I would eat apple pie while playing baseball … Everything would be cool until my dad would come to pick me up.”

In this set from the Axis of Evil Comedy Tour, Jobrani lays out the differences between Persians and Arabs. “We’re similar — we’re all getting shot at,” jokes Jobrani, before explaining why Iranians prefer to call themselves “Persian.”

Ahmed Ahmed spoke at TEDxDoha, making the point that when it comes to laughter, the Middle East and the West are actually very similar. “It’s great being a comedian. I get to travel all over the world and meet people from all over the world. The problem is getting there,” says Ahmed. “If you Google my name, it comes up on the FBI’s most wanted list. There’s this terrorist from Egypt and he kind of looks like me. I thought, ‘I gotta find this guy, he’s killing me.’ And then it dawned on me, maybe he’s in the Middle East Googling me and saying, ‘Bro, look, there’s this comedian in America, man. He’s using my name.’”

Aron Kader is the third member of the Axis of Evil comedy tour. In this video from the Just For Laughs Festival, Kader talks about “Making small talk with Palestinians.” He jokes, “Sometimes people ask me what my ethnicity is, and I’ll say Palestinian. And there’s never a follow-up question.”

Television producer Jamil Abu-Wardeh moved from London to Dubai with a vision: to bring stand-up comedy to the Middle East. In this talk from TEDGlobal 2010, he shares how he built on Jobrani, Ahmed and Kader’s work, and brought their brand of comedy to the Middle East. In this funny talk, he reveals how thousands came out to see the Axis of Evil Middle East Comedy Tour, which highlighted the work of Korean-Jordanian comic Won Ho Chung, and Nemr Abou Nassar, who is Lebanese. While these comedians could make any jokes they wanted, Abu-Wardeh urged them to stay away from the “three B’s” — blue material, beliefs and “bolitics.”

Last night Reggie Watts performed at TED@Doha, the first of TED’s Worldwide Talent Search events, during TEDxSummit. During rehearsal members of the TED staff caught up with him to talk about … whatever he wanted to talk about.

I saw you perform at TEDxGotham; some people just didn’t get your style.

Yeah, TED and TEDx are a little bit different because everyone’s heads are in a different space. They’re kind of floating, examining the overall thing, and then they’ll suck into specific data sets that are being communicated. You get on stage and they’re like “Oh, it’s an entertainer.” They’re a little bit more lax about their attention. But it’s fun, it’s my favorite thing at corporate events — not that this is a corporate event — but it’s similar to a corporate audience in a way. They are not expecting much. Really. They’re expecting a certain area of communication, and then when you’re fluctuating here, then they’re very confused. And that’s what I love. I love confused people checking out. It’s my favorite. But TED’s wonderful. I had a good time. I’ve done a couple TEDx’s, like TEDxGotham, TEDxMidAtlantic. People are just excited all around.

Does the crowd feel different at all? Between the TEDx’s or from TED?

The stakes at TED … the people there are usually at the top of the rung. … At TED, it feels like that’s it. There’s nothing more than … well, I guess there’s TEDGlobal. But Long Beach, that feels like it’s the OG, it’s the original.

TEDxOG?

TEDxOG. TEDexege. Schenectady! It feels more like the Star League, like you’re addressing the Intergalactic Counsel of Planets.

You might be doing that tonight.

Yeah. … I had a dream last night that I was hanging out with Prince. Not a prince, Prince. I was driving around in a car with Prince. We were both sitting in the back. I was just staring at him.

How was Prince’s car?

Probably gilded. Yeah, definitely gilded. … And he was just talking about TED the whole time. Just the whole time. It was really weird. Although actually I wouldn’t be surprised to hear Prince talking about TED.

What do you imagine Prince’s TEDTalk would be about?

I guess … modern composition?