According to Mother Jones' Kevin Drum, knowing how to use the Internet and search for information on it makes a world of difference between smart and dumb people.

Moral of the story: the internet makes dumb people dumber and smart people smarter. If you don't know how to use it, or don't have the background to ask the right questions, you'll end up with a head full of nonsense. But if you do know how to use it, it's an endless wealth of information. Just as globalization and de-unionization have been major drivers of the growth of income inequality over the past few decades, the internet is now a major driver of the growth of cognitive inequality. Caveat emptor.

github user aemkei has put this little bit of code that lets you play a game of Tetris called Binary Tetris. And by "a little bit of code" I really mean that: the entire thing is just 140 bytes in length.

function(a,b,c,d,e){return d+=c,
e=a|b<<d,d<0|a&b<<d&&(a=e=
parseInt((a|b<<c).toString(d=32)
.replace(/v/,""),d),b=new Date%2?1:3),
[a,b,d,e]}

Flickr user sarcoptiform has put together this lovely gallery of take out beverage lids spanning the 90s to the early 00s. It's amusing one never really pays attention to lids, but they come in a huge variety and they end up being quite fascinating to look at.

Permission to use the above image was granted by the photographer.

Exploding Rabbit has put together this great little remix game called Super Mario Bros Crossover where you can play the original Super Mario Bros. levels but pick from all kind of other characters from other games. Bill Rizer from Contra is still my favourite after all these years.

For optimal performance, play the game in the Firefox web browser. If the game runs too slow, turn the music quality down to low or turn the music off completely. If you experience a blank white screen, upgrade to the latest version of Flash. If the game appears cropped and you cannot see the whole screen, zoom your browser out to the default setting and reload the page.

Incredible video showing how the Harvard Monolithic Bee, a millimeter-scale flapping wing robotic insect, is produced using Printed Circuit MEMS (PC-MEMS) techniques that is literally folded into action, soldered and ready to deploy.

This video describes the manufacturing process, including pop-up book inspired assembly. This work was funded by the NSF, the Wyss Institute, and the ASEE.

Director Fernando Livschitz of Black Sheep Film has created this short little music video called Buenos Aires - Inception Park. As the title implies, watch the absurd reality of a roller-coaster and other Luna Park contraptions hover magically in mid-air to the joy of its riders. It's quite brilliantly put together.

Sparked from a conversation on GitHub for a way to plot people one follows on Twitter on Google Maps, user theron17 created the Twitter Friends Map.

Created by Mollenindustria, the game Unmanned puts you in the shoes of a United States Air Force drone pilot. Literally. You start your morning having a nightmare, shaving, driving to work, chit-chatting with your co-pilot, accidentally blowing-up a person of interest, playing video games with your child and ending the day contemplating your actions. It's both dreadful, enlightening and full of unusual awards -- see the image at top.

Enjoying the idea behind this art project by Brian Stewart called Skin Type.

Robotics genius Max Shepherd likes to "make things". One such creation is the Lego Robotic Arm, a fully-functional model of a prosthetic arm made entirely of Legos.

The main purpose of this project was to accurately mimic the full range of motion of a normal human arm and hand. The secondary goal was to maximize speed and power, yet maintain a consistent ratio between the two for demonstration purposes. It is important to note that it was designed as an above elbow prosthesis, and the yellow shoulder is only meant to act as a static model.

Yup. That's me. I'd much rather walk out the house and find out that I'm totally naked than without my phone. My phone gives me time, email, contact, location, entertainment, news -- I'm addicted to the instant gratification it provides. I use it so much that I've actually ordered a super-sized battery so that it will survive through an entire day on a single charge. Do I sound insane? I probably am. It was with somewhat relief that I discovered I am not alone with my madness.

According to new research by OnePoll on behalf of UK firm SecurEnvoy, the fear of being separated from one’s phone, a condition known as nomophobia, is on the rise. A survey of 1,000 Brits revealed that 66 percent feared being without their mobile phone, marking a 13 percent increase on the results of a similar survey taken four years ago.

Interestingly, to make absolutely sure they were connected at all times, 41 percent of people in the survey said they carry a second mobile phone with them — in case they

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As part of the 2011 London to Ulan Bator Mongol Rally, San Francisco-based videographer Jeff Diehl made a 4 minute time-lapse video out of what must've been a gruseome 11-day trip in a cramped Fiat Panda. Gorgeous scenography, though.

It took two of us 11 days in a 1.2L Fiat Panda to get from the Russian border to the capital city of Ulaanbaatar, but you can do it in 4 minutes thanks to the dashboard cam that recorded it all. Experience the roadlessness, the bandits, the breakdowns, the yaks, and the camels, without ever having to figure out how to steer and shift a right-driving mini-car through some of the remotest land on the planet. And see it out the windshield just like we did.

Clever advertising from British Airways where a little girl's luggage races against bags from other nations in a bid to arrive first. Sports presenter Jim Rosenthal does a perfect voice over. Check out also the making-of video below:

British Airways have launched their latest London 2012 themed advert, "The Race", a light hearted look at the build-up to this summer's Olympics, on Facebook and Google+.

According to Time's Moneyland, the White House' $3.8 trillion, 2,000-page budget that was sent to Congress last week is asking the Treasury Department to "change the composition of coins to more cost-effective materials."

Why? Because it currently costs the federal government 2.4 cents to make a penny and 11.2 cents for every nickel. The special formula for making U.S. coins has stayed the same for the last 30 years. Changing that recipe could save more than $100 million a year.

Since 1982, our copper-looking pennies have been merely coppery. In the 1970s, the price of copper soared, so President Richard Nixon proposed changing the penny's composition to a cheaper aluminum. The plan didn't go anywhere until the Reagan administration successfully changed the penny's make-up. Today, only 2.5% of a penny is copper (which makes up the coin's coating) while 97.5% is zinc. In fact, our nickels, which are 75% copper and 25% nickel, have more copper in them than pennies do.

The Man Who Lived on His Bike

Montreal-based director Guillaume Blanchet created this ridiculously clever little short called The Man Who Lived on His Bike, showing what life would be like if he never stepped off his bike.

After 382 days spent riding through the streets of Montreal, being sometimes quite cold, sometimes quite hot - and sometimes quite scared, I dedicate this movie to you, Yves Blanchet :-)

Canada's Bill C-30: Get Ready for the Evidence-Free Bill to Spy on Your Online Activities

In his article titled Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Lawful Access, But Were (Understandably) Afraid To Ask, Michael Geist -- a law professor at the University of Ottawa -- explains Bill C-30. The Internet surveillance legislation, which the Canadian government would like to introduce, would allow for a massive new surveillance infrastructure at all Canadian ISPs and remove the need for court oversight of the disclosure of customer information. Michael has "posted a detailed FAQ on the history of the bill, the likely contents, the lack of government evidence supporting the need for the invasive legislation, and what Canadians can do about it."

The first prong mandates the disclosure of Internet provider customer information without court oversight. Under current privacy laws, providers may voluntarily disclose customer information but are not required to do so. The new system would require the disclosure of customer name, address, phone number, email address, Internet

Sony Music Hikes Whitney Houston Album Price After Her Death

From the "hopefully nobody will notice" department -- and, unfortunately for Sony, someone did: reportedly, Sony Music raised the cost of Whitney's greatest hits set on iTunes by more than 60% right after the singer's death.

From the article on The Guardian:

Sony Music has come under fire after it increased the price of a Whitney Houston album on Apple's iTunes Store hours after the singer was found dead.

The music giant is understood to have lifted the wholesale price of Houston's greatest hits album, The Ultimate Collection, at about 4am California time on Sunday. This meant that the iTunes retail price of the album automatically increased from £4.99 to £7.99.

From Enchantment to Down: Disney Heroines Meet Their Demise

From Enchantment to Down is a series of photographs by Thomas Czarnecki that play on a far more sinister outcome to well-known fairy tales.

From the article in The Daily Mail:

The French photographer's series, 'From Enchantment to Down', includes alternate endings for The Little Mermaid, Cinderella, Snow White, Sleeping Beauty, and other saccharine heroines. But in his re-imagining, the women meet their demise.

Permission to use the above image was granted by Thomas himself.

"It Is Over When...": Capturing the Exact Moment You Realize a Relationship is Doomed

Chigago-based writer Robert K. Elder is the curator of It Was Over When, a website that documents that precise moment when you know that the relationship you are in is dead and done -- and smelling pretty ripe.

It Was Over When is dedicated to cataloging the exact moment when you realize a relationship isn't going to work. This could be years into a romance, on the first date or even before the first date. These stories can be funny, poignant, abysmally sad and universal.

For the more romantically inclined, there is also It Was Love When. I guess this is where you need to be before reality hits and you post your tales of relationship doom.

You Know Bill C-30 Is Bad When Even Bell and Rogers Don't Like It #TellVicEverything

Canada's Bill C-30 is a piece of legislation written by the conservative party that would turn the Internet into a giant spying machine. It would also require ISPs to make the needed changes to allow for this. As this article in the Huffington Post points out, Canadian Telecom giants are not impressed:

The price tag for carriers could be significant, and it's unclear what kind of compensation will be offered, said Bernard Lord, president of the Canadian Wireless Telecommunications Association.

"These new undertakings could generate significant costs, and the question remains whether the government will compensate those costs," Lord said in an interview.

The association represents companies including Bell Canada, Rogers Communications and Telus, which provide wireless services to millions of Canadians.

"I don't think we should ask law-abiding citizens that are using Internet services or wireless services to pay more on their bills because the government decides that the police

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The Scale of the Universe: Cary Huang's Interactive Site Puts Big and Small Into Perspective

Cary Huang's The Scale of the Universe 2 interactive website will take you on a journey from the smallest atom to the edge of the universe -- and putting everything in between in perspective. If you felt small in the face of the universe, know that you are. And that there is even smaller.

Just in Time for Valentine's Day: Pizza Hut's Wedding Proposal in a Box

If you need to propose to your sweetheart this Valentine, Pizza Hut is offering this special deal for just $10,010: a red ruby ring, fireworks, limousine service, photographer, videographer, flowers and... their $10 dinner box.

From the Eater website:

Sure, it's a ruby ring and not diamond, and yes, your special someone will bemoan the fact that you proposed to him/her at Pizza Hut of all damn places until the day one of you dies, but still. Also, they hint that "If she says yes, a Pizza Hut-themed wedding at Pizza Hut headquarters could be in order." Pizza party wedding everybody!

Bill C-30 ... Awful Access (especially for ISPs)

Mark Jeftovic, CEO of the Canadian company EasyDNS, calls Bill C-30 one of the worst legislative proposals ever tabled and "what I think is quite frankly, an effort to 'keep a lid' on the Internet."

When I read SOPA, and PIPA I had a textdoc open to which I cut-and-pasted various sections of note, in each case I had maybe a half dozen passages which I tagged with brief comments such as "troubling", "overly broad" or "slippery slope".

When I finished reading C-30 I had 23 sections of notes, with comments like "wtf?", "surely, they jest", and "omfg". It is nothing less than a framework to enable unfettered state access into all domestic network communications (except for banks, who are exempt), total unwavering compliance from all internet providers, and penalties for non-compliance which seem to occur without due process.

I Heart This: Heart-Shaped Biodegradable Utensils that Becomes Fork, Knife and... Chappati

With 40 million plastic utensils reaching landfills every year, Fatima Fazal, the creator and founder of I Heart This, decided to do something about it. Her idea, to create a fully biodegradable heart-shaped utensil you can split to form both knife and fork. It also works like a plastic chappati, if you're so inclined.

Street Photography Do's and Don'ts

Photographer Kai Wong provides some quirky advice with his Street Photography Do's and Don'ts while roaming the streets of Hong Kong. Among his suggestions, try not to dress like a paedophile. It scares young Asian girls away real fast.

Canadian Man Has Been Digging Out His Basement Using Only R/C Scale-Model Construction Equipment for the Last 15 Years

According to the Jalopkink's website, YouTube user LilGiantsConstrCo, has been ever so slowly digging out his basement using nothing more than miniature R/C vehicles to get the job done. And I thought I was weird for playing with electric trains.

A Canadian guy named Joe has been digging out the basement of his house using nothing but radio-controlled scale model construction equipment... since 1997. Yes, you read that right -- he's been digging out his basement for 15 years -- with nothing but little R/C tractors, diggers and even a miniature rock crusher! Amazing.

At an average rate of eight or nine cubic feet of earth moved each year, the process has been absolutely glacial. But what do you expect when every morning he drives his little excavator on its transport truck down to the basement, unloads it, and then uses it to dig out the basement walls.

For the Hipster: Make Your iPhone Look Like a Retro SLR Camera

Webside Design Milk has this gallery of images for the Gizmon iCA iPhone Case, a case that looks like an old school SLR camera -- complete with working shutter button.

Constructed of super tough Polycarbonate, the case has a shutter button on top that actually works. It surrounds your phone and comes with two "lenses" that attach to the front. It even has a detachable tripod mount to use for longer exposures. Plus, get the matching Gizmon bag to protect your case (yes, a case for a case!) There are also two holes so that you can attach a strap and use it just like a real camera. Handy!

Truck drivers are most often pissed off. They get paid per job so if you see a parked semi or a driver walking around you can know that every second that they remain that way is another second till their next job, and thus paycheque. So add amphetamine delusion to basic rage and the whole mess of them become this volatile inertial potential: they are either doing NOTHING (all jacked up and pissed off) or driving like a bat out of hell (all jacked up and pissed off).