Two Brain Cells

America’s Dumbest Congressmen, a top-ten list. I love democracy. (0 comments)

You may have seen these new speed cameras which check your average speed over a distance by reading your number plate at the start and end of the length of road they’re covering. But in the UK, it seems that they can’t issue you with a speeding ticket if you start in one lane and end in another. Interestingly, it’s nothing to do with the technology, but rather because the system has only been government-tested for single-lane roads. So, in effect, the evidence is only legally binding if each lane is treated as a separate road. (0 comments)

This teaser video for a platformer called Limbo looks amazingly beautiful. (0 comments)

What’s the difference between programmers and developers? (Spoiler: programmers are people who just code, while developers are people who code with an awareness of the overall final product they’re delivering and its real world context.) (0 comments)

“A pile of jelly left by a road in Germany caused a major security alert after it was mistaken for toxic waste.” (0 comments)

Another stunning example of physics understanding: I have never understood why, in the way bicycles create their own lighting, the wheels on trains that just bogie (ie, those that are not drive wheels) cannot be used to provide power for lighting and air conditioning. A letter from this week’s Guardian Technology section. (0 comments)

Russian customs officers unearth a mile-long vodka smuggling pipeline. (0 comments)

Controlling iTunes by flashing a torch at your iSight webcam. This is what being a geek is all about. (0 comments)

A Zen koan for our times: “If you pick up a piece of trash and put it back where you found it, is that littering?” (0 comments)