If you’ve visited Wikipedia today (or the Google homepage, or xkcd, or Wired, or WordPress) you’ll notice that they’re censoring their own sites to raise awareness for the SOPA and PIPA legislation.  From Wikipedia:

Wikipedia is protesting against SOPA and PIPA by blacking out the English Wikipedia for 24 hours, beginning at midnight January 18, Eastern Time. Readers who come to English Wikipedia during the blackout will not be able to read the encyclopedia. Instead, you will see messages intended to raise awareness about SOPA and PIPA, encouraging you to share your views with your representatives, and with each other on social media.

(Wikipedia has made available a page detailing why PIPA and SOPA are bad news).

xkcd.com also has a list of resources for some good (and easily digestible) information.

These are important pieces of legislation, and definitely merit contacting your representatives.  However (after you’ve educated yourself and done your part), if you’re in a pinch today and you absolutely need to read a Wikipedia article to understand Batesian mimicry or the etymology of goulash, there is a very easy workaround.  When you go to the article you want, you’ll notice it appear in your browser before Wikipedia’s SOPA/PIPA awareness page pops up.  Simply click the “stop” button in your browser after the article loads but before the awareness page pops up.  That’s it.

… [Some] researchers compare the lure of digital stimulation less to that of drugs and alcohol than to food and sex, which are essential but counterproductive in excess.

The New York Times Science section has an in-depth article about the ups and downs of our our increasingly technological lifestyles.  Someone over there must be getting their daily dose of Juice!

Much of the story is told by following a slice of the life of Mr. Kord Campbell, a 43 year old family man, software developer, entrepreneur, and gadget user.  It’s a good read. Here it is.

[UPDATE: An earlier version of this post listed Mr. Campbell's first name as "Thomas", which is his given name]

This comic is consistently brilliant.