Earlier this month, The Verge reported that "Unicode, an industry standard that regulates the presentation of text across different software platforms, updated to include 250 new emoji. 

Everyone was very excited about the news, especially because there are a few emoji added to the roster that we always felt were missing — a middle finger, for instance!

The "official" emojipedia has a list of what's being added, but they missed some pretty important images we think should already be in exi stance, like a bottle of tequila.

Out of the 250 emoji being added, we've created 21 emoji of our own that will hopefully be considered for the next update. 

A Virgin Galactic spaceship (of course) when something happens that's out of this world.

#Shots

Guy with glasses for the Warby Parker-wearing friends in your life.

Many successful films are able to breeze through production and effortlessly become a blockbuster success.

But others aren’t as lucky.

In fact, some films are downright unlucky.

Check out the cursed movie sets >

During the filming of these seven movies, cast and crew members were plagued with injuries, delays, budget issues, and sometimes even death.

Here’s a look at some of Hollywood’s unluckiest movie sets.

Jim Caviezel was struck by lightning while filming "The Passion Of The Christ."

Directed by Mel Gibson, "The Passion of the Christ" starred Jim Caviezel as Jesus and detailed the final hours and crucifixion of Jesus Christ. Throughout shooting the film, Caviezel experienced a string of bad luck, including being struck by lightning.

“We were preparing to shoot the Sermon on the Mount and three seconds before, I was hit by lightning. I knew it was going to happen,” Fox News reports Caviezel saying.

If that wasn’t bad enough, the poor actor also suffered through a case of near-hypothermia, a dislocated shoulder, a lung infection and pneumonia, writes Movie Fone. Caviezel also underwent an eight-hour makeup routine that left him with headaches and skin infections, and his bad luck continued when he was accidentally whipped on a few occasions, causing a chunk of his flesh to be ripped out. Maybe it wasn’t so much "The Passion of the Christ" set that was cursed so much as it was Caviezel.

Several people died during the filming of "The Matrix."

Tragedy plagued the poor members of "The Matrix" throughout filming, beginning when Keanu Reeves’s girlfriend, Jennifer Syme, gave birth to a stillborn. The couple then broke up, and shortly after, Syme died in a car accident.

Aaliyah, 22, was in the middle of filming her role as Zee when she died in a plane crash, which postponed filming for a few months. Shortly after Aaliyah’s death, tragedy struck again. Another cast member, Gloria Foster, who played the role of The Oracle, also died. Meanwhile, Reeves ended up in the hospital after a motorbike accident and returned shortly after when he hurt his foot during filming. Reeves’ sister also suffered a leukemia relapse, causing a delay in filming when he left to be with her.

The cost of making the film was spiraling out of control, so Reeves agreed to give up $24 million of his paycheck to keep production afloat, writes List Verse. Despite the bad luck during production, the movie ended up being a box office success.

"Apocalypse Now" was plagued by health problems from the start.

The filming was riddled with terrible luck. Production began in early 1976 with Harvey Keitel as the lead. A massive production delay occurred when director Francis Ford Coppola fired Keitel and replaced him with Martin Sheen, who later suffered a heart attack while on set, per MSN Entertainment.

The bad luck trickled onto Marlon Brando, who arrived on set much heavier than anyone had anticipated. Coppola was then forced to film Brando’s face in tight close-ups and use a body double for all of his other scenes. The filming wrapped up in 1977 but needed so much editing that it didn’t hit movie screens until 1979.

Every four years the World Cup takes over the world for a month and produces incredible moments and photos.

Brazil has been a beautiful background for amazing sports photography.

From soaring header goals to games in the pouring rain to fans cheering, here are the most mesmerizing photos from the World Cup so far.

Jermaine Jones celebrates after scoring a goal against Portugal.

Cristiano Ronaldo celebrates after a Portugal goal in their game against the U.S.

Tim Howard is in shock after Portugal tied the game 2-2 with 30 seconds left.

Not many actors can say they've been a rapper, underwear model, producer, and ex-con, but then again not many actors are Mark Wahlberg.

Born in Boston, Wahlberg has made a name for himself as one of Hollywood's top actors, but he has also gone on to be one of the industry's best businessmen.

Starring in the upcoming "Transformers: Age of Extinction," Wahlberg continues to transform himself into an even bigger star.

See how he became Hollywood's top tough guy.

The youngest of nine children, Wahlberg was born on June 5, 1971 in Dorchester, Massachusetts — a blue-collar neighborhood in Boston.

Source: Biography

Wahlberg eventually dropped out of school at 13 and turned to a life of selling drugs and stealing cars. At 17, Wahlberg went through one of the darkest times in his life when he was arrested for assault. He served a 45-day sentence at one of the worst prisons in Boston.

Source: 60 Minutes

During this time, faith played huge part in Wahlberg's life and still does today. The actor attends church twice every Sunday and is a devout Irish Catholic. "It’s the most important part of my life," Wahlberg has said. "I don’t try to push it on anybody, and I don’t try to hide it."

Source: The Huffington Post

One of the biggest fears for many college graduates is finding a good job that pays well and has solid career prospects.

Some career paths are going to be more beneficial and open to a recent grad. To help new degree holders find the right field, we looked at the University of California, San Diego's fifth annual list of "Hot Careers for College Graduates."

For this report, UCSD looked at four criteria — "current employment in the field, projected growth in the occupation between 2010 and 2020, median annual salary in the occupation, and workplace environment characteristics."

The study also looked at "bridgeability factor," a yes or no decision "based on whether a college graduate could bridge into the career with one or two years of study or reskilling." Several careers — such as nurse, veterinarian, and pharmacist — scored well on UCSD's criteria, but would be unobtainable for an untrained college graduate.

Almost half of the careers in the top 10 dealt with computers and technology, including the top two on the list. Although two different types of software developers — applications and systems — tied for the first spot on UCSD's rankings, we decided to solely designate systems software developers as the number one career, based on its stronger long-term job prospects.

#10 Insurance Sales Agent

"As the population lives longer, there will be an increased need for insurance agents; the Bureau of Labor Statistics expects this career path to increase by 22% by 2020. Our research shows there are 336,740 insurance agents nationwide, earning a mean annual salary of $63,400. Although one third of all insurance sales agents in 2010 reported having at least a bachelor’s degree, only a high school diploma is required for entry to this job — a unique factor among the top ten hot careers."

— Via UCSD "Hot Careers for College Graduates"

#9 Public Relations Specialist

"Compared to other jobs on the hot careers list, public relations specialists represent the smallest number of people currently employed (201,280), but the field has a projected growth rate of 23% by 2020 ... The mean annual salary in the field, counting both corporate and self-employed public relations specialists, is $61,980."

— Via UCSD "Hot Careers for College Graduates"

#8 Management Analyst

"There are a reported 540,440 employed nationwide at present. All industries — even government organizations and not-for-profit organizations — rely on the unique expertise of management analysts to operate efficiently. With the onset of the global economic recession that began in 2008, utilization of management consultants has been growing, and demand for these professionals is projected to continue to grow by 22% by 2020. The mean annual salary for management consultants is $88,070."

— Via UCSD "Hot Careers for College Graduates"

What kind of Lego kid were you? Follow-the-instructions or anything-goes?

The latter group, those who weren't afraid to make a mess and improvise their own Lego creations, are today able to submit their unofficial Lego builds to the company itself for public consideration and a year-long round of public voting. If the build can successfully garner 10,000 supporters — essentially a vote of "I would buy this if it were on store shelves"— then Lego will investigate releasing it as an official set.

It's a system called Lego Ideas, and it looks a lot like Kickstarter. Each project displays its number of supporters and the remaining time left in its campaign to break the 10,000 supporters mark. Projects will often include multiple photos of the finished item, occasionally a story surrounding its origin story.

As an example, this "Back to the Future" Lego set was originally submitted to the company by user m.togami and is now a standard Lego item available for sale:

If your idea should go so far as to break the 10,000 supporter mark and get Lego's attention, here's what happens next:

Projects selected in the LEGO Review go into production. You give input to our professional LEGO designers, whose job it is to create the final set based on your project. Once complete, it goes to the factory, then it’s shipped around the world and released for sale. You’re featured in set materials, receive a royalty on sales, and are recognized as the product creator. Your supporters can now own the LEGO set they helped make happen on LEGO Ideas.

So check out the attached slideshow of our favorite things currently drumming up attention on Lego Ideas. If one of them catches your eye, there's a link below each picture that you can click to learn more on the site itself.

The first thing that bears mentioning is the variety of projects. They might be beautiful and accurate, like these trees ...

Check it out on Lego Ideas »

... or silly and absurd, like these horses with laser guns on their backs.

Check it out on Lego Ideas »

People make small homages to favorite movies, like this one to "Ghostbusters."

Check it out on Lego Ideas »

When they're not on the field, the members of England's football (soccer) team will be living in paradise at the Royal Tulip Rio de Janeiro, a stylish hotel in Rio's São Conrado beach.

The hotel offers beautiful views of both the ocean and the mountains, which England's football team will be able to admire from their private balconies.

The Royal Tulip also has two tennis courts, a gym, and a sauna.

The Daily Mail reports that the Royal Tulip will have increased security during England's stay. However, the team is only taking up two floors of the hotel, and other guests are allowed to mingle with the players.

The Royal Tulip has 17 floors and 418 apartments.

There are incredible views of the mountains and ocean.

Each of the apartments is spacious and bright, with plenty of seating to accommodate visitors.

The strongest and fastest people on Wall Street faced off this weekend to determine who is the best athlete. 

Wall Streeters ranging in ages from 22 to 62 participated in the annual RBC Decathlon at DaSilva Memorial Stadium at St. John's University in Queens on Sunday.

In a span of four hours, the athletes completed a 400-meter run, football throw, pull-ups, 40-yard dash, dips, 500-meter row, vertical jump, 20-yard shuttle, bench press, and an 800-meter run.

The annual event raised $1.4 million for pediatric cancer research and treatment at the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center.

Mark Rubin, who works in fixed-income sales at Barclays, captured the Wall Street's Best Athlete title for the third consecutive year. Rubin was a former Penn State safety who had a stint playing in the NFL for the St. Louis Rams. 

If you missed the competition, we've included photo highlights in the slides that follow. A big thank-you to Dmitry Gudkov and Kevin McCarthy who were both kind enough to share their photos. 

Kamunting Street Capital LLC trader Matthew Cook ran a 5.31 for the 40-yard dash.

Barclays analyst Jacob Stoller got a 4.96 during his 40-yard dash.

Jared Sholly of RBS ran his 40 in 4.85.

For every great robotic creation that comes to "life," whether it's a bot that folds your laundry or simply an academic paper that fleshes out a great idea, there is a small army of roboticists that helped make it possible.

We asked around the robotics community to assemble this list of the 15 most important people working in robotics today, and the list includes everyone from academics doing high theoretical work to entrepreneurs ready to sell you the next — or first — robot for your home.

We're still quite a bit away from seeing a "Jetsons"-style Rosie cleaning up our messes and doing our housework for us, but here are some of the most important people working in the field today to perhaps make that a reality.

Melonee Wise, CEO of Unbounded Robotics

Melonee Wise and her team at Unbounded Robotics recently made their UBR-1 robot available for sale, and this thing is awesome. While it has a hefty price tag of $50,000, it's an advanced, capable piece of machinery that tinkerers will have no problem putting to use around the house or workplace.

Coupled with a charging dock for extended work sessions, Unbounded's site says the UBR-1 (pronouced "uber one") is adept at tasks as varied as "unloading a dishwasher, fetching beverages, or setting the dinner table."

As the price of the UBR-1 decreases (and as Unbounded releases newer, better bots), Wise's company might be the one making the first semi-humanoid multipurpose robots that people actually have at home.

Steve Cousins, CEO of Savioke and formerly of Willow Garage

Steve Cousins is CEO of Savioke, a company that's all about creating autonomous helper robots to make people's lives easier. The company recently raised $2 million dollars to do so, but Savioke is only Cousins's most recent offering to the robotics world.

He's also the former CEO of Willow Garage, a robotics company that operated more like a research lab, giving roboticists the time and resources to pursue nearly any project they could dream up. Willow Garage is the birthplace of ROS — Robot Operating System — a piece of open-source software specifically designed to help people develop novel applications for their robots.

Cousins is also Director of the Board for the Open Source Robotics Foundation.

Brian Gerkey, CEO of the Open Source Robotics Foundation

The Open Source Robotics Foundation, or OSRF,  exists to "support the development, distribution, and adoption of open source software for use in robotics research, education, and product development."

Brian Gerkey is founder and CEO of the nonprofit organization, and under his leadership, it has continually developed two big robotics projects: the previously mentioned ROS (Robot Operating System), and Gazebo, a piece of software that can simulate robots' moving around in a 3-D environment as they receive feedback from their sensors and various objects.

Both pieces of software have saved roboticists countless hours by providing a common, open foundation for people to build on.

Hunter Mahan and his wife Kandi recently listed their 16,655-square-foot house in The Creeks of Preston Hollow, a gated community in the Preston Hollow neighborhood of Dallas for $9.5 million, according to culturemap Houston. 

The five bedroom, six full and two half bathroom house also has an indoor basketball court, an Infinity Edge pool, a 12x16 golf simulator in Mahan's "man cave" and a "grill room."

There's a 12-car garage, an elevator, a full outdoor kitchen, and a private guest house. The Creeks of Preston Hollow, the gated community, also has unique access to two separate private jet ports located nearby. 

The 16,655-square-foot mansion sits in an exclusive gated community in Dallas.

The study is home to many of Mahan's trophies and golf bags.

This sitting area is one of several on the property.

Before queuing up "Pomp and Circumstance," let's take a moment to recognize the best and the brightest high-school seniors in the U.S.

All of these wunderkinds — including an Olympic athlete, a cancer survivor, a researcher, a Thiel Fellow, a self-published novelist, and a musical darling who's been admitted to all eight Ivy League schools — show that age has no bearing on what people can accomplish.

Based on reader nominations, local news stories from around the country, and word of mouth, we found the most impressive students graduating from high school this year.

Kate Avino built an online magazine with a team of 30 writers.

High school: Indian Hills High School, Franklin Lakes, New Jersey

What makes her impressive: Avino founded Her Culture magazine so that women around the world would have a place to read about and share experiences, lifestyles, traditions, languages, and customs. She created the website — which has articles, online forums, and a blogging platform — in two days.

Magazine issues are published twice monthly and have featured prominent women such as Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo and Congolese women's-rights activist Neema Namadu. Her Culture partners with organizations like World Reader, Hello Perfect, MissHeard Magazine, and Molly & Fox magazine, to help advance Her Culture's mission.

Avino writes for The Huffington Post and Chelsea Krost and is a member of the National Association for Professional Women and the International Women's Association. At school she is the editor-in-chief of the newspaper and the yearbook.

Plans for next year: Avino will be attending New York University in the fall, majoring in media, culture, and communications and minoring in entrepreneurship. She says she plans to continue working with Her Culture and "kick-starting other magazines to spread women's empowerment."

Ryan Betz completed a half-marathon in all 50 states.

High school: Park Tudor School, Indianapolis, Indiana

What makes him impressive: When he was a freshman, Ryan Betz sat at the kitchen table one day with his mom and racked his brain for a way to give back to the community, which had given him so many opportunities for success. They decided he should run a half-marathon in every state to raise money for charity.

Over the past four years, Betz has run 655 miles and raised $40,000 through his website, ryanrunning.com. He created an endowment allowing inner-city students to attend Park Tudor High School, Betz's private college-preparatory school, tuition-free.

He's talking to Guinness World Records for verification that he is the youngest person to achieve this feat.

Betz averaged one half-marathon a month — running up a mountain in Hawaii, limping through a trailer park in Kansas with a broken toe, and exploring corners of the U.S. that he never expected to visit. "The smaller, more obscure states showed me how truly awesome America is," Betz says.

Plans for next year: Hoping to earn a college track scholarship, Betz will compete next year as a postgraduate at Phillips Exeter Academy in Exeter, New Hampshire, to beef up his transcript and run faster times.

Saira Blair is on her way to becoming the youngest person to ever serve in the West Virginia Legislature.

High school: Hedgesville High School, Martinsburg, West Virginia

What makes her impressive: Saira Blair turns 18 — the legal voting age — in July, but she's already defeated a two-term incumbent in the primary election for the West Virginia House of Delegates.

"I was surprised that the people in my community understood that someone as young as I am could share their conservative beliefs," says Blair, who characterized herself as a pro-life, pro-family, and pro-jobs fiscal conservative on her campaign fliers. "You don't have to wait until you're 40, 50, or 60 years old to recognize the social and economic benefits of conservative principles."

When Blair decided to run for office, she set out to make a more business-friendly West Virginia. "You can get a good education in W.V. if you choose to. What is difficult to get is a good paying job," says Blair, describing students as "our greatest export."

If elected, she plans to address that issue through tax reforms, judicial reforms, and reducing government bureaucracy.

Plans for next year: Blair plans to double-major in economics and Spanish at West Virginia University this fall. She will appear on the ballot in November, facing off against Democratic candidate Layne Diehl.

Singapore Airlines took the top spot on our list of the Best Airlines In The World.

The list ranked the best major international airlines for flying economy class, based on two categories: the quality of the in-flight experience and the on-time delays.

Last year, I flew economy class from New York City to Singapore (with a stop in Frankfurt) on Singapore Airlines, and saw for myself why the airline gets rave reviews.

What really helps the airline stand apart is not the seats or the food or even the entertainment (though it has all that), but the service. People who work for the airline are trained to treat passengers with respect and care — something that's increasingly unusual these days.

We thought the day-long trip to Singapore would be unbearable. But even in economy class, it was surprisingly pleasant.

Disclosure: Our trip to Singapore, including travel and lodging expenses, was sponsored by the Singapore Tourism Board.

From the moment I stepped on the plane, flight attendants greeted me by saying "Welcome aboard" before guiding me to my seat.

Like most airplanes, you have to walk through business class before entering economy. It's easy to get jealous of the large, comfortable reclining seats and private pods.

Even in coach, the seats were fairly spacious. Each passenger gets a nice fluffy pillow and fleece blanket.

There are a ton of homes on the market that would make any sci-fi fan jump.

Our friends at Estately helped us find a handful of houses currently for sale that look straight out of "Lord of the Rings."

They range from sprawling landscapes and castles to cottages that could have been plucked from The Shire.

This California house has an intricately carved "dragon" staircase.

Address: South Coast, Calif.

Price: $4.75 million

Aside from the carved redwood Dragon staircase, this ocean-view home features curved redwood walls, a stone fireplace, stained glass, and guest cottages.

A forest-themed bathroom will make you feel like you're wandering the woods of Lothlórien.

Address: Parkland, Fla.

Price: $2.7 million

This custom-built residence sits on 2.5 acres of landscaped gardens complete with lighted tennis court and rock pool with fountains. It also comes with a home theater, re-claimed wood beams & trusses, and a handpainted bathroom with a bronze sculptured sink.

This castle has pointy towers and property with waterfalls and lakes.

Address: Cornwall, Conn.

Price: $8.85 million

This 8,412 square foot house has 7 beds and 7.3 baths. The property includes a fortress-like wall, guest cottage, pool, and as plenty of land with trails, lakes, and waterfalls.

The winners of the 2014 USA Landscape Photographer of the Year competition truly showcase the beauty of rural and urban America.

Photographers from around the world submitted their best landscape pictures of the U.S., and a panel of judges chose 12 winners and one "Judges' Choice" photograph. The panel featured well-known photographers from the U.S. and the UK, as well as Miriam Leuchter, editor-in-chief of "Popular Photography" and "American Photo."

The contest, which is sponsored by Discover America, aims to reward photographic talent, create a photographic showcase of U.S. landscapes, and give talented photographers a platform for success, according to its website.

"Light of the Wild," taken at Glacier National Park, Montana.

By Nagesh Mahadev, Photographer of the Year

"Reynold's Wrap," taken at Glacier National Park, Montana.

By Nagesh Mahadev, Photographer of the Year

"Soul of the Ancients," taken at Glacier National Park, Montana.

By Nagesh Mahadev, Photographer of the Year

The future scares a lot of people. Climate change, a growing population, and fewer natural resources will certainly pose new challenges for the human race in the next few decades.

But when you consider ongoing social and economic progress and all of the coming innovations in science and technology, there's plenty of room for optimism.

We've pulled out some of our favorite ideas about the future of our world.

Child mortality rates will be vastly lower.

During the 20th century, the sharpest declined in mortality involved deaths of children under 5 years old, according to the assessment on human health from the Copenhagen Consensus on Human Challenge. "However, the pace of decline has been rapid in low and middle-income countries, especially since 1950," that report said.

Between 1990 and 2012, the number of under-5 child deaths went from 90 deaths per 1,000 live births to 48 deaths per 1,000 live births, according to a 2013 report from UNICEF.

The Copenhagen report found these trends are likely to continue, with the rate dropping to 31 per 1,000 live births in 2050 and even more dramatic declines in regions like Africa.

The factors behind this decline include prevention of mother-to-child transmission of HIV, immunization against diseases, insecticide-treated nets to control diseases like malaria, and micronutrients for children to prevent life-threatening deficiencies.

We'll have vaccines and cures for many diseases.

While we can't know what will threaten our bodies in the future, cures and vaccines for current diseases and illnesses will surely improve by 2050.

Researchers are confident that within 20 years they can design a vaccine to stop the spread of HIV, which currently kills anywhere from 1.5 million to 2 million people per year. That's according to Martin Wiselka, consultant in infectious diseases at the University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust, as reported in The Daily Mirror.

To be sure, we've had troubles coming up with a traditional vaccine to prevent HIV in the past. However, scientists are making big strides in understanding how our immune system interacts with the virus.

While treatment already exists for malaria, which kills 1 million people a year, many organizations are working to eradicate the disease entirely. Some remain hopeful for a vaccine, while others go to the source by genetically engineering mosquitoes carrying the parasite to self-destruct.

A better understanding of the processes behind Alzheimer's bring us closer and closer to a cure.

A U.S. vaccine already exists for meningitis, which other countries will soon adopt.

As for cancer, we're making progress in treating some types. A rheumatoid arthritis drug recently cured a young child's leukemia. A modified measles vaccine put another woman's cancer into remission. Nanoparticles could even attack cancer stem cells, which cause tumors to form. Others are trying to teach the body to attack cancer directly, by training the immune system with "cancer vaccines."

Humans could be live forever as computerized brains.

In the coming decades, some scientists hope to upload the contents of human brains into computers, allowing people to live forever inside a robotic body or even as a hologram.

Neuroscientist Randal Koene and Russian financial-backer Dmitry Itskov are trying to transfer human consciousness and brain functions to an artificial body by 2045 by "mapping the brain, reducing its activity to computations, and reproducing those computations in code,"according to Popular Science.

Koene said his work isn't just about achieving immortality. It's about giving people the ability to go places and do things that are impossible in our own bodies, like traveling close to the sun.

Even if we don't meet that goal by 2050, people alive today may still have their brains uploaded in the future. That's because other scientists are working on preserving human brains and all their contents indefinitely through immersion in chemical solutions.

"If we could put the brain into a state in which it does not decay, then the second step could be done 100 years later, and everyone could experience mind uploading first hand," scientist Kenneth Hayworth, of the Brain Preservation Foundation, told Popular Science. Hayworth believes scientists may discover how to preserve a mouse brain by 2015.

From oysters and ahi tuna to bloody marys and burgers, this weekend's Food & Wine Classic in Aspen, Colorado had something for everyone.

Every day, there were two grand tastings, where attendees roam two massive tents trying glass after glass of wine from 300 exhibitors and countless bites of food from restaurants and brands all over the world.

We tried it all during the three-day festival where over 5,000 celebrity chefs, foodies, wine-os, and fans gather for one gluttonous weekend.

Welcome to the Food And Wine Classic, where grand tastings take place in these tents twice a day Friday through Sunday.

Upon entrance, you are immediately greeted with cocktails.

Patrón always has a great booth, complete with themed Tequila cocktails like Bloody Marias, Rocky Mountain Mojitos, and Colorado Mules.

There's a lot you can do with 140 characters on Twitter.

Matthew Haggett, 44, is a graphic artist in Portland who created the popular Twitter account @Tw1tt3rArt. With more than 88,000 followers, Haggart's tweets drawings made entirely out of traditional fonts that meet Twitter's 140-character restriction. His account exploded during the 2010 World Cup, when he tweeted art of team names and country flags. 

Each design takes him 10-20 minutes to whip up, and advertising agencies, such as Wieden+Kennedy for Nike and SS+K for Chevy Volt, have commissioned him to create Twitter art for them.

Haggett's favorite design is one of Domo Kun, a mascot for a Japanese television station, embedded below:

Cool! “@tw1tt3rart: #TWITTERART╱╱╱╱╱╱╱╱ ╱╱╭━━━━╮╱╱╭━━━━╮ ╱╱┃▇┆┆▇┃╱╭┫ⓦⓔⓔⓚ┃ ╱╱┃▽▽▽▽┃━╯┃♡ⓔⓝⓓ┃ ╱╭┫△△△△┣╮╱╰━━━━╯ ╱┃┃┆┆┆┆┃┃╱╱╱╱╱╱ ╱┗┫┆┏┓┆┣┛╱╱╱╱╱”

— Twitter (@twitter) August 5, 2011

"I joined Twitter in 2009 with a standard personal account @MatthewHaggett," Haggett tells Business Insider. "I noticed a few people tweeting 'art' made out of unusual characters and symbols. @140artist, @HG47, @GuyVincent, and @LarryCarls0n are the four that made the biggest impression on me. I set up my own art account, @tw1tt3rart, a few months later to experiment with the medium. I began in early October that year doing mostly abstract pieces while I figured out how the unicode shapes worked."

Haggett says he was drawn to Twitter art because it's a hack — it utilizes Twitter in a way its founders never intended. Also, it was the only way to share art before Twitter allowed photos, GIFs, and videos to be embedded. He says he doesn't use any special software to create his designs, only unicode characters that can be found on any computer.

Haggett shared some of his favorite designs with Business Insider. If you copy and paste the characters, you can tweet some unbelievable things.

SpongeBob SquarePants

#twitterart┈┈╱▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▏ ┈╱╭▏╮╭┻┻╮╭┻┻╮╭▏ ▕╮╰▏╯┃╭╮┃┃╭╮┃╰▏ ▕╯┈▏┈┗┻┻┛┗┻┻┻╮▏ ▕╭╮▏╮┈┈┈┈┏━━━╯▏ ▕╰╯▏╯╰┳┳┳┳┳┳╯╭▏ ▕┈╭▏╭╮┃┗┛┗┛┃┈╰▏ ▕┈╰▏╰╯╰━━━━╯┈┈▏

— @tw1tt3rart (@tw1tt3rart) August 9, 2013

The "Star Wars" logo

╱╱╭━━━━┳━━┳━━╮╱╱ ╱╱┃━┳┓┏┫╭╮┃┏╮┃╱╱ ┏━┻━┃┃┃┃┏┓┃┏╮╰━┓ ┣┳┳┳╋╋┻┻╋┻┻┫┣━━┫ ┃┃┃┃┃┃╭╮┃┏╮┃┃━┳┛ ┃╰╯╰╯┃┏┓┃┏╮┗┻━┃#StarWarsDay╰━━━━┻┛┗┻┛╰━━━╯#TwitterArt

— @tw1tt3rart (@tw1tt3rart) May 4, 2012

A pig

┊HAPPY┊NATIONAL┊PIG┊DAY┊ ▂╱▔▔╲╱▔▔▔▔╲╱▔▔╲▂ ╲┈▔╲┊╭╮┈┈╭╮┊╱▔┈╱ ┊▔╲╱▏┈╱▔▔╲┈▕╲╱▔┊ ┊┊┊┃┈┈▏┃┃▕┈┈┃┊┊┊ ┊┊┊▏╲┈╲▂▂╱┈╱▕┊┊┊ #TwitterArt

— @tw1tt3rart (@tw1tt3rart) March 1, 2013

Startups in Silicon Valley usually get all the attention, but there's a slew of startups in Africa that are aiming to effect change in the continent. 

In fact, there are now more than 90 tech hubs in across Africa, according to the World Bank. These startups are tackling issues like education, connectivity, and transportation.

In 2013, U.S. investors poured more money into African startups than any other year, according to CrunchBase.

12. Obami is like Facebook for education.

Obami is a social learning platform that brings teachers, students, and parents together. It also aims to connect them with NGOs, small businesses, and corporations that are doing good. 

With Obami, people can connect with other educators and students, as well as create and share content.

Number of employees: 7

Funding: N/A

11. Spottm is a private social network for your neighborhood.

Spottm helps keep you connected with your neighbors. Besides being able to buy and sell goods, Spottm makes it easy to report crimes and other incidents in your neighborhood. 

The network is totally private and safe. When you sign up, you must verify your address. The entire site is also password protected.

Number of employees: N/A

Funding: N/A

10. mPawa helps people in Ghana and Kenya find jobs.

mPawa is a job-matching application for the blue-collar sector in Africa. With mPawa, companies can post job openings. For job-seekers, they can create an online resume that's visible to employers on the platform.

Using the mPawa matching algorithm, workers get matched to jobs that fit their skill set. Employers can request workers on the go, and job-seekers will receive a notification via text or email. 

Number of employees: 3

Funding: N/A

India is one of the world's largest economies, and it has the second largest population.

This means things in India tend to be fairly large-scaled — consider its network of roads, consumer spending, or its youth population.

But it also experiences some problems on a large scale like suicides and road accidents.

We pulled together some staggering statistics from the sub-continent.

India's road network is long enough to loop around Earth over 117 times.

India's road network totals 4.7 million kilometers and is the second largest in the world. Earth has a circumference of 40,075 kms.

Source: CIA World FactBook

New Delhi's air is the most polluted in the world.

The World Health Organization found that New Delhi's PM 2.5 — particulate matter that is 2.5 micrometers or less and that is dangerous for lungs — mean was 152 micrograms per cubic meter. This was nearly three times that of Beijing which has an annual mean of 59.

Source: The New York Times

The wettest place in the world is in India, and it averages about 40 feet of rain a year.

While Cherrapunji, India, likes to advertise itself as the wettest place in the world, it is argued that a neighboring town, Mawsynram, could in fact top it. On average, Mawsynram gets about 467.35 inches of rain per year, while Cherrapunji gets up 463.66 inches. Hawaii's Mount Waialeale receives about 450 inches of rain each year. 

Source: Weather.com

A new study from Wall Street bank Credit Suisse exposes the "dietary impact of 'sugar and sweeteners' and their role in the ongoing health debate surrounding obesity and diabetes."

The accompanying video — "Sugar: Sweet With a Bitter Aftertaste"— visualizes the sorry state of sugar consumption.

The harrowing effect of sugar consumption on American waistlines isn't necessarily new news, but Credit Suisse does an excellent job of breaking down just how out of control it has gotten (especially in the U.S., where they had to literally adjust the y-axis of one of their charts so that U.S. soda consumption could be mapped).

We grabbed some screenshots from Credit Suisse's video to break it down.

400 million people worldwide are affected by Type 2 Diabetes.

4.8 million die of the chronic disease every year.

Costs to the global health care system: $470 billion, representing over 10% of all health care costs.