With the decline of the extended family, many vital skills are no longer being passed down the generations. Of course this, like seemingly every other problem, can be solved via the magic of the internet. Enthusiastic experts of almost every discipline have taken to posting video “how to” guides covering virtually every skill one might reasonably need to acquire.

How to give a great man-hug : The rules about physical contact between men are in something of a state of flux. The latest addition to VideoJug’s inestimable series of etiquette guides is a step-by-step video to that most challenging of bonding gestures – the man-to-man hug.

How to make a great veggie burger : We are being told almost daily that a vegetarian diet would be the wisest choice for our bodies and the only chance for our planet. Enter veteran New York chef John Burke with his delicious-looking parmesan and squash concoction. There’s no substitute for popping the laptop on the kitchen worktop and benefiting from John’s avuncular guidance.

How to recreate the Mona Lisa with MS Paint: The Mona Lisa is widely considered to be the finest, and is certainly the most famous, painting in the Western world. MS Paint is the most widely available, and widely considered to be the crudest, computer graphics program. Eclectic Asylum is an eBay “art dealer” which has brought the two together in a tour-de-force compressed into a four-minute video.

How to build a time machine: Dr Ronald Mallett has devised a “laser tunnel” – were it built, it could enable us to learn the scientific knowledge of future generations before they are born, thus reversing the trend that these “how to” videos are designed to fix in a most unexpected fashion.

Tom Whitwell is away

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