The forbidden planets of science fiction, the true story of the Pied Piper of Hamelin, and an unknown object orbiting the Solar System beyond Pluto. The era of disposable and expensive technology, thunderbolts against your PC, and the untold story of the tunnels under the Berlin Wall. All that, and much more, in this selection of recommended links of the week. Don't miss it!
Forbidden planets, science fiction and censorship: "The things of science fiction, or at least those of the fantastic genre, are as old as those of narrative in general. And the things of censorship, much as it pains us, too. But the lack of documentation about certain ancient periods prevents us from knowing how they have related since old times. Without going further, we would love to know if the True History of Lucian of Samosata (a funny Greco-Roman tale about interplanetary travel) incurred the wrath of Caesar or some other second-century bigwig. But there are no traces of that." Essential reading for science fiction lovers.
The true story of the Pied Piper of Hamelin: "It is in that version where the invasion of rats in the village appears, which motivates the hiring of the piper, who at first seems like a hero. But when they refuse to pay him for ridding them of the plague, he decides to do the same with the village children, whom he takes to an unknown place. In the more watered-down versions, the mayor apologizes and pays him what is owed, achieving the return of the children. This story is strange within the world of fairy tales because in reality the monster, or the enemy, is not defeated through any virtue, and the punishment itself is disproportionate to the offense."
The science-fiction life of the man who created the science fiction genre: "The cliché that reality always surpasses fiction could be justly applied to the story of the man who conceived science fiction as a genre, for his life was as much or more science fiction than the works he published or edited. Because Hugo Gernsback was a self-made inventor, an entrepreneur, a mediocre writer who nevertheless inspired the future. As if that were not enough, he was a great purveyor of smoke and certainly hilarious fraudulent ads, as well as the founder of the most influential magazine in the history of science fiction and a good handful of other pioneering magazines of his time. Gernsback lived in the future, which is why few understood him." I had already written, a long time ago, about Hugo's inventions. If you want, read: First part and second part.
Einstein's hearing aid: "Einstein's forays into engineering went beyond his expert work and refrigerator patents. Still during his stay in Bern, in the lively gatherings of the ephemeral "Academia Olympia", Albert invented, along with several friends, a certain voltmeter designed to measure very small potential differences. The device was not patented, but its existence was spread in an article and it was marketed in a limited way. Many years later, in 1935, Einstein patented, along with radiologist Gustav Bucky, a mechanism that would allow cameras to enjoy automatic aperture adjustment based on light conditions through the use of a photoelectric cell."
11 visual wonders of Oskar Fischinger to understand the scope of his work: "Painter, animator, or filmmaker, but above all, a revolutionary artist. We are talking about the figure of Oskar Fischinger, the man whose works were so irreverent and abstract that Hitler himself labeled them 'degenerate art'. This is a tour of some of his most iconic works. Born near Frankfurt on June 22, 1900, Fischinger trained as a violinist and architectural draftsman before becoming fascinated by cinema. More or less at the same time he was making his experimental animated short, Spirals, the artist embarked on the rarity Spiritual Constructions."
Evidence found of a new unknown object the size of Mars orbiting the Solar System beyond Pluto: "It is estimated that that object has ten times the mass of Earth and two to four times its diameter. At this point one can only speculate, but it is believed to be a giant of rock and ice wrapped in a thick atmosphere similar to Uranus or Neptune. The study calculates that Planet 9 describes an elliptical orbit at a distance of between 200 and 700 astronomical units. None of these supposed planets correspond to what has been discovered now." Cosmic horror!
How Maniac Mansion was made: "Before starting to develop the code, the story and the structure of the scenarios were designed. One of the first sketches was a board game made with paper and pencil where each square was one of the rooms and the cards represented characters and events that would happen during the game. The lines that joined each square would connect the rooms to show the routes the characters would travel. It was in this part of the project where most of Maniac Mansion's puzzles and riddles were conceived, with the added difficulty of finding solutions and common puzzles for each character. Because each character has different abilities and solutions, it took them about two months to work on all possible event combinations, lengthening the game's production time more than expected."
The history of science fiction 4X video games: "The assumption of the passion for travel, the interest in the unexplored, and the possibility, now yes, of exploring space through video games soon bore fruit, giving rise to a new genre, the 4X. This subgenre of strategy video games owes its name to the four actions that the player must carry out in their task: explore (explore the map), expand (territorial expansion), exploit (exploitation of resources), and exterminate (extermination of the enemy). It answered the human yearning to discover deep space from an interactive perspective that allowed us to take command of a civilization that must expand across the universe."
Welcome to the era of disposable (and expensive) technology: "'A monstrosity full of glue.' That's how the folks at iFixit described Microsoft's Surface Laptop, a laptop with a 0 out of 10 on their famous repairability index. This device is the perfect example of that tendency of manufacturers to put barriers in the way of us tinkering with products. Some are so difficult to repair that they are practically high-end disposable products: if your Surface Laptop breaks, Microsoft will probably replace it with a working one and end up recycling what it can from the defective one you sent them."
The untold story of the tunnels under the Berlin Wall: "In these pages, the journalist tells the story of a group of young West Germans who risked ending up in prison or tortured by the Stasi and who, to free friends, family, and other people on the other side, decided to dig tunnels under the Wall. What is truly astonishing about this story are the consequences the action had on the political scene, to the point that the President of the United States himself, John F. Kennedy, intervened to prevent the story from coming to light."
Electrical storms, lightning, thunderbolts, and PCs: "Everything is everything, not only the electrical connection. Everything also implies the internet connection, in case you use a wired connection or lend internet to your neighbors, unplug the network cables as well, like the one connecting the phone cable to the ADSL router if that's how you connect. Lately, where I live, there are more electrical storms (and consequently rains and floods) than usual. The thing is that after each storm it's normal for ADSL modem and power supply sellers to increase their sales. It's also notable how the equipment burns out." A short but necessary reminder.
This is the scientific reason for your bad mood when you're hungry: "Needless to say, neither the process nor the consequences are easy to describe. The truth is that bad temper due to hunger may seem almost trivial. However, some studies have identified it as the main reason for conflicts between couples, something that affects millions of people around the world. The issue has become quite popular. So much so that, for example, in English there is the colloquial word "hangry", a blend of angry and hunger, to define that bad mood derived exclusively from hunger. But let's return to the scientific question. Why does it happen? The culprit is glucose, the sugar in the blood." My wife, for example, is a super sweet and kind person. Except when she's hungry...
Videos
First, the animals, which are a bunch. Red pandas, puppies learning to go down stairs, a dog buying its own food, if cats ruled the world, a hedgehog eating its favorite food, a Tesla owner finding a hidden cat (possibly hidden advertising), rats fighting and a cat that doesn't even bother, a giant squid stuck to a surfboard, a ferret showing its babies to its human, carp committing suicide, where's the little bird, 100 ways to walk, EXCELLENT VIDEO FROM "THE CYBERTRONIC SPREE", instant karma, catching fish with pipes, polishing a rusty knife, 3D sculptures made from books, a giant puppet, a 4K time-lapse of Scotland, inside a Russian nuclear missile base, Car Fidget Spinner, and the guest stars in the Batman series from the 60s. We finish with some good shorts: Martin, animated "The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy", Robot & Scarecrow, Oh My Dog!, Cooking With Bill - Damasu 950, and Dawn of the Deaf.
Galleries
Galleries: Avocado / palta art, the coffin dwellings of Hong Kong, censored photographs in history, the photographer of the floods, Wil Wheaton reunites with his Star Trek: The Next Generation uniform, geese coming home, the art on dolls by Noel Cruz, Siberian inhabitants, and the content of tears.
This week at NeoTeo
This week at NeoTeo: United States leaves the supercomputer podium, the future of automation, AMD Epyc, Microsoft vs WannaCry, Kaspersky Virusdesk, AMP Browser, ProtonVPN, open source video editors, Netflix experiments with advertising, an electric car with recycled laptop batteries, water by solar condensation, a realistic flight simulator from 1989, the amazing world of robot sumo wrestling, the power of false memories, manage games on Linux, a tribute to multi-game cartridges, Super Mario Hololens where you are Mario, Sega Forever free on your mobile, The Secret of Monkey Island with sound cards, and the return of Mazinger Z.
The video above belongs to the Deep Purple tribute band of my personal friend and former NeoTeo collaborator, Gianni Sabbione. This very Saturday night, the 24th, Color Púrpura will perform at the legendary Buenos Aires bar The Cavern. They play at 23:30 and I personally recommend them. If you live nearby, don't hesitate.
Ah, the links came out a day late due to a technical glitch beyond our control. Sorry about that. See you next week!
