Mind-blowing facts, the hammer killer, a 5,700-year-old chewing gum and acoustic mirrors are just a few of the things to read in this edition of Recommended Links. And that's not counting all the videos, galleries, and other curiosities. Don't miss them!
“Redheads need more anesthesia” and other mind-blowing facts you probably didn't know: "Redditors love asking each other about their favorite fun, mind-blowing, contradictory, or unsettling facts. Every few months, a new 'fun facts' thread lands on Reddit's front page, and thousands of people join in with their favorites. I've been reading these threads for years, and I gathered the best facts to then verify them. I selected only facts that were so cool and surprising that I had to double-check them before believing them."
The case of the employee who programmed periodic failures in his software to ensure he always had work: "David A. Tinley was a 62-year-old Siemens employee in Pennsylvania, United States, who, in the face of the growing wave of automation projects, one day decided to figure out a way to always have work. That is, he sought to be indispensable and not lose his source of income in the face of the possible arrival of a new software that would do his job."
The 'hammer killer', a police officer turned serial killer after winning the lottery: "The criminal flees with his victim's vehicle. He wanted to rob a bank. His identity: the so-called 'hammer killer.' No one could imagine that behind that first cold-blooded murder was police sergeant Norbert Poehlke, a respected agent who had just won the lottery."
This 5,700-year-old 'chewing gum' reveals its owner dined on duck and hazelnuts: "About 5,700 years ago, a woman with dark hair and skin and blue eyes chewed a piece of birch resin and left her marks on it. The remains, found in Denmark, have now allowed us to extract samples of her DNA, learn about the bacteria that populated her mouth, and that in the previous hours she ate duck and hazelnuts."
The brief but intense life of acoustic mirrors: "Before radar and radio navigation systems, humans devised a rudimentary system at first glance: acoustic mirrors or sound mirrors. Shaped like a parabolic antenna and built of stone, acoustic mirrors received and amplified sound that, recorded by a microphone, allowed an operator to discern whether a ship or an airplane was approaching. And despite being obsolete technology, there are still remains we can visit."
Paying taxes on urine already happened in the past: "More than a few times someone has said that someday we'll be charged even for breathing. Seeing the state of air hygiene, maybe someday they will and it will make sense. But what is not a possibility but was a reality is paying taxes on urine. Not for urinating, but for urine. Its usefulness in various matters made it a commodity precious enough to be taxed."
If black holes absorb everything, what do they do with it?: "The phrase you always hear that nothing can escape a black hole doesn't mean the hole absorbs it; it means that in some way it traps it and makes it orbit around it in extreme orbits within the event horizon. Now, the ship wouldn't remain the same. The effects of gravity would be so strong that it would become a kind of spaghetti due to a process precisely called spaghettification."
The last Homo erectus survived until 108,000 years ago in Java: "Homo erectus survived until between 108,000 and 117,000 years ago in the Ngandong region (Central Java). The poor conditions of both the terrain and the bones had until now prevented reliable dating, which has been achieved after excavating again to access the original site and thoroughly studying the environment."
The race between China and the United States to be the first to bring Mars rocks: "The MSR mission has always been a priority for the American scientific community, but five years ago it was decided that it was too costly and was indefinitely postponed beyond 2030... until China announced its plans to bring Mars rocks in 2030. Then, 'coincidentally,' NASA leadership began investigating the possibility of accelerating MSR development to bring Martian samples before 2030."
Beauty and the Beast, beyond Disney: "The story of Beauty and the Beast is known mostly through Disney's interpretations (1991 and 2017), where Belle, the protagonist, discovers that the Beast, despite his appearance and cold initial reaction, is a loving creature capable of granting her freedom to return to her father, even if that implies the possibility that his curse becomes permanent. But as happened with The Little Mermaid (1989) a couple of years before the first version, it was based on a classic tale that was conveniently altered."
16 things you (probably) didn't know about 'The Godfather: Part II': "The parallel lives of an ambitious Vito and a satanic Michael deserve in-depth study. And we offer it to you here after having delved into the affairs of the famiglia at grave risk to our lives. Remember: everything you're about to read is business, nothing personal."
German rockets in World War II: "Before the war, the Germans, like the Russians, had been experimenting with rocket development. When the need for artillery substitutes became evident, the Germans naturally turned to rockets and rocket launchers, as they were relatively cheap and could be manufactured quickly. Unlike artillery, rockets do not require electric furnace steel, carefully forged tubes, or heavy carriages with delicately machined recoil and counter-recoil mechanisms."
VIDEOS
A ton of videos! The best optical illusions of the year, the world's most expensive airplane ticket, the egg on a spoon challenge and the water slide, 'Bohemian Rhapsody' in the mirror, saving an eagle from an octopus, 4K airplane cockpit videos, flying through a hole in a rock, hiding a bottle of alcohol in her breasts, jumping rope at Asian level, the world's biggest mouth, Tesla valve, dancing baby, how to fillet all kinds of fish, mailman vs frozen sidewalk, Waymo's self-driving car, landing on an aircraft carrier, music with tapes, glitter bomb against thieves, gets very scared, dog with sad eyebrows, building an ice palace, hairy octopus, cat walking on aluminum foil, putting glue on legs, Chop Furby, virtuoso brothers on piano, abandoned robot theme park in Japan, the killer laser you can buy on eBay, washing a burnt pig, 'toothpaste' for elephants world record, talkative porcupine, grumpy puppy, vertical takeoff Jetman, the walking bicycle, Beastie Boys 'Intergalactic' with kids, tiny DIY secret base, record in eating super spicy peppers, Buddhist nuns doing kung fu, and the short film Facing It by Sam Gainsborough.
GALLERIES
Few, but good. The best scientific photos of the year, the best photos of the year, mixed breed dogs, food art, doll hospital, Russian cosmonaut pin-up calendar, tank factory in Ukraine, Nikon Small World in Motion 2019, Animated Dump of the Week and the great Visual Dump.
https://old.neoteo.com/creepypasta-scp-312/
