Wolf children, naked athletes, atomic shadows, and what happened to MacGyver. All that and much more, only for NeoTeo's VIP readers, those who aren't afraid to delve into the depths of the Recommended Links of the Week.
What would happen if athletes competed naked at the Olympics as they did in ancient Greece: "The ancient Greek legend tells that in 720 BC, an Olympic athlete named Orsippus of Megara was competing in the 185-meter race when his loincloth fell off. Instead of stopping to cover himself, Orsippus kept running and won the race. His triumphant example endured over time. And nude athletic competition, often emphasized with the generous anointing of olive oil, became all the rage in Greece, seen as the ultimate tribute to Zeus."
The Anthropological Games of San Luis, the greatest infamy in Olympic history: "Someone thought it was a good idea to bring together representatives of different indigenous peoples of the world and stage a parody of the Olympic Games. Hidden under the guise of anthropological science, the true purpose of these openly racist days was to demonstrate the supposed athletic superiority of white athletes, as well as to entertain the public with an event complementary to the genuine Games."
The secrets of crossword puzzle makers: "The puzzle can have different levels of difficulty and different themes. From the most classic to specialized magazines for specific guilds such as medicine or music. "Not repeating words frequently is a lot of work," they admit. But above all, maintaining a good updated database. Something they have achieved with more than a decade of experience."
A Babylonian tablet shows the oldest example of applied geometry in the world: "A thousand years before Pythagoras was born, in ancient Babylon triangles and Pythagorean triples were already being traced to delimit lands. This is confirmed by a 3,700-year-old clay piece rediscovered in a museum in Istanbul (Turkey) by an Australian mathematician. (...) Now, Mansfield has published in the journal Foundations of Science a new study with more details about that clay piece and about another round one —a hand tablet to carry comfortably in the hand— that had been forgotten for more than a century in the Archaeological Museum of Istanbul (Turkey)."
The Codex Gigas, the manuscript written by the devil himself: "To save himself, Herman proposes an impossible thing to the abbot: to honor the monastery, he commits to writing the largest codex of his time, in which he will include all the passages of the Bible and all human wisdom. And he will write it in a single night. But unable to finish the task he had set himself on time, near dawn, Herman makes a pact with Satan so that he will guide his hand and thus save his life. The fallen angel agreed to help him, but set two conditions: to keep his soul and that his image appear on one of the pages."
Why were shadows burned into the ground after the atomic bombs?: "To know how those shadows appeared on the ground after the fall of the nuclear bombs, you have to think about how everything was just before. Let's imagine people walking along the sidewalks or riding a bicycle when the horror of the atomic bombs devastated their cities. You also have to think of a great explosion, which was expanding and encountering people and objects "that were behind, absorbing the light and energy""
The incredible life of Arnold Schwarzenegger – a Nazi father, a mother worried about his sexuality, and glory in Hollywood: "On several occasions, the Hollywood star said that Stephen Reeves, the great American bodybuilder and actor, was the figure who inspired him to follow his steps, despite having to endure the punishments and beatings of his father, who did not agree with his vocation. Gustav Schwarzenegger was a member of the Nazi party, belonged to the active side of Adolf Hitler's party, and had an important role as a police officer in World War II, an issue that came to light when Arnold was already a star and for which he had to give explanations."
Whatever happened to Richard Dean Anderson, the MacGyver star who didn't want to become a celebrity: "His withdrawal made fans lose track of him. Having no social media and not giving interviews, his face disappeared completely. Soon legends began to be woven, bets about what had become of him and other speculations. Others took advantage to create fake profiles on Facebook and impersonate him. Later, Dean Anderson appeared to, through a video, inform that he was betting on his private life, that he no longer wanted to be famous, and that they should respect him."
Rock stars who play instruments other than the ones that made them famous: "Many renowned guitarists, bassists, drummers or singers have dared to do something different live (or in the studio) in other bands to experience a new experience, or to innovate in their own music. And, especially, instruments that are very different from each other, either because they started with them as children, like the saxophone or trumpet in an academy, or when they were already famous they decided to take on a new musical challenge and dared with some that seem from another world, such as the theremin, the ondes Martenot and the autoharp."
An 'infernal brew' called 'ayaguasca' – the first description of ayahuasca by a Jesuit missionary: "To divine, they use a drink, some from white angel's trumpet, which by its shape they also call Bell, others from a vine commonly called ayahuasca, both very effective in depriving the senses, and even life, if the hand is heavy. (They also sometimes use it to cure habitual illnesses, mainly headaches). Drink it, then, the one who wants to divine with certain ceremonies, and being deprived of the senses face down, so that the strength of the herb does not choke him, he stays like that for many hours and sometimes even two or three days, until it runs its course and the drunkenness ends."
How Denmark has brought the concept of 'hygge' to its cities: "Hygge refers to a gesture of cozy living, whether it's having a hot tea, reading a book by the fireplace, or enjoying a good conversation in a café. With its low temperatures almost all year round, Danes love to take advantage of indoor spaces, as well as establishing a strong community bond. Danish architecture and urbanism seem to have imbued all this philosophy to adapt as organically as possible to the needs of citizens and the physical conditions of the terrain."
"Wolf children were German children who fled, lived in the woods, and communicated through gestures": "There have always been ignored groups in History with a capital H, and "Wolf children" are one of them. At the end of World War II, many German children from East Prussia, fleeing the bombs of the Red Army, sought salvation walking through the cold and snow. Their goal was to reach the border of Lithuania. They wandered through the forests, hungry and ragged, with nothing to hold onto except the survival instinct. That's why they were called "Wolf children"."
Videos
Videos: Dancing with Star Wars, the Millennium Falcon in sand, Nintendo sound effects a cappella, Message In A Bottle (The Police) by 40 FINGERS, an hour of butterflies and relaxation in 4K, the Cougarettes dancing to "Praying", the seasons of Denmark, "Friend like me" on a strange organ, the first documented moonwalk, Age of Empires villager takes a photo every year for a hundred years, how salmon is made, failed board hit, orangutan puts on sunglasses, penguin goes shopping, mantis shrimp vs octopus, eye drops in the eye, bed factory, and the shorts: Voice Above Water, Bench (stop motion), Winter's Blight (stop motion), Summer Meets God (Rick Meets Evil) (Rick and Morty short) and Alice in Wonderland (silent, from 1915).
Galleries
Galleries: Majestic llamas and alpacas, macro photos of insects, naturist illustrations of the Devonshire coast, the best astronomy photos of 2021, optical illusions and more optical illusions, rivers of Iceland, ground meat sculptures, behind the scenes of Terminator, Instagram mutants, majestic lions, more photos of Lucille Ball, the Vertedero Animado and the Tiradero Visual de la Semana.
