All Stephen King movies ranked from worst to best, the Rembrandt triangle, a man who sold a country that didn't exist, and what sitting 10 hours behind your PC does to you. Want more? Keep reading the links!
How I illegally brought a Soviet virus into Spain to save my father's life: "While the Soviets were entertaining themselves with these viruses, in England Alexander Fleming discovered penicillin and declared the golden age of antibiotics. In the eyes of Western medicine, bacteriophages were quickly relegated behind the Iron Curtain. The Eliava Institute came under Stalin's control, who used it as a lazaretto where patients from all corners of the USSR came to receive ointments or rinses made with phages. One of the few laboratories in Spain where phages are being researched today is that of Francis Mojica, known for being the discoverer of the genetic cut-and-paste system CRISPR-Cas and the strongest Spanish candidate for the next Nobel Prize."
All Stephen King movies and series ranked from worst to best: "There are 68 adaptations of Stephen King's work. The prospect of ending up like Jack Torrance, axe in hand and staggering through Espinof's offices, seems to us to have a certain appeal, so we have ordered all of Stephen King's movies and series, both adaptations and original scripts, in ascending order of quality. This, of course, is always according to our criteria and personal taste, everything is debatable. We have left out short films (as you know, Stephen King cedes the rights of his stories to amateur and student projects in exchange for a dollar), because otherwise this would be directly Lovecraftian."
The Rembrandt triangle, the key to correctly lighting your portraits: "Photography and painting are closely linked. In fact, when cameras were born, many artists fearfully watched as their work was threatened by that new invention. Photographers not only had the power to immortalize a moment in a much more effective way, but also some of the techniques used in painting began to be applied. As an example of this, we have the Rembrandt triangle lighting, a benchmark in the Baroque and, later, in photography."
A group of monkeys that has learned to use tools is decimating the mollusks on the beach where they live: "Human beings are not the only animals capable of decimating other species to the point of extinction. Monkeys are also capable of doing it, especially if they learn to use tools. A group of macaques has done it, and it has researchers fascinated. Long-tailed macaques, along with chimpanzees and capuchin monkeys, belong to the select club of primates capable of using tools. On the islands of Thailand, these monkeys often visit the beaches to feed on oysters, snails and other small mollusks they find on the shore."
Procrustes syndrome, why do we hate those who stand out?: "We live in a very competitive society in which more and more is demanded of each person. Both at work and in other vital aspects, we are asked for excellence, originality, creativity, efficiency and high proactivity. However, on the other hand, tremendous pressure is exerted towards uniformity, and those who stand out in some talent or ability are often despised. This means that sometimes those with the best abilities are not hired or are ignored, harassed and humiliated. This is Procrustes syndrome, which I will explain in more detail below."
Moral indignation in the digital age: "Moral indignation is a powerful emotion that motivates people to shame and punish those who misbehave. It has a positive side: increasing cooperation and controlling the bad. But punishment also has a negative side: it worsens social conflict by dehumanizing others and leads to an escalation in disputes. Moral indignation is as old as civilization, but what Crockett suggests is that digital media, the Internet and social networks have completely changed the expression of moral indignation in three main ways: a) they exacerbate the expression of moral indignation by inflating the stimuli that trigger it, b) they reduce the costs of expressing moral indignation, and c) they amplify personal benefits."
106-year-old Armenian woman cares for her home with an AK-47: "Johannes had moved to the USSR a year earlier precisely to record with his camera the fall of the Soviet giant, which was already on the horizon. And in 1990 he was in Armenia, which had started a war with Azerbaijan over the control of Nagorno-Karabakh, a region assigned to the new Azerbaijani republic but of Armenian ethnic and linguistic majority and which aspired to join the motherland. It was precisely there, in a small village called Degh, not far from the city of Goris, bordering the rebel republic, where Johannes came across the elderly Armenian woman he would portray defending her home with a superb and gleaming AK-47, and which would make her admitted to the Olympus of the great photographers of the 20th century."
The Scotsman who invented a country to sell it: "Once upon a time in the heart of Central America there was a country called Poyais, exceptionally rich in resources, culture and civilization, at whose head was an intelligent and determined Scottish soldier, Sir Gregor MacGregor, who had become ruler after his exploits in the struggles for independence of the countries of South America. Heading towards a new life, one morning in 1823 a group of Scottish immigrants arrived by boat to this tropical Eden called Poyais. Very soon the colonists realized that they had been victims of one of the most elaborate deceptions in history: the lands they had been sold were not fertile, but places infested with mosquitoes, the bills, bank titles and other documents they carried turned out to be false and worthless. Because Poyais simply did not exist."
The ingenious and curious Crossover puzzle that Nintendo marketed in 1981: "Even while occupied, Nintendo's head of research and development, Gunpei Yokoi, supervising the deployment of the Silver and Gold series of the Game & Watch machines, found time to create a kind of second part of his famous Ten Billion Barrel puzzle from 1980. That new puzzle was called Nintendo Crossover. Unlike Ten Billion Barrel, which was a great success worldwide, only a few units of the Crossover were manufactured and they did not leave the Japanese and American markets, making it one of the rarest, most sought-after and most valuable items of Nintendo's toy era."
What if the dormant volcanoes under Antarctica woke up?: "Less known is the fact that Antarctica harbors numerous active volcanoes, part of a huge 'volcanic field' that extends for thousands of kilometers along the western edge of the continent. Although this volcanic field is well known and has been studied for decades, scientists have recently discovered nearly 100 new volcanoes under the ice using data from satellites and ice-penetrating radar in search of hidden peaks. These underwater volcanoes may be dormant. But what would happen if the Antarctic volcanoes woke up?"
How to prepare your home for the nuclear armageddon that will take place in a few days: "The end of the world is approaching and, as always, you are leaving the preparations for the last day. There is still margin, but not much. If you are not among the chosen to participate in the Perseid Project, follow these tips to get through the Apocalypse. 1) Supplies. Don't wait for the first meteorite to fall on the Pacific to go buy provisions. You run the risk that only vegan food will be left and you'll die of boredom on the second day."
What sitting in front of the computer 10 hours a day does to your body: "Spending a minimum of eight hours a day in front of the screen working, to which we have to add a couple more hours watching television or playing video games, can give us an idea of why sedentary lifestyle is a growing problem in our society. Are you one of those who doesn't get up from the chair all day? We tell you what consequences this can have on your body and your health and what you can do to solve it."
Videos: Geese help a hedgehog cross the street, dog vs giant duck, 'old man' does parkour, artisans of yesteryear, bug that jumps when in danger, drinking coffee, pedal karaoke from 1925, girl with her heart outside her chest, giant coconut almost eats camera, giant snail, doggy enjoying the spa, how relaxing it is to pet your pet, 'The Mysterious Life of Developers', the flight of the century, how prosthetic eyes are made, dog miscalculates, what a million dollars can buy you around the world and a very good animation called 'Nominous Animation'.
Galleries: Business floor plans from TV shows, colorized photos of geishas playing instruments, people draw the Internet, the specimens of Walmart, NASA's glory days, paintings with microbes, the astronomical photographs of the year and animal venom.
This week at NeoTeo: Wificoin (cryptocurrency to buy and sell Wi-Fi), The Pirate Bay hijacks your PC to mine cryptocurrency, the first extension with an integrated miner, NoCoin against sites that mine with your computer, hackers inject malware into CCleaner, win a million dollars hacking TOR Browser, excellent multipanel browser, how much a developer should earn, the typeface for writing code, Bill regrets the CTRL+ALT+DEL, Akira in the cinema and the free engine to make your own The Legend of Zelda-style games.
What a week, friends! I hope you took something away. See you next time!
