Recommended Links of the Week (N°593)

This week’s roundup covers the reason we put dots on the i's, Kobon triangles, Japan's lost generation, Voltaire, Camus, and drugs throughout history. All while I get tipsy on a harvest of blackberries blended with a nice rum from the corner store. Hope you enjoy it!

This devilish medieval puzzle is one of the reasons we put dots over the i's: "Gothic script, which was used extensively between the 11th and 16th centuries, has undeniable aesthetic qualities, but legibility is not one of its virtues. From this simple observation was born a small writing game for monk copyists, a puzzle for their readers. The work of the monk copyists, tasked with writing religious texts by hand, was not always easy... In fact, in the Gothic alphabet, the letters i, l, m, n, and u are very similar. All of them are based on a 'minimum', the vertical stroke of handwriting."

The Kobon triangles problem: "A triangle is formed by three straight lines that, crossing each other, create a closed area with three angles. If two of those lines continue beyond the same vertex, a fourth line could form another non-adjacent triangle with them, like an hourglass. If we keep adding and extending lines in the same way, more triangles will form. The question is, how many non-overlapping triangles can be placed at most on a plane using n straight lines?"

The Star Calibrator, a 4th century AD Chinese poem in grid form that can generate 3,000 more poems: "It is a poem written by the poetess Su Hui (also known as Ruolan) and dedicated to her husband, composed as a 29 by 29 character grid, which can be read in different ways and in different directions, allowing about 3,000 smaller poems to be formed, which, indeed, also rhyme."

This is how much exercise you need per day to offset time spent sitting: "We are increasingly sedentary and that takes a toll on our health. Beyond the fact that we now spend more time at home due to the COVID-19 pandemic, before this we already had very sedentary lives. Especially people who work sitting down or spend between 8 and 10 hours a day with their butt glued to a chair. Exercise is necessary to keep the body healthy, but how much exercise is needed to balance the scale between a sedentary lifestyle and health?"

Japan's lost generation remains unemployed, unmarried, and living with their parents: "They are between 40 and 50 years old, immersed in chronic hopelessness, most remain single and childless, and have thrown in the towel on the job market. They are increasingly convinced that the rest of their lives will be spent caring for their elderly parents in the house they never left. This is Japan's 'lost generation' and they have a lesson to teach the rest of the developed countries with structural economic problems."

The ingenious numbers used in Europe for centuries before falling into oblivion: "In 1991 a precious object arrived at Christie's auction house in London, where it attracted attention not only for its beauty but also for the mysterious symbols carved on its surface. It was a medieval astrolabe, probably created at the end of the 14th century, and it sparked the interest of experts, particularly the British historian David A. King, who by chance had shortly before seen figures similar to those the device bore in a manuscript of the same period from Normandy."

How to foster critical thinking in young people without turning them into know-it-alls: "There are not a few young people who, after going through the different educational stages, including university, present themselves to society with a 'costume-jewelry' critical spirit, far removed from that of Socrates. Either we rethink education and its policies and the community begins to value critical spirits more than footballers and celebrities, or the teachers and families who try to cultivate them day by day will see their joy sink into a well. Let's look at three of those imitations, and perhaps some remedies."

Voltaire, the philosopher who was always right: "Among the great thinkers of the Enlightenment, few were as bold as Voltaire. He was a fierce critic of everything he considered wrong; he left no stone unturned, forcing him throughout his life to travel fleeing from one country to another. "We cannot always please, but we can always try to be pleasant." A statement that its author, François-Marie Arouet, better known by the pseudonym Voltaire, did not apply to himself. On the contrary, one of the greatest Enlightenment thinkers was characterized throughout his turbulent life by exhibiting scarce diplomacy, which led him to constantly flee from one country to another."

Albert Camus died in the most idiotic way, by his own standards: "Albert Camus, whose French surname is pronounced rather like Cami, was born in Algeria in 1913 and was one of the greats of the last century. He received the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1957. Incidentally, like Vargas Llosa, Camus remembered the schoolteacher who had taught him the basics as a child. Three years after being recognized with the Nobel, Albert Camus died in the most idiotic way, according to his own judgment. In a car accident."

Drugs throughout history: "In this sense, drugs would fulfill the function of masking, but the problem is that any repressed emotion can become pathological. When emotion is not expressed, the brain redirects it toward some organ of the body, potentially causing health problems. I had a Yoga teacher who said that organs preferred to self-immolate. Therefore, the problem would never be solved with drugs, and they have the added drawback that besides being harmful to health, they are tremendously addictive."

Bad boys we loved - Skeletor: "But what lies behind the skull? Well, Skeletor is the brother of King Randor, the very father of He-Man. The result of his father's little adventure with an aunt from a blue-skinned race (even fantasy kings have their Corinna), Skeletor is a half-breed and, most importantly, He-Man's uncle. When he roamed his father's court he was known as Keldor and competed with his half-brother Randor for the king's favors. He was by no means the evil and cheerful guy we know today."

'Ikarie XB-1', the fascinating Czech space odyssey that anticipated sci-fi masterpieces like '2001', 'Solaris', and 'Alien': "Knowing that depending on the side, the experience of the nuclear catastrophe and the developments of sci-fi were markedly different—one only has to think of Japanese apocalyptic fictions, with 'Akira' at the forefront—the Soviet response of 'Ikarie XB-1' is particularly striking: a sinister space twist on a ship traveling in search of life on Alpha Centauri."

VIDEOS: Sega VR games emulated on HTC Vive, the lighter that raised thousands on Kickstarter, Funkytown (metal cover by Leo Moracchioli), the mysterious monolith of Red Rock Country, sessions with Stan Lee, device to induce lucid dreams, Ahsoka Tano - Faith, Marilyn Monroe moment, wood carving - Toyota Prado Land Cruiser 2020, Spider-Man PS4 vs PS5, penguins, "I wish you love" by a six-year-old girl, the largest living and extinct animals, the bounciest surface in the world, the biology of cat claws, playing an RPG for the first time, the disaster girl and how she became a meme, the wildest chalkboard gags from Bart, the Comic Sans song, this trend I do like, Lindsey Stirling - Til The Light Goes Out, Casually Explained: computers, the web is a mess, do anti-mosquito bracelets work?, the history of Resident Evil and the shorts video game nostalgia, Good Intentions, Rupee Run and the incredible The SIMPsons (slightly NSFW), the Grinch scares a little girl

GALLERIES: Memes famosos en estilo japonés, dogs on mushrooms, photos of a nurse before and after the pandemic, Alessandro Gallo's animal hybrids, find the traps in the McCallister house, father and daughter recreate scenes from classic films, artistic vandalism, famous paintings recreated in sandwiches, DIY from hell, strange objects in discount stores, the secrets of Monkey Island's code, demons from 1775, photos and more photos of Diego Maradona, Guy Smith's horrors, nature in envelopes, an artist gets high and paints, a Japanese boy dresses as anime heroines, methane bubbles in the deepest lake, the Animated Dump of the Week and, of course, the Visual Dump.

The end. Good night, good morning or good afternoon. Thanks for your visit and see you next time.