Recommended Links of the Week (No. 585)

Solar calculators, pre-Columbian Trekkies, buccolism, female orgasms in men, and locust dust for building on Mars. Want more? Well, keep reading, because this roundup is full of awesome stuff. Enjoy!

The first solar pocket calculators: "We have all used a calculator at some point, basically pocket calculators. And some may even have had solar calculators in their hands. With a small photovoltaic cell, they managed enough energy to perform algebraic calculations but also to carry out more complex operations. Whatever the calculator allowed, of course. Due to their technical characteristics, pocket calculators were the first devices to use solar energy to operate. Pioneers in an energy that is increasingly harnessed and in large quantities." Want more calculators from the past? The programmable Casio calculators and various vintage pocket calculators.

Pre-Columbian Trekkies: "Darmok is the title of a television episode of the series Star Trek broadcast in 1991. It tells us how the crew of the renowned spaceship Enterprise makes contact with a species of aliens with whom they initially cannot communicate, as well as Captain Picard's efforts to overcome that problem. And to me, who is far from being a fan of that space saga, the above is interesting for two reasons." VERY GOOD ARTICLE!

The surprising dark side of strong-willed people: "A few years ago, 80 Parisians had the opportunity to participate in the pilot of a new game show called La Zone Xtrême. The participants first met the producer in the studio and he informed them that they would appear in pairs, one as "interrogator" and the other as "contestant". But once they arrived on set, and the host explained the rules, things took a decidedly dark turn." Thanks José Carlos for the link!

The Bucolic Tradition - Why do we dream of moving to the countryside?: For Thoreau, nature offers an ideal means to achieve happiness, far from the material and moral inconveniences of the city. Other currents and schools of thought have developed positions related to buccolism: Krausism, with its naturalistic pantheism; the Free Institution of Teaching, which promoted excursions to the countryside as a teaching methodology; the Beat and Hippy movements; environmentalism and its political implementation (the "green" parties).

John Heartfield anti-Nazi satirical photomontage: "Heartfield had a vision ahead of his time: Hitler and the Nazis were exactly what they were: a force of diabolical evil and massive destruction. He used photomontage to satirize Adolf Hitler and the Nazis, subverting their symbols such as the swastika in order to undermine their propaganda message."

Can a man feel a female orgasm?: "Relax, boys, everything comes in this life. Arcwave has launched the Arcwave Ion, and it comes with the astonishing promise of making men feel the intensity of the female orgasm. This stroker "was created by the R&D team of the German company WOW Tech, which includes researchers, designers, engineers and product directors", explains the brand's chief engineer, Tobias Zegenhagen."

"Locust dust" for building on Mars: "A team of researchers has combined Martian regolith with chitin to design a material that could allow the construction of structures in a hypothetical colonization of the Red Planet. The authors start from sustainable manufacturing systems that are already being applied on Earth."

The Afghan who went to space and came down to hell: "Was there really an Afghan in outer space? The miracle is televised on August 30, 1988, when Abdul Ahad Mohmand addresses his people from the Soviet space station. Today he recalls all that from his home in Stuttgart (Germany). We ask him to start from the ground, from the beginning."

The Calypso Trench, the deepest point of the Mediterranean Sea: "With complete certainty, readers and enthusiasts of the Odyssey will find it curious to know that in Greek waters there is an abyssal trench, very similar to the oceanic trenches of the Pacific, reaching the not insignificant depth of 5,267 meters, that is, more than 5 kilometers. It is known, quite appropriately, as the Calypso Trench."

The medieval machine gun: "Gunpowder had not yet been invented, and it would still be several centuries before Mr. R.J. Gatling patented his famous machine gun in 1862, the first firearm with a functional repeating system. So what kind of weapon was it? I'm talking about the Zhuge-nu, a simple yet ingenious crossbow with a high rate of fire."

The 21 best science fiction series: "Welcome to this selection of the great television gems of the science fiction genre. First of all, the inevitable warning, which logically should not be necessary but usually does not hurt: this selection has been made according to criteria of historical importance and overall quality, but in a genre as rich as science fiction, absences are inevitable."

The trick behind the mysterious number 37 and other viral mathematical formulas: "For a concrete example, it is common to find expressions on social networks like the one in the image, followed by some expression of astonishment like "Magic", "The beauty of mathematics", or other similar ones to qualify them."

Videos

Here are this week's videos: The ball that can solve mazes, Rambo VS Terminator, parrot singing opera, Star Trek: The First Generation [deepfake], "Country Roads" with electric toothbrushes, a cake shaped like a Beholder, high-power rocket, a little bird runs it, using neural networks to continue Country Roads, cat imitates human, new Trebuchet design, the infinite pattern that never repeats, cuts a palm tree and..., WAP but with Disney, "Sweet Dreams" with a string quartet, the music of the 90s, COMPARISON of ship sizes, the genius of Picasso in motion, Shaolin master watches Kung Fu movies, centrifugal dance, the return of idiocy, Cheburashka and Crocodile Gena, Dig Your Own Grave, Trek B Sides.

Galleries

Here are this week's galleries: Unusual events captured on camera, Metro 2033 in clay, macro photography, hyperrealistic tattoos, Ancient Greek tattoos, the Rolls Royce Phantom, photographic tricks, the best quarantine lockdown photos, the largest underwater panorama, funny pets, very realistic dolls, celebrities according to current beauty standards, turn yourself into a cartoon, the beauty of Vietnam, tattoos that look embroidered, the little pet pig, the Animated Roundup and the Visual Roundup.

And that's that, these links are done. Until next time!