Records on X-rays, horizontal skyscrapers, Japanese bubbles, and plenty of Stoicism, which never hurts. That, and much more, in this week's Recommended Links, this time extra early because I have things to do.
Anti-vaxxers of the 19th century: Stupidity is like the first law of thermodynamics: in isolated minds, it is neither created nor destroyed, only transformed. So, just as flat Earthism is not a recent belief, neither is opposition to vaccines. Before Edward Jenner's success in 1796 with vaccination, there was already opposition to the previous method of immunization, variolation. Despite developing a safer method, rejection did not disappear.
Why 2021 "will have the shortest days in decades": You didn't notice, but some days in 2020 the Earth was spinning faster than "normal" and there are calculations indicating that in 2021 the planet will continue the same acceleration trend. You didn't notice it and you won't, because these changes in Earth's speed consist of only a few milliseconds.
"Grandma, save me the X-rays to record music": Until the mid-1960s, underground music in Moscow, Leningrad, and Stalingrad, mainly, was transported on acetate sheets, previously used as a support to observe the ribs or feet of Soviet factory workers. That was called Bone Music, Ribs Music, or even Roentgen Music.
The amazing Soviet horizontal skyscrapers: Although a horizontal building 400 meters long is something out of the ordinary, Bolshaya Tulskaya is relatively "short" compared to some of the other Soviet "horizontal skyscrapers". For example, "the Moscow horizontal tower", a building constructed in 1972 to house families of several scientists and engineers and even contain a technological research center. Although the scientific staff lived in the same building where they worked, they had to take a long walk every day to get to their jobs at the other end of the building.
"The Egg of Death": The most futuristic weapon of the early 20th century: In March 1915, the situation on the Eastern Front of World War I was precarious for the Russian Empire. A German offensive had surrounded the Russian army in Galicia (now in western Ukraine) and Poland. From there, a letter was sent to the Russian capital addressed "Personally to the Emperor", detailing a new weapons project. The letter was titled "Project of a machine to crush enemy fortresses: "Oboi Epicicloide"".
The Japanese bubble of the 80s - Financial madness, Yakuza and power: The world went crazy for Japan, and the Japanese were not immune to this madness. Whoever didn't invest in Japan feared being run over by the Japanese economy. Meanwhile, a great financial and real estate bubble had driven us all crazy, its gangsters were more numerous and powerful than ever, and its politicians began flirting with that nationalism that was so prevalent in the rest of Asia. Welcome to the crazy years of the バブル景気 (baburu keiki) or bubble economy.
Marcus Aurelius - Stoic thoughts for today's world: Marcus Aurelius accepts any sensible proposition even if it comes from different philosophical currents (Epicurus, Epictetus...). It is rare to find an austere emperor who acknowledges his gratitude for teaching him "that it is possible to live in the court without needing guards, nor ostentatious clothing, (...), but that it is possible to reduce oneself as close as possible to a private citizen".
Gyotaku - Printing Fish: Fish serve as our printing plates: the pressure on the paper allows them to transfer their own image. Their size, their silhouette, the texture of their scales, the transparency of their fins... Fishermen only allow themselves the retouching of the eyes, a license I would like to believe is more akin to magic and play than to the realistic obsession of fidelity to the model.
Kafkaesque, Dantean, Orwellian... Do you really know what these eponyms mean?: Spanish is a rich language in many aspects, and among them is the use of these literary eponyms. To clear any doubt and avoid mistakes, we leave you here a list of the most used ones, what they really mean, and where they come from. Generally, they tend to point out everyday situations, although in exceptional cases they can define objects, like "quevedos", the name given to the famous glasses worn by the writer.
The dangerous nightlife of ancient Rome: In the 1st century BC, in the time of Julius Caesar, ancient Rome was a city of one million inhabitants. However, at nightfall, any sound became a veiled threat. At times it could be groups of brawlers ready to beat anyone who crossed their path, drunkards making a racket, or even chamber pots full of excrement landing on the street with the impunity of darkness.
Abundance of lean meat facilitated dog domestication: Having plenty of protein from ancient humans was key to dog domestication, according to a new study published today in Scientific Reports. In an era where wolves and people competed for the same prey, humans achieving a surplus of this nutrient through hunting facilitated the adoption of wolves as companion animals.
The history of chocolate, the gift of the gods: Cocoa seeds were fermented, roasted, and ground into a paste. Then the cocoa paste would be mixed with water or wine, ground corn, and a variety of aromas. These aromas include chili, vanilla, allspice, and honey. Then the mixture would go through a process called frothing, in which it is poured from one pot to another until a deep foam forms on top.
Videos
- Garbage truck catches fire
- How much pressure a light bulb can withstand
- Robotic turtle infiltrates
- Giant centipede vs snake
- Darth Bully Maguire: Duel of the Fates
- Ultrasonic obliterator in super slow motion
- 2 hours of singing ice
- Satisfaction with magnets
- A giant RC Airbus A380
- White-suited ninja on the roof
- Living in dark winters in Sweden
- Wolverines in a garbage dump
- 60 FPS vs 30 FPS vs 24 FPS
- Mushrooms releasing spores
- On the island of cats
- Little dog vs giant dog
- Dog singing happy birthday
- "Girl with a Pearl Earring" under a super microscope
- Testing sound in a water tower
- From 0 to 1000 in one second
- "Decommissioned" (science fiction and horror)
- "Unbreakeable" (the story of bunny Barbara)
Galleries
Simpsonized: the brutal illustrations of Ash Thorp, flowers underwater that look like oil paintings, the origami samurai by Origami Samurai, Neurussia, portraits made by neural network, giant fat toad, illustrations by Thanh Nhan Nguyen, Cyberpunk by Massive Face, portraits with recycled denim fabric, marginalia from Africa, the monsters of Franciszek Starowieyski (1930-2009), wild animals interrupting photographers, the polaroids Andy Warhol took of Dolly Parton, Don Quixote in the 20th century, urban graffiti, and the Animated Dump and the Visual Dump to complete.
https://old.neoteo.com/disc-rot-tus-discos-opticos-pueden-morir/
