Recommended Links of the Week (No. 608)

The history of the cassette, the Manson family girl, life with half a brain, and UFOs. All this and much more in a weekly column that's too good to stop making: the Recommended Links of the Week.

UFOs would be well received by humanity: "How would humanity react to extraterrestrial contact? Would we be peaceful, inclined to seek communication, or would we be warlike? In truth, history has already answered this question. We need to travel a few centuries back in history to place ourselves in what, for many French villagers of the town of Gonesse, was the first contact of a human being with a UFO."

The history of the cassette, the most popular way to store audio and music in the 80s: "Originally called “Audio compact cassette” (“Audio cassette compacto” in Spanish), the cassette was conceived to replace the tape recorder, whose main problem was that it was not easy to transport or portable. The cassette, much smaller and more compact, wanted to solve these problems and cover that market segment that was not yet being served."

The Manson Family girl who tried to kill the President of the United States: "That day, September 5, 1975, in the Capitol of Sacramento, Lynette Alice "Squeaky" Fromme, then 26 years old, could have gone down in history as the assassin of the most powerful man in the country. She came very close when quickly, as Ford passed by, smiling and carefree, she pulled out a Colt .45 caliber with which she aimed at him."

The useless art of accumulating records at home: "I accumulate them in an empty family apartment, where we pile up useless objects as if we were victims of Diogenes syndrome. The day the apartment is sold or renovated (or renovated to be sold, that is), ninety percent of what's in it will go straight to the trash."

When Chekhov went out to look for hell: "Anton Chekhov was thirty years old, had a journalist's credentials, popularity as a writer, and lungs destroyed by tuberculosis when he set out on a journey to Sakhalin Island, a penal colony in the most inhospitable and hostile place in Russia."

"My life with half a brain": "In their journey from doctor to doctor, Nico was eventually diagnosed with hemiparesis, paralysis of the left half of the body, the origin of which was birth epilepsy that endangered his life. They then told them about the possibility of removing part of his brain to stop the seizures that made his life impossible."

The priest who translated the Bible to popularize it and was burned by the Church: "William Tyndale was an Englishman born between 1490 and 1494 who had no better idea than to translate the Bible into English. He wanted to popularize the word of God, but those who called themselves God's representatives on Earth disagreed. Tyndale, the priest who translated the Bible to popularize it and was burned by the Church, was a victim of his time."

We'll always have Battlestar Galactica: "The striking thing is that Battlestar Galactica was born with all the chances of having become an artistic debacle. It was a nostalgic bet that "reimagined" a series of the same title that had premiered in 1978 and had been canceled in 1979 after a single season that had reaped awful reviews."

The Gene Tierney case, a lethal virus, a quarantine not respected, and an innocent victim: "Gene Tierney was the most beautiful woman in Hollywood… and she was also the indirect victim of a devastating virus, having been infected by someone who skipped the quarantine that had been imposed on them. In these times of pandemic and lockdowns, it's worth remembering an actress who reached the top, and who was later sunk into a hell of pain and despair."

The killer engraved in his gaze: "Verne alluded to a supposed forensic method born thanks to the daguerreotype, invented around 1837 by Louis Jackques Mandé Daguerre, and the ophthalmoscope, created in 1850 by Hermann von Helmholtz. This was based on the premise that upon death, the last image the eye captures remains engraved on the retina."

Are heavy metal fans happier than followers of other genres? This is what a study says: "The first thing this study revealed is that jazz fans are the most positive or "happy", given that, for every 100 comments, 77 positive words were found. Of the 23,884 comments from the Reddit jazz community, 18,439 were based on positive words."

Why do I quickly forget what I read?: "Most of us remember only a part of the information we receive. The brain is designed to discard information that is not relevant. In principle, this would be a brief answer to the question in the title: why do I quickly forget what I read?"

VIDEOS: Harry Potter (acapella), magical song for savage beasts, the decapitated head of the sea slug, tiny crazy puppy, baby steals the camera, how to make round dice, big dog falls asleep standing, ice rollers, the evolution of Unreal Engine (1996-2021), piece of bread falls, a bear!, Tetris in unexpected place, police prevents hacker from turning off PC, God loves octopuses more, music from 1996, flowers and paint, real explosions don't look like movie explosions, and the crazy short films: Charlie Buenos Aires and Suspense (horror).

GALLERIES: Hyperrealistic paintings by Kei Mieno, cyberpunk drawings by Ken Hensly, the Lancia Stratos HF Zero car, Shrek if they were people, dancing fabrics, actor doubles, the art of Josh Dykgraaf, installation art by Chiharu Shiota, the bloody art of Vince Locke, Victorian era cutouts, miniature board game, wool spiders, giant submerged masks, Judy Garland's hairstyle test, very cute cat drawings, winners of World Nature Photography Awards 2020, the great theater posters of Peter Pocs, the Animated Dump and the Visual Dump.

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