Do you want juicy links? Well, look, here are some: The snake of Eden, intelligent hedonism, rescue buoys, Medieval Olympic Games and hindsight bias. Want more? Then keep reading and, by the way, check out some videos and other galleries. Enjoy!
Greenland May Already Be Reaching a Point of No Return: “This statistical peculiarity indicates that a state that was stable until now is now unstable and could quickly switch to a new stable state. For climatologists, this is also a sign of the proximity of a critical point in the climate system. Boers and Rypdal interpret it, specifically, as an indication that the Greenland ice sheet is approaching a 'climate tipping point' from which a vicious circle is activated and it melts irreversibly.”
The Tempting Serpent of Eden, Pawn or Multiform Devil: “In the Garden of Eden, the serpent tempted Eve to eat the fruit of the knowledge of good and evil (Genesis 3:1-6). It is commonly identified as Satan or one of his intermediaries, but this connection is not present in the few verses where it is mentioned. So who was it? Why is it associated with the devil? Was it really a serpent?”
Rettungsboje, the German Rescue Buoys of World War II: “The final project was named Rettungsboje, or rescue buoy. This device had a very simple and functional concept and design. The buoy developed by the Germans could be square or hexagonal and measured four meters wide by two meters high, with a capacity for four people. On top, the buoy had an oval-shaped turret about two meters high, with a white and red light signal antenna, and could also emit sound and smoke signals.”
Epicurus, or Intelligent Hedonism: “Both Epicurus’s philosophy and his school were the object of numerous criticisms, mainly for his defense of pleasure as the key to happiness in life. This is not without irony, since some of the greatest enemies of Epicureanism were among the Stoics (followers of Zeno of Citium’s school, the Stoa, which defended a philosophy based on determinism and a strict ethic in favor of virtue and the avoidance of passions), even though both, as we shall see, defended a fairly similar way of living, albeit from very different premises.”
How the Olympic Games Were in the Middle Ages: “For a long time, historians blamed the end of the ancient Olympic Games on the rise of Christianity, as the event was considered a polytheistic vestige. Research has shown that the Olympic Games continued at a regional level, with semi-professional athletes, at least until after the 5th century AD. From that point on, economic decline caused sponsorship, mostly private, to wane, and together with a shift in cultural tastes, mainly due to Christianization, sports events ceased to be organized, except perhaps in a few large cities. Some games lasted until the beginning of the 6th century.”
Hindsight Bias, the Tendency to Think We Knew What Was Going to Happen: “When we look at the past with the eyes of the present, current knowledge often distorts our memory. We believe we knew what was going to happen, when in reality we did not. This tendency to think we knew what was going to happen can play tricks on us and make us blame ourselves for things we could not actually foresee. In fact, it happens not only on a personal level; this hindsight bias also extends to the professional arena.”
The Mysterious Underground City Beneath the Towns of Osimo and Camerano in Italy: “It is believed that it may have originally been a kind of quarry from which sandstone was extracted for construction. But over the centuries it was expanded with tunnels and galleries, corridors and decorated rooms, three roundabouts for meetings, and even a room in the shape of an ankh (the famous Egyptian crux ansata, with the upper part in the shape of an oval). The local nobility expanded and beautified them during the 18th and 19th centuries, using them as a meeting place. It was at the end of the 19th century when the first mapping of some of the passages was carried out, those running beneath the palace of the Mancinforte family.”
To Be or Not to Be Authentic, That Is the Question: “When we want to know any object, it is enough to ask what that object is to learn its nature, its essence. With human beings, however, this question is insufficient, because to the question 'what is this?' the answer 'a human being' does not exhaust the full reality of individuals. With humans we can not only ask what we are, but also who we are, that is, we can ask about our identity, about that individual character that every human being has and that makes us unique. But how do we approach the question of identity?”
Do You Consider Yourself Very Lazy? How to Turn This Sin into a Virtue: “Daniel Kahneman, author of 'Thinking, Fast and Slow' and expert neuroscientist, assures that laziness is not only perceived from the outside, that is, we not only behave like lazy people outwardly or when doing an activity, but also from within, that is, on a mental level. Therefore, some brains are lazier than others, which is why many of them use mental shortcuts or let themselves be carried away by prejudice and ignorance in everyday life.”
Melquíades, the Seller of Gadgets in 'One Hundred Years of Solitude': “The character of Melquíades is the one who shows death and esotericism in this novel by Gabriel García Márquez. He is an intelligent, adventurous, and big-hearted person, without the typical picaresque of the Roma ethnicity. He wears a vest with an apparent green patina and a black wide-brimmed hat, very typical of Roma patriarchs. Physically, he has sparrow-like hands and a wild beard, and has lost his teeth due to the various illnesses he has contracted in the different places he has visited, although on one of his returns to Macondo he comes back with a set of dentures.”
The Temple of Ephesus, One of the Wonders of Antiquity: “The Temple of Ephesus was a construction located in the enclave of the same name. It was a city on the coast of Asia Minor, at the western tip of what is now Turkey. Founded in the 10th century BC by Athenian colonists, it soon became one of the most important Ionian cities. Today, its magnificent ruins have made it the most visited archaeological site in Turkey. The enclave not only has Greek ruins, but also Roman ones, as Ephesus became one of the most important and populous cities of the Roman Empire.”
How Sex Scenes Broke Taboos in Soviet Cinema: “Let's be honest, the word 'sex' was sinful in the Soviet Union. Representations of sex on the big screen were almost as rare as Mercedes cars on the roads of the USSR. Even a passionate kiss was taboo, not to mention sexual relations of any kind. As a rule, Soviet actors were even too shy to undress. Many had been brought up by strict (and communist) parents, who instilled in their children an unshakable sense of idealism and moral code.”
Videos
- Hydrophobic dust
- Portuguese man o' war
- How did Earth evolve over the last four billion years?
- Monkey fight stops traffic
- Trimming a horseshoe
- AI-enhanced cosplay at Comic Con
- Robot runs 5 km
- Oksana Chusovitina competing from 1992 to 2021
- Wooden V8 engine
- Atari 2600 games in 3D
- How to cut a giant cheese
- Robot playing basketball
- The perfect face
- What do students around the world draw on their desks?
- Cryogenic engines
- Automatic bricks
- Girl sees for the first time
- And some short ones:
Galleries
- Telekinesis tennis
- Back to the Future III train replica
- winners of Light Wildart 2021
- horror graffiti
- colorized photos of the past
- girl dressed as scary things
- sculptures of movie villains
- animal cubism
- flower drawings
- animals and their prehistoric ancestors
- David Bowie costumes
- (NSFW) human restraints by Nobuyoshi Araki (NSFW)
- Vertedero Animado
- Tiradero Visual
Well, well, well. That’s it. Until next time, and take good care of yourself, because things being how they are, we can’t afford to lose readers. A hug!
