Recommended Links of the Week (No. 635)

Parasocial relationships, marrying your cousin, the next coronaviral pandemic, a group of samurai in Egypt 150 years ago, empathetic people, and the mysterious Hu line. Phew, and you can't imagine the rest of the things you'll find in this week's Recommended Links. A collection of links for a great time!

Parasocial relationships: what they are and their causes: "Becoming familiar with a famous actor or a highly influential YouTuber is a very common experience, and it can take the form of a very lasting relationship with that media figure, even though, in essence, they are still a stranger. This type of pseudo-bond is called a parasocial relationship, a very interesting and common type of social interaction in the era of mass media that we will explore in depth below."

How natural gas reduced the number of suicides: "Therefore, city gas allowed people to kill themselves at home, without using a weapon, without shedding blood, and without pain. When natural gas was introduced, this form of suicide disappeared from the reach of the population, so to take their own life they had to resort to other methods that required more courage (I don't know if that's the right word), more preparation, or more cold blood. This caused the number of suicides per million inhabitants to drop drastically in England as the use of natural gas spread."

Marrying and having children with your cousins is becoming more common: "The researchers of this study examined the remains of 1,785 people who lived between 45,000 years ago and just a few hundred years ago. Of all these, only 53, that is, 3% of them, have DNA indicating that their parents were first cousins. Furthermore, one of them was likely the product of an incestuous relationship between siblings or parents and children."

H. R. Giger, or the light at the end of the tunnel: "By the time Giger participated in Alien, there was a paradigmatic contrast with the other graphic artist on the film: Jean Giraud, 'Moebius', who was also an icon in European circles. But the French cartoonist was the author of a lively work, characterized by the constant explosion of contrasts, a fierce chromaticism that was like the exacerbated rebirth of Joos de Momper's canvases. Moebius's tonal virtuosity once yielded the spotlight to Giger's arid atonality."

Countdown to the next coronaviral pandemic: "In their study, a group of American researchers created a detailed map of the habitats of 23 bat species known to harbor coronaviruses related to SARS1 and SARS2. They then overlaid that map with human population data, creating a new map of potential zoonosis hotspots. The study authors found that nearly 500 million people live in risk areas."

You evolved to receive punches in the face, especially if you are a man: "A punch in the face is a universal and direct way to express disagreement. It probably precedes any other form of communication, since the proportion of the hand that makes it possible to effectively flex the fingers into a fist already appears in the earliest known hominids, almost coinciding with the beginning of bipedalism. Currently, in non-professional fights, the fist as a channel to transmit a message usually impacts the recipient's face."

Olisbos, the dildos with which ancient Greek women coped with their husbands' absence: "The term 'olisbos', from the Greek ολισβος (olisbós), translates as 'to slip' or 'to slide' and refers to dildos of realistic appearance that include testicles. Popular in Ancient Greece, most olisbos were made from the same leather used for sandals, although they could also be made of wood, stone, ceramic, or even bread, known as olisbokollix."

10 myths about dinosaurs that cinema made us believe: "No dinosaur movie is complete without its flying creatures. After all, what could be more terrifying than a huge reptile grabbing you by surprise and carrying you to its nest so its offspring can devour you alive? But as impressive as they are, pterosaurs are not dinosaurs, but a distinct order of archosaurs; so to speak, they are distant cousins. Dinosaurs, with the sole exception of birds, were terrestrial animals with a very different anatomy from pterosaurs, whose skeleton is specifically developed for flight."

The curious story behind the photo of a group of samurai in Egypt 150 years ago: "First of all, to fully understand this story, it is necessary to contextualize. A little over 150 years ago, a man named Ikeda Nagaoki governed Ibara, Bitchu Province, in Japan. He was chosen to lead a delegation of 34 samurai from the Japanese embassy to Europe, sent by the Tokugawa shogunate (i.e., the feudal military government during the Edo period) on February 6, 1864."

10 great science fiction illustrators: "Néstor Goldar was the artist responsible for illustrating most of the covers of the collection of science fiction short story anthologies from the Caralt publishing house, a very popular imprint that published more than thirty story collections between the late seventies and early eighties. Among the illustrated works, several anthologies by Isaac Asimov, Peter Haining, Robert Silverberg, Kurt Singer, Brian W. Aldiss, and George R. R. Martin stand out."

The mysterious Hu line: "What do the Uyghur repression camps, the brand new Pakistani port of Gwadar, and the massive logging of Indonesian rainforest have in common? Indeed, all three are repercussions of Chinese geopolitics. The Asian giant is the heir to this century's world hegemony, and the intricacies of its foreign policy have been the subject of serious essays for decades. Today we are going to look at one of the keys to Chinese geopolitics: the mysterious Hu line."

Highly empathetic people: how they are and how they suffer at work: "Highly empathetic people are characterized by cultivating curiosity for strangers, having few prejudices, listening and opening up to others, inspiring actions that help bring about changes in society and, in some more extreme cases, because they «try to live the lives of others», according to Sánchez. However, the expert explains that all these characteristics, which in principle may seem positive, can turn negative."

Videos

A cardboard ball machine, a Crispin Glover madness, Far Over The Misty Mountains Cold, piano music for studying, Adobe software works better pirated, King Kong cat, cute kittens, the funniest Star Trek moments, William Shatner critiques the best impersonations of himself, turning a Disney book into a horror one, growing vegetables in asphalt cracks, gas vs electric cars, Newton's gravity puzzle, Felix animated tattoo, a LEGO submarine, geese that love music, Mercedes Benz “Future 2021”, Star Wars without Star Wars, 1933 stop motion, and the sci-fi short “Down To Earth”.

Galleries

The photographs from Nikon Small World, Dieselpunk, the 1911 Antarctic expedition, child actors who grew up, dog love, more photos of Jane Birkin, the art of Thierry Mandon, people changing clothes, the best urban photos, photos without Photoshop that are perfect, London Street Photography Festival, best Milky Way photos of 2021, best ocean photos of 2021, brain surgery guide from 1890, iCanvas Digital Art Award 2021, the Animated Dump and the Weekly Visual Dump.

Thanks for stopping by, buddy!