Recommended Links of the Week (No. 637)

This week's recommended links are here, featuring the Argentine pre-Internet hacker, Patagonian cannibals, serial killer letters, opium for babies, the Chinese space program, and much more, including videos and image galleries. Enjoy!

The incredible story of the first Argentine hacker - In the pre-Internet era, he traveled the world without paying a single peso: "The mechanism for selling airline tickets at the Concordia branch, usual at the time and even today, allowed for a foreign company, with no offices in our country, to deliver its tickets through another airline. When such a case arose, Barragán had to inform the Buenos Aires office, which in turn communicated with the International Aeronautical Communications System (SITA)."

The history of "Los caníbales de la Patagonia", the cruel band that ate more than 100 people: "Given the magnitude of the complaints, the governor of Río Negro, Carlos Gallardo, appointed the chief of police, José Torino, one of the most rigorous and strict bailiffs in the region, to travel to the place of the disappearances and investigate what happened. Torino did so and took with him ten men familiar with the climate and bravery of the region and set out to follow the same path of the peddlers. The task proved hard; Torino interrogated the inhabitants for information, but although several claimed to have seen the "Turks" pass by, no one knew more, nor gave clues as to their whereabouts or fate."

From hell - 5 spine-chilling letters in the handwriting of serial killers: "Over the years, many serial killers not only achieved infamy and terrorized society due to the people they killed and the way they carried out their crimes. They also did it through the word. Whether out of ego, madness, or pursuit of some profit, various "serial killers" communicated during their bloody activity with police, authorities, journalists, and others through different means. And what they said, many times, would be engraved in collective memory forever. In this first installment, we will review five of the most famous and spine-chilling messages written by serial killers."

"I thought the clouds made noise when they collided" and other things deaf people say when getting a cochlear implant: "When I got my implant, I didn't realize how loud pee... and poop could be. I turn off my device when I go to the bathroom, especially in a public bathroom. Another issue is how important sound is in horror movies. I used to like horror movies a bit, but when I started watching the Japanese movie The Grudge after the implant, I realized I was only enjoying half the experience."

The forgotten practice of giving opium to babies: "The cry of a baby is a necessary nuisance that has accompanied us since our primate ancestors. Not knowing what it wants, whether it's hungry, teething, needs a diaper change, or has some other discomfort, combines anxiety with the usual lack of sleep. No wonder the Sumerians made passive-aggressive threats to summon a demon. Therefore, opium has been a required resource for millennia to calm babies."

The interest in the abnormal: "From always, the disciplines of behavior have been interested in strange beings like the monster: half human, half beast. A being that combines the impossible with the forbidden. It has also been interested in the study of the incorrigible, who surpasses all devices of social control and behavior training. Initially, all this would serve to establish the limits within which the social pact that guarantees community stability can move. The abnormal usually remains in the plane of discretion or even silence."

The fall of Babylon: "After the death of Nebuchadnezzar II, the final political instability of the kingdom of Babylon begins. The reign of his son Awil-Marduk does not exceed two years, as he is assassinated after pardoning Jehoiachin of Judah and other kings captured by his father in his campaigns. He is succeeded by a military usurper, Nergal-shar-usur (Neriglissar in its Hellenized form), who remains for four years. In that brief reign, he undertakes an expedition to Cilicia against the kingdom of Pirindu, recorded in detail in the only chronicle of his reign that has reached us."

The 18 strangest beaches in the world: "When you imagine a beach, you probably think of the Maldives or a white ribbon of fine sand stretching along a coast lined with palm trees: the sun shines, the sea is a sparkling turquoise blue, and the mere idea makes you want to relax in the sand, dive into the waves with a surfboard, or dive to see what happens underwater. However, there are other kinds of beaches that do not correspond at all to this idea."

Fritillaria delavayi, the plant that hid from humans: "Fritillaria delavayi is a perennial herb whose leaves vary between gray, brown, and green; and it produces a single flower annually after its fifth year of life. The bulb of this plant has been used in traditional Chinese medicine for over 2,000 years, and the up to 400 euros per kilogram that have been paid for it in recent years have motivated its intense harvesting. That is why, according to researchers, evolution has led this coveted plant to become less visible to humans."

Jodorowsky's psychedelic version of 'Dune', "the best film that never saw the light": "As for Jodorowsky, his version of 'Dune' was a huge psychedelic space opera that planned to bring together all the creative forces of the culture of the time. The director not only intended to make the greatest science fiction film of all time, but his ambitions went further, to offer a film that "gave people who took LSD the hallucinations that the drug gave, without hallucination.""

Trying to understand the organization of the Chinese space program: "Thus, it is common to find calls in the media to increase cooperation with the Chinese Space Agency (CNSA), taking for granted that this organization plays a similar role to NASA. And that is not so, at all. Understanding the organization of the Chinese space program is an even more complex task if one wants to avoid going into the details of Chinese politics, which goes through a dense network of relations between the CPC and the government of the nation at various levels, from Beijing to the smallest towns."

The horses that died in the sand: "The record of horses ruined and picadors knocked from their saddles occurred in the bullring of Almería during the fair corrider of 1881, in the old small bullring, when six brave bulls, especially one named Tesorero, fatally gored 21 horses and wounded eight others. The bullring was left without a single horse and, as the bullfight had not yet finished, with the stands overflowing, the monosabios had to run to find coachmen and offer them a bag of reales for each horse."

Videos

Here are this week's videos: Sweet Dreams by the Electronic Devices Orchestra, 10 years of construction of the world's largest dam, "One More Time" on Tesla coils, ladybug in extremely slow motion, Can you fix climate change?, Why is lotus silk so expensive?, the hamster that speculates in cryptocurrencies, sea lion takes refuge from whale in boat, the world's thinnest cave, Can you download a PC case?, bear steals camera and films itself, all the solar panels needed to electrify the world, Koji Kondo - Zelda Wind Waker, catches alligator using trash can, 80s anime songs, Bill Gates at Fall Comdex 1983, "Rage Beneath the Mountains: Genshin Impact" by Lindsey Stirling, great movie themes you don't know, learning to kick a penalty, his illusion is ruined, working in the garden with a unicycle, "Holding Out for a Hero" medieval version, more insects flying in slow motion, the technology of bowling, the simple code in the complexity of nature, making origami in fast motion, singing from the throat with his daughter, and the shorts: El Tornado Sopla Penes, Kazuo Ohno - My mother (1998) from Butoh theater, The Sermon (horror), Deadlock (ghost hunters), Green Life (animated, behind the scenes of movies), and Pile (experimental animation).

Galleries

Here are this week's galleries: How celebrities would look if they had a different face shape, retro video game ads, women using old typewriters, unusual flavor combinations, September first in the Soviet Union, dogs of the world, Nature winners in Australia, winners of Funny Pet Photo Awards, horror in pencil, portraits of birds of prey in flight, the art of pinballs, color photos of the circus in the 40s/50s in the USA, "La Gorgona" Wilhelm Trubner (1891), the most famous portrait photographers in the world, moving houses with horses, Animated Dump of the Week, and the Visual Dump.

Thank you for your visit and patience, anonymous internet friend! See you next time!