Recommended Links of the Week (No. 676)

Medieval beasts, incorruptible bodies, hens and eggs, whipping boys, and Mexican pulp. It's impossible not to be tempted by so many lovely things in this week's Recommended Links. To find out what else there is, you'll have to keep reading. Enjoy!

Phantis (Game Over II): "Phantis is an arcade and action video game developed by the Spanish company Dinamic Software and published in 1987 for ZX Spectrum, Amstrad CPC, MSX, Commodore 64, Atari ST, and PC. The game achieved considerable success outside Spain, mainly in the United Kingdom, where it was released with slight variations and with the title changed to Game Over II to capitalize on the commercial momentum that the video game Game Over (1987) had recently had. The changes between the original version released in Spain and the international version are mainly in the story that sets the adventure."

Ten things about 'Blade Runner' you wouldn't believe: "The arguments during filming were constant between Ridley Scott and Harrison Ford. The actor didn't like the idea of the voice-over. Nor working with Sean Young. Nor, in general, the film. The bad atmosphere during the filming of Blade Runner extended to the musical production. Vangelis also argued with Ridley Scott, and the film's music took several years to be released. And when it came out, it was in an orchestral version that didn't satisfy the film's fans."

Hercules, the graphics card born from necessity: "The charm of the name was that some of Hercules' 12 labors had consisted of defeating giants, precisely what the competition was, an anecdote that would be forgotten if it weren't for the fact that around that patent and the manufacturing of gunpowder, a factory would be created in the San Francisco area, and around it, a small industrial town. So we have a gunpowder patent that gives rise to a factory that grows a small town, and a century later in that same town a company would be born that would provide components for our compatible PCs, Hercules Computer Technology."

History of Buran, the Soviet space shuttle that surpassed the American one but only flew once: "During the last phase of the Cold War, the space race began a new chapter thanks to the arrival of the shuttles. The eighties were defined by the voyages of Columbia, Discovery, and the fateful Challenger accident. Although the USSR didn't manage to surpass NASA, the Soviets built the Buran, a shuttle with advanced technology that surprised everyone. At first glance it looked like a copy of the Columbia and other members of the Space Shuttle program."

The convenience for the church of incorruptible bodies: "Therefore, can the veracity of incorruptibility be trusted? Well, at the very least, divine action is put in doubt. To begin with, these are not bodies that usually remain buried in the ground. In their resting place, they are usually cared for, taking care of the conditions to preserve the corpse. For example, Saint Charles Borromeo was embalmed shortly after dying, watched over in his tomb, receiving new coffins and being temporarily removed when moisture was discovered in the enclosure, being kept in an airtight reliquary ever since."

Belgium, the country that committed the greatest genocide in humanity: "Belgium was founded in 1830, under a monarchy, the House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, creating the royal dynasty of Belgium. Its first king was Leopold I, succeeded by Leopold II, who was also the first and only king of the Congo in a personal capacity. Currently its form of government is that of a parliamentary monarchy. Belgium will never be able to erase the stigma of having committed the greatest genocide committed by humanity in the Belgian Congo."

Chicken or egg? A dilemma finally resolved: "Let's start with the terms. 'Chicken' refers to the female individuals of the species Gallus gallus, one of the more than 9,000 species of birds currently existing. It is therefore a biological species, native to Southeast Asia. The domestic subspecies has the dubious privilege of being the most abundant bird on the planet due to its commercial exploitation. It has been calculated that its current number exceeds 24 billion individuals. Well, we now have a clear idea of what a chicken is. An egg is a somewhat more diffuse concept..."

Why we are increasingly depressed: "On the other hand, there are more cases of depression among people who score high on introversion. This refers to individuals who tend to prefer solitary activities, more focused on their thoughts, feelings, and moods than on seeking external stimuli. Likewise, research suggests a relationship between depressive disorder and a low score on conscientiousness, a characteristic of individuals without goals, informal, lazy, careless, undisciplined, and with little willpower."

Aquatic bestiary of the unusual and the divine: "The truth is that those sailors were not flat-earthers afraid of not hitting the brakes in time, but people with their heads on straight who preferred not to encounter unknown sea monsters. (...) Knowing this, medieval cartographers used those fears as a tool to procrastinate work and save explanations, painting aquatic beasts in the unexplored or potentially dangerous oceans they represented in their atlases, so that no one would dare to visit them."

Olly, the 13-year-old boy whose murder was facilitated and planned on social media: "Last January, Amanda and Stuart Stephens watched their son from separate windows as he left home, not realizing it would be the last time. Olly was heading to Bugs Bottom, a field in front of his house, with sandals on his feet and his phone in his hand. 15 minutes later, he had been murdered. That phone he held in his hand would provide the answers to what had happened."

Whipping boys, one of the worst jobs in history: "In many corners of the world, aristocrats and nobles, kings and young princes, were considered 'untouchable' and protected by divine right. Putting a hand on a noble or a noble child was often a transgression punishable in the most severe way, sometimes even by death. So how do you reprimand a young man who is also your king, his heir, or simply a boy of very high birth? The answer was a 'whipping boy'."

Shivers by the pound! The amazing covers of Mexican pulp: Printed on coarse paper, without censorship or almost any scruples, the "made in Mexico" pulp competed to claim the most lurid cover on the newsstands. Combining the aesthetics of photo novels and the popular spirit of neighborhood cinema, they were enough on their own to exhaust million-copy print runs. The plots, in the image and likeness of American pulp fiction, covered western, science fiction, horror, thriller, romance, and superhero comics, while also boosting their most autochthonous side.

Videos

Steel knife made from primitive-style bacteria, the evolution of macOS, behind the scenes of Dynamo Dream, image compression, the world's ugliest dog, AI-made animation, the secret of PlayStation 1, cats solving problems, The Magic Flute on theremin, camping on the road, what happened with the bee apocalypse?, Bruce Lee Deepfake in Ip Man 4, the riddle that seems impossible even when solved, the loops of roller coasters are not circular, paragliding over a Swiss village, sea bug, contortionist kitten, Ozzy Osbourne - Patient Number 9 drawn by Todd McFarlane, and the animated horror short "100,000 Acres of Pine"

Galleries

SEGA AI, creator of prosthetic limbs from the 1900s who was ahead of his time, traveling by plane in the 50s, Wild Art winners, elusive cats, the best portraits around the world, genius makeup, photos of Earth, Big Picture 2022 winners, miniature animals, Soviet beach day, Animated Dump of the Week, and the Visual Dump.

It's over, it's finished, it's done. And I went to sleep. I hope you had a good time!