Recommended Links of the Week (No. 680)

When we stop believing in the future, futuristic goggles from thousands of years ago, Terrae Novae, and the chernozem map. Intrigued? That was exactly the plan! Because in the Recommended Links there is that and much more, viral videos and galleries included.

Geometric theorems without words - Conway: "The inventor of the Game of Life discovered the following geometric property of triangles: specifically, he observed that if the sides of a triangle meeting at a vertex are extended by a length equal to the opposite side, the six endpoints of the six resulting straight segments all lie on the same circumference whose center, moreover, is the incenter of the triangle, that is, the center of the circle inscribed in the triangle."

Brutalism: Humans Facing Change or Extinction: "A common feeling in our Western society is that it has nothing left to do but contemplate the end of the world. As if the brief history of humanity were already consummated, and nothing could be remedied. This collective perception is especially evident in fiction, increasingly occupied by a series of apocalyptic stories, dystopias, and all kinds of collapses. We have collectively stopped believing in the future."

The 'futuristic' goggles that Arctic indigenous peoples invented thousands of years ago: "They might remind you of some sunglasses used in futuristic or B-movies, especially Asian ones, or you might have thought you saw them in movies about Japanese motorcycle gangs. They are the sunglasses created and popularized by the Yupik and Inuit tribes in the Arctic. They are traditionally made of fir wood, bone, walrus ivory, or caribou antler. The goggles, held by a braided strap, are curved, and almost always the strap is made of walrus skin."

How they control us from power: "The ideas of Orwell and Huxley, although different, point in the same direction: there is a ruling class that controls a dominated class without the latter being aware of it. For each author the modes of control are different, but they come to show that the class struggle is being won by the upper classes, as they themselves recognize. Warren Buffett, one of the richest men in the world, said in 2006: 'Of course there is a class war, and it is my class, the rich, that is winning it.'"

Mjölnir, the True Source of Thor's Power: "In Asgard, Thor (Þórr) stands as the first line of defense, keeping the jötnar at bay and ensuring safety between worlds. His actions overshadow Odin or Baldr, among others, and he is universally recognized by his hammer. However, how much weight does this hammer have in his successes? Does Thor have the power or does his hammer?"

The story of Pablo Escobar's personal photographer: "That relationship spanned from the 'golden era' of the drug trafficker when he was considered a benefactor of the poor, to the campaign he launched to be elected to Congress and finally the bloody wave of violence he unleashed against the Colombian state. Despite having accompanied for several years one of the most wanted men by justice, sharing drinks with his ruthless hitmen and knowing the atrocities they had committed, Jiménez has no regrets about his closeness to Escobar."

From growing underground to pruning themselves, the secrets of plants to survive flames: "But if fire ravages everything, how do plants manage to survive and start anew with the formation of lost forests? A study published in the journal Oikos by a Spanish researcher from the Desertification Research Center (Valencia) shows us several strategies plants follow to be reborn after a fire."

Terrae Novae, the European crewed space program starting in 2030: "Can you imagine a European astronaut on the surface of the Moon in 2030 and another on Mars in 2040? Well, those are none other than the ambitious objectives of the crewed program of the European Space Agency (ESA) for the coming years. In 2016, ESA created the E3P (European Exploration Envelope Programme) with the idea of defining the roadmap for the European crewed program, marked since the cancellation of the Hermes project in the 90s by total submission to NASA's plans."

I was wrong about Facebook: "In early 2009, I offered everyone a piece of tech advice that I have regretted ever since: I told everyone to join Facebook. Actually, that is an understatement. I didn't just tell people. I exhorted people. I mocked them. In a Slate column, I practically reached through the screen, grabbed Facebook skeptics by the lapels, and scolded them for being pompous, humorless Luddites. 'There is no longer any good reason to avoid Facebook,' I wrote shortly after the company, then five years old, announced it had reached 150 million users worldwide."

The chernozem map, the most fertile soil in the world: "The high levels of humus in chernozem allow the soil to retain water and a multitude of nutrients, enabling crops to thrive in the driest months without needing irrigation. As if that were not enough, chernozem also has a very good structure, that is, it facilitates plant rooting and has enough oxygen for the organisms present in it to breathe. All this makes this type of soil ideal for agricultural production."

The secret public relations operation 30 years ago to deny climate change (and whose consequences we are paying): "The 'public relations guru' proposed a strategy to defeat those who were now seeking to take measures in favor of the environment. The recipe included convincing the public that the scientific data on climate change was not reliable and that, in addition to the environment, politicians should take into account how, according to the GCC, measures against polluting gases would harm jobs, trade, and prices."

Murders and deaths in the 'Power Rangers' team - The curse that has filled a mythical series with misfortunes: "During the last week it has become known that Skylar Julius Deleon, an actress who had a supporting role in the famous Power Rangers during the 90s, has been sentenced to death for double murder in the state of California. Skylar's career quickly deviated from acting, but it is curious that this is another case in the curse of the fictional members."

VIDEOS: How programmers overprepare for an interview, cats reacting to the video game Stray, necrobotics, printable optical illusion, webcams around the world, haptic interface with balloons, tells her gradually that he won millions, CPR in 3D, great white shark attacking diver, the biggest Thor hammer, Betamax test tape in HD, Coco does tricks, Metallica - Master of Puppets (a cappella), adorable rescued pangolin, the bomb that ended the war, and the shorts: Infinite Escher (1990) and Rehearsal. To finish: The Creepy Line, a documentary that goes to the heart of the matter.

GALLERIES: Mysterious portraits of Asian girls, the best illustrations of 2022, the best sports photos, dogs before and after adoption, Japanese comic of The Exorcist, rice fields with little drawings, Marilyn Monroe as a princess, the napalm girl received the last treatment, the Animated Dump and the Visual Dump of the week.