Recommended Links of the Week (No. 693)

Dead grandmother with a sense of humor, all internet traffic in one second, climate emergency, in Russia there are more women than men and Killdozer's spiral of destruction. Everything you need for a good weekend and much more. Welcome to the Recommended Links of the Week. Enjoy!

Modernity cannot exist without these 4 ingredients: "Modern societies would be impossible without the large-scale production of many human-made materials. We could have a prosperous civilization providing abundant food, material comforts, and access to good education and healthcare without any microchip or personal computer: we had it until the 1970s, and we managed until the 1990s to expand economies, build necessary infrastructure, and connect the world through passenger airplanes without any smartphones or social networks."

Grandmother makes Ouija boards for her funeral: "Gracie Perryman, a 20-year-old college student one month away from turning 21, got an unexpected surprise when she attended her grandmother's funeral on October 18 in Breckenridge, Texas. Jodie Perryman, who died of cancer at 81, prepared for the occasion by hand-making Ouija boards for guests. The unexpected keepsake also included a photo of Perryman sticking out her tongue and raising her middle finger in the air, along with a small note that said: “Let's keep in touch!”"

This chip can transmit all internet traffic per second: "A group of researchers from the Technical University of Denmark (DTU) and Chalmers University of Technology has announced the results of an experiment that broke the speed record for data transmission using a single light source and an optical chip. As they explain, the engineers transmitted data at a speed of 1.84 petabits per second (Pbit/s), almost double the global internet traffic per second. Think of it this way: if you are lucky enough to have a 1 gigabit connection, 1 petabit is a million gigabits."

The Earth is "unequivocally" in the middle of a climate emergency: "The study, with participation from researchers in the United States, Bangladesh, Germany, and the United Kingdom, points out that 16 of the 35 planetary vital signs that the authors use to track climate change are at record extremes. The authors share new data illustrating the increased frequency of extreme heat episodes, the increase in global tree cover loss due to fires, and a greater prevalence of the mosquito-borne dengue virus."

Basil Poledouris: Symphonic music for the barbarian: "Since the 1970s, various licensing issues had prevented Conan's stories from being brought to the cinema. The character had acquired tremendous popularity among young American males, who bought reprints of Conan's stories with art by illustrator and cartoonist Frank Frazetta and the Marvel comic adaptations. This, obviously, attracted the attention of the film industry. In 1975, producer Edward R. Pressman began fighting to obtain the film rights, which he achieved after two years."

The bowed strings of the violin: "In principle, describing the mechanical functioning of a violin is simple. It begins when the performer passes the bow across the strings and makes them vibrate. Through the bridge and the sound post located inside the instrument's body, the resonance box receives the vibration of the strings, and finally radiates modulated and amplified sound waves into the air. It is notable that only a few milliwatts of mechanical power are required to operate a violin, yet it is capable of generating large variations in sound pressure in the air and, therefore, filling a large concert hall with sound using a single instrument."

Rolemaster, that game: "Any veteran of this hobby who is worth their salt knows Rolemaster. My general perception is that it has many detractors: “too detailed, you can even die from unsheathing your weapon” or “you have to roll to even pee,” are some of the reasons given. I have been playing Rolemaster since 1994 and, honestly, I don't know what they are talking about. Let this preamble serve as an excuse to introduce my favorite role-playing game, if only because it is by far the one I have played the most. Let's go."

Astro Invader (1980): "In Astro Invader we control a vehicle at the bottom of the screen that moves horizontally and can fire one bullet on screen, very similar to Space Invaders. At the top, a large mother ship appears and will release small alien ships from its interior, whose number is indicated on the ship itself. That number will decrease as the alien ships come out, and when it reaches zero the level ends, the game freezes, and a new mother ship appears with increased difficulty. The alien ships will arrange themselves in a series of columns, specifically 10, in the central part of the screen."

The Rescue of the Talisman and role-playing games: "On May 29, 1991, TVE surprised young audiences with a children's program titled The Rescue of the Talisman. In it, four kids entered a haunted castle and, if they achieved their goal, they won a batch of Sega consoles. The show began airing on Wednesdays at 18:50, engaging an entire generation, as demonstrated by the 78 episodes that were aired from 1991 to 1994. What we didn't know then is that some members of the team that made the program knew very well what role-playing games were."

Why are there many more women than men in Russia?: "Russia is a country of women. Anyone would say so seeing how masculinized its politics are and the cult of masculinity emanating from the Kremlin, but the truth is that Russia is the second country in the world with the lowest proportion of men, only behind Estonia, with a femininity index of 115.1 women per 100 men. (...) The male mortality rate in Russia is very high. On average, men live 10 years less than women, with a life expectancy of 68 years for them compared to 78 for women."

The laboratory 850 meters underground in the Pyrenees where they search for the origin of the universe: "It is the Canfranc Underground Laboratory (LSC) and its depth has an explanation: you have to isolate cosmic radiation and radioactivity by creating a 'cosmic silence' to investigate natural events or the collision of a neutrino with an atom coming from the cosmos. Nothing and no one can interfere in the research that will change the world as we know it. In the depths of the earth, where there is barely any radioactive background, nature is explored from its genesis."

Grand Theft Auto in real life: the story of Killdozer and his spiral of destruction: "Marvin Heemeyer was a welder, based in Granby, Colorado. In this small town he ran a small muffler repair shop. In 2004 he jumped to worldwide fame as the protagonist of a spiral of destruction that ended with 13 buildings and 7 million dollars in material damage. His weapon was an enormous bulldozer with a concrete and steel armor. Nothing and no one could stop him, while for hours he executed a calculated revenge. This is the fascinating story of Killdozer, a very real Grand Theft Auto."

VIDEOS: professional casino dice, things rotting, 200 bassists playing Under Pressure, flying Snoopy, an AI-made bride, accordion made with Commodores, LEGO motors with air, Predator mask made out of cardboard, how to land a 737 if you are not a pilot, the evolution of the western (1894 – 2021), impossible triangles, the Knight Rider theme on guitar, made a robot fish and won The Natural Robotics Contest 2022, electric arcs at 1,750,000 FPS, the fastest Roomba, Squirrel Olympics 3.0, aye-aye picking its nose, a trip around the world made with LEGO, cat playing with a high-rise window cleaner, electronics without electricity, a stop motion short with dolls from 1930, and a horror short called We Want Faces So Bad.

GALLERIES: Friendship between wolf and bear, crazy medical treatments of the 20th century, winners of Nikon Small World Photomicrography 2022, old cars in the city, what I wanted vs what I got, ceramic sculptures, wildlife made with recycled metal, the Ghibli park inside, capturing animal portraits while they drink, the Vertedero Animado and the Tiradero Visual to finish.

Thanks for stopping by! See you next time!