Recommended Links of the Week (No. 695)

The Internet of yesteryear, a rare 1956 computer discovered, the end of fossil fuels, nuclear energy in bottles, and the origin of incompetence. All that and much more, in a Recommended Links of the Week that was delayed but arrived recharged and better than ever. Enjoy!

What happened to DivX, the 'MP3 of video' that for the first time allowed putting entire movies on a CD and sharing them on the Internet: "A codec is not a file format: it is software, based on a certain algorithm, that allows encoding and decoding a certain type of content (in this case, video). And this particular codec was revolutionary because it allowed compressing, maintaining a very acceptable quality, the movies that were already circulating then on the much more expensive DVDs."

Finds a very rare 1956 computer in his grandfather's basement that gave rise to chaos theory: "The Librascope LGP-30 was the first to be named a 'desk computer'. In 1956, the microchip had not yet been invented (it arrived in 1958), so computers used vacuum tubes and diodes, which were very bulky. That's why computers occupied entire rooms. However, the LGP-30 was a 'compact' vacuum-tube computer, a little smaller than a washing machine. It measured 84 x 112 x 66 cm. The hard part was moving it: it weighed 360 kilos."

I put a microphone recording myself 24/7 and used an AI to process the information. Is this the future?: "I bought a couple of Chinese microphones, I wear them on and on all day recording everything I say, at the end of the day the files are processed with OpenAi's Whisper and turned into text files from which information is extracted. In that context I realized you could create a rudimentary 'Digital Assistant' in the style of 'Ok Google' to actively take advantage of the fact that I was recording everything I said anyway."

An Arcadia to flirt, make friends and get a job: long live the old internet: "It is increasingly common to hear laments about that era of forums, mailing lists and chats like IRC, a lost paradise where great friendships were made, loves, or where you could even find a job. The niche internet for introverts and uninterested hobbyists who ripped movies, shared records or wrote subtitles for series before streaming platforms existed."

What is BlackRock, the company that controls the world: "To give a few important examples, BlackRock controls most of the shares of giants such as Microsoft, Amazon, Apple, Coca Cola, Twitter, PepsiCo, Ferrari, Bank of America, JP Morgan, Pfizer, McDonald's or Uber. It is also the second largest shareholder of Facebook, only behind its owner and founder, Mark Zuckerberg. Many people will have been surprised by this point. But the surprises have only just begun. The multinational controls approximately 10% of the world economy."

The calm before the storm: "It is ridiculous to think about the self-sufficiency of renewable energies. The entire design of the energy transition depends at every step on the presence of oil (diesel). When calculations are made about the versatility of renewables, about the possible replacement of fossil fuels, they don't realize that to create the entire renewable universe, large amounts of oil are needed. For example, calculating an EROI of 20 for wind turbines doesn't take into account everything needed for that manufacturing."

The gigantic fusion cannon that could eliminate electric utilities forever: "The founders of First Light Fusion have discovered gunpowder. In the literal sense, not in the mockery of the Spanish saying: their method of inertial thermonuclear fusion consists of using three kilos of gunpowder to fire a projectile at seven kilometers per second (Mach 21) through a 22-meter-long cannon to impact a fusion target and generate a miniature star. The prototype of the cannon is the one you can see on these pages. Their tests, although it seems incredible, have been a success."

Kepler's heresy, the mathematics that questioned God as architect of the universe: "The mission of Johannes Kepler, mathematician, astronomer, astrologer in the service of Emperor Rudolf II of Habsburg, was to uncover the laws that served the Creator to shape the universe. But Kepler faced the judgment of an incongruity, a piece that doesn't fit with logic and questioned the omnipotence of God. That incongruity is the geometric figure of the heptagon."

They manage to create a black hole in a laboratory and it starts to shine: "Physicists created a kind of event horizon that interfered with the wave nature of electrons, which produced an increase in temperature that coincided with the theoretical expectations of an equivalent black hole system: they managed to generate Hawking radiation. Despite the lack of real gravity in the model system, consideration of this synthetic horizon provides important information about the physics of black holes."

How rocket launch photographs are taken: "The first thing you need to know is that there are two ways to take the photos. Close up and far away. Far-away photos are 'easy' but the problem, exactly, is that you are far away. If you want to get a detail you need a huge telephoto lens. We're talking distances of several km. The good thing about going far away is that you can look for nice reflections or try long exposures. But let's get to the meat."

Argentina tried to produce nuclear energy in bottles: "After Germany's defeat, many Nazis found refuge in countries that wanted to take advantage of their technical knowledge or allow them to live in anonymity. While the United States had Wernher von Braun, Argentina had the Nazi aeronautical engineer Kurt Tank, who would create the Pulqui II. Thanks to him, Argentina would be on everyone's lips for achieving the apparently impossible: controlled fusion."

The Peter principle, the origin of incompetence: "It is likely that the reader has at some point experienced the strange feeling of being surrounded by incompetents. It is a perception that may seem strange and Martian at first, but in reality it is more natural and common in humans than one might imagine. Especially since statistics, empirical experiences and the main studies on the subject show that most people suffer from that problem: being hopelessly incapable, clumsy and incompetent."

Videos

• If you could see all the satellites in the sky (360°/VR)
• 35mm time-lapse of lunar eclipse
• Twin baby elephants
• The office cubicle that follows you everywhere
• Billiard ball at 640 km/h
• Teaching piano to his seven-year-old daughter
• If Joker were a Pixar movie
• Automatic breakfast
• What would happen if a star explodes near Earth
• Completing the puzzle on hard
• Cinematic crashes with toy cars
• Feeding two million kids
• Otters playing with bubbles
• The 90s condensed
• The longest flute in China
• The voices behind Disney classics
• Intimate encounter with an octopus
• ARKA
• "K.I.T."
• Spider-Man: EVERYONE’S HOME!
• MOSHARI

Galleries

Old photos of Japan, best landscape photos, competitive barrel jumping, covering blemishes with tattoos, postcards with monsters, reimagining their own photos with AI, best African wildlife photos 2022, Michael Whelan's science fiction, amazing bug art by Jappari, trapped in their own cartoons, the evolution of Kowloon, covers of Galaxy science fiction magazine, pink auroras, the Weekly Animated Dump and the Visual Dump. Oh, and also Web Comic Mutante, a place full of comics with great vibes.

Now yes. Sorry for the delay, things happened. A hug and, hopefully, until next weekend!