Recommended Links of the Week (No. 706): Asian Horror, Golden Axe, Sarah Connor and More

Regulars already know the drill. For everyone else, here’s a quick summary: Asian horror films, Golden Axe, Sarah Connor, the Poltergeist girl, and emojis. Plus videos of all kinds, image galleries, and several more articles. Enjoy!

The 20 best Asian horror films: "The best Asian horror movies don't need much to scare us: a child painted white, a deadly videotape, a young woman singing 'kiri-kiri-kiri'... and sometimes, yes, a train full of zombies. But with more or less resources, there's something about Eastern horror that grips our spine like no one else. Take a look at this list, if you dare, and discover which Japanese film inspired 'The Exorcist', how many installments of 'The Grudge' there are, or which Eastern films have terrified Scorsese, Tarantino, Ari Aster, or Edgar Wright."

“Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles” (2008-2009), by Josh Friedman: "Having their quintessential Terminator, Arnold Schwarzenegger, busy with other projects, producers Andrew Vajna and Mario Kassar turned their attention to the small screen. In 2002, C2 Pictures together with screenwriter Josh Friedman began developing a television series based on the films about the assassin cyborg from the future. Friedman's idea was that the story would begin several years after the events of Terminator 2 and focus on the character of Sarah Connor."

The last days of Heather, the truth behind the mysterious death of the Poltergeist girl: "The film was released by Metro Goldwyn Mayer on June 4, 1982, and was a commercial success, becoming the highest-grossing horror film that year. The second sequel, 'Poltergeist', was released in 1986 and filming of the third began quickly. No one could imagine then the tragic ending that awaited Heather O'Rourke, who in 1988 died suddenly at age 12. It was in 1987 that Heather began to get sick."

Pac-Man (using 35,949 dominoes)

When the algorithm thinks for you: "The problem, moreover, is not just the loss of critical thinking ability – a responsibility that does not lie with technology companies but rather with the educational system and the upbringing parents give their children – but also the seemingly limitless capacity for manipulation that could arise from such a system, simply by carefully selecting its sources – something that would also be extremely discreet – or selecting its responses."

Why do we use emoji?: "The way we communicate underwent a great transformation at the beginning of this century. Our social interactions began to take place virtually through mobile phones and social networks. This situation generated new forms of written communication with undeniable positive aspects, but with an obvious limitation: the absence of the non-verbal ingredient present in face-to-face communication. To alleviate this flaw, emojis were devised."

The Japanese nuclear program: "In April 1941, the Japanese nuclear program began under Doctor Yoshio Nishina, from the nuclear development laboratory in 1931 at the Riken Institute in Tokyo. That project was named Ni-Go and focused on the separation of uranium-235 exclusively by thermal diffusion, which separated uranium isotopes by heating a thin layer of liquid or gas. In 1944, they managed to produce a crystal of uranium hexafluoride the size of a grain of rice. By February 1945, a small amount of radioactive material was isolated."

Robocop and The Terminator

Abandoned mines turned into batteries to supply electricity to the whole planet: "The system, its creators say, generates electricity when energy demand is highest. It does this by lowering a heavy material like sand down into the underground mine and converting its potential energy into electricity through a regenerative braking system. When energy is cheaper, the sand is lifted back up to an upper reservoir using electric motors to recharge the battery."

The surprising transformation of a woman who managed to remove the tattoo from her face: "A woman has spent more than three years undergoing a tough laser treatment in an attempt to remove the tattoo covering her face. The idea of tattooing her face came from her ex-partner, and in a difficult moment in her life, she accepted so as not to lose him. That lack of self-esteem became a nightmare that ended her relationship but also changed her life. Her shocking image went viral, and she had to endure the judgment of others and unwanted fame."

Golden Axe, a gateway to heroic fantasy: "In 1989 (...) one of our first contacts with what is commonly called 'heroic fantasy' or 'sword and sorcery' was with an arcade machine very different from anything we had seen up to that moment. Of course, we are talking about the classic Golden Axe. (...) And it is the 'violence' displayed in Golden Axe that made other video games seem intended for small children. For a start, right at the beginning of the game, an enemy killed a poor innocent man fleeing on crutches, all covered in blood..."

Vampire Killer on Tesla coils

The beveled-rim bowl of Uruk, the first mass-produced object in history, whose function is still unknown: "One of the advantages of the army of Ying Zheng (the first emperor of China in 221 BC under the name Qin Shi Huang) during the Warring States period were crossbows made with bronze parts equipped with a sophisticated trigger mechanism made of interchangeable pieces. These pieces were manufactured using mass-production molds."

“Japan was the future, but got stuck in its past”: "It is the third largest economy on the planet. It is a peaceful and prosperous country with the longest life expectancy in the world, the lowest homicide rate, few political conflicts, a powerful passport, and the sublime Shinkansen, the best high-speed rail network in the world. (...) At the end of the 80s, the Japanese were richer than Americans. Now they earn less than the British."

How donkeys changed the course of human history: "The research is providing surprising information about the very history of our species through our relationship with these versatile animals. According to Orlando, the donkeys raised at the Roman villa of Boinville-en-Woëvre measured 155 cm from the ground to the withers (a ridge between the shoulder blades). The average height of donkeys today is 130 cm. The only modern donkey that comes close is the American mammoth donkey, also known as the mammoth jack."