One of the first violent and banned games, the legendary Scalextric, and the secret ingredient of video games. Plus Viking technology, the USA losing wars it starts, and the myth of digital natives, among many other things. All that and much more, only for the brave of heart who venture into the entrails of the recommended links.
Death Race, the controversial Exidy arcade: "In April 1976 the already-disappeared Exidy, one of the most successful companies during the early years of video games, launched in the United States the arcade 'Death Race', a video game where our objective is to drive a vehicle and find 'gremlins' to run over to score points."
Scalextric – A tour of the most emblematic racing circuit: "Passed from parents to children as if it were a kind of torch or family tradition, Scalextric has invaded living rooms, bedrooms and wardrobes of avid collectors, becoming a religion for all motor racing fans and one of the few toys that more than 60 years after its invention, still have a predominant place in large stores, specialized shops and second-hand markets."
Crunch, the secret ingredient of your favorite video games: "Journalist Jason Schreier compiles in his book Blood, Sweat and Pixels the story of how some successful video games of recent years were made. In the book's prologue he tells that many developers constantly talk to him about the difficulties of their work, about work days that extend to two or three in the morning and about ingesting very unhealthy amounts of caffeine. In one of those conversations, after hearing all kinds of hardships, Schreier said: 'It seems a miracle that the game made it out.' His interlocutor replied: 'Jason, it's a miracle that any game makes it out.'"
Sweden and social suicide, the subtle but fearsome revolution: "Social engineering, supported in this case by the Welfare State taken to its last consequences, seems to be giving birth to a new human species, with people who find it gratifying to talk to trees, communicate with nature in a kind of mystical relationship, but feel disturbed if they must establish some kind of emotional relationship with their equals. We find ourselves in a world where the street is not a place for meeting, relating, exchanging, but an impersonal space of hurried comings and goings, of people who walk, or drive their vehicles, silent, going from home to work, to the supermarket and back home."
Viking technology that conquered the world: "The Vikings are known for being cruel warriors and skilled navigators who, for centuries —from the 8th to the 11th—, left their native Scandinavia to explore and plunder other lands. The key to their successful raids was in their ships, the fast drakkars, technically superior to those of their rivals. They were also able to navigate the sea without a compass, with sunstones that allowed them to know where the sun was on cloudy days. Thanks to their technology and their conquering spirit, they reached the coasts of almost all of Europe, North Africa, the Middle East, Central Asia and northeastern North America. They also colonized Iceland and Greenland."
Why does the United States lose all the wars it starts?: "How is it possible that the greatest military machine the world has known has such a bad record? What sense does all this sophisticated and expensive machinery make if every time it embarks on a fight it ends up leaving a less secure world? The Pentagon keeps saying: 'Give me the tools and I will finish the job.' But the work is never finished and it could be argued that Afghanistan, Iraq and their neighbors are less secure today than they were before the United States got involved."
The myth of digital natives: "As in the case of many fictional creatures, although there is no evidence to support its existence, the myth of the digital native (also known as homo zappiëns) is accepted and propagated by educational gurus, on social networks, mass media and by legislators. But while the myth of the existence of the yeti and other fauna is truly harmless, the myth of its 'colleague' digital is extremely harmful to our educational system, our children, and to education in general. In the following article we intend to describe and discuss the state of research on the problems related to the acceptance of the belief in the existence of digital natives."
The first great peasant rebellion in China started to avoid the death penalty for being late: "The life of a peasant was not easy at the end of the 3rd century BC, but in China it was especially hard under the rule of Emperor Qin Er Shi, the second of the Qin dynasty. That is why it was a matter of time and opportunity for a revolt to break out against his authority, and the foreseeable moment arrived in 209 BC at the hands of two laborers named Chen Sheng and Wu Guang, who were part of a force recruited to protect the borders but who took up arms after killing their officers. It was the first peasant rebellion of China of some importance and it is known as Dazexiang for the place where it occurred."
Who will cry for the ugly animals when they disappear?: "The Earth is home to millions of species and we are the only one with consciousness and responsibility to preserve it for all the others. And I say all. I insist on it because when we think about species conservation we usually think of cute koalas, imposing gorillas, majestic tigers or friendly dolphins. And although it is commendable to want to protect cetaceans, who remembers all those other species, the ugly ones, the unpleasant ones, the scraggly ones, the slimy ones, the pathetic ones? Does the blobfish, once named the ugliest animal in the world, not deserve to survive just as much as the lynx or the Spanish imperial eagle?"
Kate Bush – 40 years of Wuthering Heights: "Kate Bush's stubbornness in defending Wuthering Heights not only led her to banish ABBA (and the ABBA of Take A Chance On Me, to top it off) from number one on the singles charts: it also made her the first female artist to reach that position in the UK with a song written by herself. Although The Kick Inside did not reach the top of the British Top 10 (it stayed in third place), and even though not all her songs are up to such a classic, it is a perfect prologue to enter the Bushian world." One of my ten favorite songs, especially the Angra version.
How to get your body turned into a fossil (because it's not easy): "Fossilization is so unlikely that scientists estimate that less than a tenth of 1% of all animal species that ever existed became fossils. And even fewer were found. Being human, we have a couple of things in our favor: hard and relatively large skeletons. So we have more chances than a jellyfish or a worm."
How to boil an egg perfectly taking into account the laws of physics: "How many minutes do you have to leave an egg boiling for it to be perfect? Most of us have a generic answer to that question, but I'll tell you beforehand that we all do it wrong. Quantum physicist Miłosz Panfil has calculated the exact formula for cooking an egg, and it's simply fascinating. Eggs are much more complicated than they seem from the outside. The yolk and the white are made up of different combinations of proteins and fats, and they react differently to temperature. The white, for example, coagulates much earlier than the yolk."
Videos
Opening scenes in Steven Spielberg movies, how to make a knife out of aluminum foil, throwing a corgi dog from a plane, bald eagles in slow motion, drilling paint in 4K, Leeroy Jenkins animated, a robot spider that will surprise you, a shower in China, how to anger a sniper, holding 102 kilos with wooden pallets, how an automatic mahjong table works, giant tarantula climbing his body, how ticks dig in, rabbits in film history, kittens in 4K and slow motion, a paddle with your face, a time-lapse of a seed and how to open a hotel door in 30 seconds.
Galleries
Nudes created by an artificial intelligence, Jim II's pop art, Star Trek: Final Generation posters, horror comics, faces being blowtorched, illustrations of a futuristic world from 1920, zombie apocalypse in impressionist style, the art of Jakub Rebelka, statues of people on buildings, miniature birds, colorized photos of Russia during World War II, conceptual photos by Arno Rafael Minkkinen, the cyberpunk art of Hiroto Ikeuchi and, of course, the Visual Dump of the week, with everything you like.
This Week on NeoTeo
The best of NeoTeo in an epic summary! GTA V graphics comparison, why the router address is what it is, how to survive a nuclear attack, win a Pornhub Premium account, how to unsubscribe from Facebook, Halcyon (the failed video game console), computers in movies and series, the flight of Mike Hughes' rocket and how many transistors exist per ant.
So much reading! So many videos! So many images! I hope your brain hasn't had a stroke, I don't like losing readers.
