Monday Links from the Gap Between Teams Meetings vol. DCCLXXIV

[DoctorStrangelove]

Should you have an inexplicable urge to build a Galaksija here's a schematic (circuit diagram) for a more modern version:

https://revspace.nl/Galaksija

Enjoy.

[NickFitz]

On my current project it's usually Slack Huddles instead of Teams Meetings, but I'm not putting that in the thread title

• The fermented crescent - ”Ancient Mesopotamians had a profound love of beer: a beverage they found celebratory, intoxicating and strangely erotic.” Which came first: the civilisation or the fermented beverages?
• Our Galaxy Appears To Be Part Of Structure So Large It Challenges Our Models Of Cosmology - ”Astronomers have found that our galaxy, the Milky Way, may be a tiny part of an even larger local structure than we thought. The research, if confirmed by further observations and studies, may be evidence that we haven't quite nailed down our model of the evolution of the universe.” It's still a long way down the road to the chemist's though
• UCL demographer’s work debunking ‘Blue Zone’ regions of exceptional lifespans wins Ig Nobel prize - HT to Paddy for this one: ”A study by Dr Saul Justin Newman (Centre for Longitudinal Studies) has won the first-ever Ig Nobel award in Demography at this year’s 34th Ig Nobel Prizes. His work reveals fundamental flaws in the data about the world’s oldest people and patterns of extreme longevity.” The full paper is available as a preprint: Supercentenarian and remarkable age records exhibit patterns indicative of clerical errors and pension fraud
• Underwater Camera Catches Octopuses Punching Fish Out of Spite - ”A new study shows that some octopuses, specifically the Octopus cyanea , commonly known as the big blue octopus or day octopus, can be found hunting along the seafloor with the aid of different fish species. However, what makes this cooperative fishing expedition especially interesting to scientists is that some octopuses are rather hands-on with their approach, occasionally punching their companion fish to keep them on task.” Sounds like the fish need a union
• My Weekends With the Dead - Tony Ho Tran's search for the truth about his grandfather led him into an unusual hobby: ”In 2017, I decided to solve a longtime mystery about my family. It led me to a controversial pastime that consumes thousands—and has changed untold lives.”
• The Great British UFO Hoax - ”Neil Batey, a shaggy-haired 15-year-old paperboy, was on his way to deliver newspapers when he spotted a strange object… ‘Just off the footpath, in the long grass,’ Neil tells me when we speak on the phone, ‘was a large silver flying saucer.’” I’ve been wary of Narratively for a while as they started paywalling everything, but this one seems to be open access, at least for now
• WhenPhoto - Guess the Year! - Another simple game: guess the year each of eight random photos were taken! I haven’t yet quite got my head around the scoring system, but I daresay you can work it out
• What Became Of the Empire Windrush? - The story of a ship: ”It’s more than 75 years since the Empire Windrush pulled into Tilbury Docks. The people she brought to Britain from the Caribbean, along with migrants on other vessels, would later be known as the Windrush Generation… Its journey shaped not just the lives of the people it carried, but also helped transform London and the nation forever. How come we can’t travel to Tilbury and board the Museum Ship Empire Windrush? Where is it?”
• How one engineer beat restrictions on home computers in socialist Yugoslavia - HT to sadkingbilly for this obscure bit of computer history: ”Voja Antonić explains how he built a home computer and published instructions for anyone to make their own.”
• Trick or Treat - Some Hallowe’en graphic design captured by the stationers of Present & Correct: ”Twenty old Trick or Treat bags that we have scanned in as a seasonal treat.”
  
  

Happy invoicing!