3MTB Newsletter - Deadly 60 degree strike; Cleanest air on earth; 40 years of Pac-Man
“When you think about things women like, you think about fashion, or fortune-telling, or food or dating boyfriends. So I decided to theme the game around eating.”
— Pac-Man creator Toru Iwatani, on whom the game was originally targeted at.
It has been 40 years since the Pac-Man won hearts of gamers all around the world. But, did you know that the game was originally targeted at women gamers, as other games at that time had war and sport themes? Here are some more trivia about the game.
Each of the four ghosts, Blinky (red), Pinky (pink), Inky (cyan), and Clyde (orange), has a distinct AI or personalities that try to corner the Pac-Man.
The idea for the power pellets was inspired from the Popeye the Sailor, who becomes stronger after eating a can of spinach.
3,333,360 is considered the perfect score, which means navigating 256 boards, eating every single dot, energizer blob, flashing blue ghost and bonus fruit without losing a single life. This was achieved only twice and the first person to achieve this was accused of cheating.
You cannot go beyond 256 boards as a bug in the 256th board turns the screen gibberish.
Google’s Pac-Man doodle to celebrate 30th anniversary of the game cost 4.8 m hours/ 120 m dollars in lost productivity to organizations worldwide
Some bits,
Flipkart plans to enter into food retailing business thru Flipkart Farmermart was jinxed by Indian government which cited that the business does not comply with regulatory guidelines. Flipkart plans to apply again.
The Indian government is planning to provide $6.6 billion in incentives and plug-and-play facilities to woo smartphone manufacturers in India. The initial plan is to woo 5 top suppliers.
With all tech conferences cancelled for the rest of the year, CES announced plans to conduct its annual show in Las Vegas in January 2021 with enhanced health policies
Bytes
Rare video of a Tasmanian Tiger
A video of the last thylacine (commonly known as Tasmanian Tiger) was discovered by enthusiasts digging through the Australian National Film and Sound Archives (NFSA). The 21 second clips shows a male thylacine named Benjamin strolling around in Hobart Zoo
Once commonly found in Australia, it became extinct due to the march of civilization and dogs in the continent. Yes! Humans introduced dogs in Australia. Benjamin, the last known thylacine, died in 1936
Cleanest air on Earth
Where would you go on earth to breathe the cleanest air in the world? Your village in the country side? No. You have to travel to the Antarctic. Scientists believe that the world’s cleanest air is located over the Southern Ocean which surrounds Antarctica.
The air above this ocean is free from any aerosols that are created by human activities like consumption of fossil fuels, burning crops, etc. To decide what was in the air and where it came from, scientists study bacteria in the air from the lower atmosphere.
The deadly 60 degree strike that wiped the dinosaurs
Around 66 million years ago, an asteroid larger than the size of Mt. Everest crash landed in the Mexican Yucatan peninsula wiping out the entire dinosaur population (of course, except the crocodile & cockroach families), and plunging the world into a lengthy period of nuclear winter. But what made the strike so deadly?
Scientists have estimated using 3-D computer simulations that the asteroid stuck the Earth at 60 degree angle North East and thus maximizing the amount of dust (including the deadly sulfur) in the air. An impact of 90 degree would not have such impact.
Here is a video about what would have happened during the catastrophe.
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Till the next edition, Stay Home, Stay Healthy and Stay Safe
Best
-SK