It’s not just the developer’s fault. In most cases, it’s not the developer’s fault at all. Take for example, what happened during the launch of Mediatonic’s Fall Guys: Ultimate Knockout. After 1.5 million players attempted to play the game, the servers collapsed, and the game stopped working. The cause of the problem is far too complex for a simple Twitter post, as The Guardian details: 

As with most social media blow-ups, the answer is far too nuanced for Twitter to cope with, but it comes down to this: running a global large-scale multiplayer online game is an expensive, technologically complex endeavour, even in 2020, even after weeks of beta testing and data analysis. Jon Shiring, co-founder of new studio Gravity Well and previously a lead engineer on Apex Legends and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4, puts it very simply: “Each game relies on a lot of semi-independent services, and each one is its own scale problem. On top of that, sometimes they interact in complex ways.”

One key thing to understand is that game developers usually don’t own or operate the servers that online games run on. Instead, they are rented. A multiplayer game may rely on servers housed in dozens of data centres spread across the world, and there are hundreds of different companies running such centres. Alternatively, a developer may use a large cloud-based service such as AWS, Google Compute Engine, or Microsoft Azure, which run games on virtual machines that share server space among lots of different users. The former option, commonly using “bare metal” servers, can lead to better online performance but is complicated to manage; the latter is easier to manage, and to scale up and down depending on player demand, but can be much more expensive.

Image via The Guardian 

If you’re always on Twitter or Youtube, surely you’ve seen countless people talk about the different issues (or drama, really) about different YouTubers. It’s tiring, and sometimes you’d think these YouTubers are doing it for publicity. Ali Soltan is one of those people who were turned off by these dramas, as they were happening at a time when other matters are more important. But that doesn’t mean he couldn’t turn it into something more comedic and relatable  (and honestly, it’s a very witty way of telling someone about these dramas). Ali Soltan presents a Danganronpa Class Trial version of YouTuber drama. It’s very entertaining to watch, seriously. 

Well, that’s to be expected from a lake growing in the belly of a volcano. A mysterious lake the size of five football fields is growing inside Hawaii’s Kilauea volcano. The deadly waters range from 176 to 185 degrees (80 to 85C), according to the USGS Hawaiian Volcano Observatory, as the Lexington Herald Leader details: 

“Globally, only a few volcanic lakes have surface temperatures greater than ... 176 degrees Fahrenheit,” the USGS reported Aug 8.

Why is the water so hot? Experts have not settled on a specific reason.

One factor could be “residual heat” built up in rubble at the base of the site’s pit crater, the USGS says. Another possibility is the nearby gas vents ( fumaroles ) that produce heat in the range of 302 degrees Fahrenheit, the report said.

The lake began forming sometime after a May 2018 eruption caused the floor of Kilauea’s caldera to collapse, leaving “a hole nearly as deep as One World Trade Center,” according to a report by NASA’s Earth Observatory. Prior to the eruption, the caldera hosted “a large lake of lava,” NASA says.

“In July 2019, helicopter pilots began to notice water pooling into a pond in the lowest part of the crater. Water levels have risen steadily ever since,” NASA says. “Today, the lake — now with a rusty brown sheen on its surface due to chemical reactions taking place in the water — has an area larger than five football fields combined and a maximum depth of roughly ... 100 feet.”

Scientists believe the lake is growing because the crater’s floor fell low enough to put it below the water table, NASA says.

Image via Lexington Herald Leader

Alejandro Zuluaga and Andrea Palacio packed up their bags and resigned from their corporate jobs to live on their sailboat named Hakuna. The couple rented out the two empty rooms in their house and sold their cars. In a few months, they were able to move in with their dogs to their sailboat and sailed to the Dominican Republic. Forbes interviewed the couple about their unconventional lifestyle. Check the full piece here.

Image via Forbes.

The Salpalinja, also known as the ‘Salpa Line’ is a system of more than 700 field fortifications along Finland’s eastern border. The system was built between the Winter War and the Continuation War to prevent the Soviets’s invasion of Finland. Salpalinja consisted of bunkers, trenches, fueling stations, and more. The massive wall of defense never got to fulfill its purpose, as the potential Soviet invasion never came. The system is now a popular tourist spot, as Atlas Obscura details: 

Along the line are multiple museums dedicated to its past and its bunkers, as well as tours that provide a great overview of its history.

However, many bunkers, dugouts, and obstacles are buried deep in the forests, away from guided tours and foot traffic. These areas offer great experiences for those interested in a different or additional perspective from the various museums. The Ventovuori area in Virolahti offers numerous bunkers and systems to explore but it is still just a very small part of Salpalinja. 

Salpalinja was painstakingly built in the name of preparedness and defense, but today it remains only as a reminder of a history that never was, but could have been.

Image via Atlas Obscura 

An Indian travel company has announced a new bus service that can take passengers from New Delhi, India to London. The cost per passenger will be around $2,700. Private tourism company Adventures Overland will also take care of the passengers’ visa requirements, as Travel Update details: 

The package will also include stay at 4 or 5 star hotels. Overall, the bus will cover approximately 18,000 kilometers in 70 days.

Adventures Overland on August 15 announced the “first-ever hop-on/hop-off bus service between Delhi and London”, named “Bus to London”. People taking this tour will travel through Myanmar, Thailand, Laos, China, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Russia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Czech Republic, Germany, Netherlands, Belgium and France.

The idea was pushed by one of the co-founders of Adventures Overland after he and his colleagues did a road trip from India to London for three consecutive years in 2017, 2018 and 2019.

Adventures Overland co-founder Tushar Agarwal told IANS, “We planned this trip after a lot of people passionate about travelling expressed their wish for a road trip to London. This was announced on August 15 and we hope that the first bus to London will be flagged off in May 2021.

Image via Travel Update

United Airlines’ first class nuts are on sale. You don’t have to take any of their flights (with the pandemic, I’m not sure you can anyway) to get a taste of the airlines’ snack. The airlines stopped serving these nuts to passengers to reduce contact between passengers and flight attendants, as One Mile At A Time details: 

As a result, GNS Foods has more than 30,000 pounds of excess nuts… that’s a lot of nuts!

As Kim Peacock, owner of GNS Foods, describes the situation:

“Not only are we left with bags of mixes, we are also left with the raw ingredients and ingredient contracts from the suppliers. We were asked to maintain United’s costs on their mixes for one year. In order to do that, we had to sign raw ingredient contracts for one year. 

Now we’re left with these contracts. If nut prices rise, then you can sell the contract at a profit. Unfortunately, that’s not what happened. Nut prices fell, and the raw ingredient suppliers are looking to us to make up the difference! The other question is, ‘Where to go with all of these nuts?'”

Peacock believes these will be “scooped” up in no time:

Image via One Mile At A Time

Taking photos of a beautiful starry night takes skill and precision. Sometimes we might experience a pretty sky at night and be able to capture it using our phones, but it takes more effort and patience to fully try out astrophotography. Photographer Jess Santos shares some tips and tricks that can help beginners push their night images to the next level. Check the full piece here. 

image via Shutterbug

Relax, they’re not bringing the furniture from the game in real life. The furniture company has recreated its catalog in the style of Animal Crossing: New Horizons! IKEA Taiwan redid key pages from its 2021 catalog using furniture from the game. It’s a fun marketing stunt that’s for sure, as PetaPixel details: 

the company shared images showing the original page from the catalog alongside a recreation done in Animal Crossing.

The video game versions aren’t always a perfect match, since you can’t find every bit of IKEA furniture and interior design “stuff” in the Animal Crossing video game, but they got surprisingly close and created something fun at the same time:

Image via PetaPixel

Before the rise of selfies, there were small photographic prints on cards. These were called carte de visites, and they were popular during the Victorian era. The carte de visites (CdV) were initially expensive and difficult to produce, but that didn’t stop people from offering theirs to other people during their social visits. Homes often had a tray for collecting these calling card-esque photographs. Besides the owner’s photograph, the CdV contains the owner’s name and an emblem, as DIYPhotography details: 

In 1854, Paris photographer Andre Adolphe Disderi patented the 2 1/2″ x 4″ carte de visite format. They were created by using a sliding plate holder and a camera with four lenses. The technique spread to the photographic studios in the great cities of the world. Carte de visites were extensively used in the American Civil War era as families sought mementos before loved ones left for war. Queen Victoria had numerous albums filled with images of her extensive family.

Small and inexpensive to produce, cartes de visites became the international standard. They were collected, exchanged and placed in family albums. Most carte de visites were taken in studios but some adventurous photographers took them outdoors in early examples of photojournalism.

For many people, posing for a carte de visite was the first time they had been photographed. Smiles are almost completely absent. Some people look ill at ease. Most photographers posed their subjects as if they were being painted for a grand oil painting. Look past the stern expressions and you will see Victorian fashion, various accessories and props, uniforms, and hair styles and epic facial hair.

From 1860 until the end of the century, carte de visites were immensely popular. But people didn’t just want pictures of themselves or loved ones, carte de visites of celebrities were also in demand. Images of politicians, authors, explorers, sports stars and other people of note were widely circulated. Eventually the larger cabinet cards replaced CdVs as the technology behind photography continued to advance.

Image via DIYPhotography

As a means of helping photographers make money, Google Images is trialling a “Licensable” tag on image results. This tag is a project that the company has been working on since early 2018. To strengthen the photographer’s claim on their photos, Google has removed the “view image” button that lets users download high-res images straight from the search results and added metadata to the search results. The licensing button is a new addition to their efforts, as Fstoppers details: 

In order to have the licensing option appear alongside your image within a Google Image search, the licensing information needs to be specified on your website.

A link is then provided which guides users to more information about how to license. The feature is still in testing mode and is yet to be rolled out – although anyone who currently owns their own photo website can input the licensing information for their photos through metadata. 

Image via Fstoppers

Stuntman Tim Howell climbed to the peak of Lord Berkeley’s Seat, which was 4,000 feet from the ground. The 31-year-old stuntman from Somerset made the climb to the Ann Teallach mountain range and jumped from its peak. Howell was accompanied by photographer Hamish Frost, who was able to take photos before and after his jump. Some of the images were captured with a helmet- mounted camera that uses software to automatically remove the camera from the image. 

Image via Scotsman

Humans are always looking for a way to answer questions. It frustrates us when we have no answer to a question that’s been bugging us. One of the mysteries we can’t solve is the existence of the very universe we live in. The universe is so vast that there’s not a single theory that can help us understand everything. A small group of physicists are working on a theory that can describe the universe itself. The constructor theory might solve questions such as why biological evolution is possible and how abstract things like ideas and information seem to possess properties that are independent of any physical system, as Gizmodo details:

“When I first learned of constructor theory, it seemed too bold to be true,” said Abel Jansma, a graduate student in physics and genetics at the University of Edinburgh. “The early papers covered life, thermodynamics, and information, which seemed to be too much groundwork for such a young theory. But maybe it’s natural to work through the theory in this way. As an outsider, it’s exciting to watch.”

As a young physics researcher in the 2010s, Chiara Marletto had been interested in problems regarding biological processes. The laws of physics do not say anything about the possibility of life—yet even a slight tweak of any of the constants of physics would render life as we know it impossible. So why is evolution by natural selection possible in the first place? No matter how long you stared at the equations of physics, it would never dawn on you that they allow for biological evolution—and yet, apparently, they do.

Marletto was dissatisfied by this paradox. She wanted to explain why the emergence and evolution of life is possible when the laws of physics contain no hints that it should be. She came across a 2013 paper written by Oxford physicist and quantum computing pioneer David Deutsch, in which he laid the foundation for constructor theory, the fundamental principle of which is: “All other laws of physics are expressible entirely in terms of statements about which physical transformations are possible and which are impossible, and why.”

Image via Gizmodo

The living room is a room with a lot of functions. It’s a place where people can host visitors, or lounge and relax after a long day of work. When someone assembles or designs a living room, it always has the same format: couches for sitting, a center table, and some appliances for entertainment. It didn’t always look that way. Apartment Therapy explains the design evolution of arguably the true heart of any home: 

“The living room is the central entertaining space of the home,” explains Alessandra Wood, Modsy’s vice president of style and author of “Designed to Sell,” which traces the history of design retail back to the 1930s. “It’s often the most public space of the home as well, so it’s the area where dwellers usually add the most personality and design attention.”

For those above reasons, Wood thinks the living room has often become a backdrop for showcasing new trends. Interestingly enough, as is often the cyclical nature of fads, certain living room decor items and decorating ideas have come in and out—and back into—vogue over the years. With that in mind, I examined just how living rooms have changed since the ’60s.

Perhaps Kate Butler, head of design for Habitat, a British furniture retailer, says it best: “It’s important to see where we have previously been by looking at elements of design and the ever changing interior industry landscape, whilst also still looking to the future of design.”

Ready to take a walk down memory lane? Looking back on living rooms of the past just might give you some insight into what to expect for the rest of 2020—and beyond.

Image via Apartment Therapy 

Some design failures lead to accidents, but on a lighter note, some can just give us a good laugh. In a compilation of photographs originally shared on a Reddit thread, people share designs that range from inappropriate to amusing. From a fence randomly secure in the middle of a field to a sign that tells customers to ‘eat kids free’, which one is your favorite?

Image via The Daily Mail