Dovi's Digest Volume 107
A weekly newsletter for all your intellectual, spiritual, and physical needs
Chances are that if you subscribe to this newsletter, you don’t live under a rock (although you may, I don’t judge). And if you don’t live under a rock, chances are you’re familiar with the game that took the world by storm in late 2021/early 2022. I am, of course, talking about Wordle. Just in case you have been living under a rock, Wordle is a very simple game. You have six guesses to guess a five-letter word. Each time you guess a word, the game gives you some hints. If the letter is correct and in the correct place, the tile goes green. If the letter is correct but in the wrong place, the tile goes yellow. And if the letter is incorrect, it goes grey. Using these hints, you whittle down the number of words that are possible until you hit on the right one. The beauty behind Wordle is twofold: 1) you can share your results with a friend at the touch of a button, where coloured squares denote the letters, without giving anything away, and 2) there is only one Wordle per day, so as soon as it’s done, you need to wait until midnight for the next one. This way you don’t get fatigued and bored of the game quickly. The inventor, Josh Wardle (yes, the name is pun), originally created the game for his partner, later sharing it with family. It grew exponentially from there, having over 2 million daily players in mid-December 2021. In January of this year, Wardle sold the game to the New York Times for “an undisclosed price in the low seven figures”. The success of the game has spawned countless spinoffs including Quordle (four words at once), Sweardle (only dirty words), and Worldle, in which you have to guess a country by it’s outline (a tiny brag: I’m particularly good at this one and have multiple single guess wins to my name).
However, the idea behind the game isn’t revolutionary. In fact, a version of it may be over 1000 years old, although this is apocryphal. In fact, many of you probably recognise its basic mechanics from a game that all children received around their 11th birthdays (or it spontaneously just appeared on a shelf, I’m unsure which) – Mastermind. The premise is pretty much the same, except with coloured pegs. The only difference being that which pegs are correct or incorrect isn’t specified, you have to work it out for yourself.
In this week’s headline article, we not only learn a little about the Inventor of mastermind (an Israeli developer similar to the one who invented Rummikub ala the story in DD 89), but it’s hidden sexual power dynamics, how it was a subtle stick it to “The Man”, and its invaluable contribution to the creation of cyber security.
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There was ONE correct answers to last week’s brainteaser. Well done to Josh Hazan!!! The answer and this week’s riddle are below.
Boardgames don’t rev up your brainium? That’s cool, because this week you can learn about the touching story of a Jewish father’s letters to his family while he was waiting to be sent to Auschwitz, skydiving salamanders, the five tips to become a better you as told by a Shaolin monk, beautiful mazes from around the world, why ABBA’s outfits were so colourful and crazy (and the man who created them), and how Ukrainian expats are getting back home to help fight. Enjoy!
Keep those articles (and everything else) coming,
Have a great week,
Dovi
And now, the articles:
The Mysterious Origins of Mastermind, the Codebreaking Board Game
It was an international sensation. It made an appearance in Fallout. It helped create the field of cybersecurity. But where did it come from?
Letters Of Love: “Our Father Wrote Every Day as He Waited to Be Sent to Auschwitz”
Arrested by the Nazis for being a Jew, Daniele Israel spent months in jail in Trieste before being deported to Auschwitz. The letters he wrote to his wife as she hid with their two sons only recently came to light, and paint a deeply moving portrait of a family shattered by the Holocaust.
Skydiving Salamanders Survive Falls from Redwood Trees by Gliding
Salamanders that live their entire lives in the crowns of the world’s tallest trees, California’s coast redwoods, have evolved a behaviour well-adapted to the dangers of falling from great heights: the ability to parachute, glide, and manoeuvre in mid-air.
A Shaolin Kung Fu Master Shares The 5 Mental States That Hold Us Back in Life—And How to Fight Them
Shi Heng Yi, Headmaster of the Shaolin Temple Europe, crams 30 years of study and 1500 years of culture into one easy article (the self-mastery takes time though).
24 Mesmerizing Mazes and Labyrinths
It's okay if you're a little lost.
The Strange Anatomy of ABBA’s Infamous (Tax Deductible) Wardrobe
What do house cats, Euro pop, and the ingenious tax savvy have in common? Owe Sandström, the flamenco-dancing-zoologist-designer, that’s who.
One Seat in Coach, 36 Suitcases, and Enough Kevlar to Fight a War
The Ukrainian Americans supplying an army on their own.
Quote of the Week:
“And those who were seen dancing were thought to be insane by those who could not hear the music.” —Friedrich Nietzsche
Facts of the Week:
Gambling was illegal in public libraries from 1898 to 2005.
In 2014, Oakland, California, discovered that pinball had been illegal there for 80 years and immediately legalised it.
In 2017, Oregon banned poker and also a game called Big Injun, despite the fact that it hadn’t been played since the 1950s.
The best poker face is a smile.
Blind people smile, even though they have never seen anyone else doing so.
When Walmart opened in Germany, it scrapped its policy of employees smiling at customers because the Germans found it too weird.
In Germany, until 1888 you had to have a licence to take a child out in a pram.
The German for contraceptive pill is Antibabypille.
Cartoon of the Week:
(Courtesy of David Greenway)
Tweet of the Week:
Headline of the Week:
Brainteaser of the Week:
Two objects perform the same task. One as thousands of moving parts while the other has no moving parts. What are they?
Last Week’s Brainteaser and Answer:
In the following code, each symbol stands for one of five letters.
; stands for N, O, L, U, or T
( stands for K, B, M, E, or Y
3 stands for H, E, P, C, or W
* stands for F, A, J, E, or R
The four-letter code word 3;*( can be translated into two English words that are opposites. What are the two words?
Answer:
Work and play