A weekly newsletter for all your intellectual, spiritual, and physical needs
Hi friends! Welcome to Volume 112 of Dovi’s Digest.
As the more astute readers may have noticed, the articles in each week’s Digest are pretty varied (for the most part). This is because a) I’m pretty varied myself when it comes to reading matters, (or life in general I guess?) and b) The readership of the Digest is quite varied. We have high power solicitors in the U.K., housewives in the suburbs of Johannesburg, foreign policy wonks in the U.S., doctors in Australia, and everything in between. I can't tell you what the most common demographic is, as the days when I knew most people on the list are long gone and I (unlike some unnamed corporations whose names rhyme with shmacebook and floogle) don’t collect any data. However, I do know (assume) that the majority of my readers are not Gen Z. As a result, you’re probably not on TikTok, and therefore are not aware of the #gentleminions fad.
The synopsis on it is that teens are going to movie theatres to see the latest Despicable Me instalment dressed in suits. For the most part they’re pretty peaceful, but there is a subset who cheer, shout, throw popcorn, and pretty much ruin the movie for the other patrons. So much so, that many theatres in America and England have banned people wearing suits. I will reiterate that the majority of people have been well behaved, and have caused the BBC to quote one of the great lines in news history:
Although this seems like an isolated fad, things like this have been slowly building, with Gen Z slowly taking over the mantle from millennials as the “change generation”.
This week’s headline discusses this movement, how it has come to be, and how a dipping sauce released by McDonald’s in the 90s and an animated scientist grandfather/grandson combo kicked it all off.
For the record: I am very pro going to the cinema in suits and think it’s hilarious. Also, please don’t judge millennials for taking things slow. We’re all very tired.
Do you enjoy the Digest? Would you like it to get better? Then please consider sharing it, as the more articles I’m sent, the better it is. It only takes a few seconds, and all you need to do is click here 👇. Thank you!
There were TWO correct answers to last week’s brainteaser. Well done to Ariel Subotzky and Josh Hazan. The answer and this week’s riddle are below.
The Rick and Morty inspired rush on Szechuan sauce kicking off a revolution isn’t to everyone’s taste (herher, see what I did there? I made a food pun). So, we have a charcuterie board of other options. You can read about the massive business of antiquities smuggling, and how the pieces land up in the world’s most prestigious museums, why we will never be able to explore the entire universe, why some grownups still love Disney so much, the best place to see the northern lights, the raptors who keep America’s vineyards safe, and the science and beauty behind the sea lighting up with bioluminescence. Enjoy!
Enjoy!
Keep those articles (and everything else) coming,
Have a great week,
Dovi
And now, the articles:
The Rise of The #Gentleminions
Or: how The 2017 Rick & Morty Szechuan sauce incident brought Gen Z to the fore.
An Art Crime for the Ages
Deep in the Cambodian jungle, investigators are unravelling a network that trafficked antiquities on an unprecedented scale and brought them all the way to the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
94% Of the Universe’s Galaxies Are Permanently Beyond Our Reach
Even if we travelled at the speed of light, we'd never catch up to these galaxies.
For Some Adults Who Love Disney, It's Like a Religion
A “Blue Hole” To The Northern Light
A little-known meteorological phenomenon makes a tiny village in Arctic Sweden one of the best places on Earth to consistently see the Aurora Borealis.
The Birds of Prey That Stand Guard Over California’s Vineyards
Without them, the state’s lucrative wine grape crop could be gobbled up by smaller birds.
And Then the Sea Glowed a Magnificent Milky Green
A chance encounter with a rare phenomenon called a milky sea connects a sailor and a scientist to explain the ocean’s ghostly glow.
Quote of the Week:
“There is freedom of speech, but I cannot guarantee freedom after speech.” – Idi Amin, former dictator of Uganda
Facts of the Week:
NASA has its own radio station called Third Rock Radio.
In 1972, Peru banned Santa Claus from appearing on radio and TV.
Santa's helpers in Iceland include the Spoon Licker, the Door Sniffer, and the Sausage Swiper.
Good Icelandic children get presents at Christmas; naughty ones get rotten potatoes.
Frederick William of Prussia decreed that anyone refusing to plant potatoes would have their noses and ears cut off.
Police in Vanuatu are encouraging people to grow potatoes instead of pot.
It is illegal in England to import Polish potatoes, or potato suspected of being Polish.
When foreign films are dubbed into Polish, all the parts, even those of women and children, are read by one male actor.
Cartoon of the Week:
Tweet of the Week:
Headline of the Week:
Brainteaser of the Week:
Seeing as last week’s one was so popular, here’s another similar one. You are standing on the surface of the Earth. You walk ten miles north, ten miles west, ten miles south and then ten miles east. You end up exactly where you started. Where are you?
(Note: this is not a trick question. Since the Earth is spherical, almost all starting points will not get you back to where you started.)
Bonus brainteaser!!!
In the Jules Verne story Around the World in Eighty Days, Phileas Fogg leaves London on October 2, 1872. He travels via Egypt, India, Japan, the US and his final leg is across the Atlantic. As the book’s title indicates, the trip takes him 80 days. What day did he arrive back in London?
Last Week’s Brainteaser and Answer:
In the early years of rocket company SpaceX, CEO Elon Musk liked to set job applicants the following problem:
You’re standing on the surface of the Earth. You walk one mile south, one mile west and one mile north. You end up exactly where you started. Where are you? (There is more than one answer, I expect two in any answer).
Answer:
The north pole is one answer.
There are also an infinite number of places near the South Pole where walking a mile south, west and north returns you to exactly where you started. Consider the circle of latitude near the South Pole that has a circumference of 1 mile. From any point on this circle, walking one mile west along this circle will take you back to that same point. Thus any point a mile north of this circle of latitude is a solution to the problem. But there are more points too: Consider the circle of latitude that has a circumference of 0.5 miles. Any point a mile north of this circle is also a solution. Indeed, the solutions are any point one mile north of a circle whose circumference is (1/n) miles for all n.