A weekly newsletter for all your intellectual, spiritual, and physical needs
Hello everybody! Welcome to a slightly delayed Volume 152 of Doviās Digest.
Last week many Jews celebrated Pesach (Passover), in which we commemorate the exodus from Egypt. For the entire eight days we eat no leavened products. No bread, crackers, cakes, or even pizza. Pizza holds a special place in my heart (as Iām sure it does for most of you too). Itās my go-to when Iām feeling down or when I want to celebrate. It works for dinner, lunch, and yes, breakfast (cold pizza in the morning is fantastic and those of you who disagree are just lying to yourselves). Itās versatile, easy to obtain, and can be eaten on the go. Itās no wonder its so many peopleās favourite food.
Because of this, once Pesach is over, kosher pizza shops are mobbed. Pitched battles are fought over tables, those comically large pepper grinders become deadly weapons, and you can't tell if someone is covered in sauce ā or itās just blood.
Which is why most people elect to order in. It may take two hours, but at least there is no danger to life and limb. Problem is that takeout pizza never tastes as good as sit down. Turns out thereās a reason for it, and it is down to one thing ā the box. Read more in this weekās headline article.
Correction: in DD151, one of the facts was āMatrixĀ is Latin for woo.ā It is in fact Latin for womb.
Your added extra this week is some pretty drone shots of historic skyscrapers, the intricate design of which we never see from all the way down here.
The Doviās Digest Facebook and Twitter pages will keep you sated between editions, with all new content. Check it out at the links below:
Do you enjoy the Digest? Would you like it to get better? Then please consider sharing it, as the more articles Iām sent, the better it is. It only takes a few seconds, and all you need to do is click here š. Thank you!
There wereĀ FOURĀ correct answers to last weekās brainteaser. Well done toĀ Chaim Ehrlich, Tanya Perel, Ayelet Garber, and Ariel Subotzky!Ā The answer and this weekās puzzle are below, as is the answer to the riddle in Digest 150.
Normally I write some platitude about āif you donāt like the headline article thereās other stuff for youā. But if you donāt like pizza we can't be friends. Of course thereās more for you to peruse, my friend. Read about the 30-year-long game of scrabble and what itās come to represent, the fight over whether dyslexia exists, a new shape that maths nerds are very amped about, why we should take a step back from AI and reassess before it kills us all, visit a dilapidated dinosaur themed theme park, and find out the dangers of being a native American woman. Ā
Keep those articles (and everything else) coming.
Have a great week,
Dovi
And now, the articles:
You Donāt Know How Bad the Pizza Box Is
The delivery icon hasnāt changed in 60 years, and itās making your food worse.
In Defense of Scrabble
One familyās 30-year long game and the unavoidable meanings of words.
The Battle Over Dyslexia
It was once a widely accepted way of explaining why some children struggled to read and write. But in recent years, some experts have begun to question the existence of dyslexia itself.
Mathematicians Excited About New 13-Sided Shape Called 'the Hat'
Researchers proved the existence of a kind of shape that'd only been predicted to exist by theory.
Why The AI Industry Could Stand To Slow Down A Little
This year has given us a bounty of innovations. We could use some time to absorb them.
Prehistoric Forest Amusement Park
The remains of an abandoned dinosaur theme park litter the woods just off the highway.Ā
Her Mother Disappeared. Then Her Babysitter. A Lawman Fears She Might Be Next
California tribes grapple with generational trauma and a crisis of women and girls going missing.
Quote of the Week:
āA pessimist is a man who looks both ways before crossing a one-way street.ā ā Laurence Peter
Facts of the Week:
Many Japanese bathhouses banned people with tattoos.
At Italian swimming pools, swimming caps are compulsory.
In French swimming pools, men are obliged to wear speedos/budgie smugglers.
There's a spa in the Czech Republic where you can bathe in beer.
Brno, in the Czech Republic, has an annual parade of Silly Walks.
RĆ”Äkovat is a Czech word meaning to mispronounce your āRās.
Bats have regional accents.
Bats eat so many insects that they save US farmers $22.9 billion a year.
Cartoon of the Week:
Tweet of the Week:
Headline of the Week:
Brainteaser of the Week:
In this sentence, the number of occurrences
of the digit 0 is __,
of the digit 1 is __,
of the digit 2 is __,
of the digit 3 is __,
of the digit 4 is __,
of the digit 5 is __,
of the digit 6 is __,
of the digit 7 is __,
of the digit 8 is __, and
of the digit 9 is __.
There are two solutions. Can you find one (or both)?
Last Weekās Brainteaser and Answer:
Iāll give you five words and five definitions. Each word can be anagrammed into a two-word phrase that matches one of the definitions. Then, you have to assign each definition to its corresponding word.
Example: Given the word ācobalt,ā you could rearrange it to ācat lobā and match the definition āto hit a feline in a high arc.ā
Words
Chameleon, medium, physical, president, tungsten
Definitions
a boat constructed of thick mud-like soil
a cozy canvas shelter
a device for trapping tarantulas
a not-too-bright bird
a tidy house
Answer:
a boat constructed of thick mud-like soil ā clay ship (physical)
a cozy canvas shelter ā snug tent (tungsten)
a device for trapping tarantulas ā spider net (president)
a not-too-bright bird ā dim emu (medium)
a tidy house ā clean home (chameleon)
Digest 150 riddle and answer:
Name a branch of scientific study. Drop the last letter. Then rearrange the remaining letters to name two subjects of that study. What branch of science is it?
Astronomy ā star and moon