A weekly newsletter for all your intellectual, spiritual, and physical needs
Hello everybody! Welcome to Volume 163 of Dovi’s Digest.
Up and at em. The early bird gets the worm. Early to bed and early to rise makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise. The 5am Club proselytises the wonders of getting up early, as if just schlepping yourself out of bed before other people will make you a billionaire. Same for The Morning Miracle. It’s as if people who get up before the crack of dawn are better than the rest of the world. The opposite is true if you sleep in a bit. Hell, one of the seven deadly sins is sloth, but there’s no mention of those smug jerks who tell you how many “kays” they ran this morning before you were even up.
To lay everything out on the table, I’m up a bit before 5am most days. But this is more out of necessity than want. Sure, I enjoy that early morning air, and when I catch sunrise it often brings a smile to my face, but at heart I’m a night owl. I used to be up til 2am every night, mainly messing around to be fair, but enjoying it nonetheless. A late-night DMC (deep meaningful conversation) is infinitely better than one during the day, and the presence of a bonfire can make it transcendent. I’ve had many nights like that, watching the stars, and talking about sport, the meaning of life, and everything in between. Keep your early run, I’d rather connect on a deeper level with someone I care about.
There is evidence that waking up early is better for you. That you’ll live longer, be healthier, have more mental calm. But at what cost? Thankfully, there are new studies coming out that these may be linked just to better sleep. This week’s headline article makes the case for us night owls, sostop trying to change us, and rather harness our power instead.
There is a wide range of added extras this week. You can watch a video on the insane logistics it takes to make a Formula One race happen, from track set up to moving the cars and teams. Or you can take a gander at these beautifully odd bus stops from around the world. If the whimsy of them doesn’t tickle your fancy, have a look at these photos of offshore oil rigs which are real life steam punk/dystopian nightmares.
The Dovi’s Digest Facebook and Twitter pages will keep you sated between editions, with all new content. Check it out at the links below (or scan the insta code):
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 THREE correct answers to last week’s brainteaser. Well done to Yaakov Goldfein, Ariel Subotzky, and Chaim Ehrlich! The answer and this week’s puzzle are below.
Too tired to care about when to sleep? That’s ok. Read about the hunt for the ring of people who purposely maim and torture animals, pick the story of Apple (the tech company) suing apple farms to try own the image of apples (the fruit), light one up and read about how tobacco companies are crushing their environmental and social governance goals, click on the story of how Reddit set itself up for the issues it’s currently having, have a taste of one of the most vilified food ingredients, and the comeback it’s making, and learn about the people who are robbing banks – to get their own money back. Enjoy!
Keep those articles (and everything else) coming.
Have a great weekend,
Dovi
And now, the articles:
Let Night Owls Be Night Owls: How The Pandemic Could Dethrone The Larks
One in five of us stay up at night for good reason. Stop trying to change us. Harness our productivity instead.
Hunting The Monkey Torturers
A BBC investigation has uncovered a global monkey torture ring. This is the story of the torturers, the amateur sleuths who hunted them, and the fate of Mini, the baby monkey who became a celebrity in their twisted world.
Apple Is Taking on Apples in a Truly Weird Trademark Battle
Apple, the company, wants rights to the image of apples, the fruit, in Switzerland—one of dozens of countries where it’s flexing its legal muscles.
How Tobacco Companies Are Crushing ESG Ratings
(Courtesy of Stan Wolberg)
'Women involved in tobacco farming often face structural and cultural barriers,' the tobacco giant Philip Morris wrote in its 2022 ESG report. 'Globally, less than 15 percent of agricultural land is owned by women.'
How Reddit Set Itself Up For A Fall
As it moves to shut down third-party apps, the site’s heavy reliance on unpaid labour comes back to haunt it.
MSG Is The Most Misunderstood Ingredient Of The Century. That’s Finally Changing
Once considered taboo, the additive behind umami is making a comeback.
The Bank Robbers Who Are Stealing Their Own Money
Lebanon’s central bank has plunged the country into a financial crisis that’s left millions of depositors without access to their savings. Some are turning to extreme measures—and becoming folk heroes in the process.
Quote of the Week:
“Most children threaten at times to run away from home. This is the only thing that keeps some parents going.”– Phyllis Diller
Facts of the Week:
In the 1940s, Americans were allowed to buy only three pairs of shoes a year.
Knights Templar were not allowed to wear pointy shoes or speak to women.
The ancient Romans force fed snails.
Some Roman statues had detachable heads that could be removed if the person fell from favour.
In 2017, two 240-year-old letters were found in Spain inside the hollow buttocks of a statue of Jesus.
In 2017, €100,000 were found blocking some toilets in Geneva.
The world's most expensive earrings were sold at auction in Geneva for $56,290,627.
Cameroon's President-for-life spends 15% of his year in a five-star hotel in Geneva, where no one knows what he does.
No one knows how dinosaurs grew to be so large.
Cartoon of the Week:
Tweet of the Week:
(Courtesy of Tanya Perel)
Headline of the Week:
Brainteaser of the Week:
Take a four-letter word, put a “t” at the front, and you’ll get a five-letter word that means the opposite of the original word. Can you figure out the two words?
Last Week’s Brainteaser and Answer:
The numbers below are arranged according to a certain rule. Once you’ve worked out the rule, fill in the missing number. The number seven in the final circle is not a typographical error.
Answer:
The Japanese puzzle inventor Nob Yoshigahara considered this puzzle his masterpiece.
Start at the top left. How can 72 and 99 make 27?
Got it! 99 – 72 = 27. In other words, the number in a circle is the difference of the numbers in the two circles that point to it. And this works down the line with 45 –27 = 18, and 39 – 18 = 21, which means that the missing number must be 15, until you get to 21 – 13 which is equal to 8 not 7!
Back to square one. Or rather circle one. How else can 72 and 99 make 27? The answer is so simple it is easy to miss. 7 + 2 + 9 + 9 = 27. The digits all add up. Likewise, 2 + 7 + 4 + 5 = 18, and so the missing number must be 2 + 1 + 3 + 6 = 12.
The puzzle is fantastically ingenious because Yoshigahara has found two arithmetical rules that fit the same numbers for five steps in the sequence, but only one of which fails for the final step, and then only by 1.
Thanks for reading Dovi’s Digest!