A weekly newsletter for all your intellectual, spiritual, and physical needs
Hello all! Welcome to Volume 168 of Dovi’s Digest.
Each person has their own proclivities when it comes to attraction. Body shape, personality, even speaking voice; we all have different things that make our eyes pop out. Me? I’m a sucker for a good smile – and it doesn’t have to be one of those big toothy smiles either. A shy or demure smile works just as well (maybe even better). A genuine smile is difficult to fake - even in photos you can often tell. My photo face looks basically exactly like this😬. You can get all the face movements right, but if it doesn’t touch your eyes, people pick up on it.
Although it looks like a tortured rictus grin when I smile for the camera, I’m lucky to have good teeth. Daily brushing, slightly less than daily flossing, and seeing the dentist regularly all adds up. I’m also grateful that my parents were able to send me to an orthodontist to get braces.
Despite all this work, my smile pales in comparison to the megawatt smiles of Americans. Those big, bright pearly white grins seem to outshine everything else. The obviously fake grins of the 90s are gone, replaced with hand etched veneers that look like they grew inside a person’s mouth and not in a lab. But more and more, we’re seeing that these smiles have become status symbols which show the widening gap between the haves and the have nots. Read more on our obsession with big smiles in this week’s headline article.
This week’s added extras: there is a visualisation of everything humans mined in 2021 (I bet you wont guess what comes in second). I also found a cool video that compares the sizes of everything that flies from pterodactyls to hummingbirds. And in true Digest fashion, there is a compilation of the winners of another animal and nature photography competition.
I know only having one weekly digest can leave you wanting more. Luckily for you there are three separate platforms for you to get your fill, each with all new and exciting content. Check them 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 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 SEVEN correct answers to last week’s brainteaser. Well done to Rachel Goldstuck, Yisroel Greenberg, Ryan Subotzky, Ariel Subotzky, Chaim Ehrlich, Josh Hazan and Tanya Perel! The answer and this week’s puzzle are below.
If someone’s portrayal of happiness and joy doesn’t bring you the same, there is always more to read. Take a trip to some spooky abandoned islands, search out why Google is still the biggest search engine, despite there being faster, better, and safer alternatives out there, don’t take your eyes off the story of how one moment of carelessness cost a Manhattan Project scientist his life, scan the article of why photocopiers scared the bejesus out of everyone when they first came out (in fact, the USSR heavily regulated them until 1989), learn why Apollo astronauts signed hundreds of letters they never intended to send, and invest some time in the story of one of the biggest bubbles in recent memory: Beanie Babies. Enjoy!
Keep those articles (and everything else) coming.
Have a great weekend,
Dovi
And now, the articles:
The History of the Big, Bright American Smile
Straight white teeth have transformed into a commodity object — and a sparkling beacon of inequality. How America became the number-one exporter of smiles in the world.
11 Fascinating Abandoned Islands Around the World
From India’s Ross Island to Poveglia Island in Italy, the stories of how these islands became abandoned are both spooky and sinister.
The Little Search Engine That Couldn’t
A couple of ex-Googlers set out to create the search engine of the future. They built something faster, simpler, and ad-free. So how come you’ve never heard of Neeva?
The Blue Flash: How A Careless Slip Led to A Fatal Accident in The Manhattan Project
One day in Oppenheimer's Manhattan Project, a brief, casual moment of carelessness killed one scientist and severely injured another. In this specially illustrated story, the artist and writer Ben Platts-Mills recounts what happened to these atomic bomb-makers – and why their accident holds powerful lessons for today.
Photocopiers Terrified the Publishing World
“What Hath Xerox Wrought” asked a 1976 Time Magazine headline.
The Apollo Astronauts Signed Memorabilia in Quarantine—as Life Insurance
“Insurance covers” were meant to provide for their families in the event of disaster.
Why Did People Sink Their Savings into Little Plush Toys?
Beanie Babies had astronomical appreciation estimates that sparked a collecting frenzy in the ’90s.
Quotes of the Week:
“Give me chastity and self-restraint, but not yet.” – St Augustine of Hippo
Facts of the Week:
Sunscreen was invented for people climbing glaciers.
In 2016, KFC launched Extra Crispy Sunscreen, which smelled like fried chicken.
Airline passengers are advised to wear sunscreen by the British Association of Dermatologists (BAD).
The World Bollard Association looks after half a billion bollards.
The roundest country in the world is Sierra Leone.
The combined area of all the parking spaces in America is larger than Israel, Cyprus, or Macedonia.
US basketball player Jimmy Butler removed the rear-view mirrors on his car as a reminder never to look back.
In the Fast and the Furious movies, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson drives trucks because he's too big to fit into the cars.
Cartoon of the Week:
(Courtesy of David Greenway)
Tweet of the Week:
Headline of the Week:
Brainteaser of the Week:
What do the following songs have in common?
“ Any Way You Want It” (Journey)
“Bad Blood” (Taylor Swift ft. Kendrick Lamar)
“Cruise” (Florida Georgia Line)
“Dancing Queen” (ABBA)
Last Week’s Brainteaser and Answer:
A customer service centre received this letter. Can you figure out what the problem is?
Da S /Madam,
’d lk cmlan ab h f m kbad.
hs ls a n kng ccl.
As ma b abl ll, hs ls a mssng fm hs dcmn.
’d b xml gafl f cld fx hs blm.
Knd gads,
Mchal
Answer:
This person (Michael) can’t get the top row of his keyboard to work. If it were working, the full letter would read:
Dear Sir/Madam,
I’d like to complain about the top row of my keyboard.
These letters are not working correctly.
As you may be able to tell, these letters are missing from this document.
I’d be extremely grateful if you could fix this problem.
Kind regards,
Michael
Thanks for reading Dovi’s Digest!