A weekly newsletter for all your intellectual, spiritual, and physical needs
Hello all! Welcome to Volume 203 of Doviās Digest.
I have written and rewritten this intro four times. Once about the eclipse, and twice about Curb Your Enthusiasm which ended this week after 12 seasons and 24 years (Iāve only seen a few episodes tbh) and has been a cultural touchstone for so many people. But none of them stuck, none of them felt right.
Iāve devoted many proverbial column inches to mental health in DD, how it affects people, and particularly my struggles with it. Saying Iām constantly on the lookout for new tricks or therapies would be an overstatement, but I do like to keep track of new tech that is coming out and promising miracle cures (which there isnāt).
I first read about flotation therapy probably 10 years ago in a Dan Brown book, and it has sat at the back of mind since then. Floatation therapy is effectively a big bath with a cover, and lots of added salts (to help with the flotation that is in the name). Itās a form of sensory deprivation which is supposed to not only destress you, but also open your mind, a sort of induced epiphany. Honestly, an hour alone with only my own thoughts for company sounds pretty terrifying, but each to their own I guess as there are many people who swear by it and claim it has done wonders for their mental health, and there is a growing body of scientific evidence that says they may just be right. To find out more about the therapy and the benefits, have a look at this weekās headline article.
Do you know a word you think others should know about? Submit it here!
Submit word of the week
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSc3qJq0q2QOBcf80BXJ_cw4nGw4Ta9Iew7DVN3qdjju_nvNYw/viewform
In this weekās added extras:
Time-lapse videos and Stunning images show how the eclipse swept over North America.
In honour of the Masters this week, here are the 10 weirdest golf courses in the world.
How NYC police horses get their shoes.
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 were FOUR correct answers to last weekās brainteaser. Well done to Rā Sam T, Ryan S, Chaim E, and Jeff C! The answer and this weekās puzzle are below.
There are a few topical articles this week which is unusual, one about the aforementioned Curb, another about how one of the worldās tallest buildings survived last weekās earthquake in Taiwan, and even a piece about what itās like to fly through a solar eclipse. You can also learn how to build a better body (which reminds me of one of my favourite jokes: Dr Frankenstein enters a bodybuilding competition and realises he has seriously misunderstood the objective), chew on the food waste myth, and the secret life of the perpetrator of one of the biggest heists of all time. Enjoy!
Keep those articles (and everything else) coming.
Have a great weekend,
Dovi
And now, the articles:
How Flotation Therapy May Help Your Mental Health
Flotation therapy ā which involves floating in a tank of warm, salt-saturated water ā is a popular and often expensive form of relaxation. Now, a small but growing body of research suggests it may also reduce symptoms of a variety of mental health conditions.
How Taiwanās Tallest Skyscraper Withstands Earthquakes
Last Wednesday, a strong earthquake struck Taiwan. Many buildings tilted or came crashing down owing to the strong tremor. However, Taiwanās Taipei 101, measuring over 500 metres, survived it with minimal damage. Hereās how.
āI Am Stokedā: What It Feels Like to Fly Through a Solar Eclipse
Millions of observers will watch next week's American solar eclipse from the ground. But a few lucky NASA flight crews will get a much closer view.
Larry Davidās Rule Book for How (Not) to Live in Society
Heās a wild, monomaniacal jerk. Heās also our greatest interpreter of American manners since Emily Post.
How to Design a Better Body
This summer is a once-in-a lifetime opportunity to create the body you want. Our fitness columnist designed a 24-step plan to help you work smarter, eat better, and get movingāstarting right now.
A Scientist on The Myth of Ugly Produce and Food Waste
Startups Misfits Market and Imperfect Produce say theyāre rescuing food that would otherwise be wasted. Sarah Taber is calling bull.
The Secret Life of Jimmy Zhong, Who Stole ā And Lost ā More Than $3 Billion
In 2012, someone stole 50,000 bitcoin from the Silk Road, an illegal dark web marketplace. Over time, the value of the stolen bitcoin skyrocketed to more than $3 billion dollars and for years it remained one of the biggest mysteries in the world of cryptocurrency. Almost a decade later, the thief made a critical mistake that allowed the authorities to crack the case.
Quote of the Week:
āOur comforting conviction that the world makes sense rests on a secure foundation: our almost unlimited ability to ignore our ignorance.ā ā Nobel Prize-winning psychologist Daniel Kahneman, who died two weeks agoĀ
Word of the Week:
Syzygy
siĀ·zuhĀ·jee/ĖsÉŖzÉŖdŹi/
Noun
Astronomy
a conjunction or opposition, especially of the moon with the sun.
"The planets were aligned in syzygy."
a pair of connected or corresponding things.
Facts of the Week:
Victor Hugo could fit a whole orange in his mouth.
At the age of 69, Victor Hugo had sex with 40 different people in five months.
Male brown widow spiders prefer to mate with older females, even though theyāre more likely to be eaten by them afterwards.
Squid change sexual positions when requested to do so by their partners.
In 2017, under performing employees at a Manchester call centre were punished by having a dead squid dropped on their faces.
The Nazca people employed someone to walk around with a dead fox on their head.
The first Western eyewitness accounts of India describe it is having ants the size of foxes.
Mosquitoes on the London Undergroundās Piccadilly Line are genetically different from those on the Bakerloo Line.
Cartoon of the Week:
Tweet of the Week:
Headline of the Week:
Brainteaser of the Week:
Using only two letters to fill in the blanks, what is this word?
P _ _ _ E _ _ I _ N
Last weekās Brainteaser and Answer:
What four-digit number reverses itself when multiplied by 4? As in, what are the digits a, b, c, and d such that the number abcd x 4 = dcba?
Answer:
2178 x 4 = 8712
Thanks for reading Doviās Digest!