Dovi's Digest Volume 216
What’s popping? 🌽💥🍿
A weekly newsletter for all your intellectual, spiritual, and physical needs
As much as I’d like writing to be my full time job, a Substack with just south of 1000 subscribers doesn’t pay the bills. (But still, feel free to pledge and support me here!) So in my day job, I work at an agricultural commodity trading firm, who happens to be one of the biggest popcorn producers in the world. I know it may not sound riveting to you, and there are of course boring parts, but I spend a lot of time in the manufacturing facility which is fascinating.
One of the most popular products is microwave popcorn, which we pack for the biggest retailers in South Africa. A quick aside: they’re all the exact same ingredients, from the fancy, upmarket brand to the budget, with the only difference being the recipe for the flavours. Because of the nature and the volume, the quality control team is constantly popping the corn to make sure it's up to spec. There are two big pros to this: 1) I can get so much free popcorn, and 2) everything smells like fresh popcorn.
An interesting question cropped up a few weeks ago in the office: where does popcorn come from? In true Dovi style I went deep down the rabbit hole, and came up with this week’s headline article which answers the question, plus teaches you a whole lot more. Enjoy!
Do you know a word you think others should know about?
In this week’s added extras:
A food scientist explains how to make the best coffee.
these award-winning nature photos capture the world around us at its most alluring. (and the full list here.)
A first-person view of fictional monsters, from small to big.
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 SIX correct answers to last week’s brainteaser, well done to Ryan S, Ariel S, Yona K, Shiri B, Chaim E, and Hazel L!! Also a well done to Steven K for last week’s riddle, but who I forgot to mention. The answer and this week’s puzzle are below.
Keep those articles (and everything else) coming.
Have a great weekend,
Dovi
And now, the articles:
How Was Popcorn Discovered?
Could a spill by the cook fire have been popcorn’s eureka moment?
Revolution in the Air: How Laughing Gas Changed the World
Since its discovery in the 18th century, nitrous oxide has gone from vaudeville gimmick to pioneering anaesthetic to modern party drug.
Are You a Checker or an Unchecker?
One Million Checkboxes, a simple online game that invites visitors to click or unclick check boxes, has become an unintentional case study in human behaviour.
Pooping on the Moon Is a Messy Business
If humans are to return to the moon, space agencies and governments need to figure out the legal, ethical, and practical dimensions of extra-terrestrial waste management.
Inside The Lucrative World Of Pet Influencers
"It's changed our lives completely. We never saw this coming.”
What The Japanese Edo Period Can Teach Us About Today
How a recycled garment made from tattered rags symbolises the ingenuity of what could have been one of the world's first large-scale ecological civilisations.
Inside the Harvard Business School Ponzi Scheme
He had a successful Wall Street career. Why would he con his classmates?
Quote of the Week:
“It is impossible to live without failing at something, unless you live so cautiously that you might as well not have lived at all – in which case, you fail by default.” – JK Rowling
Word of the Week:
(Courtesy of Steven K)
Rambunctious
ram·buhngk·shuhs/ramˈbʌŋ(k)ʃəs/
Adjective
Uncontrollably exuberant; boisterous.
"a rambunctious tyke"
Facts of the Week:
In France, you can ask the postman to look in on your elderly parents.
For its first 300 years, the word “worrying” was what dogs did to sheep.
For its first 100 years, the word “mugger” meant someone who sold mugs.
600 billion cups of coffee are drunk each year.
You are 10 million times more likely to be struck by lightning than hit by a piece of falling space debris.
The pressure inside a proton is a billion billion billion times greater than that at the bottom of the Mariana Trench.
The scientific journal Academic Emergency Medicine records an experiment in which sheep were Tasered while high on crystal meth.
Over 15,000 published scientific studies mentioned Arnold Schwarzenegger.
Cartoon of the Week:
Tweet of the Week:
Headline of the Week:
Brainteaser of the Week:
You might want to grab a pencil and paper for this one...
With one straight cut you can slice a pie into two pieces. A second cut that crosses the first one will produce four pieces, and a third cut can produce up to seven pieces.
What is the largest number of pieces that you can get with six cuts?
Last week’s Brainteaser and Answer:
Place a three-letter word on the dashes to complete a word on the left and to begin another word with those letters on the right.
Example: e a r _ _ _ m e = e a r T H Y / T H Y m e
1. f e a t _ _ _ o i c = ?
2. c o u r _ _ _ n d a = ?
3. d i s p _ _ _ o v e r = ?
4. k e e _ _ _ s i s t = ?
5. r u n _ _ _ i c e = ?
Answer:
1. featHER / HERoic
2. courAGE / AGEnda
3. dispLAY / LAYover
4. keePER / PERsist
5. runOFF / OFFice