Dovi’s Digest Volume 231
The pettiest hill to die on 🤏💀
A weekly newsletter for all your intellectual, spiritual, and physical needs
Hello all! Welcome to Volume 231 of Dovi’s Digest!
They say that the most critical thinkers have strong opinions that are weakly held – i.e., you feel passionate about something, but if the evidence is weak, you can change your mind and aren’t dogmatic. It apparently shows that you’re not looking to be proved right but are rather looking to learn and grow. It takes hard work. I’d rather have what the Carlin brothers (of Super Carlin Brothers fame[thank you Tanti]) refer to as strong opinions about weak things – small things that mean nothing to others, but the world to you.
I of course have a list of the most banal and petty hills that I’d be willing to die on. Examples include TV/radio volumes must be on even numbers/multiples of five (but the time for my alarm is the inverse of this), microwaves are first and foremost clocks (so please clear the time on them), and just because a scene is shot at night, it doesn’t mean it has to be so dark that I can't see what the hell is going on (I’m looking at you GoT).
However, one of my closest and most dearly held is that there is an inherent prioritisation in the alphabet - with the normal letters at the beginning and the weird unused ones at the end – and as such Q has absolutely NO right to be as high as it is between P and R, it should be right down there with the bizzarros. I KNOW that the whole thing is a construct, I KNOW that it’s irrational, but this is one I feel deeply in my bones.
What are your deeply held beliefs that are petty, but you’d go to war over? Send a reply or drop it in the comments below.
After that little rant, I need a little lie down. Luckily this week I read an article about taking the perfect nap. It’s a hard one to get right. Long enough that you feel rested, not so long that you feel groggy and disoriented.
In this week’s added extras:
Just in time for summer! A method for selecting the perfect watermelon.
This YouTube channel explores nuclear weapons, technology, and disasters.
This site uses the digits of pi to tell you what time it is, down to the second.
Can you identify the film from the emojis above? Every day, the website M🙂jie has three of these brainteasers, all linked by a loose theme: for the question above – the answer for which is at the bottom of the email – the theme is “NATO ABCs”. You have four guesses, and if you need clues, you can be given the genre, director, main star, and year of release. Give today’s a go here.
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 ZERO correct answers to last week’s brainteaser. No answer just yet, but this week’s riddle is below.
Keep those articles (and everything else) coming.
Have a great weekend,
Dovi
And now, the articles:
How to Take the Perfect Weekend Nap
What science says about optimizing this important mid-afternoon recovery tool.
Thousands of People Are Cloning Their Dead Pets. This Is the Woman They Call First
“I try to prepare customers not to expect the same pet all over again. The new pet is not going to know who you are right off the bat.”
Why Your Favourite Colour Is Probably Blue
From a young age we are primed to choose a favourite colour, but strangely as we grow up our preference often changes – and it's largely due to influences outside our control.
Inside the New World of Luxury Kids’ Parties, Where Parents Are Plus-Ones
Forget the Met Gala—today’s soirees of the century are where VIPs still raid their parents’ closets for couture. From bubble artists to custom teepees to swag bags, welcome to the new frontier of children’s parties, where cupcakes are so last season, and the only thing inflated more than the balloons are the blockbuster budgets.
Do People in ‘Blue Zones’ Actually Live Longer?
The premise is catchy, but some think it’s based on faulty data.
She’s One of Florida’s Most Lethal Python Hunters
Donna Kalil has plunged into canals in the dead of night, straddled two-hundred-pound serpents, and been bitten more times than she can count—all in the name of killing a thing she loves and playing a game she can’t win.
Untangling The Mystery Of The Art God
For a decade, one writer tried to unravel the story of Dorje Chang, whose artwork sold for millions and who claimed to be the third coming of Buddha. Then he got an email: Dorje Chang and his wife were dead. What really happened?
Quote of the Week:
“The greatest way to live with honour in this world is to be what we pretend to be.” – Socrates
Word of the Week:
(Courtesy of Ben P)
Cavalier
ka·vuh·leeuh/ˌkavəˈlɪə/
Adjective
1. showing a lack of proper concern; offhand.
"Anne was irritated by his cavalier attitude"
Facts of the Week:
In 1959, the US government issued a memo saying that Yetis could only be killed in self-defence.
Sloths can hold their breath for 40 minutes.
Ostriches have four kneecaps.
Baby's kneecaps don't show up on x-rays.
Babies born into the Budweiser family have 5 drops of Budweiser dropped on their tongues as a first taste.
Beer is more nutritious than bread.
The world record for the most beer mats flipped and caught with the same hand is held by a man called Matt Hand.
“As much food as one's hand can hold” was Dr Johnson's Dictionary's definition of “lunch”.
Cartoon of the Week:
Tweet of the Week:
Headline of the Week:
Brainteaser of the Week:
A man has a bar of lead that weighs 40 kg, and he has divided it into four pieces in such a way as to allow him to weigh any number of kgs from one to forty. What are the weights of the four pieces?
Last week’s brainteaser:
Write down the name of a famous singer whose first name contains six letters and whose last name contains four letters. Remove from the singer’s name the first, third, fifth, seventh, and tenth letters. The remaining five letters in the singer’s name will, in order, spell out the repeating part of a well-known song. Who is the singer and what is the song?