Dovi’s Digest Volume 262
Playing against the house 🎰🃏💰
A weekly newsletter for all your intellectual, spiritual, and physical needs
Hello all! Welcome to Volume 262 of Dovi’s Digest!
Last week I was asked the question: Assume someone was to throw a tennis ball to you, and each time you catch it you’d get $100,000 but if you drop it, you spend a year in jail, how many would you back yourself to catch? I was told I was unhinged for saying 50. But honestly, a tennis ball lobbed to you? It’s not that hard.
This led to a few very interesting discussions about “toxic” traits. Not actual ones like gaslighting, manipulation, or dishonesty, but things that you are convinced you’re able to do despite all evidence to the contrary. Mine is that back in the day when I used to play cricket, I could’ve fielded in a professional slip cordon. Now not so much. (A slip cordon is a place where some of the hardest catches come, a hard cricket ball hurtling at your face at 150 kph.) I have an exceptionally safe pair of hands, and still genuinely believe that although I wouldn’t have been the very best, I could hold my own.
Another one I have is that with the right training, I would be able to count cards and make money on blackjack. I mean, all you need to do is keep track of the low cards, and when a certain amount has come out (and it's way more than the high cards) you bet big as your chances of winning are maximised. I’ve never actually tried it, but it seems doable.
After reading this week’s headline article about an actual professional card counter, I feel slightly vindicated. All I need is loads of time and balls of steel.
In this week’s added extras:
In honour of Father’s Day: How men’s brains change when they become dads.
How to enjoy everything more.
Stimulate yourself.
Watch how a person’s mood can change as they talk to a stranger for 30 minutes.
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 Jeff C, Ariel S, and Chaim E! The answer and this week’s riddle are below.
Keep those articles (and everything else) coming.
Have a great weekend,
Dovi
And now, the articles:
What It’s Like to Be a Professional Card Counter
I get kicked out of a lot of casinos.
Is There a Safest Seat in a Plane Crash? We Asked Experts.
With all eyes on the sole survivor of Air India Flight 171, aviation insiders say that in an air catastrophe, “all bets are off” and seat choice matters little.
Shot By His Father and Left Blind – Now He’s a Hardcore Gamer
Ross Minor lost his eyesight at 8 years old. Today, he’s a hardcore gamer who runs YouTube and Twitch channels and consults for big studios. This is not—necessarily—an inspirational story.
Everyone Is Cheating Their Way Through College
ChatGPT has unravelled the entire academic project.
The Best Stunts of All Time, Over Nearly 100 Years of the Oscars
A year-by-year "what if" filling in a century-long gap of Academy Awards recognition for noteworthy stunt artistry and design in Hollywood movies.
The ‘Holy Grail of Shipwrecks’ Is Still Underwater. So Is Its $17 Billion Fortune.
That’s a lot of lost loot.
The Man Who Unsolved a Murder
If you’re accused of a crime, will someone investigate your side of the story? In California, there’s no guarantee.
Quote of the Week:
“Some cause happiness wherever they go; others whenever they go.” – Oscar Wilde
Word of the Week:
Vermiculation
vur-MICK-yuh-LAY-shun /vəmɪkjʊˈleɪʃ(ə)n/
noun
a marking made by, or resembling the track of, a worm.
(obsolete, rare) The process of being turned into a worm.
“Babe, would you love me if I was vermiculated?”
o ARCHITECTURE
wavy lines cut into the surface of stone, used for decoration.
Do you know a word you think others should know about? Submit it here!
Facts of the Week:
Chestnut was Clyde Barrow of Bonnie and Clyde's middle name.
No one knows why the Finns call their country Suomi.
The original Finnish alphabet didn't include the letter 'F'.
Per head of population, Finland has won more medals at the Summer Olympics than any other country.
So they can be shared with family and friends, the gold medals designed for the 2024 Paris Olympics are divisible into four.
Gold worth $2 million passes through Swiss sewers every year.
Augustus Caesar sent 10,000 troops to find the source of the world's frankincense.
Slugs hate myrrh.
Cartoon of the Week:
Tweet of the Week:
Headline of the Week:
Brainteaser of the Week:
You can rearrange the letters in SWITZERLAND to form the words LIZARD and NEWTS, the singular version of an animal and the plural form of another animal.
Can you name another country that can also be anagrammed into two animals (one singular form, one plural)?
Last week’s brainteaser:
What is the lowest number to have the same value as ten times the number of letters in its name?
Answer:
Fifty