Dovi’s Digest Volume 59
A weekly newsletter for all your intellectual, spiritual and physical needs
Hey everybody! Welcome to Volume 59 of Dovi’s Digest.
Travelling is something that is unfortunately not on the horizon for most of us, due to obvious reasons. This has been something that has weighed heavy on my mind as I am someone who loves to see and experience new places. In fact, (massive privilege trigger warning) 2020 was the first year since about 1998 that I haven’t taken at least one overseas trip.
I’ve seen about 35 countries, and multiple cities in each, and there are a few things I’ve learned:
Most important of the lot. If you’re unsure of the water supply, DO NOT DRINK ANYTHING BUT BOTTLED WATER!! (Although through rigorous testing, I’ve found beer also works.) A stomach virus can really hamper the enjoyment of your trip. In the same vein, salads are normally washed in tap water, so avoid those too.
One of the best ways to experience a country is through their food. However, do not contravene rule number 1, and street food can be a lottery. And finally,
If you’ve made an attempt to learn the language, people are (usually) a lot nicer when you try show off your very meagre knowledge of said lingua franca.
There are many ways to learn new languages, some free, some less free. I started my journey on a pirated copy of Rosetta Stone Spanish, and now learn daily on Duolingo. In a very non-humblebrag, I currently have a 1629-day streak going. That means that for the last four and a half years I have studied some sort of foreign language daily. I now speak passable Spanish, pretty “gut” German, and am slowly making my way through the levels of Arabic. Even if it’s pretty broken, I would still get a smile out of a local when I tried to interact in their native language. The rest of the interaction varied by location. Encouragement in Mexico, indifference in France, and a conversation in flawless almost non-accented English in Germany (With the disclaimer: My Englisch is not zat good, but…)
This of course leads me into the headline article this week, the story of a woman who, through her passion and sitzfleisch (German and Yiddish for perseverance) almost singlehandedly brought an entire language to Duolingo. After doing a single course, I know what a remarkable achievement it is. It not only involves uploading thousands of words, but also the correct conjugation of those words, audio for the words, and structuring the lessons themselves.
In addition to this remarkable feat of human endurance, we have articles on the Tour de France, underwater data centres, how prenatal testing affects special needs babies, and gold diggers amongst others.
There are quite a few new signups this week (thank you for the referrals). Firstly, welcome!!! It’s great to have you aboard. Secondly, there are often articles that are paywalled or have an article limit. I definitely wouldn’t advocate for it (as I’m not allowed to), but should you wish to avoid these, I’ve heard that opening the articles in incognito/private browsing mode would circumvent these challenges.
There were THREE correct answers to last week’s brainteaser, well done to Josh Todes, Ori Tobias, and Chaim Shor!!! The answer and this week’s riddle are below.
Keep those articles (and everything else) coming,
Have a great week,
Dovi
And now, the articles:
The Woman behind Duolingo’s New Yiddish Course
Meena Viswanath wants to help you learn Yiddish.
Once a Bastion of Free Speech, the A.C.L.U. Faces an Identity Crisis
(Courtesy of Dr Stan Wolberg)
An organization that has defended the First Amendment rights of Nazis and the Ku Klux Klan is split by an internal debate over whether supporting progressive causes is more important.
Olympics Rewind: Pete Reed on Rio 2016 Gold and Spinal Stroke Recovery
Britain's men's eight were in the minibus back to their Rio accommodation as newly crowned Olympic champions when Will Satch asked a question.
Microsoft’s Underwater Server Experiment Resurfaces After Two Years
Turns out, dunking data centres is a great idea.
Primož Roglič and the Power of Second Chances
They say you should never meet your heroes. Here’s what happened when I met mine.
The Last Children of Down Syndrome
Prenatal testing is changing who gets born and who doesn’t. This is just the beginning.
Powerball Mystery: Someone in This Tiny Town Won $731 Million. Now Everyone Wants a Piece of It
There haven’t been a lot of big wins in Lonaconing, Maryland. But recently there has been a glint of gold in coal country.
Quote of the Week:
“It’s not easy to do, but try – try and do what you love with people you love. And if you can manage that, it’s the definition of heaven on earth. I swear to God, it really is.” – Conan O’Brien signed off as a late-night TV host last Thursday after 28 years of laughs and exquisite hair.
Facts of the Week:
Baby Robins can eat so many caterpillars they turn green.
Baby guillemots (seabirds similar to auks, and in the same family as puffins) are called “jumplings”.
Baby humpback whales drink 150 gallons of milk a day.
Female whales have perforated umbilical cords that snap off after birth so the baby can swim to the surface for its first breath.
When hibernating, woodchucks breathe as little as twice an hour.
Breathing the air in New Delhi is equivalent to smoking 45 cigarettes a day.
1 in 3 smartphones in India run out of space every day because millions of Indians send daily “Good morning!” texts with images or videos attached.
Cartoon of the Week:
Tweet of the Week:
Headline of the Week:
Brainteaser of the Week:
Find the six-digit number in which the first digit is the square of the second; the third and fourth are the sum of the first and second; and the fifth and sixth are the sum of the preceding 4 digits. The sum of all the digits is 21.
Last week’s Brainteaser and answer:
Each of the following letters has something in common. What should the next letter be?
B C D G J O P Q R ?
Answer:
S. All the letters have curved lines and S is the next one alphabetically.