I Love A Crossword 🤓
Psssst we're launching our first bonus for monthly and annual ✨ SYSCA Supporters✨ this Thursday - you all asked for it & we're delivering! Shit You Should Read About (our bumper book list) will be coming your way soon! Become a ✨SYSCA Supporter✨ to have access to our constantly updated recs!
First of all a little bit of REALLY EXCITING HOUSEKEEPING FROM ME! This is for you if you have a Yahoo email account OR IF YOUR NEWSY'S ALWAYS LAND IN SPAM.
Here's an email I got from Claudia yesterday:
"I've cracked the Yahoo code!!!!!!! You just have to open the newsy on a browser and click 'Not spam' and they will finally come to your inbox and not junk (not possible to do on apple email)!!!!"
SO IF YOUR EMAIL IS CONSTANTLY GOING TO SPAM, GO TO YOUR BROWSER AND OPEN IT (NOT IN APPLE MAIL) AND CLICK NOT SPAM!
I tested it on my flatmate Flo (who has a yahoo account and whose newsy went to spam every day) and she said it worked too!
Now another bit of housekeeping: if you're a ✨SYSCA supporter✨ you're gonna be getting your first bonus on Thursday - an ever-updating SYSCA reading list - from all three of us!!! This is for our wonderful recurring supporters and is the first of a bunch of cool extras we're gonna give you, so if you want it, COME AND SUPPORT THE MEDIA YOU LOVE 🥺
Harry listening party winners!!
Over one million covid cases feared in North Korea
The history of crossword puzzles
Conversations with Friends is here!
It looks like Google made an actual cool AR thing
McDonalds is leaving Russia forever
Are pancakes sweet or savoury?
Harry's House Listening Party Winners!!
Thank you so much for all your wonderful entries! We've selected the winners and they're being contacted within the next few hours!!! I CAN'T WAIT TO LISTEN TO THE ALBUM WITH YOU 🥺🥺
Over one million covid cases feared in North Korea
You know how the other day I wrote about how North Korea had reported their first 'official' covid cases? Well, it's now feared that more than one million people have contracted what state media is calling a 'fever.' Kim Jong-Un is currently stressing the fuck out, putting the country into lockdown, and ordering the army to distribute medicines.
Reminder, from the BBC:
"The international community offered to supply North Korea with millions of AstraZeneca and Chinese-made jabs last year, but Pyongyang claimed it had controlled Covid by sealing its borders early in January 2020."
But saying 'we told you so' and pointing to the fact that North Korean leaders turned down help in controlling the virus doesn't make it any less saddening that their poeple - who are already unvaccinated and living in poor conditions - are the ones suffering from these decisions.
The history of crossword puzzles
This is interesting, I promise! A lot of you will remember that I LOOOOVE crosswords (I even wrote an ode to them and what they mean to me.) So naturally, while I’ve been in iso I’ve been doing a few (Flo and I also learned a bunch of new words along the way, like: asinine, crony and wan) ...anyway - you can imagine my joy when I was doing some light Sunday reading and I saw a piece called ‘Consider: Crossword Puzzles’ all about their history. Some fast facts:
The OG was invented in 1913 by a dude called Arthur Wynne
It was called ‘Word Cross’ and was a Christmas special for ‘New York World’
In 1924, Richard L. Simon and M. Lincoln Schuster (who would later become THE Simon and Schuster) decided to start a company and publish compilations of crossword puzzles (because Simon’s aunt was a fan of them) - this was the first crossword compilation book
The popularity of the crossword led to their inclusion in every major newspaper except… The New York Times. In fact, the NYT said they were a:
"sinful waste in the utterly futile finding of words the letters of which will fit into a prearranged pattern, more or less complex. This is not a game at all, and it hardly can be called a sport ... [solvers] get nothing out of it except a primitive form of mental exercise, and success or failure in any given attempt is equally irrelevant to mental development."Â
World War 2 changed that, as people needed an escape from the real world, so the Times started including it
The longest word ever used in a published crossword was the 58-letter Welsh town Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch
Cryptic crosswords were imported to North America from Britain in 1968 by Stephen Sondheim (yes, that one), with their first appearance being in New York magazine.
YOU SHOULD GO AND READ THE REST OF THIS PIECE!
CONVERSATIONS WITH FRIENDS IS OUT
No spoilers, I just felt like I should tell you - since we're besties, & content sharing is my love language. It's on Amazon Prime (and they do a 7-day free trial which is more than enough time!)
Google’s new augmented reality translation glasses look kinda useful
Not to do PR for Google, but augmented reality things like this usually look kinda gimmicky to me and this one… actually looks like it has a really good use case! It’s basically glasses that you put on and when you’re speaking to someone who speaks in another language, it translates it for you on screen! I mean, there are probs a LOT of implications that I haven’t thought about, but you should have a look at this for yourself and tell me what you think:
Please come & be a 🥺SYSCA Supporter🥺
PLEASE BECOME A ✨SYSCA SUPPORTER.✨ I'LL LOVE YOU FOREVER 🥺
McDonalds is leaving Russia forever
Looks like it's unhappy meals only in Russia from now on, as Maccas has said it's closing up shop - for good - after 30 years. They've even started selling off their restaurants already. According to the BBC:
The fast food giant said it made the decision because of the "humanitarian crisis" and "unpredictable operating environment" caused by the Ukraine war.
That's all, just thought it was interesting.
Are pancakes sweet or savoury?
They're definitely sweet, but 20% of you think they're savoury, and that's okay.
Also:
Please, if you only have time to read one thing today, let it be this: THE FUTURE OF ABORTION IN A POST-ROE AMERICAÂ (The Atlantic)
Billboard Music Award Winners (Billboard)
Elections, Elon, & A Heroic Dog (The Shit Show)
Making Sense Of Johnny Depp and Amber Heard (Culture Vulture)