#18: Copies, Originals, and Everything Between

☀️ Pizza Fridays and the Taste of Memory

When I was little, Fridays meant one thing in our house: homemade pizza night! My brother and I would help knead the dough (or at least pretend to), my parents would argue over toppings, and the whole kitchen smelled like something worth waiting for.

But then we grew up. Fridays turned into just another day (projects, friends, late study sessions) and the tradition quietly slipped away. My parents started using Fridays for their own plans, and pizza night became just a memory.

A few years later, while I was in university, I decided to bring it back, just for myself. I used the same recipe my mom always did, followed every step. And yet, when it came out of the oven, something was…missing.

It looked the same. It tasted good. But it didn’t feel like that Friday magic I remembered.

I remembered this moment while working on this edition and it got me thinking: how much of what we think is about the thing itself (a recipe, a tradition, an idea) is really about the moment, the people, the context?

I’ve come to believe that some things can’t be replicated. Even when we follow the steps exactly, what we rebuild carries its own meaning, shaped by who we are now rather than who we were then. We’re all works in progress, and it’s worth reminding ourselves to live in the present, not tied to the past.

📖 3 Articles to Spark Your Curiosity

1. Rebuilds, Replicas, and the Double Life of Architecture
   What makes a building authentic? This essay explores how reconstruction blurs the lines between original and copy, and why replicas carry a meaning of their own rather than simply imitating the past.
   → Read on Aeon ›

2. Why We Avoid What’s Right in Front of Us
   Ever looked away from an inconvenient fact or ignored information you already had? This piece dives into the psychology of information avoidance, why we do it, and how it shapes our decisions and beliefs.
   → Read on Psyche ›

3. Self‑Efficacy: The Belief That Shapes Action
   More than confidence, self‑efficacy is about believing you can influence outcomes. This article explains how it drives motivation, resilience, and the ability to tackle challenges that once felt out of reach.
   → Learn more on Verywell Mind ›

🗞️ 3 Headlines Worth Exploring

1. Orcas Are Giving Humans Gifts
   In a fascinating twist of interspecies connection, orcas have been observed gifting humans bits of food and other items. Scientists think these gestures might reveal deeper social intelligence, and a curiosity that mirrors our own.
   → Read on CNN ›

2. The Hidden Brain Shift at Age Six
   Around the age of six, children’s brains go through a remarkable change that reshapes how they learn, socialize, and process the world. This insight might make you rethink early education, and even your own memories of that age.
   → Explore on BBC Future ›

3. 3,295 Minds, One Paper: How Google Builds AI
   Why did it take over three thousand contributors to write a single AI research paper? This story peels back the layers of massive collaboration, ethics reviews, and technical input that fuel today’s most ambitious AI projects.
   → Read on Ars Technica ›

☀️ 3 Actions to Step Out of Your Comfort Zone

1. Recreate a tradition with your own twist
   Pick something from your past, maybe a family recipe, a hobby, or a routine, and try it again, but add something new. Notice what feels familiar and what feels completely your own.

2. Ask someone older (or younger) how they’d do it
   Take a task you do on autopilot and ask a parent, grandparent, or even a teenager how they’d approach it. You might discover a way of thinking that never crossed your mind.

3. Visit a “replica” of something you enjoy
   A remake restaurant, a recreated historic site, a rebooted show, experience it and pay attention to how it makes you feel compared to the original. What’s gained? What’s missing?

⚡ 6 Quick Resources

✍️ To practice your spelling:
Think you know the longest word in English? Well, it might surprise you (and surely stretch your tongue and your patience).
→ Read on Reader’s Digest

🍰 To tempt your sweet tooth:
TikTok’s must‑try desserts from around the world: a PDF full of playful recipes, local favorites, and sugar‑coated inspiration for your next kitchen experiment.
→ Explore the list

📂 To check:
NASA Ames Research Center has a stunning archive of photos, blueprints, and decades of space exploration history. And it’s now at your fingertips.
→ Explore the archives

🎪 To plan:
Want to attend a festival this summer around Europe? Lucky you, there are lots that are about to happen in the following weeks which aren’t sold out yet!
→ See the list on CN Traveller

🧩 To try:
How well do you know yourself compared to 100 strangers? This test challenges your instincts and self-perception in unexpected ways.
→ Take the test

🧠 To watch:
Neuroscientist Uri Hasson shows how our brains literally sync up when we share the same ideas or stories. A really interesting look at the universal code behind communication.
→ Watch on YouTube

🎲 This week’s wonderfully random corner of the internet 

🐋 whalefollowmouse.com

Move your mouse, and watch a little whale faithfully swim after your cursor across the screen. It’s simple, pointless, and oddly delightful. But you know, not everything online has to be productive to make you smile.

📝 Word of the Week

Palimpsest (noun) - An old manuscript page that’s been written over but still bears traces of the original writing.

A beautiful metaphor for how our identities, habits, and traditions often carry faint imprints of what came before, even as we write something new on top.

🧘‍♀️ Question of the Week for Introspection

What parts of your past still show through in who you are today, like faint writing beneath new pages? And do those traces guide you, or hold you back?

See you next Sunday! Until then, keep your eyes open, your questions big, and your sense of wonder alive.

Your curious internet friend,

Ruxandra