“Football players have the Super Bowl. Actors have the Oscars. For rabbis, it’s Rosh Hashana. The Jewish New Year is a time of reflection and celebration. But for clergy, who preach to pews swelled with once-a-year attendees, it is a high-pressure moment: All eyes are on them to come up with the pitch-perfect sermon that will keep congregants inspired, engaged — and awake.” NYT (Gift Article): The Rabbi Whisperer: A Playwright Helps Sermon Writers Find Their Voice. (This year, all a rabbi really has to do is rewrite a couple Deion Sanders’ pregame speeches.)

+ “Curious about why geologists lick rocks or how many nose hairs there are on a human cadaver? Perhaps you’d like a snazzy dead wolf spider to use as a biodegradable robotic gripper? How about a ‘smart toilet’ that analyzes your urine stream and fecal deposits while taking a picture of your anus for good measure?” Meet the winners of the 2023 Ig Nobel Prizes.

+ “What does one do in the face of the unfathomable? The lives lost, traumatizing escapes, homes and livelihoods vanishing in an instant?” WaPo: Healing after the Maui fire starts with a surfboard.

+ Psychedelic drug MDMA eases PTSD symptoms in a study that paves the way for possible US approval.

+ The app teaching Somalis to read and write.

+ 12-year-old saves drowning man, credits CPR learned from ‘Stranger Things’. (This is why I always encourage my kids to watch more TV. Also, it distracts them from their phones…)

+ The iPhone Alarm as a Piano Ballad.