披薩自從在拿坡里卑微誕生以來，已經成為全球烹飪創意的畫布。儘管拿坡里披薩保持著嚴格的標準，但其形式本身已被各地採納和調整。夏威夷披薩是在加拿大誕生的、獨特且全球公認的風格，它屬於更廣泛的北美披薩傳統的一部分，該傳統包括許多偏離義大利規範的做法，例如深盤披薩（deep-dish）和紐約切片披薩（New York slices）。
🍍 Pineapple Pizza: A Trivial Tiff Over a Canadian Creation 🇨🇦
The recent flurry of online debate originating from Hong Kong and Taiwan—centered on the notion that Italians despise pineapple as a pizza topping—highlights a fundamental misunderstanding of the dish's true origins. While the sentiment that pineapple on pizza is "not the genuine Italian way" is accurate, the intensity of the argument completely overlooks a crucial piece of historical fact: Hawaiian pizza (pineapple and ham/bacon) is not an Italian invention, nor is its presence on the global menu a slight against Italy.
The invention of pineapple on pizza is widely credited to Sam Panopoulos, a Greek-born Canadian, at his Satellite Restaurant in Chatham, Ontario, Canada, in 1962.Panopoulos, looking to experiment beyond the typical pizza fare, decided to add the sweet and sour canned fruit to the savory pie, thus creating the polarizing, yet globally popular, "Hawaiian pizza."
This knowledge makes the heated discussions about Italy's supposed outrage essentially trivial. To argue whether pineapple belongs on a pizza based on strict Italian tradition is akin to arguing whether General Tso's chicken should be served in Beijing—it completely misses the fact that the dish itself is a North American adaptation.
Pizza, since its humble beginnings in Naples, has become a global canvas for culinary creativity. While Neapolitan pizza maintains strict standards, the form itself has been adopted and adapted everywhere. Hawaiian pizza is a distinct, globally recognized style born in Canada and is part of the broader North American pizza tradition, which includes many deviations from Italian norms, such as deep-dish and New York slices.
The argument thus ceases to be about tradition and becomes merely an expression of personal taste. Whether one enjoys the sweet-and-sour combination of pineapple and savory ham on a pizza is a matter of individual preference, not cultural authenticity. Focusing the debate on whether this Canadian invention is "Italian enough" is a distraction from the true, fascinating, and quite recent history of the Hawaiian pizza itself.
Stop Getting Tricked: Why You Need Math to Survive Life, Law, and Medicine
Hey everyone! You might think of math class as just endless equations, but what if I told you that understanding a few key principles could literally save your life, keep you out of jail, and save you money?
That's the big message in Dr. Kit Yates's eye-opening book, The Math of Life and Death: 7 Mathematical Principles That Shape Our Lives. Dr. Yates, a mathematical biologist, wants to give you the secret decoder ring to the world—a world often manipulated by numbers. This book isn't about calculus; it's about giving you the superpower of skepticism so you can spot the tricks hiding in plain sight.
7 Principles That Rule Your World
Yates breaks down the most critical concepts into engaging, real-life stories. By understanding these concepts, you can stop fumbling through what he calls a "mathematical minefield":
1. Exponential Growth and Decay
This is the math behind anything that grows (or shrinks) based on its current size. It explains why things can seem slow, then suddenly explode:
The Scary Side: This is the math of pandemics and viral spread.1 It explains why a disease that seems minor one week can completely overwhelm a city the next. It also explains the power of Ponzi schemes, which grow exponentially until they collapse.
The Positive Side: It underpins the power of compound interest—the key to building wealth over time.
2. Statistics and Probability
This is the most critical section for real life. It explains the risk and the random chance that dictates everything from medical diagnoses to legal rulings.2
Medical Misdiagnosis: Yates uses examples of faulty medical screening results. If a test for a rare disease is 99% accurate, what's the real chance you have the disease if you test positive? The answer is often surprisingly low, but doctors and patients frequently misinterpret it, leading to unnecessary worry or treatment.
Miscarriages of Justice: The book details shocking legal cases, such as the Amanda Knox trial or the Sally Clark case, where lawyers and expert witnesses failed to properly explain statistical probability, leading to wrongful convictions. Ignorance of basic probability can literally lead to injustice.
3. Optimization
This principle is about finding the best possible choice or solution among many options.
It answers everyday questions, like: How do you choose the shortest line at the grocery store? (Hint: it’s about reducing variability, not just length).
It also applies to larger decisions, such as finding the most efficient path for a delivery driver or setting up a factory process. Yates even shares the "37% rule" to help you with optimal decision-making in life!3
4. Correlation vs. Causation
This is the classic mistake—believing that because two things happen at the same time, one caused the other. The book helps you recognize logical fallacies used by advertisers, journalists, and politicians who might present misleading figures.
5. Number Systems and Measurement
This focuses on how crucial simple things like unit conversions and data formatting are.
Catastrophe through Error: Yates shares the chilling story of the NASA Mars Climate Orbiter disaster, where the loss of a $327 million spacecraft was traced back to a simple error: one team used imperial units (pounds) while the other used metric units (newtons). Small math errors can have massive, deadly consequences.4
Why This Book Matters for You
Dr. Yates's ultimate goal is to offer you emancipation from the math phobia you might have developed in high school. He wants you to realize that math isn't just a subject; it's the language of the modern world.
Stop Getting Fooled
You'll learn to look behind the headlines and question claims like, "Studies show our product is 30% more effective!" You'll gain the confidence to ask the crucial follow-up questions about sample size, bias, and control groups.
Life-Saving Knowledge
Whether it’s understanding the true risk of a medical procedure, recognizing the urgency of exponential growth during a health crisis, or making informed personal finance decisions, math is the technology that either saves lives or puts them at risk.
Read this book, and you won't just ace a test—you'll be better equipped to navigate the chaotic and opaque surfaces of our world with clarity and power.
Governments Can Force Citizens to Sell Their Wealth
Yes, historically, the UK government has used its power to force citizens to sell private assets—like goldand foreign currencies—to the government, particularly during major national crises.
Key Historical Mechanisms
1. Requisition During World War II (Operation Fish)
During WWII, the UK government created emergency laws to implement exchange control. These laws allowed the government to:
Demand citizens declare all their holdings of foreign assets (like US stocks and bonds) and gold.
Confiscate (requisition) these foreign securities and gold and move them overseas (famously in "Operation Fish" to Canada).
The government then sold these assets on the US market to buy vital war supplies.
While citizens received payment in British currency (sterling), this process effectively acted as a compulsory sale of their foreign wealth to the government at a rate determined by the state.
2. Exchange Control Act of 1947
This long-standing law, in effect until 1979, was designed to protect the UK's reserves of gold and foreign currency. It legally required anyone earning foreign money (for example, exporters earning US Dollars) to sell those earnings to the government or the Bank of England at the official exchange rate. This was a mandated, fixed-rate sale of currency receipts.
3. Gold Coin Restrictions (1966)
The government also restricted the private ownership of gold coins to only four coins per person. The goal was to stop people from hoarding gold, which was draining the national reserves. This rule forced collectors to either dispose of their excess coins or register them, with the Bank of England offering to buy them under terms that were often criticized as being below market value.
In summary, when the national interest required it, the UK government established clear legal mechanisms to override private property rights over financial assets to secure the nation's financial stability.
發表文章
