A weekly newsletter for all your intellectual, spiritual, and physical needs
Ahoy sailors! Welcome to another voyage aka Volume 106 of Dovi’s Digest.
One of the real wonders of modern life is online shopping. I click a few buttons, and voila, as if by magic a few days later a package arrives at my door bearing books, clothes, books, food, or possibly books. Just a few years ago, this wasn’t really possible. Sure, there was online shopping, but dedicated couriers weren’t a think, other couriers were expensive, and the SA post office is not the most reliable service.
My parents tell me that other things used to come in the mail too. Mainly letters. Well, bank statements and junk mail and bills. But also letters. I could be very millennial and laugh how quaint and primitive my grandparents’ time was, but honestly there’s a lot of romanticism about letters. Using ink and paper to let your feelings pour out, having all that emotion pent up inside of you, and knowing that the recipient wouldn’t read your words for weeks, or even months.
The amazing thing is that from the 19th century, people could be in touch with loved ones all over the world. Australia, Asia, South America and even Antarctica. “Antarctica?” I hear you ask. Yes, the southmost, most arid continent of them all. In fact, there’s still a functioning post office there, and they’re looking for a postmaster.
This of course brings me to this week’s headline article.
Have you ever wanted to live for five months without running water, no leave, no internet, and be outnumbered 600-to-1 by penguins? Then I have a dream job for you. Each year, the post office in Port Lockwood opens up applications to take over the running of the most southerly post office in the world. Competition is fierce though, as there are hundreds of applicants and only 5 spots available. You’ll deal with 18,000 tourists over the season, temperatures that hover just above zero, not showering for up to two weeks at a time, and of course emptying the camp toilet. There’s a lot more to the place however, and you can read all about just below.
Do you enjoy the Digest? Would you like it to get better? Then please consider sharing it, as the more articles I’m sent, the better it is. It only takes a few seconds, and all you need to do is click here 👇. Thank you!
There were THREE correct answers to last week’s brainteaser. Well done to Josh Hazan, Ariel Subotzky and Ryan Subotzky. The answer and this week’s riddle are below.
Freezing conditions and no toilets aside, there are some other wonderful articles. You can find out about luxury branded colours (think the turquoise from Tiffany), and surfing monster waves and then measuring them. Or like, why do we like, say like so much. Learn about the last employees of the bank that kicked off the 2008 financial crisis, and why Lehman still have employees all these years later, the intelligence of octopuses/octopi/octopodes (the last one is the most correct grammatically FYI), and why ditching your smartphone and making things a little harder can be a good thing (pro tip, skip the music theory in the beginning, unless you’re a real music nerd). Enjoy!
Keep those articles (and everything else) coming,
Have a great week,
Dovi
And now, the articles:
Letters from the Loneliest Post Office in the World
A story of Antarctic adventure seekers, stamp collectors, politics, and penguins.
Forget Logos, Fashion Houses Are Clamoring for Colors
Unique shades—often mixed by a designer and color authority Pantone—supplement branding in a visual era.
Surfing A Record 86-Foot Wave Took Guts. Measuring It Took 18 Months.
Sebastian Steudtner, a 37-year-old surfer from Germany, rode a giant wave in October 2020 in Nazaré, Portugal. After 18 months of detailed analysis, he learned the wave measured 86 feet, making it the largest ever surfed.
Why Do People, Like, Say, “Like” So Much?
Saying the word “like” has long been seen as a sign of laziness and stupidity. But its use is actually richly nuanced, goes back to Shakespearean times, and is an indicator of, like, intelligence.
The Last of Lehman Brothers
The bank whose collapse marked the beginning of the 2008 financial crisis is only mostly dead. These are the people attending to its last remains ahead of its final court cases.
The Hidden World Of Octopus Cities And Culture Shows Why It’s Wrong To Farm Them
In Defense of Friction
Brian Wilson, pantry pasta, and the possibility of a smartphone-free existence.
Quote of the Week:
“For what it’s worth, it’s never too late or, in my case, too early to be whoever you want to be . . . I hope you live a life you’re proud of. If you find that you’re not, I hope you have the strength to start all over again.” —F. Scott Fitzgerald
Facts of the Week:
“Don't come the raw prawn with me” is Australian slang for “you must be joking”.
Prawn crackers in Italian are nuvole di drago, “Dragons clouds”.
Some buildings in Hong Kong have large holes designed into them for Dragons to fly through.
The world’s largest building in the shape of a bottle is the Strong Drinks Museum in Moldova.
A hecatompedon is a building measuring exactly 100 feet by 100 feet.
The Lost Property Office at Dublin Airport has an unclaimed tombstone with the words: “You will always be remembered, never forgotten”.
The Chinese Government has announced a crackdown on strippers at funerals.
The classic ghost costume dates from the time when bodies of the poor were wrapped in a sheet.
Highwayman Thomas Wilmot used to disguise himself as a ghost, scare gamblers from the tables, then take the money they’d left behind.
Cartoon of the Week:
Tweet of the Week:
Headline of the Week:
Brainteaser of the Week:
In the following code, each symbol stands for one of five letters.
; stands for N, O, L, U, or T
( stands for K, B, M, E, or Y
3 stands for H, E, P, C, or W
* stands for F, A, J, E, or R
The four-letter code word 3;*( can be translated into two English words that are opposites. What are the two words?
Last Week’s Brainteaser and Answer:
If you can only move two matches, what is the biggest number you can make?
Answer:
51181. You take the two matchsticks from the top and bottom of the 0 to form a new digit at the end and the remaining matches become two "1"s in the middle.