A weekly newsletter for all your intellectual, spiritual, and physical needs
Hello all! Welcome to Volume 117 of Dovi’s Digest.
We all lie. I guess it’s just human nature. In fact, if anyone tells you they never lie, I can almost assure you that they are in fact lying. The thing is, is that there are different levels of lying. Most people’s lies are pretty small and mundane. “Yes honey, I took out the garbage”, “I LOVE your new haircut”, and the one we’ve all been complicit in “I must’ve missed your email” — knowing full well we just didn’t bother to reply.
However some people lie more than this, and on a much grander scale. As they say “go big or go home”. It may be about qualifications, where we actually were last night, or whether we secretly took top secret government documents to our holiday house in Mar-e-Lago.
Yet, others go even further, and built their entire lives on lies, just trying to stay one step ahead of the crowd. This week’s headline article is about one such person, the story of a man with a claimed past as a pro cyclist, a soldier, a CEO, a lawyer, an author, an academic, a hostage responder, and a weapons instructor. And how it all came crashing down.
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 FOUR correct answers to last week’s brainteasers. Well done to Ariel Subotzky, Hazel Levine, Robin Nussbaum, and Kevin Levy. The answer and this week’s riddle are below. To answer a riddle, please just reply like you would on a normal email. I’d put a little reply button, but apparently substack doesn’t allow that. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
There are many other articles if a years-long-super-epic catfish doesn’t interest you. This week read about how to use difficult times to grow and transform, huge logos you can see from space, the first travelling sports writer, why everyone has grass growing in our gardens, dating and falling in love with AI, and the backstory of the inventor of one of the world’s best loved games (Settlers of) Catan. Enjoy!
Keep those articles (and everything else) coming,
Have a great week,
Dovi
And now, the articles:
Exposed By a Strava KOM: The Many Lives of a Fake Pro Cyclist
Australian cyclist Nick Clark built a loyal following at his Virginia bike shop, based in part on his national and international results and a lengthy professional career. There was just one problem: none of it was true.
This is the strange tale of the unravelling of a years-long deception — the many lives of Nick Clark.
When Things Fall Apart
Tibetan Buddhist Nun and Teacher Pema Chödrön on transformation through difficult times.
The Next Frontier in Branding? Logos You Can See From Space
Rooftop solar panels are giving companies like Tesla, Target, and Disney a way to supersize their branding.
The 19th-Century Hipster Who Pioneered Modern Sportswriting
More than a century before GoPro, Thomas Stevens’ around-the-world bike ride vaulted first-person “sports porn” into the mainstream.
The Strange Appeal of Garden Lawns
Many of us create or maintain lawns in our gardens without giving it a second thought. But could these innocent patches of greenery be a colossal waste of space?
It Happened to Me: I Had a Passionate Love Affair with a Robot
Experts say that romantic relationships with AI will soon be commonplace. To prepare, writer James Greig downloaded Replika and took an honest stab at falling in love.
The Man Who Built Catan
How a dental technician invented of the most popular games ever.
Quote of the Week:
“Listening is more than being quiet while the other person speaks until you can say what you have to say.” — Krista Tippett
Facts of the Week:
There is a street in Leeds called Cavalier Approach.
The Laughing Cavalier isn't laughing and isn’t dressed as a cavalier.
Gainsborough painted his outdoor scenes using little models made of broccoli.
In 2003, the Tate announce that two Turner paintings of Venice were actually of Portsmouth.
“Dockyard oyster” is a phrase used in Portsmouth to describe a gob of phlegm on the pavement.
The street price of a hand grenade in Sweden is 100 krona, or $9.98.
Wounds sustained during the day heal twice as quickly as those sustained at night.
Pieces of coconut shells were used by pacific islanders to mend broken skulls.
Cartoon of the Week:
Tweet of the Week:
Headline of the Week:
(Courtesy of Naftali Ginsberg)
Brainteaser of the Week:
Adam, Bob, Claire, and Dave come to a wooden bridge. The bridge is weak and only capable of carrying the weight of two of them at a time. Because they are in a rush and the light is fading, they must cross in the minimum time possible and must carry a flashlight on each crossing.
They only have one flashlight and it can’t be thrown. Because of their different fitness levels and some minor injuries, they have to cross at different speeds. Adam can cross in 1 minute, Bob in 2 minutes, Claire in 5 minutes, and Dave in 10 minutes. When two people cross the bridge together, they must move at the slower person’s pace.
Adam declares that the crossing can be completed in 17 minutes. How is this done?
To answer, just press reply like you would to a normal email. 🙂
Last Week’s Brainteaser and Answer:
What number, when written out in English, contains all five vowels (a, e, i, o, u) and has no repeated letters? (By write out a number, I mean something like, “two hundred and thirteen.”)
Answer:
Five Thousand