Dovi’s Digest Volume 146
A weekly newsletter for all your intellectual, spiritual, and physical needs
Hello all! Welcome to Volume 146 of Dovi’s Digest.
I’ve had a rough week, and I don’t feel much like writing a blurb. My go to when I’m feeling down is rewatching a TV show that I love (as I’ve mentioned before), odd things that make smile at the ingenuity of humans, and pics/videos/articles about dogs. So this week I’ve included articles about all three. Read about a dog that helped his owners father deal with her (the owner) addiction, cheetahs with their own emotional support dogs (I know!), and the history, hilarity, and brilliance behind the UK’s Monster Raving Loony Political Party (Lord Buckethead gets an honourable mention). Among these you can also find out how the super-wealthy do therapy, why scientists are rethinking their approach to highly processed foods, as well as a few more. Enjoy!
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Your something extra this week is also wholesome (which is very true to form for me). Due to extra solar activity, the northern lights were visible throughout England last weekend. Noting how special this is, the pilot of a flight did a full 360 just so passengers on both sides of the plane could get a real look at the phenomenon. Read more about it (with pictures!!) here.
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There was ONE correct answer to last week’s brainteaser. Well done to Ariel Subotzky! The answer and this week’s puzzle are below.
Keep those articles (and everything else) coming.
Have a great week,
Dovi
And now, the articles:
What Rewatching Old Shows Teaches Us About Ourselves
Returning to familiar TV shows is about more than nostalgia.
Forty years of Monster Raving Loony Wannabe MPs
It's 40 years since the Official Monster Raving Loony Party fielded its first candidate in a parliamentary election. Since then no election count has been complete without a garishly-dressed, garishly-named member of the party standing alongside other hopefuls.
Running With Hank
How my daughter’s rambunctious mutt saved my sanity while she was lost to the darkness.
Fat, Sugar, Salt … You’ve Been Thinking About Food All Wrong
Scientists are asking tough questions about the health effects of ultra-processed diets. The answers are complicated—and surprising.
An Emotional Support Dog Is the Only Thing That Chills Out a Cheetah
(Courtesy of Josh Hovsha)
Like humans, the notoriously nervous cats can use a surrogate best friend.
”One Billionaire At A Time”: Inside The Swiss Clinics Where The Super-Rich Go For Rehab
For the ultra-wealthy and the super-famous, regular therapy won’t do.
Bad Tape
When a criminal defence attorney warns you not to view something – in this case, a suspicious VHS tape – it’s probably wise to listen.
Quote of the Week:
“The nice part about being a pessimist is that you are constantly being either proven right or pleasantly surprised.”– George Will
Facts of the Week:
Henry II had a court jester whose Christmas dance featured a jump, a whistle, and a fart.
A yuleshard is someone who is still preparing for Christmas on Christmas Eve.
At 3:00 PM on Christmas Eve, 40% of Swedes watch Donald Duck.
Buying every gift mentioned in “The Twelve Days of Christmas” would cost £27,016.92 (pre cost of living crisis).
Irving Berlin presented himself for the Best Original Song Oscar for “White Christmas”.
Silent films had musical accompaniment to drown out the noise of the projectors.
Horror films are the only movie genre in which more women appear than men.
The film Fargo was released in Hong Kong as “Mysterious Murder in Snowy Cream”.
Cartoon of the Week:
(Courtesy of Tanya Perel)
Tweet of the Week:
Headline of the Week:
Brainteaser of the Week:
The blanks in the following sentences can be filled in with three different homonyms (words that are spelled differently but sound alike) to make coherent sentences. Can you fill in the blanks?
1. The cut on his _____ won’t _____ in time for the race, so _____ have to drop out.
2. The man was so upset about being _____ that he regularly _____ himself up on the bed and _____ his eyes out.
3. I couldn’t _____ any of the _____ in the flower shop, because for some strange reason I had 50 _____ crammed up my nose.
4. A bloodthirsty pirate will wander the _____ and essentially _____ everything he _____.
Last Week’s Brainteaser and Answer:
Last week’s riddle was inspired by Only Connect, a scintillating but wicked UK game show. I’ll give you four items and you have to find the link that connects them all.
For example, if I wrote: Orange, October, Velvet, and Glorious, you’d correctly answer that they were all revolutions.
Got it? Here we go…
1. Pretzels, double-entry bookkeeping, kung fu, genetics
2. Baltimore & Potomac Station, The Temple of Music, Ford’s Theatre, Dealey Plaza
3. Socrates, Snow White, Emma Bovary, Erwin Rommel
4. Bowl, cistern, brook, beagle
Answer:
1) They were all invented by monks.
2) Places US presidents were assassinated.
3) All took/were administered poison killing them or putting them into a coma.
4) All of them end in birds names (owl, tern, rook, eagle).