A weekly newsletter for all your intellectual, spiritual, and physical needs
Hello all! Welcome to Volume 173 of Dovi’s Digest.
Benjamin Franklin famously said that there are two certainties in life: death and taxes. I’d like to add a third: that no matter how often a Dungeons and Dragons group would like to play, it only happens about twice a year. I thought this was exclusive to my group, but it turns out it’s a pretty universal experience.
It should come as no surprise that I’m a little nerdy and hence play D&D. You’re reading a weekly newsletter that literally posts facts and arcane articles as a rule for cryin’ out loud. Not that you need to be a nerd to play. Dungeons and Dragons became much more mainstream with the release of the TV series Stranger Things. Between the show’s first and second seasons, searches for D&D grew 20% according to Google Trends, and another 50% between its second and third season. Well known players include Vin Diesel, Terry Crews, and Joe Manganiello (all of whom are famously ripped and cool). However, one demographic that you wouldn’t associate with D&D at first glance is hardened criminals. A role-playing fantasy story replete with orcs, wizards, elves, and spells does not engender a vision of gangbangers with tattoos. Yet there is a dedicated following of players who are not only imprisoned but are actually on death row awaiting execution.
This week’s headline article is about these covert games, and how they brought light and meaning into some of the world’s darkest places.
In this week’s added extras:
Remember those hilarious bad websites of the early 2000s? Or want to see how the Google/YouTube/Netflix site has changed over the years? This online museum is in fact a museum of the online.
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 brainteaser. Well done to Ariel Subotzky, Ryan Subotzky, Chaim Ehrlich, and Hazel Levine! The answer and this week’s puzzle are below.
Last week I missed an email with the correct answer. Apologies Ryan!!
There are other articles for you as well: read about how writing for the TV show FRIENDS wasn’t the dream job it seems to be, launch into the discussion about whether we should colonise other planets, awkwardly smile while learning why it can be so difficult to accept compliments, discover the story of one of Africa’s most secretive and endangered species (and what local communities are doing to help them), find out why Google’s ubiquity with the internet may be coming to a close, and the story of the fake psychic who swindled his way to riches one can only dream about. Enjoy!
Keep those articles (and everything else) coming.
Have a great weekend,
Dovi
And now, the articles:
When Wizards and Orcs Came to Death Row
For men awaiting execution in Texas, illicit games of Dungeons & Dragons became a lifeline.
Writing for Friends Was No Dream Job
People ask Patty Lin why she quit writing for TV.
Her disillusionment began during her very first writing job—and continued when she landed a gig on America's favourite sitcom.
The Big Idea: Should We Colonise Other Planets?
Is Elon Musk’s vision for the future a libertarian fantasy or scientific imperative?
Do Compliments Make You Cringe? Here’s Why.
If receiving a compliment makes you uncomfortable, you aren’t alone. Around 70% of people in a survey associated feelings of embarrassment and discomfort with praise.
The Perilous Life of the Solitary Pangolin
Poached to the edge of extinction, the bashful animals are getting by with a little help from their friends in Africa.
The End of the Googleverse
For two decades, Google Search was the invisible force that determined the ebb and flow of online content. Now, for the first time, its cultural relevance is in question.
The Greatest Scam Ever Written
How a Montreal copywriter swindled victims out of $200 million by pretending to be a legendary psychic.
Quote of the Week:
“The pain of parting is nothing to the joy of meeting again.” – Charles Dickens
Facts of the Week:
In Madagascar, every seven years the bodies of the dead are dug up to dance with their living relatives.
Mary Shelley learned to read using her mother’s gravestone.
Queen Silvia of Sweden thinks her palace is haunted.
A tommyknocker is western American slang for a ghost that lives in a mine.
In Texas, cowboy boots are tax exempt.
In a drugs bust in Detroit in 2017, undercover agents posing as dealers attempted to arrest undercover agents posing as buyers.
In 1999, a man in Connecticut was barred from joining the police because his IQ was too high.
Word of the Week:
Gruntled
/ˈɡrʌnt(ə)ld/
Adjective (humorous)
Pleased, satisfied, and contented.
Cartoon of the Week:
(Courtesy of Yali Friedman)
Tweet of the Week:
Headline of the Week:
Brainteaser of the Week:
This week’s question is inspired by a college football tradition: every time the Oregon Ducks football team scores, the duck mascot does pushups to match the team’s new point total. For example, if Oregon scores a touchdown, the mascot does seven pushups (or eight if the team gets a 2-point conversion). This goes on the entire game, so if Oregon were to score 31 points in total, the mascot will have done 101 pushups (7+14+21+28+31).
During Saturday’s game vs. Portland State, the duck had to do 546 pushups. Your job is to figure out how many points Oregon scored during the game.
Last Week’s Brainteaser and Answer:
Each of the nine letters in the equations below represents a different digit from 1 to 9. Your task is to figure out the integer value of each letter.
A + B = 9
B + C = 10
C + D = 9
D + E = 10
E + F = 9
F + G = 10
G + H = 9
H + I = 10
Answer:
A = 5
B = 4
C = 6
D = 3
E = 7
F = 2
G = 8
H = 1
I = 9
Thanks for reading Dovi’s Digest!