A weekly newsletter for all your intellectual, spiritual, and physical needs
Hello all! Welcome to Volume 206 of Dovi’s Digest.
I’ve just got back from a trip to the coast, and I feel like a different person. All I did was go for walks, spend time with the family, and eat. Despite all the hills to climb and forests to explore, no matter which direction I headed off in, I always found myself at the sea. Many better writers have put it better than me, so I won’t try, but suffice it to say that I even slept with my windows open (despite the threat of monkeys, true story) so I could drift off to the sound of the breakers.
I’m now back home, and of course I already miss being on holiday (who wouldn’t?). But the thing I miss most isn’t the copious amounts of food, or the sunning by myself by the pool, but the ocean. It’s not only the ocean. Johannesburg is the biggest city in the world not built on a major water source. There are no real dams, lakes, or rivers and it’s noticeable.
I always thought that missing the water was a personal thing, but after reading this week’s headline article, I feel vindicated. Turns out that living near a body of water makes us happier and healthier, which is probably the reason people in Cape Town (read: Miami for international readers) all look hotter and richer than me. I’m off to go listen to some white ocean noise.
A little note: The headline this week not only has the article attached, but also a TikTok with a compilation of some of the entries and it’s glorious.
Do you know a word you think others should know about? Submit it here!
In this week’s added extras:
A delicious time lapse of baked goods in the oven (this description doesn’t do the one minute video justice).
The best wildlife photos right now.
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 TWO correct answers to last week’s brainteaser. Well done to Chaim E and Ariel S! The answer and this week’s puzzle are below.
If you already live by the coast (or similar), good for you! Then you can read about how despite what you’d think, people in the middle ages were hygienic, dive into the story of the silent sailors who keep the internet running, learn why learning how to relax can take it out of you, read why borrowed clothes can make the man, explore one of the world’s last unmapped places, and learn about the person who brought the bitcoin anonymity myth crashing down. Enjoy!
Keep those articles (and everything else) coming.
Have a great weekend,
Dovi
And now, the articles:
Why Being Near Water Really Does Make Us Happier
There are scientific reasons why we’re so drawn to lakes, rivers, and oceans.
Scrub-a-Dub in a Medieval Tub
Contrary to popular misconceptions, Europeans in the Middle Ages took pains to keep themselves clean.
The Cloud Under the Sea
(Courtesy of Dovi J)
The internet is carried around the world by hundreds of thousands of miles of slender cables that sit at the bottom of the ocean. These fragile wires are constantly breaking — a precarious system on which everything from banks to governments to TikTok depends. But thanks to a secretive global network of ships on standby, every broken cable is quickly fixed. This is the story of the people who repair the world's most important infrastructure.
Rest Takes Hard Work
Too often, rest gets a bad rap in our always-on, work-obsessed world. It's also the case that learning to rest well is actually difficult. Why is that? And how can we rest better?
How a Borrowed Blazer, Tie and Dress Shirt Helped Me See Myself as a Man, Not a Prisoner
On a special visiting day at Washington Corrections Center, incarcerated men were able to dress up. This seemingly small change made a big difference.
How A Wild Corner Of Southern Utah Became The Last Place To Be Mapped In The Us
With its impenetrable canyons, Utah's Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument defies human perspective and remains a mystery even to those who know it best.
How a 27-Year-Old Codebreaker Busted the Myth of Bitcoin’s Anonymity
Once, drug dealers and money launderers saw cryptocurrency as perfectly untraceable. Then a grad student named Sarah Meiklejohn proved them all wrong—and set the stage for a decade-long crackdown.
Quote of the Week:
“The most important step in becoming successful in anything is to first become interested in it." — Sir William Osler
Word of the Week:
(Courtesy of Steve A)
Imbroglio
uhm·brow·lee·ow /ɪmˈbrəʊlɪəʊ/
Noun
1) An extremely confused, complicated, or embarrassing situation.
"The abdication imbroglio of 1936"
Facts of the Week:
When the Chinese invented the compass, they used it for fortune-telling.
Whenever a hurricane is forecast, sales of strawberry Pop-Tarts increase sevenfold.
Poppies were first used as a symbol of the Napoleonic wars.
There is a new genetically engineered poppy whose seeds won’t make you fail a drug test.
Elvis Presley wanted to be a federal drug enforcement agent and was given a specially made badge by President Nixon.
President Calvin Coolidge enjoyed buzzing for his staff and hiding under the Oval Office desk while they searched for him.
President Lyndon B. Johnson had an amphibious car that he liked to drive into the water, shouting, “the brakes don’t work, we’re going under!”
18 former presidents of Switzerland are still alive.
Cartoon of the Week:
Tweet of the Week:
Headline of the Week:
Brainteaser of the Week:
You have a 24-hour digital clock that displays hours, minutes, and seconds (for example, 09:30:23). How many times during a 24-hour period do all six digits change simultaneously?
Last week’s Brainteaser and Answer:
Today’s puzzle will quiz you about “verbjectives,” words that can be used as both a verb and an adjective, depending on the context.
The first clue is for the verb form of the word, denoted by (v), and the second clue is for the adjective form of the word, denoted by (a). Your job is to find the word that satisfies both.
Here’s an example: aim (v), honest (a)
Answer: direct
1) authorize (v), acceptable (a)
2) unfasten (v), receptive (a)
3) obscure (v), slow (a)
4) abstain (v), speedy (a)
5) release (v), complimentary (a)
Answer:
Ok
Open
Dim
Fast
Free
Thanks for reading Dovi’s Digest!