Dovi's Digest Volume 24
A weekly newsletter for all your intellectual, spiritual and physical needs
Hi All, and welcome to Volume 24 of Dovi’s Digest.
For the last 6 months, I’ve been carefully reading, collecting and collating articles on the upcoming U.S. elections. I had a bumper edition planned, with op-eds, articles and cartoons from both sides of the aisle. However, as the first Tuesday of November drew closer, I saw more and more vitriol, more and more hate, more and more division. As a result, over the last few weeks I’ve been vacillating whether to go ahead with my original plan or just to write something completely unrelated. As I’m sure you’ll see, I’ve decided to go with the latter. While some may think it’s a cop out, I would rather that this week’s Digest allows people some form of escapism from all of this *gestures vaguely all around*. I hope that you enjoy it.
I have kind of half assed this approach by putting facts and a quote about elections, but I’d appreciate you indulging me. Either way, please PLEASE do yourself a favour and check out the Wikipedia list of Non-human electoral candidates.
There was one correct answer to last week’s riddle. Well done to Ori Tobias. The answer and this week’s one is below.
Carry on sending your articles, they are always read and always appreciated.
Keep those articles (and everything else) coming!
All the best
Dovi
And now, the articles:
The World’s Cheapest Hospital Has to Get Even Cheaper
Cancer surgery for $700, a heart bypass for $2,000. Pretty good, but under India’s new healthcare system, it’s not good enough.
Vanguards of the Thawing Arctic
After two decades of war in the desert, Canadian troops must relearn how to operate in the frozen north.
In Valuing Only How to Argue, We Are Forgetting How to Talk
It is time to stop manufacturing dissent and find other, more constructive ways to disagree with one another.
"Bay of Piglets": A 'Bizarre' Plot to Capture a President
On Sunday 3 May, the government of Nicolas Maduro announced Venezuela's armed forces had repelled an armed incursion. Operation Gideon was a deeply flawed coup attempt. But what would compel exiled Venezuelans and former US Special Forces soldiers to join a plan that, from the outset, looked like a suicide mission?
The Race to Redesign Sugar
Forget artificial sweeteners. Researchers are now developing new forms of real sugar, to deliver sweetness with fewer calories. But tricking our biology is no easy feat.
The Apple Watch Outsold the Entire Swiss Watch Industry in 2019
(Courtesy of Eli Berkow)
The Apple Watch sold 31 million units worldwide, while all Swiss watch brands combined sold 21 million units, according to research from consulting firm Strategy Analytics.
I Scream. You Scream. The Meltdown at the Museum of Ice Cream
Maryellis Bunn built a business that promised customers happiness, sprinkles, and ice cream, the playground-meets-art installation was an instant hit with the Instagram generation. But ex-employees say that a darker reality lives under the gauzy filters.
Quote of the Week:
“Many forms of Government have been tried, and will be tried in this world of sin and woe. No one pretends that democracy is perfect or all-wise. Indeed it has been said that democracy is the worst form of Government except for all those other forms that have been tried from time to time…” — Winston Churchill
Facts of the Week:
Voting is compulsory in Australia.
In Gambia, where the literacy rate is just over 50%, votes are cast by dropping marbles into colour coded metal drums with pictures of the candidates.
Multiple animals have been elected as mayors in the U.S., including dogs, cats, and goats. (My personal favourite is Pigasus the Immortal, a boar hog who was a candidate in the 1968 presidential elections.)
Candidates in the U.K. have included Elmo, Lord Buckethead (first photo) and Mr Fishfinger (second).
Cartoons of the Week:
Headline of the Week: (Courtesy of both Benji Shulman and Ori Tobias)
Brainteaser of the Week:
A frog is at the bottom of a 30 meter well. Each day he summons enough energy for one 3 meter leap up the well.
Exhausted, he then hangs there for the rest of the day. At night, while he is asleep, he slips 2 meters backwards.
How many days does it take him to escape from the well?
Last week’s Brainteaser and answer:
If Tim works one shift every second day, Megan works once every third day, and Rajesh works every fifth day, how often do all three colleagues work together?
Answer:
Every 30th day.
Did someone forward you this email?
Lucky you, they obviously think you’re clever.
Is there something you particularly liked or didn’t like? Let me know at dovisdigest@gmail.com