Dovi’s Digest Volume 250

Let's go to the parks 🏞🏕🐻

Mar 28, 2025

A weekly newsletter for all your intellectual, spiritual, and physical needs

Hello all! Welcome to Volume 250 of Dovi’s Digest!

250 up! That’s nearly five years of the Digest! I’ve told the story before, but in the middle of COVID, what started as a hastily written email to about 20 friends has grown into a weekly email read by nearly 1000 people each week. Thank you all! I love writing the Digest, and I’m so glad you enjoy getting it.

I have this dream, that for my honeymoon I want to get a camper van and road trip across the United States for a few months. I’d hit many of the big cities of course, but what I’d mainly like to do would be to go to as many of the national parks as possible. Camping out, hiking, swimming, just getting to be together without external distractions would be wonderful. I’ll have to plan carefully to make sure to hit the one’s I’d most enjoy (and are most picturesque) as time will of course be limited.

This week’s headline article is about a lady who not only said “I want to go to a national park” but also decided to go to all 63 in the United States. This is made more impressive by the fact that she is 94 years old.

Now that she’s hit that target, her next one is every continent. Read the article to find out more.

In this week’s added extras:

The defining photos of the pandemic — and the stories behind them

Create your own music on this simple platform—no skill necessary.

The world's biggest paper airplane.

The piano doctor meets his biggest challenge yet: beer.

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!

Refer a friend

There were FIVE correct answers to last week’s brainteaser, well done to Myer B, Ariel S, Josh F, Jeff C, and Ryan S. The answer and this week’s riddle are below.

Keep those articles (and everything else) coming.

Have a great weekend,

Dovi

And now, the articles:

Quote of the Week:

“Good judgment comes from experience, and experience comes from bad judgment.” – Mark Twain

Word of the Week:

(Courtesy of Tanti P)

Echelon

eh·shuh·lon/ˈɛʃəlɒn,ˈeɪʃlɒ̃/

Noun

a level or rank in an organization, a profession, or society.

"The upper echelons of the business world"

MILITARY

a formation of troops, ships, aircraft, or vehicles in parallel rows with the end of each row projecting further than the one in front.

"The regiment lined up shoulder to shoulder in three tight echelons."

Verb

MILITARY

arrange in an echelon formation.

"The Task Force would take the left, echeloned to be able to sweep in from the west."

Do you know a word you think others should know about? Submit it here!

Facts of the Week:

The world's oldest known colour is pink.
Cough is Cornish for “scarlet”.
Isaac Newton's bed, bed curtains, bedspreads, settee, easy chair, and cushions were all crimson.
Farmed salmon is white; the pink is added artificially.
There are only two words for colours in the Bassa language of Liberia: ziza for warm ones and hui for cool ones.
6,900 different languages are spoken in the world today.
770,000 people living in England cannot speak English.
Over 650 languages in India are not recognised by the state because they are spoken by fewer than 10,000 people.