Dovi’s Digest Volume 51
A weekly newsletter for all your intellectual, spiritual and physical needs
Hey everybody! And welcome to Volume 51 of Dovi’s Digest.
The internet of the early 00s was a wild place. There were no aggregators, no social media, and even Google was a little country bumpkin. It was a world run by AOL, Yahoo!, and Microsoft. There was no YouTube, meaning each video was hosted on its own site, and one would have to bounce around finding the correct ones. No way to see what your high school classmate was having for dinner. With few rules, and regulations playing catch up (which I guess they still are), the world wide web could be scary. But there was one shining oasis among the endless wasteland. I of course am talking about Yahoo! Answers. It was at the beginning of crowdsourcing, allowing people to ask and answer questions across the world. And while there were many questions answered satisfactorily, and many answers that actually solved the problem, Yahoo! Answers had its fair share of crazies. The reason I’m telling you this is that to my shock and horror, Yahoo quietly (not really, it was well documented and well known they were shuttering it) closed Answers this week. Thankfully, there are many lists of some of the best ones out there. I have linked one of my favourites, mainly because of the slug one.
My niche read of the week is the story of a seminal photo taken at Kent State University in 1970. National Guardsmen opened fire on unarmed students protesting the Vietnam War, killing four. The photo, taken by a student photographer (for which he won the Pulitzer Prize) was splashed across the front page of every major newspaper the next day. The image itself, taken moments after the volley of bullets, shows a girl kneeling over the body of one of the victims, screaming for help. It’s known as one of the most iconic photos of the Vietnam Era. This is the story of that photo and that girl.
The final thing I’d like to say is that this week, Rolling Stone magazine put out its list of the 100 Best Sitcoms of All Time. I feel vindicated that not only do two of my favourite shows crack the top 20, but Friends barely cracked the top 40. There are two travesties on the list though. The Big Bang Theory made the cut, and Scrubs didn’t rank nearly as highly as it should have. The reason I mention this is that (SPOILER ALERT!!) The Simpsons comes out tops. The headline article this week is an interview with one of the minds behind the hit show.
There were SEVEN correct answer to last week’s brainteaser, well done to Ori Tobias, Kevin Levy, Liron Gordon, Yisroel Greenberg, Daniel Rabinovitch, Ari Braun and Shmueli Moch!!! Ori’s answer actually reached me before the digest was published, but we had already gone to press, so well done to him. The answer and this week’s riddle are below.
In this edition, we two other anniversaries that have happened over the last week. Spotify turned 15 and 10 years ago Osama Bin Laden was captured and then killed. There are also the usual articles about walking fish, hamsters, Knackermen, and whether manifesting actually works.
Keep those articles (and everything else) coming,
All the best
Dovi
And now, the articles:
John Swartzwelder, Sage of “The Simpsons”
The first major interview with one of the most revered comedy writers of all time.
15 Years of Spotify
How the streaming giant has changed and reinvented the music industry.
The Knackerman: The Toughest Job in British Farming
(Courtesy of Elliot Djebreel)
Between accidents, disease and bad weather, farm animals are prey to so many disasters that dedicated professionals are called out to dispose of the casualties. It’s a grim task, and one that’s only getting more difficult.
The Odd Hawaiian Fish That Climbs Cliffs
Hawaii's unusual 'o'opu can scale the islands' waterfalls, some more than 300m high. Scientists say they're mostly endemic, understudied and threatened by development.
Shut up, I’m manifesting!
The latest internet wellness craze is thinking your way to a better life. Whether it works or not isn’t really the point.
The Untold Story of the Hamster, aka Mr. Saddlebags
The hamster may be ubiquitous now, but it was a pioneering scientist who brought the rodent into labs and homes across the world.
“I’d Never Been Involved in Anything as Secret as This”
The plan to kill Osama bin Laden—from the spycraft to the assault to its bizarre political backdrop—as told by the people in the room.
Quote of the Week:
“Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma – which is living with the results of other people’s thinking.” – Steve Jobs
Facts of the Week:
A mother panda is 800 times larger than her newborn.
The man who named the panda was the younger brother of the man who named the pterodactyl.
Sichuanese people who swallowed needles by mistake would try to melt them by drinking panda urine.
The ancient Greeks cured hangovers by wrapping their heads in cabbage leaves.
The man who coined the term “nostalgia” thought it could be cured by taking laxatives.
Latex is Latin for liquid.
British Army soldiers are given antibacterial underpants.
The US military spends $42 million a year on Viagra.
Headline of the Week:
And here’s the article.
Tweet of the Week:
Cartoon of the Week:
Brainteaser of the Week:
Which of the following groups of letters is the odd man out? The difference has nothing to do with vowels or consonants.
TTEN EVCA SEOUH KNLNEE
Last week’s Brainteaser and answer:
James is now half as old as Jim was six years ago. Three years ago, Jim was three times as old as James. In six years, Jim will be twice as old as James will be then. How old are they now?
Answer:
Jim is 30, James is 12
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