Dovi’s Digest Volume 70
A weekly newsletter for all your intellectual, spiritual, and physical needs
Aloha readers! Welcome to Volume 70 of Dovi’s Digest.
Last week’s edition of The Digest was unusually sombre, due to the nature of the headline article. I thought I’d keep the party going by reminding you of your dead pet in this week’s headline article How to Grieve for a Very Good Dog. My personal one was Zoë, a pavement special from the SPCA, who brought us 10 years of love. She crossed the rainbow bridge five years ago now, and she’s still very missed. Here’s a picture of her (and also a very young and slightly high looking me).
In other news, Steve, the long-time host of Blues Clues (a kid’s show from the late 90s), broke many children’s hearts when he left the show “to go to college”. This week he came back after 25 years to put out a video which has many millennials weepy and feeling really warm and fuzzy inside. Please give it a watch and know that I will give out free hugs after if you need it.
I also highly recommend Stephen Colbert’s bit about the video on The Late Show.
Finally, we have a bumper crop of freshly picked articles, that I chose specially for you. It ranges from a piece that combines my previously stated loves of climbing and the Olympics, a civil rights friendship and falling out, a train journey much worse than your morning commute, and last, but certainly not least, an article about human’s fascination with whale poop (or vomit, no one is quite sure) aka ambergris and the perfume it provides. Enjoy!
There was ONE correct answer to last week’s brainteaser, well done to Rachel Goldstuck!! The answer and this week’s riddle are below.
Keep those articles (and everything else) coming,
Have a great week,
Dovi
And now, the articles:
How to Grieve for a Very Good Dog
When my yellow Lab died last spring, I was flattened by an overwhelming sadness that’s with me still. And that’s normal, experts say, because losing a pet is often one of the hardest yet least acknowledged traumas we’ll ever face.
Route Setters of the Tokyo Olympics: The Silent Architects in a Game of Choreographed Skill and Chance
Sport climbing is quickly growing in popularity. But when every route in every competition has to be unique, to whom do you turn?
Forty-Eight Hours of Hell
Stranded on a train in China’s summer floods.
Blood Brothers:The Friendship and Fallout of Malcolm X and Muhammad Ali
In a new Netflix documentary, film-maker Marcus A Clarke explores the relationship between the two civil rights figures.
An Immense Mystery Older Than Stonehenge
Reshaping previous ideas on the story of civilisation, Gobekli Tepe in Turkey was built by a prehistoric people 6,000 years before Stonehenge.
Sign From Above
In 2001, Richard Ankrom installed a fake freeway sign in downtown L.A. in order to fix a real problem for commuters. The sign is now long gone, but 20 years later, the stunt remains etched into the soul of the city.
Why We Can’t Shake Ambergris
The odd, enduring appeal of a scarce commodity few people use, and no one really needs.
Quote of the Week:
“How we spend our time is how we spend our days. How we spend our days is how our life goes. How our life goes determines whether we thought it was worth living.” — Keith Yamashita
Facts of the Week:
The Icelandic for the cherry on top is rúsínan í pylsuendanum, “the raisin at the end of the sausage”.
Laddie Boy, President Warren Harding’s dog, not only went to state meetings, he had his own chair.
A luxury hotel in Mexico provides each guest with a personalised sewing kit whose threads match the clothes they are wearing.
The Bayeux Tapestry is not a tapestry.
According to the UK Department of Health, the potato is not a vegetable.
The oldest known mashed potatoes were discovered in Utah and are 10,900 years old.
Turkmenistan has a public holiday to celebrate melons.
The watermelon is the state vegetable of Oklahoma.
In the 19th century, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that tomatoes are vegetables.
Cartoon of the Week:
Tweet of the Week:
Headline of the Week:
Brainteaser of the Week:
This week we are going to the Garden of Eden for a riddle penned by the British economist, writer, and bridge expert Hubert Phillips. Get ready for some rock-paper-scissors in paradise.
Adam and Eve play rock-paper-scissors 10 times. You know that:
Adam uses rock three times, scissors six times, and paper once.
Eve uses rock twice, scissors four times, and paper four times.
There are no ties in all 10 games.
The order of games is unknown.
Who wins? By how much?
Hint: It can be tricky to figure out the answer just by looking at the list of information— grab a pad and pen.
Last week’s Brainteaser and answer:
Can you decipher this phrase? (Hint: It’s kinda punny)
O_er_t_o_
Answer:
Painless operation