Dovi’s Digest Volume 80
A weekly newsletter for all your intellectual, spiritual, and physical needs
Hello friends! Welcome to Volume 80 of Dovi’s Digest.
To the best of my knowledge, running is the most popular form of exercise in the world. You don’t need any special equipment, nor do you need a membership to an expensive gym. You just go outside and start walking twice at the same time.
For most of us, a 5k three times a week is good enough. Some go for races and longer runs, with a select few (million) deciding to run a marathon.
We all run for different reasons. Some do it just for the health, some do it for the mindfulness, some might even do it to escape their kids for an hour (no judgement). We have different philosophies and training regimes, different ideas on how to approach nutrition and hydration. We even argue about what constitutes a “real runner”. However, the one thing that all runners can agree on is that Eliud Kipchoge is a freak.
This is a man who has barely lost a race since 2003. He has only lost a marathon twice. At the 2020 London marathon, and at the 2013 Berlin marathon where he finished second to Wilson Kipsang Kiprotich who ran a world record time. He holds the world record for the marathon and was also the first person to a run a marathon in less than two hours (which doesn’t count as a world record for reasons laid out in the article). All in all, he is the best distance runner of our generation, and possibly ever. So, what makes a someone who seems this superhuman tick? This week’s headline article goes behind the scenes not only into Kichoge’s training camp and team, but also his personal life. It’s an unusual look behind the curtain of one of the world’s great athletes.
There was ONE correct answer to last week’s brainteaser. Well done to Cheryl Geliebter!! The answer and this week’s riddle are below.
Of course, I wouldn’t only leave you with traumatic memories of school gym class and being made to run around a field for no apparent reason. There are also articles on honey that makes you trip harder than LSD, why fungi are our future (and our past), the late great fashion icon Coco Chanel, a look into the sad world of turtle smuggling, and just for my American readers, an article on the mishaps of Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade balloons. That’s something to be thankful for all by itself. Enjoy!
Keep those articles (and everything else) coming,
Have a great week,
Dovi
And now, the articles:
Eliud Kipchoge: Inside the Camp, and the Mind, of the Greatest Marathon Runner of All Time
He’s the greatest marathoner in history, a national hero in Kenya, and an icon for runners around the world. But despite his fame and wealth, Eliud Kipchoge chooses to live the most basic lifestyle.
Mad Honey
This hallucinogenic honey can sell for over $60 a pound on the black market.
The Earth’s Secret Miracle Worker Is Not a Plant or an Animal: It’s Fungi
Without fungi we don’t have bread, chocolate, cheese, soy sauce, beer or wine. They are also crucial to protecting our climate.
Drop Shipping, Explained
How a decades-old business model became part of a side-hustle trend that affects nearly every shopper on the internet.
The French Icon Who Revolutionised Women's Clothes
How comfort and freedom became chic in France a century go – and still are today. Vivian Song explores the progressive work of Coco Chanel.
The Most Infamous Balloon Mishaps from the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade
(Courtesy of Josh Hovsha)
It’s all fun and games until someone loses their gas.
To Catch a Turtle Thief: Blowing the Lid Off an International Smuggling Operation
When a padded envelope at the Calgary airport started to move, officials jumped into action.
Quote of the Week:
“If you’re efficient, you’re doing it the wrong way. The right way is the hard way. The show was successful because I micromanaged it—every word, every line, every take, every edit, every casting. That’s my way of life.” — Jerry Seinfeld
Facts of the Week:
Albuquerque, New Mexico, has a giant X-ray machine that melts diamonds and makes electricity that moves 20,000 times faster than a bolt of lightning.
Lightning produces antimatter.
The Earth's largest habitat is the sky.
Baltimore has “an eye in the sky” that continuously photographs the city for the police.
Some police stations in China used guard geese instead of guard dogs.
In 1st-century Denmark, rich people were buried with a chicken; the very rich were buried with a goose.
Che Guevara was buried without his hands: they were sent to Argentina for fingerprinting.
God and Jesus are the only characters in The Simpsons to have five fingers on each hand.
Cartoon of the Week:
(Courtesy of Ariella Blumenthal)
Tweet of the Week:
Headline of the Week:
Brainteaser of the Week:
What number comes next in this sequence?
7 8 5 5 3 4 4 ?
Last Week’s Brainteaser and Answer:
How many triangles can you find?
Answer:
24