Dovi’s Digest Volume 87
A weekly newsletter for all your intellectual, spiritual, and physical needs
Hello all!! Welcome to Volume 87 of Dovi’s Digest.
We all have the proverbial “one that got away” stories. Whether it’s about an actual fish, a business deal, or a partner, rueing most opportunities and wondering what might have been is part of who we are as humans. A common one these days is the “I was going to buy crypto in 2010, but (insert generic excuse here) etc etc. (Yes, I have of these stories. No, it’s not interesting. No, I wouldn’t be a multimillionaire now.) Another common experience we have is finally throwing something away after years of neglect, and then needing it soon after.
What’s less common is someone seizing an opportunity, and then mistakenly throwing the fruits away. Specially if the said fruits are worth hundreds of millions of dollars. In this week’s headline article, you can read about an engineer who says he has a stash of ±8000 bitcoin on a hard drive which was mistakenly thrown away in 2013 and his fight with the local council to try and excavate the landfill in order to find his lost hard drive, and his lost millions. It’s an excellent read, and it shows us how crypto can be both incredibly safe, and impossible to reclaim all at once.
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There were THREE correct answers to last week’s brainteaser. Well done to Ashira Hill, Liron Gordon and Rachel Goldstuck. There were also THREE correct answers to the riddle in V85. Well done to the aforementioned Ashira and Liron, as well as Josh Friedlander!! The answers and this week’s riddle are below.
I hope you enjoy this week’s crop of articles that I hand-picked just for you. You can learn why some people get tattoos, or why Harry Potter isn’t cool anymore. Not up your alley? Read an in-depth interview with Jerry Seinfeld, or about the world’s most intense board game. Would you rather something darker? Then the article about Bambi being a holocaust foreshadowing is for you. Don’t feel like reading? Then just pop on down to the article entitled “The Most Striking Images of 2021” to get some eye candy. Enjoy!
Keep those articles (and everything else) coming,
Have a great week,
Dovi
And now, the articles:
Half a Billion in Bitcoin, Lost in the Dump
For years, a Welshman who threw away the key to his cybercurrency stash has been fighting to excavate the local landfill.
The Story Of My Tattoo: “It Sounds Ridiculous, But It Holds Me To Account”
Symbols of hope, remembering a loved one, an adopted son, overcoming trauma: people with tattoos tell the story behind their body art.
Why So Much Obama-Era Pop Culture Feels So Cringe Now
How Hamilton, Parks and Recreation, and Harry Potter lost cultural cachet.
Life’s Work: An Interview with Jerry Seinfeld
After years as a stand-up performer, Jerry Seinfeld conquered 1990s television with his eponymous sitcom. Two decades later he’s again drawing viewers and accolades, this time for his inventive online talk show, Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee—even as a new generation discovers Seinfeld on streaming video.
Bambi: Cute, Lovable, Vulnerable ... Or A Dark Parable of Antisemitic Terror?
A new translation of Felix Salten’s 1923 novel reasserts its original message that warns of Jewish persecution.
The Most Striking Images of 2021
Kelly Grovier picks 15 of the most startling photos from this year – including images of the riots at the US Capitol and an airplane in Kabul – and compares them with iconic artworks.
The Notorious Board Game That Takes 1,500 Hours to Complete
If you have a spare 62 days, 9 friends who you’re willing to lose, and a deep love of the WWII battles in the Sahara, this is the game for you.
Quote of the Week:
“Sometimes magic is just someone spending more time on something than anyone else might reasonably expect.” — Raymond Joseph Teller
Facts of the Week:
Men are half as likely as women to be naturally blonde.
Pogonotrophy is the cultivation of a beard.
The entire British supply of yak hair was used up making false beards for The Hobbit.
Peter the Great introduced a beard tax for everyone except clergy and peasants.
In 1943, the US banned sliced bread.
20% of sandwich varieties account for 80% of sales.
Prawn mayonnaise has been Marks and Spencer’s bestselling sandwich since 1981.
Cartoon of the Week:
Tweet of the Week:
Headline of the Week:
Brainteaser of the Week:
What same three letters fit into the following five combinations to form 5 words?
S _ _ _ V E
_ _ _ D Y
A L _ _ _
N E C _ _ _
R O _ _ _ Y
Last Week’s Brainteaser and Answer:
Find a word to fit the first clue, then add one letter to give a word to fit the second clue.
What are the words?
A SHAPE BEGINNING
Answer:
Star and start.
Last of last week’s Brainteaser and Answer:
Candle stubs are being moulded into new candles.
Nine stubs are needed to make each new candle.
If there are 977 candle stubs, how many candles can possibly be made in total?
Answer:
122