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4-LEGGED HEROES
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A FAMILY OF
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THE GOOD PIT BULL
n HOURS OF PLUS
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TANGLE IN THE JUNGLE
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Hero Pets
48 THE GOOD PIT BULL
As her owner faces a deadly situation, Lilly
the pit bull rewrites the story for her breed.
A N I TA B A R T H O L E M E W
P. | 48
Living Language
54 WORDS
Much-loved Australian novelist Bryce Courtenay
on his love of language. F R O M S I LV E R M O O N :
R E F L E C T I O N S O N L I F E , D E AT H A N D W R I T I N G
wo
nursrds that
What It’s Like…
60 LOVE REIMAGINED
e the
Jane Whitehead found love again – with the most
unlikely suitor.
ego and
heal
the
AS TO L D TO E M I LY C U N N I N G H A M F R O M T H E G UA R D I A N
t
ar
First Person
he
54
son followed his mother and chose peace.
Z A K E B R A H I M F R O M T H E T E R R O R I ST ’ S SO N P. |
February•2015 | 1
Contents
FEBRUARY 2015
Cheat Sheet
74 INSTANT ANSWERS: EBOLA
The latest outbreak of this deadly virus has
spurred anxiety and confusion. Here’s what
you need to know. H A Z E L F LY N N
RD Interview
76 SIR WORLD WIDE WEB
When he created the web, Sir Tim Berners-Lee
had no inkling of its impact. M O H A N S I VA N A N D
Drama In Real Life
82 LOST ON THE VOLCANO
Far from the surfing beaches and hula girls,
an experienced hiker discovers Hawaii is full of
surprises. A L B E R T SA M A H A FROM THE VILLAGE VOICE
P. | 82 90
Who Made That?
NIGERIAN SCAM
The lure of a fortune has been around for a very
long time. DA N I E L E N G B E R FROM THE NEW YORK TIMES
104
Against the Odds
P. | 92 THE GIRL WHO WOULDN’T BREAK
Not even a rare genetic disorder can stop Jessica
Bernstein from following her dreams.
A N I TA B A R T H O L E M E W
Environment
98 TANGLE IN THE JUNGLE
Climbing plants are choking tropical forests –
and the outcome could be disastrous.
W I L L I A M L AU R A N C E FROM THE NEW SCIENTIST
True Crime
104 THE FAMILY THAT ROBBED BANKS
Getting involved in the family business has
its pros and cons. Some more than others.
S K I P H O L L A N D SWO R T H FROM TEXAS MONTHLY
2 | February•2015
SUBSCRIBER
BONUS
EXTRA
32PAGES
?
TION !
S I SEC TION
ONU T ED
U P RB IN
R ISSUE
K O THE
THIS
C
U NLO TO ● Sheepish Travel Encounters
REGULARS HUMOUR
4 Letters 38 Laughter, the Best Medicine
7 Editor’s Note 58 Life’s Like That
8 Staff Pick 72 All in a Day’s Work
10 My Story
12 Kindness of Strangers
14 Unbelievable
THE DIGEST
63 That’s Outrageous 16 Health
81 Quotable Quotes 22 Food
114 Smart Animals 24 Home
122 Puzzles, Trivia & Word Power 26 Work
28 Travel
CONTESTS 30 Etc
116 Movies & Books
4 Caption Competition
6 Jokes and Stories
February•2015 | 3
Letters
READERS’ COMMENTS AND OPINIONS
I completely agree with the author Reader’s Digest since 1966 and
of “Let Kids Take Risks”. How blessed although I’ve moved house seven
my siblings and I were to be raised times I have taken all my Reader’s
in the ’40s and ’50s, before the Digests with me. I even remember
madness of “protection” became the some of these stories! MARIANNE FRASER
norm. JOAN SMITH
4 | February•2015
lessons. By being self-dependent, we
can enjoy life’s blessings without
being held back by the tears it also
thrusts in our eyes. I made both my
children read the story so that they
could absorb the resilience of the
little boat. B. JINDAL
February•2015 | 5
Vol. 188
CONTRIBUTE
No. 1115 FOR DIGITAL EXTRAS AND
February 2015 SOCIAL MEDIA LINKS, SEE PAGE 17.
6 | February•2015
Editor’s Note
Making a Choice
I FIRST HEARD OF ZAK EBRAHIM last March when he stood on stage
at a TED conference in Vancouver. Also talking at the sessions were such
luminaries as Bill and Melinda Gates and Sting. Yet the audience of 1900
or so watching live, and the more than two million people who have since
downloaded Zak’s talk via ted.com or the TED app, were awed by a gently
courageous individual who could so easily have chosen not to step up
into the spotlight. This issue we are pleased to bring you an extract from
Zak Ebrahim’s book, The Terrorist’s Son (page 64).
When Zak was seven his father shot and killed a rabbi in New York
City. Then from his prison cell, the extremist helped organise the 1993
bombing of the World Trade Center that killed six people. Eventually
Zak’s mother demanded a divorce, she changed the family’s last name,
moved, and mother and children carved out a new life.
But Zak can’t ignore the truth that he
has his father’s blood in his veins. Zak
spent years coming to terms with what
that means. He admits wrestling with
anger, fear and self loathing. Now
through his unique perspective, he has
decided that although he can’t choose
what he is – a terrorist’s son – he can
PHOTOGRAPHED BY TIM BAUER
February•2015 | 7
STAFF PICK
8 | February•2015
I really enjoyed “Sheepish Travel
Encounters” (Subscriber Bonus, print
edition). I love all kinds of animals but
sheep have to be one of my favourites.
Maybe that’s because my Mum has a
small flock of her own on her farm.
They are surprisingly intelligent,
friendly animals! LUKE TEMBY, designer
February•2015 | 9
MY STORY
Birds of Paradise
BY E RIC P R OV I S
ERIC PROVIS , IN MANY WAYS, some bird species are like human beings.
90, lives in They mate for life and they miss their partner when tragedy
Inverell, NSW,
strikes. As a boy living on a farm near the township of Tumby
and has
a strong Bay, on the Eyre Peninsula in South Australia, I was
appreciation privileged to see a variety of birds in their natural habitat.
for wildlife. I soon became familiar with their various calls of danger,
songs of happiness and laments to their loves. I stayed on
the farm until I married my wife Colleen in 1949 and moved
to a smaller farm in the same district.
When my son Ross left school and showed an interest in
farming, I sold our farm and bought a larger property for the
two of us to work on. At the same time, I leased another
property close by which became home to Colleen and myself.
Close to the homestead was a patch of bushland that was
inhabited by many species of birds, including a beautiful pair
of western thrush. The male’s joyous song could be heard
throughout the day and I always thought it was a proclamation
of the happiness he felt with his partner by his side. One day,
I noticed the female fly out from the pine near the garage.
Curiosity got the better of me and, on inspection of the tree,
I found a nest with four tiny eggs in it. No wonder the male kept
singing his happy song as he was to become a father.
PHOTO: TO COM E
10 | February•2015
He must have missed
her because in the
following days, the
male thrush continued
to call pleadingly for
her. Eventually, there
was silence.
February•2015 | 11
THE KINDNESS OF STRANGERS
Pay It Forward
BY SA L LY M C M U L L E N
AS RYAN LEE COX was waiting to pay helping school students pay off their
for his coffee order at an Indiana, US delinquent school lunch accounts.
fast food drive-through, he decided to Sometimes because of economic
try something he’d seen on a TV news hardship, the accounts fall into
show – he paid for the coffee order of negative balance and the kids suffer.
the driver in the car behind. The She got the idea after hearing that a
small gesture made the young Utah student was denied lunch.
Indianapolis entrepreneur feel great, So the following week Ryan visited
so he shared his experience on his nephew’s school cafeteria and
Facebook. An old friend suggested asked if he could pay off some
that rather than paying for people’s accounts, and handed over $100.
coffee, Ryan put that money towards Overwhelmed by his generosity, the
supervisor began paying off fines
before Ryan asked what the entire
An Indianapolis man’s “paying school’s balance for lunches was. It
it forward” organisation is
was $1261.98. “I’ll see you next
PHOTOS: GETTY IMAGES; THIN KSTOCK
12 | February•2015
Ryan contacted another school.
Within two weeks they had raised
$4142.82 and were able to help four
schools. Inspired by people’s
enthusiasm, Ryan organised a non-
profit called Feed The Kids, Inc., which
offers a website, www.kidslunches.org,
for people to start campaigns for
specific schools or to set up recurring
payments to sponsor a student. Today,
this “paying it forward” organisation is
onto its fifth school.
February•2015 | 13
Unbelievable
TRUE TALES TOLD TALL
The Importance of
Overreacting
ILLUSTRATION: AN DREW JOYN ER
14 | February•2015
going to TEAR that person limb from sodium polyacrylate complained
limb with my bare… oh, there it is.” about his class? A: You guys always
After much research (read: scanning overreact.” OK, but I prefer jokes that
news stories sent in by readers), I work without the listener having to
found that we’re in good company take a quick science degree between
because the police have a tendency to set-up and punch line.
overreact, too. A reader sent me a In the interest of balance, I must
video of a dramatic police chase in also state that there are instances
Michigan, US, where a man on where overreacting is not advisable.
a moped was pursued by Over in Norway, residents
at least ten patrol cars. For of a building called the
those who don’t know, a police when they heard
moped is a motorbike Residents called loud screaming coming
powered by an electric the police when from an apartment. When
toothbrush. I had one they heard loud police officers responded
once, but gave it up when screaming … it to the call, they expected
I realised it was faster for to find a gruesome scene.
me to walk.
turned out to be What they found was
Within days, the US’s screams from a much worse. The
northern neighbours had man who had lost screaming came from a
got in on the action. a game of chess man who was unusually
Heavily armed tactical angry at his computer for
officers were sent to a constantly beating him at
block of flats in Ontario, after residents chess. I don’t blame him. I hate it
complained of loud noises that when inanimate objects are better
sounded like gunshots. It turned out to than me at things.
be a resident who was repeatedly However, I still intend to follow the
slamming his heavy door. Canadians example of my former boss, so this is
are so mild-mannered that the sudden aimed at my subeditors: you changed
noise caused residents to call the a word in my column. I will now have
police, not knowing whether it was a to hurt you and scatter the cubed
door slamming, a gun being fired, or pieces of your corpse over a wide
somebody hitting something with area of remote scrubland. Success,
something else, such as a portion of here I come!
poutine [hot chips with gravy and
[Careful, Nury, our hobbies include archery and
cheese curds].
random adjective deletion. Love, the subeditors]
One reader helpfully contributed a
joke on the topic. “Q: What did the Nury Vittachi is a Hong Kong-based
chemistry lecturer say when H2O and author. Read his blog at Mrjam.org
February•2015 | 15
THE DIGEST
HEALTH
HOT TOPIC
Q: ADHD - Should We Be
Medicating Our Kids?
With the continuing negative publicity about using drugs to treat kids with
ADHD (attention deficit hyperactivity disorder), making a decision about
medication can be difficult for families. Here are some facts:
16 | February 2015
SHARE THE STORY
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PHOTOS: THINKSTOCK
January•2015 | 17
HEALTH
GOOD HABITS
18 | February 2015
DIY CHECK
February 2015 | 19
HEALTH
World of Medicine
Back Pain Myth self-esteem preferred supports who
Patients commonly believe weather acknowledged their situation was
affects back pain, but a study difficult. “If your attempt to point out
conducted by researchers at the the silver lining is met with a sullen
University of Sydney and published reminder of the prevailing dark cloud,
in Arthritis Care & Research found you might do best to just acknowledge
otherwise. Over a one-year period, the cloud and sympathise,” said lead
993 patients who consulted a GP were author Professor Denise Marigold.
asked to report any instances when
they experienced sudden, acute back Music Can Make You Strong
pain. Researchers then matched A study conducted by Northwestern
patient reports to weather conditions and Columbia Universities in
for a week and a month before the the US investigated the effect of
onset of pain. They found no link to power-related music on our psyche.
changes in weather conditions, such Participants who listened to bass-
as temperature, humidity or rainfall. heavy music reported feeling more
powerful than those who listened
When Optimism to the same tunes with
Backfires a reduced bass. The
People with low self- “bass-heavy” listeners
esteem don’t want a pep also selected more
talk during hard times, power-related words in
according to researchers a word-completion task
at the University of “Empowering music
Waterloo, Canada. might be used strategically
Researchers discovered to get us in the right frame
PHOTO: ADAM VOORHES
20 | February 2015
TRENDING
COCONUT OIL is the new “heart- oils. Like other saturated fats, coconut
healthy” fat, claiming to make you oil raises cholesterol (though not by
slimmer, stop sugar cravings and as much as butter). He says switching
even reduce fine lines. Too good to be to coconut oil is likely to lead to less
true? Possibly. With the popularity of favourable lipid profiles and potential
coconut oil surging, the New Zealand increased risk of coronary heart
Heart Foundation carefully analysed disease. Research often quoted to
the scientific literature. support the use of coconut oil was
largely based on animal studies or
THE HYPE Coconut oil is marketed interpreted from research on MCT
as a healthier fat because it contains oils. But the triglycerides in coconut
medium-chain triglycerides (MCT), oil could not be classed as MCTs,
which are not as bad for you as meaning the research quoted was not
transfats and are metabolised quickly relevant, he says.
to make energy, rather than being
stored in the body as fat. It’s claimed SO WHAT’S THE BEST ADVICE?
that adding a few teaspoons to your While the occasional use of coconut
daily diet will help with weight loss oil is fine, if you’re using it a lot
as well as staving off diabetes and because you believe it to be healthy,
reducing sugar cravings. you should either cut back or blend
in some unsaturated cold-pressed
WHAT DOES THE SCIENTIFIC oil such as olive, avocado or canola.
LITERATURE SHOW? “Traditionally, coconut oil hasn’t been
PHOTO: THI NKSTOCK
February 2015 | 21
FOOD
Everyday Superfruits
Every so often little-known fruits Blueberries: One cup (150g) of
are plucked from obscurity to be blueberries supplies 24% of your
acclaimed as the latest nutritional daily vitamin C needs and about 14%
miracle. Think acai berry and goji of your fibre needs. It also contains
berry. Studies suggest that more vitamin K and the trace mineral,
readily available fruits have equal or manganese – all for only 250kJ.
superior powers. Here are some: Blueberries also contain a diverse
group of phytochemicals that help
Apples: French research reveals decrease inflammation that leads
that two substances found in to chronic diseases. Research has
apples – boron and a flavonoid linked them to heart, cognitive and
called phloridzin – may increase eye health benefits. Raspberries,
bone density and protect against blackberries and strawberries also
osteoporosis. Other studies suggest qualify for superfood status.
that eating apples may greatly reduce
the risk of developing cancers of the Citrus Fruits: All these fruits are
lung, colon, liver and breast. low in kilojoules and packed with
helpful nutrients. UK research in 2011
suggested that the flavanones in citrus
fruit may protect against stroke and
heart disease. Studies also show that a
high intake of citrus fruits can reduce
the risk of stomach cancer by 28%.
22 | January•2015
Food-Storage Tricks the
Package Won’t Tell You
BROWN SUGAR Store the sweet material. If you don’t have cheese
crystals with “friends” to prevent paper, parchment will also work.
hardening. Transfer to an airtight Avoid tinfoil and tight plastic wrap.
plastic container and include items Failing to expose cheese to enough
like marshmallows, a slice of bread, or oxygen will cause it to dry out
apple slices; the sugar will soak up the quickly.
moisture and stay soft. Or, invest in a
Brown Sugar Bear. Soak the reusable BUTTER You can freeze bars you
terracotta teddy in water for 20 don’t plan to use quickly. In the
minutes and store with your sugar to fridge, unopened butter should last
prevent hardening or to soften about four months. It can stay in
sugar that’s become a brick. the freezer for about a year. Leave
in the wrapping, then enclose in
FLOUR Keep whole-wheat double plastic freezer bags.
flour chilled. High oil levels
in the wheat germ can RED SPICES Stash red spices in
make this baking staple the fridge. Paprika, cayenne
go rancid if kept in the powder, and chilli powder will
pantry too long. If you stay fresher and keep their
use it frequently, store in colour – which can be dulled
an air-tight container in by light and heat – longer.
the fridge, where it can
last two to six months. OLIVE OIL Stick to small
Sniff to check freshness bottles unless you’re heavy-
– it should be almost handed. Once opened,
completely odourless. olive oil can go rancid in as
Toss it if it smells sharp or little as three months (even
bitter. Regular white flour though the bottle might say
PHOTOS: THIN KSTOC K
February•2015 | 23
HOME
Cut Kitchen
Cleaning
Time in Half
Save time with these tips on cleaning
common kitchen items:
DISHWASHER Load small things in
BLENDER Fill it one-third full with the dishwasher first. If the big things
warm water and a few drops of like pots don’t fit, it’s easier to hand-
dishwashing liquid. Run it for ten wash a few of them than loads of
seconds. Rinse and dry. small ones.
24 | February•2015
Extend the life of your soft furnishings
February•2015 | 25
WORK
26 | February•2015
Five steps to making meetings better
February•2015 | 27
TRAVEL
28 | February•2015
Common Travel Booking
Mistakes
Mistakes can easily happen and often end up costing you the money you’ve
saved by booking online. According to a recent survey of almost 10,000
Australians, it was revealed that one in four have made massive blunders
when booking online. Most of the top five errors were innocent mistakes:
February•2015 | 29
ETC
When Converse had modest sales antelope that was the perfect
with the All Star sneaker in 1917, inspiration for their company. Turns
the company employed Chuck Taylor, out Foster had won a South African
a former basketball star to revamp dictionary, so they went with the
the design. After adding a patch to Afrikaans spelling of “reebok”.
support the ankle, the CONVERSE Global sales 2013: US$1.9 billion
CHUCK TAYLOR ALL STAR became
uber-popular. Taylor didn’t receive a ADIDAS is a combination of Adi and
bonus or commission – he just spent Dassler, the German businessman
40 years working with Converse. who started the company in 1949.
Global sales 2013: US$1.45 billion Global sales 2013: US$22.76 billion
REEBOK In 1958, J.W. Foster & Sons ASICS In 1977, Onitsuka Co. merged
decided to create an athletic shoe with two other sports shoe makers to
company. Searching through a form ASICS, an acronym for the Latin
dictionary that Joe Foster had won in phrase anima sana in corpore sano,
a running race as a boy, they came or “healthy soul in a healthy body”.
across the rhebok, a speedy African Global sales 2013: US$21 billion
Sneakers was the name given by advertising guru Henry Nelson McKinney to
rubber-soled shoes sold by Keds in 1917. The shoes made it possible for
people to sneak up on unsuspecting friends and family.
30 | February•2015
Explore, Interact, Inspire
Available now, everywhere
LY
IFICAL
SCIENT
EN
P R OV
7
WAYS TO
OUTWITYOUR
APPETITE
32 | February•2015
FOOD AND DIET
1 What Would
Batman Eat?
Millions of parents take their
happy kids to fast-food restaurants
every day. Most of us don’t even try
or fries at a fast-food restaurant. The
first week, 20 of them ordered fries,
and two ordered apple slices. But the
next week, we asked, “What would
Batman eat: apple slices or fries?” After
to get our kids to order the apple they answered for Batman, we asked
slices instead of the French fries or them what they wanted. This time,
the milk instead of the juice. We’re the number of kids who ordered apple
there because we don’t have the time, slices jumped from two to ten – almost
energy or motivation to cook – or to half of them.
argue with our kids. We’ve done this in differ-
We all know children can be stub- ent ways, and here’s what’s
bornly habitual in what they want to crazy. It doesn’t matter who
eat. If kids had fries yesterday, they you say: Batman,
want them again today. We came up Joker, the kids’
with a simple way to interrupt this teacher, or their
default. Instead of asking kids what best friend.
they want, what if we ask them about Simply having
someone they admire? to answer for
To study this, we treated 22 primary anyone makes
school-aged children to apple slices them think twice
February•2015 | 33
SLEEPLESS IN SEVILLE
2
full, you’ll tend to buy more to balance
The Duct-Taped things out.
3
Shopping Trolley
What’s the right amount of Groceries and Gum
PHOTOS: THIN KSTOC K
34 | February•2015
READER’S DIGEST
shoppers. They don’t buy more, but in my lab did – at 11 Chinese buffet
they buy worse. When we’re hungry, restaurants.
we buy things that are convenient to Here’s the first thing we discovered:
eat right away and stop our cravings, 71% of slim diners scouted out the
such as biscuits, chips or sweet things. buffet before they picked up a plate –
Our imagination is the problem. they scanned the salad bar, the steam
Hunger leads us to dream about what trays holding 14 seemingly identi-
a food would feel like in our mouth cal chicken dishes, the sushi station,
if we were eating it. So we tested and the dessert bar. Only after they
whether chewing gum could interrupt had figured out the lay of the land
these cravings, making it too hard to did they grab their plates and start
imagine the sensory details of crunchy cherry-picking.
chips or creamy ice-cream. Heavier diners, on the other hand,
A colleague and I gave gum to food were twice as likely to charge ahead
shoppers at the start of their shopping to the nearest stack of plates and start
trips; at the end, they rated them- filling up. They also sat at tables that
selves as less hungry and tempted were on average 4.8m closer to the
by food. In another study, shoppers buffet and were three times more
bought 7% less junk food than those likely to sit facing the food, which
who weren’t chewing gum. could remind them to take second
OUTSIDE THE LAB: If you shop for and third helpings.
groceries when you’re hungry, make OUTSIDE THE LAB: Our researchers
sure the first thing you buy is gum. have a saying: “If you want
Our early findings show that sugarless to be s k i n ny, do w hat
gum or mint might work best. sk i n ny people do.” I n
4
our study, slim people
Chinese Buffet also were more likely
Confidential to use chopsticks and
Some people say there is only smaller plates, and
one way not to overeat at a buffet: don’t chew each bite
go. Yet here’s what’s strange – visit any more than
buffet restaurant, and you’ll see a lot of heavy people
slim people. What do they do at buf- did. Survey
fets that heavy people don’t? When we the spread
ask, they almost all say, “I don’t know.” before filling
Most people eat the way they eat with your plate. Sit
very little conscious thought. You can as far away from
find out their habits only by care- the food as
fully watching them. So researchers possible.
February•2015 | 35
7 W AY S T O O U T W I T Y O U R A P P E T I T E
6
losing money, they made more. Here’s
how. Whereas a couple named Lester The Warm
and Grace would regularly visit the Can Solution
restaurant and split a $10 chicken A man was referred to our lab
breast main course because it was once for advice on how to break what
“big enough for two”, they now each his doctor called a “Pepsi addiction”
ordered their own half-size main – 12-plus cans a day. He was on the
course. And they still had room to express train to diabetes. He even had
order a starter or side salad. Within one of those mini refrigerators in his
three months, more people went to office – fully stocked. Telling him to
get rid of his refrigerator and go cold
turkey, or even just to drink half as
many, wouldn’t work. He would have
resisted, cheated or obsessed about
how many he had left in his stash.
PHOTOS: LEVI BROWN; THI NKSTOCK
36 | February•2015
READER’S DIGEST
7 The Slim
Person’s Kitchen
If we knew what a skinny per-
son’s kitchen looked like, we could set
up our own kitchens in a similar way.
We chose the US demographically rep-
resentative city of Syracuse, New York,
for our study. (It’s commonly used as
a test city for billion-dollar compa-
nies with huge markets at stake.) Once
we got into people’s homes, we took than their neighbours who didn’t. “In
pictures of everything: their dishes, sight, in stomach.” We eat what we see,
sinks, refrigerator shelves, benchtops, not what we don’t.
snacks, pet-food dishes, tables, light- OUTSIDE THE LAB: Rearrange your
ing – even random items held up by cupboard, pantry and refrigerator so
magnets on their refrigerators. Nothing the first visible foods are best for you.
went unsnapped. Then we spent eight You’re three times more likely to eat
months coding these kitchens to see the first food you see in the cupboard
what thin people do differently. than the fifth one. In another study, we
We wondered if big kitchens turn asked people to move all their fruits
us into big people. But it turns out and vegetables from the crisper bin to
that kitchen size isn’t the problem. It’s the top shelf and put less-healthy foods
what you see in the kitchen. The aver- in the crisper. After one week, they
age woman who kept potato chips on reported eating nearly three times as
the benchtop weighed 3.6kg more than many fruits and vegetables as the week
her neighbour who didn’t. Those who before. (Produce might keep longer in
had even one box of breakfast cereal the crisper, but the goal is to eat it – not
that was visible weighed 9.5kg more to end up composting it.)
SLIM BY DESIGN © 2014 BY BRIAN WANSINK, IS PUBLISHED BY WILLIAM MORROW,
AN IMPRINT OF HARPERCOLLINS PUBLISHERS, WWW. HARPERCOLLINS.COM.
February•2015 | 37
Laughter
THE BEST MEDICINE
MESSAGE RECEIVED
A man and his wife were having some problems at home and were giving each
other the silent treatment. After a week of silence, the man realised he’d need his
wife to wake him at 5am for an early morning business flight.
Not wanting to be the first to break the silence, he wrote
on a piece of paper, “Please wake me at 5am.”
The next morning the man woke up, only to discover that it
was 9am and he’d missed his flight. Furious, he was about
to go and see why his wife hadn’t woken him when he
noticed a piece of paper by the bed.
It said: “It’s 5am. Wake up”. Source: cheergiver.com
PUSHOVER
A loud knocking on the door wakes “Yes, please,” comes
a man and his wife in the middle of the reply.
a stormy night. The man opens the “Where are you?” the husband
door to a stranger, who asks him for calls out.
a push. “No way!” says the husband, “Over here,” the drunk replies.
slamming the door shut in the “On the swing.”
stranger’s face. SUBMITTED BY TRACY DAVIDSON
“Who was that?” calls his wife.
“Just some drunk asking for a BREAKING NEWS
push,” he answers. “It’s 3am and Accordian to a recent survey,
pouring with rain out there!” replacing words with the names of
“You should be ashamed,” his wife musical instruments in a sentence
replies. “Don’t you remember that often goes undetected. Source: reddit.com
time we broke down and those two
guys helped us out? You should go THIRSTY WORK
and help him.” Sighing, the man does Max the baby camel walks into his
as he’s told, pulls on his coat and parents’ room at 3am and asks for
heads out into the pouring rain. a glass of water.
“Hello?” he calls out in the “Another one?” says his
dark. “Do you still need a dad. “That’s the second glass
push?” this month.” Seen on the internet
38 | February•2015
A hotel minibar allows you than he thought so
he runs off.
to see into the future and Up in a tree,
find out what a can of Pepsi a monkey had
will cost in 2020. seen the whole
COMEDIAN RICH HALL thing and decides
to tell the lion what
VOICE PROFILING happened. The monkey perches on
Men are attracted to women with the lion’s shoulder and leads him
a raspy voice. We think: Hey, maybe back to the dog.
she’s all done yelling. As he sees the two heading
COMEDIAN MOODY MCCARTHY towards him, the dog has another
idea. “You’re late, monkey!” he
CRIMINALLY INCLINED shouts. “I told you to bring me
A policeman pulled me over last another lion hours ago!”
night. He said, “You’ve got a SUBMITTED BY HANNAH WILKINS
headlight out, your rear tyre is
completely flat, you’ve got an open COLD CALLER
drink in your hand and you’re not A market researcher phoned and
wearing a seat belt!” said, “Can I ask you ten questions?”
I said, “I’ll see you I said, “Go on then.”
tomorrow then.” She said, “Question number
“What’s that one: have you ever experienced
supposed to mean,” a blackout?”
he demanded. I said, “No.”
I said, “Hang on She said, “And finally, question
a minute, pal. I’m on number ten.” COMEDIAN LEE MACK
the phone.” Seen on the internet
THINK BEFORE YOU ANSWER
KING OF THE JUNGLE I love to go to bookstores and say,
A lion stalking through the jungle “Hello, I’m looking for a book called
spots a lost dog and thinks he’ll be Rejection Without Killing. Do you
easy prey. When the dog sees the have it?” COMEDIAN STEWART FRANCIS
lion he starts to run, but suddenly
has an idea. He stops near some Sometimes I crouch on
bones and says loudly, “Mmm, that
was a tasty lion.”
the floor, tuck my head in
Stopping in his tracks, the lion and lean forward. That’s
realises this dog is a lot tougher just how I roll. Seen on the internet
February•2015 | 39
EXTRAORDINARY TRUE TALES
Amazing
ANIMALS BY JE NNIFER S . H O LLAND
P HOTO: F ROM UNLIK ELY HE RO ES, WORKMAN PUBLI SHI NG, © HUGH RYONO
F R OM T H E BO O K UNLIKELY HEROES
40 | February•2015
Gimpy in her
early days at
the centre.
A year later
she weighed
about 140kg
November•2014 | 41
A LMEAEZPI LNEGS S
S ANIN
I MSAELVSI L L E
PHOTO/ILLUSTRATION CREDIT
February•2015 | 43
AMAZING ANIMALS
PHOTO: FROM UNLIKELY H EROES , WORKM AN PUBLI SHI NG, © MURDO MACL E OD
directly over her, straddling her body, ready and able to crush her
with its full weight. “I curled into a small ball, waiting for it to be
over,” Fiona recalls.
And then Fiona’s saviour, her favourite chestnut Arab mare named
Kerry, burst onto the scene. When Fiona heard the animal neighing
and snorting nearby, she felt a shiver of hope. “The next thing I know,
there she is, and she’s lashing out at the cow with
her legs!”
Fiona was amazed. The 15-year-old mare kept
at it until the cow ran away, “then she stayed
with me as I crawled a few metres to get behind
that fence.” Once Fiona was safe, the horse went
back to munching on grass as if she hadn’t just
PHOTO/ILLUSTRATION CREDIT
44 | February•2015
Kerry, Fiona’s READER’S DIGEST
Arab mare,
viewed herself
as her owner’s
bodyguard
February•2015 | 45
AMAZING ANIMALS
Do you have a tale to tell about a farm animal, pet or zoo creature
that has done something unusual or brave? We’d love to hear from
you. Send your stories to Smart Animals. See page 6 for details.
46 | February•2015
Despite her
READER’S DIGEST
small size, Alyna
made a big
impression
working at the
children’s
hospital in
Israel
February•2015 | 47
HERO PET
Good
The
D
AVID LANTEIGNE NEVER INTENDED to adopt another pet
when he visited an Animal Rescue League in March 2009.
His golden retriever Penny was as much as he could man-
age in his cosy East Boston apartment. But, he figured, he
could still volunteer to walk the shelter dogs, and make
them feel cared for.
Touring the facility, the then 25-year-old Boston police officer spied a
sweet brown five-year-old pit bull named Lilly in a kennel at the back, and
knelt down to say hi. “She had the prettiest eyes,” he recalls. As he reached
in to pet her, she pushed her neck up to the grate. He noticed some scars
on her head – had she been abused? She so craved the little bit of warmth
and affection he could offer through the cage door. Something about her
48 | February•2015
Gentle and friendly,
Lilly caught David’s
attention through the
bars of her kennel ➸
November•2014 | 49
THE GOOD PIT BULL
tugged at his heart. He hated having to And David was right : they were
leave her there. good for each other. Devoted to her
He thought of his mother, Chris- care, Christine took Lilly everywhere,
tine Spain, who, in her own way, was cooked her special meals, cuddled
as trapped by forces beyond her con- beside her at night. She even came out
trol as Lilly – and in as much need of of her shell a bit, chatting with people
someone to love. Christine had bat- she and Lilly met on their walks. All
tled alcoholism and mental illness all seemed well at last.
O
her adult life. She’d lost everything
as a result – even her children. David n May 3, 2012, David started
and his sister were sent to live with his shift at midnight, walking
their grandparents when he was just a beat in the rough and tumble
six years old. He never gave up on his Boston neighbourhood of Mattapan. In
mother though. He’d ride his bike the his six years on the force, he’d seen it
8km to visit her in the next town. And all. Nothing, he thought, could shake
it was so wonderful to share loving him – until a text came in from a friend
moments with her, he could forget the who worked as a paramedic in Shirley,
times he found her unconscious on a 80km away.
floor scattered with empty beer cans. “Your mother almost got hit by a
But that was the past. He felt a train,” reported the friend. “She’s un-
mixture of pride and relief knowing hurt, but the dog with her wasn’t so
she’d given up drinking more than lucky. Seems it lost a paw.”
two years before. Still, anxiety and A quick call to the local police
depression kept her from going out, gave him the details. A freight train
meeting new people. was steaming past the Shirley station
Having a dog to care for would give when the engineer spied a woman
her a reason to get out and socialise. up ahead, passed out on the tracks,
And his mother would be a lifesaver a brown dog by her side. The dog
for Lilly. pushed and pulled, frantically trying
He brought Christine to meet Lilly to move her. The massive engine’s
the following week, and she was just brakes screeched. Just before the train
as taken with the dog as her son had stopped, the engineer felt a thump.
been. So Lilly joined the family. On Racing back on foot, he expected to see
David’s days off, Lilly would stay with two dead bodies.
him and Penny, her new best friend. But Lilly had somehow pulled
But mostly, she lived with Christine in Christine off the track just in time.
the rambling white house across from Still incoherent from drink, Chris-
the train station in the New England tine had been arrested. Lilly had been
town of Shirley, Massachusetts. taken to an emergency veterinarian.
50 | February•2015
READER’S DIGEST
muscle and connective tissue sheered start earning the extra money he’d
away. But there was a possibility that need to pay the vet bills.
her leg could be saved – the doc- No more than an hour into his
tors wouldn’t know for sure until the shift, the hospital called. Lilly’s front
X-rays were completed. right leg could not be saved. Of more
As Lilly was wheeled into intensive concern were her hindquarters. She
care, David applied for a US$4000 had multiple fractures of her left hip
loan – the estimated cost of the am- and pelvis. She’d need major surgery
putation, if it had to be done. At last, to repair the damage.
done with the paperwork, he was able First, Lilly had to survive the ampu-
to visit her. She had a multitude of tation, the doctor explained. If she did,
tubes and IVs in her. She whimpered they’d wait a day or two, operate on her
despite the pain medication. But she hindquarters, and insert a steel plate to
was stable. And she seemed to take help her support her weight.
comfort in his presence. David’s spirits sank as he absorbed
Too soon, as the city stirred awake the news. If she lived, he asked, would
to another morning, he had to leave she be able to walk? The doctor
her. Hustling home, he had just couldn’t guarantee it.
enough time to shower before report- Would it be fair to put her through
ing for an overtime shift so he could more pain, only to have her die on the
February•2015 | 51
THE GOOD PIT BULL
F
saw a shaved, bruised dog, tubes and
needles everywhere, and stitches inally, a little more than a week
PHOTO: LDA NCY DES IGN
where her leg had been. “She looked after the accident, Angell’s
like Frankenstein.” doctors decided she could go
On Saturday, May 5, surgeons home. She couldn’t yet stand, but she
operated on her hip and pelvis. So had started to move her back legs. It
damaged was the top of the hip joint, seemed a good sign.
it had to be cut away. At home, completely helpless,
52 | February•2015
READER’S DIGEST
February•2015 | 53
LIVING LANGUAGE
words that
nurs
e the
ego and
heal
the
t
ar
he
54 | December•2014
In the last few months of his life,
one of Australia’s best-loved
authors reflected on his passion for
Words
the simple things, including…
February•2015 | 55
LIVING LANGUAGE
most languages can explain through while others can set your blood
idiom our society to ourselves. pounding. Expletives are a part of
Truncating words into small, our language and they too can be
common, lifeless little objects, used well or simply wasted, thrown
meaningless phrases as if what we together in a sentence to denote little
have to say and therefore we ourselves but an inability to think or pause
are unimportant and worthless seems meaningfully in an attempt to find an
to me to be a tragic transgression into appropriate adjective.
nowhere. Someone once said we are There are words so rounded at
known by the words we use. the edges and softened by wear
Allow me to talk a little about words, that they are no longer words at all
those lovely, jumping, laughing, eager but the sounds that people make
little marks we make on paper or tap for confusion, despair, joy or anger.
onto a screen. There are words that are randy (old-
Words gather around a proposition fashioned word) or sexy but not dirty
or an idea or story willingly. Some wag or foul. And sacred words that have
their tails, others stand back a little shy, become expletives, their meanings
but they’ve come to work, some shuffle soiled with improper unthinking and
as they stand in line, others stand to careless use.
rigid attention while you can almost Some words stick like burrs and
hear some of them tap dancing. But punish at a touch. They are words we
the big ones and the small ones, the never forget, insults and denigrating
extroverted words and the shy words words that destroy our egos and
all want to be part of the action, part sometimes even our lives.
of your narrative. They all want to get But then there are also words that
into the act, all are anxious to make nurse the ego and heal the heart.
your writing just the very best it can be. There are words joined together in
If you love words they force you common phrases we barely notice as
to use them intelligently, they don’t we employ them in everyday use, yet
merely want to show off – in fact, they if you pause a moment to think, they
love working hard. Nothing echoes are so beautiful that they elevate the
more loudly than a hollow word or human race. For instance, here is a
lacks meaning as does a lazy one. phrase so common we use it without
Some words run softly, on tippy- a moment’s thought, yet it is a miracle
toe, almost soundless, others clump of invention. How it ever came into
around like an under-14 football being is a marvel and a mystery. Who
team milling around on the cement was it to first use our language with
floor of the dressing shed. Some such finesse? The phrase: “Beyond
soothe like cold cream on sunburn a shadow of a doubt”. Just pause for
56 | February•2015
READER’S DIGEST
February•2015 | 57
Life’s Like That
SEEING THE FUNNY SIDE
A special treat for our February 2015 chest, sobbing, “I’ll make you pay
readers: this charming letter from for this!”
58 years ago is also accompanied by After the dramatics had calmed
the original February 1957 down I went my way and forgot
illustration. about the whole thing. About a
month later I saw a picture in the
There was a loud crash, and when I
paper of this same man and woman.
rushed outside I saw that a woman
The caption read, “Newlywed
had banged into a man’s car ahead
Couple Enjoying Seaside
of her. Unhurt, she jumped out and
Honeymoon”.
inspected the damage to her own
I couldn’t help thinking she had
car. Then she ran up to the man
made him pay – plenty!
and started beating him on the SUBMITTED BY BERNARD J. SMITH
58 | February•2015
DEFACED LEGS
My five-year-old nephew
visited his grandma with me
one warm summer’s day. As The Great Tweet-off:
it was so balmy, she wasn’t Wisdom Edition
wearing her normal thick Time to check in with teenage
stockings. The little boy was wide- wunder-tweeter @SixthFormPoet.
eyed as he carefully examined the His musings have been enjoyed by
varicose veins threaded along her millions since he joined Twitter in
legs. February 2011, and he now has a
Looking concerned, he leaned book, The Sixth Form Poet: Deep
forward and whispered, “You’ve been Thoughts and Wise Words. Enjoy.
really naughty, Nana. Mummy will go l Clapping
mad when she sees what you’ve done between push-ups
with that felt-tip pen.” is a cool way to
SUBMITTED BY MARGARET FIELDER applaud yourself
for managing
something
RETURN TO SENDER
asthmatic ten-
Spotting an enormous year-olds can do
snail feasting on one with minimal effort.
of my plants,
I “accidentally” lobbed “My bed is half full.”
it towards my neighbour’s – Lonely optimist
garden. It sailed through the air –
l Just so you know, kissing
closely followed by my pretty bracelet
someone mid-sentence works
that became detached from my wrist. better in films than when a bus
With my tail between my legs, I was conductor is asking why you don’t
forced to go and confess to the have a valid ticket.
neighbours, stressing that I’d only
l Just found the worst page in the
thrown the snail “towards”, not “at”,
entire dictionary. What I saw was
their garden. disgraceful, disgusting, dishonest
We went into their garden to search and disingenuous.
for the bracelet, but had no success.
l Life is a gift. You never get the
However, two days later my
one you really wanted.
neighbour called over the fence:
“Guess what?” he said. “We didn’t l It’s odd that Thelma and Louise
find your bracelet, but we found your spend an entire film challenging
snail – so we’ve thrown that back!” sexist stereotypes, then die at the
end because of their terrible driving.
SUBMITTED BY DIANE TURNER
February•2015 | 59
WHAT IT’S LIKE ...
Love
hard to believe what he said next
Reimagined
AS TOL D TO E M I LY C U N NINGH AM FR O M T H E GU AR DI AN
WHEN THE PHONE RANG and it days and would walk past his house
was my childhood sweetheart on the hoping to catch a glimpse of him. But
other end, my first reaction was suspi- I didn’t see him and had no choice
cion. Why was Kevin ringing me? He but to get on with my life.
had dumped me unceremoniously So when he rang I wasn’t bowled
eight years earlier, preferring to play over to hear from him. Something else
football with his mates than spend unnerved me, too – Kevin sounded
time with me. completely different. Older, yes, but
We were 14 when we met, and also hesitant and unsure of himself,
although it was just a light-hearted not like him at all. He explained that
teenage relationship, I was heartbro- he was ringing because he had had
ken when Kevin finished with me over a brain injury and lost his memory.
the phone after six weeks. I cried for His therapist had encouraged him to
60 | February•2015
Jane Whitehead: a leap
of faith changed her
whole future
Kevin’s story and I was more than were still massive gaps that he hoped
a little wary. I got a friend to ring I could help him fill.
his mother to confirm it and, yes, My feelings towards him softened.
he had been knocked off his motor- I didn’t feel attracted to this anxious,
bike by a lorry and been thrown in vulnerable person, but I wanted to
the air, landing on his head. When help him, so we began to email and
February•2015 | 61
LOVE REIMAGINED
talk on the phone. He found that talk- him of that. When he asked to kiss me
ing about one recollection triggered again, I was delighted.
others and he was gradually piecing I was due to go on holiday with
together the jigsaw. friends, and before I left Kevin asked if
After a few weeks we met up. I would be his girlfriend. The formal-
The boy I’d known with surfer-style ity of the question made me laugh, but
hair was long gone – the man who I agreed and our relationship began
answered the door was stocky, with for the second time in a decade. At
a shaved head. During times it was very hard
our meal out, he was for both of us: Kevin
quiet and withdrawn, str uggled w ith dark
and we were both re- The awkward moods and would cry
lieved when I dropped silences weren’t often. He questioned
him off afterwards. I due to social why I would want to be
later discovered that it with him and said he
had been his first night
tensions, but would understand if I
out in months. because he was broke it off, but I could
The brain injury had trying to control never do that to him.
shattered his confi- a panic attack Before the accident he
dence, almost literally. had been about to move
During the accident, to Spain – he had his
Kevin’s brain was knocked violently whole future mapped out, but it had
against his skull, leaving a deep gouge come crashing down. I knew I was
on the area that controls emotion. one of the few things that buoyed him
Kevin’s personality had been radi- up during this time.
cally affected and as his brain slowly As the months passed, Kevin’s
rewired itself, he struggled with his mood stabilised. He didn’t need my
feelings. So the awkward silences support so much and our relationship
we’d had weren’t due to simple became one of equals. We married in
social tensions, but because he was 2007 and we had our twins, Louis and
struggling to control a panic attack. Olivia, in 2010. Kevin’s memory is
We continued to email and phone, back to normal; if he forgets some-
and took to driving to old haunts. As thing, like everyone does, we laugh
I grew to understand him, my feel- that he can’t blame the accident, just
ings changed. How could I not warm old age. I would never say I was glad
to this sensitive, kind man? Once we Kevin had his accident, but I am so
visited the place where we had first happy to be with the man he became
kissed as teenagers, and I reminded because of it.
THE GUARDIAN (22 JUNE 2013), © 2013 GUARDIAN NEWS AND MEDIA LIMITED
62 | February•2015
That’s Outrageous!
IT’S A NUMBERS GAME
February•2015 | 63
FIRST PERSON
Son
The
Scarred by the hatred and violence of his
father, a boy becomes a force for peace
Terrorist’s
BY ZAK E B R A H I M F R OM T H E BO O K T H E T E R RO R I ST ’ S SON
M
y mother shakes me awake in my bed: “There’s
been an accident,” she says.
I am seven years old, a chubby kid in Teenage
Mutant Ninja Turtles pyjamas. I’m accustomed to being
roused before dawn, but only by my father and only to pray
on my little rug with the minarets. Never by my mother.
ZAK EBRAHIM is
It’s 11 at night. My father is not home. Lately, he has been
an advocate for
nonviolence, staying at the mosque in Jersey City deeper and deeper into
tolerance and the night. But he is still Baba to me – funny, loving, warm.
empathy. Just this morning, he tried to teach me, yet again, how to
tie my shoes. Has he been in an accident? Is he hurt? Is he
dead? I can’t get the questions out, because I’m too scared.
My mother flings open a white sheet – it mushrooms
briefly, like a cloud – then leans down to spread it on the
64 | February•2015
Zak visited his father at
the Attica Correctional
Facility in 1994. The house
in the background is
where the family stayed
for a weekend on the
prison grounds
November•2014 | 65
THE TERRORIST’S SON
floor. “Look into my eyes, Z,” she says, mosque, desperate to reach him. “He’s
her face so knotted with worry that I not here,” my mother says.
hardly recognise her. “You need to The phone rings again.
get dressed as quick as you can. And This time, I can’t figure out who’s
then you need to put your things onto calling. My mother says, “Really?
this sheet and wrap it up tight. OK? Asking about us? The police?”
Your sister will help you.” She moves A little later, I wake up on a blanket
towards the door. on the living room floor. Somehow, in
“Wait,” I say. It’s the first word I’ve the midst of the chaos, I’ve nodded off.
managed to utter. “What should I put Everything we could possibly carry is
in the sheet?” piled by the door. My mother paces
I’m a good kid. Shy. Obedient. around, checking and rechecking her
My mother stops to look at me. purse. She has all our birth certificates:
“Whatever will fit,” she says. “I don’t proof, if anyone demands it, that she
know if we’re coming back.” is our mother. My father, El-Sayyid
She turns, and she’s gone. Nosair, was born in Egypt. But my
Once we’ve packed, my sister, mother was born in Pittsburgh. Before
brother, and I pad down to the living she became a Muslim – before she took
room. My mother has called my the name Khadija Nosair – she went by
father’s cousin in Brooklyn – we call Karen Mills.
him Uncle Ibrahim, or just Ammu “Your uncle Ibrahim is coming for
– and she’s talking to him heatedly, us,” she tells me when she sees me
clutching the phone with her left sitting up and rubbing my eyes.
hand and, with her right, nervously Here is what my mother is not
adjusting her hijab. The TV plays saying: Meir Kahane, a militant
in the background. Breaking news. rabbi and the founder of the Jewish
My mother catches us watching and Defense League, has been shot by an
hurries to turn it off. Arab gunman after a speech in a ball-
She talks to Ammu Ibrahim for a room at a Marriott hotel in New York.
while longer, her back to us. When she The gunman fled the scene, shooting
hangs up, the phone begins ringing. an elderly man in the leg in the pro-
It is one of Baba’s friends from the cess. He rushed into a cab that was
66 | February•2015
READER’S DIGEST
waiting in front of the hotel but then charges. The family endured years of
bolted out and began running down death threats, nomadic living, and
the street, gun in hand. A law en- poverty. Tragically, Nosair’s career as a
forcement officer from the US Postal terrorist was not over yet.
Service, who happened to be pass-
ing by, exchanged fire with him. The February 26, 1993
gunman collapsed on the street. The JERSEY CITY, NEW JERSEY
I
newscasters couldn’t help noting a ’m about to turn ten, and I’ve
gruesome detail: both Rabbi Kahane been bullied at school for years. I
and the assassin had been shot in the can’t pretend it’s just because of
neck. Neither was expected to live. who my father is. For reasons I will
Now the TV stations are updating probably spend my whole life trying
the story constantly. An hour ago, to unravel, I seem to be a magnet
while my sister, brother, and I slept for abuse. The bullies’ latest trick is
away our last seconds of anything to wait until I’ve turned to open my
remotely resembling a childhood, locker and then slam my head against
my mother overheard the name Meir it and run. Whenever this happens,
Kahane and looked up at the screen. the principal says he wants to be “fair
The first thing she saw was footage to all parties”, so I usually get sent to
of the Arab gunman, and her heart detention along with the bullies. The
nearly stopped: it was my father. anger and dread have made a perma-
nent nest in my stomach. Today’s a
◆ ◆ ◆
Friday, and my mother has let me stay
Nosair survived his injuries, while home from school to recover from
Kahane did not. Awaiting trial in what we agree to call “a stomach bug”.
prison at Attica State Prison in New I’m camped out on t he couch,
York, Nosair insisted on his innocence, watching Harry and the Hendersons,
and his wife and children desperately a movie about a family who’s hiding
wanted to believe him. During this a Bigfoot-t y pe creature from t he
time, US federal agents raided the fam- police because the police won’t un-
ily’s home, but it would be years before derstand how kind and gentle he is.
they translated all his papers. Mean- In the middle of the movie, there’s
while, Osama bin Laden, unknown breaking news: an explosion beneath
to most of the world at that time, was the North Tower of the World Trade
among those contributing to Nosair’s Center (W TC). Law enforcement
legal fees. In 1991, a jury found Nosair agencies are on the scene, the early
not guilty of murder. He was sentenced theory being that a transformer has
instead to seven to 22 years for crimi- exploded. The wreckage is horrific.
nal possession of a weapon and other Later, hundreds of FBI agents comb
February•2015 | 67
THE TERRORIST’S SON
through the rubble. They abandon the the Lincoln and Holland Tunnels, the
theory about the transformer when George Washington Bridge and a fed-
they discover remnants of the rental eral building housing the FBI in New
van that carried the explosives. The York.
FBI traces the van back to Moham- For practical purposes, though,
med Salameh – the deliver y man the WTC operation was run by the
who’d promised to marry my sister Kuwaiti-born Ramzi Yousef. He had
when she came of age – and arrests studied electrical engineering in Wales
him on March 4, when he returns to and bomb making at a terrorist train-
the rental company to report the van ing camp in Pakistan. He entered the
stolen and demand that he get his United States using a fake Iraqi pass-
$400 deposit back. In the months that port and, upon being detained, played
follow, America shivers at the previ- a get-out-of-jail-free card by requesting
ously incomprehensible thought of asylum. A court date was set.
terrorism at home, as well as at the And because holding cells were full,
fact that its government agencies had Yousef was released on his own recog-
been caught unawares. nizance in New Jersey, whereupon he
and his team began collecting the
A
STARTLING FACT EMERGES: ingredients for the bomb. Just hours
my f a t h e r h e l p e d s t ra t- after the attack, Yousef left the country.
egise the attack from his I wish I could do more to honour
cell at Attica, using visitors as go- the six victims than just repeat their
betweens to associates back home. names, but I’d be ashamed if I didn’t
One of those associates was his old do at least that much. Robert Kirk-
mentor, the “Blind Sheikh” [Sheik patrick, William Macko and Stephen
Omar Abdel-Rahman], who not only Knapp were all maintenance super-
encouraged the WTC plot, according visors at the WTC. They were eating
to the government, but also signed lunch together when the bomb went
off on a plan that would have been off. Monica Rodriguez Smith was a
far more deadly, had it come to pass: secretary. She was seven months preg-
five more bombs detonated within nant and doing clerical work when she
ten minutes at the United Nations, was killed. Wilfredo Mercado worked
68 | February•2015
READER’S DIGEST
for the restaurant Windows on the goes to hug my mother, she pulls
World. He was checking in deliveries. away for the first time, so repulsed
And John DiGiovanni was a salesman that she thinks she’s going to vomit.
who specialised in dental products – For many years, she will try to con-
he was just parking his car. sole us by saying that we have a father
who loves us. But she will always re-
B
Y THE AUTUMN OF 1995 , the member the visit to the MCC as the
government, having finally day that her own heart finally gave up.
translated the contents of the My father is shipped off to a series
47 boxes taken from our home after of maximum-security prisons around
Kahane’s assassination, determines the country. We can no longer afford
that the killing was part of a conspiracy to visit, even if we wanted to. My
and retries my father for the murder as mother barely has the money to pay
well as for his part in the World Trade for my father’s collect calls. I don’t
Center bombing. want to talk to him anyway. All he
My father still insists that he is in- ever says is, “Are you making your
nocent of everything. I believe him prayers? Are you being good to your
because – well, because I am 12 years mother?” And all I want to say is, “Are
old. My mother has doubts. My father you being good to my mother, Baba?
rants to her about the conspiracy Do you know that she’s crying all the
against him, and he barks orders: time?” But, of course, I’m too scared
write to the judge! Call Pakistan! Go to to say any of this. So my father and I
the Egyptian embassy! Are you writing keep having the same pointless con-
all of this down?! My mother yesses versations, and I twist the phone cord
him quietly. tighter and tighter around my hand
On October 1, my father, along with because I just want it to stop.
the Blind Sheikh and eight others, My mother wants it to stop too. She
is convicted of 48 out of 50 charges, demands a divorce, and we all change
and later he is sentenced to life plus our last name.
15 years without parole. The murder We’ve seen my father for the last time.
of Monica Rodriguez Smith’s unborn
◆ ◆ ◆
child is considered in the sentencing.
After the new round of convic- After years of moving around the coun-
tions, we see my father once – at the try and even living briefly in Egypt,
Metropolitan Correctional Center the family moved to Tampa, Florida.
(MCC) in New York. My mother is Zak got a job at Busch Gardens, a
terrified about what will become of theme park, when he was 18. There he
her and her children. Even now, my made friends and came to appreciate
father will not admit guilt. When he people from all different backgrounds.
February•2015 | 69
THE TERRORIST’S SON
I
’VE SPENT MY LIFE trying to based on what they were – Muslim,
understand what drew my father Jewish, Christian, gay, straight – and
to terrorism and struggled with the that starting right then and there, I
knowledge that I have his blood in my was going to judge them based only
veins. It was many years before I inter- on who they were. She listened, she
nalised the full horror of what he did. nodded, and she had the wisdom
I carried fear, anger, and self-loathing to speak the six most empowering
in my gut but couldn’t even begin to words I have ever heard: “I’m so tired
process them. of hating people.”
I now understand that there’s a Everyone has a choice. Even if
reason that murderous hatred has to you’re trained to hate, you can choose
be taught – and not just taught but tolerance. You can choose empathy.
forcibly implanted. It’s not a naturally To be honest, I still feel some-
occurring phenomenon. It is a lie. It is thing for my father, something that
a lie told over and over again – often I haven’t been able to eradicate –
to people who have no resources and some strand of pity and guilt, I guess,
who are denied alternative views of the though it’s as thin as spider’s silk.
world. It’s a lie my father believed, and It’s hard to think of the man I once
one he hoped to pass on to me. But he called Baba living in a cell, knowing
could not fill me with hate from jail. that we have all changed our names
And he could not stop me from coming out of terror and shame.
into contact with the sorts of people he Every so often, I’ll get an e-mail from
demonised and discovering that they the federal penitentiary in Marion,
were human beings – people I could Illinois, saying that my father would
care about and who could care about like to initiate correspondence. But I’ve
me. Bigotry cannot survive experience. learned that leads nowhere good.
My body rejected it. Rabbi Kahane’s assassination was
My mother’s faith in Islam never not just hateful but a failure as any-
wavered, but she, l i ke t he vast thing other than simple murder. My
majorit y of Muslims, is any thing father intended to shut the rabbi up
but a zealot. When I was 18, I told and to bring glory unto Allah. What he
her I could no longer judge people actually did was to bring shame and
70 | February•2015
READER’S DIGEST
suspicion unto all Muslims and to in- shut one’s ears to hatred and violence
spire more pointless and cowardly acts and simply choose peace.
of violence. After my talk, a handful of agents
One of the upsides to not speak- formed a line to shake my hand.
ing to my father anymore is that I’ve The first few agents offered polite
never had to listen to him pontifi- words and firm grips. The third one,
cate about the vile events that took a woman, had been crying.
place on September 11. He must “You probably don’t remember me,”
have regarded the destruction of the she said. “But I was one of the agents
Twin Towers as a great victory for who worked on your father’s case.” She
Islam – maybe even as the culmination paused awkwardly, which made my
of the work he and the Blind Sheikh heart go out to her. “I always wondered
and Ramzi Yousef had begun years what happened to the children of El-
earlier. Sayyid Nosair,” she continued. “I was
In April 2012, I had the surreal afraid that you’d followed in his path.”
experience of giving a speech to a I’m proud of the path that I’ve
couple of hundred federal agents. chosen. And I think I speak for my
The Bureau wanted to build a better brother and sister when I say that
rapport with the Muslim community, rejecting our father’s extremism both
and the agent in charge of the cam- saved our lives and made our lives
paign had heard me advocate for worth living.
peace at his son’s school, so there I To answer the agent’s question,
was – feeling honoured but nervous. I here is what happened to the children
proceeded to tell my story and to offer of El-Sayyid Nosair:
myself up as proof that it is possible to We are not his children anymore.
THE TERRORIST’S SON, BY ZAK EBRAHIM WITH JEFF GILES, © 2014 BY ZAK EBRAHIM, IS A TED BOOK
AND PUBLISHED BY SIMON & SCHUSTER, INC. WWW.SIMONANDSCHUSTER.COM.
l I’m away from my computer but still available to chat if it’s not
about work.
February•2015 | 71
All in a Day’s Work
HUMOUR ON THE JOB
DEADLY DIET
At a conference I attended recently, a doctor was addressing
a large audience. “The material we put into our stomachs should
have killed most of us sitting here years ago,” he said. “Red
meat is full of steroids and dye. Soft drinks corrode your
stomach lining. Fast food is loaded with additives. High trans-
fats diets can be disastrous, and none of us realises the long-
term harm caused by germs in our drinking water.
“But there’s one thing that’s the most dangerous of all, and
most of us has, or will, eat it. Can anyone here tell me what
food it is that causes the most grief and suffering for years
after eating it?”
After several seconds of quiet, an elderly man in the front
row raised his hand and softly said, “Wedding cake?”
SUBMITTED BY ROBERT THOMPSON
72 | February•2015
BE VERY AFRAID
SCENE: A second-hand DVD shop…
ME: Do you have the DVD of Sharknado?
SHOP ASSISTANT: Is that a documentary?
SUBMITTED BY LYNETTE COMBS
February•2015 | 73
CHEAT SHEET
I N ST
A N SWA N T
ERS
EBOLA
START AT THE BEGINNING:
Not everyone who catches Ebola virus disease
BY HA ZEL FLYN N
74 | February•2015
TELL ME MORE: Symptoms appear anywhere from 2-21 days after
exposure, but most commonly show up in 8-10 days. Unlike, say, chickenpox,
a person with Ebola cannot spread the disease before their symptoms appear.
The virus passes from one person to another only by direct contact with blood
and bodily fluids, which may enter the body through mucous membranes or
breaks in the skin. It is not spread through the air. People caring for the sick or
handling the bodies of people infected with Ebola are particularly exposed.
At first, Ebola seems much like the flu, causing headaches, pains and fever.
Vomiting and diarrhoea and sometimes a rash follows. More than two-thirds of
sufferers will then experience a severe decline as the virus
causes them to haemorrhage; they may pass blood
in urine or vomit, or from the eyes or mouth. Death
is usually caused by organ
failure and septic shock
following the drastic loss
of blood pressure when
blood vessels leak fluid.
6070:
Deaths in the first nine months
of the current outbreak
IS THERE ANY
Source: WHO, December 3, 2014
GOOD NEWS?
Yes. Ebola is not nearly
as contagious as you might Ebola is a filovirus, with a
fear. Each person with Ebola threadlike structure. Its spiky
passes it to 1.5 to 2 others. In surface helps viral particles
comparison, measles is far attach to cells and proceed to
more easily transmittable (an enter them and replicate
average of 18 contagions),
US$1.3m:
but does not have the same
high mortality rate. Also,
hospital healthcare measures
such as fluid management
and blood transfusions can Cost of two Ebola patients at Nebraska
greatly increase survival Medical Center, US. A 70-bed purpose-
rates. Finally, several potential built Ebola unit in Bong, Liberia, costs
vaccines are now in active $1m/month to run and an average
development. Liberian centre spends $1200/patient.
Sources: Washington Post; Forbes.com; Samaritan’s Purse
February•2015 | 75
Sir Tim Berners-Lee,
59, invented the web
26 years ago
SIR
WORLD
WIDE
WEB
76 | February
01•2015 •2015
THE RD INTERVIEW
February•2015 | 77
SIR WORLD WIDE WEB
came up with the first “WorldWide- When you put that first website online,
Web” browser and the first ever web- how many people did you imagine
site (info.cern.ch/hypertext/ WWW/ would use the internet one day?
TheProject.html, which is still out Oh, there was no time for science
there amid some 985 million others). fiction. I just spent a lot of time trying
The WWW took off despite the to make sure the system didn’t break.
sceptics, partly because its inventor I wanted to get people involved.
never sought any patent rights or I’d written a web browser editor,
royalty, in order to which ran on the NeXT
ensure its free expan- machine, a black mag-
sion – something he’s nesium-alloy machine
still striving to achieve “Everybody made by Steve Jobs,
through the World Wide involved has a which was very cool
Web Foundation he
launched in 2009. The
responsibility to but not many people
had them. So I needed
foundation’s website make sure that to persuade people to
(www.webfoundation. the web really write them for other
org) has also become a computers. I had to
forum for human rights, does serve the persuade people to
online privacy issues needs of put information on the
and for the openness web, so I had to go to
and neutrality of the humanity” conferences, I had to
internet. write documentation,
teach people about how to use it, and
CONSIDERED TECH ROYALT Y, Sir write software.
Tim Berners-Lee, knighted by the
Queen in 2004, answered Reader’s When you see Facebook or Wikipedia
Digest’s questions about the present, today, what do you think?
past and future of his cyber creation. To a certain extent, the original [idea]
I had for the web was that it would
What made you create the web? be a very read-write medium [like
I needed it. The internet had been Facebook or Wikipedia]. Imagine
there for 20 years, so computers were you are in a working group design-
connected to each other. Many docu- ing something, whether it’s a bridge
ments on disks were going round and or writing a book, or an article, that
round between computers, which you could share all your ideas in
were connected to the internet, but
it was impossible to get at them. I put * Text stored in a computer system that
these things together. contains links to other texts, documents, etc.
78 | February•2015
READER’S DIGEST
change it. If we think it can do better, the state of India. They can see where
we can design it better. So I think we the buses run, they can see what’s
have a strong responsibility to make the state of the roads, the state of its
sure that the web is optimal, as good education, and so on.
as it can be in terms of its design. Having data out there is important
Though just one-third of humanity for disaster preparedness. When the
actually uses the web. [2010] Haiti earthquake struck, there
February•2015 | 79
SIR WORLD WIDE WEB
weren’t really any good online maps rural village, who only speaks the
about [the capital] Port-au-Prince, local dialect, needs to use the web
but then something very interest- to try to understand why their crops
ing happened. A satellite company have got a disease, for example? So
released high-resolution photographs we have a duty to make sure that we
and amateur mapmakers all over the include people who at the moment
world went to www.openstreetmap.org, speak languages that are not very
which is like Wikipedia for maps, where well represented or may not be repre-
anybody can go and edit a map. They sented on the web. We want to make
just flocked to the map of Haiti and it’s sure that the web actually extends to
amazing how they filled in the roads, people in rural communities, even
they filled in the earthquake damage, to urban poor communities. At the
they marked blocked roads, hospitals moment, because the web is very
and refugee camps, even a floating hos- much text-based, the foundation is
pital which had been brought in. looking at what we can do to involve
So, within a very short time there people who are illiterate and also
was a very reliable map and there help with their literacy.
was a testimonial from some member
of the Red Cross saying that when he The web you created has changed
downloaded it on to his GPS device, it the world. But it’s also brought
was invaluable for getting around the about access to pornography, hack-
damaged city. ing, internet scams and whatnot.
Does that trouble you?
S o y o u r f o u n d ati o n w a n t s t o If you look at the web what you see
promote this kind of work? is humanity connected. When you
While not specifically into crisis look at humanity, you see good and
management, the foundation wants bad, you see all kinds. You see ups
to get involved in trying to acceler- and dow ns, you see wonder ful
ate people’s getting on the web. For things and boring things. Humanity
example, most of the web started is very rich and very diverse. But for
off in English. Now there is a lot of me today, when it comes to human-
Chinese but what if somebody in a ity, I’m an optimist.
WORDPLAY
I saw a guy spill Scrabble letters on the road, I asked him; “What’s
the word on the street?”
REDDIT.COM
80 | February•2015
Quotable Quotes
HOW’S ANYONE EVER GOING TO COME UP WITH A BOOK
OR A PAINTING OR A SYMPHONY OR A SCULPTURE THAT
CAN COMPETE WITH A GREAT CITY? YOU CAN’T. WHEN
YOU LOOK AROUND, EVERY STREET, EVERY BOULEVARD
IS ITS OWN SPECIAL ART FORM.
G i l P e n d e r, a n o s t a l g i c s c r e e n w r i t e r p l a y e d b y OW E N W I L S O N
i n M i d n i g h t i n P a r i s (2 011)
February•2015 | 81
DRAMA IN REAL LIFE
LOST ON THE
82 | February•2015
Hiker Alex Sverdlov
trusted his experience
and fitness to keep
him safe, until a surprise
snowstorm stranded
him on Mauna Loa
VOLCANO
B Y A L B ER T S A M AHA
F R OM T HE V I L L A G E V O I C E
WITH A D D I T I O N S BY
TH E AU T H O R
February•2015 | 83
LOST ON THE VOLCANO
The hike to the summit of Mauna Loa, in, at 3000m. The incline increased. At
or “Long Mountain”, is about 40km. the top of the slope, the trail opened
The biggest active volcano on Earth, it onto a reddish plain. At the base of a
rises gradually from the sea to 4169m, hill sat a wooden cabin with an orange
but its flat terrain and gentle slopes roof, Red Hill Cabin, where he spent
can deceive. The climate at the top is the night.
fickle and the weather is unpredicta-
ble, but the forecast for the area called M O N D A Y. Sverd lov h it t he t ra i l
for mostly sunny days. around sunrise. The terrain changed
Sverdlov strapped on his backpack, often at this altitude: wav y, light
which held his sleeping bag, food, brown dried lava, brick-red stone
extra-thick down jacket and other fields, charcoal-grey volcanic rock.
84 | February•2015
The rocky trail to
READER’S DIGEST
the summit –
before the snows
TUESDAY. Clouds had rolled in over- wind blasted the flakes into his face,
night, dropping thick fog and, un- partially blinding him.
expectedly, a light speckle of snow. Before long the snow was up to his
Sverdlov wasn’t concerned; the walk shins. Should have brought snowshoes,
to the summit had taken him only Sverdlov chided himself. Just then, his
three hours last time. He pulled on hiking boot punched through a thin
sweatpants, a face mask that covered crust of dried lava beneath the snow
his mouth and nose, a skullcap, a wool and he tumbled onto his back. His
undershirt, a fleece layer and a wind- right knee hurt, but he felt lucky: the
breaker. fall should have broken his leg.
Halfway to the summit, he stopped He marched on. Snow continued to
at Jaggar’s Cave to stow his heavy fall and the wind gusts blew stronger.
backpack. For this final stretch, he’d But his legs were strong and his con-
need only a water bottle, two granola fidence stronger. What an adventure,
bars, and his camera. he thought. He stopped to take a drink
It started to drizzle, then 800m from only to find the water in his bottle had
the summit, the rain turned to snow. frozen. Despite his thirst, he knew
Sverdlov considered turning back, but better than to eat snow, which would
the snow was light and the scene was lower his body temperature and has-
PHOTO: I MAGEBROKER/ALAMY
February•2015 | 85
LOST ON THE VOLCANO
it off. The trail markers were hard to He was no longer on the mountain.
make out as his surroundings faded He was floating. It felt good. He dazed
into blackness. in and out of hallucinations. Then he
Where was the trail marker? Sverdlov snapped back to reality.
looked around, but it was nearly pitch “I’m still here, damn it!” he shouted.
black. For the first time, it occurred to At some point he fell asleep.
him that he would not make it back to
the cave tonight. He was exhausted. JOHN BROWARD, Hawaii Volcanoes
The thought of rest consumed his National Park’s search-and-rescue co-
mind. ordinator, arrived at the Visitor Emer-
His watch said 9pm. He sat down, gency Operations Center near Mauna
hugging his legs and tucking one Loa’s southern base at about 8am.
fleece sleeve into the other to keep Tuesday. He picked up an advisory
his hands from freezing. He coughed from the National Weather Service.
violently and it hurt to swallow. A storm was on the way that would
In the thin air, less oxygen reached hit the summit with 30cm of snow,
his brain. This, combined with the temperatures to –6°C, and wind gusts
lack of water, made him dizzy, light- up to 80km/h. A check of the park
headed, his thoughts in a fog. With permits showed that Alex Sverdlov
his body no longer in motion, his core would be at or near the summit.
temperature began to drop. Broward had handled more than
Sverdlov had never been in this 150 searches in his career, which in-
much trouble on a hike, and he’d cluded parks in Oregon and Florida.
gone on scores of them. Growing up To date, Broward’s team had found
the only child in a single-parent fam- all but one hiker alive. Only once had
ily in New York, Sverdlov often went a hiker gone missing in the snow,
hiking in the Catskill Mountains. though, and he was found safe.
After graduating from Brooklyn Col- When lost hikers are caught in a
lege, he got a job there as a computer- snowstorm, Broward thought, some
science professor and consulted on curl up on the ground, some keep
the side. In his free time he went on marching. Some hide in caves. The
a dozen long hikes a year. Hawaii mountain encompassed more than
was an annual destination. He’d con- 5000km²; if Sverdlov hunkered down in
quered Mauna Kea in 2012, Mauna one of Mauna Loa’s many caves, they
Loa the following January. And now might not find him for years. The body
here he was back for a rematch, and of the last person to die on Mauna Loa,
the mountain was killing him. a park employee about 20 years back,
As the hours passed, he felt was never found.
enveloped by warmth and comfort. Broward filed an affidavit with
86 | February•2015
READER’S DIGEST
February•2015 | 87
LOST ON THE VOLCANO
88 | February•2015
READER’S DIGEST
University in the early 1980s: the idea for a lost hiker to wander into. Broward
of spending days enjoying nature’s saw nothing but unbroken snow.
beauty and protecting people from its “He’s right there!” the pilot said
cruelty – jumping out of helicopters, suddenly.
fighting fires, rappelling down ravines. “Where? I don’t see him.”
But Broward felt no thrill on Thurs- “Right in front of us. Twelve o’clock.”
day morning, just nerves. The heli- Catching sight of Sverdlov, Broward
copter lifted off at 8.30. He looked out felt the tension leave his body for the
the window to the right. The pilot, a first time in two days.
private contractor who’d flown more
than 70 rescue missions with him in S V E R D L O V heard a faint buzzing
Hawaii, looked out the left side and noise before he spotted a grey speck
ahead. The helicopter hovered above moving across the sky. A helicopter!
the trail. An experienced hiker might He waved his arms, as if the people
locate the snow-covered path, Broward in the helicopter might not see him.
thought. The helicopter soared past Then he realised: they’re here for me!
the volcano’s 3350m marker. The chopper landed and a man in a
It moved slowly enough for the two green jacket and white helmet hopped
men to scan for clues: footprints, an out. They met halfway.
object, or movement. To Broward, the “Are you search and rescue?” Alex
snow was now a blessing. The unin- asked.
terrupted white landscape that made “Yes.”
it easy for a hiker to get lost also made Sverdlov hugged him. Aboard the
a lost hiker easier to spot. The farther helicopter, sitting in the back row, he
up the mountain they flew, the more noticed the red letters on the back of
barren and uniformly white it got. his rescuer’s helmet: “BROWARD”. It
Past 3700m. Still nothing. Not a glove was then Sverdlov realised that he had
or a hat or a hiking pole. This was a just experienced the happiest moment
massive mountain – plenty of space of his life.
THE VILLAGE VOICE (MARCH 11, 2014), © 2014 BY VOICE MEDIA GROUP, INC., BLOGS.VILLAGEVOICE.COM
February•2015 | 89
WHO MADE THAT?
illo
approx
124 mm wide
x
84 mm high
+3 mm bleed
Nigerian Scam
Money transfer fraud has been around longer than email
BY DA N I E L E N G B E R F R O M T H E N E W YO R K T I ME S
THE NIGERIAN SCAM may seem like fraudsters aimed their grifts at locals.
a scourge of the internet age, but it One scheme was the “wash-wash”, a
predates email. Before we started get- literal money-laundering in which the
ting all-caps proposals in our inboxes, mark is shown a suitcase of supposed
con men in West Africa plied their bills blackened with Vaseline and
trade by fax and paper letter. Some iodine and promised a cut if he pays
of the first scams to make their way for an expensive cleaning agent.
ILLUSTRATI ON: MATT C HAS E
90 | February•2015
civil servants and the military and The advance-fee scam itself – whereby
ended currency price supports. The payments are extracted from a sucker
English-speaking, entrepreneurial who hopes to gain a treasure – seems
class found itself with little buying to have originated elsewhere. Accord-
power and in need of foreign money. ing to historian Robert Whitaker at the
“Some guys started perpetrating fraud,” University of Texas, an earlier version of
says Andrew Apter, an Africa historian the con, known as the Spanish Swindle
at the University of California in Los or the Spanish Prisoner trick, plagued
Angeles. “They used the language, Britain during the 19th century.
insignias and letterhead of financial These days, a Nigerian address may
offices to lure people in.” even aid some scammers. In 2012, a
Apter has traced this sort of misuse researcher with Microsoft tried to
of official iconography as far back as a model the con artist’s behaviour and
century. When Nigeria was established concluded that a clear tip-off – an
as a British colony in 1914, its first gov- email address in Nigeria, for example
ernor cracked down on scammers in – could, by scaring off the web-savvy or
fake uniforms who claimed to be col- more suspicious sorts, enable them to
lecting taxes on behalf of the empire. focus on the most gullible victims.
THE NEW YORK TIMES (JANUARY 3, 2014) © 2014 BY THE NEW YORK TIMES CO., NEW YORK
RD: It sounds like a success, either a long at the end of the scam-
full-time job. time keeping the guy bait, when he realised
MB: It’s not really that busy, or a trophy like what had happened,
tricky. A lot of a funny picture. he offered to pay me
scammers will twig RD: It sounds as if US$12,000 a month for
straightaway. You may you’re even better at ten passports. You’ve
only get ten per cent this than they are. got to think of what
who will stick with you. MB: I do remember I this guy must have
RD: Your success rate sent a scammer a fake been earning to offer
is ten per cent? passport, and it was me that kind of
MB: That’s for a decent such a good fake that money!
February•2015 | 91
AGAINST THE ODDS
Girl
The
Wouldn’t
Who
Break
Jessica’s bones might be fragile
but her spirit was fighting fit – and
PHOTOGRA PHED BY ERIN PATRICE O’BRIEN
BY ANITA BARTH O LO M EW
92 | February 2015
November•2014 | 93
J
THE GIRL WHO WOULDN’T BREAK
94 | February 2015
READER’S DIGEST
do. She wanted to be just a regular kid, BACK IN HOSPITAL, the 15-year old
but even more than that, she wanted to imagined her efforts had been for noth-
be safe from more pain. ing. From experience, she knew post-
By the time she returned to school surgical recovery would be long – six
in the fourth grade, she cautiously months or more – and painful.
got back to using two crutches, but But she had a pleasant surprise. This
decided not to even try to get around current operation would be somewhat
on just one, as she’d done in the past. simpler than earlier ones, Frances
She didn’t want to fall again. As a little explained, as they reviewed her X-rays.
girl, she’d braved the frequent blood Because the bone had broken at the top
tests her condition required. Now she only, they could use a smaller incision
cried and begged the nurses to leave to pull out the old rod and insert a new
her be. No more surgeries. No more one, instead of making the usual long
blood tests. No more – period. She’d incision from the top to the bottom of
had enough of it all for a lifetime. the leg.
By the time she was 14, she’d reached A few days after the operation,
what doctors expected to be close to Jessica was surprised to find herself
her full height: just 1.07m. But with- able to sit up in a wheelchair. By the
out much physical activity, her weight end of her nine-day hospital stay, she
had ballooned. She wanted to wear the tentatively hefted herself onto her
sparkly tops and flowery dresses that crutches – an even bigger undertaking
all her friends wore. It was especially – being careful to keep the wounded
important to look her best now that leg from touching the floor. Thrilled at
boys were suddenly on her radar. So, how much better she felt than she had
she challenged herself to lose weight anticipated, she started getting back
and started to exercise more. some of her old determination.
The excess weight dropped away Early stage physical therapy usually
and she felt better about herself than involved very little movement. “But
she had in years. Then came the pain in I realised I could do a lot more,” says
her right leg. Something was seriously Jessica. Experimenting with new exer-
wrong. cises, relying on her own sense of how
February 2015 | 95
THE GIRL WHO WOULDN’T BREAK
far her body could go, “I kind of just friends as they began their first year of
made it up on my own.” high school together.
Using her walker for support, she But Jessica had a dream.
practised lifting her body up with her Her family lived just four houses
arms, and swinging her legs back and from an idyllic beach on the Rocka-
forth. Within six weeks, she could bend way peninsula’s Atlantic shore. Jessica
her knee. That, too, was the soonest longed to stroll the boardwalk like her
ever. To ensure she didn’t lose muscle neighbours but had never been nim-
in the leg, with Frances’s blessing she ble enough on her crutches, or “sticks”,
wrapped a small weight around her an- as she called them, to navigate the
kle and did leg lifts. She taught herself wooden slats. She decided it was time
yoga poses. “It helped. I wouldn’t get so to try. Trekking to the end of the street,
stiff.” She spun on an indoor exercise she took the ramp up to the wooden
bike, each day getting stronger and walkway, delighting in the scent of the
more confident. Frances was stunned, sea and the call of the gulls. The clack
but pleased, that a teenager with OI of her “sticks” on the boardwalk was the
could become an “exercise fanatic”. sound of independence.
Her 15-year-old body cooperated, up Life suddenly felt richer, more com-
to a point. But soon it was clear that her plete. The boardwalk stroll became
calf wasn’t healing properly. Doctors part of her daily routine.
would have to go back in to do another Then in late October 2012, Hurricane
repair. And Jessica would start from the Sandy struck and the massive waves it
beginning again. caused ripped the boardwalk from its
But now, she knew something she moorings. With the boardwalk gone,
hadn’t before. Her bones might be frag- Jessica couldn’t stroll along the beach.
ile but her body was capable of more. Her crutches would be useless on the
And her spirit was fighting fit as well. soft sand. The thought saddened her
It was getting easier every time to until she realised this setback didn’t
get back to where she was before the have to stop her. She had an idea: what
operation. if I could walk without sticks?
She’d healed well enough to join her With renewed resolve, hanging onto
96 | February 2015
READER’S DIGEST
February 2015 | 97
ENVIRONMENT
98 | February•2015
Tangle
Jungle
in the
BY WILLIAM LAURANC E
FR O M N E W S C I E N T I S T
November•2014 | 99
G
TA N G L E I N T H E J U N G L E
BIOLOGISTS like myself who study instead taking advantage of the trees’
these jungle ecosystems are now investments to scramble up to the top
seeing a shift in this war. Until a decade of the forest and produce great flushes
or so ago the two adversaries were of leaves that bask brazenly in the sun.
evenly matched, but vines now seem to Francis Putz, professor of biology
be on the march. If that continues, the at the University of Florida, high-
face of our forests – and of our planet lighted this fraught relationship in a
– could be changed irrevocably. We 1980 paper entitled “Lianas vs Trees”.
are left scrabbling to unearth the root Lianas, or woody vines, can grow to
cause. be hundreds of metres long, with
If the forest were a stems over half a metre
financial system, trees across. Trees pay a high
would be its old money. price for their presence.
Deeply rooted, they grow Trees bearing Lianas can strangle and
slowly, investing heav- lianas usually deform a tree’s branches,
100 | February•2015
READER’S DIGEST
February•2015 | 101
TA N G L E I N T H E J U N G L E
102 | February•2015
READER’S DIGEST
February•2015 | 103
Neighbours said
the Catts were
“regular, everyday
people”. What
happened?
TRUETRUE CRIME
CRIME
SUBSCRIBER
BONUS
The
Family
That Robbed
Banks
Widower Scott Catt had a
secret life as a bank robber.
But when he wanted
accomplices, he turned to
the two people he trusted
most in the world: his kids
BY S KIP H O LLANDSWOR TH
FR O M T E X AS MO NT H L Y
Abby and Hayden nodded. The drove to the alley behind it. Minutes
family headed out the door and later, her dad’s voice crackled through
PHOTOS: (PREVI OUS SPREAD) COURTESY S HERI FF ’S OF F ICE, FORT BEND COU NTY, TE XAS
walked towards Abby’s 1999 green her walkie-talkie.
Volkswagen Jetta. Scott was big, 1.92m “We’re going in,” he said.
R
and 108kg, and he squeezed himself
into the passenger seat. Hayden, OBBING A BANK is the most
1.87m and 91kg, crammed into the traditional of crimes. It’s a
backseat. simple act with an immediate
Abby started the car, and five min- payoff. All sorts of criminals have tried
utes later, she pulled into a shopping it. “If you’re in law enforcement long
centre and parked about 45m from a enough, you’ll eventually come across
Comerica Bank. bank robbers of every shape and size,”
Scott grabbed a black garbage bag said Troy Nehls, sheriff of Fort Bend
from the floorboard and took out two County, which includes part of the
pairs of white painter’s coveralls, two Katy area. “But I’m not sure there has
painter’s masks, two pairs of latex ever been a bank-robbing family.”
gloves, and two Airsoft pistols (which The Catts were as unlikely a set of
look like real guns but shoot plastic robbers as one could imagine. They
pellets). He and Hayden put on their had no pressing financial issues and
disguises in the Jetta. Scott clipped no obvious personal problems. Scott,
a walkie-talkie to his coveralls and a widower, worked for an energy
handed another to Abby. company. Abby was a sales assistant
It was 9.30. They sat for the next 30 at Victoria’s Secret, and Hayden was
minutes, until Scott said it was time to hoping to be a hotel concierge.
make their move. Abby dropped them Around their apartment com-
off a few stores from the bank and plex, the Catts were regarded as
106 | February•2015
READER’S DIGEST
“regular, everyday people”, one of their a breath and blew it out. “I did it for
neighbours said. Yet when it came to the family,” he said. “I swear to you, I
robbing banks, said Nehls, “they were would rob banks only for my family.”
T
very bold, very daring, and very risky.
They’re lucky they didn’t get caught HE STORY BEGINS in
up in a shoot-out.” McMinnville, Oregon, south-
The Catts pulled off two robber- west of Portland, where Scott
ies: the first being the Comerica heist was born and raised. His father was
and the second being the robbery of a a loan officer at First Federal Savings
credit union, two months later. They and Loan. At McMinnville High
were getting ready for a third when School, Scott played football and fell
they were arrested in November 2012. in love with Beth Worral, a star of
Reporters tried to find out why a the swim team. They married after
father and his two children would graduation. After Beth had Hayden
turn to bank robbery, and Abby, the Catts
but the Catts weren’t built a house in
talking. Then, late last Dundee – “our dream
year, the three agreed
“I didn’t feel hous e,” S cott told
to plea deals, and they like a criminal. me. But in 1995, Beth
consented to let me I didn’t load my was diagnosed with
interview them. breast cancer, and she
I was allowed to pistol. Who was died two years later.
speak to only one Catt being hurt?” Hayden was five, and
at a time. Abby was the Abby was two.
first to be escorted to said Scott Catt At that point, Scott
PROP STYLI ST: SARAH CAVE FOR EH MANAGEM ENT
February•2015 | 107
T H E F A M I LY T H A T R O B B E D B A N K S
thief, his father replied that the tellers Oregon.) “I didn’t feel like a criminal,”
were trained to comply with robbers he told me. “I didn’t load my pistol. I
– because the money was insured, the knew I wasn’t going to shoot anybody.
bank would get it back. And I kept telling myself that whatever
One morning, after dropping off the money I got was insured, so who was
kids at school, Scott drove to a branch really being hurt?”
M
of his dad’s old bank. He strode in
wearing a baseball cap, black track- E A N W H I L E , S C O T T was
suit pants, a white painter’s mask, and a devoted single father. He
sunglasses. He was carrying a trash cooked dinner for his kids
bag and an antique pistol – unloaded. almost every night and took them on
He went up to a window, demanded vacations. When they got interested
the teller’s money, and ordered her in competitive swimming, Scott drove
not to add bait bills or dye packs. She them to training every day.
dumped around $2500 into his bag. Abby and Hayden never once sus-
Scott walked back to his truck, drove pected that their father had a secret
around for a while to see if he was life. “He’d be up and gone to work
being followed, and went home. by 4.30 or 5 in the morning,” Hayden
A couple of days later, the local said. “He didn’t make great money,
paper published a but we always ap-
g ra i n y b l a c k- a n d - preciated how hard
white frame from a There was no he worked to keep us
video showing the afloat.”
robber. “My mother accomplice “Dad was a great
said the man looked Scott could trust motivator,” Abby told
a little like me, and I me. “At the begin-
just laughed,” Scott
to stay quiet – ning of each [swim]
said. “And that was it.” except his season, he pushed
Scott did his next children me to work hard and
h e i s t a y e a r l at e r set goals. He told me
after falling behind I could be somebody.
on bills, and he got The night before every
$1500 from another small bank. Then swim meet, he would cook us pork
he landed a full-time job with an en- chops, noodles, applesauce, and a
gineering company, earning $25 an protein shake. I loved it.”
hour. Still, once a year he’d pull off One time, Hayden qualified for the
a robbery, hauling in between $5000 state meet, and there was talk about a
and $10,000. (Authorities believe college scholarship. But by the age of
that he robbed at least five banks in 17, he said, he was drinking too much
108 | February•2015
READER’S DIGEST
behind financially.
By 2010, it was time
for another robbery.
Scott knew that
if he had accom-
plices, he could get
cash from several
tellers’ drawers and
perhaps even get to
the bank’s vault. But
there was no-one he
could trust to stay
quiet – except his
children. Maybe he
should talk to them
about joining him.
He rationalised
the idea. As long as
they did what he
said, they wouldn’t
get caught. And
he would use the
money to start a
small business they
could run. “They
were floundering,”
he told me. “I could
see the despair
in Hayden, and I
thought he could
and quit swimming. Abby lost inter- use – I don’t know – some inspiration,
est in the sport when she was 15. She some excitement. Same with Abby. All
started running with what she called I can tell you is that I thought doing
“the drinking, partying crowd”, and it would give us all a little boost in
she ended up in an alternative school. our lives – that it would help us as a
After graduation, Hayden found work family.”
as a hotel bellman and as a weekend He approached his son. “We were
tour guide, and he was still drinking sitting at the kitchen table,” Hayden
too much. And Scott was again falling recalled. “He said he had something
February•2015 | 109
T H E F A M I LY T H A T R O B B E D B A N K S
important to tell me. He said he had a 2012, he’d found work in Houston
second job as a part-time bank robber. and relocated there. Abby moved in
The way he looked at me, I knew he with her grandmother in Oregon, and
wasn’t kidding.” Hayden went to Hawaii and got a job
Scott said he would be the “muscle”, at a hotel. It seemed like a new era.
leading the way in and scaring the em- Scott’s job paid well, and he hoped
ployees and customers, and Hayden he’d quit thinking about banks. But
would be the “bag man”, ordering there were just so many in Texas.
B
tellers to put money into his bag.
They’d wear disguises, go to the bank Y M A RC H, S C O T T had per-
early in the morning before there were suaded Abby to move to Texas.
many customers, and be out within She landed a job at Victoria’s
three minutes. Scott told his son they Secret. (She proudly announced on
could easily grab $40,000 or more. her Facebook page that she was a
On the morning of the robbery, Victoria’s Secret “Pink Girl”.) A few
Hayden was scared. Scott did the months later, Hayden joined them,
robbery by himself, getting a few and it wasn’t long before he began talk-
thousand dollars, and came home ing to his father about a bank robbery.
before lunch. “He did it so quickly He wanted money for college.
and so easily that it planted a seed,” Scott picked out a nearby Comerica.
Hayden told me. “I thought, My dad He began walking past it in the morn-
really does know what he’s doing.” ings with the family’s yellow Labrador,
Then Scott was laid off. By January Bella, to see when it got busy, and he
had his son go in
to learn the layout
of the lobby. But
they needed a geta-
way driver – and
there was only one
person who came
to mind.
Hayden spoke to
Abby. “I need to tell
you something,” he
said. “Dad’s a bank
robber; I’m going
to become one, too,
and we want you to
join us.”
110 | February•2015
READER’S DIGEST
The next day, Scott talked to Abby, out. Scott took a ride on his motorcy-
promising her that all she’d have to cle, Hayden went shopping, and Abby
do was drop them off, wait for them got a manicure. That night Abby was
to return, and drive home at a normal still nervous – “I kept looking at the
speed. She agreed to participate. “This door, waiting for the police to walk in,”
was something I felt like I had to do, she said – but Hayden was overjoyed.
to protect them, to make sure they got “I felt exhilaration, the most intense
out of the bank and didn’t get shot high I’ve ever experienced,” he said. “It
or something,” she told me. “I didn’t changed my life. I’ll be truthful about
want to let Dad down.” that.”
In the apartment, Hayden and Scott Scott paid off his bills. He bought
practised bursting into a bank and a second motorcycle and a $17,000
yelling at everyone to get their hands Tahoe for Hayden and a $12,600 Ford
u p. Th e y s c h e d- Focus for Abby (the
uled the robbery for Jetta had engine trou-
August 9, when Abby ble). He and the kids
had a day off from
At home, the split the remainder,
Victoria’s Secret. The family stared but by late Septem-
night before, Scott wide-eyed at the ber, all the money was
had the kids steal li- spent.
money, close to
S
cence plates from a
car at another com- $70,000 – a COTT AND
plex and put them Hayden de-
over the Jetta’s plates. stunning haul cided to rob
The robbery went the First Commu -
off as planned. Out- nity Credit Union.
side, Abby gave them time updates Because there was a construction crew
over the walkie-talkie. At the three- working nearby, Scott sent Hayden
minute mark, Scott and Hayden or- and Abby to Home Depot to buy
dered the manager to unlock the back two orange safety vests for disguises.
door, and they jumped into the Jetta. Hayden also went to a costume shop
Abby drove to another neighbour- to buy a fake moustache.
hood, and Hayden and Scott threw On October 1, Abby took the day
their disguises, pistols, stolen plates, off from work and drove Hayden and
and gloves into a dumpster. In their Scott to the credit union. The men
apartment, they stared wide-eyed at entered at about 1.50pm. Their size
the money, close to $70,000 – a stun- and guns terrified everyone, and they
ning haul from a little branch bank. were in and out so fast that no-one got
They heard sirens and decided to go a good look at them. As Abby drove
February•2015 | 111
T H E F A M I LY T H A T R O B B E D B A N K S
them home, police cars came scream- from where they’d been folded. He
ing from the opposite direction. Not found that Home Depot sold that style
one officer gave her a second look. All of vest and got a subpoena to review
they heard over the radio was that two purchases at area Home Depots. Just
tall men had committed a robbery. before the robbery, two vests had been
The Catts got $29,953, a decent sum. purchased in Katy with a debit card be-
A few days later, Abby told her father longing to Scott Catt. Security footage
she couldn’t handle the stress. She showed a young man and a blonde
wanted to take her cut and move into teenage girl buying them. After doing a
her own place. Scott promised her an check on Scott, Martin learned he had
apartment but begged two children, Hayden
her to remain their and Abby, whose
wheelman. He had photos matched the
decided to quit his job “My dad should customers.
and make a living as a have protected Ma r t i n d e d u c e d
full-time bank robber, that Scott and Hayden
and Hayden would
me instead of were the robbers, and
join him. the other way Abby was the one
“ Th e g re e d ha d around,” said whom tellers heard
s n o w b a l l e d ,” r e - counting time over
called Hayden. “I had Abby Catt a walkie-talkie. His
become consumed case was bolstered by
with money: spend- video of Abby apply-
ing it, getting more. It was all I thought ing for an account at the credit union
about, like an addiction.” a few days before. (Scott had sent her
On November 8, Abby drove them to scope the layout.) He had the Catts
to another bank, but there was too arrested and placed in separate inter-
much foot traffic, so they called it rogation rooms.
off. The next morning, as Scott and Martin decided to first talk to Scott.
Hayden prepared to try again, the He assumed that he would declare his
police came knocking. innocence, claiming a case of mis-
W
taken identity. But Scott confessed all,
HILE STUDYING VIDEO even talking about his Oregon robber-
of the credit union rob- ies, which Martin knew nothing about.
bery, veteran detective Jeff The detective was dumbfounded, and
Martin had noticed that the safety vests he was equally dumbfounded when
worn by the robbers weren’t tattered or Hayden and Abby confessed.
dirty at all. He could even see creases A l thoug h th e g et away dr i ver
TEXAS MONTHLY (JUNE 2014), © 2014 BY TEXAS MONTHLY, TEXASMONTHLY.COM.
112 | February•2015
READER’S DIGEST
in a bank robbery is liable under me, instead of the other way around,
Texas law for the same punishment having me protect him,” Abby said. A
as the bank robbers, the police few minutes later, she mentioned that
and prosecutors felt sympathy for she had run into her father a day or so
Abby and gave her a mild five-year earlier in the infirmary. “He told me
sentence. (She’ll be eligible for parole he loved me, to be strong, and to be
in seven months.) Hayden received patient. And then he said he was so
a ten-year sentence (his parole will sorry. I broke down and started crying.
come up in about four years), but I mean, like I’ve said, he is my dad.”
Scott was hit with a 24-year sentence. Abby plans to become a nurse
W
when she’s released. Hayden wants
HEN I TALKED to Scott, to get a degree in advertising,
he’d lost 31kg since his architecture, or engineering – “that’s
arrest, which he attrib- right, engineering, like my dad,” he
uted mostly to “a lot of remorse” said, smiling.
for what he’d done to his children. Scott told me his one hope is that
“When I look back on what I did, his kids will visit him after they’re
what led to this place, I would have free. He’ll be 62 when he’s eligible for
been better off – we all would have parole. “If I get out, I want to have a
been better off – if I had gone on wel- homecoming dinner that night, me
fare and been a stay-at-home dad.” and the kids,” he said. “We’ll go to a
Abby and Hayden didn’t seem to good restaurant, tell stories about the
know what to think of their father. old days.” He paused. “About the days
“He should have been protecting when we were a family.”
J A K Q
One straightforward solution is
35 25 (25 x (9 + 7 + 5)) + 3 - 1 = 527
20 15 10
7 13 2 8
A J Q K 8
9
O
G
R
E
D
N
E
I
A
A
L
L
B. Look out below
C. Abandon ship
10 Y E A R L Y
February•2015 | 113
Smart Animals
114 | February•2015
boundary walk she again stopped used at our holiday house, and
suddenly, this time staring slightly dropped it on the lawn next to her.
ahead into the dry grass. After While Sue readily admits that
inspecting what the hold-up was, Elke was highly intelligent, she was
I could see a not-so- still in a state of
friendly brown snake. disbelief as she related
My dog is truly my the story of the
lifesaver and best
If it wasn’t for flowerpots to me.
friend. Bonnie, I’d hate
to think what Wired For Smell
Potted Wisdom BARBARA HOFF
GRAEME PERRYMAN could have While visiting my
My daughter Jenny happened to daughter Dianna,
owned a beautiful I noticed Bonnie,
German shepherd them both. She’s her two-year-old
called Elke. As my wife one smart Doberman, pacing
Sue and I have a around the lounge room
holiday house on two
Doberman back and forth in front
hectares of land, we of a power point. Then,
often took Elke along for short all of a sudden, she started to bark
breaks so she could exercise in the incessantly at it.
extra space and enjoy the change of “You had better check that power
environment. She also liked to be point,” I said to my daughter.
with us and particularly liked to walk “Something is not right.” Dianna
us around the firebreaks each day. switched off all the power and undid
A couple of years ago, Sue was the power point and found that the
weeding the back lawn at the holiday wiring was smouldering.
house and placing the weeds in an We immediately called an
old plastic flowerpot. As is usually electrician to not only fix the power
the case, the dog was following her point, but also to check the wiring
around the lawn and watching her in the rest of the house. If it wasn’t
carry out her weeding. for Bonnie, I’d hate to think what
A couple of weeks later, Elke was could have happened to them both.
back home in her city setting when She’s one smart Doberman.
my wife noticed some weeds in the
lawn. So she got out her weeding
fork and commenced work. The dog You could earn cash by telling us about
the antics of unique pets or wildlife. Turn
disappeared and returned with an to page 6 for details on how to contribute
old flowerpot similar to the one Sue to the magazine.
February•2015 | 115
MOVIE DIGEST
116 | February•2015
THE SECOND BEST EXOTIC
MARIGOLD HOTEL Comedy Drama Evelyn (Dench)
and Douglas
It’s time to join in more adventures at the (Nighy) dance
infamous Indian retirement resort. A sequel to the night away
the acclaimed The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel
(2012), the film follows ambitious hotel owner-
manager Sonny Kapoor’s (Dev Patel)
expansionist dream to open The Second Best
Marigold Hotel for the “Elderly and Beautiful”.
Joining the existing residents Muriel (Maggie
Smith), Evelyn (Judi Dench) and Douglas (Bill
Nighy) are newcomers Guy (Richard Gere)
and Lavinia (Tamsin Greig). A wedding and
more of the laughs that made you fall in love
with the first instalment makes Second Best
Exotic Marigold Hotel a great feel-good film.
LAND OF THE
BEARS DVD
Filmed over 12 months in the
rugged and remote terrain
of Russia’s Kamchatka
Peninsula – famed home to
brown bears – this 3D film Avatar), it is one of the first nature
follows the stories of a number of bears, documentaries shot using 3D cameras.
each at a unique stage in their lives. Entertainingly educational, it follows the
Using technology supplied by co- cycle of the bears’ year as they struggle
producer James Cameron (Titanic, to survive and thrive.
118 | February•2015
BOOK DIGEST
February•2015 | 119
BOOKS
120 | February•2015
Music industry maverick
Media scientist Dr Karl Amanda Palmer in
Kruszelnicki in HOUSE OF THE ART OF ASKING (Piatkus)
KARLS (Pan writes about her early career as a
Macmillan): living statue street performer:
“… Cursing is “… What I hadn’t anticipated was
universal. the sudden, powerful encounters
Profanities with people – especially lonely
exist in every people who looked like they hadn’t
single connected with anyone in ages.
language ever I was amazed by the intimate
studied. Every moments of prolonged eye contact
language, happening on the busy city sidewalk
dialect or as traffic whizzed by, as sirens
patois had blared, as street vendors hawked
‘forbidden’ or bad words. ... Swear their wares and activists thrust flyers
P HOTOS : GETTY IM AGES; THI NKSTOCK: EXTRACTS M AY BE EDI TED FOR SPACE AND CL ARITY
Puzzles
Challenge yourself by solving these puzzles and mind stretchers,
then check your answers on page 113
1
K 3
7
5
9
25
Number Cruncher
Blockbuster 60 Make a calculation that
Each block is equal equals 527 using some or
to the sum of the all of the numbers in the
two numbers circle and any of the four
beneath it. Find all standard mathematical
20 10
the missing operations: +,-,x and ÷.
numbers.
2
...................... = 527
122 | February•2015
PUZZLES
V
1
Hidden Meaning
T A
Identify the common
R G words or phrases above.
2 3
E D O E
V A I
4 5 6
LANNNNGUAGE
L S R U O N
B D A R
7 8 9 10 A
E A E O G L E Y
CLUES
1. Go hungry 6. Source
2. Magazine boss 7. Inclined
3. Disregard
4. Valuable metal
8. Trying experience
9. Friendly
B LOOK
5. Grow up 10. Annually
1
2
3
4
5 BAND
6 SHIP
7
8 A
9
10
February•2015 | 123
BRAIN POWER
Trivia
1. What’s the only vowel not on the top 10. What
row of a standard keyboard? 1 point nationality was
2. Known to locals as Chomolungma the inventor of
or Sagarmatha, what is the English Lego? 1 point
name of this landmark? 1 point 11. This month
3. This year marks 40 years since the marks:
first Cricket World Cup. Which team l 30 years since the
has played in every cup and reached first broadcast of
the final three times but never won? what British soap?
1 point l 50 years since the
4. What country is the farthest north assassination of
that penguins live? 1 point which black Muslim
5. What four things did Dorothy and leader?
her friends want from the Wizard of l 85 years since the
Oz? 2 points discovery of what
6. Name the three alliterative island space object by Clyde Tombaugh?
nations in the Indian Ocean. 3 points 3 points
12. Frames, spares and turkeys are all
7. What colours are the two circles that
make up the logo of Mastercard? terms used in which competitive
2 points
recreation? 1 point
13. Bristlecone pines growing in the
8. Frontal, occipital, parietal and
temporal are all parts of US have been dated at 5064 years old.
what organ? 1 point Were they alive when Tutankhamun
COM P ILED BY GAIL MACC ALLUM
16-20 Gold medal 11-15 Silver medal 6-10 Bronze medal 0-5 Wooden spoon
10. Danish. 11. Eastenders; Malcolm X; Pluto. 12. Ten-pin bowling. 13. Yes (born 1341BC). 14. Jaguar.
a heart, courage and to go home. 6. Mauritius, Maldives, Madagascar. 7. Red and yellow. 8. Brain. 9. Mexico.
ANSWERS: 1. A. 2. Mount Everest. 3. England. 4. Ecuador (The Galapagos Islands, on the equator). 5. A brain,
124 | February•2015
BRAIN POWER
IT PAYS TO INCREASE YOUR
Word Power
A-List The letter A is so much more than the
alphabet’s leader: music note, blood type, Nathaniel
Hawthorne favourite, mark of excellence, and even
stardom vehicle for Mr. T. In its honour, a quiz
devoted to words whose only vowel is A. Answers
on the next page.
journal. C: rainbow.
14. allay v. – A: refuse. B: take sides.
4. masala n. – A: Chilean wine. C: calm.
B: Indian spice blend. C: Italian
15. lambda n. – A: Greek letter.
antipasto.
B: Brazilian dance. C: college degree.
5. lama n. – A: an alpaca or vicuña.
B: heroic escape. C: priest or monk. THEY MADE THAT A WORD?!
6. bazaar n. – A: weird event. Speaking of all things “A”, Merriam-
B: marketplace. C: wailing siren. Webster recently added to its
7. paschal adj. – A: of computer Collegiate Dictionary the term aha
moment – “an instance of sudden
languages. B: in a Gothic style.
realisation” – made popular by
C: relating to Easter.
Oprah Winfrey. Other modern lingo
8. amalgam n. – A: mixture. added to the latest iteration: man
B: volcanic rock. C: back of the throat. cave (“a room designed according
9. plantar adj. – A: vegetative. to a man’s tastes”) and earworm (“a
B: paved with asphalt. C: of the sole of song that keeps repeating in one’s
mind” – especially annoying ones
the foot.
like “Gangnam Style”).
10. catamaran n. – A: Bengal tiger.
February•2015 | 125
WORD POWER
Answers
1. banal – [C] trite. “Whenever
the teacher says something too
banal, Dorothy can’t help but
roll her eyes.”
2. annals – [B] chronicles. “In
the annals of sports idiocy, that
was the most bungling sequence
of passes I’ve ever seen!”
3. arcana – [A] mysterious or
specialised knowledge. “I’d
rather not know all the deep Nelson now that he has won the
arcana of your arachnid research.” marina’s annual catamaran race.”
11. balaclava – [A] knit cap. “Hang
4. masala – [B] Indian spice blend.
“Easy on the masala – Sarah doesn’t your balaclava in the foyer and grab
have the stomach for spicy dishes.” some stew.”
12. avatar – [B] incarnation of a god.
5. lama – [C] priest or monk. “Yes,
even the Dalai Lama has a website, “In Hindu mythology, Rama is the
Facebook page, Twitter feed, and seventh avatar of the god Vishnu.”
YouTube channel.” (And yes, James Cameron, an avatar is
also a being representing and
6. bazaar – [B] marketplace. “During
controlled by a human.)
her hunt at the bazaar, Sally found a
13. spartan – [B] marked by
turn-of-the-century compass that
used to belong to her great- simplicity and lack of luxury. “We
grandfather.” didn’t expect such spartan conditions
in the honeymoon suite.”
7. paschal – [C] relating to Easter.
14. allay – [C] calm. “Yesterday’s
“Terri spent hours on her paschal
bonnet – it started as a flowerpot!” board meeting did more than allay our
fears – it gave us a sense of hope!”
8. amalgam – [A] mixture. “Our team
15. lambda – [A] Greek letter. “Invert
is a strong amalgam of raw youth and
seasoned leadership.” a V, and you’ve got a Greek lambda –
or Bob’s moustache.”
9. plantar – [C] of the sole of the foot.
“I treasure the plantar prints from VOCABULARY RATINGS
5 & below: An ambitious attempt
when Billy was a baby.” 6–10: Amazing achievement
10. catamaran – [C] boat with two 11–12: A Plus!
hulls. “Jack thinks he’s Admiral 13-15: Word Power wizard
126 | February•2015
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