Reader's Digest Asia - August 2022
Reader's Digest Asia - August 2022
Reader's Digest Asia - August 2022
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T H E
AWAY
W O R L D ’ S
A Wedding Party’s
Nightmare
B E S T
PAGE 26
L O V E D
BONUS READ
Switched At Birth
PAGE 102
New Help For
M A G A Z I N E
PAGE 82
SUPPORTED BY
54 34
CONTENTS
AUGUST 2022
Features
26 38 54
drama in real life food for thought photo feature
Swept Away Pizza Jobs At The Top
Within seconds, a car Usually topped with Repairing towers that
carrying four people tomatoes and cheese, soar into the sky, and
COVER ILLUS TR ATION: S TE VEN P. HUGHES. PHOTOS: (THIS PAGE) GE T T Y IMAGES
rdasia.com 1
70
CONTENTS
AUGUST 2022
82
66 82 102
100 years culture bonus read
Laughing Matters The Ancient Switched
Comedy may have Magic Of Kites A terrible mistake by
PHOTOS: (DUCKS) PIXEL-SHOT/AL AMY S TOCK PHOTO; (KITE) A N N E H A H M A N N . ILLUS TR ATION: SHUT TERS TOCK.
evolved with time, but The joys of swooping a nurses in a maternity
the eagerness of kite through the air is ward is only
humans for a good being taken up by a discovered some
belly laugh endures. new generation. 50 years later – and a
DANIEL STEINBERG NOOR BRARA FROM THE small community in a
NEW YORK TIMES MAGAZINE remote area is changed
70 forever by the
health 90 repercussions.
New Help For art of living LINDSAY JONES
Hearing Loss Clean The Things FROM THE ATAVIST
Vast progress is being You Never Do,
made in new hearing
aid technology,
But Should
Adding a few bigger 98
surgical solutions and tasks into your
drug treatments. everyday routine can
SUSANNAH HICKLING produce sparkling
results. EMILY GOODMAN
78 AND JAMIE NOVAK
humour
The Quirks Of 98
Long-Term Love animal kingdom
Sometimes a wife Ping & Gaston
has to surrender Two fluffy ducklings
certain expectations waddle their messy
in marriage – like way into an already
flowery romance. chaotic family.
PATRICIA PEARSON OLIVIA STREN
2 august 2022
Departments
the digest
16
18 Pets
20 Health
24 News From The
World Of Medicine
115 RD Recommends
regulars
4 Editor’s Note
6 Letters
10 News Worth
52
Sharing HAVE YOU
12 My Story VISITED THE
16 Smart Animals READER’S
44 Look Twice DIGEST
64 Tell Me Why FACEBOOK
81 Quotable Quotes PAGE LATELY?
humour 81 Constantly
updated, our
42 Life’s Like That Facebook feed
52 Laughter,
offers stories,
PHOTOS & ILLUS TR ATIONS: GE T T Y IMAGES
rdasia.com 3
R E A DER’S DIGE ST
EDITOR’S NOTE
4 august 2022
Luxury
ASIA
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No. 714
August 2022
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LETTERS
Reader’s Comments And Opinions
Making Music
Reading ‘An Unexpected Musical
Journey’ (My Story, June) brought
back a similar experience. In
April 2001, our local choral
society advertised for people
interested in taking part in a
production of Les Miserables.
I had not seen an actual
performance of the show but
knew the music and loved it.
At my wife’s prompting, I
auditioned, was successful and
got to perform a solo. JOHN PHILLIPS
I left home to teach, Dad gave me a my interests narrow, I’d never learn
year’s subscription. anything new. Now I’m back to
I took over the following year and reading absolutely everything.
have been a subscriber ever since. It’s amazing how that has broadened
I still look forward to finding the little my horizons. ELIZABETH COLES
Let us know if you are moved – or provoked – by any item in the magazine,
share your thoughts. See page 8 for how to join the discussion.
6 august 2022
Letters
FOUNTAIN PEN
The best letter each month will
win a Pilot Capless Fountain Pen, WIN!
valued at over $200. The Capless
is the perfect combination
of luxury and ingenious
technology, featuring a one-
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pen nib, durable metal body,
beautiful rhodium accents and CAPTION CONTEST
a 14K gold nib. Congratulations Come up with the funniest caption
to this month’s winner, Karen for the above photo and you could win
$100. To enter, email
Davidson.
asiaeditor@readersdigest.com.au
or see details on page 8.
rdasia.com 7
R E A DER’S DIGE ST
8 august 2022
For a Healthier, Greener & Smarter Tomorrow
daikin.com.sg
NEWS
WORTH
SHARING
W
hen 85-year-old Masako Wakamiya successfully launched
Wakamiya of Tokyo couldn’t her first mobile game app, called
find Japanese gaming apps for Hinadan, in 2017. Named after
seniors, who may have slower reflexes an ancient festival in Japan, the
and arthritic fingers, she didn’t give game requires users to arrange
up – she created one. traditional dolls in a particular order.
Wakamiya had long embraced The five-star-rated game has been
technology, buying her first computer downloaded more than 100,000
when she retired from her banking times. Her second game, Nanakusa,
PHOTO: GE T T Y IMAGES
job so she could stay in touch with named after Japan’s ‘seven herbs of
her friends. So this self-described spring’ ritual, was released in 2020.
‘IT evangelist’ set about teaching Wakamiya now teaches computer
herself coding. classes to other people her age.
COMPILED BY VICTORIA POLZOT
10 august 2022
News Worth Sharing
S
pot the dog was border collie’s frantic she called emergency
hailed a hero barks. services. After a
after alerting his When the teen came 40-minute rescue, the
13-year-old companion to investigate and saw man was successfully
to a man trapped in the man’s predicament, freed and taken to
a septic tank. The a nearby hospital
40-year-old contractor with only minor head
was working on a lacerations.
property in Sydney’s “Had the dog not
north when he became heard the man’s cries,
stuck. Unable to free it may not have been
himself and upside such a good ending,”
down in rising water, said NSW Ambulance
the man’s cries for help acting inspector
were answered by the Charnan Kurth.
N
Z Post has teamed up with posts continued to break when he
The Packaging Forum to trial rammed them through the waste
a courier pick-up service of plastic buried in the ground. His
soft plastics such as bread bags solution, to build stronger fence
and bubble wrap for recycling into posts from soft waste plastic,
fence posts. is also a step towards solving a
The idea for this business, bigger environmental problem.
PHOTOS: (FENCE) COURTESY FUTURE POS T; (SPOT) YOUTUBE
rdasia.com 11
R E A DER’S DIGE ST
MY STORY
My Year Of
Playing 70 Sports
The year I turned 70, I decided to have
some fun and games
BY Garry Moir F R O M T H E G L O B E A N D M A I L
C
ALL IT A GEEZER crisis. To qualify as a sport, the
An old man grasping for endeavour would require at least
a semblance of youth. some of the following: agility,
A hare-brained scheme strength, hand–eye coordination,
that would almost or it at least had to leave me huffing
certainly end in lack of dignity and puffing. That obviously
or, even worse, serious injury. eliminated competitions such as
But on my 70th birthday, in poker, chess or hotdog-eating.
September 2019, I decided to My goal was not to master any of
participate in 70 different sports the sports, but to just give them a
before I turned 71. The motivation? whirl.
Simply to have some fun. Athleticism, after all, does not end
I had played sport as a youngster at some arbitrary age.
and never stopped. The odd game In every one of these activities,
of golf has long been part of my there are people much older than
annual routine. So while it might me who can play the game at a level
sound like hubris, I was confident I could never hope to achieve. ‘Try
that 70 sports in one year was well anything once’ was my motto, then
within my reach. move on.
12 august 2022
My Story
rdasia.com 13
R E A DER’S DIGE ST
14 august 2022
R E A DER’S DIGE ST
16 august 2022
worried when Kaitlin released them.
In fact, Bella seemed to understand
that this was part of the cycle.
It wasn’t until one last butterfly
wouldn’t fly away that Bella
expressed concern. She gently
rested her head, pointed her nose,
and let out one of those breathy dog
sighs. Off the monarch fluttered,
seemingly needing a little push trawler up the coast of California to
from a friend to begin her migration. Alaska’s Inside Passage with Ralph
perched on the bow. He made the
weeks-long journey eight or nine
Ralph The Seafaring Cat times over the years. He managed
MAGGIE GRANTHAM
to fall into the drink a few times,
At the first cat show we’d ever been but we always scooped him out
to, my husband and I saw our first and dried him off immediately, and
Birman, a breed so beautiful we he’d emerge from the cabin to his
contacted the presenter from the spot on the bow again in no time.
show to ask about getting one. We We even had a long fish net handy
were given a kitten, Ralph, who on deck to quickly scoop him out.
became our co-pilot, first mate and After one plunge, he swam under
constant companion. a nearby dock before we could net
We’re big travellers who weren’t him. I had to jump in after him.
necessarily looking for a pet to Even in the summer, the water
bring along on our adventures, was chilly. We learned to keep him
but it sure turned out that way: tethered in a harness after that.
Birmans are apparently known for After a while, I thought he might
being dog-like. It began with short like a change of scenery and took
road trips in the car. Ralph would him out on the kayak. He was
happily snooze on the backseat. hesitant at first, but that was quickly
So we began taking him on longer superseded by his fascination with
trips, and soon he was travelling all the flora and fauna and he would sit
over the country with us in our RV. in the seat in front of me.
Ralph especially enjoyed it when he He loved looking at all the birds
was out on the water. and wildlife as we paddled along.
Ralph took to the sea just as I’m sure the otters did double takes
quickly as he had to the road. when Ralph checked them out as
We took our 12-metre pleasure we drifted by.
rdasia.com 17
R E A DER’S DIGE ST
PETS
Why Do Cats
Knock Things Over?
Just curious or attention-seeking? Their antics explained
BY Jonna Gallo Weppler
EPIC PURRING AND COSY CUDDLES cat bats something off a table, desk,
generally keep cat lovers content. or counter – is why do cats knock
But then there’s the feline frenzy to things over? Is it a hardwired feline
knock things over. What gives? obsession with what we humans
While some cats are affectionate, know to be simple gravity? Or is
others are aloof. Some love to there something else at play?
pounce around and play, while In a household with cats, very
others prefer to lurk out of sight. little that rests on top of a table – or
Then there’s that thing where a cat any flat surface, for that matter – is
zooms from one corner of a room to safe. Pens? Batted to the floor. That
another in a blur, as if possessed. vase of flowers? Going overboard.
These are just a few of the many Random coins? Down for the count.
vagaries of living with felines. But why do cats knock things over?
But there are certain consistent There isn’t necessarily just one
questions that captivate owners reason.
across the board, no matter what While there hasn’t been much
kind of personality their cat has. scientific research done into this
For instance, why do cats sleep so question, cat experts have their
much? Why do cats meow? Why do own theories. Cat behaviourist
cats purr? And why do cats knead Pamela Merritt, author of The Way
any available pillow or blanket? Of Cats: How To Use Their Instincts
Another question that often rears To Train, Understand, And Love
its head – pretty much every time a Them and blogger at wayofcats.
18 august 2022
Pets
com, points out that a play-prey behaviour expert. So from the cat’s
drive exists in all cats, at least perspective, looking like they are
to some degree. The level of this about to strike means you will swing
drive is a mix of a cat’s genes and right into action.
early life experiences. A higher
prey drive can result in a cat using HOW DO I GET MY CAT TO STOP
its paws to knock things over as a KNOCKING THINGS OVER?
means to try to find out more about No certain method exists for getting
the environment around them. cats to stop whacking at things
altogether, but giving them plenty
DO CATS KNOCK THINGS OVER of positive attention is a good
JUST TO GET ATTENTION? strategy to try, according to Branson
PHOTO: GE T T Y IMAGES
rdasia.com 19
R E A DER’S DIGE ST
HEALTH
A Healing
Process
Why do wounds mend
more slowly as we age?
BY Christina Frangou
W
hen a kid gets a birth on.” That delay in healing can
scrape, a little put us at higher risk of infection and
comforting and a prolonged pain.
day or two with a To repair a wound, the body
Band-Aid is usually embarks on a complicated and
all that’s needed. When it happens to spectacular process, recruiting a
an adult, it takes more time to heal – variety of cells to work together to
in fact, a 40 year old’s wound can take stop the bleeding, then restore and PHOTO: PHOTOALTO/ALIX MINDE/GET T Y IMAGES
twice as long as the identical wound rebuild the skin. And as we age,
on a 20 year old. And the process changes in our bodies can disrupt
continues to slow the older you get. that process.
We’re all familiar with this Our skin is put together like a three-
phenomenon, of course, but you layer cake. At the top is the epidermis,
might wonder what’s behind it. home of hair, freckles and wrinkles.
“We actually don’t have a complete The epidermis, just half a millimetre
answer,” admits Dr Dennis Orgill, thick on some parts of the body, is
professor of surgery at Harvard made up mostly of keratinocytes, cells
Medical School. “But in my that slough off to be replaced with
experience, it’s a slow decline from younger, healthier ones – a turnover
20 august 2022
Health
that slows as we get older. We also lose function, vascular disease and
lipids and amino acids in this layer, neuropathy.
leading to dry skin prone to tearing. Even if you don’t have any of
Bacteria can get into the tiniest of slits those conditions, medications for
in the skin, so seemingly small cuts other afflictions – steroids and non-
can take longer to heal. steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs,
Just below the epidermis is chemotherapy, and radiotherapy –
the dermis, which gives skin its can have the same slowing effect.
thickness. The dermis regulates our Besides trying to dodge all those
body’s temperature and supplies wound-delaying factors, there are
the epidermis with nutrient-rich some active measures you can take
blood. This layer houses blood as you age to shore up your body’s
vessels, lymph vessels, sweat and power to heal itself.
oil glands, and collagen – a protein Leading the list: avoid sun
that gives skin its elasticity and damage and stop smoking;
resilience. After turning 50, a person moisturise regularly and stay
loses about one per hydrated; keep wounds
cent of their collagen a TO REPAIR A moist by covering
year – making its vital WOUND, CELLS them with a bandage;
task in skin repair less
effective. WORK TO STOP and lastly, strengthen
muscles, as this can
Beyond skin THE BLEEDING aid with wound repair.
changes, there are AND THEN Since physically
other factors that can
come with having a REBUILD SKIN inactive people lose
between three and
long life. Though not eight per cent of their
exclusive to seniors, many diseases muscle mass every decade after age
more common in older adults can 30 – and even more after 60 – it’s
delay wound healing – for example never too soon to start exercising.
congestive heart failure, rheumatoid Finally, there’s truth to the cliché
arthritis, and chronic obstruct ive that an apple a day keeps the doctor
pulmonary disease. away. “Remember the old days when
Most notably, diabetes is linked to people on boats would get scurvy
more than 100 known contributors and have wounds that fell apart?”
to delayed wound healing, including says Professor Orgill. If your cuts
hormone disruption and altered are healing slowly – at any age – he
collagen accumulation. And it suggests getting a lab test to check
causes other complications that for deficiencies in vitamins and
impede healing, such as poor kidney minerals like vitamin C and zinc.
rdasia.com 21
and soreness, while high heels are
HEALTH associated with corns, blisters and
ingrown toenails. If you like their
style, consider saving them for
special occasions and opt for a wider
heel or a wedge.
Shoes with pointy toe boxes or
tips that crowd your feet can force
your toes to curl up instead of lie
flat, leading to hammertoe – a
bending deformity in one or
more of your smaller toes that
can result in difficulty walking and
sore feet.
Warm weather brings another
liability: over-reliance on flip-flops
Sore Feet? or flimsy sandals. While these shoes
protect your feet from hot sand at
How to choose a pair of the beach, they’re not suitable for
shoes that keep your toes, day-long wear. They provide no
stability to your ankles, raising your
heels and arches happy chances of sprains. And they offer
little support for your arches, which
BY Samantha Rideout puts you at risk of plantar fasciitis:
O
painful inflammation of the band of
ur feet are the structural tissue between your heels and toes.
foundation of our body, Foot-friendly shoes should be
supporting not only comfortable with no pressure on
our weight but also our the joints, pinching on the sides or
wellbeing. Even seemingly minor slippage at the heel. “They should
foot ailments, if denied the chance to be wide, have a toe box with enough
heal, can cause ongoing problems. space for the toes, be made of a
Yet studies suggest that at least breathable material, such as leather
half of us undermine these anchors or canvas, and ideally have a heel no
PHOTO: GE T T Y IMAGES
of our health with ill-fitting footwear. higher than 2.5 centimetres,” says
Overly tight or narrow shoes can podiatrist Emma McConnachie.
cause callouses and bunions, bony “Shoes with laces that come up over
bumps at the base of the big toe that the middle of the foot will provide
are often accompanied by swelling the best kind of support.”
22 august 2022
R E A DER’S DIGE ST
WORLD OF MEDICINE
24 august 2022
For the parents of the bride, fear replaces
joy as a raging river scoops up
their car on the way to the wedding
rdasia.com 27
M
The intimate ceremony was taking
arjon van Eijk was excited. The
5 year old from the Netherlands
57
a her family had just landed on
and
th Spanish island of Mallorca for
the
th wedding of her daughter Iris.
the
It was a day she’d dreamed about.
28 august 2022
Swept Away
rdasia.com 29
R E A DER’S DIGE ST
that it was almost impossible to see. its headlights across the water towards
The narrow, usually empty stream the car so they could get a better idea
100 metres away had surged over its of what they were facing. But even
banks, swamping the rocky ground with the headlights, they still couldn’t
towards his propert y. He’d come see any details – not even how many
to pick up his daughter, Margalida people they might need to rescue.
Galmés, 24, who was staying at the W hat t hey could see was how
house, intending to return to his far they would have to go into the
home in Sant Llorenç, where his wife fast-flowing water. Montoro grabbed
was. But the flood waters forced him a long length of rope from his house
to stay put with his daughter. and the two men tied themselves
At around the same time, his neigh- together like mountain climbers:
bour Miquel Montoro stepped out- Montoro, a strong 47-year-old black-
side. It was now well past 7pm and smith, would be the anchor, feeding
dark, but during the frequent flashes of Galmés the line as the latter pushed
lightning, Montoro could make out ten through the flood. Galmés, like his
or more cars in the floodwaters. Sud- neighbour, had wound t he rope
denly, just above the roar of the water, around his middle but with enough
he heard screams coming from a car remaining free so he could throw
about 30 metres away in the raging the loose end to those needing to be
stream. rescued.
Galmés heard the screams, too, They started into the water and
and rushed out to join his neighbour. towards the car. The stranded fam-
“We’ve got to do something,” he told ily spotted the van’s headlights and
Montoro. screamed even louder for help. Along
Montoro agreed. “If we don’t try, with the occasional f lash of light-
we might hear those screams for the ning, their cries were Montoro and
rest of our lives,” he said. Galmés’s only real guide as to exactly
Montoro ran to his van and shone where they were.
30 august 2022
Swept Away
rdasia.com 31
R E A DER’S DIGE ST
32 august 2022
R E A DER’S DIGE ST
34 august 2022
ART OF LIVING
BY Galadriel Watson F R O M T H E W A S H I N G T O N P O S T
S
ome t i me s , e v e r y t h i n g In hopes of improving my outlook,
seems to go wrong. You’re I turned to three experts who helped
passed over for a job. Your me understand why we believe in
back aches. Your zipper luck and how we can harness that
brea k s. You r cat keeps belief to make real changes in our
throwing up. Faced with setbacks attitude towards life.
large and small, you feel like your life
is always taking a turn for the worse. What Is Luck?
PHOTO: GE T T Y IMAGES
You aren’t superstitious, but you be- People define luck in three ways, ac-
gin to wonder if you’re just an un- cording to Jacqueline Woolley, pro-
lucky person. Why does it seem like fessor of psychology at the University
you can never catch a break? of Texas at Austin. First, we often use
I’ve been feeling this way lately. the term luck as synonymous with
rdasia.com 35
R E A DER’S DIGE ST
‘chance’; we may call it lucky to win within us that realises our lives are
on the poker machines, although it’s ruled by chance, and we’re trying
actually a random event. Another to do something to get control over
way to frame luck is “as a supernatu- that.”
ral force that exists in the universe,” Professor Woolley agrees: “We as
she says. This force may touch on humans are very uncomfortable with
different people at different times, uncertainty,” she says. “When people
and some people believe it also can feel less in control of their lives – like
be harnessed, with a ritual or charm. when they feel that things are ran-
Third, it can be thought of as a per- dom and they’re not directing their
sonal trait that you’re born with. lives – they often search for super-
But does it exist? Richard Wise- natural explanations.”
man, author of The Luck Factor and
professor of the public understand- Luck’s Role In Real Life
ing of psychology at the University of University of London sociology lec-
Hertfordshire in the turer Vik Loveday con-
UK, doesn’t believe ducted a 2017 study in
there’s anything mag- the UK that illustrates
ical or superstitious that point. Loveday in-
about luck – it won’t terviewed 44 academic
help you out or hurt employees who were on
you at the casino. On LU C K Y temporary contracts, a
the other hand, con- PEOPL E C A N precarious employment
sidering yourself lucky situation that caused
or unlucky is “a way of
T R A N S F O R M anxiety and financial
seeing yourself, which B A D instability.
then has impact on E X PE R I E N C E S I n g e ne r a l , w he n
how you behave and one of these academ-
how you think and
T O G O OD ics learned about good
becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy,” news concerning their careers, such
he says. “So, in a sense, it absolutely as getting a permanent job or having
does exist.” a grant accepted, they would attrib-
And it has ‘existed’ for ages. “In ute it to luck. Because they felt they
every culture throughout recorded had so little control, a move in a pos-
history, people talk about supersti- itive direction had to have happened
tious rituals or chance – as indeed almost by accident, rather than as the
we do now, even with our amount of result of hard work.
science and technology,” Professor In a 2020 study and ongoing re-
Wiseman says. “It’s something deep search, Professor Woolley has looked
36 august 2022
Can You Change Your Luck?
at this idea in children. Between the and dare to follow their intuition to
ages of about four and eight, they are grasp those moments.
exposed to the concept of luck most- “If you are relaxed and happy, your
ly through sources like family and world view becomes bigger and you
books. By age eight to ten, however, see more opportunities,” he says. “If
they start to get sceptical. They’ve be- you’re a flexible person, when those
gun to notice that, “when they wish opportunities come in, you’ll make
for something, it doesn’t happen,” she the most of them. Lucky people know
says. where they’re heading, but often they
Still, this doesn’t stop the belief change the course depending on how
– and even our reliance on charms the wind is going.”
and rituals – from persisting into Lucky people also expect good for-
adulthood. For example, superstar tune and can transform bad experi-
basketball player Michael Jordan ences to good. “They tend to be – no
had to wear his college practice surprise – optimists, and they’re also
shorts under his National Basketball very resilient to bad things that hap-
Association uniform. pen,” Wiseman says. “If bad things
Professor Woolley references a 2010 happen, they think, ‘OK, it could have
study – which she wasn’t involved in been worse’.”
and which other researchers haven’t As for specific activities, you can
been able to replicate – that found shift your focus towards the positive
that being told a golf ball was lucky by keeping a ‘luck diary’, Wiseman
improved participants’ chances of says. “Each night before you go to
making the putt. “Obviously it’s not bed, spend about 30 seconds writing
luck that’s causing this. It’s that these down a positive thing that’s hap-
superstitious rituals give you confi- pened that day, or a sense of grati-
dence and then you play better,” she tude for friends or family or health,
says. or a negative thing that’s no longer
happening.”
How To Think About Luck Also, don’t be a creature of habit.
Is it possible to change your outlook Take a different route when walking,
on luck and, if so, could that lead to watch a different TV programme,
better outcomes? speak to different people – even
Professor Wiseman believes there small changes can be effective. And
are steps you can take to improve then keep your eyes open and be
your luck. After studying people who prepared to grab whatever opportu-
consider themselves lucky or un- nities might arise.
lucky, he has found that the ‘lucky’ THE WASHINGTON POST (DECEMBER 8, 2021), © 2021
ones maximise chance opportunities BY THE WASHINGTON POST
rdasia.com 37
FOOD FOR
THOUGHT
PIZZA
W
Today it is relished e all have our favour-
ites. Some lean towards
around the world, but a traditional Napolitano
pizza was once scorned as
PHOTOS: GE T T Y IMAGES
38 august 2022
Food For Thought
BY PEOPLE
the move or those who by offering food that not
couldn’t afford a plate, only didn’t need a plate,
the simple meal of flat- WHO COULDN’T but was cut into slices to
bread topped with sea-
AFFORD fit their customers’ budg-
A PLATE
sonal savouries (whatever ets and appetites.
they could find growing in Us i ng i ne x pen s i ve,
the woods around them), easy-to-find ingredients,
like mushrooms and herbs, was typical toppings included combina-
mentioned as far back as circa tions such as lard, garlic and salt, as
19 BCE. In the poem ‘Aeneid’ by Ro- well as caciocavallo (made from cow
man poet Virgil, Ascanius exclaims or ewe’s milk), cecenielli (whitebait),
after their meal: “Look! We’ve even basil and tomatoes. As tomatoes
eaten our plates!” were newly introduced from South
But it was in Naples, Italy, that piz- America, they were still shunned by
zas as we know them today found the well-heeled, and could be bought
fame and fortune. Under the rule of cheaply.
the Bourbon kings in the late 18th A royal visit to Naples in 1889
century, Naples had become more changed the fortunes of pizza forever.
than just a bustling port city. Fuelled Tired of the rich French dishes they
by foreign trade and a flood of peas- were served at every meal, King Um-
ants from the countryside, the popu- berto I and Queen Margherita asked
lation doubled in size in just 50 years for some local specialities instead.
– from 200,000 in 1700 to around A pizzaiolo, or pizza chef, cooked
400,000 in 1750. them three varieties of pizza: lard,
rdasia.com 39
R E A DER’S DIGE ST
WERE LIGHTLY
lazzaroni and became the company to Dom-
a national dish. ino’s and expanded it
In t he early 1900s, TOPPED, THIN nationwide, and finally
pizza left Naples for for-
eign shores. During the AND CRISPY globally.
Nowadays, you’d be
Great Depression, large hard pressed to find a
numbers of Neapolitans left Italy to country where a pizzeria can’t be
find work, taking their local cuisine found. “I’d venture a guess that pizza
with them. However, it didn’t be- exists in at least 90 per cent of coun-
come a global phenomenon until tries,” says Wiener. “I collect pizza
the 1950s, says Wiener, when a post- boxes and my collection represents
war boom in immigration boosted samples from over 115 countries.
its popularity. Today’s pizzas are a far cry from
“The wave of Italian immigration those served to King Umberto I and
after World War II, especially to the Queen Margherita nearly 150 years
US and Australia, brought the food ago, or those that were first made
and culture of Southern Italians to on foreign soils.
us,” he says. “In the early 1900s, pizzas were not
With the advent of fridges and the huge, heavily topped pies we have
freezers, the demand for ‘conveni- today,” says Wiener. “They were light-
ence’ foods grew, and – after a bit of ly topped, thin, probably even crispy
recipe manipulating – pizzas cor- discs. There aren’t many images of
nered the frozen convenience food pizza back then so we just have to go
market. To withstand the harsh con- by descriptions from newspaper arti-
ditions, pizzas were redeveloped: cles and ads.”
40 august 2022
Food For Thought
MARGHERITA PIZZA
Pizza base ingredients 1 hour or until doubled in size.
• 2 cups (300g) strong
(baker’s) flour
3. Preheat oven to 240°C. Knock back
the dough by punching it to remove air
• 7g sachet dry active yeast and divide into 2 balls. Roll out dough
• 1 tsp caster sugar on a floured surface until you have
• 1 tsp salt 2 thin pizza bases, approx 25cm in
diameter. Carefully transfer to baking
• 1 tbsp olive oil
Topping ingredients
sheets and place on pizza stones or
trays.
• 100ml tomato passata or puree 4. Combine passata and garlic and
• 1 garlic clove, finely chopped spread over pizza bases, leaving a 2cm
• 100-150g mozzarella, sliced border. Divide the slices of
• 2 tbsp freshly grated parmesan mozzarella between bases, then
• 12 cherry tomatoes, halved scatter with parmesan and eight
• Basil leaves, torn cherry tomatoes (cut side up). Drizzle
with olive oil and bake for 8-10 minutes
• Extra virgin olive oil, to drizzle
Method
until cheese has melted and the pizza
bases are crisp.
1. For the pizza bases, sift flour into a
5. Add basil and remaining cherry
large bowl and stir in yeast, sugar and
tomatoes and drizzle with a little more
salt. Make a well in the centre.
olive oil, serve immediately.
Combine oil with 200ml warm water
and add to dry ingredients. Bring
together with your hands, then turn
dough out onto a floured surface.
Knead for 5 minutes by hand until the
dough is smooth.
PHOTO: GE T T Y IMAGES
rdasia.com 41
R E A DER’S DIGE ST
42 august 2022
Hope It’s Hereditary
TODDLER: Daddy, I have a question:
what is on your head? THE GREAT TWEET-OFF:
ME: I don’t know. You tell me. THE SCHOOL RUN
TODDLER: Nothing ... because you The parents of Twitter have some
have no hair! good pick-up lines.
JAMELLE BOUIE, JOURNALIST The worst part of having a school-
aged kid is having to get dressed
We Just Clicked! and pretend I wasn’t in my pyjamas
While my date was in the restroom, all day when it’s time to pick her up.
@ADULT_MOM
I texted my roommate, who had just
been in an argument with her ex- I successfully backed into a parking
partner … except I accidentally sent spot at school pick-up so excuse me
the text to my date. while I ride this high for the rest of
So while in the restroom on our the ye—. Oh, there’s a traffic cone
first date, he received a text from me stuck under my car. Never mind.
@MICHIMAMA75
that read, “Are you OK? I love you.”
@ALLEYDALLEY As a dad with a full-time job, I don’t
get to pick up my four year old from
Ladies Choice school very often. But the times I
finish early and go to surprise him
My wife and I couldn’t agree on are worth it when I see his little face,
where to eat, so we went to her and he sees me, and he holds out
favourite restaurant. Next time, his arms, and shouts out: “Urgh, I
we’ll go to her other favourite wanted Mummy to pick me up!”
restaurant. @ERICSSHADOW @THREETIMEDADDY
[Phone rings]
Looking Good “Mr Hughes?”
My mother moved towns and went “Yeah.”
for her first visit to her new doctor’s “We need you to come pick up your
surgery. The doctor looked through son up from school.”
her extensive medical notes on the “What’s he done now?”
“Nothing. It’s nearly midnight.”
computer containing her health
ILLUS TR ATION: GE T T Y IMAGES
@DAVID8HUGHES
history and then looked at my
mother again.
He commented, “I am pleased to
say, with utmost certainty, that you
look a whole lot better in person
than you do online”.
SUBMITTED BY MICHA BRYN
rdasia.com 43
R E A DER’S DIGE ST
44 august 2022
SEE Turn
THEtheWORLD...
page ››
rdasia.com 45
R E A DER’S DIGE ST
...DIFFERENTLY
46 august 2022
rdasia.com 47
R E A DER’S DIGE ST
Beware
The
ANTI-
CLIMAX
How to handle the unexpected downside
of achieving your goals
BY Victoria Stokes
48 august 2022
ART OF LIVING
P
icture the scene: you’ve and focus. Therefore, when this dis-
spent years working to- appears overnight, we can often feel
wa rds a speci f ic goa l. lost and confused, despite feeling
You’ve put in countless proud of our achievement.”
hours of work and made When this happens it can prompt
many sacrifices, but now a cocktail of complicated emotions.
you’ve got there it’s not how you im- “Clients often present [to me] with
agined. Instead of celebration, ela- an overwhelming sense of ‘is this it?’
tion and pride, you feel emptiness, and ‘what now?’,” says Vora. “These
confusion and doubt. feelings of confusion and disap-
Welcome to the anti-climax. The pointment, if left unacknowledged,
of ten-ex per ienced but seldom- have the potential to cause clients to
discussed downside of achieving develop symptoms of depression and
life’s biggest milestones. Many of us low mood.”
work tirelessly towards our goals. The intensity of an anti-climax
We may spend our lives dreaming of depends on our preconceived ide-
the day we get married, publish our as and expectations of what this
first book or purchase our first home. achievement means. Falsely believ-
However, often, when we achieve ing that we’ll feel drastically differ-
these things it doesn’t feel quite as ent afterwards or that our feelings
expected. In fact, the achievement of low self-worth will disappear, is
of these goals feels a bit of a letdown. rarely the case.
So why do we often experience
an anti-climax when achieving big YOU HAVE ARRIVED
goals? “An anti-climax can be an un- AT YOUR DESTINATION
expected by-product of a milestone Psychologists call this emotion the
ILLUS TR ATION: GE T T Y IMAGES
rdasia.com 49
R E A DER’S DIGE ST
50 august 2022
Beware The Anti-Climax
rdasia.com 51
R E A DER’S DIGE ST
LAUGHTER
The Best Medicine
52 august 2022
Laughter
Round Trip
I was at the airport when I saw a guy AP-PEELING BANANA JOKES
fall unconscious on the baggage FOR A BUNCH OF LAUGHS
carousel. He came around slowly.
SEEN ON REDDIT
Hair Care
I couldn’t stand my boy’s long hair
any longer, so I dragged him to the
barber with me and ordered, “Give
him a crew cut.” The barber did just
that, and so help me, I found I’d been
bringing up somebody else’s son!
HARVESTHOUSEPUBLISHERS.COM
What do you call a
Strange Request charismatic banana?
I was returning home from a A banana smoothie!
business trip a few years ago and my
Why couldn’t the police catch
plane was fairly empty.
the banana?
“We have a little extra room
tonight, folks,” the pilot said over the Because he split!
PA system. “If you wouldn’t mind, What do you call the period
please take a window seat so the of time between slipping on
competition thinks the plane is full.” a banana and landing on your
GCFL.NET rear end?
A bananosecond.
Not Always The Best Policy
A guy goes in for a job interview and Why did the banana go to
sits down with the boss. the doctor?
The boss asks him, “What do you It wasn’t peeling well.
think is your worst quality?” Why did the banana go out
The man says, “I’m probably too
with the prune?
honest.”
Because he couldn’t find a date.
The boss says, “That’s not a bad
thing, I think being honest is a good What did one banana say to the
quality.” other banana that she just met?
The man replies, “I don’t care Yellow, nice to meet you.
about what you think!” From the internet
HUMOUR THAT WORKS
rdasia.com 53
S TOWER CRANE OPERATORS
know no fear of heights, even
when inspecting their work
equipment. However, securing
themselves correctly – like this
operator in the north of England
does – is nevertheless mandatory.
54 august 2022
PHOTO FEATURE
JOBS
AT
THE
PHOTO: GET T Y IMAGES/IMAGE SOURCE/MONT Y R AKUSEN
rdasia.com 55
PHOTOS: (PINK) GET T Y IMAGES/E THAN MILLER; (CATHEDR AL) PICTURE-ALLIANCE/ ZB/JENS WOLF; (SK YDIVING) SAN FR ANCISCO CHRONICLE VIA GE T T Y IMAGES
SEXPERIENCE FREE
FALL without any skydiving
training? Tandem masters like
California’s Boris Sergeev
make it possible. They ensure
that adventure-seekers land
safely after the thrill.
56 august 2022
Jobs At The Top
rdasia.com 57
R E A DER’S DIGE ST
58 august 2022
Jobs At The Top
PHOTOS: (TREE FELLER) AL AMY S TOCK PHOTO/JOCHEN TACK; (MOUNTAINEERS) GE T T Y IMAGES/
CAVAN IMAGES RF; (ATOMIUM) AL AMY S TOCK PHOTO/JOERN SACKERMANN
rdasia.com 59
FAMILY LIFE
SCREEN
PA L S
Teens worldwide connect through video calls
to build empathy – and change
BY Richard Johnson
F
ive years ago, Abhay Sin- Students in Inuvik detailed the legacy
gh Sachal and a group of of residential schools for indigenous
his Grade 10 classmates at students on their families, including
Seaquam Secondary School stories of social problems and alcohol
in British Columbia, Cana- abuse. Seaquam kids shared how they
da, made their first video call to the felt helpless to do anything about the
Arctic. On the other end of the line threat posed by the climate crisis.
was Abhay’s 23-year-old brother, After both groups said their good-
Sukhmeet, a volunteer teaching as- byes, the brothers had an idea: what
sistant and his class at East Three if the conversation, meant to expand
Secondary in Inuvik, North-West the students’ perspectives about life
Territories. outside their hometowns, didn’t have
PHOTO: MAY TRUONG
The conversation started with typi- to end? Students, they figured, could
cal teen small talk – asking each other continue to benefit from bridging
about TV shows, music and school geographical and cultural differenc-
life. But as the teens grew more com- es. They called their organisation
fortable, the chat turned serious. Break The Divide. Today, it facilitates
60 august 2022
Break the Divide founders:
brothers Abhay (left) and
Sukhmeet Singh Sachal
(on laptop)
R E A DER’S DIGE ST
62 august 2022
Screen Pals
though the Cape Town crisis were network,” she says. “It’s a platform that
their own. “It goes from little con- empowers people to connect and then
versations,” says Sukhmeet, “to the do whatever they’re passionate about.”
big ones.” Last year, Abhay and Sukhmeet se-
Maryam Haroon knows first-hand cured funding to hire their first em-
how powerful that change can be. ployees, enabling them to develop an
She joined her school’s Break The app that will act as a social platform
Divide chapter as a Grade 10 student to connect Break The Divide chapters
in Surrey, British Columbia. Haroon worldwide. Their plans of expansion
says talking to youth around the include reactivating the India chap-
world pushed her to gain perspec- ter, which had become defunct due to
tives beyond those offered in a tra- COVID-19.
ditional high school curriculum. She Hundreds of conversations later, the
eventually became her school chapter brothers are still optimistic that the
president and organised two mental core principle of Break The Divide –
health awareness events, focusing on empathy – can play a central role in
the challenges of isolation and depres- how youth tackle the issues that mat-
sion – especially relevant during the ter most to them. “I hope that we can
pandemic. Now 18 and a university be part of creating a world where we
student, she continues to volunteer are all listening to each other,” says
for the organisation. “I envision Break Abhay. “Listening with an intent to
The Divide as a new kind of social learn and to change.”
As Kids See It
My six year old: I figured out the password to the tablet and
bypassed the parental controls to download all my shows.
Also my six year old: Help! I put both my legs in the same pant hole
and now I’m stuck! @not_thenanny
My ten year old: Granny, can you teach Mum how to make this
dessert?”
My mother: Oh, she already knows how to make it, Sweetie.
My ten year old: No, she doesn’t. @wordesse
My five year old asked me to find something downstairs.
I couldn’t find it.
My five year old: I’ve got an idea. This time, go back downstairs
and try your best. @adamhill1212
rdasia.com 63
TELL ME WHY...
T
here are hundreds of types of goddess of the moon. They also dec-
birthday cake in the world, each orated them with lit candles to make
beautiful in its own sugary way. the cakes shine like the moon.
Odds are, you’ve indulged in one dur- Modern birthday parties are said to
ing one of your birthday parties. But get their roots from the 18th-century
in between delicious bites of cake German celebration Kinderfeste. On
and icing, have you ever stopped and the morning of a child’s birthday, he
wondered, What makes this dessert fit or she would receive a cake with lit
to commemorate the day of my birth? candles that added up to the child’s
Ancient Egyptians are credited with age, plus one. This extra candle was
‘inventing’ the birthday celebration. called the ‘light of life’, representing
They believed when Pharaohs were the hope of another full year lived.
crowned, they became gods, so their The birthday child would make a
coronation day was a big deal. That wish, try to blow out all the candles in
was their ‘birth’ as a god. Ancient one breath, and dig in.
Greeks borrowed the tradition but Since the ingredients to make cakes
rightfully realised that a dessert would were expensive, this birthday custom
make the celebration all the more didn’t become popular until the In-
meaningful. So they baked moon- dustrial Revolution. Now we enjoy
shaped cakes to offer up to Artemis, cakes on any occasion.
PHOTO: GE T T Y IMAGES
64 august 2022
ANG ORIGINAL NA PLASTIK,
PLASTIK NA PLASTIK PA DIN!
Orocan Icebox 30L
Orocan
Utility Pail 12L
LAUGHING
Matters Humour connects us to one another.
But what we find funny has changed
over the past 100 years
BY David Steinberg
M
aking people laugh connects us to one an-
other. But what humour endures? For me, it’s
personal life stories and experiences. Life,
twisted and moulded until you find the fun-
ny, will always evolve, and therefore endure.
I’ve found that the closer it cuts to the bone, the funnier it
is. The beauty of life is that everyone is similar in some way.
While we may not have the same experiences, everyone can
relate to observations on life, family and the varieties of be-
haviour we all encounter every day as we go about our lives.
66 august 2022
Laughing Matters
rdasia.com 67
R E A DER’S DIGE ST
68 august 2022
Laughing Matters
rdasia.com 69
R E A DER’S DIGE ST
New
Help
For
Hearing
Loss
Today’s solutions not only reunite you with easy
conversations, they also reduce your chances of
having a fall, becoming depressed and more
BY Susannah Hickling
70 august 2022
HEALTH
rdasia.com 71
R E A DER’S DIGE ST
ILLUS TR ATIONS (PRE VIOUS SPRE AD AND THIS ONE): SHUT TERS TOCK
hearing aids, but soon gave up. While her ear and another mic inside the
they amplified all the sounds around ear. These give more natural sound
her, she still couldn’t make out the quality and filter out unwanted back-
ones she needed to ground noise. “I’ve got
hear. “I was in denial,” an app on my phone
she says. “I thought, After and, depending on the
I’m not that deaf.” age-related environment I’m in, I
But she was. Eventu- hearing loss, can adjust the sound,”
ally, pressure from her the next she says.
children and a friend biggest cause When Kingston put
who wore hearing aids the hearing aids in,
made her think again,
is long-term she realised how much
as did buying her son exposure to she’d been missing. “I
and daughter trendy excessive thought, What’s that
wireless Bluetooth ear- noise noise?” she recalls. “It
buds for Christmas. “If was my shoes!”
72 august 2022
New Help For Hearing Loss
rdasia.com 73
R E A DER’S DIGE ST
spect to connectivity
made me with communications
feel better dev ices, i nclud i ng
about myself. public address sys-
It's an tems,” says Professor
Kollmeier.
investment W hat ’s more, a l l
in me” this amazing tech is
— LY N N E KINGSTON of ten conta ined in
74 august 2022
New Help For Hearing Loss
Shown here are
two popular hearing
aids: The ReSound
One from Danish
manufacturer
GN (left) and the
Lyric from Swiss
company Phonak
(right)
much smaller devices. There’s even stigma associated with going deaf;
one – the Lyric, which is widely avail- it’s also because hearing loss is grad-
able – that can be worn unseen inside ual and people are often unaware it’s
the ear canal for several months at a happening.
time. “You can’t feel it, and you can “Age-related hearing loss affects
sleep and shower with it in,” says au- the higher frequencies first, which
diologist Paul Checkley. “It’s like a means people can hear vowel sounds
contact lens for the ear.” but miss consonants,” says Checkley.
Most hearing loss is bilateral, and “They can be fooled into thinking
in those cases, two behind-the-ear their hearing is normal.”
devices are better, such as the one But don’t wait until you can’t hear
Kingston purchased. There is a wire- a thing. “Start early with any inter-
less interaction between them, giving vention, because the brain tends to
the wearer a better idea of where the forget your central hearing abilities
sound is coming from – replicating if they are not properly activated
what our own ears do. Coming next, anymore,” says Professor Kollmeier.
Checkley believes, are ‘hearables’. Neglecting the problem means it takes
PHOTOS COURTESY OF: (LEF T) GN, (RIGHT) PHONAK
rdasia.com 75
R E A DER’S DIGE ST
“Eighty per cent of people who get electrodes. These send currents to
a cochlear implant can make a tele- the auditory nerve.
phone call again,” he says. And for “It replaces the work of the hair
people who are unfortunate enough cells,” says Dr Van de Heyning, clar-
to have tinnitus as well, he says the ifying that there is no brain surgery
noises in their head abate by 50 to involved.
80 per cent when they switch on In fact, the risk of complications
their implant. and the failure rate are low. Implants
A cochlear implant has two parts. are suitable for people whose hear-
One is worn behind the ear and the ing loss is caused by inner-ear issues
other is surgically implanted under – the vast majority – and age is no
the skin of the scalp with a wire lead- object.
ing through the ear to electrodes in “The only barrier is severe demen-
the cochlea, the ‘hearing’ part of the tia,” says Dr Van de Heyning. These
inner ear. An external microphone patients don’t have the cognitive acu-
on or near the ear picks up sounds, ity needed to interpret the initially
which are analysed by a chip and unfamiliar sounds they hear.
sent as code into the implanted Still, awareness and uptake remain
low in many countries. In high-in-
come countries, less than ten per
CLUES THAT YOU HAVE cent of people whose lives could be
HEARING LOSS improved by a cochlear implant ac-
tually have one. Why so few?
“That’s a good question!” says
• You have the volume on your Dr Van de Heyning, who says that
television higher than others need. even ear, nose, and throat (ENT)
• You keep asking people to specialists often seem unaware of
repeat themselves. the advantages, and which patients
• People seem to be mumbling, would benefit from surgery.
and you mishear what people say. “Ideas persist that you have to
be completely deaf to benefit.” You
• It’s difficult to hold a
don’t.
conversation in restaurants and
bars or at parties. Jacques Verdière, 88, is proof that
cochlear implants can restore hearing
• It’s difficult to hear on the even when you’re elderly. After years
telephone.
of ear infections, the retired librarian
• You feel tired or stressed from went completely deaf in his left ear.
having to concentrate while When his ENT surgeon suggested a
listening. cochlear implant, he was hesitant.
76 august 2022
New Help For Hearing Loss
The Quirks Of
LONG-TERM LOVE
BY Patricia Pearson
A
fter 25 years of marriage, a (Ambrose has been nursing a bad
ILLUS TR ATION: SAM ISL AND
78 august 2022
tug-of-war about where things belong a musician who preferred to play his
in the house. instruments, or play with our pets
I mentioned this to him the other or our children, than go out on the
day, about how hilariously low-stakes town. I thought I could change him. It
the romantic drama has become in drove me nuts that he’d sneak out the
our lives, and he countered that, ac- back door at his own surprise birth-
tually, he hadn’t noticed that I kept day party. Or shrink into the shadows
moving his stick. “You’ve been doing at social or networking events.
that every day for two months?” I once received a hand-delivered,
Then he added, defensively, “Well, gold-embossed Christmas party invi-
you keep leaving a spoon in the dog- tation from a Very Important Person,
food can.” addressed to myself ‘plus guest’. I
“No, I don’t . Not was so excited, waving
every day.” IT DROVE ME it at Ambrose, and he
“Yes, you do. Every NUTS THAT advised me that he had
time you feed the dog, no intention of being
you put the spoon back
MY HUSBAND my ‘guest’. He would,
in the can instead of in WOULD SNEAK he mused, rather get
the dishwasher.” OUT OF HIS his foot caught in a
“ Ho w w ou ld y ou
know it’s every day if
OWN BIRTHDAY bear trap.
Basically, I married
you didn’t even notice PARTY Ferdinand the Bull –
me moving your stick?” that children’s-stor y
Then we both laughed, because character who isn’t interested in the
if these are the crisis points in our swagger of the bull fight when he can
marriage after a quarter of a century, sit placidly under the trees, smelling
I’d call that a win – and also a long, the flowers. But I could never quite
slow-motion surrender. believe that he was truly this way. I
On the occasion of my parents’ kept trying to wave a red cape at him.
50th wedding anniversary, my father “What are you thinking about?” I
said to the assembled crowd, “The joy might ask him.
of a wedding day is that two people “Nothing.”
become one. They just spend the next “Really? Nothing at all?” Since it
50 years fighting over which one.” could not be true, he must be keeping
Oh, how true that was, for so long. secrets. A thousand scenarios would
I used to want Ambrose to be more play out in my mind about what he
like me, more intense and emotion- was actually thinking. It took me
ally expressive and socially asser- years to comprehend that he wasn’t
tive. He was a shy man of few words, holding any thing back from me,
rdasia.com 79
R E A DER’S DIGE ST
80 august 2022
The first day ONCE I LEARNED
or so we all HOW TO READ,
pointed to our I WAS NEVER
countries. BORED OR
LONELY AGAIN.
The third or ANYA TAYLOR-JOY,
fourth day ACTRESS
we were
pointing to our There is no best
musician, best artist,
continents. best dancer, best actor.
By the fifth The arts are subjective
... It’s like a song or an
day we were album is made and it
only aware of almost has a radar to
one Earth. find the person when
SULTAN BIN SALMAN AL-SUAD, they need it most.
SPACE SHUT TLE ASTRONAUT JON BATISTE, MUSICIAN
WHEREVER
YOU GO, NO How far that little
MATTER WHAT candle throws his
THE WEATHER, beams!
ALWAYS BRING So shines a
PHOTOS: GET T Y IMAGES
rdasia.com 81
For millennia, kites have mesmerised
people around the world. Now, a
new generation of artists is
taking their creations to
greater heights
rdasia.com 83
O
R E A DER’S DIGE ST
PHOTOS: (OPENING SPRE AD) RENE AND R ADK A; (THIS PAGE) GE T T Y IMAGES
84 august 2022
The Ancient Magic Of Kites
Anne Rubin’s bamboo and tengucho paper kite Sakura (meaning cherry blossom)
It seems likely, though, that kites tails – became a popular pastime for
originated in China or Southeast children in Europe.
Asia and were brought by merchants, From there, the kite travelled to
missionaries and soldiers into Ko- North America, where it informed
rea, Japan and, later, Myanmar and two of the defining advancements of
India – where they can be seen in the modern age: in 1752, American
rdasia.com 85
R E A DER’S DIGE ST
Gas Giant, a 2013 installation by Jacob Hashimoto, was composed of 7500 kites
86 august 2022
The Ancient Magic Of Kites
CARTOON: JOE DATOR/CARTOONCOLLECTIONS.COM. ILLUS TR ATIONS: (SIRENS): VECTEEZ Y.COM; (L ADY) GE T T Y IMAGES
“Anytime I’ve ever been asked,
‘What do you want, a medal?’ I’ve said yes .”
88 august 2022
Wigged Out
A correction published on the
website Vulture.com: “This article
originally claimed that actor Ben
Platt’s Dear Evan Hansen haircut
was a wig. It is, astoundingly, his
own hair.” BUZZFEED.COM
SHOULD’VE SEEN
On The Cream Team THAT COMING
My boyfriend worked in a posh I work in an optometrist’s office.
hotel and at breakfast one of the CUSTOMER: Hi. You do glasses
guests asked him, “Is this crème repairs, right? The wire snapped.
fraîche?” Can you repair it now?
He replied, “Yeah, we don’t serve She takes off her glasses and hands
them to me. She has half-frames that
out-of-date food.” @LILYANNATRNR
use something like a fishing wire to hold
the lens inside the frame, and one side
A Valuable Business Skill has snapped. Hot glue is holding the
Someone once put up a nameplate lens to the frame, but it’s clearly just
in our engineering office: The a temporary fix.
nameplate read: “Herdaing Katz, ME: Oh, yeah, this just needs
engineering manager.” a new wire fed through.
I have no idea whether it was an It’s a 15-minute job.
actual person or not. I was always too CUSTOMER: Great.
afraid to ask! NOTALWAYSRIGHT.COM She then sits down on one of the seats,
apparently content to wait.
ME: Uh. Ma’am, you can leave
and come back? If you like, you can
give me your phone number and I’ll
call you when I’m done.
rdasia.com 89
ART OF LIVING
Clean The
Things You
Never Do*
We often ignore important things
in our housework routine.
But adding a task or two is easy
BY Emily Goodman and Jamie Novak
*But Should
90 august 2022
TIP
Dust your
electronics
very lightly
rdasia.com 91
Y
R E A DER’S DIGE ST
HUMIDIFIER/DEHUMIDIFIER
COFFEE MAKER
* How to clean: Empty all water
* How to clean: Over time, the oils
from all your cups of coffee build up
from the unit. Check the filters and
replace any dirty ones. Then clean
inside your coffee maker. To remove any mineral deposits with a small
92 august 2022
br ush a nd wh ichever
disinfectant the manual
or company website rec-
ommends. Remember to
wear gloves and goggles if
you’re using a bleach solu-
t ion. A f ter wa rds, r i nse
the tank several times to
wash away all cleaning
chemicals.
* How often: Whenever
you notice it looks dirty,
and always before you put
it away for the season. Let
the device dry completely
before storing it.
DISHWASHER
* How to clean: Remove
the filter, utensil holder TIP
and racks, and wash them Don’t forget
separately with soap and to wash your
warm water to remove any dishwasher
greasy food residue, then
replace the parts. Next,
clear any debris from the
dishwasher drain. (You’ll
be surprised by how many crumbs vinegar. Then run the washer on the
get stuck there.) Sprinkle bicarbo- hottest and longest cycle available.
nate of soda across the bottom and For a front loader, pour 3/4 cup of
set a bowl filled with vinegar on the vinegar through the detergent com-
ALL PHOTOGR APHS BY K. SYNOLD
top rack. Run a cycle on the hottest partment, wait 20 minutes, then run
temperature setting. the self-cleaning cycle. Afterwards,
* How often: Once a month. w ipe dow n the inside and leave
the door open to let the machine air
WASHING MACHINE dry.
* How to clean: For a top-loading
* How often: Once or twice a year,
machine, pour 500 grams of borax or any time you notice mould or a
into the drum and add four litres of foul odour.
rdasia.com 93
R E A DER’S DIGE ST
TIP
Sanitise your
sponges. Dirty
tools don’t clean
94 august 2022
Clean The Things You Never Do But Should
SCREENS SURFACES
* How to clean: These surfaces are
delicate, so use a microfibre cloth to CABINET DOORS
prevent scratching – and don’t apply
too much pressure. A dry cloth is all
* How to clean: Wipe down the fac-
es and knobs with a damp microfi-
you should need, but to remove stub- bre cloth.
born stains, use a mild soap highly
diluted with water. Put the solution
* How often: Once a week. The in-
teriors need to be wiped down only
on the cloth instead of directly on once a year.
the screen, then wipe. Wiping in cir-
cles creates streaks, so use straight SPLASHBACK
strokes, either vertical or horizontal.
Don’t use glass or window cleaner,
* How to clean: Mix equal parts
bicarbonate of soda and hydrogen
which can discolour screens. peroxide with a splash of degreasing
* How often: Once a week. dish detergent. This combination
breaks down the greasy build up that
KEYBOARD is common in most kitchen areas. The
* How to clean: Turn the keyboard
upside down and gently shake it to
solution loses its effectiveness if it sits
around for too long, so don’t make too
dislodge any dust and crumbs. Flip big a batch. Apply the paste with a mi-
it back over and sanitise with a dis- crofibre cloth, then rinse it off with a
infecting wipe. It pays to run one of separate damp microfibre cloth.
these wipes over the mouse as well.
* How often: Once a month.
* How often: Once a week.
LAMPSHADES
EARBUDS
* How to clean: Do a quick pass over
* How to clean: Wipe the plas-
tic part with a dry lint-free cloth
each lampshade with a handheld
vacuum – just not while the light bulb
and scrub the mesh part with a dry is on. Use the same attachment you
cotton swab. Never use alcohol or would on other upholstered surfaces.
rdasia.com 95
R E A DER’S DIGE ST
96 august 2022
R E A DER’S DIGE ST
98 august 2022
ANIMAL KINGDOM
BY Olivia Stren
D
uring the pandemic, I was our home school. If there was a
found myself justifying playdate, I was the playmate – and
all manner of what you I was exhausted. Even our two cats
might call non-essen- seemed increasingly oppressed by
tial purchases in the our constant presence, pining for
name of lockdown. I or- Precedented Times, when the house
PHOTO: PIXEL-SHOT/AL AMY S TOCK PHOTO
dered a hand-knitted cotton jumper was their private hotel and humans
from Spain and throw cushions from would only occasionally pop in, like
Sweden, but the most delightful and housekeeping.
unusual thing I ‘added to cart’ was a So there I was scrolling Instagram,
pair of Pekin ducklings. retreating into the seeming perfec-
This happened in June 2020, when tion of other people’s lives, when I
my husband, Joaquin, my five-year- spotted a friend’s photo of two tiny
old son, Leo, and I were in month golden ducklings in her living room.
three of lockdown. By then, I had I messaged her immediately. She ex-
long shuttered the charade that plained that she was fostering the
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R E A DER’S DIGE ST
babies for a farm. You can adopt the each one a tiny, almost weightless
newborns and parent them as long parcel of silky gold. Their webbed
as you like – typically, the farm ex- feet, clementine-orange, felt soft and
plains on its website, the usual foster satiny against our palms, and their
lasts a few weeks, until the ducklings glossy little beaks were unexpectedly
waddle from their downy infancy warm. Leo immediately cast himself
into their more obstreperous, feath- as their father, and they accepted the
ered teenaged fowl-hood. This pro- role happily, waddling at his heels
gramme helps fund the farm and, I and slipping on our hardwood floors,
told myself, generously provides us like Bambi on an ice rink. He decided
with what we’d been lacking: joy, to call one of the ducklings Gaston,
spontaneity and fellowship. after his favourite cartoon charac-
“We’re getting ducklings!” I proud- ter, and I named the other one Ping,
ly announced. Joaquin replied with after the Chinese duck hero from one
something along the lines of “What?” of my favourite childhood books.
I explained that, for $165, the Leo kissed Ping and Gaston on their
farm would bring us beaks and they nipped
ever y thing we need- HAD WE BEEN at his lips, which he
ed – ‘chick Gatorade’,
a heat lamp, food and
FOSTERING concluded meant they
loved him. He then de-
bedding (a bale of pine OR FATTENING cided that they must
shavings) and also an THESE need a bath after a long
activity for Leo. trip from the country.
“OK. When do we get
ANIMALS? He filled a Tupperware
them?” he said gamely, container with water,
at which point, I smugly concluded which filled me with a surge of relief.
that I had married wisely. “You nev- (It was an activity! Without an iPad!).
er really know a man until you’ve So much of parenting, especially pan-
divorced him,” said Zsa Zsa Gabor. demic parenting, comes down to guilt
Or until you’ve adopted livestock to- management. And our new family
gether in a pandemic. members delivered me from mine.
Leo lowered t hem into t he bin,
ABOUT TEN DAYS LATER, on a sun- and they took to it like, well, ducks.
ny morning, a man from the farm ar- Afterwards, we swaddled them to
rived at our front doorstep. In what keep them warm.
will remain the best delivery moment If the pandemic had plunged us
of my life, he handed over a shoebox all into chaos, at least this kind had
housing a pair of newborn chicks. a madcap charm. The messiness was
Leo and I held them in our hands, literal, of course. For the ducks, the
a wedding or banquet. We had been mer clouds. If the owner had offered
fostering these animals, hadn’t we, to adopt me, too, I would have happily
not fattening them for a meal? moved in. We left our ducks and head-
We couldn’t keep them, but I also ed home, feeling the sadness of empty
couldn’t take them back. And this nesters (forgive the pun).
is how I found myself launching a Finding them this country house of
sort of duck-adoption agency, fran- dreams was the best thing I did in
tically emailing and calling animal 2020. Also, maybe the only thing.
rdasia.com 101
The town of
Come By Chance,
Newfoundland,
Canada
SWIT
CHED
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R
ita Hynes lugged her pregnant body up
the rural hospital’s wooden steps. It
was the night of December 7, 1962, and
her rounded belly tightened with each
contraction. At the hospital, she felt
the intensifying crests of pain – at first
bearable, then searing as the night wore
on. Just after midnight, the cries of her new baby pierced
the air. A boy! She named him Clarence Peter Hynes. He
was deposited in the hospital’s nursery and tucked into a
crib, while Rita dozed in the women’s ward.
Clarence, whom everyone calls Clar, over beers, Cheryl found him atten-
grew up in a fishing town, St Ber- tive and kind. They danced and chat-
nard’s, perched on the edge of For- ted the night away. She didn’t want it
tune Bay in the North Atlantic island to end. They were married two years
province of Newfoundland. His fa- later.
ther, Ches, was a fisherman, and Clar Clar’s mot her, R ita, was diag-
was the first in a steady stream of in- nosed with late-stage ovarian can-
fants to arrive at the Hyneses’ home. cer a few years later at the age of 50.
Clar slept in a top bunk in a room he Clar nursed her as a mother would
shared with his brothers. They were a baby. He held her and rocked her
fairer than he was – Clar had a toasty in his childhood home on the hill,
complexion and a head of thick, making sure she faced a window
dark hair. He grew to become a local onto the ocean so she could see the
heartthrob, with a chiselled brow waves. Rita also stayed with Clar and
and lean, muscular frame. When he Cheryl at their home during her futile
drove his navy-blue Chevy Camaro cancer treatments. Clar spoon-fed his
around town, the teenage girls of St. mother bowls of fish and potatoes.
Bernard’s swooned. He spent day after day with her right
At age 24, Clar met a woman named up until the end so she would never
Cheryl at a motel bar in Marystown, be alone. Five years after that, lung
farther down the boot-shaped pen- cancer took Clar’s father.
insula from where he grew up. She Cla r a nd Cher yl ra ised t h ree
was the belle of the bar, and he was children of their own. By 2014, Clar
instantly smitten. As the two talked was a welding foreman at Bull Arm,
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C R A I G AV E R Y
the time she was 29, five children, of everything, just like his father, and
all boys, filled the house built by her took care of family members when
husband, Donald. they needed a hand, stacking their
On December 7, 1962, Mildred ar- wood or shovelling their snow.
rived in Come By Chance to deliver Craig married his first wife, who
her sixth child. Early the next morn- was from the next cove over.
ing, the baby emerged. It was another Several years later, after three
boy, weighing in at just under three children and a divorce, he found his
kilograms. Mildred named him Craig partner for life, the sister of one of the
Harvey Avery and he was placed in men with whom he played softball.
the nursery alongside the other new- Tracey was high-spirited, the type
borns, including Clar, who didn’t miss a beat.
who just seven hours “HOW DO E v e n t u a l l y, t h e y
earlier had taken his YOU GET BACK both got jobs at Bull
first breath. WHAT YOU Arm – the same site
Mildred took Craig MISSED? where Clar Hynes was
home to Hillview, add- employed. It was Trac-
ing him to her brood. YOU’LL ey who first noticed
From the start Craig NEVER GET the man who looked
was different. Nobody IT BACK ” strikingly like her in-
in t he Aver y fa m i ly CR AIG AVERY laws. Clar had Mildred
could figure out who Avery’s brown eyes and
he looked like. He grew into a strap- strong nose, and he could have been
ping blue-eyed jokester, nothing like the twin of Craig’s brother Clifford.
his quiet, dark-haired siblings. Craig But Tracey didn’t think much more
was freckled; his father, Donald, had about the uncanny likeness until that
high, sculpted cheekbones. Donald December when she discovered her
worked various jobs as a woodcutter, husband not only shared a birthday
carpenter, fisherman and mason, with Clar but was born at the same
with Craig often at his side. hospital.
Craig quit school at 15 and joined That night, Tracey and Craig sat up,
his brother Wayne working at a por- talking and drinking black tea until
celain factory, making sinks and toi- the sun rose over the bluffs. It was a
lets. He was on the rowdy side, a guy huge mental leap from recognising a
who picked fights and chased all the series of coincidences to wondering
pretty girls. When he moved back to if he was switched at birth, but inside
Hillview, Craig got odd jobs, cutting Craig knew – he just knew.
brush and helping build an exten- Something clicked into place, a
sion on the wharf. He did a little bit piece of his existence that had always
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stuck out awkwardly. His mind spun him. “Oh,” she said, surprised when
with questions: How did it happen? he explained he was Clarence Hynes.
What was my life supposed to be like? “I thought you were Cliff Avery from
Where would I be now? What would Hillview.”
I be doing? Still, when the Averys told him
their theory, Clar dismissed the pos-
SEARCHING FOR ANSWERS sibility that he wasn’t the person he’d
Soon after, the Averys decided they always believed himself to be. Every-
needed photos of Cla r to show one looks like someone.
Craig’s siblings. After a few days, Craig got the email with the results
Tracey got her chance. They were comparing his DNA with Clifford’s in
in the Bull Arm lunch- November 2015. He was
room at their usual ta-
CLAR DECIDED too nervous to click on
ble when they spotted IT WAS TIME. ... the message himself, so
Clar. Tracey held her HE HAD TO Tracey did it. Not only
phone up, su r rept i- did he and Clifford not
tiously snapping a pic-
BE SURE: share the same father,
ture of him in profile. WAS HE A but they weren’t even
O ver t he nex t few HYNES OR distantly related.
days, Craig texted the
image to his brothers
AN AVERY? T he f irst person
Craig called was Clar.
and sister. They shook But Clar, even while
their heads in disbelief. Craig’s older he felt a wave of sadness, wasn’t
brother Clifford, the one who looked convinced that the news applied to
almost identical to Clar, offered to do him.
a DNA test to determine if Craig was That winter, Clifford started call-
really his kin. ing Clar. He wanted to meet, but
W hen Tr ac e y a nd C r a ig ap - Clar always had an excuse. Then,
proached Clar to tell him about their one day that spring, Clifford died by
suspicion, he found the whole thing suicide after quietly suffering from
outrageous. Sure, his mind wandered depression for several years, follow-
briefly: Wow, Craig does look a lot ing the death of his young son. At
like my brother. And he remembered work, Craig handed him the obitu-
some odd encounters he’d had over ary, and Clar politely accepted it, but
the years. There was, for example, he couldn’t bring himself to read it,
the time in a toy store when he heard and he didn’t attend the funeral ei-
a woman say, “Cliff! Cliff!” After re- ther. It has nothing to do with me, he
peated calls, to which he hadn’t re- told himself again.
sponded, the woman approached But the truth seeped in slowly. For
CLARENCE HYNES
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R E A DER’S DIGE ST
the first time in his life, he didn’t his own health and that of his kids,
want to go to work. Unshovelled snow Clar had to be sure: was he a Hynes
piled up in his driveway. He was like or an Avery?
a bird caught in a crosswind. Clar When Clar’s test results arrived
moved from his bed to the couch, the in the mail, in the winter of 2019, he
couch to the bed, sometimes stop- called Craig. Clar had laid out his
ping to sob at the kitchen counter. results on the kitchen counter next
Fearing her husband might take to Clifford’s, which Craig had shared
his own life, Cheryl hid the car keys with him. “Everything was a match,”
each night after supper, tuck ing Clar said. He and Clifford had been
them into a black plastic box high brothers.
in the bedroom wardrobe, where There was silence on both ends of
she also stashed all the medication the phone. Finally, Craig spoke: “We
in the house. Some nights, when know now that it’s all real.”
Clar couldn’t sleep, he walked to his The next question has plagued the
younger brother Chesley’s home, men and their families ever since:
where he talked and cried with his how did it happen?
head in his hands until dawn.
Chesley had never seen Clar, 17 A LIFE-CHANGING MISTAKE
years his senior, in such a fragile Digging for answers led the Averys
state. As the eldest sibling, Clar had and the Hyneses to a nurse with an
always been a father odd nickname. Christi-
figure, especially after IF A NURSE na Anne Callanan was
their dad died. To see WAS RUSHED, born in the Irish city
Hillview
Come By Chance
St. John’s
St. Bernard’s
From left: Rita and Ches Hynes; Mildred and Donald Avery
managing the office, distributing pre- to no time off. They were often the
scriptions and supervising staff. ones who looked after the babies at
Some colleagues described her as night while the mothers slept in the
like a big sister. But other colleagues wards. They warmed bottles of milk,
found Callanan to be like an army scooped up crying infants to console
sergeant who put everyone on edge. them, and changed soiled nappies.
Her underlings called her Nurse Tiger The cribs and milk crates were
behind her back for her fiery, dom- supposed to be labelled. Aides and
ineering ways. She was known for other staff were warned: make sure
pillorying the young nurses and their the name on the label matches the
aides. “Where’s your hat?” she would baby’s arm band, and make sure both
roar across the room to a young match what’s on the mother’s hospi-
woman who’d forgotten it that day. tal bracelet.
The nursery was often packed. But sometimes arm bands slipped
When all the cribs were full, babies off after the swelling in the babies’
were deposited in red-and-white limbs – a common occurrence af-
milk crates. ter birth – went down. If a nurse or
Nurse’s aides, who were as young an aide was in a rush, a baby could
as 16 and didn’t have medical train- easily be placed in the wrong crib or
ing, were overworked, with little crate.
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R E A DER’S DIGE ST
By all accounts, Callanan ran a tight wrong baby – but they had luckily
ship, but then something changed. In realised the mistake.
the process of one particularly difficult If action had been taken, the Aver-
birth a nurse’s aide got in her way. The ys and Hyneses argue, maybe Craig
aide was trying to put the correct iden- and Clar would have gone to the right
tity band on the baby. Protocol dictat- homes. They believe the department
ed that both the infant’s and the moth- of health should have intervened,
er’s bands be attached immediately investigated mistakes made by and
following birth, in the delivery room. complaints lodged against Callanan,
But Callanan became annoyed and and set more stringent birth-manage-
sent the aide out of the ment policies.
room. “Do that out- CRAIG AND As they wait for the
side,” she had said. “It CLARENCE HAVE legal case to proceed,
needn’t be done here.” BECOME LIKE the families are com-
From that point on, ing to grips with what
protocol was relaxed. BROTHERS, ha p p e n e d . In t h e
Identity bands could BUT THEIR summer of 2019, Craig
be attached to mother BOND IS made his first visit to
and baby after they’d St Bernard’s, where
been separated, once
ALTOGETHER Clar had grown up
the infant was in the DIFFERENT and then nursed Rita
nursery with the oth- when she was dying.
er newborns. When he arrived, he stood outside
Callanan was in charge in Decem- for an hour and a half before he could
ber 1962, when Craig and Clar were bring himself to step inside the bunga-
born. She delivered both babies, and low. At the kitchen counter, he cracked
it’s her name, signed with tight, cur- lobster claws with Clar, conscious
licued Cs, atop the medical records of that all this – the view, the people, the
the births. walls – should have been home.
Meanwhile, the Hynes siblings
AFTERMATH took in their new brother’s mous-
Together, Clar and Craig and their tached grin, how he held his fork like
families decided to sue the New- their father had, how he too walked
foundland government for the hos- with a slight hunch and a side-to-
pital’s negligence and the irrepara- side motion.
ble damage done by it. The families Craig and Clar have become like
found out that a few short months brothers, but their bond is some-
before Clar and Craig were born, thing altogether different. They spend
another family had been given the time together, and with their various
rdasia.com 113
PHOTO: AVID LUK A ZS/© 2021 ADA FILMS LTD – HARRIS SQUARED KF T
I
remember reading Flowers For determined to go to the House of Dior
Mrs Harris, the book this movie is in Paris to buy an evening gown of her
based on, in my first year of high own. After saving to raise the funds to
school – so it obviously left an indelible pursue her dream, she embarks on a
mark. The novel by Paul Gallico was trip to Paris that will change not only
published in 1958 and has been her own outlook on life, but the very
adapted for screen by four writers, future of the House of Dior.
including director Anthony Fabian. The comic tale takes on a final
The story revolves around a widowed poignant overtone, which is the reason
cleaning lady, Ada Harris (Lesley this story has stayed with me for so
Manville) in 1950s London. She is so long. If you’re looking for a bit of a
enraptured by her employer’s haute laugh with a generous helping of 1950s
couture wardrobe that she becomes high fashion, then catch this movie.
COMPILED BY DIANE GODLEY
rdasia.com 115
Juniper Drama
S
am (George Ferrier) arrives soon finds himself confronted by her
home from boarding school alcoholic wit and arrogance. Their
PHOTOS: (BE A S T) © 2022 UNIVERSAL S TUDIOS. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.; ( JUNIPER) TR ANSMISSION FILMS
for the holidays to find that relationship goes from awkward to
his wheelchair-bound English violent, and when Sam finds himself
grandmother, Ruth (Charlotte stranded with her and her nurse for
Rampling) has moved in. An ex-war the duration of the school holidays,
photographer with a lust for life and a a battle for supremacy ensues
love of the bottle, Ruth is something with neither of the strong-willed
of a handful and 17-year-old Sam characters backing down.
Beast Thriller
R
ecently widowed Dr
Nate Daniels (Idris Elba)
returns to South Africa,
where he first met his wife, on
a long-planned trip with their
two daughters. The adventure
includes a visit to a game reserve,
managed by an old family friend
and wildlife biologist, Martin
Battles (Sharlto Copley). But what
begins as a journey of healing sees all humans as the enemy,
for the family quickly turns into begins stalking them. If you loved
a fearsome fight for survival movies like Jaws, you’ll enjoy this
when a rogue lion, a survivor of too: the added bonus here is the
blood-thirsty poachers who now stunning backdrops.
rdasia.com 117
I
THE f you’ve ever spent a rainy day
pacing around your house trying
GENIUS to crank out the last few thousand
SECTION steps to reach 10,000, we have
news. The fitness goal may be
Sharpen Your good, or it may be bad. It’s defi-
Mind nitely interesting, as it seems reaching
the elusive 10,000 steps might not be
completely necessary to get results.
The 10,000 steps programme didn’t
start off as medical advice; it was cre-
ated by the marketing team of a Japa-
nese pedometer in the 1960s. In fact,
when the first step-based research
programme launched in Australia, it
was actually going to be called ‘The
7000 Steps Programme’ and see peo-
ple aiming for that number of steps
per day. “However, then a marketing
team got involved who effectively
said, ‘you need something snappi-
er’, and so it was changed here, too,”
says Professor Corneel Vandelanotte,
head of ‘The 10,000 Steps research
programme’ at the Central Queens-
land University.
This means that health researchers
Just Keep
looking into the connection of walk-
ing and health are almost coming at
things backwards. They’re trying to
WALKING…
see if the number ingrained in our
heads as the ideal walking goal really
is the gold standard for health – and
studies are finding that we may have
Wait! Is The 10,000
PHOTO: GE T T Y IMAGES
determine the perfect number of steps becomes smaller compared to the ef-
for our health seem to suggest that fort involved in taking them,” says the
around 7000 steps is the number that study’s author, Professor Melody Ding.
gives us the healthiest bang for our “That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t do
buck – well, at least when it comes to more steps, but that it’s more efficient
living longer. Take a study published to improve from 2000 steps to 4000
in March by researchers at the Uni- than from 7500 to 10,000.”
versity of Massachusetts Amherst in However, as Professor Vandelanotte
the US. It found the greatest benefit points out, these studies are looking
to longevity came from between 6000 solely at longevity and, while living a
and 8000 daily steps. longer life is not exactly an unwant-
Taking this many steps a day re- ed benefit, if you’re trying to achieve
duced the risk of early some other specific
death for people over HERE’S ANOTHER health outcomes, the
the age of 60 by 54 per CONUNDRUM: more steps the better.
cent – but taking more
didn’t create much ad- ARE FASTER “We know, for exam-
ple, that if you’re walk-
ditional benefit. “It may STEPS BETTER ing to help weight loss,
be that as you approach THAN SLOWER it takes more like 10,000
these higher levels of
steps per day you reach STEPS? daily steps to achieve
good results,” he says.
better overall fitness, In fact, a US study pub-
physical function and physical health, lished in the journal Obesity in 2018
creating a ceiling effect in which ad- found that people who lost more than
ditional increases in activity will not ten per cent of their body weight over
substantially lead to further benefit,” 18 months were taking an average
says study leader Dr Amanda Pauluch. of 9822 daily steps (roughly 3500 of
Another study by experts at the those fast ones) while those taking
University of Sydney also found that under 7801 steps, and fewer faster
while reaching 7500 steps a day saw steps, were more likely to actually gain
a sharp reduction in the risk of dying weight during the trial.
from any cause in the next two years, This study also brings up another
people reaching 11,000 steps a day conundrum – are faster steps better
only gained a further ten per cent than slower ones? This is something
reduction, despite doing 46 per cent even science hasn’t yet decided.
more steps. “Our study still showed Dr Paulach’s trial didn’t find any clear
that the more steps you do the better, association with added benefits from
but the point is that once you get over faster steps but research from the UK’s
7500 steps, the increase in benefits University of Leicester did suggest that
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R E A DER’S DIGE ST
faster walkers lived longer than those In fact, that’s the message that every
walking more slowly, and a second one of our experts went back to: every
trial from the team published in 2021 step, no matter how fast, how slow, or
even linked faster walking to a lower how many steps precede or follow it, is
risk of developing serious complica- a step that improves your health.
tions if infected with COVID-19. “If you’re currently only doing 2000
Professor Ding says it’s complex steps a day, increasing that to 4000
because people who are fitter nat- is going to pay huge dividends for
urally step faster and so it’s hard to you,” says Professor Vandelanotte. “If
work out which is having the effect – you can easily do 7000 steps a day,
the faster speed, or the base level of it’s certainly not going to hurt to in-
fitness that helps you achieve it. crease that to 10,000 or more. But, if
“But generally, the more vigorous not being able to reach 10,000 steps is
an exercise the better – that’s what putting you off developing a regular
builds strength and a body that will walking habit, then set a lower target.”
support you later in life,” says Profes- He suggests spending a week or so
sor Vandelanotte. He said that while measuring your normal step count,
there are benefits to a higher intensity then start taking 500 more steps a day
walk, what was most important is get- than you usually do for a few weeks.
ting out there and doing something Once that’s established, he says, then
that you enjoy, because you need to increase it again, until you find a
keep this up for life. “If you don’t like number you can make into a habit.
walking fast, don’t – but do walk!” he “It’s getting moving day in day out
emphasised. that really brings results.”
PUZZLES
Challenge yourself by solving these puzzles and mind
stretchers, then check your answers on page 126.
Crossword
Test your general
knowledge.
DOWN
1 Capital of Israel (9)
2 Started (5)
4 Childish (9)
5 Thaws (5)
6 Eg, Mussolini (8)
ACROSS 7 Adjoining (9)
18 Conditions that
1 Tasks (4) are possible but 8 Pivot (5)
3 Thin layer (4) uncertain (3) 9 Fix a computer
6 Expiry (5) 21 Silent (3) program (5)
10 Repentant (9) 22 Long narrow 15 Use of metaphors (9)
11 Tooth top (5) excavation (6) 17 Organisations (9)
12 Possible cause of 23 An app version still 19 Rust-resistant (9)
skin cancer (7) being developed (4) 20 And so forth (2,6)
13 Glitter (7) 25 Slackens (7) 24 Sudden burst of light (5)
14 Excess of expenditure 27 Animate (7) 25 Doctor’s replacement (5)
over income (4) 29 Serious 26 Indian form of address (5)
16 Ignominious failure (6) wrongdoing (5) 28 Violin’s bigger sister (5)
8 5
9 2 3 5
5 9 6
3 4 7
1 9 7 6 4
3 5 2
4 8 1
2 5 9 8
2 6
Sudoku
HOW TO PLAY: To win, you have to put a number
from 1 to 9 in each outlined section so that:
• Every horizontal row and vertical column
contains all nine numerals (1-9) without repeating
any of them;
• Each of the outlined sections has all nine
numerals, none repeated.
Puzzle
FAMILY FUN Answers
PAGE 126
Colour
Connect
Follow the black
lines from S to F.
S F
To make it more
ILLUS TR ATION: VECTEEZ Y.COM
7. Sidney Poitier won the eight years old and up structure did New
Academy Award for Best to create a new dessert Zealand entrepreneur
Actor for what 1963 film? in honour of what 2022 A.J Hackett bungy jump
1 point event? 1 point in 1987? 1 point
16-20 Gold medal 11-15 Silver medal 6-10 Bronze medal 0-5 Wooden spoon
12. Hummingbird. 13. Rainforest. 14. The Eiffel Tower. 15. Queen Elizabeth II’s Platinum Jubilee.
9. Chess. 10. Leonardo da Vinci’s journal (Codex Leicester). 11. Military jeeps left by the US after WWII.
Webb Space Telescope. 6. Valencia, Spain. 7. Lilies of the Field. 8. Three: Brunei, Malaysia, Indonesia.
Answers: 1. Dragon Boat Festival Duanwu Jie. 2. Bees. 3. F. Scott Fitzgerald. 4. Greenland. 5. The James
rdasia.com 125
R E A DER’S DIGE ST
PUZZLE ANSWERS
From Page 122
Crossword
Sudoku
2 3 8 4 6 5 1 9 7
6 9 4 7 2 1 3 5 8
7 5 1 3 8 9 4 2 6
Colour Connect
S F
WORD POWER
What’s In A Name?
BY Sarah Chassé
Answers
1. jimmy – (B) force open. 10. barb – (C) biting remark.
The thief used a butter knife to The feuding pop stars traded barbs
jimmy the lock. on Twitter.
2. lea – (C) pasture. Behind the 11. jasper – (C) green quartz.
old farmhouse is a lea dotted with Brenda’s favourite bracelet has
sheep and cows. turquoise, jasper and silver beads.
3. tad – (A) small amount. 12. sally – (C) set out. Gene and
Would you like a tad more cream Laurel are about to sally forth on a
in your coffee? cruise around the world.
4. derrick – (A) machine for lifting. 13. tucker – (A) tire. You’d think an
The crew used a derrick to raise afternoon at the water park would
the granite blocks from the tucker out the kids, but they’re still
quarry floor. full of energy!
5. jenny – (B) female bird. 14. tiffany – (C) sheer gauze.
The jenny wren offered her chicks Rachel insisted on her bridesmaids’
a juicy worm. dresses being made of pink tiffany.
6. don – (B) put on. Batman donned 15. harry – (C) torment.
his mask and cape and then raced Our dog’s favourite activity is
to Gotham to save the day. harrying the postman.
7. warren – (B) maze of 16. norm – (C) accepted standard.
passageways. We got hopelessly The interest in greener living
lost in the city’s warren of means that products like these
backstreets. may soon become the norm.
8. patsy – (B) pushover. “I’m 17. glen – (B) narrow valley.
done with being the patsy of this The picturesque wooded glen had
company, I quit!” Nick declared. a brook flowing serenely nearby.
9. chad – (A) cardboard piece.
“Don’t open the hole punch over VOCABULARY RATINGS
the floor,” cried Beryl, “or you’ll 5–9: Fair
be cleaning up all the chads that 10–13: Good
fall out.” 14–17: Word Power Wizard