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There is a move in the game of Chess called ‘castling’, where the king and rook intentionally change positions, both vacating their original squares, to take up new positions in the clear space between them, but lining up in reverse order. The move is executed mainly to reposition the king to a more defensive position,…

I heard one of those car breakdown tales recently about a driver who was trying to add oil to the engine through the dipstick tube. I’m not sure how he got on, but I can certainly imagine the scene and the language that was reverberating around the engine bay. The dipstick is a helpful diagnostic…

When I was eight years old, I was dedicated to a wolf. When the other initiates and I had gathered around the wolf we cried out: “Ah-Kay-Lah, W-e-e-e’ll D-o-o-o, O-u-u-u-r BEST!” Then said one of Akela’s apprentices: “dyb dyb dyb dyb!” (Do your best!). To which we all chanted in response: “We’ll dob dob dob…