Readers Digest Australia February 2022

THE EASE WITH WHICH ONLINE SCAMMERS can manipulate your private digital identity is terrifying. ‘Delete Your Internet Footprint’ (page 26) details 24 simple steps we can all take to keep our identities and finances safe. With as many as one in four people falling victim to identity fraud, this article is definitely worth a read. This issue has insights into well-known people and events, such as the man whose invention we all recognise (‘Meet Ernő Rubik’, page 66). The publicity-shy architect shares how his love of geometrical shapes led him to invent the 3D puzzle that the world knows as Rubik’s Cube. While our Bonus Read tells the story of the 2019 Thai rescue, ‘The Boys In The Cave’ (page 126). The complexity and risk involved in the rescue to save…

Jokes That Stand The Test of Time Some of the jokes, sayings, anecdotes and fillers in the January Classics issue made me laugh so hard I couldn’t catch my breath. I usually recycle the issue or give it to someone else, but this one I am definitely going to keep. I plan to read a few of these jokes every so often to put a smile on my face – and maybe even pass them on. These days humour is a valuable commodity and should be shared. AMANDA JACKSON Enduring Gifts Nowadays, when making a recording is as easy as pressing a button on a smartphone, how utterly inspiring to read that in 1955 three little children – not even teenagers yet! – saved a princely sum of money to secretly make a gramophone…

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Hero Dog Honoured For Rescuing Koalas Bear, a six-year-old Australian Koolie herding dog, has been honoured by the International Fund for Animals Welfare (IFAW) for his heroic efforts during the 2020 bushfires when he saved over 100 injured koalas. The former rescue dog was taught to use his heightened sense of smell to find injured koalas in the burnt-out trees and terrain by the Detection Dogs for Conservation team at the University of the Sunshine Coast. Ecologist Dr Romane Cristescu, who leads the team, said Bear’s sense of smell and boundless energy made him ideal for research projects. He was trained to recognise the scent of koala fur in the bush. The IFAW, which sponsors Bear, said he had been “a ray of hope” as he helped the USC/IFAW team and their partners…

AXOLOTLS, otherwise known as Mexican walking fish, are very peculiar creatures indeed. Ambystoma Mexicanum are neotenic; they retain juvenile traits right through their adult lives and never leave the water like their amphibious cousins. They are naturally occurring but rarely seen in Lake Xochimilco and Lake Chalco in the southern Mexico City neighbourhood of Xochimilco. The most common place you will see an axolotl is in a home fish tank. I have owned and (accidentally) bred axolotls for over eight years. My interest in these four-legged amphibians began in 2011 when I inherited two ageing axolotls, Jet and Rusty, from a teaching colleague. Following their passing, I observed an appropriate period of mourning and the following year purchased an albino axolotl. ‘Muesli Aristotle’ arrived at Quintilian Primary School in January 2012. She…

Polly And Pusspuss KERRIL COOPER When my friend Renee arrived at my door one afternoon with a Huntaway border-collie rescue dog, the deal was that the dog could stay for a trial period of two weeks to see how she got on with my much-loved, but unwell, elderly ginger tomcat, Pusspuss. As the dog walked into the room, she turned her head away from the cat as if to say, “What cat?” The cat, who in his younger days got on very well with dogs, totally ignored her, too. Within the day, I knew that this was the dog for us and we renamed her Polly. Ground rules were established and we all soon settled into a routine. Pusspuss had complete freedom to move wherever he wished throughout the house whereas Polly had restrictions. My bedroom…