Almaguin

October 21, 2026

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On The Upside with Marley

The Quiet Value Of Being Dependable

Some of the most valuable people in our lives aren’t necessarily the loudest, funniest or most exciting.

They’re the ones we can count on.

If they say they’ll be there at three, they’re there at three. If they promise to call, they call. If something goes wrong, they’re the people we know won’t suddenly disappear when things become inconvenient.

There’s something wonderfully reassuring about a dependable person.

We often think trust is created through big moments, but most of it is actually built through hundreds of very small ones.

You said you’d do something, and you did it.

You remembered.

You showed up.

You followed through.

None of those things sound particularly impressive on their own, but repeated over time they tell people something important about us: my word means something.

Of course, nobody gets it right all the time. We forget appointments. Life gets complicated. Cars don’t start, schedules change and sometimes we simply take on more than we can manage.

Being dependable doesn’t mean never letting anyone down.

It means caring when we do.

It means making the phone call instead of avoiding it. Admitting when we’ve dropped the ball. Apologizing when necessary and doing our best to make things right.

Dependability isn’t particularly glamorous. Nobody hands out trophies because you remembered to pick someone up at the airport or called when you said you would.

But people notice.

Over a lifetime, being someone others can rely upon may be one of the finest reputations we can build.

Because eventually people may forget many of the things we said.

They rarely forget that when they needed us, we were there.

Trust isn’t usually built by one grand gesture. It’s built every time we do what we said we would do.

— Marley

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Why Do Old Books Smell So Good?

Walk into an old library or open a book that’s been sitting on a shelf for fifty years and there’s often an unmistakable smell.

For book lovers, it’s practically a perfume.

But where does it come from?

Books are made from a mixture of materials including paper, ink and adhesives. As those materials slowly age and break down, they release tiny airborne chemicals called volatile organic compounds.

Paper made from wood pulp also contains lignin, a natural substance found in wood. As lignin deteriorates, some of the compounds produced are chemically related to vanillin—the substance responsible for much of vanilla’s familiar aroma.

Researchers studying old books have identified many different compounds contributing to their scent. Depending upon the paper, age and storage conditions, people may detect hints described as vanilla-like, grassy, almond-like or slightly musty.

The smell can even provide conservators with clues about how paper is deteriorating.

New books have their own distinctive aroma, of course, produced by fresh paper, inks, coatings and adhesives.

So when someone says they love the smell of old books, they’re actually enjoying a very complicated bit of chemistry.

It’s one of the few examples where something slowly decomposing can somehow smell wonderfully nostalgic.

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Where Did The Word “OK” Come From?

It may be one of the most widely understood words on Earth.

OK.

Two letters that can mean yes, acceptable, understood, satisfactory or simply, “I heard you.”

Its origin is surprisingly silly.

During the late 1830s, deliberately misspelled abbreviations briefly became fashionable among newspaper writers in Boston.

Instead of writing “all correct,” someone jokingly wrote it as “oll korrect” and shortened it to “O.K.”

The abbreviation appeared in the Boston Morning Post on March 23, 1839.

It might have disappeared along with the other fashionable abbreviations of the period, but politics helped keep it alive.

During the 1840 U.S. presidential election, supporters of Martin Van Buren formed “OK Clubs.” Van Buren had been born in Kinderhook, New York, and was nicknamed “Old Kinderhook.”

Suddenly OK worked both as the existing abbreviation and as a political slogan.

The election eventually ended.

OK didn’t.

It spread throughout English and eventually around the world.

So one of the most useful words in modern communication appears to have begun as the nineteenth-century equivalent of somebody intentionally spelling something badly for a joke.

Some things on the internet apparently aren’t quite as new as we think.

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The Night Watchman

A night watchman was making his rounds through an office building when he discovered a large dog emptying the wastebaskets.

The watchman stared at the animal.

The dog looked up.

“Don’t be surprised,” he said. “It’s just part of my job.”

The watchman nearly fell over.

“You can TALK! That’s incredible! Does your boss know what a remarkable dog he has working here?”

The dog immediately looked worried.

“Please don’t tell him.”

“Why not?”

The dog glanced toward the office.

“If he finds out I can talk, he’ll make me answer the phone too.”

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The Graveyard Shortcut

A man was hurrying home late one rainy night and decided to take a shortcut through the cemetery.

In the darkness, he stumbled into a freshly dug grave.

He tried repeatedly to climb out, but the muddy walls were too slippery.

Eventually he began shouting for help.

A fellow wandering through the cemetery heard him and peered over the edge.

“What’s wrong?”

“What’s wrong?” shouted the trapped man. “I’m soaking wet and freezing down here!”

The fellow looked thoughtfully into the grave.

“Well, no wonder.”

“You kicked all your dirt off.”

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Her First Deer

After years of asking, a wife finally convinced her husband to take her deer hunting.

He dropped her near the woods and drove farther down the road to park.

As he walked back, he heard a heated argument.

“It’s my deer!” his wife shouted. “I shot it!”

A man’s voice answered, “Lady, that’s NOT your deer.”

“It certainly is! I shot it and I’m keeping it!”

Her husband began walking faster as the argument became louder.

Finally, the exhausted stranger surrendered.

“Fine, lady. It’s your deer.”

There was a short pause.

“Just let me get my saddle off it first.”

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The Magician And The Parrot

A magician performing aboard a ship had one enormous problem.

His parrot kept ruining every trick.

“It’s under the table!” the bird would shout.

“It’s up his sleeve!”

“It’s behind his back!”

Night after night, the magician became more frustrated.

Then one evening the ship struck an iceberg and sank.

The magician and his parrot escaped together and spent several days floating in a lifeboat.

The entire time, the parrot sat silently staring at the magician with a puzzled expression.

Finally the bird couldn’t stand it any longer.

“Okay, I give up.”

“Where did you hide the ship?”

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Exact Change

A man regularly visited a pub with an ostrich following behind him.

Each time he ordered, he reached into his pocket and somehow produced the exact amount required.

Eventually the bartender couldn’t resist asking how he did it.

“Years ago I found an old lamp,” the man explained. “A genie offered me two wishes. I wished that whenever I needed to pay for something, the exact amount would appear in my pocket.”

“Brilliant!” said the bartender. “Whether it’s a cup of coffee or a new car, you’ll always have enough money.”

“Exactly.”

The bartender looked at the ostrich.

“So what’s your second wish?”

The man sighed.

“I asked for a chick with long legs.”

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Editor’s Quote Book

“Well done is better than well said.”

— Benjamin Franklin

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Trivia Quiz

(Click Question For Answer)

 

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Your Horoscope

For Amusement Only

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Tooth Hurty

What’s the best time to go to the dentist?

Tooth-hurty.

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The Anteater

Why don’t anteaters get sick very often?

Because they’re full of antibodies.

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The King’s Army

Where does a king keep his armies?

In his sleevies.

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Dry Skin

What’s the leading cause of dry skin?

Towels.

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The Moon Rock

Why does a moon rock taste better than an Earth rock?

Because it’s a little meteor.

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Marley’s Video Pick

Why Do We Hiccup?

Almost everybody gets them, almost everybody has a favourite supposed cure for them, and almost nobody thinks about what is actually happening when we hiccup.

In this entertaining TED-Ed animation, educator John Cameron takes us inside the body to explain the strange reflex involving the diaphragm that produces that familiar “hic.” The video also looks at some of the theories surrounding why humans hiccup in the first place.

And if you’ve ever complained because yours lasted ten minutes, the video begins with someone whose hiccups reportedly continued for 68 years.

Suddenly ten minutes doesn’t seem quite so bad.

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The Last Word

“Being dependable isn’t about being perfect. It’s about making your word something people can trust.”

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