Lockdown Edition: Part 2

On August 30, 2021September 8, 2021 By somegeektoldme@gmail.comIn People, Science

Lockdown, lockdown, lockdown. I think this second national lockdown is bringing out some interesting behaviour in people; though it’s not limited to humans. I’ll do my best to explain, but since I’m on lockdown time, things will get done, when they get done.

I love that during lockdown, the highlight of your day, could be a solo trip to the supermarket. Whether it’s for some small or large items, you mask up and off you go. It’s so satisfying and so sad at the same time, though. It’s a strange feeling being the designated shopper, because to me, it’s like you’re being rewarded and punished altogether.

The days are starting to merge into each together, so the only way to identify any of them, is to mark Wednesday on the calendar, which is bin day. The arrival of the rubbish and recycling trucks has fast become a weekly highlight to our household, as well as other homes.

Beady eyed children can be seen peering through their windows, staring at the trucks; along with their parents. Previously, the arrival of the trucks would have escaped the attention of a lot of parents, but now they are just as excited to witness the trucks appear, as their children.

Speaking of windows, I have tried very hard to raise my kids to not judge people by their appearance. Whether it’s by their gender, religion, race, you name it, we have discussed it. That policy is in the bin, thanks to lockdown.

We all eat lunch by the front window now, passing the time and some type of judgment on anything or anyone we see now. It could be their shoes, car, hair, jacket or even a dog; the family that judges together, stays together. This is our new form of entertainment.

I’ve also noticed a few odd things during lockdown in my house. One is that my house has slowly turned into a museum of Lego and Duplo projects. There are space shuttles, space probes and starships in the hallway; fire engines and police cars under the table; a train outside the bathroom; a construction site in the boys’ room; a submarine and a dump truck in the kitchen; and for some unknown reason, there is a postie that is sitting on a flying pizza delivery motorcycle, on my bedside cabinet.

Apparently UMC1 and UMC2 are not claiming ownership of these vehicles, but I am not allowed to move them, in case the owner or owners came back. Seriously, these projects are driving me crazy, because I feel like I’m Godzilla that has to walk carefully through a city, so I don’t destroy anything.

Another problem is that the couch in the lounge keeps exploding every 15 minutes, but luckily it’s only the cushions that end up on the floor, and nobody has been injured yet. In a totally unrelated matter, UMC1 and UMC2 have informed me that the floor in the lounge has sadly turned into lava. I had no idea my house was a prime location for convection, since the house was so obviously been built over a hot spot.

How do you judge success? During this lockdown, it’s just making everybody get out of their pyjamas before 11am; the beds get actually made; everybody gets fed; teeth get brushed; nobody gets divorced; and the dog gets a walk. The bar is set very low indeed.

ZOOM calls can be a bit dicey at the moment. I feel conflicted about having ZOOM meetings and calls, while sometimes wearing pyjama pants. Also, have you ever tried to take a ZOOM meeting or a call, with two children under 7 years old in the house?

It takes a lot of self control, not to bury my head in my hands during a ZOOM session, when my youngest son enters into the room to proclaim that he has removed his underwear, because he is now a rocket sensor, and rocket sensors don’t wear underwear.

He then flings his undies at me, to stress how serious he is about not wearing underwear. I have no idea about what exactly is a rocket sensor; but we have introduced a new rule in the house: Even rocket sensors have to wear underwear.

New Zealand society is also starting to change and an example of this are the cats. Yes, you heard me correctly, the cats. I live in a cul-de-sac that does not get a huge amount of traffic. Because of this, the cats in the neighbourhood tend to wander about, wherever they want…because they’re cats.

The thing is, since we have gone into lockdown, the cat population has become seriously more assertive. Instead of a cat visiting our property once every three days, we are getting three-four cats, every single day. Our dog is enjoying chasing them away, though to be fair, during lockdown he is unofficially off duty.

The cats are now sitting on the footpath and the road like they have claimed everything. Some of them stretch out and to go sleep. They are everywhere. If you were walking on the footpath and met a cat before lockdown, they would quickly get up and run away.

Not now though. Now, if you are walking along the footpath and encounter a cat, they refuse to move. Whether you step round them or step over them, they will not move. Even if a cat is sitting in the middle of the road, and a car is driven towards them, they will not move. It’s almost like they are saying “You want me to move? Come and make me.”

I’m not sure if it’s because the cats are slowly taking over the neighbourhood or they are just sick of lockdown and they don’t want to spend extra time with their families. I’m not intelligent enough to know the answer.

In addition to this, we have an issue at multiple supermarkets across the country. Some supermarkets have been running out of toilet paper and it’s getting that bad, some stores are restricting one bag of toilet paper per customer. I can think of only two reasons for the shortage: Either the entire population of New Zealand have diarrhoea or people are stockpiling toilet paper, because they’re selfish; and I don’t know which scenario is worse.

I have also noticed the rise in anti-vaxxing and anti-mask content, both locally and nationally. Because these two delightful little misinformed groups have actually managed to push my science literacy buttons, I’m going to donate the next two blog posts addressing myths and claims surrounding mask wearing and COVID-19 vaccines.

Until then, mask up, get a vaccine, wash your hands, and look after yourselves and your families.

Thanks for reading and I’ll see you in a few days!

Lockdown Edition: Part 1

On August 27, 2021September 3, 2021 By somegeektoldme@gmail.comIn People, Science

At the time I’m writing this blog post, we have entered our second national lockdown, because of the appearance of the COVID-19 Delta Variant within the community. Now I’m not going to talk about the dangers of the Delta Variant or the need for higher vaccination rates. That could be an entire blog post by itself!

What I really want to talk about are the people that are helping, which is actually everybody. Sorry, this is basically a long overdue thank you letter. I realise many other people have done this before, but I still want to say thank you.

Thank you to the scientists and researchers that have dedicated hundreds of hours in developing COVID-19 vaccines.

Thank you to the frontline medical workers that are administering and analysing COVID-19 tests, as well as conducting the vaccinations.

Thank you to doctors and nurses that are working at hospitals treating COVID-19 patients, as well as running and operating clinics.

Thank you to emergency management workers like police, firefighters and paramedics, that are still working.

Thank you to the teachers doing online learning from their homes, while looking after their own children.

Thank you to the children giving up birthday parties with their friends and playing at the park.

Thank you to the farmers that are working hard to produce our food.

Thank you to the cleaners that are keeping public spaces clean and safe.

Thank you to health officials that are educating us about COVID-19 prevention and vaccines.

Thank you to the media for providing us with up to date information.

Thank you to our families for continuing to put up with us.

Thank you to the aged care workers for keeping our elderly safe.

Thank you to petrol station workers for being there.

Thank you to the public for staying home to save lives.

Thank you to the truck drivers that are moving freight and goods around the nation.

Thank you to the posties and courier drivers for keeping us sane, with your deliveries.

And finally, thank you to the supermarket workers for actually turning up and providing us with what we need.

I know this blog post is not very entertaining, however Lockdown Edition Part 2, will be about my observations about my family and society during lockdown.

See you in a few days and thanks for reading!

How do we help Afghanistan?

On August 23, 2021August 30, 2021 By somegeektoldme@gmail.comIn Geography, Politics

I want to talk about Afghanistan. Why? Because currently, I have great fears for that country.

You’ve properly seen some of the footage or photographs coming out of Afghanistan, but especially the capital city, Kabul. Thousands of people fleeing their country, in fear of the Taliban and the prosecutions and injustices that travel with them.

Following the fall of Kabul, people have been flooding airports and roads, trying to get out as fast as possible. Some people were so desperate, that they were holding onto the landing gear of an US military aircraft, as it took off; which has resulted in fatalities. One of these people was Zaki Anwari, a nineteen year old football player, who played for Afghanistan’s national youth team.

The scenes are heartbreaking and it will probably get worse over the coming days, weeks and months. It’s fast becoming a huge humanitarian crisis, that needs the world’s attention.

Afghanistan is a proud nation with a rich and diverse history. The problem is that the progress and change the country has made over the last 20 years, could be on the verge over being wiped away, from the former rulers of Afghanistan, the fundamentalism and militant group known as the Taliban.

Now, I don’t know about you, but watching these terrible scenes has reminded me of different crises like Syria, South Sudan, Iraq, Myanmar, Kosovo, Crimea, the Yugoslav wars; and the list could go on. Again, I don’t know about you, but I felt powerless and helpless, when witnessing those scenes.

These feelings have come back to me again, while watching the chaotic exodus that has been unfolding in Afghanistan. You may have the same feelings after watching the footage or reading about it. This may have led you to the conclusion that there is nothing you can do to help.

In reality, you can actually help and make a difference. Seriously you can. I can think of three different ways, you can actually help the people of Afghanistan.

The first way is to educate people. Whether it’s your parents, siblings, children, friends, work colleagues, team mates, spouse, boyfriend, girlfriend or that obnoxious person at your bus stop. You know the one.

When someone starts complaining about allowing Afghan refugees into your country, or why your country should help these foreigners in the first place; you need to explain the reality of the situation to them.

It’s up to you whether you do it politely or get angry at them; as long as you say something to defend them. Islamophobia, ignorance and xenophobia are not helpful and never will be.

The second way is to donate, it’s really that simple. Right now, NGOs (Non Government Organisations) and various charities and agencies across the world, are already on the ground in Afghanistan, trying to support and help people.

You can help them by donating. Whatever the amount of money you can spare, it will make a huge difference to the people of Afghanistan. Your donation can provide medical supplies, food, clothing, shelter; but also help with immigration and refugee protection.

Some NGOs and charities that are working with Afghanistan currently are:

Afghanaid

Amnesty International

Doctors Without Borders

International Committee of the Red Cross

International Rescue Committee

Oxfam International

Save the Children

UNICEF

UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR)

World Vision

There are also many more worthwhile charities out there, so please research them and select one that fits with you, so you can donate.

The third way is quite possibly the most difficult and humorous at the same time: you can start campaigning. By this I mean, to start advocating for Afghan refugees and aid, by contacting your local member of parliament or representative. You can do this by sending emails or letters; calling them; or arranging an appointment to talk to them. Ask them what are they doing to help with the refugee crisis, but also ask them about what foreign aid is being sent.

If that doesn’t work, start contacting your government; beginning with the Immigration Minister (or closest equivalent), then moving up to your national leader.

I believe Afghanistan is standing on the abyss and it totally depends if the international community can bring it back or not. I’m not smart enough to know what could happen to Afghanistan, but I do know that if you can help in any way, you’re be able to make a positive difference.

Thanks for reading and I’ll see you next week!

15 things that have outlived the Nazis

On August 16, 2021August 27, 2021 By somegeektoldme@gmail.comIn History, People

I want to talk about the Nazis. Why? To be honest, I don’t exactly want to talk about them, but things that have outlived them. I could try and explain who and what the Nazis were, but I think the majority of the world may have already figured what they did. I mean, if you want to fight some real world collective villains, your first choice would either be the Ku Klux Klan or the Nazis. They are so easy to hate.

I feel the Nazis have left a stain on humanity, that will probably never really wash off. That being the case, I wanted to point out a few things. I think some people have forgotten that the Nazis were originally a political party called the National Socialist German Workers’ Party or Nazi for short.

The far right party was founded in 1920, while Germany was still recovering from the First World War. In 1933, they were voted into power and ushered in what they called the German Reich or the Third Reich, which the Nazis claimed would last a thousand years. It lasted only 12 years, because it ended in 1945, with the end of the European campaign of the Second World War and the defeat of the Nazis.

Now someone may say that the Third Reich lasted only 12 years, but considering the Nazis had formed in 1920; at least to me, the Nazis had lasted 25 years. A quarter of a century, instead of a thousand years. I simply can’t stop smiling at that fact!

So the Nazis only lasted 25 years. That’s a long time, right? The funny thing is that there are many things and people that have actually outlasted and outlived the entire Nazi party. Now imagine if there was a list of these things and people.

Image by Monoar Rahman Rony from Pixabay

Behold, may I present to you, 15 things that have outlived 25 years of the entire Nazi party:

The original run of the tv show, Doctor Who; refereed to as Classic Who (1963-1989: 26 years)

The length of time for Nelson Mandela’s imprisonment (November 1962-February 1990: 27 years)

The entire The Land Before Time movie series (1988-2016: 28 years)

The length of time it takes Saturn to orbit the Sun (29 years)

The Dark Tower novel series by Stephen King (1982-2012: 30 years)

The number 4 reactor at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in Ukraine exploded, remains the world’s worst nuclear disaster (1986-2021: 35 years)

The first news story on an unidentified disease appeared in a newspaper, which was later named as AIDS. (1981-2021: 40 years)

The time it took to construct the Charles Bridge, in Prague, Czech Republic (1357-1402: 45 years)

The introduction of McDonald’s Quarter Pounder (1971-2021: 50 years)

The national flag of Botswana was adopted (1966-2021: 55 years)

The reign of Emperor Qianlong of the Qing dynasty (1735-1796: 60 years and 114 days)

The release of the 4th James Bond novel, Diamonds Are Forever (1956-2021: 65 years)

The current age of my Dad (1951-2021: 70 years)

The current marriage of the 39th President of United States of America Jimmy Carter and Rosalynn Carter (1946-2021: 75 years)

The first appearance of Wonder Woman (1941-2021: 80 years)

Does this list change anything? No it doesn’t, except that it makes me feel happy to highlight that King Shark from The Suicide Squad, has existed for 27 years; 2 years longer than the Nazis. That’s embarrassing.

Thanks for reading and I’ll see you next week!

3 discontinued Olympic Sports that need to come back

On August 9, 2021August 23, 2021 By somegeektoldme@gmail.comIn Sports

I want to talk about some Olympic sports. Why? The 2020 Summer Olympics have been entertaining and inspiring us over the last few weeks, as well as making us feel very inferior for our own sporting achievements or lack of. However the sports that I want to discuss are not being contested at the Summer Olympics, but they used to be and maybe some day in the future, they can be again.

Over the years, there have been a few sports that have been discontinued at the Olympic Games for various reasons. Some make sense like cannon shooting, at the 1900 Olympic Games; while bowling first played at the 1988 Olympic Games, was supposed to be played at the 2020 Olympics Games, but was omitted, because the sport was not apparently appealing enough to youth, according to the Olympic Committee. Haters have to hate, I suppose.

There are three discontinued sports from the Olympic Games, that if they are reintroduced again, the public will fall in love with them; or at least I would be very happy to watch them.

1.) Tug of War

Tug of War was last contested at the 1920 Summer Olympic Games in Antwerp, Belgium; with Great Britain winning the gold medal. At the time, this sport was only offered to male athletes. Why exactly it was discontinued is a mystery to me, but why would you?!

I would love to see Tug of War make a triumphant return to the Olympic Games, because of the seer carnage it would bring. There could be events for different genders and mixed; individual and team; but also having athletes compete in their weight grade. I mean, as entertaining as it sounds, having a 120kg monster versus a 65kg bean pole, would be a waste of time. Funny, but still a waste of time.

It could almost be promoted as the closet event to professional wrestling in the Olympics, because athletes could wear outrageous costumes in the colours of their nation, but also having stage names.

“Introducing the competitors pulling from the north end, hailing out of Ireland, it’s Sean “The Crusher” O’Connor and Ciara “The Assassin” Fitzpatrick!”¹

Also imagine if the neutral zone was a moat. Imagine it, live across the world, watching people getting dragged into mud! The ratings would be astronomical! I realise that Tug of War is contested at the World Games, but bringing it back to the Olympic Games would be a form of glorious chaos on the world stage.

2.) Lacrosse

Lacrosse is an interesting sport, as well as being quite awesome. It was last competed at the 1908 Summer Olympic Games in London, England; though demonstration matches were played at the 1928, 1932 and 1948 games. Did you know Canada remains the Olympic champions after 113 years? To be fair though, lacrosse is also played at the World Games.

For those that do not know what lacrosse is or what how it is played, it’s quite simple, but crazy at the same time. To me, it’s like if Hurling and Field Hockey had a baby. Basically players run around with a stick, that has a net at the end of it. From there players can pass a ball to each other, by throwing it; a player can then catch the ball in the net.

Players work together to throw the ball into the goal; though the other team is doing the exactly the same thing. Oh, I forgot; the players also need to wear safety equipment for obvious reasons: sticks, flying balls, anger…not a safe combination. Just like martinis and driving or siblings play fighting; someone will always get hurt.

The main reason that I would love for lacrosse to be brought back to the Olympic Games is about speed. Lacrosse is an extremely fast sport, which could be morphed into a drinking game. Because of how the game is designed and played, points can be be scored quite quickly.

Sitting at home or at a bar with your friends, you could watch the game, while supporting one team or other. This could be done with the rule of only drinking at certain events happening in the game, such as : scoring, body checking or stick checking. If there is the extra man offense, the person supporting the penalised team, would need to scull their drink. Even if you lose the game, you would still win.

It could became one of the most popular sports to be supported at the Olympic Games, especially with university students. Seriously, having lacrosse back at the Olympic Games would be a winning move, not just for players and supporters, but also for retail liquor stores and bars. Everybody wins!

3.) Croquet

Before you dismiss this, hear me out. Croquet has only been played once, which was at the 1900 Summer Olympic Games in Paris, France and all 10 players were from France! This means that France has won all of the Olympic Games medals in croquet.

If you are unaware of croquet then, firstly shame on you. Secondly, croquet seems quite dull, but there is huge potential for it. Croquet involves using a mallet, to hit different balls through hoops that are anchored into the grass.

Like I said, croquet might sound dull, but imagine if a 75 year old woman could win a gold medal or a 80 year old man? Croquet is a sport where the age of the player becomes irrelevant. You could honestly have a lot more elderly players at the Olympic Games because of this, so imagine them staying at the Olympic Village?

The parties, sex, alcohol and over 65 year old croquet players. There could be a scandal after a 70 year old croquet player gets sent home, because of his misadventures at the village. It would be epic and hilarious!

If anybody from the Olympic Committee reads this blog, please consider the benefits these three sports could bring to the Olympic Games, because all three of them need to brought back, as soon as possible.

Thanks for reading and see you next week!

¹My apologies if Sean O’Connor and Ciara Fitzpatrick are in fact, the names of real people. They were the most Irish sounding names I could think of.

My dog writes my blog: Animated dogs Edition

On August 2, 2021August 21, 2021 By somegeektoldme@gmail.comIn Television

Hello, my name is Indy and I’m a 9 year old good dog. Mum says I’m actually a bichon cross, but I’m pretty sure I’m a good dog too. My Dad has been working on this blog, for hundreds of years and needs a break, so he asked me to write this week’s one. He is tired and needs a nap. No fair, I like naps too!

He said I could write about anything, apart from Sour Cream and Chives, but I don’t listen to modern music. I think the things that he writes about are boring, so I wanted to talk about some of my favourite topics instead, like running, rolling on smelly stuff at the beach and licking sweaty feet. My Dad said the people that subscribe to this blog, are not ready for these amazing topics….yet!

After he said no to my choices, I asked my Mum what I should choose. She is nice and smarter than Dad, so I listen to her more. She suggested I should talk about my favourite animated dogs, so I will.

This is me watching, one of the many examples of Snowy saving Tintin.

The first dog I want to talk about is my doppelganger, Snowy. People are always confusing me with Snowy, even though I am faster than him and more handsome. We are both small and white and dogs, but we are not the same. He is a Wire Fox Terrier, while I am a good dog, Bichon Frise crossed with speed and awesomeness. Mum says I’m actually Bichon, Maltese, Fox Terrier so I guess we are more alike than I thought!

Snowy is a very good dog like me, but he has a human sidekick called Tintin. I am very confused about Snowy’s tv show, because it is named after the human, Tintin. I have watched this show on the screen and Snowy is always saving Tintin and the day.

Snowy is great. He jumps, barks, runs very fast and always solves the case, while Tintin is always trying to catch up to Snowy, because he is slow. Why would anybody name a show after a human that relies on a dog to do all the work?

The answer is a cat. I don’t like cats much. Cats are always trying to hassle me, like our neighour’s white cat that sits on the fence and stares at me through my window. I yell at the cat and say “How dare you look at my house, cat!”, but my Mum and Dad just think I’m crying. I wish my Mum and Dad were as smart as me, so they would understand the dangers of cats.

Cats must have named the tv show after Tintin, instead of Snowy, because they are jealous of how great Snowy is, because he is such a good dog.

Another animated dog I like is Scooby-Doo. For a start Scooby’s tv show is named after him, like it should be. It’s an improvement from poor Snowy. Maybe it should be called The Snowy Show? Or maybe Snowy could leave that show and go solve crimes with Scooby, because Scooby is smarter than Tintin.

Anyway, Scooby has this gang of humans that tags along with him to solve mystery crimes. Without Scooby’s help, the gang would never solve anything, Scooby carries the entire show. Scooby has a human friend named Shaggy, that is so much better than Tintin, because Shaggy can talk to Scooby and understand him. Shaggy is very clever, for a human.

I like Scooby because he is smart, funny, brave and gets to run a lot, especially in hallways. I like running in hallways too. Scooby should go to the beach more often though, because even though running in houses is fun, it’s not very fun always running in a dark, scary house. I don’t like the dark, because there could be cats inside my house and I wouldn’t see them.

The BEST part is that Scooby has a snack named after him! That’s how you know he is famous, where are Indy snacks though? Maybe if Dad’s blog was famous I could get a snack deal?! If you could buy Indy Snacks at the food shop, I would pester my Mum and Dad to buy all of them. It’s great that Scooby has snacks, but he does silly things for Scooby Snacks. When the gang says “Come in this spooky house and we will give you a Scooby snack”, sometimes he should say no and go for a nap in the green van (I would!). That way they will remember who the star of the show is!

Ooh, another great dog is Snoopy. I like Snoopy, but I suspect he might actually be a bad dog. (I feel like a meanie for saying that.) Snoopy has an OUTSIDE dog house. My dog house is inside, because I’m a good dog. I think Snoopy may have been a bad dog and his humans won’t let him sleep inside. I wonder what he did? Maybe he ate something he was told not to eat or maybe his humans were jealous of how great he is. I do not know.

I like to go in my INSIDE dog house after a hard hour’s worth of work, walking around the house and staring through the window. In the movies, Snoopy’s dog house can fly which I’ll admit, is an improvement on mine; but mine is still better!

Snoopy is also great, because he has a Christmas song named after him. I wish I had a Christmas song named after me. This is how it would go, you know… if I had a song:

“Indy the magnificent, see him saving Christmas, HOORAY,
The fancy tree and wrapped boxes are outside, FOUL PLAY!
The wet stuff falls down from the sky, DISMAY!
Indy is brave and rescues everything, before everything is wet and soggy, MAKE WAY!”

See what I did there? What a great song, because the last words all rhyme and they are in shouty capitals, so you have to shout them!

Mum said my Christmas song should be a warning tale about not eating lollies from under the Christmas tree and ending up at the vets for a $300 dog enema. But I don’t know what she is talking about.

Side note, I’m pretty sure that the Red Baron is a cat. But Dad said this is not a blog about cat conspiracy theories, so I’ll let you do your own research if you are interested.

Speaking of internet research, when I tried to find out more information about this next dog, there wasn’t much to be found (Mum helped because I don’t know what a search engine is and my paws are good at many things, but turning fiddly book pages is not one one of them!). This leads me to believe his owner takes credit for all his exploits; it’s Krypto the super dog!

Krypto has everything a perfect superhero could want. Heaps of awesome powers like flight and heat vision. He can even smell and hear better than Superman! He has an awesome costume and even his own secret identity, “Skip”.

In the Krypto the super dog cartoon, he teams up with Streaky the Supercat, which quite frankly I’m not sure I can forgive him for, however this series also features Ace the Bat-hound, so it’s not all bad! We also learned that Krypto will feature in the upcoming animated feature DC’s League of Super-Pets, voiced by Dwayne Johnson. I’m not sure who that is, but Mum sounded excited.

Last, but not least, the smartest, happiest, good dog on my list…. it’s Odie!
Poor Odie lives with a fat horrible cat, who we will not name here. Once again, the poor deprived dog is not the title character. The cat in Odie’s home is quite frankly abusive and his owner is negligent by allowing the cat to be so mean to Odie.

Odie doesn’t care though. he takes all this in his stride and is always loving, positive and happy like all good dogs should be. He is the epitome of being the better man… I mean dog!

In conclusion, dogs are superior to cats, whether they are real dogs and animated ones. People should pick a side, you are either a cat person/awful human or you are a dog person/perfect person; stop sitting on the fence like a cat!!! There should also be more dog related media, as this would make the world a better place.

SOME GEEK TOLD ME

Month: August 2021