I Bleed Black

On October 30, 2023November 6, 2023 By somegeektoldme@gmail.comIn Children, Sports

I’m starting with an apology, because this blog is quite shorter and stranger than usual. To expand on this, I’m going to discuss three things today, so hopefully someone can relate to this.

1.) Let’s rip that plaster off now. As you may or may not know, I’m somewhat of a New Zealand rugby supporter. I’ve said this before, but I’m a product of my environment. That being the case, the All Blacks lost the Rugby World Cup Final to South Africa 12-11 on Sunday morning (NZ time), so I’ve been working through a lot of emotions. I’ve been here before, so the emotions aren’t new.

I’m not going to talk about the game, the referee, or the TMO. When I’m ready to talk about these things in a semi-literate way, I will; just not today.

I acknowledge that South Africa won the final, and the All Blacks did not. Congratulations to the Springboks for being the first team to win the William Webb Ellis trophy for a record fourth time.

2.) I travelled to Dunedin on Saturday to watch the Black Ferns vs. Wales, which was part of the WXV1 tournament. I suffered the car trip with my wife, UMC1, and UMC2; and for those unfamiliar with UMC1 and UMC2, they’re my sons: Unmatured Clone 1 (8 years old) and Unmatured Clone 2 (5 years old).

The boys loved it. UMC2 brought his yellow budget binoculars to watch the game and got some hot chips, so he was stoked with the experience. UMC1 had a blast shouting and cheering, as well as calling out set pieces and penalties. The Black Ferns won 70-7, which was quite entertaining and amazing.

Here are some of the photos. I’m sorry about the quality, but I’m a crap photographer.

Some huge tackles were going into this game

I think this line-out photo is the best one

This is the Black Ferns’ Haka

3.) So what’s the point of this short blog? I admire a range of different people for various reasons, so I view them as heroes. This covers people that are alive or dead; male or female and everything in between; people with different religions and different nationalities; scientists, politicians, artists, writers, and everybody else.

I also admire a lot of sports people from different sports and countries. One day I’ll make a blog where I’ll list my heroes, but for the moment, I’m going to discuss a small number of them. You see, some of my heroes wear black.

I’m a grown man-child, and even though it sounds stupid to say it out loud, but the All Blacks and the Black Ferns are some of my heroes. I bleed black.

I mentioned this on Twitter, but I’ll expand upon it further. I was raised with rugby union and rugby league. My grandfathers played, my great-uncles played, my father played, my uncles played, my cousins played, I played, and now my nephew plays. And maybe one day, UMC1 and UMC2 will play as well.

It’s this reason that I developed my love for the All Blacks, and then the Black Ferns. I’ve been a fan of New Zealand rugby since I was a boy, and I promise you, I always will be.

When the All Blacks, Black Ferns and the Sevens teams play, I do what I can to watch and support them. They’re my heroes because they are the best of us at what they do. Week in and week out, they play for us. I bleed black.

For me, it’s not about winning or losing; they’re my teams, and I’ll support them forever. We belong to them, and they belong to us. We experience the triumphs and failures with them because they come from us.

I don’t love them because they win World Cups and multiple tests (though that does help), and I don’t hate them when they lose. I love them because they don’t remember their victories; they remember their losses. They use it for fuel and motivation, to pick themselves up and to go again. Harder, faster, stronger, and to improve so they can be the best. I bleed black.

Like everybody’s favourite Dagobah resident once said:

“The greatest teacher, failure is.”

Before winning the World Cup for a historic sixth time last year, the Black Ferns had to rebuild themselves after failure, and the All Blacks will do the same. They are stunning examples of role models for all of the tamariki (children) of my country. I’ve noticed recently that when the All Blacks and Black Ferns play, UMC1 and UMC2 are in awe of them, just like me. I bleed black.

After the final, UMC2 asked if I wanted to kick and pass the ball with him outside, and then UMC1 joined us after a few minutes. UMC2 told me that he was a Black Fern, while UMC1 was an All Black.

I feel this setback will only inspire the next generation to step up and play. Anyway, what do I know? I’m 100% biased and I bleed black.

And that concludes this week’s rant. Thanks once again for reading, following, and subscribing to Some Geek Told Me. I’m also on Twitter and Mastodon, so please drop by and say hello.

Please don’t forget to walk your dog, read a banned book, donate to the Gaza Humanitarian crisis, and I’ll see you next week.

Sorry, before I go, I’d like to mention that the Cricket World Cup is still on and that Tier 2 and Tier 3 rugby nations exist as well. The fun never ends!

Tour of the Solar System: The Asteroid Belt

On October 23, 2023November 27, 2023 By somegeektoldme@gmail.comIn Science

Step right up, step right up! The worst Solar System tour ever created is back for another month. That’s right, it’s Some Geek Told Me’s Tour of the Solar System! Sorry, did I forget to mention that there are no refunds?

If you’re new to the tour, don’t panic. This is our ninth tour stop, so there is plenty of time to be confused. The other stops are:

1.) Meet the Family

2.) The Sun

3.) Planets vs. Dwarf planets

4.) Mercury

5.) Venus

6.) Earth

7.) The Moon

8.) Mars

Today’s useless tour stop is the Asteroid belt. So whether you know everything about it or very little, get ready for the ninth stop of Some Geek Told Me’s Tour of the Solar System! This tour stop may seem a little boring, but even though it’s smaller than the other stops, it’s still very valid; at least to me.

Let’s start at the beginning. When we last left the tour, we had stopped at Mars; which we all remember is a planet that has developed hundreds of different ways to kill humans. Awesome. Upon leaving Mars’ orbit, we find our new destination: the Asteroid belt.

Just to clarify things, the Asteroid belt is not a new pro-wrestling belt, though instead of King of the Ring, it could have been King of the Cosmos. The Asteroid belt is a region of space, that is located between Mars and Jupiter; like a belt. Because of this, it orbits our local cosmic nuclear fusion reactor; just like the rest of the Solar System.

Within this belt are roughly 1-2 million asteroids, and because scientists are amazing at naming things, it’s called the Asteroid belt. Did you see that coming? The Asteroid belt is also known as the Main belt or Main Asteroid belt. I still would like to stress that these names are not pro-wrestling belts. This is because there are other belts and asteroids in the Solar System, which we will eventually discuss. Great, let’s move on.

Here are two obvious questions, what are they doing there? How in the name of the seven dwarven rings, did they they get there?

The Asteroid belt is roughly 4.5 billion years old, just like the age of the inner rocky planets of Mercury, Venus, Earth, and Mars. The leading theories of the origin of the Asteroid belt are:

1.) It’s the leftovers of a protoplanet that did not form completely, so Jupiter’s gravity could have ripped it apart.

2.) It’s the leftovers from the creation of the terrestrial planets.

3.) It’s the leftovers from the protoplanetary disk that formed the Sun.

4.) It’s part of Galactus’ rock collection that he lost.

Regardless of the correct story, the asteroids have migrated through the Solar System over millions of years, until they settled in a stable orbit around the Sun, nestled between Mars and Jupiter.

Even though the asteroids were created around the same time as the birth of the Solar System, the rocks that the terrestrial planets are made from, are different from the asteroids in the belt. The main point is that asteroids in the belt, are like a time capsule of the creation of the Solar System, because they are far better preserved, and contain unique metals and minerals; so they are free of geological processes.

The dimensions of the Asteroid belt are far more impressive than Sokka’s obsession with food. The width and thickness of the Asteroid belt is about 150 million km and lies between 2.2 and 3.2 AU from the Sun.

Do you remember this classic scene from Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back, when Han Solo flies directly into an asteroid field?

I’ve said this before, but truth is stranger than fiction. Because of the enormity of space, the distance between asteroids on average is 1 million km. It’s been said that if you could stand on an asteroid in the belt, it’s highly doubtful you could see another asteroid, because of the vast distance. Basically, if you’re flying a spacecraft through the Asteroid belt, you would have plenty of room to manoeuvre. Thanks, Hollywood.

As for the different sizes of the asteroids, they can vary a lot. It’s been reported that about 1 million asteroids are 1 km across; along with millions of smaller asteroids. Apparently, over 200 asteroids have been identified to be larger than 100 km, with thousands of other asteroids the size of small stones or pebbles; mainly created through collisions with other asteroids. Asteroids over 120 km in size have been recognised as possibly extremely old asteroids, because they have not been destroyed through collisions.

As for the larger objects in the Asteroid belt like Ceres, we’ll look at that closer with the next tour stop. This is purely because I’ve been watching too much rugby, cricket, and news.

And speaking of rugby, I have two things to add.

1.) The 2023 Rugby World Cup Final is on this Saturday night (Sunday at 8 a.m. for me), with the All Blacks going up against the old foe, South Africa.

2.) The inaugural WXV rugby tournaments have begun across the world, and I managed to find some tickets. So the four of us are going to Dunedin this Saturday, to watch the Black Ferns vs. Wales. UMC2 is looking forward to eating some hot chips at the stadium, whereas UMC1 is going to be the stadium tour guide.

Why I am telling you this? I’m a New Zealand rugby fan, and even though I’m a product of my environment, I bleed black. This means I’m equally excited and worried about this weekend.

That’s it for another week, so I hope you’re still enjoying the tour. I know it’s crap, but it costs you nothing. Thank you for reading, following, and subscribing to Some Geek Told Me. Please don’t forget to walk your dog, read a banned book, watch the Rugby World Cup Final, protest for the end of the Israel–Hamas war, and I’ll see you next week.

Go the All Blacks! Go the Black Ferns!

150 Blog Posts About Stuff

On October 16, 2023October 23, 2023 By somegeektoldme@gmail.comIn Blogs, Social Media2 Comments

This is my 150th blog post and I have the grey hair and stress lines to prove it. I made my first Some Geek Told Me blog post on 1st December 2020, which was born out of the desire to make the COVID-19 national lockdown count for something.

At the time of writing this blog post, I have amassed a staggering amount of followers and subscribers, across three platforms:

WordPress: 49 subscribers

Twitter: 17 followers

Mastodon: 85 followers

I know, it’s pretty impressive isn’t it?

To mark my 150th blog post, I thought I would share some of the subjects that I’ve discussed on Some Geek Told Me, but are also connected to 150. Sweet? Great, let’s dive into the latest blog post from New Zealand’s 5th least favourite website.

Batman Begins had a budget of US$150 million.

One of my favourite comic book series celebrated a special milestone: Fables #150.

The average distance from the Sun to the Earth is 150 million km, which is known as an astronomical unit (1AU).

Star Trek: First Contact is one of the best Star Trek movies, in my humble geek opinion. The 1996 film had a box office return of US$150 million.

The atomic weight of Samarium (Sm) is 150.3.

An average adult male South China tiger weighs 150 kg.

Around the World in Eighty Days by Jules Verne, was first published 150 years ago, in 1873.

The Amazing Spider-Man #150 from 1975.

150 is the sum of eight consecutive primes (7 + 11 + 13 + 17 + 19 + 23 + 29 + 31).

At a New Zealand supermarket called Countdown, a 1.5L of Countdown Lemon, Lime & Bitters is NZ$1.50 or 150 cents.

There are 150 seats in the House of Representatives of The Netherlands.

Can I just quickly address the herd of elephants in the room?

1.) In their infinite wisdom, New Zealanders voted in the most Conservative government in years, with a National-ACT coalition. What have we done?!

2.) Australia voted no, on the Australian Indigenous Voice referendum. What have they done?!

3.) The Israel-Hamas War is showing no signs of slowing down. What can we do?!

This ball of rock and water that we call home, can sometimes be very scary and cruel. I get it. Watching footage or reading articles about terrible events can make you feel a range of emotions including anxiety, worry, disappointment, shock, dread, sadness, fear, panic, frustration, powerlessness, loneliness, and melancholy.

I think it’s natural to have these emotions, but just be grateful you don’t feel apathy. All those previous emotions can be associated with negativity; but at least you have them. It means you care, because feeling apathy is worse.

As for feeling anger, well, to quote Rage Against the Machine:

Your anger is a gift.

And that’s it. Thank you for reading, following, and subscribing to Some Geek Told Me. It means a lot to this geeky introvert. Maybe my writing will actually improve by the 300th blog post. Who knows?!

Please don’t forget to walk your dog, read a banned book, watch the Rugby World Cup semi-finals, and I’ll see you next week. And why you ask? Because the Tour of the Solar System is back, and the next stop is the Asteroid belt!

Crazy Policies from the New Zealand General Election

On October 9, 2023October 16, 2023 By somegeektoldme@gmail.comIn Politics

Voting in a general election can be difficult. You could vote for a political party for any number of reasons.

It could be because it’s a generational thing; your grandparents and parents voted for them, so you vote for them.
You could be a swing voter and only vote for parties that keep their promises.
You could have researched each party and studied them until you found the party that best aligns with your values.
Maybe your favourite celebrity or influencer told you to do it.
It could be because that party has the best logo or the most attractive candidates.

The reasons are like Destiny, Death, and Dream; endless.

But voting can be a double-edged sword. The party you support may have an amazing education policy, like every primary school child will have all of their stationery and uniforms paid for by the government. However, that same party could have a crazy immigration policy by demanding every immigrant, regardless of age, needs three PhDs, with $5 million to support them.

If you choose to vote for that party, you’re choosing to help and support the nation’s children, but at the same time, you’re supporting an inhumane immigration policy. Like I said, it’s a double-edged sword.

Credit: New Zealand Electoral Commission

This brings us to the New Zealand General Election. Our general election is being held on 14th October 2023, though advanced voting started on the 2nd October.

Before I go on, you could be thinking, “Well, I’m not a New Zealander, Scott, so why should I care about it?” That’s a fair question, so here’s a fair answer: you don’t have to care, it’s just nice to know things. Like going to a party and knowing the capital city of Brazil is not Rio de Janeiro, but Brasília; or the fact George Lucas did not direct The Empire Strikes Back, it was Irvin Kershner. It’s nice to drink and know things.

We have 17 parties to choose from, along with their candidates in this election. I’ll admit that I’m biased, but we have some good parties, some average parties, some bad parties, and some truly awful ones as well. We have parties ranging from left-wing, centre-left, centre, centre-right, right-wing, and the insane.

They have a range of policies that are truly amazing to the downright batshit crazy, and it’s these batshit policies I’d like to highlight. We have some conspiracy political parties now, which is equally terrifying and hilarious; so it’s not a surprise that I’ll discuss these. Also, I’m not mentioning all of the 17 parties, just the policies that are batshit crazy, in my humble opinion.

I’m apologising in advance if you think any of the below policies are…well, good.

All of these policies are linked through Policy NZ and through the websites of the political parties.

ACT Party

To abolish the New Zealand Human Rights Commission, the Ministry for Women, the Ministry for Pacific Peoples, and the Ministry for Ethnic Communities.
To restrict access to permanent sickness benefits, if the person can work.
To increase the retirement age to 67.
To halt contributions to the New Zealand Super Fund, which is the sovereign wealth fund that supports the cost of superannuation.
To oppose laws against hate speech.
To ignore the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
To remove a public holiday.
Require annual leave to be calculated on a pro-rata basis.
To abolish the Fees Free tertiary education programme.
To repeal the Zero Carbon Act.
To abolish the Climate Change Commission, the Climate Emergency Response Fund, the Progressive Home Ownership Scheme, and the First Home Grant.
To sell public hospitals to private investors under leaseback arrangements.
To reduce government Kiwisaver contributions.
To hold a referendum on the interpretation of the Treaty of Waitangi.

New Conservatives

Our long-term problem of fatherlessness is not helped by telling men and boys that their masculinity is toxic and unwelcome. New Conservatives will be a voice for men and the value of masculinity.
To ban medical abortions and withdraw public funding for abortion services.
To ban gender reassignment surgery and hormone therapies for young people.
We affirm the biological reality that there are only two sexes, and oppose the lie that a person can be ‘born in the wrong body’, or can ‘change their gender’.
To remove left-wing ideologies from the curriculum, including critical race theory, gender theory, decolonisation, and extremist “climate science” and sex “education”.
We believe that current climate policies are a distraction from real opportunities to protect and improve the environment. There is no climate emergency. We will end all climate-focused taxes, subsidies, and regulations.
Reducing New Zealand’s greenhouse gas emissions does not actually benefit the environment in any way – if anything only shifting high-emitting activities overseas.
New Conservatives believe that is an inappropriate use of technology¹ – we should not be playing God, altering the natural makeup of organisms for no real environmental benefit – and this shows there is no real case for change.
Fossil fuels are here to stay, and should be harnessed for the good of the country. We will restore orderly licensing for oil and gas exploration, and make sure that the players in this industry know they are welcome in New Zealand for the long term.

New Zealand First

Withdraw from the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP) as it removes the rights of New Zealand citizens to write their own laws.
To stop using Te Reo Māori names for government departments.
To amend the Sport and Recreation New Zealand Act to remove public funding from bodies that allow non-biological women to be selected unequally against biological women.
Require a national interest test to stop us being dictated to by the United Nations and agencies like the W.H.O.
To remove gender ideology from the curriculum, and review the New Zealand curriculum to remove critical race theory and de-colonialism.
We will abolish the Māori Health Authority.
To create a Royal Commission of Inquiry into media independence in New Zealand.
To restore 90-day job trials to provide employer certainty.
We will prepare a bid to hold the 2026 Commonwealth Games in Christchurch.

Leighton Baker Party

To drop the carbon net-goals as they do not work and impoverish our nation.
There must be a full review of the harm caused by the COVID-19 vaccine, as well as the effectiveness of the vaccine.

New Zealand Loyal

To end New Zealandʼs participation in the United Nations, World Economic Forum, and World Health Organisation.
To investigate the Reserve Bank of New Zealand and its past practices.
To investigate who has benefited by selling this country out to the “Green Agenda.”

Freedoms NZ

To remove UN driven campaigns to control our country and drive the Climate Change fraud, food production, and Health Control.
We believe we are already carbon negative.
To scrap the Resource Management Act.
To ensure there is no more school indoctrination with the Transgender Agenda + more.
To scrap all changes to New Zealand’s firearms legislation made since March 2019.²

New Nation Party

No state funding for media.
To leave the United Nations.
To launch a Commission of Inquiry into our country’s COVID-19 response.
Limit Significant Natural Areas (SNA) to public areas.
To reduce the number of Members of Parliament to 100.³

NewZeal Party

We stand on the side of biological and scientific reality when it comes to gender, and reject attempts to deny or erase the biological evidence of gender.
We will oppose proposed significant content regulations and limitations for media and online platforms.
We will ensure that our media platforms and press can be independent and reliable, free from censorship and unnecessary restrictions.

Have I been too harsh on these parties, or not harsh enough? Have I missed out on any batshit crazy policies? Do you agree or disagree with any of them? As always, please let me know.

Hopefully this time next week, we will have a clear election result, but who knows, the Aotearoa Legalise Cannabis Party may surprise us all!

This was my 149th blog post, so next week I’ll reach the milestone of 150, and I have no idea what to do about it.

Thanks once again for reading, following, and subscribing to Some Geek Told Me. Please don’t forget to walk your dog, read a banned book, play Lego with some children, watch some Rugby World Cup games, and I’ll see you next week.

¹The technology stated is Genetic Engineering.

²This refers to the Christchurch mosque shootings, where 51 people were killed and 40 people injured. Two AR-15-style rifles, one semi-automatic shotgun, one pump-action shotgun, and two other rifles were used in the massacre.

³Currently, the number is 120.

15 Comic Book Artists Synonymous With My Favourite Characters

On October 2, 2023October 9, 2023 By somegeektoldme@gmail.comIn Comics

Some comic book artists go together with characters amazingly well, like salt and vinegar; fish and chips; ice cream and cones; and finally, Vegemite and toast. As a follower of this small endeavour into lunacy, you may recall my love for comic books.

In saying that, and with all due respect to writers, inkers, letterers, colourists, and editors, where would comics be without the artists? They are a pretty visual element to the storytelling, and extremely vital for promoting the style and tone of the comic book.

There have been thousands of comic book characters created over the last 100 years, along with hundreds of different artists; all of which have drawn multiple characters for many different companies, or creator-owned projects.

Over the years, I have read a few comics, so I can appreciate various artists across various genres, like superheroes, horror, science fiction, fantasy; and like the road, the list goes on and on. So because of this, I have subconsciously linked an artist to a character.

What I’m not talking about is linking a famous run or storyline to an artist; what I’m actually talking about is an artist that I believe is synonymous with a particular character. An unrelated example is when I think of Western movies, I think of Clint Eastwood. If I think of rugby, I think of the All Blacks; if I think of dysfunctional families, I think of the Skywalkers.

The comic book artists on this list, are not made up of my favourite artists; though some of them would be. However, that is another blog for another day. No, at least to me, these artists have drawn the best versions of certain characters. In my humble opinion, they are my favourite artists to draw these particular characters. Basically, if I could choose anybody to draw these characters, it would be these artists.

Some of these decisions were extremely difficult, so hopefully I mean no disrespect to any other artists.

I’ve only included 15 characters for the first round, but I promise you, I’ll write several more of these lists! I’ve included heroes and villains to be fair, as well as limiting one artist per character.

Alright then, we are doing this in alphabetical order, so sit back, relax, and away we go!

Some of these artists have died, so out of respect for them, I’ll indicate this with a *

Batman by Tim Sale*

Captain America by George Perez*

Credit: George Perez, Wizard Magazine and Marvel Comcs

Captain Marvel (Mar-Vell) by Jim Starlin

Captain Marvel (Shazam!) by Alex Ross

Deadman by Neal Adams*

Doctor Doom by John Byrne

Harley Quinn by Amanda Conner

Hellboy by Mike Mignola

Credit: Mike Mignola and Dark Horse Comics

Invincible by Ryan Ottley

Judge Dredd by Ron Smith*

Spawn by Todd McFarlane

Superman by Dan Jurgens

The Joker by José Luis García-López

Credit: José Luis García-López and DC Comics

The Phantom by Sy Barry

Credit: Sy Barry and King Features Syndicate

The Silver Surfer By Jack Kirby*

As a bonus entry, I’d like to point out that my favourite Star Wars artist is Jan Duursema.

Credit: Jan Duursema and Dark Horse Comics

Do you agree with any of my choices? Who’s your favourite Batman, Captain America, or Superman artist? As always, please let me know.

And that concludes another blog; which coincidentally is my 148th blog post. It’s 147 more than I thought I’d do, that’s for sure. Thanks once again for reading, following, and subscribing to Some Geek Told Me.

Please don’t forget to walk your dog, read a banned book, eat some Salt and Vinegar chips, watch some Rugby World Cup games, and I’ll see you next week.

SOME GEEK TOLD ME

Month: October 2023

I Bleed Black

Tour of the Solar System: The Asteroid Belt

Crazy Policies from the New Zealand General Election

15 Comic Book Artists Synonymous With My Favourite Characters