Welcome to one of the biggest days on the pop culture calendar, Free Comic Book Day (FCBD)! Since its inception in 2002, FCBD has grown to celebrate not only comics, but pop culture as well. For those of you who don’t know, FCBD is a global event, where comic book stores give away, wait for it…free comic books!
Every year, publishers across the industry produce comics at low cost, specifically to be distributed for free around the world. This event is always held on the first Saturday in May, and this year’s selection is outstanding. The comics will have age-appropriate logos: All ages (green logo), Teen (blue logo), and Mature (red logo), which can be identified on the covers.
It’s a way to celebrate comics and manga, both for existing readers, as well as to introduce new readers to the medium. Post Malone’s upcoming comic, Big Rig, will also be available as a free comic book. I read the summary, and it sounds bonkers. Awesome.
FCBD is also famous for cosplaying, which is becoming more popular every year. Another place that could be celebrating FCBD, could be your local library. A lot of them will be promoting the graphic novels in their collection, as well as holding cosplay events.
If there is an FCBD event in your area, I encourage you to check it out. With a wide range of titles available, there will be something for everyone. Feel free to dress up in cosplay or wear your favourite pop culture t-shirt. I live nowhere near an FCBD event, so I hope you have fun on my behalf! You can really make the most of the day by wearing your pop culture clothes to the supermarket, work, or anywhere else you go!
Before I go, I need to remind you that supporting comic book stores is important. The comics you receive will be free, but the retailers pay something like 25 cents per issue. It actually costs them a lot of money to host an event. Sadly, many stores can no longer afford to host events because of rising costs.
Comic book stores are the lifeblood of the industry, so while you’re receiving free comic books, maybe you could have a look around the store. They will have titles including horror, war, romance, superheroes, science-fiction, western, crime, fantasy, and so much more!
South Taranaki District Council’s advert for FCBD 2021
I love comics, since I can’t truly express what they have taught me. How are you celebrating Free Comic Book Day? Please let me know.
Ok, thanks for reading, and I’ll see you tomorrow for the second special blog post. It’s set in a galaxy, far, far away!
Here we are again at the start of a new movie preview, brought to you by the mind of the person who writes about many pointless things. Well, discussing movies, science, politics, and comics is never meaningless.
As I have previously mentioned, because repeating things helps me to remember to do things, I plan to watch more comic book movies at the cinema, because if we don’t go to watch them, they’ll stop making them. Maybe that would make many people happy, but I am not one of them.
My last preview/review was Captain America: Brave New World, so for our next movie preview instalment, we are headed back to the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) with the Thunderbolts*. It opens in New Zealand on Thursday 1st May, as the 36th MCU movie. I’m about 98% sure Darkhawk or Sleepwalker will not make a cameo, but hope springs eternal.
Our only cinema is having an advanced screening of Thunderbolts* on Wednesday 30th April, and yours truly has secured a ticket. Like always for my films, I walked into the cinema to buy the ticket, mainly because I didn’t want to pay the extra fees via their website.
Anyway, a strange pattern happens when I purchase an advanced ticket. I casually mention I’m going to be writing a review about the movie, and name-drop my website. The staff member will stare at me blankly, so I stop talking, pay for the ticket, and leave as fast as The Flash running to an all-you-can-eat buffet.
So, who or what are the Thunderbolts?
For those unfamiliar with comic lore, here’s a brief history lesson: the Thunderbolts first appeared in The Incredible Hulk #449 in 1997. They later received their own monthly title, which launched three months after their debut with Thunderbolts #1. I own both of these issues because I’m a geek. They even had a cool slogan: “Justice, like lightning!”
Marvel had previously done a company-wide crossover event in 1996, in the form of Onslaught. By the end of the storyline, The Avengers and The Fantastic Four had disappeared, and for all intent and purposes, the public thought they were dead.
Enter the Thunderbolts, a new heroic super team to step into the void left by the absent heroes. Before I go on, one thing I love about comics is when something major happens, whether it is the appearance of a new character or the return of an old one, a death, revelation or a twist, and the company does not advertise it. It sneaks up on you, and as you turn the page, it hits you. Such is the case with the Thunderbolts.
The twist was that the Thunderbolts were not the superheroes they made out to be, but rather the Masters of Evil, a supervillain team, primarily slugging it out with the Avengers. Led by Baron Zemo, their goal was to gain access to national and international secret information and to further their mission with organised crime and world domination.
Another plot twist came when some Thunderbolts members started to dislike acting as superheroes, but rather liked being a superhero. After internal strife, the team eventually came under the control of the government and became a government-sponsored team, filled with reformed supervillains, similar to DC’s Suicide Squad.
The film will, to the best of my knowledge, mainly focus on characters we have met before, whether they are from a television show or a movie. These include Yelena Belova (Florence Pugh), Bucky Barnes (Sebastian Stan), John Walker/ U.S. Agent (Wyatt Russell), Antonia Dreykov / Taskmaster (Olga Kurylenko), Alexei Shostakov / Red Guardian (David Harbour), Ava Starr / Ghost (Hannah John-Kamen), and Valentina Allegra de Fontaine (Julia Louis-Dreyfus). The exception is Lewis Pullman’s Sentry, who I think plays the film’s antagonist, via the Void.
The film’s budget is about $200 million, so the expectations are high. Aside from TV’s Loki, I think this is the MCU’s first film that is centred around villains, but I could be wrong.
Ok, I have waffled on long enough, it’s time for the preview!
Thunderbolts #1 (1997) Credit: Marvel Comics
Am I looking forward to watching Thunderbolts*?
It’s a stupid question, I know, but I need to ask it. I’m looking forward to it as much as Popeye likes to eat spinach. To keep my promise of supporting comic book movies, I need to keep buying tickets. Plus, it’s a cool way to escape for two hours.
I have the habit of mentioning this, but it’s the truth. I don’t have Disney+, so I haven’t been able to watch key TV shows like The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, which have introduced some of these characters. Having said that, I’ll go back to Wikipedia and read the summary of the show. That sounds great, doesn’t it?
Because there is an ensemble cast, the dialogue will hopefully be sharp and witty. Hopefully.
I do have a small reservation about how they are going to handle and introduce the Sentry, a somewhat-Superman-type character into the MCU. His power level is off the chart, but his mental instability is another matter altogether. I hope they get it right, but is there a correct way to introduce a mortal god?
The box office did not support Captain America: Brave New World very well, which seems to be the new standard for superhero movies. Will Thunderbolts* suffer the same fate, or will it fare better?
What is the movie about?
According to Marvel.com, the premise is this:
Marvel Studios assembles an unconventional team of antiheroes—Yelena Belova, Bucky Barnes, Red Guardian, Ghost, Taskmaster and John Walker. After finding themselves ensnared in a death trap set by Valentina Allegra de Fontaine, these disillusioned castoffs must embark on a dangerous mission that will force them to confront the darkest corners of their pasts. Will this dysfunctional group tear themselves apart, or find redemption and unite as something much more before it’s too late?
What can we expect?
The running time is 126 minutes, which means it just surpasses the two-hour mark, so be sure to pace yourself with drinks. I’m not sure what the rating is for other countries, but Thunderbolts* has received a PG rating in New Zealand, and I’m uncertain how to interpret that.
I can imagine the plot is going to be fast, because of the size of the cast, but also, the team has to break up before it’s reformed to save the day. I expect to see some great fight scenes, whether the Thunderbolts are fighting themselves or other people.
Since I don’t know The Falcon and the Winter Soldier very well, I can only guess that Valentina Allegra de Fontaine, is like an Amanda Waller-type character; a government director who has no time, patience, or respect for the members of the team, other than getting the job done; or if she is playing her own game. Who knows?
As always, since this is an MCU film, there will be references and cameos to appease the die-hard super fans, though I wonder how many I’ll miss!
Do I have concerns?
I’ve said this before, but I will always have concerns about superhero movies. Will they stick to the source material as much as possible, or will they stretch their creative limbs and do something outrageous? Is that a positive or negative thing? Who knows?
Here are some of my questions:
How accessible will Thunderbolts* be to viewers who have not seen the Disney+ TV show, The Falcon and the Winter Soldier?
Does the plot make sense?
Will the movie reference Captain America: Brave New World, or hint at The Fantastic Four: First Steps?
Why are the Thunderbolts involved in the first place?
Can the absence of the Avengers in the movie be believed?
Will the introduction of the Sentry be a success or failure?
Will other MCU villains be making appearances?
Will Taskmaster have a larger role than in Black Widow?
Can they truly explain how the Sentry got his powers?
How does Bucky fit into the plot? He is a free citizen, correct?
Where is the film’s continuity in the MCU?
Do the Thunderbolts have a choice to be in the team?
Does Valentina Allegra de Fontaine betray the Thunderbolts?
Will any of the Thunderbolts go free at the end of the movie?
Do the Thunderbolts only protect the United States?
There are probably more questions rattling around in that tiny mind of mine, but they will have to wait.
I’ve not read or heard any reviews about the movie, so I’m still optimistic about it, but I’ll let you know my thoughts next Monday with the review. Before I go, I want to address two things. The first is that my last day went better than I thought it would. I didn’t cry once!
The second thing is that I know the world is currently a scary and sad place. News keeps pouring in about Palestine and Ukraine, coupled with tariffs, the cost of living, and everything else. I get it. My preview about a movie that millions of people will never see, seems a touch removed from reality. I get it, I really do.
Just hang in there, I mean it. Look after yourselves and your family, and if possible, other people.
Thanks once again for reading, following, and subscribing to Some Geek Told Me. Remember to walk your dog, read a banned book, and hang in there, and I’ll see you this weekend for two special blog posts. It’s the start of May, so try and guess what’s happening!
I’ve never dedicated an entire blog post to updating you with news before, at least about me. But, there’s a first time for everything, like trying Sour Cream and Chives for the first time. Your brain wants to shut down to stop feeling the vile taste.
Anyway, this blog post is slightly shorter, because of three main reasons. No, it’s not 20 questions, so I’ll tell you.
1.) I’m writing this before Easter because I will be busy over the weekend. Yes, I’m doing something at Easter, so the chances of me sitting down to work on New Zealand’s 5th least favourite website are slim. Not impossible, just slim, so I thought I would be prepared.
2.) As New Zealanders, we generally don’t boast about our achievements. This tendency stems from our history of being an isolated and pragmatic people. I’m not one to discuss my accomplishments or lack of. However, I feel compelled to share something significant that happened last weekend.
Long-time followers and subscribers of this wayward blog will know that I like running. To be honest, it’s somewhere between walking and jogging, but I pretend it’s running. Last weekend, I ran in one of my favourite half marathons, and something odd and wonderful happened.
2014 was the last time I ran a half marathon in under 2 hours. I’ve come close, dangerously close to that time, but that target has alluded me for over 10 years. In all honesty, I accepted the fact that I would probably never run another half marathon under 2 hours again. I thought my body had said, “To hell with that, we can’t do that anymore!”
By now, you can see where this is headed. For the first time since 2014, I ran a half marathon in under 2 hours. I know that in the grand scheme of things, it may not seem significant, but honestly, I thought I would never achieve this again. It’s surprising to realise I’m faster than I was in 2015, which feels almost unbelievable to me. In that sense, I feel proud of myself, which is a bizarre feeling.
It will sometime before that happens again. Maybe.
3.) For us, we are well and truly into Autumn, with Winter popping its ugly head up now and then. And just like the inevitability of the seasons and an Australian Prime Minister changing, we all change. This brings me to the biggest update, I’m changing jobs. I resigned in February, and the 24th of April will be my last day.
I’ve been there for nine years, and in the field for 16 years, but I’m going to be working for myself. I’ll be in the same industry, just adjacent to what I had been doing, which is equally exciting and horrifying, given how New Zealand and the world are currently.
Over the last few weeks, my emotions have felt like they are on a rollercoaster, and with my last day arriving soon, I’m sorry to report those emotions will probably just intensify. No doubt I’ll shame Chuck Norris by shedding a tear by the end.
I have no idea if this will work out, or even if it’s a good idea, but if the world’s most famous 78-year-old convicted felon has taught me anything, it’s that you can’t take anything or anyone for granted. I’m trying to look at the world differently, but also to try and do things differently.
I’ll let you know how things went on for the last day, but also how the new job is working out. Oh, look at me being all hopeful and positive!
Ok, that’s it for today. I promise I’ll get back to writing pointless posts like doing a Thunderbolts* Movie Preview next week.
Please remember to walk your dog, read a banned book, go fly a paper airplane, and I’ll see you next week.
As the tariffs continue, so do the days of our lives. In our daily routines, we can choose what we do, including dissecting a 36-year-old song, even though it has been analysed before.
Because you’re a clever person who likes to get at least 10 hours of sleep and loves eating Vegemite, you would have realised I’m talking about one of my dumbest ideas, explaining the historical references in Billy Joel’s We Didn’t Start the Fire.
I started this pointless project in February 2024, and I’m still stuck in the 50s. I’ll probably retire before I finish it. For those unfortunate people who have missed out on the past entries, fear not, for I have the complete list.
After reflecting on the historical events of 1956, I’m ready to delve into 1957, which promises to be just as wild and challenging. Like before, get ready for an adventure because we are traveling back in time with our destination set for 1957. Let’s do this!
Credit: Burlington
1957
Little Rock
Little Rock is located in Arkansas, United States, and in 1957, it was a flashpoint for the Civil Rights Movement. It centred around nine African American students who were integrated into Little Rock Central High School. These students become known as The Little Rock Nine.
Through a ruling from the Supreme Court that declared that the laws that established segregated schools were unconstitutional, and the backing of the NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People), the nine students were enrolled at Little Rock Central High School.
The school was racially segregated, so black students attending an all-white school did not go down well for everybody. Among several protests against the integration, Orval Faubus, the Governor of Arkansas, deployed the Arkansas National Guard to support the protesters, as well as to block the students from entering the school.
If you remember from the 1952 blog, Dwight D. Eisenhower was the President of the United States of America, and this situation annoyed him. His response was to issue an executive order, which federalised the Arkansas National Guard. He ordered them to support the integration and along with the 101st Airborne Division, escorted and protected the students while at school. This drama was named The Little Rock Crisis.
As a non-American, it’s difficult to quantify a modern example of the Little Rock Crisis. My only answer is to point out the legacy that it brought to the public school system in the United States, by guiding the way in the desegregation of public schools.
The Little Rock Nine being escorted by the National Guard to Little Rock Central High School, Arkansas, 1957. Credit: Everett Collection
Pasternak
Boris Pasternak was a Russian poet, composer, literary translator, and novelist. He was born in Moscow, which was then part of the Russian Empire before it was transformed into the Soviet Union. He is included on this list because he wrote a small and uncomplicated book that you may have heard of: Doctor Zhivago.
Pasternak gave typed manuscripts to foreigners in 1956, knowing they wouldn’t be published in the USSR. The manuscripts were then smuggled to Milan, Italy. Doctor Zhivago was released in 1957, and I’m going to do an awful job at explaining this, but the novel focuses on wars, separation of families, love, and characters. So many characters, with just as many names.
The 1958 Nobel Prize for Literature was awarded to Pasternak for Doctor Zhivago, and it remains a masterpiece and beloved the world over for its themes. Over the years, the book has sold millions of copies and has been adapted for television, theatre, and film, with special mention to 1965’s Doctor Zhivago, where it was nominated for 10 Academy Awards and won five.
We haven’t discussed baseball for some years now, but this entry will change that. Mickey Mantle was a professional baseball player who played primarily as a centre fielder for the New York Yankees, between 1951–1968.
Mantle earned many different baseball awards, championships, and trophies, but that’s not why he’s on the list. In 1957, Mantle made The Major League Baseball (MLB) All-Stars team. For those of you not up with the play, the All-Stars are players made up from teams in the American League and National League.
This fixture became an annual event on the MLB calendar. Now what made Mantle’s inclusion in the 1957 game special was that it was the sixth year in a row that Mantle had made the All-Stars team.
For a contemporary equivalent, you could go with Mike Trout, but the All-Stars also covered Major League Soccer (MLS-Football), National Basketball Association (NBA), National Football League (NFL), and National Hockey League (NHL), so you could take your pick from them as well.
Bill Skowron, Minnie Minoso, Nellie Fox, and Mickey Mantle at the 1957 All-Star game. Credit: Unknown
Kerouac
This is quite rare, but we have a second book entry. On the Road was written by Jack Kerouac, and was released in September 1957. Kerouac based this book on his travels with his friends across the United States, and in some circles, it’s considered a memoir.
The book highlights the Counterculture generation, like the Beat movement, and was controversial with the characters’ carefree lifestyle, drugs, and travelling, along with the music. On the Road has sold over 4 million copies worldwide, with ongoing sales of around 100,000 copies annually.
On the Road has gone on to influence and inspire many different entertainment creators like Hunter S. Thompson, David Bowie, Matty Healy, Jerry Garcia, and Van Morrison, but also Jim Morrison and BobDylan.
Front cover for the first edition of On the Road by Jack Kerouac. Credit: The Viking Press
Sputnik
I wasn’t born in the 50s, so I can’t imagine the fear and tension that came with Sputnik. Launched on 4th October 1957 by the Soviet Union, Sputnik 1 was the world’s first artificial satellite. It was only 58 cm in diameter, and it carried a low-power radio transmitter that broadcasted a beeping noise at regular intervals, which could be heard by radio listeners around the world.
It achieved an Earth orbit with an apogee (farthest point from Earth) of 940 km and a perigee (nearest point) of 230 km, along with circling the planet every 96 minutes. The satellite remained in orbit until 4th January 1958, when it fell back and burned in Earth’s atmosphere. It had travelled 70 million km around the planet before deorbiting.
Known simply as Sputnik, this 83.6 kg device caused anxiety throughout the West, which marked the beginning of the space age between the United States and the Soviet Union.
The legacy of Sputnik can be seen in various spacecraft and satellites launched by the USSR that bear its name, as well as in the thousands of satellites launched by other countries and companies. Just consider where NASA, ESA, SpaceX, Blue Origin, and Virgin Galactic would be today without the influence of Sputnik.
On Oct. 4, 1957, the Space Age began as the Soviet Union launched Sputnik 1, the first artificial satellite, into orbit. Credit: The New York Times
Chou En-Lai
Chou En-Lai, also known as Zhou Enlai, served as the first Premier of the People’s Republic of China from its establishment in 1949 until he died in 1976. He was also the country’s foreign minister, a position he held from 1949 to 1958, during which he travelled extensively.
In 1950, he signed a treaty that committed China and the Soviet Union to co-operate. Furthermore, he played a crucial role in facilitating Richard Nixon’s historic meeting with Mao Zedong in China in 1972.
In modern times, you could go in two different ways, either as a foreign minister or an intermediary. For the foreign minister angle, you could just promote your foreign minister, however, the intermediary is a lot easier. Think of Henry Kissinger and President Jimmy Carter for the Middle East, Alexander Haig for Argentina and the United Kingdom, and recently, Emmanuel Macron for Ukraine and Russia.
Zhou Enlai (Chou En-Lai), Premier of China. Official portrait, 1950s. Credit: anonymous, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
Bridge on the River Kwai
The Bridge on the River Kwai was a war film based on a book of the same name. Released in 1957, the film tells the story of Allied prisoners of war in Japanese-occupied Thailand, who are forced to build a bridge over the Kwai River, linking Thailand to Burma (Myanmar) for the Japanese, via a railway.
The film went on to earn US$30.6 million, against its US$2.8 million budget. It found universal acclaim, winning seven Oscars at the 1958 Academy Awards, three Golden Globes, and four British Academy Film Awards. The Bridge on the River Kwai has been described as not only the greatest war film ever made, but also one of the greatest films ever made.
I’ve been lucky enough to have seen it, and it’s phenomenal. Seriously, it’s one of those times when you should believe the hype about a film, it’s that good. Some modern films that swept the Academy Awards include Titanic (1997), The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003), and La La Land (2016).
So for 1957, we covered an American desegregated high school, a Russian author, a baseball player, an American author, a Soviet satellite, the Chinese Premier, and a film. We’ve been working hard on this, so 1958 will be less chaotic. Maybe.
So that’s it for another week in this ridiculous project. Cool. Thanks again for reading, following, and subscribing to Some Geek Told Me. I have accounts on Twitter and Mastodon, where I try to sound clever, so follow me if that floats your boat.
Please remember to walk your dog, read a banned book, and enjoy your 90-day pause on Trump’s tariffs. I’ll see you next week, where I’m going to discuss some news that is equally part exciting and scary. Take care and Slava Ukraini!
I’m going to start with an apology. Today’s blog post was supposed to be about We Didn’t Start the Fire’s 1957 historical references; as I spoke about this last week. Now, I’m very sorry to let the fans of this project down, because as I was writing the blog, something extraordinary happened, and I simply couldn’t ignore it.
So in my infinite wisdom, I decided to put a pin in the 1957’s historical references, and actually discuss a trade war. Due to our interconnected world, trade serves as a vital link among us. Surprisingly, it seems that the President of the United States is beginning a trade war with penguins, elephant seals, and seabirds.
Let’s analyse this carefully to determine its truthfulness, or if it is simply the mainstream media attempting to humiliate a 78-year-old convicted felon.
On 2nd April 2025 (local time), President Trump unveiled his hotly anticipated new tariff scheme, which was dubbed Liberation Day. Again, as you know, he declared a trade war against various countries and territories around the world, including my own.
I don’t have enough time to discuss how unusual it is that Russia, Belarus, and North Korea were omitted from the tariff list. My time is too valuable for that, as well as addressing the fact that these tariffs aren’t truly tariffs. Instead, they are based on a flawed formula meant to reflect the trade deficit between the United States and countries or territories.
No, I won’t mention those two things at all. I won’t even talk about how global markets are melting down, with at the time of writing, US$6.6 trillion was been wiped away. I would never stoop that low to discuss and mock those important matters.
And you can forget about me ever mentioning that the White House is now reframing the tariffs as sanctions. Nope, not by me, or on my account. There’s no way I would ever discuss that.
However, there is one tiny thing I would like to discuss. When the former McDonald’s employee and casino bankrupter revealed his list of countries and territories that he wanted to punish for not buying enough US-made items and goods, he included a rather strange entry: The Heard and McDonald Islands.
Credit: White House
The Heard and McDonald Islands are some of the most isolated places on the planet. They lie in the Southern Indian Ocean, about 3,850 km from Australia, where the islands are an Australian external territory. It’s roughly the same latitude as Madagascar, about two-thirds of the way from Antarctica and Madagascar.
The islands’ total land area is only 372 km2, with a coastline stretching 101.9 km. The Heard and McDonald Islands are home to two volcanoes and hundreds of thousands of fauna, such as penguins, elephant seals and seabirds.
But one of the strangest things about the Heard and McDonald Islands is the human population, which is zero. Yes, that’s correct, not a single person lives there. They are uninhabited by humans.
According to the data revealed by the White House, the Heard and McDonald Islands have a trade deficit of 10%, which has resulted in the world’s most famous 78-year-old convicted felon, slapping a 10% tariff on the islands.
Putting aside the suicidal nature of the financial and economic illiteracy of the tariffs, we have a problem. If we are to believe the White House’s data and figures, and why would we not, it means the Heard and McDonald Islands have a trade deficit with the United States.
From the United States perspective, the Heard and McDonald Islands are exporting more goods and services to the United States than they are importing from the United States, hence the trade deficit. But here’s the problem: if the Heard and McDonald Islands are uninhabited by humans, then who or what the fuck is trading with the Americans?
I hope you’re sitting down because the answer is penguins, elephants seals, and seabirds. I like to stay informed about world events, but I’ll be honest, I had no idea that a collection of penguins, elephants seals, and seabirds, living on islands near Antarctica, had not only mastered the ability to understand human language, finance, and commerce, but also have the means to conduct trade with humans. I feel really stupid and ignorant for not knowing this.
I have so many questions about this:
Do the different species of animals trade separately or collectively?
What do they trade? Is it eggs, feathers, shit, or something else?
If it’s shit, is penguin shit more valuable the elephant seal shit?
Do the penguins, elephant seals, and seabirds get along with each other, or are there different factions working against each other, whether it’s politically or financially?
How likely is a civil war to break out on the Heard and McDonald Islands, over the tariffs?
How do they communicate with the humans?
What do the penguins, elephant seals, and seabirds import from the United States?
Who are the American importers, and how are they surviving with the 10% tariff slapped on by the Heard and McDonald Islands?
What is the currency of the Heard and McDonald Islands?
Are Australian penguins, elephant seals, and seabirds, really taking jobs away from American humans, or American fauna?
Is this not the greatest example of evolutionary biology ever discovered?
How is this not the biggest news story in the history of the world; animals trading with humans?
Has anybody spoken to Sir David Attenborough about this? What are his thoughts?
Do the Heard and McDonald Islands only trade with the United States?
By starting a trade war with the Heard and McDonald Islands, does the White House hope to bring back more American jobs?
Does Elon Musk wish to export Teslas to the Heard and McDonald Islands?
The questions are endless because I’m just stunned at this revelation. This startling information is hard to understand and comprehend since it must be true and accurate. Otherwise, the US government would look like a group of people who wouldn’t be able to organise a party at a brewery. This would be one of the biggest displays of incompetence the US government have committed since Signalgate.
I mean, Trump, armed with his stable intellect, and his posse of loyal henchmen, could never make a mistake, right? Because that would be bigly. Nah, I bet every single penguin, elephant seal, and seabird on the Heard and McDonald Islands is woke.
And this ladies and gentlemen, is the world we live in. Welcome.
That’s another blog post for another week. Thanks once again for reading, following, and subscribing to Some Geek Told Me.
That’s three political blog posts in a row, so that’s enough for now. I’m going to finish We Didn’t Start the Fire: 1957, so we can discuss history, music, people, and politics…damn.
Please don’t forget to walk your dog, read a banned book, tell Sir David Attenborough about tariffs on the Heard and McDonald Islands, and I’ll see you next week to continue We Didn’t Start the Fire.
Seriously, can someone please talk to Sir David Attenborough? His response would be amazing.
Following on from last week’s award-winning blog post on Elon Musk and Tesla, I thought I would include an epilogue of some sort. And when I mean award-winning, I mean…wait, do I need to explain that joke?
Anyway, Musk is a busy man. He’s mismanaging DOGE (Department of Government Efficiency), selling Teslas at the White House, launching and blowing up rockets with SpaceX, selling and buying his companies to himself, and doing interviews with Fox News.
To everyone’s surprise, Musk still manages to find time to share his innermost thoughts and ideas with his 218.8 million followers on Twitter.1 Because of this, I talked to my Chief Consultant for Bad Ideas and decided to examine what Musk has been posting and reposting on his account lately.
Three things to remember before we start this stupid idea: 1.) I’m only going back a week at the most, because, well, that’s all I can tolerate. 2.) I’m focusing on the different posts and reposts that Musk has done on his Twitter account. I’m not including anything other people have said about him, that is not on his account. 3.) Since this is my account, I get to decide what happens. Because of this, I will be selectively choosing posts and reposts, which make Musk stand out for various negative reasons.
Awesome, so let’s read what nonsense the richest person on the planet has to say on nearly everything.
Credit: Sky News
Make of these posts as you will. That’s a lot to take in, as it was only over a few days, and that’s not counting all of the other stuff on his account. Musk is on social media more than George Takei, and that’s saying something!
Love him or hate him, Elon Musk is not going anywhere, least of all on Twitter, which Musk recently sold to xAI, an artificial intelligence start-up company, for US$33 billion. Just to clarify, Musk owns xAI, so he purchased and sold a company to himself. I have enough problems remembering to remind myself about things to buy at the supermarket.
Anyway, like I said last week, Musk is a complicated person, and his posts and reposts are a small window into the mind of a man who is one bad day away from becoming a real Bond villain.
That’s another blog post for another week. 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, and if you can, please donate to the rescue relief in Myanmar, where a 7.7-magnitude earthquake hit the country and killed over 1,600 people. From personal experience, earthquakes are hell, so if you can donate, please do. I’ll see you next week because we’re going back to 1957. Can’t wait.
1 I know Twitter has been rebranded as X, but it’s still Twitter to me; just like the Gulf of Mexico.Sorry, I’m a jerk.
Saying Elon Musk is a complicated person is like saying, “Star Wars is just a movie.” There’s more to him than being the richest person in the world, which is starting to have some truly horrible consequences. He’s making the news for good and bad reasons, but we are so deep into the rabbit hole that, at this stage, I don’t think there’s much difference.
I’ll be honest here, I’ve tried to be balanced with this topic, but it’s awkward.
I admire Musk’s work with SpaceX and The Boring Company because they are creative and inventive companies that are pushing human development and advancement. It may not be popular, but I don’t care that he’s the wealthiest person in the world, because if its not him, its going to be Jeff Bezos or some other loser that has not become Batman.
I’m not particularly fond of billionaires in general, but I think Musk is impressive for his contributions to scientific development. However, I believe that billionaires should be taxed at a higher rate, regardless of where they reside.
However, my admiration of Musk can only go so far. His shenanigans with DOGE (Department of Government Efficiency), his anti-woke crusade, the buyout of Twitter (X) to ensure/suppress freedom of speech, and his not-so-subtle sympathising with Nazis, have slowly turned him into a financial and social pariah.
This amazing transition brings us to Tesla. Although Musk did not start Tesla, Inc., he is now Tesla’s face to the world. When you think of Tesla, you think of Musk, like Jeff Bezos and Amazon, Bill Gates and Microsoft, Steve Jobs and Apple, and Ronald McDonald and some random burger chain.
To help combat climate change, I believe Tesla is a crucial player in this effort. As one of the world’s leading electric car manufacturers, it employs over 125,000 people. While it is a business focused on making a profit, it also provides a valuable resource to the world: electric cars.
I’m naive about many things in this beautiful world, but I understand how capitalism and businesses work, because I purchase products from major corporations, including food, books, shoes and clothes; they are a necessary burden. But they provide a service or product, that we, the consumers, want.
Tesla is no different in that regard, so I have no major ill will towards them. They have a great concept and I wish them all the luck in the world with their electric cars. If I had the money, I would own an electric car of some type.
But Tesla is in trouble, because of Musk’s actions and speeches. The backlash towards Musk is justified because his personal life is clashing with his professional and business life. It’s been a snowball of conservative actions, topped off with his ascension to DOGE, and he is, for all of the optics, a Nazi sympathiser.
Tesla dealerships are getting graffitied and attacked, while the cars are being fire-bombed, destroyed, vandalised, scratched, and defaced, whether they are on a lot, in car parks, or at people’s homes. This has meant that Tesla stock has taken a hit, not just across North America, but around the world. It’s a global boycott.
About four years ago, a former colleague of mine and her husband bought a second-hand Tesla with the help of a bank loan. She often spoke about how owning a Tesla was a dream for her because she believed strongly in the electric car industry and its potential to combat climate change.
Last week, my wife was talking to another mother at school, who revealed that she had purchased a second-hand Tesla 10 months ago, for the same reasons my ex-work colleague had. However, she also explained in the last few weeks, members of the public have been yelling and cursing at her, with one man calling her a Nazi.
She reinforced to my wife that had she got the car, “…before Elon become a dickhead. We didn’t know he liked Nazis. We haven’t done anything wrong.”
I am both impressed and proud of the resistance against the actions of the richest person on Earth. It’s truly remarkable what people can stand up to—if you can’t confront an ultra-wealthy Nazi sympathiser, then who can you stand up to?
On the other hand, Tesla was not Musk’s creation, but he is their poster boy. What happens if Tesla’s stock keeps falling? Job losses, that’s what. How many of the 125,000 workers will lose their jobs, because of Tesla’s financial issues? 10%? 25%? 75%?
Would the total collapse of one of the world’s largest electric car manufacturers be a positive thing? The oil and gas industry would say yes, but climate activists and other electric car manufacturers would say no.
To the best of my understanding, Musk owns 12.8% of Tesla stock, which is worth about US$97.8 billion. His net worth is estimated to be around US$327.3 billion, so his Tesla stock works out to about 30% of his wealth.
If Tesla collapsed and Musk lost all of the money in Tesla stock, he would still have at least US$220 billion.
If Tesla collapsed, what would the 125,000 workers have? Could the electric car industry recover from that disaster? I don’t want to find out.
So, as a global village, we have a dilemma. Do we continue the destruction of Tesla vehicles and the company, until it is completely destroyed, because of its connection to Musk? Should we then destroy and cancel Twitter (X), SpaceX, the Boring Company, Neuralink, as well as OpenAI?
Or do we ignore Tesla, and allow Musk to continue his harmful rhetoric and policies, without any more pushback or punishment?
Or maybe, there’s a compromise. What if society could stop cancelling Tesla, but Musk could still be held accountable?
Hear me out. Because of the huge number of stocks he holds, Musk is the CEO of Tesla. But imagine if Tesla drew a line in the sand and wanted to put distance from itself and Musk, by forcing Musk out of the company; either by buying him out, or firing him as CEO.
This way, Musk faces consequences, but Tesla could survive and continue its mission to combat climate change, alongside other electric car manufacturers. I know it sounds like a foolish idea, but just imagine if that were possible.
I genuinely appreciate the protests, but destroying Tesla won’t eliminate Musk; it would instead devastate hundreds of thousands of lives through job losses. And who benefits from that? The oil and gas industry, that’s who.
If there is an end game with the protests, it has to be to put pressure on Tesla to act, and force Musk out, or fire him. That is the best scenario I can think of, and that result would make me happy. But hey, what do I know? Also, on a shameful note, I really do like the term, swasticar. It’s really clever.
Anyway, how do you propose we solve the Musk-Tesla problem? Does it need to be solved? As always, please let me know.
That’s another blog for another week. Thanks once again for reading, following, and subscribing to Some Geek Told Me. If I didn’t have this weird writing project, I don’t know where I would be, so again, thank you.
Please don’t forget to walk your dog, read a banned book, continue to pressure Israel and Russia for ceasefires, and I’ll see you next week.
I’ve mentioned this before, but sometimes I struggle to find humour in discussing certain topics. Not that I’m an expert in comedy—far from it—but today’s blog post is one of those times when I can find very little humour.
To make sure we all understand what I’m talking about, let’s very quickly establish the facts. On 15th March 2019, a lone gunman, armed with a collection of firearms, including semi-automatic rifles, shot and killed 51 people and injured 89, at the Al Noor Mosque, and Linwood Islamic Centre, in Christchurch, New Zealand. This event became known as the Christchurch mosque shootings or the Christchurch mosque attacks.
I’m not going to rehash the events of 15th March 2019, minute by minute. Professional journalists and reporters have done that already, so I can’t add anything new to the conversation.
The purpose of this blog post is to express my feelings and emotions about the sixth anniversary of the deadliest shootings in modern New Zealand history.
I have a strong connection to Christchurch, even though I no longer live there. I attended university in the city, played football, and met my wife there. It’s where we got married, and additionally, my first child, UMC1, was born in Christchurch. I was even present during the ML6.3 earthquake that struck on 22nd February 2011, which tragically resulted in the loss of 185 lives.
We moved away from Christchurch in early 2016, but it’s still important to us.
Christchurch features a large public open space in the city centre known as Hagley Park, which was one of my favourite places to run. I would always run in an anti-clockwise direction around the park, with Al Noor Mosque on my right-hand side, directly across from the park. The mosque is a famous and significant site for both the city and the Muslim community.
As for the Linwood Islamic Centre, it was only opened in 2018, but I lived only three blocks from the future site, so I know the area quite well. I wasn’t in Christchurch when the shootings happened, but six years later, I am still a mixed bag of emotions surrounding it.
Before I continue, I want to clarify that I did not know anyone who was shot or injured, so families of the victims and survivors will have a much more personal experience than I do. I don’t want to disrespect anyone’s experience, I simply want to express my emotions and feelings because I believe our country and the world are forgetting the lessons that day taught us.
Credit: Combating Terrorism Center
Let’s start with easy emotions, like shame and sadness. Six years later, I’m still ashamed and saddened those murders happened in Christchurch, let alone in New Zealand. The city and country are forever linked to that day and will have to carry an albatross around their necks, until the end of time. Granted, the albatross will gradually decrease in mass and weight, but it will always be there.
There’s also the sadness and shame in educating and explaining to our tamariki (children) about that day, because it relates to them, directly and indirectly.
This brings us to the shame and sadness towards the Muslim community of Christchurch, New Zealand, and the world. Some of the people attending the two mosques were born in New Zealand, while others were born overseas, with some being refugees.
I still feel sad and ashamed for the families having to travel; especially from other countries to mourn their loved ones, because they should have been safe here in New Zealand. They should’ve been, and it was disgusting and unforgivable.
Besides the location, a place of worship like a mosque, church, synagogue, or temple, should be a place of safety and protection for people. It still upsets me that this evil act of hatred was committed, not just against Muslims, or Christchurch or New Zealand, but it happened at all.
My experiences of feeling shame and sadness towards the attacks are also deeply connected to my anger and rage.
I’m still angry someone was able to amass a collection of firearms of that magnitude with ease.
I’m angry that he was able to livestream the first shootings on Facebook.
I’m angry that a white migrant shot and killed other migrants because they were from a different ethnic background to him.
I’m angry that the gunman believed in the conspiracy theory of the Great White Replacement. Long-time followers and readers of this account will understand my views towards conspiracy theorists and the garbage they peddle.
I’m angry that it happened in New Zealand, and of course, Christchurch.
I’m angry not only for the Muslims in Christchurch, New Zealand, and around the world, but also for the Muslims where I live.
I’m angry that this evil act empowered supporters of conspiracy theories, the alt-right, and anti-Islam groups in New Zealand to speak up.
I’m angry for the victims and their families because this should not have happened.
And I’m angry as a white, straight non-Muslim New Zealand male. This country has been slowly working towards diversity and inclusion for over 170 years, so the whole thing is a nightmare.
Having said that, you can’t have light without the dark, and just like the Christchurch earthquakes, you can’t have dark without the light. The 15th of March 2019 was one of the worst days in living memory for my country, but it allowed hope and pride to take centre stage.
The way the city, country and government, rallied around the victims and their families, was and still is excellent.
The flowers, hakas, and tributes were wonderful.
The denouncing of hatred towards people of our community and country was powerful.
The work towards pressuring social media companies to regulate more of their content, especially around hate speech and livestreaming, was impressive.
Closing the gun law loopholes and making semi-automatic firearms illegal was swift and direct.
There were stories of bravery, love, compassion, and humanity that were uplifting.
The backlash over the upcoming film, detailing the shootings was glorious by the New Zealand public.
Ultimately, what gave me hope and made me proud as a New Zealander, was the amazing response to the shootings. The world looked at New Zealand at one of our lowest and darkest days, so we did what New Zealanders only know how to: we embraced the victims and families because they were us; and told hate groups to fuck off, because this event would not stop us from doing the right thing, as in being a nation of diversity and inclusion.
There are many other emotions I could talk about, but the main one that remains is frustration, which concerns what’s currently happening in New Zealand and around the world.
In New Zealand, our new government have said they are open to rolling back the assault weapons ban, “…because it punishes the good and responsible gun owners.”
Taking his cues from the President of the United States of America, our Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters, wants to start an anti-woke crusade, to weed out DEI hires, because, according to him, diversity and inclusion are tools of the left.
Attacks and prejudice towards the LGBTQIA+ community are increasing the world over.
Because of Hamas’ actions, anti-Muslim attacks are rising, along with antisemitism, because of the actions of the Israeli government.
For all the optics, the richest man in the world, Elon Musk, seems to be at the very least, a Nazi-sympathiser.
The Great White Replacement conspiracy theory is still being pushed by popular anchors, hosts, and influencers.
People are still making racist jokes online and in person; along with spewing hate speech on social media platforms, with little or no recourse.
Fascism is being dragged into the 21st century for a reboot.
I feel frustrated, because to me, a lot of the lessons of tolerance, compassion, diversity and inclusion, surrounding the shootings, are getting lost in the noise of prejudice, hatred, nationalism and extreme behaviour; even here in New Zealand.
We have been slowly falling back into the mindset of, “…if another group of people are different from me, or if I don’t understand them, that makes them wrong.”
It’s frustrating to witness the tremendous efforts that have been made to rebuild and move forward from the shootings, been slowly eroded due to everyday life. The rise of disinformation, misinformation, conspiracy theories, and hate groups, along with various governments claiming that diversity and inclusion weaken us, is both disheartening and morally wrong.
We already have enough violence in Ukraine, Palestine, Congo, South Sudan, and Myanmar; we don’t need to add to it. We need to get back to educating our family, friends, and the public, that diversity, inclusion, tolerance, and compassion are strengths, and they are the glue that binds us together, not separating us. And we do this through actions, not just words.
I think that’s enough for today. I need my precious beauty sleep because my wrinkles are becoming deeper and wider. Thanks once again for reading, following, and subscribing to Some Geek Told Me.
Just like last week, please don’t forget to walk your dog, read a banned book, continue to tell Nazis to fuck off, and I’ll see you next week.
In a world filled with people being scared of maps, rainbows, school lunches, questions, and all of the LGBTIQA+ community, it’s nice to know that through the madness, there is something that is still constant and reliable, which is the poor quality of these blog posts.
If you thought the worst tour in the Solar System was over, think again! It’s making a comeback, just like the rise of fascism in the 21st century. Yes, Some Geek Told Me’s Tour of the Solar System is back for its 20th entry.
For the previous entries, please do yourself a favour and check them out. Or not. It’s not like the formula for winning the lottery or the unified field theory is hidden inside them. Or are they?
We’ve spent a few months talking about Uranus and its moons; four to be precise, so now it’s time to turn our collective attention to its wayward sibling, Neptune.
As always, the disclaimer for the tour is that there are no refunds, and discounted tickets are not available. Sweet, let’s push on and meet Neptune, just don’t tell Neil deGrasse Tyson, Brian Greene, Brian Cox, or Jocelyn Bell Burnell, because they would point and laugh at me.
Side-by-side photos of Neptune taken by Voyager 2 in 1989, Hubble in 2021 and Webb in 2022. Photograph: AP
We have finally arrived at the final planet in the Solar System, that we know of. Sorry, Pluto. Neptune is the eighth planet from our local star, the Sun, and it is also the fourth largest planet in the Solar System. It’s the fourth Outer Planet or Gas Giant, and formed around the same as Uranus, about 4.5 billion years ago.
As we traverse this entry, you will see that Neptune and Uranus share a lot of similarities, with some people calling them twins; like Venus and Earth. Not identical twins of course, but still fraternal.
Like the other planets we have met, with Earth and Uranus being the exceptions, the name Neptune comes from Roman mythology. The planet is named after Neptune, the god of oceans, and brother to Jupiter and Pluto. If it helps, Neptune is the Greek equivalent of Poseidon.
Like its twin, Neptune was discovered through mathematical prediction, but also observations of Uranus. Its discovery was built on many different astronomers’ work, because even in 1612 and 1613, Galileo observed and recorded Neptune as a fixed star, while he surveyed space with his small telescope.
However, over the night of 23rd-24th September 1846, Neptune was officially discovered by three astronomers, Johann Galle, Urbain Le Verrier, and John Couch Adams. It only took about three months for the name of Neptune to stick with the press, and the rest, just like the Concorde, is history.
Since Neptune is a gas giant, you would expect it to be larger than the home planet of Salt and Vinegar chips, and you would be correct. Neptune has a diameter of about 49,528 km, which means you could fit 57 Earths inside it. Hopefully, there would still be some Earths left in the multiverse after that rearrangement.
Speaking of Earth, we share something in common with our older, bigger sibling. Not only do we like the colour blue, but we both have an elliptical orbit. Actually, to be fair, all eight planets have one. At its perihelion, which is its closest point to the Sun, the distance is 4.46 billion km, with its aphelion is 4.54 billion km, which works out to be an average orbital distance of 4.5 billion km, along with an average orbital speed of 5.43 km/s. That’s an impressive speed, though it’s still slower than The Flash.
Because of Neptune’s massive distance from the Sun, it roughly takes 4 hours and 12 minutes for sunlight to reach the planet. That is the same length of time as Blade Runner and Uncut Gems combined, as a reference.
Neptune’s rotation is on a whole new level of awesome. The length of time that it takes Neptune to complete one rotation on its axis, which equals one day, is about 16 hours, measured by Earth’s standards. However, one year on Neptune, which is the time it takes to complete one single orbit of the Sun; just one orbit, takes about 165 Earth years.
For context, and roughly speaking, the last time Neptune was in its present location in time and space, when this charming blog post was published, the year was 1860. The First Taranaki War in New Zealand, between the British Crown and Māori had started; the chemist, Stanislao Cannizzaro presented his table of atomic weights at the Karlsruhe Congress; and the slave population in the United States was close to 4 million, with the Civil War starting the following year.
Here is a fun fact for people looking for an icebreaker at a singles event. Every 248 Earth years, Pluto has such a batshit crazy orbit, that it brings it inside Neptune’s orbit. This lasts for about 20 years, and the last time it happened was between 1979-1999. That meant from 1979 to 1999, Neptune, not Pluto, was the furthest planet in our Solar System.
Earth’s axial tilt is 23.4°, which is how and why we have the changing of seasons. Neptune has a similar tilt at 28.32°. This means Neptune has seasonal changes like Earth, but instead of seasons lasting three months like us, Neptune’s seasons last over 40 years, because of its 165-year orbit. And you thought your commute to work was long.
As you can imagine, because of its long distance from the Sun, it’s not really the place Wham! could party to Club Tropicana. Neptune’s temperature and atmosphere are like an episode of the Twilight Zone. The average temperature on Neptune is a balmy -200 °C, which is -110.8°C colder than the lowest temperature recorded on Earth, at −89.2 °C; which is still slightly colder than my feet, at any given time during winter.
Neptune’s atmosphere isn’t that much better. It has a mixture of hydrogen, helium, methane, hydrogen deuteride, ethane, ammonia, water ice, and ammonium hydrosulfide; you know, all the stuff that life as we know it hates. Remember that Neptune is a gas giant, and not for its obsession with baked beans.
Neptune’s blue colour comes from the methane in its atmosphere, and scientists have observed a huge, dark spot in its southern atmosphere, quite similar to Jupiter’s Great Red Spot.
The Great Dark Spot is a massive, oval-shaped storm or vortex roughly the size of Earth. However, advancements in technology have allowed scientists to observe that the Great Dark Spot has significantly decreased in size over the years.
If Sauron, the Dark Lord of Middle-Earth, was allowed an expansion pack, he would include Neptune in it. As I have said previously, there are only four planets in the Solar System with rings, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and of course, Neptune. It can’t compete with its siblings over its quantity of rings, but it has five more rings than Earth does.
Some things in this life are worth repeating, but I love scientists and their work. However, their ability to give things cool names, sometimes works out. Starting near Neptune and moving outward, the planet has five rings and four arcs, which include stellar names like Galle, Leverrier, Lassell, Arago, and Adams (rings), with Liberté, Egalité, Fraternité, and Courage (arcs).
If you have been keeping up, you would have noticed that Liberté, Egalité, and Fraternité, are the motto of the French Revolution and Republic, which means, liberty, equality, and fraternity. You have to love the French though, just not their rugby.
Neptune has moons as well, 16 to be completely accurate, although there could be more to be discovered. Triton is by far the largest moon, with all of them being named after characters in Greek mythology, in some way connected to Poseidon (Neptune).
I’ve shared quite a bit about Neptune already, but there’s one more topic I’d like to discuss: its winds. Neptune is the windiest planet in the Solar System, with winds that are three times stronger than those on Jupiter and nine times stronger than those on Earth.
They can reach speeds of over 2,000 km/h, which is supersonic, meaning the winds are travelling faster than the speed of sound, which is 1,235 km/h. Imagine clouds of frozen methane being whipped around the planet faster than the speed of sound. The fastest wind speed ever recorded on Earth was 408 km/h. These are mind-crushing numbers.
There’s more to talk about Neptune, but like I said, I’ve shared enough today. What is your favourite fact about Neptune? As always, please let me know.
Thanks again for reading, following, and subscribing to Some Geek Told Me. I’m still hanging out on Twitter and Mastodon, posting daily facts about things that interest me, and some things that don’t.
Please don’t forget to walk your dog, read a banned book, continue to tell Nazis to fuck off, and I’ll see you next week.
To introduce some levity to this crazy old world of ours, occasionally, my wife will remember that my blog exists, and when that happens, she’ll ask what my next blog post will be about. Usually, I can tell her about my latest stupid idea, but this time, I asked her if she had good ideas. She laughed at this and replied that she was a good idea.
Anyway, after she threw out a few suggestions, she talked about me making a list of comic book characters with the best porn actor or actress names. I gave her a two-pronged answer; yes, that was a good idea, and no, I don’t want to know how you came up with that idea.
It seems pretty straightforward: To create a list of comic book characters—both heroes and villains—whose names could easily be mistaken for those in a porn movie. If you weren’t familiar with these comic book characters and heard one of these names in a porn movie, you probably wouldn’t think twice about it.
There is a catch, though. To finalise the list, I had to consult my wife. If she reacted neutrally or negatively to a name, it didn’t make the cut. Conversely, if she had a positive reaction—such as smiling or laughing—the name was added to the list. This meant I had to throw a lot of names at her, often during the most inconvenient times of the day.
1.) I have not included group names, like The Enforcers, and The Hand, or alien races, because that would be another list for another day. 2.) Every single name on this list is real, I have not made up any of them. 3.) I hope the characters will forgive me for creating this list, though in my defence, I didn’t create the names.
That was a rare, short introduction from me today. Weird. I’ve grouped them by alphabetical order, with male and female names mixed, regardless of their origin. And with that, away we go!
Abra Kadabra
Beast Boy
Beast Girl
Big Barda
Black Mask
Blob
Boom-Boom
Bullseye
Candyman
Colossal Boy
Colossus
Condiment King
Conquest
Doc Seismic
Doctor Hurt
Doctor Octopus
Dream Girl
Duke of Deception
Elasti-Girl
Elongated Man
Enchantress
Eruptor
Fiddler
Finisher
Giganta
Grand Director
Growing Man
Heat Wave
Hush
Impulse
Invincible
Juggernaut
Lock-Up
Man of Miracles
Martian Manhunter
Masked Marauder
Mister Alpha
Mister Terrific
Night Nurse
Nightcrawler
Nightmask
Overdrive
Peek-a-Boo
Piledriver
Plastic Man
Polka Dot Man
Power Girl
Prankster
Prowler
Punisher
Puppet Master
Rainbow Raider
Rampage
Rhino
Ringmaster
Scream
Screwball
Shaggy Man
Shredder
Shrinking Violet
Smasher
Spawn
Speed Demon
Spore
Sugar Man
Supergirl
Superman
Sweet Boy
Taskmaster
Ten-Eyed Man
Toyman
Vandal Savage
Violator
White Rabbit
Wonder Man
Wonder Woman
What other names should be on this shameful and terrible list? As always, please let me know. And with that, this blog post is brought to a close.
Thanks once again for reading, following, and subscribing to Some Geek Told Me. I usually end my blog posts with my moronic little phrase of remembering to walk your dog and to read a banned book, but today, my ending is different, because some people in authority have forgotten something, and it’s simple to remember.
If Russia stops fighting, there will be no more war. If Ukraine stops fighting, there will be no more Ukraine.
From the bottom of my geek-infused soul, Slava Ukraini.
Take care and I’ll see you next week, for the return of the Solar System’s worst tour.
SOME GEEK TOLD ME 
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