Category: People

The KKK and their unintentional positive impacts

On By somegeektoldme@gmail.comIn History, People

I want to talk about the Ku Klux Klan. Why? Well, I mentioned them in my blog introduction, a long time ago. I said, “I want to showcase and discuss some of my personal heroes and icons, people that I think have made a positive impact on me; but also shaped and changed the world for the better. Remember, I did say I’m a geek. However, I do want to also highlight people or groups that have had the opposite effect; the Ku Klux Klan, I’m looking at you.”

I recently realised, that I still hadn’t discussed them, so I thought it’s time I rectified that. Now I am not going to explain the history and origins of that happy little sunshine group known as the KKK, because I feel we all understand that their message is filled with racism, violence, bigotry, prejudice, and stupidity.

And if you have never heard of the KKK; firstly, congratulations; secondly, do yourself a favour and look them up.

SPOLIER ALERT: The KKK suck.

Image by Here and now, unfortunately, ends my journey on Pixabay from Pixabay

So what can be said about the KKK, that has not already been said before? People a lot smarter than me have made movies and documentaries exploring the KKK, in fictional and non-fictional contexts; and they have also written books concerning the KKK’s various negative impacts on history and society.

What can a white guy, living in the South Pacific, with the craziest eyebrows, this side of the 1984 Dune’s version of Thufir Hawat, add to the discourse? How about the KKK having three unintentional positive impacts on global society?

Now before you decided to stop reading this blog, please continue and have a little faith in where I’m going with this.

The first unintentional positive impact the KKK have had on our lives, is the power to unite people against them. Collective villains are easy to dislike or hate; Daleks, The Borg, Zombies, Nazis, and the list could go on. The KKK are a very easy target for people’s displeasure, which they deserve 100%.

The extremely badly written point I’m trying to make here, is that the majority of people dislike them. Whether you’re from left or right wing politics, and everything in between; straight or LBGTQ+; 15 or 95 years old; white or black, and everything in between; everybody across the different groups seem to all have one similar trait: they all dislike the KKK.

To unite people across society, and to share the same annoyance of the KKK, is truly positive. It must take a special group of fools, to piss off nearly everybody.

For the next positive impact, it’s all displaying the best and brightest of the white supremacy group. By this I mean, they are promoting the need for accurate spelling. What am I talking about? Well, the correct spelling of the word klan in English, is actually clan. So what the KKK have been doing, is running around, spewing out white supremacy garbage; but the entire time, one of the three words in their actual name, has been spelt incorrectly.

Whether this spelling was done intentional or someone down the line, thought it would be a great idea; the fact remains, the KKK spell clan, as klan. The unintentional positive impact is highlighting the need for correct spelling and the importance of education. Stay in school and do your homework; go Team Education!

The third reason is actually quite easy to identify: their clothes make them look like ghosts. Now I personally don’t know any ghosts, so I have no idea whether they would be alright being linked to the KKK or not. It does make me think though, what would happen if ghosts were asked about their connection to the KKK? Their response would be, “Hell no, they have nothing to do with us. Don’t you dare group those losers with us!”

I think there are very few things as funny, as grown men dressing up in sheets, explaining how superior they are, while others are not. This is the unintentional positive impact: making people smile and laughing at you, while you walk around looking like a broke arse ghost, with a racism addiction.

There you have it, three unintentional positive impacts the KKK with given us; because everything else they have given us, has been crap.

Anyway, I have to go; my children are fighting over imaginary cupcakes. Again. Thanks for reading and I’ll see you next week.

Being a bloke in an industry largely dominated by women

On By somegeektoldme@gmail.comIn People

I want to talk about being a guy and working in an industry dominated by women. Why? Because I have been doing that for 12 years, and a work colleague suggested I write about it.

It’s been an interesting 12 years and I have learnt that there are both positive and negative sides to being surrounded by females.

Whenever I meet somebody new and they ask the inevitable, “So what do you do for work?”, 100% of the people are surprised with my answer. Everyone always has follow up questions and they want to know more, but honestly it’s not even that interesting. Jobs should not have genders, unless you have the type of job that you use your genitals for; which I do not.

Image by Ronile from Pixabay

I spend a lot of my work week listening to my co-workers chat about clothes, haircuts, small town gossip and TV shows, I have no knowledge of. I find it hard to join in these conversations, as I wear the same black cargo pants every day.1 On work days, I wear my uniform shirt and on the weekends, I wear various geeky t-shirts that my wife buys me for every anniversary, birthday or Christmas. I am not the person to ask for fashion tips or to include in any fashion related conversation.

I have had the same haircut for the past 15 years. Short back and sides and slightly longer on top, cut with clippers by a barber or my lovely wife. The only difference in my haircut, has been the amount of grey hairs slowly taking over as I get older. Personally, I blame this solely on fatherhood and the stress of refereeing my two unmatured clones on a daily basis.

Also, I didn’t grow up in the town I live in currently; I’m not even from the same district. But most of my co-workers were born and raised here, so they all know everyone and everyone’s business. So when they talk about Bob’s new girlfriend, Sue, who was married to that doctor, but got divorced because her mother-in-law crashed their boat at the lake, 4 years ago; I AM CLUELESS. I don’t even know what lake they are referring to. There are so many, which one are you talking about?!

Reality TV shows seem to be standard office conversation, but no matter how hard I try, I just don’t understand the shows. Perhaps I need to take a course, “Reality TV for Dummies” or something similar. Whenever I hear about, “So and so got booted off” or “Did you see that girl, got to go through?“, I know I can’t add anything to the conversation.

So what do I talk to my co-workers about? Well other than work, I like it when someone asks me science, history or sport questions. It makes me feel glad I took the time to remember the 967,886,430,774 useless facts, rattling around in my big, ugly head. I do have to be careful when answering questions, partly because I don’t want people to think that I believe I’m superior or a know it all. But mostly I don’t want to be accused of mansplaining.

I like working with women when it comes to a problem-solving situation, as they offer a different perspective, I wouldn’t have thought of otherwise. They are very detail oriented, which works well, as I’m usually oblivious when it comes to the finer points. To be honest, most of it is pretty positive, although there have been the odd few occasions where I have experienced sexism.

Like when my co-workers hung a nude male firefighter calendar in the staffroom; if I was to hang the straight male equivalent, I’m 100% sure it would be frowned upon! Or when clients assume I’m gay and then I have to somehow try and mention that I have a wife, in a non-obvious way.2

Clients can be great though, especially at Christmas when they give my co-workers all the same generic girly gift, but they go out of their way to get me something more neutral.

I also think I have forgotten how to speak to other men. I used to play football every weekend, but haven’t for the last two years; so now 98% of the conversations I have are with women, and I get tongue tied when I have to speak to anyone else. Not that I’m especially chatty anyway.

I think that seeing a man do a stereotypical female job seems weird to people, because that is not what you see in the media. There are always movies, TV shows, books and adverts, showing women doing the “male” jobs, which is so important for young girls and boys to see those women out being firefighters, builders and CEO’s. However men being nurses, caregivers or secretaries, is hardly ever shown in media and if it is, that character is usually the butt of a joke.

I think that there are probably many men in my situation and that my story is neither interesting nor unique, it’s all about representation.

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

1 Black shorts for summer, though. Sweet!

2 The joys of living in a conservative country.

Misadventures in Internet Dating

On By somegeektoldme@gmail.comIn People

I want to talk about first dates and internet dating. Why? A friend of mine went on a first date recently and it got me thinking about some of the first dates, I’ve been on. Some were good, some were ok, and some were just shockers.1

Image by athree23 from Pixabay

There were two first dates that I went on, that I can look back on them now and laugh; well try to laugh. This was about 11-12 years ago, and I had joined two dating sites. The reason I joined was because I didn’t travel in the same social circles of single women, and making eye contact with females at the comic shop was vastly discouraged.

I liked internet dating, but I also disliked it for probably the same amount of reasons; I mean, I’m a geek and I wanted to discuss geek related things, but I didn’t want to bore women to death. An example of this, was when after chatting to one woman on a dating site, we agreed to meet at one of my favourite bars.

We were talking about music, movies and television shows, which was great. She asked me what television shows I liked, and I rattled off a few, including Doctor Who. Granted, this was her own fault, but she mentioned that she had heard of the show, but she had never watched it and asked me to explain it.

I’m going to be honest with you, I have no idea how long I talked about Doctor Who for. It could have been 2 minutes or 20 minutes2, but at some point after I allowed unbridled geek culture to fall out of my mouth, I noticed the glazed look in her eyes. I had discussed a two-hearted alien with regeneration capabilities, that travels through space and time in a stolen box; on a first date. Amateur.3

Another classic first date was when I had been chatting to one particular woman for a couple of weeks, so we decided to meet up. Now I’m going to call this woman Lois, purely to make the story entertaining and flow. Lois suggested that we meet at the casino on Thursday night, which was fine by me.

At the time, I lived in the CBD, so the casino was only a 15 minute walk for me. Now I need to point something out; when I would meet someone for a first date, it was usually at a cafe, bar or restaurant. I had never agreed to meet anyone at the casino before, so this really should have been a red flag for me.

When I arrived at the casino, I walked through the main doors, then preceded to go up the stairs to the main foyer, where we had agreed to meet. I was standing there for a few minutes with no one around. It was about this time, my Spidey-Sense was going off.

I was starting to wonder if she could see me and if I’ve been stood up. I decided to wait one more minute then leave, when I heard my name being called. I turned around and there was Lois walking towards me. We introduced ourselves, which was about the same time, when I noticed something was very odd about Lois.

It could have been my imagination, but I was getting the distinct impression that she was drunk. We had agreed to meet at 6:30 pm, so the notion of someone being drunk at that time, as well as being on a first date, was extremely weird.

Now we’re standing in the middle of the foyer, still talking; we haven’t moved to the bar. It was at that time that I finally noticed that Lois had a glass of wine in her right hand, and her phone was in her left.

Lois then started apologising about the situation, which went something like this: Earlier on that day, someone offered to buy Lois’ business. The business was a hair cutting salon and Lois was quite surprised about this, because it wasn’t for sale.

She had explained to me that this particular person had offered a huge amount of money for the business, but there was a catch; she needed to make a decision before 7.00 pm that day. I asked her why was it such a short deadline?; why wasn’t she given more time to think about it?

The answer went along the lines of the businessman liked to buy and own hair-dressing salons, so they can join his hair-dressing empire. He needed to make the deal as fast as possible, because he was flying back to Auckland the next day.

I’m hearing this story and my Spidey-Sense has just gone off again. I’m thinking this is situation is bonkers; I don’t know what I’ve stepped into here, but this just seems mental.

Now the apology part was the fact that she was drunk. Lois told me that she was so stressed about her decision, that she needed to drink to think about the problem. The issue was that she said it’s a huge amount of money and with that money, she could invest in another businesses or go overseas or do whatever she wanted to do. However she went on to explain, that she previously had no intention of selling the business, because it was doing so well.

This was the conundrum; to sell or not to sell, but the answer was to drink.

I was thinking about what would I do if I was in her position, and someone had offered to buy my business extremely quickly for a huge amount of money. I would probably have a couple of drinks and be stressed about it too.

However, the one factor in this whole equation I didn’t understand, was that why she had agreed to go on this date with me. I mean, Lois could have said she couldn’t make it and she’s really sorry. That would have been ok. But I didn’t understand why she went through with the date, if she had all these personal issues happening to her.

I know personal issues can happen to anybody, at any time. I understand that and I can probably relate to that, but it was the fact that the sale of your business would be extremely important.

However badly the date was going, it was going to get worse. As Lois has been telling me about her situation, her phone started ringing. She looked at it and said “Oh no. I’m really sorry, but I’ve got to take this call.” So Lois walked off to the side to have a conversation. I assumed it was the businessman, whom was inquiring about the business proposal. Oh how wrong I was, I was so, so wrong!

As I was standing there, Lois began shouting. Not just myself, but other people around her could tell she was in a very heated argument. At this time, I was thinking if this was the businessman, it can’t be going well.

Four minutes go by, and Lois ends the phone call. She walks over to me to give another apology. Lois was apologising for the conversation, she just had with her boyfriend. Yes, her boyfriend.

Lois went on to say that he gets like this, as in jealous and angry; when she goes on dates with other men. It’s cliche to say, but it was at that precise time when I realised what a train wreck of a night this was turning into.

Lois apologises and informs me that her boyfriend is going to be here in under 10 minutes, to pick her up and take her home. Now I hear this and I’m thinking that I need to leave. I need to go home. This is a disaster, so cut your losses and go home.

The problem was that I felt like I was a character in the story, and I wanted to see how this would play out. I mean, this was just nonsense. It was just crazy. I just wanted to go home, but there was another part of me, that was quite fascinated with this train wreck of a night, that I needed to see how it would end.

So with that, the die was cast and I decided to stay. I realised I haven’t done anything wrong, I had no idea Lois had a boyfriend. So to me, I’m in the clear and the thing was, if the boyfriend was going to start anything or do anything to me, I felt I was going to be ok, because there were security guards everywhere. It was a casino after all.

So we talked in the foyer about jobs and interests, basically waiting for the boyfriend to arrive. I think it was about 15 minutes later when he appeared. When he turned up, I could tell it was him, because I saw a guy coming up the stairs and he looked pissed. It was like I was staring at an angry cartoon character, that had been brought to life.

After completing a quick scan of the foyer, the boyfriend walked straight towards us. I mentioned to Lois that it looked like her boyfriend was here. She turned around and quickly walked towards him. What happened next with absolutely insane.

The two of them started yelling and swearing at each other. The argument escalated extremely quickly, because after 45 seconds, there are two security guards talking to them.

While this was unravelling, I was still standing there, watching this apocalyptic mess. After yelling at each other, Lois and the boyfriend started yelling at the security guards, and it was at this point, more security guards were called over. The result was both of them were escorted out of the casino. I stood there watching the whole thing, not fully believing or accepting what had just happened.

After ordering a bourbon and cola, and drinking that beautiful reward, I decided that I was going home. When I got there, I told my flatmate all about it, to which she laughed and said she had a prediction for me.

She said that she knew a few people like Lois, and then she predicted that the next day, I was going to be contacted by Lois to arrange a second date. I told her that was just mental and that wasn’t going to happen, to the extent we bet some house cleaning duties on it.

And so, the next day I received an email from Lois apologising for the previous night. She was very sorry that we didn’t get to talk more, but she was hoping we could arrange another date. When I was reading the email, I wasn’t thinking of how I was politely going to say no, but the idea of the extra household cleaning duties I was going to have to do now.

I hope this was entertaining for you, because it’s funny to me now. Do you have any funny experiences through internet dating? If you do, please let me know. Thanks for reading and I’ll see you in a few days.

1 I need to point out, for all I know, I’m one of the world’s worst first daters.

2 Time is very much relative.

3 My wife can actually handle my geek rants. That’s why she’s my wife.

Lockdown Edition: Part 5

On By somegeektoldme@gmail.comIn People, Science

I want to talk about face masks. Why? Because after at least 18 months, a face mask of all things, has become a political symbol. The thing is, you already know this. You’ve read about it, heard about it, and quite honestly have talked about it.

All around the globe, mask wearing has been a hot button subject, and I feel a lot of the discussions about them has been centred on the science fact vs science fantasy debate. Do masks actually work? By wearing a mask, can it reduce the risk of you contracting COVID-19? The answer to both of these questions is yes.

There are several myths surrounding the COVID-19 vaccines, which I took apart in my previous blogs. It’s interesting to note that a lot of anti-vaxxers, are also against wearing face masks; whether it’s for religious, political, moral or scientific reasons. So now it’s time for some mask wearing facts!

Image by Please support me! Thank you! from Pixabay

FACT 1: Wearing a mask, is one of the best ways to reduce the spread of COVID-19.

FACT 2: You can not reinfect yourself with COVID-19, by wearing a mask.

FACT 3: Wearing a face mask, does not decrease your oxygen levels.

FACT 4: Even if you don’t have any COVID-19 symptoms, you should still wear a mask.

FACT 5: You don’t need to mock and ridicule anybody, for wearing a face mask.

FACT 6: COVID-19 precautions like hand washing and social distancing, should still be used along with mask wearing.

FACT 7: Cloth face masks can still protect you from COVID-19.

FACT 8: Your carbon dioxide levels will not increase, when using a face mask.

FACT 9: Wearing a face mask, protects the wearer and the people around them.

FACT 10: Wearing a face mask, will not weaken your immune system.

FACT 11: By wearing a face mask, does not mean you will develop pneumonia.

FACT 12: A child wearing a face mask, is not abuse; it’s actually sensible parenting.

FACT 13: A face mask is only effective, as long your nose and mouth are covered.

FACT 14: Even if you are vaccinated, you should still wear a mask.

FACT 15: You don’t need to wear a face mask while exercising.

FACT 16: As the designated shopper for my house, I had the joy of going to the supermarket during lockdown. While I was there, I noticed a lot of single guys; with their white bread, pies and beer filled trollies, testing out a new flirting technique: “Hey, I like your mask,” hoping a conversation could flow from there.

As opening lines go, it’s better than, “Did it hurt when you fell from heaven, because you’re an angel,” but not as good as, “Falling in love with you takes less time than my DNA takes to replicate.”

If you have the opportunity to wear a mask, please do it. Not just for yourself, but for the people around you. The science behind face masks is rock solid, so please be brave and wear a face mask.

We are currently at Level 2 with our national lockdown, with some other regions still at the highest level, which is Level 4. That being the case, this is my last lockdown post, until we have another one. Maybe. Until then, I’ll return to my regular scheduled programming of geeky content.

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 4

On By somegeektoldme@gmail.comIn People, Science

We are still in lockdown currently in New Zealand, though we are slowly moving down the levels. Sadly, this means that COVID-19 vaccine myths are still floating around on social media and across the dinner table. In my last blog, I looked at some of the insanity surrounding five COVID-19 vaccine myths, so today I aim to finish what I started with five more.

Image by hakan german from Pixabay

Myth 6: The COVID-19 vaccine is making people magnetic.

Reality: I want you to really think about this; people are claiming that a vaccine is giving them magnetic powers. Now if Magento or Doctor Polaris were claiming this, my reply would be, “How could you tell?”

Human magnetism; it sounds like the next step in human evolution, but it’s not. There have been numerous people involved with articles, photographs and video footage, around this subject. They are claiming that after they have received the COVID-19 vaccine (I don’t think it’s been cleared up which one they are talking about), metal objects like phones, spoons, knives, forks, etc, can now stick to their body.

I saw some hilarious footage in America, with people standing up in court to testify that the COVID-19 vaccine had made them magnetic, because of microchips in the vaccine or some other insane reason.

Let’s clear this up quickly, not a single case of magnetism has been found, by someone receiving the COVID-19 vaccine. It’s not possible.

To clarify:

  • There are no metallic, microelectronics or magnetic materials in the vaccines.
  • There is nothing in the vaccine that can produce the electromagnetic force, at the vaccination point or in your body.
  • A dose of the COVID-19 vaccine is usually less than a millilitre, which means the shot is too small to carry a microchip.
  • You have iron in your blood, but it’s not ferromagnetic; which means it’s not receptive to magnetism. This means it can’t build or interact with an electromagnetic force field.
  • If you were a human magnet, only steel or iron objects would be an attracted to your body, not silver ones, like in the anti-vaxxer videos.

To me, this myth is utter garbage, so please ignore it.

Myth 7: The COVID-19 vaccine makes women infertile.

Reality: The old anti-vaxxer crazy train, is breaking new ground now. Apparently, thousands of women across the world, have been made infertile by receiving the COVID-19 vaccine; in addition to the claim that a woman could be made infertile, simply by standing next to a vaccinated person. Really?

I believe these misinformed people think that while different drug companies have been developing the vaccines, they never thought about testing pregnant women?! Really?

Throughout the different vaccine trials and phases, pregnant women, women that are trying to conceive and those that are breastfeeding were studied, and no adverse effects on fertility were seen. Source: Celine Gounder, an infectious disease specialist at NYU and Bellevue Hospital.

The COVID-19 vaccine does not cause infertility in women. If it did, it would not have been approved by medical authorities for public use.

Myth 8: The COVID-19 vaccine gives you COVID-19.

Reality: Anti-vaxxers want you to believe that by receiving the COVID-19 vaccine, you are actually having the virus injected into you, so then, you’ll get sick.

Some COVID-19 vaccines do contain an inactivated or weakened version of the virus, to stimulate your immune system, however you can’t catch COVID-19 from this. mRNA vaccines like Pfizer, do not have any live or dead strains of COVID-19. You can not contract COVID-19 from a COVID-19 vaccine. This is nonsense, once again.

Myth 9: People that are vaccinated are catching COVID-19, proving the vaccines don’t work.

Reality: Let’s break this statement down; firstly, the notion that some people that have been partly or fully vaccinated, have contracted COVID-19, is actually true. It is.

However the problem with this is not calling the efficacy of the vaccines into question, but rather explaining how vaccinated people can contract COVID-19. These people are called breakthrough cases, and the reasons why this happens, can be quite varied.

No vaccine is 100% proof, so the vaccine is different from one person to the next, in terms of their immune system and immune response. Your immune response can be weakened or boosted by medications, age and overall health, and people with a weakened immune system, do have a higher chance of becoming a breakthrough case.

Having a COVID-19 vaccine does not make you 100% bullet proof against COVID-19, but it can lower the risks of you being infected, supported by social distancing, mask wearing, wash handing and using sanitisers. The largest group in the community that has the greatest risk for transmission for the virus are the unvaccinated. It’s a simple, but tragic fact.

If 100 people were exposed to COVID-19, it means that 80-90 vaccinated people, would not get any symptoms, but 10-20 people may get symptoms, with 5 people needing hospitalisation. The COVID-19 vaccines actually do work.

Myth 10: People are dying after receiving the COVID-19 vaccines.

Reality: It’s true, there has been reports of some people that have received the COVID-19 vaccine have died, but correlation doesn’t equal causation. An example of this issue is the serial killer scenario. Let’s say serial killers prefer to kill people during summer or hotter months. This might mean, that during this period serial killers would eat ice cream as a treat; therefore we can link serial killers and ice cream! Eating ice cream turns you into a serial killer!

But eating ice cream does not turn you into a serial killer, just the same as people dying after their vaccination, does not mean the vaccine killed them. You could discover that 500 people were vaccinated over 24 hours in your home town. After a week, you track them all down to gauge the effects of the vaccination, only to discover that 5 people have died.

You assume that the one thing they all had in common was the vaccination, so you assume that the vaccine killed them, because they died after the vaccination was given to them. However, you later learn that two people were killed in car accident, one person had a heart attack, one person drowned and one person was shot.

It’s true, all five people died after receiving the COVID-19 vaccine, but the vaccine did not kill them. They could have died for any reason, especially if there was an underling health issue. Correlation does not equal causation.

Conclusion: Vaccinations, in my small and humble opinion, could quite possibly be the single greatest invention in human history and also the world’s best tool to eradicate diseases, that cause avoidable deaths in children and adults.

Basically, you don’t get the COVID-19 vaccine for yourself; you get it for your grandparents, your children, the people that are immune compromised or people for other medical reasons, that can not take the vaccine. You get the vaccine to protect other people, like others are doing it for you. By protecting other people, you protect yourself. Any 1980’s Saturday morning cartoon character could tell you that.

I received my first COVID-19 vaccination on Sunday 5th September, which was Father’s Day. It was a Father’s Day present, but it wasn’t for me; it was for UMC1 and UMC2. Also, I have not gained magnetic powers; big surprise there!

If you are unsure about the vaccine, please go and talk to your doctor about your vaccine concerns. It’s alright to have concerns about the vaccine, but please talk to a medical professional about it.

I think the COVID-19 vaccines are miracles, but that’s just my geeky opinion. For the next blog, I’m going to debunk the myths surrounding masks, because the anti-vaxxers are not staying in their lane.

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 3

On By somegeektoldme@gmail.comIn People, Science

I want to talk about COVID-19 vaccines. Why? Because currently in New Zealand, just like many other countries around the globe, we are facing a SARS-CoV-2 Delta variant or Delta Variant outbreak. Our vaccinations rates have been low, due to the staggered rollout, but the good news is that they are increasing every day. I’m booked in for my first of two vaccinations on Sunday 5th September, so I’m actually excited about this.1

At the time of writing this blog, our rates are as such:

Source: Department of Health, New Zealand Government

Like I said, these rates are low, however they are getting better. Now for the bad news (dramatic music would play here), the number of anti-vaxxers are growing, locally and nationally. When I went to a clinic, a few months ago for my yearly influenza vaccination, I got chatting to one of doctors about the COVID-19 vaccine rollout and its progress for the region.

The doctor told me that it was not going well, because of the large number of anti-vaxxers that were campaigning against the vaccine. The doctor also said the anti-vaxxers’ online misinformation, along with their protests and meetings, were placing seeds of doubt into people’s minds, thus making them more hesitant about receiving the vaccine.

The doctor added that the DHB (District Health Board) were going to have to find a way to push back against the anti-vaxxers, otherwise hundreds, if not thousands of people, will refuse to receive the vaccine, which will put more people at risk.

I will be honest with you; anti-vaxxers are in my top five worse conspiracy theorists, along with flat earthers, evolution deniers, climate change deniers and holocaust deniers. They upset me. Misinformation and disinformation about the COVID-19 vaccine seem to be on the rise in New Zealand and throughout the world, so I wanted clear up some myths and misconceptions about the vaccine.

I’ll tackle five myths in this blog and another five myths in the next blog, because my kids are asking if I can play their 500th game of Hide-in-Seek with them. I mean, who would want to write a blog about COVID-19 vaccines, when you could be playing Hide-in-Seek in lockdown for the 500th time?!

Image by torstensimon from Pixabay

Myth 1: There is only one COVID-19 vaccine.

Reality: There are several COVID-19 vaccines that have been developed by different companies. They include Pfizer/BioNTech, AstraZeneca, Moderna, Janssen, Covaxin, and Novavax to name a few. New Zealand is primarily using the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine.

Myth 2: The vaccine’s side effects are terrible and it’s not safe.

Reality: To start with, no medicine, drug or vaccine is 100% safe for 100% of the population. People can have different rare side effects or reactions to certain medicine, while other people do not. Every medicine that you take is a risk, but you take a risk every time you drive a car, eat an apple or walk across the road. There are risks with any medicine or vaccines, but the risks always outweigh the benefits.

The best or worse example of this, is the late great, Bruce Lee. He died from an edema in the brain, caused by having a reaction with Equagesic, a prescription painkiller, which contained both aspirin and the tranquilizer meprobamate.

Some common side effects of the COVID-19 vaccine include:

  • pain or swelling at the injection site
  • feeling tired or fatigued
  • headache
  • muscle aches
  • chills
  • joint pain
  • fever
  • redness at the injection site
  • nausea

Source: Department of Health, New Zealand Government

In the clinical trials, uncommon side effects were reported in every 1 in 100 to 1 in 1,000 people. These include:

  • enlarged lymph nodes
  • feeling unwell
  • pain in limb
  • insomnia
  • itching at injection site

Source: Department of Health, New Zealand Government

For rare side effects, temporary one-sided facial drooping and temporary inflammation of the heart wall (myocarditis) have been reported as rare side effects, affecting every 1 in 1,000 to 1 in 10,000 people.

Source: Department of Health, New Zealand Government

Myth 3: The vaccine has been rushed and has not been tested.

Reality: It’s unfair to say these vaccines have been rushed; it’s more like they have been fast tracked. The researchers and scientists that have developed the different vaccines, have not cut corners in their development, in terms of safety.

Research funds were released for such a crisis, which has meant vaccine development was given a top priority for the world’s population. Even if some company is reckless with their vaccine development, the vaccine still has to pass a country’s vaccine medical authority, which is usually an organisation or agency, and not a business.

For New Zealand, that agency is Medsafe, and the Pfizer/BioNTech has met their standards and passed. Independent studies have researched the vaccines through trials and phases, and they will continue to be studied for safety and effectiveness.

Myth 4: The vaccine has microchips in it, so the government can track you.

Reality: Not a single COVID-19 vaccine has been developed to contain microchips, to track the public. Seriously, this is absurd. Governments and large technology companies don’t need to track us, by inserting microchips into vaccines; they are already tracking you through your smartphone and computer.

Myth 5: The vaccine can change your DNA.

Reality: No COVID-19 vaccine can rewrite or change your DNA. The various vaccines have been developed in different ways.

  • Inactivated or weakened virus vaccines, which use a form of the virus that has been inactivated or weakened so it doesn’t cause disease, but still generates an immune response. (Covaxin)
  • Protein-based vaccines, which use harmless fragments of proteins or protein shells that mimic the COVID-19 virus to safely generate an immune response.
  • Viral vector vaccines, which use a safe virus that cannot cause disease but serves as a platform to produce coronavirus proteins to generate an immune response. (AstraZeneca and Janssen).
  • RNA and DNA vaccines, a cutting-edge approach that uses genetically engineered RNA or DNA to generate a protein that itself safely prompts an immune response. (Pfizer/BioNTech, Moderna and Novavax).

Source: World Health Organization

This DNA changing myth has spread from the vaccines using RNA (mRNA) like Pfizer/BioNTech, Moderna and Novavax. Also known as Deoxyribonucleic acid, DNA is a molecule that resides in the nucleus of cells. It contains coded information that regulates the maintenance and growth of living organisms; and it’s the shape of a double helix.

mRNA vaccines send instructions to your body, to create an immune response to fight COVID-19. At no point does the mRNA vaccines interact or affect your DNA; it’s physically impossible. The mRNA vaccine teaches your cell on how to create special proteins that activate your immune system; it never enters the nucleus of the cell, where DNA is stored.

Now I’ll tackle the remaining five myths about the COVID-19 vaccine in the next blog post.

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!

1 I’m a geek, so what would you expect?

Lockdown Edition: Part 2

On 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.

Image by J Garget from Pixabay

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 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.

Image by Klaus Hausmann from Pixabay

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!

15 things that have outlived the Nazis

On 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!

Parent life: Farts, socks and lack of sleep

On By somegeektoldme@gmail.comIn Children, People

I want to talk about being a parent. Why? Because it’s the hardest and happiest job I have ever had and I also have it for the rest of my life.

Now for the people out there that actually read this blog; firstly I am very grateful. Secondly, some of you may actually be parents, or thinking about becoming parents. I don’t know if I can offer any life hacks with this, except talking about my experiences.

My experiences as a parent, are also as a father. This means I have been called “Da-da, Dud-dud, Dad-eee, Daddy, Dad and Oh no, I meant the other one!” I don’t know about you, but I walk around with a lot of emotions and thoughts, relating to being a parent and my children. UMC1 is now six and attends primary school, while UMC2 is three and goes with my wife to Playcentre; which is an ECE learning centre, but it’s run by parents.

With UMC1 and UMC2, we try to raise them the same, but that’s not really possible. Because of this, parent life has proved to be…well, interesting. There have been several conversations and incidents that are seared into my memory involving my kids. Conversations that I never thought I would be having with another human being, but equally experiencing a truly insane moment with my children.

To start the ball rolling, do you know what a meconium is? Basically it’s a newborn baby’s first poo, which is a dark green colour. At the birth of my first son, I wore a Superman t-shirt at the hospital, because, well, I’m a geek. Anyway, after UMC1 was born and he had a cuddle with his Mum, I was allowed a turn.

We all forgot about the meconium, so I was horrified when it happens. However my wife, midwife and nurse thought it was hilarious. I had to wash the Superman t-shirt when I got home, to remove the kryptonite infused poo. Twice. Welcome to parenthood, Daddy!

The universe was listening and watching that day, because 3 years later, UMC2 relieved his meconium on my wife. He enjoys hearing the story about the time he did a poo on Mummy.

Let’s now look at some unique conversations that only a parent could experience.

One conversation went like this:

UMC1: Daddy, can you sell people?

Me: Well, you can sell your time to people. That’s what work is. You trade or sell your time to other people for a job and they give you money. You can do that. But no, you can’t actually sell a person, because you can’t own a person. There are laws about this, a person can’t own another person, so you can’t sell them.

UMC1: Ok, but what if they are really annoying?

Me: Oh, I get it. Let’s clear this up right now. We are not selling your brother, alright? We are not getting rid of him. He’s a part of this family, he’s your brother, we are not selling him. Ok? Whatever the problem is, we can sort it out.

UMC1: It wouldn’t work out, so that’s ok.

Me: What do you mean?

UMC1: UMC2 is useless, no one would give him a job anyway.

That was a situation where I didn’t know if I should laugh or cry.

UMC2 is quite into threats at the moment. By this I mean if you ask him to do something that he doesn’t want to do, he may threaten that he’s going to “…put you in the rubbish bin, so you’ll eat garbage” or my favourite is when he doesn’t like what he is hearing, so he will say to me “Put your words back in your mouth.”

When he is doing a jiggly dance and refusing to go to the toilet, he sometimes threatens that he’s never going to poo ever again. It’s very difficult to keep a straight face when this occurs.

There is also another aspect of parental life that nobody ever warned me about: farts. An example of this is when UMC1 is sits on me and farts. Once UMC1’s fart was so powerful, not only could I smell it and hear it, I could also feel it. I mean, it was like my leg had been dipped into the Bog of Eternal Stench.

Another time, UMC2 was sitting on my head while wrestling, then he decided to fart on my head. Has anybody ever does this to you? It’s a horrible feeling, especially when UMC2 rolled off my head and started running to the toilet, while clutching his bottom and shouting back to me, that he does not need to go to the toilet. Stinkor and UMC2 have a lot in common.

Image by Ri Butov from Pixabay

Socks are proving to be an ongoing issue in our house; or should I say missing socks. I would put some socks and gumboot/shoes on UMC2, then strap him into his car seat. By the time I have walked around to the other side of the car; opened the door; sat down; closed the door and put my seat belt on; all of UMC2’s socks and footwear are off. Seriously, they are all off! His normal excuse is that his feet were melting. It’s like he’s been training with Mister Miracle, the way he can escape his socks.

Also when folding the washing, I find socks that belong to the boys, but they have no partners. This is not a new problem to the world, however would Black Panther or Wonder Woman ever have this problem? The frustrating thing is that I can usually find the missing sock later on, however they are usually under a bed, behind a door, in the toy tub, in the dog’s Fortress of Solitude, out the dog door, behind the couch or in the firewood basket. I feel like I’m Lara Croft searching for treasure in my own home.

Which leads us to lack of sleep. I remember years ago and before I had children, someone suggested that I sleep as much as I could, because I wouldn’t have another good night’s sleep for 18 years. I smiled and laughed at this. Oh, I was very naive and stupid.

I also believe UMC2 may have superhuman powers. The reason is because before my wife and I go to bed, someone always checks on the boys, because they share a room. Once in bed, we fall asleep; however at some point in the early morning, I would wake up and discover UMC2 has teleported and is fast asleep between my wife and myself. He can neither climb into our bed, as quiet as a ninja, without disturbing anyone and goes to sleep or he can just teleport. I choose to believe he can teleport.

Try and imagine also, you are lying in bed asleep, when someone starts kicking your head and your body, because apparently they don’t have enough room in the bed, even though they are lying sideways or pretending to be a starfish.

And somehow it’s my fault, UMC2 will point out, that he can’t sleep because 1.) I am breathing too loudly, so I need to stop breathing and 2.) He doesn’t have enough room, so I should leave the bed and sleep outside.

Or UMC1 is awake and reciting different songs from school or experimenting with making different emergency vehicles sirens. Then later on at work, colleagues have to ask why I am having energy drinks for my morning break: it’s easy, my children believe that sleep is for the weak and I am very, very weak.

All and all, it’s fun. The insanity of living with two small people that believe the height of comedy, is the smell of a dog that has rolled on a dead crab or the highest level of cuisine, is a plate of hash browns and nuggets; means as a parent, you need to remember to laugh at the crazy parts. Just don’t let your children see you laughing at what they’ve done, otherwise they will keep on doing it, until someone gets hurts or gets told off. Whatever happens first.

Anyway, thank you for reading and I’ll see you next week.