Gweilo Rant

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UNITED STATES - NBA: When Multi-Millionaire Superstars Combat Social Injustice

UNITED STATES – NBA: When Multi-Millionaire Superstars Combat Social Injustice

LeBron James wearing a T-Shirt stating “I can’t breathe”. Photo: Rich Kane.

On 30 July 2020, the 2019-2020 season of the National Basketball Association (NBA) resumed. Anyone who follows the NBA knows that, usually, the Finals, which mark the end of the NBA season, are played between Early and Mid-June. However, in Early-2020, the NBA season, similarly to all sports competitions, was put on…

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COVID-19 - Hong Kong's Third Wave: Further Evidence Your Face Mask Is Useless

COVID-19 – Hong Kong’s Third Wave: Further Evidence Your Face Mask Is Useless

People Wear Face Masks on the MTR (Subway) During the Covid-19 Pandemic in Hong Kong. Photo: Reuters.

In the first half of 2020, I have posted numerous articles proving the uselessness of the face mask in the general publicagainst Covid-19. Of course, such documented and researched claim didn’t go unnoticed and I received countless messages telling me that the face mask, on the contrary, was…

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THE WEST - Are Anti-Racists (Unconsciously) White Supremacists?

THE WEST – Are Anti-Racists (Unconsciously) White Supremacists?

Anti-Racist Protestors Following the Murder of George Floyd. Vancouver, Canada. 5 June 2020. Photo: Jonathan Hayward.

We have seen it countless times. Often, opposites are closer than it may seem. Communism and Fascism bear more in common than appears at first glance. The most inflexible homophobes are sometimes homosexuals in denial. Anti-racism and its opposite, racism, follow the trend. In…

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THE WEST – The Laughing Stock of the World

THE WEST – The Laughing Stock of the World

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau takes a knee at Black Lives Matter demonstration on Parliament Hill. Ottawa, Canada. 6 June 2020. Source: CNN.

Following the murder of a black man at the hands of the police in Minneapolis, in the United States, the West stood up as one man to denounce… Well, I am not sure what they are denouncing exactly. Police brutality? Racism? White privilege in…

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UNITED STATES - Does Racism Kill African-Americans? Figures Tell a Different Story.

UNITED STATES – Does Racism Kill African-Americans? Figures Tell a Different Story.

Protesters commemorate the 5 year anniversary of Mike Brown’s death by Ferguson Police. Manhattan, New York. 9 August 2019. Photo: Erik McGregor

The murder of George Floyd, an African-American man at the hands (or knees?) of now formerpolice officer Derek Chauvin, a white man, reminded the American society that African-Americans were under the constant threat of being killed due to the color…

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UNITED STATES – When all We Have to Denounce Racism and Police Brutality Are… Criminal Drug Addicts

UNITED STATES – When all We Have to Denounce Racism and Police Brutality Are… Criminal Drug Addicts

George Floyd (left) and Derek Chauvin (right). Source: CNN.

After George Floyd was killed by (now former) police officer Chauvin, during his arrest in Minneapolis, the United States, the media, and the entire Western world stood up as one man to denounce police brutality toward the African-American community. Obviously, the term racism was on everyone’s lips.

It was clear, in everyone’s…

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HONG KONG – So Much (Untapped) Potential

HONG KONG – So Much (Untapped) Potential

Bank of China Tower and ICBC Tower seen from Hong Kong Park. Central, Hong Kong Island. 21 January 2020. Photo: Gweilo Rant.

In the 1950s, there was a small 20,000-inhabitant town stuck in the desert, on the shores of the Persian Gulf. Other than trading activities derived from its strategic location, at the crossroads between Europe, the Middle East, and India, that small town had very little…

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COVID-19 - Hong Kong: The Land Logic Forgot

COVID-19 – Hong Kong: The Land Logic Forgot

People gather in a compact group at the entrance of the HKMOA during the COVID-19 epidemic. Tsim Sha Tsui, Kowloon. 23 May 2020. Photo: Gweilo Rant.

Aristotle, Ockham, Descartes, Hegel. These are just four names out of a long list of philosophers who have influenced the Western way of thinking. At the core of the Western philosophy, logic is an essential building block. One which no Western…

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COVID-19 – Hong Kong: Do Hamsters Prove the Face Mask’s Effectiveness or Professor Yuen’s Confirmation Bias?

COVID-19 – Hong Kong: Do Hamsters Prove the Face Mask’s Effectiveness or Professor Yuen’s Confirmation Bias?

Professor Yuen Kwok-yung presents the results of his experiment on the effectiveness of the face mask. 18 May 2020. Photo: RTHK Live.

On 17 May 2020, an article was published in newspapers all over the world. Renowned microbiologist Yuen Kowk-yung had proven the “huge” effectiveness of masks using hamsters. “At last,” I thought. “A scientifically conducted experiment led by one of the greatest…

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HONG KONG - Is it Possible to Be any Worse at Sports?

HONG KONG – Is it Possible to Be any Worse at Sports?

Lee Wai-sze biting the third (and latest) Olympic medal won by a Hong Kongese athlete. London, UK. 3 August 2012. Photo: SCMP.

1-1-1. One-One-One. That is, a total of three. What do those numbers mean, you may ask? Well, that is the total number of Olympic medals Hong Kong has ever won. One gold medal; One silver medal; One bronze medal. Not exactly the most flamboyant of records.

I once…

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Covid-19 – The PRC: Shamelessly Honorless

Covid-19 – The PRC: Shamelessly Honorless

Xi Jinping presiding over a meeting convened by the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee. Beijing, People’s Republic of China. Photo: Xie Huanchi.

On 21 March 2015, a cable snapped on the construction site of a three-kilometer-long bridge connecting the cities of Izmit and Yelova, in Turkey. Not the least injury was reported. To anyone, this incident would have been an annoying…

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COVID-19 – If the Face Mask Works… Why all those Economy-Crippling Measures?

Closed Air France counters at John F. Kennedy International Airport following President’s Trump announcement of a EU travel ban. New York City, NY, United States. 11 March 2020. Photo: Kena Betancur.

Throughout the Covid-19 epidemic, the face mask has become a hot topic of conversation. In the media, on social networks, in the street, or at work, everybody repeated the epidemic’s motto without…

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HONG KONG - A Wasted Opportunity

HONG KONG – A Wasted Opportunity

Vegetation growing wild inside Tung Chung Fort. Tung Chung, Lantau Island. 19 April 2020. Photo: Gweilo Rant.

If you enjoy walking around, in Hong Kong, you’ll probably have noticed the flabbergasting amount of wasted opportunities the city is dotted with. From sea-side promenades missing cozy terraces on which to behold the setting sun whilst enjoying an ice-cream or coffee, to monuments left…

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COVID-19 – Is the Face Mask the Miracle Answer to the Pandemic? Part 6: The USA and Canada

Women wearing face masks in Canada. Photo: Juan Barreto.

Analyzing the situation in the United States and Canada is quite a complex task. Although we are only studying two countries, said countries are massive. As a matter of fact, we are talking about the second (Canada) and fourth (USA) largest countries in the world. Not only that, but those countries are (very) unevenly inhabited as well. A…

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COVID-19 – Is the Face Mask the Miracle Answer to the Pandemic? Part 5: Europe

People wearing face masks outside St. Peter’s Square at the Vatican. 27 February 2020. Photo: Gregorio Borgia.

In the first four parts of this analysis on the efficiency of the face mask with regards to the Cover-19 epidemic, we have focused on the situation in Asian countries. In this part, as well as in the next part, we will focus on the situation in the West.

Europe, is a very…

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COVID-19 – Is the Face Mask the Miracle Answer to the Pandemic? Part 4: South Korea

People wearing masks stand in a line to buy face masks. Daegu, South Korea. 3 March 2020. Photo: Kim Kyung-hoon.

Before concluding this very long part dedicated to Asia, there is one noteworthy country that hasn’t been mentioned yet: South Korea. The Land of the Morning Calm deserves its own chapter for a very specific reason. Until the number of infections exploded in Europe, South Korea…

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Covid-19 – Is the Face Mask the Miracle Answer to the Pandemic? Part 3: Japan, and Taiwan

Visitors wearing face masks walk through Nakamise alley. Asakusa, Tokyo. 20 March 2020. Photo: Koji Sasahara.

In the first part of this study, we analysed the efficiency of the face mask (or surgical mask) in Wuhan, Hubei Province, and in the rest of the People’s Republic of China, compared to the travel restrictions and quarantine the PRC had imposed on the people in Hubei.

In the second…

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