Aotearoa New Zealand exited from the state of lockdown as of 23:59 yesterday. In this national happy occasion of the new found freedom(?) and the first morning of life outside lockdown, here is a tribute to those souls who had been the most effective over the 33 days of lockdown since it came into effect on 23:59 on 25 March.
On the surface, these lot who managed to trigger a tsunami of moral panic may seem like your ordinary hoarders. But they are more sophisticated than you might have realised. Going by the “diffusion of innovation theory”, these are the innovators - at the forefront of everyone - leading the charge of innovation. Right there at the beginning of the bell curve. Apparently, somewhere in New South Wales someone got tasered after a “petty argument turned dirty” over a few rolls of this humble paper roll.
Innovators aka toilet paper hoarders belong to the yellow to the far left (Image: Canadian Journal of Nursing Informatics, cjni.net)
It is a viral irony that today we are all Zoomers in a world where the pathogen behind the pandemic and the technology that is literally saving our work and life balance both can be traced back to China.
Despite being warned of all the security holes and zoombombing, the tide of Zooming took us all by submission. We don’t know if Cisco was/is playing politics to prevent Zoom from gaining market or the businesses of other race were being xenophobic. Nothing was stopping Zoom from going viral (if it is still safe to use that term). We so readily not only downloaded the app but also made it our virtual office. What we know now from numbers is that Zoom’s owner Eric Yuan’s net worth has skyrocketed to over $2 billion, according to Fortune magazine.
While we are zooming on Eric Yuan, here are bits and pieces about him from one of the shortest entry in Wikipedia for a billionaire:
Eric S. Yuan is a Chinese-American businessman.
He was born and raised in Tai'an, Shandong Province, China. In 4th grade, Yuan collected construction scraps to recycle copper for cash
Yuan moved to the US in 1997 at the age of 27, speaking very little English.
In 1997, Yuan joined WebEx. There, he routinely spent all night writing computer code, only making time for his hobby of playing soccer. WebEx was acquired by Cisco Systems in 2007; he became vice president of engineering.
In 2011, Yuan pitched a new smartphone-friendly video conferencing system to Cisco management. The idea was rejected and Yuan left Cisco to found Zoom Video Communications.
In the beginning, he struggled to find investors because many of them considered the market to be saturated.
In 2019, Zoom became a public company via an initial public offering, at which time Yuan
first became a billionaire.
(Eric Yuan photo: Fortune Magazine)
We all, by now, are experts in all of the above. We know, we know what we are doing. Right? So this is self-explanatory.
Apparently more than 18 years ago on 12 February 2002, the then US Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld during question time said this - "there are known knowns; there are things we know we know. We also know there are known unknowns; that is to say we know there are some things we do not know. But there are also unknown unknowns - the ones we don't know we don't know".
Did you gerrit? I don't know. It went way above my head. I'm totally confused.
Nothing illustrates this devotion and sacrifice more than this emotional photo of two nurse anesthetists who are married to each other and work on the same Anesthesia COVID-19 Airway team—savoring their limited time together without knowing what will come next, and if their own lives are at stake. (Image and description: Health.com)
Nurses, doctors, lab operators running coronavirus tests, pharmacists, radiologists, scientists, microbiologists, epidemiologists, virologists, supermarket checkout operators and the entire supermarket workers, courier drivers, local dairy owners, public bus and train drivers, waste and recycling truck operators, and many more.
Well done people. Ka Pai.
The Toilet Paper Hoarders
These are the ultimate harbinger and ambassadors of moral panic. Remember this phenomena when toilet papers were the most sought after item in grocery stores across the Western World? Why only Western World? Because the rest of the world knows methods other than wiping to clean their bottom after doing business in the toilet.On the surface, these lot who managed to trigger a tsunami of moral panic may seem like your ordinary hoarders. But they are more sophisticated than you might have realised. Going by the “diffusion of innovation theory”, these are the innovators - at the forefront of everyone - leading the charge of innovation. Right there at the beginning of the bell curve. Apparently, somewhere in New South Wales someone got tasered after a “petty argument turned dirty” over a few rolls of this humble paper roll.
Innovators aka toilet paper hoarders belong to the yellow to the far left (Image: Canadian Journal of Nursing Informatics, cjni.net)
The Jaywalkers
You are walking down the sidewalk. 50 meters in front, you see someone walking your way. The two of you are now thinking exactly the same thing, at the same time. As if some sort of mental telepathy is going on between the two strangers. Who blinks first? Or to be accurate, who crosses the road first to keep the safe social distancing of 2m? The end result - kinda sorta (Kiwi lexicon for kind of sort of) street dancing until both of you end up jaywalking. You know you are safe, right? Because there are no vehicles on the road.The Dogwalkers
How come so many of them canine owners suddenly need to so frequently walk their dogs?OK, Zoomer (not OK boomer)
Despite being warned of all the security holes and zoombombing, the tide of Zooming took us all by submission. We don’t know if Cisco was/is playing politics to prevent Zoom from gaining market or the businesses of other race were being xenophobic. Nothing was stopping Zoom from going viral (if it is still safe to use that term). We so readily not only downloaded the app but also made it our virtual office. What we know now from numbers is that Zoom’s owner Eric Yuan’s net worth has skyrocketed to over $2 billion, according to Fortune magazine.
While we are zooming on Eric Yuan, here are bits and pieces about him from one of the shortest entry in Wikipedia for a billionaire:
Eric S. Yuan is a Chinese-American businessman.
He was born and raised in Tai'an, Shandong Province, China. In 4th grade, Yuan collected construction scraps to recycle copper for cash
Yuan moved to the US in 1997 at the age of 27, speaking very little English.
In 2011, Yuan pitched a new smartphone-friendly video conferencing system to Cisco management. The idea was rejected and Yuan left Cisco to found Zoom Video Communications.
In the beginning, he struggled to find investors because many of them considered the market to be saturated.
In 2019, Zoom became a public company via an initial public offering, at which time Yuan
first became a billionaire.
(Eric Yuan photo: Fortune Magazine)
The Experts
These are the new breed of microbiologists, virologists, epidemiologists, science communicators, analysts of the global as well as country-wise COVID-19 responses, COVID-19 correspondents without borders, and the list goes on and on to the moon and back. They earned the coveted title of Ex (abbreviation for Experts) in front of their name without having to attend a single course on the subject matter. They are that brilliant. This is the greatest wave of learning by rumouring and bluffing the world has ever seen.We all, by now, are experts in all of the above. We know, we know what we are doing. Right? So this is self-explanatory.
Did you gerrit? I don't know. It went way above my head. I'm totally confused.
The Parents
How on earth do you retain composure and remain sane even after surviving all that mayhem of having infants, toddlers, teenagers around 24/7?New marvel-lous superheroes
All the wonderful people from healthcare and other industries, including but not limited to the following, in no particular order of priority. There probably is no other humbling feeling than to acknowledge the role of these beautiful people. We literally owe our lives to them.Nothing illustrates this devotion and sacrifice more than this emotional photo of two nurse anesthetists who are married to each other and work on the same Anesthesia COVID-19 Airway team—savoring their limited time together without knowing what will come next, and if their own lives are at stake. (Image and description: Health.com)
Nurses, doctors, lab operators running coronavirus tests, pharmacists, radiologists, scientists, microbiologists, epidemiologists, virologists, supermarket checkout operators and the entire supermarket workers, courier drivers, local dairy owners, public bus and train drivers, waste and recycling truck operators, and many more.
Well done people. Ka Pai.
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