Live Long and Prosper

Mark Honeychurch - 13 November 2023

In the last two weeks, since my last newsletter, I’ve been re-visited by Mormon sisters - who stayed to talk with me for an epic three hours, and have promised to come back again with more congregation members. I’ve also managed to catch COVID for a second time. Thankfully the second time round, although just as painful for the first few days, doesn’t seem to have had the long-lasting after-effects (tiredness, lack of taste) that it did the first time.

In this week’s newsletter, Brian Paavo has written about a small but meaningful act of defiance, fighting the nonsense that is Shuzi wristbands. Thank goodness he chose to go after Shizi and not rival band maker Zenteq. When both companies ran stalls at a home show a few years ago, their rivalry ended up in fisticuffs, instigated by the owner of Zenteq.

Bronwyn has written this week about the interesting topic of Blue Zones, which I recently learned is a marketing term used to describe areas where people tend to live longer than average. Unsurprisingly, given that this is a skeptical newsletter, the claims of longevity aren’t all they’re cracked up to be.

Finally, I finish off my story of chatting with Agent Patrick Smith from the Publisher’s Clearing House, finding out how the scam works and (yet again) winding up a scammer until they get angry at me.