Sideswipe: June 4: Scam alert

It's just a USB.

There is a real anti-5G product called a "5GBioShield", which sells for a whopping $350, despite it being nothing more than a $6 USB stick.

According to the company selling it in the UK, the item is "the result of the most advanced technology currently available for balancing and preventing the devastating effects caused by non-natural electric waves, particularly (but not limited to) 5G, for all biological life forms."

Described as a USB key, the tiny device allegedly "provides protection for your home and family, thanks to the wearable holographic nano-layer catalyser, which can be worn or placed near to a smartphone or any other electrical, radiation or EMF [electromagnetic field] emitting device."

Apparently plugging it into a USB port expands the field effect from 4m radius to 20m. Experts took a closer look and found apart from a small, round sticker, it virtually identical to a crystal USB key available from various suppliers in China for just $6 apiece. As for the inner working of the 5GBioShield, there was no quantum nano-layer technology visible anywhere, just an LED light, like on the regular 128Mb USB sticks from China. London Trading Standards told the BBC it's a scam.

A good sport

In the 1949 Open Championship, Irish golfer Harry Bradshaw led the first round with a 68, but in the second round his drive at the fifth hole came to rest in the bottom of a broken beer bottle on the fairway. He probably would have been entitled to take a drop, but he elected to play the ball as it lay, shutting his eyes against the broken glass and swinging as hard as he could. The stroke destroyed the bottle but moved the ball only 25 yards. The setback would leave Bradshaw tied with Bobby Locke, and he lost the ensuing playoff. Arguably the experience with the bottle, and its effect on his equanimity in the rest of that round, had cost him the tournament. Years later writer Peter Dobereiner asked Bradshaw how many hours of sleep he'd lost reproaching himself for playing the ball as it lay. "Never one single second, sir," he said. "Of course, if I had sent for a ruling I might have won the championship, but it would not have been right. Locke was the better player. He deserved to win."

Elephant on the move

"During the lockdown there have been stories about wildlife venturing back into the cities due to the lack of traffic and people on the streets," writes Richard Joseph. "Now the same has happened in Helensville, NZ with the capture of an elephant found roaming in Awaroa Road. It has been captured and loaded for relocation to Masterton where it will be released.

Unsolicited advice

The main reason we stop doing something we love is because we forget our love of doing it for enjoyment's sake and replace it with the desire to be good at it.