Episode: 3822
Title: HPR3822: A tale of wonder, angst and woe
Source: https://hub.hackerpublicradio.org/ccdn.php?filename=/eps/hpr3822/hpr3822.mp3
Transcribed: 2025-10-25 05:58:13

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This is Hacker Public Radio Episode 3,822 for Tuesday the 28th of March 2023.
Today's show is entitled, A Tale of Wonder, Angst and Woe.
It is hosted by Bookworm and is about nine minutes long.
It carries a clean flag.
The summary is, by setting a COVID watch issued by Hong Kong Department of Health.
Greetings, Hacker Public Radio.
Bookworm reporting from a cave on a hill near fresh water.
So I wanted to go ahead and submit another episode.
This will be my third this year, trying to do my part.
I guess a quality New Year's resolution, I've been listening to Hacker Public Radio
for a long time and I've only submitted two episodes prior to this year, wanted to try
to contribute and do my part.
So today's story is a tale of wonder, Angst and Woe.
In December of last year, 2022, I traveled to Hong Kong before work.
At some point either on or out or in country, I contracted COVID.
I'm not going to point any political fingers, not going to say anything about points of
origin or anything of that nature.
That's beyond the scope of Hacker Public Radio and my interest.
It's a virus.
It exists.
I caught it.
Period.
End of story.
Backing up a step.
In preparation for the trip, I was required to have a negative PCR test before I could
even board the plane from the United States, as well as proof of vaccination and at least
one booster shot.
I provided a link to the Hong Kong Department of Health Declaration form that I had to complete.
Upon arrival in Hong Kong, I was required to quarantine for three days.
All visitors were at that time.
I believe that rule has since changed.
As well, I was required to take a rapid act antigen test referred to locally as a rat.
Every day for the first seven days.
Also on the second full day in Hong Kong, I was required to take another clinical PCR
provided at a health center free of charge.
And I've also included a link here for the electronic COVID-19 monitoring and surveillance
system that was required for all visitors at that time to use.
On the third day, I received my PCR and rapid antigen test back as COVID positive.
By law, I was now required to quarantine in my hotel until I could test negative on two
consecutive days.
Since my symptoms were very mild and just a mere irritating sniffle, not even constant,
and a low grade temperature of maybe one or two degrees above normal, I could stay in
the hotel and was not required to transfer to a public health center.
I was also required to register that positive result on a government website.
That registration kicked off a series of events, including a visit from a health representative.
He stood in the hall, masked, we both were.
I was not permitted to leave the room.
I was required to install an app on my phone called Stay Home Safe and to wear a wristband
that he issued and connected to my wrist that I presumed was a GPS and possibly a pulse
and temperature tracking device as well.
And they connected to my phone by Bluetooth.
He confirmed the app was installed, synced it with the watch, and went his merry way.
As I kind of hinted at earlier, most of China's quarantine policies have changed in the weeks
since my visit, and they were indeed in a state of rapid flux during my stay.
Current policy, I provided a link to that.
The watch, as I will now refer to it, was a sealed, white vinyl or PVC with a sticker label
on top.
I didn't want to risk any repercussions for tampering with the watch, so I wore it as prescribed
and stayed quarantined for the elotted time.
Again, as I said, it did require me to stay confined until I tested negative on two consecutive
days.
This took eight days for me.
On my eighth day of quarantine, after my eighth day of quarantine, I removed the watch,
and went about the original task that I'd been in Hong Kong for a couple of days and
then eventually returned to the United States.
After returning home, and having long since, removed the Hong Kong SIM card, removed
the app, and of course, on day nine, removing the watch, I did put it into my baggage and
bring it home with me, and so I am now free to begin my investigation.
When I had removed the watch, the only thing that I had on hand that would cut the PVC
or vinyl strap was a steak knife.
I'd cut it as close as possible to the clasp, but at this point, since I'm not ever going
to wear it again, I didn't notice that there was a faint copper band through the middle
of the strap, and so mindless of the wires that I figure were probably an antenna or sensor,
went ahead and cut with an exacto as close to the casing on the watch as possible.
Of course, my intent is to preserve the content of the casing without damage and really
don't care about the content of the strap.
After removing the vinyl that encased the watch head itself, the remnant of the band
antenna was a visible through the bottom of the body on the housing on either side.
The top reveals the Bluetooth activity button, which is covered by a patch of clear tape
that also protects four Phillips head screws.
Remove the screws, remove the tape, remove the screws, and the casing came open very
easily.
Inside was a simple, I'd say maybe a little bit larger than an American quarter dollar
coin circuit board.
The bottom of which was just a simple CR2050 watch battery.
The top was the Bluetooth activation button, the connectors for the ribbon cable antenna,
I guess it was, and a couple of small programmable chips, and that's it.
Now I've not been able to identify anything from the markings on the chips if anybody
can.
I welcome and invite comment on this show.
I have included a picture that is a close-up detail of the chip identification numbers
for aiding that process.
The only piece of writing in Chinese on the circuit board was one character that Google
Translate tells me means short.
So whatever it is, there's a short there, and it looks like it was intentional since
it's labeled to do so.
Beyond that, I have no clue what the actual function of the watch was.
Again, I presume it was GPS because it was tied to my phone.
They wanted to make sure I didn't leave the room, and I did not until I was legally able
to do so.
But again, I invite anybody to try and research those chips.
See if they can tell me what it is.
I would greatly appreciate it.
It would put a huge dollop of sap on my burning curiosity.
So that's my tale of wonder, angst and woe.
I'm feeling much better now.
Thank you for asking.
No additional signs of COVID in my body.
No additional contact with people who have been tested positive or are currently positive
that I'm aware of.
But I hope you all stay well, I hope you all stay safe, and I hope to talk to you again
in the not too distant future.
Have a good day.
I've put a link to the show notes on a real quick web page that I've put up on a free
hosting site.
You'll note that the website itself, I mostly generated by using the ever popular and
ever controversial chatbot GPT and editing the scripts that were generated there in the
Bluefish editor.
In order to see this show notes, you'll need to select on the category HPR episodes,
and the subcategory title is COVID.
Thanks again, and have a good day.
You have been listening to Hacker Public Radio, and Hacker Public Radio does work.
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On the Sadois status, today's show is released under Creative Commons, Attribution 4.0 International
License.