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You are here: Home / Open Threads / Semi-Respite Open Thread: Staying Sane in Zero-G

Semi-Respite Open Thread: Staying Sane in Zero-G

by Anne Laurie|  March 25, 202011:13 am| 176 Comments

This post is in: Open Threads

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People freaking out about a week of at-home quarantine is why generation ships to the stars aren't the slam dunk some people think they are.

— John Scalzi (@scalzi) March 22, 2020

1/ One thing astronauts have to be good at: living in confined
spaces for long periods of time. Find yourself in a similar scenario? Here are
some pro tips…a thread.

— Anne McClain (@AstroAnnimal) March 22, 2020

2/ 20 years of successful living and working on @Space_Station did not happen by accident. Through lessons learned, @NASA astronaut @AstroPeggy and psychologist Dr. Al Holland examined what human behaviors create a healthy culture for living and working remotely in small groups.

— Anne McClain (@AstroAnnimal) March 22, 2020

15/ Here it is, rolled up in one article:https://t.co/B4bNibDPm0

— Anne McClain (@AstroAnnimal) March 22, 2020


(Read the whole thing — it’s quite pithy!)

More on Expeditinary Behavior from the astronaut who wrote it, @AstroPeggy – who also holds the US record for total time in space with 665 days. She knows a thing or two about thriving in confined spaces. #GoodEB https://t.co/riFnoXcqiy

— Anne McClain (@AstroAnnimal) March 23, 2020

16/ And here you can find more resources on these topics, like videos describing some of the skills and activities you can do with your kids to teach them:https://t.co/dHUl7n9Kx9

— Anne McClain (@AstroAnnimal) March 22, 2020

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Previous Post: « Glass Egos and Glass Ceilings
Next Post: Martin Guest Post: Questions on Data Modeling in the Epidemic: Part 1 Martin Guest Post: Questions on Data Modeling in the Epidemic: Part 1»

Reader Interactions

176Comments

  1. 1.

    Baud

    March 25, 2020 at 11:24 am

    I would much rather shelter in space. That would be cool AF.

  2. 2.

    WereBear

    March 25, 2020 at 11:27 am

    @Baud: Gotta have broadband. None of that satellite shit.

  3. 3.

    Baud

    March 25, 2020 at 11:29 am

    @WereBear: I’m going to need more coax.

  4. 4.

    WereBear

    March 25, 2020 at 11:37 am

    @Baud: Have you tried aluminum foil? That’s how I was able to watch Batman, back in the day.

  5. 5.

    MattF

    March 25, 2020 at 11:39 am

    One of the themes in Charlie Stross’ Freyaverse novels, ‘Saturn’s Children’ and ‘Neptune’s Brood’, is the genuine awfulness of interplanetary (and interstellar) travel. It’s just bad. Really bad.

  6. 6.

    Sab

    March 25, 2020 at 11:41 am

    Back when I was doing eldercare for my parents I subscribed to the NASA cable channel at their house. I miss it.

  7. 7.

    The Dangerman

    March 25, 2020 at 11:42 am

    @MattF:

    It’s just bad. Really bad.

    NFW, we are NOT having beans for dinner again.

    /blazing saddles

  8. 8.

    Betty Cracker

    March 25, 2020 at 11:43 am

    Just in case y’all missed this on Twitter:

    Ok if you're still here let's sum up the Working From Home and Teleconferencing Rules™

    1. Make sure your partner knows your schedule + wears pants
    2. Lock the door so your kids don't barge in
    3. Do NOT take your laptop/phone w/ you to the bathroom 👇🤢pic.twitter.com/Jgm2gbcOgO

    — Joshua Self-QuaRayntine (@joshuaray) March 24, 2020

    Can you imagine? I’d resign and quietly go die of shame if that happened to me.

  9. 9.

    Ken

    March 25, 2020 at 11:46 am

    @MattF: And space travel was “bad” for semi-immortal androids that could slow their clock rates so a week seemed to take a second.  For humans, Stross described it as something like “canned primates in space was never going to work, but it was a glorious idea.”

  10. 10.

    NotMax

    March 25, 2020 at 11:46 am

    Contemplating perhaps rolling up the sleeves and trying making bread, alone or with the kids? Plenty of sites out there – here’s one which has an extensive list of choices and clear instructions.

    And for speakers of that language (hi, Amir), a different one, in German.

    Intimidated by proofing and kneading? A simple and delicious alternative:

    Beer Bread
    3 cups flour
    1½ tsp. salt
    1½ tbl. baking powder
    3 tbl. sugar
    (optional) ½ tsp. herbs (oregano, basil or rosemary, or whatever your preference)
    A 12 ounce bottle or can of beer at room temperature

    (optional) Topping:
    ½ stick butter (¼ cup), melted
    ¼ tsp. garlic powder

    Preheat oven to 350°.
    In a large bowl, combine the flour, salt, baking powder, sugar and herbs if using.
    Add the beer and stir until blended.
    Pour into a lightly-greased loaf pan and bake for 1 hour.

    Combine melted butter and garlic powder.
    Remove the bread from the oven.
    Pour or brush the butter mixture over the top.
    Allow the bread to rest in the pan for 10-15 minutes before removing.

    The bread is easier to slice when cool.

  11. 11.

    The Dangerman

    March 25, 2020 at 11:47 am

    @Betty Cracker:

    Can you imagine?

    I’m missing it. Which screen?

    About 3 weeks ago, I had a hyper-important call from a DA’s office and, of course, nature called. Talk about a shitty dilemma

    ETA: Oh, it was obvious. Sorry. MORE COFFEE, DAMMIT.

  12. 12.

    Rich Webb

    March 25, 2020 at 11:53 am

    We do this now on nuclear subs. A hundred odd people (and some are very odd (rimshot)) inside a steel tube for months operating submerged and undetected. It’s not for everyone but it’s not that bad. Well, unless the ice cream machine breaks down …

  13. 13.

    rk

    March 25, 2020 at 11:53 am

    Our family seems to be born for social distancing. My teen and college age kid are basically in their rooms and only come down to eat and disappear again. Husband is working from home and I go to work and try to avoid everyone as much as possible by staying mostly in my room. We’re basically a family of introverts. No one is complaining about anything. Weird!

  14. 14.

    MisterForkbeard

    March 25, 2020 at 11:53 am

    @The Dangerman: Middle row, leftmost screen. About 2/3s of the way through the video.

    And I’d certainly think about quitting O_o

  15. 15.

    trollhattan

    March 25, 2020 at 11:58 am

    From our Unsurprising News drawer.

    California’s shutdown in response to the coronavirus pandemic could very well last into the summer.

    Gov. Gavin Newsom in a Tuesday news conference said an April lifting of the stay-at-home and social distancing measures he ordered into place last Thursday “would be sooner than any of the experts (he) talked to would believe is possible.”

    Newsom suggested the dramatic social distancing measures could continue for as long as 12 more weeks, which would be mid-June.
    https://www.sacbee.com/news/coronavirus/article241492186.html#storylink=cpy

  16. 16.

    debbie

    March 25, 2020 at 12:01 pm

    Looking for stress? Take a listen to BBC’s series about the Appollo 13 mission, 13 Minutes to the Moon. It was stressful just listening to them discuss how to get themselves out of trouble and back safely to Earth.

  17. 17.

    catclub

    March 25, 2020 at 12:02 pm

    @Baud: That would be cool AF.

     

    Its cold outside, there no kind of atmosphere,

    I’m all alone, more or less.

    …

     

    Opening song from red Dwarf.

  18. 18.

    NotMax

    March 25, 2020 at 12:09 pm

    @debbie

    There’s also this real time stream of all communications during that mission.

  19. 19.

    R-Jud

    March 25, 2020 at 12:10 pm

    I’ll believe it when I see it, but good news if true!

    Widespread availability of a fingerprick test that produces results in 10 to 15 minutes is a game-changer. NHS doctors and nurses with symptoms will know immediately whether they have – or have recovered from – Covid-19, enabling them to get back to work sooner.

  20. 20.

    Major Major Major Major

    March 25, 2020 at 12:11 pm

    Respite thread? I got nothing.

  21. 21.

    TaMara (HFG)

    March 25, 2020 at 12:12 pm

    A Stay-at-Home order has been issued here, starting tomorrow. Glad yesterday was my stock up at the grocery store day, I’m sure it will be a madhouse today.

    Meanwhile, I’m making my first ever attempt at bagels. I’ll walk the dogs while the dough rises and maybe, if all goes well, show off my efforts later.

  22. 22.

    Major Major Major Major

    March 25, 2020 at 12:12 pm

    People worry about how history will look back at us, but historians of the early 22nd century are most likely to be people with a good memory who can recite the local warlord's bloodline back 12 generations, and act out any episodes of Friends that made it into the oral tradition

    — Pinboard 😷 (@Pinboard) March 25, 2020

  23. 23.

    WaterGirl

    March 25, 2020 at 12:13 pm

    @Betty Cracker: I want to share that tweet, but I can’t find a way to do it so that it goes directly to this tweet and not to the whole thread.

    How do I do that?

  24. 24.

    Xenos

    March 25, 2020 at 12:13 pm

    I recently finished the Ancillary Justice series of books, and noted how everybody had to wear gloves in public. It was not just a military affectation – it really was in bad taste to be in public without wearing gloves. Considering the risk of illness from an empire over a large amount of space, this makes a lot of sense to me now.

    I vaguely recall one of Samuel Delaney’s novels taking place on a planet were everybody had to wear masks, too.

  25. 25.

    Amir Khalid

    March 25, 2020 at 12:13 pm

    @NotMax: 
    Hi, NotMax.

  26. 26.

    NotMax

    March 25, 2020 at 12:14 pm

    @Major Major Major Major

    Curious if any pedestrian barriers have been placed around the U.N.

  27. 27.

    NotMax

    March 25, 2020 at 12:16 pm

    @Amir Khalid

    Thank you for the words of support in that *other* thread.

  28. 28.

    WaterGirl

    March 25, 2020 at 12:16 pm

    @NotMax: You’re the troll!  No, you’re the troll!

  29. 29.

    WereBear

    March 25, 2020 at 12:19 pm

    @Xenos: Saranac Lake, NY, was a town which was also a TB sanitarium. Because of the health codes created by the local group of doctors, rigidly enforced by the police department, transmitting TB was at such a low rate the patients mingled fairly freely (depending on their status) with the well population.

    These codes were the basis for NYC’s first public health code since they were proven to be effective.

  30. 30.

    scav

    March 25, 2020 at 12:20 pm

    @NotMax: here’s another good introductory no-knead with beer in it. Cook’s Illustrated Almost No-Knead Bread via Breadtopia I’m sure I’ve posted it before, but it may be more salient now.

    I’ve also made it with all water, if one is keeping the beer for its original comforting use.

  31. 31.

    Elizabelle

    March 25, 2020 at 12:20 pm

    @NotMax:   and @ Amir Khalid:  Two syllables to both of you, WRT that thread:

    CatCake.

    DuckCake.

    Three syllables:

    CorgiCake.

  32. 32.

    NotMax

    March 25, 2020 at 12:20 pm

    @WaterGirl

    Bile under the bridge. Forgive and forget.

  33. 33.

    Elizabelle

    March 25, 2020 at 12:21 pm

    @WereBear:   That’s a wonderful history lesson.

  34. 34.

    Ceci n est pas mon nym

    March 25, 2020 at 12:21 pm

    I knew a guy who served as an officer on a nuclear sub when Hyman Rickover was still running things. He had to spend a few hours in “Adm. Rickover’s Closet” to test for claustrophobia before being cleared for duty. As I recall that was a personal interview and an actual closet in Rickover’s office, but I could be remembering wrong.

    I’ve walked around on subs and the spaces didn’t particularly bother me, they seemed much the same as on surface ships. But I always wondered if I’d be able to take it if the sub were actually underway and underwater for long periods, weeks or more.

    I will never, never go caving because even reading people’s descriptions of squeezing through tight tunnels gives me the willies.

  35. 35.

    JMG

    March 25, 2020 at 12:24 pm

    Question for those of us who lack astronauts’ self-discipline and training. Are you finding lethargy to be an increasing issue as the stay-at-home days go on? Before this, it was a rare day I wasn’t awake before seven a.m. Now, it’s more like eight. See the clock, go “why bother?” and roll over. I love to be outdoors, but even on nicer days I am finding less and less appeal in another walk in the same old neighborhood. Since I have battled sloth and procrastination all my life, this worries me.

  36. 36.

    Ruckus

    March 25, 2020 at 12:25 pm

    @Rich Webb:

    Gave tours on a WWII sub in San Diego while in school there, in 1970. Was great, the compartment below the ladder was cleared out, 5 people could stand there, or 10 sailors. To a person they remarked that it was roomier than they thought. The fun was taking them further in the boat. It always got a lot quieter – immediately.

    Was stationed on a DDG for 2 yrs and that was roomier than the sub but not by much by non swabby standards. On long cruises, one often would find that they never went outside for days, sometimes weeks. My longest time was just over 3 weeks never seeing sky, only navy gray. Room wise it was better than any sub, but smaller than any NYC apt. But weeks in tight quarters with just other smelly men will teach you how to live in small spaces. Or go crazy. Hasn’t been decided which way I’ve gone.

  37. 37.

    WaterGirl

    March 25, 2020 at 12:26 pm

    So I am catching up on Longmire on Netflix while I walk on the treadmill.  DON’T READ ON IF YOU ARE AS BEHIND IN THE SERIES AS I AM.

    Yesterday, I was left at the point where Walt has been shot in his cabin, and Kady (sp?) has just found him, but I don’t know if this is real or a dream.  But once the treadmill is off, I can’t watch until I get on the treadmill again.  I think this is the first episode of Season 5.

    About to find out in a minute, but first I googled to see how many seasons there are.  Six.  But fuck you, Google!  It doesn’t just tell me how many seasons, it throws this right in my face:

    Semi-Respite Open Thread:  Staying Sane in Zero-G

    WTF Google?  What baby?????

  38. 38.

    Luciamia

    March 25, 2020 at 12:27 pm

    With the beer bread, be careful with the added sugar. Beer can add a surprising sweetness on its own.

  39. 39.

    WaterGirl

    March 25, 2020 at 12:27 pm

    @NotMax: I came to that thread late, and all I did was laugh.  That may make me a bad person.

  40. 40.

    MattF

    March 25, 2020 at 12:28 pm

    @JMG: Yeah, I was just pondering that this morning, completely coincidentally.

  41. 41.

    Gin & Tonic

    March 25, 2020 at 12:28 pm

    @Ceci n est pas mon nym: My son-in-law was in the USN sub service. His main complaint was not the space, it was the lack of communication with the outside world, mainly his then-girlfriend and now-wife.

  42. 42.

    Ceci n est pas mon nym

    March 25, 2020 at 12:28 pm

    So I was doing OK here until the day the coffee grinder wouldn’t grind any more. I felt like Burgess Meredith in that famous Twilight Zone episode. Which we just re-watched when the lockdown began. I just got in more coffee beans, there was no ground coffee in the house. Panic!

    After reading articles on the internet on hand grinding techniques (for instance pressing with the flat of a knife), I decided the heck with that and ordered a new one on the internet. But decided to go with a manual one because (a) it offers a range of grinds and (b) I don’t want to worry about another electric motor possibly breaking. It’s supposed to arrive tomorrow.

    Does anyone else find themselves being more conscious about conserving supplies? I know in 2020 we can order pretty much anything on the internet and the supply chain still works (everyone in the supply chain is a hero and civilization is pretty much resting on their shoulders now). But with delays averaging 2 weeks, it makes you think about using stuff up. You can’t just run to the store anymore.

  43. 43.

    Amir Khalid

    March 25, 2020 at 12:29 pm

    @trollhattan:

    While I was at my doctor’s appointment today, the Movement Control Order — Malaysia’s name for the coronavirus restrictions — was extended two weeks to 14th April. I was pretty much expecting that. 🙁 In fact, I’m expecting the PM to announce another extension before the 14th.

    Ah, well. I was already spending my days practising scales and arpeggios, and chilling with my girl Bianca.

  44. 44.

    WaterGirl

    March 25, 2020 at 12:29 pm

    @Elizabelle: If you called him by his given name, PupCake, that would be two syllables!  :-)

    (pretending to be annoyed)

  45. 45.

    Major Major Major Major

    March 25, 2020 at 12:29 pm

    @NotMax: Not last I saw, but they of course already have bollards and a steel fence.

  46. 46.

    NotMax

    March 25, 2020 at 12:30 pm

    @Lucamia

    Yeah, suggest eschewing the artisan stuff and going with an el cheapo brand, but NOT “lite.”

  47. 47.

    Major Major Major Major

    March 25, 2020 at 12:31 pm

    My husband and I and apparently all of our friends are playing the new Animal Crossing. We all went and visited each other’s islands last night. That was very nice & respiteful.

  48. 48.

    Elizabelle

    March 25, 2020 at 12:31 pm

    @Ceci n est pas mon nym:   I have been rationing.

    For one thing, I was drinking the last mug of coffee pretty much as a habit; not because I needed it or particularly desired it.  So:  brewing less coffee.  Extend those precious beans.  (One of the food sacraments, around here.)

  49. 49.

    Elizabelle

    March 25, 2020 at 12:32 pm

    @WaterGirl:   PupCake too.  At any rate, a vast improvement over the irritant.  Even if you just get a drawing of a dessert.

  50. 50.

    MattF

    March 25, 2020 at 12:33 pm

    @Ceci n est pas mon nym: It’s occurred to me that I’m now very dependent on my refrigerator. Used to assume that if the refrigerator broke down, I’d be able to go to a nearby restaurant… And it’s not obvious that the nearby appliance store would be open.

  51. 51.

    scav

    March 25, 2020 at 12:33 pm

    Want to add glamour to your movie nights?  Cue up Mr. Dennis Scott and the famous Music Box organ! (ahh, if I could only see the ceiling with the stars and clouds . . . )

  52. 52.

    trollhattan

    March 25, 2020 at 12:35 pm

    @Elizabelle:

    We’re coffee snobs (espresso) and got a bean shipment from our roaster in Reno yesterday, which will keep us good for several weeks. Whew!

  53. 53.

    Betty Cracker

    March 25, 2020 at 12:35 pm

    @WaterGirl: Are you trying to embed it or share a link? I know how to embed it with that tweet alone, but I’m not sure it’s possible to send a link that doesn’t also include the previous tweet.

  54. 54.

    NotMax

    March 25, 2020 at 12:36 pm

    @Major Major Major Major

    Not asking you make a special trip but was wondering if they have now diverted all pedestrian traffic to the other side of the street as a precautionary measure.

    Went up and down that staircase to/from Tudor City too many times to count back in the day.

  55. 55.

    Gin & Tonic

    March 25, 2020 at 12:37 pm

    @NotMax: All of the beer I see around here is in 16-ounce cans, and your recipe calls for a 12-ounce can or bottle, which I seem not to have.

    Oh well, I guess I’ll have to drink the beer instead.

  56. 56.

    WereBear

    March 25, 2020 at 12:37 pm

    @Elizabelle: I LOVE NY. Never more than now.

  57. 57.

    Robert Sneddon

    March 25, 2020 at 12:38 pm

    @Xenos:

    I vaguely recall one of Samuel Delaney’s novels taking place on a planet were everybody had to wear masks, too.

    It was a short story, “The Moon Moth” and it was written by Jack Vance and Chip’s surname is spelled Delany. But you were close.

  58. 58.

    Amir Khalid

    March 25, 2020 at 12:38 pm

    @MattF:

    If the lockdown where you are works like it does where I am, you can still go to nearby restaurants and get your favourite items. They just can’t let you eat it there.

  59. 59.

    NotMax

    March 25, 2020 at 12:40 pm

    @Gin & Tonic

    Unwritten instruction in the recipe for the leftover 4 ounces.

    ;)

  60. 60.

    Ruckus

    March 25, 2020 at 12:40 pm

    @Ceci n est pas mon nym:

    I had had a number of MRI experiences going in feet first so the first time I had to go in head first I was all cocky about how easy and no problem it was. This was nearly 25 yrs ago and the ring was very small. So as I go in and it gets dark, my shoulders are scraping the sides and my nose is only a couple of inches away from the top, I began to freak out. But then my face came to the air nozzle and light and it wasn’t so bad. That WWII sub the first time could be like that, just really not one extra sq in of extra room. I could not really imagine living in there and yet it ended up most people can adapt. I imagine if you were used to living in say Montana, any big city would seem absolutely like that MRI. Yet people live there and like it.

  61. 61.

    trollhattan

    March 25, 2020 at 12:40 pm

    @MattF:

    Break a lot of fridges? :-P

    My last fridge replacement was very unexpected–one of the doors broke the bottom hinge and also managed to fall on my foot. Hinge might have been fixable but the wire bundle ripped out of the fridge, separating the control panel and rendering it “Dead, Jim.”

    Second surprise was fridge sales no longer include install and hauling off the old unit. We had to hire somebody else to do that and for a couple days our new fridge was plugged in on the front porch. I considered moving outdoors and taking up the banjo.

  62. 62.

    MattF

    March 25, 2020 at 12:41 pm

    @Amir Khalid: More likely, go to the supermarket and get roast chicken plus salad.

  63. 63.

    Major Major Major Major

    March 25, 2020 at 12:41 pm

    @NotMax: Not as of (checks photograph timestamp) March 15.

  64. 64.

    NotMax

    March 25, 2020 at 12:42 pm

    @Robert Sneddon

    Had Delany written nothing other than Dhalgren I’d still class him as among the greats.

  65. 65.

    evap

    March 25, 2020 at 12:42 pm

    @TaMara (HFG):  I make bagels all the time.  Make sure you boil them, otherwise they don’t have that wonderful bagel outside.  If you can get hold of barley malt syrup, add it to the boiling water. I use the recipe from Peter Reinhart’s book Artisan Breads Everyday.

  66. 66.

    Major Major Major Major

    March 25, 2020 at 12:45 pm

    @MattF: Assuming you just walk in and pick it up and leave, takeout is going to be much safer than a grocery store.

  67. 67.

    Robert Sneddon

    March 25, 2020 at 12:46 pm

    @R-Jud: There are a few different companies around the world releasing antibody tests like this. They don’t test for current infection and/or transmissability of the SARS-CoV-2 virus, that still requires a throat swab and PCR test which takes hours to process in a lab with equipment, consumables and trained technicians.

    The blood-on-a-stick test, a bit like the pee-on-a-stick pregnancy test returns a simple visual result indicating whether you had the disease and now have antibodies to the virus. It’s not a guarantee you’re safe to be around  (you might still be infectious) and it doesn’t guarantee you won’t catch it again or if you do catch it again you’ll only have a mild dose. The odds are a lot more in your favour though.

  68. 68.

    WereBear

    March 25, 2020 at 12:47 pm

    @NotMax: Seconded.

  69. 69.

    Gin & Tonic

    March 25, 2020 at 12:48 pm

    @Major Major Major Major: My wife got takeout the other day and they handed it through a window, you couldn’t even go in. And takeout from the brewery, they wheeled out to her car on a stainless-steel cart.

  70. 70.

    Mai naem mobile

    March 25, 2020 at 12:48 pm

    @R-Jud: what I saw on  CNBC with the Roche guy was that that would take a year to come here which makes no sense. The S Koreans have one that they are beginning to manufacture.

  71. 71.

    Major Major Major Major

    March 25, 2020 at 12:49 pm

    @Robert Sneddon: There was a good thread yesterday by a viral evolutionary geneticist about how immunity is likely to be measurable in years, not months: https://twitter.com/trvrb/status/1242628550563250176?s=20

  72. 72.

    WaterGirl

    March 25, 2020 at 12:49 pm

    @Betty Cracker: I’m trying to put that particular tweet and video in  a text message, without including the whole thread.

    I do that all the time here, but in this case I still get the whole thread.

    Thanks for posting that tweet – it was so awesome I really do want to share it!  end not have to tell people to watch the SECOND video down.

  73. 73.

    MattF

    March 25, 2020 at 12:50 pm

    @Major Major Major Major: I suppose so. But note the current protocol for buying a bagel.

  74. 74.

    Gin & Tonic

    March 25, 2020 at 12:50 pm

    @WereBear: I tried, but couldn’t get through Dhalgren for some reason. And I so seldom abandon books. Hell, I made it through Gaddis’ JR.

  75. 75.

    WaterGirl

    March 25, 2020 at 12:50 pm

    @Amir Khalid: At this point, I am unwilling to eat anything that hasn’t been prepared at my home.

  76. 76.

    Jeffro

    March 25, 2020 at 12:51 pm

    Just took the kids to get some Chick-fil-A…odds are going up that the Gov will issue a shelter-in-place before too much longer…

    I saw on my FB feed that author James Lee Burke put up a very moving post and I wanted to share it with you all.  It’s a keeper!

    Hello, everyone. These are depressing times, but I would like to share with you some memories and lessons I always found helpful in dealing with what Graham Parsons called “In My Darkest Hour.”

    I remember how frightened I was when, on December 7, at 1:15 P.M., a radio music program was interrupted in the little cafe where I was eating Sunday dinner with my parents. A news broadcaster informed everyone the Japanese had just bombed Pearl Harbor. No one moved or spoke, as though they were inside a motion picture film and the projector had frozen the image on the screen. When a child sees fear in the faces of adults, the fear transfers to him like a contagion, magnified many times.

    But I learned a quick lesson about the country I was born in. Men and women all over the nation stood in long lines to volunteer for the armed services. Every week President Franklin Roosevelt had one of his Fireside Chats with over one hundred million people, assuring us that the only fear we needed to fear was fear itself. Food and gasoline were immediately rationed, but no one complained. My family’s ration book allowed us one small chicken and one small roast a week. It was impossible to buy sugar or butter. In four years I saw only one instance of hoarding, A man down the street was caught with a garage full of canned goods and and fined heavily. He also lived the rest of his life in disgrace.

    We had other problems as well. My family lived in the polio capitol of America. Nobody knew what caused it or the origins of the virus. At age eight I spent almost one year in bed with perhaps a case of polio or perhaps rheumatic fever or perhaps both. Diagnostic medicine was often based on speculation and was nothing like it is today. But I felt very sick and lived in fear of diseases that had control of my body, but could not be confronted or medicated or even adequately defined.

    After I was better, my best friend and I went from house to house towing a red wagon, asking both strangers and our neighbors for their old newspapers, unwanted coat-hangers, rubber-bands, and bacon grease. We took the newspapers and coat-hangers to our local firehouse where we dumped them inside a red-white-and-blue picket enclosure. The balls of rubber bands were turned in at the grocery store and so were the jars of kitchen grease (the latter was used to make nitroglycerin).

    People dropped rifles,shotguns, and pistols into donation barrels at the biggest sporting goods store in the city so they could be shipped to England in advance of what everyone believed would be a German invasion. (The invasion never happened, but the Brits have never forgotten the gesture.)

    Wake Island and the Philippines fell, and many nights we had air-raid exercises and blackouts. Rumors spread about inflammable (that’s the way the word used to be spelled and it still remains the correct spelling) materials that the Japanese sowed in American cities; supposedly they would burst alight when a child picked one up. There were riots on the West Coast, and many innocent American-born Japanese had their businesses and homes vandalized, and eventually many thousands were sent to “internment” camps by FDR, who in so doing besmirched his long history of compassion and decency.

    But in those dark days we began to hear names of great heroes who came from humble origins and the kinds of neighborhoods that most Depression-era Americans lived in. Colin Kelly went down in flames attacking the entirety of the Japanese Air Force. Audie Murphy, five-foot-five, who went to the sixth grade, stayed on top of a burning tank working a fifty-caliber with half his hip shot away, thereby saving his whole regiment.

    In 1942 American troops were wading onto the sands of Guadalcanal. Jimmy Doolittle bombed Tokyo with B-25s that no one thought could fly from a carrier. At Midway navy and marine fighter pilots sank four Japanese carriers, a solitary event that decided the outcome of the war.

    At home, the unity and love of our country was probably like no other time in our history. We knew we were on the side of right, and if we failed, that the light of civilization would die forever.

    We’re faced now with a situation that bears many similarities to the war years in which I grew up, and for that reason I think we need to remind ourselves of who we are. In 1945 we were the only country in the would in possession of atomic weapons. We could have turned the earth into a slave camp with barbed wire and machine-gun towers. Instead, through the Marshall Plan, we rebuilt the countries of our enemies and turned them into democracies. No country in human history ever acted with such generosity.

    There is no mystery to who people are. They are what they do. We are the same people we were when I was pulling the red wagon with my best friend, whose name was Tommy Kroutter. We don’t let fear into our hearts; we do not turn on our brother or our sister; we do not shirk sacrifice; we do not compromise our role as the leader of the free world, or as the country whose Constitution is the model for every emerging democracy on earth.

    This is still the greatest country in human history; it was, it is, and it will remain so, and don’t let anyone tell you otherwise.

    Keep the faith, and grin and walk through the cannon smoke. It drives the bad guys crazy. You’re the best people in the world.

    Best to all of you,
    Jim

  77. 77.

    Robert Sneddon

    March 25, 2020 at 12:51 pm

    @NotMax: Samuel “Chip” Delany is one of the science-fiction greats — the SFFWA honoured him some time back with a Grandmaster award.

    My own favourite of his is Babel-17, a short novel that’s a roller-coaster ride of a story, ideas and vision layered on top of concept and imagery, where language is a weapon and poets are warriors. Glorious!

  78. 78.

    trollhattan

    March 25, 2020 at 12:52 pm

    @Ruckus:

    First and only MRI was an ankle a couple years ago, so feet first (not foot, hrrumph) and not claustrophobia-inducing. But, lying still that long is no fun and that sucker is LOUD. Next time I’m wearing earplugs under the headset. At least being able to watch the display gives you something to do, you don’t even have that if you’re in the thing headfirst.

    Compared to an xray the product is another world entirely. The ortho was able to identify four things wrong with the ankle, versus just one. Winning!

  79. 79.

    Brooklyn Dodger

    March 25, 2020 at 12:52 pm

    @catclub:

    Thanks for the reference-would laugh myself silly sometimes. Close quarters with a holographic narcissist and a nanny robot, to name a few 😛

    https://youtu.be/E4TLto-nKfU

  80. 80.

    Betty Cracker

    March 25, 2020 at 12:54 pm

    @WaterGirl: I sent it via text message earlier — just clicked the share arrow under the video tweet and chose “share with” and then text. It sent just the target tweet, not the whole thread.

  81. 81.

    Elizabelle

    March 25, 2020 at 12:54 pm

    Scott Kelly, retired shuttle astronaut and brother of soon to be Arizona US Senator Mark Kelly (please, please!), had an op ed in the NY Times recently.

    I Spent a Year in Space, and I Have Tips on Isolation to Share
    Take it from someone who couldn’t: Go outside.

    Here are a few tips on living in isolation, from someone who has been there.

    Follow a schedule

    But pace yourself

    Take time for fun activities: I met up with crewmates for movie nights, complete with snacks, and binge-watched all of “Game of Thrones” — twice. And don’t forget to include in your schedule a consistent bedtime.

    Go outside

    One of the things I missed most while living in space was being able to go outside and experience nature. After being confined to a small space for months, I actually started to crave nature — the color green, the smell of fresh dirt, and the feel of warm sun on my face. …. My colleagues liked to play a recording of Earth sounds, like birds and rustling trees, and even mosquitoes, over and over. It brought me back to earth. …. getting moving once a day should be part of your quarantine schedule (just stay at least six feet away from others).

    You need a hobby

    When you are confined in a small space you need an outlet that isn’t work or maintaining your environment. …. I brought books with me to space. The quiet and absorption you can find in a physical book — one that doesn’t ping you with notifications or tempt you to open a new tab — is priceless.

    You can also practice an instrument (I just bought a digital guitar trainer online), try a craft, or make some art. Astronauts take time for all of these while in space. (Remember Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield’s famous cover of David Bowie’s Space Oddity?)

  82. 82.

    WereBear

    March 25, 2020 at 12:55 pm

    @Gin & Tonic: Sometimes it’s just the mood and mindset we bring. Come back, it’s a whole different thing.

  83. 83.

    Sister Golden Bear

    March 25, 2020 at 12:55 pm

    @JMG: I’ve been really slothful and “why bother?” the last couple days — but it’s also been overcast and gloomy, and rained most of yesterday, so that I couldn’t get out for a walk.

    We’re supposed to have three days of partly sunny weather, more overcast with showers over the weekend, and then partly sunny next week. I’m really hoping that’ll improve things for me.

    Especially as it looks like California may remain under shelter-in-place for another 12 weeks.

  84. 84.

    Mike J

    March 25, 2020 at 12:56 pm

    Simone Giertz, the queen of shitty robots, did her own astronaut training program.  Here’s her isolation test:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2VVRUckX5UU

  85. 85.

    The Dangerman

    March 25, 2020 at 12:57 pm

    @WaterGirl:

    So I am catching up on Longmire on Netflix while I walk on the treadmill.  DON’T READ ON IF YOU ARE AS BEHIND IN THE SERIES AS I AM.

    Longmire was a good series. I won’t share any spoilers other than I was NOT disappointed in the end with the writing. That’s as far as I’ll go.

    If you are at all a baseball person, Brockmire is fucking hilarious. A few warnings. Do not watch with children. Do not watch with your Mother. For the love of all that is decent, do NOT watch with your Grandmother (note, there may be exceptions to these general rules, so YMMV).

  86. 86.

    NotMax

    March 25, 2020 at 1:00 pm

    @Brooklyn Dodger

    Ever see the pilot for the American version? Word to the wise: don’t, without a suitably padded surface on which to bang your head. Beyond dreadful.

  87. 87.

    WereBear

    March 25, 2020 at 1:02 pm

    Since we mentioned science fiction, the Gene Wolfe ouvre is literary world building at its best. For long, start with Shadow of the Torturer in a four volume epic. Or, dip your toe with the award-winning story, The Death of Doctor Island.

    John Brunner is fantastic, also from UK the extraordinary Alfred Bester.

  88. 88.

    Elizabelle

    March 25, 2020 at 1:02 pm

    Second part of Scott Kelly’s op ed about living in isolation (in space or on terra firma):

    Keep a journal

    NASA has been studying the effects of isolation on humans for decades, and one surprising finding they have made is the value of keeping a journal. Throughout my yearlong mission, I took the time to write about my experiences almost every day. If you find yourself just chronicling the days’ events (which, under the circumstances, might get repetitive) instead try describing what you are experiencing through your five senses or write about memories. Even if you don’t wind up writing a book based on your journal like I did, writing about your days will help put your experiences in perspective and let you look back later on what this unique time in history has meant.

    Take time to connect

    … I never missed the chance to have a videoconference with family and friends. … it’s worth making time to connect with someone every day — it might actually help you fight off viruses.

    Listen to experts

    I’ve found that most problems aren’t rocket science, but when they are rocket science, you should ask a rocket scientist. Living in space taught me a lot about the importance of trusting the advice of people who knew more than I did about their subjects, whether it was science, engineering, medicine, or the design of the incredibly complex space station that was keeping me alive.

    Especially in a challenging moment like the one we are living through now, we have to seek out knowledge from those who know the most about it and listen to them. Social media and other poorly vetted sources can be transmitters of misinformation just as handshakes transmit viruses, so we have to make a point of seeking out reputable sources of facts, like the World Health Organization and the Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center.

    We are all connected

    Seen from space, the Earth has no borders. The spread of the coronavirus is showing us that what we share is much more powerful than what keeps us apart, for better or for worse. All people are inescapably interconnected, and the more we can come together to solve our problems, the better off we will all be.

    …. As helpless as we may feel stuck inside our homes, there are always things we can do — I’ve seen people reading to children via videoconference, donating their time and dollars to charities online, and running errands for elderly or immuno-compromised neighbors. The benefits for the volunteer are just as great as for those helped.

    I’ve seen humans work together to prevail over some of the toughest challenges imaginable, and I know we can prevail over this one if we all do our part and work together as a team.

    Oh, and wash your hands — often.

  89. 89.

    WaterGirl

    March 25, 2020 at 1:03 pm

    @Betty Cracker: I did the earlier, and it included the text of the individual tweet, but when you click the link, it includes the video above it.

    I am perplexed.

  90. 90.

    WaterGirl

    March 25, 2020 at 1:06 pm

    @The Dangerman: Yeah, a couple years ago with my two conservative sisters visiting, we thought we would try Friends from College.

    Oops – graphic sex happing in the opening scene.  Never mind.

  91. 91.

    WaterGirl

    March 25, 2020 at 1:07 pm

    @The Dangerman: Glad to know the ending is good!  I am still pretending that the last 20-30 minutes of LOST does not exist.

    I am now happy to know that Walt is alive, but we don’t know where the good doctor is.  That will be for my treadmill walk later today.

  92. 92.

    NotMax

    March 25, 2020 at 1:08 pm

    @WereBear

    Lurve Wolfe’s Book of the New Sun series. So much there to chew on.

  93. 93.

    MattF

    March 25, 2020 at 1:09 pm

    @WereBear: And that epic is followed by two more series of novels. Pro tip: Lexicon Urthus is a big help in deciphering what’s going on. Wolfe’s narrators are notoriously unreliable.

    ETA: Also, Iain Banks.

  94. 94.

    Brooklyn Dodger

    March 25, 2020 at 1:09 pm

    • @NotMax:

    Wow did NOT know about that haha thanks for the heads up. Bad enough to have the series end. Can not even imagi…ahhhhh okee dokie I won’t!

  95. 95.

    trollhattan

    March 25, 2020 at 1:09 pm

    @Sister Golden Bear:

    For every Trump there is a Kelly. We’re very lucky to have them and hopefully Senator Kelly, soon!

  96. 96.

    Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes

    March 25, 2020 at 1:09 pm

    @The Dangerman:

    I recently noted that Netflix has added Season 5 of Rake to its catalog, so we’re rewatching Season 4 to get back up to speed.

    For the uninitiated, Rake is super funny.  The main character is a scummy Australian lawyer navigating the schemes, frauds and addictions of the Sydney money crowd. The last episode of Season 4 had him getting to the Senate and going to Canberra.  Season 5 is of him as a Senator.

    I can’t wait.

  97. 97.

    Nicole

    March 25, 2020 at 1:10 pm

    @Ceci n est pas mon nym:

    So I was doing OK here until the day the coffee grinder wouldn’t grind any more. I felt like Burgess Meredith in that famous Twilight Zone episode.

    That made both my husband and I laugh.  Thank you.

  98. 98.

    White & Gold Purgatorian

    March 25, 2020 at 1:11 pm

    @Ceci n est pas mon nym:

    Does anyone else find themselves being more conscious about conserving supplies?

    Absolutely. And I am especially eagle-eyed wrt potential waste or spoilage of perishables like veggies because, at least for us, those will require a trip inside a brick and mortar store to replenish.

    Regarding  your coffee grinder, have you tried taking it apart and cleaning it? One time ours got so gunked up with coffee bits and oil that it completely seized up. A good cleaning and it worked again. Now I try to clean it more often, esp. when using oilier beans.

  99. 99.

    Fair Economist

    March 25, 2020 at 1:13 pm

    @MattF: I have a couple of store coupons from my grocery for a free individual bagel.

    They’re only sold in 6-packs now, and probably not in singles again until after the coupon expires.

  100. 100.

    Roger Moore

    March 25, 2020 at 1:14 pm

    @TaMara (HFG):

    Meanwhile, I’m making my first ever attempt at bagels.

    My experience- admittedly as an experienced bread baker- is that the hardest part about baking bagels is believing in yourself.  You get this idea that bagels are really hard to make, something that only experts can do, but really they’re not that different from ordinary rolls.  They use a dryer dough than regular bread, and you have to boil them before baking, but they’re ultimately just another kind of bread.

  101. 101.

    Feathers

    March 25, 2020 at 1:16 pm

    From John Scalzi’s twitter feed and rated “perfect”: Grover reads The Monster at the End of the Book

    The baby laughing is the icing on the cake.

  102. 102.

    trollhattan

    March 25, 2020 at 1:17 pm

    @White & Gold Purgatorian:

    Ours is a burr grinder (not a Raymond, nor a Richard), maybe 15 years old, and the setting for espresso was cranked down about as far as it would go. I was amazed to find a coffee specialty shop that carried replacement burrs. (Back)ordered a set and they eventually received and shipped them. Huge relief to discover it was all of a 15-minute task to replace them and voila, brand new grinder.

    Comparing the new and old blades, the old ones were worn smooth. Good for another ten years (I won’t let it go 15 again).

    To your point, coffee gets everywhere, in every nook and cranny. Vacuuming helps.

  103. 103.

    WhatsMyNym

    March 25, 2020 at 1:18 pm

    @Sab:

    I subscribed to the NASA cable channel at their house. I miss it.

    NASA has their own channel on Roku, as well as many other platforms. No reason to go without your daily space fix.

  104. 104.

    Fair Economist

    March 25, 2020 at 1:18 pm

    @WaterGirl: Initially I felt I should support my local businesses and was getting takeout more often than I normally eat out. But I got to thinking about how I’m usually coughing with bronchitis or something (a half dozen doctors have failed to diagnose) for weeks after even a mild cold and decided I’d probably be one of the unlucky 5% if I got it, so now food is only at home like you.

  105. 105.

    beth

    March 25, 2020 at 1:22 pm

    A stay at home order was issued with the mayor saying “business as usual has a price: death sentence for thousands” and the owners of the resort I work for saw that and decided they could live with it. (Hotels are exempt because they have been deemed essential.) They are actually running ads touting all the fun stuff you can do there without danger eg biking, golfing, tennis etc. If you happen to infect our employees, well too bad I guess we always get more of them. I am beyond horrified at them.

  106. 106.

    NotMax

    March 25, 2020 at 1:23 pm

    @Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes
    Rake rocks. Also on Prime, for those without Netflix.

    Very strange police cum time travel series found on Netflix. Tunnel (second “n” reversed in the title), a Thai remake of a Korean TV series.

  107. 107.

    trollhattan

    March 25, 2020 at 1:25 pm

    @beth:

    Me=boggled we’re still reading about this and that ocean cruise being refused port service.  Who the hell voluntarily boarded a goddamn cruise ship this month? Who the hell decided it was good bidnez to launch?

  108. 108.

    Major Major Major Major

    March 25, 2020 at 1:26 pm

    Here’s a great comprehensive guide on food safety and coronavirus and takeout and grocery stories.

    According to multiple health and safety organizations worldwide, including the CDC, the USDA, and the European Food safety Authority, there is currently no evidence that COVID-19 has spread through food or food packaging. Previous coronavirus epidemics likewise showed no evidence of having been spread through food or packaging.

    […]

    The fact that every person eats multiple times a day and thus far no link has been found between eating and viral clusters is strong evidence that no such link exists.

    […]

    The main risk factor is proximity to other people, so inasmuch as you have a higher chance of coming in contact with other people outside your own home, picking up food is a higher risk than having it delivered or cooking it yourself.

    That said, there are other risks associated with cooking at home, particularly in shopping at supermarkets and handling potentially contaminated food packaging. The cook at your local restaurant most likely follows stricter hygiene and safety protocols than the supermarket worker stocking the shelves.

    ETA, this is nice to know:

    The German Federal Institute for Risk Assesment (BfR) reports that it is also possible—but unlikely—that the virus could be spread through “smear” infection. In these cases, a healthy person would touch a contaminated surface with their hands—say, a can of soup, a touchscreen ATM, or a subway turnstile—then transfer the virus to their eyes or nose. There have been no known cases of this method of transfer, and it is thought to be far less likely than droplet infection. Washing your hands before touching your face further reduces this likelihood, as coronavirus cannot be absorbed through your skin.

  109. 109.

    Major Major Major Major

    March 25, 2020 at 1:33 pm

    Go NYC!

    In the New York city area, there is suddenly a run on pets. Shelters are running out of dogs and cats to foster or adopt. https://t.co/ayS4W0vEdu cc @darth— Catherine Rampell (@crampell) March 25, 2020

  110. 110.

    WereBear

    March 25, 2020 at 1:33 pm

    @Major Major Major Major: Thanks, those are reassuring facts.

  111. 111.

    Feathers

    March 25, 2020 at 1:35 pm

    Acoustic guitar and mellow doggo in the snow

  112. 112.

    donnah

    March 25, 2020 at 1:36 pm

    According to the box of mac and cheese I just made, I’m a family of four.

  113. 113.

    NotMax

    March 25, 2020 at 1:37 pm

    @Major Major Major Major

    Terrible, terrible that the first thing which came to mind is the rabbit lady from Roger and Me. “Pets or meat?”

  114. 114.

    NotMax

    March 25, 2020 at 1:38 pm

    @donnah

    LOL.

    And woo-hoo! Four checks comin’ your way!

  115. 115.

    Major Major Major Major

    March 25, 2020 at 1:39 pm

    @donnah: hahahaha

  116. 116.

    Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes

    March 25, 2020 at 1:39 pm

    @Fair Economist:

    I spent an hour this morning trying to convince my RWNJ mom to quit working at her part time job and to quit buying takeout.  I told her:

    1.  You don’t have to work – you have social security and dad’s teacher pension coming in, along with Medicare. Every time you go to work to do needless admin tasks, you risk bringing home something to dad – and you could both wind up hospitalized separately, or even dead.  Because of the economics, your grandchildren and I are going to have difficulty providing support.
    2.  Every time you go, you do things that requires consumption beyond just going to the groceries – you use gas, which means you’re touching pumps and putting your card in the reader.
    3.  Every time you get carryout, people who aren’t you are preparing and handling your food.
    4.   People are losing their jobs, their businesses and are deferring or foregoing their hopes and dreams to keep people in your age demographic alive and healthy. The role and absolute duty of people who are drawing monthly guaranteed money and medical benefits in this current environment is to keep themselves safe, at home and out of the way so as to relieve pressure on the medical system so this thing burns itself out and we can get back to our lives sooner.

    I got a mewling “weeeeeeeeellll, I see what you’re saying…..”

  117. 117.

    delk

    March 25, 2020 at 1:39 pm

    AstroPeggy is a great nym.

  118. 118.

    dmsilev

    March 25, 2020 at 1:40 pm

    @Major Major Major Major: It’s ok. If there’s a shortage, people can start adopting rats instead.

  119. 119.

    WereBear

    March 25, 2020 at 1:41 pm

    @beth: This is horrible.

    And I don’t understand people who vacation under these conditions, either.

  120. 120.

    satby

    March 25, 2020 at 1:43 pm

    @NotMax: haven’t read the thread yet since I’m going in reverse, but thought you’d enjoy the Valhalla Murders in Netflix. Icelandic, so subtitled, and two episodes in for me. Fairly standard police procedural so I’m enjoying it.

  121. 121.

    Ceci n est pas mon nym

    March 25, 2020 at 1:43 pm

    @White & Gold Purgatorian: My first thought was to take it apart and look for a loose connection or a bad wire. It’s a pretty simple device after all.

    But I was defeated by the weird specialty fasteners on the bottom that require some kind of triangle-shaped tool that I’ve never seen, let alone own. That is, the screw has a depression on the top that is triangular.

  122. 122.

    NotMax

    March 25, 2020 at 1:46 pm

    @satby

    Already watched it. ;)

    As mentioned here at the time, Icelandic noir, so heaping helpings of bleak included at no extra charge.

  123. 123.

    Martin

    March 25, 2020 at 1:46 pm

    Everyone, brace yourself for NYC. I fear they missed their window to flatten the curve entirely. I pulled them out of my national model because they finally have enough data to consider doing so and it’s bad. Again, not a ton of data at my disposal so just as Washington state isn’t in as bad shape as the first week might have suggested due to it tearing through a nursing home as its opening act, so I will happily admit to being wrong, but if this fatality trend keeps up, then the city is already into the spread slowing due to so many people having it.

    The notice yesterday that people from NYC traveling should quarantine is likely based on an ‘oh shit’ observation inside the CDC.

  124. 124.

    Tenar Arha

    March 25, 2020 at 1:47 pm

    @JMG: I’ve been working on fixing a long term series of problems.

    Anyway, before all this I started using a habit tracker for no more than a dozen or so regular “tasks” & was already helping me. I have similar  difficulties with getting up & going to sleep, so I included tracking times I get up & times I go to bed.

    Roughly—I do the style with dates on the horizontal, tasks on the vertical, & I X out or record the time or # of hours/minutes in the squares. It’s surprisingly motivating.

  125. 125.

    WereBear

    March 25, 2020 at 1:47 pm

    @Ceci n est pas mon nym:  It’s also likely they aren’t made to be unscrewed. They are often quickly installed by robots and not able to be taken apart.

  126. 126.

    dmsilev

    March 25, 2020 at 1:47 pm

    @Ceci n est pas mon nym: Something like this kit is convenient to have for dealing with such circumstances.

  127. 127.

    Betty Cracker

    March 25, 2020 at 1:49 pm

    @donnah: Hahaha! Thanks for the laugh — sorely needed! :)

  128. 128.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    March 25, 2020 at 1:49 pm

    is this appropriate for a semi-respite thread? are we respiting from politics, or just The Thing?

    Grace Segers@Grace_Segers
    Joe Biden is holding his first virtual press conference. He’s starting his remarks by appealing directly to Millennials and Gen Z. “Millennials have grown up navigating enormous disruption and change in society and still they’ve stepped up all across the board.”

    I am not un-nervous about Biden as a candidate, but at least in this thread, he’s coming across pretty good

    Biden: “Donald Trump downplayed the seriousness of this crisis for weeks…And as a result, this virus hit all of us harder than it might have otherwise.” He also says the Easter timeline is “arbitrary,” and says the U.S. should follow a timeline “supported by science.”

    Biden on the Easter timeline: “It would be a catastrophic thing to do for our people and our economy if we sent people back to work just as we were starting to see the impact of social distancing take hold.”

  129. 129.

    dmsilev

    March 25, 2020 at 1:50 pm

    @Martin: That’s not good to hear.

  130. 130.

    Major Major Major Major

    March 25, 2020 at 1:52 pm

    @Martin: NY is also testing a zillion people a day (16,000?) which is a very large percentage of the country’s overall testing. Southern cities and states have far higher per-capita rates than NYC did at the relevant points on the curve. California seems to have done a good job though, but I believe they’ve only tested a few thousand more people than NY can do in a single day.

    Which is not to say that NYC does not appear to be totally fucked, just that it’s a sunlight-on-cockroaches situation, not a uniquely large pile of cockroaches.

  131. 131.

    Gin & Tonic

    March 25, 2020 at 1:53 pm

    @donnah: I always thought that the Snyder’s Honey-Mustard Pretzel Pieces should have honest packaging and say “Serving Size = 1 Bag.”

  132. 132.

    WereBear

    March 25, 2020 at 1:55 pm

    @Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes:  I feels for you.

    It’s the worst time for that all-too-common behavior which only worsens with the RWNJ frosting.

  133. 133.

    The Dangerman

    March 25, 2020 at 1:55 pm

    So, Jackson Browne is a confirmed positive. With a potential NYC connection.

    Fuck.

    Turning it up. Way up:

    I Am A Patriot

  134. 134.

    dmsilev

    March 25, 2020 at 1:55 pm

    @Gin & Tonic: Trader Joe’s sells containers of chocolate-covered coffee beans, and the “serving size” is something like 10 beans. That’s …a lot.

  135. 135.

    WereBear

    March 25, 2020 at 1:56 pm

    @NotMax:

    As mentioned here at the time, Icelandic noir, so heaping helpings of bleak included at no extra charge.

     
    LOL. Mirrored my own thoughts. “Just shoot me now…” etc :)

    Mind you, I was in my early teens when I got into the stark Scandinavian-style mysteries. Not like I can only handle Nancy Drew.

  136. 136.

    trollhattan

    March 25, 2020 at 1:57 pm

    @Gin & Tonic:

    “Serving size=1 bag; and the bag is Too Damn Small!”

  137. 137.

    Baud

    March 25, 2020 at 2:02 pm

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist:

    I think he’s been pretty solid since S.C., if you don’t grade him on an Obama curve.

  138. 138.

    Fair Economist

    March 25, 2020 at 2:09 pm

    @Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes: Good on you. Keep at it. People change their minds under the kind of pressure that’s coming up, and it sounds like she’s thinking about it. Finding an example of somebody bringing it home on social media might help move her along.

    Has she got some other motive to go out? Boredom, limit on how many hours per day with dad, etc.?

  139. 139.

    Sab

    March 25, 2020 at 2:10 pm

    @Gin & Tonic: My late boss had a theory that a serving size was somewhere between 100 and 150 calories. So high cal foods have tiny serving sizes so customers don’t freak out

    Meant to reply to donnah.

  140. 140.

    debbie

    March 25, 2020 at 2:14 pm

    OMFG. I tuned in to hear Gov. DeWine’s COVID-19 news conference, and he leads off by giving his wife Fran (AN UNELECTED PERSON) almost 15 minutes to chatter away about recipes she’s made, fun activities for grandchildren, etc.

    And now they’re going with some guy named Charlie’s song, “Stay at Home.”

    JFC

  141. 141.

    Zzyzx

    March 25, 2020 at 2:15 pm

    @Martin: I think that nursing home might have saved Seattle. It made us all freak out and that got us to implement measures early.

  142. 142.

    JMG

    March 25, 2020 at 2:17 pm

    @Tenar Arha: I just made myself go out for my neighborhood walk, and I feel better for doing so even if it’s not a pleasant day. It came to me that if I do nothing but plan and eat meals, as I did yesterday, I would be emulating fictional detective Nero Wolfe and would soon resemble him in body type, too. I have been staying up a little later, 10 p.m. instead of my more usual 9:30. Maybe that’s why I’m sleeping later. It is harder to turn off the brain’s stress generating mechanism when I hit the hay, so I don’t drop off readily. Can’t imagine why that’s happening.

  143. 143.

    laura

    March 25, 2020 at 2:17 pm

    @Sister Golden Bear: I want to thank you. I followed along in your posts on your gender confirming and your insights about life in general in your journey. I’m currently representing a woman who is being disciplined on the job -less performance and more grudge by her manager. If it weren’t for your posts I am afraid that I wouldn’t have had the language and sensitivity to assist her in a supportive and safe space. We’re having a teleconference with the Administrative Law Judge and opposing counsel on Friday and I’m drafting my opening and closing statements today – and want you to know that you’ve made an appreciable impact in this matter. Sincere thanks and gratitude Sister Golden Bear.

  144. 144.

    frosty

    March 25, 2020 at 2:19 pm

    @Elizabelle: I guess I missed that one. I finally figured out that when I see a thread pushing 300 comments there are trolls about. So it’s time to FIDO*.

    * Thanks Raven!

  145. 145.

    NotMax

    March 25, 2020 at 2:20 pm

    @Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes

    YMMV.

    Personally would be somewhat less leery about takeout. Reputable restaurants are aware that to have any hope of surviving, being extra extra extra cautious and clamping down on and monitoring prep procedure is vital.

    Also too, hot foods kept hot upon delivery carry a reduced chance of transmission. By how much is open to question, but it exists.

  146. 146.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    March 25, 2020 at 2:22 pm

    Someone on twitter said that her neighbors were putting teddy bears in the windows for little kids to find when they go out for a walk.

    A friend here told me she had a virtual dinner with her family a few nights ago. They used facetime. She set up her laptop on her table and they set one up on theirs and chatted while they all ate dinner.

    Both those things sounds lovely.

  147. 147.

    Sister Golden Bear

    March 25, 2020 at 2:23 pm

    @laura: Thank you. And thank you for helping her!

  148. 148.

    Emma from FL

    March 25, 2020 at 2:24 pm

    @JMG: Yes. Oh  yes. Since I am working from home I have coped by keeping my regular schedule but I don’t know how long the self-discipline is going to last.

  149. 149.

    laura

    March 25, 2020 at 2:24 pm

    @The Dangerman: back atcha!

    https://youtu.be/cRCQRTLjsgE

  150. 150.

    Fair Economist

    March 25, 2020 at 2:25 pm

    @Martin: People have been cheering Cuomo because he’s been active and honest, but his initial reaction to the New Rochelle outbreak was area quarantine, not NYC-wide social distancing, and that Trumpian intervention has been very costly. It wouldn’t have worked well anyway, but it’s now become clear there was a large outbreak underway entirely separate from that, undetected because Trump suppressed testing.

    I am also wondering if the modeling consensus for a 6 day doubling is wrong and the real doubling rate is more like every 3 days, as indicated by crude line-fitting on logarithmic graphs. It’s just so common in so many countries, and every 6 days is too slow for events like Italy to happen in 8 weeks.

  151. 151.

    WereBear

    March 25, 2020 at 2:25 pm

    @debbie: Not all governor press conferences are created equal, eh?

  152. 152.

    laura

    March 25, 2020 at 2:26 pm

    @Sister Golden Bear: I am grateful to be of service.

  153. 153.

    mrmoshpotato

    March 25, 2020 at 2:27 pm

    @Amir Khalid: A rock block of Bach

  154. 154.

    Sister Golden Bear

    March 25, 2020 at 2:28 pm

    Haunting video of empty streets in SF.

    Yes, we’ve had problems — last weekend too many people packed beaches and parks — on the whole, people are taking this seriously.

  155. 155.

    Roger Moore

    March 25, 2020 at 2:28 pm

    @trollhattan:

    We’re coffee snobs (espresso) and got a bean shipment from our roaster in Reno yesterday, which will keep us good for several weeks.

    Piker.  I have 20 pounds of green coffee and a home coffee roaster.  Admittedly, the coffee loses a bit of weight when it’s roasted, so that will only turn into about 17 pounds of roasted coffee, but it should keep me going for a good long time.

  156. 156.

    mrmoshpotato

    March 25, 2020 at 2:29 pm

    @scav: Yes!

  157. 157.

    Origuy

    March 25, 2020 at 2:33 pm

    @Dorothy A. Winsor:  That might be my friend’s neighborhood of Willow Glen in San Jose. He posted on FB that since he didn’t have a stuffed bear, he put out his stuffed Cthulhu.

  158. 158.

    Martin

    March 25, 2020 at 2:35 pm

    @Fair Economist:

    NYC appears to be doubling a little faster than every 2 days. Not a lot of data to establish a trendline, mind you, so it could easily settle out better.

    I think I now understand Cuomo’s mood yesterday.

  159. 159.

    Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes

    March 25, 2020 at 2:36 pm

    @NotMax:

     

    For them, takeout is constant (she’s a shitty cook), and they’re not careful about where they do it or the things they order.

  160. 160.

    Ceci n est pas mon nym

    March 25, 2020 at 2:40 pm

    @Fair Economist: I am also wondering if the modeling consensus for a 6 day doubling is wrong and the real doubling rate is more like every 3 days,

    I was looking at the US graphs over time for cases and deaths yesterday, when it hit about 52000 cases and 670 is deaths. I traced the graph back to see when each of those was about half the value. It was 3 days.

    That’s not an exhaustive fit, just a single data point. But I think 3 days may be closer to what we’re experiencing in the US and in hot spots like NYC. Right now that page shows 61,808 cases and 859 deaths. 3 days ago it was at 33,000 cases 414 deaths.

  161. 161.

    Ken

    March 25, 2020 at 2:42 pm

    @Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes:  You could ask your mother if she saw the Texas governor’s appearance on Fox, and whether she agrees with his claim that people like her would be happy to die so that you and your children can make more money.

    It might work as shock therapy; or it might make things worse.

  162. 162.

    Sister Rail Gun of Warm Humanitarianism

    March 25, 2020 at 2:50 pm

    Franklin Graham has spent a lot of money at CNN.

  163. 163.

    donnah

    March 25, 2020 at 2:51 pm

    I work from home anyway, as a rug hooker and teacher. But I make a living by traveling and teaching rug hooking, and so far three of my upcoming workshops have been canceled. So now I’m mildly terrified.

    Anyway, I always have plenty to do, so in addition to drawing patterns and dyeing wool for classes, I’m working on my current rug, a tribute to Helen Keller. I was hoping to get it finished before a major rug show in August, so this time home will help, but now one wonders if that event will still take place.

     

    Anyhoo, if you want to see the progress, here’s a link:   https://imgur.com/gallery/UbZKYqQ

  164. 164.

    WereBear

    March 25, 2020 at 2:56 pm

    @donnah: That is really lovely! I admire how you got shading into the face and hair.

  165. 165.

    mrmoshpotato

    March 25, 2020 at 2:57 pm

    @Feathers: I’d forgotten about The Monster At The End Of This Book!

    That was great.

  166. 166.

    mrmoshpotato

    March 25, 2020 at 3:04 pm

    @donnah: LOL

  167. 167.

    mrmoshpotato

    March 25, 2020 at 3:17 pm

    @Origuy:

    He posted on FB that since he didn’t have a stuffed bear, he put out his stuffed Cthulhu. 

    BWHAHAHAHAHA!!!!  That’s fantastic!

  168. 168.

    WaterGirl

    March 25, 2020 at 3:32 pm

    @Fair Economist: On this, I would rather be over-cautious than not cautious enough.

  169. 169.

    WaterGirl

    March 25, 2020 at 3:37 pm

    @The Dangerman: Shit.

  170. 170.

    WaterGirl

    March 25, 2020 at 3:41 pm

    @donnah: You are now a pro at Imgur.  I’m so proud. :-)

  171. 171.

    donnah

    March 25, 2020 at 3:50 pm

    @WaterGirl: 

    oh, thanks so much! You’re a great help in many ways!

  172. 172.

    J R in WV

    March 25, 2020 at 3:53 pm

    Respite thread, huh? Not so much…

    Yesterday did another giant shopping trip, first time out of the hollow in 13 days, won’t go again for 30 days. It was a pretty nice day, wore a long sleeved tee, didn’t need a coat. Sunny in the morning.

    Some of you may have seen my posts about our tiny frog pond. The first eggs laid were woods frogs (or wood frogs, won’t look it up, don’t care that much which is biologically accurate) and yesterday our first tadpoles in several years hatched out… tiny little wigglers.

    Photos were taken, along with many blossoms, mosses, ferns, etc. Will send to someone to post.

    The wood frogs are long gone after laying their eggs, but now we have both chorus frogs and tree frogs, aka peepers from their peep-peep calls. Those are really tiny frogs, the size of a fingernail, so hard to spot. Really, all these frogs living beside the front door are so hugely shy I don’t get many chances to see them, much less photograph them.

    But is is a sign of spring that we only realized we missed horribly when we got them back this spring.

  173. 173.

    Matt McIrvin

    March 25, 2020 at 4:35 pm

    @Jeffro: In those days we had a mostly good, competent leader, and we loved him. Now we have a complete shit leader, and about half of us love him, specifically because we love his shittiness. That’s going to make a huge difference. I think we need to be thinking in terms of the Axis experience in the war, not ours.

  174. 174.

    Leto

    March 25, 2020 at 4:37 pm

    Way OT but I’m going to personally strangle the people at PA HRO/Army Benefits Center-Civilian for the way they’re absolutely fucking up my retirement shit. Round 3 of sending the same fucking information that I sent back in October, yet another round of corrections on paperwork that I already made… the ANG and Army are 10000% living up to their reputation of ineptitude and dumbfuckery. Just a ton of frustration today.

  175. 175.

    WaterGirl

    March 25, 2020 at 4:44 pm

    @J R in WV: I really appreciate these reports about the frogs!  Can’t wait to see all the pictures.

  176. 176.

    Tenar Arha

    March 25, 2020 at 5:01 pm

    @JMG: Thread’s a bit dead, but….

    Yeah, amazing how even a slight change in my sleep patterns affect my mood. Those every other or daily walks really help me as well. For me, the earlier I can get one done after I get up & have caffeinated, the better. That helps all day.

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