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
Baud
I would much rather shelter in space. That would be cool AF.
WereBear
@Baud: Gotta have broadband. None of that satellite shit.
Baud
@WereBear: I’m going to need more coax.
WereBear
@Baud: Have you tried aluminum foil? That’s how I was able to watch Batman, back in the day.
MattF
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.
Sab
Back when I was doing eldercare for my parents I subscribed to the NASA cable channel at their house. I miss it.
The Dangerman
@MattF:
NFW, we are NOT having beans for dinner again.
/blazing saddles
Betty Cracker
Just in case y’all missed this on Twitter:
Can you imagine? I’d resign and quietly go die of shame if that happened to me.
Ken
@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.”
NotMax
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.
The Dangerman
@Betty Cracker:
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.
Rich Webb
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 …
rk
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!
MisterForkbeard
@The Dangerman: Middle row, leftmost screen. About 2/3s of the way through the video.
And I’d certainly think about quitting O_o
trollhattan
From our Unsurprising News drawer.
debbie
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.
catclub
Its cold outside, there no kind of atmosphere,
I’m all alone, more or less.
…
Opening song from red Dwarf.
NotMax
@debbie
There’s also this real time stream of all communications during that mission.
R-Jud
I’ll believe it when I see it, but good news if true!
Major Major Major Major
Respite thread? I got nothing.
TaMara (HFG)
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.
Major Major Major Major
WaterGirl
@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?
Xenos
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.
Amir Khalid
@NotMax:
Hi, NotMax.
NotMax
@Major Major Major Major
Curious if any pedestrian barriers have been placed around the U.N.
NotMax
@Amir Khalid
Thank you for the words of support in that *other* thread.
WaterGirl
@NotMax: You’re the troll! No, you’re the troll!
WereBear
@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.
scav
@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.
Elizabelle
@NotMax: and @ Amir Khalid: Two syllables to both of you, WRT that thread:
CatCake.
DuckCake.
Three syllables:
CorgiCake.
NotMax
@WaterGirl
Bile under the bridge. Forgive and forget.
Elizabelle
@WereBear: That’s a wonderful history lesson.
Ceci n est pas mon nym
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.
JMG
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.
Ruckus
@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.
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.
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:
WTF Google? What baby?????
Luciamia
With the beer bread, be careful with the added sugar. Beer can add a surprising sweetness on its own.
WaterGirl
@NotMax: I came to that thread late, and all I did was laugh. That may make me a bad person.
MattF
@JMG: Yeah, I was just pondering that this morning, completely coincidentally.
Gin & Tonic
@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.
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. 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.
Amir Khalid
@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.
WaterGirl
@Elizabelle: If you called him by his given name, PupCake, that would be two syllables! :-)
(pretending to be annoyed)
Major Major Major Major
@NotMax: Not last I saw, but they of course already have bollards and a steel fence.
NotMax
@Lucamia
Yeah, suggest eschewing the artisan stuff and going with an el cheapo brand, but NOT “lite.”
Major Major Major Major
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.
Elizabelle
@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.)
Elizabelle
@WaterGirl: PupCake too. At any rate, a vast improvement over the irritant. Even if you just get a drawing of a dessert.
MattF
@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.
scav
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 . . . )
trollhattan
@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!
Betty Cracker
@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.
NotMax
@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.
Gin & Tonic
@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.
WereBear
@Elizabelle: I LOVE NY. Never more than now.
Robert Sneddon
@Xenos:
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.
Amir Khalid
@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.
NotMax
@Gin & Tonic
Unwritten instruction in the recipe for the leftover 4 ounces.
;)
Ruckus
@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.
trollhattan
@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.
MattF
@Amir Khalid: More likely, go to the supermarket and get roast chicken plus salad.
Major Major Major Major
@NotMax: Not as of (checks photograph timestamp) March 15.
NotMax
@Robert Sneddon
Had Delany written nothing other than Dhalgren I’d still class him as among the greats.
evap
@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.
Major Major Major Major
@MattF: Assuming you just walk in and pick it up and leave, takeout is going to be much safer than a grocery store.
Robert Sneddon
@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.
WereBear
@NotMax: Seconded.
Gin & Tonic
@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.
Mai naem mobile
@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.
Major Major Major Major
@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
WaterGirl
@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.
MattF
@Major Major Major Major: I suppose so. But note the current protocol for buying a bagel.
Gin & Tonic
@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.
WaterGirl
@Amir Khalid: At this point, I am unwilling to eat anything that hasn’t been prepared at my home.
Jeffro
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!
Robert Sneddon
@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!
trollhattan
@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!
Brooklyn Dodger
@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
Betty Cracker
@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.
Elizabelle
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.
WereBear
@Gin & Tonic: Sometimes it’s just the mood and mindset we bring. Come back, it’s a whole different thing.
Sister Golden Bear
@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.
Mike J
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
The Dangerman
@WaterGirl:
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).
NotMax
@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.
WereBear
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.
Elizabelle
Second part of Scott Kelly’s op ed about living in isolation (in space or on terra firma):
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.
WaterGirl
@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.
WaterGirl
@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.
WaterGirl
@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.
NotMax
@WereBear
Lurve Wolfe’s Book of the New Sun series. So much there to chew on.
MattF
@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.
Brooklyn Dodger
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!
trollhattan
@Sister Golden Bear:
For every Trump there is a Kelly. We’re very lucky to have them and hopefully Senator Kelly, soon!
Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes
@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.
Nicole
@Ceci n est pas mon nym:
That made both my husband and I laugh. Thank you.
White & Gold Purgatorian
@Ceci n est pas mon nym:
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.
Fair Economist
@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.
Roger Moore
@TaMara (HFG):
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.
Feathers
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.
trollhattan
@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.
WhatsMyNym
@Sab:
NASA has their own channel on Roku, as well as many other platforms. No reason to go without your daily space fix.
Fair Economist
@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.
beth
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.
NotMax
@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.
trollhattan
@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?
Major Major Major Major
Here’s a great comprehensive guide on food safety and coronavirus and takeout and grocery stories.
ETA, this is nice to know:
Major Major Major Major
Go NYC!
WereBear
@Major Major Major Major: Thanks, those are reassuring facts.
Feathers
Acoustic guitar and mellow doggo in the snow
donnah
According to the box of mac and cheese I just made, I’m a family of four.
NotMax
@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?”
NotMax
@donnah
LOL.
And woo-hoo! Four checks comin’ your way!
Major Major Major Major
@donnah: hahahaha
Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes
@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:
I got a mewling “weeeeeeeeellll, I see what you’re saying…..”
delk
AstroPeggy is a great nym.
dmsilev
@Major Major Major Major: It’s ok. If there’s a shortage, people can start adopting rats instead.
WereBear
@beth: This is horrible.
And I don’t understand people who vacation under these conditions, either.
satby
@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.
Ceci n est pas mon nym
@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.
NotMax
@satby
Already watched it. ;)
As mentioned here at the time, Icelandic noir, so heaping helpings of bleak included at no extra charge.
Martin
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.
Tenar Arha
@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.
WereBear
@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.
dmsilev
@Ceci n est pas mon nym: Something like this kit is convenient to have for dealing with such circumstances.
Betty Cracker
@donnah: Hahaha! Thanks for the laugh — sorely needed! :)
Jim, Foolish Literalist
is this appropriate for a semi-respite thread? are we respiting from politics, or just The Thing?
I am not un-nervous about Biden as a candidate, but at least in this thread, he’s coming across pretty good
dmsilev
@Martin: That’s not good to hear.
Major Major Major Major
@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.
Gin & Tonic
@donnah: I always thought that the Snyder’s Honey-Mustard Pretzel Pieces should have honest packaging and say “Serving Size = 1 Bag.”
WereBear
@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.
The Dangerman
So, Jackson Browne is a confirmed positive. With a potential NYC connection.
Fuck.
Turning it up. Way up:
I Am A Patriot
dmsilev
@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.
WereBear
@NotMax:
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.
trollhattan
@Gin & Tonic:
“Serving size=1 bag; and the bag is Too Damn Small!”
Baud
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
I think he’s been pretty solid since S.C., if you don’t grade him on an Obama curve.
Fair Economist
@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.?
Sab
@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.
debbie
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
Zzyzx
@Martin: I think that nursing home might have saved Seattle. It made us all freak out and that got us to implement measures early.
JMG
@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.
laura
@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.
frosty
@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!
NotMax
@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.
Dorothy A. Winsor
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.
Sister Golden Bear
@laura: Thank you. And thank you for helping her!
Emma from FL
@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.
laura
@The Dangerman: back atcha!
https://youtu.be/cRCQRTLjsgE
Fair Economist
@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.
WereBear
@debbie: Not all governor press conferences are created equal, eh?
laura
@Sister Golden Bear: I am grateful to be of service.
mrmoshpotato
@Amir Khalid: A rock block of Bach
Sister Golden Bear
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.
Roger Moore
@trollhattan:
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.
mrmoshpotato
@scav: Yes!
Origuy
@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.
Martin
@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.
Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes
@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.
Ceci n est pas mon nym
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.
Ken
@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.
Sister Rail Gun of Warm Humanitarianism
Franklin Graham has spent a lot of money at CNN.
donnah
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
WereBear
@donnah: That is really lovely! I admire how you got shading into the face and hair.
mrmoshpotato
@Feathers: I’d forgotten about The Monster At The End Of This Book!
That was great.
mrmoshpotato
@donnah: LOL
mrmoshpotato
@Origuy:
BWHAHAHAHAHA!!!! That’s fantastic!
WaterGirl
@Fair Economist: On this, I would rather be over-cautious than not cautious enough.
WaterGirl
@The Dangerman: Shit.
WaterGirl
@donnah: You are now a pro at Imgur. I’m so proud. :-)
donnah
@WaterGirl:
oh, thanks so much! You’re a great help in many ways!
J R in WV
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.
Matt McIrvin
@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.
Leto
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.
WaterGirl
@J R in WV: I really appreciate these reports about the frogs! Can’t wait to see all the pictures.
Tenar Arha
@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.