this orangutan telling a thrilling story to an entranced audience of otters pic.twitter.com/ZUusnQfpnI
— iucounu (@iucounu) March 30, 2020
(Explanation at the bottom of this post)
===========
We are SO EXCITED for Skype a Scientist Book Club, w/author @ChuckWendig!!
We're going to be talking about his book, Wanderers, the plot of which feels… spookily like our current timeline??
Join us Tuesday at noon Eastern! https://t.co/EyHd8TbFMP
— Sarah McAnulty, Ph.D (@SarahMackAttack) March 28, 2020
===========
Good for the workers, if less so for those of us in self-isolation:
Me, graduating high school in 2012: I have big things in the future, I have more to contribute to society than stacking shelves in a grocery store!
Me, contributing nothing to society in 2020 while shelf guy keeps civilization afloat: …sonofabitch.
— Starfish Who Is Frankly Freaking Out Right Now (@IRHotTakes) March 29, 2020
Sending solidarity to our frontline workers who are striking today.??? You’re keeping families across America supplied and fed during this pandemic. You deserve hazard pay, safety protocols and so much more.https://t.co/nj0R04BLOd
— Ayanna Pressley (@AyannaPressley) March 30, 2020
Good explainer, from the Washington Post, here.
Instacart needs to step up and give their workers the protections and pay they need and deserve. Now. https://t.co/dYkoW0H227
— Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) March 29, 2020
Of course, the Extremely ‘Left’ purists are taking the chance to be as unhelpful as possible…
Grocery delivery people should get hazard pay and then some but I don't quite get the suggestion that we shouldn't have grocery delivery. They are shopping for multiple households whereas if we all go to the grocery store more we endanger everyone including them.
— Jake Anbinder (@JakeAnbinder) March 30, 2020
china effectively instituted mass grocery delivery in wuhan for exactly this reason
— csz (@cszabla) March 30, 2020
Also the people working at my grocery store have been wearing masks for weeks whereas a lot of the people shopping there are not
— Market Urbanism (@MarketUrbanism) March 30, 2020
Let’s talk about the Orangutan/Otter Alliance instead!
they are pals https://t.co/axOwCc7IV7
— iucounu (@iucounu) March 30, 2020
Baud
That orangutan would make a good running mate.
Baud
I still find interspecies relationships (friendships) kind of mind boggling.
Patricia Kayden
@Baud: Hell, he’d make a better President than the one we have now.
Baud
@Patricia Kayden:
He does wear orange better.
NotMax
Good-bye, March.
In with the lyin’, out with no plan.
rikyrah
Good Morning, Everyone ???
Baud
@rikyrah:
Good morning.
debbie
I’m taking today off to continue my search for wipes and Purell. These fucking hoarders. I’m not expecting success, but I feel an obligation to keep looking.
Amir Khalid
@Baud:
Why? Humans have had pets for thousands of years. We can have personal relationships with other animals because we and they are not really that different.
OzarkHillbilly
@Baud: Is it really an orangutan? I was afraid to click on the link because I thought Anne might be pulling a fast one and hiding a trump press conference there.
Ohio Mom
ETA: oops, wrong thread.
Ohio Son worked for Instacart for a few months as an in-store shopper, got let go because he could not keep up with their insane quota — it was an average of one item every 97 seconds, including the checkout. (The checkout! Some shopping trips I spend almost as much time in line as I did in the aisles.)
But at least Instacart had regular hours, unlike being a Whole Foods Shopper, which was his latest job. They were laid back about speed though, and nicer people up work with.
But I put a kibosh on that job because I didn’t think hanging around a store filled with people from all over was a good idea for someone with older parents with underlying conditions, or whatever the lingo is.
Seeing that the WF shoppers are striking makes me feel vindicated.
Baud
@Amir Khalid:
I’m not saying it’s surprising. Just hard for me to get my mind around it.
OzarkHillbilly
@debbie: Much to my surprise, the Potosi MO Walmart had hand sanitizer and were limiting purchases to 2 bottles per shopper. As of this AM, we still don’t have a confirmed Covid case here in Washington Co.
Anne Laurie
@OzarkHillbilly: I would never insult the proud Orangutan tribe like that! If you can read the CNN story, they have the picture from the top tweet — a big male orangutan passing the time with a group of his fellow zoo friends, who are river otters.
rikyrah
They all should be recording him. The Governor of Michigan should have released the phone call about companies telling her that they were told not to sell to her.
,…,…….
raven
So I have all these young friends urging me to not make any trips to the grocery store. Isn’t a healthy 70 year old at less risk than a chronic 50? And masks?
debbie
@OzarkHillbilly:
I was thinking about starting at Walmart. Their website lists it as out of stock, but I know there’s a lag sometimes.
Good on your county! Fingers crossed it stays that way.
debbie
@raven:
Most places now have “senior hours” reserved for ages 60 up. A friend took advantage of it yesterday, but was aggravated because everyone was busy reading labels, standing in the middle of aisles, etc.
Sister Rail Gun of Warm Humanitarianism
Creativity in quarantine. 96,000 by animojis (Instagram)
OzarkHillbilly
@Anne Laurie: It’s a nice story and I thank you for it.
germy
The orangutan looks like he’s preaching a sermon to the otters.
OzarkHillbilly
You could let them do it for you so they can feel like they are helping. Of course, if they come down with the Covid you’ll get to feel guilty about it.
NotMax
For SF fans, this looks to hold potential. Coming to Prime on April 3.
For fans of a different ilk, Cooking with Cannabis shows up on Netflix April 20.
Baud
@NotMax: Are you sure that’s the right link? It says Netflix and it doesn’t look like Sci Fi.
Jerzy Russian
@Baud: And those river otters could round out your cabinet. If this does not raise enthusiasm for the November election then nothing will.
NotMax
@Baud
Link takes me to the trailer for Tales From the Loop, which is the Prime series.
raven
@OzarkHillbilly: If the thunder don’t get ya the lightin will. I got that window sill done but I nicked the comet that ran down the middle of the frame. I worked on it for a couple of days trying to rewire it but I’ve got an electrician coming to check my work!
Baud
@NotMax:
I get Tales from the Loop, but it says Netflix for me. And the trailer doesn’t make it seem Sci Fi.
ETA: Nevermind, I got the 30-second ad confused with the trailer.
charluckles
@NotMax:
Love Stalenhag’s art. Thanks for the heads up.
Dorothy A. Winsor
@debbie:
We used senior hours (7-9 am, TTH) at our local Jewel and hardly anybody was there. A friend who lives here was horrified that we went rather than having them delivered. I don’t know how to judge the risk of that.
I did see an amusing bit about Florida grocery stores declaring senior hours and the other 10% of the population rejoicing at how empty the stores were the rest of the time.
Betty Cracker
@raven: Aww, they care about you and want you to be safe! I think it’s human nature for people to discount their own mortality but worry about friends and family. Well, some people anyway. Selfish bastids think only of themselves, of course.
We have older snowbird neighbors — not sure how old, but they’ve been married longer than I’ve been alive, and I’m no spring chicken! Anyhoo, my husband is friendlier with them than I am because he gardens and they do too, so they talk to him more than to me.
I asked him if he’d let them know I’d be happy to pick things up at the store for them during my supply runs, and he wouldn’t do it. He says they are super independent and would be insulted because it would imply we think they’re weak and frail, but I don’t think that at all! The wife could probably whup my ass! It’s just that statistically, I’m at lower risk.
Anyway, he knows them better than I do, so I took his word for that.
Dorothy A. Winsor
Re that tweet about Wendig’s WANDERERS echoing current reality, you don’t need to go to science fiction for that. I’m reading Ann Patchett’s BEL CANTO and am identifying deeply with a group of hostages held in a house by terrorists for weeks.
Betty Cracker
@Dorothy A. Winsor: Great book! I read it a few years back. Now that you mention it, it does resonate with our present time.
Soprano2
@OzarkHillbilly: So are your county officials smart like mine, or dumb like our governor?
OzarkHillbilly
@raven: Ouch. Goddamned electricians, always hiding their wires where nobody can see them… ;-)
clay
@Baud: Biden/Clyde 2020?
raven
@Betty Cracker: Yea, people mean the best. I have an 50 something friend who has an autoimmune disease and she’s begging her friends on FB to stay home. I’m certainly not going to criticize her but the problem is a bit bigger than that.
Soprano2
@debbie: Yep, we got some
TBTP last Saturday because we just happened to be in that section when they were unloading some. They had a worker there handing it out – one per customer. They’re also enforcing that at the checkouts, too. So if you’re in the right place at the right time you can get lucky. We’re stocked up for awhile now.JMG
I have twice gone to our local supermarket during the senior hours. As those are very early in the morning, the store was close to empty, and people were good about maintaining their distance. Getting a delivery time slot in Greater Boston is close to impossible, so I go.
debbie
@Dorothy A. Winsor:
That happened at a Target store here. The first day, it was much more crowded than usual, and because they hadn’t instituted limits yet, it was said to be more frenzied than expected.
satby
@debbie: if you’re mostly staying home why do you need wipes and sanitizer?
raven
@OzarkHillbilly: Yes!
MattF
Xkcd has a positive message (for humans).
OzarkHillbilly
@Soprano2: Dumber than a box of rocks.
raven
@JMG: It takes 5 days here at Kroger but you can add and subtract up to the day before.
debbie
@Dorothy A. Winsor:
I haven’t read it, but Station Eleven is said to be uncomfortably prescient.
JAFD
Good morning, fellow jackals !
Spent weekend trying to get electronics to work way it should. Never used the video camera on this laptop before. Had appointment with my cardiologist yesterday, got message to do it on video, so trying to figure out what to do. Ended up, I could see her, not viceversa, so ended up ‘visit’ over phone. Got prescripts renewed, must get blood test and come in when things ‘normal’.
Anyway, have been feeling pretty good, for my age. KOW.
Don’t know if I’ll be getting ‘stimulus check’ – will know when I see bank statement – will give big tip when barbershops reopen. Probably will send donation to WQXR – what they called ‘longhair music’ when I was young…
So going out to get prescripts, bread and milk today. Probably zap in big grocery order later this week, have delivered.
Stay healthy and happy, everyone
Soprano2
@OzarkHillbilly: Ugh, I’m so sorry. Living in a city does have advantages sometimes; they closed restaurants here on March 18th, and issued the stay-at-home about a week later. Of course, the county by county thing is dumb because people can just go to the next county that’s still open. I’m sure all the people in the rural counties are convinced this isn’t going to get them. I think Parsons won’t announce a statewide stay-at-home because he’s afraid it’ll piss off his voters in the rural counties. He’s going to get them all sick and dead instead.
Other comment above, I meant TP of course; we didn’t get TB, thank goodness! I need to read closer.
debbie
@satby:
Because of the times I am out and about, bringing in the mail, dumping trash in trash cans, etc. I have friends who sanitize every single item they bring into the house (even boxes of cereal). I won’t go that far, but since I can’t stop touching my damn face, I figure wiping everything down at the end of the day couldn’t hurt.
TS (the original)
@Baud:
In the midst of my panic – you can make me smile with just a few words. You should run for President.
satby
@JAFD: you too JAFD! I’m waiting until later in the week to go pick up the few things I need, mainly milk and pet food. Thursday at about 9 am is very slow at my local small grocery store.
Dorothy A. Winsor
@debbie:
I’ve been thinking about STATION 11 too! Great book. There’s a pandemic at the start and most of the book takes place afterwards, in the changed world. But near the start one guy sees it coming, stocks up like a mad man, and seals himself inside his apartment.
In the After Time, there’s a troupe of traveling actors doing Shakespeare from town to town. It’s mostly set around the western end of Lake Erie, including the part of Michigan and Ontario I spent lots of time in growing up. The title is a reference to a graphic novel one character has written.
satby
@debbie: I don’t have either, but I spray Lysol on paper towels until they’re wet and use those for wipes. I keep a bottle and paper towels in the car for the same reason.
Edit: I figure substitutes are safer than going out and exposing myself to more people.
Ken
They can open doors, and have aquatic capability, but I can’t see them being a real threat to our human domination – lack of motivation.
Uh-oh.
NotMax
@debbie
Depending on what you mean by everything, wiping down with soap and water should do.
MattF
Nearby fireworks.
OzarkHillbilly
@Soprano2: The Missouri Times has been reporting where the Covid is in Misery county by county. At first it was just STL and KC and counties. I started plotting it on a map and it’s been kind of interesting to watch it spread. First it was moving down the I-70/MO river corridor from both directions to meet in the middle. Then Springfield and environs started reporting and the Mississippi River counties too. It’s now spreading out from Springfield. In general, the counties between Springfield and KC are still virus free, the Ozark counties east of SF are mostly virus free, and most of N MO is too.
I expect by the end of this week the state map will be all black.
Jo Jo las Orejas
@Baud
¿Hice algo mal? A veces muerdo los dedos de mi nueva mamá. Prometo no cortar los dedos de los pies en la campaña. Baud / JoJo las Orejas 2024!
O. Felix Culpa
Good morning! It’s now eleven days straight at home for me, apart from walking the dog. I did a big shop two Fridays ago after Gov. Newsom ordered the shutdown in California, figuring New Mexico was not far behind. Our governor instructed shelter-in-place a few days later. I’m enjoying being at home and having a little more down time. I’m also glad for this community, even during its acerbic times (not always then, but mostly). Stay well!
germy
Ken
@OzarkHillbilly: There are a lot of people who confuse “no positive tests” with “no cases”. Especially considering that it’s likely that in some of those counties, the number of tests run is still 0.
Jo Jo las Orejas
@rikyrah: ¡Hola!
OzarkHillbilly
@Soprano2: The Washington Co health board is pretty good, so people get good info, it’s action that is lacking.
debbie
@satby:
If I strike out today, I’ll switch to your method. I just cannot believe these hoarders haven’t run out of storage space yet!
NotMax
@Baud
Heh. Not ever having seen an ad of any sort anywhere on YouTube, I was sorely befuddled.
;)
germy
debbie
@OzarkHillbilly:
You want a good health department? Here’s one (keep an eye on the interpreter).
This was the last thing I watched before going to bed, and I got the best sleep I’ve had in a while.
Betty Cracker
@Dorothy A. Winsor: Really enjoyed that book! I heard an interview with the author the other day on NPR, and of course they took the “are you psychic?!?!” angle because of the present circumstances.
Mandel said she just needed to figure out a way to kill off most of the people on the planet to create the post-apocalyptic world in which most of the novel takes place. She said a flu pandemic was the easiest route. :)
Dorothy A. Winsor
@Betty Cracker: Now there’s a scary quote.
Enhanced Voting Techniques
One of the historians I follow on you tube has a interesting point; there is a definite parallel between Woodrow Wilson and Trump (both are bug eyed nuts posers) and Harding and Biden (back to the good old days)
JPL
@germy: He knows Seoul very well, about better than anyone.
NotMax
@JPL
“Seoul? Great trains. There was a TV show just about those, y’know”
//
OzarkHillbilly
A hero for our times: Planting hope: the Syrian refugee who developed virus-resistant super-seeds
The best part?
Us Americans could teach her a thing or 2.
WereBear
We are dealing with minds who can’t think very well. They are pigeons who hear “hand sanitizer” and they are going to peck that button to protect them from the plague because that all the sense they can make of the situation.
Sad. But true.
Then there are the hoarders, who make me want to bring back public stocks.
OzarkHillbilly
From:
WaterGirl
@raven: Healthy 70 is still a risk factor, as is 50 with a chronic illness. Age alone is a risk factor.
Be smart.
WaterGirl
@Baud: Fucking video ads tgatnhold you hostage!
satby
@OzarkHillbilly: of course, without adequate testing, we really aren’t tracking the spread in real time but delayed by days or even weeks. That’s the trouble with reports from anywhere in the US. We have no real fucking idea. So frustrating.
TS (the original)
@germy:
… If Obama has said this – the GOP would have called him a fool
—If Biden has said this – dementia!
Uncle Cosmo
Motto I just came up with:
germy
Thread on journalists’ salaries:
WaterGirl
@Uncle Cosmo: That’s very good! (stolen)
edit: you can drag that to your desktop as an image.
germy
@TS (the original): If HRC had said it… “Ignorant woman!”
satby
@OzarkHillbilly: that’s a great story.
zhena gogolia
@MattF:
Very sweet.
Aleta
I’ve been watching the live cam in NE on the migrating cranes. Beautiful sounds too.
Audubon’s Rowe Sanctuary’s Crane Camera
https://explore.org/livecams/currently-live/crane-camera
NotMax
Kudos to the state of Hawaii for implementing this (.pdf).
Betty Cracker
@Aleta: Bookmarked, and thank you!
WaterGirl
@Aleta: I just verified that we have that one in the Zoos, Aquariums and Wildlife link that’s in the sidebar under No Cabin Fever For Us!
But the link wasn’t working, so I changed the link to the one you just put up.
If anyone is bored and wants to check all the links in that post to make sure they are still good, and then let me know, it would be much appreciated.
WaterGirl
@Betty Cracker: Betty, that link and many more are also available in the sidebar. Details at #89 above.
Direct link for phones, if you don’t want to have to find it at the bottom of the comments:
https://balloon-juice.com/2020/03/22/aquariums-and-zoos-webcams/
JPL
Dems impeaching trump caused delays in preparing for covid-19 according to Mitch.
It has nothing to do with the fact that trump had 11 rallies since the beginning of the until March 2. Geez he had 6 alone after the senate cleared him.
what f.king asshole Mitch is.
OzarkHillbilly
@satby: The Covid Tracking Project grades their data on a best to worst A thru D scale. MO gets a C. LA gets an A.
How bad has the MO data been? For 7 days straight we had 369 reported negative tests, then on Saturday it jumped to 10,082.
artem1s
A light interlude dedicated to those of you who are teaching online. You will survive!
https://youtu.be/CCe5PaeAeew
A Ghost to Most
@OzarkHillbilly: Thanks for that.
How much is being lost while large swaths of humanity fight over imaginary things?
Betty Cracker
@JPL: I’ve seen that excuse bubbling up in the fever swamps for a couple of weeks now. An overlay with Trump’s golf outings would vaporize that ridiculous argument for anyone who’s not a cultist.
MattF
@Betty Cracker: Gotta blame someone.
OzarkHillbilly
@JPL: Removing him would have improved the Covid response a thousandfold, Mitch.
zhena gogolia
@artem1s:
That is terrific! I just posted it to my faculty listserv.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@JPL: the impeachment vote was Feb 5, it was three weeks later trump was saying “we have fifteen cases, and soon it will be zero”
Calouste
@OzarkHillbilly: Also, in a democracy, a lot of things should work and people in government should do their job without the President being involved. In a dictatorship on the other hand…
And talking about dictatorships, a doctor that Putin was shaking hands with just a week ago has tested positive.
NotMax
@zhena gogolia
Was hoping you’d pop in. This may ease by a bit concerns you’ve expressed, even as it goes without saying there is no absolutely definitive yes or no.
Is takeout safe to eat during the coronavirus outbreak? Experts explain.
JPL
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: Three weeks and six rallies. Betty is right that he was golfing also
google says 10 rounds of golf but that seem low.
rikyrah
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Betty Cracker:
I can’t believe it’s only eight.
Matthew Gertz at Media Matters could probably do a rough estimate of how many hours of Fox he watched per week
JPL
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: Ten since the beginning of January. Whoops it’s eleven
JPL
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: OMG Add in the Fox viewing and he should be toast.
germy
@Calouste:
Netanyahu going into quarantine after aide tests positive for coronavirus
WaterGirl
@rikyrah: Not at all surprising, but terribly wrong and depressing.
it’s like compound interest, only in reverse. Everything that happens is worse for black communities because of everything that has come before it.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
mrmoshpotato
@Uncle Cosmo: Is Six Feet Apart also a death metal band? :)
Kristine
@germy: A Pratchett fan on Twitter named him/her The Librarian.
“Ook.”
mrmoshpotato
@JPL:
Moscow Mitch is Putin’s bitch according to me.
zhena gogolia
@artem1s:
Thank-yous are pouring in. For some reason it’s a very cheering video. He’s a historian of the Reformation at Missouri S&T, which I never heard of but suspected was the former Rolla School of Mines, which it is!
germy
Uncle Cosmo
@mrmoshpotato: No idea … but since “Six Feet Under” was a TV series, maybe it oughta be.
zhena gogolia
@NotMax:
Thanks!
mrmoshpotato
@zhena gogolia:
It’s very important that we educate our mines too.
germy
mrmoshpotato
Who’s going to play the role of Prince Prospero?
schrodingers_cat
@Baud: Smarter and wiser than the Orange Human in the WH.
schrodingers_cat
OT question what digital ink app do BJers use? I have used Bamboo paper which I like, any other software/apps out there that I should take a look at.
I use it to write on my computer, do problems etc.
WaterGirl
@rikyrah: I just got email from Bill Penzey, who is making some of the points you made in his wider message for people to stay home.
bemused
@Uncle Cosmo:
Brilliant!
Miss Bianca
@debbie: @Dorothy A. Winsor: AAGH, I read that book recently because our DAW recommended it, and while it was a very engrossing read, the tale of a troupe of Shakespearean actors reduced to wandering hostile wastelands after a virulent flu takes out 99% of the human population struck a bit too close to home for comfort.
And now because the libraries are closed for the foreseeable future it’s just…sitting there! Taunting me! (altho’ my pal D has also read it in the interim)
So, why I thought reading Rabble in Arms (by Kenneth Roberts, a historical fiction writer from the 30s), about Benedict Arnold’s campaigns in Canada, was going to be better, I don’t know, but now I’m in it and embedded with an entire army stricken with smallpox and being eaten alive *and* dead by flies and mosquitos in the swamplands of Quebec while the British are advancing on them.
Why am I doing this??? Is it to reassure myself that even in fiction, things can always be worse?
mrmoshpotato
For any tromboners amongst us – Back To The Future
dexwood
@Uncle Cosmo:
Damn good.
Amir Khalid
@JPL:
I remember what Obama said in September 2008 when McCain wanted to suspend the campaign: the President has to be able to do more than one thing at a time. Mitch’s guy Trump can’t even handle one thing at a time.
catclub
https://www.bakadesuyo.com/2020/03/pandemic/
Dorothy A. Winsor
We just got a new set of precautions to follow from our building. When we’re here, we’re supposed to stay home, ie in our unit. We call for food delivery and pretty much anything else we need. If we leave and come back, we go through a checkpoint that takes our temperature and asks about symptoms.
WaterGirl
@Dorothy A. Winsor: That seems smart to me! How do you feel about it?
Aleta
I never think of pelicans migrating up the Mississippi River.
Some beautiful close ups of pelicans (about 7 min back from now-time (11:11 am)) Live cam: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DH0VmRsj05c&feature=emb_logo
L85NJGT
@OzarkHillbilly:
Anecdotally, I’ve noticed the stores doing quantity limits have stock.
Go figure.
japa21
@Aleta: The Chicago area has both sand hill cranes and pelicans migrate through on their way to wherever. The pelicans go south of my home so we don’t see them, but the cranes fly right overhead. You hear them long before you can see them.
Dorothy A. Winsor
@WaterGirl:
I feel like the world is contracting. We can go out to walk or buy groceries of medicines. Actually we could go out for whatever we want, since this isn’t a prison. They’re mostly trying to discourage mingling. Many of my neighbors don’t seem to grasp the situation. I found myself backing away from them when they approached me to talk as I was ordering dinner or returning from a walk.
WaterGirl
Wow, my phone just sounded the emergency alert sound for storms, missing kids, etc. I’m in Illinois.
That makes it real.
debbie
@WaterGirl:
I walked into a Walmart about a half hour ago, noticed I was the only person without a mask, turned and walked back out. Enough.
SFAW
@JPL:
“Yeah, the Emperor of South Korea, a big man — did you know that sumo fighting is the national sport of Korea? I knew that, but few people do — came to me, tears in his eyes, and said ‘sir, the 38 mirrion peopre’ — they all talk like that, you know? — ‘the 38 mirrion peopre of Seoul are counting on you to plotect them from the Chinese vilus.’ You know, they all talk like that, I learned that from Jared. So I told the Prime Minister ‘No probrem’ — he was surprised and pleased that I could speak his language, of course — ‘but I’d like you to do me a favor.’ ”
ETA: I think that the Moron-in-Chief misreading “Elevation: 38 m” as “Population: 38 M” is another hint that maybe he really IS functionally illiterate.
WaterGirl
@Dorothy A. Winsor: Yeah. I am really not sure what I would do without the Balloon Juice contact.
If residents aren’t getting it, then it’s really important that the word came down from the top. But yeah, our physical worlds are contracting for sure.
WaterGirl
@debbie: Yikes! I guess that’s what they call a teachable moment. :-)
(Forgot to say “good call”.)
Aleta
@Miss Bianca: This (your writing) is the funniest thing I’ve read in (seems like) a year.
Aleta
@japa21: How lucky you are to hear and see them. My mother used to run outside in spring whenever the geese flew over.
eta Come to think of it, she too would be calling out … to us to come and see.
MattF
@debbie: It’s notable that the way to get everyone to wear a mask is to make it a social norm. So, where do I get one? Seriously.
debbie
@Miss Bianca:
I just started Hilary Mantel’s third Thomas Cromwell novel. I figure no one can hurt me from 500 years away!
debbie
@MattF:
No idea. I can’t even find fucking Purell or wipes. I’m not even going to try anymore.
Aleta
@debbie:
@MattF: An idea: I bet hand-sewn masks will be appearing on etsy. I’d look for a seller who’s been there a long time selling other hand-sewn items. (Another sign of skill and carefulness might be someone who has also offered custom work. ?)
Jay Noble
@debbie: As I told friends yesterday, there will be a future episode of Storage Wars where under a thin layer of junk they were allowed to see, the buyer will find a whole storage unit filled with nothing but toilet paper. :-)
Aleta
@debbie: In your car, liquid soap and a big bottle of water and a towel would be something; as effective at destroying the virus (its outer casing) as alcohol if done carefully.
Or wear gloves if you take them off w/o touching the outside. And wash hands after. There are thick white cotton gloves used for handling old books,etc. — about $10 for 10 pair. Or gardening gloves made of nitrile that are flexible, tactile, not bulky.
Dorothy A. Winsor
@MattF: Here’s a good You Tube on making a mask with a kerchief or scarf and rubber bands. No sewing needed. I plan to wear one the next time I have to go out
debbie
@Aleta:
Thanks, I’ll look for them.
debbie
@Dorothy A. Winsor:
I’ve pulled up my turtleneck neck when I’ve been coughed near. I feel like that character in Bazooka Joe.
Yutsano
@MattF: Why is his spokesvirus a bacteriophage?
Miss Bianca
@Aleta: Glad I could brighten your day. ; )
J R in WV
I ordered a few new bandannas — who knew you can order X large 27″ bandannas, ideal for masking the lone shopper… May look for vacuum bags in the shelves downstairs I could cut up and pin into my bandanna mask… I dunno. Maybe I could order some filters for my big rubber respirator? Used for dusty wood working tasks so far…
MoCA Ace
@debbie:
Running short on disinfecting wipes here so we are saving them for use in the car and going to spray disinfectant and paper towels at home (bleach and water mix per CDC). Wife is working at a pharmacy so we have instituted some pretty strict “protocols” trying to keep work and home cloths/shoes/jackets etc separate and disinfecting everything we can.
I’m starting to look at door knobs with utter dread. Had to go into the post office yesterday, stopped at the door, then went back to my truck for gloves. Had to resist burning the gloves when I got back home :(
MoCA Ace
@MattF:
Not sure where you are but I asked a lady from church who I know sews quilts and she was already making them… gave my wife a link to a local facebook group dedicated to just that and within a day we had three for every employee in her store (about 20 employees)
Many people are churning them out by the dozens per day here in nowhere WI