We’re so fucked and the end is nowhere in sight:
The novel coronavirus is surging in several Midwestern states that had not previously seen high infection rates while average daily deaths remained elevated Monday in Southern and Western states hit with a resurgence of the disease after lifting some restrictions earlier this summer.
Missouri, Montana and Oklahoma are among those witnessing the largest percentage surge of infections over the past week, while, adjusted for population, the number of new cases in Florida, Mississippi and Alabama still outpaced all other states, according to a Washington Post analysis of health data.
Experts also see worrying trends emerging in major East Coast and Midwest cities, and they anticipate major outbreaks in college towns as classes resume in August.
The University of Texas at Austin notified students that parties are prohibited when the campus reopens in three weeks. The school cited city health guidelines prohibiting groups larger than 10 people and requiring a mask when out in public.
Yeah I’m sure that will work, UT.
clay
I teach high school in Florida. Our district is letting students choose to have full-rime distance learning, or a hybrid in-school/distance schedule.
Over half of our school’s 1500 student body is opting for full-time distance learning. Every teacher I’ve spoken to agrees that we should just make it official and cancel the in-school option completely.
different-church-lady
Everything.
Is.
Fucked.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
I wonder how many students are going to show up
Walker
Depends on how they enforce it. We are considering expulsion from the University for violations (and online chatter shows we have a sizable student population more than willing to video and report violators).
dmsilev
‘Tell college students to follow all the rules’.
I see no possible difficulties whatsoever with this fool-proof plan.
Elizabelle
Election Day is 3 months from today.
Mallard FIlmore
@Walker: Treat violators as zombies, out to kill you. Its the zombie apocalypse.
pluky
hey! why are my parents paying all this tuition if i can’t party?
raven
Athens is going down the tubes.
MomSense
We are living in bleak times.
dmsilev
@raven: My parents, in Boston, are dreading the fall.
A Ghost to Most
I can’t help but think that the youngs are intentionally passing this around, to get rid of boomers. I don’t blame them. My generation sucks: selfish and self-righteous.
Ken
@raven: Georgia or Greece?
Yutsano
@Elizabelle: 90 more days then 78 more days until Biden takes over. And if he loses I start seriously looking into our potential Irish citizenship.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@A Ghost to Most: but you, you keep it so fucking real. Man.
khead
Gov Hogan overruled the MD counties today and stripped them of the authority to stop schools from reopening. This was after MoCo closed all schools including private and parochial until October.
Patricia Kayden
@khead: And Hogan is supposed to be moderate.
Patricia Kayden
Mike in NC
Fast forward to the middle of September. Total deaths will be around 250K and Fat Bastard will be claiming the vaccine will be ready “any day now, believe me”. Meanwhile 90% of schools will be locked back down.
Elizabelle
@A Ghost to Most: Well, in that case, you will be even more attractive as a pie or sea lion chow.
trollhattan
Just cycled past a local park where there are currently two soccer matches (adult males, complete with refs) and two volleyball matches (adults) ongoing. No masks.
Gelfling 545
@clay: I was a teacher most of my working life. Trying to teach in person and online is going to be an almost impossible burden unless they are scheduling really very differently from the average highschool teaching class load.
Elizabelle
@Yutsano: Lucky bug WRT Irish citizenship. I have no ties to the EU.
Is there a way those of us with families who arrived in the 19th century can obtain? I regret to say we have no Irish ancestry, as far as I know, although lots of Scots, British and German.
Redshift
@clay: My county school system initially proposed a mix of online and in-person, with families allowed to choose. There was tremendous backlash from teachers and staff, who thought (correctly, in my view) that the plans were focused on protecting students and not on protecting staff. Then the vast majority of families opted for remote learning, and the plans changed to all remote.
I suspect that school officials were hearing a lot from ranters, and were afraid prior wouldn’t accept all remote initially. And if course everyone *wanted* kids back in school. But then it became clear things weren’t good enough, the actual majority view became clear.
Benw
I guess UTA is hopin the kids DON’T KNOW HOW TO PARTY
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IBY_UbhYJVU
WaterGirl
@dmsilev: As I said last week, not a good time to be living in a college town.
mrmoshpotato
I don’t think they’re that determined and organized. More like being selfish and without proper guidance (hello Dump and Abbott) on this pandemic.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Patricia Kayden: I’m getting obsessed with this case. I’m thinking Vance already has trump’s state returns, no? Testimony from Michael Cohen and the executives he named in the House hearings. I’m sure he would also like to be the guy who got trump’s (federal) taxes, but does he need them? And if he has larger ambitions, I imagine “guy who indicted Donald trump” would not be a bad thing in NY politics.
Also, Popehat (who is a lawyer) says DAs are a lot more aggressive than US attys.
Patricia Kayden
Major Major Major Major
@trollhattan:
Better than eating indoors, at least.
Patricia Kayden
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
This is so good to hear. One way or the other, NY is going to get Trump once he leaves office.
WaterGirl
@raven: What’s going on?
SFBayAreaGal
@trollhattan: Is this in the Bay Area?
dmsilev
@WaterGirl: We’re bringing back about 1/3 of our undergrads, or at least that’s the plan right now. That was set by how many dorm spaces we have, with each student having their own bedroom and 2-3 max per bathroom, plus reserving one dorm building as an isolation ward. Then there’s a prioritization system for issuing invitations to campus based on various factors. Probably 95% or more of the classes will be remote, so if things go downhill we can ramp the population down without too much additional pain and suffering.
It’s hardly an ideal situation, but we’re doing the best we can.
mrmoshpotato
I misread that as “for more of 45’s hush$ payments” and thought, “What other porn stars did he rawdog while his 3rd wife was home with his newborn 5th kid?”
Joe Falco
I’ve joked with friends about celebrating my birthday on the 17th by dressing up as the Grim Reaper and walk through the college campus on the same day UGA is back open.
WaterGirl
@dmsilev: That’s smarter than the plan at the University of Illinois.
I’m thinking it’s going to go downhill fast as the students start arriving.
mrmoshpotato
The Excuse Me, Excuse Me, Most Tremendous Bigliest Healthcare At A Fraction Of The Cost was supposed to come out this past weekend, but we’ll have it by the end of the month now. (hahahahhahahahhahhhaha) At least that’s what the Soviet shitpile mobster conman said today.
WaterGirl
@dmsilev:
https://news.uillinois.edu/view/7815/809664
Baud
Only 2.8 million more deaths until we reach herd immunity.
tokyokie
@Benw:
Ahem, UTA refers to the University of Texas-Arlington, whereas the school down in Austin, is usually called UT. But you’re probably correct otherwise, and the fraternity houses are likely to be the worst offenders.
WaterGirl
@Baud: Hey, sunshine!
joel hanes
@A Ghost to Most:
Generational “analysis” has zero analytical power.
It’s only slightly less useful than astrology.
mrmoshpotato
@Elizabelle: Good luck with that when even Canada (Friendly, foreign and near) is telling us to piss up a rope.
Raoul
Except possibly in outdoor, very spacious settings (think hiking with people spread out well) limiting college groups to 10 people or fewer strikes me as just absurd.
You go have coffee with five of your friends (so, obv. masks off to drink coffee), then you have lunch a couple hours later with 6 classmates. You play card games in the dorm in the evening, and yeah, you kinda sorta wear masks, but there’s a lot of goofing around. And eventually, a couple of folks slink off to make out.
How long before the entire campus is just non-stop Covid spread? Days?
dmsilev
@WaterGirl: Here’s ours: https://coronavirus.caltech.edu/fall-2020-plan
Omnes Omnibus
@A Ghost to Most: Buck up, little camper!
dmsilev
@mrmoshpotato: So the health plan will be rolled out right after Infrastructure Week is over?
azlib
@tokyokie:
Ah, my old alma mater. Yes, the frat houses will be a problem. At least the UT administration is following the City guidelines.
Ken
I think the cognitive test checks if you know the date, but I wonder if he realizes it’s the 3rd.
Redshift
@Raoul: Yeah, allowing people to have contact with a small group only works if it’s always the same group (or pod), not if it’s just a limit on the number of random people who gather at any one time.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@WaterGirl: Baud is like a ray of light shining over the Inyo Mountains.
mrmoshpotato
@Benw: I was hoping for Party Boy
Cameron
@Elizabelle: Not sure how much difference it makes. I have close enough relatives in eastern Europe to get an early long-term residency designation although not close enough for early citizenship. Only problem is, EU isn’t letting Americans in.
Redshift
The college where Ms. Redshift is in grad school is doing mostly virtual, and trying to do on campus only for lab classes, a portion of freshman classes, and for foreign students and students who have difficult home situations. Good intentions; we’ll see how long the plan survives.
mrmoshpotato
Or it could just be libelslander.
pat
Our cases in La Crosse County (western Wisconsin) were trending 3 or 4 new cases per day ( reported on the front page of the Tribune). One day there were ZERO.
Then the repub Supreme Court disallowed Gov. Evers Stay at Home Order and the bars opened. Since then the new cases have been 10-20 per day. Mostly young people in their 20s.
Imagine what happens when the colleges open and the students come back and head to the bars on Friday night.
I have felt fairly safe going to the local grocery store, Walgreens, Menards (face mask required in all) because we don’t have the major virus outbreaks that other states have.
I dread what may be coming.
Cameron
@Mike in NC: Sometime around the beginning of October, he’ll announce that the vaccine is ready, tested and in production….and will be available November 4th.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Patricia Kayden:
mrmoshpotato
What disaster awaits Chambana?
ETA – reading your UofI link.
Benw
@tokyokie: you are technically correct, madam/sir. The best kind of correct!
trollhattan
@SFBayAreaGal:
Sacramento. The city put out an alert a week ago making it very clear no large gatherings are to be held in city parks, and yet….
mrmoshpotato
@Baud: Baud! 2020! Only 2.8 million more deaths until we reach herd immunity.
tokyokie
@azlib: But UT’s frats tend to be scofflaws in the best of times, and the Austin PD generally leaves them alone, knowing somebody will play the “do you know who my father is” card, and they’ll be getting deposed by some $500-an-hour lawyer from Baker-Botts or some such.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@trollhattan: Alerts don’t work without some fines for non-compliance.
mrmoshpotato
@dmsilev: The Bigliest Longliest Infrastructure Week, Sleepy dmsilev! SAD!
mrmoshpotato
@Ken: End of this month according to today’s incoherent wordvomit.
NotMax
The least signed up for class has more attending than that.
Just sayin’.
mrmoshpotato
@Cameron: Hell, most of us are probably banned from Antarctica too.
NotMax
@Cameron
Or somewhere east, north, south or west of that.
//
Mary G
Our district is going all remote, but required the teen to come into the high school to register in person today. He said it was a mess. I bought an air purifier for my room.
Benw
Dear @mrmoshpotato:
You are hereby banned from Balloon Juice for linking to offensive content. Please immediately delete your 5 most recent posts and log out of your account and don’t log back in. Failure to do so will result in further banning. Please understand that we are doing this for the children.
Best regards,
The BJ Content Committee
Patricia Kayden
Luciamia
Talk about worrying about silly things. But I feel sad that trick or treating will be banned this year.
Calouste
@Elizabelle: How much money do you have? You can get a Golden Visa residency in a number of EU countries (Portugal, Spain, Malta, Cyprus, maybe more) if you buy a property there. For Portugal IIRC the requirement was buying a 500K Euro property, 350K Euro in a disadvantaged area, plus 10K or so in fees. Citizenship in 3-5 years.
Ken
@WaterGirl: Quoth the University of Illinois, “Of course, our collective decision assumes that Illinois stays on track to meet Phase 4 requirements.”
First line of the Phase 4 requirements: “There is a continued decline in the rate of infection in new COVID-19 cases.” The rate in Illinois is increasing, so I wonder what UI will do.
SFBayAreaGal
@trollhattan: My sister works for the Elk Grove School District. The whole district is online for the semester.
randy khan
@khead:
Hogan is better than most Republicans, but he’s still got to cater to the religious school crowd if he wants their support. That’s what this is about. Still, it’s a bad mistake.
Citizen Alan
@azlib: Speaking as an Ole Miss grad, the possibility that Covid 19 will lead to the destruction of the Greek System actually might be a silver lining (with our host’s frat an exception to the general rule of fraternity awfulness).
mrmoshpotato
You’re still dancing to the beat. Aren’t you? Aren’t you? :)
Not possible.
Further banning on the top of the ban. Woo hoo!
Well, you’re doing more than Dump’s bastard administration. Bravo!
Skepticat
As we expected, the Bahamas slammed back down into full lockdown for at least another two weeks, with the probability of more. I’d planned to go back to Maine for a a while to escape the brutal heat and to see my doctor, but that’s not looking feasible at the moment. At least I’m considerably safer here, though I do regret that I skipped the liquor store on my last trip to the big island.
WaterGirl
@?BillinGlendaleCA: I laughed. It’s a good thing we all take turns, sometimes bringing the light, and sometimes bringing the darkness.
apocalipstick
@Gelfling 545: They’re not. We’re being told that we are expected to prepare in such a way that we can keep moving forward even if students are absent or if we move to staggered attendance; IOW, prepare an in-person lesson and an online lesson so that students who are in asymptomatic quarantine or who are not in the building will still “advance”. Full-time in-class prep, full-time online prep.
mrmoshpotato
It’s a bummer.
Selfish adults have denied the kids bigger things, like their graduation ceremonies. It’s a constant reminder walking around the neighborhood with the 2020 grad signs.
Poe Larity
Re UT, I wonder if the young Associates see Covid as an opportunity wrt the tenured Profs. There were a lot of 70-somethings when I was there.
Also too, If the average poll worker is 70, who will be around to man the polling stations in November? Perhaps someone should be making a plan.
Ken
Every year we get horror stories about needles and poison in the candy, and parents freak out. This year we instead have a deadly virus – wonder what the reaction will be?
And then there’s Christmas shopping.
WaterGirl
@Ken: Email from today:
The Moar You Know
Google “COVID orphans” for a great new angle on how this virus is destroying everything in America.
WaterGirl
@Skepticat: At least you didn’t get too badly clobbered by the storm?
small favors.
Ken
They setting up their own lab?
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Luciamia: Would tricker-treating be so bad? mostly outdoors, pre-wrapped candy…. not many small kids in my life these days, but from what I’ve seen, it’s not as big a thing as it was back in my time, smaller kids going to fewer houses
WaterGirl
@apocalipstick: Good thing they will be paying you extra for all the extra work!!! //
WaterGirl
@Ken: I don’t think so. Two weeks ago my doctor friend with a 0% appointment with the University got tested thru the UI and they promised results within 8-48 hours. She got the results later the same day. But that’s without the students on campus or classes in session.
My prediction: Everything falls apart once students arrive.
Benw
Dear @mrmoshpotato:
Unfortunately your sarcastic response has led to more banning. You are banned. Please delete your BJ account immediately. Any future posts will result in further bans. Please remember: the children are our future.
Warmest regards,
The BJ Content Committee
marklar
@dmsilev:
Hey, are we workmates? That’s pretty much the same as our campus. First year students, some of the other classes based upon necessity are prioritized. Single rooms. three students or so sharing bathrooms. Possibility of 1 hour set aside in the dining hall for students/staff with vulnerabilities.
Faculty are permitted to teach any way we choose. I’m going to be 100% remote.
BTW, Strike my question about being workmates. You’re at a much more prestigious institution than am I (Liberal Arts college on the East Coast).
Brachiator
@A Ghost to Most:
I don’t know why you would say something so ridiculous. The virus is not 100 percent fatal to “boomers.”
And people all around the world are dying. How is this about you?
Mary G
Good lord, more ratfucking:
Mel
@Walker: This is good; however, the problem is that by the time the maskless kiddos and congregating partiers have violated the safety rules, and then headed back to the dorms or to classes, the damage has likely already been done in terns of spreading the disease to other students, staff, faculty, etc.
You can expel the violators, but you can’t expel the virus that they likely have already spread to others on campus.
mrmoshpotato
@Benw: ?Peanut Butter Jelly Time?
Ken
Are you planning live remote, or recorded? I’m curious about techniques.
mrmoshpotato
That instant, or is there an over/under?
joel hanes
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
I love to light the jack-o-lanterns and answer the Trick Or Treat door with a candelabra full of candles, and to act weird and freak out the kids.
This year we will do none of that. A hundred strangers coming to our door? Oh no no no no no.
dmsilev
@Mary G: Apparently the House has the authority to reject or accept Census apportionment results. I think, come January, they should reject it and do a new Census with sane and well-intentioned leaders. As a bonus, it keeps several hundred thousand temporary census workers employed.
Brachiator
@Luciamia:
Universal Studios has cancelled it’s Halloween house of horrors. This makes sense because of crowds and such.
I guess trick or treating could still go on. Maybe not. It’s outside, but you might want to limit the number of children who could go to any particular house at one time. You would still need social distance, but small kids might not pay attention.
Maybe alternative events.
joel hanes
@mrmoshpotato:
I expect six weeks from arrival of students in the dorms to re-closure because of uncontrolled epidemic outbreak. Eight weeks max. Deaths to follow six to ten weeks after that.
Tom Levenson
@dmsilev: I, in Boston (literally 2 blocks from the BU campus, am terrified of the fall.
Gin & Tonic
@WaterGirl: Why is it pronounced EES-uh-EE-as, and not like Isaiah, the prophet?
dmsilev
@marklar:
One advantage we have of being in Southern California is we can say ‘all dining halls are to-go, and we’re putting out a large number of outdoor tables’. In, say, New England, that’d get problematic by October.
Benw
Dear @mrmoshpotato:
Please be aware that your irreverant posting of silly memes while banned violates our policy. You are hereby further banned. Please never post here again. Keeping kids safe is our #1 priority.
Warmest regards,
The BJ Content Committee
Ken
@Benw: This stopped being funny about three iterations ago.
EDIT: IMO of course.
Gin & Tonic
@Ken: Not only yours.
dmsilev
@Tom Levenson: A hundred thousand or so students, with no real coordination between the umpteen different institutions nominally responsible for dealing with them, many crammed in multi-roommate apartments with less than zero social controls. What could possibly go wrong?
Stay far far away from Brighton and Allston, is what I’m getting at.
My parents are in Brookline, which I think you’ve said is where you live as well, and from what they’ve said the local environment isn’t too bad right now, but the metro area as a whole come fall…
mrmoshpotato
@Benw: LOOK OUT!
laura
@SFBayAreaGal: Elk Grove School District Superintendent has made really good decisions since early spring and pissed off a large group of parents with student athletes. Making the decision to go full distance learning and doing it early enough to create more chaos. He is a level-headed good leader.
Benw
@Ken: it was never funny
Mary G
Andy Slavitt has a great thread up about schools and our kids. I have copied the whole thing off thread reader app:
?BillinGlendaleCA
@mrmoshpotato: Don’t you understand, you’ve been banned! //
Original Lee
@randy khan: There are plenty of parochial schools that are planning virtual-only openings in the fall. I think the pressure is coming from the hard-core Trumpistas in the state, of which there are enough to cause problems for him on other fronts.
Omnes Omnibus
@Mary G: TL;DR I LEARNED IT FROM YOU, DAD!
Benw
@mrmoshpotato: it is a good song. You win :)
mrmoshpotato
@?BillinGlendaleCA: And yet my spudness remains!
Has the comet decided yet that it’s sick of our bullshit for the next 6700 years, or is it still laughing at us out in space?
ballerat
@mrmoshpotato: At first I thought it was Adam Sandler in a thong. Doesn’t matter if it wasn’t. My God.
FYI, I feel compelled to join any upcoming BJ commentariat class action lawsuit for the pain and suffering of having seen that.
different-church-lady
@Tom Levenson: TOUCH NOTHING ON THE CURB DURING ALSTON CHRISTMAS!!
mrmoshpotato
@Benw: I love the inexplicable ninjas halfway through.
Mart
Extended large family 3.5 hour Zoom get together Saturday. Brilliant nephew with no prom and his graduation speech taped, said he is going to Duke. I said that should last about three weeks, and my wife gave me the old under the table heel on my instep, and whisper hissed “stop”. I’m a party pooper.
different-church-lady
@?BillinGlendaleCA: Those responsible for banning the people who have just been banned, have been banned.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Benw:
Sounds similar to a blogger ethics panel.
different-church-lady
@mrmoshpotato:
Claiming this as a band name.
mrmoshpotato
I don’t think we need nor want further explanation.
dmsilev
@mrmoshpotato: Anyone who has lived for even a little while in the Boston area will understand immediately.
Ken
@Mart: Well, he’ll still be going to Duke. He’ll just have the added expense and wasted time of moving back to his parents’ house after three weeks.
Have any colleges or universities promised to refund the housing fees, if they have to send everyone home because of covid?
Conversely have any added a new clause in the housing agreement, probably under “force majeure”, that says there won’t be any refunds?
FlyingToaster
@dmsilev:
Can’t. Allston-Brighton touches everything. Well, everything that Somerville doesn’t (and they both touch Cambridge).
BU is strung out along Comm Ave through Allston/Brighton, Brookline to the south, Cambridge across the bridges to the north.
BC is at the West end of Allston/Brighton, adjacent to Chestnut Hill (Newton/Brookline) and just down the hill from Brighton Center, just across the river from Watertown.
Northeastern (the other uni bringing almost everyone back) is strung out along Huntington Ave, has booked one entire hotel (the Midtown) and is negotiating 19 floors plus function space in the Copley Place Westin.
And Boston’s R0 is like 1.11. Not 0.86.
And WarriorGirl’s school is threatening to run all grades live (I am waiting to hear how they’re going to pull off that miracle without killing [redacted], the lead kindergarten teacher.)
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Omnes Omnibus: I was thinking the exact same thing.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@mrmoshpotato: It’s still laughing, but it’s laughter is becoming fainter to our ears.
AM in NC
@Redshift: That’s mostly what happened in our district – initially parents could choose between “in-person” (which was online learning for 9 weeks and then move to A/B scheduling where group A goes Monday and Tues, group B goes Thurs and Fri and Wed is online) or 100% virtual for the first semester. After the survey results came back, and watching the numbers in our state rise, school board shifted to 100% virtual for the first semester. Of course this isn’t going to protect us when the Carolina students come back to town and start doing what college students do. It is madness.
Mary G
mrmoshpotato
@?BillinGlendaleCA: Ah.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Mary G:
How did he single out John Lewis out of all the people who chose not to come to his inauguration?
More seriously: Graceless racist clod. We still need that word that means “shocking if not surprising”
mrmoshpotato
@Mary G: AXIOS: How do you think history will remember you?
DUMP: As a 10!
HISTORY: Oh suck an egg! I’ve thought you were a whiny, bratty manbaby for decades!
Origuy
@Gin & Tonic: Spanish and Portuguese pronunciation.
dmsilev
@Mary G: Everyone matters only in how they treat HIM.
Scott Alloway
@khead: That is insane. Cruel. Sick. Without words, am I.
mrmoshpotato
Yup. Well put, Charles.
West of the Rockies
@mrmoshpotato:
That’s a shit-ton of T-bogg death units.
different-church-lady
@mrmoshpotato: He’s off by a 1.
different-church-lady
@mrmoshpotato:
That won’t stop them from doing it, of course.
Tom Levenson
@dmsilev: I can throw a rock and hit Allston. I plan on avoiding Comm Ave. for the foreseeable future.
SWMBO
Haven’t read the thread and I haven’t read the comments on the other threads…
The waitress that got cold cocked by the Aryan Asshole was concussed.
https://www.heraldtribune.com/news/20200802/man-yells-lsquoi-am-white-supremacistrsquo-strikes-woman-at-nokomis-restaurant
Her employer says she’s off now with pay (but not tips) and someone started a GoFundMe. Have no idea how legit it is but here’s the link.
https://www.gofundme.com/f/tips-for-kisha?utm_source=customer&utm_campaign=m_pd%20share-sheet&utm_medium=copy_link_all&fbclid=IwAR26F09NVNtHRe7as6Dsm-wLVYHCPkSZtrOncqHNUc2JDedJ40qrh_cbUMk
prostratedragon
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: Or not shocked, but thoroughly appalled. Having pegged him some time ago I’m not shocked so far, but appalled regularly.
smike
@different-church-lady:
Awww, too bad. You shoulda’ picked
And now I’ve got it, but the inexplicable ninjas isn’t bad.
mrmoshpotato
@different-church-lady: I know. Russthuglicans would argue that ocean wasn’t salty if a salty ocean made them look like selfish assholes who killed thousands through selfishness, laziness and incompetence.
prostratedragon
@SWMBO: I hope it’s properly set up for her. I can readily believe she suffered such an injury; that “slap” was a board-breaker.
sgrAstar
@A Ghost to Most: oh bullshit. I’m not an advocate of generational identity theory. Some older people are selfish pricks, some definitely are not.
?
Soprano2
I’ve talked to more than one person who wishes their kid’s school would offer a 5 days in the classroom option. I understand why they want to go back to “normal”, but I think they’re nuts.
rikyrah
@The Moar You Know:
You talk about stories that will have you??????
rikyrah
@Mary G:
I love Andy Slavitt???
rikyrah
@mrmoshpotato:
No lie told??
MoxieM
@different-church-lady: Didn’t the bedbugs take care of a lot of that a while ago? Granted it’s 35 years or so since I last did my stint on Comm Ave, but what with nieces and nephews and people like that.
FlyingToaster
@Soprano2: While I would LOVE to get WarriorGirl and HerrDoktor out of the house, I don’t want any of us to be exposed.
WarriorGirl’s MusicSchool is remote until January. HerrDoktor’s office is remote until January. I believe the aikikai is closed until January. I’m likely to be here baking bread until January ?. And repairing and replacing the stuff getting extra wear-n-tear so failing already.
Mary G
FlyingToaster
@MoxieM: Allston Christmas is alive and well, and may have started a month early (a LOT more folks than usual moved out August 1).
The Twelve Days of Allston Xmas
Twelve plumbers plumbing
Eleven Skypers skyping
Ten words a-bleeping
Nine bands poorly singing
Eight meter maids ticketing
Seven vans a brimming
Six roomies overpaying
Five moldy things
Four falling nerds
Three car dents
Two hurtled stoves
and a Storrowed rental truck from Penske
Jinchi
@Luciamia: No treats, just tricks. Just wait til you find out who bought up all the TP back in March. The Zoomers were planning this all from the start.
Redshift
I’ve stayed on the White House email list from the Obama days, out of morbid fascination, I guess. They run lists of “stories” they want you to read. (They don’t call them news stories, with probably unintentional honesty.)
One of today’s was an extended whine by some guy on RealClearPolitics about the media’s “commitment” to using “mostly peaceful protests” to describe “the riots sweeping the nation.” How it’s become cliche, and they won’t fool anyone because people can just see what’s happening outside their windows. He never mentions where he is or that he’s seeing riots outside his window, but those other people in places where he’s sure riots are happening.
Yeah.
MomSense
@Mary G:
My god I just watched that video. Obviously he’s a fucking idiot but that was just shockingly fucking stupid. He’s a goddamned brat to boot. Everyone in his family, in his businesses in his fucking administration, in the fucking Congress – they all know how shockingly fucking stupid and unfit he is. 160,000 deaths and he is whining about the metrics being unfair. Jesus Christ. Everyone who enabled him should hang for this.
Kent
I know teachers who are going to teach everyone online. The kids who show up will sit and do their stuff online as well. No papers to turn in. No labs with close contact. Build a giant moat of desks and cabinets around the teacher desk to keep the kids 10-15 ft away minimum. They come to class, sit down, open up their chromebooks and start their work. But this is HS. I don’t know what the elementary teachers are going to do.
They figure it will all be online soon anyway, so might as well get everyone in the habit. Around here all students K-12 are issued their own personal chromebooks so everyone can be online.
That’s basically what I was planning to do before the district rolled back their hybrid plan and is starting the year 100% online. Who knows when we will step foot back in the building.
MoxieM
@FlyingToaster: Canopener!
West of the Cascades
When I plug “covid orphans” into the search engine at http://www.monkeyspawGoogle.com, it spits out one result: “Barron Trump.”
Yutsano
@Mary G: Thanks to that tweet thread I have learned Traitor Tot. I’m giggling, I am.
DMcK
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
Fun fact: some years back Cy Vance gave the Trump Org a clean pass on what was then considered a blatantly open-and-shut case of investor fraud related to money laundering, re: Trump Tower SoHo. In spite of PopeHat’s sentiments, I would still trust the Feds more than anybody at the intractably corrupt state or local level.
Oh, and Vance is also up for re-election, so…yeah. All for show.
Sm*t Cl*de
@?BillinGlendaleCA:
Baud is like a stream of bats’ piss in a cave.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@DMcK:
With Bill Barr as AG? Really?
mrmoshpotato
@Sm*t Cl*de:
But we know you say that with love! ?
joel hanes
@Sm*t Cl*de:
Warm and golden and full of nutrients ?
?BillinGlendaleCA
@mrmoshpotato: I thought that comments about bat piss and caves would have come from valued commetor Ozark Hillbilly.
hervevillechaizelounge
@A Ghost to Most:
I don’t think (most) kids are intentionally passing the Covid; they’re simply staying true to the I-got-mine culture in which they were raised. Consider it karmic payback for global warming’s unfettered escalation.
On a personal note, I’m watching films based on the works of Philip K Dick and I just had to turn off The Adjustment Bureau—Matt Damon looks way too much like Matt Gaetz:(
Damon plays a brash senate hopeful and I found myself praying for a political assassination.
DMcK
@?BillinGlendaleCA:
In general, yes. There’s still an active federal investigation in NY State that has persisted in spite of every effort to quash it. Vance is an elected city official, a position that doesn’t come without a SHITLOAD of favors owed.
Brachiator
@hervevillechaizelounge:
You didn’t finish watching The Adjustment Bureau?
It’s a little more hopeful than you might think.
NotMax
@hervevillechaizelounge
Paycheck and Radio Free Albemuth tread ‘this close’ to violating the Eighth Amendment.
hervevillechaizelounge
@Brachiator:
I kept seeing Matt Gaetz’s face superimposed over Matt Damon’s; the horror was ever-present.
Now I’m watching Paycheck; Ben Affleck may be a tool but at least he doesn’t look like a republican.
Joseph A Miller
@A Ghost to Most: I find sweeping generalizations tiresome.
sukabi
@MomSense: that’s exactly my reaction to that clip.
Frankensteinbeck
@different-church-lady:
”Ninja Sex Party” is already claimed, and is a surprisingly good band. It was founded by a man who was and is overjoyed that he got so rich and famous for other stuff that he could use that to start a rock band. He makes insanely good animated videos with other bands. I love seeing someone live out his fantasies and make great art doing it.
Uncle Cosmo
@different-church-lady: “‘Banned’ takes the worry out of being closed.”
(For those of us of an age…:^D)
PenAndKey
Wait… what? Another La Crosse area resident? Huh, I never would have expected that. And yeah, with three colleges in La Crosse and a massive bar culture I’m absolutely dreading what the county is going to look like come Fall. At least we have the regional virtual academy so I don’t have to send my son into the fray. He hasn’t really left his little corner of Holmen since this all started.
I never thought I’d say it, but thank heavens for MMOs, Xbox Live, and Discord team chat. Those have been his primary means of social interaction since this all started.
pluky
@Gin & Tonic: Hebrew gets transliterated in various ways into roman depending on the language. Then the pronunciation tendencies based on that transliteration kick in. EeSahEeAs is actually closer to the standard Hebrew pronunciation than ISayAh.
Sherparick
@Yutsano: You & me both bud.
marklar
@Ken:
I’m going to have synchronous classes once per week that will all be Discussion-based. Students will come to class having done the readings (around 25-30 pages per class…I’ve found that if you assign more only 1/3 of the students do it, but with 25 pages or so 80% are prepared) and been given discussion prompts, so they should be ready to go. I’m lucky because my Intro classes are capped at 25 students, and advanced classes at 15, and Zoom can still work with that size, especially if I do a couple of breakout rooms.
I’ve recorded around a 15 minute Kaltura presentation for each week giving students some ‘big picture’ things to think about regarding the material (e.g., the ethics of the research, the social implications of the week’s topics…e.g., when we cover Harlow’s monkeys raised in isolation, I direct them towards readings on the Child Separation Policy; This summer I’ve taken Zimbardo’s prison study and had students reflect on how this informs Police reform, etc.).
I’m also making a lot of use of Discussion boards. Students are required to do a 200-300 word post relating to the reading per week, and two 75 word replies to classmates.
Covering the content isn’t my biggest concern. Creating a sense of community in the classroom is. Without that sense of intellectual community, students might as well save money and take online classes at a Community College (some of which are superbly taught).
Sm*t Cl*de
@joel hanes: “Your highness, when I said that you are like a stream of bat’s piss, I only mean that you shine out like a shaft of gold when all around it is dark”.
piratedan
@Sm*t Cl*de: ty for the Monty Python skit shout out!!!!!!!
JustRuss
Thank god we’re on the quarter system, so we’ll open a month later than most universities. I’m assuming our administration will have learned from others’ mistakes and rethink their opening plans.