I am in love with this Twitter thread. It details funky shaped baseball diamonds due to space constraints. Naturally, lots of CA-based ones are featured.
The crazy part is also how well maintained the infield looks from these aerial shots, so it's not just some random softball fields that have weird dimensions (spoken from a beer league vet that's used to cross paths with outfielders from another game in the outfield)
Went up to the lake. Neighbor (Cheryl) is a full-time resident, so she keeps texting every time she sees us. She's a nice lady, but you can tell that she was a ditzy trophy wife who's now in her late 50s.
My wife finally ended up calling her this weekend to at least appease her. She got an earful about how CV19 is a bioweapon created by China to hurt the US and Donald Trump.
it's amazing what people come up with. My wife's hippy friend who was adamant three weeks ago that martial law was imminent has somehow forgotten that. She's also in the "reject science" overlap with the reactionary right, so she was also posting all manner of conspiracy theories until someone plainly persuaded her to stop.
We went on a walk with one of my wife's coworkers on Saturday and he was talking about how his holistic doctor believes it is definitely 5G related. Maybe not the virus itself, but how it spreads much quicker in places with widespread 5G. But he is also an anti-vaxxer, so I just don't engage and keep my social distance.
One of the local panhandlers told me that the teachers unions were behind the initial school shutdowns because they wanted to extend the school year into the summer with the ultimate goal of year round school. He listens to a lot of right wing radio when he's not panhandling.
I wasn't going to argue with him but I wondered that too. Only thing I could guess was that they think it would mean a pay raise for teachers but who knows what go on in their conspiracy minds.
Yep. Moreso than the teachers, the school administrators (at least those that have schools that have A/C; not all do) have been pushing to get closer to year-around school for a number of years now. It will be an immediate pay increase, one in many cases there is no funding to pay for (no matter the benefit of more days of school).
Taking care y'all chickens. Literally. We got a quartet of day-old chicks at the beginning of March and we've raised them from puffballs into very small chickens. In a few months they'll be fully grown and starting to lay eggs regularly.
my wife wants to get chickens but you won't be surprised, as a Maryland resident, to learn that Montgomery county has chicken welfare rules that - in what I'm sure is a total coincidence - make it almost impossible to have chickens on a typical suburban lot.
Not new necessarily, but installed my first GFCI outlet and will be re-picking up the harmonica to see if I can at least make it through my beginner book.
I've been playing around with some online tools to see if there are any I should be thinking about for side-hustle or online volunteering purposes. I'm not going to ever be working a phone bank but I occasionally see online requests for help with things like putting together flyers... and I'm enough of a dork that I'm excited about tools like Lucidchart and Airtable.
I keep thinking that I'm going to try something like learning R or Haskell, but I am basically just shit at code and I need to stop pretending that I'm going to somehow crack the syntax at this late date.
I figured out how to use Automator to consolidate a bunch of PDFs, which is handy. Apparently you can do that at the command line in MacOS but I wasn't in the mood to try and remember how to specify the file paths. Going to see if I can use Automator to prepend dates to file names before copying them into a common file as part of my project to bring order to the chaos of old digital photos.
My wife and son were supposed to be in the Galapagos, arriving in Guayaquil Ecuador last friday. It was only a few weeks ago that we're like "eh, they'll probably be okay; they've got no cases". Then things went pear-shaped quickly. Last Friday, the official national death count in the entire country was 90. There are so many dead bodies left on the curbs of Guayaquil because they can't bury them fast enough that the local government said they picked up over 400 over the last few days. NYT and WaPo ran front page articles how Ecuador was one of the worst hit. Bullet dodged. I wasn't going to go because the only way to go is by boat and I get seasick even thinking about water.
I'm waiting to see if summer camp is canceled - I think the likely decision will be made during the first week of May. We haven't spent the summer in the house together since 2009 or thereabouts, so this could be "interesting."
Notified on Mar 13 that Mr. CG's Mar 16 cataract surgery postponed (deemed "non-life threatening") but not yet rescheduled, after years of nudging him to see an opthamologist (and we've already paid for the lens)...
Was supposed to fly out for future DIL's white coat ceremony on Apr 24. Campus closed; all events cancelled. Sheltering in California.
Lair of the Bear 2020 summer camp on hold!
Still waiting (while still paying) - Dec 2020 choral performances in Vienna for Beethoven's 250
SAT/ACT cancelled and not counted for admissions next year
all grades pass/fail.
these things are all making short term life easier, but pushes changes the dynamics of college applications considerably as i imagine extra-curricular activities and your essay will take on outsized importance as you cant look at this other stuff
I wonder what all the people who complain that SAT scores are a function of affluence and ethnicity will do when they realize that the other factors are also.
I'm supposed to be in London on vacation right now. Instead, I'm on vacation on my sofa. 😠I've had another trip canceled for later this month, and one in June and one in July. I was supposed to go to Bottlerock but it has been moved to October (still don't really think it will happen at all).
I had a business trip to Lisbon two weeks ago that got cancelled. The Budapest event in June will most likely be cancelled. The interim one in July/Aug hasn't been cancelled but I don't see any way that will happen. Nothing has been decided for Denver in Sept. And who knows about Bangkok in Nov.
Not yet. The impact will come if this extends into summer, and especially if it disrupts fall, and planned trips to Seattle, Salt Lake City, and the Bay Area.
One thing I read is someone said the first wave seems to go away and then comes back much much harder. If that's true hopefully they're past the 2nd stage.
That's good! I would like to see the stats on recoveries. They publicize deaths, but rarely recoveries, and that would add a lot of perspective to the other numbers.
As it turns out cats and dogs CAN get the virus, but are not very susceptible to it like humans are. This is the American Vet Medical Association's stance about it:
Yesterday I called my eldest sister. Got the full update on how everyone in her family was doing. At some point in the conversation she says, "I hung the last two rolls of TP today," and my jaw dropped. This was a case of you think it'll never happen to you or someone you know.
After I hung up the phone, I told Mrs Slug and we got a box and put 18 rolls of TP plus nitrile gloves and 3 masks plus a roll of paper towels just to take up air (we can afford to give one roll away).
Mrs SLug had me text my sister with a heads up on what to expect. She texts back, "Mark says you saved my ass. Bwahaha!" TP Care package going out by UPS to New Jersey later this morning.
Notwithstanding the occasional pre-election photo op of him "jogging," he's not in the best shape under normal circumstances, and these are not normal circumstances.
I don't know if I mentioned that my mother in law has dialed back her expectations for videoconference seder but she has - mostly because of the resounding lack of interest from anyone about spending hours on Zoom trying to run through even an abbreviated haggadah. Apparently Plan B is to spend a little time together online and call it a night, which seems reasonable.
we're doing a very brief one with extended family and the kiddos Wednesday night (might be a couple songs until the 3-year-old loses interest and gets tired of matzah) and we'll see how successful my parents are with going by-the-book Thursday
Eggs were tough around here for awhile but are pretty widely available now. On any given day some item might be in short supply but things have pretty much settled down. Toilet paper is the only thing that is still consistently not available.
we're still having a hard time with paper towels. I ordered a bunch of institutional ones from Staples (mostly for cleaning anything with a lot of residual fat, because our drains need to be kept clean and clear). We usually are pretty well stocked on toilet paper so no crisis there yet.
I had good luck finding paper towels at costco a couple weeks ago (near the peak of toilet paper hoarding). We're getting low on toilet paper, so we'll head there and grab a pack later this week.
i remember going to the hmart that first week of the tp hoarding and seeing a bunch of white guys walk out of there fully loaded up on hello kitty toilet paper.
I've found that they were one of the first and most effective at implementing "you can only buy one of these, you hoarding idiots" rules for certain items. As a result, they've been better stocked than my local Wegman's.
I'm running low on paper towels as well, not sure what the situation is at Target. There appear to be some on Amazon Fresh, but I can't get a delivery slot.
Last time I was in Trader Joes the white eggs were gone but I usually get brown eggs anyways. I may go in about an hour and see. I scheduled a Safeway store pickup in Concord and added peanut butter and flour among other things. We'll see if they have it for me.
We couldn't find flour anywhere last week, and most other baking supplies were in short supply. Eggs are now pretty easy to find now, though. Frozen fruit and bacon remain hard to find.
i made the mistake of shopping online the night I got home from thailand and then getting impatient and heading to the grocery store the next day. I now have 36 eggs.
We have eggs. We're practically lousy with 'em. I think we have a solid 2 dozen right now. We get between 7 and 9 each day from our flock, even with this rotten cold weather. I'm really looking forward to temps moving into the upper 60s, whenever it happens, which cannot be soon enough.
I installed one in our half bath last week. Absolutely awesome watching the spawnlings test it out. Lots of screams. And, I kid you not, the first time they turned it on, one of them had the brilliant idea of looking into the bowl. Wish I had video.
It's been an excellent decision in our house as well. We added one at the first sign of the TP hoarding. We still haven't cracked into the 18 roll pack purchased in mid-March when we had 7 or 8 rolls left.
the first time i used one was when i was like 12/13 at my aunt's house in japan. i remember being thoroughly assumed/confused by this pipe pointing out of the bowl.
Made my first trip to HMart since February. Guy in front passing out plastic gloves and wiping down every cart. It was crowded, but the checkout stands were super quick/no lines.
I went to a korean noodles and dumpling shop (they have the best kimchi sold by the jarful in town) and ordered dumplings and a jar of kimchi to go. I went in and you can just tell the struggle is real for these small business restaurants. The employee had "Don't Worry" - Lee Juck (Reply 1988 OST) blasting, and I almost started crying on the spot. Left a bigger tip than normal. https://youtu.be/HugHs90w1M8 (side note: Reply 1988 is an excellent korean drama series on Netflix if you're wanting to start something new while in quarantine)
If it's safe to do so, go help out your neighborhood small business restaurant.
The local farmer's market was open this Saturday but the seasonal vendors weren't there yet. They had it blocked off so there was only one entrance and had a hand washing/sanitizing station where you went in. Once the full season starts they are encouraging pre-orders and pickup at the market.
It was kind of interesting to observe the use/non-use of face coverings yesterday. I did a long run in the morning and quite a few people were out. Self-distancing was good but not many folks wearing masks though it was more than before. Mid-day I went to Safeway and more than half the people shopping were wearing masks. Later in the day I went to the park to read and virtually no one was wearing a mask. I saw a headline this morning that everyone at the Pentagon is now required to wear a mask at work.
I also noticed many more people on the trails wearing masks. I don't have access to any medical-grade ones, and a mask made from an old bandanna or shirt offers almost no effective filtration ability. So I'm not going to bother.
as I understand it, the point of the masks is to reduce the odds of asymptomatic people from spreading the 'rona rather than stopping anyone from getting it.
Still, the filtration rating of bandana-type masks is estimated to be somewhere between 3% and 10% (in contrast to the 95% filtration ability of N95 masks).
Nothing short of positive pressure (or not breathing!) can completely prevent inhaling it, and nothing can prevent transmitting it as long as we exist in an atmosphere. Everything helps; its a matter of degree in a game where the best you can do is try to beat the odds.
I suspect that the shift in mask guidelines to include these less effective masks is to encourage performative behaviors rather than actually having a meangingful impact on transmission. If wearing wearing masks made from tshirts makes the public less prone to panic and soothes anxiety, it seems like a reasonable recommendation.
the thing I saw was the best everyday household object is to use a cotton tshirt or bedspread. I cut up an old beastmode shirt that got discolored and may try to use that when I go out later today. They said that two layers don't make it much better and only make it harder to breathe. I tried it quickly and what i noticed was my glasses could get fogged up because it doesn't necessarily seal too well around my cheek bones.
you're just looking to catch water droplet, not particulate matter. I believe N95 masks don't actually catch viruses because they're so tiny. (They're more meant for dust and the like anyhow.)
Also, just about all the grocery workers were wearing masks and gloves, and all the checkstand staff were wiping down the conveyer after every customer.
I have an *already-opened* box of N95s from the fire season that I'm not sure if a hospital would want to use because they have no idea if they're clean.
My sister sewed a homemade mask that uses replaceable filters that I would have to buy from Amazon. These are inferior filters, but I feel like it's more wasteful to buy a large pack of new filters that medical professionals might need to buy.
Do I use an existing source of higher-grade material that's potentially contaminated? Or make a new purchase of lower-grade material and donate the few unused, but "dirty" N95s I have?
I would donate masks to all y'all (I have 300 sitting around) but it's taken a week for my last mail of masks to even make it to the airport - a friend of mine in Texas has lupus and her doctor had 10 masks and 10 pairs of gloves to make it to May.
My brother and sister in law have been trying everything they can think of to try and keep my mother from going out to the store every couple of days, including offering to do all of her shopping while instacart is jammed with everyone else ordering. They finally cracked and got her some masks, and it's clear that she now thinks she's all clear to go out _more_. Considering that she was hospitalized twice with heart issues in December and that my father is in the middle of chemo, I'm hoping that the signs of a flattening curve in Oregon are accurate.
it would be completely in line with my mother's life that she wreak havoc by her misunderstanding of (likely) science, statistics, stubbornness, and general oppositional defiance.
We are starting a week or so forecasted to be warm and dry spring like weather, which should help, vs the recent cold wet weather that was a haven for every respiratory malady known. Downside will be a pollen fog.
Treegasm started really early this year in our area due to the mild winter (more days of 80+ degree weather than below freezing). It started in early March and now everything is tinted yellow. I am stuck indoors because all that pollen overrides any antihistamine I take. I probably can't go out until May.
Peter Navarro (White House National Trade Council, PhD Economics) tries to shout down Dr. Fauci about hydroxychloroquine application. Claims his PhD makes him qualified.
Unknown if Dr. Bill Cosby and Dr. Shaq will be consulted.
A joke (exaggeration) is that most academic disciplines that have the word "science" in it are not true sciences - political science, social science, even computer science (to a lesser extent).
But to be fair, we are spoiled in physics that we often do get to control quite a lot more of our experiments than even the biologists (to us, their numbers are often kind of vague, with way underestimated systematics errors,...and these results are still orders of magnitude better than those in the social sciences).
The ultimate irony would be if Trump does take it and some side effect affects him. Though I'd bet his comment about maybe taking it is more smoke being blown. Or one of his "jokes."
It's important to have the Dr. or PhD to signify your expertise, but it's just as important to know what that expertise is. I wouldn't expect an MD to be an expert in food safety; neither would I say, "I'm a doctor, so I know how to intubate patients."
My former spouse always told people that I was a Doctor. I have a Ph.D. in Finance. I found it most annoying. Now she is no longer my spouse. Cue sad trombone.
Heck, I don't even introduce myself to patients as "Dr. Kodiak." I just use first name/last name and expect that they can figure out within seconds that I know my sh!t without needing to parade around a title.
I'm glad that works for you. In academia (hell, probably in healthcare, too), women are often treated like they don't have the credentials that they've earned.
The Supreme Court has decided to disenfranchise tens of thousands of Wisconsinites and pitted democracy against health by forcing the state to hold the election tomorrow. Great fucking job assholes.
Kind of slim pickins at the store on Saturday. Still no TP, wipes, kleenex. Got the covid booze though. 10 carts ahead of me in line. Checkout took 45 minutes. I've got an N95, though.
mostly bags, travel gear, EDC (every day carry, which is basically very expensive solutions to every day "challenges, clothing. As examples, Peak Design and Ministry of Supply.
I am in love with this Twitter thread. It details funky shaped baseball diamonds due to space constraints. Naturally, lots of CA-based ones are featured.
https://twitter.com/Jomboy_/status/1246830617620340737
The crazy part is also how well maintained the infield looks from these aerial shots, so it's not just some random softball fields that have weird dimensions (spoken from a beer league vet that's used to cross paths with outfielders from another game in the outfield)
Reminds me of the time I used to spend perusing this site for old airfields:
http://www.airfields-freeman.com/
Covidiots
Went up to the lake. Neighbor (Cheryl) is a full-time resident, so she keeps texting every time she sees us. She's a nice lady, but you can tell that she was a ditzy trophy wife who's now in her late 50s.
My wife finally ended up calling her this weekend to at least appease her. She got an earful about how CV19 is a bioweapon created by China to hurt the US and Donald Trump.
Goodbye, Cheryl.
it's amazing what people come up with. My wife's hippy friend who was adamant three weeks ago that martial law was imminent has somehow forgotten that. She's also in the "reject science" overlap with the reactionary right, so she was also posting all manner of conspiracy theories until someone plainly persuaded her to stop.
We went on a walk with one of my wife's coworkers on Saturday and he was talking about how his holistic doctor believes it is definitely 5G related. Maybe not the virus itself, but how it spreads much quicker in places with widespread 5G. But he is also an anti-vaxxer, so I just don't engage and keep my social distance.
places with 5G: more populated affluent areas? Because that's where it starts but that's not where it stays 🙄
One of the local panhandlers told me that the teachers unions were behind the initial school shutdowns because they wanted to extend the school year into the summer with the ultimate goal of year round school. He listens to a lot of right wing radio when he's not panhandling.
what kind of teacher wants year-round school
maybe the kind that wants to be paid year round?
But..it's not an increase in school days, so why would it be an increase in pay?
asked and answered
I wasn't going to argue with him but I wondered that too. Only thing I could guess was that they think it would mean a pay raise for teachers but who knows what go on in their conspiracy minds.
Yep. Moreso than the teachers, the school administrators (at least those that have schools that have A/C; not all do) have been pushing to get closer to year-around school for a number of years now. It will be an immediate pay increase, one in many cases there is no funding to pay for (no matter the benefit of more days of school).
he should stop that (the radio listening not the pandhandling)
Have you learned any new skills during the covid-19 lockdown?
Taking care y'all chickens. Literally. We got a quartet of day-old chicks at the beginning of March and we've raised them from puffballs into very small chickens. In a few months they'll be fully grown and starting to lay eggs regularly.
my wife wants to get chickens but you won't be surprised, as a Maryland resident, to learn that Montgomery county has chicken welfare rules that - in what I'm sure is a total coincidence - make it almost impossible to have chickens on a typical suburban lot.
My director lives in a quacky city in Oregon that limits residential chickens to 4 per household. They have illegal chickens!!!
L.A. County is basically that the coop just needs to be 25ft from a bedroom window.
Not new necessarily, but installed my first GFCI outlet and will be re-picking up the harmonica to see if I can at least make it through my beginner book.
I've been playing around with some online tools to see if there are any I should be thinking about for side-hustle or online volunteering purposes. I'm not going to ever be working a phone bank but I occasionally see online requests for help with things like putting together flyers... and I'm enough of a dork that I'm excited about tools like Lucidchart and Airtable.
I keep thinking that I'm going to try something like learning R or Haskell, but I am basically just shit at code and I need to stop pretending that I'm going to somehow crack the syntax at this late date.
I figured out how to use Automator to consolidate a bunch of PDFs, which is handy. Apparently you can do that at the command line in MacOS but I wasn't in the mood to try and remember how to specify the file paths. Going to see if I can use Automator to prepend dates to file names before copying them into a common file as part of my project to bring order to the chaos of old digital photos.
I'm disappointed this didn't turn into a 5-comment monologue on all the skills you're learning!
I mean I'm still expected to do some work
DCT's 3rd skill is commitment.
that's a lost cause
Has the covid-19 lockdown delayed or cancelled any major plans?
I was supposed to go to Paris for a conference at the beginning of June, but that's definitely not happening now.
My wife and son were supposed to be in the Galapagos, arriving in Guayaquil Ecuador last friday. It was only a few weeks ago that we're like "eh, they'll probably be okay; they've got no cases". Then things went pear-shaped quickly. Last Friday, the official national death count in the entire country was 90. There are so many dead bodies left on the curbs of Guayaquil because they can't bury them fast enough that the local government said they picked up over 400 over the last few days. NYT and WaPo ran front page articles how Ecuador was one of the worst hit. Bullet dodged. I wasn't going to go because the only way to go is by boat and I get seasick even thinking about water.
My plans were to go hang out in Sydney AU with a few buddies. CV19 killed that plan.
I'm waiting to see if summer camp is canceled - I think the likely decision will be made during the first week of May. We haven't spent the summer in the house together since 2009 or thereabouts, so this could be "interesting."
I was supposed to be on a plane sometime to be in the Yay for some personal stuff AND the Rage/RTJ Tour.
Just the first two months of the busiest part of the year for my business.
My coworker's sister's wedding was supposed to be this past weekend, heh.
Notified on Mar 13 that Mr. CG's Mar 16 cataract surgery postponed (deemed "non-life threatening") but not yet rescheduled, after years of nudging him to see an opthamologist (and we've already paid for the lens)...
Was supposed to fly out for future DIL's white coat ceremony on Apr 24. Campus closed; all events cancelled. Sheltering in California.
Lair of the Bear 2020 summer camp on hold!
Still waiting (while still paying) - Dec 2020 choral performances in Vienna for Beethoven's 250
My mother had a cataract surgery on 3/17; the second eye was supposed to be done in mid-April but is now TBD
Not sure when I'm going to travel again. Was hoping to take a trip in the fall, maybe to Hawaii or something, but now I'm not sure.
Birthday parties (my dad's 70th, my daughter's first) have had to be canceled.
My son was supposed to have a preschool graduation before starting kindergarten next fall, something we were looking forward to. Not happening now.
personally not so much, but kids a bit more stuff in the air, especially as the summer comes around
young one was supposed to go to cousins house in Sweden and 4 wks of summer camp.
older one had a 3-week trip to Tanzania that is also on the rocks.
people are still hopefully, but everyone is resigned to the fact that everything will get cancelled this summer
AP tests are only 45 min long.
NY state regents tests cancelled
SAT/ACT cancelled and not counted for admissions next year
all grades pass/fail.
these things are all making short term life easier, but pushes changes the dynamics of college applications considerably as i imagine extra-curricular activities and your essay will take on outsized importance as you cant look at this other stuff
I wonder what all the people who complain that SAT scores are a function of affluence and ethnicity will do when they realize that the other factors are also.
agreed. access to things like NASA internships, etc etc are mostly a function of affluence and ethnicity
https://i.imgur.com/M8EBHfs.jpg
I'm supposed to be in London on vacation right now. Instead, I'm on vacation on my sofa. 😠I've had another trip canceled for later this month, and one in June and one in July. I was supposed to go to Bottlerock but it has been moved to October (still don't really think it will happen at all).
ruined my birthday :|
My wife's birthday is next week and we're preparing for a pretty dull day now. We may have a picnic in the lawn if the weather is nice.
BOOOOO
I had a business trip to Lisbon two weeks ago that got cancelled. The Budapest event in June will most likely be cancelled. The interim one in July/Aug hasn't been cancelled but I don't see any way that will happen. Nothing has been decided for Denver in Sept. And who knows about Bangkok in Nov.
and HAG was supposed to come hang out in NYC w/ me for a few days last week. we could have gone to the Mets home opener or something.
Yes that too. Was going to visit No 1 for 3-4 days, go to a 76ers/Rockets game, then go visit HSB for a couple of days.
Not yet. The impact will come if this extends into summer, and especially if it disrupts fall, and planned trips to Seattle, Salt Lake City, and the Bay Area.
Had the plan come to fruition, I would be driving between the Lake District and Chester right about now.
My brothers, sister, and I were getting together in Monterey the last week of March. It will happen, just later.
Leave it
Jerry Mathers (UC Berkeley, BA Philosophy 1977). Born 1948.
Take it
... Easy (Eagles)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4v8KEbQA8kw
https://i.imgur.com/AKXquF0.gif
... to the Limit (ibid)
Today in the 'rona
All seven of my sister-in-law's family have recovered from presumptive CV19.
Great news! Are they still going to hunker down in that AirBnB for a few months or will they head back home?
AirBnB for 2 months. Then they'll see.
good to hear!
GREAT NEWS!
Fantastic!!
That was quick.
One thing I read is someone said the first wave seems to go away and then comes back much much harder. If that's true hopefully they're past the 2nd stage.
this
That's good! I would like to see the stats on recoveries. They publicize deaths, but rarely recoveries, and that would add a lot of perspective to the other numbers.
yes - recoveries would be nice to know.
The Shanghai Daily publishes recoveries
https://twitter.com/shanghaidaily/status/1247003792467316736?s=20
:')
awesome! I was wondering how they are doing.
hurrah!
Bronx Tiger comes down with CV19.
https://www.livescience.com/tiger-bronx-zoo-has-covid-19.html
As it turns out cats and dogs CAN get the virus, but are not very susceptible to it like humans are. This is the American Vet Medical Association's stance about it:
https://www.avma.org/resources-tools/animal-health-and-welfare/covid-19
Yesterday I called my eldest sister. Got the full update on how everyone in her family was doing. At some point in the conversation she says, "I hung the last two rolls of TP today," and my jaw dropped. This was a case of you think it'll never happen to you or someone you know.
After I hung up the phone, I told Mrs Slug and we got a box and put 18 rolls of TP plus nitrile gloves and 3 masks plus a roll of paper towels just to take up air (we can afford to give one roll away).
Mrs SLug had me text my sister with a heads up on what to expect. She texts back, "Mark says you saved my ass. Bwahaha!" TP Care package going out by UPS to New Jersey later this morning.
Ha!
https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/coronavirus-case-counts-are-meaningless/
Good article.
Boris Johnson was hospitalized over the weekend. I'm guessing his symptoms are much worse if they're keeping him there. Not just tests and scans.
I read that they missed the wheezing from his lungs because of the noise of the wind whistling through his ears
lol
heh... oh, wait; you weren't talking about the one on this side of the pond
when you don't have hair all similarly-haired people look like
wasn't I?
hehe
pqtm
https://i.imgur.com/yyFk4DW.png
Yeah, you're not getting an NHS bed right now just for tests, even if you are the PM. He's still in as of now, so clearly he's in some trouble.
Now moved to ICU, so I'm sure everything is fine.
😬
I'm somewhat shocked that his blithering idiocy might actually have some personal consequences while Trump's has not.
The irony of it all
If Boris comes out of this okay he's going to be even more insufferable, you know
Notwithstanding the occasional pre-election photo op of him "jogging," he's not in the best shape under normal circumstances, and these are not normal circumstances.
pretty freaking rough to shop for Passover when there aren't any eggs at the grocery store
I don't know if I mentioned that my mother in law has dialed back her expectations for videoconference seder but she has - mostly because of the resounding lack of interest from anyone about spending hours on Zoom trying to run through even an abbreviated haggadah. Apparently Plan B is to spend a little time together online and call it a night, which seems reasonable.
Joshua Malina: Dude, this year we’re not even letting Elijah in.
https://twitter.com/JoshMalina/status/1241745637462249472
we're doing a very brief one with extended family and the kiddos Wednesday night (might be a couple songs until the 3-year-old loses interest and gets tired of matzah) and we'll see how successful my parents are with going by-the-book Thursday
Eggs were tough around here for awhile but are pretty widely available now. On any given day some item might be in short supply but things have pretty much settled down. Toilet paper is the only thing that is still consistently not available.
we're still having a hard time with paper towels. I ordered a bunch of institutional ones from Staples (mostly for cleaning anything with a lot of residual fat, because our drains need to be kept clean and clear). We usually are pretty well stocked on toilet paper so no crisis there yet.
I had good luck finding paper towels at costco a couple weeks ago (near the peak of toilet paper hoarding). We're getting low on toilet paper, so we'll head there and grab a pack later this week.
i remember going to the hmart that first week of the tp hoarding and seeing a bunch of white guys walk out of there fully loaded up on hello kitty toilet paper.
Nothing about the hordes at Costco has made me want to get a membership tbh
I've found that they were one of the first and most effective at implementing "you can only buy one of these, you hoarding idiots" rules for certain items. As a result, they've been better stocked than my local Wegman's.
I'm running low on paper towels as well, not sure what the situation is at Target. There appear to be some on Amazon Fresh, but I can't get a delivery slot.
When in doubt, Berkeley Bowl is your friend
Do you have a costco membership? You can always try to go there before they open and try to be one of the first ones in.
Last time I was in Trader Joes the white eggs were gone but I usually get brown eggs anyways. I may go in about an hour and see. I scheduled a Safeway store pickup in Concord and added peanut butter and flour among other things. We'll see if they have it for me.
We couldn't find flour anywhere last week, and most other baking supplies were in short supply. Eggs are now pretty easy to find now, though. Frozen fruit and bacon remain hard to find.
My daughter was livid that the Bowl had no flour, and I was disappointed she couldn't then make croissants.
Was that the recipe that was on the DBD last week? I really want to try that one.
yeah still can't find flour either; my sourdough starter (which btw I was baking before all of this started, mind you) is going hungry
Last week Berkeley Bowl had some but I didn't get any. I drove by both Berkeley Bowls and the lines were out around the street. So I kept driving.
My parents got the 60-pack (I think) of eggs from Costco and shared with my brother and me.
i made the mistake of shopping online the night I got home from thailand and then getting impatient and heading to the grocery store the next day. I now have 36 eggs.
The TJ in Lafayette had plenty of eggs and peanut butter.
Peanut butter cookies for everyone!
We have eggs. We're practically lousy with 'em. I think we have a solid 2 dozen right now. We get between 7 and 9 each day from our flock, even with this rotten cold weather. I'm really looking forward to temps moving into the upper 60s, whenever it happens, which cannot be soon enough.
All my friends and family laughed when I installed a bidet in my house last summer but I use 90% less toilet paper now, mwahahaha
I installed one in our half bath last week. Absolutely awesome watching the spawnlings test it out. Lots of screams. And, I kid you not, the first time they turned it on, one of them had the brilliant idea of looking into the bowl. Wish I had video.
A good reminder that sometimes they take after their Bruin mother.
(jk Mrs. Kod please don't hurt me)
It's been nice knowing you
It's been an excellent decision in our house as well. We added one at the first sign of the TP hoarding. We still haven't cracked into the 18 roll pack purchased in mid-March when we had 7 or 8 rolls left.
the first time i used one was when i was like 12/13 at my aunt's house in japan. i remember being thoroughly assumed/confused by this pipe pointing out of the bowl.
@it's a drinking fountain@
https://frinkiac.com/mp4/S04E18/164964/168717.mp4?b64lines=ICggY2hhbnRpbmc6KSAKTk9XIFdITydTCiBMQVVHSElORz8h
Made my first trip to HMart since February. Guy in front passing out plastic gloves and wiping down every cart. It was crowded, but the checkout stands were super quick/no lines.
I went to a korean noodles and dumpling shop (they have the best kimchi sold by the jarful in town) and ordered dumplings and a jar of kimchi to go. I went in and you can just tell the struggle is real for these small business restaurants. The employee had "Don't Worry" - Lee Juck (Reply 1988 OST) blasting, and I almost started crying on the spot. Left a bigger tip than normal. https://youtu.be/HugHs90w1M8 (side note: Reply 1988 is an excellent korean drama series on Netflix if you're wanting to start something new while in quarantine)
If it's safe to do so, go help out your neighborhood small business restaurant.
is good show. is good song.
i've been watching hospital playlist on the netflix as well. don't know why, but i like it.
Is good show. Same writer as reply series.
The local farmer's market was open this Saturday but the seasonal vendors weren't there yet. They had it blocked off so there was only one entrance and had a hand washing/sanitizing station where you went in. Once the full season starts they are encouraging pre-orders and pickup at the market.
It was kind of interesting to observe the use/non-use of face coverings yesterday. I did a long run in the morning and quite a few people were out. Self-distancing was good but not many folks wearing masks though it was more than before. Mid-day I went to Safeway and more than half the people shopping were wearing masks. Later in the day I went to the park to read and virtually no one was wearing a mask. I saw a headline this morning that everyone at the Pentagon is now required to wear a mask at work.
I also noticed many more people on the trails wearing masks. I don't have access to any medical-grade ones, and a mask made from an old bandanna or shirt offers almost no effective filtration ability. So I'm not going to bother.
yeah d-honey and I used bandannas over the weekend
as I understand it, the point of the masks is to reduce the odds of asymptomatic people from spreading the 'rona rather than stopping anyone from getting it.
Still, the filtration rating of bandana-type masks is estimated to be somewhere between 3% and 10% (in contrast to the 95% filtration ability of N95 masks).
Depends on the fit.
Nothing short of positive pressure (or not breathing!) can completely prevent inhaling it, and nothing can prevent transmitting it as long as we exist in an atmosphere. Everything helps; its a matter of degree in a game where the best you can do is try to beat the odds.
if it signals social solidarity and helps reassure my wife that I'm not going to die of the 'rona from going to fedex, I can live with it
I suspect that the shift in mask guidelines to include these less effective masks is to encourage performative behaviors rather than actually having a meangingful impact on transmission. If wearing wearing masks made from tshirts makes the public less prone to panic and soothes anxiety, it seems like a reasonable recommendation.
eh.. the N95 masks are for protecting the wearer only, the others (whatever the %) are to lessen the spread of the 'rona
the thing I saw was the best everyday household object is to use a cotton tshirt or bedspread. I cut up an old beastmode shirt that got discolored and may try to use that when I go out later today. They said that two layers don't make it much better and only make it harder to breathe. I tried it quickly and what i noticed was my glasses could get fogged up because it doesn't necessarily seal too well around my cheek bones.
Sweatshirts work reasonably well too.
I also folded it up so beastmode is front and center.
you're just looking to catch water droplet, not particulate matter. I believe N95 masks don't actually catch viruses because they're so tiny. (They're more meant for dust and the like anyhow.)
A lot of it is accessibility of masks that actually work. I don't have access to them, so I just limit the amount of interaction I have with people.
I went to the grocery store the other day and it was about 80+% wearing masks/face coverings of some sort, myself included.
Also, just about all the grocery workers were wearing masks and gloves, and all the checkstand staff were wiping down the conveyer after every customer.
I'm not sure what I should do for masks.
I have an *already-opened* box of N95s from the fire season that I'm not sure if a hospital would want to use because they have no idea if they're clean.
My sister sewed a homemade mask that uses replaceable filters that I would have to buy from Amazon. These are inferior filters, but I feel like it's more wasteful to buy a large pack of new filters that medical professionals might need to buy.
Do I use an existing source of higher-grade material that's potentially contaminated? Or make a new purchase of lower-grade material and donate the few unused, but "dirty" N95s I have?
I would donate masks to all y'all (I have 300 sitting around) but it's taken a week for my last mail of masks to even make it to the airport - a friend of mine in Texas has lupus and her doctor had 10 masks and 10 pairs of gloves to make it to May.
If you decide to donate, I recommend Mask Match: https://www.mask-match.com/
A friend from high school started that (she is also the friend who started the smart vibrator company)
Thanks! I'll keep that in mind.
My brother and sister in law have been trying everything they can think of to try and keep my mother from going out to the store every couple of days, including offering to do all of her shopping while instacart is jammed with everyone else ordering. They finally cracked and got her some masks, and it's clear that she now thinks she's all clear to go out _more_. Considering that she was hospitalized twice with heart issues in December and that my father is in the middle of chemo, I'm hoping that the signs of a flattening curve in Oregon are accurate.
:(
it would be completely in line with my mother's life that she wreak havoc by her misunderstanding of (likely) science, statistics, stubbornness, and general oppositional defiance.
who does your mother think she is, the american people?
We are starting a week or so forecasted to be warm and dry spring like weather, which should help, vs the recent cold wet weather that was a haven for every respiratory malady known. Downside will be a pollen fog.
I remain certain that she will make almost no changes to her behavior at this point.
I went out on Sat, I think, and am wondering how pollen will start affecting things as it warms up. I sneezed a couple of times and took a Claritin.
Treegasm started really early this year in our area due to the mild winter (more days of 80+ degree weather than below freezing). It started in early March and now everything is tinted yellow. I am stuck indoors because all that pollen overrides any antihistamine I take. I probably can't go out until May.
Today in our crumbling democracy
Acting SECNAV Modley address the USS Roosevelt about the dismissal of their captain.
Talks about chain-of-command and betrayal of trust, but the money shot is at about 1:50 in.
https://soundcloud.com/paul-szoldra/acting-secnav-modley-criticizing-capt-crozier-to-sailors-onboard-uss-theodore-roosevelt
https://twitter.com/Stonekettle/status/1247220127814344705?s=20
I just listened to it. Wow...just wow. I loved right after 1:50 the sailor yell out "What the Fuck!?!?"
Trump blocks Dr. Fauci answering question about efficacy of hydroxychloroquine during briefing.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2020/04/06/coronavirus-fauci-trumpdrugs/
i saw that; didn't know whether I should laugh or cry. what a punk
Peter Navarro (White House National Trade Council, PhD Economics) tries to shout down Dr. Fauci about hydroxychloroquine application. Claims his PhD makes him qualified.
Unknown if Dr. Bill Cosby and Dr. Shaq will be consulted.
https://www.axios.com/coronavirus-hydroxychloroquine-white-house-01306286-0bbc-4042-9bfe-890413c6220d.html
I thought this article was too sensational to be true, but apparently Peter Navarro has taken his claims public.
https://www.cnn.com/2020/04/06/politics/peter-navarro-social-scientist-cnntv/index.html
A joke (exaggeration) is that most academic disciplines that have the word "science" in it are not true sciences - political science, social science, even computer science (to a lesser extent).
But to be fair, we are spoiled in physics that we often do get to control quite a lot more of our experiments than even the biologists (to us, their numbers are often kind of vague, with way underestimated systematics errors,...and these results are still orders of magnitude better than those in the social sciences).
Navarro isn't even a credible economist or China-guy. He was someone Kushner found by googling aggressive anti-China writing.
The ultimate irony would be if Trump does take it and some side effect affects him. Though I'd bet his comment about maybe taking it is more smoke being blown. Or one of his "jokes."
apparently he's consulting with Dr. Oz for instant credibility
Or his sister-in-law's fathers Facebook friends or whoever that was when he first came on board.
twist studied political science and is a juris doctor
can he be in charge
Sweden has stopped its Chloroquine trial because of the terrible side effects. https://twitter.com/mSaleemJaved/status/1246523470516817923
welp
This is one of my biggest pet peeves. People with non-medical PhDs using Doctor in everyday use. At least he said PhD and not Dr Navarro.
LISTEN,,,,,,,,,,,
I guess for me it's when people use it as a status. Like at a party.
I use linguistics as party tricks, not my doctorate
It's important to have the Dr. or PhD to signify your expertise, but it's just as important to know what that expertise is. I wouldn't expect an MD to be an expert in food safety; neither would I say, "I'm a doctor, so I know how to intubate patients."
My former spouse always told people that I was a Doctor. I have a Ph.D. in Finance. I found it most annoying. Now she is no longer my spouse. Cue sad trombone.
Heck, I don't even introduce myself to patients as "Dr. Kodiak." I just use first name/last name and expect that they can figure out within seconds that I know my sh!t without needing to parade around a title.
I'm glad that works for you. In academia (hell, probably in healthcare, too), women are often treated like they don't have the credentials that they've earned.
I'm so excited that my sister in law might not be able to get medication to control her lupus because of these sharts
The Supreme Court has decided to disenfranchise tens of thousands of Wisconsinites and pitted democracy against health by forcing the state to hold the election tomorrow. Great fucking job assholes.
Pros
The 20 Sweetest Swings in MLB History.
https://bleacherreport.com/articles/2884280-the-20-sweetest-swings-in-mlb-history
How many did we get? 10 lefties 11 righties (1 switch hitter).
1. Ken Griffey Jr.
2. Ted Williams
3. Albert Pujols
4. Barry Bonds
5. Robinson Cano
6. Miguel Cabrera
7. Edgar Martinez
8. Manny Ramierz
9. Alex Rodriguez
10. Babe Ruth
11. Hank Aaron
12. Cody Bellinger
13. Buster Posey
14. Chipper Jones
15. Carlos Gonzalez
16. Will Clark
17. Darryl Strawberry
18. Jim Edmonds
19. Ryan Braun
20. Ryan Howard
The author of this list is Zachary Rymer (UC Berkeley, BA English 2010).
IMO big gap between #2 and the rest
I did forget about Darryl Strawberry when we asked his question in an earlier DBD, that's a great choice.
He was one of the very first people I thought of. I used to imitate his batting stance.
Matt Olson as well.
Will the Thrill too low.
yeah I agree. I feel he should definitely be top 10, maybe top 5.
Cal
Go Bears!
finally gave in and bought a USB headset for the endless array of VOIP webex sessions, very excited about hearing the daily drivel more clearly
Sherrod Brown playing piano and singing Let It Be: https://twitter.com/ConnieSchultz/status/1246814196085460993?s=20 (only a snippet)
That was cute. One sing along pup, the other not impressed... what is up with that painting above the piano?!
She said a friend's son painted it for them, I think. The singalong pup is Walter, and the unimpressed pup is Franklin :)
ah... the puppies' piano bar!
Take: The Cannoli.
Hot take: I do not care for cannoli.
Kind of slim pickins at the store on Saturday. Still no TP, wipes, kleenex. Got the covid booze though. 10 carts ahead of me in line. Checkout took 45 minutes. I've got an N95, though.
oh geez. Kleenex and paper towels were easy to find at Costco a few weeks back, but still no TP anywhere.
In "Disaster Capitalism for the employed but not wealthy," I am getting a ton of emails from companies trying to unload inventory via mail order.
What kind of inventory? I just get restaurant emails.
mostly bags, travel gear, EDC (every day carry, which is basically very expensive solutions to every day "challenges, clothing. As examples, Peak Design and Ministry of Supply.
yup. same.