Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

It’s the corruption, stupid.

Hot air and ill-informed banter

After roe, women are no longer free.

If you’re pissed about Biden’s speech, he was talking about you.

It’s easy to sit in safety and prescribe what other people should be doing.

Republicans are the party of chaos and catastrophe.

Yeah, with this crowd one never knows.

Peak wingnut was a lie.

It’s time for the GOP to dust off that post-2012 autopsy, completely ignore it, and light the party on fire again.

DeSantis transforms Florida into 1930s Germany with gators and theme parks.

We still have time to mess this up!

Sadly, there is no cure for stupid.

That’s my take and I am available for criticism at this time.

Accountability, motherfuckers.

🎶 Those boots were made for mockin’ 🎵

And now I have baud making fun of me. this day can’t get worse.

You don’t get rid of your umbrella while it’s still raining.

Fuck these fucking interesting times.

Republicans are radicals, not conservatives.

“Can i answer the question? No you can not!”

Don’t expect peaches from an apple tree.

Come on, man.

Proof that we need a blogger ethics panel.

You don’t get to peddle hatred on saturday and offer condolences on sunday.

You are here: Home / Healthcare / COVID-19 Coronavirus / Saturday Evening Open Thread: Working (Or Not) From Home

Saturday Evening Open Thread: Working (Or Not) From Home

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  2. 2.

    NotMax

    Silence perhaps sometimes too oppressive? In need of innocuous background music which won’t divert your attention?

    Seeburg to the rescue.

  3. 3.

    evodevo

    You go, Madison!  The jingles were originally made out of repurposed tobacco tins in the old days…

  4. 4.

    Brachiator

    The Jingle Dress Dancer is incredibly cute. Thanks.

    It’s a really lovely day out today in Southern California. And so just weird that so many people are staying inside or close to home.

    This morning I went out to get breakfast. There was only one other person outside, a guy walking his dog.

  6. 6.

    debbie

    @Brachiator:

    I took a walk. The day was pretty chilly (less than 40 degrees) and lots of people were out, but there were no friendly smiles or hellos.

  12. 12.

    Omnes Omnibus

    I have a request. Could we get a couple of non-Covid=19 threads during the day that aren’t specifically themed like the Leto/Avalune military ones? And if we do, could commenters please refrain from posting Covid-19 stuff in them? I know that some people deal with their fear and worry by gaming everything out, but others could use a break from the relentless horror. The people complaining about gloom porn could very well be as close to the edge as everyone else and need an outlet too. Not everyone can be a steely-eyed realist about the potential deaths of shitloads of people for 24 hours a day. And this is purportedly a full service blog.

  13. 13.

    Ohio Mom

    I should be happy because after several months of unemployment, Ohio Dad starts a new job on Wednesday.  But I have very little confidence that the bottom of everything won’t fall out. He thinks the new place will stay in business, well I hope so too, but…

    Until now, I truly believed this country would eventually right itself after Trump. I don’t think that anymore. We are too far gone.

    I don’t see how we get out of the hole we’re digging. My governor illegally cancelled the primary. Is it going to be reschedled, supposedly. But how can you have a democracy if elections are so easily cancelled?

    A very good friend who moved to a different state called today. She’s been sick for two weeks so she dragged herself to the doctor, who was clad in her PPE and stayed far away from Friend while Friend described her symptoms.

    Could Friend get tested? No, not even a regular flu test, the doctor did not want to expose her nurses. Go home! The doctor shrieked. And stay home!

    So Friend went home.

  17. 17.

    Ohio Mom

    Sorry Omnes for my gloom. I got it out, I’ll focus on the positive now. I mean, it *will* be nice to have money coming in and Ohio Dad is very excited about whatever it is he’ll be working on (some kind of software beyond my level of understanding). That really is good news. I shouldn’t down play it.

  18. 18.

    hells littlest angel

    Let’s be realistic. “Orphan child of coronavirus retail veteran” hats for their kids.

  22. 22.

    Brachiator

    The Daily podcast had a short, 7 minute episode on the little things people are doing to come together on the Internet since they can’t hang out in person.  Internet happy hours and other little ways to maintain connections.  You can listen here.

  23. 23.

    NotMax

    @Ohio Mom

    Go home! The doctor shrieked. And stay home!

    Not to make light of it, that’s a fabulous opening paragraph for a novella.

  26. 26.

    scav

    @debbie: Too bad you’re not in this neighborhood.  We’re getting about twice the usual walkers and most wave but a good half stop to chat (well, usually more of a prolonged shout at each other across the street).  We do benefit from a big cow pasture in the middle and they’ve calving.  CNN is CowNewsNetwork here. (Dahlia had a little black one today, so that’s four down and a few more to go). When the cows calm down, there’ll be the eagle nest to watch.

    Social Distancing so far has been pretty social.  As an introvert, I could do with a little isolation soon — except that the weather is so good and that’s where the garden is.

  29. 29.

    dmsilev

    @debbie: I was out walking yesterday and met a neighbor with her dog. We stopped to chat, keeping the now-approved several feet of distance between us. The poor dog kept wanting to come over to me to say hello properly, and just didn’t understand why he was being kept on a short leash.

  30. 30.

    White & Gold Purgatorian

    @dexwood: I third that request. It is hard for me to look away from the train wreck, but it would be healthier to do so. Non plague threads now and then might make that possible.

  31. 31.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @Ohio Mom: It wasn’t aimed at you.  I understand the doom and gloom.  I am not trying to talk anyone off the ledge any more either.  Everyone needs to handle this the way they need to handle it.  But some of us need a break once in a while.

  32. 32.

    Kent

    @lamh36: It’s a private company using their propriety testing machines.  They don’t expect to start making them until April.

    But yes, good news.   These things should be public at this point though

  33. 33.

    dmsilev

    @Omnes Omnibus: Nothing wrong with asking for a respite.

    I’m thinking of starting up a new game of Stardew Valley; nice and calming and low-stress. Well, except for fishing. Screw that.

  34. 34.

    Mnemosyne

    @debbie:

    I’ve been noticing the opposite here in CA — people are smiling and making friendly comments to strangers, though from a suitable 6-foot distance. It feels like when you’re riding a bike and you chime your bell at other bike riders you don’t know as you pass each other.

    But I think we’ve known for at least a week that the lockdown was coming, so people had some time to get used to the idea.

  36. 36.

    Mnemosyne

    @lamh36:

    Did I remember to brag that I got to go to the 10th anniversary Academy event where they had a bunch of the cast and the artists? It was awesome, and Jenifer Lewis is a ?.

  40. 40.

    Ella in New Mexico

    Thank you so much for this sweetness!

    BTW I can’t decide who’s pissing me off more on Twitter today: dumb MAGAT’s repeating  “Corona virus is a hoax from a lab in ‘Gina to keep Trump from getting re-elected”or “OMG I used to work in a lab 20 years ago and healthcare workers need to be wearing airlocked double hazmat suits like they’re working at Ft Detrick’s Anthrax lab or it’s all over for everyone”

    Meanwhile my friends and I are “Just get us enough N95s, gowns & gloves FFS

    @Ohio Mom: and that doctor is such a GD wuss

  41. 41.

    Barbara

    @Omnes Omnibus: Yes, it would be nice.  King Arthur Flour posted 10 easy breads to make including 2 no knead ones. Had no difficulty finding ingredients for a few of them and spent most of the day making bread.  I am okay with digesting bad news but I find negative speculation — dire what ifs expressed as certainties — increasingly hard to bear.

  43. 43.

    Mnemosyne

    @lamh36:

    I’m hoping that the Academy will start putting some of these events streaming online, because they’re really cool. They don’t even have to show the movie, they can just show the discussion! But there might be a copyright issue since they also had some musical performances.

  44. 44.

    MoCA Ace

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    Now might be a good time for artists in our midst no?  Although I consider myself more of a craftsman.  Could we send pics to a F.P.er? It might be inspiring to see what others are up to.  I know my woodworking is one of my few escapes right now.

  45. 45.

    Kent

    My kids and their friends are learning how to break the internet.  They are now all on multiple group chats with their school friends.  One is 8th grade and one is 11th grade.  The 8th graders are doing stuff like 20-person face-time chats and other crazy stuff.  Super laggy but they are having a blast pushing Apple to its limits.  Middle school and High School society had already largely moved online before this.  Now they are taking it to a whole new level.  My kid says there is MORE middle school drama than when she was actually in middle school

    Oh, and if you are a teacher, just assume that every one of your assignments will be a group assignment.  They are all collaborating already with what little work is being assigned.

  46. 46.

    Mnemosyne

    @lamh36:

    As I keep saying, they all seem to have blown off reading “The Masque of the Red Death.” Plagues don’t care who you are or how rich you are. They just go where they please. ?

  47. 47.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @Barbara: I talked with my mom this morning.  She and my dad are going to experiment again with baking bread.  As she said, they’ve little else to do.

  51. 51.

    Mnemosyne

    @Ella in New Mexico:

    I have a set of plain ol’ surgical masks I bought at Daiso right before this all hit. Wondering if I should put one on before we go pick up dinner tonight since I have asthma. ?

    I’ve been taking my temperature twice a day and it’s steady as a rock, so I’m trying to not freak myself out that my asthma is acting up. Stupid pollen.

  52. 52.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @MoCA Ace: I don’t disagree about the artists in our midst thread, but I consider that a themed thread.  OTOH, the next one up is very much what I had in mind.

  54. 54.

    Ella in New Mexico

    @WereBear: I see videos like that and want to run out and adopt 5 more kittens

     

    Then my three boy cats start attacking our new young female stray and spraying everywhere in the house because they’re disrupted by us being in their grill all day thanks to social distancing and I ask myself why the FUCK do I love cats so much

  55. 55.

    debbie

    @Mnemosyne:

    Spring is very delayed here — we’re well behind New England, for chrissakes — and it’ll be a real bitch on the lungs when every flower and tree bursts forth in unison (I’m picturing those singing flowers in, I think, Fantasia).

  57. 57.

    Anne Laurie

    @Omnes Omnibus: Okay — as a start, I’ll announce the Sunday Morning Garden Chat is (should be) a COVID-news-free zone.  We can all look at pictures and discuss nature, yes?

  59. 59.

    Amir Khalid

    I found this moving: radio stations in 30 European countries played You’ll Never Walk Alone simultaneously, as a gesture of solidarity in these times of enforced isolation.

    When you walk through a storm, hold your head up high

    And don’t be afraid of the dark

    At the end of the storm is a golden sky

    And the sweet silver song of the lark

    Walk on through the wind, walk on through the rain

    Though your dreams be tossed and blown

    Walk on, walk on, with hope in your heart

    And you’ll never walk alone

    You’ll never walk alone

  60. 60.

    Ella in New Mexico

    @Mnemosyne: Not sure where you live and thus your odds of encountering a positive person, but even though they’re saying general population won’t benefit, if you have a suppressed immune system or pre-existing lung disease it’s not a bad idea.  I’d wear one–even if only because it’d keep me from touching my nose and mouth until I got home.

  62. 62.

    opiejeanne

    @Brachiator: Yes, a darling child.

    It’s been really gorgeous here most of the week, and people are outside walking their dogs. We’ve been cleaning up the garden after the winter, picking up fallen branches, repairing the greenhouse, pulling weeds in the raised beds. People see us and stop and talk across the fence, and we’ve met people who have lived a couple of houses away for about six years, and never seen outside before. Everyone was busy with their own lives, including us. We do interact with a couple of families in the neighborhood. The new guy on the corner across from us offered us some eggs, since he has chickens, and he has 7 dozen eggs right now.

    It snowed here very recently but didn’t stick, but it rained for about 8 days straight, and starting Monday we’re slated to get another 8-10 days of rain. I think people had cabin fever even before being told to stay home if at all possible.

  63. 63.

    Ella in New Mexico

    @Kent: Super cool! I can imagine we’d have seen the same here if our kids were their age. Love it!

  66. 66.

    Cheryl Rofer

    @Omnes Omnibus and others: Noted. I will try to post more open threads that specificially are noted as NO-PLAGUE ZONES. And will enforce them with deletion.

    I find the constant reference to Covid-19 on EVERY thread depleting too.

  67. 67.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    Jon Heyman @JonHeyman
    They are playing baseball now in Korea. Gives us something to aspire to.

  71. 71.

    JMG

    Follow-up to a morning post. My son proposed and was accepted as expected. Place he picked was Soldier’s Memorial at Grand Army Plaza, walking distance from their apartment. Said he’ll never again see it empty. On way back, stopped at local liquor store to purchase a bottle of champagne. Store wouldn’t open door, pickup phone orders only, so he phoned and they came out with the bottle. Then the manager said, “could you two pose with this so we can a picture for our Instagram page?” Love in the 21st century.

  72. 72.

    Another Scott

    I do not understand how mcdonalds can serve two billion hamburgers every year but when I order five million at the drive thru it overwhelms the system https://t.co/f70fUIY7MF— kilgore trout, stonks autographer (@KT_So_It_Goes) March 21, 2020

    (via LOLGOP)

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  73. 73.

    Elizabelle

    @opiejeanne:   I kind of wish we always had a COVID 19 thread going, too, although guess we can use Annie’s overnight post — which are excellent.

    So much we learn and want to share.

  77. 77.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    Brian Tyler Cohen @briantylercohen
    So this woman not only buys out a local Dollar Tree of every single box of paper towels, napkins, and toilet paper so that no one else can buy any, but caps it off with this: “Donald Trump! Go Donald Trump!“

    as the tweeter says, anybody wanna guess where this happened?

  80. 80.

    Another Scott

    @Omnes Omnibus: They have palm trees in Oregon??

    If Dollar Tree lets them buy out the store, I’m not going to blame the buyers…

    Grrr…

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  83. 83.

    EmbraceYourInnerCrone

    @Jeffro: me too! I keep watching it thinking I will get bored. Nope still funny! It doesn’t hurt that I have two 9 month old kittens who do stuff like that constantly.

  84. 84.

    Zelma

    OK, in the “never rains” category: my furnace just stopped working and my furnace guy might be in Alabama.  It’s a pretty old furnace that he is trying to keep going because it has a stainless steel heat exchanger and the new ones don’t and are, in his opinion, a piece of shit.  It’s in the 40s here and I have one space heater.  So not only can’t I go out, but I’m basically stuck in one room.

    OTOH, my favorite Italian restaurant is doing take out and I had wonderful gnocchi for dinner.  Also wine.

  86. 86.

    minachica

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    I have a request. Could we get a couple of non-Covid=19 threads during the day that aren’t specifically themed like the Leto/Avalune military ones? And if we do, could commenters please refrain from posting Covid-19 stuff in them? I know that some people deal with their fear and worry by gaming everything out, but others could use a break from the relentless horror. The people complaining about gloom porn could very well be as close to the edge as everyone else and need an outlet too. Not everyone can be a steely-eyed realist about the potential deaths of shitloads of people for 24 hours a day. And this is purportedly a full service blog.

    YES THIS PLEASE. I’m just a lurker but I’m this close to losing my sanity. I bet I’m not the only one who could really use some  more relief from the horror.

  87. 87.

    opiejeanne

    @Elizabelle: Well, I also wish that, in a way. It’s like watching a train wreck in slow motion as it happens. Impossible to look away.

    I just got this in my mailbox from the Seattle Times and I need to unload, sorry Omnes:
    State preparing to make life-or-death decisions if coronavirus overwhelms health care system
    Washington state and hospital officials have been meeting to consider what once was almost unthinkable — how to decide who lives and dies if, as feared, the coronavirus pandemic overwhelms the state’s health care system. The triage plan would assess factors such as age, health and likelihood of survival in determining who will get access to full care and who will merely be provided comfort care, with the expectation that they will die.

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