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You are here: Home / Economics / C.R.E.A.M. / Earned Snark Open Thread: The Masque Goes Ever On & On

Earned Snark Open Thread: The Masque Goes Ever On & On

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(Paywalled, unfortunately, at The Information: Pandemic Spawns Escape Communities Promising Self-Isolation—in a Group)

If they had any sense (ha!), they’d claim it was all a big troll. Because, TBF, overconfident ‘Masters of the Universe’ will never achieve the capital-K KLASS of the true elites:



Switzerland, once again profitably neutral during a global conflict. Here’s another fine Alpine hostelry, per the Washington Post:

… “In beginning of March, revenues had dropped significantly,” said Alexander Hübner, co-founder and chief executive of Le Bijou Hotel & Resort Management AG, which operates properties in Basel, Geneva, Zurich and other cities around Switzerland. “We said, okay, we need to react immediately to that.”

Before the outbreak, Le Bijou catered to high-end clientele who could afford its rates, which ranged from around $800 to $2,000 per night. According to Hübner and the Le Bijou website, that guest list has included the royal family of Saudi Arabia, Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak and “The Wolf of Wall Street” author Jordan Belfort. Yet Le Bijou’s guest reservations and events bookings plummeted just the same after the disease reached Europe.

Hübner, though, was getting new requests: from people who wanted to stay somewhere upscale where they could cook their own food, or hire doctors who perform house calls, or who didn’t want to go to the hospital for their medical needs while the pandemic was making local facilities more risky.

In response, Le Bijou began marketing quarantine-friendly perks, such as automated check-in (so that guests don’t have to interact with strangers) and in-room medical services provided by Double Check, a private health clinic in Switzerland.

The in-room treatments can be purchased a la carte: Coronavirus testing is available for about $500, twice-daily nurse check-in for about $1,800, and the round-the-clock nurse care for about $4,800. The properties are still providing food delivery and personal chef services, but they’ve cut daily cleanings and only sanitize rooms before and after guest checkout. (Staff performing those cleanings are required to wear masks and gloves, per the Swiss government’s guidelines, Hübner said.)

Since the company promoted its new offerings on Facebook, demand has been increasing steadily…

Or, if that’s too spendy, you could self-lockdown in Botany Bay! (Assuming you could get there, of course.)

… Across Asia, hotels are promoting self-quarantine packages promising reduced rates for 14-day stays, room service delivered with special handling and transportation to local hospitals when necessary. And in Australia, the Novotel Sydney Brighton Beach is advertising a 14-day “Home Away from Home” package for self-quarantining guests that promises rooms with balconies…

Reader Interactions

124Comments

  3. 3.

    joel hanes

    For people who have never encountered the concepts “false positive” nor “latency”

  5. 5.

    prostratedragon

    Been watching Foyle’s War. For those who don’t know it, the war in question is WWII, and Foyle is a police detective in England.

    I learned (season 2 episode) that such retreats were called “funk holes,” and those who holed up in them were, shall we say, not highly regarded.

  6. 6.

    Gin & Tonic

    In other not-so-good news, my daughter became aware that she has to lay off 60% of her team tomorrow. She has no experience with this sort of thing.

  8. 8.

    The Dangerman

    Breezes aplenty last couple days and my hay fever is blowing up. This is so NOT the time for hay fever. I  sneezed outside yesterday and thought, shit, I’m getting figuratively voted off the island…

    …which is literally what would happen for anyone that sneezed in that group.

    I’ve give them credit for entrepreneurial spirit, however. Lemons/lemonade, etc.

  9. 9.

    Amir Khalid

    It seems this King of Thailand is not as respected by his subjects, or as beloved, as his dad was.

  10. 10.

    Brachiator

    The Harbor retreat people will get “one-way tickets.”

    Maybe they should re-think that.

     

    Thai king self-isolates in luxury hotel with harem of 20 women amid coronavirus pandemic

    It’s good to be the king. However, can you really “self-isolate” with 20 other people? And the wording treats the women as non-persons.

  11. 11.

    WaterGirl

    @Gin & Tonic:  60% of her team, that’s brutal.

    If I could tell her one thing, it would be for her to keep reminding herself that this isn’t about her, it’s about them.

    Is this lay off as in for the next short little while, or the other laid off, which is permanent and should be called “fired” or “let go”?

  12. 12.

    TS (the original)

    I think Rachel is running out of words about gross mismanagement by the administration – and the absolute lack of knowledge by the southern governors who are grudgingly announcing their state stay at home orders.

    And .. I’m so busy cleaning house  – my mother’s solution to handling stress. It seems to be working.

  16. 16.

    whomever

    For those unfamiliar with Sydney, while I’m sure Novotel Sydney Brighton Beach is a lovely hotel, the location is…um, well imagine “Hotel Elizabeth NJ” or “Hotel Alameda CA”.  That neighborhood has got a lovely view of the airport, the container depot,  etc.  To be fair unlike the other two it’s actually a decent-ish beach, but still, it’s not where I would want to self quarentine (if you look at a map you will see what I mean).

  17. 17.

    Gin & Tonic

    @WaterGirl: Given the nature of the business I don’t think they’re coming back for a long while.

    She got what she termed a battlefield promotion.

  18. 18.

    Brachiator

    @prostratedragon:

    Been watching Foyle’s War. For those who don’t know it, the war in question is WWII, and Foyle is a police detective in England.

    Really enjoyed that series. Foyle quickly became one of my favorite fictional characters.

    And I loved the little historical notes like “funk holes” that would be woven into episodes.

  19. 19.

    mrmoshpotato

    @TS (the original):

    I think Rachel is running out of words about gross mismanagement by the administration 

    Does Dr. Maddow need to have a conference call with some linguistic PhDs?

    Or is she nearing “Fuck all these bastards!” territory?

  23. 23.

    Calouste

    IIRC everyone, including Australian citizens, must self-quarantine for 14 days when they enter Australia, so the last paragraph is actually fairly sensible, specially if it is only one person out of a family that needs to go in quarantine.

  24. 24.

    Boris Rasputin (the evil twin)

    Southern Governors: It’s that deeemon Siaaaanance  thet gawd warned us aginst.

    Us: No, it’s reality coming as predicted to bite you idiots in the ass. Sure, keep the beaches open, and blame New Yorkers for your native’s infection rates.

    Go eff yourselves, with a rasp. Why the hell should we compensate you for your stupidity

    While we’re at it, is Trump in stage 3 clap, or dementia, or both?

  27. 27.

    Roger Moore

    @Brachiator:

    However, can you really “self-isolate” with 20 other people

    I think so.  People are treating the “self” in “self-isolate” to mean you’re doing it for yourself rather than at someone else’s orders, and isolating just means cutting off from the outside, not necessarily from all other people.  So a small group could self-isolate.  My suspicion, though, is that this won’t be quite so well isolated as they think it is, because they just don’t think about all the servants needed to keep the thing going.  Though I suppose the harem could cook and clean as well as providing more intimate services.

  29. 29.

    dmsilev

    From the WTF files:

    Man charged with intentionally derailing train near hospital ship Mercy over coronavirus concerns

    Federal prosecutors charged a locomotive driver at the Port of Los Angeles with intentionally derailing a train near the U.S. Navy’s hospital ship Mercy because he suspected it was not there to help with the coronavirus crisis. Eduardo Moreno, 44, of San Pedro, was charged with deliberately wrecking a train during the incident Tuesday, which lead to a derailment and fuel leak, according to charges. Prosecutors allege that Moreno derailed the train and deliberately crashed through barriers designed to stop engines before grinding to a halt 250 yards from the Mercy.

    […]

    Moreno reportedly said, “You only get this chance once. The whole world is watching. I had to. People don’t know what’s going on here. Now they will.”

    Moreno used a locomotive used to move cargo to barrel through a steel barrier and chain-link fence before eventually ending up in a second chain-link fence, according to the court filing. Prosecutors allege that during an interview he admitted he ran the train beyond the track because he believed the Mercy was part of suspicious activities involving the coronavirus.

    “Sometimes you just get a little snap and man, it was fricking exciting . . . I just had it and I was committed. I just went for it, I had one chance,” Moreno said when interviewed by authorities. According to the affidavit, he said he thought his act would bring media attention and “people could see for themselves,” referring to the Mercy. He could not be reached for comment.

  31. 31.

    Jay Noble

    Apparently the BBC is running a Monty Python marathon. From my beleagured step sister “What was BBC thinking?? They are having a Monte Python marathon!! I’ve got a couple of teenagers that are already stir crazy and watching the marathon is adding to the stupidity in my house. They are galloping around the house and trying to synchronize their clapping.”

    those teenagers are two strapping young wrestlers of about 6′, 185 lbs.

    bwahahaha

  35. 35.

    Uncle Cosmo

    @Brachiator: The Harbor retreat people will get “one-way tickets.”

    Maybe they should re-think that.

    In the spirit of the classic Scottish pay toilet: Free to get in, a pound to get out…

    (I have it on good authority that there is no truth to the scurrilous rumour ;^D that the dance known as the Limbo was invented by a Scotsman trying to enter a pay toilet…)

  36. 36.

    middlelee

    @Brachiator: And I fell madly in love with Michael Kitchen.  At one point I realized I was actually starting to walk like him.  Not kidding.

  37. 37.

    dmsilev

    @geg6: Well, funny story. See, torches give out a lot of sooty smoke and usually dust masks are recommended…

  38. 38.

    Jeffro

    We seem to learn nothing from history, literature, or science these days, and only places that are good at math seem to be successfully “flattening the curve”.  Ai-yi-yi

    Sorry, Fro kids: your dad is bad at the wrong subject!  0_0

  44. 44.

    UncleEbeneezer

    I’ve seen people saying Tiger King is the whitest bullshit ever.
    Harbor says “Hold my beer”

  45. 45.

    Amir Khalid

    @Jay Noble:

    Better to expose the young’uns to the Argument Clinic and the Dead Parrot Sketch and the Fish-slapping Dance than to the Coronavirus.

  50. 50.

    Uncle Cosmo

    @dmsilev: A few years later Jack Parr light-fingered the concept (& perhaps the actual film, I’m not sure) for his show. IIRC there were several segments, none of them on 1 April – & Italian food was unusual enough in Stateside cuisine** that a lot of viewers swallowed it hook, line, and semolina…

    ** As late as 1967. when Mom had me invite a few of my college friends over for a home-cooked meal (so that the folks could scope them out), she made lasagna – & none of them (two Jews & a German-American) had ever eaten it. Mannaggia!

  52. 52.

    Krope, the Formerly Dope

    Thanks for reading my mind, Anne Laurie. I have been obsessed with The Masque of the Red Death in the past week. Ever since my friend and I were talking about a small cadre of people isolating as a group.
    I found this really enjoyable animated version the other day. 11 minutes, no words, but it gets the point across.

  54. 54.

    J R in WV

    @rikyrah:

    So sad. We’re going to lose a whole lot of soulful music folks in this dammed thing!

    Thanks, Donald J Trump……

  59. 59.

    Patricia Kayden

    The Harbor retreat sounds like that Fyre Island fiasco — only potentially deadlier.

  60. 60.

    Elizabelle

    @rikyrah:   That’s sad.  RIP Ellis Marsalis.

    Incidentally, WRT the 39 year old social worker from New Orleans found dead in her kitchen maybe 2 weeks ago:  second test for COVID came back and she did not have it.  (The first test she took, five days before her death, was also negative but they distrusted the results and ran it again.)

    RIP Natasha Ott.  May be another month before they have a cause of death.  Los Angeles Times story.

  62. 62.

    JAFD

    RE: #16, Whomever

    There actually is a ‘neighborhood’ in Elizabeth, NJ – the Ikea next to the turnpike is one edge of it – of that shopping center, the Jersey Gardens outlet mall, some chain restaurants, and half a dozen hotels, all surrounded with acres of parking lots, and in which getting anywhere without car would be hazardous.  Probably hotel rooms that’ll give you views of both EWR and Port Newark Channel, with the New Jersey Turnpike as well.  For ‘grown-up kids’ who find planes and ships fascinating…

    Note that while NJTransit runs buses from ‘downtown’ to both Ikea and Jersey Gardens, they’re different routes, no bus that hits both.  Sometimes inconvenient.  There oughta be someone running NJT who actually depends on public transit.

    Stay healthy and happy, everyone !  Have a good April, and a joyful spring-festival-of-your-tradition.

  65. 65.

    Miss Bianca

    @rikyrah: : (  RIP, Ellis!

    I used to play Marsalis family marathons on my jazz show, back in the day when I was a pubic radio DJ.

  66. 66.

    TS (the original)

    @whomever:

    Brighton Beach

    I learned to swim near Brighton Beach – there were sea baths nearby – back in the day when olympic style swimming pools did not exist. We all learned to swim in rivers, creeks, the open sea with or without enclosed bathing areas. The beach is on botany bay which is the centre of much industry in Sydney – very different beaches to Bondi, Manly, Cronulla areas.

  67. 67.

    joel hanes

    @Uncle Cosmo: 

    I am told by reputable sources that as late as 1960, there was no establishment in New York City where one could purchase a taco.

    The US craze for “Mexican food” started, IIRC, about 1962, and it was a major cultural experience for me in 1964, when, traveling with my father, we ate dinner the only Mexican restaurant in Des Moines.

  68. 68.

    joel hanes

    @lgerard:

    The White House had overruled the WHCA and told the minders that OANN was to be allowed to be present.

    Remember Jeff Gannon/Jerry Guckert?

    He was a more legitimate reporter than Chanel Rion.

  70. 70.

    Villago Delenda Est

    The retreat isn’t intended for people “prone to fear and negativity”.

    I suppose vaginal eggs and healing crystals are also part of the package?

  73. 73.

    Martin

    Data time. Another rough day. JH had a problem with their US/Canada data feed resulting in data for 26 hours being reported, and tomorrow will be 22 hours. So, I won’t give my normal detail today and tomorrow, but the Italy data is still +727 for today. That’s the 13th straight day in the 600-900 range. 70% of fatalities in Italy have come after their lockdown benefits have kicked in.

    The US at around +1000 will likely grow to +5K by Tuesday and +10K before the first state lockdowns kick in. And whatever that peak daily fatality rate is, we’re likely to stay there for quite a while. China was 11 days, Italy is 13 so far. That’s a long time with a LOT of deaths, and no sign of relief.

  77. 77.

    Another Scott

    ICYMI, DeLong’s Coronavirus Update for April 1, 2020 (22 page .PDF of Keynote presentation). Includes modeling and rumination on what to do next (with links to original research).

    tl;dr – Sensible policy decisions will depend on more testing of all types (positive for infections, asymptomatic, recovered). Too much is still unknown to know the course.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  78. 78.

    Martin

    Good Atlantic piece.

    America’s political dysfunction is rooted not in ideological polarization, but in the Republican Party’s conviction that it alone should be allowed to govern.

    This is what we in CA discovered years ago. Give the GOP a single veto opportunity, and they will take it and ride to the end of the line. As soon as we took away that tool, magically, all of the gridlock vanished.

  79. 79.

    Another Scott

    @Martin: As another datapoint:

    Worldometers.info daily data rolls over at 0 GMT.

    USA 215,003 total cases +26,473 cases in last 24 hours
    5,102 total deaths +1,049 deaths in last 24 hours

    https://covid19.healthdata.org/projections latest had:

    874 US deaths on 3/31/2020
    806-970 projected deaths on 4/1/2020 (899 “expected”)

    So the healthdata.org numbers already seem to be far too optimistic. (But maybe they’re working from different sets of numbers…)

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  81. 81.

    Elizabelle

    @Martin:

    The Democratic Party as it is currently constituted correctly understands that it has civic and moral obligations to ensure the well-being not only of its own voters, but of those who vote against its candidates. The Republican Party, and particularly the GOP under Trump, acts as if it has no such obligations, which is why the president himself has portrayed aid to Democratic-controlled states ravaged by the coronavirus as personal generosity rather than his fucking job.

    Whoa.  Shrill.  And published by The Atlantic.  But Adam Serwer is absolutely correct.

  83. 83.

    prostratedragon

    @mrmoshpotato:
    Yes — which is why I’m just getting back to this thread! I like mysteries, and have developed a taste for the English countryside subgenre with lots of social detail. This one fills the bill.

    Edit: Actually, I had seen one episode when it ran, the one in which Foyle is suspended and a Scotland Yard guy moves in and turn Foyle’s unit upside down for a time. It’s in season 2.

  84. 84.

    glc

    @Krope, the Formerly Dope: And Cory Doctorow has a short story called “The Masque of the Red Death” in his Radicalized collection (© 2019).

    The Thirty were all in a private Signal group, and there was a lot of chatter about when and if they should grab their bags. Thing was, no one could go to Fort Doom until and unless Martin was there.

  85. 85.

    Whomever

    @joel hanes: some would say you still can’t (I kid, but NYC isn’t where I’d go for good Mexican, though there are some good places if you know where to look).  I had a “oops I’m a snob” moment a few years ago when I overheard someone having falafel with their parents from squaresville and the parents had never had falafel before and were “oooh this is so exotic”. I thought “never had falafel???” before realizing a) I was being a snob, b) there is a first time for everything for everyone and c) they were clearly enjoying it so who was I to judge?

  86. 86.

    BR

    It’s about time — Los Angeles is asking everyone to wear masks, and California will soon:

    https://twitter.com/zeynep/status/1245529208220196864

    Zeynep Tufecki has written several great pieces and twitter threads on the importance of masks:

    https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/17/opinion/coronavirus-face-masks.html

    Even ordinary dust masks, or homemade masks, are still useful as studies have found, because people can be spreading the virus even when not symptomatic.

  87. 87.

    Whomever

    @JAFD: oh I know, my roommates sister back in the day actually lived in Elizabeth.  I was just trying to find the rough US equivalent.  And NJ transit, let’s just say even my LIRR riding co workers have started realizing it’s the Shinkansen by comparison

  90. 90.

    mrmoshpotato

    @prostratedragon: I got season 1 from the library months ago and loved it.  They were missed 1 or 2 seasons, so I had to buy the box set.  I should watch it again.  It’s sooo good.

  91. 91.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    @joel hanes:

    Huh. It’s hard to imagine a large metropolis like NYC without any Hispanic restaurants. It’s also weird to know that Ron Howard was like 5 years old in 1960 on the Andy Griffith Show, and 1960 was only 30 or so years removed from the 1929 Stock Market Crash and the Great Depression of course

    Time is really weird thing. It’s hard to think about the shows I liked to watch when I was younger and a kid are now 20+ years old now, as old as old 70s Scooby Doo episodes I also watched at the same time.

    I feel like we can only appreciate the significance of a moment in time after it’s already passed

  95. 95.

    JAFD

    @Whomever: 
    Hello again !
    Recommendations for Mexican food in NYC sought.
    Oneovdezedaze we’ll have another NYC Meetup, hope to see you there. (Or were you at the last, and I’ve forgotten ??? )

    (Let’s see if the ‘Reply’ button works this time…)

  97. 97.

    frosty

    @Goku (aka Amerikan Baka):  Time is a strange thing, but brace yourself because it’s going to go faster. I think we perceive it as a fraction of the time we’ve experienced.
    So when I was 20 a season went by in the same amount of perceived time for me as a year for my 80-year old grandma.

  102. 102.

    Jay

    News: US government has requested 100,000 body bags. Pentagon will draw some initially from stockpile of 50,000 it maintains, and is looking into buying more, sources tell @ACapaccio. Somber preparation as Trump officials project as many as 200k Americans may die of coronavirus.— Jennifer Jacobs (@JenniferJJacobs) April 1, 2020

  104. 104.

    Another Scott

    ICYMI – Drum – US Goes Full Denmark:

    I’ve been whining for a while about the stimulus checks in the coronavirus bill getting outsized attention even though the expanded unemployment benefits are far bigger and more important. So it’s only fair that I hand the microphone over to a fellow whiner who wants everyone to know that the coronavirus rescue bill also authorizes a huge money hose aimed at small businesses as long as the money is . . .

    . . . used for payroll costs, interest on mortgages, rent, and utilities (due to likely high subscription, at least 75% of the forgiven amount must have been used for payroll)

    The program starts on April 3. Here is William Winecoff of the University of Indiana:

    I can’t believe everyone is missing the news of the day: The US just went full-Denmark on payroll support. Except better (assuming quick expansion to large corporations). I haven’t smiled in weeks. I’m beaming. If we keep recapitalizing this as needed we could actually avoid a Depression.

    It’s a loan program. But loans are fully forgiven if 75% or more of them go towards payrolls. Including benefits. And (rapid) rehires. So it should function like a grant program. The reason why it is structured as a loan program is because it can be administered through FDIC banks, credit unions, etc.

    If this works well, you can walk into your local bank and get cash fast. Maybe on the spot? But the banks can’t profit; no fees allowed. Also no collateral, no personal guarantees required….Payroll support is for 8 weeks, which buys us a good amount of time. Also creates infrastructure if it needs to be expanded further.

    So, as I read it, and if it works, it’s full payroll support, for free, without having to go through the SBA directly, and also support for business rent/mortgage/utilities payments. That’s huge! And because it’s a Treasury program it can be easily backstopped by the Fed, which allows for quick expansion if needed (it will be needed). Unless I’m missing something this is a very big deal. It needs to be expanded to ALL workers, not just small businesses, and it will need more funding support (and/or something creative like a Fannie/Freddie for SMEs). But I never thought this admin would do something this decent.

    They’ve released the application form. Very simple.

    Yep. This is all correct. So here’s a summary of the assistance that the coronavirus rescue bill provides for ordinary people:

    1. A $1,200 check for just about everyone with a middle-class income or less. That’s almost $3,000 for a family of three.

    2. A program that encourages small businesses to keep workers employed by funding their payroll costs.

    3. For those workers who are laid off anyway, an expanded unemployment insurance program that replaces 100 percent or more of your normal income up to $50-60,000 (depending on what state you live in).

    This adds up to about a trillion dollars, and virtually all of it is for non-rich people. Is everyone starting to get an idea of why I’ve been so enthusiastic about the way this bill ended up? It’s pretty damn good.

    It’s a shame we had such a loooser in Chuck Schumer heading the Democrats in the Senate.

    (groucho-roll-eyes.gif)

    The #CARESAct is nothing short of an act of legislative jujitsu. Republicans presented a corporate-focused plan, and Democrats flipped it around and delivered expansions to unemployment insurance, support for small businesses, and so much more. #FamiliesFirst #TRMS pic.twitter.com/7xKLP8S7xd

    — Nancy Pelosi (@SpeakerPelosi) March 28, 2020

    We’ve got good people leading our teams in the Senate and the House. We need to have their backs.

    Eyes on the prizes.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  106. 106.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @James E Powell: Ornstein wrote a follow-up piece about the media, as in The Village, reception of that piece. I’d dig it up but I’m too damn tired. From memory:  Readership of their op-ed broke  the Washington Post website, it was by far the most-read piece on the site up to that time and for a while after. They waited for calls from Sunday shows and cable networks to discuss it and… nobody called. As I recall, Ornstein asked his friend Bob Schieffer of CBS about it, Schieffer hadn’t read the piece, and when Ornstein told him about Schieffer scoffed at the premise

  108. 108.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @TS (the original):

    And .. I’m so busy cleaning house  – my mother’s solution to handling stress. It seems to be working.

    I keep trying that solution, but I find myself on the couch with this machine instead…

  109. 109.

    PJ

    @Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): I was not alive or in New York in the 1960, but I bet you could have found Spanish, Cuban, Puerto Rican, and Dominican restaurants in NYC then.  In fact, I just looked up El Quijote, an old school Spanish restaurant, and found out it had opened in 1930: https://ny.eater.com/2018/3/30/17176932/el-quijote-closing-last-look-chelsea-hotel-nyc

    Ethnic restaurants in this country are largely (but not always) tied to immigration.  The East Coast historically never had much immigration from Mexico, and large scale immigration from Central America didn’t really start until we started supporting wars there in the 1980’s.

  110. 110.

    NotMax

    @PJ

    In NYC could be found. In the suburbs, not so much. Pizza was still considered an exotic choice there then.

    Not uncommon in 1930s movies for people to approach spaghetti as they might a visitor from Barsoom.

  111. 111.

    Duane

    @NotMax: The Strawberry Blonde was on TCM last night. Rita Hayworth’s character couldn’t pronounce the word spaghetti.

  112. 112.

    PJ

    @NotMax: I grew up in the middle of nowhere on the East Coast in the 70’s and 80’s, and, aside from Taco Bell and Jack in the Box, the only ethnic restaurants were Italian and Greek.  There were probably some Chinese restaurants somewhere, but I never saw them.

  114. 114.

    columbusqueen

    @NotMax: I’m still amazed at how many times I meet people who’ve never tried Indian food. WTF? Columbus has a ton of good to great Indian restaurants, yet they don’t eat at any? Sigh.

  115. 115.

    Jay

    The people who work at Sephora are amazing. Knowledgeable. Kind. Creative. Honest about what works and what doesn’t. They are the heart and soul of that entire company.Sephora just burned the people who make that company what it is.All workers deserve better than this.— Tae Phoenix ? ?? ? ? (@TaePhoenix) April 2, 2020

  119. 119.

    Sloane Ranger

    @mrmoshpotato: Speaking of which several years ago I took a cruise which called in at Casablanca. I was so looking forward to visiting this exciting exotic location. The morning we arrived I jumped out of bed and flung open the curtains – to see a view of miles and miles of containers. Such a disappointment!

  120. 120.

    Villago Delenda Est

    @columbusqueen: Ethiopian food is also not common, but VERY interesting.  We’ve got an Ethiopian restaurant in nearby Springfield (I live in Tracktown, AKA Shelbyville) that serves it the traditional way, very very tasty!

  121. 121.

    Villago Delenda Est

    @Jay: Yeah, sensitive to the incompetent fool in the White House and all Rethuglicans.  Fuck Google.

  122. 122.

    Uncle Cosmo

    @Whomever: A lot of Juicers need to have more “oops, I’m a snob” moments. Because they are. Take food: a lot of the cuisine yinz squee over is nothing more (& nothing less) than peasant food designed to keep poor folks alive. Why are “classic” Mexican dishes so emphatically spiced? Because the meat the peasantry could afford was so often less than fresh, and anyone could grow hot peppers to mask the off taste.[1]

    And those wonderful “Eye-talian” pasta dishes aren’t even considered a proper meal in Italy – they’re the second course (which is why the appetizers are called antipasto, “before the pasta”), to be followed by the entrée.[2] (And of course, there is no such thing as “spaghetti and meatballs” on the Boot – meatballs [polpette] are served separately as a [fairly non-standard] entrée.[3])

    Homemade pasta? Knock yourself out – you’re spending 3x

    Notes:

    [1] Before the home icebox in the 19th century, many spices were pricier per pound than gold – because they were critical for preserving meat (salt) and masking the flavor when it had “turned.” In Europe, salt mines were valuable enterprises; cf.  the expression “not worth his salt.” And wars large & small were fought over the spice trade with the Indies.

    [2] My father used to get quite exercised if Mom served pasta for supper more than once a week: “Don’t I bring home enough money to put meat on the table instead of this peasant food?” (He’d grown up dirt poor in Appalachia & most of the time all they had was flour & all they ate was pasta.)

    [3] In point of fact, none of the components of the “classic” Italian-American spaghetti with meatballs is native Italian: The noodles that evolved into pasta were brought back from China by medieval traders, tomato sauce had to wait for tomatoes to be found & brought back from the Western Hemisphere, and if ground meat ever appears with pasta, it is crumbled in the sauce & not as meatballs.

  123. 123.

    low-tech cyclist

    @Brachiator:

    The Harbor retreat people will get “one-way tickets.”

    Maybe they should re-think that.

    “The ticket into the house is a one-way ticket.”

    It’s a roach motel!

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