So here in Illinois, the shelter-in-place order kicked in yesterday, and I’m sheltering the fuck in place. How are you all doing in The Time of Social Distancing? Are you officially or unofficially on lockdown? What are you doing to keep anxieties at bay?
Here at the Tiny Mammoth Institute we’re … getting by, with the help of video games, breathing exercises, and my oblivious cats. Hope you’re all holding up ok.
Anyway, here’s an open thread to discuss all this or whatever else you want to talk about.
And here’s another cat, a famous one, in a box.
–DF
@Luzbelitx, I heard an audio message (on twitter, I think it was) the other day from a young child to the president – the child’s mother had passed on the message that the kid was worried in case el Ratón Pérez wouldn’t be able to make it to their house with the money for the tooth because of quarentine measures. Fernández took the opportunity to give assurances that el Ratón Pérez is exempt from quarentine restrictions so put the tooth under the pillow, but everybody else stays at home; kid reports getting the money for the tooth, and Fernández responds way to go Ratón Pérez!!! and you can spend the money when quarentine is over, everybody stay at home. It was a smart move, but I have to admit it was also ridiculously cute 🙂
So the tooth fairy is an international franchise operation?
@opposablethumbs
Yes! It was the cutest thing EVER. But our current Presidente is skilled at delivering cute.
His pet collie, Dylan (named after Bob) and Dylan’s son Prócer have an Instagram account. Prócer was named by people’s vote in Instagram, and is named after the Latin American dub for the Simpsons collie Laddie (and bears a remarkable simmilarity to the cartoon).
Also cute is his 25 year old son, who’s also a drag queen but generally cute all around.
Apparently so, though in Latin America takes the form of a mouse.
Are they competing franchises, or outsourcing?
We may never know.
@opposablethumbs
Oh, and he’s also famous for his hilarious replies in twitter. One of my favorites is “I’m not insulting you, I’m describing you!”
Revisiting a recurring topic that has been touched on in this thread (in connection with some video game with an odious developer, IIRC):
Sometimes it’s okay to enjoy art made by garbage people and/or with problematic elements, while also being aware of and critical of the problematic aspects.
And sometimes it’s a hard no-we-don’t-want-to-subsidize-this-guy-no-matter-what.
Where exactly should one draw the dividing line here? I get the impression that most here would put e.g. Piers Anthony stuff on the hard-no side of the line, but not, say, a video game with a damsel-in-distress trope. Is there a good rule of thumb for this?
@Surplus
I don’t really have one general rule, but a few thoughts from my personal experience:
1. I care more about the creator(s) and their character than the content of the work. For example, Piers Anthony, in addition to the misogyny in his writing, seems to be a pedophile who wrote really creepy stuff to teenage girls who were fans of his work. The content is also important to think about and can give you an idea of how the creators are, but at the end of the day it’s the people whom you are giving money to, not the in-game characters.
2. I personally am a lot more careful when the creator is still alive. If the creator is dead and no longer profiting from the content, I don’t usually care as much about buying it because they’re not getting more money. So I can listen to the Ring Cycle without feeling guilty, but I don’t listen to Burzum or buy J.K. Rowling’s books.
3. Some things for me are full stop even if the person is dead. For example, I will never enjoy the music of Dissection because the lead guitarist murdered someone then killed himself. Murder, rape, and other serious crimes are a hard no for me.
4. For less serious but still bad stuff: was this now or a long time ago? If it was a long time ago, has the person changed or apologized? Have they made an honest effort to be better?
These mostly apply to music and artwork, but are probably also applicable to video games. Again, this is just my logic, but you may find it applicable as well. YMMV.
Makes me think of Paul Yarrow, of Peter, Paul, and Mary. He had a conviction for sexual assualt due to being super skeevy with a teenage fan in the early 70s. It was later expunged by the governor and largely forgotten. A last year or the year before he was going to headline some folk festival when the organizers found out about this and disinvited him. His response was basically “Yeah, I did that, and it was wrong and I shouldn’t have done. And I totally understand how in the current social climate you don’t want me at your festival. Hope it goes well. “
Another Ohioan here-Dayton area-so SIP order became official at midnight tonight.
Allowed departures include grocery stores, pharmacies, takeout and delivery from restaurants, anyone working there, and-as long as you stay 6 feet away from everyone else-outdoor activities that don’t happen at playgrounds. My family (so far we’re all OK) might have to go to the store or pharmacy more often than some people, due to one family member’s specific medical needs about which I don’t want to go into detail here-we’ll just be careful about it and wash our hands a lot.
My mom and I both work for the library system. The executive director closed the system about a week ago, before this, and right after closing up he worked hard-and, in the end, successfully!-to get everyone in the system paid for however long we stay closed, so money’s not too much of an issue for us. We do a lot of TV and Internet anyway, so the only changes so far are worrying about getting sick and the much-decreased frequency of trips.
Good luck, everyone!
Clarification on the UK lockdown:
I’m guessing he’s never been on a building site.
Non essential businesses closed here. We are apparently “essential”. Also cannot work from home.
In related news, why are all these people scheduling routine veterinary care during a pandemic?
I wonder what Putin is doing?
@Hambeast –
Lying through his teeth to give out an image of “Russia Stronk!” as usual I’d say. Methinks he’s more preoccupied with the oil price war he’s having with the Saudis right now (is saying “a plague on both your houses” too on-the-nose right now? Although I’m amused to see gas at under a dollar per liter in Quebec currently). There was a short Radio-Canada (French CBC) report on how the Russian situation is likely much more dire than it looks about a week and a half back, and a Russian colleague at work (he’s actually from Kazakhstan but ethnic Russian) concurs that Vladdy is hilariously Not To Be Trusted.
As an aside, Putin in French is written Poutine, same as the ridiculously unhealthy-but-delicious Quebec fast-food dish, so that’s always good for a cheap laugh ’round these parts.
Good to see South America (sans Brazil, sadly; vai tomar no cu, Bolsonaro) seems to be handling this like champs; shows that all the readiness in the world means Jack and Shit if you’re too far up your own ass to implement proper policies.
On my side of things, Quebec’s on full stop for at least 3 weeks, even the construction sites. Everything non-essential is closed. Got temporarily laid-off yesterday (would have happened anyway due to work shortage at… well… work) but not too worried (relatively speaking) since I filed my Employment Insurance benefits application this morning and pretty hefty measures have been taken so far both on the federal and provincial level to help alleviate problems AFAIK.
Quebec is now the province with the most cases by far (over 1000), but it’s mostly due to including probable cases along with confirmed cases in the total, as well as expanded testing; probably better to do that now rather than later.
Currently at home with my mother – she’s in her late 60’s so we’re working hard on implementing social distancing and proper hygiene, which isn’t always easy in a condo. We still have some difficulties to iron out but it should be fine. I should finally have the time to properly clean up my room LOL. Plus I tend to be comfortable with staying mostly indoors.
I’m having mixed feelings about being in one of the only Western right-wing governments who’s actually handling this with any degree of competence (a friend who works as a hospital manager for Doctors Without Borders in Delhi even texted on my old gang’s Messenger group that he thought Legault’s response so far had been excellent, and he’s leftier than me so he’s definitely not a fan).
@Paireon
This is because put[a]in is a swear word in French.
Well, the euphemism treadmill make it so that now it’s closer to a random interjection than a swear thoses days. Such is the destiny of any french words that is in lexical field of sex. [putain started by meaning prostitute]
@Dalillama – LOL I should know, French is my native tongue! My ancestor on my mother’s side arrived in New France circa the 1630’s, and IIRC he and his two brothers opened up the very first general store of the colony in Quebec city in 1644. There’s a plaque at the emplacement (which is now a park in Vieux Quebec).
…Gonna have to try and find a place that delivers good poutine soon, now that I think about it…
Is this the end of consumerism?
…
Moreover: I’ve long suspected that with modern machinery it only takes a tiny amount of labor per capita to meet all essential needs. In a month everyone will know this to be true … will they demand 10-hour work weeks or similar? Or at least that that be enough work per week to cover basic cost of living expenses?
This could lead to seismic political shifts — and to reactionary backlashes against them.
Re: Putin and COVID-19
I’ve seen occasional coverage of Russia’s COVID-19 response on Finnish news. Apparently, the infection numbers are wildly underreported, and the media downplays the seriousness of the situation to prevent panic, while the authorities are scrambling with preparations. By now even Putin’s own messaging is gradually becoming more serious. Social distancing measures are being instituted step by step and region by region, without much fuss. Personally I’d say it’s all too little, too late. I see this same story playing out in various authoritarian countries across the world, and also in some sort-of-democratic coutries.
Last week, both Russia and EU (and separately Finland) abruptly closed closed their mutual border. Finnish and Russian citizens who were “trapped” across the border have had great difficulty returning home, despite being technically allowed (?) to do so. A Finnish diplomatic courier service has been contracted to “uber” people in their cars coming and going.
@Surplus
I doubt it, seeing as people are having lots delivered still.
Since this seems like the most recent thread to ask this on that’s still active….
IF this citizen bailout thing the US government is arguing about goes through, does anyone know if people with liens on them will see any of that money? I have two on me at the moment (IRS and State of Indiana), and I was wondering if they would automatically get first dibs on that money instead of me.
Since, you know, they need that money soooooo much more than I need it to pay my rent and fix my car and pay some other bills and…. /s