The Phoney War was also called "The SitsKrieg" as tens of thousands of British and French troops literally sat around waiting for something to happen.
I'm watching all of my conservative friends squirm ever more vigorously as they ever-more-loudly proclaim that covid-19 is just like the common cold or flu and it's no big deal and it's just the liberal media trying to bring Trump down again. But the reality of the virus is looming larger and larger, especially as both the infection rates and the death tolls mount. Trump's spectacular malfeasance through the whole thing cannot be ignored or spun. And even the staunchest True Believers are having a difficult time ignoring what's happening before their very own eyes.
Stay safe, Roy. And everyone else, too. Take those long walks in the great outdoors, especially since we're looking to have a very early spring this year. Splashes of new crocus blossoms and crowds of daffodils should remind us that life and beauty can revive after a time of bleakness.
In the Philly area we’re basically shut down for two weeks, and it wouldn’t surprise me if that were extended to at least four weeks; I think the powers that be might realize two weeks’ isolation at a time is all people can emotionally grasp and still be able to cope. Even if we beat back the virus there are countless people, including most of the clients at the social service agency where I work, who will financially go under. Service jobs don’t let you work from home, they don’t provide healthcare, and they don’t pay you when you aren’t working.
I’ve been calming my anxiety by binge-watching old Agatha Christie mystery series, which I find very soothing, and as it’s been decades since I read the books I’ve completely forgotten whodunit. I’m currently watching the Miss Marple series on Hulu. It’s from the early aughts and the casting is incredible: Geraldine McEwan, Derek Jacobi, Charles Dance, Greta Scacchi, Ian Richardson, Zoe Wanamaker, Edward Fox, dozens of others. A British actors’ Who’s Who. And I love how McEwan, who is a wonderful Marple, is always reading Raymond Chandler novels, LOL.
Here in the Piedmont--American version--spring is finally struggling to its feet (with cool damp stumbles like this morning) and it's going to be warm this week. Coming to the office today was a cinch, with none of the usual vehicular stupidity, and countermeasures have been taken for cleaning and disinfecting. It's also pollen season, so "COVID or Pollen" is going to be a popular guessing game here for the next couple weeks. In any case we're staying hydrated.
How dare you dismiss as a disco scene a massive rally for Trump by patriotic Tennesseeans!
He gave them seven weeks of happy talk about the phony coronavirus scare through May 12th. Then on May 13th he said, "I'm declaring a national emergency." I don't think they heard him over the DJ.
Heartland reporting in: During the Spanish Flu of 1918, local officials here closed everything, even convincing churches to close, and the mortality rate was one of the lowest in the country. We reviewed all this while planning for a possible influenza pandemic 10 years ago. So far we’re handling this along the same lines, despite the pseudo conservatives who believe Fox and last week’s Trump. By and large our Republican politicians have sat by silently while the Democratic governor manages the public health recommendations, which only shows how worthless they are if there aren’t taxes to be cut or mines to be approved. Cutting through American complacency in the face of existential threats has never been easy and is harder than ever now with the anti science morons in charge in DC. Eventually the prime directive of pseudoconservatism - “it’s only bad if it happens to me” - will kick in and we’ll have Republicans demanding that the army drive all infected persons into the sea and burn their possessions in the street.
Here in the west suburbs of Chicago, I was screaming at my laptop seeing the scenes at O'Hare Saturday night. Our governor was not amused, as you may have heard. He's been an actual leader so far, which makes me feel a bit better as I enter two weeks of working from home.
"But records from the 1918 pandemic suggest one technique for dealing with influenza — little-known today — was effective. Some hard-won experience from the greatest pandemic in recorded history could help us in the weeks and months ahead.
Put simply, medics found that severely ill flu patients nursed outdoors recovered better than those treated indoors. A combination of fresh air and sunlight seems to have prevented deaths among patients; and infections among medical staff.[1] There is scientific support for this. Research shows that outdoor air is a natural disinfectant. Fresh air can kill the flu virus and other harmful germs. Equally, sunlight is germicidal and there is now evidence it can kill the flu virus."
If the plague takes me down (age, underlying issues, but hey), I am going to be leaving behind me an embarrassingly large backlog of unscreened Criterion Collection titles, so I need to start leveraging my social distancing to this end. For those in the room who are unfamiliar with it, Bergman’s 𝘚𝘩𝘢𝘮𝘦 (1968) deserves to be better known: Max von Sydow and Liv Ullmann play married symphony musicians who have fled to their rustic island vacation cottage as a civil war rages on the mainland. When the conflict crosses the strait, both their marriage and the “civilized” norms the couple has formerly taken for granted are subjected to considerable stresses from which neither marriage nor civilized conduct emerge entirely intact.
The film’s opening scene always gives me a shiver, because the thirty year-old Ms. Ullmann bears a truly startling resemblance, in 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺 particular, to the former Mrs. Careaga at the same age.
Here in northwest Washington, 60 miles north of the Seattle epicenter, we are trying to keep calm. Daughter working in retail anticipating store closure with paid leave, son in law working Uber until . . . Governor Inslee showing why we should run him for prez again--keeping his head, ordering what needs to be done. Went for groceries yesterday. No rice, no flour, no rubbing alcohol and, of course, no TP. We had to laugh at ourselves though, we thought of a solution to the TP problem. We've got lots of small wash cloths and could acquire more--use 'em and wash 'em. Gross but ecologically sound.
When I think about the historical Phoney War, I get the major, big-time psychological wiggins (term of art) because while those in the west were waiting for something to happen, the wholesale slaughter of Polish leaders, intelligentsia, Jews, and other impediments to the establishment of Hitler's Lebensraum plan got underway, and with the Molotov-Ribbentrop pact, the Soviets began (well, actually continued) their slaughter a little further west, including at the Katyn forest.
This has very little to do with the current events that echo the Phoney War, it's more of an illustration of how, when I hear "Phoney War", I immediately think, oh god, there is a bloodbath happening, that's how this shit works, where is it, what am I not seeing, DANGER DANGER DANGER.
I’ve had a hankering to watch Jacobean/Elizabethan revenge tragedies like The Spanish Tragedy, The Duchess of Malfi, ‘Tis Pity She’s a Whore, etc., but they’re almost impossible to find. Are BBC or RSC versions available on DVD that work on players in North America?
I'm bracing for the 'While Covid-19 was brewing, the Demmycrats were forcing us all to only think about Fake Impeachment' all-day, all-night, media blitz that will arrive soon.
Wingnut web has gone sulky. Their tough guy talk (It's just the flu, sheeple!) has blown up in their faces and they're left stuck at home with no one to fantasize about shooting. They're really trying to make some iteration of China Plague happen, but they aren't getting any traction on that end either.
The Phoney War was also called "The SitsKrieg" as tens of thousands of British and French troops literally sat around waiting for something to happen.
I'm watching all of my conservative friends squirm ever more vigorously as they ever-more-loudly proclaim that covid-19 is just like the common cold or flu and it's no big deal and it's just the liberal media trying to bring Trump down again. But the reality of the virus is looming larger and larger, especially as both the infection rates and the death tolls mount. Trump's spectacular malfeasance through the whole thing cannot be ignored or spun. And even the staunchest True Believers are having a difficult time ignoring what's happening before their very own eyes.
Stay safe, Roy. And everyone else, too. Take those long walks in the great outdoors, especially since we're looking to have a very early spring this year. Splashes of new crocus blossoms and crowds of daffodils should remind us that life and beauty can revive after a time of bleakness.
In the Philly area we’re basically shut down for two weeks, and it wouldn’t surprise me if that were extended to at least four weeks; I think the powers that be might realize two weeks’ isolation at a time is all people can emotionally grasp and still be able to cope. Even if we beat back the virus there are countless people, including most of the clients at the social service agency where I work, who will financially go under. Service jobs don’t let you work from home, they don’t provide healthcare, and they don’t pay you when you aren’t working.
I’ve been calming my anxiety by binge-watching old Agatha Christie mystery series, which I find very soothing, and as it’s been decades since I read the books I’ve completely forgotten whodunit. I’m currently watching the Miss Marple series on Hulu. It’s from the early aughts and the casting is incredible: Geraldine McEwan, Derek Jacobi, Charles Dance, Greta Scacchi, Ian Richardson, Zoe Wanamaker, Edward Fox, dozens of others. A British actors’ Who’s Who. And I love how McEwan, who is a wonderful Marple, is always reading Raymond Chandler novels, LOL.
Here in the Piedmont--American version--spring is finally struggling to its feet (with cool damp stumbles like this morning) and it's going to be warm this week. Coming to the office today was a cinch, with none of the usual vehicular stupidity, and countermeasures have been taken for cleaning and disinfecting. It's also pollen season, so "COVID or Pollen" is going to be a popular guessing game here for the next couple weeks. In any case we're staying hydrated.
And don't forget that Sheriff Trumpy Flair is also on Vladimir Vladimirovich's payroll: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2017/5/17/1663391/-Sheriff-Clark-Was-In-Moscow-Last-December-Same-Time-Flynn-Dined-W-Putin
How dare you dismiss as a disco scene a massive rally for Trump by patriotic Tennesseeans!
He gave them seven weeks of happy talk about the phony coronavirus scare through May 12th. Then on May 13th he said, "I'm declaring a national emergency." I don't think they heard him over the DJ.
Heartland reporting in: During the Spanish Flu of 1918, local officials here closed everything, even convincing churches to close, and the mortality rate was one of the lowest in the country. We reviewed all this while planning for a possible influenza pandemic 10 years ago. So far we’re handling this along the same lines, despite the pseudo conservatives who believe Fox and last week’s Trump. By and large our Republican politicians have sat by silently while the Democratic governor manages the public health recommendations, which only shows how worthless they are if there aren’t taxes to be cut or mines to be approved. Cutting through American complacency in the face of existential threats has never been easy and is harder than ever now with the anti science morons in charge in DC. Eventually the prime directive of pseudoconservatism - “it’s only bad if it happens to me” - will kick in and we’ll have Republicans demanding that the army drive all infected persons into the sea and burn their possessions in the street.
Here in the west suburbs of Chicago, I was screaming at my laptop seeing the scenes at O'Hare Saturday night. Our governor was not amused, as you may have heard. He's been an actual leader so far, which makes me feel a bit better as I enter two weeks of working from home.
Oh, and the markets are down 9% at opening.
Totally agree about Jose Andres, Roy. I'm tired of the way this culture worships wealth and power while ignoring people who are truly admirable.
Walks in the sun is good.
"But records from the 1918 pandemic suggest one technique for dealing with influenza — little-known today — was effective. Some hard-won experience from the greatest pandemic in recorded history could help us in the weeks and months ahead.
Put simply, medics found that severely ill flu patients nursed outdoors recovered better than those treated indoors. A combination of fresh air and sunlight seems to have prevented deaths among patients; and infections among medical staff.[1] There is scientific support for this. Research shows that outdoor air is a natural disinfectant. Fresh air can kill the flu virus and other harmful germs. Equally, sunlight is germicidal and there is now evidence it can kill the flu virus."
https://medium.com/@ra.hobday/coronavirus-and-the-sun-a-lesson-from-the-1918-influenza-pandemic-509151dc8065
Don't forget to smile and say 'g'day' to the passers-by.
If the plague takes me down (age, underlying issues, but hey), I am going to be leaving behind me an embarrassingly large backlog of unscreened Criterion Collection titles, so I need to start leveraging my social distancing to this end. For those in the room who are unfamiliar with it, Bergman’s 𝘚𝘩𝘢𝘮𝘦 (1968) deserves to be better known: Max von Sydow and Liv Ullmann play married symphony musicians who have fled to their rustic island vacation cottage as a civil war rages on the mainland. When the conflict crosses the strait, both their marriage and the “civilized” norms the couple has formerly taken for granted are subjected to considerable stresses from which neither marriage nor civilized conduct emerge entirely intact.
The film’s opening scene always gives me a shiver, because the thirty year-old Ms. Ullmann bears a truly startling resemblance, in 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺 particular, to the former Mrs. Careaga at the same age.
Here in northwest Washington, 60 miles north of the Seattle epicenter, we are trying to keep calm. Daughter working in retail anticipating store closure with paid leave, son in law working Uber until . . . Governor Inslee showing why we should run him for prez again--keeping his head, ordering what needs to be done. Went for groceries yesterday. No rice, no flour, no rubbing alcohol and, of course, no TP. We had to laugh at ourselves though, we thought of a solution to the TP problem. We've got lots of small wash cloths and could acquire more--use 'em and wash 'em. Gross but ecologically sound.
When I think about the historical Phoney War, I get the major, big-time psychological wiggins (term of art) because while those in the west were waiting for something to happen, the wholesale slaughter of Polish leaders, intelligentsia, Jews, and other impediments to the establishment of Hitler's Lebensraum plan got underway, and with the Molotov-Ribbentrop pact, the Soviets began (well, actually continued) their slaughter a little further west, including at the Katyn forest.
This has very little to do with the current events that echo the Phoney War, it's more of an illustration of how, when I hear "Phoney War", I immediately think, oh god, there is a bloodbath happening, that's how this shit works, where is it, what am I not seeing, DANGER DANGER DANGER.
But I can go for a walk, and I will.
Sometimes even when history is filtered through current political, cultural, economic, emotional propaganda’s , truth finds a way to inspire.
I’ve had a hankering to watch Jacobean/Elizabethan revenge tragedies like The Spanish Tragedy, The Duchess of Malfi, ‘Tis Pity She’s a Whore, etc., but they’re almost impossible to find. Are BBC or RSC versions available on DVD that work on players in North America?
A song about, and I gather video from, that period, featuring Britain's top movie star:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hSSBQWbF7R8
I'm bracing for the 'While Covid-19 was brewing, the Demmycrats were forcing us all to only think about Fake Impeachment' all-day, all-night, media blitz that will arrive soon.
Wingnut web has gone sulky. Their tough guy talk (It's just the flu, sheeple!) has blown up in their faces and they're left stuck at home with no one to fantasize about shooting. They're really trying to make some iteration of China Plague happen, but they aren't getting any traction on that end either.