Tales of romance and relationships during the pandemic
Covering Covid [Embedded]
A woman tries dating by Facetime and Zoom, and has stories.
A newlywed couple, married just one year, is quarantined together in a one-bedroom apartment; they’re struggling as he’s an average male slob and she had a terrible fear of death that she was seeking counseling for even BEFORE the pandemic.
A man tells his wife he wants a divorce and then they get locked in together in quarantine, which is awkward.
I loved this episode and am looking forward to the inevitable Richard Curtis movie adaptation.
But it occurs to me that all the stories are about privileged people. Where are the so-called “essential workers” – the Amazon warehouse and Instacart workers? Where are the doctors and nurses? Where are the people who are sick or dying?
P.S. Dating stories from my over-30 single women friends are a guilty pleasure of mine. They’re suffering for my entertainment!
The poop emoji was born in Japan in 1997 and launched a generation of cute poop. This is the cute poop decade.
The poop fad connects with unicorns, unboxing videos, toys, marketing, Apple, the changing role of girls, slime, ice cream, emoji, glitter, Google, and middle-age people’s difficulties having bowel movements.
Unicorn poop: How did excrement get cute? [Decoder Ring]
Cast of Pulp Fiction and Quentin Tarantino, 1994 via
I remember I didn’t want to see this for years because I thought it would be artsy and tedious. Boy was I wrong.
“Wouldn’t you like to be a Pepper too?” 1970’s campaign via
A paid testimonial from Basil Rathbone. 1960. via
“Kids are murder!” - Sanatogen Tonic Wine ad with a mail-in coupon to receive a sample [1960s] via
Coronavirus will also cause a loneliness epidemic
COVID-9 exacerbates another long-standing and serious pandemic: Loneliness.
Loneliness can literally cause physical illness. People most at risk from COVID-19 are the elderly and disabled, and they’re more likely to be lonely too.
[Ezra Klein/Vox]
Procrastination is Not Laziness
David Cain at Raptitude:
… procrastinators tend to be people who have, for whatever reason, developed to perceive an unusually strong association between their performance and their value as a person. This makes failure or criticism disproportionately painful, which leads naturally to hesitancy when it comes to the prospect of doing anything that reflects their ability — which is pretty much everything.”
So much here is true for me. Sometimes, when I’m particularly hard on myself, I think I could have accomplished so much more.
And by “sometimes” I mean “often.” Maybe every day.
Why Walking Matters—Now More Than Ever
Shane O’Mara at The Wall Street Journal:
Walking is essential to our nature. Walking upright is one thing that sets humans apart; no other animal does it, but we can’t do without it.
Walking helps the body heal, helps the brain function. Walking, rather than seeing, is how we build metal maps of our environment. And walking protects us against depression.
I walk 3+ miles daily.
How NOT to Wear a Mask [Tara Parker-Pope/The New York Times]
Aaron E. Carroll at The New York Times: “I’m a Doctor. If I Drop Food on the Kitchen Floor, I Still Eat It.” If the dog doesn’t get to it first.
Who’s Right About The Economy? Wall Street Or Silicon Valley?
Brian McCullough, host of Techmeme ride home, talks with TechCrunch’s Alex Wilhelm.
My $0.02: Wall Street is expecting they’ll be getting fat at the trough of that sweet, sweet government bailout money. Silicon Valley is seeing reality
Remdisivir, a drug that shows promising signs as a potential treatment for COVID-19, was developed using public funds. But Gilead, a pharma company, stands to profit big.
Republicans were right to warn about welfare kings and queens “driving Cadillacs and getting fat on government pork.” These moochers are the wealthy, big-business donors to both Republicans and Democrats.
Gilead, the remdesivir welfare queens [Cory Doctorow/Pluralistic]
“80% of the stimulus tax break will go to 43,000 people” [Cory Doctorow/Pluralistic]
And the morgues.
[NextDraft by Dave Pell]
Sweet Farm, in Half Moon Bay, CA, will let you add a live goat cam to your next virtual meeting. The service is called Goat 2 Meeting. (Via Mike’s List. Thanks, Mike!)
I’m trying to remember when I last had a day off work, and I can’t recall. Weekend before lockdown when I went out to brunch with Julie, maybe? That was more than a month ago.
I’m not working ALL the time. I take a few hours off every day. Indeed, I am actually not currently working very hard at all, though that needs to end very soon and I need to get back to working hard again. Because money.
Still, I do work every day, some more and some less. Every day. And my schedule is unhinged. Like Billy Pilgrim or Doctor Who, I have become unstuck in time. Last night after 10 pm I caught up on email and worked on organizing my to-do list. Not something I would normally do on a Saturday night.
Yesterday was Saturday, right? And that means today is Sunday? [Checking phone] Yes, that’s right.
What does a day off look like anyway, when you work from a home office, most of your work and play both involves staring at screens, and – this is the key part – YOU CAN’T GO ANYWHERE.
I asked Julie and she said: Clean house. We usually have a service come in and do that but of course they’re not coming now and the house is getting pretty colorful.
So I guess that’s what I’m doing. As a self-employed person I can schedule my “weekend” whenever it makes the most sense. So I guess sometime in the next few days I’m taking the day off and helping clean house. Um, yay?