My uncle is an actor, playwright, and director of a theater company in Locarno. He says this is because the Swiss don't have a disaster mentality switch to turn on - no wars, no earthquakes, virtually nothing major. At the time of his message (Friday the 13th!), despite Italy's all-borders-closed measure people from Lombardy were still coming into Switzerland freely and in considerable numbers, as the Swiss economy there depends heavily on Italian workforce.

And, of course, you remember Harry Limes' (Orson Welles) speech in 1949's The Third Man: "You know what the fellow said – in Italy, for thirty years under the Borgias, they had warfare, terror, murder and bloodshed, but they produced Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci and the Renaissance. In Switzerland, they had brotherly love, they had five hundred years of democracy and peace – and what did that produce? The cuckoo clock."

EDIT: Well, eventually they'd produce Kleenex/LiLiPUT, but it would take 30 more years. :)

Another early warning, fascinating if not overly relevant at this point because the human race will never learn shit:

Among the billion trillion e-mails I've received from artists cancelling their tours, Bikini Kill's has been the most significant - read and you'll see why:

No. Many people can't go to work because their business is closed, but other people's jobs are very relevant in these situations such as healthcare, police, supermarkets. And schools and daycare are closed so they will need babysitters especially since it's not recommended to hand over their kids to the grandparents.

True - I guess I just need to bank on the slight overlap between schools being closed and workplaces not being.

That clip dates from 27 February! So it's pretty pointless to post it now. Who cares about what Dr Drew says anyway?

I work at a Graduate School for Biomedical Sciences. So far, no panics, just smart precautions.

Everyone I know that grew up poor (and I mean POOR) grew up wiping their ass with newspaper, free everywhere.......

Thanks for catching that!

I’ve shared links from a doctor/disease person saying things could become more ominous, just passing along Dr. Drew’s thoughts that things might not be as bad. Personally, I hope Dr. Drew is correct.

My daughters school district canceled classes this week, so an extended Spring Break for her. If things do get worse, I look for Texas Governor Greg Abbot to postpones school into April.

obvious advice is obvious, but make sure you wear gloves, etc, at work?

we’re in full self-quarantine now. flatten the curve and what not.

breaking the daily routine into meditation, indoor workouts, reading, online work, cooking/eating/drinking(just a little), music, watching movies, etc.

great for introverts hahaha.

basically same here. nice 'Bratl' in the oven... got out the old 4track tascam to record a bit. Trying to convince my mom via phone to take it more seriously...

Austria at 1016 infected and 3 deaths now. Growth per day at 26%, reproduction rate 1,44.
To put into perspective, only about 8500 tests done so far in total.

Canada closing its borders to anyone who isn't a citizen or permanent resident.

Louisiana governor has announced the state will be closing casinos, bars and movie theaters and limiting restaurants to take out or drive-thru only.

***************

The last coronavirus report from CDC was 41 deaths on March 13th.

The last I saw reported yesterday (Sunday, March 15) was around 60 deaths.

BREAKING: Monday, March 16, 2020 - U.S. death toll tops 70

With the panic we’re seeing reported by news media, you would have thought the death toll was THOUSANDS and climbing.

2000 deaths from coronavirus in Italy......the US has 3,000+ deaths a month from the ordinary flu.

3000 per month = 100 deaths per day from ordinary flu
74 deaths total in the United States from coronavirus

Is it reasonable to think America will reach 150-300 total deaths by Friday?

500 of our fellow Americans will have died by ordinary flu by then.

this is very encouraging

“While more than 169,000 people have caught the virus around the world, almost half have already recovered, and the vast majority of cases remain mild.“

at least thus far, I've still managed to go to my usual gym sessions, but very obviously doing a bunch of extra wiping down of everything.

i cancelled some trainer sessions and im working out at home with elastic bands, swiss ball + bodyweight

why risk inadvertently spreading contagion when no tests are available and no vaccine in sight?

even if it’s not corona, spreading any disease will overwhelm healthcare facilities.

let’s have a little patience... a jump rope and some pushups go a long way

if you really like intensity, get going with some tabata squats and bleed for 4 minutes

eta: here’s a sample with corny 80s soundtrack included

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=uQH-K-j9Yig

i’d triple dog dare you... but i don’t dare :D

Stupid of me to take a new job in logistics. Work is slow. I’m really afraid of being laid off. If we end up working from home, I can’t see myself being of any use to these people.

Anyway, stay safe everyone.

I also have like 1.5 rolls of TP. Wish me luck.

logistics... dunno where but supply chains need to keep strong

i’ve been ordering stuff from amazon and it’s taking a little longer but it’s been getting here.

food is moving, products are moving

empty a mustard bottle, fill it with water, and wash your ass with it



don’t use actual mustard ;)

alternative, buy a wudu (wudhu?) bottle. aka handheld bidet.

alternatively, you’re familiar with this :D

The only thing I stocked up on was weed. If shit really hits the fan and I need to get food, my family owns a restaurant supply warehouse...so....like....yeah.

I honestly think they’re expecting to be hit hard once things start moving again, but still terrifying when I see this shit move. Luckily big accounts are Walmart/costco, Ikeas, and a tire account from SE Asia....so shits moving but yeah.

well, there’s a recession or depression on the way, it’s inevitable because we’re supposed to be paralyzed for 2-3 months and then resume

a lot of people will go bankrupt

and things WILL slow down, but

costco and walmart are safe bets. when money is low, people will shop cheap (walmart) or in bulk (costco).

do your best work and be valuable to your bosses. they’re buying (labor) from you. make your offer desirable.

if you’re in the luxury business OTOH... it might be a problem

My school's announced that from Thursday we're staggering lunchtimes. My lunch time was previously 12:45 to 1:35, now it'll be 11:55 to 12:45 for everyone in years 10-12.

Only thing I'm still waiting on from Amazon is a copy of "Green Eyes" which I saw mentioned int Goodbye 20th Century, and that's not even being shipped by Amazon. Beyond that, I don't rely on them for daily goods.

Time to go for the 3 seashells option

My university has stopped all face-to-face teaching from Tomorrow. This is independent of any broader measures the government is likely to bring in that closes them down altogether.

are you still on strike or has that been rendered more or less moot at this point?

We've limited the maximum speed on motorways from 120/130kmh to 100kmh.

Also, coffeeshops are reopened again, to avoid illegal street dealers to profit they are allowed to do the same as restaurants and open a takeaway window.

Yeah, my gym’s closed for who knows how long. Was going 3 days a week for an hour. I have a pretty nice home gym, but going to the center kept me working at it longer...:(

im guessing you must be pretty good with the jump rope though

just put a nice soundtrack on and go at it

One odd thing my old city (Beaumont) has done......they closed the city tennis complex, but are leaving the public golf course open. The distance between two tennis players on a court is far greater than two golfers riding in a golf cart.

The theatre I work for is closed to the public from today. I'm at work today and then off until further notice. The aim is to re-open after the 14th of April, but that's very unlikely to happen.

Yeah they've closed the climbing wall here but not the gym which just makes zero sense.

hard to keep hammering at it, though. The gym I was going to has a ton of really nice equipment, all brand new. Yeah, I've always got something on the headphones. One of my favorite hard go workout tracks:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lizJ4geXuOw

builds great, then McLaughlin kicks in for the extra speed

fucking hell. are you gonna get some emergency support from them or what’s their plan?

new york opera and berlin philharmoniker streaming for free

at the met watched “carmen” last night (from the 2009 season) [elina garanča is: wow]



tonight i think it’s la bohème

eta: i forget really but transmissions run from 730pm to 3:30 pm daily. in other words, each show is up for 20 hours

I'm on a full time contract, so safe for the time being. A big chunk of my colleagues are actors and on casual contracts, though, which means that if some emergency plan is not put in place soon, they are fucked.