Review of Retellings of the Inland Sea

You'll remember that I have a story in an upcoming anthology, Retellings of the Inland Sea.

It's just been given an excellent review on Booklist.

Coming out in June!

Oh NO

Y'all, I am very nearly out of new books to read.

I can only get books from the library if I know they exist -- there's no way to browse. The new book page has kept me going, but the library has slowed down its purchases over the past month (for obvious reasons), and now I've read everything I want to from the new books.

I still have all of our books, which I could re-read. So thing aren't desperate.

But suggestions will be accepted gratefully!

Cat Pictures

My cats, not fighting for once:

What I'm Reading Now

Don Kulick, Death in the Rain Forest  

This is a book that I got our local library to buy because I wanted to read it -- my first use of the Request a Purchase page. I'm pleased to report that it's excellent. I read it all in one night, staying up until two a.m. to do so.

Don Kulick is an anthropologist, American-born and raised, but teaching and working at Uppsala U. in Sweden. (He's also taught at NYU and the University of Chicago.) Among his other research subjects, he's studied the language use among the people of Gapun for over 30 years, documenting and analyzing the death of their language, Tayap. Tayap is only spoken in that village and is not connected to any other language in the world, or any other language in Papua New Giunea. This is a decidedly non-scholarly book about his time with the people of Gapun.

There's some linguistic detail, but it's not overwhelming (and it's the sort of thing I love). There's a lot of cultural anthropology. And there is his analysis of what killed this language in particular (and by extrapolation, maybe, other languages). Spoilers: it's not a simple answer.

Very much worth reading.

Also, have a video (you need to get past the annoying narrator -- trust me, we end up in Gapun with Don Kuklick):

Nino Cipri, Finna

This is a slender novel -- I read it in about an hour and a half -- and well-done.

Ava and Jules, who have just broken up, both work in a big-box store, LitenVald, clearly based on Ikea. But in this version of Ikea, portals open up randomly into other dimensions. Occasionally customers wander into these other dimensions, and someone has to go fetch them back.

It doesn't have to be Ava, her boss tells her. But refusing to volunteer is grounds for dismissal. (The ruthless culture of big-box management is well done here.)

Jules, on the other hand, can't wait to go.

Part of the novel is about their relationship, why it's on the rocks, whether they want to try again. Part of it is about how environment shapes people. And part is about taking the leap away from the safe into what might be a better world.

Nice writing, and a satisfying read.


Stephen King, The Outsider; If It Bleeds

I tend to avoid King, because so many of his books make me feel bad. I don't really like horror, and I don't like books that are premised on the idea that supernatural monsters are real.

On the other hand, I like 2/3rds of The Stand, a book about a pandemic, and his first book, Carrie, was a lot of fun.

And I need something to read.

So since our library had his new-ish book, The Outsider, which I hadn't read, I checked it out, and also his new book, If It Bleeds, which is really four novellas.

Two-thirds of The Outsider is pretty good. 1/2 of the stories in If It Bleeds are pretty good. If you're looking for something readable and not too awful, and you don't mind supernatural bullshit, these are not bad.


Frank Herbert, The White Plague

I read this because it's about a pandemic. Not recommended unless you like wooden characters and extensive time spent having men comment on women's breasts.

The pandemic part is also disappointing. I don't know, maybe he was trying to do political analysis instead? A Tom-Clancy type book where we get a photo-realistic glimpse of how world governments react to terrible events? (Badly, in case you're wondering.) Or maybe he was going for psychological realism?

The plague is engineered by a man whose wife and children are killed by a bomb set off by the IRA. In revenge, he engineers a plague to kill their wives. Because an eye for an eye, obviously, and women are just possessions. (To be fair, he has two women scientists as main characters, but see above re breasts.) The scientist wanted to limit the deaths to the Irish, but (as a scientist of his caliber would have expected) the plague escapes at once and begins killing women worldwide.

Meg Elison did it better, frankly. (No pun intended.)

Cats on the Porch

I finally got a picture of my cats on the little porch, their favorite place to be when the French doors are open.

Good News, Maybe

Dr. Skull went down and talked to the people at the local unemployment office, and got things straightened out -- maybe.

According to them, we should get the past three weeks of unemployment, plus that $600 extra, by tomorrow.

I am cautiously optimistic. It would be lovely to buy some food.

Why Would Trump Say Something So Bizarre?

Because, just like his followers, he is a dupe for any liar and conman who comes along.

The leader of the most prominent group in the US peddling potentially lethal industrial bleach as a “miracle cure” for coronavirus wrote to Donald Trump at the White House this week.
In his letter, Mark Grenon told Trump that chlorine dioxide – a powerful bleach used in industrial processes such as textile manufacturing that can have fatal side-effects when drunk – is “a wonderful detox that can kill 99% of the pathogens in the body”. He added that it “can rid the body of Covid-19”.

More here.

This is Sociopathic-Level Lying

I just can't imagine watching this and defending Trump.

Trump: "Interior-wise, it was said sarcastically. It was put in the form of a question to a group of extraordinarily hostile people namely the fake news media... You know the way it was asked, I was looking at you."

Reporter: "I wasn't there yesterday."

Trump: "I know. I know." pic.twitter.com/4npSamEoyN

— The Hill (@thehill) April 24, 2020

Reporter: Could you clarify your comments on injections of disinfectants?
Trump: I was asking the question sarcastically to reporters like you just to see what would happen...
Reporter: But you were asking your medical experts to look into it pic.twitter.com/T0hzizjgpN

— Acyn Torabi (@Acyn) April 24, 2020

The Dangers of Normalizing Ignorance

Not gonna lie, when I saw Trump say this during his press conference, I wasn't even going to talk about it. "Trump says something ignorant" is hardly news. It's our normal state, at this point.



And of course everyone on Twitter and FB was already screaming and building memes, so it's not like Trump's ignorant ranting needed more commentary.

But then I saw that people on the Right were defending the statement.

"Inject disinfectant," Trump says, and the Far-Right finds a way to defend it.

At no time did Trump actually propose injecting patients with disinfectant; he deferred to “medical doctors” to figure out how to apply Dr. Bryant’s research.

I mean, who are you going to believe, these boot-lickers or your lying eyes?

This is what happens, obviously, when you accept authority blindly -- when you are trained to do that from childhood, and punished for asking questions and raising objections.

It's also what happens when you lack the ability to discern a credible source from a piece of propaganda.

And that's how we end up with fifty thousand Americans dead -- at least, and so far.


UPDATE: Oh my God

Trump says his comments on disinfectant inside people’s bodies was sarcastic pic.twitter.com/t7bPUAUU0u

— Jeff Mason (@jeffmason1) April 24, 2020

Links

Necessary, if disquieting, reading from Jenny F. Scientist

Also interesting

More bad news

This talks about why the virus might attacks where it does

Who to avoid

Via TYWKIWDBI:

Camesteros writes about one of these Covidiots (term happily stolen from TYWKIWDBI). See more here. If you link over to the original sources, maybe avoid the comments. They will destroy your faith in humanity.

Not about Covid-19, but relevant to our current economy 

Also sadly relevant

My Stimulus Check

So, since we didn't get a refund in 2018 (or 2019, but never mind) we'll be getting a paper check.

When?

The schedule is set up wisely -- the people who make less money get theirs first. But this means we don't get ours for quite some time.

There's a way you can enter your account number if you want direct deposit, but ours has already been processed, so we can't do that.

Dr. Skull still hasn't gotten an unemployment check. If he starts getting those soon, we should be okay. Otherwise, fuck if I know.

Now I'm Talking to the COmputer

Me: You want me to spend twelve and a half minutes watching a video about how to make face masks out of an old teeshirt?

YouTube: --- ---

Me: What do you think, I've got all day here?

Cat Picture

Jasper has decided the kid is her kid.

Also

I had horrific dreams last night -- those dreams where you wake up and you're just so relieved it was only a dream? Those dreams.

They were just dreams, but I think I have an anxiety hangover from them.

Argh

The belly pain is back, and I might have a fever. (The thermometer was lost in the move and now it is impossible to buy one. The local stores don't have them and the earliest anyone online can get us one is June.)

I still don't feel awful -- just cranky and in pain -- so I don't think it's the rona. Probably a flare up of whatever it was that took me down two summers ago.

Unpleasant, though.

Data

This is interesting -- breakdown of Covid-19 deaths by age, sex, and other factors.

I've seen a couple of sources mention the much higher death rate among men, but it's pretty striking nonetheless -- 60/40 in NYC, if I'm reading this right. (Someone correct me if I'm not.)

Comorbidities are taking people out too.

See also this page.

My Cats, by Clover

This is a sketch of my cats, done by Clover Caloway.

You too could have a sketch of your cats -- or anything else! -- if you support Clover at at least the $2 level on Patreon. She's running a comic there -- two comics, really, but one is about life as an Essential Employee at Dollar General.

Support an artist! Get comics! 

Cat Pictures

Jasper takes it easy during the pandemic:

Another Beautiful Day in the Fort

I'm still having intermittent symptoms -- stabbing pains in my lower gut, mostly, along with queasiness and no appetite at all.

But no fever, no coughing, and no more body aches. So I'm going to call this one as "Not the rona."

Meanwhile it is another beautiful day here in the Fort. Maybe we can have a walk on the riverside trail this evening, if the kid ever wakes up. (He has taken to sleeping until mid-afternoon, unless he has a class, and why not?)

The little cat has taken to sleeping in the dog's cage (the crate we lock him in when we leave him alone in the house). The dog is bemused by this.

I am up to the L's in my quest to put all the books in the house in alphabetical order. Except the cook books. And Dr. Skull's music books. And the anthologies. Also I'm probably going to put the history books in a different section.

We have too many books. (Whenever I say this, Dr. Skull pretends confusion. "What's that? What language are you speaking? I don't understand!")

Not only have we not gotten our stimulus money, we have yet to receive the first of Dr. Skull's unemployment checks. Things are getting mighty tight here at the delagar household.

From the Nib:

New from @kendrawcandraw: We're all socialists in a crisis: https://t.co/Y03mLDiqfu pic.twitter.com/VJ2RvNMxk1

— The Nib ✒️ (@thenib) March 20, 2020

On the Other Hand...

The weather is perfect here. Sunny and cool, with long bright days. We're able to leave the windows and French doors open, to the delight of our cats, who spend their days either on windowsills or out on the little porch.

Seems deeply ironic, such beautiful weather at such a terrible time.

Ugh

I need something to eat, but I'm too queasy to eat.

Also my stomach hurts too much.

Waah.

Local Artist Does Comic

My kid's roommate, an essential worker (she works at Dollar General for minimum wage), is creating a comic about life on the front lines of the pandemic.

You can support her here.

I'm posting a diary comic about working during the coronavirus exclusively on patreon for $2 and up! I'll be posting it as it's made. You can check out the first 3 pages on patreon right now! #comics #patreon https://t.co/x4ZEVk8SXM pic.twitter.com/ufQX6lMWx3

— 🏝️🐱 Clover from Poppy Isle 🍎✨ (@CloversComics) April 16, 2020

My Kid Takes a Video of our Tiny Waterfall

This was taken yesterday, when I felt better:

I took this video yesterday but -yearns- -longs- -longs- - yearns- pic.twitter.com/jn1AE0Grww

— datefriend time @ one of these days 💖💛💙 (@jasperlizard) April 16, 2020

Symptoms

I have terrible pains in my abdomen, plus I'm very achy in general.

No fever.

No cough.

No weakness or malaise.

Covid-19 or indigestion?

Heron in the Park

The kid and I went walking in the riverfront park just before sunset, and the kid spotted a great blue heron fishing the inlet.



Apparently they commonly fish the Arkansas river, but this was the first one I've seen.

Very cool.

Observation

Whenever someone starts yapping about "facts" and "biology," or how science has "proved" something, 97% of the time

• they don't know anything about how science works
• they have utterly no interest in what a fact is
• they slept through high school biology
• they're about to spew some bigoted nonsense

CHANGE MY MIND.

Pandemic Fiction

Among all the other books I've been reading over the past weeks, I've also been reading and re-reading heaps of pandemic novels. This appalls the kid -- why would I want to read about what I can watch happening in real time?

I can't say why, but I find it comforting.

In case you do as well, here are some titles featuring pandemics:

Naomi Kritzer, "So Much Cooking"

(Here's the essay Kritzer recently wrote, about seeing your story come true)

Connie Willis, The Doomsday Book

Meg Elison, The Book of the Unnamed Midwife

Mike Conner, Archangel

Emily St. John Mandel, Station Eleven

Cecelia Holland, The Lords of Vaumartin

Geraldine Brooks, Year of Wonders 

Laura Kasischke, In a Perfect World

Stephen King, The Stand

Sarah Pinsker, A Song for a New Day

Daniel DeFoe, Journal of the Plague Year

George Stewart, The Earth Abides

Pat Frank, Alas, Babylon (Not a pandemic, but hits the same buttons for me)

Frank Herbert, The White Plague

Virginia Bergin, Who Runs the World?

Joanna Russ, The Female Man (Plague occurred eight centuries earlier)

Also worth reading

Cat Pictures

Jasper fails to social distance correctly.

Covid-19 Update

More than half a million confirmed cases in the U.S.

More than twenty thousand dead.

Just over six weeks since Trump claimed the virus would just "disappear."

Vote not just Trump but every member of the GOP out in November.

What I'm Reading Now

I'm reading so much, y'all. Also we have recently starting putting our books in order (after the move, we just loaded them on shelves, haphazardly), so I'm finding books I haven't read in awhile, which leads to re-reading.

Here's the new ones:

Emily St. John Mandel, The Glass Hotel

St. John Mandel wrote the justly famous Station Eleven. This one isn't much like that one, except that it too is a mosaic novel, and also wonderful. Several times the writing made me stop and go whoa. (Also, Station Eleven gets a few sly nods in this novel.)

The Glass Hotel concerns a group of people, all of whom have worked in or visited a hotel on a remote island in Canada (I think it's the same island wossname in Station Eleven was from, but I haven't checked that). Two of them are siblings; one is a Wall Street mogul running a Ponzi scheme; other characters have brief chapters. The novel moves back and forth through time, just as Station Eleven did; and it makes us care about the characters, just as Station Eleven did.

There are a number of plot threads, but the plot isn't the issue here. It seldom is, in mosaic novels. One of the characters in novel creates art by filming five minute segments of nothing in particular, and that's more or less what this novel does: gives us a world, in fragments.

Very much worth reading.

Lily King, Lovers and Writers

I twice put this one back on the shelf at the library (this was when we could still go into the library and browse) and then once I checked it out I kept putting off reading it. The title put me off. Lovers and writers, bleh, who wants to read about that?

But I read it anyway, and I am glad I did. Though it has the plot I like least in the world (will this person marry/sleep with this person or that person?), the execution is excellent. Also, that's only the B Plot. The A plot has to do with our main character, who is struggling, among other writers, to be a writer and to make a living. Lots of it is about being a waitress. Lots of the rest is about the struggle peculiar to straight women writers -- male writers are mostly who we meet and want to hang out with, but many (many, many) male writers are only interested or happy with women who are less successful than they are.

Good writing and fully realized characters. I liked this one a lot.

Mike Conner, Archangel

This is another pandemic book. You know how I love pandemic books.

Set in the 1930, this is an AU pandemic -- what if, right after the 1918 flu, another pandemic took place, one which was engineered by eugenicists and aimed at killing off every black person on earth? And what if the eugenicists made a mistake, so that instead of killing black people, it kills only white people?

What would happen to America then?

There's also a murder mystery here, which I kind of resented. I wanted more time with the pandemic world-building and less with the mad/racist scientist.  But the characters are good and it's both a pretty good pandemic story and a nice look at 1930 Minnesota.


Kaori Mori, Bride's Story (Vol. 11)

These are manga, and their title is a little misleading -- though not entirely so. They're the story of an extended family living near the Caspian Sea in the 19th century. The first few volumes do focus heavily on the bride in question, who has been married off at the advanced age of 20, to a 12 year old groom. (I know, I know, but the two of them do not consummate the wedding. They become very fond of each other, and I assume when he grows up this is going to be a sexual relationship, but right now they're just excellent friends.)

Even in the first two volumes, though, Amir and Karluk (the bride and groom) are only one plot-line. If this manga can really be said to have plots. It's mostly just daily life with this family and all its branches. Also there's an English anthropologist visiting.  They're nice to him, though they think he's weird, but he's totally marginalized (sometimes literally).



The art is wonderful, and the daily life is delightful.



A huge cast, and no real plot, but I love these books.



Maggie Shen King, An Excess Male

I'm reading this one for my SF novel class. It was hot a few years ago, as I recall, but I never got around to it at the time.

Set in the near future, this is a dystopian novel set in China, which examines what a repressive culture in which more male infants are born than female infants -- what happens to the "excess" males?

It also deals, however, with how a culture with rigid gender roles / gender essentialism deals with men who don't fit into those roles, or who don't have the traits "all" men have. (Not well, is the answer.)

It's a good novel for my class, since those are some of the main topics we're dealing. Also, I liked the characters. The three men at the heart of the story are quite well developed, and I really like what Shen King did with the possibly autistic character, XX.

I'm a little bemused by the absence of women characters (really just one woman character in the entire book, though another gets a walk-on). Maybe that's part of the point? Here's what the world would look like without women? Except that's half the SF novels ever written. Probably more. Women as minor / off-the-page characters is nothing new.

On the whole, a good book to read if you're into dystopian science fiction.

New Recipe

Here's my recipe for a Dutch Baby pancake.

The kid has made me make this for breakfast every day for the past week, so apparently it's good pandemic food.

Spring in the Fort

Spring is emerging, despite the pandemic. Our yard at the new house is filled with violets, not to mention some sort of flower that is kind of like an iris? Purple and very pretty.

Hold on, let me google that.

Spiderwort

It's spiderwort, according to this site, and an invasive species. Well, still very pretty. I have daffodils, but they did not bloom.

The tree I have not identified in my yard -- it has a small round dark red/brown fruit with a hard pit -- was briefly covered with tiny white flowers. Now it is leafing out in brilliant new green. All the other trees are likewise sprouting new leaves. The colors are all very Easter-appropriate.

Meanwhile I am feeling much better after my root canal. I can even eat again!

The town is dead quiet. We had to take a flat tire in to get mended, and we were the only one at the tire shop. A local shop, Darrell's. Plenty of automotive repair guys were around, so I'm guessing the boss is keeping them employed; but the lot and the bays were empty.

We had to get the tire fixed because I ran over an abutment coming back from my root canal yesterday. In retrospect, I probably shouldn't have been driving.

Everyone here is still well. How's everyone on your end?

Dental Emergency

So I've got an abscessed tooth, probably (diagnosed over the phone). All the dentists and endodontists are closed for the virus.

But my dentist gave me her cell phone number, and the endodontist is opening up especially for my emergency.

I won't even tell you what this is going to cost. :(

Cat Pictures

Junti in the Pandemic

Covid-19 Denialists

In case you haven't been on Twitter (wise choice), the new bullshit being pushed by MAGA Americans is that people aren't really dying from Covid-19.

See, they're dying from cancer.

Or from heart attacks.

And then the devious lying Democrats (all over the planet, apparently) are pretending that people died of the virus, because (obviously) they're all "deranged" and will do anything to keep Trump from being elected.

Can you imagine the ego of a man who thinks a global pandemic is being staged to take him down?

Can you imagine the massive willful ignorance of people who believe (pretend to believe, I suspect) this nonsense?

Can you believe that if a cancer patient gets shot they still call it a shooting death? Fair n balanced Brit cannot. https://t.co/Uw1ZTVQDaw

— A.R. Moxon (@JuliusGoat) April 8, 2020

Incompetence at the Top

Cases in the USA

The CDC reports that as of 1:00 PM today there are 374, 329 cases of Covid-19 in the USA. (Bear in mind that these are confirmed cases. Actual number of cases is probably much higher.)

Deaths so far: 12,064.

A month ago we had 279 cases in the USA.

Arkansas has 915 cases so far. Eight of those are in my county.

Stay well, y'all.

What Do You Have to Lose?

Trump's going to start touting forsythia next.



More here.

Key section is several paragraphs in, where the high "success" rate of Trump's snake oil drug is explained -- those doing the study only included people who were cured in the study. Not cured by the drug, necessarily -- just people who got better, as most people who contract Covid-19 do get better.

It's like the person who stepped outside their house every morning and shook their anti-tiger charm in every direction. Hey, they never got tigers, right? So the charm must be 100% effective!

What have you got to lose?

Here is

...at least one reason why electives and core classes are so important:

about a year ago at this point the teacher of my intro to bio anthropology class i was taking for a credit said "now you don't want to hear about all 20 of these varieties of extinct hominins" and i thought "NO BUT I DO" and then next semester i changed my major

— datefriend time @ one of these days 💖💛💙 (@jasperlizard) April 7, 2020

Stay Home, People

Cat Picture

Here's Jasper during the pandemic:

What Are We Doing at the End of the World?

My kid is having a hard time doing school work because, as he puts it, the world is ending.

I can relate. I'm having a hard time finishing my stupid novel (I have literally one scene left to write and I cannot write it), though the good news, I guess, is that I'm well up on my academic work because I use that as a way to kill time while I'm not writing the stupid novel.

We're also cooking a lot here. I am hunting for the perfect hush puppy recipe, and meanwhile cooking all the old favorites -- tuna casserole, chicken enchiladas, pancakes, stir fry, bagels, banana pudding, Dutch babies... every now and then the kid will say remember X? Remember how you used to cook X? Could we have X?



So I make X.

If you haven't read Naomi Kritzer's "So Much Cooking," now is the perfect time. It's about a woman running a food blog during a pandemic. Both wonderful and apropos.

I'm also reading so much. The public library letting us do curb-side pickups is keeping me in books, at least so far. I just started Emily St. John Mandel's new book, The Glass Hotel, which would normally be a seven-day book but which, thanks to the quarantine, I can apparently keep indefinitely. (In actual fact, though the return date on all my books is "whenevs," I can only have 25 out at a time, so I have to bring some back to get new ones.)

Emily St. John Mandel wrote Station Eleven, an excellent book about a pandemic and the world after the pandemic. I should do a post strictly on pandemic books.

I'm also listening to podcasts, which I never did before. My main ones are NPR's Science Friday and the BBC's book club. I listen at night, while I'm too tired to do anything else, and do jigsaw puzzled at the same time.

Long walks with the dog and the kid help keep me sane. The parks here are still open, and everyone keeps their distance. Also sometimes I just walk the neighborhood, though we don't have sidewalks, which given how busy some of the streets are around here (even now) makes that less enjoyable than it might be.

Also I sleep very late, though not as late as the kid does.

Also it's almost Passover. Even though we won't be able to have our usual tableful of guests -- our favorite part of Passover -- we're still looking forward to it, and getting ready for it. Dr. Skull is making chicken soup for the matzo ball soup, and we're planning the menu -- chicken and asparagus so far, plus a KFP cake which Dr. Skull has promised he will make.

What are all y'all doing?

Ya Get What Ya Pay For

I’m in love with the Spanish biologist who pressed by media why it was taking her so long to find a cure for Coronovirus. She responded – ‘you give athletes €1 million a month salary and biologists €1800 a month – go ask Cristiano Ronaldo to go find you a cure.’ Enough said.

— Andrew Melchior (@melchiormelch) April 3, 2020

Pandemic Update

According to the CDC, there are now 277, 205 cases in the USA, with 6, 593 deaths. UPDATE: Over 300, 000 cases as of 6:00 p.m.; over 8000 deaths.

That doesn't count the cases (like that of one of my co-workers) who have almost certainly got the disease, but who have not been tested, because we don't have enough tests; or the very mild cases which are being treated at home, and again not tested (because no tests).

A month ago we had 98 cases in the USA, just for comparison. A week ago we had 68, 440 cases.

And yet: we still have Covid-Denialists spreading lies and ignorance, and plenty of those who are determined to believe the lies.

Also, I see our incompetent president is, once again, pushing quack cures. I expect him to start touting forsythia as a treatment any moment.

(Here's an anecdote to ignorance, or at least a palate cleanser.)

Oh, and Rod takes a break from his attempts to be sane to screech about how persecuted Christians are, one more time.

Here in the delagar household, we're doing okay. No one is sick yet, everyone is keeping themselves engaged, almost all the work is getting done. I still hate on-line teaching, but I'm getting a little better at it.

Trump the Incompetent

I remember being both appalled and deeply upset when Trump won the election.

This wasn't because I "hated" Trump, or "hated" conservatives.

It wasn't because I was "deranged."

It's because I knew -- like millions of other Americans knew -- that Trump was incompetent, that he knew nothing about how to run a government, and that if any sort of crisis came along, he would fuck it up.

And here we are.

How are the MAGA-Americans handling this? Or those who have been brainwashed by Fox News?

Denial and conspiracy theories. Nonsense and lies. Also, absolute bullshit.

Business as usual, in other words.

It wouldn't matter -- they're fools and idiots, and we could ignore them -- except we're all in this boat together.

1) Dude I occasionally chat with when walking dogs started on "doctors would close the country for two years" and "it's just old people dying, we're overreacting" and I told him to go fuck himself at top volume in a public park, so maybe I'm not as cool about this as I thought.

— John Rogers (@jonrog1) April 3, 2020

Sunnymede Walking Trail

This is a view of the tiny waterfall on the trail where I take my evening walks with the dog.

The trail is called Sunnymede Walking Trail, and it runs along the Arkansas River, about a mile and a half from my house.

When I first started walking there, no one was ever there but me. It was great, frankly. Canada geese hang out in the river and in a big concave depression in the center field, so it would be just me and the dog and about a hundred geese, all yelling at us in outrage.

Since the pandemic, though, more and more people are using the park -- desperate to get out of the house for even an hour, I suspect.

Here's another view:



That's from the top of a small slope overlooking the river.

And here's a better view of the waterfall:



The little dog loves the waterfall. He leaps right in and swims around.

If I couldn't go for a walk at this park every day, I would lose my rag a lot more than I already am.

Another view of the waterfall:

Yikes

The mammoth US unemployment claims in their historical context. pic.twitter.com/UNDwhBMpZt

— Ben Riley-Smith (@benrileysmith) April 2, 2020

This will cheer you up tho

Day 12 Coronavirus lockdown, the movie, UP 🎈 pic.twitter.com/HLH8JdlAOs

— Carlos (@_sweet_bread) April 2, 2020

$$$ in the Pandemic

Here in the delagar household we are (so far) doing all right so far as income goes.

I am still getting paid, and Dr. Skull, who filed for unemployment, heard back from the Labor Board yesterday, saying he would get 40% of his salary. Not much, but enough to squeak through.

According to what I have read, that 40% will be supplemented by extra income for the next few months. That would help a lot.

Of course, we still have all the medical debt from my long illness (I am fine now!), but I will just pay the minimum on that until we see how the world goes.

How are all y'all doing?

The Academy in the Pandemic

We've moved as a university to pass/fail for student classes.

Sort of, anyway -- we give the students grades and then the students get to decide whether to keep these grades, changed them to P/F, or withdraw from the class entirely.

I kind of like this, and think maybe we should do it always, not just during the pandemic.

What do y'all think?

Poetry for the Plague Years

It is said that a town
in Wales
is now ruled by
wild goats.

How idyllic that seems
to we
who are ruled by
venal asses.

— Plague Poems (@PlaguePoems) April 1, 2020

When the first whiff of smoke
was detected
we remained
in our seats

As the scent grew
some of us
muttered
but were swiftly
quieted

When the air visibly
darkened
most believed it would
soon dissipate

Now here we sit
in a theater ablaze
wondering
how this movie
will end

— Plague Poems (@PlaguePoems) March 27, 2020