Done Since 2020-03-15

[mdlbear]

It's been an eventful week, for sufficiently negative values of events. I'm still obsessively following pandemic-related links, but I've at least managed to turn that... research?... into more posts. And I've been singing a little more. Aside from that I've been doing even less than usual.

Several events have moved to online venues -- in particular see Filk Streams – Where to find the best Fannish concerts online, Festival of the Living Rooms on FB (I'm currently watching/listening to Cheshire Moon there), and Filk in the Time of Plague | File 770.

I'm trying to find a video conferencing app that would work for my singing teacher. (I'll post about that in more detail later this afternoon, I think.) I think the minimum requirement would be the ability to play on a MIDI keyboard and hear it synchronized with the student's singing along, rather than hearing it locally. (No hope of doing that with voice, of course, which would crimp her style quite a lot but might be manageable.) Has to be cross-platform. Leading possibilities include Zoom and Jitsi, but I have no idea how to integrate the MIDI with either of them.

Meanwhile, I note in passing that the shortages, especially of bulky things like toilet paper, are mostly not due to hoarding. All it takes is for a lot of people to decide to go to the store a day or two sooner, and buy a little extra "just in case". Stores don't keep a lot of stock on hand -- they rely on just-in-time shipping to meet a steady, predictable demand. So they run out, and that makes the people who missed it want to come in early the next day, and the "shortage" continues even while supplies are arriving steadily.

The same effect is at work in health care, only the lead times are a lot longer and the consequences of not having a sufficient backup stock of masks, face shields, isolation suits, and ICU beds has disastrous but entirely predictable consequences. </rant>

Notes & links:

0315Su  * litter boxen
  & awake 1:45ish; / major cleanup  % back hurts
  * up 7am; S=7:00, W=197; exercises, heat, shower
  @ Online Concert Thing (filk @madfilkentist)
  @ How to Do Your Own Abortion - VICE (ysabetwordsmith)
  @ Price gouging | MM
    " ...it's not "hoarding" to look around and say, "Well, what if our local stores close
      at least temporarily over this?" or to think, "What if supply lines from other
      countries (where USians get most of their stuff from) get cut off?" "
  @ COVID-19: Resources for Households | CDC including laundry
  @ coronavirustechhandbook.com/
  * UUCWI: If you already have the zoom app on your computer/laptop/tablet/phone, all you
    need to do is click https://uuma.zoom.us/j/494863428 before 9:45 on Sunday morning.
  : We will be postponing RainbowCon 4 to 2021.
    * update website  * update FB group
  @ Live cams | Monterey Bay Aquarium something to watch while staying home
  @ kengr | A mantra for the crisis hand-washing TTTO "Litany Against Fear"
  @ Coronavirus: Here are some of the things cultural institutions are releasing to help
    Americans cope with being stuck at home.
  @ Charts of COVID-19 Fatality Rate by Age and Sex
  $ HX transfer the other 600 to checking.
  * pay AMEX (split evenly)

0316Mo Colleen's birthday
  & awake 3:55; gave up trying to get back to sleep 4:50; trying again 5:40
  * up 7am; S=6:37;
  @ 9 coronavirus pandemic charts everyone should see - Vox Coronavirus chart:
    School closings and quarantines save lives by “flattening the curve” - Vox
  * 8:30am PT <- schedule another?  Check. -> followup 3/26
  * bring in paper goods from Molly; restock back bathroom
  * $75 gift cert at equilter.com - bday present for C
  * take down the elfa hanging rail.  Growf.
  * 5pm N' <- let N' know that Consonance was postponed (she already knew I'm not going)
    -> Daddy's World, Ship of Stone -- best yet
    -> Last lesson of the package; I'm almost certainly her last student, unless/until she
       can set something up online.  Some discussion about that.  The lack of instant
       feedback doesn't work with her style at all.  We'll see.
    -> was it a mistake to go?  I don't know.  Went to PT this morning, too.
  : FKO cancelled.
  = disinfectant:  1/3 cup bleach / 1 ga water (The Seattle Times)
  * bite guard

0317Tu St. Patrick's Day
  * up 7am; S=7:34; exercises
  : L going down to Seattle to stay with E" + O".  Leaves the household with only one
    person who can drive.  And they really want people over 70 to stay home.
  @ 13 Complete Protein Sources for Vegetarians and Vegans (ysabetwordsmith)
  @ npm is joining GitHub - The GitHub Blog
  @ tozka | social distancing is better with free things (#covid-19) (jesse_the_k)
  * SL: magnesium 500mg, pulse oximeter, x vitamin C 500mg, thermometer condoms, sanitizer
  * cut down the shelf hanger strip, by ~16"  The remaining piece would have to be
    straghtened to be usable; not clear how one could do that.
  @ What Are The Best Materials for Making DIY Masks? - Smart Air Filters
  * singing:  Daddy's World, The River.  Just a bit off.
  * change CPAP disp. filter

0318We
  & awake 2:30; back to bed 4:15ish.  must have slept a little; there were dreams
  * Up 6:15; ; thought I heard a knock.
  @ 16 March 2020Imperial College COVID-19 Response TeamDOI:  Page 1of 20Impact of
    non-pharmaceutical interventions (NPIs) to reduce COVID-19 mortality and healthcare
    demand Imperial College  also https://doi.org/10.25561/7748
  @ DIY Cloth Face Mask : 7 Steps (with Pictures) - Instructables (ravan)
  @ Trump Has Sabotaged America's Response to the Coronavirus Pandemic
  @ Median incubation period for COVID-19 -- ScienceDaily
    " the median incubation period for COVID-19 is just over five days and that 97.5
      percent of people who develop symptoms will do so within 11.5 days of infection. "
  * pay Molly - third We is when BECU acc't gets loaded
  : nextdoor.com is flaky; probably /.ed
  * pay V for first half of month, from RE checking.
  @ Why the Black Death was not the bubonic plague.: seanan_mcguire
     Theories of the Black Death - Wikipedia
  @ We’re not going back to normal - MIT Technology Review
    " The best we can hope for is that the depth of this crisis will finally force
      countries—the US, in particular—to fix the yawning social inequities that make large
      swaths of their populations so intensely vulnerable. " one can hope.  unlikely
  @ Filk Streams – Where to find the best Fannish concerts online
  * singing:  Desolation Row, Rambling Silver Rose, When I Go

0319Th vernal equinox
  * up 6:55; S=6:39; exercises
  x 8:30am PT -> reschedule? -> 0326
  : The stud finder seems to be broken.  That or the battery, which I took out of Flame's
    neck pocket, was dead.  Doesn't matter -- ordered batteries and a new stud finder.
    (tasted the battery: it's dead. But the stud finder is missing its battery cover.) 
  $ sent $500 from BECU to UB
  * started setting up to sort tax-related papers.  It will also involve medical stuff to
    be filed, and charity envelopes to be uniquified.
  * 2pm C catheter change -> C called Tu; leave ~1pm, enter through courtyard
  % 4:3 sleepy.  Felt a little sleepy while driving, too.  I am seriously underslept.
  @ Sigma Xi COVID-19 Preparedness Kit
  @ COVID-19 — The National food service
  * ordered fridge filter and furnace air filters:
    Filtrete MPR 2200 16x20x1 AC
    Furnace Air Filter, Healthy Living Elite Allergen, 2-Pack 
  @ How to Make Hardtack Recipe: A Survival Bread That Lasts A Lifetime
    How to Make Hardtack: 15 Steps (with Pictures) - wikiHow (spice variants)

0320Fr
  * Up 6am; S=6:36;
  @ PDF The Complex Dynamics of Wishful Thinking: The Critical Positivity Ratio (via pocket; article originally published on October 17, 2013, by Narratively)
    amusing takedown of bad modeling.
  @ Decameron Project is creating communities and writing stories | Patreon (hrj)
    c.f. The Decameron (see External links for translations)
    The Decameron (with new stories) set in 2020.
  @ Income tax filing deadline moved to July 15 from April 15 | The Seattle Times
  @ A starting point for learning about file formats | Mad File Format Science (madfilkentist)
    Helping a nation of homeschoolers
  % Desti in my lap for a long time.  40m maybe?  Nice.
  * got icemaker loose.  Of course, that resulted it ice cubes scattered all over the
    kitchen floor from the rebound.  I really wasn't expecting it to come loose.
    % back pain -> bedroom recliner with heating pad.  didn't want to evict Desti.
  @ Freeyourgadget/Gadgetbridge: A free and cloudless replacement for your gadget
    vendors' closed source Android applications. Supports Pebble, Mi Band, Liveview, HPlus
    and more. - FEATURES.md at master - Gadgetbridge - Codeberg.org
  @ 5 Pieces Of Advice For Learning Emacs » CodersCat
  @ Five Wishes Advance Care Planning (alexseanchai)
    Talking about your wishes [PDF]
    All needs to be witnessed; unfortunately L isn't here.  -> V or L'.  A will would have
    to be notarized; that's harder.  And, ideally, we'd need to find a lawyer.
  % I'm something of a wreck, actually.  trouble concentrating.  Depression? anxiety?
    feels more like depression.  Depression with anxiety is a legit diagnosis.
  -> singing:  Bells of Norwich, Ripple, When I Go, The Mary Ellen Carter
  " QOTD:  Colleen:  when I get depressed I start crying
           me:  ... and I play 'The Mary Ellen Carter' "

0321Sa  * litter boxen scooped
  * up 7am; S=7:35; exercises
  : Mom called with apparently bad news health-wise.  Will know more Monday.
  @ Preparing to shelter in place for coronavirus: A printable guide to what you need at
    home - Vox
  @ A quick trip to the library, and suddenly, all is right with the world 
  @ 100 Million Masks | Providence
    DIY for masks (from kit, but good for ideas) and face shields (vinyl, foam, elastic,
    double-sided tape)
  @ Working from home: a guide for pet parents. Read More. 
  @ Make a Dust Mask Out of a Tee Shirt : 5 Steps (with Pictures) - Instructables
    Face Mask Pattern • Craft Passion
  * some work on pile-sorting, toward clearing card table
  & tried Festival of the Living Rooms (zoom-based filk-con).
  @ Interim Recommendations for US Community Facilities with Suspected/Confirmed
    Coronavirus Disease 2019 cleaning, disinfecting
  @ A Therapist’s Guide to Emotional Health in a Pandemic - The Atlantic (minoanmiss)
    Coronavirus and the Art of Quarantine Socializing - The Atlantic 

Comments

[spiffyvoxel]

Last week was pretty stressful for me, between making sure we had enough food and supplies and getting my prescription processed before I ran out of medication. Thankfully, I got my meds and we've got enough food for now.

My sister, who's a teacher, is off work for the time being as schools are closed, though she might get called in to teach kids of key workers. She's offering to do some shopping for us, as my mum is elderly and I'm on immune-suppressant medication so we're both at-risk. And the supermarkets are now setting up early openings for allow the elderly and NHS workers to get supplies.

I'm getting out and walking every day, and will continue for as long as I can. The latest news from the UK government, however, is that they are going to advice those who are most vulnerable due to medical conditions to self-isolate for 12 weeks. I'll receive a letter in the next few days if I'm one of those people. Being stuck at home wouldn't be a huge hardship for me, as I'm quite solitary. My only concern would be that I won't be able to go down the road to the local shops if we're running low on some items, and I'll need to get the pharmacy to deliver my medication.

I'm considering whether to rejoin Facebook in a limited capacity, just so I can let folks there know that I'm OK and help keep their spirits up.

[osewalrus]

Thanks for very useful links.