@Raggedy Ann
We were going to do Route 66 next week. We were planning to drive east on I-10 to Lordsburg then north through New Mexico to Gallup. The idea was to do Rt.66 across Arizona from the NM border to the Colorado River. We'll have to postpone, maybe 'til Fall.

Sheltering in place - that's what I'm up to. I meet criteria for dying if I get the virus, so I'm gonna lay low for a couple of weeks! 21 cases now in New Mexico - all travel related.

I was supposed to be in CA right now - would have gone Saturday. Dodged a virus!

Is that you listening to that dog's heart? That's the cutest!

I am working from home. That should prove interesting!

Stay safe everyone and don't vote!

edited to add ~~ thanks for being on the front lines, for us Anja. Did my last Trader's run yesterday. I should be good for two-three weeks in shelter. Stay well, dear.

@jbob because most people never see it happen in real life. I know I am one of those that could use some lessons. I just can never figure it out fast enough to make a difference.

Yesterday I went to a "Shop Rite" in Albany NY to pick up a few things on my way home from visiting a Cannabis dispensary in MA. While in line to check out I witnessed a back and forth between the middle aged black woman cashier and the middle aged white man manager. The cashier wanted to pick up 3 cases (24 half liter bottles ea.) of Poland Spring brand water but was stuck on her register with long lines. The manager came to tell her that the last pallet of that product had just been put out on the floor and when it was gone that was it for the kind of water she wanted. He told her that she could try to get some when she went on break but he thought it was all going to be gone by then. He did not offer to put three aside for her or cover the register for her so she could go get them. He was just a walking dick about it! Then he tried to tell her he was going to keep her on past her regular shift later that afternoon. She said something like "I don't think so" to that one. When I got done checking out and had put my stuff in the car, I went right back in and managed to get the last three cases of the water she wanted off that pallet that had been put out 10 minutes before. I bought them for her in the "quickie" 10 items or less line. Then I parked the cart with the water near her checkout line and while handing her the receipt told her to find a better place to work if she could. She was just starting to cry when I walked away to get the hell out of there.

@Granma

I have a number of close friends who have already lost their income as their work places close down. Many are very worried at this point they will lose everything, even if they do not get sick. No job, no income, no end in sight. A hell of a lot of people are going to be bankrupt from loss of their income for an unknown, extended period of time.

For me, at the moment my company has suspended almost all it’s business operations. The business requires extensive travel for many staff, and our other income stream is trainings and conferences, which have all been cancelled. So most staff are ‘working from home’ (with not much to do) for now, and we’re still getting paid, but if this carries on longer than a couple of months, the business may very well go under, or at least have to do a severe cut in the payroll.

My spouse is still going to work for now; he works in the office at an auto repair/collision damage shop, so no working from home, and they do not plan to close - until and unless there is a lock down order that forces them to. If/when that happens, his job (our main bread and butter) will be gone too. In the meantime, he interacts with the public every day. (They are still very busy, he says.)

I’m personally far more worried (right now) about going broke and losing our house to job losses than I am worried about getting sick with the virus. Of course I understand the need for social distancing and the lockdowns. But I also believe that all is going to cause far more pain, economic damage, and hardship to more people than is generally being recognized. There will be no help for the countless people who are suddenly making no money because of this crisis.

At least I think so. People do not like the odds. We have been told 80% of people who get Covid will have a mild case. That sounds ok. That means 4 out of 5 people who get it don't get vey sick. But one out of 5 people who get it, will get a severe case, quite possibly needing extended hospitalization, maybe ICU and even a ventilator if lucky enough to get one of the few there are.

People don't want to have a severe case, but beyond that, they can Not afford it. Insurance or not, the bills for such a hospitalization would wipe them out. Some are probably more afraid of those bills and possible bankruptcy than they are of dying.

@Lily O Lady Under category, "You Can't Make This Shit Up"

https://thegrayzone.com/2020/03/17/coronavirus-brazil-cuban-doctors-bols...

Throughout his campaign, Bolsonaro slammed the Cuban doctors in his country as a nefarious fifth column, denigrated them as “terrorists,” and pledged to expel them.

When he took power following a US-backed soft coup against the Workers’ Party government, Bolsonaro made good on his promise. He kicked out many of the Cuban doctors, leaving impoverished rural regions without medical personnel.

By February 2020, however, the Brazilian government began to reverse course. The Bolsonaro administration had been unable to find doctors who would serve in these remote areas, so it agreed to allow the 1,800 Cuban doctors who remained in the country to return to the communities they had previously served.

And now, amid the Covid-19 pandemic, Brasilia’s right-wing occupant has performed a complete about-face.

In a press conference on March 15, Brazilian Secretary of Health João Gabbardo beseeched Cuba to send back the doctors who were expelled to prevent the country’s health system from collapsing as it battled a spreading pandemic.

Bullsh1tters is pushing “telehealth” for Medicare patients. This is the crap that Joe Namath has been hawking as “home visits by phone” attached to private policies sold to Medicare eligible people.

The pig is being completely smeared with lipstick in real time on TV right now.

@enhydra lutris

zillions of links
thanks mucho

An e-mail I received from Archive.org reminded me that they are there and have a ton of stuff of potential interest. It linked this page from their blog illustrating 7 things to do if you can't leave the house, check it out:

http://blog.archive.org/2020/03/16/7-things-to-do-if-you-cant-leave-the-...

@QMS

not sure if this is real, but might be worth a look

[video:https://youtu.be/xyCPljDsG2E]