Pledge!

The Am I Evil? Graphic Novel project is in full swing! We’re currently taxiing for a Spring 2020 Kickstarter launch.

Please feel free to contact Jack by any method available to you to pledge your advanced support for the Kickstarter campaign. No money needed, just your name and contact info. If you’re not sure how to reach me, then go ahead and use the form at that other website:

About the Project

Thank you!

1,028 thoughts on “Pledge!

  1. Jack – you don’t mind if I clip out part of your “Trees” sketch from Deadpan #237 and add it to the audio comment I’m recording for The Rock’n’Roll Geek Show, do you? I’m recording a tribute to the late, great Neal Peart. You wrote it, so I’m asking before sending it in. Of course, I also plan to plug the “Am I Evil?” graphic novel in my audio comment. 🙂

      • It’s on hiatus, so I’m fully caught up.

        I’d advise against any searches about the series… I’m seeing some careless spoiler talk out there.

  2. Latest on the Marvel rewatch:
    Black Panther – – a darn good film with a great villain. Powerful cultural message and significance, but otherwise, kinda just OK as a superhero action romp.
    Infinity War – – such a gut punch.
    Ant-Man and Wasp. So much more fun than the first. Sure, it goes way deep into quantum ridiculousness, but it’s a riot.

    Up next: Captain Marvel

  3. JW: Avenue 5 episode 1

    Painfully unfunny. At least Hugh Laurie gets to his his English accent at times.

    Lo will probably Iove it.

    I bet 10p

  4. Considering I don’t have time to shit anymore I was surprised to find I had time to sit down and watch The Irishman.

    It’s…. pretty goddamn great. The last half hour does drag a bit but that’s a small slight.

    It’s pure film making. It’s pure Scorsese

  5. Crap joke for the day:

    Schick is walking down the boardwalk in Atlantic City, runs into a hooker, and he says, “How much?”
    She says, “Twenty bucks.”
    He says, “All right.”
    They climb down under the boardwalk, and he bangs her. The next night, he runs into the same hooker, they go under the boardwalk, only this time while he’s banging her, she blasts two incredible farts. When they get done, he hands her twenty-FIVE dollars.
    She says, “What the extra five?”
    He says, “That’s for blowing the sand off my balls.”

  6. FYI:

    If you don’t frequent the Facebooks, we’ve posted and discussed the MMMmmmeetup poll results. Phoenix is in 1st place, with Denver in 2nd, St. Louis in 3rd. September is in 1st place for timing, with October 2nd, and June 3rd.

    We’d also discussed just cancelling the 2020 gathering, to try and get a larger crew together in 2021. Feel free to chime in there – – or here.

  7. Today’s movie is Deadcon
    The Netflix elevator pitch: These internet celebrities are about to learn that there are things far scarier than badly lit selfies

    Bwa ha ha ha ha!

  8. Ok. This movie had potential. It was actually pretty decently acted. But, I have no idea what happened. I feel it needed fleshing out. It was only an hour and twenty minutes long. I think they should have added another 20 minutes to clear some of the huh moments

  9. Van and ditto said something before the PBP about wanting to do a MMMmmmeetup this year. I’m in, though I already have some time commitments.

    First question: where do we want to do that discussion?

    • Yeah but have you had his cider?

      This is keen, but what it doesn’t tell you is how to actually find time to sit your ass down and read. “Make time!” is easy to say, hard in practice

      • You can easily find the time…. Somewhere in between waking up after too little sleep, working all day, spending essential time with the family, managing chores and outside responsibilities, and getting to bed too late.

  10. CW: Justified S1 Ep 1

    I am going to re-watch this series. It is a favorite, Top 5 for me.

    Those damn hillbillies just get themselves into some stupid shit. I love me some Timothy Olyphant.

  11. Crap joke for tonight:

    A guy walks into a library and yells, “Can I get a grande mocha Frappucino?”

    The librarian sighs and says, “Sir, this is a library.”

    “Oh right,” the guy whispers. “Sorry.” And then in a low voice he says, “Can I get whipped cream on that Frappucino?”

  12. My spoiler free impression of Star Trek: Picard – while it was all very shiny, I found the concept pretty meh and Patrick Stewart’s performance was just as bad as I feared it would be. He should have given this series a shot about 10 years ago.

  13. In other news, we watched episode 1 (finally) of Star Trek: D. Keep yer spoilers, we’re gonna be slow going through all of these episodes.

    Intriguing start tho.

  14. Michael Stipe’s new (ish) single ”Your Capricious Soul”, seems to be permanently lodged in my brain.
    it’s a good tune – Socially relevant, haunting and For some reason … totally STUCK in my head.

  15. I learned yesterday of the loss of one of my old extended crew. I hadn’t talked to him in years, and honestly, probably never would have seen him in person again – – but it still breaks my heart to hear. Lots of good memories with him at Photon and hanging after it closed. RIP Sathar. Fuck cancer.

  16. So rewatched The Man from UNCLE last night, great film but I only just realised the actress playing the villain played the High Priestess in Guardians of the Galaxy 2.

    Doh!

    • I remember enjoying the movie in the theater, but I don’t remember a damn thing about it. I also never watched the TV show, so there’s that too.

  17. Three episodes into Trek: D. I think the writing is great and the characters are really well-crafted. Each episode has ended with a clever cliffhanger.

    It doesn’t really seem to fit into any Trek universe – – but I have heard that the show eventually addresses those questions/concerns.

  18. Somehow, not sure how, I’ve been convinced to do a podcast for work. Luckily I’ve been given creative licence so I’ve decided it will have nothing to do with Tyche’s books. Yes, there will be a connection, but it won’t be the main subject. Will flesh out the details at brunch with the boss on Thursday. More info coming soon.

    • Because there is a connection to Tyche (one of the artists also does some of our covers), I’m hoping to have our very own Jack M, as well as others involved, to do a group interview on the new podcast to discuss Am I Evil.
      Of course, I won’t officially ask until next week. Oh wait… 😉

    • 1. You will do a great job with a podcast. Be sure to say “motherfucker” a lot.
      2. I have a great suggestion for a recurring podcast segment: “Dumbass Memories.”
      3. !!! I’d be honored!! And would love to. Thanks!

        • It is an Atari hotel, not Nintendo.

          I hope an Intellivision hotel opens up across town, that is far less popular, but which a small group of people swear is way better.

          • Yes. During the great Atari/ColecoVision wars, I had Intellivision. I loved it. I had a friend who had an Atari and I though Intellivision was better than that. Never had a friend with ColecoVision so I can’t compare on that end.

  19. Van and Ed and Bunny and everyone else….

    How about Sept 26th instead of the 19th- it works a little better for our household and maybe for Ed?

    • Yes. We’ve got to stop assuming shit, based on stereotypes.

      I hate hate hate hate hate celebrity gossip, but I did read a Quora article detailing all of her abuses and false claims against him, all of which made the woke community vilify him – – even shaming the Fantastic Beasts fills for casting him. If he’s truly innocent (and I don’t have the facts to know who’s right or wrong in their case), then everyone who hated on him should be fucking ashamed of themselves.

  20. Apparently there was a WandaVision commercial? The only notable ones I saw were the Bill Murray, the Arya Stark, and the baffling Sofia Vergara.

    And apparently that orange sack of shit had one too? I did see the nauseating fox nation ad.

  21. Holidays booked in for the meet-up.

    Just to add when it comes to deciding on what to do, I’m going to be limited in how far I can walk on varied terrain (so hiking is basically out).

  22. Morning Pan
    Hubby’s aunt passed over the weekend. We only saw her maybe once every few years, and she wasn’t particularly close so don’t need condolences.
    I mention it because she was only eight years older than we are.
    Some days, like when your kid turns 33, and people near your age are passing, I feel really old.

    • It’s the decrepitude that is getting me. Not helped by meeting a cheerful 84 year old at work who doesn’t have arthritis as bad as me.

    • Appreciate the concern – but it is true, my offspring is at the main campus in the College Station. This terrible business today was at another campus of the university system up closer to Dallas.

      Not sure how common it is in the other states, but Texas A&M, The University of Texas, and The University of Houston each have a system of campuses spread out across the state. Many of those were originally their own colleges/universities but were absorbed into one of these three when they couldn’t keep going as independent institutions.

  23. Morning Pan
    I’m overhauling our mailing list and redoing it in a new, more interactive format. How do I get myself talked into these projects?

  24. Just gonna say this. . . then you can get back to your regular activities. . . We are reliving early 1930s Germany. And I don’t think that a Democrat win (if it’s even still possible) in November will save us.

  25. A co-worker is going on a 49ers-themed cruise.

    I’m normally a very nice guy, but I couldn’t resist asking: “How did you get tickets to that? Did you win 2nd place in a contest?”

    He never replied.

  26. Morning Pan
    Sometimes you feel like a genius, Sometimes you feel like an idiot.
    I’ve already gone through both feelings this morning.

    • “Is there anything you’re willing to do to protect your family that’s not the plot of an action/thriller?”

      I have to admit, that one got an audible chuckle from me.

    • Ah, Van’s recent FB post makes more sense with this context.

      Did Rambo ever do laundry? Do you ever see Scarface taking care of his children? Does John Wick make kids wash their hands in his movies? I rest my case.

  27. I saw Birds of Prey this afternoon. I thought it quite fun, but yeah, if you don’t like Harley Quinn in all of her psychotic glory- then you wont like this movie.

    Bravo to Ewan McGreagor – he was a juicy, rotten bad guy!

  28. Last night, we were going to watch Doctor Sleep, the sequel to The Shining but it occurred to me, I never actually saw The Shining. I knew everything about it because it’s so prevalent in our society but never actually saw it. So we watched that. We’ll probably watch the sequel tonight

    Hubby has said The Shining is now going to be the first one we watch in a long list of “modern classic” movies I never saw

    • The Shining is an easy one to miss – – and even think you had seen – – because its images are everywhere. My teenage memory says that the book was one of his better ones, too, though not his best. I haven’t read Doctor Sleep, nor seen the film.

      Curious to know your next “modern classic” after The Shining.

      • John says the next movie I need to see is One Who Flew Over the Coocoo’s Nest

        I also haven’t seen any of the Godfather movies so I’m sure they will be watched at some point

        • I remember some details of OFOTCN. I haven’t seen it since the 90s.

          We recently did the Godfather films in our house too, because Desert Pixie hadn’t seen them. Shut out everything you may have heard about them, if possible, and just go through the entire saga. Again – – this is something that’s been parodied multiple times.

    • We’ve discussed The Shining with elder daughter. When she does finally see the movie, she’ll probably be laughing through most of it, because the scariest moments have been parodied, e.g.: the twins, the typewriter, the elevator, the axe through the door. . .

        • Scariest book I’ve ever read.

          I can recall getting lost in it, then looking up and realizing at was 2am and feeling totally creeped out as the thought came over me “I’m the only one awake in the house … probably on the whole block!”

          Then I pulled the covers over my head.

          Never saw the film because of that. I was afraid it would ruin that perfect creep-out feeling.

    • I have read and seen both books/movies. Doctor Sleep does a great job of making things work with the differences between the endings of the book/movie The Shining. The Doctor Sleep movie was well done, if not a hair on the slow side. I enjoyed it quite a bit.

  29. A two-fer.
    Here is both the best tweet of the day AND your crap joke of the day.

    “Wait, how can Parasite win the Oscars if there’s no host?“

    • This is one guy’s accusation based on theory – – who wasn’t there. It’s something to ponder, but I’m not convinced either way by what’s presented in that article. And dammit, I’m not going to jump to positive or negative conclusions or jump in on a group beatdown based on one guy’s accusations.

  30. Hubby’s messing with my schedule.
    He wants to wear something specific tomorrow so asked if I could wash it. Laundry day is tomorrow damn it! 😉

    • I must confess, that guys definition of sci-fi and fantasy are very different from mine. Not saying anything about the books chosen as I don’t know most of them, but I strongly disagree that the primary purpose of “hard sci-fi” is to try to teach scientific concepts.

      • I am relieved that it wasn’t a list of “count the rivets” starship Sci-Fi.

        I’d also never have classified Old Mans War as Hard Sci-Fi.

    • I think the one that surprised me most was World War Z. I love the book immensely. But although I can kind of sort of maybe in a way see it as science fiction, I see it as a psychological piece of work rather than a “hard science” piece of work.

  31. While having a beer with a buddy-
    Me -“Hey, I like that new Pearl Jam tune ‘Clairvoyant’”
    Him- “Are you kidding? It sounds like a Talking Head cover”
    Me, taking a sip of beer and thinking about it- “I guess maybe I like the Talking Heads more than Pearl Jam.”

  32. We (which means me) are completely redoing our newsletter. Currently in the testing phase. Adding the giving of a book on signup has made the whole thing more… complicated.
    Fingers crossed everything works the first time.

  33. Just finished another David Mitchell book (of Cloud Atlas fame) and it appears there isn’t a book he’s written that I’ve disliked.

    So there is that.

  34. So we did finish ST: Discovery S1. I thought it was excellent. Mostly good episodes, and the main characters are great – – especially Michael Burnham – – and it did answer some of my questions about the continuity weirdness. I look fwd to season 2.

  35. I need a tester or more. For reasons I cannot define, our first welcome email, that’s suppose to come shortly after you sign up, seems to only work about 50% of the time.

    We can’t for the life of us figure out what the issue is. Pop me an email if you want to give it a try for me. I’ll send you two links. They will lead to slightly different landing pages. Doesn’t matter which one you use but I’ll need to know which one you did use and what mail client you are using so I can figure out if it’s the sender or receive that’s the problem.

    Thanks

  36. https://geektyrant.com/news/amblin-is-producing-a-goonies-re-enactment-drama-series-for-fox

    Wait, what? A fictional TV series about a group that wants to make a shot for shot remake of the Goonies? And I thought Hollywood could sink no lower than the remake. I think the best part is the self aggrandizing perspective that movie making is the stuff that powers towns in need.

    “their passion will inspire a town in desperate need of hope in this love letter to the power of cinema, storytelling and dreams”

    • We can’t make a remake without everyone crying foul – – so how about a faux-sincere fake reality TV show?

      Forget it, Jake. It’s Fox town.

  37. RE: Locke and Key tv series.

    Watched the first 8 episodes and it’s been a fun ride.

    Never read the comics, did listen to the audio drama adaption on Audible but have no idea how faithful that was, so they be murdering it for true fans of the comic.

  38. Well it.’a been a long time since I saw an anime film at the cinema, but ticket booked to see ‘Weathering with You’ at the cinema tomorrow.

  39. Crap joke for the day:

    A Welsh farmer drove to a neighbours farmhouse and knocked at the door. A boy, about 9, opened the door.

    “Is your dad or your mum home?” said the farmer.

    “No, they went to town.”

    “How about your brother, Howard? Is he here?”

    “No, he went with Mum and Dad.”

    The farmer stood there for a few minutes, shifting from one foot to the other, and mumbling to himself.

    “I know where all the tools are, if you want to borrow one, or I can give dad a message.” said the boy.

    “Well,” said the farmer uncomfortably, “I really wanted to talk to your Dad. It’s about your brother, Howard, getting my daughter Susie pregnant”.

    The boy thought for a moment…

    “You would have to talk to Dad about that. I know he charges £500 for the bull and £50 for the pig, but I don’t know how much he charges for Howard.”

  40. So there is this thread on Twitter about writing British characters if you aren’t British and it made me realise:

    None of you have internal doors to your kitchen. Well the few houses in the USA and one in Canada that I’ve visited haven’t any doors.

    Yes my small kitchen has a door that I can close.

    • Thinking back to my childhood, most of the houses I knew had doors on the kitchen. Not all, but the house I grew up in and both of my grandparents’ houses had doors.

      But now that you mention it, I’ve never seen a house west of the Mississippi with kitchen doors.

      • Well you would have to ask the original architect who designed the house.

        But when I posted question on Facebook people replied with keeping out pets and the spreading of smoke if you’ve burnt stuff.

        Oh my house is not open plan and it also has 5 walk-in cupboards.

        • Oh and until it was plastered up, the kitchen had a serving hatch to pass through food to the sitting (living room). Never used it for that though.

          • I think there used to be a sense that the mess and bustle of the kitchen and food prep was not meant to be seen by guests, so the door would be a barrier.

          • So I got to thinking about it and the kitchen in the house I spent most of my childhood in had a door between the kitchen and the dinning room. We just rarely ate meals in there and I can’t ever recall the door being closed.
            I suspect the assumption was, if you were having a dinner party you could isolate your guests from the mess in the kitchen.
            BTW – there was no door between the kitchen and family room.

          • Doors everywhere. Front door has a porch, so there is another door into the sitting room, another door leads to the passage which leads to the kitchen (door), back door and staircase. Upstairs the three bedrooms and wet room all have doors.

  41. I can’t say for certain if the Victorian house of my childhood had a closed-off kitchen originally. My recollection is that it had frames for doors, but the doors had been removed. My folks totally remodeled and that portion of the home is all different now. Totally open.

    • I was inspired to do a little London site seeing via Google Earth. While looking around Buckingham Palace I noticed a young family. I zoomed in closer and they are wearing American flag shirts and their young son has a Chicago Cubs ball cap on. Freaking Americans, they’re everywhere.

  42. Slowly going through the Studio Ghibli films on Netflix and tonight it was Porco Rosso.

    The sky pirates are silly, but the planes look great and the story was fun.

  43. You may recall my love for the book. The Cusack movie was OK. I’m curious about the series. Rob’s idiosyncrasies were always very classic “male.” It would be interesting to see those appended onto a female character.

  44. Morning Pan
    Finished the book The Shining. While Kubrick is great with visuals, I can see why Stephen King didn’t like the original movie.
    Based on the ending of the book, the movie Doctor Sleep seemed to be based more on the movie than anything but I will find out as that’s what I’m starting next.
    Apparently there is a more recent mini-series of The Shining that is closer to the book than the original movie.

    • I remember that mini-series (from the 90s, I think). As I recall, it was pretty unwatchable.

      Kubrick’s movie definitely strayed – – a lot. It works because of some terrifying mood and imagery – – and brilliant performances from the main 3 actors.

  45. A friend of mine talked up this version of Dracula, which he says is the most book-faithful he’s ever seen. I’m not familiar with it.
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u36VjXirmlY&list=FLLiLrjrJTybnN3cne6wvAUw&index=2&t=164s&fbclid=IwAR1vtakDa1Kt9LZUcS8OxEpgfZdtQcKGpeCyzXg_mGyCb1GimeRRB3AkaKI

    I have a feeling I’d find it too dated to make it all the way through (even if I had time to sit and watch a full-length movie), but I’m intrigued. If nothing else, maybe it makes a good PBP for Bunny.

    • The TL;DR:

      A bunch of guys bought Mr. Bungle reunion concert tix in Brooklyn. One of them died before the show, so his buddies took his ashes to the show – – wrapped up in underwear – – and threw them onstage during the set.

  46. Morning Pan
    The cable company is coming this morning to do… something. I’m not 100% sure what they are doing but apparently I’ll be able to put my TV where ever I want in the house regardless of if there is a cable connection near by or not.
    Since our internet is often a little iffy here, I am a little leery of this working as advertised.

    • This sounds like the way that a spy or law enforcement gets into your house. At least if bad movies are anything to go by. If the cable person is astoundingly bungling, it could be inspector Clouseau.

      “But I didn’t call about a faulty phone?”
      “And yet, here I am, a telephone repair person right here at your door.”

  47. The new system has a whole different channel numbering system. Damn it! I had the other one pretty much memorized.

    anyway. This is going out over the new system so I guess it works ok.

  48. Nebula Award Finalists Announced

    February 20, 2020

    The Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America (SFWA, Inc.) is pleased to announce the finalists for the 55th Annual Nebula Awards, including the Ray Bradbury Award for Outstanding Dramatic Presentation, and the Andre Norton Award for Outstanding Young Adult Science Fiction or Fantasy Book. The awards will be presented in Woodland Hills, CA at the Warner Center Marriott during a ceremony on the evening of May 30th.

    2019 Nebula Award Finalists

    Novel

    Marque of Caine, Charles E. Gannon (Baen)

    The Ten Thousand Doors of January, Alix E. Harrow (Redhook; Orbit UK)

    A Memory Called Empire, Arkady Martine (Tor)

    Gods of Jade and Shadow, Silvia Moreno-Garcia (Del Rey; Jo Fletcher)

    Gideon the Ninth, Tamsyn Muir (Tor.com Publishing)

    A Song for a New Day, Sarah Pinsker (Berkley)

    Novella

    “Anxiety Is the Dizziness of Freedom”, Ted Chiang (Exhalation)

    The Haunting of Tram Car 015, P. Djèlí Clark (Tor.com Publishing)

    This Is How You Lose the Time War, Amal El-Mohtar & Max Gladstone (Saga)

    Her Silhouette, Drawn in Water, Vylar Kaftan (Tor.com Publishing)

    The Deep, Rivers Solomon, with Daveed Diggs, William Hutson & Jonathan Snipes (Saga)

    Catfish Lullaby, A.C. Wise (Broken Eye)

    Novelette

    “A Strange Uncertain Light”, G.V. Anderson (F&SF 7-8/19)

    “For He Can Creep”, Siobhan Carroll (Tor.com 7/10/19)

    “His Footsteps, Through Darkness and Light”, Mimi Mondal (Tor.com 1/23/19)

    “The Blur in the Corner of Your Eye”, Sarah Pinsker (Uncanny 7-8/19)

    Carpe Glitter, Cat Rambo (Meerkat)

    “The Archronology of Love”, Caroline M. Yoachim (Lightspeed 4/19)

    Short Story

    “Give the Family My Love”, A.T. Greenblatt (Clarkesworld 2/19)

    “The Dead, In Their Uncontrollable Power”, Karen Osborne (Uncanny 3-4/19)

    “And Now His Lordship Is Laughing”, Shiv Ramdas (Strange Horizons 9/9/19)

    “Ten Excerpts from an Annotated Bibliography on the Cannibal Women of Ratnabar Island”, Nibedita Sen (Nightmare 5/19)

    “A Catalog of Storms”, Fran Wilde (Uncanny 1-2/19)

    “How the Trick Is Done”, A.C. Wise (Uncanny 7-8/19)

    The Andre Norton Award for Outstanding Young Adult Science Fiction or Fantasy Book

    Sal and Gabi Break the Universe, Carlos Hernandez (Disney Hyperion)

    Catfishing on CatNet, Naomi Kritzer (Tor Teen)

    Dragon Pearl, Yoon Ha Lee (Disney Hyperion)

    Peasprout Chen: Battle of Champions, Henry Lien (Holt)

    Cog, Greg van Eekhout (Harper)

    Riverland, Fran Wilde (Amulet)

    Game Writing

    Outer Wilds, Kelsey Beachum (Mobius Digital)

    The Outer Worlds, Leonard Boyarsky, Megan Starks, Kate Dollarhyde, Chris L’Etoile (Obsidian Entertainment)

    The Magician’s Workshop, Kate Heartfield (Choice of Games)

    Disco Elysium, Robert Kurvitz (ZA/UM)

    Fate Accessibility Toolkit, Elsa Sjunneson-Henry (Evil Hat Productions)

    The Ray Bradbury Award for Outstanding Dramatic Presentation

    Avengers: Endgame, Christopher Markus & Stephen McFeely (Marvel Studios)

    Captain Marvel, Anna Boden & Ryan Fleck & Geneva Robertson-Dworet (Marvel Studios)

    Good Omens: “Hard Times”, Neil Gaiman (Amazon Studios/BBC Studios)

    The Mandalorian: “The Child”, Jon Favreau (Disney+)

    Russian Doll: “The Way Out”, Allison Silverman and Leslye Headland (Netflix)

    Watchmen: “A God Walks into Abar”, Jeff Jensen & Damon Lindelof (HBO)

  49. Crap joke for the day:

    A man goes into the doctor and says, “Doc, you gotta check my leg. Something’s wrong. Just put your ear up to my thigh, you’ll hear it!”

    The doctor cautiously placed his ear to the man’s thigh only to hear, “Gimme 20 bucks, I really need 20 bucks.”

    “I’ve never seen or heard anything like this before, how long has this been going on.” The doctor asked.

    “That’s nothing Doc. put your ear to my knee.”

    The doctor put his ear to the man’s knee and heard it say “Man, I really need 10 bucks, just lend me 10 bucks!!”

    “Sir, I really don’t know what to tell you. I’ve never seen anything like this.” The doctor was dumbfounded.

    “Wait Doc, that’s not it. There’s more, just put your ear up to my ankle,” the man urged him.

    The doctor did as the man said and was blown away to hear his ankle plead, “Please, I just need 5 bucks. Lend me 5 bucks please if you can.”

    I have no idea what to tell you,” the doctor said. “There’s nothing about it in my books,” he said as he frantically searched all his medical reference books.

    “I can make a well educated guess though. Based on life and all my previous experience I can tell you that your leg seems to be broke in three places.”

  50. I re-watched Every Which Way but Loose last night having not seen it since I was more or less a kid. Clyde and Ma are still seriously fun to watch, but I think the love letter to the country western lifestyle aspects are lost on me any more.

    • “ This is yet more proof of the Internet Event Horizon, where what was widespread cultural knowledge in the mid-‘80s to mid-‘90s is lost behind a veil of ignorance because it happened before everything was put online but was too recent to record as nostalgia”

      – Tom Scocca

  51. Crap joke for the day:

    A cowboy, who just moved to Montana from Texas, walks into a bar and orders three mugs of Bud.

    He sits in the back of the room, drinking a sip out of each one in turn.

    When he finishes them, he comes back to the bar and orders three more.

    The bartender approaches and tells the cowboy,
    “You know, a mug goes flat after I draw it.

    It would taste better if you bought one at a time.”

    The cowboy replies, “Well, you see, I have two brothers.
    One is in Arizona, the other is in Colorado.

    When we all left our home in Texas, we promised that we’d drink this way to remember the days when we drank together.

    So I’m drinking one beer for each of my brothers and one for myself.”

    The bartender admits that this is a nice custom, and leaves it there.

    The cowboy becomes a regular in the bar, and always drinks the same way.
    He orders three mugs and drinks them in turn.

    One day, he comes in and only orders two mugs.
    All the regulars take notice and fall silent.

    When he comes back to the bar for the second round, the bartender says, “I don’t want to intrude on your grief, but I wanted to offer my
    condolences on your loss.”

    The cowboy looks quite puzzled for a moment, then a light dawns in his eyes and he laughs.

    “Oh, no, everybody’s just fine,” he explains.

    “It’s just that my wife and I joined the Baptist Church and I had to quit drinking.”

    “It hasn’t affected my brothers though.”

  52. Long story short: we said we’d take some friends to dinner to thank them for a favor. We had a great time with them tonight.

    But holy jeebus. . . They each ordered a bunch of mixed drinks, which brought the bill up to the price of a small Hawaiian. Island. I’m not mad at them at all, they didn’t take advantage of us, I’m just reeling from sticker shock.

  53. Crap joke for the dAy:

    A scotsman,an englishman,an irishman,a welshman,a latvian,a turk,an aussie,a yank,a kiwi,a springbok,an egyptian,a jap,a mexican,a spaniard, a greek,a russian,an estonian,an italian,a german,a pole,a lithuanian,a swede,a finn,an israeli,a romanian,a bulgarian,a serb,a czech,an austrian and a swiss ALL went to a nightclub…..the doorman said SORRY I cant let you in without a THAI…!!!!!!!.

  54. It took me along time to get through The Fifth Season, but I did. NK Jemisin is deserving of all her accolades, but goddamn, the last stretch of the book is brutal.

  55. Usually we get kids asking for bottles for their various activities all the time. We haven’t seen one in a month or more. How strange.
    I guess I’m off to the bottle depot as we are running out of space.

  56. I did try the new Moffat Dracula series on Netflix.

    A few decent things, but overall, the silly killed it (staked it?). I checked out after about an hour.

  57. I wish I hadn’t read the past few days’ articles about Covid-19 :-/

    “We want – and need – to hear advice like this:

    Try to get a few extra months’ worth of prescription meds, if possible.
    Think through now how we will take care of sick family members while trying not to get infected.
    Cross-train key staff at work so one person’s absence won’t derail our organization’s ability to function.
    Practice touching our faces less. So how about a face-counter app like the step-counters so many of us use?
    Replace handshakes with elbow-bumps (the “Ebola handshake”).
    Start building harm-reduction habits like pushing elevator buttons with a knuckle instead of a fingertip. ”

    https://virologydownunder.com/past-time-to-tell-the-public-it-will-probably-go-pandemic-and-we-should-all-prepare-now/ Read at the risk of your chill.

    • If that holds up, it would indeed be fantastic news. So far, I’m still pretty Meh on this new Picard show and I can’t say I’m terribly excited about Section 31, but I’d definitely keep the subscription going for Pike’s version of the Enterpise crew.

  58. I listen to lots of good and interesting music. . . . yet it’s the Twenty One Pilots from my daughter’s playlist that gets stuck in my head every day.

  59. Today’s movie is Dan Curtis’s Dracula
    The Prime write up: Jack Palance stars as Count Dracula in this newly restored and terrifying adaptation of Bram Stoker’s classic vampire legend

    With that, be prepared to be terrified

  60. Crap joke for the day:

    Miss Beatrice, the church organist, was in her eighties and had never been married.
    She was admired for sweetness and kindness to all.
    One afternoon the pastor came to call on her and she showed him into her quaint
    sitting room. She invited him to have a seat while she prepared tea.

    As he sat facing her old pump organ, the young minister noticed a cut-glass bowl
    sitting on top of it. The bowl was filled with water. In the water floated, of all things,
    a condom! When she returned with tea and scones, they began to chat.
    The pastor tried to stifle his curiosity about the bowl of water and its strange floater,
    but soon it got the better of him and he could no longer resist.
    “Miss Beatrice”, he said, “I wonder if you would tell me about this?”
    pointing to the bowl. “Oh, yes” she replied, “isn’t it wonderful?

    I was walking through the park a few months ago and I found this little package
    on the ground. The directions said to place it on the organ, keep it wet and that
    it would prevent the spread of disease. Do you know I haven’t had the flu all winter!”.

  61. Late night airport in Huston.
    To tired to spell it correctly.
    Only saw two people with face masks.

    Every time someone coughs it feels
    Like we’re in The Omega Man .

    • The face mask panic is interesting. The reports I’ve read have said that those are mainly recommended to be worn by those who get Covid-19, not by others to prevent catching the sickness.

  62. So started watching that 1977 Dracula tv series, then noticed that although the coach is travelling through green fields the view from the coach shows snow.

    Stopped watching.

  63. Hubby and I are thinking about getting a new love seat for the living room. Now furniture is all Amazon and Facebook are advertising to me

  64. We’re halfway through His Dark Materials on HBO. So far, pretty good! I’d never seen the movie or read the books (I recall that Joe Murphy was a fan). The setting has plenty of puzzling rules and aspects (I don’t quite get the relationships between people and daemons), but I’m down to see how it plays out.

    • “ After weeks of failing to catch the culprit, she called in an exterminator, who told her she was using the wrong bait for Cambridge’s rats, which prefer Dunkin’ Donuts pastries and Slim Jims, a dried-sausage snack, over the peanut butter-laced traps she was setting. ”

  65. Got my 2019 royalty statement for an anthology I was in years ago. 21 cents!!! With next year’s royalties, I plan to buy a pack of ramen.

  66. Stolen from FB
    Wash your hands like you convinced your husband to murder the rightful king and you can’t get the blood off.

  67. So Disney are doing a offer that if you pay up front for a year you save 20 quid on Disney+

    So my question to you North American’s who signed up for Disney+ is do you think it was worth it?

    • Not really for us. We paid for a year and hardly use it. We’ve watched The Mandalorian and Duck Tails. Unless they come out with awesome new content, we’ll probably drop it when our year is up

      • I’ve only watched The Mandalorian, a couple of Marvel movies, and The Black Hole. But there are things coming up that I’m eager to see: mainly the Marvel and Star Wars series. And my household watches other stuff on it. It’s worth it for the low intro rate we got. Nothing beyond that.

    • We did the three year deal (and I think we’re also getting a year from Verizon on top of that).

      Mandalorian was excellent…Clone Wars so far has been a bit underwhelming.

      I like having all the Star Wars and Marvel (well almost all the Marvel) content available, but I haven’t taken great advantage yet with all the first run content I’m trying to keep up with.

      I’m sure I’d get more out of it with younger kids…but that ain’t happening again.

    • Thanks for all of that info, guys. And Bunny, I certainly hope that this is among the safest places on the internet to ask sensitive politically-adjacent questions.

  68. I have a Covid-19 question for our US Pannites. I don’t mean this as a knock or snark, or in any other way, so if it comes off that way, I apologize.

    I heard on our CDN news that, because the US does not have free healthcare, there might be a higher than average transmission (and possible death) as not everybody will be able to afford to get proper treatment.
    My question is, is at least the testing (kits) covered or do people have to pay for that too?
    If you can’t afford to get tested, how can you know what you have?

    • My understanding is the CDC is distributing the kits to the state level; they aren’t in the hands of private companies, afaik. I have no idea if hospitals will charge to have the test sent to those testing labs.

    • My understanding is that no individual gets to “ask” to be tested.
      If you get sick and go to your doctor (or the ER if you don’t have a doctor) they will asses you and it has to escalate up a chain of command until a hospital doctor passes tour case to the cdc and they say you match their risk factors and THEY authorize the official test.

      All that being said … if you have no insurance and feel sick, you just tough it out (including you continue to go to work because you have bills to pay) until someone around you decides you need to go to the hospital … until then you were exposing everyone you came in contact with.
      So yes … lack of universal health care will make the spread of this worse.

  69. BTW – The “must meet the profile” threshold is why there have now been several cases where a person had been in the hospital for days before they were even tested. Initially, regardless if symptoms, if you hadn’t just been to China OR knowingly been around someone who had just returned from there, they didn’t test these hospitalized people.

    (I get most of my info from NPR or BBC.)

  70. So I just saw this on Twitter … so take with a LOT of skepticism… but it matches the NPR report.
    +++++++++++++++
    Matt McCarthy, physician, NY-Presbyterian

    “I’m here to tell you, right now, at one of the busiest hospitals in the country…I still have to make my case, plead to test people. “

    There are 88 KNOWN cases of novel Corona in the US.

    Incubation 2-14 days.
    ++++++++++++++

  71. This makes no sense as a response to Van’s Donie Darko comment. Better here:

    Thanks for all of that info, guys. And Bunny, I certainly hope that this is among the safest places on the internet to ask sensitive politically-adjacent questions.

  72. My simplistic rant on all of it (details may be wrong, but the thesis is not wrong):

    The response to so many crises in America is: “There’s not enough money, not enough resources.” Social systems and court systems for kids and people in crisis are backlogged, overloaded, and mostly incompetent. Libraries, schools, hospitals, national parks, arts endowments, (non-private) prisons, non-profits, the CDC, FDA, etc. – – all of these things operate with skeleton crews and non-existent budgets, to the detriment of our society and its betterment.

    And why? Why is there no money for these important things? Why do we suffer? Our country is a wealthy superpower, so the funds are there – – where is all that needed money going? Answer: the money is going into the wallets (i.e., non-taxable portfolios) of the top 1% on the wealth chart. And it’s not being taxed or redistributed or significantly reinvested in our social systems, it’s just being hoarded, Smaug-like.

    For the past 40 years, the US’s main objective has been to funnel all of the money to the richest people. The money is going away from where it’s most-needed, and ending up where it’s least-needed.

  73. I seen many comments on twitter that the US healthcare system will encourage poor people to go into work sick. No argument on that but even with the NHS people go to work sick and send their children ill to school.

    So basically human nature suggest Covid-19 is going to fuck up a lot of people and cause chaos.

    • I disagree with your “human nature” assessment. While it may be partial true, it’s more that people feel they *have to* go to work. In Poland, for instance, if you are sick, you are required to take the week off. People are fine with that policy because you are not “punished” at work for following it. In the US, however, there are companies that write up employees that are sick beyond a couple of days, even when they take time off. Sometimes you don’t even have the time off due to how things are structured at work. So, yeah… lots of people go into work sick because they feel they don’t have a choice.

      Here’s a true story that I personally experienced: One of our VPs at a previous job berated the engineers for going to the bathroom. He felt we were going unnecessarily even though a lot of us drank a huge amount of coffee to get through the crap planning and work schedules. And this behavior from managers and executives is not all that uncommon.

      • I think you guys are saying a very similar thing. The US healthcare system is just one of the factors that frightens people into going work when they’re sick. Just bad cultural programming and incentives.

  74. Soooo….. 4 episodes into ST: Disco season 2, and it’s been a huge letdown so far. I’m sorta curious to get past all this nonsense to the Spock storyline, but you know me. . . I’m the runaway bride when TV shows are bad.

    No spoilers, but does this season get back on the ball? Remember that I loved season 1.

  75. I have another US politics question.

    Both Pete and Amy stepped down and backed Biden. The both had some delegates from previous primaries and caucuses. Since they are now backing Biden, do their delegates then go to Biden or are they just lost in the wind?

    Sorry, I can’t learn if I don’t ask.

    • In the lunch room at work today conversation progressed from politics to rap music. I would say from bad to worse, but really it would have been from worse to bad. Either way, it sucked.

      • Was the second part of the discussion in Autotuned rappers? Because that would have been grounds for calling HR.

        My cubicle neighbors moved on to drinking stories.

  76. What I learnt today:

    You might get called out by calling your character Tiffany if your work has a medieval setting. Be accused of using a modern name.

    But your accuser would be spouting bollox as Tiffany was a quite common name in medieval times.

    • Yes. I am through Giving Sonos any of my money. Their products and brought me a great deal of joy over the years but randomly bricking something that is working 100% fine for me feels as though someone walked into my house with a sledgehammer and just randomly started smashing stuff they sold me.

      Given their view on this… only a fool would spend hundreds of dollars on equipment Sonos can just brick at their whim.

  77. So tonight watched Superman:Red Son, which I enjoyed but looks like they made some major plot changes to the comics so consider yourself warned!

    Also watched the first episode of the new Amazing Stories on Apple+, a rather silly time travel story that was well done.

    • I remember enjoying the book, but it’s been awhile. I wasn’t aware it had been turned into an animated film (but of course it has).

  78. Somehow I had made it this far in life without having seen the one James Bond film staring George Lazenby. My god it was awful.

    I can see why Lazenby only had one outing as Bond, though I don’t really blame him. Diana Rigg’s abilities were also terribly wasted.

    No, directing, writing, cinematography, choreography, and editing all combined to make this an epicly painful experience.

  79. We did complete our Marvel full viewing (as of March 2020, skipping The Incredible Hulk and one of the Thor movies) last night with Spider-Man: Far From Home.

    A second viewing just reinforced that this moive ain’t all that good. It’s OK, and there are handful of really really good moments – – and it’s the closest any movie has come to the cheesy flappy Spider-Man storylines of the way past – – but there are also a bunch of scenes that should have been cut – – or redone. It’s broken in a lot of ways. And as far as they go to explain the premise, it still feels forced.

    Don’t @ me. It’s not bad, just not up to MCU par.

  80. Speaking of nostalgia and absurdity. . .

    Cartoon Network apparently ran this surreal insanity in the middle of their late night infomercials to see who would notice it. . . and people did. If you’ve never seen “Too Many Cooks,” then take this weird journey. It’s important that you stick with it through the entire 11 minutes. Don’t bail out early.
    ,
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QrGrOK8oZG8

    The backstory:
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Too_Many_Cooks_(short)

    (I heard about it from Charlie the Beer Guy back in 2014, and I’m sure I shared it here then)

  81. Talking of a Telly Savalas, today going to rewatch Capricorn One, a great conspiracy thriller from the late 70s.

    Rather eclipsed by Star Wars at the time, but a film well worth a watch.

    It’s Josh Brolin’s Dad in it as well..

  82. This makes 2 out of 3 years that my taxes have been a bloodbath, since the orange traitor took office. Sure, maybe it’s a coincidence, but I’ve never been this brutalized in the past.

  83. I talked to Michael Alago this morning. Fascinating guy!

    If you’re curious, he’s the subject of the documentary, “Who the Fuck is That Guy?” (actual name) on Netflix.

      • I gave up on it a few eps into season 2.
        It’s utter futile and hopelessness was not entertaining. too much like watching the news.

      • We just recently finished binging the first two seasons. Happy to hear that there will be a concluding season for the story.

        Admittedly, with the premise being “Lost…in space” you’ve pretty much got to be regularly thwarted from getting to where you want to go. So, it’s a concept that can’t drag on for 10 seasons.

        Still, we really enjoy the family dynamic and Molly Parker and Parker Posey are just fantastic. If this weren’t a Sci-Fi show, those two should be top nominations for whatever the awards are for television.

        • Honestly, it is one of the best made, written, acted shows I have ever had trouble liking.
          I know they are lost and that Dr Smith is despicable but I think I needed them to throw me a few more small “wins” along the way.

  84. Morning Pan
    My Boo is back in her house. She’s coming over later today to take away some of my furniture. I guess John and I should really get to a store since we won’t have any living room furniture after today.

    • Yes, even with all it’s faults, I hung on to my iPod for a very long time.

      One things that streaming services can’t seem to handle well though it any form of smart playlists. I had several built in Itunes to do things like kick a song out of the playlist for six months after I had listened to it so I could continue to visit songs I hadn’t heard in a while instead of the same songs over and over.

      I feel like my relationship to music has become a lot more transnational with streaming compared to the connection I had with my curated playlists on my Ipod.

      • Well, I bought it to listen to music and it is STILL performing that function this many years later so I guess it lived up to its hype.
        As for cost, I don’t remember what I paid for it but divide that number by the number of days I have owned it and I guess it has been a pretty good investment.

        • Mine is a little twitchy these days, but still mostly functional after 10 years of heavy use. Also: it was $125 when I bought it.

          I bought my first in 2006 for $300, which I agree is and was too expensive.

  85. Just canceled my hotel room in Birmingham , AL
    I was going there to watch the NCAA D2 Indoor Track and Field championship. I had really been worried about it but it seems the NCAA has (thankfully) taken that decision out of my hands.

    • Wow. They canceled the Track Championships this afternoon. I don’t question the move but still feel crushed for those kids, especially the Seniors who have worked hard, some for a decade, to get to the championships and then have the universe give them the finger.

      Now they are talking about eliminating the entire outdoor track season for colleges. This is just heartbreaking.

      I don’t know if it could have all been prevented, had we had a fully funded CDC and infectious diseases group in place – who back in January when China first reported this, had kicked into high gear. Screening incoming people, getting test kits ready … I don’t know if that could have kept us from shutting the country down.
      I guess we will never know.

  86. Another disturbing observation.
    There is no evidence that the federal government is in control of the situation. All of these closings and season ending decisions AREN’T being made because a task force called together the NCAA in the NHL in the NBA and said, hey for the safety of America can you please shut these down. There’s been absolutely no guidance like that from our federal government. All these individual agencies finally stepped up on their own and said somebody’s got to do something. There is no one flying the plane.

    • Yeah, we haven’t had any adults in charge since 2016. I don’t think even a competent administration could have prevented the need to shut down major events, but a competent administration would not have gutted the CDC, and we’d have a proper national medical response in place.

      I do hope that even ONE of his apologists realizes now just how dangerous it is to have a govt whose only person is to shovel money at billionaires.

  87. Don’t forget to walk under a ladder, break a mirror, and hug a black cat today.
    I plan to do one of those on this Friday the thirteenth;)

  88. So the U.K. government’s plan is for 40 million people to get infected with Covid-19 to build up
    Herd immunity and everybody who dies in this process an acceptable loss.

    So yeah, UK now a dystopia with Wifi.

    • No surprise, but disappointing, that some will believe that is a good approach. I think it is ridiculously naive, but not a surprise.

    • The extremely cynical side of me has considered the possibility that the same groups that wish to suppress minority voters would want a slow response to the virus, for obvious reasons.

  89. Over 20 years ago, I read “The Coming Plague” by Laurie Garrett. It was very eye-opening. And despite the flaws of the book, it laid bare how unprepared the world would be for a massive outbreak of a new disease. Sad to see that it has come true, but no one listens to Cassandra anyway.

  90. As I’ve said elsewhere to those downplaying the 3% rate:

    Would you drive down a street where you had a 3% chance of being in an accident?

    • Also – that is 3% Based on all those who get infected receiving medical care.

      If the infection peaks during a 2 or 3 week period, the hospitals simply would not Have the beds, equipment or personnel to handle the load.
      Untreated, the death rate for the worse cases will skyrocket!

  91. Back in 2004-ish, I was a panelist for a “How will the world end?” discussion. Other authors cited random meteors, nuclear war, overpopulation, etc. I’d said it would be a pandemic.

    This isn’t that. If we’re smart, we’ll treat it as a dress rehearsal. (Spoiler: were not smart)

    This is a bad, bad, scary bug, which needs to be taken seriously, but our incompetent and Ill-prepared governments have exacerbated the problem. Opportunist disinformation from “news” outlets – scaremongering or the dismissive opposite- have also hurt.

    • “medical emergencies and death” are mandatory coverage here. There are times when I’m glad I live in a “socialist” country.

  92. Watched this tonight:

    https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Love_(2019_film)

    A plan to frame a drug addicted prostitute goes terribly wrong when a young boxer intervenes to help her.

    Really enjoyed it.

    One of the actors in the film (Becky is her stage name) suffered a setback in her career when it was discovered she was having an affair with a married man. Can you imagine that happening these days in the US or UK?

  93. So… completely unrelated to COVID-19, I took the Methacholine Challenge Test today for lungs, and if it were possible to get an F, I would have. The guy said he’d never seen numbers that bad.

    I’m not sure yet what this means. I’m told that while it isn’t good, it’s not the worst thing that came to my mind. I’ll learn more soon. I kinda think I’ve been just dealing with this shit for years, not knowing.
    And what timing!

    I usually don’t share this kind of thing publicly, but it’s been that kinda week.

  94. Crap joke for the day:

    My wife and I went to the auction in Paris Kentucky the other week and one of the first exhibits we stopped at was the breeding bulls. We went up to the first pen and there was a sign attached that said,

    ‘THIS BULL MATED 50 TIMES LAST YEAR’

    My wife playfully nudged me in the ribs ……smiled and said, ‘He mated 50 times last year, that’s almost once a week.’

    We walked to the second pen which had a sign attached that said,
    ”THIS BULL MATED 150 TIMES LAST YEAR’

    My wife gave me a healthy jab and said, ‘WOW~~That’s more than twice a week ! ………..You could learn a lot from him.’

    We walked to the third pen and it had a sign attached that said, in capital letters,
    ‘THIS BULL MATED 365 TIMES LAST YEAR

    ‘My wife was so excited that her elbow nearly broke my ribs, and said,
    ‘That’s once a day ..You could REALLY learn something from this one.’

    I looked at her and said,
    ‘Go over and ask him if every time was with the same old cow.’

    My condition has been upgraded from critical to stable and I should eventually make a full recovery.

  95. It’s official, schools are closed in Alberta.
    Staff are still expected to go in, at least for this week before spring break. If for no other reason then to tell parents that bring their kids to go home.
    Not really surprised. In a school of 500 kids, hubby had 199 absences on Friday. Not because kids were sick, but because parents were afraid to send their kids to school in case they caught something.

      • I’m not sure. I guess we’re less likely to get anything? Of the two of us, it would affect me more than John as I have “pre-existing conditions”. Since I work from home anyway, it doesn’t really affect me.
        There was only one week 7ntil spring break but the Alta government fully expect schools to be closed until September
        Spring break is in a week so the school system has some time to figure out what to do in the mean time.
        Regardless, school staff re expected to work I. Some capacity in this week

      • Meh.
        Within minutes of the announcement hubby’s email blew up with staff wanting to know what’s next. To me he was “Good God people, take a breath. We all heard the news at the same time. Give central office a moment to compose something official.”
        Within half an hour central sent out something official with what was expected of the staff in this last week before spring break. Hubby was still getting emails all the way until we went to bed.
        It will be interesting to see what parents do. Daycares are all closed too and, shortly after the announcement, City of Calgary declared an emergency and closed all public places. This includes pools, libraries, and such. Kids, and their parents are going to go crazy.

  96. In a note of goodness…. I opened a box in the closet and found my old Kenner C-3P0 from 1978 – – the sole survivor of my childhood action figures.

    The littlest one was absolutely transfixed with him.

    I can’t imagine he’ll remain fully intact, but that’s fine. It brought immeasurable joy to my heart to share that ancient action figure with her, and to see her so fascinated with him.

  97. Morning Pan
    We watched Frozen 2 last night. In a one-off statement, Olaf said turtles can breath out their butts. I decided to look it up and found it was true. My mind was blown just a little bit.

  98. Went and did our normal Sunday grocery shopping yesterday.
    I can see the store being out of hand sanitizers and wipe (which I didn’t need)
    Bathroom tissue is still a head scratcher to me (also didn’t need)
    But why was the store completely out of chicken and mushrooms? In either bulk or prepackaged, there wasn’t a mushroom anywhere in the store.
    How am I suppose to make stroganoff tonight?

  99. Went and did our normal Sunday grocery shopping yesterday.
    I can see the store being out of hand sanitizers and wipe (which I didn’t need)
    Bathroom tissue is still a head scratcher to me (also didn’t need)
    But why was the store completely out of chicken and mushrooms? In either bulk or prepackaged, there wasn’t a mushroom anywhere in the store.
    How am I suppose to make stroganoff tonight?

  100. BTW, I severed my FB connections with 2 different people yesterday, who were apparently(?) relaying QAnon(?) conspiracy bullshit. I won’t repeat the full insanity – – just that there was something about Tom Hanks being a pedophile and about trump’s heroism.

    It would seem that the whacks are going to kick into overdrive, during this crisis.

  101. I just read yet another statement from yet another government official whose former department could have greatly combated the spread and casualties of COVID-19. . . had their department not been dissolved by the great orange dipshit.

    Was gonna post it here, but I won’t.

    It is abundantly clear by now. . . ok, isn’t. . . but should be. . . abundantly clear to everyone that trump and all of his lickspittles are unfit to make PB&J sandwiches properly, let alone run anything with real responsibilities. You guys can post whatever anti- or pro- trump articles you like, re: COVID-19, but I’m going to lay off that stuff for awhile, because it’s more frustrating than useful. I’ll try to only post articles with useful info, or the Deadpan usual: fun, quirky, smart, intriguing, helpful, need-to-know, etc. DPITMFW

  102. Friend tonight had an attack of the sneeze on the train on the way home. Several
    People moved down the train to get away from him.

  103. Why did hubby work later yesterday, with no kids, than on a regular day when there are kids at school?

    On an up note, hubby doesn’t have a council meeting tonight so will be home for supper.

  104. Since I’ve already dropped the personal info. . . . My in-person follow-up with my pulmonary doc was cancelled (understandable); I was told I’d get a call today. Radio silence all day. At 3pm, I finally called, got vague “yeah, take some more tests next month, see ya!” answers for one of the doc’s MAs. . . So when I said, “Hold on a second,” the doc added, “Oh yeah, you had viral pneumonia. bye!”

    So I had to insist that the doc call me back herself. They reluctantly agreed, though possibly just to get me off the phone. I hope I get better answers when/if the actual doctor calls.

  105. I am safely secured in my house with at least weeks worth of supplies, tons of entertainment and house projects to do and with a thorough knowledge of all of my local health assets. If I don’t already have IT I should easily be able to avoid IT for at least week.
    Except my family had decided we are going to drive 6 hrs to the beach. Where resources are scarce (and their source unknown) and we will be around people who have traveled from all parts of the country (world). A giant Petri dish. We can’t possibly take even a weeks worth of provisions which mean trips to stores and I KNOW the youngsters won’t stay off the beach where they will mingle with unknown vectors and if the pick something up, will come back to where I am sequestered and give it to me.
    They are young and invincible and I am just the spoil sport for saying anything negative about their plan.
    Frankly, I am very hurt. They’re focused on their good time and seem to care less that I feel I am gambling with my life. No mater how much I show them that EVERYTHING says to stay home for at least another 7-14 days, they don’t care. 🙁

  106. Spotted on the internets, in response to the airlines requesting a 50 billion bailout:

    “If I were a giant airline going bankrupt, I would just stop getting a latte at Starbucks every day.”

  107. Speaking of gaming, I was gathering all of my board games to take with me on my decent into madness … and it occurred to me that sitting face to face around a table, handling the same game pieces, tokens, die might not be the best idea in these trying times.
    Games we can play at a distance?

    Simone says.

    • SpaceTeam for the phones is hecka fun. Everyone does need to be within shouting distance, though, and on the same Wi-Fi.

      I mean, the point of boards games is togetherness…

  108. I don’t know if any of you use WhatsApp or Zoom for conference calls, but maybe have a group chat sometime to have a chat and see how everybody is doing.

    Just a thought.

    • I like it! I’ve used WhatsApp in the past, and have currently been using good old Discord to chat with the Am I Evil? team, since we’re all international.

  109. That’s it! I’m taking today and tomorrow off.
    I have planets to explore.
    CP: Outer Worlds

    (this is not as bad on my part as it seems as my boss now has an eight year old stuck at home so work has slowed down significantly)

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