In the US:
“A racist post” didn’t change anything. They’re looking at the Republicans getting thoroughly trounced in every election and they’re worried about their chances in the midterms.
This is just them taking something that isn’t going to affect any policy at all and mildly complaining about it. They’ll each do this with a few more non-mattering things this year, then go back to their constituents and proudly proclaim a weird mix of “See, I stood up to Trump, I’m independent, not part of the political establishment” as well as “I’ve been around enough to know the ropes and have connections, so you can trust me to get things done for you!”
Sadly, it’ll work on the Facebook / Faux “News” crowd.
I’d put the items in the chamber, turn on the light, and close the lid. After 15 minutes, the side facing the light would be fully decontaminated; I’d take them out, put them clean-side down on a sterile counter, throw out the plastic wrap that was on top of the tin foil, remove my gloves, scrub my hands, put on new gloves, put down fresh plastic, and put the items back in the chamber with a potentially contaminated side up, remove my gloves, close the chamber, set it to run another 15 minutes, scrub my hands, sterilize the counter where I’d put the item(s) down, then scrub my hands again. After doing all “six” sides, I deemed the item(s) sufficiently decontaminated and moved them to a “mostly sterile” section. If you’re keeping track, it took about 2 hours for each set of things to go through UV-C decontamination, so it was slow! Once all the UV-C decontamination was done, I’d wipe down the tin foil with Lysol wipes, let it dry, then put down a fresh layer of plastic wrap, ready for next time.
Once all the items were decontaminated, I’d scrub down the “hot zone” counter. Then I’d scrub my hands again and change my shirt and gloves, put on fresh sneakers, then I’d get out fresh bags and, using the lists on the fridge, re-pack the items per-person.
As mentioned, aside from myself, I was handling buying stuff for my sister and two other friends. I’d pack up everything going to one person and put it in the back seat of my car: the trunk was the “hot zone”; the front seat was the “I’m potentially infected” zone; and the rear seat was the clean zone. Whenever I was in the car, I’d open the front passenger-side window, and the rear driver-side window; this created a natural “wind” barrier between myself and the items in the back seat, to minimize the risk of my accidentally reinfecting the items. I’d also wear a mask and gloves, to be careful; I didn’t want to infect and potentially kill someone I cared about.
I’d go to my friend’s place / my sister’s place and drop everything off six feet from their front door, and stand back while they brought everything inside.
Then I’d go home, disinfect car doors, keys and doorknobs, leave my shoes outside, strip off my clothes directly into the washer, scrub my hands, start the laundry, take a shower, put on fresh clothesc and yet another pair of shoes, and drop off stuff to the second person. Then home again, more disinfecting, another change of clothes and shoes, another shower, and the final drop-off. Then home, * more* disinfecting, another change of clothes, and another shower.
Honestly? It was fucking exhausting. I was so glad when they decided fomite transmission wasn’t the big risk they’d thought it was!
I started hearing about covid on reddit back in December 2019. In another life, I worked at FDA and what I was hearing really scared me: my sister was immunocompromised, and I was terrified she’d contract the virus and die. So when I talk about what I was doing, recognize that we had to be taking extreme precautions, to avoid my sister getting infected by this virus that would kill her and that no one knew how to treat. Because of her health, we absolutely had to be a couple weeks ahead of whatever precautions were being taken by everyone else, and we took extreme precautions during the early months of the pandemic.
In a way being ahead of the curve was nice - everything we needed was easily available. But we were operating ahead of official advice, so we had to figure out our mitigation strategies ourselves. I bought a lot of stuff: N95 and surgical masks, surgical gloves, hand sanitizer, bleach, Lysol wipes, UV-C lights, copper foil, garbage bags, plastic wrap, medication for any ailment I could think of, extra prescription medications in case of supply chain issues, pulse oximeters, blood pressure cuffs, overfilled my pantry with various staples, etc.
You mentioned handling groceries. In the very early days, when they were really worked about fomite transmission, I was the “outside contact” for my sister and a couple other friends with health issues. When someone needed something we didn’t have, I’d collect lists of whatever anyone needed from that store. I’d make two versions of the list: one master list for when I was in the store, and a separate per-person list that was stuck to the refrigerator for later reference.
I’d wear a long-sleeved shirt, long pants, surgical gloves, an N95 mask, then a surgical mask over top of the N95 to help filter out larger particles and extend the life of my N95 masks [more on supplies later]. I’d go to the store, buy whatever we needed, and put it in the trunk of the car: the trunk was the hot zone, where all the non-sterile stuff went. I’d open the car door, use the hand sanitizer to clean the trunk and car door handles and my car keys, then remove my gloves and toss them in a garbage bag the trunk as well. I’d take off my masks and put on a fresh surgical mask.
I’d get home, put on fresh gloves, prop open the doors, disinfect the handles, leave my shoes outside the front door, and bring all the bags into the kitchen; everything got piled into one section I’d taped off on the floor that I called the hot zone. Once everything was inside, I hung the used masks on a pole across the ceiling of the utility room, disinfected the trunk and car door handles again, along with my keys and the steering wheel, and disinfected the knobs on the front door.
I went into the utility room, removed my gloves and scrubbed my hands and forearms like a surgeon. Then I stripped my clothes off directly into the washer, scrubbed my hands again, and disinfected the outside of the washer. At this point, the only contaminated stuff should be the items I’d just bought - and myself. I brushed my teeth, used a disinfectant mouthwash, took a shower and scrubbed thoroughly.
I put on another mask, got dressed into another long-sleeved shirt and surgical gloves, and de-bagged everything I’d bought onto the counter in the hot zone - being very careful not to step onto floor in the taped-off “hot zone”. The empty bags went into the garbage out back, I changed my gloves, the doorknobs were decontaminated, and I mopped the floor with bleach, then removed the gloves and scrubbed my hands again. Now the only potentially contaminated stuff was on the hot zone counter.
I put on fresh gloves, and started disinfecting whatever we’d just bought. If it had a plastic covering, was a jar or can, it got washed with disinfectant. If it was cardboard, it got wiped down or scrubbed with Lysol wipes. Once something was clean, it got moved to the clean zone.
Odd-shaped items were an issue - think things like broccoli. I’d finish the all regular cans and boxes, take off my gloves and shirt, scrub my hands and arms, put on a new long-sleeved shirt and fresh gloves, and bring the odd-shaped items into the UV-C “chamber”. This was a large shelf that I’d lined in all directions with tin foil, with plastic wrap on top of that, that had a UV-C light strung across the top. [I don’t remember the specific technical details, but I remember obsessing and making sure I was buying a light in the correct range to kill viruses and stuff.] [Continued next comment]
Well, first off, “talk to me” is different than “talk with me”. Like, if I’ve done something wrong, or something is changing, or whatever, that’s a “talk to me” talk. That’s a power dynamic talk, something I’ll have little control over: we’re moving, you need to keep up with your share of the housework, whatever.
“Talk with me” talks are just like social things, keeping in touch with each other, how you’re doing, what you’re up to, etc. We share back and forth whatever’s on our minds - this project or problem at work, what trips or events I’ve been to recently or are planning on going to, what I’ve been reading/watching and what those things made me think/feel and whether she might enjoy it, news articles or information I’ve run across that she might be interested in or need to know, thoughts and feelings about current events, maybe a concern or an accomplishment about a friend, etc.
Usual stuff re: food banks, community pantries, etc. However -
I’ve been a member of Community Supported Agriculture farms for a couple decades now. People pay at the start of the year to buy a share of the farm’s produce over the growing season, and the farmer operates secure in the knowledge that his farm isn’t dependent on banks or a good harvest. CSA members usually get about 3/4 of a bushel per week, plus pick-your-own.
I’m bringing this up because some CSAs offer work shares, and this would be the right time if year to apply for one. It’s a small commitment of hours each week, say, 4-5 hours a week over the course of the season, and you get a full share of the produce to take home. I don’t know if a work-share CSA exists in your area, it if you’d be willing to do it, but it can supply a pretty decent percentage of your food if it’s something you’re interested in, especially if you make and freeze dishes or ingredients, or can, pickle or dehydrate produce.
SC®OTUS does not up operate in good faith.
He is so fucking pissed he wasn’t born in this country.
One of his 
“defending” him, lol.
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The thing is, the longer you’re out of work, the more they pressure you to apply for jobs outside your regular qualifications. It may be unthinkable to you now, but: rise of misogynist techbros, AI programming “matching” candidates to openings (with all the inbuilt biases and hallucinations that come with that), AI and unthinking automation in government services, cutbacks and deliberately programming for frustration in customer service - I can definitely envision people on unemployment being encouraged to work as a prostitute.
think it should be legal, properly regulated, taxed and viewed as a profession.
A hesitant yes to this. I have two main concerns (I’m in the US). First is that protection for the workers should be paramount, and I’m not sure how that gets enforced with all the corporate fuckery that goes on. I’d give it perhaps three seconds before someone Ubers the idea, making everyone on their list an “independent contractor” and enshittifying the entire thing.
My second concern is that “game of telephone” story several years ago. Someone pointed out that in Germany, job agencies could technically require women on unemployment to apply for jobs in brothels. Again, with the current state of things, with red-pilled incels on the rise and fringe elements suggesting the government should assign them a girlfriend, I’m not sure this is something I would feel safe implementing at this time.
I thought of that, but he really wants it on the Mall itself.
I think Trump is shutting it down to prevent more stories of how quickly he’s ruined this institution for the arts.
Well, there’s that. Plus he fucking hates the OG Kennedys and how revered they are. Plus now he gets to destroy the building and grift the rebuilding. He sees it as all wins.
The team in the operating room found themselves having to extract a “collectible shell nearly 20 centimetres long” (nearly eight inches).
Per Wikipedia:
Authorized by the National Cultural Center Act of 1958, which requires that its programming be sustained through private funds, the center represents a public–private partnership.
So it sounds like the government pays for building maintenance, and donors pay for programming.
I remember reading a ?WaPo article saying that attendance was down to about 57%, with almost half the seats unfilled. And that was just from Trump taking control of the board, before the renaming. And that attendance was that low, despite staff having access to an unprecedented number of free tickets for family and friends and other giveaways. The article said that staff would close off the upper levels and relocate people to disguise half-filled houses, and that attendees were repeatedly encouraged to move closer to the stage.
And of course, since he stuck his name on it, things have only gotten worse, with many artists cancelling their performances. I suspect the closure is petty retaliation for all the artist cancellations.
Having read the announcement, it also sounds like he’s planning on tearing down the entire thing, and putting something hideous in it’s place. I’ve been there and the Kennedy Center has a quiet elegance; I have no doubt that anytime this uncultured bore makes will be tasteless, flashy, and built to the cheapest possible standards.
Is that per month or per week? Unless you work in a restaurant, have your own (large-ish) garden, or have chickens or something, I’m not sure how anyone in the West lives on $35 a month without living on ramen, rice and beans.
one doesn’t have to be a physician to conclude that a person can’t get skull fractures on both the right and left sides of their head and from front to back by running themselves into a wall
I … kinda like it? It tastes fine to me. I mean, I wouldn’t drink a glass of it, but a bit, yeah certainly
I’d much rather he spent some time inside a prison for his crimes.