Coronavirus thread

Started by JBS, March 12, 2020, 07:03:50 PM

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j winter

Quote from: Mandryka on March 25, 2020, 01:00:31 AM
A LETTER FROM F. SCOTT FITZGERALD, QUARANTINED IN 1920 IN THE SOUTH OF FRANCE DURING THE SPANISH INFLUENZA OUTBREAK.

Dearest Rosemary,

It was a limpid dreary day, hung as in a basket from a single dull star. I thank you for your letter. Outside, I perceive what may be a collection of fallen leaves tussling against a trash can. It rings like jazz to my ears. The streets are that empty. It seems as though the bulk of the city has retreated to their quarters, rightfully so. At this time, it seems very poignant to avoid all public spaces. Even the bars, as I told Hemingway, but to that he punched me in the stomach, to which I asked if he had washed his hands. He hadn't. He is much the denier, that one. Why, he considers the virus to be just influenza. I'm curious of his sources.

The officials have alerted us to ensure we have a month's worth of necessities. Zelda and I have stocked up on red wine, whiskey, rum, vermouth, absinthe, white wine, sherry, gin, and lord, if we need it, brandy. Please pray for us.

You should see the square, oh, it is terrible. I weep for the damned eventualities this future brings. The long afternoons rolling forward slowly on the ever-slick bottomless highball. Z. says it's no excuse to drink, but I just can't seem to steady my hand. In the distance, from my brooding perch, the shoreline is cloaked in a dull haze where I can discern an unremitting penance that has been heading this way for a long, long while. And yet, amongst the cracked cloudline of an evening's cast, I focus on a single strain of light, calling me forth to believe in a better morrow.

Faithfully yours,

F. Scott Fitzgerald

Great stuff... thanks for posting it
The man that hath no music in himself,
Nor is not moved with concord of sweet sounds,
Is fit for treasons, stratagems, and spoils.
The motions of his spirit are dull as night,
And his affections dark as Erebus.
Let no such man be trusted.

-- William Shakespeare, The Merchant of Venice

Mahlerian

Quote from: greg on March 24, 2020, 09:18:46 PM
We're talking about the CCP, the deadly sin of Pride incarnate?
Not to mention the hug a Chinese campaign in Italy orchestrated by them?

It's all unlikely, for sure, that everything is a big calculated scheme, but if it were, would anyone really be surprised considering who we're talking about?

Yes, because it would be absolutely idiotic for them to kill thousands of their own people and damage their own reputation among their citizens for the sake of possibly harming the US and potentially getting them to retaliate.

Conspiracy theories generally only make sense if you assume that there must be some kind of conspiracy.
"l do not consider my music as atonal, but rather as non-tonal. I feel the unity of all keys. Atonal music by modern composers admits of no key at all, no feeling of any definite center." - Arnold Schoenberg

j winter

Quote from: Pohjolas Daughter on March 25, 2020, 03:47:25 AM
I need to get back to working in my garden.  I did find out the other day that until further notice, the town's area that I bring my yard wasted too is closed 'til further notice.  I did recently resurrect my leaf mulch pile (with the help of a neighbor put the fencing back up) and used my lawnmower to break down a lot of leaves.  Branches will have to go into another pile for the time being though.

Enjoy the peace!   :)

Best wishes,

PD

I've been eyeing the steadily growing grass in the front yard for several days (indeed Spring waits for no virus), and trying to decide whether to get some exercise or to introduce my two teenagers to the fine and ancient art of lawn mowing.  The more I consider it, the more I think that I should not be selfish -- who am I to deny the yardcare wisdom of the ages to the younger generation?  In times of trial, it falls to we elders to pass on what we have learned...  ;D
The man that hath no music in himself,
Nor is not moved with concord of sweet sounds,
Is fit for treasons, stratagems, and spoils.
The motions of his spirit are dull as night,
And his affections dark as Erebus.
Let no such man be trusted.

-- William Shakespeare, The Merchant of Venice

Pohjolas Daughter

Quote from: j winter on March 25, 2020, 05:26:10 AM
Great stuff... thanks for posting it
+1  Poignant with a touch of humor. 
Pohjolas Daughter

Pohjolas Daughter

Quote from: j winter on March 25, 2020, 05:32:40 AM
I've been eyeing the steadily growing grass in the front yard for several days (indeed Spring waits for no virus), and trying to decide whether to get some exercise or to introduce my two teenagers to the fine and ancient art of lawn mowing.  The more I consider it, the more I think that I should not be selfish -- who am I to deny the yardcare wisdom of the ages to the younger generation?  In times of trial, it falls to we elders to pass on what we have learned...  ;D
;D Go for it!
Pohjolas Daughter

Kaga2

Quote from: Mahlerian on March 25, 2020, 05:30:47 AM
Yes, because it would be absolutely idiotic for them to kill thousands of their own people and damage their own reputation among their citizens ...
I don't know how old you are. During my lifetime the CCP starved 30 million of its own people. I don't believe the virus was a plot. I won't credit the motives of the CCP either.

drogulus

Quote from: Kaga2 on March 25, 2020, 06:09:06 AM
I won't credit the motives of the CCP either.

     The Chinese government denied the reality of the virus because that's what authoritarians always do. For an aspiring authoritarian Trump was extremely stupid to believe them. He should have known that Chinese reassurances were not trustworthy. Even Putin is listening to experts while lying to Russians and the world. Trump ignored his own experts and is trying really really hard to keep doing it. Fortunately we have "enemies of the people" to expose him.

     
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drogulus

 
     'Astonishing Response': Over 170,000 Brits Sign Up in One Day to Help Health Service

     It's public health, it's national health, it's worth fighting for.
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Mahlerian

Quote from: Kaga2 on March 25, 2020, 06:09:06 AM
I don't know how old you are. During my lifetime the CCP starved 30 million of its own people. I don't believe the virus was a plot. I won't credit the motives of the CCP either.

I don't see how saying that the CCP didn't have much of a motive to unleash this virus is imputing good motives to them. An absence of a specific negative does not in this case imply anything positive.
"l do not consider my music as atonal, but rather as non-tonal. I feel the unity of all keys. Atonal music by modern composers admits of no key at all, no feeling of any definite center." - Arnold Schoenberg

The new erato

Quote from: drogulus on March 25, 2020, 06:38:12 AM
Even Putin is listening to experts while lying to Russians and the world.
   
And sending help to Italy:


Karl Henning

Karl Henning, Ph.D.
Composer & Clarinetist
Boston MA
http://www.karlhenning.com/
[Matisse] was interested neither in fending off opposition,
nor in competing for the favor of wayward friends.
His only competition was with himself. — Françoise Gilot

Karl Henning

Karl Henning, Ph.D.
Composer & Clarinetist
Boston MA
http://www.karlhenning.com/
[Matisse] was interested neither in fending off opposition,
nor in competing for the favor of wayward friends.
His only competition was with himself. — Françoise Gilot

Irons

You must have a very good opinion of yourself to write a symphony - John Ireland.

I opened the door people rushed through and I was left holding the knob - Bo Diddley.

Florestan

The CCP is fully responsible for the spreading of this virus, both internally and internationally. Had they taken draconian measures the very moment they were warned about it, it would have been contained and subsided before it had any chance to spread. But no, their main concern was to reprimand dr. Li for denigrating the grand achievements of the CCP and to threaten him with jail. I'm disgusted with, and angry at, those bloody effing communists who unleashed hell on the whole earth because they thought they could never be wrong. Not that I ever expected any good to come from communism or communists but I should have thought that globally speaking their menace is a thing of the past. I was wrong.
Every kind of music is good, except the boring kind. — Rossini

Que


Kaga2


Florestan

Quote from: k a rl h e nn i ng on March 25, 2020, 07:40:39 AM
To those who are concerned about coronavirus, Trump doesn't care

What about Boston Globe who apparently care more about their revenues than bringing information to people when they need it the most?

This is the message I received when clicking the link:

YOU'VE BEEN SELECTED
Only $1 for 6 months
Special offer just for you. Only $1 for unlimited access.
Get access now


Thanks but no thanks.
Every kind of music is good, except the boring kind. — Rossini

Mandryka

Wovon man nicht sprechen kann, darüber muss man schweigen

drogulus

Quote from: Florestan on March 25, 2020, 08:16:44 AM
The CCP is fully responsible for the spreading of this virus, both internally and internationally. Had they taken draconian measures the very moment they were warned about it, it would have been contained and subsided before it had any chance to spread. But no, their main concern was to reprimand dr. Li for denigrating the grand achievements of the CCP and to threaten him with jail. I'm disgusted with, and angry at, those bloody effing communists who unleashed hell on the whole earth because they thought they could never be wrong. Not that I ever expected any good to come from communism or communists but I should have thought that globally speaking their menace is a thing of the past. I was wrong.

    So why did Trump accept their word and amplify their message while his intelligence agencies told him China was covering up? Is he a communist dupe or a dictator dupe? What does "I don't see why it would be Russia" mean?

    You attach too much importance to the label and not enough to how dictators behave, left ones, right ones, aspiring ones, all ones.
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