You should read this for 3/15/2020:
Art, Music, and Film
Stuck at Home? These 12 Famous Museums Offer Virtual Tours You Can Take on Your Couch (Video)
Preserving the Stories of America “Folkstreams is a non-profit dedicated to finding, preserving, contextualizing, and showcasing documentary films on American traditional cultures.”
Books, Libraries, Writing, and Language
Corona Virus | COVID-19
Duke University Press Open Access: Contagious: Cultures, Carriers, and the Outbreak Narrative
H/T Jeff Carlson: Malia Jones, PhD, MPH What I think about COVID-19 this morning
March 5, 2020 “Maybe I’m the closest thing you personally know to an infectious disease epidemiologist. Maybe not–I’m not an expert on this virus by any stretch, but I have general knowledge and training from studying epidemics that is applicable, so here are my thoughts.”
How To Disinfect an iPhone I’m seeing lots of references to using Isopropyl alcohol or household spray disinfectants on smart phones. Please don’t do this as cavalierly as it sounds. Use a little caution. That glass is coated; there are open ports that really don’t need even very fine drops of liquid in them. See also: Your phone screen is covered with germs. Here’s how to clean it and Apple’s updated Is it OK to Disinfect my iPhone (Yes, yes it is.
Using a 70 percent isopropyl alcohol wipe or Clorox Disinfecting Wipes, you may gently wipe the hard, nonporous surfaces of your Apple product, such as the display, keyboard, or other exterior surfaces. Don’t use bleach. Avoid getting moisture in any opening, and don’t submerge your Apple product in any cleaning agents. Don’t use on fabric or leather surfaces.
Via TPM: Amazing Report from Shanghai
This genius PSA generator pairs hand-washing instructions with any song lyrics you like
Hand Sanitizer And Coronavirus: Not All Of It Will Work
According to the CDC, hand sanitizers should be at least 60 percent alcohol, especially if you apply it correctly as a substitute for washing hands in a pinch (but if you can wash your hands, definitely do that). Yet plenty of alcohol-free hand sanitizers are sold out or in high demand on Amazon as well, which means that customers are buying and using them, even though they don’t work as well.
Elizabeth Warren Helps Snl Roast Fox News’ Coronavirus Coverage
How to Politely Avoid a Handshake
How to Deal With a Quarantine If You’re Struggling Emotionally
Facts about novel coronavirus and how to prevent COVID-19
Via NPR an anonymous Chinese journalist on live in a post Coronavirus locked-down Wuhan China: Personal Essay: Coronavirus Lockdown Is A ‘Living Hell’
What has happened in Wuhan is as if your house caught on fire and all your neighbors knew but forbade you from jumping out of the window. Only until the fire is out of control, and the entire town ablaze, do they slowly begin taking responsibility while highlighting their own heroic efforts.
Go read this report on how coronavirus started spreading in Seattle
See also: Seattle’s Patient Zero Spread Coronavirus Despite Ebola-Style Lockdown
‘Who’s Going To Help Them?’: Caregivers Brace For The Spread Of Coronavirus
Palli Thordarson a professor at the School of Chemistry at the University of New South Wales, Sydney on why soap works so very well at killing viruses. Deadly viruses are no match for plain, old soap — here’s the science behind it This piece is the result of @PalliThordarson Palli Thordarson’s Twitter thread: Why does soap work so well on the SARS-CoV-2, the coronavirus and indeed most viruses?
Coronavirus: Why You Must Act Now “The only way to prevent this is social distancing today. Not tomorrow. Today. That means keeping as many people home as possible, starting now.”
Why Washington state is at the center of the US coronavirus outbreak
High numbers can be attributed in part to the fact that the state reported the first case in the US and jumpstarted testing
Bleach Kills the Coronavirus, Too
There is one important thing to know before you start dousing your home with bleach: it’s easily inactivated by organic material, like food particles or hair. This really isn’t a big deal—it just means your counters have to be clean in order for bleach to actually disinfect them. As long as you wipe everything down with your usual surface cleaner first to make sure there’s no lingering bread crumbs or coffee grounds getting in the way, a bleach solution will work flawlessly
Education
Harvard’s wealth highlights two key questions for universities closing due to coronavirus
Food and Drink
Simply Pasta And Beans: Rachel Roddy’s Recipe For Pasta E Fagioli
Tito’s Vodka would like to remind you that it *isn’t* a replacement for hand sanitizer
The company took to Twitter to reaffirm that with an alcohol content of only 40 percent, it doesn’t meet CDC guidelines for hand sanitizer. “Tito’s Handmade Vodka is 40 percent alcohol, and therefore does not meet the current recommendation of the CDC,” the company said in a statement.
How To Spot A Sustainable Tea Brand
How to Properly Care for Cast Iron
The big question most people have is whether they can wash their cast iron cookware with soap. The answer is yes! Soap away! Just be sure to rinse and dry the pan thoroughly, and then immediately re-season it.
“Season a pan? What’s that?”
H/T Liz Gorinsky: An All-Pantry Meal Plan for Coronavirus and Other Perilous Times “Experts recommend having a two-week supply of non-perishable food on hand in case of emergencies. So we developed a 14-day meal plan of pantry-sourced dinners.”
How to cook the perfect boxty – recipe
These potato cakes, known in Irish as bacstaí (derived from either bácús, meaning bakery, or arán bocht tí, or bread of the poorhouse – no one seems quite sure), are particularly popular in the north-west of the country, where they take a variety of forms, from griddled pancakes to baked wedges of bread.
Creamy Tortellini Soup with Sausage and Spinach
This recipe uses a lot of simple shortcuts in prep time, and is a recipe that you can make with frozen ingredients you bought and froze.
Larder living: 10 of the best store cupboard recipes – from chilli to pizza
If coronavirus forces you to self-isolate, you’ll need to make the most of what you already have in your kitchen. Here’s how to spice things up
Links to full recipes, with some great ideas for flat-bread pizza, pilaf and more.
History and Archaeology
Stegosaurus footprints found on Isle of Skye
Spanish Flu: A Warning from History
So let’s put our current moment into perspective with this 10+ minute history on the Spanish Flu from Cambridge University. Here are the numbers: it killed 20 million people according to contemporary accounts. Later scientists and historians revised that number to somewhere between 50 to 100 million.
V&A snaps up medieval brooch found on Brigstock farmland
Science and Nature
A Tiny Skull Trapped in Amber Reveals One of the Smallest Dinosaurs on Record
Humans Domesticated Horses — New Tech Could Help Archaeologists Figure Out Where and When
Society
The monks who bought their own Scottish island
This week, the BBC showed scammers at work in an Indian call centre, recorded by an activist who hacked into the company’s security cameras. Staff were seen laughing at their victims in the US and the UK. But who are these scammers, and how do they justify their actions?
Technology
Confessions of a call-centre scammer
NYU Law School’s Video Teaching Copyright Completely Flummoxed YouTube’s Copyright Filters
The tools and tricks that let Ars Technica function without a physical office
Women’s Work
Via jelani cobb @jelani9 on Twitter: Two years ago I sat down on an Amtrak train from NYC to Boston. Shortly afterward Senator @ewarren sat down in the seat behind me. I introduced myself and reminded her we’d met briefly once before at an event.
‘Big dreams never die’: Elizabeth Warren drops out of the race, and women know exactly why
The question of why Warren didn’t, now that she’s exited the presidential race, is what’s most painful to answer. Experts will say she didn’t expand her base beyond white, college-educated voters. Warren’s extensive set of plans for just about everything eclipsed her compelling biography. She built strong relationships with leading black activists and advocates, and won their endorsements, but failed to convert that outreach into support from black voters. These logical explanations almost make it possible to believe that sexism didn’t doom her run.
Pallaqueras, the women who hunt for gold at the top of the world
These women live with their families in shacks in a gold shantytown in the Andes. The men of La Rinconada ban all women from the mines dug beneath the rock. So the pallaqueras take turns to scramble up on to piles of scree that the men have dumped, scanning the lumps for gold
💩🔥💰 Trumpery 💩🔥💰
Twitter Places ‘Manipulated Media’ Warning On White House Social Media Director’s Biden Tweet
Under the policy, investors can delay paying taxes if they invest in areas that need it, with such areas being labelled “opportunity zones.” However, the definition of said zones is so broad that investors such as Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner have used the policy to build in already affluent neighbourhoods.
Via Reuters: Exclusive: White House told federal health agency to classify coronavirus deliberations – sources
The White House has ordered federal health officials to treat top-level coronavirus meetings as classified, an unusual step that has restricted information and hampered the U.S. government’s response to the contagion, according to four Trump administration officials.
Besieged [Liar Liar Pants On Fire announces Europe travel ban in effort to stem coronavirus pandemic
For weeks now, Trump’s handling of the growing crisis has invited intensifying criticism. He has contradicted the public health experts in his own government, spread misinformation, accused the media of overhyping the threat of the virus to hurt his presidency, sought to lay blame on Democrats and the Chinese, and erupted in private meetings with advisers.
[Liar Liar Pants On Fire] tells a nation terrified of coronavirus that none of this is his fault “Trump lied, insulted reporters, and explicitly refused to take responsibility for his own actions.”
Pay It Forward and Make It Better
Coronavirus: The boy behind the Wash Your Lyrics site
The not-for-profit Wash Your Lyrics site allows users to enter the title of their chosen song and artist to automatically generate a poster matching the lyrics to the 13-step washing routine.
‘Thank God I said something’: the beauticians who spot domestic abuse
Tip Your Service Workers Especially Generously Right Now
China offers Italy medical aid as province donates masks to help overseas Chinese
Apple signs open letter voicing opposition to new legislation targeting LGBTQ community
Video: Coronavirus: Italians sing from their windows to boost morale
A countrywide lockdown due to coronavirus has not stopped Italians from bursting into morale-boosting song in a nationwide flashmob event.
Support Your Local Businesses by Buying Gift Cards to Use After the Coronavirus Outbreak
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