Elsewhere for April 19, 2020

You should read this for4/19/2020:

Art, Music, and Film

How Clannad made Theme from Harry’s Game
Tired of being cooped up? Want to entertain yourself and your kids? The British Museum has lots of ideas: How to Explore the British Museum form Home Virtual tools, online exhibits and galleries, podcasts, short films, digital galleries and collections . . .

Books, Libraries, Writing, and Language

 

Corona Virus | COVID-19

H/T Kira Cee: Dumped Milk, Smashed Eggs, Plowed Vegetables: Food Waste of the Pandemic
The ‘Red Dawn’ Emails: 8 Key Exchanges on the Faltering Response to the Coronavirus “Experts inside and outside the government identified the threat early on and sought to raise alarms even as President Trump was moving slowly. Read some of what they had to say among themselves at critical moments.”
Via NPR: How One City Mayor Forced A Pork Giant To Close Its Virus-Stricken Plant

Later that day, the two officials released their letter to the press. That public disclosure forced Smithfield’s hand.
The next day, the company announced it was closing the Sioux Falls plant, which the company says accounts for 4% to 5% of all U.S. pork production, for an indefinite period of time. Other meat processing plants are also closed due to the coronavirus, although none has reported as many sick workers as the Sioux Falls plant.

Food and Drink

Forget sourdough! How to make 10 of the world’s easiest breads
How to make shepherd’s pie – recipe
How to Make a Single Packet of Yeast Last
Lockdown larder: the best store-cupboard recipes for cheap, easy meals

History and Archaeology

Bergen- Belsen. SAS entry into the Camp
‘Spectacular’ artefacts found as Norway ice-patch melts “Discoveries exposed by retreating ice include snowshoe for horses and bronze age ski”

Science and Nature

Interstellar object ‘Oumuamua believed to be ‘active asteroid’Everythime I see an artist’s rendering of Oumuamua I’m reminded of the STNG episode “Tin Man.”

Society

Brooklyn’s legendary food co-op shows how community organizations can thrive in a pandemic

Women’s Work

Verona van de Leur: ‘When you have no food you do anything to survive’ “Dutchwoman was among Europe’s best gymnasts in 2002 but she became penniless and homeless after a bitter dispute with her family and coaches”
Has Trump finally met his match? The female reporters setting him straight “During Monday’s coronavirus briefing, the president talked over reporter Paula Reid – a pattern he seems to follow when talking to female journalists”

In the ensuing debacle, Trump talks over her, raising his voice and calling Reid disgraceful – a pattern he seems to follow when taking to female journalists, and female journalists of color particularly. Earlier this month, the PBS journalist Yamiche Alcindor had a similar interaction with Trump, during which he told her to “be nice”. Alcindor stood her ground and held her line of questioning.

Reid does what all journalists who are facing Donald Trump should do: she demands an answer, she holds him to account, and she remains steadfast and unfazed while he ignores her questions and insults her instead.

Paula Reid of CBS and Yamiche Alcindor of PBS need to have backup from their colleagues. Work together journalists; you’re smarter and stronger than 🤥🤥👖🔥.
What Nurses Want You to Know “Preexisting staffing shortages and dismal pay are colliding with a crisis that’s testing the limits of the people caring for the sick and elderly.”

Nursing-home employees, nurses, and home health-care workers—the majority of whom are women—are at the forefront of the coronavirus crisis, and they have long been underpaid, overworked, and under-resourced. Registered nurses can expect to make less than $72,000 annually at the median; home health- and personal-care aides earn just $24,000 a year. A quarter of home care workers are uninsured.

💩🔥💰 Trumpery 💩🔥💰

Fauci confirms New York Times report Trump rebuffed social distancing advice

Asked on CNN’s State of the Union why the administration did not act when he and other officials advised, Fauci said: “You know … as I have said many times, we look at it from a pure health standpoint. We make a recommendation. Often, the recommendation is taken. Sometimes, it’s not.
“…It is what it is. We are where we are right now.”

No White House briefing was scheduled on Sunday but Trump continued to attack the Times and its article, in one tweet appearing inadvertently to confirm it, writing: “the Fake News Opposition Party is pushing, with all their might, the fact that President Trump ‘ignored early warnings about the threat’.”

This Is How It Looks When You’re Not Afraid æAnthony Fauci is the rare senior government official who seems more devoted to truth than to Trump.”

But it may explain why the familiar dynamics of Trump’s unhappiness with underlings—first the retweets of criticism, then the “Behind you 1,000 percent!” show of public support, then the dismissal, then the anger and insults from Trump—could take a different course this time.

he common theme that connects these people is that, one way or another, they have seemed afraid of Donald Trump. I am sure many of them would deny that if asked directly. But their actions are consistent with their being fearful of what would happen if they don’t do what Trump wants, or tell him what he so desperately wants to hear.

‘Daily Show’ runs compilation of Trump pointing blame for the coronavirus spread

There aren’t many politicians out there who are quick to hold up their hands and admit when they’ve made mistakes, especially in these unprecedented times. But although there’s mounting proof the White House was warned about the threat of a pandemic but did not act, Donald Trump is in a whole other league of pointing the finger.
The Daily Show compilation above mashes together various clips of the president blaming other people and organisations for their decisions relating to the coronavirus — from New York Governor Andrew Cuomo to the Obama administration, from the World Health Organization to China.

Pay It Forward and Make It Better

How You Can Support the USPS

The USPS has not received taxpayer funds since 1982, with its entire budget coming through the sale of stamps. So if you do want to help, buying stamps—and then waiting to use most or all of them until after the pandemic has passed and mail volume begins to recover—is a good way to support to USPS right now.

See also: Hoping To Save The Postal Service, People Rush To Buy Stamps The USPS, its establishment enshrined in the Constitution, works for all Americans, old, young, rich, poor, rural or urban. As a kid growing up in rural N.H. the Post Office was my gateway to the world. That’s true for so many of us even now. We vote by mail, we receive our social security and pension and dividend checks by mail, we keep in touch with friends and family with cards and letters, we depend on Media Mail for our books and tapes for the blind. Don’t let 🤥🤥👖🔥 kill the USPS.
Exeter to repatriate Blackfoot regalia to Siksika Nation

The Devon council voted to return the items to the Siksika Nation, in Canada, after guidance from curators at the Royal Albert Memorial Museum (RAMM), which holds the sacred relics that once belonged to Crowfoot, a Blackfoot leader who signed a treaty in 1877 with forces of the Crown.
The return of the regalia, which include a buckskin shirt, leggings and a knife bought for £10 in 1904 from the family of an English-born member of the Canadian mounted police, followed a formal request made for the repatriation in 2015. It resolves a drawn-out dispute that has beenacrimonious at times.

These L.A. Librarians Are Building Hundreds Of Face Shields For Hospital Workers Using A 3D Printer

These efforts are examples of why libraries are still relevant not to mention essential to every day, especially in a time of need.

Nurses and doctors are posting photos of their faces bruised by masks. A boy stepped in to help.