Jeff Danziger captures the mood, or at least mine and presumably his.
I’ve been working from home for the past decade, so I don’t know why this would be any different, but it is, mostly, I think, because “working from home” always included a lot of little errands that I’m thinking twice about now.
Which reminds me that, with March Madness canceled, Robert Half won’t get to send out their annual whiner about how much time people waste talking about their brackets. It always puzzled me because it relied on the absurd notion that, without the tournament, everyone would have their noses to the grindstone, which I never saw.
Tank McNamara‘s been on an arc about poor ESPN not having anything to put on the air. It’s not just that there aren’t games but there isn’t much of anything else going on, either.
I don’t get ESPN and the only sport I follow is football, so this is a nothing time of year anyway, full of mock drafts and other fillers. NFL Network has, however, taken to simply airing old games and, if you don’t try too hard to remember who won, it provides better entertainment than usual for March.
It’s also better than watching the news channels go on and on and on about the coronavirus, because, once we all accept the need to shelter in place, well, there’s not a lot more to say. The Republicans want to find ways to prop up their portfolios and the Democrats want to spare the little people, and I get it, but bringing in experts to say it all over again isn’t terribly interesting.
Tom Falco observes that we’re getting to see how various correspondents live, since they’re all Skyping in from home.
I’d dismiss that as pretty dumb except that I’ve been watching the same thing, mostly noticing that everyone in the world is more neat than I am, but then remembering that when I’ve Skyped on business, I’ve just been careful about the part that shows in the background.
JD Crowe offers this related observation, which flies in the face of admonitions to dress as if you were going into the office and such, but, again, I’ve been doing this so long that I have to dress up to go recycle my cardboard.
I’ve also noted — and I’m not trying to be creepy or sexist here — that the women look a lot better when they do their own hair and makeup than when they are getting professionally dolled up to perch on stools with Wolf.
That four-cute-girls-perched-on-stools-talking-to-Uncle-Wolfie thing has always kind of put me off and, while I’m glad he doesn’t toss them little bits of fish when they say something good, my general inclination is to switch over to Nicolle Wallace.
Anyway, the toned-down make-up makes it feel more like intelligent conversation with someone you might know in real life.
These observations may be a sign that I’m developing cabin fever.
Meanwhile, there is real stuff happening out there, in the world we’re not supposed to be going into.
Rod Emmerson offers an affectionate portrait of New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, and it’s strange that we in the Rest of the World even know who the prime minister of New Zealand is, much less that this isn’t the first time we’ve seen her step up and do it right.
And she also appears in Sarah Laing’s observation of life under lockdown, which is otherwise quite sad and uncertain, though honest and well-worth a look.
Sarah may not be enjoying the situation but at least she and her fellow kiwis have a head of state they can be proud of.
Must be nice.
And while we’re down on that end of the planet, First Dog on the Moon has an extended discussion of things (of which this is only a sample) which shows a great deal less affection for the people in charge of Australia, in case you thought those Anzac nations were joined at the hip.
Granted, First Dog tends to approach things with fury, but that doesn’t make him wrong and you will certainly find parts of his rant that can be transplanted here successfully.
Meanwhile, Don Asmussen does a pretty good job of depicting what we’ve got heading up our effort.
I’m still puzzled by the whole idiots-on-the-beach thing, which fits this article from Macleans in which a Canadian is puzzled, too, and notes that not only were a bunch of stupid kids down there having spring break but the place is full of Trump supporters who refuse to take the virus seriously, which makes me wonder if the solution might be to throw Trump’s Wall across the northern border of the state and just leave them in there to sort it all out.
It’s not an original thought. I think it was Livy who wrote that, in the final days of Rome’s collapse, they would simply lock the city gates each night and then, in the morning, open them back up and drag out the dead.
(Note to my relatives in Florida: I’m joking. Pretty much.)
I don’t think Jen Sorensen is joking.
It’s one thing to have Don Asmussen making jokes about Dr. Fauci punching out Dr. Dumbass, but I don’t see much in Sorensen’s cartoon that is all that far off reality.
Or off it at all.
“Thoughtful Conservative” is not an oxymoron, though perhaps it’s a rarity, since we’ve done such a fine job of dividing the nation by party loyalty rather than political philosophy, but, after all the talk about who should get what pieces of pie, I got a kick out of Scott Stantis boiling it all down to established practices.
Though if you really want to put all the divisive political bullshit aside, Marshall Ramsey does just that.
His approach is kind of like having your parents unexpectedly roll up in the middle of the party you weren’t supposed to be having.
Or the time Spirit set a grafitto about death to music:
I agree with you about the women reporting from home. They look so much better, like real people instead of made-up dolls.