Originally Posted by The North One (Post 8860874)

Why is a city mayor meeting with a president of another country in the first place?

Originally Posted by Crawford (Post 8860739)

Not in Germany. Definitely in the bathroom.

Originally Posted by sopas ej (Post 8860903)

I was wondering if/when this would happen:

The Los Angeles Archdiocese (the largest Roman Catholic Archdiocese in the US) is telling parishioners not to go to Sunday Mass, lifting the obligation for the next 3 weeks.

Proof that even churches don't think prayer is enough? :P

Originally Posted by sopas ej (Post 8860903)

I was wondering if/when this would happen:

The Los Angeles Archdiocese (the largest Roman Catholic Archdiocese in the US) is telling parishioners not to go to Sunday Mass, lifting the obligation for the next 3 weeks.

Proof that even churches don't think prayer is enough? :P

Originally Posted by Crawford (Post 8860664)

Wait, in the UK, you wash your clothes in the kitchen? Odd.

Originally Posted by 10023 (Post 8860987)

Well, most English people can’t cook, so they had to come up with something else to do with the space.

Originally Posted by hauntedheadnc (Post 8860988)

Originally Posted by 10023 (Post 8860995)

Case in point.

Originally Posted by sopas ej (Post 8860967)

I'm no longer a practicing Catholic (I've become Buddhist/Atheist), but this is a big deal for Catholics. And it's Lent right now. And for a Catholic, prayer and worship are the same thing; prayer isn't just asking for things; a (devout) Catholic recites traditional prayers every day. It's almost like being a Muslim. That's what church bells are (originally) for; they are calls to prayer.

Originally Posted by dave8721 (Post 8861099)

Schools closing in Miami-Dade starting Monday. Parents and businesses will be scrambling even more.

Originally Posted by dave8721 (Post 8861099)

Schools closing in Miami-Dade starting Monday. Parents and businesses will be scrambling even more.

Originally Posted by hauntedheadnc (Post 8860551)

I'm a social worker, and got a grim email this morning from the state Department of Health and Human Services:

-- Expect a spike in occurrences of domestic violence, child physical abuse, and child sexual abuse, same as occurs on holidays or any other occasion when there is forced togetherness.

-- Expect children to go hungry if the schools close, because a lot of families cannot make up for the meal(s) the child won't be getting at school.

-- Expect a lot of foster families to request respite, where the child is temporarily housed somewhere else, or a change in placement where the child is completely removed from that foster home and placed in another. Expect this due to complications in finding childcare if the schools close.

-- Visits between parents and children go on, even if all of the staff but one is out sick.

-- "Deep clean" any rooms or facilities used for visitation. No further guidance.

-- In-home services and investigations continue. If one staff member falls ill, find another, and keep going until you run out of staff.

-- Many children are in the care of elderly kinship caregivers. Prepare for these caregivers to be ill or to die.

-- Expect the illness to sweep group homes and psychiatric residential treatment facilities

-- Fewer than 3% of youth who age out of foster care end up getting a 4-year college degree. Many of those who do, are living on college campuses -- if those campuses close their residential facilities, those youth will be effectively homeless.

Basically, the thrust of the email's gist was, "SURPRISE!! Here's a nasty present -- have fun figuring out how to deal with all of this! :))

Originally Posted by The North One (Post 8860364)

I'm so glad that I have a bidet.

Originally Posted by WonderlandPark3 (Post 8861486)

Go out and patronize restaurants, this is going to be devastating to small businesses. Just went for drinks and appetizers at a Peruvian place that should be hoppin' full on a friday and it was crickets, our group of 3 and 1 other table of 4 in a place with probably 35 tables and bar seating. Really feel for them.

Originally Posted by sopas ej (Post 8860903)

I was wondering if/when this would happen:

The Los Angeles Archdiocese (the largest Roman Catholic Archdiocese in the US) is telling parishioners not to go to Sunday Mass, lifting the obligation for the next 3 weeks.

Proof that even churches don't think prayer is enough? :P

Originally Posted by hauntedheadnc (Post 8861494)

That's my plan unless and until things get truly apocalyptic. And if it looks like they're going to, then I'm going to buy a passel of gift cards so the places I care about will have my money while they need it.

I've also noticed this is bringing out the best in some people. Some people are offering pet food, milk, paper goods, canned food, preserves, even frozen breast milk for free here on the Facebook exchanges to others who need it.

Originally Posted by craigs (Post 8861296)

San Francisco is shutting down all public libraries and park & rec facilities to convert them to K-5 daycare facilities.

Originally Posted by sopas ej (Post 8861536)

This evening I went to our local gourmet market Bristol Farms, and there were no panic shoppers.

I guess nobody panic-buys pricey cheese.
https://scontent-lax3-1.xx.fbcdn.net...a5&oe=5E90450D
Photo by me

I went to Bristol Farms to get kefir. Mmm, mmm!
https://scontent-lax3-2.xx.fbcdn.net...94&oe=5E90BCD1
Photo by me

Originally Posted by AviationGuy (Post 8861507)

I had been hearing a lot about empty shelves in Austin grocery stores today, so I was dreading my trip to my usual store. I had bought extra groceries a month ago, but was starting to run a little low. But my usual store (Randall's) was in good shape except for household products. Stockers were extremely busy restocking canned goods and rice/pasta, so there was plenty when I was there around 5 p.m.. The checkout lines were extremely long but everyone was friendly and considerate to one another (unlike the way people usually are at the store).

Originally Posted by austlar1 (Post 8861563)

The parking lot at the regular HEB (Brodie/William Cannon) was overflowing with cars waiting in all aisles for parking.

Originally Posted by jtown,man (Post 8861677)

This whole thing has just reminded me how dumb people are in the US at least.

I went to Costco to pick up a prescription and there was probably 15 people line for each gas pump- I JUST got gas 15 minutes earlier at a BP with zero lines.

Then I walk in the store. No kidding, the lines backed up from one end to the other. Everyone had water and paper towels(they ran out of tp). LUCKILY no one was in line for the pharmacy. However, there was a huge display of Preparation H wipes, fully stocked. The poop-hoarders totally missed that opportunity.

Anyways, they were out of my prescription(happens a lot, not related to Corona), so I went to a grocery store about 2 miles away. Peace. Quiet. One employee I started talking to said they have plenty of toilet paper and that its been relatively calm all morning.


So, within two miles you have people freaking out standing in line for 1-2 hours for paper towels and water bottles while they could just go down the street and wait in short lines and get something that won't hurt their asses.



No, not everyone needs to be registered to vote.

Originally Posted by Steely Dan (Post 8861577)

My wife just got back from a planned "girls dinner" at our favorite Mexican place in the neighborhood.

She said that other than their six person table, there were only 3 other tables seated.

At 8:00pm on a Friday night??????


Fuck.


So many small businesses are gonna close.

Originally Posted by 10023 (Post 8861699)

All because of completely irrational panic fed by media.

Originally Posted by sopas ej (Post 8861712)

For reals. I think people need to manage their FEARS better.

Originally Posted by hauntedheadnc (Post 8861000)

Originally Posted by hauntedheadnc (Post 8861477)

Shit got real... I was just looking at Twitter, and all the breweries are closing to the public. No breweries, no music clubs, no shows, no farmer's markets, no drum circle... The great hush is settling.