Easiest commute to a client site in ages today. For those that know the area, the portion where I-78 meets the NJ Turnpike (right before the tolls), is usually a massive shit bottleneck from hell. Today, easiest time ever. No issues, and it was raining too.

I had to do a monthly contact with a kid, with them standing on the porch and me standing across the yard, both of us on phones and with a dog taking a dump on the grass in between us.

#workingsocially

People are wearing masks though. Spotted some today. Client I went to deals with weight lifting equipment, and all the employees had masks. Although some of them were not wearing it right. Some had it backwards.

I suppose one way of using PPE properly is using it the right way!

Of course they are a select group: The ones who get sick. But the myth is none of this age get sick and that is clearly wrong which is the point the Dr. is making.

Here in Texas, there's not even 100 cases out of almost 30 million people but most are taking it serious regardless. Who cares if AZ 'only' has 20 cases (that we know of) but that's sure to rise exponentially.

Scenes just witnessed around my neighborhood:

- loads of people out walking around, walking their dogs, kids riding scooters, etc. But everyone making sure to keep their distance, ie. Neighbors shouting hello to each other across the street and so forth.

- an outbound brownline train just rolled down our alley with maybe a dozen people on it. @ 5:30pm!!!


Most people around me seem to be taking this seriously, which is great to see.

Yes, I can see the Roosevelt statoion from my window and it is way less crowded than usual. Like...10 pm levels of pedestrian activity at 6 pm.

I went to Round Valley Reservoir on Sunday, and there folks in the park with their children, walking around, hiking/jogging. Like everything was normal. Some were eating on benches.

Lesson to be learned is that there are those that will take measures, and those that will take extreme measures like wearing a bubble suit or building a rocket to prove the earth is flat and one that crashes. :shrug:

Eh... whataya gonna do

Exponentially to what? A few hundred? A thousand? Neither would be meaningful.

Most of us on our floor at work are working from home, but I had things to do that I could only complete at the office (same case tomorrow except I'll be driving all over Birmingham). When I went out to pick up lunch today, downtown wasn't exactly a ghost town. There were definitely more people walking around compared to weekends, but I saw what I would estimate to be 90% fewer people around than usual. People were keeping distance from eachother and there were maybe 9 of us on our floor in the office out of the normal 70 or so on a typical business day, and we stayed pretty well separated throughout the day.

Another thing that has been happening since the outbreak really hit the US has been Delta parking plenty of planes at Birmingham-Shuttlesworth Intl. BHM has plenty of space for them in adjacent property that was formerly an aircraft manufacturing/maintenance facility. Yesterday, I think there were at least 10 wide-body Delta planes parked, today there were easily over 20. I love plane-spotting and usually go out of my way to visit the airport's obervation area on my way home from work so this has been nice to see, I just wish it were under better circumstances.

There's nothing wrong with any of these activities (except maybe the people with their children in the park unless they make sure they stay away from other peoples' children in the park). You should be quite safe outdoors as long as you maintain a 6 ft distance from other people. And the major risk of jogging is you'll be hit by a car or attacked by someone else's dog.

With business as usual, 20 million.

Somewhere with that 20 million figure, there's the room for a Stalin Quote, but I won't go there.

Yeah that would be crazy though.

In an odd way, again... just mind chatter... that's all it is... but the social security problem would be fixed in a years time. I know, a crude joke... but mind chatter (what ran through my mind) that's all.

Let's hope this thing doesn't mutate into a bunch of different strains with varying levels of severity. Every replication increases the chance of a mutation. Virus's typically mutate as an evolutionary response to avoid the immune systems of creatures or hosts.

So in a nut shell, hopefully its not to the point where the vaccine in the works is not effective by the time its released.

Despite all these precautions, most of us will get it. Ain't necessarily the end of the world if we do, depending on our immune response. That's something I'm thinking about since it's inevitable.

A very Asheville thing is occurring... Drag queens are on local social media asking for help since all their bookings have dried up.

‘Shelter in Place’ order could hit NYC: Here’s what it means

===================
https://nypost.com/2020/03/17/shelte...what-it-means/

If nothing was done to combat this, potentially everybody.

So, like, can you hire a drag queen to do a show in your living room? Seems to go against the tenets of social distancing, but this could be a once in a lifetime opportunity.

Heres a couple photos I took tonight of Carson St, which is Pittsburgh's bar scene. On any other St. Patricks day this street would be packed with cars and sidewalks would be shoulder to shoulder traffic. Tonight, there were a few people walking around and no cars hardly. I would surmise that 40% of these long established bars won't be able to make it through this if the quarantine lasts longer than a few weeks, which it surely will.

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...dfb4c352_h.jpgUntitled by photolitherland, on Flickr

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...897e8234_h.jpgUntitled by photolitherland, on Flickr

This is truly some movie level shit. All of those thousands of jobs on just one street gone overnight with maybe a $1000 check each coming their way in a couple of weeks. And that money will last a couple of weeks maybe with how high rents are.