Friday, April 10, 2020

Doctor recommends whiskey to protect against COVID-19.

IT COULDN’T HURT: A top German doctor recommends whiskey to protect against COVID-19

Lice drug a head-scratching Covid-19 home remedy Asia Times


A Genius Visualization of Social Distancing

This public service announcement from the Ohio Department of Health contains an outstanding simple visualization of how social distancing can help prevent the spread of Covid-19 using ping pong balls and mouse traps.
This ad shows that Ohio’s relatively early response to the pandemic was not a fluke and that the state is still taking it seriously

Home Alone: What We Know About Solitude And Its Healing Power


Steadily, slowly, research interest in solitude has been increasing. Note, solitude – time alone – is not synonymous with loneliness, which is a subjective sense of unwanted social isolation that’s known to be harmful to mental and physical health. In contrast, in recent years, many observationalstudies have documented a correlation between greater wellbeing and a healthy motivation for solitude – that is, seeing solitude as something enjoyable and valuable. – Aeon



Another COVID Casualty: Superheroes


Superheroes can fight secret quasi-Nazi conspiracies, invading aliens and android armies. But they are ill-equipped to fight the coronavirus. Superheroes on screen have saved the world repeatedly. But, in this real-life crisis, the Marvel Comic Universe’s vision of empowerment via teaming up to blast things to smithereens seems woefully inadequate. – The Guardian


IT IS UNWISE TO DEVIATE FROM THE PARTY LINE, COMRADE: Chinese coronavirus critic Ren Zhiqiang under investigation, Communist Party disciplinary committee says



Big Thinking For The Post-Pan


There are valid reasons to look at historic crises as moments for dramatic urban change. Nineteenth-century pandemics helped usher in developments in water and sewage systems. And there can be no doubt that, in the immediate future, the economic and demographic health of major cities will suffer enormously. But if we are to look forward optimistically, we must start by grappling with a difficult pattern: Urban history may be more about continuity through crises than about transformation. – CityLab


Police to use helicopters, door knocks and numberplate scanners to check for coronavirus compliance


With helicopters in the air, police patrols of holiday destinations and numberplate scanning, leaders around the country warn there will be no tolerance for breaches of the strict self-isolation measures


An Unimaginable Toll, a collection of photos from around the world of mass graves, overwhelmed morgues, busy cemeteries, and rows & rows of coffins due to the Covid-19 pandemic.


Emergency Aid To Artists (Without Lots Of Paperwork)


The emergency package has an initial pot of $10 million for 2,000 grantees. The funds are culled from the operations budgets of the seven US-based organizations: Academy of American Poets, Artadia, Creative Capital, Foundation for Contemporary Arts, MAP Fund, National YoungArts Foundation, and United States Artists. With most of the arts programming cancelled, the grants-giving organizations formed a group to design a mechanism that will allow them to give money to artists directly. – Quartz

What Explains Why Millions Are Tuning In Online To Watch Orchestras?


What explains why the Philadelphia Orchestra’s BeethovenNOW concert, with two full symphonies webcast from an empty Verizon Hall on March 12, is up to 771,000 YouTube views? Or why the Rotterdam Philharmonic’s abbreviated Beethoven 9th video — with each instrumentalist playing separately from home, titled From Us to You, is closing in on 2 million views since its March 20 posting? – Philadelphia Inquirer

Theatre Moves Online


It has been difficult at times, looking at the closed doors of theatres and remembering there are no productions to leave the house to go see or participate in. But if the last couple of weeks of new art, streamed productions, and archival releases (and Andrew Lloyd Webbergiving everyone a full weekend of Donny Osmond’s Joseph) have shown anything, it’s that there is still an absolutely overwhelming amount of art out there to consume. Theatre artists may be stuck inside, but it’s certainly hard to argue that they’re not as vibrantly creative as ever. – American Theatre