९ मे, २०२०

"I don't want to touch an object," I found myself saying, socially distancingly.

The sun was rising, and 3 young women...

IMG_5196

... had asked me if I'd take a picture of them — the kind of request I've always happily agreed to. And here I was being stand-offish, in the manner of a person with OCD because they wanted to hand me their phone. It's covid19world, and we're all OCD now, so I couldn't go along with that, and I knew they'd understand. Actually, they'd probably have understood in pre-covid19world and simply regarded me as a person with a disability to be treated with empathy.

But in  pre-covid19world,  covid19world, and  post-covid19world, there is a solution to the problem of not wanting to touch the other person's phone. You don't need to refuse the lovely social opportunity to take someone's picture for them. It's AirDrop. Take a photograph on your own iPhone and AirDrop it to their phone. You just have to remember, and fortunately I did.

It was nice to encounter some young people, up for a 5:40 sunrise, experiencing our strange time with optimism. Nothing more optimistic than a sunrise.

The walk back from the vantage point had the sun at our back and the fading Flower Moon up ahead. I always love when Meade sings. He began "When the moon...." but it wasn't the "When the moon" song that I thought it was. There are at least 3 well-known songs that begin "When the moon...." Which is the first one that you think of? Two are optimistic but they take entirely different paths of optimism. The other one is sad. I don't know why the sad one is the one I thought of, such a sad old Depression-Era song...

६१ टिप्पण्या:

Jersey Fled म्हणाले...

Wait a minute. I thought we weren't allowed to listen to Kate Smith anymore.

MayBee म्हणाले...

Airdrop was a great idea! And they were lucky to happen upon *you* to take their photo! What a lovely way to start the day.

Howard म्हणाले...

You got to be kidding me this whole coronavirus thing as a big hoax and you falling for it. You need to be more brave and get back to aggressively sharing bodily fluids with strangers. Katie Miller couldn't be reached for comment.

Rob म्हणाले...

“That’s Amore” God he’p me.

Grant म्हणाले...

The Aquarius one is the first one that comes to mind, but for romantical reasons I hope Meade was singing That’s Amore.

Rob म्हणाले...
ही टिप्पणी लेखकाना हलविली आहे.
Temujin म्हणाले...

Or...bring that little bottle of disinfectant with you and when you get home, wash your hands with soap and water. It works. But Airdrop is much cooler, I must admit.

JackWayne म्हणाले...

Apparently you haven’t come to grips with the idea that viruses never go away. They will be waiting to infect you until they do and you become immune.

bagoh20 म्हणाले...

"we're all OCD now,"

No, we are all not. It's a self-imposed handicap, a form of delusion, a mental illness.

michaele म्हणाले...

I filled in with "When the hits your eye like a big pizza pie..." When I was younger, I thought it was "piece of pie". I guess either ones works for the song to make sense. Kate Smith might have been singing a sad song but she was smiling the whole time.

bagoh20 म्हणाले...

How long are you going to keep this up? Howard told me hope wasn't plan. What's the plan?

Scott म्हणाले...

I couldn't stop looking at the smoking coffee pot.

Ann Althouse म्हणाले...

"The Aquarius one is the first one that comes to mind, but for romantical reasons I hope Meade was singing That’s Amore."

I don't think I would have heard "That's Amore" as "When the Moon Comes Over the Mountain." It's "Aquarius" that sounds the same as the first 3 words are sung. "When the Moon Comes Over the Mountain" and "Aquarius" both begin with a slow "when the" and a long lingering on "moon." "That's Amore" is very snappy with a punch on "when" and "the" and a big launch into "moon" that then tumbles forward into "hits your eye." The "That's Amore" moon is already hitting your eye when the "Mountain" and "Aquarius" moon is still moo-ing — "when the mooooooo...."

Big Mike म्हणाले...
ही टिप्पणी लेखकाना हलविली आहे.
Inchworm म्हणाले...

When you swim in the sea
and an eel bites your knee
that's a moray

I Have Misplaced My Pants म्हणाले...

AirDrop was a good compromise, I agree. I’d’ve just taken the dang photo with her phone and washed my hands like I do every time I come back into my house and have my entire life, but, you do you. I have AirDrop turned off as I associate it with random dick pics. Not digitally hygienic.

Surprised that if you wouldn’t touch someone’s phone over CV you would touch someone’s phone in pre-CV days. Don’t you know they’re filthy in general? Most folks’ phones are teeming with poop germs.

Fun tip for those who will take others’ photos when asked: take a couple candid ones too as a surprise. I asked as passerby to take one of my daughter and me at the LOVE statue in Minneapolis and the one he snapped when we weren’t smiling for the camera, when I was gesturing her as to where to stand, is the best one by far.

DavidD म्हणाले...

The moon was sure like a big pizza pie last night.

stevew म्हणाले...

I find the behavior you describe to be irrational.

Josephbleau म्हणाले...

My favorite moon song is K K K Katy, beautiful Katy... When the M M Moon shines, over the cow shed, I’ll be waiting at your K K K Kitchen door. But I think that it would create a #me too problem for the stuttering impaired.

Janetchick म्हणाले...

One of my employees has the virus. His partner is a nurse and is regularly tested and found out he had the virus even though he had no symptoms. My employee also had no symptoms.

I wasn’t sure how my employees would react to someone with whom they work closely being infected. We are small restaurant doing to go only and generally have 8 folks on a shift. I have 18 employees now, use to employ low 30s. Except for one who immediately freaked out and quit, the others just wanted to know, what now? None of them had any symptoms, including the one who quit.

Testing in Austin is readily available, but it takes 3 to 5 business days to get the results back. We immediately closed up for the day. And not sure how long that will last. I was able to get couple employees in for testing that evening. The rest went yesterday. Six of us went as a group, we carpooled, saw couple of the other employees there. Afterwards we stood in the parking lot talking and laughing about the unpleasant test. The fact that none of us have symptoms of course made it easier to joke around and there definitely was some nervous laughter.

We all agreed that it will be interesting to see who amongst us has the virus with some actually hoping to be infected and just get it over with already. Again easier to say when you have no symptoms.

Kai Akker म्हणाले...

When the moon is in the seventh house
And Jupiter aligns with Mars

Birches म्हणाले...

That's amore is what first popped into my head.

Big Mike म्हणाले...

The first song I thought of was “When the Moon Comes Over the Mountain,” probably because I remember my late father singing snatches of it around the house when I was young.

Sebastian म्हणाले...

"I knew they'd understand"

Sure, they'd see that you're of a certain age and really shouldn't be close to others at all. Apart from that, they'd understand that:

Chance of owner having virus: small.
Chance of viral matter being on phone: small.
Chance of viral matter being transferred into nose or mouth: very small.
Risk of transmission via strangers' phone: very, very small.
Demonstrated cases of such transmission occurring: none.

Sebastian म्हणाले...

Meanwhile, out in the real world:

"UNEMPLOYMENT RATE 14.7%, 20.5 MILLION JOBS VAPORIZED IN APRIL."

But we've been told by expert alarmists on this very blog that it's a minor dip, so nothing to worry about.

Fernandinande म्हणाले...

in the manner of a person with OCD because

OCD is as OCD does, but OCD is the wrong word for mysophobia.

It's covid19world, and we're all OCD now,

No, we are definitely not all anything now, especially not OCD or mysophobic.

Ann Althouse म्हणाले...

While "When the Moon Comes Over the Mountain" is a serious song, it's so serious that it's fun to make fun of. Groucho hums "When the Moon Comes Over the Mountain" in "A Night at the Opera" and Moe makes reference to it in "Dizzy Doctors."

Laslo Spatula म्हणाले...

Found out on Thursday that a woman I know was laid off the previous day.

Company sales cratered, no light at the end of the tunnel.

She is late thirties, single mom.

Saved for years, just bought her first house three months ago.

She loses everything because NYC fucked itself, and the NYC media gladly fed panic to the masses.

I am feeling more Old Testament than New, of late.

I am Laslo.

Ann Althouse म्हणाले...

Harmony and understanding
Sympathy and trust abounding
No more falsehoods or derisions
Golden living dreams of visions
Mystic crystal revelation
And the mind's true liberation

Fernandinande म्हणाले...

we're all OCD now,

You had a sample of four people and 75% of them didn't mind sharing a physical object; that means "we" is just you.

Levi Starks म्हणाले...

At least you won’t have to stop flying.

mikee म्हणाले...

I tried to give a business card to an elderly fellow and his gruff reply was, "I don't want to touch that." The way he said it, it was partly a flu issue, and partly a nicely timed business insult. I was so impressed, I wasn't even upset over the business part of it.

Althouse's little story reminds me of the moment on the beach during my honeymoon when an old, boozy, fat, bright red sunburned drunk asked if my wife would hug him for a picture. She laughed, and asked, "Don't you have any daughters of your own for photos." He was flustered for a second, then came back with "Well, none as good looking as you." " He tried to hand me his camera and simultaneously slip an arm around her, but failing at both, something else caught his eye and he stumbled off. She laughed, I laughed, and he threw up in the sand as we left.

Michael म्हणाले...

Good move but I hope you washed your shoes the moment you got home if you stepped n their footprints. Also airdrop is not the solution if the virus travels through the air.

Lucien म्हणाले...

We do not all have OCD. Some of us don’t even wear masks. Some of us viewed the State’s response to 9/11 as far more of a threat to our freedom than terrorism ever was; and tyrannical shut down orders as more of a threat to civic and economic liberty than COVID19.

320Busdriver म्हणाले...

Fate
Up against your will
Through the thick and thin
He will wait until
You give yourself to him
In starlit nights I saw you
So cruelly you kissed me
Your lips a magic world
Your sky all hung with jewels
The killing moon
Will come too soon
E&TB

Some Seppo म्हणाले...

What good is being phobic if you can't feed it?

Char Char Binks, Esq. म्हणाले...

You should have taken the phone and taken the pic, then sanitized your hands. You do carry sanitizer, unless you’re a racist, science-denying, bleach-drinking, Lysol-huffing Covidiot.

Come on, Anne, touch the object!

Big Mike म्हणाले...

But we've been told by expert alarmists whose own jobs are secure and whose income is not at risk on this very blog that it's a minor dip, so nothing to worry about.

@Sebastian, FIFY.

RigelDog म्हणाले...

I immediately thought of Aquarius, and then a second later, Dean Martin was in my head. I sing my own silly version: "When the sun hits your eye like a big pizza-pie, that's amore. When the moon and the stars make you hit all the bars, that's amore!"

Rory म्हणाले...

Little Richard RIP at 87.

rcocean म्हणाले...

Should have an emotional athouse tag. Chances of getting CV-19 from a "strange object"? Almost zero. If you are really concerned, just wash your hands. Currently Winsc. has - 1,167 CV-19 cases per Million. That's 1.2 per thousand. You have a bigger chance of getting in an auto accident, or getting raped, robbed or murdered.

rcocean म्हणाले...

Oh, the moonlight's fair tonight along the Wabash,
From the fields there comes the breath of new mown hay.
Through the sycamores the candle lights are gleaming,
On the banks of the Wabash, far away

Sebastian म्हणाले...

Big MIke: correction accepted.

rc: "Should have an emotional althouse tag."

Yes. The panic has yet to subside.

tcrosse म्हणाले...

It's possible to use an Insta-Pot as a makeshift autoclave, but it's not recommended for sanitizing your phone or your shoes.

MayBee म्हणाले...

Fun tip for those who will take others’ photos when asked: take a couple candid ones too as a surprise. I asked as passerby to take one of my daughter and me at the LOVE statue in Minneapolis and the one he snapped when we weren’t smiling for the camera, when I was gesturing her as to where to stand, is the best one by far.

I LOVE that idea!!

Yancey Ward म्हणाले...

We're all OCD now

Sounds like they weren't OCD at all.

minnesota farm guy म्हणाले...

The question for Althouse becomes: "when are you going to have the courage-or the common sense - to resume a normal life?" If you lived in NYC I might be sympathetic about not handling a camera, but my God ,Madison WI! The number of cases in Dane county is 468, The population of Dane County is 546,695. The percentage of cases/capita .09%; the number of deaths: 22 or .004% of the population of Dane County. The odds of being hit by lightening are about .001%. In other words Althouse is paranoid about the chances of dying from Wuhan Flu ( from a chance encounter in the open air) whose odds are somewhat greater - but not much - as getting hit by lightening. Not Althouse's fault , but certainly gives some perspective on the irrationality

Really makes you wonder what we are coming to doesn't it! I don't blame Althouse specifically. This incident is just an illustration of how foolish we are acting now that we have a better understanding of the disease.

Openidname म्हणाले...

Or just freaking don't touch your face until you wash your hands.

Dude1394 म्हणाले...

A friend of mine said he wanted to find some way to be exposed to the virus so he could get it the **** over with and go about his business. That actually is not that bad of an idea. Small dose exposures to beef up our immune system.

Kate म्हणाले...

My first thought was "...over the mountain." Why? I'm much more familiar with the other 2 songs. Weird. We're all Kate Smith songs now.

bagoh20 म्हणाले...

We are considered essential in Nevada, so we stayed open following all the recommended protocols for distancing, etc. While my people were distancing and sanitizing at work, many were not outside of work, and continued to party together, visit friends and family, live together, and drive together. Many are couples.

After the first positive test, we closed for 3 weeks. We eventually had 4 positive employees out of 65. My business, which was awarded by the SBA a few years ago as the best small business in all of Los Angeles County (11 million people) is now near collapse, but I'm keeping it going and paying people from my own savings. We continue to pay everyone who wants to work, but the profits we were preparing to share 100% with employees are now gone, and most of our customers are cancelling orders. We will shrink in size and train and employ far fewer than we expected to this year. I expect us to eventually recover and start to grow again, but it's far from a sure thing at this point. I feel Trump's pain. We were doing everything right for years, working really hard, making great strides, and then this wipes it all away overnight, and put us in a situation worse than ever.

bagoh20 म्हणाले...

BTW, nobody got really sick, even though two of the positives were late 50's and mid 60's in age. The other two were 19 and 20 years old. Now they are donating blood for the cure.

bagoh20 म्हणाले...

I started licking door knobs as soon as I found out about this virus. I'm getting tested Tuesday for the antibodies, and hope I'm immune, so I can stop.

minnesota farm guy म्हणाले...

@bagoh20 I wish you the best of luck in recovering your prosperous business. Your story is a an illustration of the ramification of the lockdown that very few in the media understand or have the education to appreciate.

Peter म्हणाले...

Another way: carry a small bottle of hand sanitiser as I do.
(Or just play the odds. They’re very long. You could slip in the frost and crack your skull)

eddie willers म्हणाले...

Before I opened the thread, I predicted 95% would begin, "When the moon...is in the seventh house". And, specifically, the 5th Dimension's version.

Color me surprised that it seems Dean Martin's joke song is #1.

Art in LA म्हणाले...

I was walking our pup Sprite the other night and a couple walking in the other direction came up to pet her. Freaked me out a little bit, but I’m sure my risk is incredibly low still. These completely normal PSD (Pre-Social Distancing) interactions feel so weird now. Sprite was really happy though ... she loves people.

Rosalyn C. म्हणाले...

If you were close enough to the people to have a conversation which lasted long enough to discuss doing airdrop and for them to pose and they were not wearing masks, that would be risky. The year of living dangerously.

Ann Althouse म्हणाले...

“ If you were close enough to the people to have a conversation which lasted long enough to discuss doing airdrop and for them to pose and they were not wearing masks,”

No one was wearing a mask, but the 2 groups kept more than 6 feet apart. Plus we were outdoors (and all healthy enough to have walked or run over a mile at dawn).

Rosalyn C. म्हणाले...

I was kidding and I think you were probably OK but then you never really know -- and very healthy people carry the virus without even knowing it because they are non-symptomatic, and they even sneeze sometimes which makes the 6 ft. rule insufficient.

Lurker21 म्हणाले...

New in my email box today: ads for portable UV phone sanitizers ...