Month: March 2020

Theme, with Variations

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by JanieM

Thanks to Anne Laurie’s amazing reporting at Balloon-Juice, the novel coronavirus has been on my radar since late January.

Because of Anne’s posts, I started backing up my food and household supplies a few weeks ago – just a little at a time, not trying to prepare for six months or a year in a bunker, but just adding an extra package of toilet paper here, a few extra packages of rice cakes and flour there. Even before this happened I probably could have eaten (boringly) for several weeks on the long untouched pasta and other staples in my cupboards and fridge.

For a couple of weeks I went to the store and bought a little more than usual with each trip. Then other people started to get a clue, and the following week the toilet paper aisle was cleaned out. I haven’t been to town since last Weds., and for the foreseeable future my son will be doing my shopping for me. He’s going today – we’ll see what he has to say about supplies of various things when he gets back.

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Whatcha doin’?

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by liberal japonicus This deserves a separate post. In answer to the post’s question, the Berlin Phil streaming site/app is giving free access to their catalog for 30 days because of coronavirus https://www.digitalconcerthall.com/ Hope other can share what they are doing in this time of social distancing. And maybe no politics, if you please.

A nudge is as good as a wink…

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by liberal japonicus This Guardian piece is quite interesting. With an estimated 5,000 to 10,000 coronavirus cases now present in the UK, the government has eschewed social distancing measures such as closing schools and banning large sporting events. Instead, it has opted for behavioural “nudges”: wash your hands, don’t touch your face, don’t shake hands … Read more

electability and all that jazz

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by liberal japonicus Thought I’d post something, the wuhan thread is creaking at the seams. A couple of grafs from here Sanders promised to show up at the debate on Sunday in Arizona to face Biden one-on-one, and basically offered him a cheat sheet: “Let me be very frank as to the questions that I … Read more

We write letters

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by liberal japonicus I wrote to Josh Marshall, editor of Talking Points Memo (and he immediately wrote back with a gracious response. I should also add that they are keeping all their COVID reporting outside their paywall, but they are hoping to get more subscribers, so you may want to consider it) about this statement … Read more

Tech and Korea part 1 of 3: transport

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by liberal japonicus

TLDR:I started writing a post about tech in Korea, but realised it’s going to take multiple posts, which will probably be warped by my relative isolation in Japan. Right now, I’m thinking three parts, transport & cashless society, internet and national id. And for those of you hoping to read this to forget about COVID-19, well, sorry about that.

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Christianity and Korea

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by liberal japonicus

TLDR: While Christianity in Korea may look familiar, it got there in a pretty unique way and who knows where it is going. Supported by tons of random observations that may or may not be related, leading to a conclusion that is pretty weak. More below.

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