MetaTalk

It is March 39th and time for the latest check-in thread. As previously ([3][2][1]) this is for actual news, updates, personal experiences, and more mutual support from and to people dealing with this virus in their daily lives. All hail the mods for continuing to provide this sanctuary for us, and good health to readers and commenters alike. How is one doing?
posted by Wordshore to MetaTalk on Apr 8 at 12:40 PM
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Lately I've seen many a fine recipe, sewing pattern and/or general quarantine project idea gracing various COVID threads on the blue, green, and grey. I thought it would be nice to have someplace central to store and chat about that sort of thing. So, are you doing something amazing or hilarious or at least vaguely interesting with your home-bound time? Building something new, cooking or baking something awesome (or at least awesomely terrible?) Reading or watching something that makes you happy? Whatever you're doing with yourself to make your lockdown time a little less stressful, share it here.
posted by invincible summer to MetaTalk on Apr 6 at 7:04 AM
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Over the last few weeks, I've seen comments from Mefites, infinitely more crafty than myself, who are making masks. Are any of you selling your masks on the Etsy or elsewhere? I'd love to buy a few for myself and Mr. Computech. Links please!
posted by computech_apolloniajames to MetaTalk on Apr 7 at 5:04 PM
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Jessamyn and I do what we do best: manage to show up and record a podcast despite it all. We talk about (a) a bunch of COVID stuff and (b) a bunch of stuff that has nothing to do with COVID and (c) the whole process of trying to navigate that balance. I drink most of a tall beer. Jessamyn is hopped up on decaf coffee. It's wild. Runs about 80 minutes.
posted by cortex to MetaTalk on Apr 3 at 6:38 PM
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I've noticed an increasing tendency of the Covid19 Metas to tend towards chatfilter.
posted by arabidopsis to MetaTalk on Apr 3 at 4:43 PM
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Give us .txt, please. In an expandable box beneath the main post on the blue.
posted by Sterros to MetaTalk on Apr 6 at 9:43 PM
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I can't improve on Gotanda's intro for the last check in thread so here it is again updated: A third catch-all thread for mefites living in areas directly affected by novel coronavirus (aka SARS-CoV-2 and COVID-19) picking up from the last one. Again, please no idle speculation, catastrophizing, or chat. Let's stick to actual news, updates, personal experiences, and more mutual support from and to people dealing with this virus in their daily lives. How you all doing?
posted by glasseyes to MetaTalk on Mar 23 at 11:35 AM
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Did we not have a thread with uplifting poems etc relevant to the current catastrophe? I can’t find it.
posted by HotToddy to MetaTalk on Apr 3 at 4:44 PM
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The Covid Card Swap (previously discussed here)is a go! If you want to send cards/postcards/notes of encouragement and connection to other Mefites, follow the simple instructions inside.
posted by Sparky Buttons to MetaTalk on Mar 27 at 12:12 PM
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To combat some of the *gestures at everything* in the world I've been running Jackbox party games for my IRL and online friends. It's a low-key way to get connected with people for some easy, fun socializing online. I'd love to hear from anyone else here who's been running online games and would welcome more participants.
posted by odinsdream to MetaTalk on Mar 31 at 8:35 PM
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Many local organizations are developing mutual aid organizations of neighbors helping neighbors get their basic needs met (grocery shopping, phone calls for wellness/connection, etc.). I'm working locally in my physical neighborhood, but I consider metafilter my neighborhood as well. Would others be interested in sharing their needs and seeing if anyone in the community can meet them? For example: I have toilet paper to share (as long as you don't mind the recycled eucalyptus sort) and can do grocery shopping for vulnerable mefites in the L.A. area. If you're very low on tp I can mail you some and also toss in some local fruit from our backyard tree. I could use: if you're making fabric masks, I could really use them for my aunt (ICU nurse). She's running low and I'm working extra hours at work (I know, I'm lucky to be working) so I don't have time to sew myself.
posted by arnicae to MetaTalk on Mar 22 at 10:26 AM
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Trying to run with a regular April Fools gag feels super weird this year, so...let's just have an indoor scavenger hunt! Can you find THE ROUNDEST THING in your home? Find a thing that needs finding, post a picture and/or description of it in the thread, suggest something else for folks to look for!
posted by cortex to MetaTalk on Apr 1 at 8:49 AM
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Do you have an instrument at home? Or a voice? And a camera or a microphone? Willing to upload to Youtube or Facebook or Vimeo or Soundcloud or your provider of choice and link to it here? Better to be at home sharing music than to be at home not sharing music!
posted by clawsoon to MetaTalk on Mar 28 at 6:15 PM
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People are answering AskMeFi questions about COVID-19 with incorrect advice, endangering at-risk populations. Preventing the use of MetaFilter to distribute dangerous misinformation is a matter of life and death.
posted by strangely stunted trees to MetaTalk on Mar 8 at 9:25 PM
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Everything is cancelled, we're worried about everyone, and the world is upside down. I presume that MeFites, too, need a place to scream. Here it is. FUUUUUUUU-----
posted by BuddhaInABucket to MetaTalk on Mar 12 at 10:30 AM
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As the Highlander always says: “There can be only one.” Are you team cake or team pie? Discuss.
posted by Fizz to MetaTalk on Apr 8 at 11:46 AM
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Regarding the recent one-man Godzilla film that was posted over on the blue, MCMikeNamara commented:

If this was the sole artifact left to explain humanity, it would be impossible to truly explain without the cultural context, but I honestly don't care and would happily nominate it to be the sole artifact to explain humanity.<>

Has me thinking what the rest of the community would choose, so let's open it up to debate. What would you choose as the sole artifact left to explain humanity? I'm thinking that MCMikeNamara is on the right track with this one-man Godzilla film. Stay safe everyone.
posted by Fizz to MetaTalk on Mar 30 at 9:59 AM
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While we're on the subject of ponies... What if recent activity showed, say, the last ten comments in the last 8 or 24 hours?
posted by kaibutsu to MetaTalk on Mar 24 at 8:56 AM
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Lots of us are terrified without a sense that we can control anything about the COVID-19 pandemic besides staying in our homes. But there are plenty of things we can be doing as citizens to organize and help each other out. Let's create a space to talk about what we are personally doing and why to keep one another safe.
posted by sciatrix to MetaTalk on Mar 19 at 9:02 AM
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[more posts]

I guess I fall under the category of “person dealing with significant hardship.” I’m older and in active cancer treatment, dealing with complications to that treatment because of the virus and my doctor warning me that the cancer center may shut down. If they are deciding who gets a ventilator, I will probably be the person who dies. I might also... [more]
posted by FencingGal to MetaTalk on Apr 3 at 6:34 PM
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My father died a few hours after I posted last. The funeral was today - a day later than normal, but getting a site and the funeral home and the permits and opening the cemetery all took more time because some of the essential people involved weren't "essential workers", and to ensure everyone's safety. I couldn't say kaddish because... [more]
posted by Mchelly to MetaTalk on Apr 2 at 4:19 PM
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I personally like the mix as it is now. I wouldn't want people to go overboard with cheer or obliviousness, but I don't think they have. I am in an area that is seriously impacted but I myself am not seriously affected, so I would defer to people who feel more directly affected, of course. From my perspective, the threads serve as a good source... [more]
posted by ferret branca to MetaTalk on Apr 3 at 5:47 PM
59 users marked this as a favorite

You are all saints and I adore all of you. I clearly should have just gone to Metafilter immediately. Thank you from the bottom of my heart for everyone offering to just mail me some themselves and also for finding other places I can get them from. I don't know why I was somehow fixating on Amazon as the only supplier of this stuff, probably... [more]
posted by corb to MetaTalk on Apr 2 at 1:56 PM
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This is not happy or upbeat. Please feel free to skip it if you just don't have the spoons! Not doing super great, tbh. I had a Chronic, Gross, Painful, and Ugly medical diagnosis early in the year that put me well off my game with school to the extent that I just didn't turn things in and had to tell my profs the rough outlines of what... [more]
posted by Mouse Army to MetaTalk on Apr 8 at 1:43 PM
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I would stop reading and posting in the check-in thread if only significant hardships could be talked about, even if I wanted to post about my hardship. This is affecting people on many different levels. People talk about food and crafts because that is part of how they are dealing with it. That's absolutely valid and I think should stay in. I... [more]
posted by brook horse to MetaTalk on Apr 3 at 6:44 PM
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Oh god, yeah, it sounds like literally everyone is going to the grocery store every few days! And finding no food! They give people shit about hoarding, but we were told to get enough food to not leave the house for weeks! It's just a shitty, unwinnable balancing act. Buy enough for ages and people call you a hoarding piece of shit;... [more]
posted by We put our faith in Blast Hardcheese to MetaTalk on Apr 2 at 10:56 AM
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So, my husband's dad died (not coronavirus). In New Zealand. We can't go there. They can't hold a funeral. We can't even send flowers because NZ is not doing deliveries other than food and medicine and a few other essentials at the moment. His mother was alone for the first day after the death until her other son who lived a few hours away could... [more]
posted by lollusc to MetaTalk on Apr 8 at 3:48 PM
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one tiny bright spot to offset grief ladden comment slightly earlier today. MY CAT HAS A FANCLUB. Since we're working from home I've been letting him out on the terrace to sniff his things and nap in a sunbeam, and today a woman shouted down at us that her kittens are OBSESSED with my cat. and then another set of neighbors shouted down that... [more]
posted by larthegreat to MetaTalk on Apr 6 at 11:20 AM
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Here's the recipe as I make it; I've changed it a tiny bit from the original recipe, and I'll add those notes at the bottom. Preheat the oven to 425. Assemble the dry ingredients: 1/3 Cup flour 1/2 teaspoon baking powder 1/4 teaspoon salt 1 Tablespoon sugar (omit if you're making a savory scone) Combine those in a bowl. Or, if you... [more]
posted by EmpressCallipygos to MetaTalk on Apr 3 at 8:29 AM
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Uncle is slowly recovering from the virus. My aunt has made a full recovery, but my uncle is struggling with strength and shortness of breath. Thankfully, the fever is gone. It's going to be at least a month or two more before he feels "normal" with regards to his health. We're all feeling very blessed. He's in his 70s. *sighs* [view]
posted by Fizz to MetaTalk on Apr 8 at 1:20 PM
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IS IT JUST ME or does everyone have several moments a day of just blinding, white-light rage at how we have ended up in this place? [view]
posted by Miko to MetaTalk on Apr 5 at 8:15 AM
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Hey, Metafilter friends: I've been reading but not posting at all. However, tomorrow my PCP is making special arrangements for me to have a thing in my mouth "looked at" and probably biopsied. The effort they're making to do this is scaring me almost more than the thing itself, because clearly they feel it is urgent enough to do this.... [more]
posted by anastasiav to MetaTalk on Apr 2 at 6:11 PM
39 users marked this as a favorite

The world is going to hell and everyone is shut off from each other. Who cares if something is a little "chatty"? [view]
posted by Burhanistan to MetaTalk on Apr 4 at 8:50 AM
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On Tuesday at 1 p.m., my 80-year-old mother fell during her daily walk. At 6 p.m., she calls me and says the nose bleeding won't stop, I think we need to go to urgent care. I checked the web site, and it says they're open until 8, she says. Fuck, we both said, going to a hospital is something we really, really don't want to do right now. We... [more]
posted by Melismata to MetaTalk on Apr 4 at 5:44 AM
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Almost a week on national lockdown here in South Africa. Been on personal lockdown for a week longer than that. In case it helps anyone, here's something that really helped me manage my anxiety. It's something I figured out earlier this year while preparing for surgery. Basically, something I was scared of and had no control over. Obviously... [more]
posted by Zumbador to MetaTalk on Apr 2 at 8:55 AM
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I spent about an a hour and a half between yesterday and today mediating a COVID-centric meltdown between my parents and one of my older sisters, about 80% of which is sublimated family horseshit and drama and mutualized button-pushing that I do my damnedest to stay well distant from under normal circumstances and 20% of which is my parents... [more]
posted by cortex to MetaTalk on Apr 7 at 3:59 PM
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I, for one, give absolutely zero fucks about anyone who wants me to be "productive" right now. If I was still working (I've been furloughed), I'd get my work done (probably poorly and late, but done) but I'm not painting rooms in my house, I'm not adding a deck to my porch, and I'm sure as hell not getting 6-pack abs. I'm surviving. THAT... [more]
posted by cooker girl to MetaTalk on Apr 7 at 2:26 PM
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as mentioned or alluded to before, i'm a mid level staffer at an academic medicine department at UPenn with a family medicine clinic serving west philadelphia. at this point, i'm checking email / working / crying on a completely chaotic schedule. everything is fucking awful. i'm sorry to the ppl that i may have been short with on this site lately.... [more]
posted by lazaruslong to MetaTalk on Apr 4 at 10:14 PM
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So, I did a thing the other day that has been weirdly helpful for me. I was in a pretty severe anxiety spiral, which for me shows up as trying desperately to control everything in my immediate environment. Racing brain, racing heart, the whole 9, round and round and round. In the middle of that it occurred to me that even if I had... [more]
posted by invincible summer to MetaTalk on Apr 7 at 10:33 AM
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