Plague Diary

[Doktor Howl]

 

[P3nT4gR4m]

https://www.lansingcitypulse.com/stories/protesters-jam-downtown-lansing,14162

Many defied social distancing mandates in Whitmer's order, crowding closely together with rifles and signs supporting Donald Trump. Others stayed in their cars and trucks, some pulling construction gear, landscaping equipment and motorboats. Music blared from loud speakers.

Hundreds ignored guidance from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention by not wearing masks or face covers, shouting about how Whitmer needs to be removed from office.

Well...Bye.

It's a shame this thing has such a low mortality rate. Can you imagine Trump announcing that it's time to go back to work cos the the economy will just magically reappear in a poof of bigly jesus smoke or some shit and all the retarded motherfuckers who listen to him for anything other than lulz actually do it, only instead of a tickly cough it's ebola with a stupid high r0. It's like eugenics but it's okay to laugh cos god did it.

[Doktor Howl]

https://www.lansingcitypulse.com/stories/protesters-jam-downtown-lansing,14162

Many defied social distancing mandates in Whitmer's order, crowding closely together with rifles and signs supporting Donald Trump. Others stayed in their cars and trucks, some pulling construction gear, landscaping equipment and motorboats. Music blared from loud speakers.

Hundreds ignored guidance from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention by not wearing masks or face covers, shouting about how Whitmer needs to be removed from office.

Well...Bye.

It's a shame this thing has such a low mortality rate. Can you imagine Trump announcing that it's time to go back to work cos the the economy will just magically reappear in a poof of bigly jesus smoke or some shit and all the retarded motherfuckers who listen to him for anything other than lulz actually do it, only instead of a tickly cough it's ebola with a stupid high r0. It's like eugenics but it's okay to laugh cos god did it.

I just want to see MAGA freaks do the 70 inhalations per minute Covid beat-box thing.

I don't give a damn if they make it or not, really.

[P3nT4gR4m]

Yeah, I guess I'm just pissed cos I was robbed of the ultimate summer punchline when Boris survived

ETA: the gag was "Covid-19: Protecting the NHS one dead tory at a time" and the fucking prick stole it from me 

[Doktor Howl]

Yeah, I guess I'm just pissed cos I was robbed of the ultimate summer punchline when Boris survived

Well, we can't have everything.

ETA:  Assuming he was ever actually sick.

[Doktor Howl]

https://nypost.com/2020/04/14/coronavirus-cases-skyrocket-in-south-dakota/?utm_source=facebook_sitebuttons&utm_medium=site+buttons&utm_campaign=site+buttons&fbclid=IwAR2CmI8ZaJoNlObFLfigIDNXUnsvOTjQDlgxF8w7qqwItdiGWQqScfLOTrU

[P3nT4gR4m]

I'm going to post that as a reply next time I that - all the best coronavirus responses are in countries run by women - meme floats past my feed

[Bruno]

At work, they've started giving every employee a fresh surgical mask every day. That's something like 700-800 masks a week. During a shortage in which medical personnel do not have enough masks. I have no idea where they are coming from, or for how long they will be able to sustain that level of use.

I'm not throwing mine away. I'll sanitize them, and give them out to anyone who needs one.

[Goddess Eris]

I live in Brooklyn. The bodegas and the grocery stores are open, I hear the banks are too but I never visit a physical bank. My weed dealer is doing well. Waiting in line to go grocery shopping is strange, and the latest strains I picked up give me the munchies something fierce so I suppose I'll be supporting the economy more. It evens out, all the furniture is supporting me more. I have so many things I want to do but I am experiencing an extreme bout of executive dysfunction.

I bought a face mask at a Korean book store when this all started (fashion!) and it was probably the best investment I have made recently.

Spent more time reading about David Bowie than anyone has ever needed to.

[Cain]

I rewatched Contagion last night. All things considered, I think the public has adapted fairly well to social distancing.

[P3nT4gR4m]

I rewatched Contagion last night. All things considered, I think the public has adapted fairly well to social distancing.

Is that the one where Jude Law is responsible for about a third of the fucking posts I see on Facebook right now?

[Cramulus]

I convinced my fiance to watch the SyFy channel's Dune (the one from the year 2000)

she's actually loving it...?????

[Cain]

Time to call off the marriage Cram. Sorry, but it's better you found out now.

[Faust]

I liked the mini-series, the acting is a bit ham, but it captures most of the plot points fairly well
Unfortunately it doesn't have my favourite mythos additions of david lynches such as milking cats daily for antivenon

[cigarki spiritual]

Diary entry. Month in review 13.03.2020-16.04.2020

One month into lockdown in Bulgaria. Was quite surreal when it hit initially, I was only flying back to sort out some documents with the idea that I'm going back to the UK to sort my life out. I'd been living off grid in squats and caravans and had made a point of not paying too much attention to the news over the last few months and fully thought the whole covid shit was just another meme about something that's gonna kill us all that everyone's getting hyped on.

Was recording some raps at a friend of a friend's studio, having some drinks. Finished a song and sat down to roll a spliff, the recording engineer turned on the TV and the Prime Minister announced we're in lockdown. Recording engineer is typical woke Bulgarian boomer - head's a mish mash of new age nonsense, Russian fake news propaganda and all the bullshit clickbait you can find. Everyone's high as fuck and he's ranting about how this is it and the New World Order have finally got their global domination plan in full swing and we'll all be microchipped and arrested. Got a taxi back home, because I didn't want to be walking around the newly announced police state with my weed on me. Next day is smoking and reading everything I can find about Covid, catching up on a few weeks of mass hysteria I'd missed out on. Start freaking out trying to figure out whether to get back on my flight to the UK, where I used to live in a caravan or stay in Bulgaria where I have a house to myself. Difficult decision, eventually donate my weed to a friend so that I can clear my head, start meditating regularly and realize that Bulgaria might be my best bet for having a chill time during the pandemic.

Following couple of weeks are surreal - for the first time in my life I fully support the Bulgarian government. I always thought we were the idiots and we had to learn from western leaders, but so far Boris Johnson's essentially told people "yeah sorry your loved ones are gonna die" and Trump is trying to convince his supporters that it's all a plot by the Dems to fuck up the election for him. Obviously this whole madness goes through thirty different iterations of "This was the truth all along" over the next few weeks. Meanwhile prime minister Boyko Borisov's mafioso swagger seems surprisingly fit for the handling of the crisis. "Look western leaders keep saying two-three weeks. They say that so that people don't panic. Realistically they don't have any clue and neither do I" he says on the question of how long the lockdown is going to last. When asked about what the long-term effects will be he says that Bulgarians will forget about the whole thing in three days as soon as its over much like we get over anything else. This gives me some weird kind of hope - our general backwardness and refusal to integrate new technologies might just mean that once everything is done we'll have less of a cyberpunk dystopia than in other places.


There's something endearing about being in an East European state that isn't as immersed in the simulacra as the UK is: people here know that disaster is a part of life so they don't need to automatically assume we're living in Mad Max. Everyone's fairly chill if annoyed that there is no financial support from the government. This might be our biggest issue going forward - if the government doesn't curb their stealing of EU funds and start supporting small businesses and everyone that's become unemployed in the last few weeks people are going to stop giving a fuck about the virus and start organizing to take down the government. Such attempts have already started, but the stupidity of the organizers has been too detrimental to it being anything but people getting hyped up on Facebook Live.  As much as I dislike those currently in power I'm fairly certain that any attempts at taking them down will be co-opted by "Brotherly Russia" and we'll end up in some completely new nightmare scenario. So here I am, for the first time in my life firmly supporting the Bulgarian government and praying that they realize the threat they are under if they don't offer financial assistance to the people.