17 thoughts on “April 16, 2020: Tidal Fragmentation”

  1. So the in-laws have been planning to visit Memorial Day weekend since January. My f-i-l has yet to close his allergy practice, so he's still seeing patients five days a week (and refusing to attempt telemedicine). My m-i-l has become the office manager, so she is also in contact with all these same folks. Because of this (and because of how badly New Orleans has been hit with Covid-19), my b-i-l and s-i-l, who live just minutes away from the in-laws, have understandably not let them get anywhere near my niece and nephew the past five weeks.

    My in-laws think this whole thing is silly, so they told me yesterday they were just planning to drive up here for a very long Memorial Day weekend. I'm truly flabbergasted.

    1. "You can drive up here if you want, but don't expect to come inside" would be my response.

      But you're probably nicer than I am.

      I'm lucky in that my family is all on the same page. TLO's birthday was two weeks ago and everyone was like "Yeah, we'll skype in and have a half-birthday party or something later"

    2. My family is mostly all-understanding when it comes to the pandemic and what we need to do to be safe...and then there's my sister in TX who latches on to any ol' conspiracy. She tries to tell us we need to be open to other views as well, even when one of my brothers tells her the YouTube video link she sent was on a site identified as Russian trolls and bots.

    4. There’s a strange sense in New Orleans that this isn’t “real” because we didn’t see deaths in the thousands. Orleans parish has ~300 deaths, roughly one fifth of the number of people killed by Katrina*, and the state has seen ~1200 deaths with 23k cases. It’s hard to see this as dangerous if you don’t know anyone who has it, aren’t raising kid (so don’t have to teach and work from home), and haven’t lost your livelihood due to service industry close down. If the only factor is eating your favorite restaurant meals at home and standing in lines at Costco this could feel like it’s not that big of a deal.

      *of course the total was much higher if you include those that weren’t reported or were “natural” causes brought on by stress, lack of medication, etc.

    1. The Skyway clears the water by only 180 feet; FAA regulations require pilots to stay 500 feet away from “any person, vessel, vehicle or structure.” Halladay seems to have found the trick exhilarating: He noted it in his logbook and a few days later tweeted, “I keep telling my dad flying the Icon A5 low over the water is like flying a fighter jet! His response..... I am flying a fighter jet!!”

  4. One of my three remaining aunts was rushed to the hospital last night after becoming disoriented. They suspected a stroke and did a CT scan, instead she has two brain tumors. She's scheduled for surgery tomorrow morning but of course she can't have visitors and she's having to go it alone. I skipped right over denial and I'm doubling up on anger on this one. Thoughts and prayers are appreciated.

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