The Coronavirus Thread

[NineBerry]

Speaking of rats:

Several German cities see a rat infestation as the animals seem to have moved into the cities more over the last months as fewer people were on the road.

[Brian Peacock]

SA Police said the 23-year-old man and the 18-year-old man were stopped at the checkpoint on the Dukes Highway at Bordertown, about 4:00am on Thursday, and were deemed to be non-essential travellers.

Never cross the border at Bordertown - that's exactly what they expect you to do.

[JimC]

All the roads out of Victoria into South Australia are blocked by armed police. It's only a matter of time before NSW to our north follows suit. When (and if) travel resumes, all Victorians visiting other states will be compelled to wear a prominent pink V...

[Hermit]

All the roads out of Victoria into South Australia are blocked by armed police. It's only a matter of time before NSW to our north follows suit. When (and if) travel resumes, all Victorians visiting other states will be compelled to wear a prominent pink V...

Ferries to Tassie are still on. Go, visit Port Arthur. It's a picturesque, popular tourist destination. Martin will give you all a special welcome.

[Woodbutcher]

I used to live in Port Arthur, but then Port Arthur and Fort William amalgamated and became Thunder Bay.

[L'Emmerdeur]

I admit I'm tempted. I've already read it twice, but it's been a long time since I last took the plunge.

'Thomas Pynchon Predicted the Pandemic in "Gravity’s Rainbow"—Now Aren't You Sorry You Didn't Read It?'

If it’s fiction you want these shut-in days, Pynchon’s is the American novel that offers the most profound understanding of how the pandemic is killing hundreds of thousands across the globe. Granted, each of us is most concerned that the virus doesn’t kill us, but you still might like to know Pynchon’s analysis—in 1973—of why you might die. And although Gravity’s Rainbow has a very pessimistic diagnosis of human history, that diagnosis might inspire the cognitive shift necessary for regeneration after the pandemic eases, if it does. Plenty of op-ed writers have offered cultural analyses and future prescriptions, but Pynchon’s fiction is further reaching, more imaginative, and more affecting.

Gravity’s Rainbow is also notoriously long and recalcitrant. But if you recognize its Brechtian “epic theater” as decidedly relevant to our current situation, reading it could be a good investment of your entertainment hours because the novel is an encyclopedia of humor, what scholars call “the carnivalesque.” Pynchon includes a Huck Finn-like Innocent Abroad as protagonist, a large gallery of fools and frauds, slapstick chase scenes, movie parodies, Catch-22 absurdities and Monty Python stupidities, as well as bawdy songs, Proverbs for Paranoids, and word play worthy of Nabokov, with whom Pynchon studied. I should also mention plenty of sex scenes to please just about every taste (and tastelessness). But be not fooled: the hurdy-gurdy carnival is present to conduct you into the big tent, where gravity-defying high-wire acts of human rocketry occur.

[Brian Peacock]

I think you'd be better off reading Ballard and Lovecraft. Start reading that and you might not finishes before the End Times arrive.

[L'Emmerdeur]

Yeah, I dig both of them, too. Pynchon has a special place in what passes for my heart, though.

[pErvinalia]

127 cases in pestilence central (Melbourne) today. Highest number to date.

[JimC]

We are basically staying at home. We did a big supermarket shop recently, so we can hunker down for a while...

[Brian Peacock]

I'm no longer paying any attention to government advice - which is confusing, contradictory, and now is becoming increasingly political in a Trumpian culture wars fashion. I'm reading what medics and epidemeologists are saying, and they're saying there's still a high level of infection in the population and that the focus on the number of confirmed cases and deaths gives a misleading picture. Testing and contact tracing has been outsourced to firms with contracts which explicitly let them off any failures or errors - they're getting the money with no incentive to do a decent job. I'm in a vulnerable group so I'm trying to maintain social distancing as best I can, but it does rather depend on what others do doesn't it? Cases are very low in Scotland so the chances of catching it seem rather slim, but we're still not opening the pubs, social distancing rules still apply, and from next week face masks become compulsory in shops and on public transport.

[rainbow]

Speaking of rats:

Several German cities see a rat infestation as the animals seem to have moved into the cities more over the last months as fewer people were on the road.

Hameln?

[NineBerry]

Bayonne: Bus driver left brain dead after being 'attacked over face masks'

A bus driver in the south-west of France has been left brain dead after reportedly being attacked by passengers who refused to wear face masks.

The driver in Bayonne had refused to allow several people - who had no tickets and were not wearing masks - to board the bus on Sunday night, a police source told AFP news agency.

The man, who is in his 50s, sustained serious head injuries after being punched.

Five people have been arrested.

Face masks are mandatory on public transport in France.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-53309424

[Svartalf]

So wish I could say that these damn basques are not fit for civilized company, but I don't know the stock of the guilty parties.

[Tero]