(no subject)

[pearwaldorf]

A link dump of things I have been reading:

30 kitchen organizing tips that are actually legit amazing. I'm super angry at the simple brilliance of the egg carton trick. I did this today and now all the weird random hot sauces and things I only ever need at very specific times (fish sauce, sriracha ranch, that one salad dressing I use only for tuna fish sandwiches) are neatly corralled at the bottom of the fridge door. And they don't slip and slide out like they used to. THIS CHANGES EVERYTHING.

Andrew Sullivan on how to survive a plague. Politically we are opposed in pretty much every single way but I think his perspective on living through the HIV/AIDS crisis is useful. I saw this, supposedly from ACTUP but I have not been able to corroborate. Regardless, they're not wrong.

What we can learn from the way Wuhan residents handled living with coronavirus. tl;dr: keep in touch with your neighbors, help each other when needed. I need to get off my ass and get my own little network started.

How H-E-B planned for the pandemic. H-E-B is a Texas grocery store chain. They have been paying the attention the federal government should have been since January.

The missing six weeks: how Trump failed the biggest test of his life

A pretty good summation of how badly the Trump administration fucked up US response to COVID19. I can't let myself get angry about it because then I'll never stop:

Early on in the crisis, Griffeth [an emergency room doctor who started GetUsPPE.org] said, it dawned on her and many of her peers that the federal government to which they would normally look to keep them safe was nowhere to be seen. They resigned themselves to a terrible new reality.

 

“We said to ourselves we are going to get exposed to the virus. When the federal government isn’t there to provide adequate supplies, it’s just a matter of time.”

But just in the last few days, Griffeth has started to see the emergence of something else. She has witnessed an explosion of Americans doing it for themselves, filling in the holes left by Trump’s failed leadership.

 

“People are stepping up all around us,” she said. “I’m amazed by what has happened in such short time. It gives me hope.”

I'm trying to ramp up to do what I can (making/distributing masks, encouraging others to do the same). I cannot dwell on the circumstances of the things that have put me in this position, because it interferes with my ability to actually do those things.

When this is over, certainly there will be collective trauma from all of this. The other thing I fear we're going to have to deal with is completely shattered faith in the federal government. I remember during Katrina when people put Grover Norquist's infamous quote about making the government small enough to drown in a bathtub over floodwaters. Not to say that the Bush II administration was competent, but they looked like they had their shit way together in comparison to the chucklefucks in charge now. 

I'm real fucking irritated nobody in the federal government is stepping up to take charge. Biden's been MIA, Sanders and Warren are doing what they can as senators, Pelosi's fucking useless and has been for ages. If anybody would like to say "fuck politics, people are dying" I will gladly give them money for re-election. 

Also not super thrilled about how President Obama has been keeping his head down for pretty much all of this. I understand that as a private citizen he has zero fucking obligation to do anything, but it would be really cool if he did more than post links on Twitter. This is very much a time where somebody should be encouraging national unity, but through deliberate action of the Fascist Yam, every state is left to fend for itself. I don't wike it.

Comments

[nonelvis]

I've been doing something similar to the tension rod/vertical storage trick: I got an expandable metal file organizer to put in the bottom of the cabinet where the banking pans were all teetering on top of each other, and just like that, I can find everything and it all fits perfectly. It's fucking miraculous.

I want to tackle the junk drawer problem, too, but fear that so many of the things in that drawer are oddly shaped -- what kind of drawer bin can hold jar lifters? -- that it's going to be the one part of the kitchen I can't organize.

[pearwaldorf]

Another article from The Kitchn will probably help. This is actually pretty brilliant.

[nonelvis]

... holy shit, why didn't I think of this. Guess I know what next weekend's project will be, then!

[mecurtin]

I suspect Biden & Obama (and Hillary) are keeping their heads down to a certain extent because Trump WILL do the opposite of whatever they suggest. Any leadership they show will provoke a toxic pushback from Trump & his cult that will end up hurting more people.

[redstapler]

I think especially in the case of Hillary, any attempt at leadership will cause conspiracy theorists to claim she's angling for another go at the Democratic nomination. I've seen such wingnuttery already just based on the Hulu documentary.

[musesfool]

The organizing tip I found really helpful was to use a magazine holder for the foil/parchment/wax paper/ziploc bags boxes. It keeps them all neatly upright instead of falling all over the place.