Category Archives: virus

floating.

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As lockdown has forced many cinemas to close their doors due to social distancing measures, many cinephiles have turned to drive-ins to watch their favorite flicks. And while drive-ins may make an exciting cinema experience, a floating movie theater in Paris takes outdoor movie-going to another level, swapping out cars with boats.

Next week, the waters of the iconic Seine river in the French capital will see the arrival of a floating movie theatre where people can enjoy themselves in socially distant boats.

The “Le Cinéma sur l’Eau”, or “cinema on the water”, will be held on July 18 to celebrate the return of Paris Plages, an annual event organized by the French capital, that creates temporary beaches along the Seine and the Bassin de la Villette during the summer.

The floating cinema will welcome 150 locals who will be able to kick back in one of 38 small electric boats to watch “Le Grand Bain”, a French comedy about a group of men who start a synchronized swimming team and “A Corona Story”, a short film about COVID-19.

Each boat will seat four to six people, making sure that the groups consist of family or friends to makes sure social distancing measures are met. Also, to make sure that as many as people can benefit from this boat-cinema experience, another 150 people will be able to watch from deckchairs on dry land.

To get the chance to attend such an exceptional movie night, Parisians can enter a raffle for free tickets from July 7 – 16.

 

“solitude is not the same as loneliness. solitude is a solitary boat floating in a sea of possible companions.”

-robert fulghum

 

 

photo/text credits: derya ozdemir, interesting engineering, daily optimist, paris

 

let (a few of) them eat cake!

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when reading the day’s news online

there were the expected headlines/updates/graphs:

scotus decision

virus numbers updates

calls for mayor’s resignation

protest marches continue

doctors’ opinions

iran’s decision

cruise ship passengers awaiting refunds

election polls

presidential tweets

to wear a mask or not?

europe’s reopening

and then in huge letters:

COSTCO STOPS SELLING HALF-SHEET CAKES

what?

why is this a story?

why is this a bigger-font-size-worthy story?

what is the story?

here’s the story and it’s an odd logic.:

The past few months have been chaotic for Costco customers, with product shortages, long lines and the temporary elimination of free food samples. Now, it appears there’s another change for devoted shoppers: Costco has eliminated the iconic half-sheet cakes that are the centerpiece of graduation and birthday parties.

Costco has quietly stopped selling the $20 half-sheet cakes across its US stores for the past month, instead pointing people toward its 10-inch round cakes and other assorted baked goods.

“To help limit personal contact and create more space for social distancing, Costco has reduced service in some departments,” the company explained to outraged customers on its Facebook account. 

Costco confirmed to CNN Business it’s not selling the half-sheet cakes anymore and it has “no immediate plans” to bring it back. A spokesperson added that its 10-inch round cakes “seem to be resonating with our members.”

The decision also coincides with a recommendation from several US states and health agencies to avoid or prohibit large gatherings in light of Covid-19. Half-sheet cakes feeds around 50 people, while its 10-inch round cake serves around a dozen.

my interpretation: apparently the thought is that if you don’t have a big cake, you will not have a big celebration, where people will gather around the big cake in a big group. if you have more pieces of cake, you will then invite more people to go with it. what if you just bought a few round cakes, couldn’t you invite the same amount of people and just cut from the round cakes, or would that discourage you from inviting more guests as you’d have to then open more than one box? what about people just deciding to socially distance themselves without the cake being the deciding factor? just wondering, or is this that devil math at play once again? does it come down to having to match ratios, person to piece, and not have any leftover cake to eat for breakfast? i  knew i should have listened in school. 

“cake is happiness! If you know the way of the cake, you know the way of happiness!

If you have a cake in front of you, you should not look any further for joy!”

-c. joyBell c.

 

 

 

credits: cnn business

al fresco.

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streets now closed to cars
on friday afternoons through sunday evenings
so people can move to the streets
to walk, talk, dine, and be distant
a pretty natural adaption.
“eating outdoors makes for good health and long life and good temper, everyone knows that.”
-elise de wolfe
ann arbor, mi, usa – june 2020

pox.

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“demon pox. there’s always demon pox.”

-cassandra clare

 

 

image credit: the maine renaissance faire

an evening at home.

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after a busy day

spent teaching, singing, walking, grocery shopping with a mask, writing new plans, meeting, and conferencing

i finally sat down

one last time

all of it behind me

settling in for an evening at home

 picturing myself like the image above

and then 

the mirror

came into play

where it was revealed

that i was actually

more like disheveled barbie

but she probably has more fun anyway. 

 

when you have a vision of where you need to go,

it sounds uptopian. but when you get to the tipping point,

your understanding switches.”

-christiana figueres

 

 

 

Watercolor painting credit: An Evening at Home, 1888, Sir Edward John Poynte, Bourne Gallery, Reigate, Surrey, UK The Bridgeman Art Library

intoxicating.

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happy national cocktail day

in this era of zoom happy hours, the quarantini, and more than lots of stay home time

what have you been mixing up in your quarantine cave?

do you find yourself using

whatever you can scrounge up in your kitchen?

is your go-to

a cornhattan, pickled okra and tonic, dandelion/parsley wine, a salsa sour?

what have you managed to blend, shake, mix, mash, stir, or sling together

to create your new signature drink?

all cocktails and mocktails welcome here.

“life is a crazy mixture of intoxicating cocktails.”

-ken poirot 

 

image credit: lisa zador

another day.

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sharing the park

with front-line workers

needing a respite

 making their way through another day. 

 

“when people go to work, they shouldn’t have to leave their hearts at home.”

-betty bender