flipped...sorta

"up, and having set my neighbour, mr. hudson, wine cooper, at work drawing out a tierce of wine for the sending of some of it to my wife, i abroad...i have two tierces of claret, two quarter casks of canary, and smaller vessel of sack; a vessel of tent, another of magala and another of white wine all in my wine cellar together;which, i believe, none of my friends of my name now alive ever had of his owne at one time." samuel pepys diary 7 july 1665

after days of speculation in the media the cdc has recommended that we "voluntarily" wear a "cloth mask" ( shame on you if you wear a surgical one even if you bought it on "the market" because those are for health care workers and are ineffective anyway )

the new york times made the announcement yesterday afternoon...

the cdc's web site hadn't caught up tot he media at that point...

this morning it has...

in typical passive/aggressive trumpy fashion the denizen of the white house has sniffed disapprovingly at the "advice" and says he doesn't have to, so there

i am personally prepared not to spread the virus and have brought myself into line with the demand of the final arbiters of face mask ethics however it wrankles simply because of the base hypocrisy surrounding official pronouncements over the efficacy of the masks...simply saying" save them for health care workers" rather than telling me they don't work but, "oh yeah donate them" would have served to undermine my persistent belief that authority lies through its teeth every chance it gets..instead they go right on reinforcing that belief...

in the meantime the times, taking a page from old sam pepys, has recommended we all get hammered on cheap wine...wine doubtlessly provided by the new york times wine club...media has diversified...i have pointed out elsewhere that the wall street journal has a wine club...and...who could be surprised...so does martha stewart...got time on your hands? cop a buzz...make the world fuzzy even if it won't disappear...no thanks...i have had enough of that...i will remain sober..the virus, the times, the wall street journal, and martha stewart combined won't convince me that that is a good idea...

oddly, my state's unemployment processors asked me to fax them paperwork as well...i went to the ups store down the road and they were, while not happy to do it ( they were wiping down everything anyone touched with disinfectant wipes and looking grumpy...which was understandable in the circumstances ), took care of it...that the state has declined to give me a stipend this week ( my last earnings from my now shuttered place of employment disqualified me for this week ) is not a disaster...i am solvent...i am fearful that some of my peers may not be so fortunate and the inevitable bureaucratic bullshit will cost them ( this will all cost them/us...the utilities may not be shutting of service and waiving late fees for the nonce...the capitalism they are embedded in will require payment in full at some point...economic holes are being dug...some of them inescapably deep i am sure )...that $1200 may..or may not...appear for us sometime after 9 april i am told...they have my direct deposit information..those who did not file taxes ( for whatever reason ) or receive social security may have yet another series of bureaucratic hurdles to surmount...paternalistic benevolence isn't a free ride..be alert.