Good evening, Kibitzers! Is everyone still well? No one has drunk any bleach, I trust, nor inserted any source of light where it should not go? Splendid!
Not long ago, I saw something I did not fully understand, so I set out to learn what it was about. Now I will start you back at the beginning, and work forward to the thing I initially saw, which I thought was pretty cool even before I understood it.
So, this is a story about a British actor and comedian named Matt Lucas. Mr. Lucas first gained fame in the 1990s on the BBC, working with the comedy team of Vic Reeves and Bob Mortimer. The pair hosted, among other shows, a sort of absurdist game show called Shooting Stars, in which they abused celebrity contestants:
The basic format of the show is that of a conventional panel game. The hosts (Reeves and Mortimer) ask questions of the two teams with points awarded for "correct" answers; however, scoring is largely arbitrary.
Lucas had an, um… ancillary role in the show:
He quickly rose to fame as George Dawes, the giant baby, who would deliver a string of meaningless gags (often in character) and insults before delivering the score, while sitting at and playing a drum kit, often dressed in an adult-sized romper suit.
In addition to these functions, the George Dawes character also performed short and ridiculous original songs that were nominally connected with some quiz question but never actually contained any hint. One of these, apparently famous for the last 20 years in the UK, was The Baked Potato Song, or, Thank You, Baked Potato. Here’s the original clip:
In case you missed it, the potato’s advice was
"Do be good, don’t be bad"
(Thank you baked potato)
"Do be happy, don’t be sad"
(Thank you baked potato) ...
"Do be early, don’t be late"
(Thank you baked potato)
"Always eat what’s on your plate"
(Thank you baked potato)
Okay, so, fast-forward to now. Matt Lucas, already in isolation because of Coronavirus, watched with dismay footage of people still socializing as if nothing were going on. He thought that, if he revised the song so the potato would give more current advice, and tweeted it out, he might get the attention of a few hundred followers.
Instead, the thing blew up. As it went past 3 million views, he was also speaking with people behind a group called FeedNHS, which raises money to hire idled restaurants and their staffs to prepare hot meals for the doctors and nurses working 20-hour shifts in NHS facilities. New lyrics:
So now, the new song is for sale at many digital-music sellers, with proceeds to benefit the FeedNHS charity. And then, Lucas and his song appeared, with the BBC Orchestra, on the BBC’s The Big Night event, which raised funds for two additional charities.
And that brings me to the tweet that started this whole inquiry, whose import you will now understand!
And who among us does not love Dr. Brian May?
Side note, because Rep. Ayanna Pressley (MA-07) came up in some discussion here on Sunday: Matt Lucas also suffers from alopecia, and permanently lost his hair at age seven.
Here’s part 6 of Crashing Vor’s ongoing documentary about New Orleans in the time of Covid-19, When Care Remembered. His diary for it is here; the direct YouTube link is here. The YT playlist with all episodes is here, and here are his diaries in which the earlier videos appeared.
IMPORTANT UPDATE courtesy of BiPM: tip for workplace video meetings.
Stay safe! 💙💙💙💙💙
🦠 COVID-19 🧫
(I’ve compressed this box by removing some older links, which are still in older diaries. Newest links here are bolded.)
The Paradox of Preparation: “The only way to get ahead of the curve is to take actions that *at the time* seem like overreactions.” ~ Chris Hayes
Social Distancing
Hand Washing
Shopping for people 60+ and/or with other risk factors
Dealing with Illness
This is a roundup of items that may be of interest. I am not an MD and this post is not medical advice. Please use your judgment and/or consult your doctor.
WASHINGTON, D.C. (The Borowitz Report)—Calling it a “disgraceful situation,” Donald J. Trump on Monday blamed his sinking poll numbers on people paying attention when he talks. … [snip]
“People are listening to what I say one day and comparing it to something I said on a different day,” he said. “These are very sick and terrible people.”
Trump also lashed out at the pollsters themselves, who, he alleged, are “doing a hit job on me” by seeking the opinions of people who listened to things he said.
“The fact that they’re talking to people who have listened to me proves how crooked and rigged these polls are,” he said. “People who haven’t listened to me think I’m doing great.”
— The Borowitz Report, at The New Yorker
Sewing Face Masks
If You’re Bored, Part 2:
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🌟 GOTV 🌟
🌟 VOTING BY MAIL: Some states (New Jersey is an example) don’t have vote-by-mail as their standard procedure, but issue absentee ballots with no questions asked. Now would be a good time to check into that for your state and those of your Democratic friends and relations — Google can help. In the case of NJ, one has to download, fill out, and mail in an application. I plan to switch over to automatically getting a mail-in ballot for every election from now on, which is one of the options here. No one who does not have to touch buttons in a voting booth should be doing so!
🌟 POSTCARDING: If you are looking for a way to help and can’t do things like canvassing or phoning, consider hand-writing postcards asking people to vote. It’s easy because you’re given specific talking points from the campaign you’re working with, so you don’t have to think up what to say, and no one will be coming back at you with questions. And if you like to color, you can get creative decorating the cards. Note that you are responsible for buying postcards (and stamps if you don’t use pre-stamped ones.) Postcard stamps are 35 cents each; pre-stamped postcards from USPS are 39 cents each; two different pretty designs. If you can spend a little more, the two postcarding sites below sell their designs; or, searching the phrase “postcards to voters” on Amazon will show you many designs.
To get started:
🌟 PERSONALIZED LETTERS: Similarly, you can do more good than you might expect by writing personalized letters (from a template) to Democrats who are unlikely voters, adding a brief personal statement about why you VOTE EVERY TIME. Studies have shown this can boost turnout by enough to make a difference. As with postcards, you get names/addresses for these voters in targeted districts from the website, fill in the letters, address/stamp/fill the envelopes, but then, you hold them and mail them on Oct. 27, a week before election day! Note that, as with the postcards, you are responsible for buying envelopes, paper (no special paper required), and stamps. First class letter stamps are 55 cents each. (A new Gwen Ifill stamp came out recently!) You can also buy pre-stamped business-size envelopes, also two designs.
For more info:
THESE MAIL PROJECTS ALSO HELP SUPPORT THE USPS, THE LATEST GOP TARGET!
🌟 CONFIRM YOU ARE REGISTERED, REPEAT REGULARLY, AND GET YOUR FAMILY AND OTHERS TO DO THE SAME!!! FIGHTING VOTER SUPPRESSION STARTS AT HOME!
- Many folks here have been surprised to find that their or a family member’s registration has mysteriously disappeared, even though it had been active. Don’t wait until too late to catch and correct this bullshit.
- HEADCOUNT.ORG will direct you to your state’s Department of State/Division of Elections (or similar) webpage, which is the horse’s mouth, as it were.
- Or, google something like “am I registered to vote” plus your state, and go to your state government’s page directly.
🌟 If you can do more, do it! These are just things you can do at home at 3 am. Some of us have the wherewithal to do more, and we should! No one is coming to save us. Act accordingly.
Remember we need the House and Senate, or no president will be able to help us. If you’re sad your presidential candidate wasn’t nominated (I was), please find some downticket races to get excited about. We all need each other.
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It’s been 951 days since Hurricane Maria made landfall in Puerto Rico on September 20, 2017. Full power has never been restored there, and many homes still have blue tarps for roofs. Earthquakes and now coronavirus have made recovery still harder. Sadly, this is the Trump model for handling any kind of disaster.
If you can help one of the organizations working to help the people of Puerto Rico or any of the subsequent disasters, please check out the diary of links.
⛈️ 🌊 💥 HURRICANE MARIA AND EARTHQUAKES 💥 🌊 ⛈️
🐨 🔥 AUSTRALIAN FIRES 2019-20 🔥 🐨
🚒 🔥 CALIFORNIA FIRES 2019 🔥 🚒
⛈️ 🌊 HURRICANE DORIAN 🌊 ⛈️
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