Category: news

working from home, day two

I’m working from home this week, as are most (all?) of the other folks in my group. I’m a little unclear as to how many people are actually going into the office this week, overall. I’m not really part of any office cliques, so I don’t hear much chatter. Reading between the lines, I’d guess that more than half the people who’d normally work in the NJ offices are working from home. Our Austin, TX office is closed entirely, due to a confirmed case of COVID-19 (from a visitor to the office). So that’s a lot of people working from home. Here’s SHI’s public statement on our COVID-19 response.

I was expecting the VPN to get really bogged down, but surprisingly, it’s been holding up really well. Apparently, we had the foresight to add a lot of extra capacity to it recently. And, also surprisingly, my cable internet connection has been great too. I kind of expected that to bog down, between all the folks around here who are working from home, plus the people who aren’t going out as much, and are watching a lot more Netflix than usual.

I’ve been collecting a few interesting and/or useful links. Here are a few:

  • The Somerset County Library System’s Be Safe At Home page. They’ve got links to all of their digital resources here. I already knew about most of these, and use a few (Overdrive, Lynda, and Flipster), but there are a couple of news ones that I wasn’t aware of. I may try BrainHQ, if I get bored at some point during this thing. The physical libraries are of course closed through to at least the end of March.
  • The Internet Archive sent out an email with some COVID-19 related tips and ideas. I can’t find a link for the newsletter itself, but it links to this blog post, which is pretty good.
  • SMBC has made some books free to download, in PDF format. You can find them here. I already own most of them, but there were two there that I didn’t already have. (Not that these books have anything to do with COVID-19, but if you’re looking for some laughs, SMBC is pretty funny.)
  • Adam Engst’s TidBITS post Thoughts and Recommendations Surrounding COVID-19 is a pretty good read.
  • Take Control has released a free ebook on Working from Home Temporarily. I haven’t read it, but it might be useful.
  • I’ve always been careful about what I use to clean my iPhone, iPad, and other computing devices. I’m always afraid that I’ll use the wrong thing and mess up the screen. Apparently, it’s fine to use disinfectant wipes on Apple products, at least, so I’ve been getting a bit more aggressive about how I wipe down my devices.
  • Ars Technica has been updating their Coronavirus guide regularly.
  • MIT Technology Review has some good coverage of COVID-19, and they’ve made it available for free. (I think they usually have a paywall of some sort.) The article We’re not going back to normal is a little scary, but interesting.
  • Finally, here’s Alton Brown’s handwashing tutorial. It’s pretty informative, and kind of funny.

Oof. I had a bunch of other thoughts that I wanted to write up here, but I’m kind of exhausted now. My work day is over, I’ve eaten dinner, and maybe it’s time to put the computer down and watch some dumb TV.

today’s Coronavirus post

OK, I know I’ve been posting too much about this lately. I promise that this post will only be Coronavirus-adjacent, and not Coronavirus-centered.

First: one silver lining in this grey cloud is that I probably don’t have to worry about Real ID this year, since it’s now highly unlikely I’ll be traveling by plane any time soon. The Somerville DMV has been clogged lately, presumably due to demand for Real ID licenses, and they’ve been thinking about shutting it down on Saturdays, just because the parking situation has gotten so bad. (It seems to me like maybe having it open more often would be a better solution, but what do I know…) Also, NJMVC is granting automatic two-month extensions on all driver’s licenses expiring over the next few months, so if you’re worried about going to the DMV right now, you can put it off for a month or two, at least. (I’m only really posting about this to have an excuse to point out that someone either at Patch or NJMVC has created a dummy NJ license for “Renee Montoya,” living at “321 Gotham Avenue” in Trenton. As a big Renee Montoya fan [preferably, the original B:TAS version], I approve.)

Second item: I’ve been wondering what’s appropriate to do to help other people through this. Is it better to patronize small (or large) businesses right now, or should I just stay home? I got an eggplant parm from my local pizzeria last night, and it was pretty empty in there when I went to pick it up. I usually just buy two slices when I go in there, and I’ve definitely decided to put a moratorium on buying slices for now. Those things can sit out there on the counter for hours, and god only knows what gets on them. Right now, I’m trying to decide if I should go out and get a sub for lunch, or just stay in and make myself a sandwich. I like the guy who runs the local sub shop that I go to, and I don’t want him to suffer, but I also don’t know how clean he’s keeping things in there. I know that the cancellation of the St. Patrick’s parade is going to hurt some downtown bars and restaurants. And I see that they’re allowing free parking in the town lots for the next month, so maybe that’ll help.

And I worry about how much this thing is going to hurt independent musicians, artists, and cultural institutions. I’m not worried about the “big boys.” Apple and Disney will be fine. But I am a little worried about small-time musicians who make most of their money touring (since they get so little from streaming music), and maybe some independent comics creators who rely on convention sales to make some money and find new fans. So maybe I should pick up a couple of things from Bandcamp this weekend (maybe this, for instance), and maybe look into the #ECCCOnline thing (see here and here) and buy some comics.

Third item: I swear I’m not panic-buying anything, but I did pick up an eight-pack of bamboo toilet paper today, since it was the only kind of toilet paper they had left, and, OK, I guess maybe I panicked a little about the possibility that the whole “paper products situation” might not return to normal until after I’d exhausted the eight rolls I have in my pantry. So now I get to find out what bamboo toilet paper feels like.

one more Coronavirus post

OK, I should stop now, but here’s one more Coronavirus-related post. I took the day off from work today. I had a doctor’s appointment in the morning, and had originally planned on maybe doing something fun with the rest of the day. Well, obviously, that plan got scuttled.

For the record, the doctor was an ENT guy, and I was just getting my hearing checked out. Nothing surprising came out of that: I’ve got some hearing loss in my left ear, but not enough to warrant a hearing aid. He told me to stay away from loud heavy metal concerts and get my hearing checked every year from now on.

After the doctor’s appointment, I went to ShopRite to see if I could get some grocery shopping done. It was, shall we say, a madhouse. It was very busy, and people were buying a lot of stuff, but I managed to get pretty much everything I needed. They’re still out of hand sanitizer, and now also nearly out of liquid soap. There was plenty of regular bar soap. The shelves where they keep the toilet paper were empty, but they had a pallet of 20-packs of Scott TP out. Luckily, I don’t actually need toilet paper or hand sanitizer right now. If they’d had six-packs of TP, I would have bought one, just to be safe, but I really don’t need a 20-pack.

My employer issued some more Coronavirus guidance, but they’re still not requiring or encouraging anyone to work from home. So I guess I’m going in to the office on Monday. We’ll see how that plays out.

Meanwhile, I see that both WonderCon and Tribeca Film Festival are canceled. (Technically, they’re both postponed, but  rescheduling either of them would be difficult, if not impossible.) I went to WonderCon last year, and was seriously considering going to it this year. Then, when that started looking like a possibly bad idea, I started looking into going to a few movies during TFF as a lower-risk mini-vacation. But I guess they’re both off the table.

Once I got the doctor’s appointment and the shopping done today, I spent most of the day reading Batman comics and listening to WQXR. That was a good break from both work and my Coronavirus anxiety. I even worked in a nap and a walk. So I guess the day wasn’t a total loss.

[EDIT: Ten minutes after I posted this, I got a memo saying that we’re allowed to work from home next week. Yay!]

More Coronavirus News

OK, this is my third post on Coronavirus and related topics. The last one was a full week ago though, so I’m not overdoing it. Lots of stuff has been going on this week. Lots of stuff has been canceled, people are hoarding toilet paper, and the stock market has tanked. You don’t need me to tell you any of these things, so feel free to skip this post if you’re tired of reading about Coronavirus. This post is more for my own sake than anyone else’s. I think that, maybe, if I write up my thoughts, it’ll help me process the barrage of news.

So, let’s see, where to start… Maybe with the “barrage of news” issue. Here’s an SMBC comic from today that addresses the issue of driving yourself nuts by spending too much time checking the news on your phone, instead of just getting on with your life. I am very guilty of this. I’ve had trouble concentrating at work the last few days, to be honest. And I’ve been having trouble sleeping this week. The sleep trouble isn’t all Coronavirus. It’s maybe equal parts Coronavirus, the DST change, and the recent change in weather. I’ve taken melatonin a few times this week, in the hopes that it would help with the time shift, and I think it does help me fall asleep, but it doesn’t help me stay asleep. I’m hoping I can get a bit more stable next week.

I’ve been keeping an eye on what’s canceled or closed, and what’s not. At this point, it looks like pretty much everything that involves 200+ people gathering together in the same place is going to be canceled/closed. Classes have been canceled at most NJ colleges, including Rutgers and NJIT. My old college, RPI, has canceled classes. Most stuff in NYC is going to be shut down, since they just banned gatherings of more than 500 people.

Locally, the Somerville St. Patrick’s Day Parade has been canceled. (I’m surprised at how long it took them to decide to cancel it.) Somerset County has a page set up with local information on Coronavirus. NJ.com has had some useful coverage; here’s today’s update. I see that there’s a case in Bridgewater.

For general information, FlattenTheCurve.com is kind of useful, though a little scary. The Ars Technica guide is pretty good. There’s plenty of other good resources out there too. (But it’s easy to fall down a hole reading too many of them…)

A lot of tech companies have pretty much told everyone to work from home, if possible. My company still hasn’t closed any offices or warehouses, though, and they’re generally encouraging people to come into the office as usual. (They did just announce today that, if you have kids and their school is closed, and you need to take care of them, you can work from home.)  I have a feeling things may evolve next week, and a large portion of our staff may be working from home. We’ll see.

Meanwhile, people are panic-buying toilet paper and hand sanitizer. I guess I should hold off on any visits to Costco any time soon. I’m actually a little worried about how far the panic buying has gone. I think I have enough of everything to get through a couple of weeks of being holed up in my apartment, but it might be a little rough. I’m in a small apartment, and I don’t generally don’t buy stuff in bulk. I’m hoping I can do my usual shopping this weekend without too much hassle, and maybe pick up a few extra items to help me get through, if I can’t shop next weekend. Just in case. (But I’m not going to buy 100 rolls of toilet paper. Even if I could.)

And, finally, there’s this week’s stock market meltdown. Today was the worst day for the market since 1987. I’ve been keeping an eye on my accounts, and… wow. Things are looking bad. I have to keep reminding myself that I’m not retiring any time soon, so there’s plenty of time for the market to bounce back.

Well, I’d hoped that getting all of this stuff out onto the blog might help me clear my head. But nope. I’m still pretty stressed. Maybe I can decompress with some comics or a funny podcast or something.

Coronavirus News

I have to admit that I’ve been following the coronavirus news a bit more closely than is probably good for me. Some of it is amusing though. And I’ve got a condition that makes me more likely to catch something like this than most people, so I need to be careful. There haven’t been too many cases here in NJ yet, but it looks like NYC is starting to see more. I’d like to get into NYC and do some stuff this month, now that the weather is getting a little nicer, but I’m not sure it’s worth the risk right now.

On the lighter side, this article about how the rich are preparing for and dealing with coronavirus is amusing. (And a little annoying, of course, though at this point my capacity for outrage about the excesses of the 1% is pretty much exhausted.)

In the “news you can use” category, here’s an article about how to stop touching your face. I will admit that I cannot stop touching my face. I think I may have to start wearing a cone of shame to work. Or maybe a nice welding helmet?

And looking at this from a higher level, here’s something from Bill Gates, and something from Think Global Health. I don’t have much to say about either of these articles, but they’re interesting.

Freeman Dyson

I don’t want to turn this blog into an “obituary blog”, but I want to put up a post about Freeman Dyson’s passing. Not because I know that much about him, but because I’ve stumbled across a bunch of interesting stuff about him, after reading a few obituaries. So I guess I’m going to have two obituary posts in a row. (And maybe three, since there’s one more person I want to blog about.)

First: here are links to the obits from the NY Times, Washington Post and NPR. From the Times obit, I like this quote: “Life begins at 55, the age at which I published my first book.” (I’m not quite 55 yet, so there’s still hope for me!)

The Post obit has some interesting stuff about his experiences in World War Two:

Mr. Dyson witnessed how technology had “made evil anonymous,” as the bombers dropped incendiary explosives that ignited firestorms, destroying whole cities. He wondered later “how it happened that I let myself become involved in this crazy game of murder.”

And observations on religion:

“I do not make any clear distinction between mind and God. God is what mind becomes when it has passed beyond the scale of our comprehension,” he wrote.

And the Hacker News thread about his death led me to some interesting YouTube videos:

You could really fall into a deep rabbit hole, just watching Freeman Dyson videos on YouTube.

Of course, his views on some subjects, including climate change, were probably wrong, but it’s not a bad thing to have an educated, civil, contrarian expressing his opinions. There was a profile of him in the NY Times Magazine, back in 2009, titled “The Civil Heretic,” which seems like a pretty good description for him.

He lived in Princeton for many years, and died there. I’m really not far from Princeton, but it generally doesn’t occur to me to seek out interesting people and events that might be happening there. I’m sure he must have had a number of public speaking engagements at Princeton over the last 20 years, and I could probably have made it to one or two. So I guess that’s a missed opportunity. (But hey, I can still watch all of those YouTube videos, so that’s something.)

Larry Tesler

I have to admit that I didn’t know that much about Larry Tesler prior to his passing last week. I was generally aware of Xerox PARC, and their place in the history of personal computing. And I probably had heard at some point that Tesler was essentially the inventor of “copy and paste.” And I think I was vaguely aware that he’d worked on the Newton, maybe? But I don’t think I’d ever put that all together in my mind, and realized that this was all the same guy. Over the years, it looks like he’s worked on a number of really cool things, from Smalltalk to Object Pascal to the Newton.

I first saw the news of his death on Hacker News, which linked to an obituary on Gizmodo. The Hacker News thread has some pretty interesting anecdotes and conversation, including a number of comments from Alan Kay. There’s also an obituary in the NY Times, written by John Markoff. And there’s a nice remembrance from Adam Engst at the TidBITS site.

I don’t have anything useful or pithy to say. I’m just here marveling at how much this guy did, and what a good guy he apparently was.

Somerset County changes

I don’t post a lot of political stuff on this blog, but here’s an article from the Courier News that contains a few items worth noting:

  • This is the first time since 1965 that Democrats have controlled the freeholder board in Somerset County.
  • “Since the Democrats last had control, Somerset County’s population has more than doubled and the non-white population has increased from 3.2 to 32 percent.”
  • “About 70 percent of the county’s population was not alive when the Democrats last held control.”

So that seems like a pretty big change. Somerset County has certainly changed quite a lot just in the last 25 years, which is about how long I’ve been living here. I don’t know if the change in the freeholder board will actually matter much, in the grand scheme of things. But it’s an interesting change and it’s worth noting.

On a national level, it’s also been interesting to keep an eye on our new local House rep, Tom Malinowski, over the last year. He’s the first Democratic House rep we’ve had since I moved to Somerset County. I’m trying to figure out when Somerville last had a Democratic House rep, and it’s a little confusing, since we switched districts at least once. We’ve been part of the 7th district since 2000, I think, and the 7th hasn’t had a Democratic rep since 1980. Prior to that, we were in the 11th, where Rodney Frelinghuysen was the rep from 1995-2018, and the last Democratic rep was a guy who served from 1963 to 1984.

Back when Frelinghuysen was our rep, it just seemed like a given that he’d get re-elected every two years, and that was never going to change. In 2000, Michael Moore ran a ficus against him in the primary, to make a point about how House incumbents often run unopposed in primaries and how often they get re-elected. Frelinghuysen was part of a political dynasty that stretched back to 1793. (Malinowski, in contrast, was born in Poland and came to the US as a child.)

Anyway, Malinowski has made national news a number of times since he was elected, and it’s mostly been for saying something reasonable or doing something useful, which is refreshing. This recent New Yorker article has a few quotes from him. And his Twitter feed is a breath of fresh air, compared to a lot of the political discourse that you see on Twitter.

This whole ramble started because I was curious to see if there was any mention in the news of an anti-war protest that happened yesterday here in Somerville. I didn’t find any, but I did find an article about a protest in Woodbridge related to the “SeaQuest petting zoo aquarium” in Woodbridge Center Mall. I have to admit that I had no idea that “petting zoo aquariums” were a thing, nor that there was one in Woodbridge Center Mall. I should really get off the internet now and start doing something useful with my Sunday.

Equifax settlement decisions

After first seeing the news about the big Equifax settlement, I kind of breezed past it, assuming that it was one of those things that would mostly just enrich some lawyers and not result in any real money trickling down to consumers. But this morning, a friend posted a link to this article on Facebook, so I decided to go ahead and file for the $125. First, $125 is enough to make it worth spending five minutes filling out a web form. And, second, their argument that it’s the right thing to do, to make sure that Equifax pays for their mistake, is a good one.

Of course, a little later in the morning, I found this article, indicating that the free credit monitoring might be a better choice than the $125. And this one, pointing out that I probably won’t get anywhere near $125. So, yeah, my initial impulse to ignore the whole thing was probably the right one. I’ll probably wind up getting a check for 37¢.

My time on the internet is probably better spent watching Patrick McGoohan drum solos on YouTube. (OK, so McGoohan wasn’t actually playing drums in that clip, but it’s still a good drum solo.)

Notre-Dame

Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris Catches Fire

This is breaking my heart. I have fond memories of visiting Notre-Dame back in high school, when my French class took a trip to Paris. And, in college, I took a class in medieval art and architecture, which got me interested in the subject, and set me on a path of learning more about it, in other classes and on my own.

I know that so many worse things have happened in the world over the last few years, but this one is just hitting me hard.

I see that, in the most recent updates, it looks like most of the structure has been saved, but a lot of damage has been done to the roof. So I’m hopeful.