March 185th: 63 days until Election Day!
Good evening, Kibitzers!
You know, when I was young, I slept like the proverbial log. It didn’t matter what was going on, or even how much coffee I drank; when I was ready to sleep, I could sleep well, through anything, no matter what was happening in my life.
I had always heard it’s harder to sleep when you get older, and boy, is that ever true for me. And now, in particular, anxiety interferes with my sleep, so ever since just about four years ago, I’ve had a terrible time getting a decent night’s rest.
For a while, many years ago, I had one of those little machines that makes different white noise sounds. I liked the “rain” setting. Eventually, it quit working, but by that time, I could download some rainstorms and loop them all night. (You don’t need a very long recording of rain, actually, as long as it can loop seamlessly.)
But right around 2016, for some reason, I got so stressed out that just having white noise masking little random house sounds wasn’t enough. I discovered that there were long YouTubes of just rain falling, in a non-threatening way, so I started playing one of those overnight. That meant there was a little light in the room, which was calming rather than annoying.
And eventually, that gave way to where I am now: it turns out that YouTube hosts quite a few people who use 3D modeling software to create imaginary “cozy” environments, outside of which it is raining or snowing (there are many variations, including some set on space stations and the like). I have always been soothed by the feeling of being snug inside during a storm, so running one of these overnight gives me safe-feeling virtual surroundings to focus on while trying to fall asleep. Apparently I am not alone; there are many channels, and they seem to have thousands of subscribers. I am sure this won’t be as fun as our tour of “bardcore” music, but come along anyway and take a look at some of these little hideouts.
Over the course of time, I’ve picked out a few favorites that I return to night after night, because I find it so comforting to imagine myself falling asleep in those places. So I’m choosing examples from the two channels I... use most (“watch” doesn’t seem like exactly the word). I’ll mention that embedded videos won’t let you expand them to full screen in here, but I’m sure you know the white titles in the upper left are links to the YouTube page — if a scene interests you, open that puppy in a new tab and full-screen it for the best detail.
I’ll start with the channel “WhiteNoiseTranquility”, because this artist has done something interesting: they have made a video showing their process of creating a setting for one of their rainy nights. It runs for 30-ish minutes, and I don’t expect most people will be interested enough to watch the whole thing. (I was fascinated, but I am weird.) It’s a sped-up week or so of work, apparently. Here’s the scene itself, first of all — none of these change, by the way, other than moving parts like fireplace flames and rain on windows, so you won’t miss anything once you feel satisfied you’ve taken it in.
It’s not my personal favorite interior, but here’s what it takes to make even such a simple-appearing scene. (All the little Keith-Haring-looking lightbulbs you see in the splash screen below are the artist showing the program what the sources of light are.)
This is my favorite of those I’ve seen from this channel so far. I adore that sweet little fireplace.
This fanciful tree house is kind of fun.
Or maybe the beach, with added surf sound, plus blender drinks.
The other channel I’ll feature here is “CalmedByNature”. I’m linking the “videos” page for both of these channels, so you can see a reverse chronological history of what they’ve posted. You can see there that this channel started out posting shorter ambiance videos, like a couple of hours, of all kinds of weather and seasonal scenes — spring meadow, spooky Halloween night, campfire by the river, etc. Pretty clearly, they found that whatever their reward may be is maximized by making longer shelter-from-stormy-night videos, which I guess says much about our national psyche.
Here’s my favorite from their list. Both channels do have occasional snoozing pets.
Sometimes I like this porch, too. That tea stays steaming hot all night!
This is a bit different. I wasn’t sure I’d like a coffeeshop with jazz, but of course there are no other patrons to annoy you, and the music is pleasantly muted, more at an “in the next room” level.
A charming reading nook, plus a pooch!
There are snowstorms to be had, too, with crackling fireplace white noise.
But if you come from a place too warm for a white Christmas (as we sadly all will, soon enough), there’s a rainy Christmas too.
This last one is an outlier in several respects. It’s one of their older ones, that I like to play once in a while. It does change; it disposes of a whole summer day in the country, including a cookout, in the first minute, and spends the remaining 3:02:11 on the distant longest-ever fireworks show, but with no explosion sounds, just pretty sprays of sparkles, accompanied by crickets and fireflies. Also, I don’t know if you can tell from here, but there are no mosquitoes or ticks, and the temperature and humidity are very pleasant, so there is really zero downside. Grab an iced tea and enjoy the show!
Thanks for taking my tour of rainy destinations! May we all sleep well again starting this November (or maybe January).
Bonus livestream event: The Huntington Library (/Art Museum/Botanical Garden) in San Marino, CA, has a giant Corpse Flower preparing to open. Since the flowers are rare and last only a day or two, and the indoor spaces there are currently closed due to Covid, they are livestreaming the plant. More info here.
h/t to Billeh at C&J.
Stay safe! 💙💙💙💙💙
New video:
The Meidas Touch, with Barbara Jordan:
Republican Voters Against Trump: This lady’s opening statement makes me twitch. But we really do need everyone’s help.
Don Winslow knows:
Trae Crowder, the Liberal Redneck: This is a little longer than I usually put in this section, but it’s a fine rant if you don’t mind some cussin’.
The Late Show with Stephen Colbert: Democrats make excellent Marvel superheroes.
Rita Brent has a brilliant Kamala Harris rap:
So listen: all I know right now about helping this year’s California fire victims is the same thing we know every time about every disaster now: if we have a working “FEMA”, it’s World Central Kitchen.
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Yes, we have come to the point where Chef José Andrés’ worldwide relief organization is so ubiquitous that I’m just giving it its own box here. At news of any fresh disaster, it’s almost a given that their plan to respond will be among the first things we hear. They’re already on the job in California. (Special page to volunteer for California.) Also, Cedar Rapids, Iowa, post-derecho, and Lake Charles, Louisiana, post-hurricane.
You can always donate or volunteer at their website, but it may not be up on the very latest news. For that, check Twitter for Chef Andrés and for World Central Kitchen.
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🌊 🌬️ ⛈️ 🚧 ⛈️ 🌬️ 🌊
In addition, for Hurricane Laura victims, Daily Kos has assembled an ActBlue list of reputable charities involved in recovery efforts.
🦠 COVID-19 🧫
Flatten the Curve: How social distancing, hand-washing, and similar measures can help.
I’m cutting this box way down, because we’re all familiar by now with the available information, such as it is. We know how to shelter in place; we’ve been doing it to give public health measures time to be implemented. Now, many of us are just waiting for some public health measures.
My past diaries list, where the older purple boxes still live.
NEW: Georgia Tech “Event Risk Assessment” map. Use the slider on the left to pick an event size, and it shows you, for every US county, the current % risk of having at least one Covid-positive person show up.
NEW: SciShow video discusses the latest information on asymptomatic infection.
New: MinutePhysics video explains how N95 masks work (it’s waaaay more subtle than you may think).
Viruses on surfaces, from The Guardian.
This virus spread tracking site also has an excellent “wiki” page on virus information/misinformation, proper mask use, symptoms, etc. h/t eeff!
The Atlantic has listed their ongoing virus coverage here, and none is behind a paywall.
This excellent video explains clearly how viruses are killed by washing with soap. h/t Sara R!
And this one intelligently discusses the benefits of face masks.
If you know someone who feels wearing a mask is just too hard, maybe they need to see this.
The Washington Post offers video tips on dealing with common mask annoyances. h/t Sara R again!
New: Further discussion of masks, including some useful video and valuable tips, in Besame’s KosAbility diary.
CDC chart showing how to remove gloves properly to avoid contamination.
The lung exercises in this diary are still good for anyone, sick or not.
If you’d like some attractive handmade facemasks, see Sara’s diary here to order a set made by Sara R and WInglion from various cotton quilt fabrics: $40 + $7.75 Priority Mail shipping for a set of 5 (or other quantities at $8 each). You can contact Sara R to discuss your preference in fabrics or special needs.
WASHINGTON, D.C. (The Borowitz Report)—Pushing back against attempts to brand the United States of 2020 as “Trump’s America,” Donald Trump said that he deserves no blame for the state of the country, because he has not actually done any work for the past four years. [...snip]
“CNN, which is a disgrace, says that it’s the White House’s fault for this and the White House’s fault for that,” he added. “Well, I’ve hardly been at the White House, so, once again, they’re wrong.”
Attempting to answer the question of whose America it is, if not his, Trump said, “The last President who actually worked at the White House was Barack Obama. So if this is anybody’s America it’s his and Sleepy Joe’s. People are saying that. They’re sick of living in Biden’s America, and we cannot give Joe Biden another four years.” ...
— The Borowitz Report, at The New Yorker
If You’re Bored, Part a million:
- We’ve talked here before of opportunities to help museums and scientists with crowdsourced work, but this one is pret-ty cool: formerly enslaved people were not listed by name in the US Census until 1870, so their descendants have had a hard time learning of their families back further than that. Now, earlier handwritten records have been digitized, but The Freedmen’s Bureau Transcription Project at the Smithsonian is seeking remote volunteers to actually help transcribe these documents, so people can search this trove digitally. See today’s Black Kos for details!
- Make a snack: individual coffee-mug carrot cake microwaves in 1 minute, fits fine in those 11 oz. “So-and-so for President” mugs that don’t hold near enough coffee. See below the video for more such recipes.
- Live Mars rover cam — check out the neighborhood.
- Brewing beer at the Obama White House.
- Ukulele duet: Sultans of Swing. You might be surprised.
- Here’s Michelle Obama’s new podcast on Spotify. If you don’t have an account, you can sign up for a free preview “with occasional ads” (I have not done this, so cannot report).
- Online Arts: This list, kept current by DC Metro Theater Arts, is of arts organizations under their umbrella that are offering online performances or presentations. Although it’s all Washington DC area, cyberspace sneers at that sort of boundary.
- Samantha Bee has kindly provided information about cities that already have prominent “Defund the Police” movements, to help us contact city officials and urge them to do the right thing. There is also a link for the many of us who don’t live in such a city, to help us find contact info for our city officials just the same.
- Make hummingbird feeders from soy sauce bottles — video.
- The Frick Collection, a NYC museum/library based on the art collection of robber baron Henry Clay Frick and housed in his 5th Avenue mansion, is offering a weekly feature (live at 5 pm ET on Fridays, but viewable thereafter) called “Cocktails with a Curator”, in which a Frick curator discusses a work in the collection and also shares a cocktail recipe (the week’s recipe posted in advance). They run around 15-20 minutes. (See also the Frick’s “Travels with a Curator” series, posting Wednesdays at 5 pm ET.)
- List of 30 virtual tours of museums, zoos, aquariums, and theme parks.
- Tours of New York City museums.
- Samples of free art courses from the Museum of Modern Art.
- Free online drawing class from the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
- Virtual-reality tours on YouTube of the Met’s impressive spaces.
- The Metropolitan Opera is still streaming operas daily. (They do not plan to re-open physically until the start of 2021.)
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🌟 GOTV 🌟
🌟 VOTING BY MAIL: NEW: FIVETHIRTYEIGHT HAS A NEW VOTING MAP, WHICH THEY ARE KEEPING UPDATED AS POLICIES CHANGE. GO THERE AND CLICK YOUR STATE, AND IT GIVES EXTENSIVE INFORMATION ON HOW TO VOTE THERE.
(Earlier material:) Please see this diary by “Postcards To Voters” founder TonyTheDemocrat about his stance on voting by mail. I found it pretty compelling.
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:
(Postcard v. letters: letters are to registered Dems who seldom vote, trying to persuade them voting is important. Postcards are to registered Dems likely to vote, giving them information on specific elections/candidates.)
THESE MAIL PROJECTS ALSO HELP SUPPORT THE USPS, THE LATEST GOP TARGET!
🌟 FOLLOW THE DIARIES OF Yosef 52: He posts at least once a day with tons of information and links to help us vote, get others out to vote, and support candidates, and if the last election was any guide, he will only jam in more and more info as time goes on. I highly recommend his work as a resource!
🌟 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/VP 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 has been 1,077 DAYS SINCE HURRICANE MARIA MADE LANDFALL IN PUERTO RICO ON SEPTEMBER 20, 2017. JUNE 1 BEGAN THE THIRD HURRICANE SEASON AFTER MARIA’S SEASON.
NOW, they’ve been hit by Isaias AND Laura, and they have even more damage to contend with.
Full power has never been restored there, and many homes still have blue tarps for roofs. Earthquakes (still!) and now coronavirus, the giant dust storm, AND a severe drought 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.
⛈️ 🌊 💥 HURRICANES AND EARTHQUAKES 💥 🌊 ⛈️
🐨 🔥 AUSTRALIAN FIRES 2019-20 🔥 🐨
🚒 🔥 CALIFORNIA FIRES 2019 🔥 🚒
⛈️ 🌊 HURRICANE DORIAN 🌊 ⛈️
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