In New York City, it's common to walk down the sidewalk and see pristine furniture being thrown out. People get rid of stuff a lot, because apartment-space is tight. If you buy something new and it takes up any space, you gotta chuck out something of equivalent size. — Read the rest

Sometimes the line between reality and parody is so blurred it nearly disappears. For instance, take this clever "pandemic of voting" ad aired on The Daily Show last night. "There is a pandemic sweeping our nation – the pandemic of voting," it begins. — Read the rest

I had purchased Jess Kidd's debut novel Himself a few years ago on a friend's recommendation, but never got around to reading it until over the holidays. The book is sort of a magical realist Irish noir set in a small west coast village called Mulderrig. — Read the rest

Men are notoriously bad at maintaining friendships as they get older — a problem that likely stems from the toxic masculine behaviors we learn to internalize in our youth. Few of us are immune to it, either; I used to think I was an exception to the rule, but when I moved to a new city in my 30s, even I struggled to re-establish new bonds like the ones I'd built over time. — Read the rest

Chicago city officials broke up a party of 300 ne'er-do-wells at a Wicker Park establishment this past weekend, where there was no social distancing and scarce mask-wearing. The same personal conduct took place at the Chicago Sports Complex where a party of over 600 threw caution to the wind before receiving a long-term closure order. — Read the rest

• In March, 'End Times' pastor Irvin Baxter said COVID-19 is a 'wake-up call' from God on the sin of fornication. Baxter died of complications from COVID-19 less than 8 months later.

The Dallas Morning News is reporting that a Pentecostal televangelist who falsely linked the pandemic to sinful premarital sex — the preacher himself has died of COVID-19. — Read the rest

"With a population of 328 million in the United States, it may require 2.13 million deaths to reach a 65 percent threshold of herd immunity, assuming the virus has a 1 percent fatality rate, according to an analysis by The Washington Post. — Read the rest

I'm typically pretty skeptical of insurance as an industry, though I begrudgingly understand that it does have its purpose. But I found this Wired article on pandemic insurance to be utterly fascinating. Focusing on the work of Nathan Wolfe, who began his career as a virologist before shifting to ways of using data to offset the economic impacts of potential pandemics, largely through reinsurance — that is, insurance purchased by an insurance company from another insurance company in order to protect itself from risks, in case a disastrous event leads to overwhelming payouts. — Read the rest

It's set in the not-so-distant future but takes its design cues from the past, specifically the familiar stylings of old Popular Science magazines. Popular Pandemics is the parody publication of Bob Rucker who shared with Boing Boing:

When I first saw videos of people in China collapsing on the sidewalks at the beginning of the pandemic, I knew it was going to be bad.

Danny Greenwald (@glassineasleep) is a Baltimore-based producer, sound designer, and composer. His work has been featured in such publications as The Washington Post, Pitchfork, and Vice. He makes music under the name Glassine. In this interview with The Wire creator David Simon, he asked Simon about how The Wire relates to the pandemic, The Plot Against America's critique on the current political moment, and his mother's matzo ball soup, among other things. — Read the rest

Yesterday, The New York Times ran an article about how the GOP governor of Arizona's limited response to the pandemic resulted in a "leveling off" of Covid-19 deaths and cases:

As the United States surpasses four million known coronavirus cases, far more than any other country, new outbreaks are sending thousands of seriously ill people to hospitals and driving a new wave of funerals.

please enjoy this video of a canterbury cathedral cat stealing the dean's milk during his morning sermon pic.twitter.com/RRIPLQGCQT

— queen of bitch island (@kittynouveau) July 20, 2020

Robert Willis, Dean of Canterbury Cathedral, is delivering online sermons from the garden during the pandemic. — Read the rest

Spoken Word with Electronics is an audio series delivering to you a two side recording of unusual stories paired with vintage modular electronic sounds

Hi, everyone, welcome back to the show. This week, being in the human world is getting too painful, so we're taking a trip into the wonderful world of insects. — Read the rest

The cruelty is the point.

Like a third-rate children’s party magician who’s given up caring, this week’s tawdry tabloids indulge in some heavy-handed misdirection.

Want a Jason Voorhees mask from its legendary creator? Complete with a fabric backing to reduce the likelihood of viral transmission? Tom Savini is taking orders. Via iHorror:

Savini has worked on two of the Friday the 13th films, the 1980 original as well as Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter in 1984.

Harley-Davidson leveraged itself up the eyeballs as its brand tired and its business turned into a maze of protectionism and politics. Then the pandemic hit.

"Most people blame me, the millennial," says Ryan Kluftinger, introducing a 14-minute, excellently-produced mini documentary. " … but it wasn't me that let the poisoning happen. — Read the rest

El truco fue realizado por el usuario de TikTok fckjoshy, cuya cuenta está llena de contenido similar para entretener a sus 3,3 millones de seguidores. https://t.co/wOlBEdve6B pic.twitter.com/nloSSeMsE8

— Vivian Ruiz Barrera (@RuizVivianArlet) May 15, 2020

TikToker Josh Popkin (3.3 million followers) thought it would be great fun to "accidentally" dump a large plastic bin milk and cereal on the floor of a New York subway car in the middle of a pandemic, reports Insider. — Read the rest

After admitting that the U.S. Covid-19 deaths could reach 90,000, Trump bemoaned critics and claimed that Abraham Lincoln got better press.

"I am greeted with a hostile press the likes of which no president has ever seen," Trump said at the Fox News town hall Sunday night.

My friend Rodney Orpheus (he of the legendary darkwave electronica band, The Cassandra Complex) has been doing a terrific weekly streaming show, called Desert Island Nerds. The premise is that we're all on our own little desert islands in isolation now, so we might as well play the Desert Island game. — Read the rest