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On March 16th, former Texas Congressman, libertarian, and America’s worst Ayn Rand fan (which puts him up against a lot of competition) Ron Paul published an article titled The Coronavirus Hoax. It thesis is that COVID-19 may be a ploy to scare the populace into giving up freedoms in exchange for the promise to be saved by the government, a recurring theme in the monotonous litany that Randroids ceaselessly spout.

In it, he said that the reports of COVID-19’s death rate being higher than the flu as “a claim without any scientific basis,” claimed that Dr. Anthony Fauci, Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infection Diseases, was “chief fearmonger of the Trump Administration,” and concluded his screed with the line “People should ask themselves whether this coronavirus ‘pandemic’ could be a big hoax.”

Republican Senator and Florida Man (in every sense of the phrase) Marco Rubio and Rand Paul having lunch together, during which time Paul was waiting for the results of his COVID-19 test. Marco, you’ve got to pick better lunch buddies.
From the Washington Post. Tap to see the source.

In a bit of irony that’s so story-like that it’ll make you suspect that we’re just characters in a novel whose writer has become bored and decided to “really liven things up,” Ron Paul’s son Rand Paul, a Republican Senator for the state of Kentucky, tested positive for COVID-19.

(And in case you still didn’t know, Rand Paul’s first name comes from Ayn Rand, because Randroids are like that. You’ll find more than a few children in Silicon Valley named after the polemicist-pretending-to-be-a-philosopher whose original name was Alisa Rosenbaum.)

Rand Paul’s office has been rather vague on when he took the test, and what he did, where he went, and whom he was in contact with between taking the test and getting the positive result, which is worrisome.

By the bye, you might not be aware that both Pauls have medical degrees. Ron was an OB-GYN and flight surgeon, and Rand was an opthalmologist. You’d think that they would know better about viruses and pandemics, but nothing about Randroids surprises me anymore.

Also worth checking out

So this just happened: I was practicing accordion on the porch, and my neighbor Susan suggested a social distancing sing-along. It’s happening tonight on our corner at 7!

I’ll see about putting it on Facebook Live.

Hopefully, it’ll go better than this German’s attempt to replicate the Italian balcony sing-along:

Here are some translations:

• Fresse: Short for fresse halten, which means “shut up”
• Ruhe: Quiet
• Das gibt ne anzeige: I will file a judicial complaint [thanks for the help with this one, dds!]
• Es ist mittagstunde: It’s noontime
• Halts maul: Shut up (literally “stop mouth”)
• Guck mal auf die hausordnung: Look up the house rules
• Ich ruf der polizei: I’m calling the police

#ResilientTPA is a hashtag that Taylor Ralph, founder of REAL Building Consultants and all-round civic-minded guy, came up with. It’s about those of us who can better economically weather the COVID-19 crisis helping those in less stable circumstances. I think it’s a great idea.

Here’s what he posted earlier:

Earlier this week, chef Ferrell Alvarez, who’s behind the following local restaurants…

• The Rooster and the Till
• Nebraska Mini Mart
• Gallito Taqueria in Tampa and Lakeland

…had to close down all four restaurants and lay off most of his staff. It’s all detailed in this Tampa Bay Times article: Tampa Bay’s restaurants try to adapt to an unprecedented crisis.

He has a plan to bring back his employees, one by one if necessary, but this plan depends on staying afloat. He’s reworked his business model so that you can order from a downsized go-to menu featuring dishes from his restaurants, including:

• Gnocchi with short ribs from Rooster & The Till (I’ve had them; they’re excellent)
• Sloppy joe nachos from Nebraska Mini Mart
• Pork belly tacos from Gallito Taqueria

As summed up in the Tampa Bay Times article:

It’s a last-ditch effort to keep the restaurant afloat during the coronavirus pandemic, which has prompted federally mandated restrictions on restaurant operations and social distancing recommendations that are keeping diners at home. As COVID-19 continues to wreak unprecedented economic havoc on businesses everywhere, Tampa Bay restaurants and bars are scrambling to figure out a way to survive.

The project is called Rooster Redux — check it out on the Rooster and the Till site. Do a good deed and get some good food and place an order!

…but seriously, if you’re finding that your local “basic” supermarket is short on goods, go check out a nearby bodega or supermercado!

Tap the photo to see it at full size.

To help inspire people staying at home to go beyond the usual with their home-cooked meals, I’m starting a regular series of photos on the topic.

Today’s lunch was this salad with cabbage and lettuce, dried quinoa, sunflower seeds, a little shredded mozzarella, honey-mustard dressing, and Trader Joe’s “Everything But the Bagel” seasoning. Surrounding it is some salami-wrapped mozzarella. I added a hard-boiled egg to this mix after taking this photo (a last-minute addition). I made the same for Anitra, who’s also working from home.

Tap the photo to see it at full size.

Yesterday, I posted photos of my front porch home office on my tech blog Global Nerdy. The porch is my home office for the duration of social distancing. Anitra also works from home, and since her work requires her to be in teleconference meetings way more than mine, she has a much greater claim to the home office. Besides, Florida is lovely in March, and the view is spectacular!

I’ve seen a number of Facebook posts asking people to post the nth photo from their phone‘s camera roll, usually as a way to get a break from all the COVID-19 news. I thought I’d offer some photos to help.

Tap the photo to see it at full size.

I was a remote worker for nine years, from October 2008 to 2017. As a result, I’ve developed a bag of tricks and techniques to be effective while not working in person at an office. One of them is to not work in pajamas, but to do “the three S’s” and dress up. Tampa’s climate is well-suited to my collection of short-sleeved, button-up shirts, aloha shirts, and guayaberas. Shirts are my thing as much as scarves are my sister’s thing.

Tap the photo to see it at full size.

Where I work — Lilypad — the development team has a daily stand-up meeting every morning. For those of you who aren’t familiar with agile practices, a daily stand-up is a short meeting where the members of a team take turns telling the others what they accomplished yesterday, the tasks they plan to take on today, and if there are any impediments in their way. It helps to ensure that the team know what’s going on, and it helps keep them coordinated.

Akira, our scrum master (an agile team facilitator) is ill, and when that happens, I step in as Pretend Scrum Master. We’ve been holding the daily stand-up remotely via Google Hangouts, and I’ve been doing it with video as I stand in our front yard. It makes for a lovely backdrop.

Tap the photo to see it at full size.

Have a happy and productive Friday!