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A loyal reader suggested having WifeGeeding do a guest post or be interviewed by DaughterGeeding about how things have changed for her while teaching. He provided a framework of questions. If you are interested in hearing from WifeGeeding, what would you like to ask her?

1) How is it different? The same?
2) Is she tempted to ‘dress down’ like the rest of the business world does when working from home?
3) How does she prepare for a lesson and how is it different/the same?
4) How does the length of the lessons compare when she cannot see the students in the same room?
5) What is it like being a parent and teacher at the same time in this remote world.

I bet once this COVID-19 pandemic is over with, Texas will continue to allow restaurants to sell to-go mixed drinks as long as they are sealed.

I don’t think anyone should feel any sympathy for a college graduate because he or she won’t have a graduation ceremony and won’t get the opportunity to don a cap and gown. I think they should feel sorrow for them for the job market they are being thrown into.

The Amish Are Getting a COVID-19 Drive-Through Testing Center for Horse and Buggies  – Doctors in Central Pennsylvania are opening a drive-through clinic that specifically caters to vulnerable Amish and Mennonite communities.

Auto insurance companies return $800 million in premiums because no one is driving – Two insurers – Allstate and American Family Insurance — announced Monday they will give back about $800 million to their auto insurance customers because people are driving far less during the coronavirus crisis.

He Visited Disneyland Every Day for Eight Years—Then Coronavirus Happened

One thing that’s been derailed by the virus is a record-breaking streak of daily Disneyland visits by 47-year-old Huntington Beach, California, resident Jeff Reitz. When the park was forced to close last month, Reitz had been visiting it for almost 3,000 consecutive days.

Reitz and a friend had originally planned to go every day of the year 2012, as they were both unemployed at the time, and they wanted a project to get them out of the house. But after they made it through the year, they decided to keep going. The friend eventually stopped their streak in 2014, but Reitz stuck at it until Friday, March 13—the last day before the park’s closure.

Yes! – Phoebe Waller-Bridge has made the stage version of ‘Fleabag’ available for streaming in order to benefit coronavirus-related charities

Recorded at Wyndham’s Theatre and first broadcast in theaters for a special live event in September 2019, Fleabag Live will first be available to stream in the U.K. and Ireland, beginning Monday on Soho Theatre’s On Demand streaming site. In the U.S., the broadcast will be available on Amazon Prime Video beginning Friday, April 10th, and will remain on the platform for two weeks.

Something for fellow listeners of The TICKET from D Magazine – The Last (and Best) Story Ever Written About Mike Rhyner – Mike Rhyner invented a radio format in Dallas that changed the country and made him a legend. Then, unexpectedly, he retired.

Lin-Manuel Miranda And The Original Cast Of ‘Hamilton’ Zoombomb John Krasinski’s Show With Delightful ‘Hamilton’ Performance

Already cued:

To break up the monotony we’ll go through the drive-thru and then will find an open area to eat at. WifeGeeding and I will normally eat in the car but the kids like to eat outside.

In this picture, the kids are playing a game. I flipped a coin to see who would be the first to select a color, red or blue. Then, they counted the number of vehicles of their assigned color and the first to 100 wins.

This photo was taken at the same place but on a different day. They decided to take turns rolling each other down this “hill”.

The kids had a picnic in this open field and then challenged their mother to a race.

Here’s a photo of WifeGeeding teaching a geography lesson to her kindergartner class.  I bought that light ring a few years ago when I ran across a good deal and she thought it would never come in handy.

Radio host ‘Doc’ Gallagher gets 25 years for bilking Christian investors out of millions – The 79-year-old pleaded guilty in Dallas County to three charges and must also pay more than $10 million in restitution.

https://twitter.com/SInow/status/1246848433723518976

The one COVID-19 related stat I’d like to track daily is the number of available hospital beds available in the area.

This was a really fun read, and I felt pretty darn motivated after reading what Coach Taylor of Friday Night Lights told his team. Clear eyes, full hearts, can’t lose, gentlemen. But, I would have loved to see what Chris Carter (The X-Files) and Vince Gilligan could have come up with.

If I Wrote a Coronavirus Episode Tina Fey, Mike Schur, and 35 more TV writers on what their characters would do in a pandemic.

We posed that question to dozens of showrunners, creators, and writers; 37 of them responded with scene scripts, monologues, and episode outlines, including a hilarious Skype session between Frasier and Niles, a classic locker-room speech from Coach Taylor, an excerpt from Selina Meyer’s biography, and a vlog for Rogelio De La Vega’s biggest fans. We even learned what caused the whole pandemic — you can blame it on Veep’s Mike McLintock.

The Average New Car Loan Is Now Over 70 Months

Considering the way I manage my finances, I’ll never be able to by a new car. Sure, it’s more cost-effective to buy a used pre-owned one that’s less than two years old to compensate for the rapid depreciation, but I’d like to know what the experience of buying a brand new one for the first time feels like and enjoy that new car smell a bit longer. Hmm, as we make technological advances in electric vehicles, I wonder what are the chances I’ll ever buy one which runs on an internal combustion engine again.

GM is working with Honda to build two new electric vehicles

Honda will design the exteriors and interiors of the new EVs, while the platform will be engineered to support Honda’s specifications, the companies say. They will be manufactured at GM’s North American plants, with sales expected to begin in the 2024 model year.

One of my coworkers who lives in Virginia pulled a nice April Fools joke on his teenage daughter who fell for this mocked headline hook, line, and sinker.

My new pain medication is quite unique. It’s like a Listerine breath strip but I apply it to the inside of my cheek and wait for it to dissolve which can take up to half an hour.

Petition to name Dr. Anthony Fauci ‘Sexiest Man Alive’ gains momentum

It looks like former Dallas police Chief David Brown will be the next Chicago police superintendent. If memory serves right, his son killed a member of law enforcement. Sadly, ironic. The former chief’s younger brother was killed by drug dealers.

I just discovered there’s something called 8D audio.

“Use headphones!” the video declared, and I dutifully obeyed, slipping my earbuds in before hitting play. Freddie Mercury’s harmonized voice erupted forth in the intro, per usual. But then the singing started floating slowly around my head, past one ear to the next. I closed my eyes and felt myself spinning, hearing the music reverberate at a distance. I opened my eyes and snapped to reality: The sound was still being piped straight into my ears. This wasn’t a remix. It was something else — a reformulation of a pop song into some kind of whole-body experience. I wasn’t sure I liked it, but it made me feel something.

This is about three months old but I thought y’all might like it.

Hair related items:

No one is able to get a haircut, so I have a feeling long hair, especially with school children, is going to be en vogue.

Two of the winners of the Hair Freezing Contest at the Takhini Hot Pools, an annual competition In Canada’s Yukon territory.  CNN

The stark differences in countries’ coronavirus death rates, explained

Some countries, such as Germany, have a fatality rate of approximately 1 percent of confirmed cases, whereas Italy’s rate has climbed above 11 percent. Even within the US, large differences are emerging: As of April 1, Louisiana had reported a CFR of 4.2 percent, one of the highest in the nation, compared to California’s 2.1 percent.

The Woman Who Lives 200,000 Years in the Past – As we confront the reality of COVID-19, the idea of living self-sufficiently in the woods, far from crowds and grocery stores, doesn’t sound so bad. Lynx Vilden has been doing just that for decades, while teaching others how to live primitively, too.

Lynx (who doesn’t share her legal name) is not your typical back-to-the-lander. The lithe, blonde former teen punk, who grew up in the “concrete and dismal gray” environs of London, has become an unlikely torchbearer of humanity’s wild heritage. Her overarching aim is not to simply survive out here in nature but “to live as wild people lived” and to show others how to do so as well.

For two decades, Lynx has been running immersive programs that she calls Stone Age projects. After signing up, a group of fifteen or so students make their way to Twisp or to other farther-flung locales, like White Clouds, Idaho; Jokkmokk, Sweden; or the Rhodope Mountains in Greece, to learn skills from Lynx such as fire starting, shelter construction, bow making, and footwear fabrication. Once equipped with this knowledge, and having sewn their own buckskins and exchanged their toothbrushes for twigs, students have the option of heading out with Lynx into a nearby forest for as long as 30 unbroken days. They make camp, hunt and forage, and pass long hours in the intimacy of this tight tribal band.

Ten years from now a plethora of folks will claim to be a survivor of COVID-19 despite never contracting the virus. It will be similar to all the people in DFW who claimed to have been at Nolan Ryan’s final no-hitter.

If there’s ever a time for the virtual reality industry to gain some market share now’s the time.

Outside out local grocery store, a male senior citizen unpacked a trombone and just started playing. I heard How Great Thou Art and Amazing Grace.

I just have this bad feeling right when we think we have this COVID-19 nabbed it’s gonna come back with a vengeance in late fall.

As Americans, we really, truly, take grocery stores for granted. I’m not going to go as far to say their workers are heroes (they are working to make a buck and there’s really no alternative for them) but I’m thankful they’re there.

As an American (who’s watched Rocky IV at least two dozen times) it’s odd to accept help from the Russians. I can only imagine what Fox News would be saying if Obama accepted aid from the Russians. It’s a different world we’re living in, yo. I wonder what The Gipper would think of this moment.

@MarcusReports – New York air traffic controller to Russian Air Force cargo plane: “We sincerely thank you for all of the assistance you’re bringing in.”

Russian Cargo Plane With Medical Supplies Lands in New York

A Russian Air Force cargo plane reportedly carrying medical supplies for coronavirus patients landed at New York’s John F. Kennedy Airport just after 4 p.m. Wednesday.

Moscow seized the chance to publicize the rare instance of a Russian plane bringing humanitarian aid to a U.S. airport, flooding social media with pictures and video shortly after the plane’s arrival. State media even had a live video feed of forklifts carrying brown boxes off the plane.

Russian state media said the plane was carrying “60 tons of medical equipment, ventilators, masks & other protection gear.” The shipment to New York — the state with the most coronavirus cases — followed a Monday call between President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin.

It’s also humbling we rely on another communist nation, China, to manufacture the majority of our medicine, face masks, respirators, and ventilators. I wonder what Nixon would think of that.

Ninth commandment, Mr. Vice-President – Pence: “I don’t believe the president has ever belittled the threat of the coronavirus.”

The Coronavirus is very much under control in the USA. We are in contact with everyone and all relevant countries. CDC & World Health have been working hard and very smart. Stock Market starting to look very good to me!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 24, 2020

So last year 37,000 Americans died from the common Flu. It averages between 27,000 and 70,000 per year. Nothing is shut down, life & the economy go on. At this moment there are 546 confirmed cases of CoronaVirus, with 22 deaths. Think about that!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 9, 2020

Asking for a friend, what’s an acceptable age for a man’s son to beat him in the 40-yard dash?

Observing my kids taking online classes is interesting. I had no idea second-graders would handle it so well. They are so proper, polite, and attentive. It’s like watching a comedy sketch in which kids play adults. But it’s hard for some teachers out there. For instance, here’s a picture of BoyGeeding interacting with his second-grade teacher. She has three kids, all below the age of six. As you can see the one she is holding isn’t even a year old. Her husband works from 7:00 AM – 6:00 PM, so she’s trying to be a mom and a teacher at the same time without any help, multitasking, and I think she’s been doing a darn fine job of it.

YouTube – Professional Pole Dancer Rates 10 Pole Scenes In Movies And TV | How Real Is It?

Rachel Tolzman, who has been pole dancing since 2011 and now teaches at London’s Ecole de Pole, broke down 10 pole scenes in movies and TV, critiquing their realism and technique. A former Miss Pole Dance UK and winner of the International Pole and Aerial Tournament 2016, Tolzman also placed bronze at the World Pole Sport & Fitness Championship.

I didn’t watch the whole thing, but I don’t think there’s any nudity, though the ladies are certainly not wearing much and the content isn’t family-friendly. Poke fun at me all you want, but I’m at the point now in which I see pole dancing as an art or form of dance instead of some erogenous routine. Sure, I agree that poles are associated with men’s club and poles are used at those locals are used for stripping, but nowadays they aren’t only located at those establishments and no longer used simply for unclothing. There’s a difference between pole dancing and striptease. Pole dancing is more exotic than erotic.

When this crisis is over, remember who said it was overblown. Remember who said it was a hoax. Remember who called it hype. Remember who ignored the warnings. Remember who ridiculed safety. Remember who minimized the threat. Remember who insisted it was nothing.

— Jody Dean (@DFWJodyDean) March 31, 2020

My alma mater continues to struggle – University watchdog group, citing ‘accreditor standards’ asks HSU to evaluate recent decisions

• The letter accuses HSU of not including faculty in the decision processes resulting in the removal of certain programs, spending a large amount on construction and salary increases for management vs faculty, and keeping money intended for the Logsdon Seminary program, which was recently closed.
• Citing data from a Human Resources survey, ACTA writes that annual salary outlays in Management and Business & Financial Operations increased by more than $1 million, or 40.6% over the last seven years, while faculty salary expenditures have only increased by approximately $300,000; or 3.5%.
• “Expenditures on building projects in recent years merit the board’s scrutiny as well. According to a 2018 finance survey, construction in progress at HSU was valued at $11,847,370. Figures like these underscore the critical importance that every board member feel reassured that he or she understands fully the financial condition of the university, after a thorough review of all relevant records,” the letter states. HSU says new construction is necessary “to maintain our campus infrastructure and represents a show of our faith for the future of the university.”

Remember to wash your hands.

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