Corona - what does help you? Your fears, thoughts, everything

[serious crayons]

As far as I know, the governor of Pennsylvania has not changed his mind about that. Liquor stores are not essential. Gun shops are. 

This seems not only needlessly cruel but a health risk. For serious alcoholics it can be dangerous to stop drinking cold turkey. Do your grocery stores sell beer and wine, at least?

I think I saw in an article earlier today that PA is the only state that's closed liquor stores.

[Jeff Wrangler]

This seems not only needlessly cruel but a health risk. For serious alcoholics it can be dangerous to stop drinking cold turkey. Do your grocery stores sell beer and wine, at least?

It's funny, I guess, but because I don't drink either beer or wine, I'm not sure if you can buy both in a supermarket. I presume you can. The supermarket where I shop has a huge wine section--it's impossible to miss--but I've never really noticed if they sell beer. The convenience store on the street level of my building has a license to sell beer, but they don't sell wine. The state liquor stores sell wine and hard liquor but not beer. There have always been beer distributors; they're businesses where you go to get a keg or a carton of beer. I really don't think we have places where you can buy all three.

A week, maybe two weeks ago already, I remember seeing a TV news story about just that, about alcoholics not being able to get alcohol.

I think I saw in an article earlier today that PA is the only state that's closed liquor stores.

Figures.

[Front-Ranger]

I also drink decaf for the same reason, and I agree with you that it varies wildly in quality.

For the first time in decades, I have time to watch cooking shows! I'm watching a video about making fresh pasta now. Apparently, in Denver, the pasta aisles are empty. Getting the illusion of self-sufficiency really helps.

[serious crayons]

It's funny, I guess, but because I don't drink either beer or wine, I'm not sure if you can buy both in a supermarket. I presume you can. The supermarket where I shop has a huge wine section--it's impossible to miss--but I've never really noticed if they sell beer. The convenience store on the street level of my building has a license to sell beer, but they don't sell wine. The state liquor stores sell wine and hard liquor but not beer. There have always been beer distributors; they're businesses where you go to get a keg or a carton of beer. I really don't think wue have places where you can buy all three.

Here, the only off-sale alcohol you can get outside of a liquor store is beer, and no stronger than 3.2%. That's at least a percentage point below beers in the liquor store, which typically run 4-7%. Liquor stores can sell any kind of alcohol but have traditionally been subject to pretty rigid rules about what hours and days they can be open.

I've seen or lived in places with all kinds of different arrangements. In NOLA, you can get any kind of alcohol at a drugstore or grocery store. They have liquor and wine stores where you'd go if you wanted something fancier than they sell at the CVS. In Chicago, you can get at least beer and wine, and sometimes hard liquor, at grocery stores.

My family once traveled from Las Vegas, where you can get anything, anywhere, 24/7, to southern Utah, where if you and your spouse want to get a six-pack of beer, and you ask the cashier at a gas station where in town they sell it, she'll pretend to have no idea -- even though it's a town of about 5,000 people -- and toss you a yellow pages. (This was back in the day when yellow pages and public pay phones were still commonplace.) The store itself will be an unadorned barn-like building and the cashiers will be stern and subtly disapproving, as if they worked in a methadone clinic and the customers were heroin addicts.

In Tennessee, the laws differ by county and some are "dry counties," including the one where they make Jack Daniels. So you can tour the distillery but not sample the product, as is the usual custom in tours of breweries and wineries. I put this in present tense, though it was based on a couple of visits 25 and 30 years ago -- laws may have changed since then. 

[southendmd]

Imagine how much worse this situation would be without social media, Skype, Zoom, texting, etc.

As far as I know, there were no lockdowns during the 1918 flu. Just think -- people would have been stuck in their houses with no internet, no TV, no radio, no recorded music. Many homes probably even lacked books, magazines and newspapers.

They probably couldn't have had lockdowns anyway because there'd be no way to get the word out to everybody. But if they had, they'd be miserable.

 

I haven’t read a lot about the 1918 flu, but there were lockdowns, at least in some localities. This actually included some churches. Some areas were less hard hit because of these measures.

As for home, 1918 was too early for radio. But many households had gramophones for playing records. Also, many households had a piano then, along with stacks of sheet music. 

And as for getting the word out, there was word of mouth and newspapers were very popular.

[Jeff Wrangler]

Also, many households had a piano then, along with stacks of sheet music. 

They had player pianos, too.

[serious crayons]

Also, many households had a piano then, along with stacks of sheet music.

That much I knew. When I was a kid I read (and reread) this series of books about a girl growing up in the early 1900s, based on the author's life. As teenagers, the girl and her friends were always gathering around the piano and singing -- songs included Merry Widow Waltz and Morning Cy -- while her sister played. But then her sister went on to be an opera singer. Not everyone would have a musician of that caliber available. (Though some, as Jeff mentioned, might have or be able to hear player pianos.)

I've often wondered what it would be like to live in the days when if people wanted to hear music (outside of church) they'd have to make it themselves, like Pa Ingalls on his fiddle.

And as for getting the word out, there was word of mouth and newspapers were very popular.

Of course you're right about newspapers. At first I wasn't sure how common they were in average households in smaller cities and towns, but by then they probably were, at least on a weekly basis. I was thinking about how long it might take news to travel -- the origins of Juneteenth being one example, though I guess that was 50+ years before the 1918 flu.

Sidenote: I've recently realized that one reason so few people in the Confederacy questioned the morality of holding slaves is that most residents of southern states had little to no access to arguments against slavery. Everyone around them would (presumably) believe it was OK, and no media would carry opposing views from elsewhere, since of course even local newspapers supported slavery.

[Front-Ranger]

Oddly enough, I've been thinking about weird old songs I was forced to learn in my elementary school music class. A teacher would come with her pitch pipe once a week and lead us through a book of very ancient songs whose meanings we could not fathom until much later. So, there was one that began, "Casey would dance with the strawberry blonde, and the band played on." The lyrics seemed nonsensical to me and I couldn't fathom the reason for a song dedicated to that. Most of all, I couldn't figure out what a "strawberry blonde" was, neither species nor genera.

Well, I just looked it up and it appears that everyone else is confused too. I've seen pictures of (mostly) women with reddish hair, and some with golden blonde hair. I wonder if (the former) Prince Harry would be considered a strawberry blonde. If he danced with someone named Casey, would people write a song about it? And what's all this about the band playing on? Were they supposed to stop because Casey was dancing with a specialty fruit?

I think the self-isolation stuff is getting to me!

[serious crayons]

Most of all, I couldn't figure out what a "strawberry blonde" w
as, neither species nor genera.

Nicole Kidman's natural color is red, and she often dyes hers blonde, but when she pauses halfway between them her hair is strawberry blonde.

I wonder if (the former) Prince Harry would be considered a strawberry blonde.

I think his hair is just red. As is Amy Adams', although her picture comes up if you google the term.

I think the self-isolation stuff is getting to me!

 

[southendmd]