Social-distancing Q. & A.

“How to Practice Social Distancing,” questions from The New Yorker, answers from Asaf Bitton, of Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School. An excerpt:

Going outside in and of itself doesn’t increase the risk. It is really proximity to other human beings, and specifically to their secretions — their sneezes and droplets. So the recommendation is to please go outside if you can. Please take walks, please bike, with a helmet. Interact with your family members outside. But really the key is don’t interact with people outside of your home unit — whoever you are already in close contact with.

Dr. Bitton’s “Social Distancing: This Is Not a Snow Day” is now available as a PDF.

Sleep, or the lack thereof

A timely episode of To the Best of Our Knowledge: “Up All Night,” about sleep, or the lack thereof.

Speaking of which: I’ve been trying out melatonin for the past couple of weeks. I was getting tired — npi — of lying awake in the wee small hours of the morning. I bought 3mg tablets, took one, and was up all night. After reading anecdotal evidence that smaller doses can be more helpful, I tried cutting tablets in half and was surprised to find that a 1.5mg dose does the trick. I’ve been sleeping through the night. The strangest part: though the alarm is set for 7:00, I’ve been waking up, ungroggy, every morning between 6:30 and 6:35.

Placebo effect? I don’t know. The NIH is skeptical:

There’s not enough strong evidence on the effectiveness or safety of melatonin supplementation for chronic insomnia to recommend its use.

Then again, I don’t think I have chronic insomnia.

The Mayo Clinic is a bit less skeptical:

Research suggests that melatonin might provide relief from the inability to fall asleep and stay asleep (insomnia) by slightly improving your total sleep time, sleep quality and how long it takes you to fall asleep.

This post is not a recommendation: I’m only sharing my experience. As with any supplement, consult a doctor, the medical kind. I practice only on sentences.

[The acronym “npi” stands for “no pun intended,” from years of correspondence with my friend Aldo Carraso. As for “dose does”: I couldn’t resist.]

Performance review

I woke up with this sentence: “Performance-wise, Al Capone is at the top of the list.”

Capone would probably have given himself a 10, no?

Related reading
All OCA dream posts (Pinboard)

Rewriting history

“The president tried to rewrite his history with advising Americans about the coronavirus. His own words prove him wrong”: "Trump Now Claims He Always Knew the Coronavirus Would Be a Pandemic" (The New York Times).

Or as a non-Times writer once put it, “The party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears. It was their final, most essential command.” Yes, that’s George Orwell, in Nineteen Eighty-Four. And here is Orwell on totalitarian history.

*

And some video evidence:

As Trump pivots to coronavirus crisis mode, let’s not forget the months of downplaying and denial. pic.twitter.com/gH1xZAHXm5

— The Recount (@therecount) March 17, 2020

Two Williams

[William Butler Yeats. Bain News Service, photographer unknown, c. 1915–1920. From the Library of Congress Flickr account. Click for a larger view.]

On this Saint Patrick’s Day, William Butler Yeats reminds us of the importance of social distancing as he holds a volume of William Blake’s poetry to his chest. Stand back, says the Irish William, and don’t you dare try to touch my book.

Please, stand back. No bars. No parties. Stay home if your life and work allow that. Enjoy some Bewley’s or Jameson in your own living room. Happy Saint Patrick’s Day.

[Bewley’s is tea, Irish; Jameson, whiskey, Irish. The name Leddy, also Irish.]

Hat trick

WAFA.

Wealth, illusion, corruption

Father Gervase Knopwood aims to disillusion young David Staunton about his father Boy Staunton, “a great man of business.” Knoppy doesn’t go so far as to suggest that the elder Staunton was dishonest:


Robertson Davies, The Manticore (1972).

Other Robertson Davies posts
“Fellows of the first importance” : “Visible branch establishments” : “Like a duck to water” : “A designer and a manufacturer” : “The intrepid Orph” : “The socks-shorts moment”

A last autocorrection

I’m done with iOS autocorrection, which has messed up my writing again and again. The last straw: in this post, autocorrect turned Asaf Bitton into Asaf Burton. I didn’t see the change until several hours later. No thanks.

I’m done with macOS autocorrection too. Now all mistakes will be my own.

A movement for these times

It’s #StayTheFuckHome. Not a joke. With twelve guidelines, in order of increasing difficulty and effectiveness.

Not everyone can stay the, &c. The first nine guidelines are probably within the reach of most readers.

Store talk

“Go and buy. Enjoy it. Have a nice dinner. Relax”: Donald Trump*, a few minutes ago.