Economy
Slow Times At GUARDIAN World Hq.
March 26, 2020 
Every day is like a “snow day” or a long weekend as we sit at home looking at each other and the dog. Most of the time we can’t remember the day of the week and the passing of the blue trash truck is an event.
Mrs. GUARDIAN proffered up a nice salad last night. She served it as I lounged in bed watching the latest news about CORVID-19. I told her I wasn’t sick. I was just watching TV to become informed and kill time. Her response was that she didn’t want me interrupting her own TV watching in the living room.
Until today four of my “coffee mates” would scatter around the patio at the local Moxie on Vista reading the paper and drinking coffee from the drive-thru. Now Gov. Little says we would be criminals to do that.
That’s about as exciting as it gets here at the GUARDIAN world headquarters. In a two day period I had more than half a dozen phone calls from friends who ALL asked in a grave tone: “How are you doing? I just wanted to call and check on you.” I finally realized they were all responding to Facebook or other advice-givers to “check on your elderly friends and loved ones.” Thanks.
Pretty hard to come to grips with the realization that folks think of me as “elderly.” It wasn’t that long ago I came to Boise as the new police reporter at the Statesman in 1968. I would be happy to regale you with exciting yarns from those days. They would be about as timely as the old sports highlights on KBOI radio or the outdated video of the legislature on KTVB-7.
As the numbers begin to stack up it was nice to see Idaho wasn’t the worst place in the country outside of Mississippi. We all owe a special thanks of California Gov. Gavin Newsome who ordered residents to stay home. Perhaps we can get him to make that a permanent order. Must admit it is nice to drive to the grocery store with no traffic.
Finally, where is all the money coming from? Some folks will make considerably more on unemployment than while working. Do we really need to give $25,000,000 to the Kennedy Center?
Feel free to share your stay-at-home adventures and diversions.
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Comments & Discussion
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Mar 26, 2020, 12:25 pm
You think you’re old, freakin kid.
Mar 26, 2020, 12:27 pm
For a brief time the Guardian was becoming my diversion. I had to quit. I too am paying more attention to the dog. At least his barks make rational sense.
Mar 26, 2020, 12:46 pm
It seems they let the insane asylum out and they are running things. likely into the ditch. Whatever your age this may cause death but so do a lot of other actions we take.
Mar 26, 2020, 2:54 pm
Ain’t KTVB sports ‘news’ the best?!
I like the dufus with the hair that looks like a ridgeline in the foothills.
And when, when will Mark Johnson retire?
Mar 26, 2020, 7:43 pm
You just have to appreciate those yellow ribbons around the playground equipment. Overkill–and in another news article we are encouraged to enjoy the outdoors–So whats with the National and State Parks closing? I wish I had a dog–my wife doesn’t like her ears scratched.
Mar 26, 2020, 8:58 pm
To ‘chicago sam’: playgrounds are much different than acres of open grassy areas. Viruses will attach and stay on metal, rubber and plastic. Not so much on tree bark.
Mar 26, 2020, 9:30 pm
Is that the “Lektor” decoding device featured in “From Russia With Love?”
Mar 26, 2020, 10:43 pm
western guy
You may be correct in the lives of VIRUS– but –in an article yesterday 03/25 by Britebart news there is an article entitled which quotes the Center For Disease Control (CDC) “Corona virus mortality rates in U.S. increase drastically by age group”
The article goes on to state that the study analyzed cases in the U.S. from Feb. 12–Mar. 16, 2020 of 2,499 old and 4,266 new cases by age and hosp. status.
Of these cases 44 died but none were under the age of 20. This also, compares with the most recent data from China where 80% of the deaths were 60+ years old.
There is more to the study but at the highest medical levels in the U. s. the methods of dealing with this virus are shifting to age related issues. If you are not aware, the 3 deaths in Idaho are all 60+ years old. Kids look to me to be OK. It is the old folks who need to tread lightly.
Give the kids some semblance of freedom–I think you are barking up the wrong tree
Mar 27, 2020, 10:16 am
So, Dave, The Elder, now that I have a little extra time on my hands I was wondering about a few things and thought that during your gathering of information you may have found some answers.
Did you happen to sneak down to find out what she had on the Telly?
I see the Fed is planning to print up about $3 billion for each state. Do we get to spend that all, or do we have to give back what we don’t use? I suggest we start planning on that right away.
Idea #1: loan some to Potlatch (low interest of course) to expand the TP production line.
Idea #2: we buy everyone a subscription to the Statesman Press. Local TP problem solved.
Any idea where all the coppers went? On my trip around the towns yesterday (delivering essential supplies) I saw not one.
Always anxious to hear what the Elders have to say…..
/Rs
EDITOR NOTE–#1 Potlatch must be getting uber rich off their TP production.
#2 I like your Statesman idea, but it makes no sense to use ink on three day old news and ship the paper back and forth to Twin Falls.
Coppers are like the Maytag repairman–no work. Only 32 arrests all last week. Jail has plenty of empty beds for the first time in years. PS, I could hear her laughing at that dry British comedy on PBS.
Mar 27, 2020, 11:42 am
I’ve been looking at my bank account a couple times a day, hoping to see my tax refund in there. (It’s delayed – perhaps the IRS is short-staffed.) Now I have the additional incentive of looking for my BIG GOVERNMENT HANDOUT! (Thanks, great-grandkids of America!)
Took the granddaughter on a bike ride yesterday – it was nice. Of course, I haven’t missed a day of cycling, myself. I try to look menacing enough that everybody tries to stay at least 6 feet away.
On my ride this morning, I rattled the door of a city-park restroom… one that I’ve used many times this year already. Locked. So apparently the honchos have decided that bladder-burst is less deadly than coronavirus.
Why can’t they just put up big signs: “Corona Virus -Free Zone!”? That seems effective at keeping the gun-psychos at bay.
Stay healthy, Mr. Guardian! We appreciate your unfiltered viewpoint, in this day and age of “press release journalism.”
WASH YOUR HANDS, everybody!
Mar 27, 2020, 11:48 am
This is a new animal virus. We have no immunity. It transfers VERY easily because it is VERY resilient on surfaces. Still alive after 17 days on the abandoned cruise ship for example. The kill rate is fairly low compared to SARS-2003 and MERS, resulting in large numbers of contagious people walking about spreading it. They really don’t know yet how long it lives on door handles etc. Experts feel compelled to say something so they go with prior data from prior viruses. However the experts have been undershooting this new bug from the start.
China slowed their spread by literally welding doors shut on apartment blocks. No movement, no spread! Our free American kids are spreading it around asymptotically. Parents let their kids touch everything they pass by in the store for example. Young parents, angry they’re stuck at home with the kids and spouse, are beyond ignorant and see it as an old people problem. If we locked them all in a bin for 4 weeks the spread would slow substantially. Slow is the goal because it can’t be stopped in free America. The stay at home order was very late in coming. Our slow and clumsy politically hedged response will still result in a sharp peak. Perhaps 10 to 20 times more dead as what could have been with a disciplined society and competent government(Singapore).
Younger age makes you safe? No. Only an idiot thinks this can’t put them in the hospital based on their age. How selfish too, because that’s a hospital bed unavailable for an elder who will literally be left to die in the parking lot. Idaho going to have eyes opened in a few weeks to the foolishness of the cavalier spirit. https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/69/wr/mm6912e2.htm?s_cid=mm6912e2_w
Mar 27, 2020, 12:00 pm
Words of advice from an Idahoan in northern Italy.
Her message is especially important for those COVID-19 deniers who say they’re willing to have folks Die to Make the Economy Great Again:
http://manythingsconsidered.com/how-we-live-now/
Mar 27, 2020, 1:13 pm
Chicago Sam: stop reading sh§t like Britebart News. It’s worse than Fox ‘news’
And don’t lick any playground equip.
Mar 27, 2020, 1:50 pm
Who’s elderly?
Sure everyone wants to be elderly when the store as TP reserved for “the elderly” and Denny’s has their pancake special.
So stores are now reserving special times for elderly shoppers. Kind of like happy hour at the Chuck Wagon buffet, but the grocery store special is a MUCH more effective way of culling a whole generation. Who does this stuff?
Consider the affected Boise TSA employee. Imagine ‘elderly flight day’ if that 1 person is working.
It only takes 1. 🙁
smh
Mar 27, 2020, 1:50 pm
Well, you made it to Boise two years before I moved here from the Midwest. I came here in June 1970, when the population of the city was 79,000. We bought what we considered a huge two-story house on Morton Drive just off Mountain View and paid a whopping $30,000.00 (plus it was on a half-acre). In the evenings, the kids and I would walk over to Delsa’s Ice Cream Shop on Ustick. We never worried about traffic because there were few cars out and about. Those days are gone forever !!!
Mar 27, 2020, 2:19 pm
Some local observations:
-DEQ is discouraging backyard burning or health reasons, but car use is never discouraged for the same reasons.
-Because of the reduction in vehicle miles traveled, air quality has never looked better all over the world and locally.
-Bike riding is much safer with fewer vehicles on the road.
Mar 27, 2020, 2:57 pm
Rabula; You OK? I’m concerned for your well being. It took you all the way to post #12 to make your normally abnormal irrational bark. Why don’t you take two of what ya got and go back to bed? We’ll still be here when you feel better.
Mar 27, 2020, 4:52 pm
NOTE TO ALL–
I trashed the latest two comments because they were just plain confrontational and nasty. I am posting right now just to give folks a forum to exchange information and views, not snipe at each other.
Keep it civil or I will simply close the thread.
EDITOR DAVE
Mar 27, 2020, 6:58 pm
My lifestyle is relatively unchanged, as we largely stay home much of the time other than work and an occasional visit with family or a meet up with friends at some exotic location. We both have alternating on-site and remote work schedules, but managed to get A LOT of house work done though.
On the drive home it feels like the Boise I moved to in July 1996. That part is nice, but the reason behind it is very sad. However I LOVE that California stay-at-home order comment. That almost made me spray coffee on the computer monitor!
Mar 28, 2020, 9:23 am
TV news and newspapers are not where you find information, or news.
The Corporate Media peddles lies, creates false narrative, and is marching us directly into a totalitarian police state.
Mask use has been stigmatized in the USA because they want as many of us to die as possible.
Even the crudest attempt at homemade masks would have cut the virus transmission rate in half.
Another “war” has been declared, prepare to be a prisoner in your own country, …for your safety.
Now, they slowly implement One World Government and replace cash with a crypto-currency so they can track (and tax) every cent automatically.
EDITOR NOTE–IF you are trolling for comments, you may have hit on a good bait.
Mar 28, 2020, 10:57 am
For those who DO want accurate, up-to-date info: ncov2019.live
Avi Schiffmann, a 17-year-old coder using “web-scraping,” collates data from around the world and presents it in simple, easy-to-read tables by continent, nation, and state updated every minute.
Mar 28, 2020, 4:12 pm
Rabula; Who is creating the data being “scraped”? Results likely more accurate, perhaps of value, but still unverified.
EDITOR NOTE–Here is what the site says. https://ncov2019.live/about
Apr 1, 2020, 1:38 pm
Great photo of your pox beat days in downtown Boise. I just wrote a nostalgia post on Facebook about buying a new Plymouth at Hessing-Thurber in ’67.
Get out of bed. Walk around the block.
Apr 13, 2020, 6:37 pm
Hey Dave,
If that 17 yr. old has his facts right, I’m seeing Australia has only 1% fatality. We should have just stayed there, mate. While your lady is serving you dinner in bed, my man is taking a liking to cooking shows and putting a few too many pounds on your old model here. He seems to have a hankering for watching zombies on TV so at least the British shows your Mrs. watches don’t make this whole pandemic scarier. Stay safe my “old” travel buddy. Gotta go now, I spent one hour grocery shopping today and 2 hours washing each egg and orange and celery stalk. Thought I’d make it through this shut down without having to go back to that gross-ry store. Need a nap.
May 27, 2020, 10:21 am
I remember the reporter guy who came & made 2 little girls Easter a much happier event when they read their missing bunny was just taking care of Easter business.
I remember many of times hearing about the jet set travels of the reporter to far away places I would only see due to his picture taking abilities to capture the perfect moment!
I remember the reporter guy who flew down the Cascade mountain side to aid in the safe return of a young lady’s inability to maneuver the whitecaps of Cascade lake.
Elderly, Naaahh… that’s not a word I think of The Fraz!