Issue 11 - Socially Distanced
So then, this is the New Normal.
As I sit down to write this, the governor of Illinois just closed all bars and restaurants in the state, the cruise industry is effectively shut down, Disney World is closed, the Fed just cut interest rates to zero... society as we're used to it is shutting down, piece by piece.
It's rare that a moment in time feels really truly historic, as in, you know that future historians (should the future have historians) will study the heck out of this period of time; kids will study it in school. The ramifications of what's unfolding will be impossible to discern or predict. These times are rare; I'd argue that the previous most recent one was 9/11.
Anyway, hopefully you've all bought into the importance of social distancing (and I'm predicting right now -- that phrase will be on at least 1 dictionary's "words of the year" lists in December). And in case you haven't, there have been a few good explainers out there, but I particularly like the Washington Post's latest model-driven piece on "flattening the curve".
A Thing of Beauty
Check out Marina Okhromenko's incredible illustrations of dogs. They perfectly capture that canine energy!
Ephemera
The meaningless garbage-speak of the business world has irritated the crap out of me for as long as I've been a part of the business world. It's infectious, too. I know I use language differently at work -- why? This rant about it was a real cathartic read (Vulture)
Recently, I've been doing a lot of work on some weird anxiety-loops I sometimes get into. This "feelings wheel" is very helpful for that sort of work, and might be useful for navigating extreme cabin fever a few weeks from now...
Stefano Colferi's work (Instagram, website) is an absolute delight. Aardman-esque, but with a style and point-of-view which really makes it stand out.
If you're mostly stuck indoors for 2 or more weeks, perhaps these origami-on-steroids paper mechanism instructions will help to pass the time?
And lastly, if you're more plugged into social media than I am (not hard to do), you may have already seen mention of Amabie the Japanese yokai (folk-spirit) whose depiction is supposed to be helpful in an epidemic. If not, though, welcome to a very diverting 10-minute rabbit-hole! (Spoon and Tamago)
Endnote
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