Wednesday, April 22, 2020

The View from the Hermitage, Day 38

A quilting friend noted on Facebook that she was isolating all by herself and wondering why Facebook was sending her so many bra ads. I don't think I've gotten a bra ad recently. What I have been getting are ads for (1) weight loss or exercise programs and (2) planners of all kinds.

On the weight loss or exercise front, I haven't seen an ad for Noom since they started advertising on TV, and I can't remember the last time I got anything from WW or Weight Watchers Rebranded. I have been getting ads from something like Eat Like a Bear, put out by a woman who moved to the wilderness--near Yellowstone, if I remember correctly--and lost a lot of weight eating all natural foods. Every ad notes that she has a PhD as if that is supposed to impress me. So does Peter Navarro. Actually, so do I, though I tend not to raise the subject in polite company.

As for exercise programs, I've been getting ads from Body Groove (or something like that) for over a year; it's a move however you want dance program from a woman with extreme dreadlocks. Frequently one of those ads is a testimonial from someone who lost 55 pounds doing it. Again if I remember correctly, this woman is in her 60s but could still do all the Body Groove moves though if you're doing these in the privacy of your own home it shouldn't matter what you look like doing them.

And then there's Figure Eight, the promo for which contains several women with no hips doing figure eights with what would be their hips if they had them. This cuts to a woman or a man with hips and a film showing their progression through learning the various moves and touting how good the program is. They all still seem to have their hips, though. The new promo from Figure Eight is a back view of a woman doing the program. She has no hips, so she is not one of the "users" of the program. The accompanying text notes that the rear view may be easier to follow as one learns the various moves and is included with the frontal footage.

Finally, there's a workout program featuring men doing exercises while seated. Some of the exercises they are doing look as if they'd give a good workout, but I see no reason these men would need to do an in-chair workout. There's nothing to indicate that the workouts are for blizzards that keep you inside for extended periods of time or, heavens how could I have forgotten, pandemics that do the same.

And I'll save the fancy planners for another day. On the coronavirus front, the Washington State death thought to have been the first covid-19 death in the US likely wasn't. The CDC director has said that there could be a second wave of covid-19 next year, in conjunction with influenza season, that may well be worse than the one we're in now. Demonstrations continue pressing states to re-open. I saw a photo of a protester holding a "Give Me Liberty or Give Me Death" sign. Yeah, you can have the death that right now will likely come with the liberty. They estimate it takes two weeks for symptoms to appear (in those who have symptoms); I wonder how many more new cases we'll see in two weeks resulting from the large protest groups.

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