[cw] Entertaining pandemic news from Finland: 'If we have a furry epidemic after this one...'

[cimorene]

§ In this article from March 23 the national news agency, Yle, recommends becoming a furry and making your own fursuit as an antidote to boredom in these trying times.

Now there's a reason to stay at home! 30 tips to help you enjoy yourself indoors The corona virus pandemic requires staying at home. With these tips you won't get bored.

We're living in unusual times. The corona virus's arrival in Finland has changed our everyday lives in a very short time. Even though the situation is grave and is causing a lot of worry, on the other hand it can also free up healthy people holed up at home to do things they wouldn't normally find time for in daily life. The show Puoli Seitsemän (Half Seven) listed thirty tips for things you can do if you're at loose ends:

[...] Prepare for your old age by making a musical will & testament. [...] Relaxed moments can also be used for sex. Try making your own lube. [...] Give food preparation a new twist! Try preparing food in the dishwasher or with a waffle iron. [...] Develop your own fursona, make your own fursuit and become a furry.

The other 26 were mostly fairly normal, like baking or running or cleaning out your closet. And then there was this.


§ Last night the government announced they were making use of influencers to get the message about social distancing measures and hand-washing out. Apparently influencers have been part of their emergency contingency plans for the past year and a half already. They're recruiting influencers freely now and announced that "anyone who thinks they're an influencer" can join their program.


§ There are enough Finnish Facebook groups full of neighbors eager to help out who are feeling disappointment that people are not asking them for enough help that somebody gathered a bunch of interviews with them together and wrote an article about it, and I can't help but chuckle. Most of Finland has seen very few cases though, and while people over 70 are asked to stay home, they are still allowed to go out for essential purchases, and at least here that's what many of them are still doing. Stores are organizing elderly-only hours in addition to their delivery systems too, so there may not be that many people who need errands done for them. Of course there are plenty of people in immunocompromised risk groups too... though I can see there could easily be fewer of them than of healthy people who are bored and anxious to help out.

Comments

[phosfate]

My shop has elderly/immunocompromized early shopping hours. Unfortunately they've just changed the bus schedule to start at 7:30, so most of them won't be able to get there in time.

[cimorene]

That does seem like an oversight... but a typical one in my experience of America. Everywhere except big cities always seems to have terrible bus service problems.

[phosfate]

They've cut back to the Saturday schedule, which means literally no one can get to work by 8:00, the bus runs once an hour, so if you miss a transfer your screwed, and if you miss the last after 5:00 bus home you're screwed. Their reasoning for the cut was that ridership had dropped by 75%. Which was because they had not started basic virus fighting strategies until last Thursday or Friday and people were afraid to ride.

[cimorene]

=_= ... another winning example of municipal management... no buses that can get people to work by 8?! What can the conversation have been like for this change?!

[phosfate]

I think they thought just switching to the Saturday schedule would be easiest. Y'know, except for the riders, which includes a lot of people who work for the government because they subsidize bus passes -- it costs us $7 a month.

[cimorene]

So does everyone get there after 8 or do they walk?

[phosfate]

Well, 60% are working from home, and those of us who take public...we're just gonna have to be late unless the state objects and we have to work out carpools.

I don't know what will happen when the city goes on lockdown. I assume we're an essential service but I don't know if transport will be. It's shut down in Iowa.

[yvannairie]

xD I think Finns are just anxious for something where they can do good without needing to feel embarrassed about wanting to be nice to people. Culturally we trend towards maximising our misery and being down on everything, y'know? It's harder to do nice things when you feel inherently foolish for just wanting to be nice to someone for no reason.

[cimorene]

LOL... but even to your neighbors...? Our next door neighbors brought us a cake, but then, they were acquaintances of Wax's mom and she had introduced us before she died and it was also a bit of a funeral-food gift.

But I saw in our local free newspaper just now that the local football team is picking and delivering groceries from K supermarket to anybody who calls the local church and signs up for the service. So apparently the old school style of volunteering hasn't died out yet. And I get their impulse. It's hard feeling like the most useful thing you can do is stay home and do nothing, when you are healthy and the whole situation seems threatening.

[yvannairie]

Yep! Like, in my experience Finns really do like doing good, but only if they get to claim it was entirely incidental and they didn't even really want to do it. Having that option taken away is making people have a "oh shit I wanna be nice for no reason" reaction.

[mummimamma]

Lube and fursuit? Well, I'd be occupied for some time at least.

Personally I find that one of the good things with this corona-crisis is that I haven't heard from any influencer for three weeks (though I haven't gone looking), so I hope the Finnish government doesn't give the Nrowegian government any ideas in that direction.

[cimorene]

LOL, I don't think they are pushing the influencers to new audiences; they're just assuming that there are people who have greater trust in influencers than the national news, or who are more likely to read what they have to say at least.

Which could be true, I guess, although it wasn't something I would have thought of. I mean, surely everybody is aware of the pandemic to some degree now, and that being the case I would expect them to look at the news for information if they wanted it, not their social media feeds. But there are statistics about trust in traditional media going down, so maybe people would just carry on assuming if anything was really that important someone would have told them.

[laurenthemself]

Oh good gods I hope nobody tries making their own lube.

[cimorene]

LOL. It was a link to a recipe with a how-to video for making safe water-based by cooking water and cornstarch and a list of kitchen ingredients that can work in a pinch.

[laurenthemself]

That's actually pretty sensible because I think most people would think kitchen = olive oil, done, but of course that'll fuck up condoms.

[cimorene]

My nose did wrinkle about unflavored yogurt though...

[laurenthemself]

My whole face just wrinkled when I read that so I concur.

[cimorene]

They do remind you not to combine latex with oil as well. Although if the other options that you CAN put with the condom are 1. yogurt or 2. cornstarch-based gel that you have to cook and sieve yourself... 😬