The Envy List #18: This is NOT the End of the World

...despite the toilet paper hoarding.

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1. Don’t worry, the apocalypse hasn’t arrived—according to these preachers. (*Rolls eyes*) Read more...

Coronavirus might feel like “the end times.” But the apocalypse is not here, doomsday prophesiers say.

—"This is Not the End of the World, According to Christians who Study the End of the World” at The Washington Post

2. We were down to a few rolls before I found some at Sam’s Club: yep, there’s a toilet paper crisis. Read more…

"When we feel anxious, which I think all of us do right now—it would be sort of abnormal to not feel a little anxious—the antidote to anxiety is always control," said Yarrow. "And since we can't really control the track of this disease, we turn to what we can control, and that's why people are shopping. It's like, 'well, I feel like I'm doing something, I feel like I'm preparing. I feel like I'm taking control of the thing I can control, which is stocking up.'

"Some of the people that are doing the hoarding, they're not bad people and they're not selfish people. They're just scared people, and I think that if they thought about their connection to others and their responsibility to the community, they probably wouldn't do it," Yarrow told Ars.

—”This is Why Everyone is Hoarding Toilet Paper” by Kiona N. Smith at Ars

3. One of my favorite public Christians, Sarah Bessey, offered these forty Lent practices. Pick one to do as Easter nears! Read more…

Day Forty :: Sing the kids’ song “He’s Got the Whole World in His Hands” but switch the pronouns to feminine ones: “She’s Got the Whole World in Her Hands.” Notice how it feels to use a feminine pronoun for God.

Imagine how God would mother you today, how it would feel to be held in the hands of God, and open yourself to those possibilities.

—”40 Simple Practices for Lent” by Sarah Bessey in her newsletter Field Notes

4. Where are the food delivery robots? Somebody make that happen, please. Read more…

On Friday morning, Matthew Johnson-Roberson sat at his office window in Ann Arbor, Michigan, looking out at his favorite restaurant gone dark. As cities and states rush to stem the spread of the coronavirus, restaurants across the country are closing doors to eat-in diners. “The economic impact is huge,” said Johnson-Roberson, an associate professor of engineering at the University of Michigan. “I’m really worried that these restaurants aren’t going to come back.”

Many, however, are open for takeout and delivery, and that is where Johnson-Roberson’s robots come in. Johnson-Roberson is co-founder of Refraction AI, one of a growing number of startups that aim to deliver restaurant or supermarket food to your home in the tamper-proof compartment of a robot on wheels.

—"This Would Be a Really Good Moment for Food Delivery Robots” by Carolyn Beans at Slate

5. Make a brand new comfort food recipe—after all, we all have some time on our hands, so why not get cooking? Read more…

When you’re fending off the feels (you know the ones), the only thing that’s really proven to help is lots and lots of comfort food. (Okay fine, a pile of blankets does wonders, too.) We’re talking rich, aromatic chicken tikka masala over rice, fall-apart-y cabbage as inviting as a cashmere sweater, soups so soothing it warms your soul as much as your belly—and oh, tons of carbs. This is not the time to pretend like you want to eat a bright, zingy salad. You don’t. The heart knows what it wants, so do yourself a favor, and get cooking.

—”86 Comfort Foods for Cold Nights, Broken Hearts, and Wednesdays” by Elyssa Goldberg at Bon Appetit Magazine

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