Headlines edition

Saturday headlines: A normal boring country.

The White House orders General Motors to manufacture ventilators to help handle the surge of coronavirus patients.

The $2 trillion relief package passed by Congress is meant to flush the economy with cash, but much of the money will take weeks to arrive.

The governor of Alabama won’t issue a stay-at-home order because “we are not California.” By population, it’s actually in more trouble.

In light of the coronavirus, Google presses pause on its tradition of April Fool's jokes.

Right now science needs to underpromise and overdeliver.

The SETI project halts, searching for extraterrestrial intelligence, in order to process the data they’ve got.

Texas chain H-E-B had been preparing for pandemics since 2005, but it didn’t anticipate the run on toilet paper.

Iran is in dire need of medical supplies. US sanctions are making it hard for aid to get into the country.

“My biggest concern is handling money. I’ve been wearing gloves.” A drug dealer says people are panic-buying cocaine.

A movie theater owner is selling curbside popcorn to pay his employees.

The seeming overnight success of Zoom actually took place over nine years.

See also: When your friends get married on Zoom.

Fashion designers are eager to make masks and gowns for healthcare workers, but can't find proper guidance or materials.

Twenty-eight years ago, Sinead O'Connor tore up a picture of the pope on TV. The time since has been "incredibly isolating."

A month after filing for divorce, single mom Leslie Jamison contracted COVID-19.

In possibly the first documentary film made during America’s lockdown, a nervous filmmaker gets advice from C-list celebrities.

Pre-pandemic, Christoph Niemann illustrates a journey to Estonia, “a normal, boring country.”

A profile of the group making “beautiful quarantine songs on a Barcelona rooftop.”

See also: What famous musicians sound like at band practice.

Sports commentators are out of work, too, so one of them pivots to doing play-by-play of folks on the street.

A giant round-up of recent coronavirus jokes on Twitter and TikTok.

Speaking of play-by-play: Join the Tournament of Books crew for another Rooster After Hours! This Sunday, March 29, at 4 p.m. ET. We'll see you here: https://zoom.us/j/418312670