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Riddle me this one: If EVERYONE stays home, how do stores remain open? Do we think they are run by robots? I try to use language with some degree of precisio

Riddle me this one: If EVERYONE stays home, how do stores remain open? Do we think they are run by robots? I try to use language with some degree of precision. I said "assume no stores will be open during that time". ASSUME, not "stores will definitely be closed during that time". Assume, as a part of planning, not categorically know, because the assumption will make for better planning. It is far safer to make this assumption and be wrong, than to discover not making the assumption was a mistake. In the first case you end-up with extra food and supplies you did not need and will simply consume over several months (or donate to the Red Cross, which would be fantastic). In the other case you and your family could suffer greatly due to being utterly unprepared. Maybe it's my aerospace background...I have learned the hard way that ignoring potential failure modes and corner cases is the mother of all fuck-ups.

SpicyLemonZest 7y ago
There's always some risk that infrastructure will catastrophically fail, and in general I think a month-long self-sufficiency stock is a perfectly reasonable thing to have. (I have one myself, although primarily because I live in an earthquake zone.) But when people are reacting to the coronavirus, the implicit question isn't what preparations are good to have for general worst case scenarios; it's which preparations you're likely to need, which ones you can no longer afford to be without. As many a doomsday prepper will attest, there's always one more contingency you could plan for, but telling people to start with extreme measures makes it less likely they'll plan at all.
- robomartin 7y ago
  You are over-complicating simple advice that is perfectly reasonable and not extreme at all: Assume stores will be closed. Plan accordingly. Be glad if things don't play out that way. No harm done. Not difficult. Not extreme. Not a big deal. Just reasonable assumptions and planning in the face of what could be a very serious event in human history.
  - v0tary 7y ago
    I have to agree here with robomartin. Stores might be open or they might not. Even though there is large chance they might remain open - they will almost certainly be overrun if this were to go into panic mode. I can't even buy dust masks at my local home improvement store as they are out of stock. And that's not even a necessity! Nothing wrong in being prepared for an emergency.
    - robomartin 7y ago
      Exactly. It makes me really wonder about these people who savagely down-vote stuff like this on HN. Are they so out of touch with reality? Or is it just a fun sport of sort. There's a strain of people on HN that love down-voting anything that is common sense. As if that single click will take reality and make it align with the way they would like the universe to exist. It's laughable at best, and very very sad. I don't really care about points but it is interesting to see how certain things are not debated and just stomped on and anything that aligns with the cargo cult is supported. Here's news from Italy that very much applies to what I've been saying: https://www.sbs.com.au/news/australians-in-italy-s-coronavirus-hit-region-describe-apocalypse-era-conditions https://www.sbs.com.au/news/australians-in-italy-s-coronavir... As you said, there's nothing wrong to prepare for an emergency. And, by definition, you have to do it before the need arises. I have no interest in having to fight though desperate mobs to get food for my kids. I pretty much got everything we need to shelter in place for about 60 days now, including medicine, masks, etc. I also got extra supplies to be able to help neighbors who might not be as prepared as we are. I guess I am an evil person for suggesting this and acting this way. So sorry.

SpicyLemonZest 7y ago

There's always some risk that infrastructure will catastrophically fail, and in general I think a month-long self-sufficiency stock is a perfectly reasonable thing to have. (I have one myself, although primarily because I live in an earthquake zone.) But when people are reacting to the coronavirus, the implicit question isn't what preparations are good to have for general worst case scenarios; it's which preparations you're likely to need, which ones you can no longer afford to be without. As many a doomsday prepper will attest, there's always one more contingency you could plan for, but telling people to start with extreme measures makes it less likely they'll plan at all.

robomartin 7y ago
You are over-complicating simple advice that is perfectly reasonable and not extreme at all: Assume stores will be closed. Plan accordingly. Be glad if things don't play out that way. No harm done. Not difficult. Not extreme. Not a big deal. Just reasonable assumptions and planning in the face of what could be a very serious event in human history.
- v0tary 7y ago
  I have to agree here with robomartin. Stores might be open or they might not. Even though there is large chance they might remain open - they will almost certainly be overrun if this were to go into panic mode. I can't even buy dust masks at my local home improvement store as they are out of stock. And that's not even a necessity! Nothing wrong in being prepared for an emergency.
  - robomartin 7y ago
    Exactly. It makes me really wonder about these people who savagely down-vote stuff like this on HN. Are they so out of touch with reality? Or is it just a fun sport of sort. There's a strain of people on HN that love down-voting anything that is common sense. As if that single click will take reality and make it align with the way they would like the universe to exist. It's laughable at best, and very very sad. I don't really care about points but it is interesting to see how certain things are not debated and just stomped on and anything that aligns with the cargo cult is supported. Here's news from Italy that very much applies to what I've been saying: https://www.sbs.com.au/news/australians-in-italy-s-coronavirus-hit-region-describe-apocalypse-era-conditions https://www.sbs.com.au/news/australians-in-italy-s-coronavir... As you said, there's nothing wrong to prepare for an emergency. And, by definition, you have to do it before the need arises. I have no interest in having to fight though desperate mobs to get food for my kids. I pretty much got everything we need to shelter in place for about 60 days now, including medicine, masks, etc. I also got extra supplies to be able to help neighbors who might not be as prepared as we are. I guess I am an evil person for suggesting this and acting this way. So sorry.