3 ms·

The exceptions that prove the rule? I find it strange that whenever it is pointed out that maybe 40% of Americans being obese is a problem and that maybe we sho

by vekker 6y ago

The exceptions that prove the rule? I find it strange that whenever it is pointed out that maybe 40% of Americans being obese is a problem and that maybe we should focus more on prevention through health promotion, it is quickly swept under the rug and countered with "yeah but these athletes had bad cases of covid19" (as if being an athlete is the definition of health...).

aksss 6y ago
We hear about the bad anecdotes most. My own personal anecdata - two people out of about 14 I knew with confirmed COVID died, one other was laid up in hospital for weeks, the rest were all fine, quarantined at home without bad symptoms beyond sensory impact, and recovered quickly. Most were fit/mildly overweight, some were obese, the hardest hit examples were both quite old with existing heart problems.
- nickthemagicman 6y ago
  I'm sorry you had to suffer during this time. 80% of the population is below the age of 55. A person in the below age 55 group has more of a chance of dying of a car accident than they do of Covid. That's not anecdotal. Meanwhile when the eviction moratorium ends this month tens of thousands of people are about to be homeless. 40% of all money in the money supply has been printed in the past year, building supplies are already up by two to four times and are starting to show signs of inflation. America just went 1.9 trillion dollars more into debt. Tens of thousands of small businesses have closed and thier business has been absorbed by large companies so inequality increased. The price we're about to pay for this is going to be significant. It's probably going to be poor people and future generations that pay though. #yolo
  - aksss 6y ago
    Yeah, this last year amounted to an enormous wealth transfer. I know a lot of small business owners and am a business owner myself. I've done just fine through the pandemic mostly due to the industry I'm in (coffins - ha, kidding), but there are some observed lessons - keep your business records very up to date and handy, keep a savings account for unexpected expenses, treat business continuity planning (BC) with some respect. When first round PPP money was available, the businesses that got it were those that could pull all their info together on a moments notice and jam out an application with supporting material quickly (like literally within hours of finding a bank taking apps) - P&L statements, tax returns, payroll reports, other vital records. I saw business owners who didn't have their stuff together miss out on first round funding because they just weren't able to pull that off quickly enough. It was a land grab and for some it was an early make-or-break moment. Businesses that were set up from the beginning to treat their offices as "disposable" from a BC/DR perspective were a-okay switching to remote work. As in - if you were planning to be able to continue work if an asteroid hit your building, you were fine with the WFH shift. Mostly this meant very asset-light approach to infrastructure, cloud services, laptops, etc. Restaurants that could drop ready cash (savings) on outdoor accommodations (tents, heaters, etc) were more likely to maintain a revenue stream, assuming they had land or city-granted street space to set that up. That last point though - I've seen some businesses leverage political connections to get special permitting, wealthier business owners of course were better positioned innately. The lockdowns disproportionately impacted businesses - like the established and wealthy (read large chains, primarily) were in a far better spot, while the ones already struggling to survive (locally owned) were not. One aspect of the devastation that may not be fully appreciated is that locally owned small businesses don't necessarily just "come back". Many business owners are of an age where they are hanging up their spurs rather than going through another round of creation and growth. It takes a special kind of person (e.g. highly risk tolerant) to step out of the corporate employment world and have a go on your own, and I think the market lost a sizable quantity of those people over the last year, along with the jobs they provided, who just aren't anxious to have another go at it again. I see a lot of people talking about inflation concerns. I don't feel I know enough about that to predict one way or another. I do see the job market starting to bounce back a bit where I live, dining rooms starting to fill up again. To some degree I'm going to miss the society the pandemic created - people walking their neighborhoods more, meeting their neighbors, generally being more patient with each other, empty middle seats on airlines, people less likely to sneeze on the vegetables at the grocery store, more attention to sanitation, less traffic. Ah well.

by vekker 6y ago

aksss 6y ago

We hear about the bad anecdotes most. My own personal anecdata - two people out of about 14 I knew with confirmed COVID died, one other was laid up in hospital for weeks, the rest were all fine, quarantined at home without bad symptoms beyond sensory impact, and recovered quickly. Most were fit/mildly overweight, some were obese, the hardest hit examples were both quite old with existing heart problems.

nickthemagicman 6y ago
I'm sorry you had to suffer during this time. 80% of the population is below the age of 55. A person in the below age 55 group has more of a chance of dying of a car accident than they do of Covid. That's not anecdotal. Meanwhile when the eviction moratorium ends this month tens of thousands of people are about to be homeless. 40% of all money in the money supply has been printed in the past year, building supplies are already up by two to four times and are starting to show signs of inflation. America just went 1.9 trillion dollars more into debt. Tens of thousands of small businesses have closed and thier business has been absorbed by large companies so inequality increased. The price we're about to pay for this is going to be significant. It's probably going to be poor people and future generations that pay though. #yolo
- aksss 6y ago
  Yeah, this last year amounted to an enormous wealth transfer. I know a lot of small business owners and am a business owner myself. I've done just fine through the pandemic mostly due to the industry I'm in (coffins - ha, kidding), but there are some observed lessons - keep your business records very up to date and handy, keep a savings account for unexpected expenses, treat business continuity planning (BC) with some respect. When first round PPP money was available, the businesses that got it were those that could pull all their info together on a moments notice and jam out an application with supporting material quickly (like literally within hours of finding a bank taking apps) - P&L statements, tax returns, payroll reports, other vital records. I saw business owners who didn't have their stuff together miss out on first round funding because they just weren't able to pull that off quickly enough. It was a land grab and for some it was an early make-or-break moment. Businesses that were set up from the beginning to treat their offices as "disposable" from a BC/DR perspective were a-okay switching to remote work. As in - if you were planning to be able to continue work if an asteroid hit your building, you were fine with the WFH shift. Mostly this meant very asset-light approach to infrastructure, cloud services, laptops, etc. Restaurants that could drop ready cash (savings) on outdoor accommodations (tents, heaters, etc) were more likely to maintain a revenue stream, assuming they had land or city-granted street space to set that up. That last point though - I've seen some businesses leverage political connections to get special permitting, wealthier business owners of course were better positioned innately. The lockdowns disproportionately impacted businesses - like the established and wealthy (read large chains, primarily) were in a far better spot, while the ones already struggling to survive (locally owned) were not. One aspect of the devastation that may not be fully appreciated is that locally owned small businesses don't necessarily just "come back". Many business owners are of an age where they are hanging up their spurs rather than going through another round of creation and growth. It takes a special kind of person (e.g. highly risk tolerant) to step out of the corporate employment world and have a go on your own, and I think the market lost a sizable quantity of those people over the last year, along with the jobs they provided, who just aren't anxious to have another go at it again. I see a lot of people talking about inflation concerns. I don't feel I know enough about that to predict one way or another. I do see the job market starting to bounce back a bit where I live, dining rooms starting to fill up again. To some degree I'm going to miss the society the pandemic created - people walking their neighborhoods more, meeting their neighbors, generally being more patient with each other, empty middle seats on airlines, people less likely to sneeze on the vegetables at the grocery store, more attention to sanitation, less traffic. Ah well.