HACKER Q&A
📣 NoOneNew

Have you made any interesting observations due to recent events?


Something I noticed, more people are enjoying the outdoors in my neighborhood. The past 2 years, I take about an hour walk nearly everyday. I've gotten to recognize the "regulars" who jog, walk and fish in the neighborhood ponds. I rarely ever had to "make way" for people on the sidewalk in the past two years.

This past week, I don't want to say it's "packed". People are doing the whole social distancing thing. But families are out walking often. But there are multiple families in a field kicking or throwing a ball around, easily a dozen people fishing at any one time (use to only notice one person every few days) and a few dozen walkers/joggers.

I mean, that's at least one good thing that's come out of this craziness. Hopefully it'll last for a while.

Have you noticed anything interesting in people or your environment in general (positive or negative)?

  👤 yen223 Accepted Answer ✓
In Sydney, most of the suburbs south of the harbour are directly below flight paths. Most residents are used to hearing frequent loud aeroplane noises.

Thanks to the grounding of flights, this doesn't happen any more.

👤 mrfusion
I’m really noticing how unhelpful the mass media is and the corporate control is kind of showing. I feel really bad for everyone watching the nightly news. Seems like complete panic.

I notice them play up deaths of the young and ignoring the statistics to make sure everyone does their part.

👤 Unknown_Unknown
I'm actually surprised that no country seem to have had any protocol in place for this kind of tragedy. It seem all is very disorgonized and not really thought through. You'd think with all budgets around the world put in the military and R&D, some kind of protocol should be in place to reduce impact. Things like:

- Build hospitals in x Days by Army

- Identify key equipment in case of Bio tragedy and either stock them or have them produced locally by at least two different companies in different location but same country

- Supply chain impact

- Distribution of aid, either medical or even monetary. Even with all advanced tech we have, we still can't figure out how to get things from A to B, when B really needs it.

The above would not need only to be put on paper, but also tested, evaluated and continously reviewd.

I'm also very surprised that a lot of companies I deal with do not have a Business Continuity Process that would deal with the above. A lot of customers want their staff to work from home now but are struggling with the HOW. Should the users use their own devices (BYOD) and connect to the VPN? what's the impact on security?. Should the company provide laptops?, if yes how fast can we buy them, configure them and send them out.

There are some companies who were prepared, because they took this seriously, they tested this frequently and were expecting a similar event.

👤 mrfusion
Someone on reddit said that we don’t really understand the seasonal changes in infectious diseases so it’s possible we’re actually making it worse by forcing people to stay indoors.

I’m not saying it’s true. But for me it underscores the idea that we need evidence based policy making now more than ever.

👤 duxup
I'm kinda impressed by the amount of cooperation I see in the US.

I know the folks not cooperating with the rules and new systems in place get a lot of press but all in all I'm impressed by how generally cooperative people have been.

👤 throw_away_45
I heard birds chirping in Manhattan from my apartment near Midtown in Manhattan. I swear I haven't heard anything other than sirens, ambulances and cars in the last 12 months since moving here.

amazing.

👤 blendo
With much less traffic in San Francisco, I can hear a lot more wildlife.
👤 mrfusion
I’m surprised everyone is still so politically divided. A potential medicine doesn’t work because Trump mentioned it? I’ve heard this many times.
👤 alexandra_cgg
markets are inefficient