The way we live now - how will covid-19 change us?

The thought processes of Daily Mail readers are probably past saving tbh. There will always be some reason why XYZ doesn't apply to any other group.

Anyone else getting a ton of magazine ebook suggestions on amazon? The magazines usually bought in newsagents and supermarkets.

I just went outside to take out the trash and see if the bodega had any paper towels and it was terrifying. The dull gray sky and light drizzle didn't help matters much. Also paper towels were $3.50 a roll at the bodega where I wound up buying them (another had opened a Costco pack of Bounty and affixed a $3.99 price tag to each individual roll)

I timed my beer run perfectly today and picked up an 8 pack of giant paper towel rolls from the rapidly dwindling delivery that our local Safeway must have gotten just this morning. Also fresh strawberries and popsicles (people been hoarding the good popsicles too).

xp: our local kmart was reportedly selling individual rolls of toilet paper for $2.69.

I have been feeling really bad lately for people who are having to go through this alone, or worse, stuck with someone they would prefer not to be around constantly. I grew up starved of loving touch, and I know how that affected me. I already felt like I was living in a world where physical touch was stigmatized because of uncontrolled abusers and creeps without a proper understanding of consent or relational power dynamics. How many people are having, possibly for the first time, to live a life completely bereft of touch? How long will this go on, and what is happening to all those people?

https://www.chicagotribune.com/coronavirus/sns-nyt-coronavirus-department-stores-neiman-marcus-20200425-lisnd7bztncthoc32uulww4odi-story.html

The sales of clothing and accessories fell by more than half in March, a trend that is expected to only get worse in April. The entire executive team at Lord & Taylor was let go this month. Nordstrom has canceled orders and put off paying its vendors. The Neiman Marcus Group, the most glittering of the American department store chains, is expected to declare bankruptcy in the coming days, the first major retailer felled during the current crisis.

all stores will be online, 3% of the world will have jobs, we will be hooked up to machines that feed us Nerds that act as our sustenance.

all music will be made by Toby Keith

I’m cool with all of that except the last sentence.

The changes in logistics are not especially interesting or meaningful to me. If anything basic changes about 'how we live' as a result of this pandemic, I think it is likely to be that a much larger percentage of the privileged classes will come to realize that wealth and privilege cannot totally insulate them from unpredictable pain and suffering. I wonder if this will allow them to develop a greater empathy with the less privileged, but I'm not counting on it.

how did 3 weeks pass between the last post and the revive

groundhog day, holy shit

The story on the impending collapse of department stores suggests to me that gift cards will be much less desirable. In an age of massive economic uncertainty, purchasing credit as a gift will be far too risky. Tangibles rule.

we will be hooked up to machines that feed us Nerds that act as our sustenance.

so there's an upside, you're saying

to the optimism thread!

i demand nerd ropes for the common man!

I don't think I've bought something from a department store this century

I bought some stuff from Century 21 the winter before last, does that count?

It's interesting looking back at previous pandemics just how quickly all the lessons that were learnt were utterly forgotten. cf these incredibly contemporary Japanese posters from the Spanish flu: http://www.spoon-tamago.com/2020/04/25/japan-spanish-flu-pandemic-manual/

The changes that will endure, I think, are those that have been held back for too long by reactionary resistance. A lot of "we can't possibly let you WFH because X" management positioning has been put to the test and proven nonsense.

The ultimate knock-ons of that sort of thing are hard to predict. eg: it hasn't gone unnoticed by the people I work with that when we Zoom one another, the 20-somethings in Manchester and Glasgow are living in the sorts of pads that in London only the top execs get to live in. A decent number of them are mainly only in London because it's where the work is – so if we enter WFH for a year plus, do they stay in their tiny London flatshares? I think the appeal of cosmpolitan-with-property-available towns is going to call to them. That's a huge reconfiguration, if it plays out on a large scale.

There's also a rare chance right now to banish fucking cars while the gettings good. Milan is trying that; I'd love to see other places do the same. London is blissful without the damn things.

oh man, if it was possible to banish cars in the US, similar to Milan or London, I would be over the moon. I like road trips, but I hate driving, I feel like I have a 20% chance of death on the roads of FL, and I love cities with public transportation.

but even if we had the ability to nationalize public transportation and eradicate the need for them, people would say "YOU CAN'T TELL ME I CAN'T DRIVE" and would purposefully die in car wrecks to prove a point.

both stet posts otm and can def see some major traction across a number of fronts to push for the death of commuting and work-to-location

London is blissful without the damn things.

― stet, Sunday, April 26, 2020 7:26 PM

Every time I've been to London I've been terrified of fast cars there. Some people drive like maniacs there (usually in expensive cars).

that bit has got worse recently, sry

https://jalopnik.com/hertzs-late-night-bankruptcy-filing-sends-ripples-throu-1843628287

Car rental business drying up has significant effects on lots of other markets. If air travel stays depressed for a long time, the knock ons to car manufacturers and the used car market could be big.

That's gonna kill the market for shitty model cars that no one else wants

On Monday, Hertz dumped a bunch of bumble bee-colored Corvette z06s on to the used car market for a heck of a good deal. More used car deals were rolling in Saturday morning on Hertz’s website after the filing announcement. Here’s a 2020 BMW 740i for $52,949 and only 8,595 miles on the odometer, a full $5,000-$8,000 less than similar cars with similar milage in the same area, for instance.

There are plenty of less flashy cars for decent deals as well, especially if you’re in the market for one of the old rental car standbys, like a Toyota Corolla or a Chevy Tahoe. If a company that has been around since 1918 has to die, consumers might as well pick the bones clean.

damn, there are actually some pretty great deals on the site right now. It's tempting because we are expecting to need a second car at some point in the next couple years. At the same time, we are fine without one for now, and there's no greater savings than not buying something at all.

A 10-20% discount for a rental car would not be enough to get me to overlook the manner in which people drive rentals.

yeah, that's true. And tbh I'm seeing prices on Carvana that are not that far off from the Hertz prices, used car market in general seems pretty buyer-friendly.

of course this happens right after I pay off my current vehicle.

I was walking down a busy street the other day and someone yelled my name from across the street and waved. They were wearing a hat, bandana and sunglasses and completely unassuming clothing (I was wearing the same but no sunglasses). I just waved and yelled "take care", still have no idea who it was.

Ornaldo Bloomps

LMAO!

maybe it was NAthaniel, looking for Jaime Spears email?