
Ask HN: Have you made any interesting observations due to recent events? - NoOneNew
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&#x27;ve gotten to recognize the &quot;regulars&quot; who jog, walk and fish in the neighborhood ponds. I rarely ever had to &quot;make way&quot; for people on the sidewalk in the past two years.<p>This past week, I don&#x27;t want to say it&#x27;s &quot;packed&quot;. 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&#x2F;joggers.<p>I mean, that&#x27;s at least one good thing that&#x27;s come out of this craziness. Hopefully it&#x27;ll last for a while.<p>Have you noticed anything interesting in people or your environment in general (positive or negative)?
======
yen223
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.

~~~
siquick
Hi from Marrickville - the plane silence has been glorious.

My 72 year old mother has noticed that her neighbours are starting to talk to
her, people she's seen everyday for years but who have never engaged her are
waving when she's out walking her dogs in the morning (while keeping her
distance from others).

She's also had notes through the door from people letting her know that they
can help if she needs errands ran or if she just wants someone to talk to.
Amazing to hear.

~~~
NoOneNew
I've been seeing this to different degrees too. It's nice to know that to some
level, "society" doesn't absolutely collapse into chaos from "inconveniences".
I just think it's messed up that the chaos is what makes the news (at least in
America) and is what we imagine is constantly happening, when it's not the
norm. There's more good going on than what we're led to believe.

While my faith in big media was already in the trash before covid19... at this
point, if someone put forth that all news should be banned... yea sure.
Obviously impractical and childish of a viewpoint. Maybe a limit to how big a
news group can be? I don't know. I just know that the fear mongering practices
of news sources has to come to an end fast and hard. Before, it was an eye-
roll "whatever" response from me. Now, due to the covid19 reaction from the
big news sources on both sides of their political leanings, I'm sick of their
crap. None of them have done a good job of helping the general public and just
want to focus on all the negative, spinning it to "See, the other political
side made it worse!".

~~~
mrfusion
Good points. Any ideas how to fix it?

~~~
NoOneNew
I don't know. I'm not qualified for that kind of decision making. What kind of
impact would it have if you limit the size of a news agency? Would it actually
be good or bad in the long run? If you put restrictions of language, topic and
angle, where will the slippery slop end? How can all that be abused? What does
that muzzle that shouldn't be muzzled?

Maybe, at the end of the day, it has to be people who fight back. Kind of like
how you have the political fact checks. What if there were organizations that
did the same about the journalistic integrity of news agencies and calls them
out on it? I just think the calling out portion needs to be hardcore and not
pussyfoot around it. A lot of the political fact checking always seems so
quiet finger waving. If a plumber screws up the install job of a home's system
and floods out the house, there's no light finger waving. A politician making
bad policy due to bad logic and a news agency scaring the shit out of the
public is further widespread and can cause lots of indirect havoc. Makes me
better appreciate the Yakuza idea of collecting fingers for mistakes. People
don't fuck off as much after they lose a finger.

------
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.

~~~
NoOneNew
When was the last pandemic? Seems like the Spanish Flu back from 1918-1920 is
the only thing "recently" that was at this scale. Then take the miracle of
modern science eradicating heinous disease. Like smallpox... only for anti-
vaxxers to bring it back...

Pandemics haven't really been a real threat for people to take seriously, and
for good reason. Society and infrastructure is unrecognizable since Spanish
Flu. Laws and procedures... well, no one really has real experience for this
kind of problem. It's just a back of the mind kind of what if. More spy-novel
fantasy than potential reality.

I relate this to 9/11\. It's a massive wake-up call and learning experience.
If you're old enough to know of a pre-9/11 world, at least in America, it was
totally different. I had to explain to my niece that before 9/11, no one
thought twice of an unattended backpack. You leave your backpack somewhere for
a few hours in a cafe, park or wherever, either it was stolen or it was still
there. Post-9/11, bomb squad is called out to investigate. Hell, Crocodile
Dundee 2, lighting dynamite to "fish" in the waters with NYC in the
background. Then a NYD coasty rolling up on him having a laugh. Dude, you
can't make that joke anymore! Straight up, it's not funny or practical. Dundee
would have been lit up post 9/11.

I hope I'm wrong, but I'm pretty sure, the world won't be the same after this.
Maybe not as extreme as 9/11, but we will know of a pre-covid world and a
post-covid world.

------
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

