JohnCohorn's comments

Suicide isn’t something that necessarily occurs right after the events in question. After you destabilize someone’s business/career/income it can take a long time for the ripple effects(ex: divorce due to money trouble, the addiction you acquired to cope finally getting out of hand, …) to play out and for someone who’s been enduring a bad situation to eventually succumb to despair. We’ve also deliberately delayed, but not prevented many of the ill effects, for example with the eviction moratorium. It may not be long before all those people with back rent and back electric bills are out on the street. In my estimation we won’t know the effect of this pandemic on suicide rates for a few more years.

And here in TX we’re getting Noahic levels of rain.

> if you can’t afford a home you probably can’t afford a car

That’s simply untrue. Owning a car is vastly less expensive than renting a dwelling in most cities. I’ve known people that went homeless, and it’s pretty common for them to...live in their car.

> 2400 a month is rent here in Austin

Just no, not unless you live in a luxury dwelling or location. Here’s an example place I used to live long ago. Centrally located, next to the major highways, and not unsafe. It’s old and not fancy, but under $1000 and your living expenses can be much lower than that with a roommate. https://www.livechevychase.com/floorplans

It hurts me a little to see “50-60 bucks” for jeans referred to as nothing. I now grudgingly buy similar $50-60 Levis or Eddie Bauers because my wife likes them better than jeans that cost half as much. Looks some common basic jeans at Walmart are still ~$15 which is amazing since that’s what I remember paying for them like 15 years ago.

Possibly sometimes, but anecdotally that doesn’t seem like the normal direction it goes. Of the folks I know that have had it they’ve become much more likely to take risks on the assumption that they “got it over with” and would probably have resistance afterward.

Current generations may perform better in various ways while handwriting because we grew up being forced to write by hand for many years while we were developing in childhood. I wonder if upcoming generations that grow up typing instead will perform the same way, or if they’ll do better taking typewritten notes.

< Many people have suffered re-infection

Citation needed. Every source I’ve heard has said reinfection is rare in both percent and absolute terms. And resistance to the disease is proven to last at least ~9months and estimated by the medically knowledgeable to last much much longer.

Lived in TX all my life. Every residence I’ve seen has had a heat pump for decades. The the thing is though it switches to resistive heat at something like 20F when they are no longer efficient. Rarely a concern in TX, most of the time we’re complaining it’s over 100F!

Also makes it hard to take off and on. Something I do frequently when I’m out and about as there’s no point in wearing the annoying thing in my car or outdoors away from crowds.

A recent paper showed that obesity was related to spreading sars-cov-2 more readily, not just the severity of disease of the obese individual. The US and UK are world leaders in both obesity and virus spread. And the countries doing well with the virus are healthy and well within the normal weight range. I don’t honestly believe it will be as simple as this, but it’s amusing to think this _could_ be the big surprise connection.

https://www.pnas.org/content/118/8/e2021830118?fbclid=IwAR3q...

I appreciate the effort companies make trying to team build over Zoom, and some events have been genuinely fun, but for me it falls flat in terms of feeling connected socially. You just simply can’t have the same type of social interactions over video, that’s one reason companies often fly in remote workers every year or two. It’s almost worse seeing people over video because of a sort of uncanny valley effect and taunting you with the fact that you can only see them “through the prison window”. I very much look forward to my vaccine taking hold.

How has no one noticed that the parent commenter’s username is a derogatory term for Mexicans? Speaking of racism...

< No need to look down on people who have multiples or similar items. Some people enjoy dressing well or appreciate detailed coordination.

Well it is wasteful in terms of money, materials, and environmental impact. And many people that didn’t grow up with the resources to do this will resent or envy your display of excess. And to some it may come off as trying too hard to be liked and fashion conforming - as in truly wealthy people don’t need to impress you with fashion.

No one needs six pairs of the same type of shoe IMO. But I’ve noticed if you wear only one pair they are more prone to developing odor than if you rotate them with a second pair, so there’s maybe a practical reason for more than one. Not to mention our culture sometimes(unfortunately!) looks down on people that don’t vary their outfit, maybe because lack of variety is a signal that it can’t be afforded, so it’s a marker of status.

<Things like jeans really only need to be washed a couple of times a year

Biannual laundry might be taking it too far! Jeans don’t need washing every day, and I will often use the same ones for a couple of weeks, especially while WFH. But after a couple of weeks you might notice a bit of odor if you bring them close(ok most people won’t get close enough to smell your jeans). And they will noticeably loosen, wrinkle, and lose the more form fitting shape they have after a hot wash/dry.

I wonder how much truth there is in the theory that insurers are incentivized to let costs go way up and may be complicit in it. Basically the theory I’ve heard is that Obamacare limited by law the percentage margin that insurers can make as their piece of the pie. So then one of the only easy ways left for them to grow their profits in an absolute sense is to increase the amount of money flowing through the system.

At a startup in TX we have been encouraged at various times to place them in email signatures and other communications. I’ve never felt particularly pressured to, it’s presented as a suggestion for being actively inclusive. It sends a signal, which perhaps is the point(that could be perceived positively as being welcoming or negatively as empty virtue signaling), but I wonder if it’s actually all that helpful. I can’t recall a situation where it wasn’t obvious what someone’s preference would be and were there a question in the moment I’d probably temporarily fall back to gender neutral they/their rather than interrupt the flow of conversation to look up their preference in an email signature. I’m not among those this is intended to help though and only have a few people in my extended friend group that are, so I’m open to hearing if this is actually important/helpful to those people.

I listen to him occasionally. He is a natural contrarian and has said things at various time that would likely be against social media policies. For example he had segments on his “Liberty Report” that encouraged mask skepticism and other such misguided things about dealing with Covid that he should know better about, being a former medical doctor.

I very much doubt he’s said anything in support of the recent insurrections though, he’s incredibly anti-war and generally promoting peace. IMO he has deteriorated mentally in recent years and has become significantly more kooky, which is a shame because IMO there are some things he’s been very right about and he’s almost the only one advocating for certain things.

< I don't believe any party should be compelled to repeat your speech

Freedom of speech shouldn’t necessarily be compelled by law to be allowed by online platforms. But freedom of speech is not just a legal principle and individual right, but considered by many of us to be a core American cultural value. It seems reasonable for there to be public outcry and negative response to a company suppressing free speech. Free speech doesn’t include provable lies or inciting imminent violence which unfortunately I believe occurred this week.