Minor things that bother you

[kphoger]

I was at a restaurant that had QR codes, but they had physical menus as a backup.

This.  Just because they show you the QR code and tell you to use it, that doesn't mean they don't have hard copy menus to hand you on request.

[kphoger]

Minor thing that bothers me:  arrow tabs that aren't centered below the corresponding route shield.

[SEWIGuy]

I was at a restaurant that had QR codes, but they had physical menus as a backup.

This.  Just because they show you the QR code and tell you to use it, that doesn't mean they don't have hard copy menus to hand you on request.

I get it. QR codes only allow them to change options and prices more regularly, and allows you to forego the price of printing. That being said, most places I have been to have a printed back up.

[kphoger]

the price of printing

A ream of copy paper costs, what, less than ten bucks?  Even if changing menu prices were a concern, then how is that a greater concern than the loss of customers who either won't or can't scan a QR code?

[kkt]

I remember after COVID some restaurants considered the paper menus unsanitary and a means of transferring the virus, so barcodes became a temporary menu then.

Of course my phone didn't play ball too at the time and had to have a server explain the menu to me. This was a sit down establishment as well. Not a walk up or drive through.

Which was stupid because the covid virus doesn't spread through surfaces, and this was well-known by scientists about a month after the lockdowns started.

Remember the whole lockdown thing was stupid.  We never done that during flu epidemics.

Of course politics didn't enter the norm before.  Just like for years things were named after Confederate Generals and now all of a sudden we have to rename as it's all of a sudden offensive to people.

Or what about the Cleveland Indians all of a sudden became offensive to Native Americans.  The FSU Seminoles almost had to change but the Seminole Tribe spoke up and said leave us alone.

Pretty sure schools were closed and a lot of things shut down during the 1918-1919 flu epidemic.

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC2862329/
The 1918-1919 Influenza Pandemic in the United States: Lessons Learned and Challenges Exposed
Alexandra Minna Stern, Martin S Cetron, Howard Markel (2010)

When influenza appeared in the United States in 1918, Americans responded to the incursion of disease with measures used since Antiquity, such as quarantines and social distancing. During the pandemic's zenith, many cities shut down essential services.

[kphoger]

Pretty sure schools were closed and a lot of things shut down during the 1918-1919 flu epidemic.

True.  But it was also a century ago.  None of the flu pandemics in recent memory had lockdowns, did they?  Such as the swine flu pandemic in '09.  I remember when our housemate came down with an awful case of swine flu that year, and it never even occurred to us that we shouldn't continue to go out in public.  (He was from Saudi Arabia and had to convince his family back home that he hadn't gotten it from eating pork.)

[formulanone]

Remember the whole lockdown thing was stupid.  We never done that during flu epidemics.

I remember the person I caught covid from dying of it. The whole lockdown thing didn't seem so stupid when I was lying in bed wondering if the same was going to happen to me.

Half this nation forgot that over a million people died of COVID-19, but were more annoyed their favorite bar closed.

For those too selfish to figure out what a million deaths are:

(Your Selfish Ass × 1,000,000 × Pain × Suffering) ≠ (Your First World Problem)

[Max Rockatansky]

Pretty sure schools were closed and a lot of things shut down during the 1918-1919 flu epidemic.

True.  But it was also a century ago.  None of the flu pandemics in recent memory had lockdowns, did they?  Such as the swine flu pandemic in '09.  I remember when our housemate came down with an awful case of swine flu that year, and it never even occurred to us that we should continue to go out in public.  (He was from Saudi Arabia and had to convince his family back home that he hadn't gotten it from eating pork.)

With the Spanish Flu there was some local authorities who issued mask mandates. 

I recall Swine Flu and Bird Flu both being talked about by the CDC as being potentially large pandemics.  I seem to recall there was a push for some form of public caution but to what extent I don't recall.  The general public seemed disinterested in listening during both events.

[LilianaUwU]

The general public seemed disinterested in listening during both events.

Nowhere near as disinterested as during the latest pandemic.

[Max Rockatansky]

The general public seemed disinterested in listening during both events.

Nowhere near as disinterested as during the latest pandemic.

Ehhh...I wouldn't agree with that.  Around me it was about a 50/50 split on the sentiment through much of early 2020.  Yeah sure, as time dragged on there was less and less people willing to comply with restrictions.  Earlier this century you would be hard pressed to find anyone who knew about those two flus much less cared.

[roadman65]

I was at a restaurant that had QR codes, but they had physical menus as a backup.

This.  Just because they show you the QR code and tell you to use it, that doesn't mean they don't have hard copy menus to hand you on request.

Now they do.   

However some places publish their menus on line.  So you can virtually read it before you go .

Pretty sure schools were closed and a lot of things shut down during the 1918-1919 flu epidemic.

True.  But it was also a century ago.  None of the flu pandemics in recent memory had lockdowns, did they?  Such as the swine flu pandemic in '09.  I remember when our housemate came down with an awful case of swine flu that year, and it never even occurred to us that we should continue to go out in public.  (He was from Saudi Arabia and had to convince his family back home that he hadn't gotten it from eating pork.)

With the Spanish Flu there was some local authorities who issued mask mandates. 

I recall Swine Flu and Bird Flu both being talked about by the CDC as being potentially large pandemics.  I seem to recall there was a push for some form of public caution but to what extent I don't recall.  The general public seemed disinterested in listening during both events.

Yes I remember the Swine Flu. It was a big deal then, but no drastic measures were taken like with the COVID crisis.

Of course we behaved like adults then and we didn't resort to childlike behavior when discussing politics like we do now. That might be the factor.


Speaking of childlike behavior, some road geek posted a social media article about Seven Mile Bridge in The Florida Keys and it turned political when the article called one of the two bodies of water on one side of the bridge by its former name of Gulf of Mexico and another had to inject it's new Trump given name to correct that individual and viola!  It then became a political flame war with verbal insults.

Instead of discussing the bridge it turned into a typical Left verses Right social media argument.

[1995hoo]

"Former name"? The "new name" is not binding on anyone outside the US government (and there may be reasonable grounds for doubting whether the Legislative and Judicial Branches have to use it).

[Max Rockatansky]

Me personally, I'm not getting behind calling said body of water anything but the Gulf of Mexico. 

[kernals12]

The fact that we waste so much valuable real estate in cemeteries.

[Max Rockatansky]

I do enjoy me a good cemetery.  The Spanish and Mexican cemeteries have some awesome aesthetics.

[LilianaUwU]

The fact that we waste so much valuable real estate in cemeteries.

Where do you wanna put the bodies, then? In some sort of futuristic AI computer or whatever?

[kernals12]

I only encountered it one time where it was the only option.

What are customers supposed to do if they didn't bring a phone to the restaurant?

The same thing they're supposed to do if they didn't bring a wallet to the restaurant

The fact that we waste so much valuable real estate in cemeteries.

Where do you wanna put the bodies, then? In some sort of futuristic AI computer or whatever?

How about cremation?

[Max Rockatansky]

The fact that we waste so much valuable real estate in cemeteries.

Where do you wanna put the bodies, then? In some sort of futuristic AI computer or whatever?

Dispose of them Soylent Green style. 

[LilianaUwU]

I only encountered it one time where it was the only option.

What are customers supposed to do if they didn't bring a phone to the restaurant?

The same thing they're supposed to do if they didn't bring a wallet to the restaurant

Because fuck anyone without a phone, I guess.

The fact that we waste so much valuable real estate in cemeteries.

Where do you wanna put the bodies, then? In some sort of futuristic AI computer or whatever?

How about cremation?

Because fuck the wishes of old people, I guess.

[roadman65]

"Former name"? The "new name" is not binding on anyone outside the US government (and there may be reasonable grounds for doubting whether the Legislative and Judicial Branches have to use it).

I didn't mean to imply that the name was officially changed.  Hence why I said "Trump given name."

I said it to point out that a political argument erupted from a post about Seven Mile Bridge in Florida that wasn't even a political post over a name that one man created.

Me personally, I'm not getting behind calling said body of water anything but the Gulf of Mexico. 

To me it's Gulf of Mexico and my friend lives in Galveston across a street from it. When I texted him about visiting him I after the controversy began, I called it by its name that was for ages when I mentioned the beach.

[Max Rockatansky]

My mom was a big proponent of the cost effectiveness of cremation.  I won't lie, it did save me a bunch of money and hassle not having to worry about a funeral plot.  My wife (then fiancé) and held a kick ass ash spreading ceremony on CA 1 around San Simeon. 

[kphoger]

I recall Swine Flu and Bird Flu both being talked about by the CDC as being potentially large pandemics.  I seem to recall there was a push for some form of public caution but to what extent I don't recall.  The general public seemed disinterested in listening during both events.

Nowhere near as disinterested as during the latest pandemic.

1.  The word is 'uninterested', not 'disinterested'.  There, I said it.

2.  I don't think any strain of bird flu has ever reached the level of being declared a pandemic.

3.  I don't remember anything about what the CDC said during the swine flu pandemic of '09.  I have no idea what they recommended.  So, in my experience, people were way more uninterested in listening during that pandemic than during the most recent one.

[SEWIGuy]

Remember the whole lockdown thing was stupid.  We never done that during flu epidemics.

Well...maybe we should have?

Of course politics didn't enter the norm before.  Just like for years things were named after Confederate Generals and now all of a sudden we have to rename as it's all of a sudden offensive to people.

Or what about the Cleveland Indians all of a sudden became offensive to Native Americans.  The FSU Seminoles almost had to change but the Seminole Tribe spoke up and said leave us alone.

Neither one of these things were "all of the sudden" offensive to people. You just weren't listening.

[SEWIGuy]

the price of printing

A ream of copy paper costs, what, less than ten bucks?  Even if changing menu prices were a concern, then how is that a greater concern than the loss of customers who either won't or can't scan a QR code?

I'm sure they have balanced out the cost / benefits.

[Max Rockatansky]

I recall Swine Flu and Bird Flu both being talked about by the CDC as being potentially large pandemics.  I seem to recall there was a push for some form of public caution but to what extent I don't recall.  The general public seemed disinterested in listening during both events.

Nowhere near as disinterested as during the latest pandemic.

1.  The word is 'uninterested', not 'disinterested'.  There, I said it.

2.  I don't think any strain of bird flu has ever reached the level of being declared a pandemic.

3.  I don't remember anything about what the CDC said during the swine flu pandemic of '09.  I have no idea what they recommended.  So, in my experience, people were way more uninterested in listening during that pandemic than during the most recent one.

I do wonder what role the proliferation of mass media played in the reaction to COVID.  There was a wave of Social Media and News speculation about the mortality rate in Wuhan being close to 4% during early 2020.  That seemed to scare a lot of people during a time when there wasn't much reliable information to go on.  There wasn't really an outlet for word of mouth and speculation to spread like that even during Swine Flu.