[spdrun]

6th Ave/Herald Square, not 5th Ave. Side view of “the” Macy’s in NYC, that’s definitely open, though only until 7pm most days. The Burger King sign has been there since the 90s — it’s actually underground next to the subway station stairs.

Nice try, though. Old video on Zerohedge … Saks is also open now.

[spdrun]

Manhattan population was 1.6 million and change, so 400k is 25%, not 40%. Some of those people left for good, others didn’t. Long-term (next year) delta is probably more like -10%. Remember that we’re NOT experiencing a second wave or a resurgence of cases so far, despite gradual reopening. Under 5% vacancy rate would be the envy of many US cities, even in good times.

Despite sensational news saying so, Midtown is hardly a ghost town (photo taken last week, just before a big rain storm – more foot traffic than most US cities on a good day). Don’t believe everything the media and people with an agenda on the Hinternets tell you…

[spdrun]

I’d suspect that the number of people leaving isn’t as great as you’d think … a lot of people left in March/April, some have stopped paying rent or notified their landlord that they’re breaking their leases. Apartment showings weren’t really legal until late June, so many of the apartments that were vacated 4-5 months ago are just coming on market now.

Vacancy rate is now 3-4% instead of 1-2%. 3-4% would be considered GREAT for most markets in the US.

The irony is that NYC may have the lowest new infection rate of any major US city at this point. Masks are taken seriously, and we have a significant proportion of people that have antibodies (20%+, probably closer to 30%).

The average chance of being hospitalized for COVID over a year in NYC is now under 0.2% per year.

[spdrun]

Harris it is … how exciting. If he cacks or resigns and she rises to the presidency, I hope she can work to atone for her past record as a prosecutor. Good as a Senator, terrible as a DA.

[spdrun]

I never felt much compassion towards Trump or his enablers. I feel even less now. We’re literally talking about policies that gamble with the long-term survival of life on Earth.

I still think of a reduction in human fertility as one possible positive consequence of COVID. We’re literally deforesting and fossil-fueling ourselves into catastrophe .. if human population keeps growing, it will crash hard and unpleasantly.

Climate change is real and (IMHO) unavoidable without strict control of human population. Humans are apparently too inflexible and short-sighted to support rapidly moving to more carbon-neutral technologies and changing their modes of living to avoid contributing to deforestation (less meat, less disposable furniture).

We’re unwilling to enact strict anti-birth (one or two child limit per couple) policies, so a natural fertility reduction event may be the only hope for the long-term survival of the Earth’s ecosystem.

Heathrow and Cambridge hit 100F last month. Paris is supposed to rise into the 90s later this week. Madrid was hitting the low 100s fairly consistently last month. This is more frightening than COVID.

[spdrun]

One can be as tolerant as possible of differing opinions, but also recognize that the prevalence of those opinions will make it impossible to avert ecological catastrophe. This can be an extremely depressing thought — we’ll get through COVID, but we’re still stuffed since people will want to get back to an unsustainable illusion of normalcy.

Maybe the Earth is really a large organism and COVID is its antibody against a virus. I wish that COVID could teach us to act less like a virus and more like a symbiote.

[spdrun]

I was never all that fearful of contracting the virus nor was I stuck at home for months. Diamond Princess statistics were available back in early March and didn’t support a high fatality rate.

We’ll likely see an 0.5 to 1.0% infection fatality rate in NYC (all ages, all health status, but heavily skewed towards older and sicker patients) when all is said and done.

I took reasonable hygienic precautions e.g. mask use, handwashing, etc, but was otherwise out and about outdoors.

I’m more fearful of the way the virus is being exploited, how it may affect people whom I like, etc than catching the virus directly. My concern is that 40 million people have likely already been exposed, and at current rates, we’ll have another 40-60 million exposed by election time, so 25-30% immunity.

At that point, especially with improved mask use, viral spread will dramatically slow. If there’s a rush-job vaccine “ready for release” by late October, Trump will take credit for stopping the virus, and there’s no shortage of cultists willing to vote for him.

What will that get us? Another four years of dismantling and weakening government services like Dept of Ed, USPS, CDC, Amtrak, FDA, etc. But, yay, at least we’ll have a Space Force! Bully for us!

[spdrun]

Are you actually hoping for President Cockwomble to remain in office for another four years, svelte?

[spdrun]

IVF is under 50 grand and covered by some insurance. Loans are available for such things.

[spdrun]

I wish we could have a scientist that happens to be female as VP, as Taiwan has.

[spdrun]

What’s wrong with Warren?

[spdrun]

OK mofo. you’ve said who it shouldn’t be.

go on record for who it SHOULD be.

In a perfect world? Yang or Fauci.

[spdrun]

Cuomo’s an authoritarian, corrupt pigfucker. I mean, his response to COVID was better than other states’, but prior to COVID, he looted NYC transportation funds, stalled on marijuana legalization, and generally played upstate against NYC.

He’s also focusing on minutiae in the state’s COVID response (what kind of food has to be served with outdoor drinks, no joke) instead of realizing that hospitalization rates are still falling in NY with existing policy and enacting stricter policies to contain imported cases.

There’s a $2000 fine for not quarantining if you come from a hotspot state, but this is barely enforced. I’d like to see a requirement that all airlines using indoor air terminals in NY state have to require proof of a negative COVID swab no more than two days before boarding in addition to quarantine. That way, we’d be less likely to be landing flights of people where half the passengers have been exposed into NY state. Ideally, he’d work with NJ and New England states towards a uniform policy on this.

If countries like Taiwan, St. Lucia, and Croatia can do this, why can’t we?

[spdrun]

Incorrect headline: The judge is alive, her kid died, and her husband was wounded. Her husband is a criminal attorney, so it’s not clear whom they were going after, though the timing and circumstances are suspicious.

[spdrun]

sdrealtor — I bet that you love that (possibly Federal, possibly not) goons in unmarked rental cars are kidnapping protesters in Portland. That Fascism must taste mighty good to you … anything for property values, right?

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