High Sierra Topix

Lumbergh21 wrote: ↑Thu Apr 09, 2020 10:03 pm It's been building for a while as I see a summer being wasted and an economy destroyed, which by the way, could mean 10's of thousands of additional deaths per year for year's to come and reduced life spans in general due to the affects a large economic depression would have on nutrition, medical care, and health in general. But those are acceptable I guess.

The notion that depressions lower life expectancy feels intuitively correct. But the facts don't really bear it out.

This is something I see people say a lot... but looking at data one finds the vast vast vast majority of economic recessions and depressions see... frequently no decrease, and sometimes an age-adjusted increase in lifespan. (Raw death numbers don't tell the whole story in an aging population.)

e.g. the following countries life expectancy charts:

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/D7NabOoVsAET4oL.jpg

Even the drop that appeared to occur during the Depression in the US was just the numbers bouncing around within the normal span of noise/randomness over the previous 30 years. The only thing that really stands out as fundamentally a change from the usual trajectory on this older data is the 1918 flu...

https://www.disabled-world.com/pics/1/a ... ctancy.png

There's lots of reasons why: people are driving less - which is both a direct killer through accidents and indirect killer through obesity, people do less risky behavior overall, they're even exercising more because it's a free hobby, and factories are putting out fewer pollutants: the tiny particulates in smog don't just kill people with emphesyma, COPD, and lung cancer years later, they're also causative in both the plaque formation and inflammatory pathways that lead to heart attacks, smoking and drinking also tend to decrease during recessions simply because they're expensive hobbies, etc.

A paper analyzing at the decline in mortality in Europe during the recession 10 years ago - https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6368579/

Life expectancy during the Great Depression:
https://www.pnas.org/content/106/41/17290

TL;DR Suicide increases during a depression, but most every other cause of death decreases.

If the trails are closed this summer, it’s not like the end of the world. Trails like the JMT could really use a break and heal. In many areas, we are trampling the forest into dust with sometimes misguided love for the wilderness.

My mom and I got eggs and bread as well as a couple lasagna at costco. couldn't find the taquitos. They're doing the line up and wait thing. Won't matter. Half in masks. We weren't. Breathe deep and take a risk as it's not that big of a risk. I don't spend a lot of time researching theory; Just live and don't lay down if you get it.
Next trip is to get brewing supplies. Found a supplier of blueberries so, the Mead starts Monday. Still have to find my favorite porter recipe. It's in a box with my other brewing books. Porter is a whole grain deal.

RE: Tahoe Jeff's comment, page before. Doctors generally adhere to "standard practice", which are specified in writing. It is easy to be armchair Monday morning quarterback; more difficult to be the one making life saving decisions, sometimes with only minutes to contemplate. If the outcome is bad, there are armies of lawyers going after you and the hospital. My daughter is a doctor, and far more times it is the patient that demands pills, not that the doctor pushes pills. Pills are advertised directly to the public with that little note at the bottom; "ask your doctor about..." I know a few people who "doctor shop" until they find one who will prescribe them the wanted pills. Undoubtedly there are some doctors who do push pills, but it is not the majority. For many conditions, pills actually work better than other interventions. The problem is not the pills, but the outrageous cost of the pills. And the patient certainly is not forced to take the pills. My Mom hated pills, but the truth is that pills were what kept her alive and functioning well from 90 to a few months short of 100 years old. She had fantastic doctors. They also withdrew pills or reduced dosage as needed as she aged. In the long run, find a good doctor, establish a relationship and communication and then trust them.

At least he is Social Distancing:

San Francisco and other cities requested a waiver from the single use bag ban, citing the risk of infection from reused bags from home.
This may be our chance to overturn a mistake. The law is misplaced environmentalism anyway. It is actually counterproductive and created new problems where only a minor to non-existent problem existed before.

Of course, the ban was ignored by many stores anyway.

Whole Foods and Safeway, in our area (Santa Clara), has not allowed personal shopping bags into the stores for a few weeks now.

Trader Joes has also banned outside bags. Problem for me is that I'm now required to use their carts that are handled by 100's? 1,000s? every day. Not a plus for me as I know where my bag has been and who has been using it. Can't say the same about the carts. Oh well.

Problem for me is that I'm now required to use their carts that are handled by 100's?

WF wipes down the carts and baskets.