The Atlantic: Overlooked Variable

R0 represents the average transmission rate. It’s helpful for the flu but not covid

deterministic - you can predict the output based on the inputs

stochastic - you can’t predict the output, because there’s randomness in the system

Covid spreads in clusters

Because covid spreads in clusters, R0 is not a helpful metric
COVID19 is an overdispersed pathogen
10-20% of cases are responsible for 80-90% of transmissions

Because covid spreads in clusters, we’re doing contact tracing wrong. We should be working backwards when we find cases to figure out who they got it from. Instead we’re trying to find the people they infected

We’re also approaching testing wrong. identifying transmission events is more important than finding a single transmitting individual. We’re using PCR tests, which are accurate, slow, expensive and inconvenient. They’re good at finding individuals who have covid, when they get tested, but they’re not testing many people. We should be using fast, cheap, effective tests to test many people. Once we find someone, we can use the more accurate PCR tests to find the people who got infected in the same cluster

Japan & Sweden tried to tackle events, while the US tried to tackle cases one by one

Warning: Because it’s stochastic, a downward trend doesn’t necessarily mean that the infections will continue to diminish

NYT: How to be a better friend

logistical support

research says friends matter more to physical health than romantic partners do
lower stress levels
better network = better access to services
positive peer pressure

Friendships have a half life of about seven years. Friendships often end because we neglect them

Passive friends work on these by exchanging pleasantries

Active friends decide who’s an active friend by asking yourself who:

you learn from & challenges you
you confide in
is a joy to be around

a balanced life has five equally important components:

work
family
romantic partnerships
friends
self-care

Maintaining friendships

schedule regular friend dates. These don’t need to be frequent, but they do need to be consistent
you can spend a few minutes of uninterrupted attention on a friend
activities you spend with friends can be productive (exercising, taking a class)
small gestures help - text things that make you think of them
listen for real
ask deeper questions

Dealing with conflict

since friendships are relationships of choice, they’re more easily undone than romantic or familial relationships. A broken friendship still takes its toll, though

accept your friends’ flaws
it’s important to know how to fight constructively

Bloomberg: Earning the Right to Get Swindled

these private placements are not subject to the disclosure and auditing requirements for the public markets
requirements: you have a net worth of more than $1 million, or an annual income of more than $200k a year
generally not sophisticated investors

One thing that could widen the divide between the rich and the poor is the fact that not everyone can invest in small companies

fast growing companies stay private longer and raise more capital from the private markets
it might be that the private placements accredited investors can invest in isn’t the real good stuff. It might be that only billionaires and institutions have access to good investment opportunities

Private equity firms will buy companies, improve their performance and capital structure, then sell them for a profit

They use money from investors to buy the companies
They also charge the companies they buy consulting fees
Because these firms control the companies, they can charge them whatever they want for the consulting fees

You can make the assertion that when there is news about a company or resource, the price of the company/resource changes

you can make the same assertion about crypto
news about regulation affects crypto markets

regulation isn’t necessarily bad for companies

it increases public trust
makes it harder for new players to get into the market