Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

'Waffle House Index' is a real thing during disasters

eu.usatoday.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

41–50 of 58 posts

Re: 'Waffle House Index' is a real thing during disasters

#41

Post by DuskStar »

trentmb wrote: post #39
tpmx wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ericsson has a similar response program in place for disasters around the world. They call it "Ericsson Response". The goal is to setup GSM-based emergency networks from scratch very quickly in severe disaster areas where infrastructure is disrupted by natural or other kinds of disasters. For example: Nepal after the devastating earthquake in 2015. They're flying in containers of GSM network equipment, diesel generat…

> They're flying Grunts are, the executive staff, directors, and share holders ain't doin' shit.

You mean besides planning for it, organizing it and paying for it?

Re: 'Waffle House Index' is a real thing during disasters

#42

Post by _qhtn »

DuskStar wrote: post #41
trentmb wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> They're flying Grunts are, the executive staff, directors, and share holders ain't doin' shit.

You mean besides planning for it, organizing it and paying for it?

No, no one above "director" is doing shit, if that.

The customers are paying for it, if only in future higher prices.

Wipe that polish off your face before speaking bootlicker.

Re: 'Waffle House Index' is a real thing during disasters

#43

Post by marmaduke »

wcunning wrote: post #23
kiba wrote: post #9

Speaking of disasters, I wonder how many people actually follow the government's recommendation for things like basic disaster kits.

Round numbers? Something approximating zero... In all seriousness, I actually sat down and read the FEMA recommendations on things to keep on hand. It's surprisingly thorough and surprisingly difficult to keep all of it in stock, rotated so that it doesn't spoil and checked on on a regular basis. Growing up, my mom was an avid coupon shopper, not necessarily because we needed it, just because she could. That meant th…

How much space did that take up? I live in a compact apartment in a European city and don't think I could possibly stock more than 2 weeks, there's just not enough space.

Re: 'Waffle House Index' is a real thing during disasters

#44

Post by Angostura »

jandrewrogers wrote: post #10
CoolGuySteve wrote: post #3

Whenever I read about this I always wonder if this is one of those modern dystopia things where a business is endangering its employees in order to stay open in a disaster zone. Like what kind of waivers are people in these Jump Teams signing?

That is an exceedingly cynical way of looking at it. People usually volunteer to do this kind of thing and have no small amount of personal pride that they are able to help their neighbors in a disaster. It is a very positive experience for the people that do it, and they are often some of the first people on the ground. This is a manifestation of the self-reliance bias of American culture, they want to fix things th…

I don’t think it’s extremely cynical. Depending on the culture of the company it would be quite possibly that there was pressure - subtle, or less so - put on employees.

Re: 'Waffle House Index' is a real thing during disasters

#45

Post by lucifirius »

falcongod082 wrote: post #31
roenxi wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You are inches away from a sudden lightbulb moment that people's ability to have a positive impact is not that closely related to their intentions. It isn't cynical to claim they are being opportunistic as much as it is myopic. If you want all recovery efforts to be done by gloomy stoics who are clawing back at a lifestyle stolen from them by cruel nature while telling heartbreaking stories about how hard it is to re…

Didn't we already try the bread and circuses thing? Capitalism is exploitative by definition, civilizations lasted longer that it has existed so how "stabilizing" it is is certainly not a given, in fact there's evidence for the exact opposite. Capitalism doesn't "restore equilibrium", it dictates it, it's authoritarian and non-merit based.

Capitalism is the private ownership of capital. That's the definition.

Capitalism is also 100% merit-based and unauthoritarian. Nobody is forcing people to use Amazon or McDonalds or Walmart. You might be confusing it with socialism, which is authoritarian as hell and has no regard for merit...

Re: 'Waffle House Index' is a real thing during disasters

#46

Post by chiefalchemist »

chrisseaton wrote: post #17
chiefalchemist wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Perhaps the Waffle House is just a well-run company? Forgive me for sounding cynical but I'm going to play Devil' Advocate and ask: Are they well run, or opportunistic? In an area hit by disaster any mom & pops are likely going to be slower to reopen. They have to wait for the insurance company. They have to worry about the homes and family. Etc. WH on the other hand can finance themselves while they wait for the i…

What exactly is your problem with them helping? What do you think is wrong with it? Do you think they should stay out of business because other local businesses have to? How does that help anyone ? Their suppliers, customers, local employees, relief workers, other businesses?

I said " but I'm going to play Devil' Advocate and ask:"

Translation: There's another way WE can look at this. I'm not taking sides. I don't care about the WH one way or another. If you have a problem with the idea(s) tabled then address those ideas. That's all.

Put another way: Don't shoot the messenger.

Re: 'Waffle House Index' is a real thing during disasters

#47

Post by chiefalchemist »

tomcam wrote: post #36
chiefalchemist wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Perhaps the Waffle House is just a well-run company? Forgive me for sounding cynical but I'm going to play Devil' Advocate and ask: Are they well run, or opportunistic? In an area hit by disaster any mom & pops are likely going to be slower to reopen. They have to wait for the insurance company. They have to worry about the homes and family. Etc. WH on the other hand can finance themselves while they wait for the i…

> Forgive me for sounding cynical but I'm going to play Devil's Advocate and ask: Are they well run, or opportunistic? If they helped you during a disaster would it matter?

If you understood what"play Devil's Advocate" meant would you have still left this comment? SMH

Re: 'Waffle House Index' is a real thing during disasters

#48

Post by chiefalchemist »

tpmx wrote: post #14
chiefalchemist wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Perhaps the Waffle House is just a well-run company? Forgive me for sounding cynical but I'm going to play Devil' Advocate and ask: Are they well run, or opportunistic? In an area hit by disaster any mom & pops are likely going to be slower to reopen. They have to wait for the insurance company. They have to worry about the homes and family. Etc. WH on the other hand can finance themselves while they wait for the i…

Damned if you do, damned if you don't? They "only" have about 2.1k locations in the US - one outlet per 163k people in the country. This doesn't seem to me like a "mom & pop"-killer. (Subways has 24k locations, as a point of comparison.)

To be clear, I did NOT call them a mom & pop kills. I said that __in the context of a disaster__ WH has an __obvious__ and distinct advantage over M&Ps.

If you'd like to discuss and/or address that, please do.

Re: 'Waffle House Index' is a real thing during disasters

#49

Post by chrisseaton »

chiefalchemist wrote: post #46
chrisseaton wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What exactly is your problem with them helping? What do you think is wrong with it? Do you think they should stay out of business because other local businesses have to? How does that help anyone ? Their suppliers, customers, local employees, relief workers, other businesses?

I said " but I'm going to play Devil' Advocate and ask:" Translation: There's another way WE can look at this. I'm not taking sides. I don't care about the WH one way or another. If you have a problem with the idea(s) tabled then address those ideas. That's all. Put another way: Don't shoot the messenger.

I am addressing your ideas - they're cynical, selfish, and unnecessarily assume the worst in people who are working hard to help others.

https://xkcd.com/1432/

Re: 'Waffle House Index' is a real thing during disasters

#50

Post by Scoundreller »

wcunning wrote: post #23
kiba wrote: post #9

Speaking of disasters, I wonder how many people actually follow the government's recommendation for things like basic disaster kits.

Round numbers? Something approximating zero... In all seriousness, I actually sat down and read the FEMA recommendations on things to keep on hand. It's surprisingly thorough and surprisingly difficult to keep all of it in stock, rotated so that it doesn't spoil and checked on on a regular basis. Growing up, my mom was an avid coupon shopper, not necessarily because we needed it, just because she could. That meant th…

The problem with FEMA’s recommendations is that they’re too general.

If you will have a water supply no matter what (I’m near the Great Lakes), Canned foods are a waste of space and weight. Dry beans, rice, a 5gal collapsible container and purification tablets (or bleach) are better.

Post reply on HN