Th3 Core

Restaurant chains are unveiling new designs inspired by the pandemic

https://www.cnbc.com/2020/09/05/restaurant-chains-are-unveiling-new-designs-inspired-by-the-pandemic.html

I think food places that are at least holding their own have:

1. Drive up windows.

2. Large base of take out customers.

3. Delivery. (Particularly pre-paid.)

Right here in my 'hood I see the Domino's delivery (because of the light up sign on the car roof) car all the time.  I also see lots of pizza delivery from the ma and pa pizzerias.

McDonald's seems to have drive up windows down to a science.

The Dunkin Donuts always has a line of cars at the driveup.

The local old fashioned eat in the car, drive-in root beer stand has been doing a landmark business, although it's seasonal. 

Robots in Texas.

Robots will soon be fulfilling your H-E-B online grocery orders
https://www.chron.com/business/article/Robots-are-being-deployed-by-H-E-B-to-fulfill-15583624.php

Sorry, Kids. Snow Days Are Probably Over. - The New York Times
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/25/us/snow-days-online-school.html

Regal-owner Cineworld to close all U.S., UK and Irish screens
https://www.metro.us/regal-owner-cineworld-to-close/

NPR sees 25% drop across the board b/c people are no longer listening in their cars.

People who listened to NPR shows on the radio at home before the pandemic by and large still do. But many of those who listened on their commute have not rejoined from home. And that threatens to alter the terrain for NPR for years to come, said Lori Kaplan, the network's senior director of audience insights.

"We anticipated these changes," Kaplan said. "This kind of change was going to take place over the next decade. But the pandemic has shown us what our future is now."

https://www.npr.org/sections/coronavirus-live-updates/2020/07/15/891404076/npr-radio-ratings-collapse-as-pandemic-kills-listeners-commutes?utm_source=morning_brew

As I get more aggressive about my ad blocking, I am rethinking my contract with the websites I read and donating to sites and podcasts (very small amounts I must admit) that would miss if they were gone. I never thought much about Wikipedia funding until maybe a couple of years ago, but that is a site I would really miss. The truth is that I would miss Google - search, translate, the handy calculator, maps - but I don't donate to them... willingly ;-)

Part of the changed future after Covid is seeing who can survive when large swaths of ad spend has dried up (huge drops in travel and tourism spend, that's for sure). Ad-supported media in general is taking a huge hit and I can't say I'm sorry. It has been one of the more corrosive forces of the last 25 years, especially in the last 15 years due to the Buzzfeedification of all media. Without ad-supported media, much of the fake news that gets shared on social media wouldn't be there to share.

Tristan Harris had a nice interview with Timothy Wu, author of The Attention Merchants, about the rise of ad-supported newspapers in the 1830s and how that played out over time, leading to a rash of fake news, a handful of wars and fascism, but in the end, to the journalistic standards that guided the industry for a few decades (don't report rumor, verify with two independent sources, etc).
https://www.humanetech.com/podcast/16-when-attention-went-on-sale

^{I don't like it.}

Burger King's 2021 stores have food lockers, conveyor belts: Pictures - Business Insider
https://www.businessinsider.com/burger-king-new-stores-2021-food-lockers-conveyor-belts-burgers-2020-10