Hermit Posted March 18, 2020 Report Share Posted March 18, 2020 Just now, Cygnia said: Yes...yes, it is. On a more personal front, my best friend is in the hospital. Not because of coronavirus, but because of severe dehydration due to her Crohn's. She can't keep liquids down and is scheduled for a colonoscopy today. She texted me to say the hospital is a madhouse I know you are the Saint of Atheists, but I hope you don't mind 'good vibes and well wishes' for your friend. Cygnia 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScottishFox Posted March 18, 2020 Report Share Posted March 18, 2020 14 hours ago, Old Man said: My UberEats delivery yesterday was like that. I heard the doorbell. Ran the whopping 25 feet to the door and my food was sitting on the ground and the driver was already pulling away. Customers = Patient Zero. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScottishFox Posted March 18, 2020 Report Share Posted March 18, 2020 1 hour ago, Hermit said: One of my House mates works for a movie theater company on the sales programming side. He is now on a (at least) 3 week unpaid furlough. He's a bit worried. Not a macho guy, he was still the main bread winner for the family. It's even worse for the guys selling popcorn or collecting tickets, he knows. I work for one of the big 3 Movie Theater chains in the US and we just closed all of our US based theaters as of today. Reduced hours for everyone at corporate and we all know that the theater workers are going to get soaked (0 hours). Sociotard 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sociotard Posted March 18, 2020 Report Share Posted March 18, 2020 I get my "conservative side" news from National Review. I read an article that actually defended the Resellers https://www.nationalreview.com/2020/03/coronavirus-there-is-no-such-thing-as-price-gouging/ He seems to miss the point. Raising the price of TP (and everything else, if my local grocer is an indication) might prevent absolute shortages, but it would be ruinous for the people who have a hard enough time buying things at their current price! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doc Democracy Posted March 18, 2020 Report Share Posted March 18, 2020 3 minutes ago, Sociotard said: I get my "conservative side" news from National Review. I read an article that actually defended the Resellers https://www.nationalreview.com/2020/03/coronavirus-there-is-no-such-thing-as-price-gouging/ He seems to miss the point. Raising the price of TP (and everything else, if my local grocer is an indication) might prevent absolute shortages, but it would be ruinous for the people who have a hard enough time buying things at their current price! It is a mistake that the European nobility made. Shortages were for the poor, hardship was for the poor. Until the shortages and hardships were enough to mean that they saw they had nothing to lose by rising against those who saw no shortages or hardship. I think that our corporate masters have now had their worldview changed for long enough that they have forgotten what shortages or hardship are and feel more secure in their supremacy than they should. It would not take a huge amount for people to move from suffering in silence to actively protesting to ultimately taking what they need. I do not think coronavirus will be the trigger but something a little bit scarier where the death rate was increased and hit younger folk would raise fear enough that the social order that corporations rely on will not prevent us getting to the survival of the fittest (or most vicious). Doc Ragitsu and Matt the Bruins 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Starlord Posted March 18, 2020 Report Share Posted March 18, 2020 Wow, gas is going for as low as $1.52 around here. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sociotard Posted March 18, 2020 Report Share Posted March 18, 2020 I wonder what is going on in Venezuela right now? I know their fortunes were tied to the price of oil. Have they seen any of COVID yet? EDIT: Oof. https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/world/quarantine-threatens-deepen-venezuelan-coronavirus-crisis-12549982 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hermit Posted March 18, 2020 Report Share Posted March 18, 2020 1 hour ago, ScottishFox said: I work for one of the big 3 Movie Theater chains in the US and we just closed all of our US based theaters as of today. Reduced hours for everyone at corporate and we all know that the theater workers are going to get soaked (0 hours). Yup . Folks are getting hammered. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Starlord Posted March 18, 2020 Report Share Posted March 18, 2020 US Virus Plan anticipating 18-month pandemic that may come in waves amid widespread shortages Sociotard 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
unclevlad Posted March 18, 2020 Report Share Posted March 18, 2020 6 hours ago, Lord Liaden said: The positive PR and free publicity that company would have gained from just donating the schematics would have far outweighed any financial losses. Now they'll be known as heartless profiteers. Their marketing department must have been napping. Nah, they probably share the same legal team as US Soccer. Starlord 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RPMiller Posted March 18, 2020 Report Share Posted March 18, 2020 5 minutes ago, Starlord said: US Virus Plan anticipating 18-month pandemic that may come in waves amid widespread shortages In the President's briefing this morning he said that they are currently testing their vaccine and having good success thanks to the initial testing that started in January. Thing I'm really confused about on that is that they only just isolated the virus, and the CDC is saying nothing about any sort of vaccine. I'm not entirely sure which parallel universe he's from, but I'm pretty sure that's not remotely true for our universe. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
unclevlad Posted March 18, 2020 Report Share Posted March 18, 2020 Just now, RPMiller said: In the President's briefing this morning he said that they are currently testing their vaccine and having good success thanks to the initial testing that started in January. Thing I'm really confused about on that is that they only just isolated the virus, and the CDC is saying nothing about any sort of vaccine. I'm not entirely sure which parallel universe he's from, but I'm pretty sure that's not remotely true for our universe. Even fast tracking things, a vaccine's a ways off. Yes, there are vaccines in development. It's not CDC, it's Allergies and Infectious Diseases. Fauci's agency. https://www.newscientist.com/article/2237742-how-soon-will-we-have-a-coronavirus-vaccine-the-race-against-covid-19/ And this: https://nypost.com/2020/03/18/chinas-first-coronavirus-vaccine-approved-for-clinical-trials/ What The Donald is talking about is probably this: https://www.cnn.com/2020/03/17/health/coronavirus-vaccine-first-dose-participant/index.html And the whole "we're getting great results" is pure Trump fantasy. It's WAY too early to say anything. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doc Democracy Posted March 18, 2020 Report Share Posted March 18, 2020 59 minutes ago, Starlord said: Wow, gas is going for as low as $1.52 around here. You are talking per gallon there aren't you? So cheap...... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Starlord Posted March 18, 2020 Report Share Posted March 18, 2020 Just now, Doc Democracy said: You are talking per gallon there aren't you? So cheap...... Yes Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doc Democracy Posted March 18, 2020 Report Share Posted March 18, 2020 Just now, Starlord said: Yes Damn you! Currently £1.25 per litre here (or $1.47 in US terms) Starlord 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sociotard Posted March 18, 2020 Report Share Posted March 18, 2020 Is that from taxes? EDIT: looks like your gas tax is double ours. Yet your price at the pump is almost two doublings. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doc Democracy Posted March 18, 2020 Report Share Posted March 18, 2020 2 minutes ago, Sociotard said: Is that from taxes? yup. Office for National Statistics created this chart... The price of fuel can be divided into three sections the cost of the fuel itself (which is made up of the wholesale price, the cost of distributing the fuel and fuel companies’ profit margins); fuel duty (which is charged at a fixed rate of 57.95 pence per litre); and VAT. VAT is charged at 20% of the wholesale price plus the duty, which equates to 16.7% of the final price. Under normal market conditions, only a fraction of the cost of a litre of petrol ends up in the coffers of fuel retailers. For petrol, at its current average price of £1.04 per litre, just over 72% of the price will go to the exchequer in fuel duty and in Value Added Tax (VAT), leaving only around 28% of ‘wriggle room’ for cutting the price to consumers when the price of crude oil falls. I will stop now as this has *nothing* to do with coronavirus... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Starlord Posted March 18, 2020 Report Share Posted March 18, 2020 22 minutes ago, Doc Democracy said: Damn you! Currently £1.25 per litre here (or $1.47 in US terms) It hovered at around $2.60 per gallon for awhile up until a few days ago. Also, prices differ by state. I'm in Ohio, it might still be a great deal more than that in states with a higher cost of living like California. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
unclevlad Posted March 18, 2020 Report Share Posted March 18, 2020 On the drive back, the station I pass by regularly was $2.09 for regular, I think. Wasn't exactly paying attention. This is a nice little site to get an overview: https://gasprices.aaa.com/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ternaugh Posted March 18, 2020 Report Share Posted March 18, 2020 According to that site, Nevada is averaging $2.80 per gallon, and I believe that my last fill-up was somewhere around $2.50 a gallon after the loyalty card discount from Smith's/Kroger. I usually fill up about once a month, and a typical fill is about 8 1/2 gallons*. Part of the issue is that the Marathon Refinery in California caught fire several weeks ago, and so gas supplies are a bit tighter in the West. *I love my Prius. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grailknight Posted March 18, 2020 Report Share Posted March 18, 2020 Here in Mobile, AL the lowest price I've seen is $1.74. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lord Liaden Posted March 18, 2020 Report Share Posted March 18, 2020 Russia's coronavirus count under scrutiny as Putin government denies hiding cases Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cancer Posted March 18, 2020 Report Share Posted March 18, 2020 So, supposedly we're being locked out at noon our time Friday. Which will be hard for me, since I still have a final exam going at that moment. Idiot panicking administrators not thinking through what should be going on. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
death tribble Posted March 18, 2020 Report Share Posted March 18, 2020 The Glastonbury festival has been cancelled due to the virus Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Badger Posted March 18, 2020 Report Share Posted March 18, 2020 13 minutes ago, Cancer said: So, supposedly we're being locked out at noon our time Friday. Which will be hard for me, since I still have a final exam going at that moment. Idiot panicking administrators not thinking through what should be going on. Trapped with his slow-witted students, Cancer will then panic. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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