OK, *now* we're in trouble ...

[rslade]

For some reason, on the Johns Hopkins CoVID-19 dashboard, Canada, as a country, has disappeared.  (If you switch to the province/state/dependency mode, the individual provinces with infections still show up.)

This is disturbing, for someone who lives there ...

[rslade]

It's rude, but it makes some cogent points ...

[rslade]

Attention shoppers. Since we have restocked on toilet paper and paper towels, today's panic buys are soup, "snack" crackers, and the most expensive brands of bread on the shelves. (These are also the brands with the shortest shelf life.)

Since I shop daily, I've been tracking what the "panic buys" are pretty much daily. It's kind of interesting to see how group psychology moves through the herd ...

[rslade]

Our cities aren't exactly structured so that we can sing together, like Italy, or applaud first responders, like Spain, but we can set up or find ways to help out our neighbours who may be in difficulty.

Find something nice you can do for a doctor, nurse, first responder, or emergency management worker. They may be a bit busy later on.

When setting up, or looking for, social media contacts to find people to help during the crisis, remember that those most at risk, the elderly, may not use social media. If you have elderly friends and/or family you might, with their permission, submit their names to those help systems.

[rslade]

[rslade]

OK, this is cute.  My brother alerted me to "Wash Your Lyrics."  It allows you to create a handwashing directions poster based on any song lyrics you want.  You're not just stuck with "Happy Birthday" twice over.

Impressive catalogue.  I tried it with "The Biplane (Evermore)" by the Irish Rovers, which is not exactly a current Top Forty hit, and it still found it:

[rslade]

So, first it was toilet paper. And then it was beans.  (Probably bought up by people who never eat beans ...)  Then there were suspicious holes in the shelves in the cereal aisle.  Then ...

Well, you get the picture.  So I've started to, well, document the daily "idiot's panic buy."

Today it was meat.

Now, that may not look bare in comparison to some empty shelves you've seen on the news, but, believe me, compared to how it's usually stocked, there's been a run.  (I suppose I live in a carnivorous neighborhood.)

But that's not the end of the story.  One of the staff saw me take the picture.  And told me I wasn't allowed to take pictures.

Oh, come on.  I'm not allowed to take any pictures in their store?  I'm not allowed to take pictures of my grandkids, when they are shopping with me?  I'm not allowed to take a picture of a shelf full of almost identical products and send it to Gloria so she can tell me which one is the only one I'm allowed to buy?  What's he going to do, call the picture police and have them confiscate my non-film (since it's on my phone)?  Obviously, we have the world's second stupidest store manager running our grocery.

And if they are worried that taking pictures in their store will lead to panic buying--Look, tosh.  That particular equine bolted from the stable a loooonnnnnng time ago.

[Caute_cautim]

@rslade    Obviously meat has its own privacy.   I guess the store manager, thought you were a secret shopper, testing their service and pricing regime.

Regards

Caute_cautim

[rslade]

> Caute_cautim (Community Champion) mentioned you in a post! Join the conversation

>     Obviously meat has its own privacy.

This cow is dead. It is an ex-cow. It has joined the herd invisible ...

====================== (quote inserted randomly by Pegasus Mailer)
rslade@vcn.bc.ca slade@victoria.tc.ca rslade@computercrime.org
On hearing a good line from the painter James McNeill Whistler
Oscar Wilde: How I wish I had said that.
Whistler's response: You will, Oscar, you will.
victoria.tc.ca/techrev/rms.htm http://twitter.com/rslade
http://blogs.securiteam.com/index.php/archives/author/p1/
https://is.gd/RotlWB

[rslade]

Today's idiot panic buy is:

... potatoes?

Look, the potato is a noble animal.  Yes, the potato famine was a bad thing, but only because the population of Ireland had previously exploded to ten times normal because of the nutritional benefits of potatoes.  And potatoes do keep for a long time.

But you aren't going to eat them, are you?  You don't eat potatoes.  And you won't eat potatoes after the panic is over.

Because potatoes have CARBS!!  Carbs are evil!  (At least in your tiny little idiot hoarder mindset.)

[Caute_cautim]

@rslade    Well if you think that was crazy, look at what happened in Australia:

https://www.itnews.com.au/news/inside-woolworths-coles-online-delivery-shut-down-539491?eid=3&edate=...

Regards

Caute_cautim