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Blockade Getting Worse... Now Amtrak Affected

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Posted by zugmann on Wednesday, March 18, 2020 11:46 AM

Murphy Siding
Maybe you need to find some better stores to frequent?

Maybe these are stores with booths and red lighting?

It's been fun.  But it isn't much fun anymore.   Signing off for now. 


  

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Posted by Euclid on Wednesday, March 18, 2020 1:11 PM

No these are just stores with shopping cart handles.  I have noticed that some people wash their cart down before heading out into the aisles. 

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Posted by Miningman on Wednesday, March 18, 2020 2:05 PM

Not a bad idea Euclid. You have to protect yourself wisely regardless how silly it looks or seems. Only the reckless and mentally unstable people would ignore precautions. 

Thinking we are on the precipice of an event horizon type event.

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Posted by charlie hebdo on Wednesday, March 18, 2020 2:40 PM

Euclid

No these are just stores with shopping cart handles.  I have noticed that some people wash their cart down before heading out into the aisles. 

 

Is that with a bucket and a hose?  My markets have always provided those Clorox wipes at the entrance. 

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Posted by Euclid on Wednesday, March 18, 2020 3:03 PM

charlie hebdo
 
Euclid

No these are just stores with shopping cart handles.  I have noticed that some people wash their cart down before heading out into the aisles. 

 

 

 

Is that with a bucket and a hose?  My markets have always provided those Clorox wipes at the entrance. 

 

No, I mean wash it down with the store wipes or their own special products.  I don't clean the carts because it seems like it would be too hit and miss.  So I just wash my hands with alcohol after leaving the store.  There is a lot better chance of getting one's hands clean than getting a cart clean. So overall, I rely on a smooth blend of 91% isopropyl alcohol and a little social distancing. 

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Posted by Overmod on Wednesday, March 18, 2020 4:06 PM

I use the store wipes on cart handles going in, and also wipe my hands down with another of those to get rid of any dirt I may have picked up since the last hndwashing.  I then make copious use of the hand sanitizer, usually once each time I pass a container or pump, and carefully go through the 'scrub' to get fingers, wrists, and ensure mechanical agitation rather than just spreading the stuff around.  I do not pretend this is a substitute for soap-and-water washing with some reasonable surfactant product.  

Like Euclid, I usually do not wipe off the 'normal' hand sanitizer, but keep rubbing until the alcohol content has nearly evaporated.  On the other hand, when I come across that awful lotion stuff I almost always have to head for something to wipe it down -- either a cart-handle wipe or TP/paper towels in the bathroom.

There is a difference between disinfecting "germs" with 91% alcohol and sanitizing viral content of surface contamination.  Where there is metabolism to be arrested e.g. by disruption of a lipid bilayer the stronger alcohol probably makes sense.  However, viruses are not 'alive' in that sense, so denaturation of the internal proteins and genomic material is the 'important' action, not solution of envelope lipids -- and as previously noted, using alcohol weaker than 91% has been demonstrated to work better.

Of course, you can easily produce the lower-strength alcohol easily by simple dilution of the 91%, right in the existing bottles or sprays like the ones Euclid carries around, so there's very little need to change either the routine or the practice.  It would be a good idea to wet down any part of hands or arms that contacts potentially-infectious surfaces, keeping solution on them for at least 2 minutes, before there is contact either with the mucous membranes of the face or 'any other surface' you might come in contact with again, later.  

The same consideration applies to commonly touched surfaces in your car -- inside and outside door handles, pulls, mirror controls, stalk and knob controls, radio buttons... even glass edges you might use to pull the door within reach.  Any repeat contact, no matter how slight, may eventually involve the risk of viral transfer.

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Posted by Convicted One on Wednesday, March 18, 2020 6:18 PM

Murphy Siding
Maybe you need to find some better stores to frequent?

There really is something mesmerizing about walking into a store you've shopped for years, only to find barren shelves throughout the store.

No packaged hot dogs or sausage, no prepackaged coldcuts,  no "meal in a pouch" type microwave meals, milk, eggs butter all gone, canned soup...almost all gone...canned tuna gone.....major holes  in the frozen foods section. Bread only a very few loaves left.

I've never seen anything like it. It actually inspired me to stock up for that "just in case" potential.  I haven't  bought peanut butter in over 15 years, but since they were just putting a few new cases out, I decided to stockpile the protein and grabbed 2.

I felt cheap and used afterwards.  Embarrassed

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Posted by Flintlock76 on Wednesday, March 18, 2020 6:43 PM

And there's no excuse for the panic buying and hoarding.  There's nothing wrong with the supply chain and plenty to go 'round if people keep their heads.

Maybe that's asking too much?  

Day before yesterday I was at the local supermarket, found what I needed, then out of curiousity went down the paper products aisle just to look at the TP situation.  All wiped out.  No pun intended.

And yes, it was surreal.  

The last time I saw toilet paper aisles empty was in 1973 during the gas crunch when Johnny Carson made a joke to the effect of "What's next?  A toilet paper shortage?"  Within 24 hours the joke became it's own reality.  

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Posted by Convicted One on Wednesday, March 18, 2020 7:04 PM

Flintlock76
There's nothing wrong with the supply chain and plenty to go 'round if people keep their heads.

The mindset that came over me was "well, if everybody else is going to hoard, then nothing will be left for me" SO, I spent $90 instead of the $60 I had planned.

Afterall, it was for me.....Dinner

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Posted by 54light15 on Wednesday, March 18, 2020 7:08 PM

I was in London a few years ago when the chowderhead transport minister said that there might be a trucker's strike so you'd better fill your car with petrol as there won't be any deliveries. So, there were lines at all the gas stations and people filled jerricans and whatever container that would hold gas. Some people brought the filled cans into their homes. Fumes leaked and ignited in several cases killing people. It turned out, there was no trucker strike. 

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Posted by Convicted One on Wednesday, March 18, 2020 7:18 PM

I suppose that a savvy merchant could hold back on restocking the most popular brands, inducing a little panic and getting shoppers to buy the less popular alternatives.

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Posted by Flintlock76 on Wednesday, March 18, 2020 7:52 PM

54light15

I was in London a few years ago when the chowderhead transport minister said that there might be a trucker's strike so you'd better fill your car with petrol as there won't be any deliveries. So, there were lines at all the gas stations and people filled jerricans and whatever container that would hold gas. Some people brought the filled cans into their homes. Fumes leaked and ignited in several cases killing people. It turned out, there was no trucker strike. 

 

I guess it was about a week ago when I was reading NJ.com on line and the Lieutenant Governor of New Jersey at a COVID-19 press conference advised people to stock up with two weeks worth of groceries and sundry supplies.

"Oh great," I said to Lady Firestorm, "Just guess what gonna happen?"

It did.  It did.   Bang Head  

And it wasn't just toilet paper that disappeared, so did everything else.  

There was such a frenzy at a local Shop-Rite a friend of mine said he couldn't get within blocks of the place.  Luckily he was just going for odds 'n ends, nothing he couldn't live without, so he just went home.

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Posted by Murphy Siding on Wednesday, March 18, 2020 7:58 PM

Convicted One

 

 
Murphy Siding
Maybe you need to find some better stores to frequent?

 

There really is something mesmerizing about walking into a store you've shopped for years, only to find barren shelves throughout the store.

No packaged hot dogs or sausage, no prepackaged coldcuts,  no "meal in a pouch" type microwave meals, milk, eggs butter all gone, canned soup...almost all gone...canned tuna gone.....major holes  in the frozen foods section. Bread only a very few loaves left.

I've never seen anything like it. It actually inspired me to stock up for that "just in case" potential.  I haven't  bought peanut butter in over 15 years, but since they were just putting a few new cases out, I decided to stockpile the protein and grabbed 2.

I felt cheap and used afterwards.  Embarrassed

 

Did you scrub your hands and arms with rubbing alcohol before you got in your car? Clown

Thanks to Chris / CopCarSS for my avatar.

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Posted by Convicted One on Wednesday, March 18, 2020 8:13 PM

Murphy Siding
Did you scrub your hands and arms with rubbing alcohol before you got in your car? 

I haven't been able to stop washing my hands ever since...."out-out, damn spots!!"

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Posted by Convicted One on Wednesday, March 18, 2020 8:16 PM

Now I've got those two big stimulus checks coming, and the stores won't have anything to sell. Crying

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Posted by Paul of Covington on Wednesday, March 18, 2020 11:25 PM

Convicted One

Now I've got those two big stimulus checks coming, and the stores won't have anything to sell. Crying

 

   And the next big shortage will be money.

   By the way, does anyone remember the title of this thread?

_____________ 

  "A stranger's just a friend you ain't met yet." --- Dave Gardner

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Posted by Miningman on Thursday, March 19, 2020 12:49 AM

" Blockade getting worse.. now Amtrak affected" 

Still applies strangely enough.

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Posted by BaltACD on Thursday, March 19, 2020 6:20 AM

Miningman
" Blockade getting worse.. now Amtrak affected" 

Still applies strangely enough.

No blockade.  Pandemic getting worse. Amtrak affected.

Never too old to have a happy childhood!

              

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Posted by Convicted One on Thursday, March 19, 2020 6:26 AM

BaltACD
No blockade. 

Now they've closed thw US/Canada border to all but essential crossings, likely a good thing.

Funny how a shift in perspective  changes one's regard for restraint.

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Posted by Euclid on Thursday, March 19, 2020 7:55 AM

Another paradigm shifts--

 

NEWS ARTICLE FROM BLOOMBERG:

IN THIS LINK:  https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-03-19/coronavirus-in-young-people-is-it-dangerous-data-show-it-can-be

 

Yes, Young People Are Falling Seriously Ill From Covid-19

In the U.S., 705 of first 2,500 cases range in age from 20 to 44.

 

By Michelle Fay Cortez

and Angelica LaVito

March18, 20209:09PM  

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Posted by tree68 on Thursday, March 19, 2020 8:17 AM

Convicted One
I haven't been able to stop washing my hands ever since...."out-out, damn spots!!"

FB meme - "I've washed my hands so much that my crib notes from college are starting to show..."

OTOH, I recently read that the touch screens used for ordering at a well known hamburger chain were testing positive for fecal matter...  Maybe that will change...

LarryWhistling
Resident Microferroequinologist (at least at my house) 
Everyone goes home; Safety begins with you
My Opinion. Standard Disclaimers Apply. No Expiration Date
Come ride the rails with me!
There's one thing about humility - the moment you think you've got it, you've lost it...

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Posted by Euclid on Thursday, March 19, 2020 9:14 AM

It seems like there is going to be a cascading effect of closing more and more operations, and closing them for growing periods of time.  What began as two weeks of closing will turn into 26 weeks.  The feeling seems to be that all of the work can be done as usual, but it will be done with people working independently away from others.  So really?  You just take the whole working culture and drop them into this new independent system in an overnight transition?

I would say that in picking up the slack, a new independent work system will be nearly impossible to set up even if you had a couple years.  In the meantime, everybody is getting paid to stay home.  And they are doing this as an honored duty to stop the virus.  So, there will be a lot of motive to extend these shutdown phases.  Who wants to take a chance on ending it too early?

With these conditions, I don’t think we will see the productivity of everybody working independently anywhere near as high it was when people were at their workplace in the company facility. 

So in effect, I expect most of the country to take at least half a year off.  And they are going to do a massive amount of staying home to stay safe.  They will reduce spending to just practical essentials.  This will be a huge reduction in national productivity.  What happens to a roaring economy when you take that big of a bite out of it?

Get ready for the mother of all economic stimulus plans. 

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Posted by charlie hebdo on Thursday, March 19, 2020 11:37 AM

Political desperation breeds possibly unnecessary economic stimuli.

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Posted by MikeInPlano on Thursday, March 19, 2020 12:57 PM

Flintlock76

And there's no excuse for the panic buying and hoarding.  There's nothing wrong with the supply chain and plenty to go 'round if people keep their heads.

Maybe that's asking too much?  

Day before yesterday I was at the local supermarket, found what I needed, then out of curiousity went down the paper products aisle just to look at the TP situation.  All wiped out.  No pun intended.

And yes, it was surreal.  

The last time I saw toilet paper aisles empty was in 1973 during the gas crunch when Johnny Carson made a joke to the effect of "What's next?  A toilet paper shortage?"  Within 24 hours the joke became it's own reality.  

 

Totally agree.  The binge buying was completely unfounded, and in fact is self-perpetuating.  If everybody had continued to shop normally we'd all be able to get what we need, just as always.  Instead, over-reacting morons (I include the media) have plunged us all into an artificial shortage that has no basis in reality.

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Posted by MikeInPlano on Thursday, March 19, 2020 12:59 PM

Paul of Covington
By the way, does anyone remember the title of this thread?

Yes, it's "Blockade getting worse" is latest forum topic to morph into a societal/political discussion.

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Posted by Deggesty on Thursday, March 19, 2020 2:40 PM

MikeInPlano

 

 
Paul of Covington
By the way, does anyone remember the title of this thread?

 

Yes, it's "Blockade getting worse" is latest forum topic to morph into a societal/political discussion.

 

Yes, Amtrak is affected by the covid19.Smile Considering my age, I canceled a trip I had planned to take next month.

Johnny

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Posted by Euclid on Saturday, March 21, 2020 9:19 AM

charlie hebdo
 
Euclid

Apparently all the rail blockades in Canada have been removed and all blocked rail transportation has started again.  In is unclear as to whether the blockades were removed voluntarily by the protestors or whether the police dispersed or arrested the protestors and then removed the blockades.  If the blockades were removed by the protestors, it may have been done as a concession in exchange for the Government meeting some or all of the demands of the protestors.

If there was a settlement of the dispute that lead to the removal of the blockades, then it is unclear as to what the government offered in their part of the settlement.  It seems that this information is being withheld from the public. 

The most prominent point of the settlement that is widely reported by news is that Mr. Trudeau ended the dispute without the use of force.  But totally unclear is the reason why he was able to do that.  The optics of the matter seems to indicate that the government is worried about the optics of what Canada offered the protestors in the deal to end the dispute. 

Therefore, the government has not disclosed the details of the settlement of the dispute, or whether there actually has been a settlement.  It may be that the removal of the blockades resulted from a reason that had nothing to do with a settlement.  In any case, it has been reported that the Wet’suwet’en people remain opposed to the construction of the pipeline that was the original cause for the dispute in the first place. 

 

 

 

Perhaps you should head north and check this mystery out for yourself?  We'll expect a full report back by next Saturday.

 

No need to go to Canada.  These are my conclusions.  The cause of opposing the pipeline was so strong that it was worth protesters disrupting the commerce of Canada and causing enormous economic damage to the country.  They vowed to continue as long as necessary to see the pipeline cancelled.  Then all of a sudden, the protesters simply quit and allowed life to return to normal.

No explanation has been given for the end of the blockades.  Yet, it has been reported that the pipeline is continuing and that the hereditary chiefs remain solidly opposed to its construction.  

Therefore, it appears that the government offered the hereditary chiefs something in exchange for their choice to remove the blockades without receiving their demand that the pipeline project be discontinued.  If this is the case, the offer from the government must have had a value exceeding the value to the hereditary chiefs of achieving the cancellation of the pipeline.  

If this is what happened, it remains to be seen whether Canadians will approve of the deal after it has already been agreed to.  It also remains to be seen whether Canadians will be told what the deal was.   

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Posted by Overmod on Saturday, March 21, 2020 10:09 AM

Euclid
charlie hebdo

Perhaps you should head north and check this mystery out for yourself?  We'll expect a full report back by next Saturday.

Therefore, it appears that the government offered the hereditary chiefs something in exchange for their choice to remove the blockades without receiving their demand that the pipeline project be discontinued.

This presupposes a great many unestablished things, and I am not sure how you could use it to justify, far less actually make, any 'conclusion' of any particular validity from it.  Can you substantiate that the hereditary chiefs acted directly to remove the blockades, or that the government offered them something that encouraged them to do so, or that the government refused to 'receive their demand' regarding stopping the pipeline?  You'd need to have hard details before any conclusions based on that stuff make sense.

If this is the case, the offer from the government must have had a value exceeding the value to the hereditary chiefs of achieving the cancellation of the pipeline.

Personally, I think the offer resolved in some way the issue of the Wet'suwet'en regarding title to their lands.  That was certainly a more significant issue than whether the bands had more authority to set a pipeline route than the hereditary chiefs ... and more likely to get the various 'solidarity' actions to end promptly.  

... it remains to be seen whether Canadians will approve of the deal after it has already been agreed to.  It also remains to be seen whether Canadians will be told what the deal was.

I confess I can't figure out exactly why the deal isn't public knowledge.  For the blockades to have ended as definitively as it appears they have, the 'relevant' provisions certainly seem to have been believable enough ... and on-point enough ... to satisfy the range of people motivated to take serious action.  Perhaps Trudeau's government is worried that other groups or factions will see some aspects of its 'offer' as an invitation to conduct their own little copycat 'blockade' actions.  I'm certainly not going to try to reach actual 'conclusions' about something I don't know and really can't know. 

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Posted by Miningman on Saturday, March 21, 2020 10:14 AM

Excellent analysis Euclid. That is exactly what has occured. Almost for certain we will never be told just exactly what the deal is but you can bet it involves an enormous amount of land and recognition as a sovereign state and self government taking it just outside of Canadian Law and one heck of a lot of money up front and continuing on forever.

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Posted by charlie hebdo on Saturday, March 21, 2020 11:23 AM

Euclid

 

 
charlie hebdo
 
Euclid

Apparently all the rail blockades in Canada have been removed and all blocked rail transportation has started again.  In is unclear as to whether the blockades were removed voluntarily by the protestors or whether the police dispersed or arrested the protestors and then removed the blockades.  If the blockades were removed by the protestors, it may have been done as a concession in exchange for the Government meeting some or all of the demands of the protestors.

If there was a settlement of the dispute that lead to the removal of the blockades, then it is unclear as to what the government offered in their part of the settlement.  It seems that this information is being withheld from the public. 

The most prominent point of the settlement that is widely reported by news is that Mr. Trudeau ended the dispute without the use of force.  But totally unclear is the reason why he was able to do that.  The optics of the matter seems to indicate that the government is worried about the optics of what Canada offered the protestors in the deal to end the dispute. 

Therefore, the government has not disclosed the details of the settlement of the dispute, or whether there actually has been a settlement.  It may be that the removal of the blockades resulted from a reason that had nothing to do with a settlement.  In any case, it has been reported that the Wet’suwet’en people remain opposed to the construction of the pipeline that was the original cause for the dispute in the first place. 

 

 

 

Perhaps you should head north and check this mystery out for yourself?  We'll expect a full report back by next Saturday.

 

 

 

No need to go to Canada.  These are my conclusions.  The cause of opposing the pipeline was so strong that it was worth protesters disrupting the commerce of Canada and causing enormous economic damage to the country.  They vowed to continue as long as necessary to see the pipeline cancelled.  Then all of a sudden, the protesters simply quit and allowed life to return to normal.

No explanation has been given for the end of the blockades.  Yet, it has been reported that the pipeline is continuing and that the hereditary chiefs remain solidly opposed to its construction.  

Therefore, it appears that the government offered the hereditary chiefs something in exchange for their choice to remove the blockades without receiving their demand that the pipeline project be discontinued.  If this is the case, the offer from the government must have had a value exceeding the value to the hereditary chiefs of achieving the cancellation of the pipeline.  

If this is what happened, it remains to be seen whether Canadians will approve of the deal after it has already been agreed to.  It also remains to be seen whether Canadians will be told what the deal was.   

 

Well that's typical,  just typical:  just a bunch of personal opinions devoid of any factual support portrayed as conclusions. But what the heck,  you don't need no stinkin' facts!

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