Railworks America

This morning I opened up my email and found 5 messages about the virus. From 1C Games who make the Sturmovich flight sim people sent me one and offered me a bunch of 50% of items, Chevrolet where I bought my car, OnStar had something to say and Norton sent something along with Xfinity. Now really, how can any one of these companies do anything for me if I get it? So far there are only 3 or 4 people in Pennsylvania got it. Ohio next door to me have a few cases. To me there are too many scare tactics going on over this.

I have a solution for this whole thing. The virus only lasts a little over 30 days, so we should all stay in our homes for 30, close the borders for that amount of time. That should take care of it.

I have a freezer full of Omaha Steaks products, plenty of canned foods and Kerri constantly has cases of water.

I sincerely hope none of you get it, especially our older members. We have a lot of 60 to 70 year olds here. It seems that those are the ones who get in trouble if they catch it.

Be safe.

Make sure you have an entire store's worth of Toilet paper, too.

BNSFdude wrote:Make sure you have an entire store's worth of Toilet paper, too.

Is that the craziest thing you've ever seen or what? I saw a woman at the grocery store that must have had a dozen cases of bottled water in her cart. Apparently she knows something about the zombie apocalypse that I haven't heard yet.

I saw a news clip where a guy has 27,000 bottles of hand disinfectant and no where to sell them from. Poor guy thought he was going to make some money with it. That's the stuff that is not funny.

BNSFdude wrote:Make sure you have an entire store's worth of Toilet paper, too.

And on behalf of the International Paper toilet paper division... thank you!

There seems to be a lot of fear mongering going on with this. I can't help but feel there is an underlying agenda with this one, as previous recent flu's impacted the US much harder, and didn't receive nearly this much attention... or panic. We've got 14 confirmed cases here in Iowa, and they were all on the same Egyptian river cruise. Everyone is in isolation, and there has been no further spread. But that didn't stop the Des Moines school district from cancelling all classes for all grades starting yesterday, and lasting through the end of the month. Other than that, it's been business as usual here.... and we've had no problem getting toilet paper. Hand sanitizer and disinfectant wipes... that's another story.

artimrj wrote:I saw a news clip where a guy has 27,000 bottles of hand disinfectant and no where to sell them from. Poor guy thought he was going to make some money with it. That's the stuff that is not funny.

I have been telling all my friends that you can make your own from a quart of 70% alcohol for a couple of bucks and a pint bottle of Aloe gel for about five bucks. Mix it 10 to 20% aloe gel and 80-90% alcohol and make enough to last a year and have a bunch of the aloe left over for wound repair or whatever..

Hurry up repainters, we need billboard toilet paper boxcars to fill our infected routes

QcRail

QcRail wrote:Hurry up repainters, we need billboard toilet paper boxcars to fill our infected routes

Toilet paper boxcars, eh? Don't let the teenagers here on the forum hear that! Though then at least your grumpy neighbor's house would be safe.

Or maybe we could convert one of them ballast weed sprayer cars into a track sanitizer?

Edit/PS: it's only the second day of everyday life being essentially shut down here in Czechia and already there's nothing but nonsense left in my head.

I prefer the Michelobvirus myself, with slice of Lime Disease.

I like the emails I get from the credit companies. One card company says that they are doing all they can for their members, and are willing to rework terms to drop late payment fees and credit reporting for folks who get sick or lain off due to CV. My mortgage company however, said that instead of paying in person. I should pay online, and although they are really sorry about any hardship it may cause, they still must insist that payments be made on time. I'm so glad these folks are watching out for me.

Wal Mart and the people who shop there a just plain stupid. I buy most of my groceries from a name-brand store, and they have item-limits in place to ensure everyone gets a share - no shortages. Wal-Mart, however, where I pretty much only buy motor oil and the stuff for my cats to sh** in has no limits and they are wiped out. Curiously walking the aisles. They are out of all paper products, cleaning supplies, water, meat, flour, beans (really?), milk, and most canned vegetables. Now as for the stupid people, does no one pay attention to the news? This thing has been an item for three months, and people just NOW decide that they need to stock up?

It's not the virus, the War, or even the Second Coming that is going to do us in. It's our collective human dumbassery that's going to end us.

Well this living in isolation fiasco will be good to help advance the trainsim community along on the bright side...

Only take what you need, a family of 5 doesn't need an entire bedroom packed of toilet paper rolls to be confined to the household for up to 2 weeks...

let the picture speak for it self....

I will report in from South Eastern New Yawk on whats going on at my local grocery store.
Some of the stuff that is missing is ... odd. I personally checked and observed this about 3 hours ago

OUT:
Obviously Toilet Paper.
also Napkins, Tissue, and Paper Towels
Wipes, Hand Sanitizer, Rubbing alcohol, Lysol and spray disinfectant
Baby Wipes
Sugar (in 5lb bags)
Rice
Pasta
Frozen Vegetables
Canned Vegetables
Bottled Water
Red and Black Beans
Creamy Peanut Butter
Canned Tuna Fish
This one made me mad - SPAM totally GONE
Underwood Deviled Ham
Ground Cinnamon (Wierd)

Running low.
Oatmeal
Dish Detergent
Laundry Detergent
Fresh Beef
Fresh Chicken
Butter
Eggs
Canned Stew, Soup and Spaghetti
Canned Chicken, Salmon and Sardines
Dried Beans - I was looking for Black Eyed peas - they were gone, but over all the bean stock is pretty depleted

Looking Strong!
Milk
Beer (Thank Gawd)
Bread
Deli
Frozen Seafood
Ice Cream
Tampons and Maxipads
Pet Food
Yogurt
Junk Food - Chips, cookies, crackers etc.
Pickles
Condiments
Bread
Produce
Coffee (Thank you father)
And of course all the Vegan health food stuff.

Status of the Customers
Very Polite
Lines Short
A little less than normal Saturday
Noticed several people using personal hand sanitizer
Several people, like me, shaking their heads and the low stock and laughing.
I easily struck up conversations with several people, and the were super easy to talk to, there is a sense of "were all in this together'
Obviously we have nothing but scorn for those chuckle heads who now have a 6 month supply of TP.

My house stock is shaky after this week ... I got 10 rolls of TP, 2 rolls of Paper Towels and the 400 Vanity Fair Napkins I scored at the store today (woo hooo!)
I have 2 cords of wood left and a ton of coal
10 Gallons of gas with Stabil in it.
Generator
Ammunition
And a Bible.
All good here.

Good thing they ain't out of sweet tea. I be havin' one heck of a withdrawal if that happens.

I picked a bad time to run low on ammo. Going to have to see what I can do with rabbits and turkeys with .308 rounds. My early guess is, not good. Stay tuned.

Okay my take on this from a history fan.

World War 1 has not even ended yet in January 1918. There is reported incidents of a deadly flu that become a pandemic. It is called the Spanish Flu.

November 1918, The Cease Fire Agreement is signed and the war in Europe ends (though the conflict will continue till 1921 as others finish their local grievances)

November 1918, The war weary world is more focused on putting back together their countries than some local illness. And within the congregation of people in Europe the illness is spread to those who will soon depart to their homelands.

1919, the Spanish Flu is now a major pandemic. In one American paper a political cartoon shows a little girl sick in bed as her mother opens the window to get fresh air into the room. The line with the picture reads "I opened the window and in-flew-enza". This illustrates how easy and common it was to catch this deadly new virus.

1921, the world breathes a sigh of relief that the pandemic has seemed to run its course and is now finished.

WW1 40 million dead
Spanish Flu Pandemic 50 million dead

Two civilization rocking events back to back. Yet humanity survived and continued onward.

We will survive this folks. In the continuing flow of history this mountain of a problem is really just a speed bump moment in time.

Just remember to treat others with humanity. Because if you take the humanity part out you are no longer human.