Corona Virus Now Spreading

[mschauer]

Either way over $600 for a copy of the book is ludicrous. Whether prophetic or not. I have told Amazon about this last week as have others and they have not done a thing so they are not doing everything they have said they would. When you provide links to them and they see with their eyes and don't do a thing then yes they are allowing price gouging.

Uh, you're talking about a book??? That isn't price gouging. A book isn't an essential need. They can charge what ever they like. That's just capitalism. A seller is free to ask whatever they think the market will bear. An interested buyer doesn't have to buy. Price gouging is charging exorbitant prices for essential goods or services during a time of heightened need. Think things like gasoline, food, critical repairs...

 

[glittercat]

So this is the UK stats today - first time they've included any recovery figures.

 

[susanm9006]

Target shopping report from this afternoon. Lots of people in the store, more than a usual weekday. There were big packs of paper towels still there, grocery aisles were noticeably barer but they still had bread, lots of frozen food and tons of milk. I even found a pocket size hand sanitizer just as they were setting them out.

 

[denice]

I think this frenzied overbuying will burn itself out before the end of the week and most stores will be back to normal by the weekend. People can only stay in that state for a short time.

 

[mschauer]

I think this frenzied overbuying will burn itself out before the end of the week and most stores will be back to normal by the weekend. People can only stay in that state for a short time.

It's occurred to me that what might happen is that the first round of panicking will subside but then, when the US actually starts testing in a meaningful way, the reported number of new cases takes a big jump and the people who didn't panic before will start to think that maybe they should stock up.

 

[MoonstoneWolf]

Uh, you're talking about a book??? That isn't price gouging. A book isn't an essential need. They can charge what ever they like. That's just capitalism. A seller is free to ask whatever they think the market will bear. An interested buyer doesn't have to buy. Price gouging is charging exorbitant prices for essential goods or services during a time of heightened need. Think things like gasoline, food, critical repairs...

Actually Dean Koontz is currently looking into it. It's a pirated copy of the book. Which is illegal, last I checked. There are people that get these books and then sell them as their own. Which again Amazon is not doing anything about. I know this because I sent an email as well to Dean Koontz from his official website informing him and he or his associate said that he would NEVER charge that high of an amount and to be cautious buying a book at least one he wrote at that price. He wrote the book he should know.

But there have been reports of 64 oz of Clorox selling for $800 that people reported 2 weeks ago on Amazon that is still on there. Toothpaste for $64 so yea some of the stuff is price gouging, some is pirated stuff.

 

[mschauer]

Actually Dean Koontz is currently looking into it. It's a pirated copy of the book. Which is illegal, last I checked. There are people that get these books and then sell them as their own. Which again Amazon is not doing anything about. I know this because I sent an email as well to Dean Koontz from his official website informing him and he or his associate said that he would NEVER charge that high of a n amount

Well that isn't what you said before. You only said it was the price you objected to. But if it is a pirated book it still isn't price gouging. And by the way, if the the actual situation is that the seller bought a legally published copy of the book and is just reselling it, that isn't pirating and isn't illegal and it isn't illegal for them to charge whatever price they want.

Look, if I put out an ad asking $150,000 for my 2014 Nissan Altima there is nothing illegal about that despite the car only having a fair market value of about $3,000. That no one in their right mind would pay my price doesn't make it illegal for me to ask it. It's the "buyer beware" concept. If the buyer doesn't do their due diligence before paying $150,000 for a car that is only worth $3,000, that's on them. The seller did nothing wrong unless, of course, they actually did take advantage of someone they know has diminished mental capacity.

 

[Willowy]

USD has decided that when the students are done with spring break, they'll do online-only classes for at least 2 weeks, then they'll reevaluate to see if they'll do it longer. They didn't say what they're doing about residential students.

The public schools will probably do the same :/.

 

[susanm9006]

USD has decided that when the students are done with spring break, they'll do online-only classes for at least 2 weeks, then they'll reevaluate to see if they'll do it longer. They didn't say what they're doing about residential students.

The public schools will probably do the same :/.

Public schools and most colleges are closed here for at least a couple weeks. There are something like 54 cases right now in the state.

 

[MoonstoneWolf]

Just in, in one week a total of 18 confirmed cases. One in St. Louis, the others in various parts of Missouri. Probably more that haven't been tested. Three of our grocery stores are closing temporarily to help at other stores.

 

[MoonstoneWolf]

Sorry I didn't fully explain. The seller is posing as Dean Koontz and selling a ton of books. He's not just selling one copy. You cannot tell me that that is legal, otherwise copyright laws are useless. Otherwise I"m stupid and I'll do the same thing and won't be struggling to make money and pay bills. And since I made my first post I got that email response. They don't sit in the office staring and waiting for me to send an email. In fact I can reasonably say I know they don't as I"m a nobody compared to him or his staff that handles the emails sent. And I'm sure they take emails in the order they come. I didn't fully explain that either in the midst of a screaming crazy woman here, it's hard to concentrate and cover all the details.

 

[Graceful-Lily]

Malls are closing earlier here and Starbucks and stores like that are removing their seats to discourage people from sitting and staying.

My vet clinic is also only taking pets if they are sick and you have to call for walk-ins now. Scheduling an appointment is highly encouraged.

 

[Willow's Mom]

My conventional vet's receptionist had time to answer my email. They do not email .pdfs of prescriptions so the doctor will give me a paper copy at my fur baby's apointment.

I wish that it could have been after, rather than before, her tech appointment but I'm going toi be singing a different tune if things escalate one way rather than a different way.

I wanted to post a funny meme but I don't want anyone between the ages of 25-35 who posts here to think that I am attacking them or that I think they would ever be as silly as this twitter user. The title of the meme is "OK Millenial".

I always just assumed that the people who post ads for $3,000.00 gallons of milk and $200 squares of toilet paper were just telling jokes. I thought that the review of this children's book was funny

Using deft allegory, the authors have provided an insightful and intuitive explanation of one of Unix's most venerable networking utilities. Even more stunning is that they were clearly working with a very early beta of the program, as their book first appeared in 1933, years (decades!) before the operating system and network infrastructure were finalized.
The book describes networking in terms even a child could understand, choosing to anthropomorphize the underlying packet structure. The ping packet is described as a duck, who, with other packets (more ducks), spends a certain period of time on the host machine (the wise-eyed boat). At the same time each day (I suspect this is scheduled under cron), the little packets (ducks) exit the host (boat) by way of a bridge (a bridge). From the bridge, the packets travel onto the internet (here embodied by the Yangtze River).

The title character -- er, packet, is called Ping. Ping meanders around the river before being received by another host (another boat). He spends a brief time on the other boat, but eventually returns to his original host machine (the wise-eyed boat) somewhat the worse for wear.

The book avoids many of the cliches one might expect. For example, with a story set on a river, the authors might have sunk to using that tired old plot device: the flood ping. The authors deftly avoid this.

Review:The Story about Ping - Slashdot

Doc Technical, one of our highly trained book reviewers, has submitted for us Marjorie Flack, Kurt Wiese's book The Story about Ping. A rare technical manual, this is one of the few computer books in the field in which the illustrator is as important as the author. To truly understand the...

news.slashdot.org

but yea, if you only have so much data and you've got bored three year old triplets and you're using a smartphone with a very small screen I really hope that Amazon took it down for awhile. The book itself is too racist for grandbabies but great "comfort food" for any of us who miss our mommies and remember them reading us bedtime stories.

 

[mschauer]

Sorry I didn't fully explain. The seller is posing as Dean Koontz and selling a ton of books. He's not just selling one copy. You cannot tell me that that is legal, otherwise copyright laws are useless. Otherwise I"m stupid and I'll do the same thing and won't be struggling to make money and pay bills. And since I made my first post I got that email response. They don't sit in the office staring and waiting for me to send an email. In fact I can reasonably say I know they don't as I"m a nobody compared to him or his staff that handles the emails sent. And I'm sure they take emails in the order they come. I didn't fully explain that either in the midst of a screaming crazy woman here, it's hard to concentrate and cover all the details.

You've completely changed your story again. But even if the current one is accurate it still isn't price gouging which is the topic under discussion.

 

[pearl99]

My daughter works in the lab at a large hospital and they just got approved to do Covid-19 testing, for their own health system (which is big), clinic, MD office, hospital patients. Before had to send it to the State Health Department. So if more hospitals can do this it will speed up testing. Along with more drive thru testing, hopefully more testing will get done.

 

[susanm9006]

Our state’s two largest casinos have just announced their closing and I have heard a number of Las Vegas casinos are closed as well.

 

[terestrife]

So many people are getting laid off. My best friend's husband is a manager at a restaurant, and 80% of staff are now gone, it closes at seven, and no one is allowed to eat inside. It's carryout only.

And for those who got laid off, finding a new job will be difficult since so many places are either closing down or cutting staff.

how can companies be allowed to do this? is it small restaurants that cant handle the financial hit? thats just devasting.


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work update:

Miami Dade College has gone completely remote, even regular employees are home for the next couple of weeks.

 

[susanm9006]

how can companies be allowed to do this? is it small restaurants that cant handle the financial hit? thats just devasting.

Most companies not making money or selling their product or service just cannot afford to pay employees. There are many many business that are run on tiny profit margins and if they don’t have the income cannot afford the expense of employees.

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work update:

Miami Dade College has gone completely remote, even regular employees are home for the next couple of weeks.

 

[mschauer]

how can companies be allowed to do this? is it small restaurants that cant handle the financial hit? thats just devasting.

It is devastating but without customers where is the money supposed to come from to pay employees? Fixed costs like rent and insurance still have to be paid whether there is money coming in or not. Paying employees to do nothing just isn't feasible for most businesses.

After the virus is dealt with them the question will be how long will it take to recover from the economic devastation.

 

[Tobermory]

I just got back from a quick trip to the grocery store, and we wandered the aisles to see what odd (to us) products were gone from the shelves. Not a bag of flour to be seen anywhere. Flour? Really? Plenty of sugar, though. Most sliced sandwich bread was gone, but the “specialty” bread shelves near the bakery section were full. No TP but some paper towels and plenty of napkins. Odd holes among the soups. No smaller sizes of vegetable oil. There were more people than usual for a Monday afternoon, but it wasn’t crowded. But most people were leaving with full carts.