Topic: Coronavirus outbreak

@ThanosReXXX The governor of Texas was just telling folks to not hoard things, as well. He specifically said this is not like a hurricane. Folks are letting panic get the better of them, but that’s not hard to do with wall-to-wall media coverage. My mother called me earlier because she had worked herself up. I had to reassure her that her current lifestyle and few instances of public exposure put her at no more risk than the typical flu season, and that I already get all the reports issued by health agencies through my job.

@HobbitGamer Yeah, I hate it when people start panicking. I can forgive and to some extent understand the elderly, especially if they have already experienced famine and/or war times in their lives, but the rest of the population not so much. And those are the same idiots that will ultimately start plundering and looting, whenever the opportunity arises.

@ThanosReXXX No, I think you're missing the point. You're describing mass market commercial America, not the Italian towns that were (still are, but not the way they were decades ago.) That's kind of my point, "American" is all those things you describe. Those who know, know where to get the REAL thing. The Italian towns. And there is no comparison. And it ain't cheap because it's all imported ingredients. Of course all of this may be past tense as of 2020. As for coffee, the mass market American garbage is coffee flavored sugar milk. The "ethnic" version of espresso exists but is now downplayed in favor of a new Scandanavian inspired trend, here, in coffee. The good old fashioned Italy=coffee believers among us refers to it as "coffee for tea drinkers." Rest assured, not all of America thinks Starbucks = coffee. Just like not all of America thinks Nintendo=kids. Just....the mass market. We have a great real coffee environment as well just under the surface. BUT not the stand-up cafes densely packed in that real Italy has which is part of that cultural closeness that facilitates this spreading so much there.

But suffice to say, yes, here, I consume a lot of food from Italy, made on equipment from Italy, by people and friends from Italy. Even if the mini plague never overwhelms the area (but it will), the effects in Italy alone will certainly have a significant impact on my general routines. We have plenty of the real stuff and people. Northern East Coast only. If you know where to go. It's a region with a close connection to Italy, traditionally and presently.

Wow, the Dutch are into the TP thing too? WHAT IS WITH THE TP THING?! Sounds bigger than Hobbit's Hawaii theory. I think the rumor was that the TP comes from China. Ironically everything ELSE comes from China but the TP generally doesn't. At least here it's mostly US made. it's the one thing we AREN'T going to run out of. The logging industry will keep on churning.

Pasta makes sense, most of that there is probably imported from Italy. Here, the good ones are, but there are plenty of US-wheat made alternatives because the imports get kind of expensive. The import expense wouldn't be meaningful in EU. Rice....do you get yours from China and/or Korea directly? Can't think of where you grow it in Europe....so that explain that. Here most of it comes from Cali (ironic, right?) Fun trivia, the Japanese name for USA is (米国)－it translates roughly to "rice country." We grow more rice than they do. Bet you wish you were in Cali again huh? Then again given LA....maaaybe not.

Just make the pasta. It's better and more realistically authentic anyway. Half that dried stuff is made for export. Not that someone used to completely inauthentic sugary Americanized versions if Italy would know about such things, eh?

@ThanosReXXX lol. No apology needed.
I’ve been getting the same cartoons on my phone.

@1UP_MARIO Truth. Rude folks.

@NEStalgia I don't know, maybe they think they can make face masks from the toilet paper, once the actual masks run out, err... I mean now that they actually HAVE run out...

@1UP_MARIO Well, like with the virus, better safe than sorry. And I can't be pointing a finger at you, and then turn around and post a cartoon myself, so I felt like I had to mention it, at the very least.

@ThanosReXXX It really is a bizarre phenomenon. A blizzard is coming! Quick, HOARD ALL THE SHOELACES!!!! I mean if it were causing rampant intestinal issues I could understand it. But a disease that has no connection to toilet paper, a product mostly made domestically.....It just makes no sense. Funny thing was it all happened in a day or two.

I wonder where people will get all the microwaves to cook all that canned food? Those are all made in China and Korea......

@NEStalgia Yeah, it's completely weird. And like with the virus, the hunt in the media is now on concerning who started it and why. For me, it was a completely surreal experience. I've never seen empty shelves in a supermarket. That's something that I've only ever seen in the news, happening in far away countries, but not over here. And if the normally stoic, down to Earth Dutch can be transformed into hoarding zombies, then the end of sanity truly may be nigh...

@NEStalgia Wait...you microwave canned food?? I thought you claw it open with a pocket knife and scoop it out with your fingers. Then you wash your hands.

@1UP_MARIO
What is X and x mean ?

Closed and closed

@HobbitGamer Or canceled...

EDIT:
Or, in this case, it could also mean "confirmed" or "prohibited".

@NEStalgia Traditionally a lot of pasta is dried in Italy as well. Fresh pasta and dried pasta aren't the same. Not in a bad way, each has its uses. Same with egg vs no egg pasta.

Anyway, the supermarket this afternoon was busy, but I didn't see anyone hoarding anything fortunately.

@ThanosReXXX empty shelves are a regular occurrence here, when big storms are coming, be it hurricanes or snowstorms, even moderate ones, that's the usual response. So in that regard there's nothing abnormal about it other than that its not localized. But the choices of shelf consumption like tp is just weird.

@HobbitGamer no, no hand washing, obviously. Otherwise they wouldn't need to tell us to do that specifically.

@Octane yep i know that. But the fresh stuff is still the real one that matters.

@NEStalgia Oop, I forgot. Only wash when told.

I’m headed to the grocery store just to get my normal weeklies. I’ll let y’all know what the TP situation is like here in the Confederacy.

@NEStalgia No no, that's not what I'm talking about. The people I'm referring to were and are calling for a deliberate culling or an extermination of swathes of the population intentionally. I really don't want to think you're among those kinds of people.

@Octane Yup, that's exactly why I made the comparison to Y2k. If you know the full story behind that - the fears people had were absolutely justified. It's just that people took action to fix it successfully, the crisis was averted and then the uninformed public called it a hoax.

At least not all of the time

@NEStalgia Well, YOU may be used to empty shelves every now and then, but I've certainly never seen it over here, so for me it IS quite weird to have that experience.