*** Trust the supermarket workers. They know. ***

[Iamwhomiam]

My compliments to both of you, Mac and mentalgongfu2. How nice to read a calm, thoughtful discussion.

I hope you both remain well and manage to avoid contracting this illness.

My place is so small, I think I recently mentioned it being 200 sq ft, but that was wrong; it's about 400 sq ft and I have no room for storage of more than 4 rolls of tp. On the 18th, when I last ventured out to shop, the panic buying had begun in earnest just the day before and no resupply was possible. I, a spoiled westerner who cringed and became constipated after my first visit to a latrine when a boy scout, will resort to using a sponge if I can't buy any today, or before my last roll runs out. Fortunately, I have a bit of a half gallon of bleach, and running hot and cold water.

Sure hope I can get a couple of cans of soup, some pasta and frozen veggies. (ugh!)

[SonicG]

A friend once read a few pages of Ulysses on the john every day and just used the read pages as tp...

[Iamwhomiam]

Damn! I'm surrounded with books! And thanks to you SonicG, I have now finally found a useful use for my unread copy of Ulysses!

[Gnomad]

My compliments to both of you, Mac and mentalgongfu2. How nice to read a calm, thoughtful discussion.

I hope you both remain well and manage to avoid contracting this illness.

My place is so small, I think I recently mentioned it being 200 sq ft, but that was wrong; it's about 400 sq ft and I have no room for storage of more than 4 rolls of tp. On the 18th, when I last ventured out to shop, the panic buying had begun in earnest just the day before and no resupply was possible. I, a spoiled westerner who cringed and became constipated after my first visit to a latrine when a boy scout, will resort to using a sponge if I can't buy any today, or before my last roll runs out. Fortunately, I have a bit of a half gallon of bleach, and running hot and cold water.

Sure hope I can get a couple of cans of soup, some pasta and frozen veggies. (ugh!)

Oh boy you uncivilzed people have never heard of bidet showers have you? One of the great inventions of my countrymen (Wikipedia has it wrong, it is also Finnish invention, and most widespread here)! And yet with almost every home here equipped with these, people did a run on toilet paper as well. Never mind it is one of the main products of the country and not going to run out any time.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bidet_shower

Went to get food yesterday, some shops have installed plastic guards in front of the cashiers so people don´t sneeze on them. Paper was back in stock, and was able to get bread too - that was all out for a while as everyone stocked their freezers. Also vegan foods were well represented, which is funny. Maybe it is just that vegans are more reasonable? Or no ordinary person wants to stock up on bean products? Anyway, got plenty of oat, pea and broad bean products.

[Gnomad]

https://www.raptitude.com/2020/03/a-com ... editation/

"Not everyone has more time these days, but with everything closed, we have fewer ways to spend it. So it’s a good time to dive into home-based pursuits that make us healthier and more resilient. As one person put it, “It’s bad time for many things, but it’s a good time to read the classics, bake bread, and learn to meditate.”

I can’t help anyone with their baking goals, but I can definitely help anyone who wants to use this time to become a meditator. Given my platform and my particular skills, perhaps the most useful thing I can do for our species right now is to help some of its members finally get somewhere with meditation.

After all, it can be learned without leaving the house, it requires no equipment, and its benefits are especially pertinent right now: the ability to cultivate calm, focus, and emotional resilience in the midst of uncertainty. It can help people work better from home, and sleep better at night.

Meditation is also something you can do now — today, despite all the current restrictions on normal life ­­– that will begin moving you towards a place of less anxiety and more clarity of mind."

[Joe Hillshoist]

Does anyone anywhere personally know any healthy person under 65 who has died from COMORBID-9/11? I don't. Nor does anyone I've contacted, in Europe, the UK or the US.

Yes - just found out this evening, still quite gobsmacked by it. Younger than 40, in fact. I also know a half-dozen people spread across three US cities who may be joining him.

So as you can imagine, it's quite a relief to learn that it means nothing -- glad you're on the case.

Sorry to hear that WR. Not that words mean a lot at these times. Still... Condolences

I got a feeling we'll all be in that position soon, and I'm hoping we're not gonna be...

[Joe Hillshoist]

Does anyone anywhere personally know any healthy person under 65 who has died from [COVID]

Yes.

And edit that I'm a big admirer of many of your posts over many years, Mac. And a total advocate of asking all the necessary questions, including the most maligned ones. But in addition to the person I knew who died late last week, I have multiple friends of friends etc who know real people who are fighting for their lives or close to it.

Same to you LO.

Condolences...

[mentalgongfu2]

Oh boy you uncivilzed people have never heard of bidet showers have you? One of the great inventions of my countrymen (Wikipedia has it wrong, it is also Finnish invention, and most widespread here)! And yet with almost every home here equipped with these, people did a run on toilet paper as well. Never mind it is one of the main products of the country and not going to run out any time.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bidet_shower

In fact,bidets are ever so slowly growing in popularity in the US, even before this latest TP market contraction. Current events have increased sales substantially.

[Gnomad]

Thou in the context of corona, it should be said that if you got it, then your feces will also contain live virus, and using the shower will aerosolize it and spread it around way more than using paper.

[Joe Hillshoist]

Yes. I was about to point that out.

[Iamwhomiam]

Oh, the couth among us are familiar with bidets, Gnomad. Many are surprised by their unexpected discovery, though. My LL discovered their usefulness after experiencing severe radiation burning of his rectum during his treatment for bladder cancer, and that by coincidence only. Because he comments online whenever asked, and shops at Walmart, they send him free shit all the time - it's really amazing all the crap he's gotten for free from them. He usually gets to pick one of a few items offered and that's how he obtained his bidet, a bolt on cheap thing that works well, according to him, and brought him great relief. He told everyone he met who was going through radiation treatment for the same issue as his how wonderful they were. $59 bucks. He told me they were all sold out a week and a half ago. (Sorry about this, but...) Bidet Toilet Seats

[MacCruiskeen]

So, no one has reported supermarket workers dying "of" or "from" or even "with" COVID-19 in large numbers (or at all) anywhere in the world so far. That is very good news, for them and for us. It also tells us something important and useful about the alleged urgent need for "social distancing" and the true nature of what now threatens the planet.

Meanwhile:

AFP news agency @AFP 5 hours ago

#UPDATE Police with batons and guns have moved in to protect supermarkets on the Italian island of #Sicily after reports of looting by locals who could no longer afford food

http://u.afp.com/3qGb

#Palermo

Like the famous and wealthy painter Max Lieberman in Berlin in March 1933, the working class people of Palermo in March 2020 cannot eat as much as they feel like puking. Unlike him, they can now barely afford to eat at all.

Because they are not being allowed to work and so they have no money.

They are already hungry and they may soon be starving.

ON EDIT: This and much else besides -- some shocking events around the world are just not being reported in the anglophone media -- is of course off-topic in this thread. The news from Palermo belongs of course in the thread Health Effects of the Fearporn Lockdown, which is still locked.

I request its unlocking.

[identity]

ON EDIT: This and much else besides -- some shocking events around the world are just not being reported in the anglophone media -- is of course off-topic in this thread. The news from Palermo belongs of course in the thread Health Effects of the Fearporn Lockdown, which is still locked.

I request its unlocking.

Maybe a Data And Research thread for these reports would be allowed?

[MacCruiskeen]

No, not the Data Dump/Memory Hole. Thus is no private research hobby. This mass starvation and these riots and child-batterings are happening now and should not be shunted to one side.

[identity]

No, not the Data Dump/Memory Hole. Thus is no private research hobby. This mass starvation and these riots and child-batterings are happening now and should not be shunted to one side.

Well, we would like to see them here somewhere!