Post
by SSSdave » Thu Mar 12, 2020 2:57 pm
As a hard core skier, there is a massive ongoing thread on the coronavirus on our skiing board that includes a great many US national and international skiers. Lots of closures and abandoned travel plans being discussed. Like I went up to The City yesterday to street hike and just a day later there are 20 plus pages of posts. I myself have non-refundable $200 airfare SJC to DEN on Southwest for April 2 returning April 7 in order to ski Winter Park where I'd bought a 3 day pass for $150 that is looking increasingly doubtbful, so may take a hit there. But as a single retired senior living alone with SSA checks coming in every month, a modest savings account, without a need to go to a workplace, with a very healthy, fit body, am much better off than large numbers of others.
Here in the San Jose area, given my tour Monday visiting several big stores like Walmart and supermarkets, there has already been a run on certain supplies like alcohol based hand cleaners, isopropyl alcohol, and some foods. At Walmart numbers of middle aged women were busy moving about in gabbing groups with shopping carts bulging with A to Z supplies. I managed one of the last gallon containers of aloe vera (to make hand cleaner) for $6 and 8 pounds worth of rice, but cheap isopropyl alcohol seems long gone everywhere. Some of that was no doubt scooped up by ebay sellers and local businesses that need it for industrial cleaning uses, after the depleting hand cleaner news hit last week as they are now selling such online at huge mark ups. Probabably available still in smaller Central Valley city areas but not here in this huge urban area. At least I have maybe 18 ounces left that I would like to find more of.
Was expecting to drive up after this weekend to ski some fresh powder as this large cold storm exits, however even that is becoming questionable as day to day news becomes more dire. Something I wrote on a couple other forums:
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Beyond all the illness misery, death, economic, and lifestyle issues, the disease does have value in forcing society and its people to understand vulnerable issues of what a global viral epidemic in this era of world wide travel, especially business travel, a global corporate economy, and overpopulation entails.
Decades ago when most western nations were relatively independent economically, notably for everyday consumer goods, and particularly food, and especially given how our frequent human wars tended to isolate countries, a nation might isolate themselves by simply closing borders and international travel if it came down to that. Today as massive corporations race to lowest costs by buying globally, and politicians set up fair trading policies, we cannot isolate ourselves those ways that is a weakness. In the USA, much of those goods and increasing amounts of food is being imported. We still most importantly have the majority of our food production so in the worst situation, we will still be able to eat though may not have a toothbrush or toothpaste to brush our teeth. Many other countries given endless population growth, especially in the third world, have lost much of their domestic food production, so in the worst situations could be facing famine.
For years I've been complaining about the economic and political powers of growth and development driving endless population growth, especially as it relates to irreversible damage to our fragile blue water planet and its life. And have warned that unless we human beings work together for a static population much lower than already exists with static sustainable economic goals, we as a species may be doomed.
