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Author Topic: People did strange things yesterday Claude S. Ayakawa Film God Posts: 2738 From: Waipahu, Hawaii, USA Registered: Aug 2002 posted 02-28-2010 02:09 PM                        The Chilean tsunami alert was sounded statewide at 7:45 in the morning, yesterday and I had noticed people doing very strange things. First of all, I have been going to my local McDonalds restaurant almost every morning after my mother had passed away for coffee and a breakfast sandwich and read my morning newspaper there. Usually when they are busy, at the most, there would be about three people ahead of me, Yesterday was different. There were two lines with more than ten people in line and every table was full! I went to another nearby MD and found them closed due to the alert but the drive through was open and had noticed cars backed up to the entrance of the parking lot waiting to order their food. There must have been at least forty cars in line. Stores did a lot of booming business yesterday morning selling bottled water, batteries, and get this-toilet paper! Worst of all, TV coverage showed some people were surfing at Waikiki Beach at the same time the ocean was showing signs of the tsunami. If the waves were large instead of small, they would have all been killed. The police however did a good job getting people off the beach because it was clear and not packed like it was three hours earlier. By the way, business at McDonalds was back to normal this morning. -Claude  |  IP: Logged Paul Mayer Oh get out of it Melvin, before it pulls you under! Posts: 3836 From: Albuquerque, NM Registered: Feb 2000 posted 02-28-2010 02:28 PM                        I don't know why people do the things they do, especially in group-think situations like this. Panic/stress reactions I suppose. Reminds me of the crowds that gathered on SoCal beaches for separate incidents back in the mid-'80s: an expected tsunami and the arrival of the fallout wave from the Chernobyl nuclear reactor meltdown. Check out Robert Heinlein's The Moon is a Harsh Mistress for a hilarious sci-fi description of such crowd behavior.  |  IP: Logged John Wilson Film God Posts: 5438 From: Sydney, Australia. Registered: Dec 1999 posted 02-28-2010 05:10 PM                     If I was about to be killed by a 100 ft wave...the very last thing I'd want to do is eat McChunder.  |  IP: Logged Ian Parfrey Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1049 From: Imbil Australia 26 deg 27' 42.66" S 152 deg 42' 23.40" E Registered: Feb 2009 posted 02-28-2010 05:48 PM                     Hmm. What a choice. 100' wave or McChunder...100' wave..McChunder. Ill take the wave. There's at least a 50% chance of surviving that.  |  IP: Logged Joshua Waaland Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 800 From: Cleveland, Ohio Registered: Dec 1999 posted 02-28-2010 05:55 PM                     I remember on 9/11 every gas station that I drove by had lines of cars down the road. People were getting into fist fights over gas. It hadn't even occured to me to go buy gas when that happened. I think they all paniced thinking they wouldn't be able to get gas or that the prices would go up. I remember some of the gas station signs had prices of over $6 per gallon from the fear of a price hike. Those gas station owners later paid hefty fines and some even went to jail for doing that. I can't imagine what it will be like if we ever face a real invasion or threat. We will probably all do the enemy a favor and kill each other off in panic before they do anything to us. People don't think when they are in a mob.  |  IP: Logged Scott Norwood Film God Posts: 8146 From: Boston, MA. USA (1774.21 miles northeast of Dallas) Registered: Jun 99 posted 02-28-2010 06:32 PM                        What is wrong with selling gas for $6/gallon that would lead to fines or jail time? I always find it amusing that people rush out to buy milk and bread (and snow shovels!) whenever a snowstorm is forecast. Do people really not have enough food in their houses to last for a day or two if they are snowed in? And anyone who lives in a area where snow falls and who does not own at least one snow shovel and an ice scraper is just dumb.  |  IP: Logged Elise Brandt Expert Film Handler Posts: 160 From: Kuusankoski, FIN/ Kouvola, Finland Registered: Dec 2009 posted 03-01-2010 09:25 AM                     Hehe as one who went shovel-shopping last week I call it thinking ahead see I didn't think ahead and go buy a shovel Before the storm, so after when our one shovel (strangely the other could not be found, I suspect the neighbor...) broke in half after the storm, those thinking ahead had gotten ahead of me and I was left with a seriously odd shovel. All iron, heavy and hard to use. One of the last ones in the store, actually. Man I hate snow. *looking at the falling prices of real estate in Spain*  |  IP: Logged Jeremy Weigel Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1062 From: Edmond, OK, USA Registered: Mar 2007 posted 03-01-2010 10:55 AM                     quote: Scott Norwood What is wrong with selling gas for $6/gallon that would lead to fines or jail time? Simply put its called: Price gouging. There are many state and federal laws that regulate product pricing.  |  IP: Logged Bobby Henderson "Ask me about Trajan." Posts: 10973 From: Lawton, OK, USA Registered: Apr 2001 posted 03-01-2010 11:38 AM                     The fellow who was Mayor of Lawton at the time of the 9/11 terrorist attacks was one of perhaps a handful of gas station owners who raised gas prices to very high levels. Most other gas stations in town kept things at pre-9/11 rates. A big public flare-up followed. Although the Mayor didn't technically do anything illegal his pricing change cost him his job later when he ran for re-election.  |  IP: Logged Chris Slycord Film God Posts: 2986 From: 퍼항시, 경상푹도, South Korea Registered: Mar 2007 posted 03-01-2010 12:28 PM                     quote: Jeremy Weigel Simply put its called: Price gouging. There are many state and federal laws that regulate product pricing. Or if you look at it a different way: price gouging is just the old idea of supply and demand. Also, even where it is illegal to gouge you have to consider that when costs are sharply increased during disasters, that doesn't mean they did something illegal. Hint: During disasters, transportation costs for goods increase and it's not illegal to raise price due to that.  |  IP: Logged Sam Graham AKA: "The Evil Sam Graham". Wackiness ensues. Posts: 1431 From: Waukee, IA Registered: Dec 2004 posted 03-01-2010 12:35 PM                        Back in the 1980's in my SE Alaska days, we had a tsunami warning that was not expected to be a big deal for us (we were sheltered by other islands)...but that didn't stop a few hundred locals from circling a sheltered area LAKE in hopes of seeing the big tidal wave. Mind boggling.  |  IP: Logged Joe Elliott Master Film Handler Posts: 497 From: Port Orange, Fl USA Registered: Oct 2006 posted 03-01-2010 12:36 PM                     It's just the beginning of 2012. Don't worry, we'll all be dead soon. Just kidding, but there is something to be concerned about in 2012. We will have the worst solar activity since the 1950's. Some people are predicting that it could effect the electrical systems of the U.S. and other countries, possibly causing outages that may last months. People act crazy enough when out of power for a few days, imagine how they will act with no power for a month. People can be more of a destructive force than nature, when properly panicked. Here's the link to one of the many NASA web pages about it. http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2006/10mar_stormwarning.htm And one about the power problems it could cause. http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20127001.300-space-storm-alert-90-seconds-from-catastrophe.html Most experts are saying it won't be a problem if something is done NOW to protect the electrical distribution system, but no one is doing anything. You have to remember that Y2K was not a problem because the government and private companies started working on the problem a decade before hand. Thus a little hysteria saved us from having major problems. I'll be buying a generator just in case. Plus that, doesn't hurt to have a generator in the hurricane state! edit: 3-1-10 1:48:00  |  IP: Logged Jeremy Weigel Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1062 From: Edmond, OK, USA Registered: Mar 2007 posted 03-01-2010 02:32 PM                     quote: Chris Slycord Or if you look at it a different way: price gouging is just the old idea of supply and demand. But that's the problem. There was no real supply shortage and the run on gas stations was caused by one or few gas station owners that "speculated" that there would be a shortage and began raising prices which in turn caused motorists to panic and other gas station owners to raise their prices. The panic then did create a temporary shortage. This is what got a lot of station owners in trouble after 9/11.  |  IP: Logged Frank Angel Film God Posts: 5305 From: Brooklyn NY USA Registered: Dec 1999 posted 03-01-2010 02:58 PM                        I'd really like a definition of "price gouging." I just went to get a prescription filled for ACTOS Plus, a blood sugar medication. I ran out of my supply and didn't have my insurance card with me, so I thought I would just buy this refill with my own money. The pharmacist told me the price for a 3 months supply would be $780. I bought just 5 day supply (figuring it would give me time to find my card). In the interim I checked with a Canadian Pharmacy and they had the same drug from the same manufacture for $190! How come THAT is not price gouging?  |  IP: Logged Randy Stankey Film God Posts: 6539 From: Erie, Pennsylvania Registered: Jun 99 posted 03-01-2010 03:41 PM                     quote: Frank Angel How come THAT is not price gouging? Because the government says it's not.  |  IP: Logged

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