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RonD1120

Pandemic Increase and No Fuel

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We are into a 1.5 years of the Covid pandemic with a little over half of the population vaccinated. We don't know what the Indian strain will do. And, now the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern U.S. are running out of fuel.

Stations in north GA are running out or are out already. Supply trucks are soon to be slowed down or stopped. For most of us up here our specialty physicians are 100 miles away. 

I understand it is not cool to use the term SHTF any longer. 

So what do we call this onset?

Do any of our resident expert posters in the SC have any idea our long this will last? How long does it take to recover from a major security breach in our infrastructure like this?

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(edited)
2 hours ago, RonD1120 said:

We are into a 1.5 years of the Covid pandemic with a little over half of the population vaccinated. We don't know what the Indian strain will do. And, now the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern U.S. are running out of fuel.

Stations in north GA are running out or are out already. Supply trucks are soon to be slowed down or stopped. For most of us up here our specialty physicians are 100 miles away. 

I understand it is not cool to use the term SHTF any longer. 

So what do we call this onset?

Do any of our resident expert posters in the SC have any idea our long this will last? How long does it take to recover from a major security breach in our infrastructure like this?

Maybe if the previous administration took the word of the intelligence community about the threat of Russian cyber attacks seriously, this could have been prevented. Instead they decided to cozy up to Russia and deny that they were a threat. The previous cyber attack against Solarwinds was downplayed and denied by the administration even after it was proven that the Russians were behind it. 

Edited by okalb
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2 hours ago, RonD1120 said:

We are into a 1.5 years of the Covid pandemic with a little over half of the population vaccinated. We don't know what the Indian strain will do. And, now the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern U.S. are running out of fuel.

Stations in north GA are running out or are out already. Supply trucks are soon to be slowed down or stopped. For most of us up here our specialty physicians are 100 miles away. 

I understand it is not cool to use the term SHTF any longer. 

So what do we call this onset?

Do any of our resident expert posters in the SC have any idea our long this will last? How long does it take to recover from a major security breach in our infrastructure like this?

Some day's there's an apocalypse under every rock. I suggest setting your clock back 24 hours and just watching.

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45 minutes ago, ryoder said:

Time to make friends with the neighbors who own EVs.

Or PHEV's.  They can use either gas _or_ electric.

No gas?  Charge from your house and drive around.

No electricity?  Run it as a generator and run your house that way.

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(edited)
5 hours ago, RonD1120 said:

Do any of our resident expert posters in the SC have any idea our long this will last? How long does it take to recover from a major security breach in our infrastructure like this?

My understanding is that it will probably be the end of the week until the pipeline is restored. Then likely another few days to build stocks back up. The shortages are largely caused by panic buying. this should be a wakeup call to everyone about how vulnerable supply chains are. I'm not really sure why it is turning into another partisan issue here. It could pretty much have happened anywhere. It is a criminal act.

Edited by gowlerk
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10 hours ago, RonD1120 said:

We are into a 1.5 years of the Covid pandemic with a little over half of the population vaccinated. We don't know what the Indian strain will do. And, now the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern U.S. are running out of fuel.

Stations in north GA are running out or are out already. Supply trucks are soon to be slowed down or stopped. For most of us up here our specialty physicians are 100 miles away. 

I understand it is not cool to use the term SHTF any longer. 

So what do we call this onset?

Do any of our resident expert posters in the SC have any idea our long this will last? How long does it take to recover from a major security breach in our infrastructure like this?

First off, what does one have to do with the other?

India is seeing a big spike. They have vaccinated very few, opened up their society and are now paying the price. I'm not aware that any new variants have popped up there (yet) - If someone knows of more virulent variants, or ones that the vaccines are ineffective against, I welcome correction. 
They're actually seeing a smaller per capita spike than we did here in the US back around Christmas.
They are seeing a lot more deaths, but that's mostly because their health care system isn't as extensive as the US. 

The fuel shortage is more due to panic buying than the actual shortage. Remember the "Great Toilet Paper Shortage" last year? 
Same shit. Too many people thinking they need to fill up every damned gas can they can get their hands on.

The pipeline is shut down because of 'ransomware terrorists.' Russians who have locked up the computers that control the pipeline. 

Like Gowlerk, I've heard that the pipeline should be back operational by the weekend. It will take a few days for the supply chain to catch up.

Not sure how this is even close to "SHTF".
Are there rioters in the streets screaming for gasoline?
Are there hordes of thugs coming up towards your retreat?
Are people shooting each other in the lines at the gas stations?

YOU are the one who chose to abandon society. 
YOU are the one who moved up to the mountains.

thought you were all prepared for "SHTF". 
But now you don't have enough gas to get to the doctor? 

My understanding of the 'security breach' is that it's standard ransom ware. They infect the computer and shut it down until they are paid.

Maybe now the government will take this seriously. 
I understand that Biden has told Putin that he needs to crack down on these types.

Of course, there's no way they could operate in Russia without his (at least tacit) approval. They aren't likely actual Russian government operatives, but they are at least paying protection money to the Russian mafia. 

Maybe, as noted above, having a US President who was basically Putin's lapdog wasn't a good idea.
Gotta wonder what Trump would have done had this happened when he was in office.

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20 minutes ago, wolfriverjoe said:

Maybe, as noted above, having a US President who was basically Putin's lapdog wasn't a good idea.
Gotta wonder what Trump would have done had this happened when he was in office.

Doh! Blamed it on the Chinese, or the Ukrainians, or some random Latin American country, or course.

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19 minutes ago, wolfriverjoe said:

...Of course, there's no way they could operate in Russia without his (at least tacit) approval. They aren't likely actual Russian government operatives, but they are at least paying protection money to the Russian mafia. 


Maybe, as noted above, having a US President who was basically Putin's lapdog wasn't a good idea.
Gotta wonder what Trump would have done had this happened when he was in office.

trump would parrot his usual line. Its not Russia because they mainly target western countries and their help line is in English not Russian.

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9 hours ago, wolfriverjoe said:

First off, what does one have to do with the other?

India is seeing a big spike. They have vaccinated very few, opened up their society and are now paying the price. I'm not aware that any new variants have popped up there (yet) - If someone knows of more virulent variants, or ones that the vaccines are ineffective against, I welcome correction. 

"Yet" indeed.  

The more cases there are the more mutations there will be.  It's just a matter of time until one turns out to be nastier.  Darwin rules.

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10 hours ago, wolfriverjoe said:



The pipeline is shut down because of 'ransomware terrorists.' Russians who have locked up the computers that control the pipeline. 

 

nice summary until this point.  the ransomware never hit the pipeline controls, it hit the it system.  they said they shut he pipeline down as preventative from getting it infected, but the reason was the it system was how customers paid for the gas.  no computers, no way to tell who paid and who didn't.  blame the cause of this one on not having a thorough backup system in place.  all they would've had to do is restore from a backup and they would've been up in a day.

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1 hour ago, kallend said:

"Yet" indeed.  

The more cases there are the more mutations there will be.  It's just a matter of time until one turns out to be nastier.  Darwin rules.

Well actually there is a new worrisome Indian variant; one that varies in two ways, not just one, and it varies in where it responds to antivirals. Testing so far seems to indicate that the vaccine is protective against serious illness or death, but not quite as protective against infection. 
Wendy P. 

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2 hours ago, sfzombie13 said:

i did find out that having good backups may not have mattered in this case.  got that from an expert on dfir work.  she is one of the best hackers on the planet.

Just curious why she thinks good backups may not have mattered?

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Colonial pipeline is restarting. "Colonial Pipeline initiated the restart of pipeline operations today at approximately 5 p.m. ET," the company said in a statement on its website. "Following this restart, it will take several days for the product delivery supply chain to return to normal."

As far as variants of the covid are concerned. To date the Pfizer and Moderna have shown full efficacy against all the variants. They also have new versions in the pipeline(pardon pun) with the target parts of the virus which have never mutated.

So zombie mutations are out. Gas will be flowing again. Perhaps your prayers worked Ron?

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3 minutes ago, gowlerk said:

They probably also have enough TP in the garage to soak up the spillage.

I'm sure it's just a matter of time before some moron with plastic bags of gasoline in the car, lights up a cigarette.

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1 hour ago, ryoder said:

Every time I think I have reached an understanding of just how stupid people can be, I find I'm still overestimating them:

https://www.buzzfeed.com/daves4/gas-shortage-pictures

I think you mean underestimating it.  At first I thought the pictures of gas in plastic garbage bags was fake. But after reviewing all the images of hoarders ...perhaps not.

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The pipeline incident is interesting. Not the hack or the recovery but how the media and public behaved. 

It seems that there wasn't too much of a problem for the first few days. When the media called it a "shortage" and other descriptive words, the panic started. In my area we saw most stations run dry and price increases of about 20 cents. The rural stations that would normally have 1-2 customers suddenly had 1-2 cars at each pump. It's a rural area and every mom and pop with a pickup truck, beater car, motorhome and boat were filling up. And these folks all have extra containers for lawnmowers, generators, pressure washers and garden tillers.

Two stations, next to each other, shut off the pumps at 9:30 last night. One told me that they wanted to have gas in the morning because that's when they have a lot of customers filling up and buying stuff in the store. They make much more profit on breakfast, snacks, ice, smokes and drinks than they make on gas.

About the suppliers - the pipeline supplies tank farms. Two of these farms were my customers when I was working for the power company. The tank farms have numerous above ground tanks containing the different fuel grades, ethanol, and other additives. When a truck arrives the driver puts a series of codes in the computer and the terminal fills the truck with the prescribed mix. That is where the ethanol is added (talk about a scam). Many of the brands have different additives and that is where that "magic stuff" is added.

I talked to one trucker yesterday and he said that the farm had another 2-3 days of fuel. Apparently that farm can store 4-5 days of fuel. The trucker said that the problem was the panic buying. The truckers have a regular schedule they follow to service the various stations. Many of the stations wanted to accelerate the delivery schedule but there just aren't extra trucks and truck drivers available. They were working a couple extra hours a day to speed things up, and that they would work extra days to catch up. He said that once the pipeline restarted the panic would stop and most drivers would have full tanks.

Most people won't need gas for a few days or a week+. He speculated that the stations would get refueled before most people needed gas and things would be back to normal. Those impacted the most are travelers, fisherman filling boats (common in my area), people heading out for a motorhome trip, delivery drivers that use commercial stations, and folks that drive a lot for work like lawn care, contractors and similar folks. 

There is a huge Poker Run boat event in Charleston this weekend and those boats hold 200-400 gallons. People were complaining about them filling up, while they waited in line in their F350's, with their cans and plastic bags. (5) Charleston Harbor Poker Run | Facebook 

Apparently everyone has their "need" and anyone else's need is less important. 

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(edited)
1 hour ago, billeisele said:

The pipeline incident is interesting. Not the hack

This bit is interesting. So a man is intentionally hit by a bus. But can you believe the media coverage? We're all like so OMG! 

Edited by JoeWeber

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2 hours ago, ryoder said:

Every time I think I have reached an understanding of just how stupid people can be, I find I'm still overestimating them:

https://www.buzzfeed.com/daves4/gas-shortage-pictures

In photo number 16, why are they charging $9.989 per gallon?  Because they don't have another digit on the sign.

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