Gas stations from Florida to Virginia began running dry and prices at the pump rose on Tuesday, as the shutdown of the biggest U.S. fuel pipeline by hackers extended into a fifth day and sparked panic buying by motorists…
About 7.5% of gas stations in Virginia and 5% in North Carolina had no fuel on Tuesday as demand jumped 20%, tracking firm GasBuddy said. Unleaded gas prices, meanwhile, neared an average $2.99 a gallon, its highest price since November 2014, the American Automobile Association said.
I find it interesting that New Zealand has a similar population and area but half the GDP to the state of Colorado.
I’m guessing, but I’d say that would be partly down to the value of our dollar and the fact that Colorado benefits from being closely tied to the US economy.
Wasn’t it just a few weeks ago that we were being urged to panic buy coffee because of the Suez Canal blockage?
Possibly but they also have a 20% lower GDP per capita than Australia.
I find it much more interesting that while Colorado has had 6,537 deaths due to Covid, New Zealand has only had 26 deaths due to Covid.
True its amazing what control of your boarders can do.
I don’t think @Richard_Pearse has any boarders, unless he’s running a boarding house.
What is actually amazing is what a competent government led by a competent leader can do. After the tragedy of the Christchurch mosque shooting, New Zealand passed in a mere few weeks the kind of gun control measures that the US has been unable to do in at least 87 years, starting with the failed US National Firearms Act of 1934.
Control of the COVID epidemic is just another NZ success story.
Watch out everyone, soon the United ANZAC posters of SMDB are going to be telling us once again how their countries are the only countries in the world where you can see the mountains AND the beach in the same day!
Pft, I can see the mountains and the beach in the same view.
Here is an interesting discussion about those doing the ransomware attack:
This raises the question as to why Colonial simply didn’t pay up.
I learned to drive in the late 1970s - when fuel was in somewhat short supply, and they had odd/even gas rationing - if your license plate ended in 1, 3, 5, 7 or 9 you could only buy gas on odd-numbered days and so on. And on at least one occasion, I had to fill up my mother’s car by waiting in line for at least a half hour. Naturally everyone had their engines running 
When I heard about this, Saturday morning, I told my husband he should fill the car when he went out that day running errands, as we need to drive 300 miles this coming weekend. He forgot, but did it Sunday and saw one gas station was either closing, or out of gas. He got it right across the street.
Today, I went to a doctor’s appointment and one of the parking lot exits was blocked by cars waiting (I thought) for a traffic light. So I went to a different exit, past the end of the line, and realized it was only the right lane blocked - the left lane was wide open. Yep, line for a gas station. One across the street was similar. I drove past 2 others on the way home and both were out of gas.
Once you pay the Danegeld you’re never rid of the Dane.
The only reason this is a “viable business model” is because people pay the criminals. If no one paid this shit would stop happening.
OK, I don’t know why Colonial didn’t pay. Or, maybe they did pay and DarkSide didn’t release their computer systems. I don’t know.
Aye; the AP just posted their story a few minutes ago:
Mod here: happy to see the conversation is back on track. Let’s keep it about the pipeline and related stuff, and not En Zed politics. 
I just remarked last night to my wife that the hackers, Darkside, probably have cookies.*
…and that made me wonder if that’s how they chose their name.
*The computer software kind.
Yesterday, I saw posts on a local website talking about which stations were out of gas. This morning, my daughter posted that she was able to fill up without waiting. I guess there were deliveries overnight.
I’d just filled our two cars before this all happened, and since we’re retired and hardly drive, it hasn’t affected us. I do need to fill a couple of gas cans for our mowers, but that can wait till things get back to normal.
I saw a report this morning showing someone at a pump, putting fuel into a plastic shopping bag. WTF is wrong with people?