Given where he is going, I'll look at Delta. Thanks guys!

I had to put my US ballot in the diplomatic bag at the embassy because first class mail to the USA is taking 2 to 3 months. There are just not any flights happening, so the mail is not flowing internationally.

I found this interesting. NZ apparently eradicated the seasonal flu this winter (April to August in Southern Hemisphere), and saved 1500 lives. They said there were only 6 'isolates' in the whole of NZ for the winter. (I'm not sure if an isolate is a person or a family group.) However, the common cold went down but then came right back up to previous levels within months. There is just going to be so much data to analyze and learn from. https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/health/coronavirus/300129782/covid19-near-extinction-of-influenza-in-nz-due-to-lockdown--epidemiologist

His four classes have these assessments: 1) Psychology: 3 short papers and one final paper 2) Math: 5 take home exams that last a week that he can use any sources he wants. They typically take 20 hours each 3) Physics: 2 take home exams + a final that last 24 hours, all open book. 4) Physics: 2 take home exams + a final that last 70 minutes, closed book, honor system. There are two time slots you can choose: during class time or at 10:30pm (which allows for all the different possible time zones.) You must get a time stamp on your test when you finish it, and then you upload it. But because it is a long test with only 70 minutes, you would be hard pressed to be looking anything up anyway, as you wouldn't have the time. DS barely finished it and he is a top student. As I said, he dropped all the classes that had video monitoring through zoom. He just didn't like the added stress, and he didn't like the reminder that everything is so odd in the covid world. He felt it was invasive, insulting, and stressful.

He knew that this could be a possibility. So he signed up for 7 classes, and in the first week found out what kind of assessment they would have. He dropped the classes that had this type of monitoring.

My son refused to take any courses that required this type of monitoring. Just too insulting.

Thanks, guys. I appreciate the range of suggestions. We are definitely going with non-stop. He is visiting with a friend for a week before travelling back to NZ where he will be in a quarantine facility for 2 weeks. So I'm just trying to reduce his risk, although he is young and healthy so would very likely be fine. He won't infect us.

DS will be travelling coast to coast. Which airline does the best with covid?

I never actually thought about the purchasing of the flu shots until NZ had to scramble back in April to get more Southern Hemisphere versions. Because Covid was still a new thing, there was not a big push to have made more than normal (and they take months to make). They were able to get an additional 500k from South America (beyond the 1+ million NZ had pre-ordered) -- I'm not sure how there were any extra at all, like who didn't want them? Then they had to source more from the Northern Hemisphere version that had just been released, and got an extra 750K. So about 50% of the public must have gotten a flu vaccine. The Northern Hemisphere version overlapped with the Southern Hemisphere version by 2 of the 4 strains, so you were kind of half protected. All new to me. Quite fascinating.

I had no idea. I am so sorry guys are are going through this. We hear stuff, but not this real life experience stuff. ☹️

My son is required to get the flu shot in order to be allowed to register for classes in the spring. It is for all MIT students, not just the ones living on campus. There are the obvious exceptions for health and religious reasons.

When we change to the most recent version of this board, our e-mails with the commercial side of Peace Hill Press became attached to the WTM board. A bunch of us, me included, changed our emails on the back end with the help of OtherJohn to disconnect our true identity from our board identity. My account is attached to a junk email with a made up address in Australia (shhhhh, don't tell anyone.)

Hunter!!! Glad to 'see' you. I feel like I haven't read one of your posts in forever. Hope all is well. Ruth in NZ

NZ just removed all restrictions nationwide. Modelling suggests we are 95% confident that we have reached elimination status again. So no social distancing, no masks, no group size limitations. Stadiums are now open. Borders, however, continue to be shut.

Oh, I like to shake it up around here!

Spring has sprung! We just had our first BBQ.

I have listened to the Great Courses lecture series on the debate between the men who wrote the federalist AND anti-federalist papers. Wow is that some serious political theory that they put into the public domain way back then. We don't see those kinds of discussions in the public discourse anymore. I think that I've listened/read so many deep thinkers on political theory in the past 3 years, that I getting to the point where everyone seems right. I see validity in ALL the arguments.

I'm working to understand libertarian viewpoints by listening to Russ Roberts on Econtalk every week. He is fascinating and so is the conservative libertarian viewpoint. But I'm countering his opinion with Capital and Ideology by Piketty, the highly progressive French Economist. My head is about ready to explode trying to reconcile the ideas of these two very intelligent and well spoken economists.

Me too. I am much broader and deeper thinker due to my interactions on this board. Also, it has radically impacted how I have educated my boys, and has also been a major player in me being able to get my older boy to where he needs to be.

Here in NZ, the entire 200 people would have been asked to go into self isolation for 14 days regardless of getting a negative test, as they were close contacts given the general mingling. Transmission can take 14 days, and also there are false negatives. Contract tracing is how you can *stop* transmission, not just how you identify who is likely to have it.

Thinking more about this. I guess the question is why did *I* find the photo odd? Was it actually the white male faces, or was it the white lab coats, white masks, and folded hands? I think I had a visceral reaction to the sameness. It was like Stepford wives or something. Maybe I would not have noticed the white male sameness, if they had all been wearing their normal clothes. So the question for me is actually *why* did the WH media staff feel like that image would bring me security, and lead me to trust that the president was well cared for. Why would a media specialist make an educated decision to design the photo that way? Especially, for a country that prides its self on individualism. This is clearly off topic, but the nuance in my head is more than "white male dominance". I have 2 white boys. I am a stay at home mother. How do I teach them to navigate this world? There is complexity here that is tricky. And my visceral reaction to the photo is actually personally interesting to me.

I will also admit to wanting to come in and support her, but then was afraid that people would pile on me. So I didn't. Now I feel sorry that I didn't find the emotional energy to do what I knew I should have done.

I agree. But I can see why she left. Her words were being picked apart. I think often when we write something out, we don't have the time to make the full nuanced points that we could make if we were talking face to face. This means that we understand our own writing as nuanced because we live in our head, and then only later realize that we have written it in a way that came across poorly. If you can get in fast and clarify, you have a chance to turn it around. But sometimes, if you walk away for 20 minutes and there is a gang up, you have lost your chance. I just think it is the nature of a online thread.

Cool! I feel a bit, Deb, that you are cross with me (I think it was the 'gasp' word). Feels a bit funny to defend my honor, but I think you could ask anyone on this board, and they would tell you that for the 12 years I have been here, I have never been a pot-stirring type of person. I consider myself quite open to new ideas but I am also willing to discuss things that maybe are not PC. This goes back to Not-a-Number's point that not all of our opinions align with typical divides. I have lived in a different culture for 25 years, so often see things differently than Americans do. But civic discourse is a part of a democratic society (by definition), and I love a good discussion, and even a good argument. All I ask is that you please ask for clarification on my posts rather than assuming the worst.

Thanks for that. We also don't seem to train enough doctors, but most of our expert doctors are either from India or from Germany it seems in my experience. Right now our medical schools have special programs to get a larger intake of Maori and Pacifica so that the doctor pool is reflective of the population, which currently it isn't. Interesting point about it being a military hospital, I had not considered that. We don't have those here.