[BLU/Officers] Webcam for peering into things

[David Kramer]

I just flew to DC and back for the World Science Fiction convention, and 
at least American was not allowing any masks with ports on them.

On 12/26/21 12:19 PM, Kurt Keville wrote:
> Unbelievable. I am so sorry for you. I will ask a guy I know about 
> these rebreather masks that he bought for air travel. Much more 
> comfortable but I am not sure the airlines recognize them.
>
> We'll make 22 a good start for you, Shankar. Brian, want to start a 
> computer company? Get Bill Buck involved? We would have to move to 
> Texas but I want to do that anyhow. :)  Be close to AMD...
>
> On Sun, Dec 26, 2021 at 11:55 AM Shankar Viswanathan 
> <shankar.viswan at gmail.com <mailto:shankar.viswan at gmail.com>> wrote:
>
>     On 12/14/21 17:01, Bill Ricker wrote:
>>     Safe Travels, Shankar!
>
>     Thanks everyone! It was a really hectic trip, but everything
>     worked out well. I was able to spend time with family that I've
>     only seen on video for the past 2.5 years.
>
>     The travel though was really brutal. My itinerary was non-optimal
>     due to the last minute nature of my flight booking. This caused a
>     lot of headaches due to various COVID requirements of every
>     transit airport along the way. On the way back, the US changed the
>     requirements of a negative test from within 72 hours before
>     departure to 24 hours before departure - later amended to day
>     before departure (to account for flights that may be leaving late
>     evening). But my flight was at 2:30am and nobody could tell me if
>     a sample from day X-2 would be acceptable where X was the actual
>     date on my ticket (nobody would guarantee results under 24 hours).
>     It was also not clear if a rapid test would be sufficient since my
>     first layover point (Dubai) required results from a full RT-PCR
>     test. They also required testing from one of the approved labs -
>     which I can understand as there could be rampant cheating
>     otherwise. But the nearest approved facility was 75 miles from
>     where I was - and it was an absolute nightmare to get to in
>     torrential monsoon rains and flooded streets.
>
>     In addition, since I had a 10+ hour layover at Dubai, they would
>     not consider me a "transit" passenger - which meant I had to also
>     meet the requirements of the UAE government as someone "entering"
>     the UAE. This required getting another test at the airport 6 hours
>     before departure - they won't even let you into the terminal
>     building till you show a negative result from that test. So I had
>     to get to the airport 6+ hours before my flight and wait outside
>     in the parking lot till they emailed me the results 2.5 hours
>     before departure (going back home after submitting the sample
>     wasn't an option since home is 2 hours from the airport).
>
>     The worst part is that interpreting the various rules is left to
>     the person at the airline checkin counter - my situation required
>     speaking to their supervisor's supervisor and begging them to let
>     me on the flight as there was no way I could satisfy all the rules
>     given my long layover. In addition, the could not verify the
>     result from the QR code on my result - the URL in the QR code did
>     not work because the website appeared to be down for maintenance
>     at that early hour. I was allowed to board only after I agreed to
>     taking another rapid COVID test at the next hop - for which I had
>     to pay the equivalent of $50 (they didn't issue me the boarding
>     pass for my final leg till I got that result and I just barely
>     made the flight).
>
>     The second worst part was wearing KN95 masks for 42 hours straight
>     - I used a fresh one approx. every 8 hours. Only break was while
>     eating/drinking at the airports or the flight. Except one leg, the
>     flights were relatively empty so I didn't have to worry too much
>     about someone on the next seat being unmasked at the same time I
>     was eating. I breathed properly only once I got home - and it was
>     a big sigh of relief after the COVID test I took 3 days after my
>     return came out negative (I had to wait an hour in freezing cold
>     in Cambridge to get the test).
>
>     So, I highly recommend avoiding international flights unless
>     absolutely essential. Also, try to get the most direct flight
>     possible - fewer (and shorter) layovers the better.
>
>     -Shankar
>
>
>
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