Adaptation to COVID world

Do it outside. Seriously. If you have a mirror you can port.

 

Our son will be taking three AP exams online today. Each has been shortened from the usual three-hour proctored session to 45 minutes on his school-issued Chromebook. These test will be by far the most important priority in our household. Hopefully, there are no technical issues and the shortened exams reflect the material that has been his focus.

I offered to try to explain what I know about AP style, but my wife said that I was not being helpful. I’m pretty sure that our son got most of his intelligence from his mom.

 

Walked to the beach for the first time since it reopened
Some of the restaurants and gift shops are opening, too
One early casualty looks to be bartenders
The places I went past aren’t allowing seating at the bar, which will become a work station

 

Went to my eighth virtual memorial this weekend for someone who died in the line of duty and didn't have to. I am to the point that everyone I know who voted for Trump falls neatly into the category of "punchable." It's a good thing I'm sheltering in place for the foreseeable future.

 

Hope they went well. Ours took one today (USGov) and had no technical issues. I've been surprised by how much of his preparation focused on the structure & format of his paragraphs rather than the content he's supposed to know. I guess the right structure & format helps show what you know, and I guess the school knows what it's doing. It's not just his school, as a friend from another school he studied with over the weekend was concentrating on the same things.

 

Our son also took the US Gov and had no technical issues. He took exams two sections of physics that he said were much tougher than Gov.

Now, he’s pretty much done with his high school career.

 

Would it be your plagueoff beard?

 

Use it in good health!

 

So how is life going for the cruise ship employees stranded aboard their companies’ ships while they wait to be sent home?

Not good.

A group of 14 crew members on the Navigator of the Seas cruise ship, currently docked in PortMiami, says they have gone more than 72 hours without food as part of an ongoing hunger strike they hope will pressure the cruise company into speeding up efforts to send them home.

The crew of Romanian citizens on the Royal Caribbean International ship, which has been at sea for about two months, has grown so weary of waiting to see proof that they’ll be sent home that on Sunday morning, at least one crew member called 911 regarding arrangements for him to return home, said a spokesperson for Miami-Dade Police.

According to crew members who spoke with the Miami Herald on the condition of anonymity, striking employees on the Navigator of the Seas are getting desperate to see official proof that they’re being sent home after being trapped at sea since March 13, and amid reports of crew member deaths under circumstances that are largely unclear.

“At this moment, we feel that we’re all hostages,” said one crew member, who asked not to be named for fear the company will retaliate and delay repatriation. “This company needs to understand we are not boxes of food that can be moved around.”

The latest fatalities unrelated to COVID-19 infection were three crew members on separate ships operated by Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. and Carnival Corporation who died in recent days before they could be repatriated, the companies confirmed in statements to the Herald.

One was a 39-year-old Ukrainian woman on the Regal Princess who jumped overboard and did not survive, according to Princess Cruise Line spokesperson Negin Kamali. Her body was recovered from the water in Rotterdam in the Netherlands, where the ship was docked since Saturday to repatriate crew members.

Another was a man aboard the Carnival Breeze, which is on its way to Southampton with plans to disembark crew members throughout several European cities. The cruise line did not disclose the cause of death “out of respect for his family,” Carnival Cruise Line spokesperson Chris Chiames said.

The third was a man on Mariner of the Seas, which is anchored off Royal Caribbean’s private island in the Bahamas. Royal Caribbean Cruises spokesperson Jonathon Fishman said the crew member died of “natural causes.” Fishman did not respond to requests for comment about whether the crew member had been tested for COVID-19. Late last month a crew member jumped off Royal Caribbean’s Jewel of the Seas ship while it was near Greece; his body was never found.

Fishman said the Romanian citizens on the Navigator of the Seas are scheduled on a charter flight from Barbados to Romania on May 21. Fishman said the company has repatriated close to 15,000 of its 70,000 cruise ship employees, and plans to send home most employees by the end of May. (Around 100 per ship are needed for operations with no passengers.)

But the fasting crew members were moved from the Anthem of the Seas ship — where they worked before the industry shut down on March 13 — and were originally scheduled to go home on a charter flight May 16. Without explanation, Royal Caribbean International CEO Michael Bayley announced in a letter obtained by the Herald that they will be moved again to the Enchantment of the Seas ship and return home on May 21.

The company told crew members for weeks that the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention had banned crew repatriation flights, before Bayley reversed course and agreed to sign the required CDC agreements to send crew members home on private transportation. The company has also provided an employee assistance hotline to offer crew members mental health support.

Royal Caribbean Cruises executives have signed the required repatriation agreement with the CDC for 20 crew members — all U.S. citizens. In contrast, Carnival Corp. has signed for 884 crew members from Argentina, Peru, Ecuador, Canada and the U.S. Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings has signed for 3,238 crew members from the Philippines, Indonesia, Dominican Republic, St. Lucia, Honduras, Argentina, Canada, and the U.S.

MSC Cruises has not agreed to repatriate any crew members through the U.S.​

Royal Caribbean in particular can go get fucked.

Desperate cruise employees say they’re losing hope amid reports of overboard deaths — Miami Herald