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That's A Good Boy: Covid-Sniffing Dogs Screen Guests At Miami Festival - MSNBC (Original Post) Rhiannon12866 May 2021 OP
I see a GREAT use for them in congress!! bluestarone May 2021 #1
Yes! Perfect idea! Rhiannon12866 May 2021 #2
Yep for sure! bluestarone May 2021 #4
Hallelujah--been waiting for this Auggie May 2021 #3
Terrific! Finland has been doing this since last year, appalachiablue May 2021 #5
Awww! Thanks so much for sharing this, can't believe I missed it when you posted it before Rhiannon12866 May 2021 #6
What a wonderful experience with the appalachiablue May 2021 #8
The thing was, Finland was not my final destination so I was pretty anxious, too Rhiannon12866 May 2021 #9
What a great trip, Rhiannon, great memories. And Putin all the more evil, with the cultural and JudyM May 2021 #10
Thanks so much! Rhiannon12866 May 2021 #11
What a rich experience on many levels! JudyM May 2021 #12
What a wonderful experience traveling appalachiablue May 2021 #13
And tonight Brian Williams closed with a report on Covid-sniffing dogs in Thailand! Rhiannon12866 May 2021 #7

Rhiannon12866

(205,552 posts)
2. Yes! Perfect idea!
Fri May 21, 2021, 07:11 PM
May 2021

These dogs will not fall for lies or be fooled by forged documents - dogs are more trustworthy than almost half of Congress, these days...

appalachiablue

(41,146 posts)
5. Terrific! Finland has been doing this since last year,
Sat May 22, 2021, 12:33 AM
May 2021

I posted an article on it then, DW I think. Bravo, man's best friend indeed.



- Finland deploys coronavirus-sniffing dogs at airport | Sniffer dogs can detect virus in 10 seconds. Oct 30, 2020. Finland has deployed coronavirus-sniffing dogs at the Nordic country’s main international airport.

Rhiannon12866

(205,552 posts)
6. Awww! Thanks so much for sharing this, can't believe I missed it when you posted it before
Sat May 22, 2021, 12:53 AM
May 2021

And you're right, dogs are so amazing, they can sniff/detect so many things - so why not Covid?? It only makes sense - leave it to the Finns to think of this first!

And of all the airports in all the world, I have actually been to the one in Helsinki! Years ago, I flew from New York to Helsinki via Finnair and the flight attendants couldn't have been nicer, went above and beyond for me. Not long into the flight I started feeling just horrible - turns out what I was experiencing were panic attacks, I later found out I was severely anemic, but I didn't know it then. And this one flight attendant (who initially thought I was Finnish) sat with me and talked to me and made the flight bearable. She actually suggested I just stay in Finland so I wouldn't have to get on another plane, LOL. If only there had been a "comfort dog" available!


appalachiablue

(41,146 posts)
8. What a wonderful experience with the
Sun May 23, 2021, 02:42 AM
May 2021

good folks of Finland, esp. the nice, smart flight attendant. What a mensch in the way she talked to you, made you feel comfortable and so much better. It means everything. I went thru a hassle once, although not as intense..

[[Also: I've seen a fair amount of Europe but not Scandi- my siblings loved it, visited friends in Sweden and traveled through Denmark.]]

My funkiest event in years of airline travel was a trip flying back to DC from NY one time on a Sunday eve. The plane scheduled for my 6 pm flight from LaGuardia to DCA was delayed in arriving, and how, but we never learned why..

I've had mostly positive experiences traveling, but this was poor.. Hours waiting at the gate, the weather was ok, but the gate staff totally avoided answers to our (passenger) questions and we weren't obnoxious. The reps. were evasive and sly like I've never seen. Usually they explain there's some factor- mechanical, weather, or whatever so you know something.

I considered going back into the city to take Amtrak (the last train out!) as I've done many times but when I asked them about this (nicely) I got the cold shoulder. Days later I realized the plan was likely all about keeping us there for the booking and bucks. Or, there could have been some harsh, new policy in place, dunno..

When the plane finally arrived in NY around 12:20 am, did I luck out. Two nice men seated next to me were good company, maybe sensed my worry and made the trip pleasant and relaxed after the needless tension. I owe them a bunch.

> Forgot- my main concern was the new JOB! I was starting the next morning that I was so excited to get. And the idea of having to call in- 'as a 'no show'- flake! on the very first day just about did me in, lol.

But it worked out. I made it!, right on time as Bonie Raitt says. Life is sweet sometimes...

Rhiannon12866

(205,552 posts)
9. The thing was, Finland was not my final destination so I was pretty anxious, too
Sun May 23, 2021, 03:44 AM
May 2021

I was actually on my way to the USSR - with my grandmother. In the mid '80s (in her mid 80s), my grandmother moved from here in Northeastern New York to a retirement community in Western NC. And my Nana was a "joiner," had become a part of a peace group that had a "sister town" in the USSR! This was their initial trip there to visit the sister town, but they needed 17 to make the trip and my grandmother suggested that I could join them to make up the numbers.

Like most everybody, I grew up believing that the Russians hated us, so I was quite anxious about actually going there, too. But I was close to my grandmother (Dad's mother) and just couldn't turn her down - and my Dad, another world traveler who had already been there, encouraged me to go, too. So that's where I was headed!

But I couldn't have been more wrong, it really was the trip of a lifetime. Not only were the people we met - mostly other peace groups - extremely welcoming, but the group that we went with were just amazing people. Many were transplants to NC, same as my grandmother, some were also members of the retirement community and others were from the town. So all were senior citizens, several decades older than I was, except for one outgoing woman who was about 10 years older than me. They were a pretty amazing group, also experienced world travelers, and absolutely dedicated to making friends - and they all became my friends, too.

We traveled all over, landed in and toured Moscow, then had the rare opportunity to visit Tbilisi, the capital of what was then Soviet Georgia (we were supposed to visit Kiev, but Chernobyl happened), then went to and stayed in Sochi (resort on the Black Sea where they had the recent Olympics) because that was the closest city to stay from our sister town - Krasnaya Polyana, 2/12 hours up in the Caucasus Mountains - which was the real point of the trip. We spent only one day there, met the mayor and his wife, the principal and the children of the local school - and my grandmother made a special friend, an elderly lady who invited the group into her home and corresponded with my grandmother after that - and her station was head of the town's Communist party! And our last stop was what was then Leningrad - Peter the Great's beautiful city - and we saw the sights there and met even more friendly people there, too.

The thing is, this was shortly before the USSR fell and the atmosphere was so hopeful back then - with Gorbachev's policies of perestroika and glasnost - freedom and openness - and even people we met on the street were friendly and excited to meet Americans, not exactly what I expected.

So it is pretty heartbreaking to me seeing what has happened there now. Under ex-KGB Putin, he wants to return to the bad old days - when there was such hope under Gorbachev. And of course all of my wonderful group is gone now - except for the other "younger person," and they all became my dear friends, I kept in touch and saw many of them whenever I visited my grandmother. They even had a special gathering during one of my visits.

So that's the rest of my story, LOL. And I can identify with your frustrating trip, as well. I am not an enthusiastic flier, and more than once I was waylaid on my trips back and forth to NC. Once we had an "emergency stop" in Winston-Salem - something was up with the plane, but they never told us what it was, and another time we were forced to spend the night, they said it was "fog."

And these days I haven't had reason to fly anywhere since before 9/11 - and I will if I have to, but I'm not in any hurry...

JudyM

(29,251 posts)
10. What a great trip, Rhiannon, great memories. And Putin all the more evil, with the cultural and
Sun May 23, 2021, 05:33 AM
May 2021

human spirit loss.

Rhiannon12866

(205,552 posts)
11. Thanks so much!
Mon May 24, 2021, 05:22 AM
May 2021

It really was memorable and such a privilege to make the trip with such amazing people. And I met some pretty amazing people there, as well - everyone we met, including just people on the street, couldn't have been friendlier. They'd hear us speaking and ask "Are you English?" And when we said we were American they'd just light up - but they didn't want to know about our country, they wanted to know what we'd seen and what we thought of theirs.

And most people younger than the WWII generation spoke English, though many with a British accent, likely depending on their teachers. We went to a Russian opera, among many other things, and I ended up sitting next to a Russian girl about my age and tried conversing during the intermission. She was from Moscow, obviously spoke Russian - and was also fluent in French and Italian, but kept apologizing that she "didn't finish" her English! I did my best to remember my high school French...

And there were WWII memorials everywhere, they were hit hard fighting on their own land. So many starved. Even in the school we visited there were memorials to the students from that school who were lost. And one woman we met still chokes me up - she'd been a nurse in WWII and I still remember her words - she said "When you go home, please tell your president that we want peace..."

Reagan was not popular there, his tough stance with Gorbachev triggered the hard-liners and put their new found freedoms in jeopardy. But they seemed to think quite a lot of Jimmy Carter...

JudyM

(29,251 posts)
12. What a rich experience on many levels!
Mon May 24, 2021, 09:59 AM
May 2021

Eye-opening politically, too. I always enjoy speaking with immigrants from there — the accent perks my ears up and I ask about their homeland… my dads folks were from around Kiev so I’m curious.

appalachiablue

(41,146 posts)
13. What a wonderful experience traveling
Mon May 24, 2021, 08:50 PM
May 2021

to Russia with your dear grandmother and the warm N.C. group. Touring cultural Leningrad, Sochi and other areas sounds so cool. Two close friends who were bridesmaids for me are of Russian background and others I know. Affairs in Russia in more recent times are disturbing for sure.

Nothing like travel to broaden outlook and personal interactions. In the 1970s, dad nicknamed me 'gypsy' (in a good sense) for traveling to Germany with a Turkish friend. Much later I learned he'd been in Munich and Bavaria during WWII, where we visited.

Once bit by the 'travel bug' it was off to the races, although overseas trips have slowed since mid-2000s, the last France. But I've racked up some fantastic experiences over the years. ('Uncertainty'- definitely not a fan but that's life!).
_______

Weird plane travel: one time returning from a Carib. trip, there were 6-7 very grim, official looking men in dark suits and sunglasses standing at every exit door on the plane during the entire flight. I figured security agents, but didn't know the reason. After landing, we found out that SC Justice Sandra Day O'Connor was on the plane- that's why, whew!

Another- heard hub telling friends about our recent flight back from St. Lucia. It seems the whole time, there was a *handcuffed passenger seated between 2 federal LE agents, right in front of us. I never knew a thing, but hub told friends the guy could have been a serious narco-criminal type, and he was ready to help out if the man tried to make a break for it...very secretive person, argh..
________

The foreign college student in the US that wanted me to go to Germany asked if we could land in Russia. I thought and said, not so good- due to politics, negative perceptions then, you know. So we stopped in Frankfurt instead, went on to Munich and environs during the summer 1972 Olympics there. Much fun.

My brother and sister's 1986 trip to Sweden and Denmark was the summer after Chernobyl in April- ick! Had a great time and thought it amusing to be sunbathing in August around locals with their shirts off in a park in Denmark when it was a toasty high 70 degrees!

A literature person, my sister likes Scot, Russian and No. European, 'Nordic' culture. (Me, not as much, more a British and French fan, also love Caribbean and Spanish/Latin culture). She liked the amber jewelry in Scandi, the design there, always was a fan of Ibsen, Chekov & Tolstoy and Romanov follower.

Well, better close out this lenghty tome, hit the errands. See you around!

Rhiannon12866

(205,552 posts)
7. And tonight Brian Williams closed with a report on Covid-sniffing dogs in Thailand!
Sat May 22, 2021, 04:21 AM
May 2021

Sounds like they're doing an awesome job in a desperate situation - and that Brian Williams is another dog lover!


Man's Best Friend Is Also Really Good At Fighting Covid - The 11th Hour - MSNBC

https://www.democraticunderground.com/1017658014

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