quarantine
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Reddit hides r/Russia from search and recommendations due to misinformation
The subreddit has been quarantined.
South Korea's self-isolation app had a serious security flaw
More than 160,000 people have downloaded the app designed to help arrivals to South Korea stay in quarantine.
A barber's tips on keeping your quarantine mane in check
No one knows how much longer it will be until we can reopen the nation's barbershops. Here's how to survive quarantine without going full Grizzly Adams.
How to livestream the majesty of nature from your couch
Just because you're sheltering in place during Earth Day doesn't mean you can't remotely tour the best zoos, aquariums, and nature preserves on the planet.
After Math: Look at all this free stuff
It's not hard to go a stir crazy during the quarantine, these five companies are helping with free entertainment and apps.
The best online STEM resources, according to a veteran teacher
After the schools shut down last week, my social media feeds and inbox lit up with color-coded homeschooling charts and agonizingly long lists of everything I should use to educate my kids. Fear, panic and an overwhelming sense of grief settled over me as I considered not only how I was going to explain what was happening to my curious kindergartener and second grader but also how we were going to manage working, schooling, living and staying sane and healthy in our tiny condo for the foreseeable future. As veteran teachers, my husband and I vowed to maintain normal as best we could. We'd stay virtually connected to family and friends and let the kids play and be bored and eat cookies and watch movies and attempt whatever work their school sent home. To calm myself, I composed my own non-exhaustive list of resources, called "Things I might actually use if the internet doesn't die" and sent bits of it to a few friends, who exhaled relief and gratitude. "Thanks," they said. "I might actually use these!" Here it is, reconstituted. I hope it lets you exhale too.
Uber offers 14 days of financial assistance to drivers with COVID-19
There have been a lot of questions about how so-called "gig" workers like Uber drivers will be affected by the coronavirus pandemic and what, if anything, companies will do to help. Today, Uber detailed its plan for compensating drivers if they are unable to work because of a COVID-19 diagnosis or a mandated quarantine. In either scenario, Uber will offer its drivers and delivery workers 14 days of financial assistance.
NASA maps show the effect of a quarantine on air pollution
"This is the first time I have seen such a dramatic drop-off over such a wide area for a specific event," said NASA air quality researcher Fei Liu. She made that statement after NASA's Earth Observatory released maps showing a dramatic drop in air pollution in the Wuhan region. Industrial output in the region would have already been down significantly due to the Lunar New Year. However, a government quarantine designed to stop the spread of the coronavirus disease COVID-19 made pollution drop much more significantly and for a longer period.
South Korea will track cellphones to keep an outbreak under control
South Korea is grappling with an outbreak of the frequently deadly Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS), and it's taking some drastic technological steps to keep this bad situation from getting worse. The country plans to track the cellphones of people under a MERS quarantine to make sure that they don't leave home and infect others. It's an "unavoidable measure," the country's Deputy Prime Minister claims, and there's some evidence to support his warning. A man broke quarantine last month and flew to China, for example, preventing confirmation of his sickness until it was too late. Still, the loss of privacy likely won't sit well with the roughly 2,300 affected Koreans -- it's a technological reminder of the isolation they face until they're deemed healthy. [Image credit: Ed Jones/AFP/Getty Images]
Max Payne 3 cheaters get thrown into the miscreant quarantine
Rockstar's approach to cheaters in Max Payne 3 isn't "get rid of them" so much as it is "humiliate, punish and get rid of them, those lousy scoundrels." Any player confirmed to be using hacked saves, modded games, leaderboard circumvention tactics or other exploits in Max Payne 3's multiplayer will be ceremoniously quarantined in the "Cheaters Pool," which is kind of like jail, but all of the inmates have guns.The cheaters will only be able to play with other ne'er-do-wells in the pool, but they can be redeemed and re-enter the civilized multiplayer shooter world. However, if they step out of line again, they'll be serving life in the Cheaters Pool.
Apple cracks down on MacDefender, prevents malware downloads with daily quarantine list
Preconceptions aside, Apple products do occasionally spread viruses, and not just the biological kind, which is why Cupertino saw fit to equip Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard with a quarantine function to safely set malware aside. This week, however, Apple's kicking those digital white blood cells into high gear, updating that quarantine list daily with a new background process. The company's primarily got its crosshairs on the recent MacDefender scare, of course, but on the off-chance malware starts coming out of the woodwork, it sounds like you won't have to wait for a formal security update to be forewarned of the dangers. If privacy's your primary concern, however, you can also opt-out -- take a gander at our source links to see how it's done. [Thanks, Jake]
Blu-ray releases on February 17th 2009
What a pleasant surprise this week's releases are as there are more than a few titles worth picking up. The most notable is Changeling which is in the IMDB top 250 of all time -- which is no easy feat for a new release since IMDB's top 250 is weighted against them. The other title really worth a look is the latest Ridley Scott flick featuring Leonardo DiCaprio with Body of Lies. There are also a few solid catalog titles this week including Gandhi and Capote. What is shocking to us is that there are still some titles only released on DVD. We just don't get why any studio would leave at least 3 to 6 percent on the table. Those included in the MIA list this week are Religulous, Choke, and Dead Like Me. Changeling (Universal) Body of Lies (Warner) High School Musical 3: Senior Year (Disney) High School Musical (Disney) Quarantine (Sony) Capote / In Cold Blood (Sony) Gandhi (Sony) Kramer vs. Kramer (Sony) The Midnight Meat Train (Lionsgate) The Passion of the Christ (Fox)
Rumor: GTA IV DLC to bring quarantine, zombies [update]
var digg_url = 'http://digg.com/gaming_news/GTA_IV_DLC_could_be_a_zombie_outbreak'; Update: It most definitely is a zombie outbreak, but it's a multiplayer tweak and not the enigmatic DLC, Rockstar confirms.Original:A new Eugenics Inc. "ad" has appeared on RockStar Social Club, issuing a vague quarantine order locking down the mysterious company's compound due to a contagious disease outbreak. Eugenics Inc. is a physical location in Grand Theft Auto IV, located in Bohan, though it doesn't play into any part of the game ... yet.The quarantine announcement is actually the second Eugenics Inc. display to appear on Social Club, following a "Sperm for Cash" ad posted in April (now removed), which, to date, has never been an actual in-game activity. Obviously, Rockstar is proliferating the company's existence for some purpose, right?Last we heard, Microsoft confirmed the exclusive GTA IV DLC for this fall -- so, any day now. The quarantine posting (unobstructed text after the break) has sparked some speculation that the DLC could be tied to Eugenics' mess. Namely, a potential zombie outbreak! With art assets already in place, what's to stop Rockstar from turning GTA IV into a "28 Days Later" scenario? Keep your eyes peeled.[Thanks, Alexander]
Superthreats: Quarantine, Ravenous, and Power Struggle
Quarantine Superthreat"In 2019, Respiratory Distress Syndrome, or ReDS, is here, and it's not going anywhere." Outbreaks of ReDS have become commonplace, initially in tropical and sub-tropical regions, then spreading to other cities such as Stockholm where over 15,000 citizens are living with ReDS and its chronic, severe symptoms. Relief organizations struggle to handle the situation as it is presently, yet ReDS is spreading to other regions of the world while remaining incurable. Superstruct Challenge: What can we do in our own communities to provide ReDS relief and support?
iQuarantine X cures minor Leopard annoyance
iQuarantine X is reported to be able to remove the "are you sure you want to open it?" warning from your Leopard system. The quarantine feature of Leopard (which alerts you the first time you run a downloaded program) isn't a big enough annoyance to me to dish out the $5 for the program, so I haven't tested it out. But reports from readers are that it does exactly what it says: no background scripts or launchd processes, just some lean code to make the annoying warnings disappear. Given that a free demo of such a program would kind of defeat the purpose of charging, you have to pay the $5 charge to download iQuarantine X. If the quarantine feature bugs you more than giving up a few cups of coffee, have at it. Thanks Bobtentpeg!
