Tag: parties

technology

A Mission to Make Virtual Parties Actually Fun

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We’ve been in this pandemic for a while now, and we’ve sort of gotten used to a primarily virtual social life. Meetings and classes on Zoom are adequate, the catch-up call while you tidy your kitchen works quite well, and the coworking video with the sound off is surprisingly effective. I’ve actually enjoyed being able to attend panels with people who otherwise wouldn’t be able to be in the same location. But there’s one thing that still glaringly doesn’t work—the virtual party.

Whether that’s the Zoom cocktail hour, the Google Meet birthday party, the Microsoft Teams pub night, or some other unholy combination of video platform and wishful Before-Times Social Event Name, these screenfuls of video faces fail to even modestly replicate the fun of a party. So, with the holidays and the long Covid winter bearing down upon us, I decided to pinpoint the exact nature of the problem

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new technology

Canada’s opposition parties urge Trudeau government to ban Huawei 5G, say China is threat

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OTTAWA (Reuters) – Canada’s opposition on Wednesday called on Liberal Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government to get tougher on China, including by officially banning Huawei Technologies Co Ltd’s 5G technology from being used in the country.

FILE PHOTO: A smartphone with the Huawei and 5G network logo is seen on a PC motherboard in this illustration picture taken January 29, 2020. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic

Opposition parties passed a non-binding motion put forward by the Conservatives calling China a threat to Canadian interests and values, and urging the government to draft a plan to “combat China’s growing foreign operations” in Canada.

“We call on the Liberal government to finally grow a spine and make a decision on Huawei’s involvement in Canada’s 5G network,” Conservative leader Erin O’Toole said.

5G networks offer data speeds up to 50 or 100 times faster than 4G networks and are expected to power everything from telemedicine and

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science in the news

When teens host parties, some school districts return to remote learning. But does the science support that?

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“This isn’t just a school conversation,” he wrote. “This is a community conversation. And the bottom line is that what we don’t know about this situation absolutely CAN hurt us.”

However, the decision to close a school without any evidence of coronavirus transmission within the building appears to contradict the guidance laid out by state education officials this summer and updated on Friday. Though more than 1,100 cases among students and staff have been reported in school buildings as of Wednesday, Governor Charlie Baker and Massachusetts education leaders have repeatedly said there’s been no evidence of coronavirus transmissions happening in schools.

Baker has been hesitant to directly criticize individual communities where parties have been held, including Marblehead. Asked during a press conference Friday how he felt about schools that temporarily close after parties are held, he said “local communities need to make their own call with respect to how they

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