Life is restricted in many places because of the coronavirus. So what to do to pass the time?
Daycare centers and schools are closed in several federal states. Many companies have already moved their employees to their home office and some companies will now even allow their users to use PA lottery code from home. Some people are waiting in quarantine for their corona test results. In addition, we are all called on to shut down our social contacts. A lot of time in your own four walls in the coming weeks, without friends and colleagues – but possibly also with children who want to be fun. We have collected ideas to counter boredom.
First of all: There are still supposed to be people who doubt the measures against the coronavirus and think they are completely exaggerated. We would like to recommend the comment of renowned authors, who explains why the new virus is much more dangerous than the annual flu.
Here are a few ways to spend your time at home during this uncomfortable situation. Check out new games, or just start learning things you always wanted are a few examples.
Games: Time to be really bad
In the simple game Get Bad News you take on the role of Internet fraud. The goal is to get as many followers as possible for your own news portal. To do this, scandals have to be invented, excitement spread and fact-checkers denounced without being overly obvious lies.
The game mechanics are very simple. But because the content is conveyed in a clever and funny way, it is a lot of fun to click through the dialogues.
Learning: programming for the little ones
The next few days and weeks will be tough especially for children. But maybe you can inspire them for programming. With the visual programming environment Scratch, children can build games and interactive stories together with their parents – and learn the basics of programming almost in the process. In the current version, this also works on tablets.
Singing: comparison with the master
Freddie Mercury was one of the greatest singers in rock history. How far can you get to him? You can measure that with the FreddieMeter. Google and the band Queen developed the website to commemorate the incomparable voice of the artist, who died in 1991. There you can choose from five classics, for example, “Don’t stop me now” or “Bohemian Rhapsody”.
Then sing a minute of the piece. The website compares how exactly you hit the master’s timbre, pitch and melody. To do this, she uses a machine learning system that has been trained with the voice of the master. The comparison between visitors and Freddie runs entirely in the browser, so the song sung does not end up on Google’s servers. As a result, you will receive a badge with its results that you can post on social media. If you like, you can also have yourself filmed while singing.
Read: A bit of gallows humor
If you no longer want to stare at a screen, you can of course also pick up a book, one made of paper. “The Maker Guide for the Zombie Apocalypse” is probably as current as never before – even if we are not dealing with the undead.
It was written by hardware hacker and zombie expert Simon Monk; It teaches you how to generate your own electricity, save indispensable components from zombie access, build life-saving electronic circuits and thus track down the undead. The book can also be ordered in the heise shop .
Music: The daily house concert
The pianist Igor Levit, like all musicians, has to cancel his concerts. So that people still get something on the ears, he considered giving house concerts and streaming.
