With the quarantine in place, most schools have shut down their campuses and moved to online learning. The leading platform so far is Zoom. 

But how is having all of these constant Zoom meetings affecting the students?

Chabot student Gabriel Pena said, “I don’t think my stress so much comes from Zoom, but more so from the professors.”

“For me, it wasn’t like that because my teacher didn’t know what to put online because our class was super hands-on,” says Bryan Garcia, another Chabot student. “I didn’t feel overwhelmed by any of it because it was just a PowerPoint that I can just chill and watch from home.”

This issue is not tied down to Zoom specifically, as it is more an issue of now everyone is at home, so everything else is more relaxed. Students get distracted easier and quicker, and with how sudden things were, some school districts have made participation in this last quarter optional.

“I don’t feel overwhelmed by the meetings. They are just pointless since they told us that we would just get the same grades as last semester,” says Xotchil Oropeza, a high school senior. “The meetings just feel like they just want to check in on us.”

Students have expressed how they feel about Zoom meetings. Some instructors have different opinions on how some students react to the Zoom meetings.

“The main thing that I noticed because we are all at home, there is a more relaxed setting, and when we plan these meetings to be at 8 or 9 in the morning,” says Theresa Oropeza, a paraeducator. “Few students do show up to these meetings, and when they do, they are still in pajamas, laying down in bed.”

So it seems that there isn’t that big of an issue among the students with the switch to online classes.

Now that all classes have transitioned to online, the video chat app Zoom has become more prominent, but why was it chosen above all others, and what are some of the issues it has come across in its past?

The state chancellor for community colleges had worked out a deal years ago with Zoom that allows all community college employees to have upgraded accounts.

A problem with the video platform has already been discovered. Zoom-bombing is where an uninvited participant can get into your call and spam it with various things.

This issue is due to how simple the app tries to be. It sacrifices basic privacy controls, such as kicking uninvited guests instead of banning them to keep it as the simplest and best user experience. 

Last year Zoom had a significant privacy breach for its users on the Mac platform. Zoom decided that it would be a good idea to install a web server client-side for Mac users, and this led to a major breach that was quickly found and exploited by hackers. 

When brought to the development team’s attention for zoom, they did nothing to try and fix the situation they had created; instead, they just kept focusing on new features for the platform. It took so long with nothing being done that Apple had to step in and fix it themselves. 

With this massive influx of users, it has been a surprise that the user experience has been able to keep up … or has it?

“Zoom is just really clunky and has too many security issues,” says Jacob Jenkins, Chabot student. “It’s hard to concentrate especially if you’re already not interested in the subject.”

“I feel like with Zoom, it’s difficult to pay attention because there’s so much going on in the background both in your home and in the homes of the others,” said Jheremy Morales, Chabot Student. “Don’t get me started on the fact that this is all done on PC, so as soon as I start up mine, I see Steam, Blizzard, and all the other gaming apps just ready to distract me.”

Even though the platform had some issues, it has become the go-to platform for many people during this quarantine. The question remains, is this the best platform to be using?

With the shelter in place and quarantine in place, a few gaming related companies are giving away a few free games to try and keep people home.

One of the companies giving away some free stuff is Sony. On the Playstation 4 if you go to the store you can download a digital copy of Uncharted: The Nathan Drake Collection and Journey.

They are calling it the Play At Home Initiative which has two parts to it. The first part is the two free games to download.

“Playstation will try to make those occasionally dull moments more exciting by offering Uncharted: The Nathan Drake Collection and Journey available for free* for a limited time through digital downloads…” says Sony President and CEO, Jim Ryan.

These will be available for free from April 15 to May 5, 2020. The big question here is are they going to remain on your account after the May 5 deadline or do they just get locked until you buy them after the deadline.

Interestingly enough in both China and Germany they are not receiving Uncharted but instead they are getting Knack 2.

The second part of the Play At Home Initiative is funding for independent developers.

“Independent developers are vital to the heart and soul of the gaming community…” Ryan said in an official statement. “We have earmarked $10 Million to support our independent development partners.” 

The Epic games store is also keeping up with its regularly rotating free games. Right now you can grab For The King until April 30 and the next one is Amnesia: The Dark Descent. Previously they had games like Just Cause 4, World War Z, Watch Dogs and Assassin’s Creed Syndicate.

Many people have lost their jobs or have been laid off due to the COVID-19 pandemic. With that, there has been a massive influx of people applying for unemployment. 

What has been the governments response?

With the passing of the CARES Act, there has expanded the benefits of unemployment. Normally you would only get a portion of what you make back but now with the CARES Act you will receive an additional $600 weekly.

If you currently had unemployment benefits and they were going to expire now you can request an expansion due to the pandemic.

As a part of the CARES Act, the Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA) program has been established. The goal of this program is to help those who don’t usually qualify for unemployment such as “…business owners, self-employed, independent contractors, have limited work history, and others not usually eligible…”

“I had to help everyone in my family apply and some people at work. It’s not too hard. It only takes me about 20 minutes,” says Luis Lara, an unemployed college student. “The turn around feels like it’s been a lot longer, but I get why it is.”

There has been a lot of talk about who should be using masks and which ones.

According to the CDC, everyone should be wearing a mask because you could possibly be pre-symptomatic and not even know it. The important thing is to know which mask you need to be wearing. 

The CDC recommends cloth face coverings for general use. Masks like surgical masks and N-95 respirators are a necessity for first responders and healthcare workers.

A cloth face covering can be made at home out of ordinary household items, such as bandanas or vacuum filters.

The most important thing is to follow the 6-foot social distancing when going out to minimize all contact with others, as well as washing/sanitizing your hands as often as possible.

Now that we know who should be wearing a mask it is important to know how to clean and reuse your face mask so that we aren’t being wasteful.

According to the CDC, simply washing your face mask in the washing machine will suffice. 

It is important to note, when removing a face mask one should be careful to not touch one’s eyes, face or nose.

By following these two steps it will make a great difference when trying to help halt the spread of COVID-19.

The term ‘self-quarantine’ has been popping up a lot lately with the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic. So what does it mean to self-quarantine?

According to Merriam-Webster.com, self-quarantine means to minimize any form of physical contact with others during an outbreak.

The significance of practicing self-quarantine is to prevent the potential spread of the virus. Health officials are asking 

Health officials are asking the masses to self-quarantine to reduce the speed that the virus is spreading at. If everyone keeps getting sick at the same time there won’t be enough doctors and hospital beds for those with severe cases.

What are some Chabot students doing during this shelter in place?

Paul Mussack, a Chabot student said, “I’ve got a garden going in my backyard, and some sprouts have been growing.”

The Mass Communications department held a game night where they all got together on Zoom where they played some Jackbox games.

Some prospective students have been keeping up with their studies and picking up new things like cooking and learning a new language.

Other students have just been taking this time to relax and play games like the new Animal Crossing.

There are still plenty of things to do inside and ways to connect with others. You’re not alone, we are all in this together. Do your part and stay inside.

The Invisible Man is a rated-R Scooby-Doo episode with poor CGI.

This was an entertaining movie if you don’t think about it too much. The closest thing I can compare it to is Scooby-Doo with its use of plot twists and shock factor.

The Invisible Man starts off at an awkward spot where the main character Cecilia Kass (Elisabeth Moss) is running away from her boyfriend? Husband? Adrian Griffin (Oliver Jackson-Cohen). Cecilia is shown sneaking around the house and messing with Adrian’s drink while he is asleep then she runs off into the woods to get picked up by her sister Emily.

Adrian is immediately said to be this super smart guy who started up his own tech company and apparently makes enough money to have anything and anyone he wants. It is also quickly established that he was super manipulative and abusive toward Cecilia to the point where she ran away.

Two weeks after she runs away it is reported that Adrian committed suicide and has left a lot of money for Cecilia. Cecilia was terrified of this guy to the point where she refuses to step outside and goes to stay with her sister’s friend? Boyfriend? I guess their relationship wasn’t relevant enough to tell the audience.

Now there was no real establishment of Adrian’s genius, just mentions of how he is a prominent figure in the tech world. It is just meant to be assumed by the massive seaside home with the super high tech lab underground, and a shot of a wall filled with certificates and degrees.

Throughout the film, Adrian is running about in his invisible suit ruining Cecilia’s life and haunting her at the same time. 

The biggest issue with this movie is the inconsistency throughout the film. One of the things used as evidence against Cecilia was security footage of her running away from seemingly nothing. 

Later on, when Cecilia is blamed for killing her sister in the middle of a high-end restaurant the idea of checking security tapes is never even mentioned because if they did they would see the floating knife. 

Shortly after the incident at the restaurant Cecilia is arrested and Institutionalized for her sisters murder. It is now when she finds out Adrian was only pretending to be ignorant to the fact that Cecilia was taking birth control pills. In reality he knew the whole time and was switching them out and now Cecilia is told that she is pregnant and she knows the father is Adrian.

This is where Adrian’s brother steps in again to talk with Cecilia about her finances as her “lawyer” in reality he is just there to confirm the audience’s hunch that he was working with his big bro the whole time.

While in her room Cecilia comes up with this plan to pretend to kill herself so that she could confirm Adrian’s presence. Lo and behold as soon as she stabs her wrist the invisible man tries to forcibly stop her. Cecilia Manages to stab him a few times with the pen she stole from the bother making the suit malfunction revealing his presence. 

Now this next part is the one part I thought was super cool. Guards come rushing to all the commotion and to briefly see the malfunctioning suit and this short sequence of the invisible man taking out all these guards starts. The choreography for this part was pretty well done and the fights were dope. Just seeing the fear the officers face when his own firearm is turned on him, is great. 

The invisible man then escapes the facility with Cecilia following because he had threatened one of her friend’s children. Cecilia just barely makes it intime to stop him from completely killing the kid. She uses a fire extinguisher to mark him and then proceeds to put several bullets into him effectively killing him.

Now this is where it gets super Scooby-Doo. As she goes to take off the mask, guess who, it’s the little brother and not Adrian. 

Then to the public Adrian is found hidden behind a wall in the basement of his mansion. He claims his little brother was his abuser who manipulated him his whole life. 

Cecelia determined that this was all just set up and that Adrian was and is the invisible man who has been tormenting her these last weeks. She tries to share this with the officers and her friend who still doesn’t believe her.

Cecilia now sees that no one is going to help her so she needs to end it herself. She pretends to go back to Adrian for a dinner date when in reality all she is trying to do is get a confession from him. He knows she’s wired so he says the one thing that will confirm it for her but wont hold in court. With that Cecilia steps off to the restroom. 

Once Adrian begins to grow tiresome waiting for her his throat is slit. Cecilia had gone back to their mansion earlier on in the movie and discovered another suit and hid it in the house. So now she went and used the suit to kill adrian. 

The movie ends with Cecilia carrying the second suit in a bag that is not closed and her police officer friend noticing it but for whatever reason he lets her keep it and pretends he doesn’t know that she just killed Adrian.

Currently The Invisible man is available to rent on the iTunes store for 19.99, which is crazy when you see that The Way Back, another movie that came out around the same time, is available to buy for 19.99  In short this movie was fun to watch if you turn off your brain and go for the ride.

On Monday, March 30 the Chabot put out a statement saying that extraordinary withdrawal for classes would be going into effect.

They had stated that the withdrawal will be effective starting on March 16th, and if you dropped any classes prior to that date it won’t qualify.

There is no approval system so all you need to do is apply and you can access it from CLASS-Web.

“I’m happy that the school decided to give students the option of the extraordinary withdrawal,” says Maxine Anguiano. “I’ve seen many complaints from students that they decide not to do online classes for a reason.”

In the email It stated  “Students’ academic standing will not be affected.” Course repeatability will not be affected.

There is also the possibility for a refund on enrollment fees and nonresident fees, but not for fees such as the parking pass, student representation fees, student activity fees, and health fees.                                            

“I mean it’s great knowing that if they switch to online is too rough for my physics class I can leave basically whenever,” says Chabot student Gabe Peña. 

The last day to apply for extraordinary withdrawal will be the last day of instruction, which is the week before finals. 

With the massive success of Bong Joon-ho’s Parasite, the conversation of whether to watch in sub or in dub has risen again. 

For those who don’t know the terminology, “sub” means that you watch the movie in its original language and you would read the subtitles. On the other hand, “dub” means that the audio was re-recorded in your native language, whatever that may be.

There are tons of people who have not seen the movie due to it being in sub. Reasons vary from not wanting to “read a movie” or just simply not being able to understand the language. 

This conversation is commonly seen in anime with lots of arguments on both sides.

There is the argument that things are lost in translation such as jokes or phrases when it comes to remaking the show or movie in dub but the same thing could be said about the translation for the sub.

“When it comes to live-action, dubbing is the worst. You just can’t do a voice over in a different language than the one that it was originally shot in,” says Chabot student and avid Anime watcher, Danny Loredo. “It’s just way too corny and distracts you from the film.”

There is also the fact that whoever is “dubbing” or writing the subs for whatever you are watching or playing could be censoring. There have been cases that prove that some lines are intentionally changed to issue in a form of censoring because whoever is doing the sub or the dub doesn’t agree with or approve of whatever is being said.

“Dub is just cringe for live action, translations would often result with a line being changed completely from what was originally intended,” says Chabot student frequent Anime watcher, Jacob Jenkins. “Live action dubs are awful because of how difficult it is to actually dub each line word for word due to how your lips move when speaking.”

An example of this would be Bruce Lee’s films he made while in Hong Kong the action was great but watching the movie in dub people would complain how his lips don’t match up with the words.

Will you be watching Parasite anytime soon or will you simply pass?

With the Bay Area officially ordered to shelter in place one concern on everyone’s mind is food. 

“We will most likely be resuming operations with a grab and go distribution model after and-or if the shelter in place is removed” Said FRESH coordinator Sofia Sanchez-Pillot. “However, nothing is sure as we are waiting for approval from the administration.”

The FRESH food bank hopes to resume activity once the shelter in place is lifted and plans on using a new form of distribution for the month of April. All of their events planned for the month of March have been canceled due to COVID-19.

The FRESH food bank on campus is not the only one in the area there is still the Alameda County food bank. Due to the outbreak, they have said that their sites and times are subject to change and that it is best to call them to get the most up to date information. You can call them at this number 1-800-870-FOOD.

There are various other food banks all throughout Hayward you can find a list of them here foodpantries.org/ci/ca-hayward, but due to the outbreak information can be inconsistent so it would be best to call them. All of their addresses and phone numbers are listed in the link above.