anagama - Slashdot User

Submission + - Exelon Nuclear Power Near Chicago on Emergency Bac (chicagotribune.com) 1

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anagama

on Tuesday January 31, 2012 @02:44AM

anagama writes: "Main power was lost to the Byron Nuclear Plant about 95 miles from Chicago. The number 2 reactor is being allowed to vent steam in order to cool it — the steam contains reportedly safe levels of tritium. It was only five days ago that Exelon posted a 16% rise in 4Q net income, apparently less than expected due to maintenance costs."

Submission + - Fukushima Reactor Design Questioned Since 1972

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anagama

on Tuesday March 15, 2011 @03:24PM

anagama writes: "The NY Times is reporting that as early as 1972, the design of the containment system used in the Fukushima plant's reactors was questioned by the US Atomic Energy Commission. The article includes a link to the original 1972 memo, which pointed out that the boiling water design with the pressure suppression system below the reactor, was a method of building containment more cheaply by reducing pressure reduction within the reactor, but that if the pressure reduction system failed, breach of the containment was more likely than in simpler and stronger dry containment systems. In other words, the BWR design was a cost-cutting measure. Thankfully though, Josef Oehmen has assured us that absolutely nothing bad can happen with this design and everyone should just relax."

Submission + - Federal Judge Rebuked for Porn Distribution 3

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anagama

on Friday July 03, 2009 @11:44AM

anagama writes: "While Robert Zicari and Janet Romano got a year and day for obscenity, Federal Appeals Court Chief Judge Alex Kozinksi only got a non-criminal slap on the wrist for running a private website which he inadvertently made publicly accessible and included "two naked women on all fours painted as cows". While there are clear differences between Zicari/Romano's distribution intentions and the judge's intentions, it is interesting that his possession of simulated bestiality porn is treated so lightly."

Submission + - Frys Exec Gambles Away $167m in Secret Kickbacks

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anagama

on Sunday February 15, 2009 @07:57PM

anagama writes: "According to the LA Times article: Debt finally topples a Las Vegas high roller: "Siddiqui, who made $225,000 a year as a top Fry's Electronics executive, once lost $8 million in a day." Apparently, high rollers are often enticed by casinos with free jet rides, prostitutes, rooms, etc. etc. It is not clear from the story to what extent Siddiqui availed himself of such services. Siddiqui was fired by Frys when they discovered he had been strongarming suppliers into paying for product placement kickbacks to his own personal shell companies: "One company, Phoebe Micro Inc., sold Fry's $80 million worth of goods between 2003 and 2008. The firm gave Fry's a $4 million discount, the IRS said, but paid Siddiqui's company $24 million.""

Submission + - Reiser's Fate Soon To Be Known

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anagama

on Tuesday April 22, 2008 @01:38AM

anagama writes: "It looks like Tuesday morning will mark the end of the Reiser trial. For those who RTFA, the whole trial was live blogged and if you have eight or more free hours, feel free to catch up. There is some interesting analysis by a former defense attorney, Jay Gaskill. He writes on Reiser's decision to take the stand: "As I've told new trial attorneys-in-training over the years, there is no circumstantial evidence case so weak that a testifying client can't snatch defeat from the jaws of victory in a few improvident minutes, hours or days on the witness stand." Plainly, he isn't taking a positive view of the outcome possibilities and wasn't really swayed by the Platypus Defense. It's worth noting, as Resier's lawyer (William DuBois) correctly pointed out in closing, that basing a conviction on odd behavior and circumstantial evidence doesn't always amount to justice: c.f. Cyntia Sommers conviction for murder by arsenic poisoning despite no evidence that she poisoned her husband. The conviction was based on odd behavior, getting a boob job and promiscuous activity after her husband's death. Most interesting however, it turns out there was no arsenic poisoning at all, just a lab error showing a concentration so high as to be physiologically improbable. She was released with nary an apology for her murder conviction and near 900 days in jail after new testing showed no arsenic at all."

Submission + - Corporate Encouragement for Sharing Your WiFi

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anagama

on Sunday October 07, 2007 @03:21PM

anagama writes: "BT to UK customers: Share your WiFi... please! Conventional wisdom is that one should lockdown wifi, your ISP doesn't want you to share your connection, that person checking email outside the coffee shop ought to be arrested. Here is an alternative model: "BT will encourage its three million broadband users to pick up a FON router and start sharing signals. The router provides two channels: one for public access, and one for access by the owner. The public channel is bandwidth-limited so as not to disrupt the user's own connection. Other "Foneros" can access the public channel for free, while non-Foneros can pay a few dollars a day to use the access points.""

Submission + - Forgent Patent Troll Loses Again

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anagama

on Sunday August 12, 2007 @01:57AM

anagama writes: "Forgent Networks, a patent troll, got the slap down by a TX jury in May when it invalidated a patent Forgent held regarding video teleconferencing over telephone lines, and today, its motion for a new trial against EchoStar was denied. In fact, the court awarded EchoStar $90k in costs. Forgent probably isn't crying that much though, it already extorted $28m from other defendants. Some of you may recall that Forgent made a business out of cheating companies for jpeg use — till their patent was largely invalidated on that front as well."

Submission + - Deepwater sunk perhaps with youtube help

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anagama

on Saturday March 17, 2007 @03:32PM

anagama writes: "You may recall some time ago a slashdot topic about Mike DeKort, an engineer from Lockheed Martin working on the Coast Guard's Deepwater project (basically, construction of new ships). He released a whistleblower video on Youtube outlining problems and cover up/apathy related to the ships under construction. Well, in the news today, looks like the Coast Guard is taking over the project and ending its contract with Lockheed Martin and Northrup Grumman. Perhaps the (digital) pen is mightier than the sword (manufacturer)."

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