Catch up on stories from the past week (and beyond) at the Slashdot story archive

 



Forgot your password?
typodupeerror

Submission + - Chernobyl's Radiophile Fungus (sciencealert.com)

j_f_chamblee writes: There is a black fungus thriving on the outside of the sarcophagus of Chernobyl's infamous Reactor 4. And it may be thriving because of the high radiation, not in spite of it. From the article:

"That fungus is called Cladosporium sphaerospermum, and some scientists think its dark pigment – melanin – may allow it to harness ionizing radiation through a process similar to the way plants harness light for photosynthesis. This proposed mechanism is even referred to as radiosynthesis."

Submission + - UK to remove right to trial by jury for most charges (theguardian.com)

DesScorp writes: The UK Ministry of Justice will move to eliminate the right to trial by jury for all but the most serious charges in a controversial overhaul of the British court system:

Criminals will be stopped from “gaming the system” by choosing trial by jury in order to increase the chances of proceedings collapsing, the courts minister has said, promising to enact radical changes to limit jury trials by the next election. Drug dealers and career criminals were “laughing in the dock” knowing cases can take years to come to trial, Sarah Sackman said, while warning that inaction would be a road to “chaos and ruin”. Ministers will legislate to remove the right to trial by jury for thousands of cases in one of the biggest and most controversial overhauls of the justice system in England and Wales in generations – promising the changes will significantly shrink the court backlog by 2029. The Ministry of Justice is braced for a backlash from barristers and the judiciary as it presses ahead with the measures to tackle a backlog of nearly 80,000 cases, which will create a proposed new judge-only division of the crown court to hear some cases. Sackman said the “stakes are incredibly high” as she prepared to announce early next month that vast numbers of cases will now be heard by judges and magistrates rather than juries, a response to recommendations in a review by Sir Brian Leveson.


Submission + - Man jailed over possession of 'extreme' music

An anonymous reader writes: Man jailed over possession of 'extreme' music

“A man has been jailed over his music collection which included 'extreme right-wing' recordings .. Norbert Gyurcsik was .. was sentenced to 40 months for each offence at Worcester Crown Court. The terms will be served concurrently.”

Comment Let them fail (Score 1) 25

I had to read the blurb several times, but if these companies don't want to play by the same rules and regulations that real markets do, let them. Let them sell whatever they want in whatever fashion they want, without protections.

Then, when the daily occurrence of crypto theft occurs, they can be on the hook for making the "investors" whole again. Or not. Depending on what "exemptions" are given it's possible they may not owe anything, in which case the "investor" will have learned a valuable lesson:

Trade on a real market with real securities which has regulations designed to protect everyone involved.

Comment Re:Arduino "commitment to open-source is unwaverin (Score 4, Informative) 45

paul,

“one man speaking with adafruit’s social media accounts”

lazy. limor was quoted directly in the article and you still couldn’t credit her.

your claims aren’t accurate. we were asked to step in and build arduinos during the period when the guy falsely claiming an mit phd took over. we helped stabilize the platform and stayed a reseller until demand and circumstances shifted. every board, up until the last years, was shown to arduino before release to see if they wanted to make it, support it, etc. for example we presented feather, they were not interested.

“maybe some of the points have some merit?”

the concern isn’t imagined. the open source community is vocal because the issues are real there are a lot of people in the arduino world, discords, and dev channels raising the same flags. you not being in those spaces doesn’t mean it does not exist. you’re not tuned into these conversations. but at least don’t erase limor’s words and claim it's just me or downplay the people who are doing the work.

Comment What? (Score 4, Insightful) 166

each additional year companies delay upgrading equipment results in a productivity decline of about one-third of a percent

How is that even measured? Someone needs to tell us how not having the latest and greatest phone reduces productivity. The four basic uses are making/receiving calls, texting, checking email, internet. How can a 2024 model phone possibly be that less "productive" than a 2025 model?

As for PCs, the vast majority of people use Word, Outlook, and a browser (usually the memory hog Chrome followed by Edge). Again, explain how a PC which is three years old reduces productivity in this day and age.

This article almost sounds like an ad to get people to buy things to keep the economy rolling rather than a serious discussion.

Comment Re:Windows is NOT a professional operating system. (Score 1) 103

I have the issue where not every mouse click is recognized. On anything. Web page, form, MS Office software, third-party software, Windows itself, text field, you name it. I'll click somewhere, the mouse directly on what needs selected, and nothing happens. I have to click again to do what I want.

I first noticed it in W10 and it has continued to W11.

Comment Re: We're in the group (Score 4, Insightful) 214

The "pandemic" showed that the kids could do the schoolwork in 3 hours, so what were they doing the rest of the day?

Learning social skills by having to talk (how horrible!) to other people face-to-face. Interacting with people from different households (the travesty!). Hearing people with opposing points of view (madness!). Getting off their fat ass and walking from class to class (will this never end!). Not looking at their screens (this is the last straw!).

Comment Re:Imagine if the COVID vaccine cultists (Score 5, Insightful) 316

You mean a country with one of the highest aged populations had a sudden increase in deaths when a highly contagious virus was going around? Well done, Dr. House.

Let's try all the excess deaths of people who weren't vaccinated. Or the ones where coroners deliberately changed death certificates or didn't bother to count covid deaths at all. How about fake reporting to keep the covid death count lower than it actually was?

Comment Re:Imagine if the COVID vaccine cultists (Score 4, Informative) 316

For the 1000th time, having a "reaction" listed on VAERS _does not_ mean the vaccine caused the reaction. That is not how it works nor what that site is intended for.

But keep spreading misinformation if it makes you feel better and so you can keep your anti-vax credentials.

Slashdot Top Deals

You're not Dave. Who are you?

Working...