I used to think like you until I read the headline, "Is Betteridge's Law of Headlines Correct?"

You have a misconception about the experiment. The point wasn't to study the fungus itself but rather the point of the experiment was to see if and how much it would attenuate cosmic radiation.

I'd like to know what left-wing racism is. Curious, not important since both are not actually real things.

This is online; I hardly went out but stores and traffic looked almost dead. Plus we might get stats later on the return rates... AI helping buy stuff people didn't really want.

Even if AI makes shopping better; it won't for long. It's not so great NOW and the enshitification of it has barely even begun. I only hear of initial deals to increase engagement and integrate marketing - they've got to make actual money at some point even though it may never pay for itself at the rate they are spending.

Perhaps the most interesting part is that the AI only needs to learn enough to fool INVESTORS which is a far lower bar than any actual intelligence.

China is building a maglev line between Beijing and Shanghai, which will then extend south. Given how fast they build conventional high speed rail, I expect that expansion will be rapid.

It's an interesting design too, and a largely domestic one. They do have a German built maglev in Shanghai, but the new EMUs they have been showing off bare little resemblance beyond using electromagnetic suspension. I'm looking forward to comparing it to Japan's electrodynamic suspension.

... no.

You're not thinking about the trillions of dollars and cheap imports that being the world's primary currency gets you. It's a form of economic colonialism and China would love to have it. So would any European country.

Try looking into STEM jobs vs those with degrees. The difference is massive. We simply do not have enough STEM jobs and that was before the push for STEM... which was a gamble on technology shaking up the future economy. There are not enough jobs to go around; just as before when there was nowhere near enough farm jobs for the number of people. Industrialization made farming too productive but it also created demand for new labor. This is not the case today. Even if there was, you'd need enough consumer demand to drive it and there simply isn't enough in large part because we have resource limits - you can't have everybody consuming at USA levels without 5+ more earths.

Those "public" universities have to fight like hell to keep funding just so they can be "public" which in some states is lucky to be 40% funded! Now is that really public when 60% is not publicly funded? It used to be more which is just one reason why costs have gone up. They also do not spend 30+% of the budget in marketing like private schools do which lowers costs. Sadly, if the state football team does well, then funding can go up but then a lot of it still is wasted on sports! Furthermore, I don't think bending the rules so a meathead can play for the team really helps.

College used to be elite. Just flunking out was prestigious; because not many could even be accepted. Now anybody can go and it's turned almost into high school; if you are connected, you can be a moron and graduate. History major? No matter, you survived it and therefore are probably worth hiring plus you have a broad general understanding of the world, can think, innovate, and teach yourself. The degree is not supposed to be job skill training. Trade schools do that.

I'm in the system. I've seen it degrade slowly over time. COVID damage continues.

Plus there are the private school scams and loan system which create a lot of the trouble. I remember my friend went to a fancy expensive school and racked up a house worth of debt... his school required the ID also be a credit card! He maxed that thing out right away!

High school used to not be a mandatory universal socialized program like it is today. Society advanced and countries with a chance at the future funded socialized high school. Now society is MORE complex than ever and it is again is time to extend high school by 2 years; with a delay for military service for the kids who mature slowly (no you actually don't learn job skills in the service; those are outliers.) Actually public service in general should be a promoted option for 16-24 year olds.

I've noticed the racists came out from hiding when Trump was in. Some are even more depraved now. It doesn't have to be a fictional character to work; as cartoonist as he is, this shit is as real as his diapers.

America is very close to handing nuclear launch codes to religious lunatics. One more election and it happens.

These people believe God will protect them from literally anything. I know because I have family like this.

They will launch those nukes. And is America's empire fails we are going to have to start doing military expansion to maintain our economy. We are already moving into Venezuela to take the oil for exactly that reason. Canada and Mexico and the rest of South America will follow. Europe will be next and eventually we'll try our chances with China.

The rest of the world ought to be interfering with the Russian interference that's getting us into this mess but they're all hoping that America will collapse letting them take over as the primary world power and letting their currency take over as the world's de facto currency. If they can pull that off then they're a billionaires get to become the first trillionaires instead of our billionaires becoming the first trillionaires.

The problem is everyone is underestimating how fucking crazy my country is. We will launch those nukes folks. Especially if the religious lunatics who are currently running our government finish the project 2025 work they've been planning for 60 years and end up in total control.

Tariffs will cause manufacturers to divert supply to countries that have the lowest tariffs on their product exports. This is what Canada is doing in any way they can including (as of this week) the construction an oil pipeline to the Pacific to serve Asian nations.

This will reduce the supply of their products to nations with the highest tariffs. This also provides them with better market certainty, than a nation that breaks existing trade agreements on a whim (like a commercial accurately quoting Ronald Reagan) to raise tariffs at the whim of a single individual.

If you trade with the US there is no certainty for any nation in how much their previously popular products will be penalized or the when or for what reason.

Manufacturers want reasonably predictable sales volumes with trading partners with trade agreements that will be kept. Otherwise, they will find such partners elsewhere.

Thus the US likely now ranks lower than any other trading partner *if* not absolutely necessary move existing product. And if a manufacturer is dependent on US imports, they are looking for new trading partners that provide stability as they reduce exports to the US.

This is basic human relations and economics. You only work with someone who bullies you and does not keep their agreements if you absolutely have to.

And the rest of the world does not. They just need time to re-align to working together and cutting the unreliable US out of their critical export planning.

The US is now the trading partner you want to get away from (like Canada is working on) if you can.

Foreign made products that have import tariffs higher than the worldwide average will reduce shipments if their manufacturers are able. This will increase US domestic prices for their products and create shortages as those foreign manufacturers move their exports to more friendly markets.

While US importers and distributors will increase the prices of such imported products for all consumers whether US manufacturers or individual consumers.

So people with degrees have opinions on their value? Yeah, please fuck off. My degree got me out of the poverty I was born into. Most degrees are pointless, but what doors did you think a history degree would open up? Look...folks can say whatever the fuck they want, but their behavior is what matters. Did I learn anything relevant to my career? Nope, not one thing.

However, many hiring managers called me and ignored some guy with no degree who was equally qualified, especially when starting out. Many bosses have pools of equally qualified engineers and choose the ones with better education for leadership positions. Why? They have their internal biases.

People can say they base decisions on merit, but the clear pattern emerges...people with degrees get promoted faster...and I know those fuckers and some are fucking useless and need to be fired.

Frankly, these speeches from Peter Thiel and others ring hallow. It makes him sound cool to thumb his nose at the educational institutions and say they're useless, but I'll wager your upper ranks are filled with well educated individuals who got promoted over slightly more qualified peers with lesser educations. It's like listening to some vapid hot chick say that race and height don't matter, but her dating history is nothing but tall white guys. Your words mean nothing, only your actions matter.

If you're young...and let's face it, no one on Slashdot is younger than 40, so I am speaking to the wrong crowd...get a fucking degree and get a useful one. You only have a small window to get one...you don't want to be getting a bachelor's degree at age 40. It's a fucking hoop you have to jump through to get a job...it's pointless and stupid, but if you're young, you're used to doing stupid things....I'd never be able to go back to school just because I value my time too much and know calculus is fucking pointless or whatever stupid math class they want to teach you these days to get a computer related degree. On the plus side, it's a great env to get laid in!!

The reasons for not travelling seem questionable though, and you could argue that it wouldn't be safe for Indian staff to travel to the US.