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upstart writes in with an IRC submission for Bytram:I've seen things you people wouldn't believe. Spacecraft with graphene sails powered by starlight and lasers:

Arthur T Knackerbracket has found the following story:

upstart writes in with an IRC submission for TurkeyWaddle:Thunderbolt flaw lets hackers steal your data in 'five minutes':

Arthur T Knackerbracket has found the following story:

hubie writes:The major drivers in long-term climate models are water and air contamination (through the effects of greenhouse gases), and deforestation. Quite a bit of hay and discussion has been made about the level of contribution of the former, but what is not in dispute is the latter. Between 2000 and 2012, 2.3 million km^2 of forests were cut down, which amounts to 2 × 10^5 Km2 per year. At this rate all the forests would disappear approximatively in 100–200 years. A couple of mathematical biologists considered only the deforestation part and modeled the survivability of our species given the rate of the disappearance of the forests. Their results were not very promising.

upstart writes in with an IRC submission for guy_:Washington in talks with chipmakers about building U.S. factories:

NPC-131072 writes:From Science Alert

We have had several submissions in the past couple of days about the Ferguson code.For those that don't know - the Ferguson code, also known as the Ferguson Model or the Imperial College Model, is the epidemiology prediction software and the underlying model upon which the UK government is basing all its decisions relating to combating CV-19.It appears that there is some question about the accuracy of the model and the repeatability of its predictions.Thanks to NPC-131072, FatPhil, and nutherguy for their submissions. Details begin below the fold.Read more of this story at SoylentNews.

Programming Languages: Python Developers Reveal What They Use It For And Their Top Tools:

upstart writes in with an IRC submission for SoyCow2736:France is using AI to check whether people are wearing masks on public transport:

Arthur T Knackerbracket has found the following story:

An Anonymous Coward writes:

upstart writes in with an IRC submission for nutherguy:Alien life could be growing in more places than we realised, study suggests:

canopic jug writes:System adminsitrator Chris Siebenmann has found Modern versions of systemd can cause an unmount storm during shutdowns:

martyb writes:First off, on behalf of myself and the staff here at SoylentNews, here's wishing all the Moms out there a Happy Mother's Day! (For all mine did for me, I think it should last at least a month!) [Update: apparently this is for the USA; other countries have other dates. The sentiment, however, remains the same!)Also, I hereby express the best possible wishes for our entire community as we try to navigate a path through the COVID-19 pandemic. Take the precautions you deem necessary to protect yourself, your loved ones, and all you meet. Please be careful out there!Should you, or someone you know, be suffering at this time — be it from COVID-19 or any other reason — I can attest to the support I received from the community when I had a health-related situation last fall. You guys (and gals!) are the best!Folding@Home: Our Folding@Home (F@H) team keeps chugging along! Historically, the F@H effort had been geared towards understanding Parkinson's Disease, Huntington's disease, cancer and the like. People donate their unused processing power (CPUs and and video cards) to perform simulations of how proteins fold. This, in turn, helps locate a way to interfere with the progression of a disease. For the past few months, the focus has shifted to the SARS-CoV-2 virus. In concert with that, there has been a huge increase in hardware donated to the cause. So, though our team rank has recently been slipping in the overall standings, I'm happy to report it's from the huge outpouring of support from around the world being brought to the cause.Top place on our team is held by cmn3280 with just over 300 million points. Next we have LTKKane who just passed 222 million points. And not to be outdone, Runaway1956 has been running hard and is on the cusp of reaching 200 million points (and adding about 1.5 million points per day!) Pop into the #folding channel on IRC (Internet Relay Chat) or reply to this story if you'd like to join our team!Read past the fold for info about the "Silly Season", subscriptions, site server issues, and plans.Read more of this story at SoylentNews.

upstart writes in with an IRC submission for nutherguy:The Battle Between Google Engineer James Damore and Google Is Over:

upstart writes in with an IRC submission for nutherguy:How Did Ancient People Keep Their Food From Rotting?:

upstart writes in with an IRC submission for guy_:Otters 'juggle' rocks and we don't know why:

upstart writes in with an IRC submission for TurkeyWaddle:Alphabet's Loon and AT&T will tackle global crises with internet balloons:

upstart writes in with an IRC submission for guy_:Children Are Falling Ill With a Baffling Ailment Related to Covid-19:

upstart writes in with an IRC submission for guy_:Is There a Constitutional Right to Make Robocalls?:

Arthur T Knackerbracket has found the following story:

upstart writes in with an IRC submission for Bytram:Nearly 20,000 Georgia Teens Are Issued Driver’s Licenses Without a Road Test:

upstart writes in with an IRC submission for Bytram:Virgin birth has scientists buzzing: Researchers discover a gene in honey bees that causes virgin birth:

An Anonymous Coward writes:A few weeks ago, I submitted a story about NASCAR scheduling virtual races in iRacing to provide entertainment for fans during the pandemic. NASCAR's virtual racing series ends this weekend at North Wilkesboro Speedway, a track that hasn't hosted a Cup Series race since 1996 and any racing since 2011. North Wilkesboro was one of NASCAR's oldest and most unique tracks, a 0.625 mile short track built on an incline, with an uphill backstretch and downhill frontstretch. The historic track has sat largely abandoned in rural North Carolina since NASCAR left, falling into disrepair and decay. In December, Dale Earnhardt Jr. and many other volunteers cleaned the surface of the race track to allow it to be scanned into iRacing. This 15 minute video shows North Wilkesboro Speedway was cleaned up and describes the laser scanning process used to capture the track surface for iRacing, which is why the story may be of interest for SoylentNews readers. The first race at the virtual North Wilkesboro Speedway is at 3 PM EDT and will be televised on Fox and FS1. For those who cannot watch the race on TV, NASCAR generally streams races on YouTube within a few days of the race.Original SubmissionRead more of this story at SoylentNews.

Arthur T Knackerbracket has found the following story:

Arthur T Knackerbracket has found the following story:

upstart writes in with an IRC submission for Bytram:Rhode Island, Oklahoma rank worst in national road study - Roadshow:

Arthur T Knackerbracket has found the following story:

Arthur T Knackerbracket has found the following story:

upstart writes in with an IRC submission for Bytram:Why We Focus on Trivial Things:

upstart writes in with an IRC submission for TurkeyWaddle:Coronavirus: Apple, Google to ban location tracking in joint contact tracing system - National:

martyb writes:Fishing can disrupt mating systems:

upstart writes in with an IRC submission for Bytram:Meant to Combat ID Theft, Unemployment Benefits Letter Prompts ID Theft Worries:

[20200508_220152 UTC: Update 2: "Monitoring - We've corrected the issues affecting connectivity to our Dallas data center, and we'll continue to monitor this issue to ensure that connectivity remains stable. If you are still experiencing connectivity issues, please reach out to our Support team by opening a ticket through the Linode Manager or by emailing support@linode.com.

upstart writes in with an IRC submission for Fnord666:Clearview AI to stop selling controversial facial recognition app to private companies:

upstart writes in with an IRC submission for Bytram:Source code for seminal adventure game Zork on dead mainframe exhumed onto GitHub:

upstart writes in with an IRC submission for carny:ongoing by Tim Bray · Bye, Amazon:

upstart writes in with an IRC submission for guy_:New Banksy artwork appears in English hospital's emergency department:

Arthur T Knackerbracket has found the following story:

upstart writes in with an IRC submission for Fnord666:How well can algorithms recognize your masked face?:

upstart writes in with an IRC submission for TurkeyWaddle:FDA: Makers of coronavirus antibody tests must now show tests actually work:

looorg writes:Sid Meier is apparently summing up his video games career with his memoir to be released in September 2020. Memoir might be a bit of an overstatement though, as it is also supposed to contain his design philosophy and thoughts on Gamers and the gaming industry at large.

hubie writes:Following the denial last December in the EU, the USPTO (United States Patent and Trademark Office) has rejected the notion that non-humans can apply for patents. The patent office noted that the language in US patent laws and federal regulations assumes an inventor is a person.

upstart writes in with an IRC submission for guy_:IRS Orders The Dead To Return Stimulus Money:

martyb writes:Zoom Acquires Keybase to Bring End-to-End Encryption to Video Platform:

MrPlow writes:Submitted via IRC for TheMightyBuzzard

Uber lays off 3,700 people as its ride business craters:

Arthur T Knackerbracket has found the following story:

upstart writes in with an IRC submission for guy_:European Authorities Ban Dirty Cookie Practices in GDPR Update: