On Thursday those trying to access the Ubuntu website, ISO downloads, and similar Ubuntu resources on Thursday found the site "inoperable," reports Phoronix, with the disruption confirmed as a distributed denial of service attack.

"Our team is working diligently to resolve the incident," according to a Thursday post on Ubuntu Discourse — followed by a later announcement. "At this time our team continues to work on restoring affected services, most of them are now available. We appreciate your patience and understanding." Ubuntu's status page shows the Ubuntu.com outage lasting for 2 hours and 27 minutes on Friday — though with four-hour outages Wednesday (and other outages affecting other Ubuntu sites).

Today "All components are Operational," the status page reports.

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The Telegraph reports that the nutritional value of fruit and vegetables has fallen by up to 50% since the Sixties, according a new study from researchers at startup studio Deep Science Ventures.

The study "found that humans needed to consume twice the number of vegetables to get the same level of minerals such as potassium, magnesium or copper as would have been present in their food 60 years ago."



The study found that many crops had lost 20% to 50% of several key nutrients... The decrease in nutrient and vitamin value is thought to be down to declining soil quality and crops being selectively bred for their ability to grow quickly, rather than there being any focus on their health benefits... It raises the prospect that the advice to eat five portions of fruit and vegetables a day, introduced in the UK in 2003, may need to be updated. The report added that people on weight-loss drugs could be most at risk from the lack of nutrients, as the treatments could cause them to consume less food...

Nature-friendly farming techniques, such as planting crops that restore nutrients to the soil, could help improve the health benefits of vegetables, according to the researchers.




In short, according to
Will Summers, a senior associate at the firm, "we've been quietly hollowing out what's inside our food."

Thanks to Slashdot reader Bruce66423 for sharing the article.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Top executives at Anthropic, OpenAI and other AI companies "are privately gaming out scenarios for a public and political revolt after a catastrophic AI event," reports Axios, one that turns "an already wary public further against the technology and its leaders..."

These AI company executives "anticipate a large-scale event, most likely a cyberattack, that shuts down access to financial services, internet connectivity, or even power and water..." the article points out.
"Many top AI researchers and executives believe a major incident is inevitable.


"OpenAI conducts preparedness exercises where teams discuss and work through a range of potential scenarios," a company spokesperson said. "These scenarios are not treated as inevitable, but are meant to help us prepare for a variety of circumstances." Anthropic declined to comment...

Top AI planners assume Democrats, ascendant after the midterms, will move fast to shut down AI but will face significant challenges... The planning involves red-teaming for worst-case scenarios. It focuses mainly on racing to educate members of Congress. Company executives know regulation has no chance of passing right now, but still want to shape the legislation and policies U.S. leaders will turn to after a first catastrophic event....


Many AI industry insiders told Axios they believe a major event will occur in the next six to 12 months.



"Even with Democrats in control of the House and Senate, the companies see fractured politics as the norm, including within the Democratic Party."

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UN’s development arm calls for urgent action as crises could ‘throw tens if not hundreds of millions back into poverty’

Developing countries face a triple shock from the energy crisis, El Niño and surging borrowing costs and need urgent support from the international community, the UN’s development arm has warned.

Speaking before the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank annual meetings in Bangkok this week, the UNDP’s administrator, Alexander De Croo, called for “solidarity and global action”.

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Investigation launched after five broadcasters last month ceased presidential coverage after CNN, MS Now and Politico were barred from White House

The US Department of Justice is investigating whether the decision of the White House television press pool to halt coverage of the US president, Donald Trump, last month violated antitrust law, an agency spokesperson said Saturday.

A spokesperson for the department said group boycotts among business competitors might violate US law. “The Antitrust Division is simply investigating to determine whether these news organizations have violated the antitrust laws,” they said.

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Het internationaal recht staat voor een grotere uitdaging dan op enig ander moment sinds 1945, ziet de Brits-Franse internationaal jurist en auteur Philippe Sands .Toch blijft hij optimistisch en strijdbaar. De na-oorlogse juristen die hem inspireren gingen „ook niet in een hoekje zitten huilen”, zegt hij tijdens een bezoek aan Den Haag.

Al in 2002 besloot de Senaat het Strafhof desnoods militair aan te pakken. Diplomaten kijken terug in de geschiedenis en hebben advies voor nu. „Je zegt: we weten wat jullie willen. Daarna zeg je ‘neen’. En blijf je ‘neen’ zeggen.”

Finasteride is een steeds gewilder middel tegen kaalheid. Maar sommige gebruikers ondervinden mentale en/of seksuele problemen die niet verdwijnen als ze met het middel zijn…

maeshu has added a photo to the pool:

Walk around

maeshu has added a photo to the pool:

Walk around