That’s true. He is on record stating that safety is more important than privacy. I’m sure he won’t mind.

I beg to differ. It should be required that manufacturers of such chemicals do the research to show that their product is safe before they allow its manufacture and workers to be exposed and the chemical to be dumped into the environment.

From the Guardian article linked to in OP’s article:

The EPA acknowledged in its approvals that it does not know the level at which the chemicals are “acutely lethal” or cause other serious health damage, but the agency still approved them anyway, said Jonathan Kalmuss-Katz, an attorney with the Earthjustice nonprofit, which filed the suit.

The EPA knows that the chemicals are harmful, but doesn’t know how harmful yet approved them anyway. As for the facts, that’s kind of hard to get since:

The two compounds approved by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for import and immediate use in facilities across the US are photoacid generators that also appear to be Pfas “forever chemicals”, though it is unclear because much of the EPA documents are redacted . Some Pfas are commonly used in the production of semiconductors.

Emphasis mine. They’ve approved chemicals for use in manufacturing and have redacted much of the approval notice so that no one can double check their work. If this lawsuit fails, we may not know how bad these chemicals are until they are sickening and killing workers and wildlife.

I used to think this was a bad idea because while objective numbers are great, it can be difficult to apply it to real life.

If you aren’t going to measure how much you’re eating, then neither form of label matters.

OPs article links to another article at TechCrunch . That article states:

As first reported by The Verge, the new Wi-Fi Motion feature works for advanced Xfinity gateways XB7 and newer models and is opt-in, which means users can choose whether to switch on the feature in the Xfinity app.

So it seems like for now it’s only this one model that can do it, if you believe them. Frankly, I wouldn’t sniff that opt-in claim either because I’m fairly certain I know which orifice they pulled it out of.

I use all the features available to me, but my adaptive cruise control likes to slam on the breaks when a car in the turning lane next to me brakes to make their turn. Particularly on curves and the sensors decide the car in that lane is actually in front of me. It happens so often that I’ve come to expect it. Some safety features are just not ready for prime time.

I agree. If you use a gun to kill someone, then you are the killer, not the gun. If you use an AI to lie in court, then you are the liar, not the AI, and you should be charged accordingly. The AI, like the gun, is just the tool used by a person to commit the crime.

Fascinating. After reading your post I went back and tried it. When I tap Reader Mode, it switches over fro just a second or so and then switches back to the regular page. I’ve never seen that before.

To paraphrase a commenter under that video; If you told me in 1985 that this song would bring a tear to my eye in 2026, I would have laughed at you, but here we are.

but oh boy was I fucking pissed.

Sounds like you’re still fucking pissed. Good for you. You should still be pissed.

Lol. Those flock cameras must be sending out a recognizable signal, right? Link this to a detector and it could automatically hide your plate when a camera is in range and then flip it back when. You leave range.

I concede that my grasp of the scale involved was unrealistic. However, I don’t see a viable solution. The issue, I have realized, isn’t how to generate the power, it’s the scale of power needed to run these data center monstrosities.

As you say, 7.65 gigawatts is a lot of power. According to ERCOT, Texas just set a new record for power demand in July of 91gw. So this plant, built to supply this one data center complex, will produce power equal to 8.5% as much power as the entire state of Texas required at peak demand this year (so far, anyway). 8.5% of peak demand for the entire state of Texas which, by the way, is the largest energy consuming state. Texas uses about 15% of the total power generated in the entire USA according to EAI.gov.

So if solar and wind (with batteries, of course) would be very challenging, it is at least vaguely possible. Texas is a great state for wind, solar, and geothermal power. It already generates about 30% of it’s power from renewables. Texas has a lot of sunny days and a lot of open spaces for wind farms particularly in the western parts of the state. I can think of worse ideas than covering all those oil fields with solar panels or wind farms. You wouldn’t even need to stop producing oil. You can do both.

Nuclear really isn’t viable. Starting the approval process now, it would easily be 20 years before a new plant would start producing power. No one is waiting two decades to open their data center.

The only other option to power these data centers, the one they are going with, is fossil fuels. That means multiplying the amount of toxic and greenhouse gasses being pumped into our air which is the absolute worst option for everyone on the planet.

You’re not wrong. One of the newest reactors to come on line is reactor 3 at Plant Vogtle in GA. After as much as 5 years for the approval process, the reactor broke ground in 2009 and didn’t start producing power until 2023. That’s just shy of 2 decades from start to finish. As much as my wind and solar idea is flawed, nuclear is as much of a non-starter. These folks may want to open their data center a little sooner than 2045.

Some government leaders signed nondisclosure agreements early in the process

How can this be even remotely legal. You work for the public you cannot reasonably be held to an NDA that requires you to not tell your BOSS what you’re fucking doing!

Wouldn’t it be cheaper in the long run to just put solar panels all over the buildings and parking lots, and maybe some surrounding fields, and an array of batteries to run off of at night? Maybe add some wind mills too, seeing as Texas generates a tremendous amount of power with wind already.

Utilities should, of course, be priced at the cost to generate, maintain, and distribute the resource. But this is America, home of rampant capitalism. Thus, profit is king. That means utility prices depend on supply and demand.

Data centers use so much power that it creates a resource scarcity. So the utility company raises the price per unit that electricity is sold for in those markets.

Everyone’s bill goes up when data centers are allowed in and shareholder profits skyrocket. Since the shareholders are happy, the powers that be are usually unwilling to address the problem as it is only the peons suffering.

It’s actuality a little surprising that the government is trying to address the problem in this case.

Habit and expectation can be powerful things. Also, our brains often fills in what we expect to see. A quick, peripheral glance at the toilet while expecting to see it in one state (seat down, lid up, for example) could leave one thinking they did see it in that state when in fact they didn’t get a proper look at it.

We keep the lids down on our toilets to keep the dogs and cats out of them. Never seen mold growing on them at all. We have plastic, slow-close lids though. Maybe regular lids are more prone to that?

but what if I really like the independent treasurer running but also recognize the importance of unseating the republicans in current power and want democratic nominees for everything else?

Well, I’d suggest voting in the democratic primary and selecting a bad candidate for the treasurer and the good candidates for the other offices. If you’re lucky, others will vote the same way in the primary and the bad treasurer candidate you voted for will appear on the general election ballot along with the good democratic candidates for all the other offices.

This means that your preferred independent candidate would have a better chance of winning the office when the general election rolls around as will your preferred candidates for the other offices.

Because primary elections are about party candidates that will be supported by the particular party in the general election. If you want an independent state legislature, that needs to happen in the general election where you are choosing from all the candidates.

Not even close. Heilongjiang hand cannon , dated about 1288.