Not in my browser history! This one’s staying blue.

“Vampire Capitalists” – Using this term now, thanks!

The water thing is not overblown if you consider that data centers will only use potable water and will not be able to use treated water. Per just one of many studies:

Large data centers can consume up to 5 million gallons per day, equivalent to the water use of a town populated by 10,000 to 50,000 people.

With climate change and the exacerbation of droughts around the world, this puts any source of fresh surface or groundwater at risk of drying up.

Only 3% of Earth’s water is freshwater, and only 0.5% of all water is accessible and safe for human consumption.

This is a growing environmental justice issue (and data centers encourage further energy poverty that I haven’t even addressed, much less the increasing ratio of usage for industry vs residential), and to ignore that we as humans cannot replenish or increase freshwater supplies with any meaningful scale to support life, this becomes a dire issue.

I for one would much rather have water and affordable energy for communities.

For me, the intro to Fallout 4 always gets that frisson going.

Hear hear. They’re fallible, make trash decisions, and bleed like the rest of us. It’s time we recognize them only as the scourge they are.

I’m very meh on the AWD as someone in the north. Not needed, but a/c is definitely helpful!

This is the way.

Smart approach to go to the union, didn’t think to do that. Thanks!

You’re at least making up for my inability to step away from it atm. I wouldn’t have bought into the environment had it not been for my partner, and work of course. I grew up on PS and PC gaming, just recently started using Xbox. Damn it.

I’d like to think I’m pretty decent at sticking to boycotts, but holy hell, my work platform is Microsoft and their products, and I run gaming servers for my friends online and play through game pass. This is going to be so hard for people to step back and not use their platforms and software if they’re in it like me. Not sure how to proceed.

We might not have them as you see them today, but there is building science that is centuries old that works with the environment to have architectural solutions that don’t even rely on electricity to retain heat or cool a space. There’s also the more modern passive house design. As someone born and raised in a hot climate like you mentioned, had we created a built environment like this instead of crippling ourselves to use fossil fuels and refrigerants with high global warming potential, we wouldn’t be where we are today. I agree that a/c changed the world. That change could have been a much more positive one had we taken a more practical approach!

Same. I stopped using non-Beehaw social media at the end of last year and haven’t looked back. I barely respond to texts as well. My social battery is pretty weak these days and I can only take so much irl interaction.

Neat! Sounds promising. Funny, I was just telling one of my friends about G4 (the channel) today. I miss that 2000s/early 2010s vibe. Everything just went to major commercialization too fast and it took so much fun out of the hobby. I think gamers are recognizing this nowadays and trying to claw their way out of it and this feels like a step in that direction.

Ooh this is really insightful for someone who knows little about the details of tracking and browsing on the Internet. Thanks!