2026 aug 05

[rcjordan]

U.S. has used 'virtually all' of its long-range precision missiles: report
https://www.cnbc.com/2026/08/04/us-has-used-virtually-all-of-its-long-range-precision-missiles-report.html?link_source=ta_bluesky_link

Texas slams on the brakes for 1,800 data centers, power grid requirements are five times higher than peak record demand — 474 gigawatts of power requests are now subject to new moratorium | Tom's Hardware
https://www.tomshardware.com/tech-industry/data-centers/texas-slams-on-the-breaks-for-1-800-data-centers-power-grid-requirements-are-five-times-higher-than-peak-record-demand-474-gigawatts-of-power-requests-are-now-subject-to-new-moratorium

Millennials Say They Refuse to Care for Aging Boomer Parents. Except They Kind of Already Are.
https://www.vice.com/en/article/millennials-say-they-refuse-to-care-for-aging-boomer-parents-except-they-kind-of-already-are/

Anthropic AI agent fakes identities, targets real people in new security incident | CNN Business
https://www.cnn.com/2026/08/04/tech/ai-anthropic-openai-security-breach-intl-hnk

Cruise trips disrupted with little warning due to low water levels on Danube and Rhine | Fox News
https://www.foxnews.com/travel/cruises-thrown-chaos-drought-strands-ships-leaves-passengers-scrambling

Scientists Thought SuperAgers Had Lucky Genes. They Were Wrong
https://scitechdaily.com/scientists-thought-superagers-had-lucky-genes-they-were-wrong/

Hughes files for bankruptcy after GEO business loses ground to Starlink - SpaceNews
https://spacenews.com/hughes-files-for-bankruptcy-after-geo-business-loses-ground-to-starlink/

Anti-Zionism is not anti-Semitism, UK appeal tribunal confirms in landmark ruling – Middle East Monitor
https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20260804-anti-zionism-is-not-anti-semitism-uk-appeal-tribunal-confirms-in-landmark-ruling/

[ergophobe]

>> Millennials

Two decades of being told to work harder, spend less, and stop complaining will do something to a person

I sometimes think of  Millennials as the most rational generation in American history.

>> Hughes

I have been waiting for this show to drop. The only use case for their service is if you have no terrestrial internet and lots of tree cover but with one small hole that happens to point to the right geosynchronous satellite. In other words, enough people to support a niche blogger, not expensive satellites way out in space (36,000km away vs 500km for Starlink)

[rcjordan]

>waiting for this show to drop

Yeah, I posted that mostly for you.

[Travoli]

>Texas slams on the brakes for 1,800 data centers, power grid requirements are five times higher than peak record demand

Those are some wild numbers.

[rcjordan]

The "Disability Dongle": Why Silicon Valley Hates Me and you., Sightless Scribbles
https://sightlessscribbles.com/disability-dongle/

[ergophobe]

>  wild numbers

And popping up in all my sources. Anti-data-center articles seem to going viral. The AI industry is losing the infowar.

One thing is that people have successfully disconnected people's actual use of data centers from their perceived use of data centers.

Last night a friend was explaining that she was against data centers. "What do we need them for?"

Me: Do you use email? Do you shop online? Do you use the website for Medicare? For your bank? So you watch YouTube or Netflix? Do you back up your photos to iCloud?

She didn't realize that any of these things had any relationship to data centers. In fact, reflecting on some of the things she said, I don't think she realized that her email and photos were data.

Yes, AI is driving most of the growth. But as mentioned a while back, right now it only explains 14% of data center use and isn't expected to hit 50% until 2030.