You're right, they'll run the numbers and take whichever path maximizes their net profit -- but shuttering (or even heavily modifying) a facility that they've just invested $$$$ into is unlikely to be found to be their most profitable option. More likely they'll try to sell memory chips at a profit of +$.25 per chip in large volumes, because when you've got is a giant hammer, hammering lots of nails is what you can do best.

I wonder if anyone will start selling home systems capable of using cast-off data center RAM? It might be worthwhile if there's lots of that sort of RAM floating around for cheap.

Thus getting back the money Trump extorted for his librabry.

"Can we get it in cornflower blue?"

Don't mock it. Cornflower blue can be valuable.

" Half of those using them said they could not make ends meet otherwise, according to the latest edition of a survey that LendingTree, a loan marketplace, has compiled for years."

If you are using any loan to 'make ends meet' you are not making ends meet, you are merely delaying bankruptcy.

They specifically mentioned Flex, Zip and Affirm, which can easily reach 20% and even 36%. Basically credit card rates.

It is possible to pay these rates for a short term emergency and then take years to pay it off.

Food, rent, etc. are things you need to buy every week, not an emergency. If you cannot afford it this week, you will never be able to do it. Instead you keep getting more and more debt at these rates until you reach the credit limit, then go bankrupt.

The subject said "same problem".

The problem is that the equipment either
a) solves a problem by spending more than it is worth or
b) does not solve the problem and costs a ton.

That applies to Flock cameras - they cost too much for what they do.

Musk's data center near Memphis, KY has been illegally using pollution-producing methane-gas generators since day one even though he said they would be temporary. He does not have a permit for these generators and conveniently, the site is located near a poorer section of Memphis.

Needless to say, the EPA has not done anything about this even with its own decision of illegality.

No need to switch to generators when you can use them from day one and not have to worry about doing anything under the current regime.

Yes, just buy my pet rock / invermectin / Ponzi Scheme and it will cure what ails ya!

No I won't be specific about how it works, cause I do not know!

Sure I will give you a Guarantee - but don't expect your money back.

Instead of rare books, let us rare video games or computers. Let's say someone bought a rare version of a Ninentendo system (an early edition) and said, "You know what, I'm going to see what happens if I apply a larger and larger force to it. Let's see how long it stays intact."

Mind you, they did a 3-D scan of the system so you can digitally see it, but the physical copy no longer exists.

How many of you would raise a stink at destroying it?

If not Nintendo, pick something you like and go back to its earlier days where something is rare and someone wants to destroy it, just because.

One of the things people complain about the digital age is loss of information. Sure, these books "exist" in a digital form today, but what about in 50 years?

This is why physical books are still superior to digital. We can still read books/scrolls/clay tablets from centuries ago. It is doubtful the same will be said for digital books.

That street is a public space, and there are myriad laws and court cases allowing that to be photographed or otherwise recorded.

New legislation supersedes old legislation and jurisprudence unless that old legislation (respectively, the legislation the old jurisprudence is based on) is more binding (e.g. the constitution). Maybe it's time to start pressuring for new legislation which explicitly recognises an expectation of a certain level of privacy even in public spaces. There are places where your business' security camera isn't allowed to see the street in front of it: I live in one, although it's not in the USA.

One of the issues with traffic enforcement cameras (speeding, red light) is that they can either:

a) Do the claimed job: reduce infractions (less speeding, less running red lights)

b) Fulfill predictions and pay for themselves. Note, I did not say be profitable, I said pay for themselves. Usually they end up costing the city more money then the cost to install/maintain. At best a company is paid to manage them and they make money but not the city.

They cannot do both. If they reduce the infractions, then the tickets drop and it is not profitable. If enough tickets are paid, then that means infractions remain constant.

For this reason a lot of the time, towns just end the contract.

You have repeated the failed arguments of idiots that are killing tens of thousands of people. Everything you said has at least a kernel of truth, but smart people ignore those excuses and fix the problem.

Yes just giving them AC will not fix the problem they have to install it and use it and not go out in 90 F+ degree temperature. The cultural change is part of the fix.

YOU DEFINITELY NEED AC Fans, water, shade are not enough. The same house designs that keep the heat in during winter keep the air conditioning in during summer. Yes you may need to redesign flexible AC's for the older houses. Not impossible to do.

The fans etc. were enough 50 years ago. 30 years ago the deaths from heat starting rising and We already knew about Global Warming You are basically claiming to be caught by surprise from the most famous trend in the last 50 years.

It is NOT a few days each year - that was what it was 30 years ago. Now it is 2 months per year.

The belief that you 'do not need AC' is part of the same stupid culture that has people go out in the sun. You are not part of the solution, you are a moron that thinks "it is not that bad of a problem, we do not need to use the same techniques of people from the equator use." Given the death rate, YES YOU NEED TO USE THOSE TECHNIQUES.

The problem is not measured in days you need AC, it is measured in Tens of Thousands dead. You get more than 50,000 dead it does not matter if they all die on one day, 10 days, or 30 days. That many dead = a problem.

Part of the solution may very well be a constant barrage of radio, TV, and internet propaganda with a Heat Index telling idiots that today is the day you turn on your AC and stay inside. But you need those AC's to exist in order to do this. Trying to do it with fans will fail. The people will think "I am not comfortable, I will go to the beach." Make them comfortable, not just liveable.

Note, I live in the NYC area. I use an AC in my bedroom but a ceiling fan in my living room. The fan works great as long as the temperature is under 90, then I go read in my bedroom. Because I am not stupid enough to think "Well, the fan keeps me alive but uncomfortable, so I do not need the AC." I want to enjoy my life not suffer through it.

1) Until recently = past 30 years. That is, the number of heat deaths has doubled over the past 30 years. So NO this is not a recent problem, it existed 30 years ago. Yes it has gotten worse. So what, when you have ten of thousands of deaths in 1990s, then you fix the problem so it does not reach hundreds of thousands.
2) Yes, Europe is to the north. So what. Montreal has air conditioners. NYC has air conditioners and it is the same latitude as Madrid, Naples and Istanbul.
  In those cities new buildings have AC, but not old ones. Retrofit it you fools.

You have explained the inept reasons why Europeans have not fixed the problem, proving they are foolish. Those are not good reasons. ore Europeans died this year from the lack of AC than Americans were killed by guns. Americans have their head up the ass on guns, Europe refuses to:

1) Redesign AC's to fit the tiny windows in Europe.
2) Make them easy to install and remove.
3) Create a culture where AC is expected and people do NOT go out when the temperature is above 90 F /32 C Instead stay in air conditioned areas.

It does not take 5 years to do this. This should have been done 10 years ago. The fact that morons keep saying "We are colder and do not need it" when that has not been true for 30 years is not an excuse.
Saying "We only need it for a few days" does not matter when people are dying.
Saying "It is hotter today than ever before" is MORONIC given that we all know Climate Change is happening. Yes it is is hotter. Next year will be worse. FIX THE PROBLEM NOW.