Lawn grass and other urban landscape irrigation in Texas use approximately 1.9 million to 4 million acre-feet of water per year, which is between 619 billion and 1.3 trillion gallons annually. The total water used for all irrigation in Texas, which includes agriculture, is about 7.6 million acre-feet per year (over 2.4 trillion gallons).

The exact total for 2024 is not available, but estimates project that Texas data centers will use nearly 50 billion gallons of water this year

10% of lawn usage not even counting all the rest of water usage. And we do a shit job of recycling water too in this state.

Power - for each new data center going up they are putting in green sources of energy. And newer chips are requiring less power and cooling overall. But that aside, home and commercial power uses more than data center power - by a lot.

While a definitive statewide total for 2024 home power consumption isn't available, Texas is the leading electricity-consuming state in the U.S., and its residential sector accounts for a significant portion of total energy use. In 2023, Texas consumed 492.8 terawatt-hours of electricity overall, with 2024 estimates showing slightly higher monthly demand in the summer months, for example, over 46.4 million megawatt-hours in June.

The total data center power consumption in Texas for 2024 was an estimated nearly 22 million MWh per year, or approximately 4.5% of the state's total electricity consumption for that year. ERCOT's 2024 forecast projected a total demand of 29,614 MW from data centers, crypto mining, and other large loads.

400,000 mw for homes 000,030 mw for data centers crypto and others

Prior to the November 2024 Elections I:

* Emailed at least 1,000 people
* Called 100 people
* Texted 100 people
* Knocked on 25 doors

I legit begged people in my community to vote and to vote blue. For early election and on election day, very few people showed up. The apathy is real. Now, as we watch the prices soar higher than a SpaceX rocket, the Epstein Files Release demolishing toner cartridges and our Health Care system is about to be dead and buried... Suddenly, "The People Remain Concerned"?

But what does "news" want you to think?

* Rising Prices are a Good Thing(tm) https://thehill.com/homenews/h...
* Everyone Knew Epstein, No Big Deal https://www.sbs.com.au/news/ar...
* Health Care Subsidies are Bad https://www.cato.org/blog/six-...

I seem to recall Carter tossed over prices, Hillary tossed over Bill's Cucumber in the Closet with an Intern and Kerry mauled over health care.

The doublespeak, double standard is very real. And despite what some may think, there are many that have opposed these issues. But Trump did hack an election and perhaps prior elections were hacked as well. Who can say? The institution has been corrupted by money and power at least 100 years, if not more.

For the highest office in the land, absolute power corrupts absolutely.

In fact, Elon Musk broke far more serious laws and is getting away with it. Rules for thee and not for me, much?

All Aaron Schwartz did was download something using campus WiFi and shared it with other like-minded people. And this is against an industry notorious for abusing access and information to scientific researchers. The various claims that Aaron Schwartz was a violent information criminal is a LIE. There are far worse abuses performed DAILY by the billionaires. They’re called Facebook, X and Tik Tok.

I know correlation isn't causation but damn what a coincidence. The more plastic that we use, the dumber it is that we get. Weird, huh?

Meantime why is PDF editing like legit hard? There is no decent (and I mean like really good) open source programmatic PDF editor. Sucks.

Yeah so...it's a bit more expensive than that. However, I think that you're talking about the people's homes not the city budget. And in this instance, I would suspect that you are partially correct.

These folks are largely the same folks that:

1. Put through Prop 13.
2. Demanded that modern building codes not be applied to them.
3. Demanded low insurance rates or exemptions from insurance

These are the same folks that have now lost everything. I feel for them, I really do...but I cannot pity them. For example, the lady that was screaming at the Governor - she had two homes that she lost. Many of us have already been through losses and got absolutely no help. FEMA will buy you a hotel for a few days and that's it. Then the joke's on you - if your home insurance isn't large enough or if you don't qualify for loans because outside of the rich, who does? And all of this because a few people didn't feel like paying for their portion of city maintenance.

So now many of us are forced to be renters - and that's the pipeline that these multi-million dollar homes have generated. These people leveraged their homes and put many of us into renters situations. And now they're complaining?

Thou dost protest too much

Nicolas Cage in Lord of War said it best: There's nothing more expensive for an arms dealer than peace ... There are over 550 million firearms in worldwide circulation. That's one firearm for every twelve people on the planet. The only question is: How do we arm the other 11? ... You know who's going to inherit the Earth? Arms dealers. Because everyone else is too busy killing each other. That's the secret to survival. Never go to war. Especially with yourself.

Weird how we fired millions of people and now software-based systems are breaking. I am sure that correlation isn't causation in this case.

You know...this. And also, here's the bit that always gets me.

I get a call from my friend in Portland. He's young (24). His badge wasn't working and no one had the key for the building. They were calling around trying to find someone with the key. I said...Just call a locksmith. It never occurred to him.

So anyway - there are other ways of transacting that doesn't involve your favorite currency.

We are so quick to blame computers. But I recall paper maps used to have 'errors' that drove people into buildings and lakes. But we've been so focused on technology that we have forgotten the lessons of the past. If it can go wrong, it will.

Even a few years back, cars were getting stuck in the mud due to a maps error - despite passing large signs stating that they should not go this way. The problem isn't so much that the technology (or even paper maps) is wrong. The problem is that critical thinking and observation skills are no longer taught.

And, it seems, the next US administration will go to great lengths to not teach those very skills that could save lives.

Too soon.

I agree with you. I really do not understand the hate on Slashdot for a new financial - money really - programming language. Bitcoin is sorta like C whereas Ethereum is more like C++. It's possible to implement a useful financial enterprise using Ethereum -- with complete transparency.

But ... it seems like the majority of people on Slashdot (and a few others) are intent on sticking with opaque financial models. And that's okay too. But the hate is deep on here.

In truth, US Dollars is the currency of choice for anyone committing crimes. Banks are frequently guilty of money laundering and ICIJ has a very large trove of data that documents financial crimes. But all of this is ignored the moment someone whispers, "Bitcoin" on here. Suddenly, all of the hate is directed to this new language.

And -- it's now been around for ten years and they are still predicting the death of Bitcoin. Even as the majority of new Financial Degree graduates are quitting Wall Street and going to CryptoCurrency and Blockchain firms, they are still parroting blatant lies that would make anyone blush.

For an industry dedicated to proving the truth (because Logic is required at all times when programming), I find it astounding that lies can still be pervasive.

Given how some "crypto bros" are still basically free...He probably forgot to bribe all the politicians.

Printing Press: Jonathan Swift complained about political fake news in 1710 in his essay “The Art of Political Lying"
Radio: Orson Welles’s War of the Worlds broadcast in 1938.
Printing Press (v2 - IMAGES!!): “Dewey Defeats Truman.” 1948
TV: Infomercials. Need I say more? Amirite?
Early Internet: DMHO. 2004
TV v2: Plane crashes. Bing Dang Ow. 2013
Internet (with AI!!!): This

Remind me again where the fire is?

WTF Happened in 1971 indeed. The worst thing that Nixon did was export 'Capitalism' to China. And then China took all the wrong messages from it.