I used to agree with your thinking. Not sure I do anymore. Rail is more efficient but needs density to be effective; if you need more than ~3 fully loaded semis a day going in the same direction rail might be viable, but it needs infrastructure that doesn't currently exist. Even close to a line, adding a spur and small transfer yard is a lot of work.

Not holding stock in any companies that don't report quarterly, especially ones that haven't earned trust through stability. I might not care about a Berkshire Hathaway, but no tech stocks would fit the category.

For Microsoft it isn't just about Anthropic. This places significant contract risk for *any* contractor that does work in both the private and public sectors, but especially in software and business services. Your costs could double arbitrarily based on political actions by a third party; this is not how a contract works.

The expensive parts of homes are those where multiple trades need to work. Rough framing is relatively inexpensive and easy in that regard. If you want to reduce the cost of housing, go with composting toilets, finish materials that are structural, and prefabricated kitchens and bathroom modules that are fully finished.

I have a reservation... but I would not be an investor. I hope they pull it off, but it has felt like "6 months away" for years.

They really need to focus on eliminating dead zones. In my quest for caffeine in the morning (7-mile journey) there are three dead zones lasting a total 20% of the ride time. I pass at least 6 towers (two full size and four microcells) on the trip.

If you want to force out data centers, make any utility connections over 5MW enter a 20-year power purchase agreement with all infrastructure costs paid up front. Do the same for water. Give the city/county the power to shut off said utilities and block access to the facility if they create a public nuisance

I think it is more alluding to the need that using AI to wholesale replace existing/legacy systems doesn't work because the outputs aren't consistent. AI can't do payroll with probabilistic checks and withholding.

The $33million translates roughly to $22-35 per square feet of data center white space. At some point, going to 3-story facilities starts to make more sense, even given the inherent complications of it. But the power side of the equation really needs to be solved by these developers, at their sole cost.

I can't remember my wife's name but I know I have a 4 digit UID.

(J/k. Her name is wifey poo.)

FWIW, our case was (professional) engineers. Part of the problem was if an EIT/FE was considered a state certification (vs a PE which is more obvious). EIT/FE are issued by the state, so it meets the letter of the law, but it does not confer any rights or responsibilities in and of itself and is just a precursor to the PE. Employees without FE or masters were always treated as hourly per the law.

Elements for "paying by the hour" include things like reporting start time and end time. We later (on advice of legal counsel) changed the term to "hourly bonus" and paid it monthly instead of each paycheck. The "looks suspicious" warrants some level of investigation, but when the name is the only thing really linked to hourly performance it is overreach.

...and how do you store said passwords, since they need to be different for everything. A memorable password that gives access to your keychain or equivalent is no more secure. Don't get me wrong, I use OpenSSL for mine, but I fully understand that if someone has time to brute-force my random four-character computer password they have full root. Sure, they need physical access, and my logic is that by that point there are plenty of easier ways to cause me pain.

My (California) company had an action taken against us for paying straight-time overtime (vs time and a half) for exempt employees (employees not eoigible for statutory overtime). It is common practice in our industry; many projects are compensated hourly by our clients, and while we tried to avoid making people work extra it was sometimes necessary). We also pay annual bonuses.

The letter of the law was pretty clear in our favor; the "judge" disagreed so we had to pay about 5x the difference in straight time and time and a half.

Ultimately there are plenty of cases of outright wage theft, and systems need to be in place to protect employees, but anything can be abused.

While I agree (dogmatically), there are signs around where I am living of workforce expansion. I can't tell if it is more people picking up second jobs, working extra hours, or something else, but I notice restaurants expanding hours, construction companies running full crews, and more professional landscape crews around.

I can't tell if the economy has picked up to match-- my Costco bill is still up 50% a month, and there aren't obvious signs that people feel like they have more disposable income. Time will tell on both fronts.