I'm actually thinking that it would be "make VOIP calls look local and avoid mass shutdowns for spamming people with scam calls."

They then rent the service out globally to said scammers from China, India, even Pakistan and North Korea.

It doesn't need to be a whole abandoned building - just a specific abandoned spot within it. If anything, a building still otherwise in use would be superior, more noise to hide the power draw in.
I've watched some some specials on NYC buildings. "Useable" floorspace getting walled away or even just forgotten behind a locked door happens regularly. Inheritances, will disputes, remodeling snafus, and more.

As for the use of the servers themselves - I'm guessing they were used to make scam calls and such using local phone numbers.

I would argue the coma started during the Wilson Administration.

When you are right you are right. Like usual, if you read the Constitution you find out that these "Stand Alone" agencies likely aren't Constitutional! What you say? Well there are just 3 parts of the government defined - you won't find those agencies described or the mechanisms Congress created in the Constitution if you go look. So they have to exist SOMEWHEE within one of the three branches. If the President is the on that gets to nominate the "principal officers" that are the folks that run these agencies - then they should serve at the President's largess. He is allowed to fire any other principal officer - say the US attorneys - at a whim without any reason. Logically the members on these agency boards, etc. fall in the same bucket.

What I've found honestly as an occasional user of them, is the LLM's are great at writing small functions. One, small, discrete, easily describable task with clear inputs and an output. It sucks at doing things more complex than that.

You still need somebody who knows how to actually take all those functions, check them over, and then implement actual program logic to make something useful overall happen.

Samsung still has DEX (Desktiop EXperience) available for its phones. You can either plug it into a computer and use the phone like a program within a computer, or you can connect it to a USBC docking station with HDMI, mouse, and keyboard attached and use the phone in a desktop style.

It works decently well enough. I wouldn't want to use it full time but I've used it occasionally (typically when my home internet is out. My desktop doesn't have a wifi card since I use ethernet, so I can't really pair the phone as a hotspot - I just connect the phone and use DEX).

There is a concept in computing where a certain spec is good NOW, but will not be good in the future. Rather than replace the entire computer many would rather just increase the power of their current one where its lacking.

Also, by preventing outside ram installation, Apple is free to charge whatever premium they want on more RAM. If they're the only way to increase the ram on a machine then if they decide you're going to pay an extra $500 to go from 8gb to 16gb, then you're stuck.

Something isn't over just because it has peaked. While I wish there was more, compared to when I was younger there are a lot more shows available.

What I do kinda dislike though is these mini-abbreviated seasons that have been adopted on new shows. I know its due to expense, but 10 episodes feels kinda short for a season when the shows I grew up with would have 20 to 26 episodes per season. And while I can deal with 10 - a lot of shows have been trying to get away with "seasons" of 6 episodes or less. 6 episodes of TV isn't a season - its a long movie chopped into pieces.

I do think with concepts. They get translated into words to post here, because that's how slashdot works. I think about the square-cube law, I'm actually picturing a 3D cube in my head.
What you haven't done is make any acknowledgement of the concept that while a sand battery might not be efficient at the scale of a house (for example), the bigger it gets the more efficient it becomes. A house might not be enough space - though there are plenty of thermal mass solutions for houses, such as masonry heaters. But this is a district system, 1-2 orders of magnitude larger.
Look at the history:
1. You reply to me, wondering how it can be efficient due to heat loss.
2. I reply, mentioning that the square-cube law means that it won't actually have that much surface area relative to the volume, giving several examples (like an office building).
3. "All heat exchangers are fundamentally surface increase mechanisms." does not imply philosophical heat exchangers that include unintended exchangers or even insulated structures, which are designed to minimize surface increases.
4. This is storage, not a designed radiator; they've optimized for the opposite
5. Accusing me of not understanding.
etc...
You never actually specifically invoked the concept.

There's multiple options for money transfers if any one system goes down. That said, have you seen how many businesses can stay in operation if the internet is down lately? All the major stores shut down.

Well, our language is littered with it - ATM Machine, PIN Number, LCD Display, UPC Code, DMZ Zone, Free gift, new innovation, etc...

Personally, I don't think "the patriarchy" actually exists, at least not in the form attributed to it. While Marx was very off base in a lot of things, I think that what people mistake for patriarchy is actually class dominance. Most men don't have the advantages they would actually have if there was actually a patriarchy enforcing male rule.

What a lot of people tend to miss is that while Men might have more hard power - by law due to their position, wealth, strength of arm, and all that, that women have a lot of "soft power". The ability to convince others to do things without actually having any legal requirement to do so.

I tend to start comparing humans to lion packs in this case. A few powerful and lucky men get many of the women, and while it might look like a heady and desired position, it's a lot more fragile than most think, and only a fraction of men get it. Women actually have a much easier time of it on average, even if they don't reach the lofty heights.

Wait, you expect Americans to understand the rules of the road? There's the problem...

Sounds like advice a mutter or pickpocket would give.

You clearly haven't seen how drivers in the USA like to handle them. Inconsistent signage doesn't help.
Though other people pointing out that people, even Americans, get used to them fairly rapidly is true. We have an increasing number in my local area, most people handle them fine now.
I learned how to handle them in Germany.

"Seem" would be the point. Unlike many Americans, I'm well used to cogeneration plants. Eielson AFB has one, Fort Wainwright does, University of Alaska Fairbanks does as well.
Yes, I'm well aware of the temperatures involved.
Using a heat pump on the sand would be to reduce the heat levels necessary. And no, no super rare golden grade refrigerant required. Propane, Ammonia, R-32, all of it would work.

As for words vs concepts. You still don't seem to have grasped the square cube law. It's not like I can draw a picture on slashdot.

I'm well familiar that "everything is a heat exchanger", but outside of that philosophical point, when you say heat exchanger, I assume a dedicated designed one, made to exchange heat efficiently in a relatively small area with relatively small or cheap materials.
A cooler is still a heat exchanger, but it's designed to impede that.

A great big huge box of sand ends up being effectively well insulated just because of the high mass to surface area ratio.