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Monday’s Forum
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18 responses to “Monday’s Forum”
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Trump spent what appears to be most of yesterday posting MAGA inflected AI slop.
I’ve asked this before, but again: does he have NOTHING else to do? The “leader of the free world” has this much time to shitpost?
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Just a reminder of the continuing ICE abuses and crimes:
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I’m tinkering with forms and structures of government for some stories I’m writing. Here’s one idea, not necessarily desirable or even possible to implement in any existing government:
Independent regulatory agencies would be under legislative rather than executive control.
I figure it makes for stronger safeguards against interference with an independent agency. Especially if changes of staff or policy require a majority legislative vote, and at least one vote in favor from all parties represented in the legislature.
On the other hand, it gives the legislative branch some executive power. I’m not usre whether this would be a good thing or not.
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Would the UK or French or Canadian system qualify? Although in each of those, all of the ministries report to the legislature, and your description sounds like a mish-mash where some would report to the legislature and some to the executive. Cabinet meetings might be interesting if the President proposes a plan that requires multiple parts of the government to take action, and the Secretary of Transportation says, “Yes, sir” while the chair of the FAA says, “You’re not the boss of me.”
As I recall my history lessons, the independent agencies were created to be regulation writers, as Congress lacked the time and expertise to write the details of the laws needed in a complex modern society. Eg, how much arsenic in the water is too much? Then enforcement — an executive branch function — got added on. In fairly recent times, the EPA was initially just a regulation writer, and only later did Congress grant them power to enforce those regulations.
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The UK and Canada are parliamentary systems. I’m not sure what the French system is. to boot, I’m not sure what my system will be. I’m inclined towards a bicameral legislature with full proportional representation in both chambers, and a direct election fo the executive. At the outset there will be three major parties, and a bunch of smaller ones.
The system is set up on the transition from a liberal, semi-democratic monarchy to a constitutional republic. So there will be a strong tendency to limit the power of the executive. I figure splitting the executive power to limit the chief of the executive might be worth trying.
There will also be the precedents of two other republics elsewhere which were set up in recent decades. One hopes the newest republic will learn from the earlier one’s mistakes.
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I think yesterday I set a record for lowest effort cooking. I Browned/charred some large onion pieces on the instant pot with the sear/sauté function, deglazed with cheap white wine, added chicken broth, a mix of beans, all my leftover turkey meat, seasoned, stirred, and set the pot on high pressure.
Not counting the time to release the pressure, I estimate it took under an hour to prep, cook, and wash all post and utensils. I should do this more often.
For my next and last tranche of vacation some time in August , I want to try pan pizza gain, paired wit tomato soup and rice.
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I use the instant pot all the time. Some the regular items I use it for are:
Favorite hack. Making vegetable and chicken broths. For the chicken broth I get a rotisserie chicken, separate the meat, put the bones and skin in the pot along with onions, garlic, herbs, etc. Two hours later I strain and pour about 1.5 each cups into about 7 mason jars and refrigerate for use later. I save all the vegetable scraps in the freezer for the veggie broth.
I use the broths for all kinds of dishes. Softening dried beans, cooking pasta, rice, etc.
Making hard boils eggs. Real easy.
The instant pot is great for South Asia dishes: Indian, Thai, Vietnamese.
Just used a pork shoulder and made a really nice pulled pork.
Easy to use and easy to clean up. Once started, you don’t have to watch it.
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I’ve done the whole rotisserie chicken stock, using all the meat as well. I want to try using only the bones and scraps of mean (maybe also the wings) to compare*.
I do use it for other things. I make bean stews and soup, goulash, chili, plus other forms of fall apart meat dishes. When I cooked the whole turkey, I used it to make stock with the bones.
*I think using the meat adds flavor to the stock, but it kind of wastes the meat later. I reused mine for chilaquiles or enchiladas. the texture was there, but the flavor remained in the stock.
On the other hand, with the turkey broth I roasted the bones in the oven (along with the ridiculously small organs that come with the bird), before making the stock. I’m not sure whether rotisserie chicken bones need to be browned as well. We’ll see.
I also want to make beef stock, but getting bones for that is kind of challenging. they certainly don’t sell beef bones at the supermarket meat section, except small marrow bones.
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Screwworms, explosive diarrhea, and now salmonella. Fun times in Texas.
Dozens sickened across 17 states in salmonella outbreak linked to recalled eggs: What to know
Salmonella cases across 17 states have been linked to millions of recalled eggs, though federal investigators say other sources may be to blame.
Nearly 1.6 million cartons of white and cage-free brown eggs produced in Texas were recalled last week over concerns of possible salmonella contamination. The eggs were sold at Kroger stores in Texas and Louisiana; Brookshire Grocery stores in Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Louisiana, New Mexico and Mississippi, and to foodservice and retailer customers in Texas, Oklahoma and Louisiana.
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Everybody hates data centers. I’ve felt this coming for a few months now. Tied to price of power and water.
A rare bipartisan coalition takes aim at Texas data centers, urging Abbott to call a special session
Calls are growing among data center opponents for Gov. Greg Abbott to call a special session for lawmakers to rein in the projects that have roiled rural communities.
On Monday morning, in advance of two interim hearings this week dealing with data centers, grassroots organizers from across the state convened at the Capitol to voice their opposition to the massive computing centers that have proliferated rapidly over the last year.
The protest comes as data centers have emerged as an unexpected flashpoint ahead of November’s midterms. Roughly 40 people held signs reading “Governor Abbott is all hat and no cattle” and chanted “special session now.”
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Power and water, definitely. And noise.
But, there’s also the secrecy and the fact that companies worth many, many billions of dollars are getting tax write offs:
How Meta Got Everything It Wanted in a Secret Louisiana Data Center Deal
A Times examination details how the Silicon Valley giant used private talks with local officials to start a project big enough to cover nearly six square miles.
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This Reuters investigative piece, Pollution from Musk’s unpermitted xAI power project hits hardest in Black communities, published a couple of weeks ago, focuses on the massive on-site power generation arrangement consisting of 59 gas-fired turbine generators at the so-called Colossus data center site in suburban Memphis…
Elon Musk’s artificial intelligence company xAI has installed 59 natural gas turbines for its Colossus 2 data center project in Tennessee without securing federal clean air permits, according to communications between regulators and xAI representatives.
Potential emissions from the turbines are far beyond the threshold that would require a federal permit, and would be released near predominantly Black communities…
The xAI turbines are among scores of off-grid power plants for data centers proposed or under construction around the country. Local authorities often fast-track approvals in just weeks or months, without the years of environmental studies and public hearings typically required for such power generation projects that connect to the grid, Reuters has reported.
The xAI cluster of temporary turbines in Mississippi is already among the biggest off-grid data center power projects, according to Ben King, an analyst with think tank Rhodium Group, who reviewed the Reuters analysis.
“This looks to be an unprecedented level of behind-the-meter gas being installed in one place,” he said, referring to off-grid natural gas plants serving just one customer…Civil rights groups including the NAACP and the Southern Environmental Law Center sued xAI in April to halt their operations, arguing the turbines produce emissions subject to the federal Clean Air Act and shouldn’t be operated without permits.
“The scale of it is astonishing,” said Patrick Anderson, an attorney with the Southern Environmental Law Center. “This is an absolutely huge Clean Air Act violation that threatens public health.”
Securing a Clean Air Act permit would have exposed xAI’s project to extensive review and public comment, potentially taking years. Mississippi environmental regulators and xAI have argued in court filings that the turbines are exempt because they are “mobile” and intended to operate onsite for less than a year…The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said in January 2026 that even temporary turbines exceeding emissions thresholds must obtain permits. The agency, however, told Reuters it’s considering changes allowing “regulatory flexibilities” for portable units while continuing to protect public health…
The U.S. Justice Department weighed in on the lawsuit in a June 15 filing, saying that restricting the turbines could threaten national security interests because xAI’s systems support U.S. military operations, including operations involving Iran.
The outcome of the lawsuit filed by civil rights groups could help define how environmental laws apply to the fast-growing AI sector, where companies are scrambling to bring power supplies online to support energy-intensive computing.
“This sets up scenarios where the government can create sacrifice zones and tell communities they have to breathe illegal air pollution,” said Mary Rock, a senior attorney for Earthjustice which is representing the NAACP and SELC. -
Also from the Reuters piece on xAI’s Colossus data center:
The emails reviewed by Reuters included the manufacturer emissions profiles for 32 of the 59 turbines, including 30 at the Southaven site.
A Reuters analysis based on that information found that those 30 turbines alone could emit nearly 2,500 short tons of nitrogen oxide,…The xAI site’s potential emissions far exceed a Clean Air Act threshold that requires permitting for facilities capable of more than 100 short tons annually of pollutants such as nitrogen oxide.
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A few moments ago at the office:
Coworker: what’s six days from the 28th?
Me (partly thinking aloud): that’d be the 34th, August 3rd.
Coworker: What?
Me: August 3rd.
Coworker: You said the 34th.
Me: Yeah, that too. 34 minus 31 is the 3rd.
Coworker backs away slowlyIt all seems perfectly normal to me.
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