Data dilemma

Northern Ireland only has a few small uncontroversial data centres, but in other parts of Britain there are giant data centres that are attracting strong opposition.
 
The complaints are getting more frequent and more critical – of constant noise, rising utility bills, massive consumption of electricity and water, and air pollution.
 
But few people are joining the dots here. It seems to have escaped most people’s attention that everything we do on the internet uses data centres, so we actually need more and more of them, and if local resistance makes building them difficult or even impossible we have a major problem.
 
Most of us use smart phones. Most of us use a variety of online services. Most of us use the internet heavily. What would happen if construction of data centres couldn’t keep up with demand?
 
It would be impossible to limit people’s use of the internet, as we’re now so highly dependent on it.
 
But I haven’t seen any journalist considering what would happen if the supply of data centres was lagging behind the volume of internet use. It’s assumed that data centres will keep multiplying and multiplying as needed. Which is a big assumption.

PS: New York has banned construction of data centres using 50 megawatts or more for one year

Pic: A data centre in the Netherlands

A summer scam

I’ve had several scam adverts recently for supposedly ground-breaking air conditioners.
 
The ads are very professionally put together and could easily fool a lot of people. There aren’t the usual typos and grammatical errors and dubious email addresses. The air conditioners are said to be super-effective. They’re about the size of a bread bin, you just plug them into a power socket and hey presto, the room is cool in about 60 seconds.
 
A lot of Brits could be the ideal customers for them, with UK temperatures soaring into the thirties Celsius, and few homes having air conditioning already. Around 90 per cent of USA households have air conditioning, while the figure for UK homes is only around 15 per cent. The USA has long ago assumed scorching summers and provided for them.
 
But one golden rule for detecting scams is that if something seems too good to be true, then it probably is.
 
Up to now our house hasn’t needed air conditioning because it stays fairly cool in summer temperatures that are usually no higher than the twenties Celsius. But with climate breakdown pushing temperatures up, air conditioning might become a necessity in a few years’ time.

If only

I’m a confirmed oddball. Most of my opinions are way outside the mainstream. Which can make life uncomfortable and make it hard to connect with other people. They want to pin me down but they aren’t able to.
 
So there’s always this lingering feeling that if I could just be “normal” life would be a lot easier. I’d have more in common with other people and I’d have a much smoother ride.
 
Utter nonsense of course. Firstly, what the hell is “normal”? According to who? By what definition? I’m chasing after something as slippery as an eel.
 
Secondly, who says being “normal” is any easier than being an oddball? We all have our fair share of disasters and tragedies whatever our personality. If I imagine some blissful scenario where I just sail effortlessly through life, I’m sure I would be sadly disappointed.
 
But I suppose we all imagine some ideal world where our personal failings and quirks are magically discarded and suddenly life is a bowl of cherries.
 
It ain’t going to happen.

Rethinking the future

When I was young, like many youngsters, I didn’t give much thought to my old age and whether I would be financially comfortable or desperately poor.
 
Old age seemed such a long way off, it didn’t seem worth thinking about. I suppose I assumed that however my life panned out, everything would be fine. If it wasn’t, the welfare state would help me out. I certainly wouldn’t be living on the streets.
 
But things have changed so drastically since then that more and more youngsters are giving serious thought to their old age and what it will be like.
 
With more and more old people and fewer and fewer births, the state will struggle to  help oldies and may have to rethink or even scrap its current provisions – welfare benefits, the NHS, the state pension, travel passes, winter fuel payments, free prescriptions and more.
 
A lot of youngsters are now thinking seriously about providing for their old age. They’re setting up personal pensions, making investments, buying property if they can afford to, living with their parents so as to add to their savings. They’re less likely to be as cavalier about the future as the young me and my age group.
 
But how shocking it is that young people can no longer assume that if all else fails the state will ensure their old age is comfortable and they don’t have to rely entirely on their own resources. What an unnecessary burden that would be.