Althouse: The data center next door.

August 20, 2026

The data center next door.

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91 comments:

Peachy+2 said...: Doesn't Massachusetts have zoning laws?
We are now told by the Bernie Grift/ Chi com obedient left that data centers are bad.
Massachusetts is run by abort-your--child at 9 months if you want to/ white leftists... and a few illegals.
We must get to the bottom of this.; 8/20/26, 7:56 AM
Wilbur said...: And they built it on the site where the nightclub stood at which Bill Rutter used to sing.; 8/20/26, 7:57 AM
Peachy+2 said...: If you are going to sell your house - don't advertise the bad news of why.; 8/20/26, 8:01 AM
Jersey Fled said...: If they move, please require that they stay in Massachusetts. We don’t need these Karens anywhere else.; 8/20/26, 8:01 AM
Temujin said...: More and more towns are taking preemptive moves to prevent data centers from being placed in their neighborhoods. The tech companies are going to have to figure out how to tamp down the noise and environmental release (smoke, soot-like substance) from these centers if they want to see these proceed in the numbers they claim to require for us.
They're also going to need to pay for themselves instead of raising the cost of energy in localities. Some claim to be doing this. I have not seen the numbers. I'm sure one of you has.

All that said, I don't think there's anyway to make these more beautiful. And putting them directly behind or across the street from residential communities sucks. I've got an apartment complex going up in my backyard as we sit here. I hate it. If it was a noise and soot producing ugly metallic structure looming over my backyard, I'd be gone.

I understand the need for these centers. And I get that we need to do it massively and quickly. But there has to be some uniform standards and requirements of the tech companies to do this. If we cover America with solar panel farms, wind turbine farms, and data centers, we're going to look back and wonder what the hell we did and where America the Beautiful went.; 8/20/26, 8:04 AM
Ann Althouse said...: "And they built it on the site where the nightclub stood at which Bill Rutter used to sing."

LOL.

Thank you so much for that. My idea of the perfect comment!; 8/20/26, 8:08 AM
Ann Althouse said...: I love the interpostal comment.; 8/20/26, 8:08 AM
mindnumbrobot said...: Please don't move to Florida.; 8/20/26, 8:09 AM
Breezy said...: Agreed, Temujin. These buildings need to be quiet and clean.; 8/20/26, 8:09 AM
RideSpaceMountain said...: "They're selling their homes over it"

Markley: "Good....GOOOOOOOOD!" [sinister hand rubbing]; 8/20/26, 8:09 AM
Aggie said...: What looks worse? 500 acres of clear-cut land surrounded by solar panels, or 5 acres of data center surrounded by 95 acres of forest?

The black walls and fence are for noise abatement. Lowell started out as a textile mill town, so it's not as if industry is a foreign concept there. Industry has been the basis of the town's economy since before the Civil War. The neighborhood shown is a typical one for mill workers.

Anyway - it sucks to be in the neighborhood now, and I would have thought that Lowell's zoning laws would dictate against it, but then the reporter is very careful not to discuss what was there before the data center.

Data Centers are a natural fit for rural settings, or purely industrial ones.; 8/20/26, 8:11 AM
Peachy+2 said...: I'm no expert on any of this - but they use water for massive cooling at these data centers. Right?
In the age of massive droughts - this is a concern.
Why build a giant black box like that? If you need a cool place for data - why use the color black on the outside?; 8/20/26, 8:12 AM
Curious George said...: "I'm no expert on any of this - but they use water for massive cooling at these data centers. Right?"

They're closed systems.; 8/20/26, 8:13 AM
Lazarus said...: Lowell residents protest: Build the damn thing in Lawrence.; 8/20/26, 8:13 AM
Curious George said...: They're targeting Wisconsin because we have the available land and lots of water.; 8/20/26, 8:16 AM
Aggie said...: The Merrimac River flows through the center of Lowell and is the reason the mills were built there in the first place.; 8/20/26, 8:24 AM
Peachy+2 said...: "They are closed systems" -
I need more info.
Do you mean they recycle the water?
How do they re-cool it?; 8/20/26, 8:26 AM
planetgeo said...: The utter stupidity and sheep-like following of scripted propaganda never ceases to amaze me. ALL of these suddenly fastidious towns have long had all sorts of crappy, ugly, loud industrial areas. And many people bought houses right among them (because they were cheap, no doubt) and now are arising like the second coming of Les Miz in heroic, virtuous opposition choreographed by the CCP. Give me a break.; 8/20/26, 8:27 AM
William said...: Moderna's stock went up 177% yesterday. It went up because Moderna by using AI has developed a vaccine that shows promise of preventing a recurrence of melanoma. That same technique will probably be applicable to other forms of cancer. So there you have it: a neighborhood eyesore that causes mist droplets versus a cure for cancer. Alternatives exclude. Cancer or mist droplets. The choices are stark. Let's hope we choose wisely.; 8/20/26, 8:28 AM
tommyesq said...: Some additional facts for context:

- The data center was built in 2015, and has been operating for eleven years now. Why is this suddenly being brought to the forefront?
- The site on which the data center was built formerly housed a Prince Macaroni manufacturing plant that appears from old photographs to have been at least as big as the data center that is now there (it was 350,000 square feet and was three stories high, extending to four stories at points). It was an old, windowless brick mill-type building, so not really much better from an aesthetics perspective.
- the macaroni factory closed in the 90's, and the building was unoccupied and unused for nearly 20 years, which likely would have led to it deteriorating to the point of being a safety hazard.; 8/20/26, 8:29 AM
Peachy+2 said...: My one visit to Rochester NY - I noted the giant river flowing thru it. Same with MN and the Saint Croix.
In CO - our rivers are small by comparison. Even the mighty Colorado is small compared to the water in some of those more North American /northern and eastern locations.; 8/20/26, 8:29 AM
Peachy+2 said...: Planet geo - That ran thru my mind as well. We live in the era of so much fakery - how do we know this is even real?; 8/20/26, 8:31 AM
Wince said...: Why didn’t the reporter capture the actual sound pollution in her video report? Overall, seems like a standard zoning fuck up by the city.

Who is Bill Rutter and what is an “interpostal comment”?; 8/20/26, 8:32 AM
Dust Bunny Queen said...: Peachy said "If you are going to sell your house - don't advertise the bad news of why"

Well, there could also be an unfortunate fire event and collect insurance. That would probably be an easier out. Maybe even the entire neighborhood. 😎; 8/20/26, 8:32 AM
Peachy+2 said...: I'm often too lazy to check with my AI robot.; 8/20/26, 8:33 AM
Bob Boyd said...: According to my sources, it's not actually a "data center" at all. It's an empty building. Its function is to look big, imposing and ugly and to produce a lot of noise, smoke and steam. Its purpose is to make people feel small, powerless, anxious, unhappy and demoralized.; 8/20/26, 8:38 AM
Quaestor said...: So, it boils down to who do you trust. Markley or CBS? Frankly, I can't say whether Markley has ever lied to me. There's just no data, one way or the other. However, CBS has frequently lied to me or distorted the truth for decades, as long as I can remember. According to polls, only 17% of Americans believe MSM news is trustworthy. I'm surprised it's more than 7%. Should I trust Riley Callahan, or toss her into the gutter?; 8/20/26, 8:40 AM
Peachy+2 said...: DBQ - hopefully they all have insurance.
Locally - with the fire danger, insurance companies are dropping customers like flies.; 8/20/26, 8:40 AM
Bob Boyd said...: They're opening demon portals. That's why they need so much cooling capacity. Hell is hot.; 8/20/26, 8:42 AM
Wince said...: “Anthony! Anthony! In Boston’s North End, Wednesday is Prince spaghetti day.”

Pasta has probably killed more Bay Staters than data centers. Including Anthony..; 8/20/26, 8:44 AM
Josephbleau said...: More incentive to put them in space, where they won’t create any jobs and local taxes. It’s obviously a mistake to go into older cities and try to reuse old industrial buildings and sites. Better to let the old towns rot and build out on rural land with a large buffer against future residential development. The last thing you need is nearby neighbors who move in later and decide it’s time for you to go.; 8/20/26, 8:44 AM
hanuman_prodigious_leaper said...: I don't think there's anyway to make these more beautiful....

Design them all in the shape of Library of The Lightbringer.
Blueprint sale could pay up the stiffed contractors.; 8/20/26, 8:45 AM
Conrad said...: The video's purpose is to hamper the growth of America's AI industry. I'll start to take this person's concerns seriously when I see the same videos coming from people in China.; 8/20/26, 8:51 AM
Indefinitely Extended Excursion™️ said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 8/20/26, 8:55 AM
Bob Boyd said...: Suddenly you find yourself living with the soundtrack of Eraserhead playing non-stop day and night.; 8/20/26, 8:57 AM
Curious George said...: "Peachy+2 said...
"They are closed systems" -
I need more info.
Do you mean they recycle the water?
How do they re-cool it?"

It's like your car. Water cools the computer chips. Then the water goes through a radiator to be cooled. Fans blow air across the radiators to remove the heat. Then back to the chips. It eliminates the constant need to consume municipal water supplies.; 8/20/26, 8:59 AM
RideSpaceMountain said...: It's a marketing problem. Pitch them as "Community Warming Centers". With the forthcoming rolling blackouts and economic trouble they'll be the 'place to be' in rough NEastern winters, and they've already got good security!; 8/20/26, 9:07 AM
Big Mike said...: “Massachusetts is run by abort-your--child at 9 months if you want to”

@Peachy+2, they’re pikers. Here in Virginia Ralph Northam, the previous Democrat governor, pushed for abortion after the child was born alive.; 8/20/26, 9:07 AM
Big Mike said...: Both the assertion that the site is too loud and the counter-assertion that $700,000 has been spent on noise abatement can be true. Has anyone thought to put out decibel meters? If not, why not?; 8/20/26, 9:12 AM
Big Mike said...: I think it is typical of the level of intelligence of Massachusetts voters that they would go on camera to explain in detail all the negatives of living where they, and then try to sell their homes.; 8/20/26, 9:20 AM
Aggie said...: Let's talk.; 8/20/26, 9:24 AM
Peachy+2 said...: curious George - ah ok. thanks.
The heat build-up must be a problem.
When I pull into the garage after driving in 100 degree - (and using the AC) the heat coming off the car is enough to heat the house in winter.; 8/20/26, 9:34 AM
Peachy+2 said...: Big Mike - yeah I remember that. You know - if the doctor and the mom decide to kill it - the dems are there to help.; 8/20/26, 9:35 AM
SAGOLDIE said...: Peach+2/Curious George

Curious George wrote:
It's like your car. Water cools the computer chips. Then the water goes through a radiator to be cooled. Fans blow air across the radiators to remove the heat. Then back to the chips.

That can often be enough but the reference here to "feeling the mist" tells me that they're not just blowing air over the "radiators." Here they are blowing air and water to add "evaporative cooling." Think of the fan+mist that amusement parks employ in hot weather to cool folks standing in line.

The surprise here is that the mist is blowing into the neighboring yards - that would be pretty annoying.; 8/20/26, 9:43 AM
Dude1394 said...: Don’t believe it.; 8/20/26, 9:45 AM
ForestwithouttreeS said...: Is it necessary that data centers be near the market they serve. Is there some reason they can’t all be in remote areas where no one will know or care?; 8/20/26, 9:52 AM
tommyesq said...: "Is it necessary that data centers be near the market they serve?"

Ideally, we can put the AI's that write the papers and the AI's that grade the paper in the same center. Maybe even just have a single AI doing both. It wouldn't even have to create an output - it would be like a human's internal conversation with him/herself.; 8/20/26, 10:15 AM
n.n said...: The dark and gathering Clouds are a first-order forcing of catastrophic artificial climate change.; 8/20/26, 10:17 AM
ron winkleheimer said...: I worked in a building that housed a Data Center in its core and had offices at the perimeter for decades. No one complained about noise or mist or it "using up all the electricity and driving up utility rates" or anything else. Have you noticed that when a developer wants to put in a new subdivision nobody complains about how that is going to increase utility rates? That's because the developer has to work with local municipalities and utility companies to increase the infrastructure needed to accommodate it. The same is true of any industrial development, including data centers.; 8/20/26, 10:18 AM
ron winkleheimer said...: Also, I lived in Massachusetts for two years and never detected a shortage of mist.; 8/20/26, 10:19 AM
ron winkleheimer said...: And where is all the loud noise coming from? The electricity is generated off-site. The only noise that I can think of is the back-up generators running for 20-30 minutes once a month to test/exercise them. Which hospitals also do. And people in residential neighborhoods who have back-up generators for their house, often because they are reliant on medical equipment; 8/20/26, 10:22 AM
Indefinitely Extended Excursion™️ said...: Almost three quarters of Americans do not trust businesses to use AI responsibly, according to Gallup. More than 70% oppose having data centers built in their area because of fears about water and electricity inflation. 80% or more distrust AI for driving, medical advice and corporate hiring decisions.
https://news.gallup.com/poll/712751/americans-cool-toward.aspx

As The New York Times recently put it, fear of AI is the “most bipartisan issue since beer”.

The US is a low trust society, with identity politics, culture wars and an apocalyptic tone of discourse. There is little social safety
net and a substantial proportion of the population are working poor.

Is it strange that Americans are easy to spook and believe big business and government are not protecting them? There is a price to pay for a society with a winner takes all mentality and justice is for sale to the highest bidder. The description of how loathsome the Tech Sector leadership is probably understates things.; 8/20/26, 10:26 AM
Original Mike said...: This was interesting. Having seen a few bubbles, this does look like another one.; 8/20/26, 10:26 AM
RCOCEAN II said...: Oh they're selling their homes over it. Well, that'll show 'em. I'm sure the AI data center will cry bitter tears over that. LOL.; 8/20/26, 10:28 AM
RCOCEAN II said...: That's "muh free enterprise". Which in practice means rule by the rich. but at least that damn gubmit isn't involved.; 8/20/26, 10:29 AM
Indefinitely Extended Excursion™️ said...: ‘The Most Bipartisan Issue Since Beer’: Opposition to Data Centers ~ NYT

'Americans have soured on data centers, polls show, and the sentiment is profoundly bipartisan. How will that change our politics?'
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/05/01/us/politics/liberals-conservatives-data-centers.html?unlocked_article_code=1.61A._GaS.UnBPdE8E7oKg&smid=url-share; 8/20/26, 10:30 AM
Original Mike said...: "The only noise that I can think of is the back-up generators running for 20-30 minutes once a month to test/exercise them."

I live next to a communications tower; a lot of cell phone infrastructure. They have "emergency" generators on site, that run almost constantly. When we ask why, there is never an answer forthcoming. They were very solicitous when they wanted to build the thing; now they won't give the neighborhood the of day. People know this, because it's an old story.; 8/20/26, 10:31 AM
RideSpaceMountain said...: "The US is a low trust society"

It is now, thanks to poorly coded chatbots like you.; 8/20/26, 10:32 AM
Indefinitely Extended Excursion™️ said...: OG Mike writes: 𝘏𝘢𝘷𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘴𝘦𝘦𝘯 𝘢 𝘧𝘦𝘸 𝘣𝘶𝘣𝘣𝘭𝘦𝘴, 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘥𝘰𝘦𝘴 𝘭𝘰𝘰𝘬 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘰𝘯𝘦.

GPUs may be the most expensive fruit ever devised: technologically rotten in two years, yet financed over six. And many of these firms don’t even carry the GPUs on their balance sheets, let alone account for depreciation.

Instead, they’re building debt-heavy SPVs, slicing the debt into tranches, and borrowing against GPU-backed securities.

Debt time bombs, packaged into tranches and tucked into special-purpose vehicles. Where have we heard that before?

The question is: When does the off-balance-sheet shadow become an on-balance-sheet reality?; 8/20/26, 10:33 AM
Butkus51 said...: blame Trump

problem solved; 8/20/26, 11:00 AM
hanuman_prodigious_leaper said...: Can this weird trick work for data center?
https://polarnightenergy.com/news/worlds-largest-sand-battery-now-in-operation/; 8/20/26, 11:09 AM
bagoh20 said...: I don't know about the other claims, but they did succeed in making it as ugly as possible. Why not paint the thing sky blue with clouds? It's almost like they want to piss people off.; 8/20/26, 11:10 AM
IamDevo said...: I am of the opinion that this is all being staged by Elon Musk in order for his space-based data processing to become feasible. And profitable. And yes, I also believe that da joos were behind Charlie Kirk's assassination. And furthermore, Lindsay Clancy's husband killed their kids. The internet has told me all of this.; 8/20/26, 11:29 AM
Rabel said...: Some are closed loop but most are not. The noise is mostly from fans/blowers associated with the cooling system.; 8/20/26, 11:36 AM
rhhardin said...: Noise abatement doesn't work. At night cool air on the ground compared to warmer air higher up traps sound in a duct near the ground. Since it now spreads linearly its intensity falls off like 1/distance, instead of spherical 1/distance squared, and nighttime sound can travel loudly over 20 or more miles. A continuous noise like air conditioning will be loud and present all night over a vast region.

In the day warm air near the ground refracts sound upwards and you might not even be able to hear the highway down the block.

So test industrial sound at night, not with a dB meter in the day.; 8/20/26, 11:37 AM
rhhardin said...: Noise abatement might work if walls were angled to bounce sound upwards. Otherwise sound takes off at a low angle and comes back down at night.; 8/20/26, 11:39 AM
bagoh20 said...: I lived adjacent to LAX airport for 20 years. A wonderful location that currently shows on Zillow at nearly $2 million for a 70 year old house. I paid 200K. It was my first home, and I told the family that the airport noise was our friend, because without it we could never afford to live so close to the beach with miles of open space behind us, but that was a choice with knowledge up front. You can get used to noise. Hell, I have pretty loud tinnitus, so I got no choice now.; 8/20/26, 12:00 PM
Rabel said...: I'm not against data centers but putting one in somebody's back yard is sucky.; 8/20/26, 12:32 PM
JustSomeOldDude said...: Would the residents have preferred a warehouse? Those were the previous boogymen. If the lot was zoned for such use, the owner has the right to develop it IAW the local governance.; 8/20/26, 12:32 PM
tommyesq said...: There was a factory there previously, that was built in the 30's. I would guess that many/most of these houses were built and bought due to their proximity to the factory, many folks didn't have cars in those days.; 8/20/26, 12:44 PM
Michael Fitzgerald said...: I'm just surprised that they could find so many residents speaking English in Lowell.; 8/20/26, 12:50 PM
rehajm said...: ...that's Lawrence...; 8/20/26, 12:53 PM
rehajm said...: ...this particular data canter has received outsized attention. I suspect someone's kid in Lawrence made it to a top law firm...; 8/20/26, 1:00 PM
tommyesq said...: I would note that, looking on Zillow (I know, not always the best indicator), the value of the houses immediately abutting the data center property have all doubled or more since early 2017 (the farthest back Zillow estimates), during which time the center was operational (opened in 2015) and during which further construction was taking place.; 8/20/26, 1:05 PM
Lem Vibe Bandit said...: ai answers: "Lowell, Massachusetts was primarily centered around the textile manufacturing industry, earning it the nickname the "City of Spindles" and the "Manchester of America".Key Aspects of Lowell's IndustryWater-Powered Mills: Located along the Merrimack River at Pawtucket Falls, the city was specifically planned and built around a massive network of canals to harness water power for heavy machinery."; 8/20/26, 1:34 PM
Indefinitely Extended Excursion™️ said...: bagoh2o wrote: 𝙄 𝙝𝙖𝙫𝙚 𝙥𝙧𝙚𝙩𝙩𝙮 𝙡𝙤𝙪𝙙 𝙩𝙞𝙣𝙣𝙞𝙩𝙪𝙨, 𝙨𝙤 𝙄 𝙜𝙤𝙩 𝙣𝙤 𝙘𝙝𝙤𝙞𝙘𝙚 𝙣𝙤𝙬.
How do you manage your sleep? Are you able to sleep through the night, or does your tinnitus interfere with your sleep?; 8/20/26, 2:41 PM
James K said...: I enjoyed the accents in the video: The "cah" the "yahd" and so on. My mother was from Boston, so it's all very familiar.; 8/20/26, 3:44 PM
dbp said...: It was pretty crafty of the data center operator to have the facility, which is supposedly deafening, be quiet as a church mouse for the entirety of the "news" piece.; 8/20/26, 3:51 PM
John henry said...: Data centers put out a lot of heat from the servers. Cooling can be done by closed circuit radiatiors as in your car. These do not consume any water at all other than a small amount lost to leakage or maintenance.

More commonly it is done with cooling towers that evaporate water. Not as a mist, though. The cooling water it dripped over ceramic blocks or wooden slats and as it does, some evaporates, cooling the rest. 1 gallon of water evaporating will cool @45 gallons 20 degrees f. It goes off as water vapor, generally invisible and seldom condensing into droplets. On a cold day you may see clouds of vapor coming off cooling towers.

I looked at the center in Google Earth and I could only see one cooling tower. Not even a very big one, I don't think. It may be done mostly by air radiators. Fans might be a bit noisy but I've spent a lot of time on industrial sites and I think you would have to listen for them. Certainly the noise can be shielded.

Doesn't the state of Massachussets have any noise ordinances? Does the data center comply?

These folks sound like a bunch of crybabies to me.

John Henry; 8/20/26, 3:53 PM
John henry said...: Water cooling towers are not closed systems, they evaporate about 10-15% IIRC of the water though that can vary depending on operating conditions.

John Henry; 8/20/26, 3:55 PM
John henry said...: Picture of the old Prince Macaroni building here https://preview.redd.it/prince-spaghetti-factory-lowell-massachusetts-1978-v0-250jbbjqjkbb1.jpg?auto=webp&s=fe927c498ef2fc5f6bef8d45d296986d9157e26a

Pretty much what you would expect, 4-5 stories high, redbrick. Not bad looking for an industrial building or that era but, even maintained, better looking than the steel building of the data center? Not much, or even not depending on taste. And abandoned for 20 years? It was probably a dangerous eyesore.

Probably full of asbestos too.

John Henry; 8/20/26, 3:59 PM
John henry said...: ForestwithouttreeS said...

" Is it necessary that data centers be near the market they serve. Is there some reason they can’t all be in remote areas where no one will know or care?"

Not sure how true it is about data centers but there is a great book by Michael Lewis (Liars Poker, Moneyball, Big Short and others. All great) called "Flash Boys"

It is about building a dedicated fiber optic line from Chicago to NYC. Yeah, big deal, right? Except that they line had to be perfectly straight. Every additional foot of cable cost a nanosecond (Thank you Grace Hopper) They even spent half a million bucks to go under some shopping mall rather than around it.

The idea was that if they had a really, really, fast connection they could beat others in the market by a second or two and make an extra fraction of a cent per trade but do enough trades to pay the cost of the dedicated fiberoptic. Do enough trades and it justifies the hundreds of millions they spent on the line.

Fascinating book.

Microwave, bouncing from tower to tower just didn't cut it.

John Henry; 8/20/26, 4:10 PM
John henry said...: Someone mentioned "Emergency Generators". I learned the hard way that they are most definitely NOT Emergency generators.

The National Electrical Code defines "Emergency Generators" as supporting life. Example would be a hospital system. They have to jump through all sorts of extra hoops.

Back when I was still working in the 80s we had several generators that we called "Emergency Generators" but were really "standby generators". The Factory Mutual insurance inspector, who came around 3-4 times a year, caught it, reported it an embarrassed my boss with his boss. Which embarrassed me.

the NEC is published by the National Fire Protection Association. NFPA is a private association owned by the big insurance companies.

It has more force than most regulatory agencies. If they find you out of compliance they can shut you down where a govt agency can only fine you in most cases.

In the US states and cities don't make their own "Code", all they do is say "Must comply with National Electrical Code"

John Henry; 8/20/26, 4:21 PM
John henry said...: This came up the other day on X where we were discussing why Cray Supercomputers were round instead of square or rectangular.

John Henry; 8/20/26, 4:24 PM
Joe Bar said...: I happen to be in Canada right now, and that video is restricted from here. I wonder why.; 8/20/26, 5:21 PM
Joe Bar said...: I live near a concentration of data centers in Virginia. They are surrounded by forest, and have a significant buffer from residential areas. No conplaints, until recently, when this discussion became big news.
The complaints here focus on energy costs. The VA dems are doing everything they can to drive it up.; 8/20/26, 5:26 PM
bagoh20 said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 8/20/26, 6:30 PM
Josephbleau said...: " Is it necessary that data centers be near the market they serve. Is there some reason they can’t all be in remote areas where no one will know or care?"

For training of frontier models including testing it takes about 3 months, so it does not matter where this happens. For fine tuning a major model to suit a particular enterprise, a few days, so still not a big deal. For day to day inference, fiber takes 5 ms per 1000 km or 62 miles.

So for customers latency can be more of an issue. In all you need to have data centers distributed around customers. But in reality there are fixes. You can send batches of ai tasks to the center in Manitoba and let it distribute the output and the customer won’t mind waiting half a minute to give the results to upper management.

If you are the cyber army and want the model to calculate your artillery fire grid to support advancing infantry based on an intelligence portfolio you may want a cluster within a few hundred miles of your assault.; 8/20/26, 7:39 PM
Josephbleau said...: 620 miles per 1000 km.; 8/20/26, 7:48 PM
Bunkypotatohead said...: All those Flock cameras will have to store their data somewhere.; 8/21/26, 12:25 AM
Tina Trent said...: Well, you have a city council. These things are disruptive. City Councils are easy to sway with minimal work. We have vast amounts of industrial land to locate them in.

Take an hour a day for a week to politely protest at your council person's office. Write and print out the press release so the journalists don't have to do any real work. Ten people will be enough. Don't let crazies join; require a pre-meeting, and vote in all "official members." Easy. Only the spokesperson talks to the media.; 8/21/26, 5:27 AM

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