grocerystoresareoutofcontrol@lemmy.ca next plz!

Is nothing sacred in Canada any more? ;P

Great article. The AI bubble seems to have so many huge potential consequences - wiping out people's retirement savings when the bubble bursts, delaying the transition to clean energy and actually doing something about the climate crisis, accelerating the 'water wars', ending affordable ownership of a personal computer - that it's hard to predict which will screw us over the most!

Already, in Ireland, the data centre industry now consumes 22 per cent of that island’s electricity. That’s more than all of that country’s urban households. The AI juggernaut seems able to manufacture silence by public servants. A recent Irish government report on the importance of data centres just happened to omit any reference to the AI surge and how it pushes up everyone’s electricity bills, the highest in Europe.

Now consider the energy appetite of Kevin O’Leary’s Wonder Valley project in Alberta. O’Leary proposes to spend $70 billion of other people’s money on the planet’s “largest” data centre. It would consume more electricity than is used by eight million households or 15 cities the size of Calgary. Its ravenous energy appetite will tie the robotic entity directly to Western Canada’s Montney formation, its fracked methane used to fire turbines powering the colossus.

If history is a guide, those turbines will foul the air by pumping out lung-clogging fine particulate matter and hazardous chemicals that lower the lifespans of rural people. Alberta Premier Danielle Smith’s government has already waived any pretence of an environmental review.

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Using remote sensing data from satellites, the researchers located 6,000 data centres built in the last decade in rural regions and measured temperature changes before and after construction [of data centres]. Everywhere they found that land surface temperatures had increased by an average of 2 C. In one extreme case temperatures soared by 9 C.

The researchers discovered that the hotter temperatures extended up to 10 kilometres’ distance from the AI hyperscaled facilities. Many of the places they tracked are already plenty warm. In the northeast region of Brazil, for example, where during the hottest months daily highs hover in the high 30s, data centres have bumped local temperatures another nearly 3 C.

Pulling back their lens, the scientists considered how many global inhabitants live within a 10-kilometre radius of a big AI data centre. Their calculation: about 343 million people. Their conclusion: “Especially in the context of global warming and climate transformation,” the data heat island effect may lead “to dramatic impact on welfare, health care and energy systems.”

Worry not. The federal government wants to provide “AI literacy training” to those of us not already completely sucked in.

There's a lot about schizophrenia I don't understand.

I have tremendous respect for former therapist Daniel Mackler (who posts YT videos) and I'm curious about his approach to healing without antipsychotics. Knowing what I know about him, I'd imagine it's a trauma-focused, longer-term approach.

As a nursing student who sometimes works on psych wards, I would suggest trying to control positive symptoms, like delusions, through medication and/or psychotherapy, because I believe positive symptom control (especially during adolescence and young adulthood) is associated with better long-term functional outcomes, like employment, living independently, being married/partnered, etc.

I know it can be tough to find someone trustworthy. And I'd imagine that if I had schizophrenia I might feel attached to my symptoms and have some pause about trying to eliminate something that feels like a part of me. I'd probably try to honour/ preserve those symptoms in my memory (maybe through art or journaling), while trying to therapeutically address them for the sake of my bigger-picture life goals. On that note, maybe a peer (support, maybe self-identifying) group would be helpful, to hear perspectives from people who've been further down that road?

<3

I'm not sure, but I'd probably write out ways that I know who I really am (e.g, family members, memories, where I physically am), and then read them back when I'm having delusions. Sending love <3

Progressives don't vote for tRump, MAGATs do, and they seem susceptible to daily conning

Canada received a “D” on the World Animal Protection Index for allowing practices [...] that are banned in some comparable jurisdictions, including some U.S. states.

Although polls show Canadians strongly support protections for farmed animals, the issue attracts almost no mainstream media attention.

Industry executives and their allies in the Ford government want to make sure there’s no such disturbing videos disseminated in the future, so they’re clamping down hard — not on potential abusers but on those brave enough to try to capture the abuse on film.

The police maintain two media lists. One for “local” media, and another for “national.” Last month, as the city faced a staggering tragedy with five dead bodies discovered in quick succession, those on the local list received invitations to briefings, events with the families, relevant information essential to adequately cover the ongoing search and identification efforts.

At the exact same time as these critical emails were being sent, those on the “national” media list received an invitation to a flag-raising ceremony and other self-congratulatory bafflegab. The national list, in other words, only receives updates about stories the police want journalists to cover.

Jon is not alone. We know that local, Indigenous journalists with a national newspaper and a national broadcaster have also been segregated onto what can only be described as a decoy media list. Jon is not Indigenous, but his beat is covering Northern Ontario Indigenous issues. The affected reporters that we know of represent the majority of the journalists in the region who a) cover Indigenous stories and b) have the capacity and editorial latitude to do deep investigative work that does not rely on police press releases.

They are potentially spreading disease (bacterial gastroenteritis). So, hopefully they wash their hands after pooing to contain transmission. Immunocompromised people that share a bathroom and other surfaces with them are particularly susceptible