Some nights you just want to relax and I was just watching whatever. Moist Critical comes on and starts talking about RFK jr and his next weird thing, I personally believe in the dictionary RFK is the posterchild for weird. Bear corpses, Whale corpses, Raccoon penises, Swimming in sewerage and Now UFO’s.
1 minute, 26 seconds Interesting because you know during the transition I was living in Palm Beach and this group [snorts] sum approached me to talk about UAPs. Oh, really? Yeah. and they it was a very high level NASA scientist and then a bunch of Navy Seals and Green Berets who had been on recovery teams.
The fact that RFK says all of these people were in one area is very interesting, It’s Like a group that everyone hates each other but they work together but almost never. But for a “group” to approach him is pretty interesting because they likely violated so many laws in seconds that RFK holding this data would be shot for disclosure.
Robert is 26th United States Secretary of Health and Human Services and likely would not be privy to information by random members of the armed services saying they retrieved or shot down a UFO .. or UAP as they call it now.
Given what Robert says I am going to say this likely did not happen. there is so much constructively wrong with it.
In his account, Kennedy says he was living in Palm Beach when he was approached by a group that included a senior NASA scientist, Navy SEALs, and Green Berets who told him they had served on recovery teams. They allegedly described missions in which they had learned how to “call” certain craft, were then ordered to destroy them, and subsequently conducted organized retrieval operations. According to Kennedy, this group wanted him to go public with their claims.
Breaking this down: In his account, Kennedy says he was living in Palm Beach (when?) when he was approached by a group(where? A team like this doesn’t just show up at your door without causing a lot of attention) that included a senior NASA scientist(independent civilian agency) , Navy SEALs(Navy), and Green Berets(Army) who told him they had served on recovery teams. They allegedly described missions in which they had learned how to “call” certain craft(Who did they call .. Paramount?), were then ordered to destroy them(interesting that SETI did not pick up anything on this one at all) , and subsequently conducted organized retrieval operations. According to Kennedy, this group wanted him to go public with their claims.
The central questions he raises are whether the presence of NASA scientists and Navy SEALs in RFK Jr.’s account meaningfully increases the plausibility of reverse engineering programs, and what mechanisms exist to bring such individuals into formal testimony or interviews. In his view, the value of Kennedy’s story depends less on his public statements and more on whether those alleged insiders are ever identified, interviewed, and integrated into structured UAP investigations.
Given the fact that Robert has said this my believe is zero because if this had been a multidisciplinary mission with 3 or more groups involved any sense of security would of approached Zero , Moreover with the idea that UFO’s could be “summoned” is a far reach. The idea of trying to keep even two people quiet in the same room to preserve a secret is near impossible. if this were real this information would not of come out of a mid level government position it would of been locked at the POTUS level. Even so if RFK revealed “real” information there would of been so many clearance levels violated the idea of RFK seeing daylight in the rest of his lifetime would of been him under the spring stabilizers in Cheyenne mountain.
Given if you count the violations 3 groups that likely violated about 5 classifications each . The Factor or traveling together which is another violation . You don’t group critical level data holding folks together that just makes it very easy to make mistakes. If that group were to approach RFK they would not be able to take a dump without a SCIF . Between federal laws and UCMJ The whole group would of been locked away and only hear of the passing of Apophis in 2029.
But for me to understand this I would have to smoke a coffee. Just my opinion.
In a sign of the times Anthropic has listed a net loss of 80 BILLION with a b…
Anthropic’s net loss widened sharply to $80.7 billion in the first half of this year, in large part due to a rise in the fair value of bonds convertible into shares of the AI startup, according to a draft prospectus for a planned initial public offering that was reviewed by Reuters.
I have been steadfast in saying AI is a seriously overpriced commodity that has been nothing more than a goldrush. AI is just google search in a trench coat. And that the markets rush to stake a claim in the Gold rush era is much like the 1849 gold rush.
FINANCING COSTS At an investor meeting on October 14, Anthropic told prospective IPO investors that its third-quarter revenue jumped 45% to $16.8 billion from the previous quarter, Reuters reported, citing people familiar with the matter. While the figures eased some concerns about the enormous costs of developing AI systems, some investors were disappointed by the slowing sequential growth rate. Revenue had more than doubled from the first quarter to $11.6 billion in the second quarter.
The thing is here is this is only half the numbers, most LLMs have been pushing all CapEx expenditures to a second set of books and it makes these companies look better than they really are. When all of the loans come to be due it is going to be a financial bloodbath because what we are seeing is AI is not ready for the mainstream for constant use. The factor that AI has been a consistent loss leader and companies have no clue how to monetize it in a way that is not going to drive users off they are stuck with negative gains.
A cooler reception for Anthropic’s IPO could weigh on the wider AI market, whose near-term prospects investors see as hinging largely on the share sale’s success, ahead of rival OpenAI’s potential listing next year. Reuters reported in September that Anthropic posted a net loss of $42 billion in 2025, with most of that stemming from a similar accounting charge. As Anthropic’s valuation climbed, the estimated fair value of those notes tripled year over year.
The thing is, investors they thought they had a slop generating gold shovel paradise and the new car smell of AI is wearing off. While LLMs are trying to say that AI will destroy the world and eat your firstborn and knock up your daughter … The fix still is a power switch in the end.
It’s been about two years since my last phone review and its time for a new one! When I had the ability to get a new phone I decided to forgo the Pixel 11, I have no interest in a light bar. It’s just influencer vomit.
Though google has to take one knock here on the pixel 11 , they took away the temperature sensor which is a huge loss to people who love the world around them. Searching for a hotspot on a motherboard or piece of electronics bust out the phone and find it. Your kid says she doesnt feel well you bust out the phone. Testing food to see if its done you bust out the phone. seriously google tripped on itself on the pixel 11 by putting in a gimmick rather than a tool!
Give or take it has the ability to bring back the oh so good notification lights! but anyways enough about the Pixel 11.
I ended up getting the Pixel 10 pro XL. As far as an upgrade at the surface from the 9 pro xl you spend a few days looking at the phone and go “So?” . Then, three days in, you glance at the corner of your screen and realize you haven’t plugged the damn thing in once, and it’s still sitting on a fascinating level of charge.
The worst thing about the smart phone generation was the fact you just about had to charge it every day. Google is finally seeing the sweet spot that most other phone developers have missed, A fucking phone that lasts.
My old metric for measuring phones was as so and it was valid for many many years. Phones have come away from just being a phone to the portable PC. All of this is good but as my old metrics I think we can make a change to come up with the times.
The new Metric is as follows (it closely follows the old but is more refined.
1: Communications & Media 2: Configurability 3: Durability: 4: Good battery life
Sure making phone calls is good but there was a time in smart phones that you could send a Telegram before you made a call, Im specifically looking at the Sprint EVO and some Samsung phones.
1: Communications & Media: The phone is much like the 9 to some point but you gain one more speaker out of the deal better sound at the earpiece and seamless Bluetooth connection and it sounds really good with the Bluetooth. 2: Configurability: What can I say when I am using a google pixel, It’s a Pixel it remains the modular Lego kit of the Android world, unlike Samsung where you can get yourself in trouble with Knox you can do just about anything, Install another OS, Install whatever you want within reason. 3: Durability: The frame on the pixel 10 seems a bit more rigid than the 9, While I dont want to drop it it seems like google had paid some attention to that years model. 4: Good battery life: The Pixel 10 Pro XL is much the same as the pixel 9 but with the changes under the hood no one sees anyone who does not pay attention to the phone would think that the 10 is not an upgrade, The 10 on many levels you could completely ignore and think you are not missing much. The phone has a fantastic battery life, I have gotten up to 4.5 days of use between charges. In smart phone terms that is another universe as far as usage.
The return of the temperature sensor is a welcome device because most people do not realize how useful that tool is. If you are working on a car engine and you are not sure about something you can pull the phone out and avoid the touch test to see if something is hot. If you have a kid that’s not feeling so good you can take the phone out and take their temp. If you have questions about food, surfaces and the world around you the pixels temperature sensor is your tricorder of the phone world. Given the inclusion of the ships computer of Gemini it gives you a tool kit that comes closer to the tricorder of starfleet with you pair a pixel watch to the phone.
Given that the Pixel 10 feels like a Fox Body ford mustang. While the economy version looks cool the pro version is the 8 cylinder of the phone world that actually has some good fuel economy. The 9 introduced the fox body and the 10 refines it into a monster.
Google needs to stop with the pixel A/B lines of Pro being a phone with all the bells and just make the pro the base model than market to engineers with an engineering model that has options to interface with machines using a OTG cable and keep the sensors and other stuff useful.
Apparently in Georgia a teacher has created a gas surplus in the foul winds of teaching.
The first thing to know about this gas station is that it is not a gas station. There are no pumps. No convenience store. No windshield squeegees. And, despite what one might reasonably expect, there is no requirement that anyone actually purchase gas. It is a designated corner of an Atlanta elementary school classroom where students can go when they need to pass … gas.
This may “sound” like a good idea but will never work out to a level that this teacher wants it to. To the class jackasses they are going to make the one man band ripping ass back there. To the shy kids they would rather shit themselves than go to a corner and fart.
“I have a very weak stomach, so I cannot take it,” she tells TODAY.com. “And so I was like, OK, I’m just gonna create this little area over here, and you just get up, you go over there, do your business, come back, and that’s just it.”
Open..a..window.. Also, these kids are in second grade, work out a pattern with them to use the rest room rather than follow the practices of forcing these kids to understand assessments rather than having a learning prompt. Plus with farts, the first moment a sickness starts running in the classroom these kids will have farts that could rechrome a bumper. I give this lady some props for the idea but I think she should come to a better usage of giving these kids time to run to the restroom, A TA(teachers assistant) can run small groups to the rest room and let them have the privacy of using the restroom to relieve themselves.
One commenter wrote, “This is genius and normalizing body functions without disturbing the classroom amazing.” Another asked the question that seems to trouble many adults: “And the rest of the class stays focused while somebody is farting in the corner???” There was also a predictable amount of parental and teacher horror.
This in context is not the way to normalize body functions, How about letting kids go when they need to “go”. The same adults saying its normalizing bodily functions I double dog dare them to fart in a corner at work. Given some children will grow up in “proper” homes and are told to never fart in the room they are in, that is for the bathroom only. You are running so many problems together here trying to fix a fart when the fart problem fix has existed for ages in schools. Its called the bathroom, So even when little sally had taco night the night before doesn’t get embarrassed when she sounds like a nascar stock car revving up won’t be red faced and crying when she is basically told to shit in the corner. This is about as absurd as people believing that classrooms hide secret cat boxes in the corner, no you have Timmy just shitting his pants there because he tried too hard.
The problem here is a fart is only a fart until someone tries to hard, Then it’s a shart.
I think Bicentennial man is very underrated and underappreciated. It came out in 1999 and it was a really good movie but a lot of people shunned that movie because of the actors in the movie. Everyone heard Robin Williams was in that movie and expected a rapid fire hairy man to have manic humor instead they got a NDR series robot with a dry non-existent sense of humor that was trying to understand the world. As Andrew first came online he took to the family but he has a sense of curiosity that became his central drive.
The 1999 movie is based on Isaac Asimov’s 1976 science fiction story “The Bicentennial Man” and its 1992 expanded novel adaptation The Positronic Man, which Asimov co-wrote with Robert Silverberg. Almost everyone that reviewed that movie claimed it was boring. Yes if you watched the movie expecting a rapid fire comedian to be Mr. Data with a broken emotion chip the movie is boring.
If you watch it from the point of view that Andrew has that he understands he is not normal, and the fact that Sir instead of returning him, He takes Andrew under his wing to let him become whatever his destiny is. The endearment that Sir shows gives Andrew the knowledge of wanting to become free rather than a toaster.
This movie gives a great view of the human perspective when someone is different and how hard it is to be human. When someone has a disability, they are very much viewed as an oddity. Sir instead saw the spark and worked with Andrew to let him become one with the humanity he sought.
But if you remove the idea that Robin is a comedian and look at it from the perspective that Robin is playing a character that needs to learn humor. This shows what a masterclass his performance really is. While the film allows Robin to have a few scenes of his manic humor it fits more to the book than the expectation of having a crazed genie like Robin Williams.
This movie has a plot that takes a while, but the underlying plot is extremely good character development that people overlook and criminally underrate this movie for this. Given I have read both the story and watched the movie, this is a movie I would recommend to anyone and in the times of AI this movie actually would have fared better had it come out today rather than in 1999. The fictional concepts that Asimov created in his stories then are today’s battles with AI such as his three laws plus the zeroth law. With the public constantly worried about LLMs going off the rails and hurting people would make this movie the perfect hook in todays culture.
Of all the weird things one could think about in a given day in the world of AI slop.. sometimes the real world says hold my beer.
An animal welfare group has been administering nasal naloxone to crows that are suspected to have eaten toxic drugs left accessible outside in downtown Prince George, B.C. The Good Caws Crow Rescue Society (GCCRS) has posted multiple videos showing their volunteers giving nasal naloxone to crows that are otherwise unresponsive.
Given these birds are finding opiates is scary. Worse yet, the trend is going up so these crows have a source.
Slayter said they’ve had one or two suspected drug overdoses a year in the past, but said they’ve recorded more than a dozen among crows this year alone, an alarming rise. “Their wings are spread out, their eyes are closed, their heartbeat slows right down. They’re unresponsive but alive,” is how she described the symptoms, adding some have a brown liquid foam coming out of their beaks.
At this point the Mounties need to get in with this group and tag a crow or two because at this point these birds have a source. if a tagged bird shows up again with an overdose they can trace the source. Sometimes people forget that animals other than humans get high, dolphins do it. so does every cat small and large and more animals.
She said she suspects the crows are accessing the drugs as they are mixed in with garbage that is openly available downtown. She said her suggestion for a solution is more covered garbage cans that would prevent crows from accessing disposed materials. “A crow doesn’t know the difference between a sandwich bag and a bag that had something in it. And it takes something the size of like a grain of sand to affect a bird,” she said.
I am going to beg to differ here, some animals enjoy getting high and while its not for everyone sometimes once someone or something starts doing it they don’t stop. It is crazy that when our human world bleeds over into the wild the things that happen. However I am glad that people are out there to help our Corvid friends.
I have written about how AI is paralleling Mad Cow Disease and it is getting worse and OpenAI is proving it.
OpenAI has let go of multiple contractors tasked with reviewing chatbot prompts after finding out they relied on artificial intelligence to complete their assignments. Thousands of contractors check real ChatGPT user inputs to help improve the chatbot’s responses. They are meant to bring a natural human touch to the systems, yet several workers are skipping this step entirely. 404 Media found that multiple contractors hired to improve OpenAI’s models have been fired for using AI to carry out their work.
One of the issues with the current generation of LLMs is finding content that is human-created and not AI slop. Feeding LLMs bad or slop data triggers rapid functional decay. OpenAI hired people to try to stop this digital prion disorder from getting worse; instead, they tried to shortcut the process by using slop to stop AI from generating more slop. Right now, Obi-Wan is pleading with Anakin: ‘You were the Chosen LLM! It was said that you would destroy the slop, not join it! Bring balance to the model, not leave it in darkness!’
AI Trainers Risk Model Collapse Some AI models can exhibit signs of ‘model collapse’, where systems trained repeatedly on AI-generated data can become increasingly degraded. Research published in Nature has found that indiscriminate use of model-generated content in training can cause models to lose information from the original data distribution.
Model collapse in my opinion is closer than we think. For every major AI maker to join together and say they need to slow down and at the same time to say to the government to stop them, it is a clue that AI makers are not saying what is going on. They need a lifeline and they are working hard to stop the outcome. If you have watched AI it peaked a few months ago and now the AI is getting worse little by little lately. It is missing on OCR, it is slightly off on more things now.
‘Our contracts strictly prohibit the use of LLMs to complete projects and we enforce that. We invest heavily in our tools and systems to detect misuse and ensure our experts comply with project rules and contract terms. When we confirm an expert has used AI to complete a task, we immediately remove them from the project.’
The problem is these AI auditors are stuck, they can’t even fart these days without having some AI close by, If you think about it making a call: AI; requesting chat help: AI; running a Google or Bing search: AI. These people cannot help but to feed the machine and make AI mad cow disease worse.
Stanford recently did something with AI that made students question themselves. Stanford Residential & Dining Enterprises took a picture from a student and than used AI to race swap people in the picture.
On his journey to campus, Stanford student Billy Ramirez ’27 was sent an image he recalled a Stanford photographer taking. Upon closer examination, he noticed that he had been removed from the photo and replaced by a AI-generated black woman.
Billy got back to the futured by AI by the school and was removed from the picture he remembered he was in. This is funny because all schools have the mantra of “Do not use AI OR ELSE”.
Ramirez, who stated, “I was driving to school from my hometown when my friend sent me the images comparing the banner to the original photos, and I was immediately baffled. At first, I found it hilarious that they had used AI to completely change our appearances, including my race and gender. But after looking at the comparison, I was also upset because I don’t agree with Stanford making those choices about how we were represented. Seeing my identity changed and being left out of the picture made me feel, in a way, silenced and erased from a representation that was supposed to include me.”
Billy may be White, but according to every standard code of conduct a school operates under, they missed big here.
From the Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (race, color, national origin), Title IX (sex), and specific state/university education codes. Shall not on the basis of race, color, creed, sex, national origin, marital status, political or religious beliefs, family, social or cultural background, or sexual orientation, unfairly– a:Exclude any student from participation in any program b:Deny benefits to any student c:Grant any advantage to any student
As silly as it may be Billy should be going to the title 9 office and making some noise, you do not just take a picture of someone than turn around with AI and race swap him out to a fake human. Stanford has photography classes. They could of pulled any number of real students to take the same photo again and had real people and real race inclusion but no they decided to just swap out Billy and swap in a hallucinated person who never went to Stanford.
Not only were Ramirez’s race and gender changed, but the two students to Ramirez’s right were distorted, making them appear visibly thinner. While this incident is humorous and generated thousands of reactions on Fizz, it offers an unsurprising insight into Stanford’s and its bureaucracy’s persisting ideological and racial preferences.
Stanford might want to tap their law professors at this point; while funny, they are walking into a legal buzzsaw if Billy or the other students object to their likenesses being manipulated.
In all this is the stupidest use of AI when they could have tapped any number of students to take a picture for R&DE and instead decided to blow a few KW of compute time to phase Billy out of this reality and made their own.
The proposed Smithfield data center is fundamentally misaligned with its physical site parameters. Siting a high-density, multi-megawatt compute facility atop an active hydrologic divide introduces acute thermal, electrical, and environmental liabilities. Discharging massive thermal energy into a watershed already subject to active cyanobacteria advisories risks benthic dissolved oxygen collapse, accelerates nutrient loading, and directly threatens surface and groundwater resources managed by the Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management (RIDEM)
Draft Section: Hydrologic Vulnerability and Thermal Pollution Dynamics
1. Site Hydrology & Drainage Bifurcation
The proposed facility sits directly on a critical drainage divide between two major sub-basins: the Woonasquatucket River corridor to the west and the Moshassuck River / Blackstone watershed to the east. Surface runoff and shallow groundwater discharge from this elevation directly feed municipal wellhead recharge areas and downstream public recreation water bodies managed by the Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management (RIDEM).
Placing a high-density industrial compute facility across this hydrologic saddle introduces severe risks to regional drinking water aquifers and recreation assets, including Georgiaville Pond, Stillwater Reservoir, and Olney Pond at Lincoln Woods.
2. Thermal Effluent and Accelerated Cyanobacteria Proliferation
Recent monitoring confirms that receiving waters in this sub-basin are already ecologically fragile, operating under active RIDEM Cyanobacteria Advisories. Introducing an active cooling cycle or thermal discharge fundamentally alters the thermodynamic equilibrium of these shallow water bodies:
Elevated Baseline Temperatures: Cyanobacteria (blue-green algae) replication rates spike when ambient water temperatures exceed 20°C to 25°C. The rejection of millions of BTUs of waste heat into local drainage swales eliminates natural cool-water buffering capacity, accelerating cellular division and extending bloom persistence.
Thermal Stratification: Discharged heat creates a low-density thermal layer at the surface, preventing natural vertical mixing and atmospheric re-aeration. This thermal cap accelerates deep-water anoxia, releasing legacy phosphorus from bottom sediments directly into the water column.
3. Dissolved Oxygen Depletion & Benthic Dead Zones
The convergence of thermal loading and algal biomass leads directly to catastrophic dissolved oxygen (DO) collapse:
Physical Oxygen Saturation Loss: The solubility of dissolved oxygen in freshwater decreases inversely with water temperature. Warmer water holds less dissolved gas at the physical intake boundary.
Biochemical Oxygen Demand (BOD) Spikes: As temperature-accelerated cyanobacteria blooms reach senescence and die off, heterotrophic bacterial decomposition consumes available benthic oxygen, driving dissolved oxygen concentrations below the 5.0 mg/L threshold required to sustain native aquatic life.
Regulatory Impairment: Siting an artificial heat source within an already nutrient-sensitive drainage corridor directly conflicts with Rhode Island Water Quality Regulations regarding thermal mixing zones and anti-degradation standards for Class A and Class B waters.
Section 3: Regional Grid Fragility, Ratepayer Cost-Shifting, and Emergency Municipal Liabilities
1. Grid Capacity Mismatch & Distribution Vulnerability
Hooking a multi-megawatt industrial compute facility into Northern Rhode Island’s electrical infrastructure is fundamentally mismatched to regional capacity constraints. While the local grid is not historically prone to rolling blackouts, regional sub-transmission corridors operate under tight distribution tolerances. Siting a massive, continuous non-coincidental base load onto local feeds introduces severe local power-quality concerns:
Voltage Fluctuation & Harmonic Distortion: High-density compute racks cycling variable workloads induce rapid transient load steps. Even minor line voltage drifts (+-4v) create upstream harmonic distortion, stressing regional distribution transformers and degrading power quality for surrounding commercial and residential circuits.
Transmission Bottlenecks & Tariff Volatility: Since the operational acquisition of utility assets by Rhode Island Energy, energy supply rates have experienced sharp seasonal volatility (often swinging up to 20% annually). Rhode Island sits at the vulnerable tail end of ISO New England’s natural gas and transmission import corridors; injecting high-density industrial demand into a supply-constrained market directly intensifies wholesale clearing prices.
2. The Ratepayer Infrastructure Shell Game
A facility demanding dozens of megawatts cannot plug into existing substation equipment without extensive capital improvements:
Interconnection Capitalization: Rhode Island Energy will not absorb the cost of dedicated 115 kV line taps, sub-station rebuilds, or high-capacity step-down switchgear.
Cost Socialization via the Rate Base: Under standard utility regulatory frameworks, system reliability upgrades and transmission interconnection expenses are routinely capitalized into the broader distribution rate base. Industrial developers negotiate bulk economic development rates, leaving residential and small commercial ratepayers to shoulder the multi-decade debt service on utility infrastructure they do not use.
Municipal Tax Subsidy Inversion: Siting incentives, payment-in-lieu-of-taxes (PILOT) agreements, or tangible personal property tax concessions deplete the promised municipal windfall. As computing silicon depreciates to near-zero book value within 36 to 48 months, the resulting municipal budget shortfall shifts directly back onto local residential property tax rolls.
3. Environmental Liabilities of Backup Generation in a Fragile Hydrologic Saddle
To guarantee “four nines” (99.99%) or “five nines” (99.999%) operational availability, the facility must deploy massive on-site generation:
Bulk Fuel Farms Over Shallow Groundwater: Siting tens of thousands of gallons of ultra-low sulfur diesel (ULSD) across dozens of Tier 4 generator belly tanks directly over an environmentally sensitive hydrologic saddle is a critical regulatory risk.
Severe Weather & Hydraulic Containment Risks: Given Rhode Island’s increasing frequency of localized severe convective storms and intense precipitation events, typical secondary containment berms risk hydraulic overload. Any unmitigated breach or transfer spill during fuel delivery threatens immediate petroleum hydrocarbon migration into the shallow water table, directly imperiling municipal wellhead recharge areas and downstream recreation basins.
Heavy Metals and Airshed Contamination: Periodic load-bank testing and routine exercise runs of multi-megawatt diesel arrays dump nitrogen oxides (NO2), fine particulate matter (PM2.5), and heavy metal traces into the immediate airshed, where wet atmospheric deposition flushes contaminants directly into perimeter wetlands.
4. Unfunded Municipal Emergency Response & First Responder Burdens
An industrial computing facility introduces high-voltage hazards and specialized chemical fire profiles that exceed the baseline operational scope of municipal fire departments:
Lack of Dedicated On-Site Utility Response: During grid trips, ground faults, or sudden phase imbalances, the burden of emergency isolation falls entirely on local responders until utility field engineers can mobilize off-site. Without permanently staffed, dedicated on-site utility engineers, local emergency services are left managing multi-megawatt electrical and hazardous material events unassisted.
Class C Electrical & Battery Thermal Runaway Realities: Utility-scale uninterruptible power supply (UPS) systems—relying on massive lithium-ion battery energy storage systems (BESS)—carry acute risks of thermal runaway. These events cannot be suppressed with standard municipal water tenders and demand specialized chemical suppression agents, high-volume foam equipment, and specialized hazardous material (HAZMAT) protocols.
Capital Equipment Cost-Shifting to Local Taxpayers: Small municipal fire districts are not equipped or budgeted to acquire specialized electric-vehicle/BESS fire suppression platforms or advanced atmospheric monitoring tools required for high-density electrical fires. The developer’s risk is effectively offloaded onto local property taxpayers to fund specialized mutual-aid equipment and mandatory high-voltage training.
1. Thermal Injection into Ecologically Stressed Basins
Discharging industrial thermal effluent or redirecting heated stormwater into this hydrological saddle compounds preexisting biological degradation:
Amplification of Late-Season Cyanobacteria Advisories: Water bodies in the immediate receiving footprint—including Stillwater Reservoir and Georgiaville Pond—already trigger active RIDEM Cyanobacteria Advisories late into the season. Introducing continuous heat rejection removes the baseline thermal floor, turning seasonal blue-green algae blooms into permanent, toxic microcystin-producing monocultures.
Downstream Thermal Shocks & Chemical Synergy: Artificial heating accelerates dissolved mineral leaching. Biocides, scale inhibitors, and high Total Dissolved Solids (TDS) discharged alongside heated effluent act as chemical catalysts, collapsing downstream dissolved oxygen (DO) levels and suffocating sensitive benthic zones.
Massive site regrading, tree clearing, and the creation of acres of continuous impervious cover require drastic alterations to existing surface hydrology:
Disruption of Natural Sub-Surface Hydrology: Siting heavy building pads directly across this drainage bifurcation permanently severs natural shallow groundwater recharge pathways that supply local private and municipal wellheads.
Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) Regulatory Review: Diverting established intermittent headwaters, altering perimeter wetlands, and channelizing natural runoff triggers federal Clean Water Act (CWA) Section 404 permitting and National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) oversight. USACE hydrological modeling must evaluate how permanent watercourse diversions impact base-flow stability across both the Woonasquatucket and Moshassuck watersheds.
3. Proximity to Legacy Industrial Waste & Superfund Thermal Mobilization
Northern Rhode Island carries a multi-century legacy of heavy textile, toolmaking, and chemical manufacturing contamination:
The “Thermal Jet” Leaching Hazard: Subsurface plumes do not remain static when subjected to artificial thermal gradients. Injecting heated runoff or altering groundwater flow patterns risks destabilizing subterranean hydraulic barriers, accelerating the migration of legacy heavy metals, polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), and solvent plumes.
Superfund Corridor Interactions: The downstream Woonasquatucket basin already harbors high-priority remediation corridors (such as the Centredale Manor restoration zones downstream). Any significant thermal acceleration or hydrological rerouting from upstream Smithfield developments threatens to compromise decades of federal capping, sediment containment, and ongoing natural attenuation programs.
4. Low-Frequency Acoustic Cavitation and Wildlife/Human Impact
Data center environmental reviews routinely hide the severe acoustic impact of high-density cooling infrastructure:
Infrasound and Low-Frequency Noise (LFN): Evaporative chiller cooling towers, massive air-handling units (AHUs), and variable-frequency fans produce continuous acoustic signatures below 250 Hz, with significant infrasonic components under 20 Hz.
Acoustic Cavitation & Structural Resonance: Unlike high-pitch mechanical noise, low-frequency pressure waves bypass standard tree-line buffers, ground berms, and residential building envelopes. Long-term exposure to persistent low-frequency hums induces sleep disturbance, vibroacoustic stress, and chronic autonomic nervous system fatigue in surrounding neighborhoods while disrupting local avian and wildlife navigation.
5. Meteorological Vulnerability: 10-, 50-, and 100-Year Precipitation Surges
Rhode Island’s updated climate precipitation models confirm that historical 10-, 25-, 50-, and 100-year storm frequencies are breaking legacy stormwater design standards:
Hydraulic Overload of Retention Basins: Standard civil engineering retention basins sized on outdated historical NOAA Atlas 14 rainfall data cannot buffer modern high-intensity convective rainfall.
Catastrophic Perimeter Flushing: During an extreme storm event, overloaded retention systems will breach, flushing hot retention water, suspended industrial particulates, and petroleum traces from backup generator staging areas directly into adjacent wetlands and municipal aquifers before settling can occur.
6. The “Parasitic Infrastructure” Reality
Hyperscale data facilities increasingly target semi-urban and suburban peripheries for convenient proximity to municipal water lines and high-voltage transmission rights-of-way. In exchange, they deliver virtually zero local economic circulation, negligible permanent employment (often fewer than 20 on-site staff), and massive systemic drain on local resources. The infrastructure operates as an extractive, localized liability rather than a municipal asset.
Section 5: Structural Non-Viability on Terrestrial Acreage, Strategic Offshore Alternatives, and Aviation Interference Risks
1. Density Asymmetry and Historical Environmental Parallels
In a geographically compact state with high population density radiating in every direction, dedicating terrestrial acreage in sensitive recharge zones to heavy-compute infrastructure represents an unsustainable land-use model:
Repeating Industrial Extraction Patterns: Granting zoning variances and expedited site permits without comprehensive multi-season baseline studies mirrors the 19th- and 20th-century industrial degradation of the Blackstone and Woonasquatucket river valleys. A century ago, mill complexes turned regional rivers into open chemical discharge ditches; today, unvetted high-density compute risks replacing dye pollution with persistent cyanobacteria blooms, heavy metal runoff, and diesel contamination over critical drinking water aquifers.
2. Viable Alternative Architectures: Offshore Siting and Marine Heat Sinks
Rather than consuming terrestrial municipal watersheds and overloading localized electric substations, utility-scale data architecture should align with regional offshore assets:
Marine Thermodynamics vs. Aquifer Evaporation: Deploying compute clusters on repurposed offshore infrastructure (such as decommissioned platforms or marine modular pods) leverages the ocean as a virtually infinite heat sink. Subsea and marine heat exchangers eliminate consumptive freshwater loss, avoid local thermal lens stratification in shallow ponds, and completely remove thermal pollution from municipal drinking basins.
Direct Offshore Wind Integration & Small Modular Reactors (SMRs): Rhode Island already leads in offshore wind development. Coupling high-density loads directly to offshore wind transmission lines or next-generation Small Modular Reactors (SMRs) insulates the terrestrial grid. Modern Gen-IV SMR designs feature passive safety systems that physically prevent loss-of-coolant meltdowns under NRC regulations, generating localized, zero-carbon gigawatt-scale power without burdening municipal ratepayers or encroaching on residential zones.
North Central State Airport
3. Electromagnetic Interference (EMI) and Avionics Hazards: North Central State Airport
The proposed Route 116 corridor lies directly within the terminal approach and departure environment of North Central State Airport
High-Energy Electromagnetic Interference (EMI): Multi-megawatt substations, high-voltage switchgear, massive variable-frequency motor drives (VFDs), and dense switching power supply arrays generate wideband electromagnetic fields and harmonic distortion.
Navigational Degradation & Instrument Approach Risks: Unmitigated EMI introduces acute interference risks to VHF Omni-Directional Range (VOR) beacons, Instrument Landing System (ILS) localizer/glideslope signals, and GPS/WAAS satellite acquisition. Any signal corruption risks blinding cockpit avionics during low-visibility operations, stripping pilots of precision instrument guidance and forcing emergency Visual Flight Rules (VFR) transitions in restricted airspace. A comprehensive Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Part 77 airspace evaluation and rigorous EMI radio frequency propagation study are mandatory before any structural approvals can proceed.
4. Conclusion & Regulatory Mandate
The proposed Smithfield data center cannot achieve “ecological neutrality” under current site parameters. Placing continuous thermal, electrical, acoustic, and chemical burdens across an environmentally stressed hydrologic saddle creates significant long-term municipal liabilities while delivering negligible civic value.
The Town Council, Planning Board, and the Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management (RIDEM) should decline all requested zoning amendments and special use permits until:
A multi-agency Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) under RIDEM and USACE oversight is completed, explicitly modeling thermal discharge against 2026 cyanobacteria advisory baselines.
An FAA/FCC Joint Electromagnetic Compatibility Study verifies zero interference with North Central State Airport
The developer executes a binding, non-recourse infrastructure bond fully indemnifying municipal ratepayers and local fire districts against grid upgrades, hazardous materials equipment procurement, and catastrophic secondary containment failure.
Addendum: Technical Specifications for Offshore Siting, Infrastructure Isolation, and Marine Thermodynamic Alternatives
Elimination of Freshwater Evaporative Losses: Transitioning high-density compute clusters from terrestrial recharge zones to marine platforms utilizes open-ocean water bodies as near-infinite thermal sinks, operating via titanium plate closed-loop secondary heat exchangers.
Aquifer & Recreational Buffer Preservation: Moving thermal dissipation offshore prevents the discharge of millions of BTUs into fragile inland swales, eliminating the surface thermal stratification that accelerates cyanobacteria blooms in shallow water bodies (e.g., Georgiaville Pond, Stillwater Reservoir) and protecting municipal wellhead recharge areas from thermal-jet disruption.
Subsurface Hydraulic Protection: By avoiding artificial thermal gradients on land, regional groundwater temperatures remain stable, eliminating the thermodynamic triggers that increase the solubility, unbinding, and accelerated migration of legacy contaminants from upstream and downstream Superfund corridors (such as the Centredale Manor restoration zones).
Direct High-Voltage Interconnection: Colocating compute facilities with offshore wind transmission corridors or deploying dedicated Generation-IV Small Modular Reactors (SMRs) insulates the local sub-transmission system from severe industrial load steps.
Grid Decoupling & Ratepayer Protection: Siting generation and compute offshore prevents non-coincidental base loads from entering ISO New England’s constrained Rhode Island delivery corridors. This stops utility rate-base socialization, ensuring residential and commercial ratepayers do not subsidize 115 kV line rebuilds, substation upgrades, or transmission tariffs.
Passive Safety Architecture: Modern SMR installations operate under strict NRC design parameters featuring passive, gravity-driven cooling systems. These systems maintain core stability without reliance on off-site AC power, eliminating terrestrial diesel belly-tank fuel farms and associated groundwater contamination risks.
A.3 Hazard Containment & Municipal Liability Insulation
BESS Isolation: Battery Energy Storage Systems (BESS) and high-voltage Class C electrical gear deployed on maritime structures contain thermal runaway hazards within isolated structural cells equipped with automated seawater deluge and inert gas suppression (e.g., Novec/Inergen).
Zero Municipal Fire District Burden: Removing specialized industrial electrical hazards from small municipalities eliminates unfunded mandates for volunteer fire departments, removing the need for costly HAZMAT mutual-aid equipment, foam tenders, and advanced high-voltage training programs.
Deterministic Workload Management: Incorporating dynamic power-signature workload shaping allows operational priority to be directed toward high-value scientific and public-interest compute pipelines while automatically throttling non-essential extraction loads during periods of grid or resource stress.
“Methodology Note: All hydrological data, spatial mapping, and infrastructure parameters were independently compiled and verified by the author. Large-language model tools were utilized strictly for text structural formatting, synthesis, and typographical composition as an assistive interface.”
“Operational impact parameters and resource draw baselines reflect empirical, multi-facility operational averages derived from established high-density compute corridors rather than non-binding applicant design estimates.”
Some coffee news… A student brought a coffee to school to class on the first day of school only to get suspended from a new policy not known to many
Julie , a senior at Beaver River Central School in Castorland, N.Y., told WWNY that she was stopped by a teacher as she attempted to bring a coffee drink to the first day of school Sept. 3. Kaputa said she was surprised to learn the school had adopted a new policy on outside food and beverages without notifying the public.. Julie, an honor student, was handed an in-school suspension (ISS) for violating a new Code of Conduct regulation that sought to “create a safe, instruction-focused environment for all students.” She accused the Lewis County school district of illegally changing its policy with no public hearing at the school board’s last meeting in August.
In a case of the the left hand not knowing what the right hand was doing the School Board makes new rule, forgets to put it on paper and wonders why they end up in the news. When schools enforce rules they often never go after the students that don’t care. they will just walk past admin with the coffee. So they target mild mannered students and wonder why these students in the end rebel against school policy.
“Julie was put in ISS today for refusing to dump out a ‘banned beverage’ (a latte from moving mountains). I was called down to the school,” Mary Anne wrote on Facebook.
“Meeting minutes from both July and August (where the code may have been discussed) were never published to the website until today when I pointed it out to the District Office, and the district office had no record of a public hearing being conducted,” she continued. “I am certain that the school can not enforce a substantial change to the code of conduct without a public hearing.”
This here is going to run that school board into legal issues. The its a rule because I said so never ends up well. Because at that point this is running into multiple walls at once. First since its unwritten these students can run the malicious compliance on staff. “Dump your coffee its against policy. I’m a teacher it doesn’t say that. Show me! uhhh… Well you say the policy is policy and it doesn’t specifically name students or teachers so NOCOFFEEFORYOU!” That will be the dialog line going down the school tries to punish for insubordination and it will end up in the news.
Secondly, For the ADA students and they have a sugar crash and the school nurse might be over 10 minutes away and the student end up in the hospital over a drink policy it wont well.
I think there should be a sound policy about drinks, Not a bad but common sense. If there is a problem with the plastic cups that are from take out .. Sure put a policy in place and have admin at school with closed drink containers for 10$ . It helps everyone.
On Thursday, Beaver River Central School District Superintendent Todd Green said updates to the Code of Conduct are posted publicly prior to the August Board of Education meeting where proposed changes are discussed and voted on following public comments.
But if the COC was a result of those meetings were never posted those rules are not rules they are suggestions until formalized by vote. Mr. Green says they were posted.. but where were they posted in the middle of the woods by the 3 oak trees under a rock.. Yes its posted but good luck finding them .
“Recently, an attentive community member brought a procedural technicality to our attention on the very first day of school. While our annual review process mirrors a public hearing in practice, we acknowledge the advance notice did not explicitly contain the phrase ‘Public Hearing,’ and that the public may not have realized they were entitled to speak on the Code of Conduct before action was taken by the board,” Green wrote in a letter to the community.
How to fail at failing. They have made so many mistakes here and they wonder when the news picks up on them over policy that was not posted, Not a publicized meeting, ignores ADA , and policy that is Closer in agency to banning dihydrogen Monoxide in a ironic blast from the past. Again a closed container policy should be in place here and if teachers or admin get all worried ask the students to open the container if they suspect drink tampering is a common sense policy.
According to the New York Post, the new Code of Conduct, which applies to BRCSD middle school and high school students, added a policy barring Food from Outside Vendors. Green told WWNY that the rule aims to promote a safe and distraction-free learning environment.
In a case of stupid rule writing here, The school dept just banned all food, It banned biting nails, Short of shoving a cow and a garden planter in your locker it bans ALL FOOD. The Dept forgets that school lunch is an outside vendor, this is not the 1900 anymore where lunch was made inhouse. So I guess back to eating lead paint and asbestos. Teacher opens a sugar packet.. Call the school dept. Teacher has food in their car .. Call the school department… Principal has crumbs on his tie .. Call the school department. Cannibalism and booger eating is officially compliant. DON’T CALL THE SCHOOL DEPARTMENT!
“The following food and drink guidelines help minimize distractions, protect students with food allergies, and promote a calm, equitable school experience,” the 2026-2027 policy states. “Students arriving with drinks or food will be asked to finish them before entering school.”
This policy is so badly written that a student with a big gulp now will end up in the rest room 5 times trying to urinate 64oz of soda and become a maximum distraction. The student that finishes their Starbucks coffee is not jittering all over the place. The diabetic that uses the drink to keep their sugar stable through the day is now a distraction because s/he is passed out on the floor and class is stopped because a EMS unit is working on them.
“Our family has always promoted transparency in government and proper representation of the people,” Julie wrote on Facebook.” This new policy was overly broad, unenforcible, and open to wide interpretation and inconsistent implementation, which is how abuse of power has always started throughout history. I would hope that this encourages students to pay attention to local politics, read documents before signing them, and get curious about their civic rights and responsibilities.”
Student Julie here is spot on and should be commended for her comments. However the school will likely point out she is against policy and call her insubordinate. However, She will thank the school for giving her pretty much a guarantee of school of choice when she submits this as part of her college entry letter!
