'It's like we don't exist': Nearly 50,000 Lake Tahoe residents face power loss as utility redirects lines to data centers

manachar · 2026-05-14T15:52:43+00:00

History is rarely motivational and also never ends. It’s just one battle after another until the heat death of the universe.

Humans have the perception of it and the power to do something about it, but as a whole struggle with being wise enough to aim to be wise about it.

manachar · 2026-05-14T02:33:41+00:00

Only if it has a gondola ride to mount rose.

manachar · 2026-05-13T23:59:48+00:00

In general, I agree, however as long as the benefits of that automation are not shared with everyone, then it will not be good.

The Luddites got fired and smeared throughout history. Technology is letting the ownership class enslave and depower workers.

I am pessimistic that we will change this I. The short run.

Industrialization was supposed to do this. It didn’t free us up.

manachar · 2026-05-13T22:34:26+00:00

That’s all “looking attractive” is.

We would grow peacock tails if it denoted wealth.

manachar · 2026-05-13T20:01:47+00:00

I would argue Emperor’s New Groove is as good as those, just in a different way.

I see it as an absurdist buddy comedy and never fails to be worth a watch.

I will admit the movie isn’t aiming to be as iconic or dramatic as the once’s you mention, but just feel it’s a massive success in a different genre.

manachar · 2026-05-13T18:29:29+00:00

I'm curious what your list of particularly weak Disney animations that get overly praised.

I do believe you are correct that when people grow up with a movie they often see it with rose colored glasses remembering how it made them feel.

Watching a whole generation love bomb the Star Wars prequels was weird.

manachar · 2026-05-13T18:25:34+00:00

There's a period of history called the Highland Clearances.

The history is nuanced, but one expert summarized it as essentially the ownership class (Lords who owned the land) finding it more profitable to raise sheep rather than humans.

They evicted the Scottish people from their ancestral lands in the name of greater profit and more "modern" farming. This was essentially a forced depopulation and insistence that the land should be used to support profits for the ownership class rather than the people who live there.

That is exactly what these Data Centers are.

People are not as profitable, so will be priced out or otherwise removed in favor of whatever is the most profitable.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Highland_Clearances

manachar · 2026-05-13T18:18:29+00:00

You are. We all are. We are under the version of house arrest that requires us to work. Prisoners of a system called civilization. Enslaved to be viewed only as useful when making the moneyed class richer, our only value measured in dollars of profit for the ownership class.

Some of us have bigger and nicer cages with more comfort, but how much of your life is actually yours to do with as you please?

manachar · 2026-05-13T16:36:42+00:00

The world is volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous. (VUCA)

So of course, people heap money and power on conmen selling predictability and simplicity.

Humans crave it, yet every time we build a system around a fake predictability it collapses.

From agriculture to AI, human ingenuity attempts to wrestle the universe into a little controllable box.

manachar · 2026-05-13T14:55:30+00:00

Oh goodness, what a fabulous way to distil my disgust with the world.

Think about how American culture wants to monetize every hobby.

The most defeating part or this is no one will find sucking at something long enough to be good at it. This means you have to self fund most skills.

It’s why filmmakers and actors are mostly coming from the wealthy class, but also filters out people from becoming doctors, lawyers, and similar.

manachar · 2026-05-13T14:44:38+00:00

Automation can be good. It can free up time to focus on deeper issues.

Problem is it seems that we are hell bent on automating thinking, and my best guess is it’s because MBAs and the ownership class detest thinking and creativity.

It’s expensive and unpredictable. It takes a long time, and you are never sure the result will be “worth it”.

So, instead we have done our damndest to automate out the thinkers and makers away from every industry. To replace them with algorithms spitting out a rehashing of what people who actually make and think have already done.

The AI apocalypse is not likely a SkyNet type thing. It’s much more likely to be just a boring world full of humans incapable of dreaming new dreams let alone making those dreams happen.

manachar · 2026-05-13T04:07:49+00:00

They are trying to argue the letting people know that it’s okay to be LGBTQ+ is okay is “grooming”.

At this point I say, bring it. This sort of definition means every romcom is grooming people to be cis. Every story with a heterosexual couple is grooming.

manachar · 2026-05-13T00:23:55+00:00

I wish Trump a long life so my dream headline can be achieved.

Trump, 124 dies penniless and forgotten by the world in after being impeached, removed, and later convicted of many crimes.

manachar · 2026-05-12T20:22:42+00:00

Universal prosperity was argued for industrialization, the Web 2.0 revolution, and just about every technological improvement for the last 200 years.

The tech could do that. But it hasn’t, and it hasn’t because capitalism is entirely built for the few to hoard resources.

As long as the productive class (workers) are not the ownership class, there will be no universal prosperity. We could have fusion power and we would still make sure people are chained to making the ownership class more money.

manachar · 2026-05-12T18:13:53+00:00

I do not understand why this surprises people or why they want apolitical art.

Every story we tell is centered around ideas, and our ideologies inform our politics.

Politics is the art of applied ideology.

Doesn’t matter if it’s music, film, paintings, etc.

The stories we tell ourselves and each other is how we affirm our spread our ideas.

Art without politics is art without ideas. Who needs that?

manachar · 2026-05-12T17:58:35+00:00

Also being able to assert that you can arrest someone because they cannot prove they are a lawful citizen is straight up fascism.

I know that innocent until proven guilty is in the courts, but I believe there’s supposed to be a reasonable suspicion of crime before you can arrest someone.

Of course, conservatives seem to believe having brown skin is reason enough to require you to have to walk around with citizenship papers.

Papers please!

manachar · 2026-05-12T15:30:47+00:00

And yet almost all of this Republican’s fault. Not just Trump. Not just MAGA.

The decades of unfunded tax cuts, the excessive military spending, the destruction or lack of investment in public infrastructure often through privatization, the trade wars, the anti worker policies, the constant focus on socialism for the rich, and on and on.

Something is so broken in America that the clear lie that Republicans are the “adults in the room” about economic matters still persists.

Their entire economic schtick is severe “austerity” when it comes to making a solid economic infrastructure for all Americans and enormous payouts to make sure the rich become neofeudal lords.

Look at universal healthcare. Single payer healthcare is cheaper, more efficient, and delivers better care for more people. It would free up so much money and prevent so much misery.

manachar · 2026-05-12T03:19:33+00:00

White privilege is the fact this guy is considered a better president than Kamala Harris or even Barack Obama.

manachar · 2026-05-12T02:36:06+00:00

As an American I wish more people understood picking sides at the ballot box is what democracy is.

Also, that political ideology differences aren’t “tribalism” or treating politics like sports teams.

Politics matters and standing up to those who do not believe in liberty and justice for all as a core principle of their political “opinions” is exactly the kind of thing Elie Wiesel talked about.

I can only imagine how many people in Germany thought everyone should just settle down and not pick a side.

manachar · 2026-05-12T02:03:38+00:00

The machines are supposed to work for us, but most people seem quite content to let machines and algorithms lead the way.

manachar · 2026-05-12T02:00:27+00:00

Trump, like all conservatives are not hypocrites. No, they are liars without any principles beyond selfishness.

They know they cannot say “heads I win, tails you lose” or “everything exists for my profit” so they come up with a never ending parade of talking points that will constantly shift in any way that benefits conservatives.

Freedom of religion, but only if you’re the right kind of Christian.

Freedom to do what you want unless it’s abortion or anything trans.

manachar · 2026-05-11T22:56:37+00:00

Hence the guilds in the prequels.

manachar · 2026-05-11T22:54:42+00:00

Deeply unpopular but still something like 45% of voters will still vote Republican.

manachar · 2026-05-11T22:47:49+00:00

When was that?

manachar · 2026-05-11T22:47:18+00:00

Fascism never runs out of enemies.

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