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Supermoon Beyond the Temple of Poseidon

Image Credit: Alexandros Maragos

https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap240820.html #APOD

APOD: 2024 August 20 – Supermoon Beyond the Temple of Poseidon

A different astronomy and space science related image is featured each day, along with a brief explanation.

@JMSeaborn I’m glad that repairs to the kite happened. Still working on mine.
Phil. It’s been Phil all along.
@JMSeaborn from the running gags of Greg Davis’ photos to Phil’s Bruce Lee unitard to randomly pantsless Alex Horne, I’ve had tears running down my face each episode.
@JMSeaborn I have now made it to series 7, and the unhinged adventures/torture by Rhod Gilbert has made me laugh so hard, I’ve injured myself.
@JMSeaborn I’ve caught bits of it, and I’m honestly afraid to fully dive in for that reason. I have things I need to get done!
Water required by data centers is increasing considerably with the advent of generative AI. Large language models trained on vast amounts of data need substantial cooling.

While some may argue that water can be reused, it is often pulled from water supplies in times of significant heatwaves, when residents are in need of it as well, and supplies diminsh faster.

In July of 2022, Microsoft pumped in about 11.5 million gallons of water to its cluster of Iowa data centers, according to the West Des Moines Water Works. That’s around 6% of all the water used in the district, which also supplies drinking water to residents.

Meanwhile, the energy required is of course not recycled – and it’s to be expected that energy use is growing as well. The companies behind the tools are just not disclosing how much their AI investments are costing us when it comes to their carbon footprint.

”In its latest environmental report, Microsoft disclosed that its global water consumption spiked 34% from 2021 to 2022 (to nearly 1.7 billion gallons, or more than 2,500 Olympic-sized swimming pools), a sharp increase compared to previous years that outside researchers tie to its AI research.”

https://fortune.com/2023/09/09/ai-chatgpt-usage-fuels-spike-in-microsoft-water-consumption/
A.I. tools fueled a 34% spike in Microsoft’s water consumption, and one city with its data centers is concerned about the effect on residential supply

“They were pretty secretive on what they’re doing out there,” says a former mayor about Microsoft’s data center projects.

Fortune
@JMSeaborn It’s so very good.
@girlonthenet @JMSeaborn @WrittenInKink I bounce around here, and on Threads, but also on a couple of Discords. Between those items, I connect with most of the social media that I want to follow from The Bad Place.
@JustAnotherUsername @JMSeaborn It is. It’s a cultural zeitgeist sort of song. And I often break into Jeffrey, Jeffrey Bezos…