One Short & Sweet Truth About the Status of Seniority

 Being senior in anything does not relieve you of responsibility for all of the skills of that endeavor, basic or advanced.  In fact, by virtue of how long you’ve been at that endeavor, you are expected to be the best at it.  This applies in every undertaking I’ve ever been involved in.[1]  Consequently, life does not have much in the way of “resting on your laurels.” 

                Thus:

                A senior pastor must bring their[2] most powerful,  most reflective or most inspiring message to their homilies every time.

                A senior paramedic must be able to start the IV in the sickest patient with collapsed veins, and they are expected to be on call for every arrest in the most remote and dangerous locations.  They are also expected to know, cold, all of the arrest protocols.

                The charge nurse in a hospital unit must be equal to or better than the rest in all patient care skills, even when they do not normally do much hands-on patient care.  (A dear friend who died way too soon was the senior charge nurse at an intensive care unit.  She motored around on a cart in her final days, and she was perfect and meticulous in her patient care.)

                A senior woodcrafter’s joints must be perfect.

                A senior lawyer must continue to supply the most compelling argument on behalf of their client.

                In other words, by their performance every day, to remain powerful and relevant, their performance alone must make others ignore their canes (Check!), stroke-induced speech impediments (Check!), the grey/white hair (Check! A trifecta!) and other reminders of their senior status.

                This applies to:

                Those who write for a living, for fun or (more importantly) as a passionate life-style.

                Those who personally counsel the troubled.

                All artists in all mediums.[3]

                Musicians, instrumental, singing or both.

                Cooks.

                Those who drive frequently.

                Well, heck, it applies to everything you do when you leave your bedroom in the morning.  Seniority gives you expectations, not rewards. 

                That may be sad.  But I think it’s true.

 

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[1] In writing, it applies to things like grammar, e.g., not ending a sentence with a preposition such as I just did.  However, give me a break:  I didn’t know what else to end it with.

[2] Another grammar note:  English has no good or common gender-neutral reference.  “His or her” sounds contrived and artificial.  So I use the plural, in the hope that someone considerably smarter than I am will come up with a suitable replacement.  The same thing applies to “brother and sisters,” although I still use that in reference to the many who I do consider to be my brother or my sister, but I still have hopes in someone finding an equally sibling-esque substitute, without using “sibling,” which is equally contrived.  The long and hard-to-diagram sentences are, however, entirely my fault and my failing.  If it offends you, let me know and I’ll jump.  (Only from the first floor window, I’m really not THAT bothered.)

[3] Media?  Hmmm.

The Scout Oath, Core Values & Me

I’m listening to a book as drive, Upheaval: Turning Points for Nations in Crisis, by Jared Diamond.[1]   It started me thinking about what are my “core values.”  We all have them, and they can range from fairly positive to extremely negative.  Although, if I think your core values are negative, you probably disagree with me.[2]   Humans are like that.

“Oaths” are quite common in my profession. 

An oath I have taken many times really spells out my “core values”:

"On my honor, I will do my best to do my duty to God and my country, and to obey the Scout Law; to help other people at all times; to keep myself physically strong, mentally awake, and morally straight."

The “Scout Law” is different from most of what we consider “laws.”  The Scout Law doesn’t tell you what you are banned from doing.  It consists of twelve “is” statements:

A Scout is Trustworthy.

A Scout is Loyal.

A Scout is Helpful.

A Scout is Friendly.

A Scout is Courteous.

A Scout is Kind.

A Scout is Obedient.

A Scout is Cheerful.

A Scout is Thrifty.

A Scout is Brave.

A Scout is Clean.

A Scout is Reverent.

(No, I did not have to "Google" anything to remember the Oath & Law.  Give me a break.)

I first took the Scout Oath when I was 11, at my first meeting of Troop 101 in Fairmont, WV.  I have taken it a whole lot of times ever since - as a Scout, a Scoutmaster, and in every other position I've held in Scouting.  When I was president of the local council, I started each meeting by leading the members in the Scout Oath.  Some of them had been Scouts and many had not.  But they were - at any age - now Scouts. It was important to focus us on what we were there for. That continues for every meeting since, and I’m glad it does.  (Mountaineer Area Council is MUCH larger now after a couple of mergers.  It takes in north-central and northern West Virginia, and the several Ohio counties which are on the Ohio River for the first hundred miles.)  A Scout can be a youth, and now we serve ALL youth.  (The inclusion of girls is going excellently!)  And a Scout can be my age, having taken that oath for more than 60 years.  I remember buying Girl Scout cookies in SoCal when I lived there for a time.  They were set up outside the Albertson’s (that a grocery chain that serves mostly in the West), with lots of Girl Scouts and lots of Moms.  I remember having had a delightful time talking to the Scouts and Moms about Scouting and that it can be a lifetime commitment.

I have taken several oaths.  I was sworn into the West Virginia Bar on 15 May 1978, and that was my first oath as a lawyer.  In those days, you had to take an oath  in every Circuit Court.  I still thinks that’s a good idea, even though it’s now considered passe.  It helps you to pause and it reminds you of your responsibilities.  Along with the general oath, I’ve been a witness a number of times (usually connected with EMS calls), and been sworn as an assistant prosecutor and special assistant prosecutor in several counties.  Let’s see, I’ve administered a number of oaths.  I remember the first oral oath I administered, and it was to a witness before Judge J. Harper Meredith.[3]   I was the sole notary public in my law school class (I had already worked in law offices for some few years) and I got to keeping my stamp/seal in my locker because there was always a student that needed something notarized, which is a form of a written oath. 

But to me, nothing is more important than the Scout Oath.   Every other oath I’ve taken is embraced within the Scout Oath.  

 

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[1] This is a good book.  I consider “books on tape” as turning my car into a “university on wheels.”

[2] Yes, that’s a sentence fragment.  I know that it is.  Stay tuned and I’ll probably end a sentence with a preposition.  That’ll be because I can’t think of anything else to end it with.  Hmmm – Well, at least I’m proving that AI didn’t write any part of this particular screed, only this one poor, ink-stained wretch.

[3] He was the second longest serving Judge in West Virginia, serving about 40 years.  His successor, Judge Fred L. Fox, II, beat his record by several months before he retired.  They were both good judges, and good and respected friends.  I miss both of them.  

DATA CENTERS ARE COMING. LIVE WITH IT.

 The title is the first real point.  Data centers are coming.  There is no interest group, citizens group, or political party that is going to change that.  Artificial intelligence requires data centers, and requires that the computers which it contains be in close physical proximity to one another.

Given that they are coming, they are going to be located somewhere.  That requires space, water for cooling, and an enormous current excess in electrical generating capacity.  Period.

Citizens are not without ANY power in data centers - but not very much.

Moreover, the amount of information, intentional and/or malicious disinformation, is an industry all to itself.  Oddly enough, it is partially driven by AI, which measures in damn near real time the effects of the information and massages it to make it more effective.  More effective meaning it creates opinions which match what the maker of the messages wants.

 I resent AI.  I resent that a computer can do calculations quicker than I can (although that's been the case since ENIAC, i.e., all of my life).  I resent that a computer can simulate thinking, can con people into thinking what they are reading comes from a real human mind. and can make decisions which will just be accepted because the computer made them.  A poll (that I can't now find) done a year or so ago has a majority of those counted trusting AI to decide whether to take a country to war.  

But for all of my extreme negativity, data centers are still going to happen.  The reasons: (1) Power and (2) Money.

There IS an interest - primarily among nations - which affects how we hear about data centers and AI.  The United States would LOVE to beat China to AI.  Being partially capitalist (with at least a heady flavoring of oligarcholistic), much of the noise generated ON BOTH SIDES is to be pro-America (at being first).  China would LOVE to beat the United States, and being totalitarian socialist (with some oligarchs of their own), much of the noise being generated ON BOTH SIDES has Chinese fingerprints.  Now, those are just the two main players, but there are other national players in the mix,  Japan, two Koreas, India, Indonesia, the Middle East, and for that matter a majority of the 200 nations on earth.

Ohio/West Virginia/Pennsylvania is a good place to put data centers (that’s assume that you are looking for good places.)  The area has some excess electrical generating capacity, although not nearly as much as data centers will require.  Other regions of North America are not so close.  

Within some small confines, the public and local (meaning not national) government does have something to say.  For instance, in a portion of Ohio, Brooke and Hancock Counties of West Virginia, where their used to be steel plants, is room to put in data centers.  

So, those governments need to consider what that might bring.

One industry will be promoted all to hell - construction.  However, the construction industry is one which moves from place to place.  Sure, there will be construction jobs building the data centers.  Then, the jobs move on.  The permanent jobs remaining will be clerical and general maintenance for which citizens already in the area are qualified, and highly technical jobs for which people are probably training for, but not necessarily here.  When the data centers are done and operating, you’ll see big ass buildings without windows and parking lots with a smattering of cars.

Any kind of work involves heat.  My computer is warm and so am I when I’m working, but not enough so to create a microclimate.  Data centers will use so much electricity and generate so much heat that they will create some sort of microclimate.  Given that the best coolant generally available is water, and the last time I looked, water flowed downhill, data centers will be located in low places - valleys.   [See Note One] Then, after you collect the heat generated by the data centers, you have to transfer it someplace, even by simply dumping the water back into the river.  One of the “contenders” for data centers is Randolph and Barbour Counties in West Virginia.  That’s on the Ohio River watershed, but high up.  A data center put there would necessitate getting rid of heated water in a much smaller river than, say, the Ohio.  I bet the fish wouldn’t be pleased.  Not to say that the Ohio River fish will welcome the warmer water.

The need for more electrical generation will guarantee that there will be more power plants.  Another car in the money train is the electric companies.   Electric companies are more-or-less regulated.  They have to be.  To generate electricity and distribute it takes an enormous amount of capital, so much so that it would be woefully expensive to the public to have competing distribution systems.  So, some sort of Public Service or Public Utilities Commission exist in every state.  Because they try to keep costs down to the minimum, the PSC/PUC’s bear some responsibility for our antiquated distribution system.  Right now, the power by which you are reading this is transmitted through a system part of which has parts that are no longer manufactured.  The increase in generating capacity is going to bring a much needed - and very expensive - improvement to the distribution systems.  Ok, who pays?  That’s a touchy subject.  Generally, the top rates are paid by the least users of electricity.   That makes economic sense, even if it doesn’t sound fair.  It costs more capital investment to bring the miniscule amount of electricity you use in your home than it does to bring it to a factory, data center or other big user.

There are allegations of bribery being made in the current off-year political campaign.  Supporters of former Sen. Sherrod Brown’s campaign to return to the Senate from Ohio have made a charge against an Energy Company called First Energy that they paid a bribe.  (I have zero idea is that is supported by any truth or not.  You CAN libel a corporation, and I’m sure that that is on First Energy’s mind, but a lawsuit would take years and the election is in two months.)

Well, data centers are coming.  It’s utopia, dystopian, or probably both.

Note One:  The specific heat of a substance is the amount of heat it take to heat one gram by one degree centigrade.  For water, that’s a little over 4 joules.  For iron, copper, and other metals, it’s a little over 1 joule.  That means that water can absorb heat more efficiently than those metals.