I wrote a ton of AutoLISP back in the day to do similar things to generate well logs for environmental and geotechnical reports. Fun stuff.
In 1990 I went to work at Autodesk and got to work on all kinds of stuff over the next decade -- AutoLISP was the bridge that got me into tech as a profession over the geology field work I was doing. It's been a wild ride.
This was previously the location of an Alcoa aluminum smelter which used something around 1000+ MW. And that's why the crypto farm is there -- it already had sufficient electrical capacity to the site.
Folks should be happy since the crypto operation is using far less power and dumping less heat into the environment that the industrial operation that was previously there, but datacenters seem to be a trendy thing complain about at the moment so here we are.
Where is the upside here? An alu plant probably provided more jobs and produced something of actual utility. This is burning power for no benefit to society.
It's burning less power than before, but it's not producing anything of value.
The world cannot reasonbly run without alu, it got along better without crypto currencies.
Oh, I agree. I lived nearby (working for ERCOT; the Texas Power Grid operator) when Alcoa was still there and was planning the shutdown. It seems about half the people in Rockdale worked for either Alcoa, the nearby coal power plant, or the nearby coal mine that fed the power plant.
I remember the local press going on about the crypto mining operation and how folks were going get high-tech jobs in this rural area of Texas. Of course it didn't go that way.
Aluminum smelting is an incredibly energy intensive operation. A lot of places in the US that used to host aluminum smelters now host large datacenters, include the Google data center in The Dalles, Oregon on the Columbia river near a hydro dam. It's a shame that Rockdale didn't get something useful like these other places.
As far as Al smelting in the US; I don't know. I'd imagine it produces a lot of air pollution by itself and uses huge amounts of power that is usually generated by cheap methods like burning rocks (coal) or large hydro operations nearby to minimize transmission costs. Then you gotta get ore to the site. The only Al smelter I recall being left in the US is up near Puget Sound in Bellingham, WA and I think it's currently shutdown.
> I remember the local press going on about the crypto mining operation and how folks were going get high-tech jobs in this rural area of Texas. Of course it didn't go that way.
That's a disappointingly common crypto industry lie. Cryptocurrency mining involves very little labor beyond initial construction; it's certainly not a major source of permanent employment.
Not to mention the aluminum plant was making something actually useful to society at large. What is there now is a giant space heater used to scam people.
A mercury refining plant or uranium enrichment facility would also be worse neighbors, but that has nothing to do with the benefits and costs of the crypto farm.
The Boeing Company | Berkeley, MO | Digital Transformation Architect | Onsite | Full-time
We’re modernizing a major aerospace/defense program and need a senior architect to lead the digital transformation: cloud migration, DevOps, CI/CD, IaC, Kubernetes, automation, the works. High autonomy, big scope in the Air Dominance division of Boeing Defense, Space & Security.
You’ll drive architecture and technical strategy across multiple teams, replace legacy pipelines with modern tooling, and shape long-term engineering direction. U.S. citizenship + ability to obtain a clearance required.
What we’re looking for:
- Deep experience with cloud (AWS/Azure), Kubernetes, CI/CD, IaC
- Strong systems thinking and architecture design
- Leadership across multi-team environments
- Experience driving org-wide technical change
Comp: ~$151k–$205k + full benefits
Primary location is Berkeley, MO (at St. Louis Lambert International Airport) but for the right candidate Mesa, AZ and Seattle, WA might work.
The idea that the surface of the earth consists of a bunch of rock "rafts" floating around on a hidden mantle, occasionally running into each other -- with some falling and others rising -- seems rather crazy. It took a lot of data to convince folks it was real.
Still, the 1960s feels very late for something that has become so foundational to our understanding of geology. One obvious analogy is the Copernican revolution where the crazy idea that the entire Earth is spinning on a daily basis was recognized centuries ago.
With plate tectonics there was the major clue with how the outline of South America fits so neatly into Africa, and I assume that it was known that the rocks were similar on each side of the ocean.
Nevertheless, if the idea remained speculative till the sea-floor spreading was observed then I suppose it had to wait till we had robust enough subs to get down there to see it.
> Still, the 1960s feels very late for something that has become so foundational to our understanding of geology. One obvious analogy is the Copernican revolution where the crazy idea that the entire Earth is spinning on a daily basis was recognized centuries ago.
The Gregorian calendar is really the problem because it amplifies relative numbers. The agricultural evolution that started modern humans as a culture was 10,000 years ago. If we think of the current year as 12,025 ME and Copperncian revolution as 11,514 ME I think it puts in a proper scope as all relatively recent and contemporary event.
Gregorian calendar is like standing too close to a Monet or pointillist painting, you lose the scope of the big picture.
Early Warning (Zelle) | Senior Cloud Engineer | NYC, SFO, or Scottsdale, AZ | Full-time | $125-160k + Bonus
Early Warning, the fintech company behind Zelle®, is hiring a Senior Cloud Engineer to help us build and operate secure, scalable, cloud-native infrastructure. Our Cloud Engineering team is responsible for the core platform services powering real-time payments across the U.S.
What you’ll do:
• Design and manage cloud infrastructure in AWS using Terraform and Kubernetes
• Build resilient systems for compliance-heavy, high-availability environments
• Drive automation, observability, and DevSecOps best practices
About you:
You’ve operated infrastructure at scale, are strong with infrastructure as code, and understand cloud-native architecture. You’re collaborative, security-conscious, and passionate about reliability.
Location: NYC, SFO, or Scottsdale, AZ. Hybrid in office 3 days a week
I'd want to be standing outside the error bounds, plus 5 miles.
I think that it's important we know these systems work. There's some freaking amazing technology built into them back when I was a kid. If even 50% of them actually work, we're way ahead of everyone else.
I'd be surprised if anything in Russia works at a rate of more than 1%.
Early Warning powers and protects the U.S. financial system, operating products like Zelle® and Paze℠. We're seeking a Staff Engineer to lead our cloud infrastructure as we complete our multi-year migration to AWS.
Role: Lead design and implementation of cloud-native solutions using AWS (EC2, Lambda, S3, RDS, EKS). Focus on scalability, security, and cost optimization.
Requirements:
- 10+ years in Cloud Engineering/DevOps, 3+ years AWS
- Deep expertise in AWS core services and Kubernetes (EKS)
- Experience with Docker, Terraform, and CI/CD
- Track record implementing PCI-DSS, SOC 2, FFIEC controls
- Current AWS certification(s)
- Experience building observability at scale
- BS in Computer Science or related (MS/PhD preferred)
Benefits:
- Base: $150-180K (Phoenix) or $160-190K (NYC/SF) + bonus
My current Vuescan license is from 1999. And I think that one was just to replace an older serial due to some upgrade on their end. It's probably the most bang for the buck of any software I've actually purchased.
I don't do much scanning anymore, but I do have an ancient Nikon CoolScan 35mm scanner that's probably at least 20 years old now. I get it out every few years to scan something I found and, with Vuescan, it still works remarkably well.
Although the last time I fetched it out from a storage container by our barn (I really should store it in the house) I found the negative strip scanner wasn't working anymore, but the slide adapter did and that was good enough for the task at hand.
I have both; I got the LG when they first came out and the Studio display last year during a good sale on Amazon.
The panels seem the same but everything on the Apple one is better, as you would expect.
But lately my LG is starting to have issues with ghosting and color shifts around the edges. It's still ok to use (I'm typing this on it) but I guess it's nearing the end of it's useful life.
Yeah, I've been using these on multiple Macs for a decade now and it's just not an issue.
If I get the warning the mouse is getting low on charge I just plug it in, go grab a drink or use the bathroom, and by the time I get back it's good for the rest of the day.
Then all I have to do is remember to plug it in overnight and it'll be good for months. YMMV.
In 1990 I went to work at Autodesk and got to work on all kinds of stuff over the next decade -- AutoLISP was the bridge that got me into tech as a profession over the geology field work I was doing. It's been a wild ride.