Category: Tech

Activism, Corporations, Corruption, Dangerous Republicans, Ethics, Extremism, Freedom under threat, Human rights, Liberals, Oligarchy, politics, Tech, Trump Insanity

People’s March unites locals who oppose oligarchy, loss of rights & right wing extremism

by Anne Landman • January 19, 2025 • 13 Comments

The People’s March on Saturday, January 18, provided a chance for a large group of Mesa County’s growing number of liberal residents to get together, enjoy camaraderie, speeches, free hot coffee, chai and cookies provided by Octopus Coffee. People were bundled up as the temperature was just below freezing.

The crowd numbered around 300 people.

On Wednesday, January 15, President Biden gave a farewell address to the public in which he warned Americans of a coming “dangerous concentration of power in the hands of very few ultra-wealthy people, and the dangerous consequences if their abuse of power is left unchecked.” Biden said,

“Today, an oligarchy is taking shape in America of extreme wealth, power, and influence that literally threatens our entire democracy, our basic rights and freedoms, and a fair shot for everyone to get ahead.”

High speed fiber optic internet lines getting installed throughout the Grand Valley

by Anne Landman • May 24, 2024 • 5 Comments

A roll of fiber optic conduit awaits installation underground in northwest Grand Junction. If you’ve seen construction scenes like this in your area, it means high speed fiber optic internet will be coming to your neighborhood in the not-too-distant future. This is a photo of Clearnetworx operations ongoing in northwest Grand Junction, near the Foresight Circle area.

Two companies are currently racing to install high speed fiber optic internet lines throughout the Grand Valley, particularly in areas that have been underserved with high speed internet.

The two companies are ClearNetworx and Highline.

Clearnetworx is based in Montrose. It is a local company privately owned by Doug Seacat, who was born and raised in Montrose. Clearnetworx has already installed high speed fiber lines in Palisade, and their system went live on December 21, 2023. Clearnetworx started installing fiber lines in Fruita in May of 2023, and have made significant progress in bringing fiber to the west central area of downtown Fruita. You can see a map of their progress for installation in the Grand Junction area here.

Former Public Utilities Commissioner from Paonia sends up warning flags about legislation, construction of hyperscale data centers & the sharp rise in electricity consumption

by Anne Landman • March 11, 2024 • 5 Comments

Inside a hyperscale data center. More than 100 such data centers were built in 2020, and now hundreds more are in the pipeline. Their massive power consumption is threatening the power grid.Amazon, Google and Microsoft operate half of the world’s 600 hyperscale data centers.

Colorado Senate Bill SB24-085, “Sales & Use Tax Rebate for Digital Asset Purchases” introduced on January 24th, would give substantial tax savings incentives to stimulate construction of new data centers in Colorado.

John C. Gavan of Paonia, who has a 25 year career in tech and sat on the Colorado Public Utilities Commission, argues this is a VERY bad idea for Colorado’s environment and ratepayers, and he really wants readers to know why. He says he can only talk about this now because his term as a commissioner on the PUC expired last year, which freed him to discuss it.

First, readers need to know that the boom in computer-intensive tech, like artificial intelligence (AI), cloud computing, crypto mining and businesses outsourcing their IT to cloud-based systems, combined with the rush to electrify cars and homes are all pushing our country’s existing power grid to the brink, leading to a major power crunch and imperiling utilities’ ability to meet the rapid, massive increase in demand.