Former CBS News president Richard Salant (1961 - 64 and 1966 - 79) explained the major media's role: "Our job is to give people not what they want, but what we decide they ought to have." ...and to this very day most Americans haven't noticed they're being brained washed! ~ N. Hooben
Saturday, March 25, 2023
Joe Biden will 'lie' us into WWlll...and you know what?
Friday, March 24, 2023
I don’t sell books.
If I did, I'd give this one away free of charge and rename it, "WAKE UP AMERICA"
The dollar's status as the world's preeminent currency, together with the U.S. military, has underlain American power since World War II. In a sweeping review of one of the most seminal yet least noticed developments in international affairs, Gal Luft and Anne Korin describe how an emerging coalition of revisionist countries, rogue governments, techno-visionaries and sanctioned entities, buttressed by innovations like blockchain and 5G, are working to push the dollar off of its reserve currency throne.It would not be the first time. Preceding the dollar, five consecutive currencies, each belonging to a superpower of the time, ruled the markets. Each predominated for roughly 80-100 years, and as it tumbled to irrelevance it accelerated the decline of the empire behind it.Are we due for a rerun?The slow moving shift from the dollar may be the single most important factor determining the future of American power. Arresting this trend will require Americans to make tough choices.Luft and Korin are co-directors of the Washington, DC-based Institute for the Analysis of Global Security (IAGS).
Wednesday, March 22, 2023
The Jab may have caused more harm than good.
Personally, I have known people that had heart problems or kidney problems or both and I'm certain they killed my cousin whom I've known all my life...he made the wrong choice and died soon after getting the jab.
Tuesday, March 21, 2023
NEVER TRY TO SELL AN EMPTY HOUSE
Never Try to Sell an Empty House
In my article It Never Pays to Use Self Storage I challenged my readers to suggest a scenario where paying to keep property in self-storage facilities is actually a good idea. One reader suggested that it might be a good idea to store your home's belongings when your house is up for sale and you are in temporary quarters waiting to move into a new one.
Bad idea. Never try to sell a vacant house. Sure, remove your personal or expensive items like photos, children's drawings, paintings, collectibles, etc., but leave carpets, furniture, appliances, and bric-a-brac that you don't mind losing. It's easier for a potential buyer to imagine what the house looks like filled with new furniture and their belongings than when it's empty:
Here's the idea:
Six Elements Blog, 5 Reasons Empty Rooms Are a Bad Idea When Selling Your House
Here are 5 reasons why you should always use furniture and/or accessories in a room rather than showing it empty:
- People don’t buy houses, they buy homes.
...Walking through empty rooms, or an empty house, is usually pretty depressing. It looks lonely, it doesn’t shout “this is your home, you will love living here.” So why would a buyer feel especially motivated to make an offer?
- It’s hard to understand how large a room is when there’s nothing in it as a reference point.
... Pretend you’re the buyer, which master bedroom are you more likely to remember favorably after seeing 8 houses in a day?
- People can’t visualize how furniture will fit in an empty space and if they’re unsure, they don’t buy.
- When a room is empty prospective buyers focus on negative details instead of falling in love with the overall space.
Instead of looking at the flow of one room to another, they get bogged down in questions like:
Is the drywall smooth?
Will those bumps in the carpet come out?
How come the closet doesn’t have a hanging bar yet?- When a house or even a few rooms are empty prospective buyers can get distracted from looking at the house.
Instead of focusing on whether this is the home for them, they may be busy wondering: Is this a divorce? Have they left town? Are they selling because they have money problems?
If you already moved your stuff into a new home and do not have any furnishings to put into your not-yet-sold old home, consider using a home staging company or if you're on a tight budget, NextStage cardboard furniture is a cheap alternative.
Related (sort of):
Home staging can be the difference between selling at a good price and not selling at all. For example, Muslims are able to sell the idea that Islam is a sister religion to Christianity and Judaism by populating (or staging) the Qur'an, their military handbook, with names that Jews revere such as Moses and that Christians revere such as Jesus. But those are names only. The Moses and Jesus portrayed in the Qur'an are not the same characters as in the Old and New Testaments.
- In Judaism, there are no prophets greater than Moses, whether they preceded him or came later. After all, except for Moses, God spoke to all other prophets though intermediaries. That is, God spoke directly to Moses, Deo e mano.
- In Christianity, there is no prophet greater than Jesus and for most Christians, Jesus is the incarnation of God the Son.
- In Islam, Moses and Jesus are not much different than the hundreds of other prophets who came before the final and most important prophet, Mohammed.
To make clear that Islam is in fact a military movement rather than a religion, please consider that Islam does not ask one to emulate the humble, kind, peaceful, compassionate, loving Jesus but rather the arrogant, violent, brutal, lustful, savage military commander and beheading ruler Mohammed. It's all in the staging.
Disclaimer: I receive no money from, nor do I endorse, any products mentioned in this article. See my full DISCLAIMER.
### End of my article ###
Bloggers: For non-commercial use you may repost this article without asking permission - read how.
Monday, March 20, 2023
What is a 'Data Center'? So now you know!
Why is Ashburn known as “Data Center Alley?”
Introduction to Data Center Alley
Based in Loudoun County, Virginia, Ashburn’s Data Center Alley is the top data center market in North America. Just a stone’s throw from Washington, DC, it forms an integral part of the Dulles Technology Corridor. With unmatched fiber infrastructure, reasonable energy costs, and great tax incentives, Ashburn is the preferred location for data center operations nationwide.
In Northern Virginia, the area that was home to one of the first large peering exchanges has evolved into what is now the fastest-growing data center market worldwide. Just between Loudoun and Fairfax counties, there are approximately 118 data centers, with over 10 million square feet of data center space. Datacenter providers and users are drawn to the area to benefit from its invaluable ecosystem which is built on top of the world’s densest fiber network.
In fact, this unmatched level of connectivity is the reason that the first telecom and internet companies were drawn to Data Center Alley.
Pre-Data Center Alley
In 1992 a group of network providers in Virginia joined forces and connected their networks. Alternet, PSINet, and Sprint-ICM all worked with Metropolitan Fibers Systems to form MAE-East, one of the first internet exchanges. Eventually, in 1993 they were awarded a grant by the National Science Foundation which made it one of the four original Network Access Points. By the late 1990s, this section of North Virginia was viewed as the perfect place for the expansion of the internet and fiber networks. The land was reasonably priced, the electricity cost was low and it was in close proximity to a skilled and educated population.
AOL was among the first to set up its base there and brought with it an investment in fiber and power infrastructure. They were followed by other established companies like Verizon, Orbital Sciences, and Telos that needed connectivity and power at scale. When Equinix (the world’s largest colocation data center) arrived in Ashburn, this connectivity scale became a virtuous cycle of IT infrastructure investment. Like all data centers, Equinix competes in creating the physical infrastructure that forms the backbone of the internet.
When they created their campus of data centers, it formed the foundation for interconnectivity with massive potential. Each new connection contributed to the wider ecosystem, creating a compounding effect. Other companies such as Digital Realty and Dupont Fabros (now owned by Digital Realty) began to build outward from the campus to benefit from the powerful digital ecosystem. The demand for space in the Data Center Alley began to rise as more organizations realized the value of tapping into such a highly interconnected infrastructure leading to the development of more facilities. The region evolved at such a phenomenal rate that, by 1997, half of the world’s traffic was already flowing through it.
In about two decades, the industry evolved from a retail colocation market to the world’s data center capital. Everything from wholesale data suites to custom-built cloud facilities are available in Ashburn. Today, technology powerhouses like Google, Microsoft, Facebook, Oracle, and Amazon all have stakes in the Data Center Alley to support their rapidly growing cloud computing needs. Loudoun county alone hosts more than 60 data centers that service around 3000 tech companies. Today, up to 70 percent of the world’s internet traffic flows through these centers daily.
Establishing Data Center Alley
This level of infrastructure development is also supported by the local government. The data center industry is recognized as a vital component of the modern economy, as it impacts every other major industry. Locally, it is a large contributor to employment and a major source of revenue for the state. In fact, Loudoun County has the highest median household income in the US, with nearby Fairfax county trailing closely behind.
The Virginia state government was able to recognize this potential and played a major role in the development of Data Center Alley. In 2014, the Data Center Zoning Ordinance was approved to allow the construction of new data centers in more districts as long as they adhere to the design guidelines. With the high demand for strategic positions on the map, multi-story data facilities are encouraged to maximize space. Loudoun County also began offering the Fast-Track Commercial Incentive Program. The initiative provides a dedicated project manager and gives data center projects priority on the development review list. It also facilitates tax exemptions for data centers that meet their criteria.
Powering Data Center Alley
The final element making Northern Virginia attractive for data centers is its power. Dominion Energy is the main power utility provider to the region. It provides about 1 Gigawatt of reliable, low-cost energy throughout northern Virginia. This availability of stable power in combination with the fiber infrastructure and government support is essential to the ever-expanding data center space.
What’s Next for Data Center Alley
Datacenter developers are already preparing for the next phase of cloud growth. New sectors such as artificial intelligence, virtual reality, and the Internet of things will all be heavily reliant on data center and IT infrastructure development. This means that the largest data center market in the world will continue to expand its lead. To keep up with demand, Loudoun county’s Economic Development Department selected 43 potential sites for Data Center Alley’s next phase of growth. Still, even this development may not be sufficient to support the rapid growth of the industry.
Configure your next Ashburn colocation project within our data center marketplace and compare data center costs on an apples-to-apples basis.
