The Great Lilac Bath Debacle
May 6, 2025
Remember my blog post a few years back when I suggested artificial intelligence (AI) data centers would likely become an unintended drain on our nation’s energy supply?
Well, AI informs me that its data centers accounted for approximately 2 percent of total U.S. electricity use in 2023, although it could not cite the source of the information. Instead, it suggested I check the information for accuracy.
Oh, the nerve.
However, AI did add that, according to the Environmental and Energy Study Institute, some estimates suggest AI data centers’ energy consumption could reach 12 percent of U.S. annual demand by 2030.
Unintended consequences? The cost of progress? An opportunity to invest in utility companies?
While there are many unknowns when it comes to AI, I continue to see reports that progress is being made on the healthcare front, particularly in the development of cancer treatments and even cancer PREVENTION strategies, thanks to AI.
Stay tuned.
On a completely different and intentionally silly front, I am in contemplation mode, preparing to turn the Big 6-0 on September 1. Lately I’ve been pondering how my life might have unfolded differently had I not experienced these movie-themed true confessions:
I never cried during 1982’s E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial. I was a senior in high school that fall, and when I looked around the theater toward the end of the movie I realized my mother, sister, and every other female but me was crying.
Do I not have a soul? No, just an inability to concentrate when I am distracted. From the beginning of the film, I was annoyed by:
The little sister’s (who of course was Drew Barrymore) lisp; and
My obsession over how E.T.’s massively oversized head could stay upright on such a long, narrow neck.
Reminder: I’m the one who consistently manages to ruin a feel-good opportunity.
More open disclosures. I have never seen these movies:
Any of the Star Wars movies
Any Godfathers
The entire Gone with the Wind
Any Harry Potters
Any Lion Kings
Who Framed Roger Rabbit*
Any Lord of the Rings
*This movie put me to sleep every time I attempted to watch it in the late 1980s (a.k.a. primo party years, which explains a lot).
Sci-fi is definitely not my thing and I’m desperately trying to catch up on the classic TV shows and movies all the cool people have been watching for decades.
Why am I thirty years behind on pop culture? I suspect that in 1998 when I moved to Colorado I overloaded my plate with work, boards, naïve business investments, advocacy projects, and then that unfortunate cancer thing happened. In essence, I evolved into a state of mental numbness in the run up to the dot-com crash and didn’t wake up until a couple months ago.
Regardless of what got me to here, I’ve got a whole lot more reflecting to do and stories to write. And yes, the really good tales I’ve been teasing about lately are still on the way.
I’m thinking my 60s will be the “tell-all” decade. Trust me, even generative AI couldn’t predict what’s about to get unleashed from my memory vault!
Keep slaying—even if it’s just your to-do list,
