£10bn Investment In AI Data Centre Confirmed
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on the BBC.
This was the sub-heading.
A £10bn investment in a new artificial intelligence data centre will create about 4,000 jobs, the government has said.
These two paragraphs add more details.
The site in Cambois, near Blyth, Northumberland, will become one of Europe’s biggest AI data centres.
The land was bought by private equity giant Blackstone earlier this year, after the collapse of Britishvolt which had planned to build an electric car battery factory on the site.
In My First Trip On The Northumberland Line – 18th December 2024, I said this after my first trip to the line.
The Blyth Valley Is Well Supplied With Electricity
Several high-capacity connections to wind farms and Norway are planned to come ashore at Blyth and it appears from the pictures that the area is well connected to the grid.
This must have nudged Britishvolt to put their battery plant at Blyth.
But no matter for those jobs, as with a rail service to Greater Geordieland and lots of electricity, there must be other energy-hungry businesses like datacentres or small modular reactor factories, who would want the site.
The Long Platforms
I am fairly sure that some of the platforms have been sized to take a five-car Hitachi Class 80x train, which are only 130 metres long and can carry around 400 passengers.
This must enable the ability to use the Northumberland Line as a diversion for the East Coast Main Line.
Some services could perhaps stop at Blyth for the large factories and/or Northumberland Park for the Metro.
It looks to me, that the Northumberland line was designed for large factories or businesses with lots of workers, that needed lots of electricity.
I’ve Got A New Keyboard
My eyesight is not as good as it was, so I have called in the experts.
The RNIB recommended this keyboard with large yellow keys.
At a price of just over thirty pounds it seems to make a lot of difference to my typing.
It was bought from the RNIB web site.
To install it, I just shut down the computer, swapped the keyboards and restarted the computer.
These are some thoughts on the use of these keyboards.
Typing Accuracy
I’ve been using the keyboard for about three hours now and I’ve only made one mistake.
Last week, I was typing garbage all the time.
Should Every Office Have A Keyboard Like This?
I have four minor eyesight and keyboard problems, so I am probably a special case.
- My first eye-test was done by a retired eye doctor of many years experience, who said, I’d got the driest eyes he’d ever seen.
- Because of the dryness, I have a bath every day and put my head under the hot water for perhaps five minutes every morning, when I get up.
- The school bully broke my left humerus, so I usually type with just my right hand and look down on the keyboard.
- My mother went blind from macular degeneration, so I’m worried about the same happening to me.
The keyboard certainly seems to improve my typing.
From what I’ve learned in the last few hours, at least the knowledge of these keyboards and where to get them should be in every office.
Customer Data Entry
I have solar panels on my roof and I have to enter how much electricity, I’ve generated every few months.
Although, I have problems reading the meter, I have no problems entering the values into the Internet.
But I can envisage some data entry, where one of these keyboards would help, when the customer in reporting their readings or energy usage.
Perhaps someone should devise a large screen smart meter for solar panels? I certainly need one!
Medical And Other Research
I am involved in medical research as a lab-rat.
In two cases, I have been asked to use a computer.
- At Moorfields Eye Hospital they were testing a new instrument that had been designed by one of the London Universities, to test a particular ocular function, that used a keyboard worked by the patient.
- At the University of East London, I used a computer to test my balance as part of stroke research.
Using a yellow keyboard might remove bias in the research, against bad typists.
High Pressure Typing Jobs
How many people have to retire from high pressure jobs with a lot of typing, because there eyes aren’t up to it?
Could the thirty pounds for one of these keyboards allow people to work productively longer?
The keyboard my help someone to return to work earlier after an eye operation.
Coeliacs like me are prone to cataracts and I’m pretty certain, that the keyboard would have helped my recovery.
Public Keyboards
I haven’t come across more that one or two public keyboards in say a GP’s surgery or an optician’s, where the patient has been asked to use a computer for a test.
But I do believe this type of testing will happen more often.
Using a yellow keyboard might remove bias in the test , against bad typists.
Digital Disparities Among Healthcare Workers
This paper in the BMJ is entitled Digital Disparities Among Healthcare Workers In Typing Speed Between Generations, Genders, And Medical Specialties:Cross Sectional Study.
Surely, the title suggests a problem. But does that problem exist in similar or different patterns across other professions?
More Research needs to be done.
Conclusion
With a small amount of innovation, the blind and those with failing eyesight should be able to use computers and smart devices as easily as sighted people.
I’ve Got Uncomplicated Pancolonic Diverticular Disease
No doctor or anybody else for that matter seems at all bothered.
I did ask Dr. Google, if there was a link between pancolonic diverticular disease and coeliac disease and this paper entitled Prevalance Of Celiac Disease In Subjects With Diverticular Disease Of The Colon was indicated.
This was the conclusion of the researchers.
The results show an inverse relationship between
diverticular disease of the colon and celiac disease. These data
support that the presence of celiac antibodies may have a
preventive role in the development of colon diverticular disease.
The mechanism of the presented finding is still unclear. More
research is needed.
I can accept that conclusion.
Click this link to see what the NHS says about Diverticular Disease and Diverticulitis.
It’s not very helpful, but just a bit frightening.
Could it be, that my strong immune system is protecting me?
I have a few extra thoughts.
Living With Uncomplicated Pancolonic Diverticular Disease
I have now been living with Uncomplicated Pancolonic Diverticular Disease for around six months.
But I don’t feel that much different to say, when I was 18, 50 or 70.
In the mid-1990s, I was diagnosed as a coeliac using the new genetic test, in a couple of days between blood test and letter on the mat. So surely, at fifty, I must have had coeliac antibodies in my blood.
I asked Dr. Google how the standard coeliac test worked and got this reply.
The standard coeliac disease test involves a two-step process: blood tests to detect antibodies, followed by an intestinal biopsy to confirm the diagnosis. The blood test looks for specific antibodies produced when the body reacts to gluten, while the biopsy examines a tissue sample from the small intestine for damage characteristic of coeliac disease.
My excellent now-retired GP, told me, that the antibodies test was usually all that was needed.
So have I had coeliac antibodies in my blood, virtually all my life and have these played a preventive role in the development of colon diverticular disease?
So was I protected from a disease with a long and complicated name, by another disease, I didn’t know that I had?
Using AI To Inveestigate Uncomplicated Pancolonic Diverticular Disease
I have been impressed by th answers Google has given for other things using AI, so I’ve been asking a few questions on uncomplicated pancolonic diverticular disease.
Question: Does Uncomplicated Pancolonic Diverticular Disease Make You Want To Poo?
AI Overview
Yes, uncomplicated pancolonic diverticular disease, also known as Symptomatic Uncomplicated Diverticular Disease (SUDD), can cause a change in bowel habits, which may include a feeling of needing to poo. This change can manifest as constipation or diarrhea, or a pattern of constipation followed by diarrhea.
From personal experience I’ll go along with that.
Question: Does Uncomplicated Pancolonic Diverticular Disease Make You Want To Drink More Fluids?
AI Overview
Yes, individuals with uncomplicated pancolonic diverticular disease are often advised to increase their fluid intake. This is because adequate hydration helps soften stools, which can ease the passage of waste and reduce strain on the inflamed colon. Additionally, when experiencing a flare-up of diverticulitis, it’s common to be placed on a liquid diet to allow the colon to rest and heal, further emphasizing the importance of staying hydrated.
No doctor has told me to drink more fluids or suggested I go on a liquid diet. But I do drink a lot of fluids, including two or three bottles of low-alcohol beer per day.
Question: Is Uncomplicated Pancolonic Diverticular Disease Helped By A Gluten-Free Diet?
AI Overview
A gluten-free diet is not specifically recommended or beneficial for uncomplicated pancolonic diverticular disease. While a high-fiber diet is generally recommended to manage and prevent diverticular disease, there’s no evidence to suggest that eliminating gluten from the diet provides any particular advantage.
As I am coeliac, I’m on a strict gluten-free diet anyway, and have been for the last thirty years.
I’m not particularly on a high fibre diet, but an experienced dietician told me to eat a small can of beans a week to lower my cloresterol levels. And it worked!
But from what I found earlier, it does appear that coeliac disease does help to protect you from uncomplicated pancolonic diverticular disease.
Question: Is Uncomplicated Pancolonic Diverticular Disease Helped By Five Portions Of Fruit And Vegetables Per Day?
AI Overview
Yes, eating five portions of fruits and vegetables per day is generally recommended for individuals with uncomplicated pancolonic diverticular disease, as part of a balanced, high-fiber diet. This dietary approach can help to soften stools, reduce the risk of constipation and straining, and potentially prevent further complications.
I try to stick to a diet like this with a lot of non-alcoholic fluids.
Question: Is Uncomplicated Pancolonic Diverticular Disease Linked To Gallstones?
AI Overview
Yes, there is evidence suggesting a link between diverticular disease of the colon and gallstones, with some studies indicating a higher prevalence of gallstones in individuals with diverticular disease. Specifically, one study found that 45% of patients with diverticular disease had gallstones, compared to 22% in a control group, though this difference was only statistically significant in women.
I had gallstones and I described their removal in Goodbye To My Gallstones.
As the answer mentioned women and coeliac disease is more common, in the female of the species, I wonder if that accounts for the results quoted in the AI Overview.
A Result With A Spam R-Mail
About eleven last night, I received a spam e-mail from an American e-mail address saying, if I invested a few thousand dollar with them, I’d get a good return.
It was as fraudulent as a ten-bob note.
So I forwarded it to report@phishing.gov.uk!
Around midnight, I received another e-mail saying from America saying I’d unsubscribed. It was a professional job with a Re-subscribe button.
It looks to me, that phishing.gov.uk has removed the scammer.
Why Artemis Was Fast
Some of you will know, that I wrote Artemis; the project management software system in the 1970s.
It was generally accepted, that Artemis could do project management calculations, quicker than other software and this obviously helped it gain a high market share.
Here’s why!
In the 1950s and 1960s, computers were much smaller and very efficient algorithms were developed to handle large amounts of information in a small amount of memory.
Nowadays, I suspect obvious and very inefficient algorithms are used because programmers are very lazy.
When I was writing Artemis; the project management system in the 1970s, I spent many hours finding these old algorithms in IBM’s library, so consequently the software was faster, than its competitors.
Modern Data Centres
I wouldn’t be surprised to find, that data centres use so much electricity and get so hot, because they use stupid algorithms, that would have been rejected by IBM in the 1950s.
Could Liverpool Develop A Massive Zero-Carbon Data Centre?
There is an article in The Sunday Times today, which is entitled Google Signs Nuclear Deal To Power AI Data Centres.
These are the first three paragraphs of the article.
Google has struck a deal with a nuclear power start-up to provide low-carbon energy for its data centres and AI operations, marking a world-first in the tech industry.
The California-based company said the agreement to buy energy from multiple small modular reactors developed by Kairos Power could help spur a nuclear revival in America.
The first reactor is scheduled to come online in America by 2030, followed by additional deployments through 2035.
I am not against nuclear-powered data centres, but could Liverpool build a massive zero-carbon data centre?
This Google Map shows Liverpool Bay, which is a vast expanse of water that stretches along the North Wales coast to Anglesey and all the way to the Isle of Man.
Note.
- The Isle of Man in the North-West corner.
- Liverpool, Birkenhead and the River Mersey in the South-East corner.
- Anglesey in the South-West corner.
- Blackpool with Morecambe Bay to its North in the North-East corner.
Liverpool Bay could be one of Europe’s zero-carbon energy powerhouses.
Wind Farms In Liverpool Bay
At the present time, these wind farms are producing electricity or planned in Liverpool Bay.
- Barrow – 90 MW – Commissioned in 2006
- Burbo Bank – 90 MW – Commissioned in 2007
- Burbo Bank Extension – 258 MW – Commissioned in 2017
- Gwynt y Môr – 576 MW – Commissioned in 2015
- North Hoyle – 60 MW – Commissioned in 2003
- Ormonde – 150 MW – Commissioned in 2012
- Rhyl Flats – 90 MW – Commissioned in 2009
- Walney – 367 MW – Commissioned in 2010
- Walney Extension – 659 MW – Commissioned in 2018
- West if Duddon Sands – 389 MW – Commissioned in 2014
- Awel y Môr – 500 MW – Planned
- Morecambe – 480 MW – Planned
- Mona – 1500 MW – Planned
- Morgan – 1500 MW – Planned
Note.
- 2509 MW has been commissioned.
- 3980 MW is being planned.
- That is a total of 6489 MW
I suspect more space in Liverpool Bay could be developed with wind farms.
Mersey Tidal Power
The Mersey Tidal Power project has a web site.
If it is built, it will probably be built by the South Korean company; K-Water and use some of the design principles of the Sihwa Lake Tidal Power Station.
It will likely have an output of around 1 GW and take ten years to build.
In the 1970s, I did some project management consultancy for Frederick Snow and Partners, and they showed me their plans for a Severn Barrage.
Their futuristic vision for the Severn Estuary was never built, as the Prime Minister of the time; Harold Wilson, felt coal was the future. See Last Of The Many!
I suspect that the Mersey Tidal Power project will be another variation on a proven theme.
Morecambe Bay Bridge And Tidal Barrage Proposal
In the Wikipedia entry for Morecambe Bay, there is a proposal for a bridge and tidal barrage across the bay, where this is said.
In 2004, a proposal was made to build a bridge across the bay flanked by wind turbines and using tidal power. Proposals from Northern Tidal Power Gateways in 2019 outlined a tidal barrage with a road running along on top.
If the Mersey Tidal Power project is a success, then why wouldn’t one across Morecambe Bay, be one too?
500 MW of zero-carbon tidal power would do nicely!
Nuclear Sites At Calder Hall, Heysham And Wylfa
These three nuclear stations have supplied electricity to the North-West of England.
- Calder Hall was the original Magnox site, which the Wikipedia entry says had a nameplate capacity of 240 MW and was decommissioned in 2003, after running for 47 years.
- Heysham is a powerful site which the Wikipedia entry says has a nameplate capacity of 2452 MW and will be decommissioned in 2028.
- Wylfa is an older, smaller Magnox site which the Wikipedia entry says had a nameplate capacity of 1190MW and was decommissioned in 2015.
As the sites are cleared, I am sure that we’ll see more nuclear power stations built on the sites.
How Much Electricity Does A Data Centre Use?
I found this paragraph in an NESO document.
Regardless of this, if we were to use existing market data and modelling projections, this could point to annual data centre electricity consumptions of between 3.6 TWh in 2020 to as much as 35 TWh by 2050.
Dividing by the hours in a year, indicates that an individual data centre could use between 0.4 and 4 GW of electricity.
Using my rough figures here from wind, tidal and nuclear, I suspect that the power on the Mersey will generate enough power for at least one data centre.
Liverpool Is On The Right Side Of The Country For Cables To North America
Cables will go straight out of Liverpool Bay, pass to the North of Ireland and across the Atlantic to somewhere like Puget Sound.
Liverpool has a superb location for a Transatlantic data centre, that connects to networks on both sides of the pond.
Could Underwater Data Centres Be Developed In Liverpool Bay?
This page on the Microsoft web site is entitled Microsoft Finds Underwater Datacenters Are Reliable, Practical And Use Energy Sustainably
These three paragraphs detail the research.
Earlier this summer, marine specialists reeled up a shipping-container-size datacenter coated in algae, barnacles and sea anemones from the seafloor off Scotland’s Orkney Islands.
The retrieval launched the final phase of a years-long effort that proved the concept of underwater datacenters is feasible, as well as logistically, environmentally and economically practical.
Microsoft’s Project Natick team deployed the Northern Isles datacenter 117 feet deep to the seafloor in spring 2018. For the next two years, team members tested and monitored the performance and reliability of the datacenter’s servers.
I would assume that Microsoft have continued the research, as with something like this you can’t be too careful.
But it would appear, that data centres and their servers could be submerged under the waters of Liverpool Bay.
London And Liverpool Will Be Under Two Hours By Train Within A Year
New Class 807 trains, which will be delivered within a year, will improve the train service between the two cities.
- Train times will be brought to around or even below two hours.
- , The extra trains will allow a second hourly service to be added.
- The extra service will additionally stop at Liverpool South Parkway station, for the airport.
- High Speed Two is claiming one hour and fifty minutes, between London and Liverpool.
Liverpool already has one of the best rail terminals in the North of England, as these pictures show.
With these service improvements, it will have a service to London and the South, that will be second to no other Northern station.
Liverpool Has A Refurbished Partly-Underground Suburban Railway With New Trains
Liverpool’s Metro is one of the best in Europe for a medium-sized city.
The Metro is also expanding with new routes and stations.
These pictures show the new Headbolt Lane station, which is swerved by the UK’s first battery-electric trains.
Liverpool Has Easy Access To Two International Airports
There are two international airports close by; Liverpool John Lennon and Manchester International.
- For Liverpool Airport, it’s a bus from Liverpool South Parkway station or an express bus from Liverpool city centre.
- For Manchester Airport, it’s a train from Lime Street station.
I am fairly sure, that a hydrofoil could connect Liverpool’s Waterfront and the Tidal Barrier to the airport.
North-West England Has A Rich University Tradition
Liverpool, Manchester and the surrounding area has several world-class universities and research establishments.
Some like The Pandemic Institute would be able to find uses for all the computing power and artificial intelligence on offer at a powerful data centre.
Liverpool Is A World City
Liverpool is a World City, where there is plenty of sport, entertainment and things to do.
Conclusion
Liverpool is installing the power infrastructure for a very large data centre, that will be able to handle the world’s largest and most difficult problems.
World-First Operation To Treat Rhino’s Broken Leg
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on the BBC.
This is the sub-heading.
A rhinoceros with a broken leg is back on its feet after a world-first operation.
These are the first three paragraphs.
Amara, a southern white rhino at Knowsley safari park, was given keyhole surgery and had to wear a cast for four weeks.
Surgeons took what they knew about operating on horses and applied it to Amara because there was so little information about rhinos which had been injured in this way.
A team of 10 vets was involved in the operation, which they described as “unlike anything we’ve experienced previously”.
I bet it wasn’t like a horse, as equines in my experience don’t have a bodger on their bonce.
The BBC featured the story in BBC Breakfast this morning and I wouldn’t be surprised to see it turn up later or on the Internet.
Some may say, is the expense worth it to operate on a rhino.
But I would say, that the experience gained by the University of Liverpool, will be applied to the treatment of other large animals, like buffalo, bison, draught horses, elephants and hippotami.
Also, knowing Scousers as I do, I suspect that some of the techniques used, will be scrounged by Liverpool’s medics and applied to humans.
Centrica Strikes 200MW Lithuanian Green Power Deal
The title of this post, is the same as that of this press release from Centrica.
This is the sub-heading.
- Centrica Energy is set to take on the responsibility of managing and trading the renewable power generated from two wind farms and one solar farm in Lithuania for European Energy.
A couple of months ago, Centrica published this press release, which is entitled Centrica Acquires Owner Of Leading Digital Platform, Ignition.
The press release about the deal with European Energy has this quote from Kristian Gjerløv-Juel, Vice President of Renewable Energy Trading & Optimization at Centrica Energy.
We’re very pleased to continue building on our strong partnership with European Energy. We have set an incredibly ambitious target to expand our portfolio of third-party renewable assets to 30 GW by 2030.
Note that 30 GW, would more than power the UK,
Ir appears to me, that Centrica have decided that there is money to be made from good management of both electricity production and distribution.
A Very Bad Night’s Sleep
Last night, I must have woke several times in the night, before I finally gave up at about three-thirty and got up and started doing the puzzles on the Internet, and having some mugs of tea.
At four I went back to bed and was able to grab perhaps thirty minutes of sleep.
But my body hurt all over with a vengeance.
- There was pain in the back of my left hand.
- My toes hurt badly.
- My right hip was painful.
- All my skin felt very dry.
So at five, I decided to get up and have the cure-all remedy, which is a deep hot bath.
It certainly worked and I felt a lot better,
After the bath, I got back in bed, and although I didn’t sleep, I rose and left the house soon after nine to get my gluten-free breakfast in Leon on Moorgate, with added tea and orange juice.
As I left the house, I noticed that one of the upstairs windows was open, so I had to go back and shut it.
As I never open this window, I thought it must have been the cleaners, who’d left it open. Especially, as it had happened before, a couple of weeks ago.
But then, I realised what had happened.
- The window hadn’t been properly secured.
- Last night, a storm with a low-pressure area had gone through..
- The pressure had just been low enough to pop the window open.
- The low-pressure had then just sucked the water out of my body.
My hot bath had put the water back in, the way, that it had come out.
After breakfast and picking up a prescription from Boots, I took a bus home.
On arriving home, I needed to have a poo, but was unable to go, as I was just too constipated.
After a laxative and several drinks, that problem was cured.
Conclusion
Were all my problems today, down to the fact that the weather stole my body’s water and I didn’t drink enough to put it all back?
Are Bodies Cleverer Than We Think?
Because, I had a serious stroke thirteen years ago, I am on Warfarin for life to thin my blood, so that I don’t have another stroke.
INR is short for International Normalized Ratio, which diverts on Wikipedia to the Wikipedia entry for Prothrombin Time, where these is the first two paragraphs.
The prothrombin time (PT) – along with its derived measures of prothrombin ratio (PR) and international normalized ratio (INR) – is an assay for evaluating the extrinsic pathway and common pathway of coagulation. This blood test is also called protime INR and PT/INR. They are used to determine the clotting tendency of blood, in such things as the measure of warfarin dosage, liver damage, and vitamin K status. PT measures the following coagulation factors: I (fibrinogen), II (prothrombin), V (proaccelerin), VII (proconvertin), and X (Stuart–Prower factor).
PT is often used in conjunction with the activated partial thromboplastin time (aPTT) which measures the intrinsic pathway and common pathway of coagulation.
That is very technical and complicated, but what does it mean practically?
Those on Warfarin to thin their blood are generally supposed to keep their INR between 2 and 3.
I test the INR myself with a Coaguchek meter from Roche and have done so for nearly ten years.
Every, so often, I discuss the level of Warfarin with my GP and we adjust the level accordingly.
Typically, NHS patients on Warfarin have their INR checked every few weeks.
But as I am a Graduate Control Engineer, who has written control strategies for chemical plants, I feel this checking every few weeks, is not enough.
At times, I have checked at a higher frequency.
Four times, I have had minor operations.With the first operation, I agreed with the surgeon, that I would lower my INR to 2.1 for the operation and raise it back to 2.5 after the operation.
It all went well and I repeated the exercise for the three other minor operations.
I have checked daily since about the beginning of April, before which, I generally tested on Mondays and Thursdays.
There were two reasons for the change of frequency.
- Regular storms seemed to roll in and for some reason, they tended to lower my INR.
- I also wrote Do Thunderstorms Cause Strokes?, after reading a paper from the United States about the relationship between thunderstorms and strokes.
So I took the prudent decision to test my INR daily.
Then on the 30th May, disaster struck.
My Coaguchek meter found out it had the wrong firmware and Roche implored me to change it.
But I am not a hardware person, so I was left unable to check my INR.
Luckily, I remembered a story from the 1960s about one of ICI’s chemical plants.
This plant was one of the first fully-digitally controlled plants controlled by an IBM 1800 computer.
It also ran 24 hours a day, seven days week.
So in the middle of the night, the plant operators got out all the computer printouts, which showed how the computer had set all the valves and controllers.
One-by-one they reset all the controls on the plant to the settings that the computer had used for the last few days.
Using, this computer-assisted mode the plant was kept running, until engineers could fix the computer.
On the 30th May, my INR was a little bit high at 2.9 and I was using a dosage of Warfarin of 4 mg. one day and 3.5 mg. the next.
The strange dosage was one, that I know from experiment over time produces an INR of 2.5.
My actual average Warfarin dose was 3.73 over the last thirty days and my INR, as measured most days was 2.6 over the same period.
So, I did what the engineers did on the chemical plant, kept calm and carried on.
Yesterday my son fixed the Coaguchek meter and I was able to take my first reading for 17 days. It was 2.7 and only 0.1 higher than the 30-day average on the 30th May.
I had successfully jumped the gap in the readings.
Conclusion
Most systems have an equilibrium. Make sure you know it.
The Anonymous Widower 