Wired reports that rural data center projects could become eligible for expanded federal Opportunity Zone tax benefits starting in 2027, with more than 100 planned or developing facilities potentially qualifying. "Right now, the only requirement to get the benefits is capital investment," says Emily Kraschel, a tax policy analyst at the Searchlight Institute, a public policy think tank. "However, that doesn't guarantee that that money is necessarily creating jobs or creating a local economic boost. You'd be more sure of that with a more traditional factory that requires lots of workers. But with a data center, that assumption goes a little wonky." From the report: During the first Trump administration, a bipartisan group of lawmakers proposed the creation of the opportunity zone program, which offers tax benefits for companies that choose to build projects in certain low-income census tracts. Last year, the One Big Beautiful Bill Act made a number of changes to open up the program in order to attract more investment to rural areas. Kraschel and her colleagues from Searchlight have been researching data center projects that might qualify for these tax benefits, comparing the locations of data center projects in development with rural census tracts eligible for the new program. Wired exclusively reviewed the research compiled by Searchlight and found more than 100 data centers under various stages of development in rural areas that could be eligible.

Searchlight used a very conservative database of under 700 data center projects that are planned or under construction to compile its research; other datasets put the number of data centers in development in the US at closer to 1,500. It's very likely that the number of newly eligible projects is bigger, especially since more data centers are decamping from urban areas. Separate research from Pew found that while just 13 percent of operating data centers are located in rural areas, a majority of planned facilities -- around 67 percent -- are going rural. [...] A project simply existing in a rural opportunity zone doesn't mean the company automatically will get the tax benefits; the company has to create a specialized investment vehicle to kickstart the process. Because the tax break can be considered confidential IRS data, it's next to impossible to know which companies are pursuing the benefits unless they voluntarily disclose.

[...] Nathan Jensen, a government professor at the University of Texas-Austin, says that he would be "very surprised" if some companies were not considering siting in rural opportunity zones as part of their decisionmaking process. "It's essentially free money," he says. There is no requirement for projects getting opportunity zone benefits to create jobs; the assumption is that they will do so, simply by siting in the community itself. This isn't always the case for projects like storage facilities and warehouses, which, Jensen says, have been popular choices for developers working in opportunity zones. Data centers may create a number of jobs in the short term for their construction, but there's an ongoing debate about whether or not they create a lasting new workforce over the longer term.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Hackers stole records belonging to roughly 8 million Danish citizens and residents from Denmark's Central Person Register (CPR), including names, addresses, social security numbers and other personal information. The breach is believed to be the largest in Denmark's history. TechCrunch reports: The CPR is a government database of Danish citizens' information, including their government-issued identity number for paying taxes and accessing other services. Denmark's current population is about 6 million people, but the database includes records for about 11 million people, with some of the data going back decades.

The Danish government would not say who is behind the breach, which happened in September but was discovered on October 2. However, it said the unauthorized access was obtained by "abusing a Danish company's lawful access to search for information in the CPR system." (Some companies in Denmark have access to the CPR for verifying people's information with the government.)

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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Nagamachi (長町) was a samurai district located at the foot of the former Kanazawa Castle, where samurai and their families used to reside. The area preserves a historic atmosphere with its remaining residences, earthen walls, private entrance gates, narrow lanes and water canals.
Source: www.japan-guide.com/e/e4204.html

lioil has added a photo to the pool:

Shi8mabara, Nagasaki, Japan
大三東駅

lioil has added a photo to the pool:

Shimabara, Nagasaki, Japan

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Two rather inebriated guys introduce themselves . . .

On a photo workshop w/ Lukasz Palka of Eye Explore www.youtube.com/@EYExplore (Highly recommended!)

Ikebukuro, Tokyo, Japan

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A pedestrian approaches a zebra crossing beside the waterfront in Aomori, Aomori Prefecture, Japan. The bridge, ferry and red facade frame the street scene. July 2026.

Nidal Hasan sentenced to death by military jury in 2013 for carrying out deadly shooting attack at army base in Texas

Donald Trump has approved the execution by US army firing squad of Nidal Hasan, who was sentenced to death for killing 13 soldiers at Fort Hood in 2009, chief Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell said in a social media post.

Hasan, who was an army psychiatrist, would become first US soldier to be executed by the US military in more than 60 years.

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BARCELONA (ANP/DPA) - Tienduizenden mensen hebben maandagavond in Barcelona gedemonstreerd tegen de wooncrisis. De schattingen over de opkomst bij de bijeenkomst in het centrum van de Catalaanse metropool liepen sterk uiteen. De autoriteiten spraken van 20.000 deelnemers, de organisatoren schatten het aantal op 120.000.

Demonstranten pleitten vooral voor meer woningen. "Het slaat nergens op: mensen zonder huis en huizen zonder mensen", werd onder meer geroepen.

Het protest in Barcelona past in een landelijke protestgolf, die in gang werd gezet door de veelbesproken zaak van een 87-jarige vrouw wier appartement in Madrid werd ontruimd. Sindsdien hebben er in Madrid en andere Spaanse steden grote demonstraties plaatsgevonden tegen hoge huren, een tekort aan woningen en onvoldoende bescherming tegen huisuitzettingen.

De demonstratie in Barcelona verliep grotendeels vreedzaam, al waren er tegen het einde enkele incidenten. Volgens mediaberichten heeft de politie enkele aanhoudingen verricht.

Eerder op maandag kondigde premier Pedro Sánchez vervroegde verkiezingen aan nadat twee van zijn decreten die bedoeld waren om de wooncrisis aan te pakken, in het parlement waren gestrand.

Thomas Hawk posted a photo:

Thomas Hawk posted a photo:

Over on BlueSky, Firaxis narrative director Cat Manning created a thread to collect instances of people riffing on social media posts by giving them bizzare context. (SLBlueSky)

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