It’s a moratorium barring state approvals of hyperscale data centers (those using 50 megawatts or more of power) for up to one year.

But that’s not the point.

The point is that Downstate New York, once again, has found the rope, the one it uses to suffocate its Upstate cousins.

Let’s rewind the clock.

It’s 2008, and everyone is talking about hydraulic fracturing, aka fracking, the process by which underground rock layers are blasted with a high-pressure mix of water, sand, and chemicals to release trapped oil and natural gas.

The economically depressed Southern Tier of New York, along the Pennsylvania border, is rich in such shale (rock) formations.

Localities there debate the pros and cons. When you’re in the middle of nowhere, economics and the environment are not abstractions—they’re about survival.

Eventually, in 2014, those conversations are silenced by a statewide fracking ban, something pushed heavily by a primary challenger to Governor Andrew Cuomo, leaving him with little political choice. That challenger, needless to say, is from New York City.

Meanwhile, nearby Pennsylvania and Ohio continue to cash in.

Fast forward to 2011, when ridesharing services begin in New York City. Existing commercial licensing infrastructure in the city allows this to proceed, while New York State law prohibits the use of personal vehicles in this capacity.

That means that Upstate New York has to wait six more years for Uber and Lyft. In fact, New York State is the last state in the continental US to allow ridesharing.

And that gets us to these hyperscale data centers, used to support cloud computing and, of course, AI.

By definition, they use a massive amount of power, potentially driving up electricity costs for those in the vicinity.

They also require millions of gallons of fresh water for cooling, make a lot of noise, and result in a relatively modest number of permanent jobs.

Finally, they are the backbone of an industry that sells itself as Brahma but might actually be Shiva, at least from a societal employment standpoint.

All this, and the powers that be often seek tax breaks to boot.

In other words, the plot is worthy of rigorous debate—just not at the state level.

The author of the legislation that resulted in a parallel executive order (courtesy Governor Kathy Hochul) is State Senator Kristen Gonzalez from, yes, New York City—Brooklyn to be exact. Brooklyn, at last check, is nowhere near the proposed facilities.

Then there’s Niagara County, home to its namesake waterfall that provides hydroelectric power, lying in a cool climate near two Great Lakes (i.e. fresh water that can be used for further cooling), and the site of abundant industrial infrastructure based on a manufacturing past.

The city of Niagara Falls (NY) is an eyesore, the victim of a loss of geographic relevance—that is, until now.

But, alas, New York City, located seven hours away, always knows what’s best.

And big tech, when confronted with a data center ban, knows something too—where to find the other seven Great Lakes states.

The post How New York’s Data Center Ban Kills Upstate (Again) appeared first on ComposeMD.

I know what it’s like to be misunderstood.

I am from the Rust Belt, after all.

But you—I get the sense that you don’t even know who you are.

It started in 1796, when you joined the Union, as in became a state.

Your eventual capital, Nashville, was even named after a Revolutionary War hero.

But then, in 1861, you pulled a South Carolina and left to join the wannabe country with the copycat flag. You were confused, as East Tennessee wanted no part of secession.

Of course, like a little sh*t, you came crawling back.

And ever since then, say 1865, you’ve stayed confused as hell.

You and Nathan Bedford Forrest gave us the Ku Klux Klan.

You also gave us some of the best HBCUs the country has known.

Like most US states, you treated women like second-class citizens.

By being the 36th state to ratify the 19th Amendment, you also gave women the right to vote.

You prosecuted John Scopes for teaching evolution.

Then you did God’s work at Oak Ridge by helping make the first atomic bomb.

You’ve provided a safe haven for climate skeptics.

You’re also a leader in nuclear and hydroelectric power.

You became the home of the lefty Al Gore, whose wife, Tipper, tried to stifle artists and their lyrics.

You’re also the home of the right-wing nut job Marsha Blackburn, who has made a career of supporting artists.

It’s safe to say you’re into the Bible—I have firsthand knowledge.

You’ve also opened your arms to the largest Kurdish community in North America—it prefers the Quran.

Nashville has gone from a shade of blue to really damn blue.

It presides over a state that has gone from a battleground to really damn red.

You have no state income tax.

But you’re obsessed with consumption tax.

You love your hot chicken.

And you apparently like chicken vindaloo as well.

But despite it all, Tennessee, you are still a state that preserves the past.

Just ask your transplants who work at Oracle and Amazon.

Sincerely,

Khan Trae Dick Shin

The post Dear Tennessee: Who Are You Anyway? appeared first on ComposeMD.

And you know Rochester, NY—that rusty town with a once-famous company that declared bankruptcy.

There’s a connection, and it goes beyond ruins.

Let’s back up.

Christopher Nolan, I’ve been told, is the man. Born in London—as in the UK—in 1970, the dude has turned himself into one of the highest-grossing film directors of all time.

Trust me—you know his stuff. In the mix are The Dark Knight trilogy, Inception, Interstellar, Dunkirk, and Oppenheimer.

And in 2026, added to that collection was The Odyssey, a film adaptation of Homer’s epic poem, the one you supposedly read in high school while studying the ancient Greeks.

The gist of it is that Odysseus, using the Trojan Horse, has just helped capture Troy, and now it’s time to go home. That brief jaunt, however, turns into ten years, rife with mythical monsters, deadly temptations, and so on.

Eventually…well, you’ll just have to read/watch to find out.

Rochester, NY, I’ve been told, is not the man. Incorporated as a city in 1834, the burg once showed immense promise.

Trust me—you know its stuff. In the mix were Xerox, Bausch + Lomb, French’s, Ragu, Western Union, Champion, and even a subway system.

But its best-known product remains Kodak, which, as mentioned, declared bankruptcy in 2012 and is now used by Harvard Business School as an example of what not to do.

Of course, random people have self-published books about how things in Rochester are nowhere near as dire as advertised, but readership has mirrored Kodak’s stock price, just without the rise before the fall.

The question, of course, is why Rochester can’t be innovative like Nolan.

The genius, after all, shot The Odyssey entirely on 70 mm IMAX cameras, something that has never been done before.

If only Kodak could have provided the more than two million feet of 65 mm film used to make that happen.*

Or, at the very least, the floundering company could have provided the print film—35 mm, 70 mm five-perforation, and 70 mm IMAX—shown in theaters.**

Then, perhaps, the stories told about us, like the film format itself, would be more three-dimensional.

—

*It did.

**It did.

The post How The Odyssey Saved Rochester, NY appeared first on ComposeMD.

Because deep down, I didn’t want an answer.

I didn’t need one.

It’s called life experience, the kind that shatters walls, the kind that relegates boxes to the landfill.

The story began some time in the 1970s, up around Lake Michigan.

That’s when a barrier should have been constructed—let’s just say the foundation was flimsy.

I suppose that’s what happens when the parents are from India and the progeny show up in Milwaukee.

The project was doomed before it started.

There was Ganesh versus Jesus—I chose neither.

There was Marathi versus English—I chose Spanish.

I developed two favorite words: ignore and unlearn.

And that landed me on June 17, 2026.

I was still in the US—except on that day.

My son and I stared at CN Tower, uttered a few words about Drake, and then strolled toward the stadium.

The French signs were expected, of course. I put my six years of study to use, cross checking with the English just above.

Then I focused on the Spanish—it was all around us. And the flags were familiar—after all, we had recently been to Panama ourselves.

Beyond textiles and linguistics, I felt an odd connection to the place. You can call it a canal thing, the Erie in my case.

My son’s band had even covered the Van Halen song (which may have had vehicular and not geographic inspiration).

Heck, any country that uses the US dollar is worthy of a look, i.e. my soccer support.

But then I heard English. Or was it Akan?

The sounds of West Africa are always close—they are, after all, a part of us.

Blues.

Jazz.

We all know the grand places music went from there.

Without Ghana and its neighbors, would I still be listening to the concert band garbage?

Would there be no fufu? Or Gullah Geechee?

Out of my thoughts and into the the stadium, I admired the massive flags of both countries displayed on the field.

Then I absorbed the two national anthems.

Who the hell should I root for? I asked again.

I sat back, smiled at my son, and bathed in the human spirit.

And I watched.*

—

*On June 17, 2026, in Toronto, Ghana beat Panama in the group stage of the FIFA World Cup, leaving me elated and heartbroken.

The post Who the Hell Should I Root For?! appeared first on ComposeMD.

10

The word author carries very little weight anymore.

9

Humans still enjoy killing each other over fairy tales.

8

The primary role of parents is to brainwash (see #9).

7

I make people uncomfortable, but only when I tell the truth.

6

AI is the best—and worst.

5

We’re all blessed—and screwed.

4

Unlearning is more important than learning.

3

Smart people are dumb.

2

Don’t listen to bloggers.

1

2026 might suck, too.

The post 10 Things I Learned in 2025 appeared first on ComposeMD.

It’s been a year full of adventure, starting with exploring abandoned structures in our hometown of Rochester.

From there, our travels took us to Batavia (NY), site of one of the better Pizza Huts in the Rust Belt.

Finally, we were blessed to sample amazing gas station food, from Speedway to Sheetz to Buc-ee’s.

It’s also been a year of milestones.

The older child finally left the house, claiming he is ready to seize the world. From the outside looking in, evidence to support that claim is lacking. When the goal is the music industry and the transcript reads Bible Study, heads will be scratched.

As for the younger child, there have also been many accomplishments, mostly measured in Amazon packages. Between those and dance, she has proven herself quite capable of pushing back retirement dates. There was only one major argument this year, resolved by her recurrent TikTok scrolling.

Of course, no holiday card is complete without talking about the head(s) of household.

In my case, it’s been another year of wheel spinning and questionable decisions, peppered with flashes of irritability, all in the name of growth.*

And then there is the anchor. She continues to wake up every day and thank the Good Lord that Rochester’s healthcare system does not oppress and demoralize physicians.**

To 2026!

*Of my abdominal girth

**DM me for the truth

The post The Shrikhande Family Holiday Card appeared first on ComposeMD.

In my case, there’s no running—period.

And that’s the point.

Embracing AI is supposed to make our lives easier.

In other words, when I want to lose a few pounds, I shouldn’t have to stop eating Doritos or actually move.

AI should just make it happen.

I asked Gemini, specifically the version of Google’s large language model (LLM) customized for search, about this situation.

AI can support weight loss by providing personal plans, tracking nutrition and exercise, and offering motivation and accountability through apps.

This sounded like BS.

That’s the problem with tech—it’s all about being a partner. Screw that—just do the work, wouldja?

Even worse, Gemini added that combining AI with human coaches often leads to better and more sustainable results.

Now I was using AI just to tell me to use more AI and a human. And I would still have to do the work?!

But I had a feeling I was approaching the matter all wrong.

So I did what I do best. I put on an XXL sweatshirt, grabbed a bag of chips, and sat on the couch—with a Kindle.

I started with this read.

Then I moved on to this one.

They were both quite useful.

You know, don’t be afraid of AI and all that.

Just start using it.

Yes, things will change, but you might as well get ahead of the curve.

Between the two, it was a good pep talk.

Encouraged, I opened up ChatGPT.

I think it’s on version GPT-5.1 or something like that. You can ask Sam Altman.

In any event, I looked at some of my prior chats.

History of New York State.

Famous Syracuse Musicians.

Buffalo Presidential History.

Toledo, Ohio Overview.

Man, I thought, I really am boring. No wonder no one is buying those stupid books.

It was time to play around with this generative pre-trained transformer a little bit.

I remembered a recent picture of mine.

There’s no way I actually look like that, I had remarked.

After all, when I look in the mirror, I still see a 20-year-old. The hair is full and black. The midsection is contained and relatively flat.

Obviously, I knew what the tiebreaker had to be. I needed to look at myself using the most modern lens possible—the eyes of AI.

That’s when the prompt engineer in me stepped up to the plate.

Can you make an image of an overweight, middle-aged Indian man drinking beer and watching sports?

I haven’t eaten since.

(Though I did shave.)

The post How AI Helped Me Finally Lose Weight appeared first on ComposeMD.

Even worse, I’m trying to convert the delusions into income.

How else can you explain this?

Or this?

In the works is perhaps the greatest self-deception yet, a tribute to Syracuse, New York.

But why?

A recent visit to Nashville reminded me about the importance of the delusional, even if all they have to offer at the beginning are just silly thoughts.

Let’s rewind the clock to 1990.

In that year, the modest metro area in Middle Tennessee had just over one million residents. By all objective measures, it was just another dot on just another river (the Cumberland). In fact, in that same Census, another modest metro area on another river (the Genesee) claimed essentially the same exact numbers—a certain Rochester, New York.

Neither town had major professional sports, though both boasted Triple A baseball teams.

The key difference, however, was that one was full of delusional people, the types who thought a landlocked village in the middle of nowhere could blossom.

The other was full of the cautious types, content with their burg and even more happy to ridicule big thinkers, particularly the ones who failed.

Three and a half decades later, delusional Nashvillians can boast the following:

• A metro area of 2.1 million and counting.
• An NFL team.
• An NHL team.
• An MLS team.
• Rumors of an expansion MLB team.
• A new football stadium vying to host the Super Bowl.
• Something like 80 new residents per day.
• The presence of tech companies like Asurion, Amazon, Cisco, Google, Oracle, PwC, and Toast.

Meanwhile, cautious Rochesterians can boast the following:

• A metro area of just over one million.
• A Triple A baseball team.

If I were grooming the next generation, I would send them to learn from the crazy people.

In the meantime, I’ll continue to delude myself and believe that Upstate New York can change, one blog post** at a time.

(**Note: Capital is far more effective than blog posts in effecting change.)

The post Why I Choose To Delude Myself appeared first on ComposeMD.

The Company

Neuralink was founded in 2016 by none other than Elon Musk and is based, as expected, in the Bay Area. Needless to say, the company is not selling baked goods. Its area of expertise involves implantable brain-computer interfaces (BCIs).

The General Concept

BCIs are not new. The idea of having a message from the brain directly trigger an action on a computer has been studied in those with spinal cord injuries that prevent brain signals from getting to the muscles that usually perform such actions. This technology has often involved a bulky external apparatus with a generous collection of wires.

The Device

As is its prerogative, Neuralink tends to hold certain information close to the vest, meaning we mostly know what the company wants us to know.

What exactly is the deal with the Neuralink device?

To start, it is implantable. While not the first in this regard, it is still a far cry from the wired skull caps referenced above. The implantation process is carried out by a neurosurgical robot which places the device in the motor cortex, the part of the brain that controls voluntary movement.

The hardware consists of a coin-sized centerpiece attached to tiny (as in microscopic) threads. Each thread has a certain number of electrodes which detect electrical activity in the brain. Per this NPR article, 64 threads amount to a total of 1024 electrodes, considered a healthy number as of this writing.

Communication with a computer or other entity is via (wireless) Bluetooth technology, and the battery-powered apparatus is also charged wirelessly. The gadget can be controlled using a simple smartphone app.

After being tried in other primates, the first Neuralink device—cleverly called Telepathy—was placed in a human in January 2024.

The Future

Up front, the plan is to study Telepathy in those with spinal cord injuries and other neuromuscular diseases that prevent desired movement. As mentioned, in bypassing nature’s pathways, direct communication between the brain and computer (via the simple desire to perform an action) can allow for typing and other computer-centric tasks.

But why stop there?

Although still in the realm of science fiction, the concept of human enhancement has been proposed. Why go through the hassle of turning on an appliance when you can just think about turning it on and get the same result? Similarly, why not merge humans with artificial intelligence and allow the brain to harness the power of large language models?

Again, for now, these latter capabilities remain a pipe dream (or nightmare). In addition to technological barriers, ethical considerations and more mundane risks like infection and brain damage will be rate-limiting.

So what is Neuralink? Ask ChatGPT.

The post What Is Neuralink? appeared first on ComposeMD.