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Sauerkraut, forever flowers and really good coffee: 11 things you loved most last month

Sauerkraut, forever flowers and really good coffee: 11 things you loved most last month

Spring might be on the way, but your February favourites prove you’re still in your nesting era – for now • Don’t get the Filter delivered to your inbox? Sign up here Other than the fact that it’s mercifully short, February doesn’t have a lot to boast about. Spring’s not yet in full bloom, and the twinkly lights of Christmas and new year optimism have long since faded. And indeed, your favourites this month suggest that the nesting continues, from sponges for the spring clean to a machine that makes really good coffee at home. Of course, it was also the month of love – and it’s lovely to see that a date-night card game was your favourite thing this month. Perhaps the promise of romance was behind the popularity of an eco-friendly deodorant and Ben Fogle’s favourite toothpaste, too. Continue reading...

‘The digital colonization of flyover states’: how datacenters are tearing small-town America apart

‘The digital colonization of flyover states’: how datacenters are tearing small-town America apart

The rapid rollout of datacenters across the US is creating a divide between municipal governments and residents Wilmington, Ohio, resident Quintin Koger Kidd was so concerned last June with his local public officials’ alleged misdoings – open meeting violations and other discrepancies – that he filed a complaint in court to have the mayor and city council members removed from their posts. When Koger Kidd later heard that the city supported plans by Amazon Web Services to build a $4bn datacenter on 500 acres (200 hectares) south of town, he was aghast. Amazon has sought a tax abatement that would see its datacenter exempt from paying property taxes for 30 years in exchange for the funding of local schools and infrastructure projects. Continue reading...