USING GRAVITY TO STORE ENERGY

Using gravity to store energy

Say the grid temporarily has more renewable energy than it needs — the wind is blowing, the sun is shining, and there's not enough demand to make use of it.

Advanced rail energy storage (thus "ARES") can absorb that excess energy, using it to power electric trains that pull giant slabs of concrete up a gentle slope. In effect, the trains convert the excess electricity to potential energy.

When the grid needs that energy, the same rail cars carry the giant slabs downhill, converting the potential energy back into electricity. (Thanks, gravity!)

The conversions are done by an electric motor. When it goes uphill, it consumes electricity. When it goes downhill, it runs in reverse, generating electricity (similar to how "regenerative braking" works in cars).

The company claims the process, end to end, is 86 percent efficient, i.e., 86 percent of the energy that's put into storage can be gotten back out. It hopes to improve that number as it dials in the technology.

ROSS SISTERS

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Uploaded on Jul 4, 2010

The Ross Sisters were a trio of female sibling singing dancers consisting of Aggie Ross, Elmira Ross, and Maggie Ross, (whose real names were Veda Victoria, Dixie Jewel and Betsy Ann Ross). The Ross Sisters performed as a 3-part harmony trio, in which they also danced and did acrobatics and contortionism. Their public attention peaked during the 1940s, during which they were featured prominently in the film Broadway Rhythm. A shortened version of this same clip also appears in the compilation film "That's Entertainment! III" (1994).

FUN WITH CONUNDRUMS

Conundrum

 

  

The definition of the word Conundrum is: something that is puzzling or confusing.

 

Free people are not equal. Equal people are not free. (Think this one over and over…makes sense!)

  

  

"A gun is like a parachute. If you need one, and don't have one, you'll probably never need one again."

   

  

  

Here are six Conundrums of socialism in the United States of America :

  

1. America is capitalist and greedy - yet half of the population is subsidized.

  

  

2. Half of the population is subsidized - yet they think they are victims.

  

  

3. They think they are victims - yet their representatives run the government.

  

  

4. Their representatives run the government - yet the poor keep getting poorer.

  

  

5. The poor keep getting poorer - yet they have things that people in other countries only dream about.

  

  

6. They have things that people in other countries only dream about - yet they want America to be more like those other countries.

  

  

Think about it! And that, my friends, pretty much sums up the USA in the 21st Century.  Makes you wonder who is doing the math.

  

  

These three, short sentences tell you a lot about the direction of our current government and cultural environment:

   

  

1. We are advised to NOT judge ALL Muslims by the actions of a few lunatics, but we are encouraged to judge ALL gun owners by the actions of a few lunatics.

  

  

Funny how that works. And here's another one worth considering…

  

 

2. Seems we constantly hear about how Social Security is going to run out of money. But we never hear about welfare or food stamps running out of money !   What's interesting is the first group "worked for" their money, but the second didn't.

   

  

Think about it.....and Last but not least :

  

  

3. Why are we cutting benefits for our veterans, no pay raises for our military and cutting our army to a level lower than before WWII, but we are not stopping the payments or benefits to illegal aliens.

  

  

Am I the only one missing something?

  

 

  

"If you do not take an interest in the affairs of your government, then you are doomed to live under the rule of fools." – Plato

TREES WANT YOU TO DRIVE AN SUV

Rising carbon dioxide (CO2) levels are causing an explosion in plant growth, according to a huge scientific study published Monday in the journal Nature Climate Change.

The study is the largest of its kind and was written by 32 scientists from 24 colleges and universities in eight countries. It used three long-term satellite records of plant area and 10 different global ecosystem models to measure increasing plant growth.

“We were able to tie the greening largely to the fertilizing effect of rising atmospheric CO2 concentration by tasking several computer models to mimic plant growth observed in the satellite data,” Ranga Myneni, one of the study’s co-authors who is a professor at Boston University, said in a press statement.

The study estimates roughly half of Earth’s land-mass showed “significant greening” and only 4 percent of the world saw a decrease in plant life. …

High carbon dioxide levels cause plant life to thrive, particularly in arid regions where carbon emissions are causing deserts to bloom with foliage.

“Carbon dioxide fertilizes plants, and emissions from fossil fuels have already had a hugely beneficial effect on crops, increasing yields by at least 10-15%,” concludes a report published last October by the U.K.-based Global Warming Policy Foundation, an organization primarily focused on countering policy endeavors of global warming activists. The report estimates the global CO2 fertilization effect on the world’s crops is worth roughly $140 billion a year.

POVERTY CAN BE FIXED

According to a report from the Foundation for Government Accountability, before Kansas instituted a work requirement, 93 percent of food stamp recipients were in poverty, with 84 percent in severe poverty. Few of the food stamp recipients claimed any income. Only 21 percent were working at all, and two-fifths of those working were working fewer than 20 hours per week.

Once work requirements were established, thousands of food stamp recipients moved into the workforce, promoting income gains and a decrease in poverty. Forty percent of the individuals who left the food stamp ranks found employment within three months, and about 60 percent found employment within a year. They saw an average income increase of 127 percent. Half of those who left the rolls and are working have earnings above the poverty level. Even many of those who stayed on food stamps saw their income increase significantly.

Furthermore, with the implementation of the work requirement in Kansas, the caseload dropped by 75 percent. Previously, Kansas was spending $5.5 million per month on food stamp benefits for able-bodied adults; it now spends $1.2 million.

According to a Heritage Foundation survey, Americans overwhelmingly agree that able-bodied adults receiving welfare should work. However, very few of the federal government’s 80 means-tested welfare programs require recipients to work for benefits.

That is because the purpose of federal welfare programs is to increase poverty by subsidizing it. The more people live in poverty, and the more dependent they are on Washington, the more powerful the government. Consequently, you will never see the welfare reform work requirements that were illicitly lifted by Obama reinstated by authoritarian statists.

Radically reducing poverty is the easy part. First comes the more difficult task: radically reducing Big Government.

MAKING THE NEW JUNGLE BOOK

WRONG EMAIL ADDRESS

A Minneapolis couple decided to go to Florida to thaw out during a particularly icy winter. They planned to stay at the same hotel where they spent their honeymoon 20 years earlier.

Because of hectic schedules, it was difficult to coordinate their travel schedules. So, the husband left Minnesota and flew to Florida on Thursday, with his wife flying down the following day.

The husband checked into the hotel. There was a computer in his room, so he decided to send an email to his wife.
However, he accidentally left out one letter in her email address, and without realizing his error, sent the e-mail.

Meanwhile, somewhere in Houston, a widow had just returned home from her husband's funeral. He was a Baptist minister who was called home to glory following a heart attack.

The widow decided to check her e-mail expecting messages from relatives and friends. After reading the first message, she screamed and fainted.

The widow's son rushed into the room, found his mother on the floor, and saw the computer screen which read:

To: My Loving Wife
Subject: I've Arrived
Date: March 21, 2012

I know you're surprised to hear from me. They have computers here now and you are allowed to send emails to your loved ones.
I've just arrived and have been checked in.

I've seen that everything has been prepared for your arrival tomorrow.
Looking forward to seeing you then!
Hope your journey is as uneventful as mine was.

P. S. Sure is hot down here!!!

THE WEINER DOCUMENTARY

CLIMATE CHANGE IS GOOD!

A research letter published in the journal Nature finds that climate change has made the weather in the United States far more enjoyable over the past four decades.

The researchers looked at seasonal temperature changes since 1974, rather than annual averages, and found that “80% of Americans live in counties that are experiencing more pleasant weather than they did four decades ago,” the authors concluded.

The reason, they say, is that since the 1970s the winters have been getting warmer, but not the summers.

In their words: “Virtually all Americans are now experiencing the much milder winters that they typically prefer, and these mild winters have not been offset by markedly more uncomfortable summers or other negative changes.”

Charts in the study make this pretty clear. Average daily temperatures in July haven’t budged since 1974, and relative humidity in that month is actually lower than it was four decades ago. In contrast, there’s a clear upward trend in the average daily temperature in January.

FULL ARTICLE

Teenage Girls Seeking Genital Cosmetic Surgery

Fat thighs. Hairy arms. Muffin tops. Breasts that are too big or not big enough. To the long list of body parts that adolescent girls worry about and want to tinker with, the Internet age has added a new one: the vulva.

So many teenagers are seeking cosmetic surgery to trim or shape the external genitalia that the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists issuedguidance from its Committee on Adolescent Health Care to doctors last week, urging them to teach and to reassure patients, suggest alternatives to surgery that may alleviate discomfort, and screen them for a psychiatric disorder that causes obsession about perceived physical defects.

As for why there has been an increase in demand for the surgery among teenagers, physicians are “sort of baffled,” said Dr. Julie Strickland, the chairwoman of A.C.O.G.’s committee on adolescent health care

For adults, the procedure is marketed as “vaginal rejuvenation,” tightening the inner and outer muscles of the vagina, as well as often shaping the labia; it is geared to older women and women who have given birth. But gynecologists who care for teenage girls say they receive requests every week from patients who want surgery to trim their labia minora, mostly for cosmetic reasons, but occasionally for functional reasons, such as to relieve discomfort.

The guideline does not rule out surgery on the labia, or labiaplasty for teens, but says it is rarely appropriate. “It should not be entertained until growth and development is complete,” Dr. Strickland said.

“The big thing I tell patients about labiaplasty is that there are a lot of unknowns,” she said. “The labia have a lot of nerve endings in them, so there could be diminishment of sexual sensation after surgery, or numbness, or pain, or scarring.”

A 2007 A.C.O.G. committee opinion on cosmetic vaginal procedures for adults, which was reaffirmed in 2014, said the procedures were not medically indicated, had not been proved safe or effective, and could cause serious complications.

The American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery says that 400 girls 18 and younger had labiaplasty last year, an 80 percent increase from the 222 girls who had cosmetic genital surgery in 2014. While the overall numbers remain small, the data probably understates the trend because it does not include procedures performed by gynecologists. A 2013 British report found the number of labial reductions on girls and women done by the National Health Service had increased fivefold over 10 years.

Girls 18 and younger account for less than 2 percent of all cosmetic operations, but almost 5 percent of all labiaplasties. (The most popular cosmetic procedures for teenagers are ear surgery, with 11,288 procedures last year; nose surgery with 10,308; and breast reductions with 3,698.)

What’s driving the trend for labia surgery? Well, for one, doctors say, many young girls shave or wax their pubic hair, exposing the genital area. According to a 2012 study, more than 70 percent of girls and young women ages 12 to 20 said they routinely shaved or waxed the pubic area.

These girls have come of age at a time when they can go online and look up images of the vulva, doctors say. But the images are often air-brushed and do not portray the range of normal variation in shape, color, size and asymmetry, experts say.

MORE HERE

HOW STRICT GUN CONTROL WORKED IN CHIRAQ THE WEEKEND OF 042216

Chiraq surpasses 1,000 shootings so far this year.

THE DEMOCRATS NEVER TIRE OF THIS FUN!

CHICAGO (SUN TIMES MEDIA WIRE) - Six people were killed and at least 38 others wounded in shootings across Chicago between Friday night and early Monday.

The weekend’s two latest homicides resulted from a mass shooting in the West Englewood neighborhood that left three more people injured late Sunday on the South Side.

The group was sitting on a front porch in the 2000 block of West 68th Place about 11:10 p.m. when someone got out of a vehicle in a nearby vacant lot and opened fire, according to Chicago Police.

A 38-year-old man was shot in the neck and taken to Mount Sinai Hospital, where he was pronounced dead, police said.

A 27-year-old man suffered a gunshot wound to the chest and was taken to Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn, where he was also pronounced dead, police said. The Cook County medical examiner’s office confirmed the fatalities, but did not release additional information early Monday.

A 27-year-old man shot in the back was taken Christ Medical Center and 17-year-old boy shot in the left leg was taken to St. Bernard Hospital. A 23-year-old woman was shot in the left leg and taken to Stroger Hospital. Their conditions were stabilized, police said.

Another fatal shooting occurred Sunday evening in the Logan Square neighborhood on the Northwest Side.

Officers responding to a call of shots fired at 6:23 p.m. in the 3600 block of West Schubert found 25-year-old Justin T. Bowman lying on a sidewalk with a gunshot wound to the chest, authorities said.

Bowman was taken to Advocate Illinois Masonic Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead at 7:07 p.m. He lived in the 3900 block of West Diversey.

ON AND ON, SEE FULL ARTICLE

ORANGE CRUSH

!!!CAUTION EXPLICIT- BLACK COLLEGE SPRING BREAK TYBEE IS GA- EXPLICIT!!!

MANSPREADING PROHIBITED!

The horror that is manspreading…

From Fox News: The manspreading menace is sweeping the nation, and threatens to cripple our already crumbling infrastructure, which is why officials in California are taking decisive action to eradicate it.

Men (or women) with problematically wide stances could face hefty fines after the San Francisco transit board approved a strict “one ticket, one seat” policy. Los Angeles transit officials will consider a similar measure in the coming months.

Offenders will be fined $100 for the first violation, $200 for a second offense within a 12-month period, and $500 for each repeat violation within five years. It is unclear how the new rule will be enforced.

Read the whole story here.