Solar Power Takes A Big Step Forward

It's long been my opinion that solar is one of the best renewable energy sources available to us. It's what sustains life on Earth, after all - our planet is basically adjacent to a damn-near limitless source of energy, if only we could harvest that energy. One massive caveat has always been the efficiency and/or economic viability of solar.

Welcome to the end of that caveat. From ScienceBlog:

Two technologies have dominated efforts to harness the power of the sun’s energy. Photovoltaics convert sunlight into electric current, while solar-thermal power generation uses sunlight to heat water and produce thermal energy. Photovoltaic cells have been deployed widely as flat panels, while solar-thermal power generation employs sunlight-absorbing surfaces feasible in residential and large-scale industrial settings...“We have developed a flat panel that is a hybrid capable of generating hot water and electricity in the same system,” said Ren. “The ability to generate electricity by improving existing technology at minimal cost makes this type of power generation self-sustaining from a cost standpoint.”

This is huge. I'm still primarily a supporter of smart and careful nuclear power, but this development bumps solar far up the ranking of viable energy sources.

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Apparently, Liberals Are The Illuminati

posted 10/5/2012 by the Salt City Sinner Greetings, sheeple, from my stronghold high atop the Wells Fargo Building in downtown Salt City, where I type this before a massive, glowing bank of monitors that display the ongoing progress of my 23-point plan for complete social control. Whether you want to demonize me as a "liberal," or prefer the Glenn Beck update "progressive," we all know the truth, and it's time to pull the curtain aside: like all left-leaning persons, I am actually a member of the Illuminati. How else to explain how much power my side of the aisle wields in U.S. American politics? According to conservatives, liberals/the Illuminati control the media * , science * , academia in general * , public schools * , public radio * , pretty much anything "public," the courts * , and Hollywood * . Hell, we pretty much control everything except for scrappy, underdog operations like WND and Fox News, or quiet, marginalized voices like...

Where (Else) to Find My Writing

REGULARLY UPDATED Posted on 1/9/2020 - UPDATED 2/4/2025 MY FULL-LENGTH NONFICTION DEBUT! BLACK SUNRISE ON PISS EARTH: FASCISM, NIHILISM, AND THE 21ST CENTURY OCCULT Black Sunrise on Piss Earth: Fascism, Nihilism, and the 21st Century Occult is a nonfiction, anti-fascist, punk rock, and no-holds-barred look at the role that nihilism and the postmodern occult have played in the development of fascist movements in the United States, Great Britain, Germany, and elsewhere – a coordinated movement I call the Fascist Internationale. The manuscript’s title is a reference to Piss Earth 2025, a piece of fascist agitprop that I respond to, using my refutation as a framework for looking at the dangerous, deadly, and dumbass ideas undergirding everything from QAnon and Christian Identity to Nazi Satanist- worshipers the Order of Nine Angles and portions of the Asatru (Norse Pantheon worship) and chaos magick communities. HE LED US INTO THE WILDERNESS AND SPOKE TO US My fourth novel! No...

A Sinner's History of Utah: The Commercial Street Red Light District

posted on 8/12/2015 by the Salt City Sinner I moved from Utah to the American South as a teenager, and pretty quickly learned that if you hail from the Beehive State, there are a series of extremely dumb questions you will be asked when people first meet you that would not be asked of someone from, say, South Dakota or Maine. “Are you Mormon?” is obviously the first one – and a pretty reasonable question, all things considered. That is usually followed up with some sort of question about polygamy, however, which is lazy and ignorant and gets old remarkably quickly. Sometimes I would be asked if one can buy alcohol in Utah. This is, again, a not entirely unreasonable thing to ask, especially since many of these interactions took place back in the days of private clubs and membership cards – but it did strike me as a little silly given that I was often asked about Utah and booze while going to college in Conway, Arkansas, which is a town located in a dry county where sales ...

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