http://www.mauisun.org/vbb This is a discussion forum powered by vBulletin. To find out about vBulletin, go to http://www.vbulletin.com/ . en Wed, 08 Sep 2010 09:20:16 GMT vBulletin 60 http://www.mauisun.org/vbb/images/misc/rss.jpg http://www.mauisun.org/vbb http://www.mauisun.org/vbb/showthread.php?t=108534&goto=newpost Tue, 07 Sep 2010 17:20:48 GMT One McD's Kills Dollar Menu, Enrages Homeless
Is franchise owner trying to push them out?

When the McDonald's in San Francisco's Haight-Ashbury neighborhood got rid of its Dollar Menu, the owner claimed it was a simple grab for more money. But the homeless who often congregate outside the restaurant say it's actually a backhanded attempt to get them to move elsewhere. Now that a McDouble is $1.49 instead of 99 cents, "I eat less," says one homeless man. "If I don't have a dollar and I want food, I just end up going to a trash can."


And when cops come through and tell everyone gathered on the McDonald's patio to either buy something or move on, many must now move on, the San Francisco Chronicle reports. As Mayor Gavin Newsom looks to pass a ballot measure banning sitting or lying on public sidewalks, many see the menu change as an unofficial means of doing just that. For more on San Francisco's homeless, click here.:mad: ]]> Domestic U.S. News xtech http://www.mauisun.org/vbb/showthread.php?t=108534 http://www.mauisun.org/vbb/showthread.php?t=108533&goto=newpost Tue, 07 Sep 2010 17:16:09 GMT Underground Acid Lake Threatens Johannesburg City needs millions to pump toxic water from mines Johannesburg is frantically attempting to procure millions of dollars for a new pumping station, before a rising tide of toxic mine water seeps into the city’s streets. Abandoned mine shafts in... Underground Acid Lake Threatens Johannesburg
City needs millions to pump toxic water from mines



Johannesburg is frantically attempting to procure millions of dollars for a new pumping station, before a rising tide of toxic mine water seeps into the city’s streets. Abandoned mine shafts in and around the city have filled up with ground water, which oxidizes with the metals within the mines, the Daily Telegraph explains. As it rises, the water, which has the same acidity as vinegar, could lead to earth tremors and power outages, and cause cancer in city residents.

At its current rate of ascent—up to 3 feet a day—it'll take the water 18 months to reach the surface. Building a pumping station would take about 13 months, so the city needs funding ASAP. It’s currently negotiating with the mining companies that originally dug the mines, hoping to wring some money from them, while pitching other investors on the profit potential of the new water source. ]]> International News xtech http://www.mauisun.org/vbb/showthread.php?t=108533 http://www.mauisun.org/vbb/showthread.php?t=108532&goto=newpost Tue, 07 Sep 2010 14:32:33 GMT Yes, you've seen instruction manuals that say "Some assembly required". But, I typed the title correctly - SELF assembly required!

MIT researchers create new self-assembling photovoltaic technology that repairs itself

Molecules can turn sunlight into electricity & can be broken down and quickly reassembled



IMAGE: This is a closeup of the test cell
the team built to measure the properties of the self-
assembling photosynthetic system.
Credit: Patrick Gillooly, MIT
Usage Restrictions: With proper caption and credit
Related news release: MIT researchers create new self-assembling photovoltaic technology that repairs itself

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CAMBRIDGE, Mass. -- Plants are good at doing what scientists and engineers have been struggling to do for decades: converting sunlight into stored energy, and doing so reliably day after day, year after year. Now some MIT scientists have succeeded in mimicking a key aspect of that process.
One of the problems with harvesting sunlight is that the sun's rays can be highly destructive to many materials. Sunlight leads to a gradual degradation of many systems developed to harness it. But plants have adopted an interesting strategy to address this issue: They constantly break down their light-capturing molecules and reassemble them from scratch, so the basic structures that capture the sun's energy are, in effect, always brand new.
That process has now been imitated by Michael Strano, the Charles and Hilda Roddey Associate Professor of Chemical Engineering, and his team of graduate students and researchers. They have created a novel set of self-assembling molecules that can turn sunlight into electricity; the molecules can be repeatedly broken down and then reassembled quickly, just by adding or removing an additional solution. Their paper on the work was published on Sept. 5 in Nature Chemistry.
Strano says the idea first occurred to him when he was reading about plant biology. "I was really impressed by how plant cells have this extremely efficient repair mechanism," he says. In full summer sunlight, "a leaf on a tree is recycling its proteins about every 45 minutes, even though you might think of it as a static photocell."
One of Strano's long-term research goals has been to find ways to imitate principles found in nature using nanocomponents. In the case of the molecules used for photosynthesis in plants, the reactive form of oxygen produced by sunlight causes the proteins to fail in a very precise way. As Strano describes it, the oxygen "unsnaps a tether that keeps the protein together," but the same proteins are quickly reassembled to restart the process.
This action all takes place inside tiny capsules called chloroplasts that reside inside every plant cell — and which is where photosynthesis happens. The chloroplast is "an amazing machine," Strano says. "They are remarkable engines that consume carbon dioxide and use light to produce glucose," a chemical that provides energy for metabolism.
To imitate that process, Strano and his team, supported by grants from the MIT Energy Initiative and the Department of Energy, produced synthetic molecules called phospholipids that form discs; these discs provide structural support for other molecules that actually respond to light, in structures called reaction centers, which release electrons when struck by particles of light. The discs, carrying the reaction centers, are in a solution where they attach themselves spontaneously to carbon nanotubes — wire-like hollow tubes of carbon atoms that are a few billionths of a meter thick yet stronger than steel and capable of conducting electricity a thousand times better than copper. The nanotubes hold the phospholipid discs in a uniform alignment so that the reaction centers can all be exposed to sunlight at once, and they also act as wires to collect and channel the flow of electrons knocked loose by the reactive molecules.
The system Strano's team produced is made up of seven different compounds, including the carbon nanotubes, the phospholipids, and the proteins that make up the reaction centers, which under the right conditions spontaneously assemble themselves into a light-harvesting structure that produces an electric current. Strano says he believes this sets a record for the complexity of a self-assembling system. When a surfactant — similar in principle to the chemicals that BP has sprayed into the Gulf of Mexico to break apart oil — is added to the mix, the seven components all come apart and form a soupy solution. Then, when the researchers removed the surfactant by pushing the solution through a membrane, the compounds spontaneously assembled once again into a perfectly formed, rejuvenated photocell.
"We're basically imitating tricks that nature has discovered over millions of years" — in particular, "reversibility, the ability to break apart and reassemble," Strano says. The team, which included postdoctoral researcher Moon-Ho Ham and graduate student Ardemis Boghossian, came up with the system based on a theoretical analysis, but then decided to build a prototype cell to test it out. They ran the cell through repeated cycles of assembly and disassembly over a 14-hour period, with no loss of efficiency.
Strano says that in devising novel systems for generating electricity from light, researchers don't often study how the systems change over time. For conventional silicon-based photovoltaic cells, there is little degradation, but with many new systems being developed — either for lower cost, higher efficiency, flexibility or other improved characteristics — the degradation can be very significant. "Often people see, over 60 hours, the efficiency falling to 10 percent of what you initially saw," he says.
The individual reactions of these new molecular structures in converting sunlight are about 40 percent efficient, or about double the efficiency of today's best commercial solar cells. Theoretically, the efficiency of the structures could be close to 100 percent, he says. But in the initial work, the concentration of the structures in the solution was low, so the overall efficiency of the device — the amount of electricity produced for a given surface area — was very low. They are working now to find ways to greatly increase the concentration.



http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releas...-mrc090110.php ]]> Domestic U.S. News Runaway1956 http://www.mauisun.org/vbb/showthread.php?t=108532 http://www.mauisun.org/vbb/showthread.php?t=108530&goto=newpost Mon, 06 Sep 2010 18:28:43 GMT :mad:Cops: 'How to Molest Kids' Manual Is Legal
But police still want to get their hands on author

A thick manual instructing attackers on how to molest children is legal, say Florida cops—but they'd still like to get their hands on the author of the 170-page book. "I've never seen anything like it. It was pretty amazing because of how detailed it is," an Orange County detective told WFTV. The author, who refers to himself as "the mule," gives detailed instructions on how to molest children, how to find victims, and how to scare kids into not telling their parents.

"People who are engaged in the exploitation of children are talking about these things, and how to avoid law enforcement," said another law enforcement official. Investigators tracked down the manual on the Internet. It's not a crime in Orange County to possess the booklet or to email it, but police fear the author may be responsible for multiple crimes against children, reports ABC News.:mad:
This S.O.B. who wrote this book needs to be???

I saw a movie called,"Hang Them High!"

May be that is what that S.O.B. needs..a place to hang around at! A tree would be a good place to let him hang around at! If it sounds like I am :mad:mad:mad:..I am!

Freedom of the Press is important so is Freedom of speach. But even with freedom of speach, you still cann't go into a threater and scream "FIRE,FIRE!" ]]> Domestic U.S. News xtech http://www.mauisun.org/vbb/showthread.php?t=108530 http://www.mauisun.org/vbb/showthread.php?t=108527&goto=newpost Mon, 06 Sep 2010 04:44:49 GMT We Once Feared Catholics, Jews, Too
It also fed campaigns against Catholics, Germans, and Jews
The Islamophobic sentiment shaking America is rooted in fear, not bigotry, writes Nick Kristof for the New York Times. The "well-meaning worriers" of the "Not-at-Ground-Zero Mosque" movement genuinely believe Muslims "don’t share their values, don’t believe in democracy, and may harm innocent Americans." Of course, some Americans once felt the same way about the Irish, Germans, Catholics, Jews, Italians, Chinese, Japanese, and Mormons.


"But we have a more glorious tradition intertwined in American history as well, one of tolerance, amity, and religious freedom." Previous waves of intolerance were calmed only when ordinary people stood up against "the Know Nothing impulse," Kristoff writes. "Americans have called on moderates in Muslim countries to speak out against extremists, to stand up for the tolerance they say they believe in. We should all have the guts do the same at home."


What a laugh,"Americans have called on moderates in Muslim countries to speak out against extremists, to stand up for the tolerance they say they believe in. Has Anybody heard an out cry from any moderates in any Muslim countries? If they have they Must be wispering! Cause I cann't find any! ]]> Domestic U.S. News xtech http://www.mauisun.org/vbb/showthread.php?t=108527 http://www.mauisun.org/vbb/showthread.php?t=108518&goto=newpost Sat, 04 Sep 2010 03:29:09 GMT Sweet!
http://articles.cnn.com/2010-08-28/j...ch?_s=PM:CRIME

Sorry, but of all the people that need a good pepper spraying it's these bastards. so glad SOME jack ass did it. ]]> Domestic U.S. News Juice-Master http://www.mauisun.org/vbb/showthread.php?t=108518 http://www.mauisun.org/vbb/showthread.php?t=108517&goto=newpost Sat, 04 Sep 2010 01:14:57 GMT :D
Truly no business in New York is safe from the bedbug threat—the pests have been found in Google's posh Manhattan office. The 9th Avenue office is famous for its free gourmet cafeteria and perks such as Lego sets. “Like several other businesses in New York City, we’ve discovered bedbugs in a small area of our office,” a Google representative tells the Wall Street Journal, confirming rumors that sprouted on Twitter.:rolleyes:

Better check your beds! The way things are going you may find Big Brother under your bed hideing!:rolleyes: ]]> Domestic U.S. News xtech http://www.mauisun.org/vbb/showthread.php?t=108517 http://www.mauisun.org/vbb/showthread.php?t=108515&goto=newpost Fri, 03 Sep 2010 16:56:01 GMT A federal judge struck down Nebraska’s law against desecrating the flag yesterday, ruling that Westboro Baptist Church members were free to trample the flag as they protest at military funerals. Members of the infamous church often stomp on the flag, wear it, or wave it upside down at their... A federal judge struck down Nebraska’s law against desecrating the flag yesterday, ruling that Westboro Baptist Church members were free to trample the flag as they protest at military funerals. Members of the infamous church often stomp on the flag, wear it, or wave it upside down at their demonstrations, the AP explains, and the judge said they were free to do so as long as they “otherwise act peacefully.”

Megan Phelps-Roper filed the federal lawsuit in July challenging the constitutionality of Nebraska's 1977 flag law, which bars "casting contempt or ridicule" upon a US or Nebraska flag by mutilating, defacing, burning, or trampling on it. State Attorney General Jon Bruning has acknowledged that the law is not consistent with Supreme Court rulings protecting flag desecration as a form of free speech, and has said he won’t fight to save the law, meaning the case is effectively closed.

My point of view, This judge could use some common sense..like a good old "tar and feathering!" ]]> Domestic U.S. News xtech http://www.mauisun.org/vbb/showthread.php?t=108515 http://www.mauisun.org/vbb/showthread.php?t=108514&goto=newpost Fri, 03 Sep 2010 16:51:25 GMT Six accused in biggest human trafficking case in US history A US recruitment company lured 400 Thai laborers to the US, confiscated their passports, tore up their contracts, and forced them to work, according to a federal indictment filed yesterday. The indictment names six people, four from... Six accused in biggest human trafficking case in US history

A US recruitment company lured 400 Thai laborers to the US, confiscated their passports, tore up their contracts, and forced them to work, according to a federal indictment filed yesterday. The indictment names six people, four from Global Horizons Manpower Inc.—including the CEO—and two recruiters based out of Thailand, the AP reports. Once brought to the US, laborers were allegedly scattered to more than a dozen states, and threatened with deportation if they didn’t comply. The FBI is calling it the largest human-trafficking case ever charged in US history.


“In the old days, they used to keep slaves in their places with whips and chains. Today it’s done with economic threats and intimidation,” an FBI agent said. Two Global Horizons employees have been arrested, a third is expected to turn himself in, and the FBI is currently negotiating the surrender of CEO Mordechai Orian. The US will try to work out a deal with Thailand to nab the other two suspects.


People like those six make me sick! They should be "Tar and Feather" and then run out of town. ]]> Domestic U.S. News xtech http://www.mauisun.org/vbb/showthread.php?t=108514 http://www.mauisun.org/vbb/showthread.php?t=108508&goto=newpost Fri, 03 Sep 2010 04:13:07 GMT Another day, another political sex scandal—but this one involves a minor. Ohio's Eric W. Deaton, Senate candidate for the conservative Constitution Party, was indicted Tuesday for having alleged sexual contact with a young girl, the Dayton Daily News reports. Deaton, 42, is accused of having unlawful sexual conduct with the girl, who he reportedly met at his church, while she was between the ages of 13 and 15 ... and he's calling the whole mess "politically motivated."

He adds that “the powers that be don’t like” his decision to run for office, and says he'll stay in the race despite his Sept. 14 arraignment and the fact that he faces the possibility of five years in prison. According to WDTN Dayton, police say they have hotel surveillance video and receipts that prove their case ... and Deaton's lawyer says those very items (somehow) help prove that his client is innocent. Deaton, a married Cub Scout leader with three kids, says he has Tea Party endorsements.


:mad:The Senate should change the name to "Sexate!":mad: What is the matter with these people? Cann't they keep it in their Pants?:bashonhea ]]> Domestic U.S. News xtech http://www.mauisun.org/vbb/showthread.php?t=108508 http://www.mauisun.org/vbb/showthread.php?t=108506&goto=newpost Thu, 02 Sep 2010 20:37:10 GMT :rolleyes:When it comes to breasts, bigger isn’t always better. The assumption that A-cup women are constantly looking for push-up bras to enhance their assets is no longer unequivocally true, and a number of boutiques and online stores are now specializing in smaller size—but still sexy—bras. In... :rolleyes:When it comes to breasts, bigger isn’t always better. The assumption that A-cup women are constantly looking for push-up bras to enhance their assets is no longer unequivocally true, and a number of boutiques and online stores are now specializing in smaller size—but still sexy—bras. In the past, it wasn’t uncommon for smaller-chested women to be directed to the children’s section for a training bra, the New York Times reports. Now, they have a wide selection of come-hither styles, and they’re embracing it.


Even as breast sizes have ballooned in recent years, most smaller-breasted customers “don’t want to supersize themselves,” says one boutique owner. The website of another specialty line points out the benefits of having smaller breasts: no pain from running, for one, and “best of all, sagging is minimal compared to larger women.” Says another website owner, “We are supplying sexy, chic lingerie for grown-up women, not teenagers, who are proud of what they have and not worried about trying to look bigger.”

I have had women with big breast say they wish they had smaller breast cause the back pain the big breast can cause. While a few women with small breast wish they had bigger ones.:p ]]> Domestic U.S. News xtech http://www.mauisun.org/vbb/showthread.php?t=108506 http://www.mauisun.org/vbb/showthread.php?t=108505&goto=newpost Thu, 02 Sep 2010 20:27:29 GMT James J. Lee hated network for encouraging population growth
The gunman shot dead after taking hostages at Discovery Communications headquarters yesterday hated the network's shows because he believed they promoted population growth. James J. Lee—who had a history of protesting around Discovery HQ—demanded an end to shows like Kate Plus 8 and 19 Kids and Counting in his online manifestos, the AP reports.


Lee said Discovery should air "programs encouraging human sterilization and infertility" instead and urged it to create programming based on the writings of environmentalist author Daniel Quinn. Quinn says Lee must have misinterpreted his writings. If he could have spoken to Lee, he says, he would have told him "he's giving a bad name to the ideas that he's trying to espouse."



This guy was NOT playing with a full set of cards! I am glad that no hostages were hurt. ]]> Domestic U.S. News xtech http://www.mauisun.org/vbb/showthread.php?t=108505 http://www.mauisun.org/vbb/showthread.php?t=108502&goto=newpost Wed, 01 Sep 2010 18:22:05 GMT First it accidentally banned straight marriage: Now Texas has officially banned gay divorce. A state appeals court ruled yesterday that gay couples who legally marry in other states cannot get a divorce in Texas. The ruling follows a judge's October 2009 decision to allow two Dallas men who were married in Massachusetts to get a divorce. The court of appeals decision also said the state's same-sex marriage ban was constitutional, reports the AP.


"A person does not and cannot seek a divorce without simultaneously asserting the existence and validity of a lawful marriage," read the decision. "Texas law, as embodied in our constitution and statutes, requires that a valid marriage must be a union of one man and one woman, and only when a union comprises one man and one woman can there be a divorce under Texas law."



If this couple were Texan, married somewhere else, and wanted to divorce, they're out of luck.:bowdown:

AT last a State uses common sense. Texas might have to put up with the "same sex marriage" from other states. It still can have their say about a divorce. ]]> Domestic U.S. News xtech http://www.mauisun.org/vbb/showthread.php?t=108502 http://www.mauisun.org/vbb/showthread.php?t=108493&goto=newpost Tue, 31 Aug 2010 16:30:30 GMT 52% of GOP Thinks Obama Supports Spread of Islamic Law
And 24% of Americans still think he's a Muslim.
More than half of Republicans surveyed in a new Newsweek poll believe that President Obama supports the proliferation of Islamic law worldwide: 14% of Republicans said Obama definitely "sympathizes with the goals of Islamic fundamentalists who want to impose Islamic law around the world," while an additional 38% think he probably does. And—the poll question that just won't die—some 24% of all survey respondents believe that Obama himself is a Muslim.


Showing fallout from the "Ground Zero mosque" controversy, 59% of Republicans said Obama favors the interests of Muslims above those of "other groups of Americans." Some Dems and Independents are also worried about Obama and Islam, though far fewer than Republicans: 17% of Dems and 27% of Independents think the president "probably" or "definitely" supports the worldwide imposition of Islamic law.


My point of view! We have a wolf in sheep clothing! He is trying to fool the us into thinking he is not for the Islamic law. When will we Wake up? ]]> Domestic U.S. News xtech http://www.mauisun.org/vbb/showthread.php?t=108493 http://www.mauisun.org/vbb/showthread.php?t=108491&goto=newpost Tue, 31 Aug 2010 16:21:39 GMT Argues that targeting a US citizen is unconstitutional
The ACLU and the Center for Constitutional Rights have made a bold move in their quest to get Anwar al-Awlaki off the CIA's "capture or kill" list. The rights groups filed a lawsuit yesterday asking a federal court to declare all assassinations unconstitutional, unless the target poses an imminent, specific danger, the AP reports.


A lawyer for the government said the killings were in line with the laws of war. "This administration is using every legal measure available to defeat al-Qaeda, and we will continue to do so as long as its forces pose a threat to this nation," he said.



:bashonhea ACLU needs some sense KNOCK into their way of thinking!:bashonhea ]]> Domestic U.S. News xtech http://www.mauisun.org/vbb/showthread.php?t=108491