New solar energy collector so efficient it works at night

Wow, power from the dark and the light!

“With this new nanotechnology, millions of extremely small twists of metal are molded into banks of “microantennas”, which can be placed on almost any material, including plastic sheets. These spiral shaped “microantennas” are about 1/25 the width of a human hair. They are so small that they resonate from the interaction with the sun’s infrared rays. This resonation can be translated into energy. During the day, the Earth soaks up a lot of this infrared energy, which is then radiated out at night — enabling these microantennas to collect power even after the sun has set. Conventional solar panels can convert about %20 of what hits them into electricity. The research team behind this new tech believes they can hit an efficiency rating of about %80. Also, conventional solar panels are expensive to produce because the rely on high-grade silicon, which is becoming increasingly expensive. These new solar collectors can be manufactured for much less — the research team aims “to make nanoantenna arrays as cheap as inexpensive carpet.” But! It’s not all worked out yet. A big stumbling block remains. While these solar collectors are able to collect solar energy, they are currently unable to transmit this energy into usable electricity. The solar infrared rays hitting the nanoantennas generate a current that has a frequency which oscillates ten thousand billion times a second — which is far to great of an oscillation than standard electrical appliances can handle. (via zpenergy.com) - Source

Ron Paul shocker: No more ‘anchor babies’

“A controversial new anti-illegal-immigration ad by GOP presidential hopeful Ron Paul has sent his libertarian supporters into high dudgeon, but it’s getting rave reviews from border-security hawks, including some Homeland Security officials.
In a surprise move, the strict constitutionalist has taken aim at the 14th Amendment as part of a proposal to control growing illegal immigration. U.S. Rep. Paul, R-Texas, proposes repealing the provision that gives automatic citizenship to children born in the U.S., even if their parents enter the country illegally. “Ron Paul wants border security now,” his new campaign ad asserts. “Physically secure the border. No amnesty. No welfare to illegal aliens. End birthright citizenship. No more student visas from terrorist nations.” - Source / N.H Republicans to Fox: No Ron Paul? No thanks! - In a press release, New Hampshire Republican Party chairman Fergus Cullen said, “We believe all recognized major candidates should have an equal opportunity to participate in pre-primary debates and forums. This principle applies to tonight’s debates on ABC as well as Sunday’s planned forum on FOX. “The New Hampshire Republican Party believes Congressmen Ron Paul and Duncan Hunter should be included in the FOX forum on Sunday evening. Our mutual efforts to resolve this difference have failed. Paul responded earlier to the snub by saying Fox News is “scared of me.” They “don’t want my message to get out, but it will,” he told the Boston Globe’s Primary Source blog. “They are propagandists for this war, and I challenge them on the notion that they are conservative.” Calling Fox’s refusal to consider including his candidate “unfair,” Ron Paul 2008 spokesman Jesse Benton said, “The New Hampshire Republican Party did the right thing by pulling its sponsorship.”- Source

Ending Famine, Simply by Ignoring the Experts

Surely there is more to the cure for famine than simply FERTILIZER?

“Malawi hovered for years at the brink of famine. After a disastrous corn harvest in 2005, almost five million of its 13 million people needed emergency food aid. But this year, a nation that has perennially extended a begging bowl to the world is instead feeding its hungry neighbors. It is selling more corn to the World Food Program of the United Nations than any other country in southern Africa and is exporting hundreds of thousands of tons of corn to Zimbabwe. In Malawi itself, the prevalence of acute child hunger has fallen sharply. In October, the United Nations Children’s Fund sent three tons of powdered milk, stockpiled here to treat severely malnourished children, to Uganda instead. “We will not be able to use it!” Juan Ortiz-Iruri, Unicef’s deputy representative in Malawi, said jubilantly. Farmers explain Malawi’s extraordinary turnaround — one with broad implications for hunger-fighting methods across Africa — with one word: fertilizer. - Source

I like what the late comedian Sam Kinnison used to say with regard to the endless sending of food and medicine out all over the world to countries who can’t get it together. I looked it up for the actual quote;

His routine during the Ethiopian famine of the early to mid ’80s, with the famous punch line:

“YOU LIVE IN A DESERT! YOU LIVE IN A F—ING DESERT! NOTHING GROWS OUT HERE! NOTHING’S GONNA GROW OUT HERE! YOU SEE THIS? HUH? THIS IS SAND. KNOW WHAT IT’S GONNA BE A HUNDRED YEARS FROM NOW? IT’S GONNA BE SAND! YOU LIVE IN A F—ING DESERT! GET YOUR STUFF, GET YOUR SH!T, WE’LL MAKE ONE TRIP, WE’LL TAKE YOU TO WHERE THE FOOD IS! WE HAVE DESERTS IN AMERICA — WE JUST DON’T LIVE IN THEM, A$$HOLES!” – From an appearance on Rodney Dangerfield’s “It’s Not Easy Being Me,” 1984.” - Source, better yet, listen to the entire World Hunger Rant.

ripped off

Went to a nearby town here in Mexico for about 6 hours…came home, found my backdoor open (which I always lock), food missing from the fridge alerted me to something amiss. Investigation found my padlocked dresser drawer ripped open with a hammer and about $200 missing ($100 in american bills).

Called the local cops…they walked around, checked everything, made notes and told me I had to file a report at the municipio… After they left, noticed the leather case for my digital camera cables and power supply was gone, checked and so was my $500 digital camera (had a 1GB memory chip). Called them back, same thing, report at the municipio.

Spent an hour telling 5 people what happened with photos and documents, no action, said I had to wait for the city lawyer. I have a suspect who is a known thief and asked them to check his house before he gets rid of the evidence. So, pretty sure I won’t see this camera again..rats…only 5 months old. It held 1,000 photos and 30 minutes of video!

That is my main beef with Mexico, thieves everywhere (I estimate 70-80% based on my experiences) and every other statement is a lie from just about everyone, but the climate is very nice and its cheaper to live. Just have to stay onguard.

So I am installing more security in my house though 6 years here and never been robbed unless I invited someone in and they sneaked something out, OR loaned them something. Presta means loan, regalo means gift, but here, everything you let out of your hands is a gift. Took me 2 years to realize that, so I loan nothing.

When I first got here, many of the long time gringos here said never invite a local into your house or they will case the joint and see what they can get. That has proven to be spot on true! So now have to scrape up the bucks to buy another camera. My shameless troll - How about buying something (ebook, DVD, MP3) and help me get it faster?

A local mexican magazine called Paginas had an article about 4 years ago, called ‘Mexico - Pais de Ladrones’ which means Country of Thieves and it described how bad the problem is here where even mexicans ripoff other mexicans.

The other two things that bother me are mordidas (bribes) asked by crooked cops (they don’t mess with me since I call my lawyer and he comes to straighten it out, now they just don’t stop me…learning the ropes ya know) and people who have ‘gringo prices’ which are roughly 2-10 times higher than what the charge mexicans. Gringos here call it the ‘blue-eyed’ tax.

But I do happen to LIKE mordidas when I have clearly broken a law and would rather pay a cop 50 or 100 pesos to get out of the ticket as they make very little money. It’s the time more than anything as the ticket cost is usually 50-300 pesos. It’s when they stop me SOLELY to ask for a mordida when I did nothing wrong, thats when I call my lawyer and they let me go before I even press the keys on my cell.

I know a mexican vendor who sells woven basket, purses and such. One day I was in an outdoor cafe waiting for a sandwich. In front of my table were americans, one a lady about 55 years old, the other lady about 22 and two guys about 55 or so. I heard the older lady tell the younger to let HER do the bargaining as she ‘knew how to deal with these people’. I thought this could be good.

Not that I was evesdropping but the tables were close and everyone could hear her. Many extranjeros (foreigners) who come here don’t realize many mexicans can speak or understand english so they hear and comprehend the insults and snarky comments.

Anyway, my mexican basket seller asked them if they wanted to buy any of his items. The younger lady was taken with a rainbow colored purse woven out of chewing gum wrappers. The older lady asked how much, the basket seller said 25, the older woman said 15…they kept swapping offers until the price was 20.

The older woman asked, ‘dollars?’ and the basket seller looked at me with a sly smile and said si. The woman forked over $20US which is over 200 pesos for a purse that he normally sells to everyone for 20 pesos ($2US).

I nearly fell off my chair to keep from laughing. He saw me and took the money with a big grin. I pointed my index finger to my head and he nodded and put his finger to his lips telling me not to correct them. Any OTHER time I might have jumped in, but this woman had it coming so let her screw her friend out of $18 trying to show off her very shallow knowledge of Mexico. Ever since, my vendor friend and I laugh about it.

There are a lot of funny things that happen here, some delightful which far compensate for the minor problems. My word of advice to anyone coming here is trust no one and ask other ex-pats for advice before doing anything, but definitely enjoy it as much as you can. Remember, life isn’t about things or wealth, its about EXPERIENCES!