mon semblable

so-treu:

theuppitynegras:

We can see who the feminist movement really helps.

^^^^^

(Source: grapeson)

smarterplanet:

Making solar power competitive with coal | KurzweilAI

This 25-micrometer-thick peel-off film of silicon, used to make solar cells, has a metal backing that keeps it from breaking (credit: Astrowatt)

By the end of the decade, U.S. manufacturers could make solar panels that are less than half as expensive as the ones they make now.

At 52 cents per watt, that would be cheap enough for solar power to compete with electricity from fossil fuels, according to a new study by MIT researchers in Energy & Environmental Science. Assuming similar cost reductions for installation and equipment, solar power would cost six cents per kilowatt-hour in sunny areas of the U.S. — less than the 15 cents per kilowatt-hour average cost of electricity in the U.S. today.

Improvements would include an alternative to the wasteful process now used to make silicon wafers, methods of handling thin wafers to avoid breaking,  installation cost-reduction, and improved light absorption, such as using nanostructured layers.

dougstumblr:

did this today, I was bored…when I get bored (or someone else is using the PC), I sketch some toons, usually.

classics:

kudutv:

useful future

(via gkojaxmeetsrebloggersuptown, thedailywhat, thedailywhat)

freesamuel:

Reading about the shift in media coverage of Christine is heartbreaking. Originally, the journalists were under the impression that Christine had been born with some sort of ‘malady’ that surgery had corrected. The implication being that Christine had been born as some sort of ‘imperfect’ woman that had ‘passed’ as male, perhaps as what we would today refer to as intersex. They went on about how impressive it was that this bastion of All-American maleness had suffered and finally science had saved her and turned her body into the form it should have been. The articles went on about how perfectly feminine and lovely Christine was, I remember one even likening her to Marilyn Monroe.

When it came to light that this was not the case, that Christine had been perfectly ‘male’ at birth, media coverage took an ugly turn. Science was no longer a savior, she was no longer a lovely lady. She was a fraud and a cheat.

I hate that this sense of being ‘lied’ to still surrounds trans* people, that others ask about your ‘real’ gender, or your ‘real’ name. I hate hearing people say things like “You can hardly tell they used to be a man,” or “I couldn’t tell what they were,” or “The voice tipped me off.”

No.

This is real.

This is what I am.

You don’t get to decide.

Male, female, transgender, genderqueer, intersex, any name I choose to use or identify with is mine to choose and yours to respect.

yuria:

Hundreds of moon jellyfish babies have been born at the Weymouth Sealife centre in Dorset. Aquarists say they have never seen so many jelly babies of all shapes, sizes and colours from many different species at one time - but even though they may look cute many of them are highly poisonous as well.

thedailywhat:

This x That:

Know This:

• Debt Crisis: Obama signs debt bill into law after deal passes Senate; stocks drop, Dow closes below 12,000 despite debt news. Moody’s leaves US credit rating untouched for now, but downgrade still possible; CNN/ORC poll: 77% of Americans think Washington behaved like “spoiled children”; VP Biden: I did not call Tea Party Republicans “terrorists.”

• Congress recesses without solving FAA stalemate, 4,000 employees out of work through Labor Day.

• Former News of the World managing editor Stuart Kuttner arrested in connection with phone hacking scandal; man who threw shaving cream pie at Murdoch jailed for six weeks.

• RIP: Gene McDaniels, successful singer/songwriter, dead at 76.

Read This:

• Today’s Big Read: Islamist insurgent group to blame for Somalia famine.

• Rep. Doug Lamborn (R-CO) compares being associated with Obama to “touching a tar baby,” apologizes.

• Onion News Network writers unionize, call off strike.

• Follow Up: “Promising lead” in D.B. Cooper case points to dead man.

• Shawshank Redemption tree damaged by lightning, sends Mansfield officials scrambling to preserve it.

• Alec Baldwin to host SNL’s 37th season premiere.

• Confirmed: Charlie Sheen’s Two and a Half Men character is dead.

• MTV reality star threatens to sue Entourage, says he’s the real Johnny Bananas.

• Lars Von Trier reacts to Dogville being on Norwegian terrorist’s list of favorite movies: “If it was an inspiration, I’m sorry that I made it.”

• Married Norwegian Lesbian couple saved 40 kids from massacre.

The Other:

• NewsFeed: What Anders Behring Breivik Can Expect Inside Norway’s Prisons.

• Tea x Time List: 15 Kids Books You Need To Read.

• Above: “Circles of Influence”: a chart of artistic, scientific, and phiosophical debts through time. (via / via.)

ontheborderland:

When having four seasons and twelve months becomes a bore, the Japanese have fortunately divided the year into the much more interesting set of 24 sekki (節気):

• Risshun (立春): February 4—Beginning of spring
• Usui (雨水): February 19—Rain water
• Keichitsu (啓蟄): March 5—awakening of hibernated (insects)
• Shunbun (春分): March 20—Vernal equinox, middle of spring
• Seimei (清明): April 5—Clear and bright
• Kokuu (穀雨): April 20—Grain rain
• Rikka (立夏): May 5—Beginning of summer
• Shōman (小満): May 21—Grain full
• Bōshu (芒種): June 6—Grain in ear
• Geshi (夏至): June 21—Summer solstice, middle of summer
• Shōsho (小暑): July 7—Small heat
• Taisho (大暑): July 23—Large heat
• Risshū (立秋): August 7—Beginning of autumn
• Shosho (処暑): August 23—Limit of heat
• Hakuro (白露): September 7—White dew
• Shūbun (秋分): September 23—Autumnal equinox, middle of autumn
• Kanro (寒露): October 8—Cold dew
• Sōkō (霜降): October 23—Frost descent
• Rittō (立冬): November 7—Beginning of winter
• Shōsetsu (小雪): November 22—Small snow
• Taisetsu (大雪): December 7—Large snow
• Tōji (冬至): December 22—Winter solstice, middle of winter
• Shōkan (小寒): January 5 Small Cold—a.k.a. 寒の入り (Kan no iri) entrance of the cold
• Daikan (大寒): January 20—Major cold

By these tokens, we find that there are only a mere 3 days of summer left.  An encouraging thought for those of us more autumnally aligned.