From here

Since reunification, more people born in France than in Germany, and the trend is strengthening .

Wind power

will drink wine with new friends from "don't call it Frisco." that's all for now. Wait, here's a photo of a good friend, publisher of Last Gasp Comix, Ron T. It's his birthday today, i miss all the times we had/have.

"Life shrinks or expands in proportion to one's courage." - Anaïs Nin

But the more I delve into it, the less I seem to know. Typical.

You can't be me, I'm taken

The process follows a number of stages:

1. "Wrong-time electricity" is used to take in air, remove the CO2 and water vapour (these would freeze otherwise)
2. the remaining air, mostly nitrogen, is chilled to -190C (-310F) and turns to liquid (changing the state of the air from gas to liquid is what stores the energy)
3. the liquid air is held in a giant vacuum flask until it is needed
4. when demand for power rises, the liquid is warmed to ambient temperature. As it vaporizes, it drives a turbine to produce electricity - no combustion is involved

IMechE says this process is only 25% efficient but it is massively improved by co-siting the cryo-generator next to an industrial plant or power station producing low-grade heat that is currently vented and being released into the atmosphere.

The heat can be used to boost the thermal expansion of the liquid air.

More energy is saved by taking the waste cool air when the air has finished chilling, and passing it through three tanks containing gravel.

The chilled gravel stores the coolness until it is needed to restart the air-chilling process. Delivering durability

Highview believes that, produced at scale, their kits could be up to 70% efficient, and IMechE agrees this figure is realistic.

"Batteries can get 80% efficiency so this isn't as good in that respect," explains Dr Fox.

"But we do not have a battery industry in the UK and we do have plenty of respected engineers to produce a technology like this.

"What's more, it uses standard industrial components - which reduces commercial risk; it will last for decades and it can be fixed with a spanner."

In the future, it is expected that batteries currently used in electric cars may play a part in household energy storage.

But Richard Smith, head of energy strategy for National Grid, told BBC News that other sorts of storage would be increasingly important in coming decades and should be incentivised to commercial scale by government.

He said: "Storage is one of four tools we have to balance supply and demand, including thermal flexing (switching on and off gas-fired power stations); interconnections, and demand-side management. Ultimately it will be down to economics."

Mr Dearman, who also invented the MicroVent resuscitation device used in ambulances, told BBC News he was delighted at the success of his ideas.

He said he believed his liquid air engine would prevail against other storage technologies because it did not rely on potentially scarce materials for batteries. "I have been working on this off and on for close on 50 years," he told BBC News.

"I started when I was a teenager because I thought there wouldn't be enough raw materials in the world for everyone to have a car. There had to be a different way. Then somehow I came up with the idea of storing energy in cold.

"It's hard to put into words to see what's happening with my ideas today."

the simplest ideas take the longest to gestate... there is a lot about melting salt as a way to store juice, but this is a first for me, this method.

the story itself is absurdly charming.

It's a fine line between homage, parody, and consumer opportunism. Jess Walter

Remember the guy who got a ticket for running a red light while his vehicle was in police custody? His story gets weirder. In August, Rashad Lewis got a ticket in the mail for running a red light on a day when he was in jail and his Mercedes-Benz was supposed to be impounded--he alleges that police took his car for a joyride after pulling him over outside Bloomingdales on a routine traffic violation and finding allegedly bogus credit cards. Now Lewis claims the cops also tried to take his iPhone for an illegal joyride, and he says he's got the pics to prove it.

Lewis shared the photos with DNAinfo, and says they were emailed to him through an app called IGotYa, which automatically snaps photos of anyone trying to use the phone without the correct access code and emails them to the phone's owner. Police are required to obtain a subpoena to search someone's phone except in cases of action movie-level emergency, like when "terrorists" seize Nakatomi Plaza or Papa John's has an urgent pizza special. Credit card fraud doesn't typically fall into this category.

That would be pretty ugly.

Anybody know what the bookies in the UK and Ireland have it at (if they do margins)?

Be nice to America. Or we'll bring democracy to your country.

So, just in time for next year's Depression, let's see if the few people who were smart enough not to get snagged in the last bullshit will haul their bucks out of their matresses (I'm one) to get nailed this time.

Sorry guys.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_wp4O7v5320

his Look to appeal to Hispanic voters.

He went ... orange (?):

Romney Before             Romney After

[Note: I have lived in the southwest most of my life and I've NEVER, ever, seen that color on anybody: Anglo, Hispano, Mexican, Costa Rican, Cuban, Honduran, Puerto Rican, etc. etc. etc.]

It didn't work.

Obama has gone from 69% support to 73%.  Mitt has gone from 24% to 21%.

Ever since I learnt about confirmation bias I've started seeing it everywhere

Virgins contract cannot be extended, as by law only a single extension period can be given, and The government used that up from what I have been reading so that the new franchise wasn't establishing itself in the run up to the Olympics

So come the end of the year, WCML reverts to Direct Government control. its being suggested that re-franchising can't be run till end of inquiry into whats gone wrong, so twelve months from now before new Franchisee in control, and three more franchises run out before the end of next year, which will also be delayed by this.

May endf up with a re-nationalised railway out of this. :)

Any idiot can face a crisis - it's day to day living that wears you out.