csziggy
csziggy's JournalKentucky - Hundreds turn out to rid mosque of graffiti
There are a lot of good people in Kentucky that want to get rid of the bad! Some good news to offset the Kim Davis types.
Allison Ross and Alton Strupp, astrupp@courier-journal.com 4 p.m. EDT September 18, 2015
Hundreds of people turned out Friday afternoon to clean up anti-Muslim graffiti left on the Louisville Islamic Center.
The center, 4007 River Road, was defaced this week by vandals who left slurs in red paint on the white walls. The graffiti included "Stop terrorism" and "Moslems leave the Jews alone."
Instead of expressing anger, members of the mosque asked on Friday that the vandals come forward and help clean up the graffiti. They said they would welcome them and invite them to learn more about their religion and their mission.
Mayor Greg Fischer, speaking at the event, said, "There is a lot of extremism in the world today. But today I'm seeing a lot of extreme love and support and I love it."
More: http://www.courier-journal.com/story/news/local/2015/09/18/hundreds-turn-out-rid-mosque-graffiti/72388502/
Inspired by art, lightweight solar cells track the sun
Contact Katherine McAlpine, 734-763-4386, kmca@umich.edu
ANN ARBORSolar cells capture up to 40 percent more energy when they can track the sun across the sky, but conventional, motorized trackers are too heavy and bulky for pitched rooftops and vehicle surfaces.
Now, by borrowing from kirigami, the ancient Japanese art of paper cutting, researchers at the University of Michigan have developed solar cells that can have it both ways.
"The design takes what a large tracking solar panel does and condenses it into something that is essentially flat," said Aaron Lamoureux, a doctoral student in materials science and engineering and first author on the paper in Nature Communications.
Residential rooftops make up about 85 percent of solar panel installations in the U.S., according to a report from the Department of Energy, but these roofs would need significant reinforcing to support the weight of conventional sun-tracking systems.
More: http://ns.umich.edu/new/multimedia/videos/23109-inspired-by-art-lightweight-solar-cells-track-the-sun
What really scares me about Kim Davis
Her position does not just issue licenses and records documents. Her office is in charge of elections, taxes and the county's finances.
First off, I think that puts too much power in one person's hands. The county clerk will know everything about every person in the county - marital status, mortgages, tax obligations, everything that has to be recorded in that county. While much of it may be publicly accessible records, some may not. I'm not familiar with Kentucky's laws on public records. In Florida most of that information is public but the control of the various aspects of a Kentucky county clerks job are separate in Florida counties.
If by some perverse legal loophole Kim Davis is let out and allowed to run the county clerk office again, what other rights might she deny on the word of her god? While the focus has been on her denial of the right to obtain marriage licenses she could abuse any other aspect of her office to deny rights to any group the voice in her head tells her to. If she wins the right to use her office to inflict her religious views on other citizens, the potential for abuse and denial of rights is unlimited.