Well, it’s been another interesting week at the Filipino Freethinkers blogs, to say the least. The community’s been abuzz with Nancy’s article discussing the matter of Vegan Ethics. It’s a new topic for many of us freethinkers, and while it may draw disagreements, in the end, it’s still going to challenge us to think outside our comfort zones, which is a good thing.
And the timing of the article – along with the Benj’s recent post describing Al Gore’s “An Inconvenient Truth” event here Manila – couldn’t have been more perfect. This week, UAE has announced its plans to build what will be the world’s largest solar thermal power plant.
Once completed in 2012, the plant will cover a span of one square mile, and will generate 100 MW of power through its arrays of collecting mirrors and oil pipes. Just to clarify, the plant isn’t a traditional solar plant many of the readers may imagine; it’s not just a collection of solar panels linked up to a giant battery, as in most households.
The plant uses solar thermal energy, which uses the sun to superheat an insulating liquid such as molten salt or oil to power a traditional steam turbine. It’s more energy efficient than panels on a large scale, but I’m digressing here – feel free to ask me more about this in our next meet this Saturday; I can go on and on about the tech XD. The point is that it speaks volumes when one of the world’s largest oil producers has decided to embrace the concept of green energy.
In more current event news, We have South Korea’s new idea of psychological warfare being conducted on Nokor forces at the DMZ. It involves several large speakers, and a couples of tracks of Korean pop sensation 4minute.
Yes, dear readers – SK has decided to torture the North with K-pop music.
Odd? Definitely. But before you go dismissing this plan, keep in mind that history has proven that when you’re outnumbered and outgunned, all it takes is one soulful ballad to destroy an enemy alien fleet that is literally bred for war, chaos, and violence. Just ask Lynn Minmay.
Of course she had the help of a city-sized space warship, and a squadron of transformable fighters loaded with tactical nukes, but that’s not the point.
In any case, enjoy this week’s tidbits, and be sure to drop in at the forums’ News Thread if you find any interesting topics you might want to bring up!
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UAE Announces Plans for World’s Largest Solar Plant (via Popular Science) Link
Inventor of Photosynthesis-Based Solar Cells Wins Millennium Tech Prize (via Popular Science) Link
New Vatican campaign to clamp down on ‘liberal opinion’ (via Independent.ie) Link
http://www.independent.ie/national-news/new-vatican-campaign-to-clamp-down-on-liberal-opinion-2210401.html
What happens to women? (via Philippine Daily Inquirer) Link
Study: Children of Lesbians May Do Better Than Their Peers (Via TIME) Link
Stereotyping women right out of science (via Pharyngula) Link
South Korean Propaganda Blasts (Via Yahoo News) Link
Stephen Hawking on Religion: ‘Science Will Win’ (Via ABC News) Link
Adult Breastfeeding Establishes “Maternal Relations”…
(via Salon) Link
6 Companies That Make Money Solving Problems (They Made Up) (via Cracked) Link
Me and my childhood classmates loved Macross. It's best described as a "Space Opera."I used to watch it on Star World tv channel. And the intro music made me jump around the room with excitement. >D
I forgot, it was Robotech.
I'm more of a Gundam fan myself 😀
The problem with Gundam is that whoever has a Gundam suit cannot lose. The gundam's are always overpowered compared to the infantry. It makes the show centered on those gundams.
That tends to be true in the alternate Gundam storylines.
That's why I prefer Universal Century story arc – there may be gundams, but the shows have a heavy focus on character development, and portraying the horrors of war.
The Gundams are indeed superweapons here, but the plot flows in such a way that unless the side that has them actually makes good use of them, they're still going to lose 🙂