When Oil Runs Out... Where will energy be sourced?

Every year, we demand for 400 quadrillion of British Thermal Units (Source: US Department of Energy). And, 88 % of this is nonrenewable: oil, coil and natural gas (collectively known as fossil fuel reserves). But, just how limited are our fossil fuel reserves? Some say it will be depleted in 50 years, others say it will be 100 to 200 years (Source: ecology.com). It doesn’t matter who is right about the remaining years of fossil fuel reserves, for there is only one fact: these reserves will run out soon. What matters is the innovations and inventions that the world could have so to have “sustainable energy.”

The Reproductive Health Bill: Under Scrutiny

For quite some time now, the reproductive health bill had bannered the morning newspapers, leads the everyday news, and became a major issue in the senate, but what does the reproductive health bill really means? What belief does it stand for? Will it help solve our population problem?

The reproductive health bill has the purpose of educating the Filipinos about family planning. It promotes two child policy and the use of contraception, but it has one catch, it doesn’t coerce or command the couple to choose family planning. The entirety of the said bill only wants to inform the Filipinos about our population problem and how it affects every single individual in our country.

Easy Solutions Are Rarely The Right Ones

RH Bill has become a national debate especially in a Catholic nation like the Philippines where the Church has a major influence. The separation of the Church and State seems simple to many: religious groups should stay out of government affairs. However, it is obviously not that simple in this country. It’s been so complicated since the inseparability of faith and public morality is inevitable in our nation. RH Bill has been so controversial that it even caught the attention of the world, including the Pope.

I would not elaborate the contents of the said bill since Macafra already do so (just refer to her blog). Basically, RH Bill is an act providing for a national policy on reproductive health, responsible parenthood and population development, and for other purposes.

The stated purpose of the said bill is to lessen poverty by reducing the population growth. But let me ask you question: Is the population really the cause of increasing poverty in this country? Would addressing it solve our country’s problems? Is the RH Bill the solution?

I chose not to present statistical data and medical evidences regarding my stand in this issue. People are already exhausted with this conflicting information that the opposing parties continuously feed to the public. Now, I don’t really know which to believe. So I prefer to choose my stand based on my beliefs and sole judgment.

ÜberMinds' Different Reactions on RH Bill

The members have been grouped into two groups regarding the issue on RH Bill in the Philippines. Below are the blog links of each member.

Pro:
Carol's "Macafra on RH Bill"
Robin's "Reproductive Health Bill: Under Scrutiny"

Con:
Charmaine: "Easy Solutions Are Rarely The Right Ones"
Louis' "Breaking the Facade"

Breaking the Facade

Before I am pro-RH Bill because I thought our booming population is a major weakness for our country: more mouths to feed which makes it harder for Pinoys to live a good life. I thought having a booming population will just cause a lot of problems which would make it hard for the government to lead our country to develop and grow. But after I read John Sison’s article in the Philippine Star newspaper last Monday, I now see the RH bill in a different political and economical perspective. Is there really a population boom? Does having a big population a weakness or more of an advantage?

Macafra on RH Bill

As I’ve read in the Inquirer article, “Reproductive health bill: Facts, fallacies”, written by Rep. Edcel Lagman, the bill does not have any bias for or against either natural or modern family planning. It basically involves our right as Filipino citizens to live a comfortable and satisfying life.
The bill aims to improve the existing reproductive health services provided to us. As written in the same article, “… It (the RH Bill) is a departure from the present setup in which the provision for reproductive health services is devolved to local government units, and consequently, subjected to the varying strategies of local government executives and suffers from a death of funding…”

Botanist Co's Death, A Loss for the Philippines and the WORLD

Rafflesia Leonardi's founder Dr. Leonardo Co died in a crossfire between the communist rebels and the military last Monday, November 15, 2010, in Kanaga, Leyte. 

It's been said that he together with his co-workers are doing field work in the said area. But the military didn't know it. 

Dr. Co is knowned for discovering a type of Rafflessia, which had been called rafflesia leonardi under his first name, Leonardo.

My Cellphone, I Can Count On

Me and my Nokia 7610 have been through a lot of things. I bought this phone 3 years ago when I was in my 1st year of College. It's the phone that I've used for the longest time. What made this phone special for me is the fact that before I got my desktop computer and other gadgets, my mobile phone served as my all around device. It serves as my communication gadget of course, but it also serves as my music player, my gaming device (gameboy advance games), and it also does the things that needs to be done with a computer like surfing the internet and creating a document and worksheet (msword and ms excel). This things are done of course using softwares which can be found across the internet. Don't try to find them, good cracks are hard to find, haha!

NOT just a phone anymore

Cellphones are becoming essential part of human life nowadays. This fact is so obvious. Wherever I go, I can surely find someone using their phones – on the jeepneys, along the streets, in the malls, in the campus – literally everywhere!
While it's true that cellphones have tremendous benefits in terms of communications, they are now beyond their basic purpose and bombarded with loads of other features. I can still remember the first mobile phone I ever had – the ancient and not so slim Nokia 5610, with antenna, of course. It is so different with the flashy phones we can see today.

My "almost" ALL AROUND gadget

Yes. You’ve read it right. I call describe the mobile phone as the "almost" ALL AROUND gadget. It helps me in a lot of ways. (I was actually hoping for it to already do the household chores for me, hehe. Just in my dreams, I guess.)

A cellphone, as we modernly call it, is basically a necessity now thana luxury. Even Pinoys who don’t earn much and only at the minimum wage already have a cellphone. Also, you can see those who live in dumpsites and those who don’t have a permanent home holding a phone and texting. Sometimes, their phones are even more expensive than mine.

I just love to TOUCH =))

According to wikipedia, a touchscreen is an electronic visual display that can detect the presence and location of a touch within the display area. The term generally refers to touching the display of the device with a finger or hand. Touchscreens can also sense other passive objects, such as a stylus.

The touchscreen has two main attributes. First, it enables one to interact directly with what is displayed, rather than indirectly with a cursor controlled by amouse or touchpad.

ÜberMinds Say: 10 most significant inventions

The life today is so much different from the life thousands of years ago. Imagine the pre-historic age. The Java man would already be happy to fill its stomach with food. He wouldn't mind traveling on bare foot just to get food. He wouldn't even think about what's the latest gossip in town or check his facebook account. Well, the facebook thing is a very ironic fact. But as man started to think about his welfare and what his surroundings can give him, he starts making use of his imagination and builds things that can make his life easier –  INVENTIONS.

ÜberMinds Say: Me & My Cellphone INSEPERABLE

Can you imagine not having a cellphone today? I guess not. It's been a part of our lives already. The following links are separate blog entries from the bloggers of ÜberMinds.

ÜberMinds Say:

Carol's "My "almost" ALL AROUND gadget"

Charmaine's "Not just a phone anymore"

Chito's "I just love to touch"

Robin's "My cellphone, I can count on"

ÜberMinds: an Introduction

Hello! This blogsite is be called "ÜberMinds".