User:M&NCenarius/2 (2006)

Solar power is the technology of obtaining usable energy from the light of the Sun. Solar radiation reaches the Earth's upper atmosphere at a rate of 1,366 watts per square meter (W/m2). While traveling through the atmosphere 6% of the incoming solar radiation (insolation) is reflected and 16% is absorbed resulting in a peak irradiance at the equator of 1,020 W/m² . Average atmospheric conditions (clouds, dust, pollution) reduce insolation by 20% through reflection and 16% through absorption. Solar energy has been used in many traditional technologies for centuries and has come into widespread use where other power supplies are absent, such as in remote locations and in space. Many technologies have been developed to make use of solar radiation. Some of these technologies make direct use of the solar energy (e.g. to provide light, heat, etc.), while other technologies produce electricity. Deployment of solar power depends largely upon local conditions and requirements. All industrialised nations share a need for electricity and it is clear that solar power will increasingly be used as an option for electricity supply.

Recently featured: Evolution - Moon - Torturous Religion

[edit] Pangaea

November 19 - 25

Pangaea or Pangea (derived from Παγγαία, Greek meaning 'all earth') is the name given to the supercontinent that is believed to have existed during the Paleozoic and Mesozoic eras, before the process of plate tectonics separated each of the component continents into their current configuration. The name was apparently first used by the German Alfred Wegener, chief proponent of the continental drift theory, in 1920. In configuration, Pangaea is believed to have been a C-shaped landmass that spread across the equator. The body of water that was believed to have been enclosed within the resulting crescent has been named the Tethys Sea. The vast ocean that once surrounded the supercontinent of Pangaea has been named Panthalassa. Pangaea is believed to have broken up about 180 million years ago (mya) in the Jurassic Period, first into two supercontinents (Gondwana to the south and Laurasia to the north), thereafter into the continents as we understand them today.

Recently featured: Solar power - Evolution - Moon

[edit] Tetrapods

November 26 - December 2

   

Tetrapods (Greek tetrapoda, Latin quadruped, "four-legged") are vertebrate animals having four feet, legs or leglike appendages. Since amphibians, reptiles, dinosaurs and mammals are all tetrapods, and even birds and snakes are tetrapods by descent, the term is only really useful in describing the earliest tetrapods, which radiated from the Sarcopterygii, or "lobe-finned" fishes, into air-breathing "amphibians" in the Devonian period. The first tetrapods are traditionally assumed to have evolved in shallow and swampy freshwater habitats, towards the end of the Devonian, a little more than 360 million years ago. The tetrapods suffered the three major mass extinction events since their appearance - Permian-Triassic extinction event, Triassic-Jurassic extinction event, and the Cretaceous-Paleogene extinction event.

Recently featured: Pangaea - Solar power - Evolution

[edit] Atheism: Dr. Dawkins

December 3 - 9

"Richard Dawkins is an ardent and outspoken atheist, an Honorary Associate of the National Secular Society, vice-president of the British Humanist Association and a Distinguished Supporter of the Humanist Society of Scotland. In his essay "Viruses of the Mind," he uses memetic theory to explain the phenomenon of religious belief and some of the common characteristics of organised religions, such as the belief that punishment awaits non-believers. In 2003, The Atheist Alliance instituted the Richard Dawkins Award in his honour." - Neural

Recently featured: Tetrapods - Pangaea - Solar power

[edit] Warcraft III

December 10 - 16

Warcraft III is a real-time strategy computer game that was released in the 2002. There are two sequels of Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos (RoC) and The Frozen Throne (TFT). It is as sequel to Warcraft II. Warcraft III contains four playable races, including the Humans and Orcs, which had previously appeared in Warcraft: Orcs and Humans and Warcraft II. In addition to these are the Night Elves and Undead, which are new to the Warcraft mythos. Warcraft III's campaign is laid out similarly to that of StarCraft, being told through all four of the game's races in a progressive manner. On May 29, 2003, Blizzard announced that the expansion set, Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne had "gone gold" (release version sent to presses). It includes an additional hero for each race and three or four new units per race, four campaigns, five neutral heroes (an additional neutral hero was added April 2004 and 2 more were added in August 2004), the ability to build a shop and various other improvements such as the ability to queue upgrades. It requires the ownership of Reign of Chaos.

Recently featured: Atheism: Dr. Dawkins - Tetrapods - Pangaea

[edit] Tyrande Whisperwind

December 17 - 23

Tyrande Whisperwind is a Night Elf priestess from the Warcraft Universe. She first appeared in the video game Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos. Tyrande fought during the First Invasion of the Burning Legion, and was present at the destruction of the original Well of Eternity. She was long the love interest of both Malfurion Stormrage and his brother Illidan, though it was Malfurion to whom she returned the affection. It could be suggested that her rejection of Illidan is what led him to betray the other Night Elves and recreate the Well of Eternity, though his addiction to arcane magic undoubtedly contributed. In the Frozen Throne, Tyrande and Malfurion were discussing the Burning Legion's defeat and the restoration of Ashenvale and the adjacent areas. Tyrande currently rules the Sisters of Elune from the temple of Elune in Darnassus, and is one of the two faction leaders of the Night Elves, the other being Arch-Druid Fandral Staghelm.

Recently featured: Warcraft III - Atheism: Dr. Dawkins - Tetrapods

[edit] Nature

December 24 - 30

   

Nature, in the broadest sense, is equivalent to the natural world, physical universe, material world or material universe. "Nature" refers to the phenomena of the physical world, and also to life in general. The term generally does not include manufactured objects and human interaction unless qualified in ways such as, e.g., "human nature" or "the whole of nature". Nature is also generally distinguished from the spiritual or supernatural. It ranges in scale from the subatomic to the galactic. The word "nature" derives from the Latin word natura, or "the course of things, natural character." Natura was a Latin translation of the Greek word physis (φύσις), which originally related to the innate way in which plants and animals grow of their own accord, and to the Greek word for plants generally. Within the various uses of the word today, "nature" may refer to the general realm of various types of living plants and animals, and in some cases to the processes associated with inanimate objects – the way that particular types of things exist and change of their own accord, such as the weather and geology of the Earth, and the matter and energy of which all these things are composed.

Recently featured: Tyrande Whisperwind - Warcraft III - Atheism: Dr. Dawkins

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