Lunar Eclipse 04/04/2015

I caught it at the late stage.
This is one of the moments when you wished that you had a very good camera and lens.
Until that time, this is the best that I could capture.
Enjoy!

LEGO, Y U DO THIS?

Dear Readers,

Would you please sign a petition to tell LEGO to break ties with Shell?

http://LegoBlockShell.org/

They are destroying the Arctic... I'm so sad...
Please help save our environment.
Signing a petition is the least we can do...

 

NOW EVERYTHING IS NOT AWESOME ANYMORE!!!

Stop One. Stop Them All.

Dear Readers,

Let us all play a role in helping to save our world.
We have done so much damage to it...
Let's help to stop the damage, bit by bit...

“Earth provides enough to satisfy every man's needs, but not every man's greed.” - Mahatma Gandhi

Save our Earth. It's the only place we have to live.

2013 Haze in Malaysia...

Assalamualaikum & Good day Y'alls!

How are you guys doing? Hope you guys are doing fine and are in good health despite the hazy weather. Please wear your mask when you're outdoor... We can't see the dust particles, but they are there in the air... If we keep collecting them in our lungs, maybe we don't get sick now, but we might in 10 or 20 years...

Age do that to our body you know...

To smokers... isn't the haze enough? Do you still have to smoke?!
If you still do, please do not do it in public. Have some respect & compassion for other people for God's sakes!

Anyway, when I look at the haze... all I can think of is, how we human can do so much harm to our environment... to our Earth... to Earthlings...

As if all the carbon monoxide from the cars we drive (I'm included), all the CFC we released from our homes & buildings and all the pesticides haven't done enough harm to our Earth...

The ozone layers are still not thin enough! It's still protecting the Earthlings from the harmful UV rays! There must be something else that we can do to to expedite the process!

I know! Open burning! Lot's of open burning!
The thick smokes will cover the sky in 3 countries! So, much carbon monoxide! That's it! So much harm can be done! From just a simple action!

We want to blame our neighbour for the smoky sky... and our neighbour fought back saying that companies from our country also to be blamed for the open burning.

All the fingers pointing here and there... still no solution was found. The smokes will come every year... we will fight and blame each other every year for the same reason. We are a sad bunch of people...

I'm rambling... but I don't have any idea on how to solve this problem... except maybe one...

Maybe our neighbour should pay us compensation when the open burning in their country causes the Air Pollution Index (API) in our country to reach the unhealthy level. I think, this way our neighbour will impose a more strict rules to the relevant companies (whether it is their own or their neighbours').

Other than that... we need to do more research on how to handle the plantation industries so that it is more environmental friendly and good for the economy. Homosapiens are creatures with the best brain. We should be able to find a solution to this (once we stop blaming each other).

Before I go... a few photos of the hazy skies taken when I was on the road last Sunday.

Oh how I miss the blue sky... the sunshine... the RAIN!

Aceh's Earthquake & the LYNAS Project

Huh? What's up with this entry? What's the relationship between these two?

Aceh is so far away from the LYNAS project. Aceh is on the tip of Sumatera Island in Indonesia. The LYNAS Project is on the east side of Peninsular Malaysia. These two are separated by the Straits of Malacca & the mighty Titiwangsa range, house of the inactive volcano system.

Aceh has experienced massive earthquakes. Once a 9.1 on Richter scale in 2004, which caused a tsunami that took 220,000 lives. Another one, 8.7 on Richter scale happened just recently.

The coast where the LYNAS plant is safe... calm & steady or so they said.

Yet, the recent earthquake that hit Aceh recently, can also be felt by the east of Peninsular Malaysia... a place that we think is so far away from the earthquake centre.

The people who supports LYNAS Project, a 'rare earth' processing plant say that it is safe. There will be no radiation, no contamination... etc etc... It will be responsibly, carefully & systematically managed. There is no reason for us to be worry.

But, that's what Japan thought of their nuclear plant as well... until the tsunami hit them on the fateful 11-March-2011.

We think, we are safe from natural disaster. We are not in the active volcano range, far from the danger of the tectonic plates. No earthquake, no volcanic activity, minimal possibility of tsunami.

Has this made us cocky? Nature has been kind to us, therefore we want to push it so just we can see how much kinder it can be?

The tremor felt by east of Peninsular Malaysia could become stronger. When it does, is the LYNAS plant prepared for it? Have we not learned from what happened to Japan?

And we are not Japan... I truly admire the courage, strength, discipline, responsibility of the Japanese when faced with adversity. They are like the Phoenix... they can rise from the ashes, stronger.

I do not want to imagine the worst case scenario, but I do hope people who agreed to go forward with the LYNAS project have a plan & a few back up plans when the worst case scenario happened. If not, all of us, the citizens of Malaysia, citizens of the neighbouring countries & citizens of the world will blame the government of Malaysia for not stopping this project, for not listening when Malaysians said we do not want to have a radioactive plant in our country... for being stubborn and for blending this ingredient for disaster into our lives.

You will be owing us so much when the worst case scenario happened because we have told you so!

http://savemalaysia-stoplynas.blogspot.com/

KL Flash Flood

I got through this flash flood experience with mixed feelings.

Worry, nervous, cautious, alert and... excitement (somehow... hihihiiii...) But after it was all over, the one thing that I was definitely feeling was tiredness.

Cleaning the thick, stubborn, slippery mud was not an easy job even for a few people.

It was raining very heavily that day. The water rose so fast to knee deep in about 5 minutes. It was scary... seriously. It was like a small tsunami.

The river must have risen about 10 feet.

The day after... compare the river level.

An interesting 'friend' I found once the flood decreased.

My home was quite badly affected by this flash flood. But some others experienced worst.

I pray that this will not happen again. As much as I love the rain, I get nervous if there is no sign of the heavy rain slowing down after an hour.

Nature is something that we do not want to mess with.

Foie Gras (a.k.a "fatty liver")

Human are cruel...

This is not the first time I heard about the name of this dish, but this is the first time I know what it means. From the picture, the dish looks cute, nicely presented and appetizing. I never bothered to find out and would never have guessed the 'behind the scenes' of this 'Foie gras', 'a popular and well-known delicacy in French cuisine' (as Wikipedia put it) if Anastasia did not forward me the distressful email this morning.

************

How Foie Gras Is Produced
(source: http://www.banfoiegras.org/page.php?module=article&article_id=15)

Foie gras, considered by some to be a delicacy, is produced by forcing a long metal pipe down the throats of ducks and geese and force-feeding them massive amounts of grain, resulting in their livers swelling to up to 10 times their normal size.

Two to three times a day, a worker grabs each bird, shoves a long, thick metal tube all the way down his throat, and an air pump shoots up to two pounds of corn mush into his esophagus. The industry always refers to the dry weight of the feed, which is about one pound per feeding. Adding oil and water doubles this weight, making it 20-30% of the bird's healthy body weight. Picture 30 one pound boxes of dry pasta and then add water. This is proportionally how much a 150 pound human would be force fed using this formula.

Picture on the right: Normal duck liver vs force fed duck liver.

A duck's liver naturally weighs around 50 grams. However, to qualify as foie gras, the industry's own regulations require ducks' livers to weigh an absolute minimum of 300 grams.

************
Raw foie gras...
I was terribly shocked to see the production process of this so-called 'delicacy'. There are other foods with great taste out there isn't it?

It's heartbreaking to see what are being done to those innocent ducks. I feel like I'm watching some sort of 'ethnic cleansing' pictures. It's scary, hurtful, depressing and disappointing.

It is most heartbreaking to realize how cruel human being can be and it is not against the law. I can't believe this is being done by my species!

God help us!

I've never come across this dish, let alone taste it... Lucky me!

Just like shark fin soup, people should stop eating this too. Stop torturing the ducks!

Some pictures of foie gras production process, see whether the pictures above still look appetizing:

Force feeding the duck...

Cages are very small and they force the ducks to stay in one position to avoid using energy, thus converting all food into fat.

Their legs were bloated from long standing everyday. No need to sleep because they will be caught for feeding again....

Although they try to defend themselves But it is useless...

Remember, when the buying stops, the killing can too!

Don't believe me? Read this:
http://www.nofoiegras.org/index.html
http://www.banfoiegras.org/page.php?module=home

You can see a lot more disstressing pictures from the websites above.

Vanessa Williams - Colours of the Wind

You think you own whatever land you land on
The earth is just a dead thing you can claim
But I know every rock and tree and creature
Has a life, has a spirit, has a name

You think the only people who are people
Are the people who look and think like you
But if you walk the footsteps of a stranger
You'll learn things you never knew you never knew

Have you ever heard the wolf cry to the blue corn moon
Or asked the grinning bobcat why he grinned ?
Can you sing with all the voices of the mountain ?
Can you paint with all the colors of the wind ?
Can you paint with all the colors of the wind ?

Come run the hidden pine trails of the forest
Come taste the sun-sweet berries of the earth
Come roll in all the riches all around you
And for once, never wonder what they're worth

The rainstorm and the river are my brothers
The heron and the otter are my friends
In a cirle, in a hoop that never ends

Have you ever heard the wolf cry to the blue corn moon
Or let the eagle tell you there hes been
Can you sing with all the voices of the mountain ?
Can you paint with all the colors of the wind ?
Can you paint with all the colors of the wind ?

How high does the sycamore grow ?
If you cut it down, then youll never know

And youll never hear the wolf cry to the blue corn moon
For whether we are white or copper-skinned
We just sing with all the voices of the mountain
Need to paint with all the colors of the wind
You can own the earth and still
All youll own is earth until
You can paint with all colors of the wind

(OST of Pocahontas)

The Big Picture by David Suzuki

I saw this book on one of the front shelves in Kinokuniya bookstore. It caught my attention only after I read the review on the back of the book. I didn't know who David Suzuki was, that's why the book title didn't attract me... but the old man picture did. He looks so deep in thought.

That's David Suzuki... a Canadian environmental activist.

In a National Geographic (or was it Discovery Channel?) documentary, two brothers went to visit the 'Three Gorges Dam' in China. They went for a river cruise along the Yangtze River (Yellow River). It was heartbreaking to see how nature's wonderful and breathtaking beauty been sacrificed just to make way for modernization and in the name of economic and social development. The dam is huge, but not as huge as compared to the lost of our natural world.

Perhaps, there are no other options?

I remember the commentator mentioned something about how human is the only species that can alter Earth. At that time, I thought 'how true...'. But, while reading this book, I realized that is so, so true.

In his book, David Suzuki laid out all the evidences of how our actions have been altering Earth. If we don't act soon, this 'home' will be no more. I'm sure I don't need to mention everything... There's one effect that we can already feel. Global warming... us that live in the tropics can already feel the heat. It gets really hot when it's hot and too heavy when the rain comes... But global warming does more that just releasing more heat and rain. It impacts everything in our chain of life. Our weather, our air, our food, our health, our future... our life.

You might think that ants are just a tiny species that can be ignored and we can live without. You can read this book and find out how wrong you are. Just like I did... If ants are at the bottom of the food chain and we are at the top, it's not so hard to imagine what will go wrong if the chain is disturbed isn't it?

If you watched the movie, 'The Day the Earth Stood Still', you'll probably remember what Klatu said...

If the Earth dies, you die. If you die, the Earth survives.

One day, we will all go together with our Earth and the universe. But while we are still here let's work together to make this Earth healthy again... and make right what we have made wrong.

As for myself... I'm taking tiny steps in my struggle to become a true environmentalist.
Wish me luck!

~I DO LOVE THE WHOLE WORLD! BOOM DE YADA!~

p/s: Check out David Suzuki Foundation... the link is under my 'Friends and Favourites' section.

Next, I plan to read 'Ecological Intelligence' by Daniel Goleman. I need to know more about what I can do to help my beloved Earth.

Shark Fin Soup

A BIG NO NO for me...

I think I made friends at my table uneasy during a dinner. It was very hard for me to explain why I don't eat shark fin while you guys were enjoying the meal.

I apologize for what I did... I'm terribly sorry you guys.

I hope this video can help me explain the reason why...

I hope you guys will join me in this fight.

Remember, when the buying stops, the killing can too!

Kiss the Rain

and I mean that... literally...

Past 2 weeks had been burning hot. If you stay outside, still quite okay with all the breeze & air circulation and all. But, if you stay inside your house with no aircond... gosh... I was almost cooked (what an expression :P)

When it started to rain last night, I was so grateful that I texted my good friends. I was out at that time... when it's time to get out of the car, I took the chance to feel the rain on my face :)

Some of my friends said this is only 'panas dunia'... that's true. If I already complained this heat, how can I even begin to imagine the heat of hell. Na'uzubillah...

My friend Ayien said, this kind of heat makes her scared thinking of global warming.

I hardly stand this heat... I definitely don't want it to get any hotter.

What can I do to slow down or stop global warming? I don't use aircond at home, I try to reduce the usage of plastic products, I hardly drive my car, I very seldom use aerosol, I definitely don't use fertilizer, I don't happily keep the refrigator door open... I try to be as environmental friendly as possible...

But, is it possible for just one person to help the world?

I think so... If each and everyone of us think and act responsibly, we can all make this earth a better place.

Try as much as we can. There are a lot of guides on how to do things the environmental friendly way. We have to do this for ourselves...

The environmentalist signing out.

Exactly how I feel

I do love the whole world...

Discovery Channel & National Geographic ROCK!