Tribute to Micheal Jackson

I am not really a hardcore fan of MJ, but I was just as stunned and sad hearing the news of his passing. Kept feeling this lump on my throat everytime the TV shows some flashback of his past.



Besides being a great artiste, I also love the way many of his songs were human centred and socially conscious to promote conservation, empathy for the poor and under-privilege and to discourage racism, abuse etc... like the Earth Song and Heal the World and Black or White as embedded here. What a great loss...


All these videos were all uploaded recently in tribute to him


RIP MJ~

Are they really laughing?

Was out at Hougang Mall buying my long over due comics that I ordered a few mths back. Walked passed a make-shift store with a small crowd gathered around it. I stared at the aquarium tanks displays and was wondering what they are selling. I looked at the big banner beside it.

They are selling land hermit crabs! HaHa crabs are their name (dun think I find that very funny). The hermit crabs there were living in colorfully painted shells (mm, are they toxic to the crabs?).

Of cos, naturally I wasn't very happy seeing them in captivity. Their website have a page on conservation which states the steps they take to ensure their well-being. I was particularly interested as well as disturbed that they did not provide more information on how skilled-licensed harvestors ensure that they are not overly harvested...

For more information, visit: http://hahacrabs.com/

Happy the Puppy

I'm sooooooooo glad exams are finally over. I had been pretty drained in this semester physically and mentally, now finally can recuperate in this 3 mths holiday. Went over to girl's house straight after my last eco paper to see her, and her new pet, a small puppy. The story of this puppy is pretty long, and if u care to read, here it is.

Happy, the brown puppy

Girl's sisters first found two dogs, male and female at the void deck of their flat. Apparently abandoned, they were sorta adopted by the sisters and her father brought these 2 dogs to their grandpa's farm where they still are staying there now. These 2 dogs, a male and female, gave birth to 4 puppies, of which 2 died and the other 2 survived well till now. As you guessed it, one of the 2 which survived is Happy, the brown puppy (male) above and the other is also called Happy, a white puppy (female) (no idea why they have the same name). They could have stayed in the farm happily with their parents if not for this weird person who work in the farm having a distaste for dogs and will threaten to harm them (not sure if i'm correct on this but should be close). Left with no choice, their dad (the human dad) brought the 2 puppies home to stay with them and girl and sisters were ecstatic. But, it was time for white puppy to leave as it was promised previously to be given to another family to look after. But I guess it was also more practical for girl to take care of just one. And so now, happy, the brown puppy is left alone, separated from his sister and parents. I wonder if he is truly happy now.

But it does seem to have some happy moments....

Biting a model of himself, a dog soft toy.

Sniffing at my smelly socks

Tired after all the playing, it fell aslp just like that. And girl cover it with a cloth to avoid catching cold

Really, really extremely adorable doggy. Aside from the fact that it just urine and shit anywhere, it was truly a great companion. Aside from this, I hope people can reliased how serious the issue of abandonment is. If not for girl's family, Happy's parents wouldnt have survived and Happy wouldnt have been born. Besides this, the treatment of humans towards animals is also unacceptable, like that guy in the farm. I remember reading a post from Cats from East Coast Park abt this guy stomping his feet just to frighten the cats for fun. Some extracts from her posting:

"If a child commits such an act, we can attribute it to a lack of education. But as this act was committed by a fully-grown adult, I find such it highly abhorrent.

If one is afraid of the animal, he or she could have just avoided it and walked in another direction. There is no need to incite fear in a helpless being as this is tantamount to abuse where animals are frightened needlessly and deliberately.

Just because we are many times bigger and more powerful than animals do not imply that we are the sole inhabitants of the city. As stray cats live in public space face much insecurity, members of the public who witness such acts should stop the perpetuator immediately. Only then can we claim to have “progressed” as a nation."

Some other pictures from Girl's blog showing Happy's other family members:
Post #1 & #2 (the two ''Happy'' puppies)
Post #3 (the parents, both called lucky)

Mmm, I thought I might just help to ask, does anyone know how to toilet train a puppy dog?

A Tear for Al Gore

I'm glad I did not skip this to study for my forensic science test tml. Yup, thats the Inconvienent Truth, showing in Science LT28 today by SAVE.

Went with Diana for this show and to tell the truth, we were quite shocked to see so many people inside! The entire LT was fully packed and latecomers even sit on the steps. Its heartening to see so many people aware of this movie and the issues addressed.

Packed Lecture Hall

The movie was amazing. I was so touched by how Al Gore spent so much of his time fighting for this cause, raising awareness about global warming. Man, giving at least 1000 slideshows around US and the world? This is no ordinary feat and of such a noble cause. I shed a tear for him. In fact, there was this lump on my throat all the time when watching the many figures and footages of the resultant of global warming and snippets of his feelings. I wonder how many felt the same way as me.  

The movie ended and I silently applauded to it. And I guessed others felt the same way. Applause resounded and I joined in. 

In the end, it is up to us on how much we can contribute to our environment and saving it. 

And as I was telling Diana, this is one movie which I will encourage piracy. :)

Website of Inconvienent truth

Theres still some hope...

Managed to scavenge some of my posts. Luckily I subscribe to feedburner yesterday and it archive some of them. Will upload bit by bit when I have time. =) 

Feel like killing myself.....

Sorry guys...I accidentally deleted my blog just now. Man, my months of hard work all gone :(

Some thoughts for the new semester~

A new semester, a new year. This holiday had been more meaningful for me than any previous ones even thought this is the shortest (due to army); all credited to my little adventures. Been to quite a few wild trips; 1) River beside Ngee Ann, 2) Sentosa, 3) Labrador Park, 4) Chek Jawa, 5) Kent Ridge Road, 6) Botanical Gardens, 7) Pasir Ris Park, 8) Kusu Island, 9) Sungei Serangoon and lastly, 10) Hindhede Nature Park.

I first set up this small nature blog in a view to help myself familarize with myself the wildlife and biodiversity in singapore. After all, I am a biology student but without a clue of what wildlife singapore has (Typical life science student as I discovered). It had turned up very helpful, since all sightings were by myself with photo illustration of my lousy but trusty canon A520 camera. Pictures do speak a thousand words indeed and reinforced by small snippets of facts which I dug from the internet. All the posts were of special meaning to me since all the wildlife were sighted and photographed by myself.

My trusty camera

The marine habitat is the most fascinating to me, with such a wide diversity and easily accessible intertidal areas. Thinking of taking up diving soon too. Second up with be birding, which I agreed with Dingli that it is the most diverse and easiest to spot vertebrates here. Of cos, any creature which moves still never fail to fascinates me.

Now that the holiday is over and back to studies, posts will be less I guess. But I'm sure theres always something new to encounter so this blog wun be that stagnant. Singapore's diversity is rich indeed. After this 2 months of blogging and adventures, I'm proud to say that I'm a nature lover =D

Stop the buying!

Does this picture look familar? I stole this shot at GoodWill Bird Trading shop at Serangoon. Further photography was prohibited by the uncle there.

Sulphur-crested cockatoos caged

Compare that to this picture, which I extracted from ACRES website. Looks almost identical to me.

Well, I'm not sure if those birds were breed or poached but my guess is that they probably were poached. So when the Buying stops, the Poaching will too! Apparently, my friend told me this shop was guilty of selling endangered birds a long time ago. But not sure if it does now. But the sight of a cute little toucan in there is rather saddening. This is my first time seeing a toucan but din really expect to see it in a bird shop.

Anyway, one thing I noticed was the large number of sparrows and pigeons clustered around the shop. Yeap, they were attracted to the bird food there, sunflower seeds which were spewed around the cages. My god, the town council should fine them for poliferating pigeons by feeding them instead of culling those innocent birds.

Bird Culling?

15 pigeons, 2 mynas, dead opposite the canal. Is this part of a culling exercise conducted by the Town Council? I must admit that this practice irks me. Is it their fault that they should be exterminated? I know for sure that its not. People should stop feeding them and this aspect should be targeted to control the bird's population instead of killing the birds. They are innocent.

The massacre

Myna and pigeon RIP

Mmm..but what if these birds were not deliberately culled? I should be careful next time not to go so near. Who knows if it might be another bird flu carrier. Anyway, pigeons are known to transmit diseases like Cryptococcosis, Psittacosis, Gastroenteritis. Info complied from AMK town council

Pigeon struggling from the jaws of death