Puppy Rescue in California by Hope For Paws

A heart warming story of the rescue of 3 three-months old puppies from their Californian roadside home by Mr Eldad Hagar of Hope For Paws, a Los Angeles based animal rescue ogranisation.

The puppies - Sydney, Mathilda and Gabriella - whose mother Gaia, gave birth after being abandoned on the highway, managed to raise the puppies in a roadside pipe with the help of 2 ladies. Unfortunately there was no happy ending for the mother as on the day of the rescue, Mr Hagar found her lying lifeless by an intersection after a hit and run accident.

The puppies were naturally scared due to the lack of contact with humans and took Mr Hagar more than 6 hours to coax and pull them out of their hiding place, however love is a wonderful thing, in the second video all three were happily and affectionately playing with their human minders. They are now waiting for a home at Bill Foundation.

Thank you for sharing Hope For Paws and Bill Foundation! Always remember - save a life, give a rescued dog a home!

Minazo and His Bucket

Minazo the seal and his famous blue bucket

I admit I was slightly obsessed after coming across E.T the talented Walrus in my previous post, I also found the above photo, featuring Minazo the Southern Elephant Seal and his famous blue bucket.

At first I couldn't believe what I saw and thought this must be the result of Photoshopping but I managed to find more information - Minazo lived and performed for a decade in an aquarium near Tokyo but sadly passed away in 2005.

The below is some sort of obituary published by Japan Times on 7 October 2005.

YOKOHAMA (Kyodo) Minazo, Japan's largest seal, died this week having charmed visitors for 10 1/2 years at Enoshima Aquarium in Fujisawa, Kanagawa Prefecture, aquarium officials said.

The 11-year-old male, 4.5-meters long and weighing about 2 tons, was the largest seal ever raised by a Japanese aquarium. The animal died Tuesday after its appetite began to rapidly weaken the day before, officials said. The cause of death was not immediately known.

Minazo was brought to Japan from Uruguay in 1995. The seal soon mastered a variety of comical feats, including a popular stunt in which he held a bucket with one flipper while sticking out his tongue.

Minazo quickly rose to stardom at the aquarium, where his three shows a day proved a hit with visitors.

The aquarium has set up a space in front of Minazo's water tank to allow visitors to leave flowers in Minazo's memory, the officials said.

I felt a mild sense of loss to have missed meeting this amazing creature by 8 years, on the other hand, I am aware that it was for human's entertainment that ultimately drove Minazo to his grave by wearing him down with frequent and demanding performances. The typical life-span of an Elephant Seal is 22 years.

RIP Minazo the bucket seal, thanks for leaving us with your wonderful images showcasing your quirky ways.

E.T the Talented Walrus

I have never seen one before but always was curious, now Walrus made it to my Top Ten loveable animal list, click PLAY and you will see why! Simply adorable and the facial expression priceless!

Thanks to Point Defiance Zoo & Aquarium in Tacoma, Washington, for sharing this clip!

It's Time To Go... (Evicted!)

The saying Home is where the heart is rings true when I received my second ever eviction notice in my life. It was met with disbelief at first and when reality sunk in, my first thought was OMG I am going be homeless, following by what's going to happen to me, where am I going to live, what is going to happen to my things...

ARGH, the joy of eviction!

Living in a country where the law is pro-landlord, I assume I am not alone being caught in this unfortunate situation. No matter how long the lease is signed, the landlords of Australia have the right to kick you out at any time with any excuses that suit them, they will serve you the correct eviction notice of course but that doesn't make things any better for the tenants.

It is not like I have not been the ideal tenant - rents are paid on time, property kept clean and treating it as if my own, fixing faults on walls and cupboards out of my expanses, taking great care not to ruin the floorboard and not bothering the real estate agent unless it is absolutely necessary. Eviction is what I've got!

For someone who has never been evicted will never know what it feels to not have a place where you can call home, a home for me is a place of where you can park all your anxiety, troubles, dangerous elements of the outside world at the door and be embraced by the feeling of warmth, comfort and security once through the door.

Living in a rented property is like borrowing time and the eviction notice is like terrorist attack for you'll never know when notices like these come. Yes I have liken landlords to terrorists, in this sense, the notice shook me to the core and left me shattered, the wound is easier to disguise but the effect is almost the same.

To rub salt to the wound, Winter is when the rental listing is the lowest, thus, the worst time for flat hunting, there's not much I can do but to start packing. I hate my landlord.

La propriété, c'est le vol!

When Friendship Break Up

After reading an article online about How it Feels to be Dumped by a Friend, I couldn't help but think of all the close friendships I have had over the years and wonder why I don't hear from these friends anymore, what went wrong with our friendships and why did it end the way it did?

While there have been many open discussions when romantic relationship ends, being dumped by friends are not often openly talked about, with friends. It is almost a social taboo even though the pain one feels when a friendship ends can be the same as being dumped by a lover.

I remember my first ever experience of being dumped, a primary school friend whose name and face I can no longer recall came up to me and declared she doesn't want to be my friend anymore. I remember thinking along the line of do you really had to tell me that?, I was more puzzled than hurt and was too young to dwell on it, but the memory stayed.

The first time I was truly hurt by being dumped came in my first year of high school, my best friend and I fought over a pen we found in an empty classroom, I can't remember who kept the prized find but my friend ignored me when we saw each other in class the next day and at the end of that day, she quietly told me that she vowed to never to speak to me again.

After that experience I didn't keep a best friend throughout my high school years.

One would think these experiences leave you when you grew out of your teenage years but no, I've been dumped during uni by friends who preferred their new boyfriends to me. Nothing was said, they simply just disappeared from my life and social circle, curling up in the blissful matrimony of a new relationship. Curiously, these fade-away friendship did not affect me as much as when someone declaring their contempt to my face.

I've also been dumped for giving good intended advice on a friend's relationship, as I simply cannot standby and watch my friend wasting her time and life away with someone she does not, and will not, love. In the end, she shut me out. As foreseen, the relationship did not last; I wonder if my lack of restrain was to blame, or my friend simply did not want to hear the truth. Whatever it was, I have lost a wonderful friendship.

More recently I have been dumped for, what I understood to be, suggesting a new date for a lunch appointment because I was busy on the requested date (removed as a Friend on Facebook), changing a lunch appointment (not picking up my calls or replying to my emails) and talking too much about offering to train a misbehaving pet (cold shoulder treatment the last time we met and never heard from again).

These behaviour came across as petty as well as immature, it doesn't cease to amaze me how fully grown adults can behave like school kids.

When friendship ends, I resent the fact that I couldn't talk about these hurt with mutual friends, these attempts were often met with awkward silence and blank stare. I get the fact that people tend to shy away from conflicts, yet it is seen as socially acceptable talk about a trashy ex lover rather than an ex friend.

At the end of the day I just have to accept life is a journey of delicate balance, especially dealing with my fellow human beings, a little bit of everything is good, too much of a good thing is bad when it is gone.

Free Julian Assange

Rapist or Crusader of the Truth? You decide.

The question for me is why are the prosecutors in Sweden pursuing Julian Assange relentlessly for such a insignificant crime? I used the word insignificant because the two women in questions - Anna Ardin and Sofia Wilén - are no longer interested in pursuing this case further.

I should also note that there is no charges are being laid, Sweden simply wanted Mr Assange for questioning.

Sweden has spent much time and resources, dating from October 2010, to have Mr Assange extradited to Sweden, I don't see why Sweden, in this day and age of the internet and video-teleconferencing, send its prosecutors to the UK to question Mr Assange? Wouldn't that be more efficient?

From this point of view, I think Sweden is not being honest about its agenda for Mr Assange.

The Cat Who Loves a Good Vacuum!

This got to be the most hilarious video I have ever seen, not only the cat is very overweight, it is not afraid of the loud vacuum cleaner noise but actually likes being vacuum on! Definitely one of the better way to clean a cat. Notice the expression of the cat and the wagging of its tail, it just loved it!

On a different note, I have the exact same vacuum cleaner, nice and light but the handle is fragile, the plastic broke after one year of usage - hurray for the two years warranty.

Thanks for sharing!

Dishonour Killings: Tribute to the Fallen Daughters

I watched a film last night called När Mörkret Faller, English title - When Darkness Falls, a Swedish film made in 2006, it got me thinking...

Especially moving was the story of Layla and Nina, teenage sisters belonging to a Middle Eastern ethnic group living in Sweden. Nina was later murdered by her male relatives because her father discovered a message left on her mobile phone was by a male friend, which he saw as an act of dishonouring the family by associating with boys before marriage.

Not only the image of Nina's violent death lingers in my mind but also the struggle of Layla, the younger sister who witnessed Nina's death, weighing her conscience against what is right and of her loyalty to her family. In the end, Layla put her life in danger by reporting the case to the police.

To make things worse, the girls' mother, whom they both adored and trusted, was in on the game when she lured Layla out of the safety of the police station to accept a cup of hot chocolate, spiked with drowsy substance, in order to get her out of the country, perhaps a fate similar to Nina's. It was also the mother who convinced Nina an arranged marriage in Germany would save the family's honour, tricking Nina into returning to the family from the safety of her refuge, sealing her fate.

The story is not just about murder but also of the betrayal of trust, by the female adults in the family, who failed to protect those in their care. Fortunately, it ended well for Layla, she is cut off from her family but gained a life and freedom of movement.

The film has a profound affect on me as I would never have imagined such violence and primitive practice can be carried out on loved ones - a daughter, sister, granddaughter, cousin or niece - let alone another human being, as these stories don't appear very often on the news media in my part of the world.

It got me thinking about honour killings and immigrant families again, I am proud to say that Australia has done well in integrating ethnic groups to the mainstream community, perhaps that is why the statistic for honour killings are significantly lower than countries with a large Middle Eastern and South Asian communities.

Take Sweden for example, ethnic groups and immigrants often live in a concentrated area, or ghetto if you like. In these area, many older immigrants lack Swedish language skill and understanding of Swedish way of life, creating prejudice in the mainstream society and further isolating them. I also think poor language skill and adequate resettlement education contribute to their failure to understand and accept the culture of the country they are in, in turns, rejecting the Westernised outlooks of the younger generations.

The most famous case being the murder of Kurdish woman Fadime Şahindal in 2002, who was shot dead by her father in front of her mother and sisters for defying his wishes to an arranged marriage in Turkey.

Stepping into these places is like stepping out of Sweden, it is no wonder some still have the mentality of the old country.

There are similar communities in Australia too, where pockets of migrant communities can be found throughout the suburbs of Sydney or Melbourne but comparing to Europe, the community is still more integrated and cannot be called a ghetto. Although crimes and violence are still present, but rarely crimes of honour killings, where the motivation behind it is purely selfish and served to save face, mostly to the male members of the family.

It is very unfortunate to be born a daughter into these families.

I also detest to the term Honour Killings, there is no honour to these killings, they are called MURDER.

Easter Egg

Classic, paper-made and beautifully illustrated, that's my Easter Egg.

Nothing beats a Northern European style Easter Egg where one can put different kinds of goodies in the hollow centre, a great way to give an environmental- or diet-friendly gift to family and friends during Easter.

Is Social Media Making Humans Behaving like Idiots?

I always complain that people who drive erratically in order to gain one or two minutes of their life only to waste it on using Facebook.

It may not the whole truth but it is most possible.

Anyone with a Facebook account can attest to this - one can spend hours just browsing through out-of-focus snaps (in another words, photos that should never have been published) or wonder why your friend never responded to your comments on their status updates. All done while facing a devise, instead of another human being.

Yet they called this a social network, most of the time I don't see anything social about it; in fact, it should be renamed as anti-social network.

I dare say most people have no clue, even to the point of almost naive, with online security when they sign up for social networks like Facebook, assuming the names in their Friend List are really friends but in reality just a sugar-coated label. Armed with this false sense of security, many let their guards down and often revealed too much information, forgetting sometimes these information can pass onto the wrong hands, like bullies, opportunist thieves, sex predators and anyone with unkind intentions.

Facebook has been mentioned in some of the teenage bully cases here in Australia, how the victims having not only to endure taunting at school, but to have this anti-social behaviour follow them to the safety of their own homes, when they logon to Facebook. The ones I have heard about resulted in the teens taking their own lives, makes me wonder how many out there are suffering in silence?

If social media is used as a platform for idiotic anti-social group behaviour, what is so social about this networking?

When told, many adults would wave their hands in the air saying the kids are just having fun, it is normal or kids are just being kids, does it imply that ridiculing someone without face-to-face contact is more acceptable?

I think not.

Social media is also the perfect platform for narcissists, everyone has at least one on their Facebook Friend List - the person who couldn't stop broadcasting information about themselves, usually by means of posting photos and status updates. I agree these people already exist in our society but social media magnifies this display like a loud speaker, I worry that people who read and see these display on social media and think it is as a perfectly acceptable normal everyday behaviour.

Narcissism is not quite an idiotic anti-social behaviour but it can be when everybody develop this me first and me want everything outlook, the sense of community and working together as one will be lost.

I accept that social media is not going to go away any time soon but I do hope that creators of social media acknowledge that they have a social responsibility to the public - to provide education on privacy and security matters, as well as sternly reminding the public to use the platform as a responsible and decent human being. As an ex-Facebook user, I hope to see that people realise that social media is an artificial environment which cannot be replaced by the warmth and genuineness of direct one-to-one human contact.