Destructive Forces

The movie ' An Inconvenient Truth' really set me pondering about Earth's future and that of ours. I begin taking a look at how we, as a society and an individual has a hand in harming our environment. As I was looking through my personal image archive, I came across this picture taken about 3 years ago near my place. Its a simple image that reflects what we do in our neighbourhood and what we are capable of, if we have virgin forest on our land. I remembered driving past this plot of vacant land on which a pig farm used to be in the 70s (My father told me that when I was a kid) and I saw the few big trees lying on the ground. They must have be older than me and I used to hear that one particular tree is home to spirits (A rumour from those kampung days). So big in size that I imagine they must have been brought to their knees by machines and chopped to pieces. This plot of land is still vacant today, waiting for the next phase of development to start. An article I read recently in the papers shows that countries like China and India are on track in conserving the remaining forested lands they have and are able to reach an equilibrium between de-forestation and re-forestation. But there are also countries that are not. Go get the DVD of the movie if you missed it on the big screen. I cant help but wonder why didn't the former US Vice President, Al Gore win the last Election. Hopefully, he will in 2008.
Visit http://climatecrisis.org/ to know more about the movie

Mum's cat

We call him fat fat. He was the biggest fellow among his 4 other siblings and mum did a good job in making sure that he was always bigger than the other strays. He was borned 4 years ago when his mother (a stray) came to our workshop and gave birth to 4 kittens. We didn't know why she came here, but it was a good choice as mum took care of them and all 4 babies survived. We gave away 2, but the smallest one and their mother died of illness subsequently. Fat was the only one left. He was a gentleman who often came back injured from fights, even with his size. But he has learned to use that to his advantage, and we no longer had to take him to the vet for injuries. Fat was overweight and noisy. He seems to be able to speak in different languages and reply in his kitty tone whenever someone speaks to him. Mum doted on him, making sure that he was fed twice a day even on Sundays and Holidays even when our shop is not open for business. And fat got to stay in pet hotel when my parents are away on short trips.
Fat passed away yesterday. Mum found him injured and his lower part of his body was paralysed. He could have been knocked down by a vehicle while chasing another cat across the road. The vet told us that he coudn't do much to save fat, and mum made the painful decision to put him to sleep. As she told me about it on the phone, I can hear buddhist chants in the background. Mum seeks solace in listening to them, having lost one of her adopted pets of 4 years.
There used to be 3 other dogs, and they died in accidents too. We could not keep them in and hope that they will learn the rules of mankind, of when to cross the road and to stay away from strangers, in order to stay alive.

Something That Brings People Together

Spotted this events photographer striking an unusual pose from my angle. This was during a world reunion of the people with the surname, Lin (林). There were thousands of them from various Asian countries and even some from Canada. I was impressed with the turnout, which is about 3 thousand. Other common surnames and their association has been holding annual reunions in different countries every year, and the logistics involved is quite a feat. Having the same surname and ancestor is able to bring these people together from all over the world, generation after generation.