is this cruelty really necessary?

i read my good friend's blog yesterday and the post haunted me all through the night.. i could not sleep last night..

it was about how people in China get fur from cute furry animals. please watch the video as long as you can bear.

be warned.. it's highly graphical and disturbing.

click for the video.

was this really necessary? aren't there any humane ways of doing it? cruel.. just so cruel..

NO TO FUR!!!

random facts that you CAN live without knowing!

most of my posts are random in nature. i might talk about super cool technology one day and then talk about tips on how to pack a suitcase. some might find a post of mine full of knowledge and sometime it's useless. so today, i'm bringing the latter. these are some of the most random facts that, to be quite honest, won't help you in any way! unless you got yourself into one heck of a predicament that the following information actually saved you.. or you got onto a quiz show and this was the million dollar question.. if that's the case, you owe me at least a lunch..

what's the difference between a monkey and a chimpanzee?
one difference is that a chimpanzee can learn to recognize itself in a mirror, but monkeys can't.

what's the wage like in the 40's?
in the 1940's minimum wage was US$0.43 per hour

baseball/moon fact
In 1963, baseball pitcher Gaylord Perry remarked, "They'll put a man on the moon before I hit a home run." On July 20, 1969, a few hours after Neil Armstrong set foot on the moon, Gaylord Perry hit his first of six home runs.

where did the phrase "you're fired!" come from?
Clans of long ago that wanted to get rid of their unwanted people without killing them used to burn their houses down - hence the expression "to get fired."

fiery fact
The cigarette lighter was invented before the match.

hottest place on earth?
What is the hottest place on Earth? El Azizia in Libya recorded a temperature of 136 degrees Fahrenheit (57.8 Celsius) on Sept. 13, 1922 the hottest ever measured. In Death Valley, it got up to 134 Fahrenheit on July 10, 1913.

clucking fact
By feeding hens certain dyes they can be made to lay eggs with varicolored yolks.

strange law
In Baltimore, Maryland, it is not legal to take a lion to the movies.

are black and white considered colours?
Black and white are generally not labeled as colors. Black is the result of absence of color and white is all colors mixed together.

how much honey can one single bee produce?
In its entire lifetime, the average worker bee produces 1/12th teaspoon of honey.

studied too hard
A psychology student in New York rented out her spare room to a carpenter in order to nag him constantly and study his reactions. After weeks of needling, he snapped and beat her repeatedly with an axe leaving her mentally retarded.

how powerful is the sun?
According to the American Solar Energy Society, enough sunlight falls on the earth's surface each minute to meet world energy demand for an entire year. learn more about the sun here.

a land of few words
There are only 12 letters in the Hawaiian alphabet.

graduation before the exam

it's been a while since my last post and it can be blamed to exams and my pure laziness. i do have topics to share. for the past few weeks, unrelated thoughts just popped into my head and i jot it down as a possible blog post. i just haven't had the time or energy to properly delve into the subjects. today is no different, i'm afraid.. just a short post telling everyone my blog is still active and a few upcoming events and stuff going on in my life.

graduation is coming up and the weird thing is, my final exam won't be until end of next month. the thing is, our exams are oral exams. it's a one-on-one session with the examiner for about an hour. and he can ask us anything we've learned about ships for the past 4 years. pretty daunting? yes.

but anyway, that's why we have our graduation early. so that we can have it while everyone is still on campus and not run away right after passing their exams. so that's this saturday. my mom is here for the joyous event. (sarcastic tone) cause if it were up to me, i'd rather be in bed and have an Everybody Loves Raymond marathon that night. but it's for my mom so i'll just deal and get it over with as soon as i could.

i also just found out that i have another course, which i have to do in august. this means, my final return home will be brought back more. so, it seems, i won't fly home until end of august or early the next month. so, to a certain someone, hold off carrying the camera around. hehe.

anyway, that's it from me and i shall return with a worthy post. have a good one.

awesomest night yet!

if pictures say a thousand words, then videos say much much more. here's a tidbit of one of the most amazing night of my life.