believed to have been drifting out at sea on top of debris for three weeks…
doggie saved1 by weathersunksprb
yokata…
Thank you to the rescue team for spotting the dog and their efforts
Browsing the archives for the FYI category.
Alvin and the Chipmunks was playing on TV when I was doing the dishes. Which raises a question…what is the difference between a chipmunk and a squirrel? Chipmunk belongs to the squirrel family together with marmots and woodchucks. Which leads to another question…what is the difference between a marmot and a woodchuck. A marmot is a large ground squirrel…
Woodchucks belongs to the marmot family. The name woodchuck or also known as groundhog, isn’t actually related to wood chucking. It is from a Native American term, wuchak.
And stumbled onto this rather interesting tongue-twister from Wikipedia…
How much wood would a woodchuck chuck
if a woodchuck could chuck wood?
A woodchuck would chuck all the wood he could
if a woodchuck could chuck wood
Was searching for groundhog and woodchuck vids and viewed this one. I couldn’t believe the owner was recording and not doing anything to stop the kill. The rodent is basically harmless. The poor groundhog must be so frightened trying to fend off an anmial more than twice its size. Killing for food is still acceptable but killing and torturing for entertainment and fun is just disgusting. An act that only sick people would do. Hope the owner of the dog ran into an animal twice its size and suffered the same fate. Ha.Ha.Ha.
Let’s not forget the animals are victims too. Dogs that may have been tied to a pole when the tsunami hit. Forgotten about and unable to flee when everyone else is fleeing. It is still a rather common practice, especially in Asia, to chain dogs to prevent them running off or wander about. This is one good reason why dogs should not be chained. So that they will be able to at least try to save themselves when their owners is not able to do so. Owners that are chaining their dogs to restrict them aren’t training their correctly. These sort of owners do not deserve to and should not own dogs.
We should also thank the dog rescuers that assist in sniffing out victims trapped under the rubble.
I’m disappointed at these reporters. They should be helping out the dogs in that condition instead of going on and on and on…The brown & white dogs looks injured too. It is walking awkwardly.
A dog in the following video tried to run from the tsunami but unfortunately, did not manage to outrun the tsunami. It is just sad…
this Labrador was reunited with its owner
I find the following two photos rather touching. It tells a lot without any words required. A dog is being tested for radiation
Leaving the devastation together
Was reading ‘The impact of dwindling resources-biodiversity’ as part of Module 2 when I discovered something new today. There was a line in the reading which stated that more than a third of the global mangrove forest was lost between 1999 and 2000. I haven’t seen a mangrove forest in person since Port Dickson almost two decades ago so I googled ‘mangrove forest Malaysia’, just out of interest. I linked to this article from the search and 4 words on the sidebar caught my interest. Klang Gates Quartz Ridge. What is that?
Turns out that…
The outskirts of the city of Kuala Lumpur is surrounded by many greyish outcrops that many may dismiss as mere limestone rocks. One such length of craggy rocks near Ampang is not built of limestone, but of quartz.
Built almost entirely of quartz – essentially glass crystal – there are many reasons why the Klang Gates Ridge deserves to be declared a World Heritage Site and a national monument.
A quartz vein – which is a naturally occurring thin thread of quartz running through granite or other materials – is usually only about several millimetres to several centimetres wide. A quartz dyke, such as the Klang Gates Ridge, is its bigger cousin. Indeed, the most spectacular part of the ridge is its mid-section, which stretches from Taman Melawati to the Zoo Negara in the Ampang area.
There are major quartz veins around Kuala Lumpur and Seremban because of the old Kuala Lumpur-Mersing fault zone. During the tectonic folding millions of years ago, massive buckling and faulting in the earth’s crust thrust hydrothermal quartz upwards, where they then crystallised. There is another quartz ridge in Kuala Lumpur along the Kajang-Cheras road, which runs about 8 km long. But the Klang Gates Ridge is unique simply because of its sheer size.
Another reason why it is unique is that it displays four types of quartz formation. However, much of it is opaque white or tainted with grey, and lined with minute needles of clear hexagonal quartz crystals in some places.
Despite its uniqueness, it gets very little conservation attention. Campers and hikers accidentally or intentionally destroy its flora and fauna or leave their rubbish behind while collectors chip off its quartz crystal as souvenirs. But the biggest threat is urban development.
Because of its closeness to Kuala Lumpur, and increasing demand for land to house the city’s growing population, the foothills at the ridge have always been under intense development pressure. Not only have clearings for agricultural settlements taken over much of its western slopes, but new residential and industrial areas are also earmarked. Much of this targeted area surrounds the National Zoo as well as the forests next to the Klang Gates Dam catchment area and the Ulu Gombak Forest Reserve.
The part of the Ridge surrounding the dam and forest reserve is rich with vegetation. Surveys indicate at least 265 plant species thrive here, with five of them endemic to the area. Hence, conservationists have reasons to fear for their future. Currently, only its inaccessibility is ensuring its survival.
Another reason why a bigger area should be gazetted as a wildlife reserve is the presence of a rare animal, the serow. A National Parks and Wildlife Department survey carried out in 1985 found the tracks of five serows, but it’s anyone’s guess how many exist today.
If development continues unchecked, or if there is no active and proper management of the Ridge, including the reforestation of devastated slopes, the quartz dyke may, in time, disappear. Conservationists and scientists have persistently called for an enlargement of the wildlife reserve, or for inclusion within the recently established Selangor Heritage Park.
Scientists and researchers say that the Ridge is valuable not only in terms of botanical or geological interest, but also in terms of what it can offer people. Because of its proximity to the city, it can be used for eco-tourism, education and recreation, but only if it is properly and sustainably managed to avoid further deterioration.
extracted from WWF
I was a little amazed, positively and negatively. Positively to discover there is this quartz ridge existing in KL. Negatively that I have been living in Malaysia, in the PJ/KL area for almost two decades and never knew about this ridge until today. I’ve never heard anyone mentioned about the ridge. Did or does the government even include this in the Geography textbooks? It is a must-know just like the Twin Towers being one of the tallest towers in the world.
At least someone by the name of Desmond knows…
There is only one word to describe the government in not making this fact know to the citizens and the ignorant citizens as well – disgrace.
to go or not to go. Tokyo is only an hour away…
Have never had to cancel travel arrangements. No more hanami? But then it could have been worse. It could have been while there…
This is how the nuclear reactor works
wonder if the lady that got into the car survived…
0:49 to 1:09 is just unbelievable…the cars and the whole highway was washed away…
Jishin has been something at the back of my mind when visiting Japan
tsunami is, after all, a Japanese term
What is happening to earth? Is it ending? Should I still be focusing on studying for my exam or should I focus on something else…
which triggered a massive tsunami
Tokyo felt it too…
even Narita Airport was reportedly closed
this was what it was like for an individual…
the shop assistants were protecting the goods instead of themselves…
this was what it was like to be in a car as the tsunami hits
I find this gum tree species quite appealing. It’s the color of the bark.
as his useless partner records the act on video. A person’s true nature is revealed by the way he or she treats an animal
It (pun intended so don’t anyone dare correct me, as if I don’t know the difference between he and it) is not able to take it out on someone it’s own size and have to resort to hitting a dog less than half its size. How pathetic is this piece of human thrash and not forgetting the bitch recording the act as well. The day will come when they end up being locked up in a cell with two ferocious Rotweilers. No, being mauled to death will be too easy on them. May the Rottweilers tear a limb or two off them.
Because of the strike in France which affected transportation today and will affect transportation tomorrow, we have to get up at 5a.m. tomorrow to drag the luggage to the Bayeux train station so that we can catch the 6.51am train to Paris. Our 8.41am train will be disrupted according to SNCF and the next available train is at 11.56am which means we will miss the 12.20 noon train from Paris to Tours, which is running. If we don’t catch this train, the followng trains are all going to be disrupted until 17.51!
