Rain

Gotta love the rain, I don't know why but it just seems very soothing and makes it easy to chillax and get to sleep easy too. Speaking of which... zzzzz zzzz zzzz

The dissappearing fish scandal

There's a scandal at my place and it's huge... well it is for me.
So the story goes...
Last year I had this Siamese Fighting Fish for about 7 or 8 months named Buddy. Anyway one day I went to feed him and he was gone... just like that. No note, didn't leave me a msg or anything... or kidding. But he was gone. And there didn't seem to be any reasonable explanation. I had my suspicions, but nothing more than that. So I got over it and got a new fish and named him Google. So i've had this fish for about 4-5 months and all was fine, until I went to feed him this morning and he was missing. Same deal... no trace of him anywhere, I can't effing believe it! Where the hell are my fish going???? I now someone or something is conspiring against me. And I have my theories that involve Pozi Kris and a rat... For obvious reasons, I cannot elaborate.. infact I may have said too much already. Shhhh.

I'm now determined to figure out wtf is going on, because it's got me buggered! I'm thinking of setting up a surveillance cam... not really, I could be there for months watching a fish in a small tank.. hrrmmm sounds like minutes of fun.

If anyone has any ideas about what has happened, or have seen Buddy and or Google please contact me or your local police. Crime Stoppers even... not sure this warrants OOO, we could bypass that and go higher like the federal police or APS.

no karate pics

I just realised that in all this time i've been doing karate I've got no photos of me doing anything in or out of a gi or dojo. I do remember dad did take a pic of me at a grading a few years ago and Zoe took a blurry one of me at a tournament, but they were lost when my old laptop died. So I have nothing... shame shame shame.
I think i'll get one of the photography girls at work to do a photoshoot. I can picture it now... on top of a mountain or in a dry grassy paddock under a tree in the afternoon light.... sounds a tad spiritual/hippy.

Couple of things about karate do. It is a combination of chinese kung fu and Japanese/okinawin martial arts. It was brought over to Japan and Okinawa a couple of centuries ago and was first called te (hand) or was sometimes referred to as Chinese hand. Then the Japanese decided to give it a Japanese name to be more appealing to their people. So they called it Karate (empty hand)... Then some time later they added 'do' meaning 'way of'... karate do. The way of the empty hand. Implying that it is not just a physical martial art but a way of life and gave it a spiritual element that also gave it more appeal to the Japanese. Other martial arts around the same time did the same thing... changing names and adding 'do'... Akaido, Judo etc.
I'll get into the finer details of karate and where i'm at with it another time.
cheers
scottyxxx

Borneo

So, I'm really facinated by Borneo at the moment (among other things like echidnas and humpbacks... but that's another story). So a few facts... just so we're all on the same page... It's the worlds 3rd largest island, also the 3rd highest island. It's in Southeast Asia and is divided between Indonesia, Malaysia and Brunei. Ok, so down to business... This island has some of the densest, spectacular and oldest undisturbed areas of rainforest in the world making it the centre of evolution and mutation of many exclusive species of plants and animals. A good example is the snake and lizard species who have adapted to the unique formation of the jungle by learning to jump and glide from tree to tree and form the right muscles, skin and bone structure to have this ability.

I'm particulary intersted in the fact that new species of plant and animal are being found on a weekly basis. This isn't just things like small fish and fungus that might easily elude humans for hundreds of years, but things like small mammals, snakes and frogs to name a few.
In December 05 WWF scientists got a couple of photos of a red-haired domestic cat size carnivore mammal. They showed these photos to locals and Borneo wildlife experts, all of whom said they have never seen it before. If this is infact a new find it would be the first discovery of a new mammal species in South East Asia for over a hundred years... that's just freakin amazing.
Another amazing discovery is of a new Leopard species. The Borneon Clouded Leopard was offically named and classified this March. Until recent DNA tests, it was thought to be the same species of cat found on the mainland. It's also found on neighbouring island Sumatra. Take a look at this beautiful cat, it's bloody awesome!

This alone should be enough for people to wake up about the destruction of the rainforests of Borneo. You can always get involved with organisations like WWF (World Wildlife Fund), National Geogaphic and ofcourse Wildlife Warriors. I know that the money donated will go towards saving habitats and animals in places like Borneo. Australia Zoo is also affiliated with a group of people including ex keepers who help rehibilitate orphaned Orangutans in Borneo.

There's PLENTY of other unique animals found on Borneo that I want to share that I will get to another time. Like gibbons, rhinos, pygmy elephants, orangutans and a bunch of others... for now I need some sleep.

peace out
scottyxxx

Avoild Palm Oil!!!

There's some disturbing stuff you should know about Palm oil products and the effects the farming of it are having on the Orangutan populations in Malaysia and Indonesia.

Habitat destruction is the biggest threat to most threatened and endangered species of animal around the world, and this is another example of the blatent disregard governments all around the world have for our environment and the wildlife trying to exist in it.

Please have a read of the important issues these sites stress, print out some flyers and avoid the products mentioned. There is also a petition, so fill it out and make your voice heard.

http://www.orangutan.org.au/palmoil.html
http://www.palmoilaction.org.au/
http://www.orangutan.org.au/petition

"All this time wishing our voices could be heard, now finally have a voice and no one says a fucking word.
So lets scream as loud as we can and make it fucking break, and let nothing stand in our way!"