I just read about this baby elephant who fell and got stuck in a manhole in Thailand.

His startled expression and pleading eyes say it all.

Left stranded in a rather undignified position, this poor baby elephant was in need of some urgent help.

Poor baby elephant stuck! Rescuers spent 3 hours freeing the animal, who was unharmed, by using a bulldozer to widen the hole

I love these regal creatures. In the old days, Malaysians, just like the Thais, used to use elephants to move large heavy objects, for Royal use, ceremonial use and so on. You see, Northern Malaysia was once part of the Kingdom of Thailand so they share a similar culture. Today, many of the elephants in Thailand are trained to carry tourists on elephant treks through the jungle or to beg on the streets of many large Thai cities. Baby elephants are often taught tricks to appeal to tourists and, although it is illegal in many cities, work the streets with their owners from early in the morning to late at night. However, unlike the Thais today, we hardly see elephants anymore, except in the zoos. We do have an elephant sanctuary called the The Kuala Gandah Elephant Orphanage Sanctuary Malaysia.

Started in 1974, Kuala Gandah is the only elephant sanctuary centre in Malaysia. The team is dedicated to locating, subduing, translucent problem elephants from areas where their habitats are constantly being encroached by plantations, to Malaysia’s National Parks such as Taman Negara.

I have been there in my 20s, and they allow people to take rides on the elephants as you can see in the picture above. The problem is, nobody warned my group that elephants have hair as thick and as rough as wires. So, those who wore shorts or pants with thin materials had a rough time as the stiff hair kept poking into our legs and butt as we sat on them. Fun stuff!

We were not prepared, but those who want to visit this Sanctuary will be …. after reading my post! Wear jeans.

There’s always volunteers from Malaysia and from other parts of the world at this sanctuary to help the fast disappearing Asian elephants. Please click on the picture above to go to the The Kuala Gandah Elephant Orphanage Sanctuary Malaysia to read about their conservation activities and to see how you can help.

Jasmin

Flooded city in Bangladesh

Since January 2002, the Bangladesh government has banned the use of plastic bags in Dhaka, its third attempt to carry out such legislation.

In the year 2001, 9.3 million plastic bags were dumped in the city every day, with only 10-15% put in dustbins. The rest are left go into drainage and sewage lines, causing blockages. In the floods of 1989 and 1998 this prevented drainage, prolonging the flooding, Hossain Shahriar, a Bangladeshi ecologist and journalist from the Environment and Social Development Organisation (ESDO) told edie. “It was discovered that due to the drainage congestion – by polythene shopping bags, water could not go down,” said Shahriar. “This was the cause of increasing water born diseases and air pollution-related environmental degradation.”

Info from www.edie.net/news/news_story.asp?id=5029
Image taken from http://news.bbc.co.uk/media/images/43038000/jpg/_43038199_bangladesh_flood_ap.jpg

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Jasmin says,

The Beijing shops generally do not give out plastic bags, and they charge Renminbi 0.20 per plastic bag. I think that’s a good start. Mentioned it to someone and she said “I won’t ever be able to do that. I need those plastic bags to dump my rubbish in”. Sigh!

Anyways, we still get free plastic bags in Malaysia, and so far the legislation is unable to do anything about it because the plastic industry is lobbying not to ban plastic bags.  See my previous post on this “No Rush To Ban Plastic Bags From MPs”

More info on banning plastic bags

• It’s a dog’s day at the neighborhood market
• No rush to ban plastic bags from MPs
• Plastic bottles vs paper cups at “More raw food at the night markets”

Soma looks like a better looking twin younger brother of
Marc Anthony, Jennifer Lopez’s husband.

Just recently, my husband (a die hard magic fan) and I went over to Beijing, China to attend a 6 day FISM magic competition …. you heard right, 6 days, where magicians from all over the world come over to compete to be the very best.

This competition is held only once every 3 years, and Shaun has been waiting for 6 years to attend (he could not make it for the Stockholm competition cause 3 years ago, my first child was just born, and we just could not leave the baby, ya know).

Anyways, it was an awesome experience. Almost 3000 people from all over the world gathered to attend the event which starts from 8.30am and ends about 10.30pm everyday for 6 days.

There’s something special about this event. These guys who compete take years to hone their skills, taking years to get it right. They do what they love and they never give up. They find new ways to thrill others, and more important, to thrill themselves silly! The very act of magic is to astound people, and make them happy.

These people have PASSION!

I meet a lot of people, through my husband’s work. And a lot of them have lost that passion. They don’t know what they want. And I have to say, there was a time I felt like that too so I understand where they are coming from. What’s MY purpose in life? What’s your purpose in life? Ever written your yearly resolution, just to toss them in the basket in February?

Just my thoughts

Jasmin

ps you have to watch this talented guy named Soma from Hungary. He’s one of the Grand Prix winner of this year’s FISM competition. Here’s the youtube link

FISM 2009 Grand Prix Stage Winner – Soma (Hungary)

If you see the video, you’ll notice that Soma looks like a better looking twin younger brother of Marc Anthony, Jennifer Lopez’s husband. You can also click on Soma’s photo to view the video.

SOMA – Phone Act from Soma Hajnóczy on Vimeo.

That’s Lily Allen the singer. Not a pretty picture!

The risk of cancer for Hispanics living in Florida is 40 percent higher than for those who live in their native countries, a puzzling new study finds.

The finding holds even after researchers corrected for the increase detection rates in the United States. And access to health care did not make things better.

“This suggests that changes in their environment and lifestyles make them more prone to develop cancer,” said Dr. Paulo S. Pinheiro, a researcher in the Department of Epidemiology at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine.

The results are detailed in the journal Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention.

Cancers of the colon and rectum among Cubans and Mexicans who moved to the United States was more than double that in Cuba and Mexico. Lung cancer among Mexican and Puerto Rican women living in Florida was also double the rates in their countries of origin.

Other cancer rates that were higher in the states:

* Tobacco-related cancers among Cuban men.
* Liver cancer among Puerto Rican men.
* Cervical cancer among Mexican women.

The findings also show that different ethnic groups face different risks.

“Don’t assume that all Hispanics are the same,” said Amelie G. Ramirez, director of the Institute for Health Promotion Research. “Physicians should probe Hispanic patients more on their background and family history to identify any problematic behaviors that could contribute to health problems.”

The causes of cancer are myriad, from inherited propensities to viruses to a range of environmental factors and lifestyle choices.

Ramirez, who was not involved in the research, notes that nearly one in every three U.S. residents will be Hispanic by 2050.

In a statement from the American Association for Cancer Research, Ramirez and Pinheiro both suggest Hispanics avoid adopting unhealthy lifestyles that may be more common in the United States, such as smoking, drinking and bad diets.

Taken from livescience.com – Thu Aug 6, 2009

“Once I got a taste of it, I went: ‘I can do anything. I can do absolutely anything.’ And you start to believe it. I know it to be true because I’ve seen it happen. I’ve experienced it. I’m ambitious. I try to make it look like it’s not work — that’s the biggest key. I’ve got it pretty good. There’s no sense in making life seem like it’s a struggle, because that doesn’t make anybody feel better.”

Jeanne Wolf interviews Ashton Kutcher in Parade – Thursday Jul 30 2009

16-year-old Cam Street, who has been battling cancer for the past three years, got the chance to meet one of his favorite actors, Ashton Kutcher, on the set of his PARADE photo shoot.

Just a couple weeks before the shoot, Cam had been told he only had a few months to live, but thanks to a new trial drug, he’s had a miraculous turnaround and was in good spirits the day of the shoot.

The first thing Gizzi Erskine does when she wakes in her east London flat (apartment) is to check on her vegetables. She looks to see how much the beetroot, tomatoes, new potatoes and herbs on her balcony have grown; then she gets down to the serious business of trying new recipes in her state-of-the-art kitchen and pursuing her career as the sexiest young chef on British screens. Today she is about to harvest one of her two window-box cabbages.

“I’m a typical twentysomething,” she says. “While I aspired to a garden, I couldn’t get my head around the gardening bit.” Although she does wonders with items such as chard and wasabi on her Channel Four series Cook Yourself Thin, she had never before grown anything successfully. Besides which, she lives in an upstairs flat.

All this has now changed, and Erskine has put her name behind the National Trust’s campaign to persuade the occupants of the five million flats to use the space on their window sills – which between them adds up to 600 acres – to grow their own food.

Article: Gizzi Erskine: buy a roof terrace and grow your own
By Caroline McGhie 04 Aug 2009

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Jasmin says;

It’s a super idea, nothing new here, but great idea, nevertheless. I’ve seen beautiful flower boxes in most parts of Europe. Something about seeing gorgeous, blooming red flowers against terracotta colored walls in France or Spain just seems soooo romantic. But hey, nothing wrong with planting vibrant dark green spinach instead. They look just as awesome!