Tuesday, September 29, 2009

Gorilla beringei graueri




i've mentioned this already to some people, but i probably didn't explain it all that well.. so here:

this year is actually the year of the gorilla (not chinese horoscopes, but to raise awareness etc etc)
and everywhere around the world, especially zoos and foundations like dian fossey gorilla fund and jane goodal institute (who are usually concerned with chimps, but also taking this project on), are telling people how nearly everyone of us is causing the gorillas to die out.

the story is, in every single mobile phone (literally. unless you buy one that has been recycled and replaced) there is a capacitor -to hold the electricity- that is made from a mineral called "columbite-tantalite", or more commonly known as "coltan". The major source of this mineral is in Congo - where gorilla habitats are.



Sure, there are some in other countries like Australia, where there aren't any gorillas, but because there is just so many, and most importantly: so cheap (child labour, black market, africa), companies are not buying the legitimate, legal coltan.
Yep, every single mineral mined is ILLEGAL. because once it's sold into the main, legal market, it can't be traced, so the mining continues on. Also, most of it is done by peasants, school children, and farmers (probably. most likely. not getting paid) who turn to the mines because the demand for coltan in the developed world is so great. and so, people are focusing on this mining instead of farming/cultivating food which is what's actually needed by the SIXTY MILLION PEOPLE who live in Congo.
and again, since every single mobile phone contains the mineral, ( and also laptops, pagers, cameras, printers, other electronics -though i'm not sure whether it is in every single one like with the phones), after the coltan extracted, it's refined by companies such as H.C. Starck & Cabot and sold to capacitor manufacturers such as Hitachi, Dell, Ericsson, Hewlett-Packard, IBM, Motorola, Nokia, NEC, and Vishay. Companies which we regard as doing great things for the world, but are not telling people about this, really, under-publicised issue.
(the dian fossey people also mentioned that they don't have the right contacts to approach these companies - bosses etc. so if for some weird luck someone reading this happens to know somebody... please pass on their number :D)

Finally, to the point:
the gorilla habitat is destroyed because of the actual excavation process and road constructions. The gorillas displaced are then exploited for bush meat or poaching. Because these mines are so far away from the main cities, there're also no food to buy. so the gorillas become the food. seriously, wth is this.

And what's really distressing:
there are only 3000 Eastern Lowland Gorillas left IN THE ENTIRE WORLD/PLANET/EARTH! 3000! that's only 30 uni lecture theatres each fitting 100 people. 3000! it's really seriously unbelievable. this subspecies is the ones who are affected by the illegal coltan mining. and this NINETY PERCENT demolition of the population only took FIVE YEARS.

What is realised that everyone can do:
recycle old mobile phones so that the coltan can be taken out, and replaced by another material (there is an alternative - it's obviously more expensive. since coltan is CHEAP!) and then the phone is sold again as a cheaper recycled phone (eg. to people in third-world countries.)
i know most people probably have a pile of old, outdated phones hidden away in a pile somewhere. so this is also a way of putting it to use, instead of letting it collect dust. any reason anyone want to use is fine. the gorillas will be smiling anyhow.

i'm not sure of one international address where you can send your old phones to, but from what i can tell with the help of google, all the zoos around the world are taking part in this project. and i know for taronga, the mail is reply-paid, so u don't even have to pay anything to send your old phones.
so... type something like "gorilla phone recycle" and the closest zoo near your place should pop up and u can send it to them. or you can go to the dian fossey or jane goodal site as well.

for ppl here in australia (actually, all i know is for sydney): taronga zoo site.

here's a brochure that you can print if you want to let other people know (via rapidshare):
page1 page2
(leave a comment if rapidshare's deleted it & i'll email it to you)


yes. thank you for reading
please spread news about this, and help :)



(photos from ARKive, wikipedia.)



(i've not forgotten about the orangutans. in the meantime: use as little palm oil products as you can. which means giving up those korean onion-FLAVOURED rings)

Monday, September 28, 2009


selon le statcounter, il y ont des personnes qui téléchargissent les photos que j'ai pris moi-même! (ceux que j'ai mis cette matin et aussi avec Biscotti) Je suis juste curieux. ils (les photos) ont pas du tout int
éressants! je pense que je suis trop paranoïde parce qu'il ya ma mignone Biscotti sur là T__T ma enfante!

à tout case,
c'est très mauvais. j'avais me reposer tout matin.

i lie.


THIS is the most exciting part of today.
look what package just came:




an electronic sudoku game!
i did a lifestyle survey last month for "Roy Morgan" - still haven't googled them. apparently it's very renowned. and after the interview and filling in stuff, they left a SERIOUSLY 1cm thick book with the kind of old faxes thin pages for me to fill in endless questions about my preferences: holiday (where, why, how long, future), brands i've heard about (for financial institutions, booze), what i drink (blank.), what i buy in the supermarket, what types of toothpastes i've tried/used, types of milk, sports-related questions, etc etc etc times 100 pages plus. it took me about 3 hours to fill. and also had to keep a tv, radio and mail-received diary.

back to the gift:

it's so... cool.. ahaha what else can u describe a high-tech sudoku game with?
it's a touch screen version, and batteries were included.

that's it.
:D !
now you know what i'll be doing anywhere i'm bored! bus trips will be fun :D :D :D









too many assignments to do in the too short 1 week mid semester 'break' T___T
this is
the only exciting part of my day.

(me, siebe warmoeskerken, i am a greedy girl)

Wednesday, September 23, 2009

red, lump

apologies for repeating what will probably be in every sydney blog... -___-"
dust flying from somewhere: red skies




gonna be lots of wiping in the house.


anyway.

cats have this weird lump on their bottom gum behind where the top canine meets the lower jaw:




wonder what it is. shocked cos thought it was some sort of growth, but then it was on both sides of the mouth. so was relieved. what we learned during surface anatomy: if it's symmetrical, it's normal (hopefully).


*update: i asked one of the uni lecturers and she said it's got something to do with how the canine tooth's insert into the gum (though dunno if it has an actual name or not).

Monday, September 21, 2009


holiday list!


- WICKED on the last day of uni this year :D

- download the new professor layton ds game ("pandora's box")


was weirdly relaxed today after uni: watched the moonlight series for 4 hours. i like josef's character x) the episode where the main guy turns human is so cheesy though... anyway. law of attraction again - saw a promo for a new series that's coming "three rivers" with the moonlight actor.

Sunday, September 20, 2009

ngeh!

(cat sound fx)




yesterday, kmart was giving away free friskies - which just happened to be the usual flavour she eats! so with multiple trips to eastgardens, with the many people who happened to come over yesterday... ended up getting ELEVEN:




ahahahhahahhaha what a cheapo ;D

anyway.

our backyard fence got replaced to a metal one, since the wood was getting old n it started tipping over. so now biscotti can't climb it :( and since she's an unsocialised cat, got scared seeing people in the backyard last night and ran like a stupid cat and meowed like after she got desexed or when it's raining really hard. n she jumped to grab onto the smooth metal fence and just slid and crashed back down T__T twice too T__T

n all the backyard plants have been ripped out. so her daytime sleep spots are gone... so now she disappears in the day.. and yesterday she didn't come for breakfast, but came back chubby at night... somebody might have fed her. since she's so cute :D ahahha

anyhoo. gotta study study study!




Saturday, September 19, 2009

last minute




last minute time-wasting before i get started for today x)

Friday, September 18, 2009

l'anniversaire






overheard


some especially funny overheard from yesterday's mx:

Girl to mx distributor: Can I have two? I have a pet rabbit.

Guy to girl: Is that your mobile number stuck to the back of your phone?
Girl: Yeah, but it's not because I can't remember my number, it's so someone can call me if I lose my phone.


Girl at cafe: Hi there, do you make iced hot chocolates?

Girl to friend: How long ago was the big bang?
Friend:
Duh, 2009 years ago.

Tuesday, September 15, 2009

bus.




too close for comfort.
whhhyyy do you need to stand so close to a seated person and make me feel trapped in an invisible but palpable cubicle... and facing the side as well, so when the bus jerks, my elbow keeps getting bumped into by you.... urrgghhh. (and to add, you stood facing the window, so it's not like the side of your body did the annoying slash disgusting irritance) and when i straightened my arm, it was your cue to stand even closer. the best thing was when people tried to move pass to get off, so more space was made for them and less for me... all the while, the bus was pretty empty. standing at the back of the bus is a great choice. the widest part of the vehicle.

anyway. another bus incident. this time involving a hills bus *evil stare*. i don't even know anything about that bus, but the fact that it's not from sydney and it's so yellow and exclusive looking just adds to that driver's ignorance... so while waiting for the green light in traffic, i was sitting at the four seater facing the back of the bus, n the bus next to our one was quite close.. but buses always drove closely to each other anyway. but then it moved, and the angle changed weirdly and it SCRAPED OUR BUS migod so the two windows it hit formed miniscule cracks ALL OVER. people moved away. the window that's further to the back was bent and a dinner plate size cracked off out & into the bus... -___-" and all the while, that culprit yellow bus just continued on lining up to the bus stops ladidadida... so we're trying to catch up to it so very slowly in the traffic listening to the deepening glacier-cracking noises... hmmm. not great. people took photos. driver angry. european accent. wanted witness. very involved passenger offered phone number. i got off.

without buses, nothing really happens in my life..
i'll post a drawing of all the weird people i see one day. like this school kid with SUPER emo hair that covered THREE-SIXTY DEGREE around his head omg wth and it was REALLY long all the way to his neck. and he sat slumped and facing to the window. and when people sat on the seat next to him - no reaction. and suddenly his arm shot up and he pressed the stop button. i don't know how he could find the button - his head was still facing down and the only body part that moved was his arm. and the back of his hand was quite hairy. yes. observance.
and then there was this guy who took a photo of this woman who was standing up, with his iphone.. and then when she got off, he eyed her so bad he turned his head to watch her walking out. and then he continued mouthing lyrics to the song he was listening and bobbing his head around.



anyway....


changing the topic...
the cutest picture i've seen today! giant rubber ducky!



Saturday, September 12, 2009


ohohohoho i made a purchase from musicnotes.com! (on the bottom of each page, it says: "authorised for use by Ancella" ahahahha)
the internet is great ; )

Wednesday, September 9, 2009

what are these?







SNAIL PEA!
(or more properly known as 'snail medic')

the cutest pea plants i've ever seen! they were in the agronomy practical class today. yes i have to learn about plants.

Sunday, September 6, 2009

ギャボー!