Remorse of The Remoras

one thing i noticed when i saw the pool of beige sharks and colorful sea creatures on that "Bandeng Island": remoras!
how they arrived at the tank is one question. did the fishermen caught them with their "hosts" (sharks and mantas or other marine mammals)?

The inhabitant of the pool have a distinctive look: their pad-like, sucker-like organ. they're as big as the beige sharks, the biggest species in the tank. i bet they're in the state of frustration, trying to find new hosts. or can they be independent?

Butterfly lovers

Last week when i went to that shop for groceries, it played a traditional Chinese music over the speakers. I thought, oh next week is Chinese new year! that's why.

It took me a minute to recognise what song: Butterfly Lovers Concerto! It was a version i never heard. Before, I only knew Vanessa-Mae's version: an orchestra backing her solo violin. It's one of my fav piece of orchestral music.

Then I remember Fiona ever mentioned this: Butterfly Lovers? That's Sampek Engtay!

Ah really? So I, as always, consulted Wikipedia: It's about a boy met girl. A Romeo, a Juliet. They were Liang Shanbo and Zhu Yingtai. In our dialect, they became Sampek Engtay.

I checked this video. this vid is cool. amazing. it makes me think of how a hundred legs become six and a wingless body become winged. that's the wonder of fasting, eh?

Is it Possible?

is it possible to save our biodiversity?

Copenhagen, I Love You

Just watched NYIOU for the second time. Yeah, the first time I did the movie gone out and made a lot of scratching noise and it happened on the kinotheather :)

so when I read this article, it's about time that every city in the world gets its long awaited I Love You (I think of Paris Je T'aime).

The results of Copenhagen.

No Cooking Rice

Wow! think i can bring it for camping. I'll be boiling a litre of water. when it boils, i will pour it for my coffee and then the remaining will go for the rice. The meal is ready!

here's the good news from AP: Scientists invent rice that doesn't need cooking

Mon Feb 8, 6:29AM PT - AP 2:10 |

Agricultural scientists in India say they have developed a variety of rice that requires no cooking and can be eaten simply after being soaked in water. (8 Feb 2010)

Crab love

(photo courtesy of Maria Gode)

Crabs always bemuse me. i always have pleasant 'encounters' with them: fiddle crabs in Sanur, burrowing crabs in Banyuwangi, a mimicry crab in Sanur and Semak Daun, armored crab in Ujung Kulon, yummy crabs Mami cooked for me, and a white, palm-sized white crab that bit my toe last December. The latter might not be pleasant but it’s okay. It looked funny.

Last week I returned to Semak Daun for the second time since 2006. I spotted a green crab on the pier (I suspect there are more and more species I can discover on the island) And its legs are hairy.

I called it opal-shelled crab. Maria named it army crab. well, I agreed with her :)

what's up DOC?

this morn i remembered some story that warms my heart and reduced my headache:

Papi and I went to Malang. he routed the streets to fetch some black dyes/tints (for printing the Api Menyala magazine perhaps) and then I remember we went to Chinatown.
there i saw a room full of very big and tall aluminum tubes. I was amazed by the sound inside: small chickens chirping. they were day old chicks! yello, fluffy chirping things!

next: story about Pak Hadi, Cik Milka, the fastest growing chickens i ever saw, and Sharon