Monday, December 8, 2008

Catfolio


It all started on a rainy day. I and my sister were in the house watching the rain. Then I saw this cat watching us from the opposite sunshade. It was a she cat with grey and white tinge. My sister took pity on it and offered it some milk. Until then I always thought cats are cute.

This cat was not happy with the milk that was offered to it. No, it doesn’t want more, but it wanted to share it with another. So it brought another cat (its boyfriend?!!), which was bigger in size and looked as if it could drink a whole jar of milk in one gulp. After another month the she cat came with two other cats - its kittens (family party).

My sister has a touch of class in naming these cats

Karuppu (which literally translates to blacky; the 1st kitten) – this cat is pure black in colour. It has the gift of stealth and it uses it to the maximum; for sneaking inside the house. Several times I have made the mistake of sitting on it without knowing it was sleeping on the sofa. I hope cats are more into spirituality (unlike the snakes in nagini); it will forgive me soon.

Songi (which means lazy or unhealthy; the 2nd kitten) – whether blacky is into spirituality or not, but this cat is. I think it is into Buddhism. I have never seen it fight with the other cats for food. It will patiently wait for the other cats to eat first, and then if there is any left, it will take it.

Thirudu (which means thief; the boyfriend) – This one is unlike any other cat I have ever seen. It has a very particular set of skills; stealth skills. It uses it with such finesse that the developers of Sam Fisher will have a run for their money. No matter where we keep the food, it will always find a way to nick it. No matter how far it is, the moment we open something wrapped in a plastic bag it will hear it. Whole roasted chicken, fried fish, coconut bun, it has nicked everything that I think is worth eating. I strongly recommend the military guys to consider recruiting cats for defense, they will make excellent spies.

After a month, it was cats here, cats there and cats everywhere. I thought enough is enough it was time to act tough. I made a plan to recapture my home. My first aim was to get rid of the thief cat (my sworn enemy). I chased it away whenever it came in sight. So, every time, before it enters our house it will first check whether I am in.

Songi, I really don’t have to do much, I just shooed it away (it is not so keen in eating the food anyway). But, I let blacky to stay with us, as my sister is very fond of it.

For two weeks my evacuation plan was working well. I had our home back to myself (except for that black puffball of a cat). It was then; the thief cat nicked a whole packet of chilly chicken that our dad bought for us. Argh… I hate cats.

Friday, December 5, 2008

Earth News

Some disturbing earth news around the world


Experts: Warming to cause global water shortages by 2080

USA Today: KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia — Half the world’s population could face a shortage of clean water by 2080 because of climate change, experts warned Tuesday.

Wong Poh Poh, a professor at the National University of Singapore, told a regional conference that global warming was disrupting water flow patterns and increasing the severity of floods, droughts and storms — all of which reduce the availability of drinking water.


India loses more people to climate change than any other country

Poznan (Poland), Dec 5 (IANS) Between 1998 and 2007, India has lost more people due to extreme weather events caused by climate change than any other country, with an average of 4,532 people killed every year, a well-known German NGO has calculated.The monetary losses were an average of $12 billion a year in terms of purchasing power parity, representing 0.62 percent of India’s GDP, added Sven Harmeling of Germanwatch here Thursday.


U.S. Greenhouse Gas Emissions Still Increasing

ScienceDaily (Dec. 5, 2008) — Total U.S. greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions were 7,282 million metric tons carbon dioxide equivalent (MMTCO 2e) in 2007, an increase of 1.4 percent from the 2006 level according to Emissions of Greenhouse Gases in the United States 2007, according to a report released December 4 by the Energy Information Administration (EIA). Since 1990, U.S. GHG emissions have grown at an average annual rate of 0.9 percent.


www.myfootprint.org - you can find your earth footprint by taking a quiz here. Nice One. My score was 0.41 earth.