Justin or Julian?

18 Dec 2010 - Its December and the Time Person of the Year title has just been awarded to Mr. Facebook. I can live with that because Facebook has turned into a global social platform that influenced our (my) way of communication. Yes, I am a Facebook fan! But in Holland 16-years old hackers are being arrested for their role in cyber attacks made in Wikileaks Julian Assange's name following his arrest last week. Many more teens and youth are thought to be members of the Anonymous group that has waged cyber war for him. One youngster said that Assange is out to protect us from ourselves. A new Messiah is born! But not all teens are in adoration of the Wikileaks guru. Wikileaks is simply not as hot as Justin Bieber, they claim. So who should we put forward for the Water-trotter person of the year award: Justin or Julian?

Giant Storks

17 Dec 210 - Fossils of a giant stork have been discovered on the far-flung Indonesian island of Flores that has been home to many extreme-sized creatures - from tiny human-like hobbits and dwarf elephants to the world's largest known rats and lizards. The leg bones of a giant marabou stork, which lived 20,0000 to 50,000 years ago, indicate it stood around 180 cm tall and weighed up to 16 kg. Flores has never been connected to another island or mainland, shaping evolution of historic wildlife, with many small-sized warm blooded animals growing larger than elsewhere on the planet, and big sized mammals becoming more diminutive. With no mammalian carnivores, birds and reptiles faces less competition for food, accounting for some of their massive size. Even today, rats can be more than  40 cm from head to body can be found on Flores. The area is also known for the Komodo dragons, the largest lizards on earth, which can grow up to 3 m long and weighing up to 70 kg.

Say No to Shark Fins

14 Dec 2010 - The continuing slaughter of sharks, known as finning (catching sharks, cutting off their fins and throwing them mortally wounded back into the sea) needs to stop. It is cruel, inhumane and not sustainable. In the area of my former office in Hong Kong there are many (dried) fish shops, and one can see the shark fins being laid out on the pavement to dry. The smell and sight of rotting flesh is not very pleasant. I learned that 50% - 80% of all shark fins in the shark fin trade still go through Hong Kong. In 2009 Hong Kong imported 9,300 tons of frozen or dried shark fins. Shark fin soup is still much in want, in particular for wedding banquets. However, sharks are slowly dying out which will have a devastating impact on the ecological system of our oceans, as sharks are often on top of the food chain. In the end the killing of sharks will come to haunt all of us. So please, don't order shark fin soup anymore.

Branson the Air Hostess

14 Dec 2010 - It will be crowded on thew 21st February 2011 Air Asia flight from London to Kuala Lumpur, as the richest air hostess in the world, Richard Branson, will serve the passengers. The virgin Atlantic founder is to dress up as flight attendant after he lost a bet over which team would fare better in the last Formula 1 season. Branson, who owns the Virgin Racing Team, had bet that his cars would do better than the lotus Racing team of Air Asia's owner Tony Fernandes. Fernandes has challenged Branson to dress up as a flight attendant and serve on Air Asia if the tycoon's Virgin Racing ended the season behind Lotus. Branson accepted, on the condition that Fernandes would do the same on Virgin Atlantic's London - Lagos route. if he had lost. Branson will have to serve and even clean the toilets, while wearing high heels. However, he will be allowed to keep his trademark moustache..

Too Many Surgeries

13 Dec 2010 - Nobody likes to go to the doctor and a recent study in The Netherlands has confirmed my sentiment that more regulation in the health sector is urgently needed. A study by the Dutch Department of Health has shown that almost one billion euros is wasted annually on operations that are medically unnecessary. Also, it turns out that patients in some hospital have a 400% higher chance to end up on the operation table compared to other hospitals. It is always the medical team, often the surgeon, who decide to operate, but there are enormous differences in diagnosis and response from doctor to doctor, and from hospital to hospital. Medical care is expensive and of course there are always risks involved. The Department of Health concludes that guidelines when to operate are urgently needed. It says that doctors who operate against the guidelines - sometimes for financial reasons - should receive a financial penalty. However, all cases are different and would it truely be possible to defines guidelines covering all cases and situations? Difficult dilemma.

No Merry Christmas!

12 Dec 2010 - In this season of greetings, personnel of the Bureau of Immigration (BI) in The Philippines assigned at Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) are directed not to greet arriving or departing passengers with a "Merry Christmas". The rule was introduced to avoid the impression that they are solliciting gifts, whether in cash or in kind. BI acting Chief Ronaldo Ledesma said in a statement that a warm and friendly smile of an immigration officer is enough to express his or her desire to express the Christmas season to an arriving or departing passenger. The prohibition also applies to BI supervisors and intelligence agents at the premier airport. The ban will last until the end of the season, during the influx or foreigners, returning Philippinos, and overseas Philippino workers who are coming home to spend the holidays with their families. So, please don't be too disappointed if you are welcomed by a somewhat grumpy immigration officer at Manila airport.

Panda Dung

12 Dec 2010 - A former Swiss ambassador to China turned art collector has forked out RMB 300,000 for a replica of the famed Venus de Milo statue - made from panda dung. Children from the southwestern province of Sichuan, the home of the panda, made the unusual statue with the help of famous sculptor Zhu Cheng. The work of art, on display in a museum in the central province Henan, attracted droves of onlookers and was eventually sold to Uli Sigg, who collects contemporary Chinese art. The statue was the main talking point of a recent show, attracting people not because it was a replica of a famous sculture, but because of the material from which it was made. "From time to time, people get closer to the statue and smell this yellow Venus and some claim it smells nice, " one person said.