Dophins = "Pests"??

There is a documentary movie released in 2009, called The Cove. It reveals how dolphins in a small town-- Taiji, Wakayama (Japan) were slaughtered massively on a daily basis under the glorious name of "national pride", namely, "Japanese people will no longer listen to what they were told to do and when to do it", even including killing.

The official reason of killing is that the fishermen were told dolphins are "pests" by the government. How can one connect dolphins with such a title even with mere elementary school knowledge?! They certainly had their way: "Dolphins, along with whales, consume too much fish by nature, so that if their number decreases, we, human beings, will be left with more fish on our table." As the representative from Brazil commented during the IWC 2007 Meeting (International Whaling Commission), "... it is purely nonsense!"

Personally, I don't see the point of Japanese people trying to "defend" themselves by claiming this is just a different "ethic" in the far east, or criticizing other nations for slaughtering cows and such in order to find an excuse for themselves. Picking other people's wrongs doesn't help to correct our own!



Dolphins are commonly known and accepted as intelligent animals with feelings and emotions that are close to humans, but an innate smiling-face does not mean an invitation to their death or being eaten!

As to say "dolphin meat", we already learned that dolphins and many other sea life absorb mercury from the increasingly polluted oceans, and it is quite difficult or almost impossible for them to get rid of it even till the day they die, and a dolphin's body contains very high mercury in general. Not all fish producers will label their products honestly in the market, so you might be eating dolphin meat while believing it was some other type of fish as the movie shows.

The only way to improve ourselves as human beings is to correct our wrong behaviors as soon as we realize it. Or are we so full of ourselves that we need no further improvement any more?!

Beyond the Arctic Circle

Minä olin Rovaniemellä lokakuussa, koska joulupukki lähtee kaupungin kahden kuukauden kuluttua. Joulupukin Pajakylä on vaan 8 kilometriä Rovaniemeltä pohjoiseen.

Oli jo lunta kun saavuin. Ei ollut niin kylmä-- noin -4 astetta, mutta oli pilvistä koko aamun.

Minä kävin joulupukin pääpostissa:

Ja kerroin hänelle toiveeni tälle vuodelle on revontulet...

Strawberry Revenge

It was a cool sunny Saturday afternoon, so I went to the nearby strawberry farm to pick organic strawberries. They are much fresher and sweeter than those from supermarkets, although more expensive as they are well taken of since as seeds.

This was my second time in life DIY on a farm. For a city girl like me, it is fun and exciting to be so close to the nature-- Huge strawberry farms with those little white strawberry flowers nodding their heads, I can't resist the wonderful scenery and not to be part of it!

Usually there are four to five volunteer "instructors" at the end of farm, who will tell newbies 1. How to pick-- Walk to another end of the farm and start from there, and don't jump to other "lanes" until you finish this one; 2. What kind of strawberries to pick-- Always choose the 100% ripe ones, and leave those with even slight white alone as they are not as sweet. You can eat some as well, but for me, I'd rather take the strawberries home and wash them first, even though there is no chemical on them.

We started from the far end "lanes", where fewer people would bother walking so far away to get there, which means more big juicy strawberries are waiting for us!

After half an hour, I was already sore and tired, but my friends seemed still very active. I decided to sit down and rest a bit. Wind blowing by took my sweat away, and I was enjoying myself in the green under the sun.

"Check out this big baby!" My friend screamed while running towards me.

"What?" I opened my eyes and pulled my mind back to the reality, "Wow, that IS a fat babe!" I stood on my feet immediately, as if the dark red crystal juicy strawberry was calling my soul-- My mouth was watery. "Can I have it?"

"You dream!"

*pout*

My friend hesitated, "Okay, just this one."

*smile*

I took the strawberry, washed it quickly but gently with the water I brought to drink, and swallowed it immediately as I was afraid that my friend would change their mind at any second. The sweet juice flowed around in my mouth, satisfying every single taste bud; the fresh fragrant fulfilled my sensations that I could fly like a butterfly...

Now the strawberry should be safe in my stomach. Very content, I sat down and let my mind keep flying. After a few seconds, there was some cold feeling on the bottom, I looked down, "Ah, what the hell?!"

"Are you alright?" My friends ran towards my direction. I bet everybody on the farm heard me, since they all stopped and looked at me.

"I'm NOT alright. Look what the strawberry did!" I pointed at my pants madly.

They saw where I was sitting and then burst into laughter simultaneously.

"That's NOT funny, people!"

They laughed even harder. I noticed their moister eyes from laughing.

"How did you not see the strawberry before sitting on it?!" One managed to ask that with broken laughter.

"Because of your stupid fat strawberry! I didn't pay attention at all."

"Serves you right, greedy pink pants! Hahaha"

I had no interest to care about their teasing or laughing any more, because I was more worried how to cover this pink spot on my shorts back home-- Apparently, the shirt was not long enough to reach that low.

After 5 minutes "insanity", one went back to "consciousness" and suggested me carry their pack bag, which was the only thing we can find "appropriate" and "natural" to cover the spot. At least it was better than none. I dragged their heavy bag all the way back, and couldn't complain about it.

However, this is a picture of the "criminal's" relatives...

And I ate them all!