My Aussie Trip

I made a "Fish-hook" tour in Oz from mid-January to early February. Here are some photos i took during the trip.
The Red Centre
Great Ocean Road
South Austrlaia

The End Of The World As We Know It

Caption: Meltwater flowing of the Greenland ice sheet, 2002. (Source: NASA Observaory)


The End Of The World As We Know, is a documentary exploring climate change I saw tonight. It did gain some noise when I broadcast in UK last year as the program emphasizes again and again that the real threat we are facing is definitely not global terrorism but global warming, which the majority are not really agree with. The presenter interviews different experts, not just environmentalists but scientists and financiers and even the Shell’s director, about their scary of climate change.
Just 30 minutes before the program, I head another bad news about the case of Greenland's glaciers. The NASA satellite just found that the Greenland’s glaciers are losing ice quicker than any scientific prediction or modeling, and the results could mean ocean levels will rise even faster than previously thought. And the glaciers may melt even more quickly in the years to come. The founding does not analysis the acceleration of the Greenland ice sheet melting and moving but most scientists agree that human activity and burning fossil fuels, is playing an important role in global warming.I received an email from a U.S. friend and he told me the majority of people in his country have no idea of how their activities use energy, or are even aware of it any level, which entitles the U.S. becomes the world biggest greenhouse gases chimney. Meanwhile the U.S. government offer different “solutions” to show their concern on the issue but it seems that the situation does not change a bit. This not only happens in the U.S. but everywhere in the world.
It is very clear that we are seeing our warning sign but we just neglect this great peril. Our modern lifestyle and “fundamental needs” are bankrupting our nature resource; threaten our future planet. It is sad that for most people the attraction of modern life resist them for a change.
Climate change is creating the hugest obstacle to humanity and human are powerless to stop GHGs forcing the climate change if we are not doing more proactively right now.

Related News: Glaciers Losing Ice Quicker
Greenland's glaciers are slip-sliding away

Sleeping - Way out for big decisions

Thinking hard about a complex decision will bamboozle our mind. Most people are only able to consider a subset of information or part of the multiple factors in conscious mind, which they may weight inappropriately and resulting in an unsatisfactory choice. Sleeping on a big decision, in contrast, the unconscious mind appears able to ponder over all the information and produce a decision that most people remain satisfied with, the scientists suggested.
How many big decisions I have ever made and how I made them? Those are the questions come up to my mind. Honestly, I can’t remember any big decision I made recently so far. Um….buying a car? Not really. I did spend some time to search but once I found the car I made the decision very soon. How about quitting my job to seek for further study opportunity? I couldn’t remember I had weighing up the pros and cons to come.
I thought I am a person who always makes snap decisions or judgments, with feeling or the sixth sense. Maybe it is a bit risky but I always remain lucky, happy and satisfy with the results produced, no matter it is wanted/expected or not. How lucky I am! Of course I am not always depend on luck, efforts sometime are required to make things nicer.

Related News: 'Sleeping on it' best for complex decisions -

Apple Core

How big is the core left after eating an apple? This question never came up to my mind until I heard a story from my 82-years-old aunt. It is a story about my father when he was escaped from China to Hong Kong in his teenage.
Unlike my stable, cheerful, peaceful and a bit materialised childhood, my father had a very tough time when he was young. He was born when China suffered from the Japanese invasion, and then passed his childhood in the years of Cultural Civilisation. He was not from a rich family but unfortunately, his family’s assets were enough to list themselves in the “Black Five Category”. So, my father and uncles were the targets to scoff, to torture or to attack. He was not given food most of the time as well.
In order to escape from torturing or starving till dead, he chose to leave his village. Different from most people who need to hire a big truck to put all their stuffs when they are moving, my father had nothing to bring with him as he had nothing, even he did not have clothes for changing. What he could bring for his journey was the most basic thing for survival: food. It was not difficult to find food at that time but it was very difficult for a person who categorised as the “Black Five” to find something to eat. At the end, my father was barely able to find dozens of apple for his trip to Hong Kong. Time was even tougher on his way as the only transport he was able to afford was walking, which is a physically demanding exercise when you need to walk for long time in the sun and on the mountains. The longer time he walked, the hungrier he was and less food he had. To maximise the food he could intake, he ate the whole apple included the core, where we believe that is not very eatable nowadays, to make himself felt a bit fuller…..
It is the story about apple core I heard. It is not an interesting nor inductive story but it absolutely makes me think a lot. It also reminded me how big was the apple core I had last time and how I used it. Last time I had an apple was about two weeks ago, during my tour in Kangaroo Island in South Australia. I had an apple as dessert after having an Aussie BBQ. To be honest,apple is not a fruit can raise my appetite most of the time. So, I just had a few bites and left a big core. Indeed, I had another reason to leave a big core. I discovered there had certain possums appeared around a campsite. Some of them were even entered our camp to search food. However, I missed the chance to take a photo at the first time. Therefore, I threw my big apple core outside the campsite to attract some possums to come again so that I could make a photo of them. That’s what an apple core meant to me.
The feeling of guilty come over me......