Thai Navy saves macaque monkeys

A group of long-tailed macaques on the island of Ped off Thailand, have been saved from starvation by the Thai navy. Local fishermen had seen a group of the monkeys attempting to fish along the coast of the island. Unfortunately, as the monkeys do not normally fish, a few of them drowned. Word got back to the Thai navy who decided to investigate why the monkeys had turned to fishing. It turned out that they usually relied on tourists for food. However, tourist numbers have drastically reclined recently due to recent monsoons.

The Thai navy has been providing the monkeys with food and intends to make them self-sufficient. Captain Chatchavarl Meesawasdi has released the following quote, “We are planning to build up fresh water resources and cultivate some fruit trees, such as banana trees, sugar cane trees, and tamarind trees, so the monkeys can eat, and there will be a sustainable solution.”

It’s these kind of altruistic actions that remind one that the world is a great place!

Chris Bickford: After the storm

This is a photo from a series of seven photos by the photographer Chris Bickford. What more can I say?

Manners maketh man

A headmaster at Macclesfield High in Cheshire has been trying to instill a bit of old-school discipline in his kids by requesting them to stand up when he enters the room. Now I remember when I was at school that we had to get up whenever any member of staff entered the room. It was a bit of a hassle but it was part of developing manners and self-discipline. After all, when at work I have to get up from my desk to meet new clients or when an important person is visiting. It is part of being courteous and showing respect for another person.

One child at the school has made a point of refusing to get up when the Head enters the room. I’m pretty sure quite a few kids over the years have tried to be mini-revolutionaries and stand up to these kind of rules. Normally, their parents get called in and after a few words, the child falls into line. However, in this instance the boy’s father has decided to support his son, claiming that the head hasn’t “earned his son’s respect yet”.

The father of three has no job and has also defended his daughter’s flouting of the no make-up rule recently introduced, stating “If they tell her to take off her make-up, she will get her coat.”

Now, the father pays no taxes and makes no contribution to the financing of the school so I do not know why he is questioning an essentially free service that educates his children. It is also ludicrous to encourage his son to believe that the Head is not deserving of respect. Given the head has completed his education and contributes to the education of others, he is definitely deserving of respect.

As far as I can see, the only people who will lose out if his children ‘get their coats’ and leave the school are them. Good luck trying to get a job with no GCSEs. Oh yes but of course, they’ll just claim benefits like their Dad.

The Black Madonna and the BNP

Tomorrow Nick Griffin gets the chance to pretend to act the part of a real politician and appear on BBC Question Time. In order to create balance, the BBC has also invited Bonnie Greer and Baroness Warsi.

Instead of behaving with any grace or decorum, Nick Griffin has immediately started releasing quotes such as this one, “I think she’s a bit wacky when she sets out to say that Europeans, throughout the Middle Ages, worshipped black women.” Um right Nick? Good start there.

Firstly, there are many Black Madonnas scattered all over the world so it’s fair to say that many people over the years have knelt before a Black Madonna i.e. a woman who is not white. Once a year in Poland a Black Madonna is unveiled for people to worship before and people travel for up to 20 days just to kneel before it. Pretty much every country in the world has a Black Madonna. It’s probably not a ‘wacky’ thing for Bonnie Greer to say then, is it?

Secondly, people have come up with many different explanations for why the Black Madonna exists. Quite a few people say it’s just the type of wood or rock that was used – probably would have been a better line of thought for the BNP to take but then again we know they’re not very bright. Personally, it think it’s pretty obvious that the Madonna wasn’t a pale milkmaid from Kent. She supposedly live in Galilee and was a descendent of the tribe of Judah (one of the twelve Israelite tribes). That means she was from the Middle East and was Jewish. Hmm it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to work out she was going to have been quite dark skinned.

So in conclusion, the Madonna was actually like to have been a dark-skinned Jew. That would have made her a member of one of the BNP’s most hated groups of people. Perhaps Nick Griffin should stay off the topic of religion all together…

Socially Accepted Prostitution

Today whilst reading one of my favourite blogs, Socialite Life, I was updated on the developments in the life of a very important ‘celebrity’ known as Khloe Kardashian. Khloe Kardashian’s claim to fame is that she is the daughter of Robert Kardashian, the now deceased attorney that helped O.J. Simpson possibly get away with murder. Somehow this rather grim claim to fame enabled Khloe and her sisters to get their own reality show called ‘Keeping up with the Kardashians’. What a strange world we live in.

Khloe is the least attractive of the three sisters. Kim and Kourtney are petite and cute whilst Khloe at times resembles a transvestite. So how did Khloe go about getting some attention? She got herself a quickie celebrity wedding to NBA Los Angeles Lakers player Lamar Odom.

I would imagine that right now they should be enjoying the first few months of marriage but no, they are hashing out the details of their pre-nup. Personally, I think pre-nups do have some positives to them so it’s not the pre-nup itself that I think is bad. What’s bad is the terms of the pre-nup. According to various news items, Khloe is demanding a ‘high net-worth property’, a luxury car, ring-side Laker seats for her family for life and a monthly allowance in the tens of thousands for beauty maintenance and shopping. Since when did being married to a basketball star become such a chore that you need to be financially rewarded for the hardship of it?? Demanding money in return for being with someone amounts to prostitution. Perhaps Khloe should think about the fact that if it is all just a business transaction then he is well within his rights to see other women and to be as selfish as he wants i.e. he can treat her like a prostitute.