Dead Things

Lox, Loath, Melancholia, Inducement, Remiss, Inveigh, Inveigle.

And another week has come to an end. This time, I am, disturbingly, quite grateful, a lot of unfortunate events have occurred over the past week. I call it the "Jon Stewart Syndrome" whereby a person is glad that unfortunate acts of injustice and tragic events have occurred so that the said person is able to criticize and give his two cents worth to boost his credibility and popularity (which I seriously doubt is on the rise, especially after last weeks article which basically insulted 98% of the world's population).

I start first with the "People I Saw Dead (on tv)" counter at the bottom of this post.

It was inspired in part by a news article from a while back which claimed fatalities seen on tv has breached a certain three digit number (which I inconveniently, can't recall). But what really triggered the counter was a Calvin & Hobbes strip about the increase in violence seen on tv way back in 1985.

So there you go. The genesis of the counter of tv demise. Enjoy.

First food for thought: The state of the homeless in Malaysia.

No, I'm not referring to homeless people, I'm referring to homeless pets.

Malaysia, although rich in biodiversity and all that crap has a very impressive record of cruelty to animals. A few months back, a man was "punished" for cutting up a tiger and storing it in his fridge. A few weeks ago, certain zoos in Malaysia were found smuggling orang-utans from I-don't-really-want-to-know.

Now, we have abandoned animals. The SPCA, a non-profit organization dedicated to the welfare of abandoned pets has published a shocking report in The Star stating various breeds of dogs, cats, and even "exotic" pets left at their centres when they have outgrown their cuteness, or have lost their novelty, or have simply been too costly to keep.

There exists stereotypical images of skinny, diseased-riddened animals whenever one speaks of the SPCA in Malaysia. This is ultimately detrimental to the SPCA's adoption programme as no one wants to even go near them. I know this because my mother wouldn't heed my suggestion to adopt a dog from the SPCA and instead brought one home from her colleague, after telling me there were "worms" in those dogs.

She also displayed, to my extreme displeasure, the abhorrible trait of discarding things-you-can't-always-control by suggesting we send our current dog to the SPCA as he had become quite unruly; adding quite self-satisfyingly, the SPCA wanted dogs like him.


Our second highlight of the week is the harvesting of bear bile. A practice common among East Asian societies. Apparently, bear bile is the ultimate panacea, curing everything from impotence to (add you favourite ailment here).

Being of Chinese descent, I should be expected to comprehend the necessity of sticking a needle through the abdomen of a sun bear to suck out whatever bile there is and proceed to drink it; and I do, in a twisted way.

I mean, if the Geneva Convention allowed me to stick needles into a fellow human being to suck out his bile for consumption, I would be the first one in line to do it.

And here's the kicker: the people doing this claim they are doing it in a "humane way" and the bears "feel no pain".

Not surprisingly, no government I know of is actively banning the consumption of bear bile, due to the fact that it is extremely profitable - just like cheap porn.


On a lighter note, the Islamic Family Law has been stalled and will not be enforced due to the extremely misogynistic allotments within the law.

On an even lighter note, The Star has finally allotted three pages in its Sunday addition to Japanese anime. A long time coming that one.

On a simply downright frivolous note, I got my 'L' driving license.

Till then, be at peace with death.

People I Saw Dead (on tv) Last Week : 1
Total Number of People I Saw Dead (on tv): 1 (Since 12th Jan 2006)