The most bizarre (and yuck) animals ever

I was entertaining myself the other day by searching for weird-looking animals. You know, something that'd be amusing. Here are what I found. And I thought I've seen everything...

Narwhal
Well, this one isn't so yucky, but it's worth a note. It is actually a kind of whale, but the weird thing about it has an incisor tooth (front tooth) that projects from the left side of the upper jaw. Maybe that's how the inspiration of Unicorn image came about? According to National Geographic, it "is the unicorn of the sea".

Anglerfish
Maybe there's nothing really weird about how it looks (yeah, it's ugly, but not enough to make your jaw drops like the next fish), except that it has a "lantern" hanging from its head to draw an innocent un-suspecting food-to-be. But what struck me when I read about this fish is the way it mates.
The guy will bite into the female skin, "and releases an enzyme that digests the skin of his mouth and her body, fusing the pair down to the blood-vessel level" ^."Without any need for most of his organ systems, such as eyes and digestive organs, the male's body degenerates into essentially a pair of sperm-producing testicles. Thus the female essentially becomes a hermaphrodite with up to six or more of these tiny male parasites attached to various parts of her body. Although functionally bisexual, the eggs and sperm come from genetically distinct parents, thus providing vital genetic variability through meiosis and genetic recombination." ^That's like having sex with a corpse!

Monkfish
Well, I find this fish weird cos, obviously, this is the ugliest fish I've ever seen.
In China, they actually cook the fish as delicacy.

Blobfish
Wait, I change my mind. THIS is.
Blobfish live in a very deep ocean (around Australian and Tasmania) where the water pressure can make other fish's ability to swim useless. That's why, this fish adapt by staying as only a blob, so they don't have to waste energy to swim or do anything at all. Because it lack of activity, blobfish don't develop any muscle. Interesting...talking about sloth..

Blood Squirting Lizard
The lizard itself is alright, but it has an awesome defense mechanism. One thing that we can learn from the lizard: stand up for yourself even until the last drop of blood (sampai titik darah penghabisan?).


Chinese giant salamander
Afraid of worms? How about a GIANT worms with fingers?

Japanese jellyfish (?)
I'm not sure if this animal is for real -I didn't find any other source that talk about it, but it sure is interesting to note. Watch the video to experience its weirdness (just jump to the end if you're impatient).


Here are links to more weird animals:
Weirdest sea creatures ever
Strangest animals on earth
Strangest animals
New species
20 weirdest and ugliest looking animals on earth
Strangest endanger species
25 worlds weirdest animals

A spring of love

It's Chinese New Year AND Valentine's Day together this year.

But nothing blissful or lovely about it. On this side of the world, at least.
Even the worst girl got a rose, but not me..
Went back to my  home and the first thing I was asked was "What are you doing home? Why did you come back?"
The second thing I heard was "Must be because she has no date with her boyfriend."

What's wrong with the world today?
Where is the love?
^

Battle of the sexes

This is a reply for Mr. Matahari's blog about Asian culture that prefer sons to daughters. It's true that MOST Asian family prefer first child to be a boy, especially Chinese. And interestingly, I notice that it's the father who always wants a son.
I just can't accept the reasons Mr. Felix put forward of why baby boy is more welcome in a family. I know there's so much more that those reason. I know, I experience it firsthand to gather up the information.

Son preference in India.

1. Of course it's about family name. It's not just a name, however, it represents your money and all your vain mortal belongings. There a certain holy rule that says you can only pass on the money you can't take to heaven, to a bloodline that has your name. Ever wonder why some people even named their son his-own-name Jr.? Imagine if you could bring the money to heave..that'd be interesting.
And more than that, it's about pride. When a girl married off to another guy, she has to have that guy's family name (another holy rule to follow), thus, the girl is no longer a part of her own family. True story, my mom said that she's so sad that someday I'd be some other family's belonging. Good job in making me not wanting to get married, mom.

2. Boys require lower maintenance. For girls, as they grow up, you need to supply for make-up, dresses, clothes, khakis, pants, scarves. And all in different colors. Not to mention the pad supply you have to buy monthly. As for boys, monochrome shirts and jeans will usually do. And when they have gfs, daddies would just use the mantra, 'if you're old enough to date girls, you're old enough to get your own money'.
True story, once upon a time when I was still innocent, my dad said, "mmmh..daddy's little girl. This one's gonna spend so much." I didn't understand then, but I completely understand now that I've de-innocenized myself.

3. They think that boys would definitely want more to take care of them. Or at least, have the ability to. That is also based on true story, in which my dad said that he "wouldn't expect too much for Berlin (that's me) to take care of him when he's old".

Welcome to the universe.

The verdict: It depends on the parents, each family is different. Some family are just ****ed-up; they don't know how to be parents thus causing the children feel like their unwanted.

Moral of the story: Don't have children when you still one yourself. Don't have one when you think you're ready. And definitely don't have one when all you want is "that cute little thing" on your arms.

Part poem, part narcissism

Okay, I admit, this post is neither about any significant life lesson or anything brilliant. It just about me.. I mean, I've written so many posts in this blog, not to mention my other blogs.. but do you -the readers- know who am I? At some point, even I forget who I am..

So here it is..
My name is Eva Berlin Fransiskus.

Eva as in the Hebrew 'Eve', which means the giver of life.
But I'm no giver of life, I'm not even sure if I have a life of my own. So how do I give life to others?

Berlin as in Berlin Wall, Berlin.
Maybe that's why I have an expression as stoic as the stones.
Maybe that's why I have walls arond me that keep away strangers,
and keep the people I love trapped.

Fransiskus, as in Franciscus Asisi or Franciscus Xaverius.
But I'm not saint, not even a half.
And it's with s and k, instead of c and c.
Cos I'm an Indonesian and thus the Indonesian spelling.

Moral of the Story: There's so much you can learn just simply from a person's name. We can even know about one's parents and one's background if we dig deep enough.

Free/Masonry (pun intended)

I think I'm crazy. And be assure that many people can testify the validity of the probability.

So here's one of my craziness. Today, I'm going to talk about Freemasonry.
Did I tell you how did I first comprehensively told about the fraternity? Oh, no, I didn't. Well, it was on 14 December 2009.
It was my friend's b'day party, and he booked a chalet for us to have fun and stay overnight. But, of course, as a true anti-socialist, I withdrew from the room instead, with few friends.
That was when, the night grew older and people grew drunk-ier (yes, they were drinking alcohol), one of my closest friends told me about a conspiracy theory: Michael Jackson was killed.

Being a fan of Michael Jackson for so many years, he never failed to follow the news about the King of Pop. He told me what he's read about why some people suggested that MJ was killed, and who was the suspect. That was when we got into Freemasonry.

I've heard about Freemason, of course (and gravely mistakenly associated it with Charles Manson), mostly just because of Dan Brown's Illuminati, and further more, The Lost Symbol. But what I heard on that night was overwhelming, all the conspiracy theory.
I won't elaborate what I heard here, what Freemasonry is, why would they kill MJ, and so on. First, cos it's a long story. A half told information is dangerous. Second, cos it's just a theory, not proven yet as a fact (and probably won't ever be proven).
I just want people to realize, that this ancient Fraternity do exist. They even admit it openly themselves. I just want people to open their eyes, and realize.

Click here for the complete how-why-what of Freemason.

Moral of the story: be aware of everything around you.
Not necessary just about Freemason, but about many things. Question everything, that's what I learn from my Journalism course. Few things are out there accidentally, everything else is out there for a reason, through a long planning.

How?

How do we know when someone truly loves us?

When he doesn't sms during your exam and reply after long after
--cos he wants you to concentrate on your work?
When he doesn't display your picture together in Facebook, because it's not necessary
--people already see you together in person?
When he doesn't upload your picture together, because he wants to keep it private
--only for your eyes and his?
When he tells noone about your relationship because he thinks people would see themselves
--you are together, that's the fact?
When he let go off your hand around his friends cos he wants to show you respect
--to show that he's not always all over you?

The things that I don't understand...

I've learnt..

"It's always easier to go down than to go up."

"Smart people.. they think they know everything. While the truth is, 'everything' is just too much. Even for them."

- inspired by Ronald K.

It's interesting to board the early morning bus, during the twilight hour. You'd meet two kinds of people..

One is the clubbers.
Just got back from from enjoying their secular happiness. You'd find them reek of alcohol, acting and dressing like they're the queens and kings of the world. No one is better than them, and who cares about tomorrow, tomorrow will soon be yesterday. Fade and forgotten.

The second kind, however, is the ones who start their day early.
Early birds get the worms, they say. The second kind is mostly made up of the older generation. Those who know, and have learnt, that 'tomorrow' must be prepared and that 'yesterday' will become the pages of your history, of which people would read to see who you are.

The question is, since I was among them, which kind am I belong to?

Somewhere in between..

Happy new year, everyone.

This blog has changed..

I have changed. This blog should changed.
For some time, I've learnt to think what is the purpose of doing the things that we do. There is no point of doing something that doesn't influence other people in a good way.
So I thought, what is the purpose of this blog? No, it's not to tell the world about me, nor to bored them with my "whinings". It shouldn't be.

The purpose of this blog, from now on, is to tell you the few life lessons I've learnt, so you yourself don't have to make the mistakes to learn them. Your life is too short for that.
By writing them here, I will also be always reminded about them.

My horoscope for today:

"Rest and relaxation are the order of the day today, Sagittarius, but since rest is not a part of your usual vocabulary, it would benefit you to go over recent problems and mistakes, and figure out what you've learned from them. Rethinking the significance of your experiences is a good thing, as long as you don't get caught up in what you should have done. There is nothing more counterproductive than turning your own feelings against you, and that's what you'll be doing if you dwell in negative spaces that, for all intents and purposes, no longer exist."

That brings us to the next discussion: What is it that you really want in your life?

Soundtrack of the day: The Fantasy by 30 Seconds to Mars

'The War' is here..

Much anticipated (for Echelon, at least) 30 Seconds to Mars' album is finally unveiled. As you might have heard, it's called 'This Is War'.It's quite a sensitive title, I'd say. With so many wars going on, people might get it all wrong.

So Jared tweeted (yes, he tweets and yes, I'm a follower) a review on it. Of course, it's a good review that he posted. But, let's face the truth: it's not their best album.
Well, they have only three albums so far, so they still have many chances.
You can have a peek of the songs here.

Their first single, Kings and Queens, is fine. But why am I always reminded of Iris everytime I hear it?
Long intro in Escape.. too Metallica. Even the title is from one of Metallica's songs. A tribute for the legendary metal band?
What's with 100 boys singing in 100 Suns? It might give a nice effect in The Kill, but sorry Jared, the magic wears off.
What's with the Westlife-y songs like Alibi (100 Suns too, actually)?
And what's with the album's cover, really?

Where's the soul of 30 Seconds to Mars that once lived in Fortification, Anarchy in Tokyo, Buddha for Mary, even From Yesterday?
It's beating only half-alive through Vox Populi and Stranger in A Strange Land. Their lyrics never fail, though. Love especially Stranger in A Strange Land.

"I'm a ghost, you're an angel."

Well, I'm not a musician, really, so can't really comment on their music. At least they don't start singing about love and broken-hearts. If they do, that'd be the last day I'm an Echelon.