Seminar on Human-Orangutan conflict management

Panut Hadisiswoyo, the Principle Conservationist and Founding Director of the Orangutan Information Centre is here in Singapore and he came down to NUS to give a talk on the Human-Orangutan conflict mitigation program that he initiated in Gunung Leuser National Park (GLNP), Sumatra, Indonesia earlier today!

As with many other countries, habitat loss is a major problem, especially due to illegal settlement and plantation. The impact is felt more dearly here, as GLNP is one of few legally protected national parks where 4 large mammals can still be found: Sumatran tiger, Sumatran orangutan, Sumatran rhino and Asian elephant, all of which are classified as Critically Endangered or Endangered under CITES. With increasing encroachment of human settlement and palm oil plantations into the forest, inevitably conflict between wildlife and humans will occur. 

Hence, Panut set up the Human-Orangutan Conflict Response Unit (HOCRU) to deal with this issue of human-wildlife conflict, especially with regards to the Orangutans. Apart from dealing with reports from farmers on crop-raiding Orangutans, the unit also conducts research, surveying the locals' perception of wildlife and how they deal with problems arising from such conflicts. They also work with local communities to raise awareness, restore previously cleared forests and run educational programs.

His talk was really inspiring, and I could see his passion and determination in trying to conserve this charismatic animal! Conservation of any animal is never easy, and requires a multi-pronged approach dealing with the local community, big corporations, law enforcement agencies and government policies. Although he has seen some measure of success in outreach and education, there is still a long path to go, especially with regards to law enforcement and dealing with the root of the problem. He has lots of determination though, and I was very inspired by his talk. That one person can have so much energy and passion and have achieved so much, that really gives hope that our wildlife are not doomed to extinction! (:

Panut will be conducting the talk again tomorrow (17 November 2011) at the National Geographic Store in Vivocity at 7.00pm. Do support him by registering here.

More information on the topic can be found here. 

On a separate note, last month I saw some camera trap footage of animals found in Gunung Leuser National Park and they were really cool! Muntjac, Crested Serpent Eagle, Golden Cat, Eurasian Pig, Banded Civet and more! You can check the video out on Youtube.

New blood (for Siva to tekan) at the Raffles Museum

It's been 4 years since the last post! Nonetheless, I'm here to provide new posts on What Happens As An Intern at the Raffles Museum of Biodiversity Research.

I have actually been "intern-ing" under Siva for a few months now, for the International Coastal Cleanup (ICCS). But now as an intern of the museum, I have a duty to upkeep this blog. Blogging/writing is not one of my strengths, even though I do keep blogs, but being under Siva means blogging. Hence, one of my objectives from this internship is probably to improve my writing/blogging skills!

Blogging here is also kind of a reprieve from what I've been doing -- trying to process and compare results of ICCS from 2006 to 2011 by zones.


But my original task to blog was actually on a seminar I attended last Thursday. That post will be out sometime, I guess...

Googling Earth for ICCS Part II - Google Maps

It's Google Maps time after my first run of the ICCS maps on Google Earth. Basically, Google Maps is rather similar to Google Earth. The main difference is that Google Maps can be viewed online while Google Earth needs to be downloaded.

Google Maps.

You can mark down the places just like how you would for Google Earth and save it online or as a KML file. Sharing Google Maps is easy too; you can either send it as a hyperlink (to be viewed online) or as a KML file (to be viewed on Google Earth).

After exploring Google Maps, I realised one horrible truth: Landmarks that are marked down in Google Maps can be saved as a KML file and view in Google Earth. However, landmarks that are marked down in Google Earth and saved as a KMZ file cannot be viewed in Google Maps. *GASP*

You must be wondering why it is horrible to me. Siva once told me that not all people would know how to use Google Earth and majority of them wouldn't even spend the time downloading the program. An online interactive map is in fact better and could reach out to more people. Therefore, now, there's a high chance that I may be remarking the same landmarks on Google Maps. *Cries*

Unless I'm wrong with the fact that KMZ file cannot be viewed in Google Maps. Or maybe there's some way in which i can intergrate Google Earth maps into Google Maps.

Calling all Google Earth/Maps geeks out there! Please Save Me!!!

Mini Tutorial on Google Earth By a So-So Google Earth User

I've advanced from a Google Earth viewer to a Google Earth user, credits to the assignment Siva had entrusted me with. Now, please give a chance to pass these skills to people who are interested to be a Google Earth user too!

An overview of Google Earth. The globe greets you once you start the program.

Google Earth isn't a difficult program to use. Perhaps, you could try to find your home and get yourself familiarize with the navigation control and the program itself.

If you are overwhelmed with all the trees, buildings and roads that you see at the satellite level, and had no idea what the place you are staring at is, no worries! You could switch on useful layers such as the roads, borders, populated places, and Google earth community. These will show you the landmarks and road names. Alternatively, you can download Singapore Placemarks Version 4.12. This will give you major landmarks and even MRT routes; it's definitely a very useful tool and worth downloading. =D

The layers control is at the bottom left hand side of the screen (as shown in the picture).

After you are done with exploring Google Earth, it's serious business time - marking places on it. I will show how to put a pin and make a path in this post.

Click to enlarge the picture. Follow the instructions in the picture to put a pin on a landmark. If you need to do amendments, right click on the pin and choose 'properties' (for Windows). For Mac users, choose 'get info'.

Click to enlarge the picture. Follow the instructions in the picture to draw a path.

Now, after all the pins and paths are in position, it's time to save your file and perhaps share it with others! Firstly, you've got to create a folder in say 'My Places'. Then drag all the items that you had created into this new folder.

Click to enlarge the picture. Follow the instructions in the picture to create a folder.

Now, you can save it as a KMZ file and share it with your friends! Simply attach the KMZ file to you email and you're done!

Click to enlarge the picture. Follow the instructions in the picture to save as a KMZ file.

It's the end of the tutorial! You are now certified as a Google Earth User! Congratulations!

Colours on a gloomy day

I had nothing ahead of me except press articles to scan and a schedule to chase. That was probably why the hot shining day seemed gloomy.

Nevertheless amidst my dulled senses, my attention was captured by this!



As if the blinding sun wasn't enough, I saw this blooming lotus outside the Department of Biological Science. It was initially just a bud on Monday. But when I went down on Wednesday - volia!



It's big, pink and blooming in action.

I couldn't help but take a few shots. The fact that I'd finished scanning the articles probably added to my photo-taking mood. =)



Here's the last picture of the lotus, sun kissed and smiling for the camera.

This was taken on the 27th July. I guess the flower's still there for those who want to see it, but no guarentees. So hurry down now to Level 5 Blk S2 Science Drive 4, The National University of Singapore to catch the flower in full bloom!

Googling Earth for ICCS

Siva decided to give the maps in International Coastal Cleanup, Singapore (ICCS) website an overhaul – an upgrade from the streetdirectory.com maps to Google Earth – and he entrusted me with this major map revamp assignment. After giving me a mini Google Earth tutorial, I was left to figure out the rest on my own.

I got to the ICCS website immediately and looked at the maps for each zones. (Gulp! Gonna have a tough time…)

ICCS map for Changi Zone. Imagine this in Google Earth.

Shock time over, and I began marking down the places steadily in Google Earth. It’s not so horrifying after all because I’m armed with the latest Singapore Street Directory 2007!

I started marking down on 19 June 2007 and am finally done with the first run on 26 June 2007. A little preview on the future ICCS maps and my lovely artwork:

The same Changi Zone in Google Earth.

Hooray! Hooray!! First run is finally over! No more popping eyes and mad shuffling between ICCS website, Google Earth, and Singapore Street Directory 2007!

However, just when I’m on cloud nine, Siva called for me: ‘Wenxian, go find out about Google Maps and see how these Google Earth maps can be integrated into it.’ *Gulp.*

(Sequel coming soon!)

Typhoid Mary

After being labeled as Typhoid Mary by Siva, this is what I've found:

" Today, a Typhoid Mary is a generic term for a carrier of a dangerous disease who is a danger to the public because they refuse to take appropriate precautions. "

Here's some interesting information about the first identified carrier of typhoid fever. Add the fact that she's always in denial, and you can bring several people seriously down.

I brought down Siva only, but many people seem to be getting the flu these days. So being the pioneer amongst those hit with flu, I guess it's no wonder he referred to me as Typhoid Mary.

Museums galore!

I was doing the administrates for claiming taxi fares when I came across an abbreviation - MOFF. Initially I thought it was some Ministry of bla bla bla. But I just couldn't get my hands on it.

Then, it hit me that it's got to be some Museum. And thanks to the amazing search engine Google, I've found more than I've bargained for - an entire list of museums in Singapore! They've formed an association known as the Museum Roundtable.

Internship's really a discovery process when Siva lets me have the time to explore. =P Else I'd never have known there were these much places holding Singapore's culture and heritage. And some still say Singapore's hopeless for her heritage.

Well, now we know otherwise! 42 museums around Singapore to keep the culture and heritage hungry Singaporean satisfied. Here's the list of Museums along with a general map to let you give you a rough idea of the locations of the museums.

Like me, I guess you readers out there's forgotten the reason why I've stumbled upon this list.

*Imagining Siva berating me for my porous memory* =P

Anyway, there it is. MOFF stands for Memories at Old Ford Factory. Which reminds me that I've got to read up on it. Right Siva? =P

Getting OS X 10.4.10 - Part One

There're two different chips in a Macintosh - one for Intel based Mac computers and another for PowerPC (PPC). Siva's blogged about it in his OS X 10.4.10 - go fetch! post, and also, more download information are available under Apple downloads as well.

Here are 4 easy steps I did to download the new OS X 10.4.10 on the Power Mac G4 I use:

1. Before updating the Mac, go to spotlight in a mac and search out your Disk Utility.

2. Next just proceed to repair disk permissions and wait till it's done.

3. Then carry on to update your Mac.

4. After it's done, Siva recommends to repeat the "repair disk permissions" step again.


Repairing Disk Permissions

1st


2nd


3rd

This only gets the Combo pack onto the G4. It has to be manually installed. And that will be for another post to come.

URL made cuter

Been looking at Siva's blog and trying to get some interesting (my definition) web tools to play around with. =P

So here's what I've found and thought this is cute and useful at the same time:

TinyURL !!

It's a really neat tool basically because it tidies up those long URLs you get through surfing the internet, that you want to share with your friends. Instead of a whole chunk, why not shrink it into mouth bites?

Where to get the HTML for your blog or webpage for easy access. And no need to sign up for yet another account. =)

Otterman's 93rd blood donation

In my secondary education days, there would be representatives from the Health Sciences Authority coming down to promote blood donation. I'd always be the one that remains fascinated about the proceedings of it. In fact, all that I have recollection of are the needles and the snacks after that.

So, moving along with Siva on his 93rd donation made me understand a little more than I did about the proceedings of blood donation.

Stage 1
A form's to be filled out to make sure you aren't involved in any promiscuous activity of late. Or early for that matter. Next, you'll get to chat with a doctor personally to make sure the answers are correct and to screen you for your weight. Siva said the 2+ pages worth of questions are gone through one by one. That's how important it is to make sure the blood donated is clean and free from any diseases.

Stage 2
A blood test is done. Your finger gets pricked and blood forced out to be collected in a microtube. Siva said this is the only part of the entire process that hurts. (Can't confirm how true that is. Probably varies with individuals.) Next a tiny drop of blood's dripped into copper sulphate II to ascertain your blood density level's satisfactory for donation. (I've been told Airani has a high rate of failing this test.)

Stage 3
Green light to donate, and you'll proceed into this room with bendy chairs. and two movable arm rests. There's no preference as to which arm to have the needle inserted - all depends on the nurse's ability to get your vein to show itself.

Stage 4
After sterilising the area to have the needle inserted, the nurse delivers local anaesthesia to Siva and inserted the metal needle in. A small portion of blood is directed to a tiny pouch, which I was told for testing purposes. About 3/4 of the blood is used and the rest of blood flow is directed into the larger donation pouch. 450ml of blood's mixed with 46ml of preservative. This pouch is left on a haem-mixer which rocks the pouch gently till 450ml of your blood's inside. It also gives the rate of blood flow into the pouch. All the while, Siva has to squeeze a little sponge provided by the blood bank.

Stage 5
After the pouch fills up and the needle removed, the donor gets to rest for 5 minutes on the bendy chair. Meanwhile, your pouch of blood's whisked away for labeling. A gauze is used and an elastic bandage wrapped around it for flexibility and maximum ventilation for better recovery. And you're good to go!

Siva having donated so many times, has a Champion donor plague on the backdrop of the bloodbank's waiting area. Some photos are available on his blog and more information on his blood page.

Other Links:
How to be a blood donor
PDF copy of pamphlet blood donation

Sun Bears without the sun (and warmth)

We had a talk on Malayan sun bears by Mr. Wong Siew Te on Monday (18 June 2007) afternoon. Mr. Wong touched on the ecology and behaviour of sun bears through his picturesque presentation and created awareness to the threats faced by these cuddly forest bears in the later part of the talk. And finally, it is on the conservation of these bears.

Sun bear and its unique chest marking.
(Adapted from: http://www.mikekaplan.com/pictures/)

Sun bear is the smallest and least known bear in the world. It is unique as its chest bears a patch of yellow furs which no two bears have the same patch; it is akin to our fingerprint. Figs are the main food source for these bears though they do set their claws on termite nests too. Apparently, these bears do also have preference for smelly, rotting chicken innards. (Mr. Wong used them to lure the bears to the traps he set up for his research)

During the period from 1997 to 1999, Sun bears were reduced to skin and bones. There was a massive reduction in the production of figs due to El Nino. Hence, famine resulted. Moreover, haze generated from clearing forest land for agriculture had drastic effects on the main pollinators of the fig tree – fig wasps. The fig wasps’ respiratory system gone hay wire and they died. Without these pollinators, it is even more unlikely that figs flowers will fruit. Basically, the sun bears starved; orang utans survived as it got plenty of alternative food source. (Though Mr. Wong doubted they will survive if the famine persisted for a longer period of time).

Bear #120 and its loose skin as a result from starvation.
(Adapted from Mr Wong Siew Te's thesis)

Though natural disasters do threaten the livelihood of these bears, it is largely humans’ inconsiderate and selfish desires that eventually drive these bears to desperation. Besides the famine, other human activities which cause the declination in the sun bear population include harvesting the bear’s gallbladder for medicinal uses, keeping the cubs as pets (cause they are extremely cute, and human likes cute stuff), and extracting the bear’s canines to make accessories.

Cuddly Bear's a victim.
(Adapted from: http://www.wfft.org/news2.htm)

Poor sun bears. It seemed that their lives and future are not that bright afterall. If only people could put in more effort into conservation (for the bears as well as for the environment).

More blogs on Mr Wong Siew Te's talk on sun bears:
Otterman speaks
The Annotated Budak
Raffles Museum news

BackUps

Another lesson learnt during internship's to backup my files. Normally, I don't back up because I don't see a need to. It's usually school projects that involve many people. Thus our backup would most probably mean each individual has a copy and that suffices.

Apparently that would be standing at the edge of a 101 level building with an ongoing typhoon when you're in a working environment. Always thinking that the world's going smoothly's just paving a way towards misery later on as I realised. And that is one path Siva's been trying to get us interns out of.

The possibility of accidents happening such as water spilling over the laptop, the dog running over wires and tripping it, the computer crashing or even a power failure, can cause severe and prolonged misery of losing information. I guess that's why there are programs which auto saves information like Blogger.

Anyway aside from that fact, Siva pointed out that I should make a copy of the scanned articles of MoST. Absentmindedly, I gave him his thumb drive without any notice on what's inside. The fact that he could have deleted them to derive more space on his thumb drive didn't hit me then. Well, it certainly dropped an impact when I asked for it yesterday.

I guess backups are apt for people with weak hearts. And for the general population too for that matter. Even if something ominous happens to the file that will get you the million dollar contract, you'll still be able to walk away a happy millionaire. If you backup that is.


Suggestions on what to backup

Crabby Search

Friday's (15.6.2007) field trip was meant for Daniel and his FYP. Despite the heavy rain in the late morning, Mr. Siva, Mr. Yeo, Daniel, and I hopped onto a mini lorry and began our search for fresh water crabs. We dropped off at Dr Ivan’s house first. I was a little puzzled initially as to why we had gone to someone’s house to look for crabs. I thought we may be engaging Dr Ivan’s help on the topic and perhaps moving on to some other place for the search. Little did I know that there is a forest hidden behind Dr Ivan’s house, and that is the forest where we would carry out our search!


The stream where we search for fresh water crabs; it’s long and rocky.

Dr Ivan owned part of the forest while the rest of it belongs to the army. Mr. Siva and Daniel began their search along the stream in the same direction and I followed them. I had no idea how different the fresh water crabs would be like, in terms of size and appearance, as compared to those commonly seen in the market. I was only told briefly to look underneath the rocks.

Soon, Daniel claimed that he had found one tiny crab in a dark moist hole beside the stream. In my excitement, I rushed up to take a look, and alas, I slipped and fell into the stream. Argh! Nevertheless, I managed to catch a glimpse of the mini crab before it scurried away. It was really minute, about 5mm, similar to a household spider. I guessed it must be a baby crab then (maybe it is really a spider?).

Being a novice, my search was rather unsuccessful. Feeling a little dismay, I decided to head back to the starting point, partly because the path is getting steeper and my lower leg was hurting from the slip previously. On my way back, I stopped by the hole where Daniel found the tiny crab. This time round, lady luck was on my side, I saw a much bigger crab (I’m quite sure it was a crab and not a spider). But before I could pull out my camera and snap a few shots, it scurried away and disappeared before my eyes. *cries* But to all curious readers who happened to be as ignorant as me, the following pictures may give you an idea on how they looked like:

Top view: Two crabs in a drinking glass. The big one is about 5cm while the small one is about 3cm. The small crab is really active; crawling around restlessly. I guessed it was a little traumatized from being trapped. The big one is rather sedentary. Perhaps there wasn’t much space for it to move too.

Front view of the crabs.

These two crabs were caught by Mr. Yeo. I really wondered how he could spot them as they camouflaged really well. The amazing part is, he found the two crabs within minutes! He’s good, isn’t he! In total, we managed to find about ten to fifthteen crabs in Dr Ivan’s forest in less than two hours.

After biding farewell to Dr Ivan and his family, we continued our search for freshwater crabs along a drain next to Meralodge. Mr. Siva commented that the stream closer to the forest was dry and therefore our search was confined to just a distance away from the drain. There was hardly any crab. Daniel managed to find one juvenile crab, a far cry from the fifty or more that populated the area in the past. The number of fresh water crabs decreases drastically due to pollution such as insecticides and oil. In fact we spotted oil on the soil while we were heading back to the main drain.

All in all, the trip is really an eye opener for an urban kid like me. I have never embarked on such a search before; the closest is Bukit Timah or Pulau Ubin guided trail. *so embarrassing* Moreover, I have a better idea on where to look for fresh water crabs now. Below is a rough guide to the perfect hideouts of the fresh water crabs:

1. Look for holes (mini caves) along the stream, best if it is dark and moist.
2. Alternatively, look for moist leaf litter. Be bold enough to rummage through them, though you are most likely to find wriggly worms beneath it.
3. Look under the rocks. But remember to place the rock back to its original position.

Walking in the Rain

Another activity organised by Siva that got me to work those fats off's Briskwalk. It's refreshing as promised; yet I wouldn't be too sure if it's due to the walk or the shower.

Armed with only a bottle full of water, I had to pick a make-shift umbrella off the leaf litter, which I have to say, worked better against the rain than I expected. Along with me, I have my dad who was lucky enough to find a large leaf with a perpendicular stem. My sis and Wenxian were equipped with rudimentary gear; a cap and a tiny face towel. My mum was the luckiest - she had Wenxian's umbrella!


Leaves as brollies.


Those crazy steep steps.

It was a satisfying morning after the slog in rain and perspiration. And perspire we did - after all those knee high steps and crazy slopes. Finally, we achieved the ultimate aim - reaching the highest topographical location in Singapore!


At the top of Singapore with my mentor

I expected a bird's eye, panaromic view of Singapore, but all there were available were tall thick trees and a whole lot of mist. I guess that's what nature parks should be about anyway - as little human disturbances or evidences of human intrusion as possible.


The summit!

Well, more can be found in habitatnews along with photos available here!

Crocs ahoy! 2

Here's a tiny sequel to the previous post on the little croc we got from Sungei Buloh Wetlands Reserve (SBWR) for preservation.

"Jeremy Ang (SBWR) dropped it off at the museum on 23 Feb 2007. They had discovered the baby crocodile drowned in a drift net left behind by poachers who frequently enter the reserve from Kranji.

Sungei Buloh will use it as a display specimen for education. There have been crocs in the area for some years, see: http://tinyurl.com/2ecnmb
and http://tinyurl.com/3c3466 "

Adapted from Raffles Museum Internship under Comments by Siva.

Having soaked in formalin, the croc specimen needs to be transfered to alcohol for storage purposes. Before that, it was soaked in water for a duration of 5-7 days to get rid of formalin.

According to Mr. Yeo, the best way to gauge is to use your nose. Once the formalin smell is gone, the specimen need not be soaked in water anymore. It can then be transferred into 95% alcohol. Even then, it still needs to be soaked for 5-7 days as well. 95% alcohol's used as it is more concentrated. Thus less water after evaporation as Mr. Yeo explained.


Croc out on the prowl - for a photo.

Formalin can also be used as the medium to hold the specimen but Mr. Yeo recommends alcohol as it will not harden the specimen. He also pushed aside the fact that the colour of the croc will fade as the alcohol he's been changing so far's clear.

A custom made tank according to the vitals provided by Mr. Yeo, will be ready for the croc probably this coming week by the staff from SBWR. After which, silicon will be used to seal it up to prevent alcohol evaporating off and the croc will be ready for display.

Museum Alive

It was a vibrant burst of life when the clock struck 11.40am on late Friday morning. Siva's friend David appeared with his, (if I'm allowed to use this adjective), troop off family members.


The entire family

They brought life with sounds and actions to the otherwise placid and dead quiet museum. It was a refreshing change. Above all, they all had the right responses; gasping and intercepting with oohs and ahhs at the right moment. Moments like when I told them the pasir panjang shark had human remains in its gut. It was the first time I experienced shock disbelief out loud from 14 people in unison - adults and children alike!


Beaming for the camera once again


Excited little kids

All in all, the tour ended and everyone was happy to learn something new in one way or another. Even if it's a short one hour of guiding, it definitely made my day. =)

Ta-da!

One other web tool specially designed to facilitate scatter brains like mine, is the Ta-da list! It's this cool web tool that loads as soon as you've added your schedule. It's real easy to manipulate. To get started, you just have to sign up here for free!


A glimpse into my third brain - where I store stuff the natural ones can't find space to fit into.

As you can see, it allows you to pen down your schedule. Even stray thoughts. Categories can easily be created and you get to shift your schedule around accordingly to your priorities and style of arrangement. That's under the "Edit" and "Reorder" option at the top.

It also allows you to share the list of things that you have to do. Like during internships, supervisors have to keep an eye on things happening around so ta-da's one way of letting you access how much your intern's getting things done.

Deciding who to share your list with.


Here's what it looks like after you've shared a ta-da list.


Here's a preview of what you need to provide to obtain your own ta-da list!

It's quick, it's easy and it helps! So get orgaanised with ta-da list today!

How feeds travel

For a computer dummy like me, learning about exporting and importing feeds' just amazing. Danliang and I were supposed to figure it out like 2 weeks ago, but we gave up after failing to discover how it was done.

It's not until today when Siva suddenly wanted me to urgently make the feeds travel that I've finally learned how to do it. It's really simple after he pointed out that the Import and Export functions are under the File tab under NetNewsWire. That was the beginning of the journey of the feeds from my NetNewsWire Lite to my Bloglines account.

Here's a step by step analysis:

First you go under File options in NetNewsWire and find the Export Subscription option.



Second, save it in opml format on your desktop or wherever you want for that matter. Tip: Give the file a specific name so it can be found easily for the steps later on.



Next, go to: Bloglines - Feeds - Edit, and look at the bottom left hand corner of the screen. The option Import Subscriptions screams out at you and you're almost done!



Lastly, having clicked on the import link and coming to the page as shown below, browse through your com for the exported file (that's when precise naming of the file comes in handy!) you just saved minutes ago and import it!



And you're done! The travelling of the feeds made easy to you! And the cool thing about it is that it goes two ways. Travel from NetNewsWire to Bloglines and vice versa. All you got to do's go backwards. Start from Bloglines, export file and so on.

Google Reader's another destination the feeds can travel to too. And the way they travel's universal. So get one method of moving your feeds around and you'll be able to move feeds from whichever feed subscriber you have. =)

Exploring Bloglines

Another web tool introduced to me was Bloglines. So what is it? Here's it all in one breath!

Bloglines is a FREE online service for searching, subscribing, creating and sharing news feeds, blogs and rich web content. With Bloglines, there is no software to download or install -- simply register as a new user and you can instantly begin accessing your account any time, from any computer or mobile device. And it's FREE!

Adapted from About Bloglines.


A screenshot of Bloglines' home page. Kind of like Wikipedia's.

I haven't discovered most of Bloglines yet, but the Feeds section is enough presently to overwhelm me. They allow subscription to sites of your interest right from the beginning so you get started and active on Bloglines straight away.

Here's showing what you can get from the feeds - amazing photos and stories all a click away!

Baby isopod Ceratoserolis. Wonder what it feels like underneath..


Ghostly shrimp-like creature, called Cylindrarcturus.


It's an animal called Ctenocidaris! Thought it was a plant..

Well, that was just a few beautiful pictures I came across while browsing through my National Geographic News : Animals and Nature feed. =)

The feeds section works just like NetNewsWire and Google Reader in addition to other features available on Bloglines. So my guess is that I'm going to stick to Bloglines more frequently!

These feeds can be categorised accordingly to your preferences under playlists. It makes you more organised as your feeds list grows longer and longer.

Another section of Bloglines I stumbled upon's a blog segment. So, now that I'm left to discover Bloglines, I've created another blog for myself accidentally! Like 2 blogs isn't enough to keep me occupied. Then again, Siva has like 16 blogs?! As you can see from the post, I was really lost. I was thinking it could somehow publish a post to the blog over here at the Raffles Museum Internship. Then, the birth of the third blog.

So check out Bloglines and get an account yourself today!