London Underground/Oyster - RIP OFF!

London Underground/Oyster recently introduced this new ruling to remind all users to touch in/touch out of the gates at the gantry to ensure that they are paying the correct fare. I thought it was a good strategy to catch people who has been dodging fares until I became a victim of their system myself over the weekend which is aimed at protecting their maximum profits with little or no concern for the millions of passengers like me.

The story goes that the gantry at Oxford Circus was apparently faulty on 26 Nov and it did not register my Oyster card when I touched in and I ended up paying a maximum fine of £4 for nothing (See screenshot). I went to argue at the tube counter today but I was not sure if it was the stupidity of the staff over at the counter or they simply did not see a point to entertain an Asian like me. After trying to explain my situation for 10 min and thoroughly annoying the long queue that was fast snaking behind me, I simply gave up with a Oyster card registration form that has a Helpdesk number to call. And you probably guessed it, it is not a Free number! I swear I am going to avoid the tube at all costs in future and going back to my faithful bike and reliable pair of legs instead.

Mating Cuttlefish

My dive buddy just came back from her trip to Malapascua Island, north of Cebu, and hugely famed for its thresher sharks. Although she only did manage to have a 2 sec glimpse of the elusive, she did manage to capture this video of mating cuttlefish which is pretty amazing itself.

You can see that the female was trying to push her eggs into the cavities while the male tries to fertilize them with his sperm. That's when the other jealous male comes into the picture trying to establish his presence and take the female to himself.

Help to stop high sea bottom trawling

Scientists world wide support a UN moratorium on high seas bottom trawling as a stop gap measure allowing time to do the research needed to ensure sustainable fishing. And thanks in part to thousands of letters from Ocean Defenders, many governments now also support the moratorium.

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'Only 50 years left' for sea fish

A major report highlighting the depletion of current fish stock seems to be as bad news as the global warming news that was first reported at the beginning of this week. It again goes to show the extent our damage to this fragile earth without much consideration of the future. I am not against humans to eat fish, but feel that the way we can harvesting the catch is simply non-sustainable. Demand for seafood grows everyday and fisherman are more than happy to continue to feed this demand by looking for more supply, somewhere, somehow...I think we can all do a part by actively making sure that the produce that we buy from our fishmonger/supermarkets have their supplies come from responsible fisheries. At the end of the day, what will the oceans become if there are no longer any fish in it?