So much TV, so little time
The Sis, in her wisdom, thought it would be a good idea for us to get together and buy the Mother a new tv for Mother's Day, seeing as her old one has been completely knackered for the last few months. Could have got her one three months ago for Christmas, which would have been better, but nooooo.
ANYWAY. The (rather large) new tv is now sitting in the living room, complete with shiny new digital freeview box attached. More channels to play with and hopefully no more yelling at the TV for crappy reception. Plus I don't have to worry about her trying to toss the set out the window in frustration anymore. Sorted.
It did make me giggle that the first thing that popped up when I switched on the box was an episode of S4 Due South. ;) It was meant to be! Mum said: "Ohh the Mountie! I loved that show." The Sister: "Meh. I prefer the other Ray." *gasp* Oh well. Can't please everyone.
~*~
I saw this on the news today:
Berlin Zoo has vowed it will not kill a baby polar bear amid a heated row over whether it is right to hand-rear the cub, who was rejected by his mother.
Knut has been nurtured by a keeper who has slept by his side, bottle-fed him, and strummed him Elvis Presley songs. But suggestions the three-month-old should have been put down to stop him becoming emotionally and physically reliant on a human have caused outrage.
"We are keeping Knut," Berlin zoo's vet told the BBC. "He's staying alive."
Well thank God for that! Ooh there's more...
Several voices have questioned the decision to keep him alive after he was rejected by his mother, a 20-year-old former performing bear from East Germany. Both Knut and his twin were left exposed to freezing temperatures shortly after they were born in December. Knut's brother died, at which point the zoo intervened to save the surviving cub.
"One should have had the courage to let the bear die then," said Wolfram Graf-Rudolf, head of the Aachen Zoo, cited by the Sueddeutsche newspaper.
Frank Albrecht, an animal rights campaigner, had started the debate in the mass-circulation Bild newspaper by declaring the zoo was violating animal protection legislation by keeping him alive.
"If truth be told, the zoo should have killed the baby bear."
Animals similarly rejected by their mothers in captivity have in the past been killed. Last December, a baby sloth was put down at Leipzig zoo after his mother refused to care for him. But each case is individual, argues Andre Schuele, Berlin Zoo's vet, and should be decided on their own merits.
"Knut was a healthy baby bear when we found him and so there was no reason for us to put him down," he said. "And there's certainly no reason to do so now."
To help Knut gain independence, he was already being left on his own for a couple of hours each day, and had been weaned off the bottle. Polar bears were lonesome creatures, and so spending several years without the company of other bears would not be a problem, said Mr Schuele. The cub will however eventually be introduced to others - although not back to his own family in Berlin Zoo.
"He will go to another zoo," said Mr Schuele. "Eventually, we will find him a new home."
Maybe it's because he's so little and cute there is an outrage, too. Like: 'How can you kill THAT?! HEARTLESS CRETINS!!!' etc. etc. But anyway, I'm glad that he's alive and will have a home...I just hope they don't make him a performing bear like his mother was. I hate that. :|
ANYWAY. The (rather large) new tv is now sitting in the living room, complete with shiny new digital freeview box attached. More channels to play with and hopefully no more yelling at the TV for crappy reception. Plus I don't have to worry about her trying to toss the set out the window in frustration anymore. Sorted.
It did make me giggle that the first thing that popped up when I switched on the box was an episode of S4 Due South. ;) It was meant to be! Mum said: "Ohh the Mountie! I loved that show." The Sister: "Meh. I prefer the other Ray." *gasp* Oh well. Can't please everyone.
~*~
I saw this on the news today:
Berlin Zoo has vowed it will not kill a baby polar bear amid a heated row over whether it is right to hand-rear the cub, who was rejected by his mother.
Knut has been nurtured by a keeper who has slept by his side, bottle-fed him, and strummed him Elvis Presley songs. But suggestions the three-month-old should have been put down to stop him becoming emotionally and physically reliant on a human have caused outrage.
"We are keeping Knut," Berlin zoo's vet told the BBC. "He's staying alive."
Well thank God for that! Ooh there's more...
Several voices have questioned the decision to keep him alive after he was rejected by his mother, a 20-year-old former performing bear from East Germany. Both Knut and his twin were left exposed to freezing temperatures shortly after they were born in December. Knut's brother died, at which point the zoo intervened to save the surviving cub.
"One should have had the courage to let the bear die then," said Wolfram Graf-Rudolf, head of the Aachen Zoo, cited by the Sueddeutsche newspaper.
Frank Albrecht, an animal rights campaigner, had started the debate in the mass-circulation Bild newspaper by declaring the zoo was violating animal protection legislation by keeping him alive.
"If truth be told, the zoo should have killed the baby bear."
Animals similarly rejected by their mothers in captivity have in the past been killed. Last December, a baby sloth was put down at Leipzig zoo after his mother refused to care for him. But each case is individual, argues Andre Schuele, Berlin Zoo's vet, and should be decided on their own merits.
"Knut was a healthy baby bear when we found him and so there was no reason for us to put him down," he said. "And there's certainly no reason to do so now."
To help Knut gain independence, he was already being left on his own for a couple of hours each day, and had been weaned off the bottle. Polar bears were lonesome creatures, and so spending several years without the company of other bears would not be a problem, said Mr Schuele. The cub will however eventually be introduced to others - although not back to his own family in Berlin Zoo.
"He will go to another zoo," said Mr Schuele. "Eventually, we will find him a new home."
Maybe it's because he's so little and cute there is an outrage, too. Like: 'How can you kill THAT?! HEARTLESS CRETINS!!!' etc. etc. But anyway, I'm glad that he's alive and will have a home...I just hope they don't make him a performing bear like his mother was. I hate that. :|