My theme: *drum-roll* I BLAME YOU AND ME! Tadaaaa!

Why? Because by the mere fact that you are reading this article and me typing it, you and me are polluting! Why? Because our computers use electricity, and when producing electricity, fossil fuels are burnt. Fossil fuels release harmful gases when burnt, and harmful gases damage our planet. And damaging our planet is called POLLUTING! Criminals! How dare we assault our defenseless planet?


Liked my intro? In fact, you are not the only one to be blamed. Each one of us, while doing our daily activities, pollute in one way or another, and any kind of pollution harms our planet. Let me consider our stereotipical person that goes to work in the morning. We call that person Mr. X, whom friends call X.

X wakes up in the morning, scratches his butt, checks his morning wood and crashes his alarm clock. He's already polluting! Ignore his butt, focus on the clock. When it rings, it causes noise pollution. X moves on to his toilet, gets his tooth-brush and toothpaste. He opens the tap and uses water, forgets to close it again, and after shaving, closes the tap. There again, he goes polluting and wasting resources. Why polluting? Cuz one day or the other, his toothbrush, toothpaste tube and razor equipment will end in a bin somewhere. Maybe they will get recycled. Maybe not. This is pollution. Our chap forgot to close that tap. Water getting wasted. Recently, there have been cases of scarecity of drinking water in various parts of the world. Is that something X should have done? Forgetting to close the tap? But he forgot, and didn't seem to care; care about a poor African kid dying because s/he could not get a mouthful of water, whereas X in his Developed Country is wasting litters while toileting!

After toilet, X goes for breakfast. He switches on the stove, again using electricity and polluting. His food comes wrapped in plastic, which goes to the bin. Pollution. Again and again. And it's still the beginning!

X goes to work. He takes his non-hybrid car out of the garage, and moves, together with the billions of other vehicle users. In doing so he adds his small, but significant contribution to green-house gases which cause climatic changes, and cause our poor African kid to die of thirst. X gets taken in traffic jams, and while his car stands still, the engine burns fuel, just like the billions others stuck in traffic jams worldwide. All those gases go into the atmosphere. That same atmosphere that sustains all living things on this planet!

We break for a moment to consider something. We all need the atmosphere. We won't live a second if ever it vanished and didn't want to come back. All life on this planet will be extinguished in a minute. Our machines will still run, and still pollute, but we will all be stiff. Still, we continue damaging the thing that sustains our very life! Isn't that what you'd call stupid? This is just what we do though!

Finally, or not so finally, X reaches office. He uses elevators and various electric devices, all which require electricity and whose production pollute. He makes use of copiers, which release ozone which is a pollutant in the lower atmosphere, but a savior in the upper layers. Out of his office window, he can see the city, as always wrapped in smog. He makes use of paper, without considering the consequence of his actions.Every single sheet of paper used require trees to be cut down to provide the raw materials. New techniques can create recycled paper, and various other forms of paper, but the basic theory says trees are to be cut down. Whenever a tree is cut down, we should know that one natural Air Filter of our planet goes down, and our atmosphere remains just one bit more polluted. X uses paper, prints on them, and if ever he makes a single typing mistake in his page, trashes the page (even if it has a blank reverse), without a single thought about trees being cut down. He prints, and it happens that one blank page comes out. He puts it in the tray again? NO! He trashes it! Again, without any consideration! During lunchtime, he will use plastic, and other materials that pollute even more. He uses office supplies, which are so easily trashed. Staples and paper clips are thrown on a daily basis. Paper sheets with only a fraction of a side used are trashed. Nobody really cares, provided the office supplies more.

After work, Mr. X returns home using his car, polluting all the way till home. Then he re-pollutes inside his place. At the end of the day, the only thing that remain to be done is to stick a big "I POLLUTE" tag on him!

Because of Mr. X's inconsiderate actions, the climate is changing. Cyclones keep getting stronger. Famine and all the plagues that harm human kind are increasing in proportions. Floods never witnessed before, intense heatwaves, cyclones on inimaginable destructive power. All that because of our combined efforts to pollute the planet! People in regions are dying of hunger, of thirst, or of diseases unheard. Whole sections of the fauna and flora are going extinct. Who is to be thanked for that, we humans. Yes, we humans, who consider ourselves evolved, capable of thinking power, capable of scientific achievement, but who are unable to recognize that we are killing our environment, and in doing so, killing everything that is worth living for. Is it good to be living in a totally barren land like Mars. No. But that's what our planet will turn into if we proceed as we are doing.
Our insensitive nature will kill us. Countries continue to pollute, using "econonic progress" as excuse. USA, the world Super Power and Defender of Liberty, refused to ratify the Kyoto Protocol, and its efforts to reduce pollution are not of the greatest, being the largest emitter of Carbon Dioxide. China too has been gaining notoriety in the Polluters Ranking. With its "world largest" dam that is ruining The Three Gorges ecosystem. We are really grateful to them for ruining our planet, our only home. Ever considered what would happen if we didn't have the planet anymore? Where would we humans go? Earth is our only home, and we fools are trying to destroy it.

This scenario is just a simple example of our daily life. I am sure some of you might have recognized themselves in Mr.X. We often do things he does, without considering what happens to the planet that sustains us. As An Inconvenient Truth said, what is more important, the environment or a handful of gold? Gold often wins, although all the gold in the universe won't sustain our life as our environment does.

After this brief analysis, I take the opportunity on this Blog Action Day to make a plea to you. Take a single of your days as example. On that day, before doing anything, take a few seconds to think about what your action might do to the planet. Does that action harm it? Does it do it good? You will be surprised about how much harm you can cause in one day! Try it!

And next time you ever think of dropping a piece of used plastic on the public way, maybe you should consider punishing yourself. Pollution won't be stopped, but it can be contained, if every single one of us on this planet takes just 1 measure to reduce our pollution!

Some simple measures:

- Use bins! Don't litter the environment.
- Plant / Save trees. DO NOT cut them down.
- Clean your immediate environment. Pick up litter and dump them safely.
- Try to make use of recycled materials if possible.
- Watch "An Inconvenient Truth" made by Al Gore.
- Save energy. Use energy-saving devices like energy-saving light bulbs where possible. Saving just 1 watt per person would greatly reduce the need for burning fossil fuels, and thus decrease pollution. Now imagine saving 100's of watts!
- Avoid using non-recyclable materials.
- Dispose of your trash accordingly. Don't just dump it somewhere in the environment.
- Use alternative sources of energy if possible.
- Use hybrid vehicles if you ever have the chance of getting one.
- Use public transportation instead of getting your vehicle out. This saves on Greenhouse gases emissions.


Remember, it's what you do that counts. If you can do simple things to protect and safeguard the environment, do not hesitate. Even simple things like planting and caring for trees count! This will be your payback to the planet that sustains you, that provides you with what you need to exist and live through, that allows you to be, to enjoy the pleasures of life, to breath, to walk, to eat, to love, to care for and to do all the things you like. Therefore, it is only natural that you try your best to save it, and give it your best efforts.

Thank you, if ever you decide to help save our fragile environment.

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Cool! I got my blog featured in MBB, which is really nice. In case you are wondering, MBB is the Mauritius Blog Brethren, which references loads of Mauritians' blogs.

Feel free to go check it out for yourself. It's a really interesting site, and very worth the visit to get to know more about Mauritian bloggers. Here is the link:

http://thembb.blogspot.com

It allowed me to discover some interesting blogs, and get some reading material while I spend time online.

Thanks again, MBB people...

Ohh.. I've been on Riverofbliss and saw that Neh had loads of new articles up.. Reminds me that I've got to keep writing too. Nooo! It's not my fault.. I swear! Its that of the Lazy-Me! :P

Anyways, 3,2,1..uh..0? Start!

Unif started, and with that a new lifestyle. No more going up till 2 am chatting and browsing, to wake up at 10am the next day! Now, it's 11pm to 6pm every day! OMG military regime! Tough life.

The Student Union sit-in turned from a said BOOM to a POOF after Minister Gokhool intervened. They said it was postponed till a decision was taken. Meanwhile, the Teaching Staff is still baring its teeth apparently.

I went to 6 lectures till now, Maths for Computing (2x), SSD (2x), Computer Hardware (1x) and Programming Methodology (1x). I still haven't seen what FCS and O & M ressembles. Got no lecturer apparently. Now, the lectures themselves are quite interesting after the introductions (which are kinda boring). But the thing is, we can hardly see a thing on the board or projector from the back of the lecture theatre! Also, the class, consisting of 100+ students, makes student-lecturer interactions non-existant. This is a good element to make any class boring beyond measure. Listening for 2 hrs non-stop to an interaction-less lecture makes you sleepy. That's one fact I learnt. At least the chairs are comfy.. Most of them at least. :P

For now, Programming Methodology and Computer Hardware are the ones I find most interesting. Maths being the most tedious to understand and SSD the most difficult to resist sleeping. SSD is pure, continuous, monotonous theory. Phewww. However, some of the concepts in it are interesting. Specially the info about organisations and roles.

Campus is fun. Got loads of things to do between lectures. Common Room is always lively and you can play games there to spend time. Cards, chess, pool, carrom among others makes time go fast. The cafetaria is unfriendly to me, at least to vegs. There isn't lots of veg food there. Too bad. Will have to find new lunch place soon.

The gym is cool! 6 synthetic-flooring courts of badmintons tempt me. Still haven't got the change of trying them (or the changing rooms) yet. The courts were always taken. Hope it'll be for soon. The football pitch seems nice too, but always full. Not that I'm such a football player/fan anyways.

Uh what more.. Yea. The lecturers are quite friendly, but they can't get to know each of their students individually now. Too bad. This severely limits interaction. That's one of the major flaws of the new system at UOM. This, and the fact that we can barely see slides and what's written on the board. Got to stick our necks out and stretch our eyes, or simply sit in front. That means coming to lectures at least 30 mins prior start. Not always easy...

I hate one thing about UOM, and that hate can be phrased as "Severe Lack of Information for First Years". An example? We were given a form about Plagiarism. But never told where to return it afterwards. We had to figure it was Admissions Office. Another thing. There is scarcely any mentions about how to do stuff. Eg. When you want a locker? Simple. Go to Registry and ask. And if you want a time-table? Simple! Go to Registry and ask. Bus pass? Go to Registry and ask. Funny thing is. The Registry will sometimes send you to Admissions office, or your Programme Coordinator, who/which will then divert you to the Registry. And on... Why not just devise a FAQ for freshers? Mehhh...

I haven't had my practicals yet. So I can't say about labs and stuff. Will keep that for another post. That's all for now. If there is anything new, will blog about it. For now, I'm sleepy! Whooops! It's nearly 1 am and I'm still awake.. Guess I never learn! :P

I finally got my acceptance letter for a seat in BSc. (Hons) Computer Science and Engineering (3 years) at University of Mauritius! I hope the course will go on smoothly. Heard it's quite complex and involves quite a lot of programming. I better manage this time! :S

However, things are not going smooth at UOM lately. Student Union and teaching staff are not agreeing with the administration about newly implemented measures about shared courses and shared-dissertations for 3rd years. Quite a lot of stuff going on, and quite a lot of revolt coming.

Hope everything goes on smoothly for us newb freshers... For now, Reconnaissance of UOM grounds! :D

More later.. :P

Recently, I've been looking for 2 peripherals for my Home PC. They are a Wacom graphic tablet, and a WLAN USB adaptor. Not so surprisingly, considering the small number of computer shops we have in Mauritius, I was unable to find any of them in here. My solutions were restricted:

- Ask a friend from abroad to buy them and ship them back here

- Buy the parts online and have them shipped here

The second option seems to be better, however, the methods of payment are restricted. Paypal doesn't recognize Mauritius! And I am quite reticent at giving my account and card details online. So perhaps, I'll have to resort to the 1st option, and bother a poor soul to do my bidding.

This is rather unacceptable. How can we dare call ourselves a "Cyber Island" when we don't have the means to pay online (safely)? Numerous emails have been sent by many people to Paypal, with no reply. Maybe it's high time one of the leading banks decide to contact Paypal to get our country recognized. That could solve lots of problems!

I hate to say it, but as with all things, maybe it's time a letter is sent to one of our ever-so-useful politicians to get things done... Anybody interested?