If you look at IMDB's bio of Ewan McGregor, you'll find:
(May 2005) Starring as Sky Masterson in "Guys and Dolls" in London West End
It's almost common knowledge in London that he's currently acting in the theatres. We had delayed this West End trip long enough - his last show is on Saturday and the tickets for this last week were going for almost double the normal price... that is, if you could still find tickets.
Five of us from Queen's Gate were lucky enough (and so it seems, were a few from M'Soc and surprisingly, Amar who appeared out of nowhere without warning in central London), and tonight we were treated to 2+ hours of the Scottish actor's stage charm. How charismatic! :P It's hard to believe that that's Obi-wan Kenobi - replace his 1930's suit and trousers and chuck him in a Jedi robe...
This brings to count my second West End visit in less than a week. The previous one was the Blue Man Group last Thurs, something which I can't quite explain but involves a certain amount of mess - stunts with paints, pipes, lots of noise, interactions with the audience, ponchos for those in the front rows (we were there), and of course, the Blue Men. And I daresay kilometres of toilet paper had passed over our heads (hmm actually it's not merely 'passed', it was more like pressed onto our heads by the people from the back rows) amidst strobe lighting and extremely loud music. It isn't any typical theatre production. It's something you gotta experience.
Another celebrity, Kevin Spacey has been playing Richard II at the Old Vic threatre. Tempting, but my wallet is rattling its coins with disapproval...
Wednesday, November 30, 2005
Tuesday, November 29, 2005
Quoteworthy
We should have started this long ago - ICMUN's debates can be so fun. Sure, when they're serious they can be really good, but in between the seriousness are phrases that just crack you up.For example from Monday's World Health Organisation simulation on AIDS prevention -
Iran: Since when did Iraq become so democratic?
Iran: ... advances in our research... thanks to our male scientists
USA: You don't know who, whom, what, where, from... ... this...
Iran: [mocks USA] who, whom, what, where...
USA: ... it is not putting a condom on a banana which will stop AIDS
Iran: We believe [having equality of education for both sexes] would shake up the entire tradition in Iran; we cannot conceive the idea of women in society
Iran: The delegate of Iran has been insulted by being called USA
USA: Would Iran be made ready the same way Iraq was made ready?
Brazil: The delegate of Brazil will not be in the festival in Rio because he will be in LIMUN
Iraq: [the pharmaceutical industry] Is a good business because it involves people dying
Brazil: If the pharmaceutical goes bankrupt, the Brazilian company will not have any drugs to copy
Monday, November 28, 2005
Look what the cat brought in
Viv's household caught a mouse a while ago; they said they were gonna kill it but nobody could actually do it. He's been living in an inverted tupperware since, together with the mouse trap with which he was caught and McVitie chocolate digestives, and has fondly been named Edwin. I went round to collect it today - just gonna take a couple of shots and perhaps release it - goodness knows what kind of diseases he might carry! Although he looks healthy enough, and I know of people who keep them as pets. Most friends I know destroy the mice they catch - so much for the holes they leave in biscuits and the contaminated cereals. They're quite common around our old Victorian apartments, these House Mice, Mus domesticus... the original ancestors of our pet mice.
Sunday, November 27, 2005
The pre-digital era
These are a few of my scanned photos from before 1999, taken with a Minolta Dynax 500si. Somehow I feel like I took better photos then - when, with a non-digital SLR, I was forced to learn about using the correct camera settings the hard way... the wasteful way. I can still remember the impatience with which I'd take my film to get developed... sometimes going for one-hour processing on impulse... anxious to see how my photos would turn out. In one roll of flim I'd only get a few good - decent - ones, and it was demoralising to look at the number of prints I was forced to discard. My mom'd go tsk-tsking and say that I'm taking up a far too expensive hobby for a 13-year-old. I'd pick my subjects with the greatest care... only when I was confident that the conditions were right would I take a shot. But then - I managed to see more. Or perhaps, there was more to see... even in the space of a few years, I have a feel that some animals are just becoming more uncommon or elusive.
Nowadays I don't care much... having a digital is way too convenient... I shoot whatever and whenever. And I'm not sure if it's a good thing?
Friday, November 25, 2005
Betta Fry: Day 21
It's been three weeks since the beginning of the second spawn; a few are fortunate to be still alive. I think somewhere in between the arrival of my culture of microworms and the consumption of the last brine shrimps, some had starved and it proved lethal. I'm now down to less than 20 fry, and I'm seeing a great difference in the sizes of the biggest and the smallest. The larger ones ('large' meaning ~5mm) are starting to show a tint of colour - when I shine the light from a certain angle, I can see faint blue. They're very active now, seldom staying still, and they're all gluttons. And they like to stick/swim towards the centre of the tank, away from the sides (making photography difficult!). Happily, my microworm culture is thriving in a box of decomposing oat (yeast), which means an unlimited supply of fry food to last me a lifetime. They're free-living nematodes... small, wriggly, and disusting to look at by the gazillions.
Tuesday, November 22, 2005
In a Singapore state of mind
Source: SMH, 23/11/05In a nation that believes sanitisation gives it strength, the death penalty is, on the surface at least, seen as a necessary evil.
You can learn a lot about Singapore from the toilets at Changi International Airport. Spotlessly clean, the cubicles are half a metre deeper than a standard stall, giving passengers ample room to take in their luggage without having to perform gymnastics to close the door.
The basin taps turn on automatically. As with many things in this proud, productive nation, it's well planned so you don't have to think.
The self-flushing toilet also masks another side of Singapore - the punitive side. Locals call Singapore a fine city; there is a fine for everything — from an irritating $S150 ($120) for not flushing old-style toilets up to the mandatory death sentence for trafficking in drugs.
Doubtless the toilet design was lost on the Australian Nguyen Tuong Van as he marked time at Changi airport on December 12, 2002. He waited 4½ unsettling hours in transit for his connecting flight, Qantas QF10 to Melbourne. Passing through security at boarding gate 22, he set off an alarm and a search revealed a packet of heroin strapped to his back and another in his backpack.
Since then, he has had almost three years to focus on Singapore's glossy-on-top, but correctional at heart, system. On Friday next week, barring an unprecedented backdown by the Singapore Government, the 25-year-old Melbourne salesman will be hanged at Changi prison.
As the campaign to stop the hanging builds in Australia, there is still barely a ripple in Singapore. Ask a local whether the Government should hang Nguyen, you'll get: "If they don't hang him, people will say it's not fair. How many people did he kill? Two, lah?"
In fact, that's a Briton who was extradited from Australia, Michael McCrea. The Australian Government would not hand him over until they were assured he would not face the death penalty. He has been charged with culpable homicide which carries a penalty of life in prison. There will be no such clemency for Nguyen.
When told Nguyen is a drugs case, the woman replies: "Drugs, well, then they can't make an exception."
There is no tolerance, in government or among a well-schooled public, for drug crimes. The Government has convinced its citizens that going soft on drugs will bring down this wealthy society. The irony of a country so vehemently opposed to drugs in its own domain investing heavily in Burma, the source of the region's heroin supply, goes unreported in Singapore.
The Opposition politician Chee Soon Juan cites the Singapore Government Investment Corporation's contribution to the Myanmar Fund in the 1990s as an example of this hypocrisy. The fund is controlled by Lo Hsing Han, one of Burma's most notorious opium drug lords, through his Asia World Company. Lo's son, Stephen Law, is married to a Singaporean and is based in Singapore.
The corporation, established in 1981 to manage Singapore's foreign reserves, has a portfolio of more than $136 billion. "If the Government wanted to be serious about drugs, it would not be in bed with the drug barons in Burma," Chee said at a recent death penalty forum in Singapore. "Together, they were investing in properties, building hotels."
After the investment was made public, the Government quietly withdrew the funds. "Singapore has hundreds of millions of dollars invested in Burma; the Myanmar Fund was just a very small portion," Chee said. At the forum, he challenged Singaporean journalists to investigate the claims, which have never been reported in the country.
As with the controversial Burma investments, the state-controlled media plays its part in Nguyen's case. It has largely ignored his fate, only highlighting the case when the Government speaks out to defend its position. In two reports last week, Singapore's foreign ministry attacked the United Nations' special rapporteur on extrajudicial killings and executions, Philip Alston, for having "grossly misrepresented the facts" surrounding the death sentence for Nguyen. When Alston sought to explain his position, a second report called his response a "smokescreen".
Because Nguyen is an Australian, this case has received more coverage than any other. Churches in Singapore are also absent from the debate because of unspoken boundaries that keep religious groups from commenting on government policy.
In Singapore, the Government works hard to ensure the death penalty is never humanised. An anti-death penalty concert in May was not allowed to use the face of Shanmugam Murugesu, a Singaporean then on death row, in its promotional flyers.
Sudhir Thomas Vadaketh, who writes a Singaporean internet blog, says: "They are always doing something to keep a buffer between the human side and the need for a safe Singapore. A lot of Singaporeans accept the death penalty as essential to their safety and security."
Vadaketh, 28, a rare Singaporean willing to speak out, has been studying in the US for the past six years. He sees Singapore's fear of domestic chaos as natural for a small, young nation - especially one with big, once-intimidating neighbours - which needs to be internally unified to survive.
"I don't think it's any more [fear] than any small state and there was a lot of justification for it between 1965 and 1980. Malaysia and Indonesia are next to us and other small countries like East Timor had problems," he says. "In the early stages, [those fears] were very reasonable. In today's world, a lot of fears are leftovers from our early days."
If Singapore has a little-man's chip on its shoulder about being told what to do, you can trace it back to childhood. The country came into being only after it was thrown out of the Malaysian Federation in August 1965.
Since then it has carved a remarkable space for itself in South-East Asia by embracing change and using its greatest strength — its people. Its relations with Malaysia remain prickly. Malaysians commonly call Singaporeans the barbarians of South-East Asia, seeing a country that has forsaken its cultural identity in its drive for wealth. But many of them come to Singapore to share in the dividends.
Singapore's success depends on compliant people and 40 years of one-party rule. Its founding father, Lee Kuan Yew, and now his son, Lee Hsien Loong, have brought that about.
But now Singapore has decided it wants the control and the creativity. Civil society is being carefully cultivated in areas specified by the Government. There was unprecedented public debate earlier this year about Singapore's first casino, then it emerged that the impetus for the debate came from the Government. "The Government put it out there, forced it out there … to galvanise people into policy discussion. We want people to discuss certain policies, that we think it's fine for them to discuss, whereas we don't want people talking about the death penalty," Vadaketh says. "Very few things happen organically from the ground up. The cynical way of looking at it is Singaporeans care more about resorts and casinos than the death penalty. They are more concerned about where they spend their next dollar than some poor soul in Changi prison."
However, Singaporeans have learnt to respect the Government's might. They do not discuss government policy with taxi drivers. "Singaporeans are more closed, lah," says one driver when asked if his passengers are discussing the hanging. "They don't talk to taxi drivers at all."
Yet Vadaketh sees positive changes. "There is much more tolerance to alternative lifestyles or professions. As a kid, it was doctor, lawyer or engineer equals success. Now people are more open."
The recent forum on the death penalty attracted 100 people, mainly young, despite the Government's opposition to the discussion. "The level of discussion is not where we would want it to be but a lot more is discussed now than 10 years ago," Vadaketh says. "The death penalty is a late bloomer." And perhaps too late for Nguyen Tuong Van.
Monday, November 21, 2005
LIMUN 2006 at Imperial College
Hahaa!London International Model United Nations will be held at Imperial College from 17-19 Feb.
Our first... victory? (Since talks with the Union to secure a bigger budget has been failing so far.)
A few of the committee went down to LSE to present what ICMUN and Imperial College has to offer to host 'the largest annual university-based MUN conference in the United Kingdom and one of the largest in Europe'. We got it. But that places pressure on us as well. We're gonna host the whole conference... we'll be the madmen behind the stage (and for some of us, on the stage). That'll come later though.
First... we'll be organising our own intracollegiate MUN conference... mUN@IC. We're a bit ambitious, and planning's underway; it's almost like a replay of what I've been doing for SingSoc the last two years. Thinking of which, I'm not even sure if I can actively commit to helping out with our Major Event this time.
Saturday, November 19, 2005
Decisions
The end of the second semester in USyd, and thus the third year of undergrad studies for my cohort of Aussie students... is drawing to a close. Had I continued, I'd be graduating at the end of the year, and my path from then on would be pretty straightforward. Bachelor of Commerce > work a bit > MBA.But now I'm what they call a scientist and I still have at least half a year to go. And after that? I've no idea. Careers Fair came and went, I checked up some companies and organisations, and I'm still none the wiser about what I'd be doing after my degree. I won't go back to Singapore anytime soon; in my line of work in the UK, the government has good prospects, but they employ only British nationals. Ecological consultancies and related organisations in the private sector seldom employ fresh grads; most require at least a MSc and a few years of working experience. Non-profit orgs and NGOs offer poor pay in comparison - not that I'm complaining - but it's not very encouraging to know that your engineering and banking friends are earning a few thousand quids more than you.
I could go on and do a Masters, or even pursue a PhD. But if I do, where... what... when? Imperial is too tough... I don't think I can cope with the high academic standards. They want candidates to have at least a first class or upper second class honours, and they're so aggressive in research... unchallenged even by the likes of Oxford and Cambridge. I'd love to stay on (actually, do I really?) but I don't think I'd be up to it. Even so, there's only one course that suits me - MSc in Ecology, Evolution and Conservation, and it contains many elements which I don't quite have an interest in. The Institute of Zoology in London & the Royal Veterinary College offer a MSc in Wild Animal Biology, but the course content doesn't sound very attractive either. U of Edinburgh has one for Applied Animal Welfare and Behaviour, but that's Edinburgh.
The University of Sydney offers a Master of Applied Science in Wildlife Health and Population Management, and this course by far is the most tempting and the most flexible. Field studies in wildlife, in situ and ex situ wildlife management, wildlife health, sustainable use and stewardship of wildlife, science comms and commercialisation of science... and parts of it are carried out at the Western Plains Zoo, the Royal National Park and Arthursleigh. What more could I hope for in a course? Plus, I would be in familiar grounds with familiar friends. Closer to home, too. And the species richness and biodiversity there is also much more exciting than those of the drab woodlands, heaths, grasslands and cliffs of England.
But... sigh. Would the world, as my parents put it, see a return to a lower-ranked university for postgrad studies be a sign of academic incapability? Not that I really actually care much for that, but the personal positioning factor is a chore. They say it'd be akin to undoing my first degree in Imperial... they'd rather I go back and work - be entrepreneurial, be adventurous, whatever - rather than go for postgrad in USyd. Or take a break, and return to Imperial. If I can.
Everyone around me - the non-scholars, that is - are starting to worry. Marking down deadlines, finalising CVs, pouring over recruitment materials, looking out for project supervisors...
I'm so clueless.
Friday, November 18, 2005
New look
The last time I toyed with my website pages was a year ago. About time, I'd say.Now it's more integrated, but there're less photos. I can't keep up with the gallery updates... and I'm running out of storage space.
I shall be adding a new section soon - one for articles related to nature, ecology, conservation, biodiversity, animal behaviour, the likes... since I've so much info and written so many essays/papers/emails on them... but 'course I ain't gonna put them up wholesale. Anyway that's just ambitious thinking. Methinks in the end I'll be too shy to put up whatever I've written. I've decided at least to start researching and saving papers especially related to Singapore's fauna (ok ok... flora too). Or anything else of interest for that matter. Gotta make use of Imperial's free access to all the science journals eh...
Thursday, November 17, 2005
Done with Population and Community Ecology (eeks the numbers and the stats!); now onto Applied Ecology. Much of it is common sense, really, just general knowledge and a little bit of specialist knowledge here and there. Ecosystem management, nature reserves, landscape ecology, forestry, fisheries, pest management, climate change, etc etc. :) And there's a little section at the end at the London Zoo looking at their captive breeding programme.
Recent lectures were on mammal conservation - it is surprising that, despite most of the class being UK residents, many are unaware of the law's stand on Grey Squirrels. The Wildlife and Countryside Act states that it is an offence to release, or allow to escape, any animal of a kind that is not established in the wild in Britain. Such animals not only includes the Grey Squirrel, but also the Muntjac Deer, American Mink and Canada Goose. It is also an offence to keep these animals in captivity.
To prevent the Greys from further displacing the native Red Squirrel population, the law has allowed the shooting and trapping of Greys, but once trapped/captured (for the purposes of an individual's welfare/health, etc.) it is illegal to let it back into the wild, and should be 'dispatched' of humanely. Under the Wild Mammals (Protection) Act, it is an offence to intentionally inflict unnecessary suffering on any wild mammal...
Recent lectures were on mammal conservation - it is surprising that, despite most of the class being UK residents, many are unaware of the law's stand on Grey Squirrels. The Wildlife and Countryside Act states that it is an offence to release, or allow to escape, any animal of a kind that is not established in the wild in Britain. Such animals not only includes the Grey Squirrel, but also the Muntjac Deer, American Mink and Canada Goose. It is also an offence to keep these animals in captivity.
To prevent the Greys from further displacing the native Red Squirrel population, the law has allowed the shooting and trapping of Greys, but once trapped/captured (for the purposes of an individual's welfare/health, etc.) it is illegal to let it back into the wild, and should be 'dispatched' of humanely. Under the Wild Mammals (Protection) Act, it is an offence to intentionally inflict unnecessary suffering on any wild mammal...
Wednesday, November 16, 2005
London Aquarium
The London Aquarium seems smaller than Underwater World, and is definitely much, much smaller than Sydney Aquarium, but they've got some interesting fish. Most of their tanks look like they need more efficient filters, and there were some dead stuff here and there.
Longnosed Hawkfish - Oxycirrhitus "Punkus" typhus
Firefish - ain't he cute?! 
No idea what this one's called, but I haven't seen a fish put on lipstick before. 
Stonefish. Looks... stoned. Duh. (Read about how a man was stung by a Stonefish - well, he stepped onto one... - and is suing Sentosa, and contrast this with the ho-ah! spirit of Robin from the wildfilms team!)
Round and round the merry-go-roundTuesday, November 15, 2005
LRPS
It's cool to be able to employ a suffix to your name. When I was younger I had often wondered how so many people can come to have a never-ending row of jibberish alphabets after their name. Now I've got something before I can get my hands on a BSc and ARCS. I know that for some, an LRPS is nothing much but for me... it's been one of my medium-long term goals in life.I know I'm not actually that good a photographer but at least I think I've mastered the basics and can produce decent shots, and some better ones when presented with the opportunity. When I got my Nikon CoolPix a few years back, they said that my photos weren't good enough. Then in September I presented a sample of my work again, mostly taken with the Nikon D70, and this time I got encouragement. So I finally decided to go for it, and selected a panel for assessment in November. Hee... it came through. I clinched the Licentiateship of the Royal Photographic Society. Next step - Associateship! I'll give myself perhaps two years at the most. At least there's something else to aim for, rather than just taking tonnes of photos and taking up space in my harddrives...
But no matter what, I will still be more of a naturalist than I am a photographer. I can have an eye for detail but not an eye for creativity!
Monday, November 14, 2005
Singapore's all out for green...
I nicked this image from Siva's Habitatnews. I have forgotten what I said for the interview, it's all so insignificant now... but still I think I was wishing that I could have said something more impactful. Unless there's a bit cropped off on the left, I have suddenly become... a graduate. >_< Where're me eyes? I'm sure they had better photos (they took so many)... and Uncle Pui San looks a little stunned. :P
How I wish I were back in Singapore now, if not for the Singapore Green Plan 2012 exhibition - reading the Plan in paper and looking at pretty pictures and posters at an exhibition are totally different!, then at least for Clean and Green Week. There are so many activities lined up this month, everywhere in S'pore, by so many organisations... how exciting.
Oh, Yann Arthus-Bertrand's photos are now being displayed in an exhibition along Orchard Road as Earth from Above. I have seen his exhibition Earth from the Air at the Natural History Museum two years ago... amazing stuff.
Friday, November 11, 2005
Betta Fry: Day 7
Don't let his looks fool you. At one week old, this little guy is still barely 5mm. His orange stomach's due to all the shrimp he's been eating.
I've started another brine shrimp hatchery... one is not enough to harvest enough shrimps to feed 109 mouths, 3 times a day! Although what I'd rather much have is a culture of microworms or vinegar eels, but no FS in London seems to sell cultures, so I'll have to hunt it off some existing breeder out there. Too much brine shrimp can cause swim bladder disorder (or so it's believed), but there are breeders who have successfully reared their spawns on brine shrimps without any problems. They say it's the shrimp eggs, and not the shrimp themselves which are the source of the disorder.
Not all of them like to eat the brine shrimp; there are some which still prefer infusoria, but that's lacking in nutrition so I hope they'll make the switch soon.
Wednesday, November 09, 2005
Why must Betta fry be so small?
If you look hard enough, you should be able to see close to 40 fry in this picture. Day 5 now, and still so tiny. They've progressed to feeding on brine shrimp now... the very tiniest of the hatchlings... but the bulk of their diet is still infusoria. This batch is doing better than the previous (the current one is Huxley + Fitch, both conditioned before spawning). In the past three days I've had less than 10 mortalities, and in all I've got est 110 fry.
Monday, November 07, 2005
Inspired
That night while shooting fireworks at Battersea, we made convsersation with a couple of other photographers stationed near us. There was this Aussie chap with a Canon EOS digital and a wobbly tripod, and there as another guy with a Canon film SLR. Film. You don't see that much nowadays. It was either he was the pro among us, or he was just a casual irregular photographer, which could be why he still hasn't upgraded to digital. He kept his other lens in his jacket pockets, and he made some passing comment about how boring it was to shoot fireworks. He passed Raymond and I his namecard, and it had his website on it. He didn't speak much, but asked quite a lot. Ray did much of the talking, while I just listened. Boy am I glad I didn't offer any 'advice', for it'll have been ill-suited of me!We didn't talk much once the fireworks started. He disappeared after it ended.
I went back and checked out his website; as it turns out, this guy is a professional. He's really, really good. He was commissioned to photograph the Queen and the Household Calvary, and has published quite a number of books, the most famous of which was launched at Windsor Castle. He's been all around the world with his camera...
How unassuming... how deceptively amateur. :P But how impressive. I wonder how many people he has awed with the website inscribed on his plain black-and-white namecard...
Sunday, November 06, 2005
Last night Terry Gor said that I looked like I was playing the piano when I typed.
I was curious, so I did an online typing test. If I just type and don't need to think, this is how I perform:
- Test Name: Strategic Alliances with Competitors
- Date: 2005-11-06 17:40
- Test Time: 01:00
- Gross Speed: 103 WPM
- Errors: 0
- Accuracy: 100%
- NET SPEED: 103 WPM
What's the rate for a good clerk?
I was curious, so I did an online typing test. If I just type and don't need to think, this is how I perform:
- Test Name: Strategic Alliances with Competitors
- Date: 2005-11-06 17:40
- Test Time: 01:00
- Gross Speed: 103 WPM
- Errors: 0
- Accuracy: 100%
- NET SPEED: 103 WPM
What's the rate for a good clerk?
Saturday, November 05, 2005
Happy Guy Fawkes Day
Fireworks all around... everywhere in London. What a festive feeling. All because of the failed Gunpowder Plot and some guy who wanted to blow up Parliament but didn't quite manage to. (And that was in 1605!)
SingSoc Deepavali & Guy Fawkes potluck... thanks to the brilliant massive delay of the scheduled setting-off of fireworks at Battersea, I missed out on the food by the time I rushed back to Fisher Hall. Well... there were still some sausages... and many, many Singaporeans. Haven't seen so many familiar faces in a long while; for one reason or another I've been missing out on all the SingSoc activities.
Xiao, Bernard, Kamil and the ICMUNers are up at Oxford this weekend for the Oxford International Model United Nations conference. It'll be my turn in two weeks' time - and that'll be in Cambridge.
Ps. And happy birthday Daddy :)
Thursday, November 03, 2005
Their velvet has been shed, but they are no less handsome
Red Deer, known in North America as Elks, are the second largest species of deer in the world and the largest in the UK (where they are native) - they stand up to 1.5m at the shoulder. The adults stay in single-sex herds during the year, only coming together during the mating season. The mating ritual, or the rut, lasts from September to October... so we've missed it... but the rutting season for the Fallow Deer lasts until December. During the rut the males/stags fight - to gain the attention of the females/hinds, or to defend their territory against rivals.
Here was one stag, in mixed-sex herd, which came up to a few metres away from my camera and tripod and let off a silent bellow. The herd he was with was quite tame... they let use come close(r), whilst the other herds we encountered just disappear into the foliage or woodlands as soon as they detected us. In Richmond there are about 300 Reds and 350 Fallows (of the Bambi fame), but we came across many more Red herds than Fallows. I wanted to take shots of the Fallow Deer stags (they were rutting!) but the torrents of rain made photography impossible in the afternoon.
Wednesday, November 02, 2005
Betta Fry: Day 6
There were some... interesting developments in the past few days. For one - massive culling. It was not unexpected though... I did not even expect the eggs to hatch in the first place. Half the cohort survived, then less... and less... and now there's one left. There's not much difference in size from day 2, but now it's capable of swimming multi-directionally. Yesterday when looked it it, it was zipping left and right in sudden jerky movements. (Fish... suffering from an epileptic seizure??) I observed it under the magnifying glass - only then could I see the live white specks which were present in the water. The infusoria, one-celled organisms. That fry was was happily darting about, feeding.Meanwhile, Huxley is going bonkers over Fitch. And... interestingly enough, vice versa.
