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Reflect on the good and positive
PACIFIC DAILY NEWS
December 24, 2008
Reflect on the good and positive
A. Gaffar Peang-Meth, Ph.D.
If you didn’t pay attention to the findings published in the British Medical Journal earlier this month — noted in my column last week — happiness is contagious; if you are connected to unhappy people, this is likely to increase your chances of being unhappy by about seven percent, on average.
Since smiling, singing and laughter tune up the positive emotions of the people near and around you, you can make this season the “most wonderful time of the year,” as the song goes.
The holiday season is also a time of reflection. Every year I replay memories of the past, near and distant. I sigh at some, shake my head at some, smile at some. And I remember the wise counsel: “Learn from the past, but don’t live there!”
I give thanks to all that happened, the good and the not-so-good — from the not-so-good I learned the good. And I follow the wise counsel: “Live life rather than let life live you.” Make life what I would like it to be; take ownership of my actions rather than blame or praise karma.
I dust off writings by Indian philosopher Jiddu Krishnamurti (1895-1986) who teaches that we can live “sanely, happily, intelligently,” even in a world of conflicts inside ourselves and a world of frictions outside, at work, in the community, or in the world, by living the present “in goodness.”
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Animals and Plants as National Symbols of Cambodia
Animals and Plants as National Symbols of Cambodia
December 12, 2008 by Chanroeun Pa
1- គោព្រៃ= Kouprey (Bos sauveli): The National Mammal of the Kingdom of Cambodia
The Kouprey, an original Khmer species, has been recognized worldwide and named in Khmer version by international biologists even though English, Spanish and French call it Kouprey. Its scientific name is “Bos sauveli” with a size: HB: 2100mm-2300mm; H: 1700mm-1900mm and W: 700-900 kg. The Kouprey is similar to the gaur or banteng but they are unique in having a very long dewlap hanging from the neck, in old males almost reaching the ground. The bull and cow horns are distinctly different. In the bull Kouprey, the horns have cores which are closer together and considerably larger; the horns form a convex curve for the basal half of the horns, dropping below the base, then rising upward and forward, extending slightly above the head with split at the tips. The horns in the female are lyre-shaped, corkscrewing upward, the tips are never shredded, and the cores are thinner and farther apart than in the male. The lower legs of the Kouprey are white or grayish and dark grayish at old age. In the pre-war period, hunting of the Kouprey was prohibited by declaration No. 191 dated January 20, 1960. After the Pol Pot regime, hunting was again prohibited by declaration No. 359 dated August 01, 1994, issued by Ministry of Agriculture Forestry and Fisheries. Kouprey was classified as a critical endangered species according to the IUCN Red List. International Trade of this species is banned, following Appendix I of the CITES Convention and Migratory Species Convention.