Flowers and Cats around my House

I have got a new mobile phone, which has the capability of taking pictures and sending files via Bluetooth. These are not new technologies, but I just got them on my phone and have been trying them out. So it’s very interesting. Now I don’t need to carry both a camera and a phone because my phone can also double as a camera. It’s really convenient.

So I am sharing with you some of the pictures I have taken around home. Here is one:

This is the orchid in front of my house that is now blooming. Really beautiful, isn’t it? It’s quite amazing that we can get orchids to bloom considering that we do not pay them any attention they deserve. To all intent and purposes they are being cared for by “the gods,” meaning of course they are left to fend for themselves. We only water them from time to time. This particular one is very durable because this is about the second of third time that it blooms, giving us very beautiful purple catleya right at the gate.

So here is the second picture:

This is our newest cat, whose nmae is “Dakchung Sering”, but we call her just “Dakchung.” Her name means “Little Tiger, Long Life.” Kris named her this way because of her tiger stripes. She is the darling of the house because of her youth and playfulness. The other cats in the house are really old and they don’t play around that much any more.

My son Ken got Dakchung from his school. At that time she was just a poor looking stray cat looking for food and affection around his school. He had been playing with them for several days before his teachers suggested that he take her home. Which he did, and we allowed that of course. What a lovely cat.

And here is another cat. This one is rather special because she was not a city cat at all, but was born in the forest at Khadiravana. She had been playing and jumping around to catch insects at the place and then we took her home. She is a bit older than Dakchung. But since the two are about the same age they usually play with each other. Her name is “Dunga Lhamo,” meaning “White Conch, Goddess.” I forgot to say that these names are Tibetan, and Tibetans surely know how to give beautiful names!

So here is Dunga:

She is lying on top of my car. This is her favorite place. She used to stay inside hte house before we got Dakchung but after Dakchung arrived she felt more like staying outside more.

Here is another picture of Dunga:

So these are something I would like to share with you. Perhaps there will be more soon. 🙂

Mac OS X Snow Leopard

Those of you who follow computer news might know by now that Apple has unveiled a plan for a next major revision of its Mac OS X operating system. The code name now is “Snow Leopard.” Well, I had thought that the next name would be something like “Lion,” but I was wrong and perhaps the people at Apple might be thinking that the name “Lion” should be saved for the last and most powerful version yet. So for now they seem to have settled on the snow leopard, perhaps implying there will be more members of the feline family to come.

Well, there is a post here in WordPress about snow leopards. It says that the animal is an endangered species and need to be protected. This, of course, does not imply that Apple’s new Mac OS version is in the endangered species list. But it is good to make the comparison any way. Perhaps Apple might contribute some portion of its Snow Leopard sales to the helping save snow leopards, a majestic creature in the Himalayas and Central Asia.

As for myself, I am still stuck back in the timeline with Mac OS X 10.4, code named “Tiger” (perhaps also in the endangered species list, by the way). I don’t see a reason why I need to upgrade my computer to using the “Leopard” version. My machine works very well. I put it up as a server, which means I turn it on all the time. It serves as the host of the website of the Center for Ethics of Science and Technology and so far it is working very well. The machine is a Macmini, which is really surprising how this little thing could function so well having been continuously turned on for years without any problems. A lot of credit to Apple here!

That is only one part of my connection and perhaps an ongoing love affair with the cats. Another part is that I have five cats at home, and by the way, Apple has not yet named one of its versions “Cats” yet.