Year of the Rat Coincidence

[Celebration]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/7234213.stm

A plague of rats has destroyed the crops of tens of thousands of people living in Bangladesh's remote Chittagong Hill Tracts.

Aid workers have warned that the destruction of crop has left the people in a "near-famine situation".

The rat population has soared in recent weeks as they feed off the region's bamboo forests, which are blossoming for the first time in decades.

Neighbouring states in India have suffered from the same problem.

According to the UN Development Programme (UNDP) about 150,000 people living in the hills along the country's south-eastern border with India have been affected.

[Matariki]

1. My boyfriend had a dream on the night before Chinese New Year

Of having a really BIG rat for a pet. At first he thought it would be dangerous, but then realized it was quite friendly and cuddly. When he saw it using the toilet to poop, he thought 'this is the best pet ever!'

Well, my boyfriend didn't know it was Chinese New Year, or that it was year of the Rat. He was born in a year of the rat too, so I figure it was a good omen for him ;-)

[I Have A Dream]

2. That's too bad.

So many people in the world (including here in the US) are literally teetering on the edge between life and death. Something like this can totally push them over that edge.

:(

[Celebration]

3. Yet more rat news

I am not sure why I keep running across this stuff.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2008/feb/10/flooding.climatechange

Driven out of sewers by summer floods and an urban building boom, then nurtured by warmer winters and the leftovers of fast food, rats have been moving into homes, gardens and even cars around the country.

Rat-catchers and companies selling poison and traps are reporting a boom in business, with urban housing estates among the worst affected areas. Long-term growth in rodent populations is also blamed on a decline in 'sewer-baiting', the practice of laying down poison twice a year to prevent rat numbers building up underground.

Because rats breed on average five times a year, with seven or eight in each litter, growth can be rapid. The recent surge in numbers has been linked to a boom in urban development - not least the preparations for the 2012 London Olympics - and last summer's floods, which drove rats out from underground, through holes and cracks in pipes and drains.

Rentokil, the UK's largest pest control company, said demand rose by more than a quarter last year as hits on its website trebled. Killgerm, the country's biggest seller of rat poison, said sales rose by a quarter in 2007.