World's Mysteries Blog

The Truth Is Out There

Above is the famous quote from The X-Files tv series which was the number one tv-show in the early 90s. The series told some unexplainable phenomenas such as UFO, spontaneous human combustions, freaky creatures, etc with its two detectives, Murder and Scully running around trying to solve the case. For me it was a really superb tv series and one of my favorites as I have a special interest in mysteries. Now after the tv-series has stopped being aired, I still have to satisfy my curiosities. So after doing some blogwalking and searching on the internet I have come across this site. The tag of the site says it all, "world's mysteries blog: unexplained phenomena, ancient history, conspiracies, occult, spiritual, anomalies & more". Thank god somebody made this site. I have been addicted since and keep on coming back to that site to read the new articles. But unfortunately the site currently only available in Indonesian. It has so many articles date back from 17th of April 2007, with its first published article called "10 tempat ter-angker di Jakarta" or the ten scariest place in Jakarta in English. What I like about the article written there is that it is the compilation of many resources. The author really has put some good works of finding, compiling and then writing facts instead of fictions. It is really an enjoyable and interesting site to visit.

Serie A Is Back (With A Bang)

At last the most awaited football league (at least for me) is ready to kick off. After the English Premier League started two weeks ago now welcome Italy's Serie A. This season promises to be a new beginning for Italian football. A year ago football scandal in Italy cost Juventus their position in the top flight, they had to go down to Serie B. But the Italian proved that they were still the best league in the world by winning the 2006 World Cup in Germany. Inter then won the scudetto, but not without many critics saying that they had been helped by the missing Juventus and Milan's point deduction. Juventus are back and Milan will start the season level on points with Inter and that promised us a really interesting season. Juventus have bought many new players such as Vincenzo Iaquinta, Tiago, Sergio Almiron, Jorge Andrade and Grygera while still holding on to their best players like Trezeguet, Del Piero and Nedved. Inter also made a few good signings with the likes of Cristian Chivu and David Suazo. If Juventus and Inter are very active in the transfer market, the same does not apply to Milan. They have only made one investment in the young Alexandre Pato. Latest news said that Milan have transferred midfielder Emerson from Real Madrid. This would make Milan like "little" Brazilian international team. Last but not least there is Roma. Many people said that they have done the best transfer in serie A. They have bought Ludovic Giuly, Brighi, Esposito and Juan. They hope to be able to compete with the usual championship contenders. After the lost of the Premier League - the local television in Indonesia has lost the rights to a cable tv - we can now be relief that at least we can still see the league from where the world champions is. Benvenutto Serie A! Forza Milan!

Greetings

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Independence Day

In a few days (four to be exact), Indonesia will celebrate its 62nd independence day. First, I would like to congratulate my nation happy birthday. Second, I wish that our nation will be prosperous and united. Third, I would like to review some major problems that are still waiting to be resolved although we have been an independent nation for a while now. For some of you who doesn't have a well understanding about Indonesia, let me give you a brief lesson about our country. Indonesia is an archipelaga with around 17,500 islands. About 60% of those islands are uninhibited. With many natural resources such as oil, gold, silver, gas etc. found all over Indonesia, it is supposed to be a wealthy and prosperous country. But the fact is contradicted with the prediction. The development in Indonesia is well behind its neighboring country like Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand. You can see it from the currency exchange, Singapore dollar, Malaysian Ringgit, Thai's Baht is more expensive than Indonesian Rupiah. Singapore got their independence long after Indonesia (in 1967 I think), the size of its country is probably the same like Bali, yet it has achieved so many. How can this happened? Well, I can not answer that and I will leave it to our government to review our problem and act based on it. I just hope that the government and the people's representatives will leave their political interests behind then cooperate and make this country their number one and most important issue. A lot of improvements have to be done. Here is a list of problem which I think needs attention:

• Politics: We need to resolved a few issues relating to separatism. A few weeks back there was an incident in Maluku when president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono attended the 14th National Family Day at Merdeka field, Ambon. Twenty five men were performing Cakalele dance which is a war dance in front of the president. They also hoisted the RMS (Republik Maluku Selatan) flag. This incident really upset the president.
• Economics: There are still many people who lived in poverty. Recent incident reported from Papua. At least 55 villagers from Yahokimo, Papua were dead because of starvation. Papua is a province that has many resources such as gold and silver, thus it should make them a wealthy province, yet it doesn't. In this case I remember an advertisement: "Tanya ken apa?".
• Public Transport: There are many recent incidents including air, land and sea transport. An aircraft has been reported missing when it was flying from Surabaya to Manado. 96 passengers were reported missing and it has not been found since it disappeared on 1st of January, 2007. Because of that and many other incidents, Europe has put a ban for any aircraft that fly from Indonesia. As for sea transport, it is all the same. I have lost count of how many ships that have been missing or drowned in Indonesian sea. And at last land transport: the latest incident involving KA Gumarang which was derailed 4 kilometers from Gubug station, Grobogan, Central Java.
  
  This was not the case of human error or anything, but it was a case of criminal. Someone has removed part of the track, can you believe it?
• Environmental: You must have heard that there is a mud flow in Sidoarjo, East Java. It was started almost a year ago as a result of gas exploration conducted by PT. Lapindo Brantas. It is still flowing muds up until now and there is nothing that anyone can do including the government.
  
  There are also cases of forest fires. Most of the cases happened because of the dry weather, but a lot of them caused by land exploration. People just set fires in the forest so they can use it for housing or agriculture.

Well, those are probably the biggest challenges that our government is facing right now, at least according to me. But who knows maybe the government has other ideas. Anyone want to add another possible issue to my list?

Bali: Your Favourite Getaway?

Hurray, it's Friday. Friday means you have almost completed a week. It means weekend holiday, you can do anything you want after Friday such as sleeping (one of my favorite), shopping, go to the beach or just staying at home to play with your kids. But if you like traveling, you will surely use the weekend to go out and see new places. If you've gone to places you must have a favorite. What is your most favorite getaway place? For some people, especially Indonesian, Bali is probably their first choice of destination for holiday. Bali with its many beautiful beaches: Kuta, Nusa Dua to name a few, its warm people and their unique culture and beliefs, has been the number one destination for tourists who come to Indonesia. In fact, a lot of people only knew Bali, they often ask: is Indonesia near Bali? or is Indonesia a part of Bali? It is really funny if you ask that questions to Indonesian, but the truth is Bali more famous than Indonesia.
Many celebrities have come to Bali and admire the beauty of Bali. The most recent famous person who came to Bali is Zidane (the former French Football National Team captain, World Cup Winner in 1998 and Euro Cup Winner in 2000). He came to Indonesia to visit and meet with President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and after that he came to Bali. His visit was not known from the media, but my friend, Benny, was lucky enough to come across him in Sunset road. You can read the full story here. What about Indonesian celebrities? Recently one of my friend, Rina, met with one of our brightest athlete, Chris John. Chris is currently Indonesia's most known boxer. He is the current WBA and IBF featherweight champions. Do you know where Rina met him? He was window shopping at Centro Mall when Rina called him and asked him to take a picture with here. Speaking of celebrities, I did meet a celebrities when I was having lunch in Warung Nikmat with my friend, Wiwin. She was a television actress, but I never watch television so I didn't her name. Later Wiwin told me that her name is Ayu Cintya.
Now, what is the morale of this posting? The answer is Bali is still most people's perfect hideaway if you're on holiday. Despite the bombing which have happened here the beauty of Bali still attracts tourist. I hope that this will continue on as many Balinese depends their life on it.

Mississippi Disaster

Probably you have heard what happened in Mississippi because it was all over the news. A really tragic accident occurred on Wednesday, 2 August 2007 at 6 pm local time. The bridge collapsed when there were many cars and trucks passing on the bridge. It has been confirmed that there are 50 cars drowned into the river and 6 deaths. This toll will increase as there are many people still trapped under the bridge. A bus full of student was also passing at the time the accident happened. Fortunately the bus didn't go into river. Passengers only had minor injuries. The Mississippi bridge was being repaired when it collapsed. It was an old bridge as it was built 40 years ago with the height of 20 meters above the river. Witnesses said that the workers used big hammer to repair the damaged. Was that the cause why the bridge fell? Only god knows. Here are a few images right before and after the bridge collapsed.

Safari: The Fastest Browser?

It seems that the "product war" between Apple and Microsoft will still continue. After launching their newest operating system: Mac OS X Leopard, Apple now claimed that their latest web browser: Safari is the fastest web browser today. On their official website, you will see there are three categories which are included as comparison tools.
Html performance:

The fastest web browser on any platform, Safari loads pages up to 2 times faster than Internet Explorer 7 and up to 1.6 times faster than Firefox 2.

Javascript performance:

And it executes JavaScript up to 2.8 times faster than Internet Explorer 7 and up to 1.6 times faster than Firefox 2.

Application launch:

You guessed it right, Safari still leads with time needed to load is only 1.74s, Opera comes in second, while Mozilla and Internet Explorer in third and fourth respectively.
What does all that mean for you? Less time loading pages and more time enjoying them.

Wow, it is indeed a really bold claim. But I am sure they won't go telling the whole world about it, if it is a lie. I have just used Safari for a few days now and from what I can tell it is really quicker than Mozilla. They will have to continue to develop it though as there are maybe only a few add-ons that can be installed with it. Unlike his rival Mozilla which has a lot of add-ons that you can install according to your needs and preferences. Aside from all of that, I think that Internet Explorer and Mozilla has a new rival that can really beat them as the "fastest web browser".

Click here to download Safari.

Downloading Youtube Videos

Have you ever heard about Youtube? If you haven't got any clues about Youtube, then probably you are in a town where you don't have internet access. Quoting from Wikipedia: "Youtube is a video sharing website where users can upload, view and share video clips". As stated before, you can watch almost anything in Youtube from movie, tv clips, music videos and even a video of your own production.
Youtube was founded by three former employees of Paypal, namely Chad Hurley, Steve Chen, and Jawed Karim. See below Youtube's earlier office in San Mateo.

It currently has 67 staffs and it is now acquired by Google Inc, in a deal worth US$1,65 billion. The deal was closed on 13 November 2006. TIME magazine awarded Youtube as "Invention of the Year" for 2006. Here is the look of the new office for Youtube in San Bruno.

Enough about history lesson, now to the important part. As you probably know that you can watch any videos in Youtube's website but the site itself doesn't provide you the tool or link to download the video you want. I don't know if this legal or not but you can download the video if you want. After doing some Googling (using the keyword "downloading youtube video", here are some sites that will provide you the download link of Youtube's video that you want.

• Javimoya
• Techcrunch
• Youtube Downoader
• KeepVid

Using those sites to download the file is easy, but it requires you to open the site first, enter the Youtube's video path until it finally gives you the actual download link. For me it is easier to use Mozilla add-ons that you can find here. Just download the add-ons, install and restart Firefox. After restarting Firefox, right-click on the toolbar (area to the left of your navigation bar), choose Customize. It will then open a window where you can choose a lot of items. Locate the VideoDownloader, and click to drag and drop it after the Home button. There you go, you can now download the video from Youtube just by clicking the VideoDownloader button. Easy right?

Creating DropDown Menubar

I have been wanting to post this cool blogger hacks for a while, but due to my busy daily routines I haven't found time to really post it. But now because there are two people who ask about it, I decide it to give it a try. This hack was originally created by Alastor in his blog, you can read his full guide to make this hack works here. All credits must go to him, as I was just using it in my blog. There is also another hack to show recent post in the dropdown menu, which was made by Vivek Singh. You can find all the details here. Now, I didn't just use it as it is, because I was not satisfied by listing all my categories in the dropdown menu (which can be many categories). So I did a little hacking by myself to limit the number of categories you want in your drop down menu. I have tested here in my blog and it worked. If you want to try, feel free to give it a try but don't forget to back up your template first. If something goes wrong, you can always revert to your old template.
I based my hack on Alastor's. All the steps required are the same as his. But I replace the code in his post in the "a) Categories in the Menubar:", with this code here.
This code is used to limit the number of categories to 10, if you want to have more just replace the number 10 in "if (labelnum++ < 10)" to whatever number you want. Remember there are two lines which are using the number "10", be sure to replace both of them. Ok, there you go your dropdown menu is ready to be tested. If you have any questions feel free to leave it at the comment section of this post or just shout in the shout box. Cheers!

A Dream May Come True

Have you ever had a dream come true? If you are dreaming, you can experience any of your wildest fantasy, event if your fantasy includes meeting famous people. This dream is not mine but someone close to me, you may not believe it but it happened.My friend's has this dream for a long time and that is to meet his idol Zinedine "Zizou" Zidane, the former French's national team's skipper. If you watched last year's tournament in Germany, you probably will know him. He was making his "mark" in the tournament by headbutting Italy's defender Marco Materazzi. Zizou claimed he was being insulted by something that Materazzi said. Making him lost his temper and you know what happened next. But before that shameful display, Zizou has long been known as a maestro in football. He lead French national team to be world champion in 1998 by beating Brazil 3-0 in the final, where he scored two goals. Two years later he then lift the European Cup in Amsterdam beating Italy in the final through a golden goal by David Trezeguet. He was also a winner at club level, with Juventus and Real Madrid to name a few of clubs which he played for. He won almost all silverware that can be won.
If you watch the local Indonesian tv or read the newspaper, you will know that he was in Jakarta to meet with President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono. He even taught a few tricks to the president and a bunch of kids. Coming to Bali, maybe was not on his agenda. But who knows, my friend Benny was really hoping he will come to Bali. Now, coming to Bali is one thing, but meeting him by coincidence in a traffic light, wouldn't it be too much to ask? Hey nothing is too much for the almighty if he wishes it to happen.
Benny was driving his motorcycle to work when suddenly near "Simpang Siur" he was passed by two white Landcruisers. He glimpsed at those cars, at first he didn't realize who was in the car. Suddenly, he was like struck by a lightning. He said to himself, "It's Zidane, couldn't be him. But it is him." He was still unsure, but he tried to chase that car. When he got close enough he was then really sure that it was Zidane. Didn't want to waste any time, he got a hold on his backpack, moved it upfront. Opened it and took his Kodak digital camera out. Zidane was in the front car, while his bodyguards (two really scary muscle men) was in the car behind. He prepared to shoot but got uncertain whether to take picture or shoot video. But he decided it was better to take pictures. The window door was a bit opened, so he screamed, "ZIDAAANEEEEEE !" Zidane was playing with his children, hearing someone called his name he turned with a bit discomfort. Benny managed took a picture (you can see it below), but when he tried to take a second someone was yelling, "Hey, who are you. What are you doing?" Benny was surprised because within a flash Zidane's bodyguard have come out of the car and took his motorcycle's key. Benny said, "Sorry, I was just going to take a picture of you". At first he thought the bodyguards will take his digital camera but thank god they didn't. Nobody else realized that Zidane was in that car, well if they were they wouldn't have brought a camera with them except for Benny. After that the green light turned on and the car drove away, leaving Benny with his "keyless" motorcycle. He had to call someone in the office to pick him up and get the extra key. He got late into the office, I hope his boss wouldn't get mad at him.

What lesson can we learn from this story? That you can meet a famous footballer anywhere? No, surely not. It is, if you have a dream, keep living it, try everything that you can to achieve it and don't forget to pray as prayers have a lot to do with luck, just ask Benny. If you have achieved your dream, it would give you great satisfaction. As my friend Benny described: "This is one of the best of the best moment in my life".

Survival Of The Fittest

Darwin once proposed a very famous theory, "survival of the fittest". The phrase is a shorthand of a concept relating to competition of survival or predominance.

Originally applied by Herbert Spencer in his Principles of Biology of 1864, Spencer drew parallels to his ideas of economics with Charles Darwin's theories of evolution by what Darwin termed natural selection.

The phrase is a metaphor, not a scientific description; and it is not generally used by biologists, who almost exclusively prefer to use the phrase "natural selection".While the British economist Herbert Spencer is often credited with introducing the phrase "survival of the fittest" in his 1851 work Social Statics (relating to free market economics) or his First Principles of a New system of Philosophy of 1862, he actually did not use the phrase until after reading Darwin's Origin of Species. and introduced it in his Principles of Biology of 1864, vol. 1, p. 444, writing "This survival of the fittest, which I have here sought to express in mechanical terms, is that which Mr. Darwin has called 'natural selection', or the preservation of favoured races in the struggle for life."

Enough with the phrase, I'm just giving you a look into the origin of the phrase. Every time I heard that phrase it reminds me of my youthful days in high school. Oh it seems just yesterday, but no... it's already fourteen years ago. Wow, I'm feeling old suddenly, sniff... And before I'm getting all blues and all wet, shall we continue?
Does the phrase I've mentioned before still applied up until now? If you ask me, yes it is. The phrase was originally termed for animals, because they are fighting against each other to find food or just to guard their territory. In their world it is either kill or to be killed, hence the term natural selection, the strongest will survive and the weak will be slaved or extinguished.
In todays world, kill or to be killed is not literally applied but it happens in our daily activities. Here is to give you an example. A person come to an office and applied for a job, after an interview and some tests, that person is hired. But because he/she is still new, he/she has to follow a probation test for three months. A contract has been signed and now he/she can work at his/her new office. Daily routines coming up, feeling a little bit bored, and not satisfied with the working conditions (salary probably). Go online and then find a new job opportunity that meets his/her requirements. Feeling lucky, send a resume. Wait for a few days, a call come in his/her mobile asking if she can come to have an interview. To cut the story short, that person is accepted. Now the tough choice comes (it isn't exactly tough because if you look at the salary proposed your decision will be very clear).
The question is, will you take the new job and abandon your current? Not to mention that the probation period is only half way through, but you would also break a gentleman agreement (for women may we call it a lady agreement?) with your current boss. Well, probably those wouldn't be your first considerations. The first thing that would come in mind is your survival, how well your current and your next office can meet your needs. If your criteria is not met by the current, than the h**l with your agreement, it's just a piece of paper right? Just tear it off and fly to wherever the place that would ensure your existence. After all we all just preserving our being in this world, survival is the key. Will you be the fittest? Probably not but surely the most prosperous to be.

Source: Wikipedia

The Power Of 7

If we talk about the number seven, then we are talking about numerology. Number is a result of human culture that is bond to mystical beliefs. Many scientist have dedicated their life to research number and their power. One of those is German's top researcher, Annemarie Schimmel. She published her book, entitled The Mystery of Numbers, on 1993. In her book, she said that numerology and the mystics surrounding numbers have fascinated mankind for thousand years. The sun and the moon have always made men felt that there is something hidden behind it.
Schimmel knew that the number seven has always been the favorite. This made her wrote: "we are hoping that after reading the book, the readers won't make 6 and 7 as their favorite numbers, but to also have knowledge about symbolism and the mystics about any number".
Shchimmel who also know as a philosopher added, "at least the readers will be able - we are hoping for it - to understand why there are three street lights (red, yellow and green), why many people have chosen "lucky" numbers such 7 to be their car's registration number. Number 7 have fascinated men for many years now."
On the other hand, Schimmel wrote that odd numbers have an important role in many culture beliefs, and in theology speculations." But for Plato, all even numbers are bad sign. Vignil said that God loves odd numbers.
All this maybe have not been the consideration for most people yet the number of couples who are getting married on this day, 7th July 2007, are huge. According to the South Jakarta registration office, there is a fivefold increase in the number of people who want to get marry on that date compared to any other date. This shows that people still believe that number 7 is the lucky number, probably it will stay as favorite for a long time.

Source: Detik.com

Tukul: The New Phenomenon

Tukul, when you hear that name you probably wondering who is he? Why is he so famous now in Indonesia? For you who is not so familiar with him, Tukul is a host for a show called "Empat Mata" in a local television network. At the beginning, sometime in June 2006, the show was only aired once a week. But now because the rating has gone sky rocketted, the show is aired everyday from Monday to Friday. Not only that, it is said that Tukul received between 20 to 30 million rupiahs per episode. His contract has just been renewed to 260 episodes. Just calculate it, and imagine what amount will he receive for a month or a year. Astonishing right?
Tukul who started his career as a comedian, has now become a celebrities. With his jargon "Silen please!", "Kembali Ke Laptop", "Puas? Puas?" he set a new trademark for a comedian. You can see nowadays, people are not shy to admit that they come from a small village, a village which represented by only a dot in the map. They now have a new idol, Tukul Arwana, who himself admitted that before becoming a successful presenter, he had to go from a village to another to act, and often he didn't get a warm welcome. But now through hard work and commitment he has turned all of that and silence his critics.
He really has inspired many people, young and old, male and female, even kids. Take this as an example: I was sitting in front of my counter desk at my internet cafe, when two teenagers trying to come inside. But he wrongly opened the door, he should have pulled the door, instead he pushed it from the outside. I said "pull the door, don't push it". After he opened the door, he smiled to me and said "sorry, I am a katrok (villager/peasant) like Tukul". Hearing that I said to myself, Tukul is really a great star, he can make people forget they come from somewhere only he know, or make the city people admitting they come from a small village. It's amazing, really amazing. He is the new phenomenon in Indonesian television. Let's just hope he carries on this way, just keeps humble, keeps his feet to the ground and as always giving a good joke. Quoting from MacGyver (again): "From the bottom of my heart, I salute you!"

Human Nature?

Have you ever blame anyone for something? Have you ever wonder why did you blame this person? Was it really his/her fault? Or was it just your brain justifying that she/he was guilty to cover your guilt? I guess it is really easy to blame other people for your mistake(s). This is really common, so wise men call it human nature. It is as human as eating, drinking, making friends, or even the need to have a partner in life (partner in crime not included).
Take this for an example. In my office we have a server, and I am working in a department where we build software for the company to use and manage the daily works. But sometimes a lot of users just blaming our department whenever the software doesn't work. Maybe they have forgotten that aside from the software there are also what they called hardware, which includes the server itself, networking, or even the user's computer. These what make the software works, and it is not otherwise. So to have the software working properly as you told them to do, the peripheral must work first. Users don't know this, all they know is that when the software giving error messages, they just pick up their phone and call our department to solve the problem. Sometimes it is the problem with the software, but most of the times it is the user's mistake. If it is their mistake they won't admit it, they keep saying that they have done the proper way and the software giving error. Oh so human, isn't it? Maybe the human have forgotten what makes them so different from plants or animals, their common sense. Before we blame other people, just take a few moments to look back and evaluate. Hopefully we don't have to put the blame to anyone and that will make the world a better place to live in.

Still Alive

Hi, for those of you who were wondering if this blog still alive or not, well I've got news for you... This blog is still alive and kicking! I have been busy lately. Busy? That is not entirely true, the truth is I was on holiday. Galungan has passed, but Kuningan is still to come. Furthermore, I was busy setting up my internet cafe. This is a new business which I started with my wife. Hopefully it will be a success. To succeed I think we need to put a lot of energy in it and of course lots of prayers. So I am hoping my fellow bloggers will show some support and just leave comment in this post. By the way, the internet cafe has a blog also, you can find it here. It still needs a lot of improvement as I don't have enough time to complete it. Well, that's it for now just make sure to come by from time to time, maybe you can help me to solve some problems that may - definitely will - arise.

Galungan - Day Of The God

In a few days, Balinese or Hindus of Balinese to be exact, will celebrate their most significant ritual - Galungan. Occuring once every 210 days in the Pawukon (Balinese cycle of days), Galungan will last for 10 days. This Galungan starts on Wednesday, 27th of June and ends at Kuningan day on Saturday, 7th of July.
Galungan is celebrated as the triumph of virtue (Dharma) over evil (Adharma). On this season, people can see Balinese run festival feast everywhere and almost everyday and Bali will look so colorful with its offering. A week before Galungan day which is also called Sugian Tenten. The next day, on Thursday Wage (six days before the actual Galungan day) people celebrate Sugian Jawa. On the following day, they celebrate Sugian Bali. Those three celebrations symbolize the process in purifying mind (Sugian Tenten), body (Sugian Jawa) and soul (Sugian Bali).
Saturday and Sunday (the following days) are called the Embang Sugi (the time when people are concentrating on self-abilities.) Then, Monday Pon Dungulan (in the following week) is called Penyajaan Galungan (a symbol of asking for power from God). The next day, Tuesday Wage Dunggulan is called Penampahan Galungan, symbolizes the time when dharma or truth fights against adharma or evil. Penampahan means "slaughtering" the evil or bad spirits. During this penampahan day, Balinese will slaughter a pig unlucky enough to be chosen to help celebrate this occasion. Then the finely diced pork is mashed to a pulp with a grinding stone, and moulded onto sate sticks that have been already prepared by whittling small sticks of bamboo. Chickens may also be chosen from the collection of free-range chickens that roam around the house compound. Delicate combinations of various vegetables, herbs and spices are also prepared by the men to make up a selection of 'lawar' dishes. While much of this cooking is for use in the offerings to be made at the family temple, by mid-morning, once all the cooking is done, it is time for the first of a series of satisfying feasts from what has been prepared.

To celebrate Galungan, houses are decorated with penjor - long bamboo poles hung with offering, splendidly decorated with woven young coconut leaves, fruit, cakes and flowers. Everyone puts on their best attire. This is Balinese Hindu culture at its most colourful and vibrant with all sorts of festivals held during the Galungan period.

During the Galungan period the deified ancestors of the family descend to their former homes. They must be suitably entertained and welcomed, and prayers and offerings must be made for them. Those families who have ancestors that have not yet been cremated, but are still buried in the village cemetery, must make offerings at the graves.

On Wednesday, the day of Galungan, one will find that most Balinese will try to return to their own ancestral home at some stage during the day, even if they work in another part of the island. This is a very special day for families, where offerings are made to God and to the family ancestors who have come back to rest at this time in their family temple. As well as the family temple, visits are made to the village temple with offerings as well, and to the homes of other families who may have helped the family in some way over the past six months.
The day after Galungan, called Manis Galungan, is a time for a holiday, visiting friends, maybe taking the opportunity to head for the mountains for a picnic. Everyone is still seen to be in their 'Sunday best' as they take to the streets to enjoy the festive spirit that Galungan brings to Bali.

All materials compiled from: Wikipedia and BaliBagus.com

You Belong To Me

Been to the cinema lately? If you have I think you've already seen the latest Shrek movie: Shrek 3. Now I haven't watched it personally but from what I heard in this episode Shrek has a child. Curious? Go see it then. Here is the lyric of one of the theme song by Jason Wade (the vocalist of Lifehouse), "You Belong To Me".

see the pyramids around the Nile
watch the sunrise from a tropic isle
just remember darling all the while -
you belong to me

see the marketplace in old Angier
send me photographs and souvenirs
just remember when a dream appears -
you belong to me

and I'll be so alone without you
maybe you'll be lonesome too

fly the ocean in a silver plane
see the jungle when it's wet with rain
just remember till you're home again -
you belong to me

oh I'll be so alone without you
maybe you'll be lonesome too

fly the ocean in a silver plane
see the jungle when it's wet with rain
just remember till you're home again -
you belong to me

10 GB

This is another funny story. It happened just now. I and my coworkers were just doing our daily routine, that is typing (source code of course). One of my associate needed to install C# on her computer. She already had Visual Dot Net installed but it turned out only VB.Net was available. Hence we told her to reinstall the application.

G: Just reinstall the application and you should see C# there.
C: I don't think we can reinstall it.
G: Why?
C: I don't think there is enough space for the whole program.
G: How many gigabytes do you have left in your computer?
C: Only 3 GB.
G: And what is the size of your harddisk?
C: 10 GB.
G: ?????

I found it really funny, because in the world where hard disk is already reach Terrabyte in size, you can not imagine someone would have a hard disk with that capacity. It is really to small, 10 GB today is the same as a floppy disk ten years ago. Then again, she is a programmer. I really think that she need bigger space for her hard disk.

Milan: David Suazo Transferred

Milan have managed to hijacked David Suazo from Inter. It was reported earlier that Suazo has passed his medical test at Inter and it would only be a matter of time before the player became an Interisti. But it seemed that the Milan and Cagliari have reached an agreement late last night about the transfer of the Honduras born player. This is confirmed by two of Italy's largest newspaper, Gazzetta dello Sport and Corriere dello Sport.

"David Suazo will wear the red and black jersey of Milan next season. The agreement has been reached last night with Cagliari's director", said Milan's official site.

Thus, the arrival of Suazo will once again resurrect the media interest of Alberto Gilardino's future at Milan. The player once said that he wants to find another club which will guarantee him a first team place. But after Ancelotti letting the player go, he then pledged his future in Milan. Suazo could be Milan's solution for a new power forward together with the "Phenomenon" Ronaldo and Pippo Inzaghi.

Link Exchange

For you who have been blogging for quite a while now, have you managed to increase the traffic to your site and thus increased your page rank?From my experience the easiest way (if you do not want to pay) to increase your traffic is just to surf people's blog, leave comments or just post in the shout box and hope for the owner to visit your blog in exchange. The other way is to join a link exchange such as Linkalizer. This site serves as a middle man between people who want to exchange links. First you have to register, then you will have to choose a category suitable for your blog. After that you will just have to wait for offer to exchange link, should you accept the offer then you have to put the link somewhere on your blog. The same would be done for you.
Now, to increase your page rank (in a blog indexing site, such as technorati, pagerank, kampungblog) you need to have a lot of sites link back to your blog or a page in your blog. You will have to be patient though because it really depends in the quality of your posts. Check out these blogs: Aroengbinang-> Pagerank (PR): 4; Technorati (T): 178, Anang's Blog-> PR: 4; KampungBlog (KB): 3. Both of those sites have loyal readers, you can see this by looking at each post which has a minimum of six comments. I am really impressed because I have been posting quite a while but the maximum number of comments I got only six (there are a few of mine in those :D). Anyway the point is you need to post regularly, not just a common post but a good and unique post so your reader will want to come again.
Speaking of unique, check this site. What so unique about this site? Well you can see from the posts there. This site is dedicated for fellow bloggers who post a message in the shout box. Now for each time you post a message in the shout box you will be credited by a link in his daily post. Isn't that a good way to increase your page rank? It's not pretty but it will do the trick I guess. It even gives a review for bloggers who come often. You can see the review about my sites here and here. The owner of this site really has a brilliant idea, this way people will keep on coming and leave message in his shout box and in return will increase their page rank. Quote from MacGyver: "From the bottom of my heart, I salute you".

Love Is Blind?

Do you really believe that love is blind? I don't know about you, but I really do believe. When you love someone you don't give him/her half of your heart, but the full of it. You're willing to do anything, even if they didn't acknowledge it but still you keep on doing it, just because you care for him/her. For those of you who is trying to win the love of your life, keep on trying and win his/her heart, for love is all we need. In the name of love, here is a song from one of my favorite band, LIFEHOUSE. It's called BLIND.

I was young but I wasn't naive
I watched helpless
As you turned around to leave
And still I have the pain I have to carry
A past so deep
That even you could not bury if you tried

After all this time
I never thought we'd be here
never thought we'd be here
when my love for you is blind
But I couldn't make you see it
Couldn't make you see it
That I loved you more
Than you'll ever know
When part of me died
Will I let you go

I would fall asleep
Only in hopes of dreaming
everything
Would be like it was before
But nights like this
It seems are slowly fleeting
disappear as reality is crashing to the floor

After all this time
I never thought we'd be here
never thought we'd be here
when my love for you is blind
But I couldn't make you see it
Couldn't make you see it
That I loved you more
Than you'll ever know
When part of me died
Will I let you go

After all this why
Would you ever wanna leave
Maybe you could not believe it
That my love for you is blind
But I couldn't make you see it
Couldn't make you see it
That I loved you more
Than you'll ever know
When part of me died
Will I let you go
And I loved you more
Than you will ever know
When part of me died
Will I let you go

Lyrics by Sing365.com

A Day At The Hospital

Finally I am able to post again. Last two days I was at the hospital. My little girl was sick and she had to spend a day at the hospital. It happened really quick, one minute she was laughing with us and the next minute she was vomiting. First, I thought she had swallowed a small piece of her toys. But that was not the case. Then she threw up every time we tried to give her milk or water. That was when I realized that this was not the usual case of drinking too much.
We called our doctor and told him what have happened. He then told us to stay calm and keep tying to give her the medicine. If the vomiting continues then we have to take her to the hospital. Unfortunately for her, she vomited all the time that night. So, first thing in the morning we took her to the hospital.
We arrived at the hospital at 7.30 AM. We waited for ten minutes then the doctor came. He then examined my daughter and he suggested that we have to spend the night there because my daughter has lost a lot of body fluids. He also told us that we have to put an IV to her to help getting the medicine inside here body. Wow, that was really shocking for us, because I myself never spend a day at the hospital or having an IV attach to my body. The nurses attached the IV to my daughter through her right foot. It was really sad to see a needle stick to her right foot. Poor my daughter.
Fortunately, right after that she stopped vomiting. Oh, we were really glad to see that. But she didn't want to drink milk or water. We had to force her a bit. But do you know what's the worst part? When the IV was almost empty, suddenly my daughter screamed and cried. We were confused at first but then realized that the IV have turned red. It was my daughter's blood. That's why she screamed really loud. Now that was worst but this is even worst. This happened twice, first when the IV was almost empty and then right after they have changed it with the new IV. Oohhh that was unbelievable. I called the doctor and told him to remove the IV. Only then my daughter stopped screaming and she could rest until morning.
The next day, the doctor told us that the lab result for my daughter was good, so we can go home. But still we have to see him again just to check if she has really recovered.

Authority In Indonesia

Are the authorities in Indonesia love to overshow their power? Lately, if you watched Indonesian news there were plenty of incidents involving the authority and common people. Click here to read about the most recent case between the people of Altas Tlogo village, Lekok, Pasuruan and the Navy. The conflict was started because of a land dispute. The Navy was going to use the disputed land as a military zone, but the Pasuruan people believed that they are the rightfully owner although they have lost in court.
What happened on 30th of May still make me confused. The authority, in this case the Navy, has a job and that is to ensure the safety of their people. But instead of maintaining the security they started shooting at the people. Four people are dead because of the ricochet of bullets fired by the Navy as a warning. The warning shot was fired because the villagers turned violence and started to throw small rocks at the patrolling Navy. At least that's what the Navy claimed. But the villagers said that they heard a series of shot aimed at their home. Only then they started to approach the soldiers and were mad because of the casualties.
From the neutral point of view, we don't know the real story. But engaging and shooting people who were unarmed is definitely wrong. The investigation is still going, and thirteen have been set as defendant. Hopefully whoever is wrong will be brought to justice eventhough that will not bring the dead back to life, at least it will make the family who lost their loved ones fill ease.
Another case is a real experience I have just experienced yesterday. I was driving with my wife and came into a junction. I was headed east and from my left or north side there was this car who was going to go north also. I have blown my horn, but the driver, who then said that he didn't see my car, just keep on going. I managed to brake and stir a little to right, thus I didn't hit his car. But unfortunately for me, my car was hit from behind. Now guess who was driving that car behind me. Yup, you guess it right. An authority man this time it's a policeman. He wasn't wearing his uniform so I guess he was already off duty.
After the collision, the three of us stopped at the side of the road. The policeman came out real quick, and he was even quicker saying that I was to blame. I, if you don't know me yet, am also a hot tempered man. I didn't like being blamed like that, I said to the policeman that the driver who was in front of me, cut my road. That's why I had to break suddenly and stirred a little bit to the right. Maybe my voice was also in high tone, he didn't accept being shout at. He threaten to bring this matter to court, he even said that if he was found guilty he will pay for all the damage. It was then an argument between me and that policeman, the guy who was the source of this problem was the middle man. He tried to give the solution and admitting that he caused this incident.
The reason the guy was in a hurry because he was trying to go to the hospital to see his brother who was sick. Hearing this reason and the fact that he already admitted his fault and his promise to pay half the cost of repairing the damage made me suddenly think. Why was I short fused back there? I found the answer to that later, I was not happy being blamed by the policeman. That's why I had the argument. At last, the matter was cleared and I told the guy that I won't take his money only if the policeman also didn't charge me with anything. We then had an agreement that it was merely an accident. Accidents happened right?
But still this show that there is an urge to show your power if you are a man of authority in Indonesia. I then shook the policeman's hand and not to forget telling him that I was a man of authority myself. Not authority with guns but I am responsible for the education of many people (I am a lecturer, am i not?).

10 Recent Posts

Here are my newest posts, it's removed from sidebar and put into a page. So I can call it from the header above.

A Conversation

Here is a funny conversation between an interviewer and the interviewee. It's really funny, I got this from a friend of mine. It made me laughed out loud.

Consul: What is your name?
Arab: Aziz.

Consul: Sex?
Arab: Six to ten times a week.

Consul: I mean, male or female?
Arab: Both male and female and sometimes even camels.

Consul: Holy cow!
Arab: Yes, cows and dogs too!!!

Consul: Man, isn’t it hostile?
Arab: Horse style, dog style, any style.

Consul: Oh… dear!
Arab: Deer? No deer, they run too fast.

Note:
Everything written in the dialog is just for fun use only. Anyone who is being offended by the dialog is politely suggested to leave this site.

Crystal Report and C#

Does the title seem familiar? Well for me I've been working with Crystal Report 8.5, SQL Server 2000 and VB for almost three years now. But C#... wait a minute it is not a mistype or anything, this is a new programming language for me. Maybe not entirely new, because it has been wondering around since the introduction of Visual Dot Net by Microsoft. Ok, to cut the story short. Last couple of days, I've been given a task to migrate some of our reports from VB6 to Dot Net. I have successfully exported a report, but have been unsuccessfull in a report which has subreports in it. I don't know what's wrong, because in the report itself I have defined the link value which links the main and subreport. If I ran it from VB6 it's perfect, however each time I ran it from Dot Net the same window pops up. The window always ask for a discrete value for each parameters in the subreport. I tried to feed a value in it or passing it programmatically but still no success. Has anybody experienced the same problem? Or does anybody know what's going on and how to overcome it?

How To Hide Your Navigation Bar

Really annoyed by the navigation bar on top of your blog? Want to get rid of it? Read on... After sometime surfing in the internet, I finally managed to find this good article of how to show or hide your navigation bar. Thanks to Derya my blog now looks great. You can see how to do it here. For your note, I didn't use the second part of the code because I want to get rid of the bar permanently.

MouseUp

This is a really funny story. It happened in my office, while we (I and my coworkers) were developing a project using Visual Studio Dot Net. We had to built a custom component using standard CheckedListBox. We were discussing where to put some code and for what event. Those of you who have experiences in programming must know what I am talking about. Then I suggested we put the code in an event called "MouseUp". I said, "that is the best event where we have to put the code". But a colleague of mine seem a little bit confused. After a while we finally knew what made him confused. He thought that the event "MouseUp" was triggered when we literally move the mouse up. I said, "if the event triggered when we move the mouse up, how does the computer know we move the mouse up or down?". We laughed about it for a while, then we explained to him and he understood. For your information, the event "MouseUp" is triggered shortly after we release the left or right button of the mouse.

Pirate's Of The Caribbean

At World's End

In the follow-up to the record-breaking smash 2006 hit "Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest," we find our heroes Will Turner (Orlando Bloom), Elizabeth Swann (Keira Knightley) allied with Captain Barbossa (Geoffrey Rush) in a desperate quest to free Captain Jack Sparrow (Johnny Depp) from his mind-bending trap in Davy Jones' locker - while the terrifying ghost ship, The Flying Dutchman and Davy Jones, under the control of the East India Trading Company, wreaks havoc across the Seven Seas. Navigating through treachery, betrayal and wild waters, they must forge their way to exotic Singapore and confront the cunning Chinese Pirate Sao Feng (Chow Yun-Fat). Now headed beyond the very ends of the earth, each must ultimately choose a side in a final, titanic battle - as not only their lives and fortunes, but the entire future of the freedom-loving Pirate way, hangs in the balance. Produced by Jerry Bruckheimer and directed by Gore Verbinski from a screenplay written by Ted Elliott & Terry Rossio, our beloved cast sets sail once again on a fresh new adventure in May 2007.

Originally posted in: Movieweb.com

A Sweet Revenge

Milan 2 - Liverpool 1

AC Milan have won their seventh Champions League title after beating Liverpool 2-1 in last night's final in Athens. Liverpool started the game as the offensive team, they pressed Milan and won the ball in the midfield through Xabi Alonso and Javier Mascherano. Mascherano was the surprised in Rafa Benitez's line up, but he was responsible for marking Kaka. Unlike the final two years ago, Milan were a little bit cautious and let Liverpool took control of the game. The chances were minimum, until Milan had a free-kick just outside of the area, after Alonso fouled Kaka. Andrea Pirlo took the kick which hit Inzaghi and diverted the ball into the net. Pepe Reina was left stranded. It was 1-0 at half time for Milan.
The second half was very much the same as the first with Liverpool still controlling the game and looking for the equalizer. But the goal they were seeking didn't arrive.
Left frustrated the Liverpool's defense was wide open. Kaka then had several chances to run out the defender, but couldn't get through Jamie Carragher. On the 83rd minute, a loose ball in Liverpool's midfield was won by Seedorf who then passed the ball quickly to Kaka. Kaka saw the run of Inzaghi and provided him a delightful pass. The rest was fairly simple goal by Inzaghi. He slotted the ball passed the oncoming Reina. Liverpool then began to attack sporadically. Benitez brought Crouch and Arbeola on. The changes soon paid off, after Dirk Kuyt scored with a header following a corner on the 88th minute. Fired by the goal, Liverpool players was pouring forward to look for a second goal. But it was Milan who was in control, and played possession football throughout the last few minutes.
It was then a sweet revenge for Milan after their defeat in the final of 2005 at the hand of Liverpool. This is a proof that history may not repeat itself, and while the ball is still round, the game of football can not be predicted. FORZA MILAN !