I stopped and looked at the back today
Do I see beauty?
Do I see destructions?
I never know
Because none ever matters
Matters no one ever.
I stir the pot, fix the holes, and observe the reality as it is. Propagandist for hire.
Filtering by Category: Thoughts
Love Letter
Love letter written by the kids, child's play they say
The heart speak I say.
The Eyes See What They Want To See
I always said that the concept of truth is like the horizon, a person stands in one place wouldn’t be able to grasp what others see. Put it simply to fulfill the concept, you can see it, others can see it, but nobody can comprehend what is the absoluteness of truth, it’s because each one sees what they want to see. A different perspective for every person.
Just like the door, all we can think are “is it bolted?” “is it locked?” “is somebody just closed it?” or ”are we the one that lost the key?”
What if I tell you, that the key or lock did not exist and the door is a figment of our imagination, painted by an artist which makes we believe that we’re being locked out. Just like the concept of a horizon-slash-truth, you wanted to see a door and its lock, you’ll see a locked door. Where as in other’s perception the locked door might not exist at all.
Now if you still see a locked door, turn back and take a look. You’re being locked outside, where fate always cross, chances are always present like inconsistency and beauty hides itself in chaos.
Luck
I guess I am still lucky to be able to see such sights in my lifetime.
Cheers
I Wonder
I wonder, if you really missed the past you had and all the people on it. Do you also miss the state of being with me?
Thought of The Day
If you have fallen so deep but you are able to put your feet together again, you did not recover to your old self. You transcend to someone else, who have fallen and learn how to stand up.
(and yet) Another Resolution
Over the past, I have seen people being taught by the universe regarding the karma, its principles and the very valuable lessons that could be generated from it. However most people are not taking any lessons at all, or simply they didn't realise that the lessons were there. Many things causing this, the most visible perpetrator is the emotion; it shrouded our judgement and vision like a mist and it denies our logic above all. Emotion, basicly would turn a person to the very thing I loathe.
However, the more we loathe or hate, the more we become all of those things that we hate or loathe.
Thus I asked God for objectivity, to shed the mist from my judgement and to allow me to see with clarity. To learn from karmic existence without any ounce of emotion running from it.
Make me embrace reality for all it is and how bitter it is, with no fear or loathe and hate. For I do not wish to become that very thing that I loathe, fear and hate.
I wish to be straight not bent
I wish to be honest not crooked
I wish to be truth not lies
I wish to be cure not disease
I wish to be aids not trouble
I wish to be peace not war.
And I wish these all to all the people, so there are no need for loathe, fear and hate.
Cheers
Before Pieces Fall to Dusts
Let me be one of those people who copy and paste song lyrics and put it on their blog. Dunno why but I find Razorlight pretty cachy right now although Borrell remain as an arrogant bastard as ever.
"Before I Fall To Pieces"
Oh one more drink and then I'll go But there's one more thing I've got to know Does he take you places that I don't? What happened to the story that we wrote?
You just say you don't know, you don't know Oh no you don't know, you don't know
Woo
Oh let's just get this whole thing straight I don't wanna kidnap the truth and negotiate Or miss the point that they met you Just wanna hear you say something that you believe to be true
You say you don't know, you don't know You just say you don't know, you don't know What it feels like What it feels like
And so I'll go before I fall to pieces Yes I'll go before I fall to pieces
Now I'm just waiting for something that might never come If it's a million to one shot I'll make sure I won Seems that nothing is safe, except the truth turns to lies Never figured it out, I figured out why
So I'll go, yes I'll go Yes I'll go, yes I'll go Oh baby I'll go, oh yes I'll go Yes I'll go, oh yes I'll go Before I fall to pieces Before I fall to pieces Yes I'll go before I fall to pieces Yes I'll go before I fall to pieces Ohhhhhhh Ohhh Ohhh
Now the question (there always is a questions): Can pieces shattered again to smaller incomprehensible and insignificant speck of dust?
Cheers
ALIFEINADAY
WAKEUPS AYTHEPRAYER
EREPEATRAINING
IZMODO
VERHEARDINNEWYORK
OMPAS
IGNTHEACKNOWLEDGEMENT
WITTER
EADSOP
OSTABLOGENTRY
OUTUBE
ARNSOME
NGADGET
ABLETALK
EEPSOMETHINGOFF
ACEBOOK
ATABOLISM
ETABOLISM
ACINTOSH
ACKTHELIFE
COLOGICALMEASURE
ND.
100001111010001100101110010111100101110011
Beyond 60 Minutes
In less than 15 minutes, it will be the official earth hour in Jakarta, Indonesia a place where the writer currently resides. This blog entry is made solely on the battery power of my laptop and without any other source of electricity. For the matter of publishing the writer is using a USB dongle of 3G internet service and hopefully it will reign on. Update: at least one of the building in Jakarta turning of their lights, which is kinda neat, but the rest....
Update 2: just heard some malls are actually turning off their lights cool :) although Malaysians are very daring to turn off the Petronas Twin Towers.
Update 3: The Flickr Photo Group have the picture of Jakarta during the Earth Hour, you can find it here. There is a very clear picture on Sampoerna Strategic Square turning their lights off and some other beautiful picture as well.
It is another earth hour this year, and unlike the previous one, tonight is backed by many organisation and public figures (in Jakarta), the message is very clear and concise, do something for mother earth and do it tonight by switching off the lights for 60 minutes.
After that then?
The trend to care of the environment have been gradually increasing; we have seen many movies, lectures, seminars, and music concerts to address this awareness. However those all would meant nothing if the care for the environment is only present at that particular time.
What’s next after earth hour? that’s the part that haven’t being explained by the organising committee of the earth hour, will people continue to their daily habit again and next year to do this same routine again, to vote earth again on 2010? I certainly hope not. The idea of voting for earth is not by just turning the lights off for 60 minutes during the earth hour only, the real deal is how to vote for earth everyday in our life.
Sceptics of the earth hour and the global warming have something in common, their disbelieve of the event and the ability of people to keep up to vote earth. Although it is very simple to do something for the environment which can be done in their daily lives. Use the public transport, bring your own case when you’re taking away food, and simply, use less paper and many other things that we, ordinary people can do.
Do not let this just become a trend, a media over-hype and just something people do to achieve credibility. So turn off your lights tonight, however the real business starts after this, change your daily habit and act beyond 60 minutes. Keep voting for earth.
Cheers
ps: just for the fun of it now I'll shower in the dark
Cheap Internet: Does It Possible (part 2 of Indonesians & Their Internet Culture)
Update: The Ministry of Communications and Information Technology said that the cost of the Internet will be reduced to allow greater acceptance with the public. Hope this will be the key to provide better utilisation of the Internet to the masses. news taken from here Update 2: The cost of the Internet will be lowered after the legislative election on April 9th. A way to attract the voters? I'm sure the user will not put too much care on it
On my last post I was talking about the lack of use of email as a mean of effective communications. There are several factor that made this e-mail communication did not become a reliable and effective method of communications.The pressing matter is the availability of the cheap internet access. When I meant cheap, I also meant that it have to be reliable in good quality (in terms of speed and signal) to ensure the process of effective communication.
Indonesia is steadily improving in its internet access, however it is far from satisfactory. In comparison with countries like Malaysia or Singapore, who enjoys cheaper price of Internet for better quality, Indonesia seems like a country full of choices but none of the choices could be considered best. Real life example should apply here; Telkomspeedy the sole provider of ADSL internet access in Indonesia as a whole, have put the price of Rp. 450.000 for their 3GB quota, while Malaysia with their Streamyx cost as much but with no cap (www.telkom.com, www.streamyx.com).
Well we can always look for scapegoat for every matter in Indonesia, which include on this laying of price, however, that is not the point of this writings. The point is how do we can achieve what Malaysia and Singapore have been able to achieve. Of course there would be a lengthy discussion and regarding what could and should be done regarding this matter, a project proposal, and to the point of acceptance and rejection.
Telkom as the national telecommunication services would automatically handling the ADSL route of Internet connection. This act as a double edged blade, first as Telkom had the technology and infrastructure they could readily deliver ADSL internet access, however, being the sole provider would mean that the market is monopolised by Telkom. There are however, gaps that could not filled by Telkom and its ADSL access, there are the people who are always on the move, People who are unsatisfied with the package offered by Telkomspeedy access and people who does not have phone line yet (but of course they have mobiles). This over the time creating a new number of ISP with competitive price and package, however, none of the new ISP are targeting the third of the market, because of the lack of infrastructure and low number of Internet user in Indonesia (only 10% of Indonesian uses Internet regularly out of its 200 million people (Kompas, 27 December 2008)) Based on the situation above it could be determined that there are several things could be done in order to sort this problem out.
1 Lower the price of Telkomspeedy, this can be done by subsidising the cost of the Internet from the education budget. 2 Build infrastructure that could support the other ISP to provide internet access other than the big cities. 3 Provide training of basic internet feature (data collection via google, correspondence via e-mail, etc.) in school, government offices and people who need to interact with other people. 4 Make a program to use the Internet for regular correspondence, for example; Students from two different secondary schools across cities in Indonesia will try to correspondence with each other via email, they could share stories or pictures regarding their school etc. 5 Create an awareness to use email as a medium for correspondence and point out the the advantage of using email rather than snail-mail. 6 Build a proper library with cheap and qualified internet access, for people who does not have computer to use.
Onno W. Purbo have an interesting idea on how to achieve low cost internet by using a frying pan. There are wiki articles on how it could be achieved;
http://opensource.telkomspeedy.com/wiki/index.php/Teknologi_RT/RW-net
http://opensource.telkomspeedy.com/wiki/index.php/Wajanbolic_e-goen
*both of the link is on Bahasa Indonesia.
The basic idea is to share internet services in community where one household would act as the primary user for the service, while at the same time sharing the connections with people in the community. The frying pan would act as the receiver in other households.
By using this method, people in community could actually bear the cost of the Internet together, which is rationally going to be cheaper, thus achieving the more effective communications.
Cheers
Indonesians & Their Internet Culture (part 1)
Internet in Indonesia have been existed for quite a very long time, most early adopters would still remember the ugly days of using dial-up connections, visiting plasa.com and trying to log on to gain pornographic material. Today Indonesians fondness of internet and its content (which include pornographic material, celebrity gossip, information of stock exchange, social sites, online gaming, etc.) is climbing towards the peak. This could be seen not only by the increasing number of the cyber cafes but with the increase of people filling the normal cafe with their laptops or other 802.11 gadget, and increasing number of ISP. There are however several issue that did not resolve along with the increase the internet usage in Indonesia, first is the utilisation of the internet to increase productivity, second is cost of the internet service. The two issues will affect one another, awareness of the importance of internet as a mean of effective communication will increase the number of ISP thus increased market competition therefore reduced cost of the internet could be achieved. This will bring us to the topic of the writing, first how to use internet as a mean for effective communication for professionals and casuals alike and second what can be done to reduce the cost of the internet.
The forgotten one: e-mail To kick-start the utilisation of internet as a productivity machine I believe we need not to look forward, the technology that allow us to be productive is already present ever since the birth of the internet itself, which is the e-mail.
Along with the now popular blogs and forum, e-mail has been the starting line in internet interaction, before you can join forum, make blog, playing online game, chat, buying stuff over the net you got to have an e-mail address. An e-mail address will show who you are; for instance kids and adolescent e-mail address will differ with those professionals or grand parents. E-mail address also is an important part of the public address of company to NGOs, government departments to The Ministry, both public and private school as well. Unfortunately despite the increasing number of internet user and thus e-mail user, the usage of e-mail in Indonesia (as a mean of communication) could be called tragic.
Why tragic? to make a clear picture regarding this tragedy, let me tell you my story on job and information hunting;
After graduation I have been trying to convince my parents that the good thing to do is to continue my studies, get my postgraduate degree and look for work overseas, unfortunately they are not very keen of the idea, stating reasons that I need to experience in the working environment and taking postgraduate degree could be done later on in life. I swallow the bitter pill and began looking for work and information, I look for jobs over the internet and newspaper over the time. So far there is nothing different than the average Joe right? however, being a firm environmentalist I always try to sent my application through e-mail to various companies, in order not to waste paper. Over the time, none of the local company reply regarding the availability, even though their advertisement still present on the job seeking site.
So I kept wondering what went wrong with my application that is being sent through e-mail? A few possibilities remain; first, my resume is not good enough for their criteria, second, there are already a person filling for the position and lastly they just does not open their e-mail account periodically. Giving the fact that Indonesian, are not very fond of their e-mail based communication, I began to suspect that the reason they did not inform me back regarding my application is because I contacted them through e-mail not by actual or physical mail. Thus I began to look over the company websites, and unfortunately as well, some of them are very difficult to navigate, others are still on construction and some even have been expired. Therefore there are no other form of two way communication other than phone call.
The stories above are one of the example of how Indonesians still do not consider email as a mean of effective communication. a second example might be a simpler, try picturing a craftsman who would like to expand his market. He could promote his crafts by two means; produce an advertisement or waiting for buyers to come, we will not elaborate more on how the way he sit, instead we looked up how he could market his crafts. First, he could produce few brochures regarding his product and will try to market it nationally or even internationally via email or other internet interaction or he can come to the advertising agency, pay some amount of money and let them create a giant billboard and put it on the side of the main road. No need for a calculator for this one, the cost of producing email and sending it are cheaper than producing a giant billboard. This second example would only work in several condition, however, To target a national buyer, the buyer should also have internet connection and second, e-mail might easily reach people around the world, however it is also easily ignored, therefore there is a need to set up an internet marketplace; a blog, or social website account might just do it.
Therefore, given the increase of interaction between people in the world and the ever growing conscience on our impact to the environment, I believe e-mail could be an important substitution if not a complement of how we should interact with one another, both professionally and casually. People and the government of Indonesia thus, should care more regarding the use of e-mail, and by doing so hopefully, the internet is no longer a place to download any pirated intellectual property and porn but as a place to learn and growing.
Politics Are Funny
Politics are funny. It made me laugh more than comedy.Politics are heavy. It made me annoyed more than coffee. Politics are sad. (because) The people around it are mad. Politics are tools. (yet) Somehow we are the fools Politics did not abridge. It enlarge the corner of the ridge
Politician need skills. In order to kill Politician need honey. Or is it the money? Politicians are corrupts. And we can only go harrumph Politician’s (thinks) divine. That’s because of all the wine Politicians are cruel. All the laws in the world are null
And this is the ballads of the politics.
Do fancy gadgets ensure more productivity?
Imagine this, you're visiting the other guy's office, turns out all of their staff working on the shiny aluminium entry level iMac, back at your office, you only equipped by your boss with the Dell tower + the standard monitor, keyboard and mouse. You run Windows XP pro and the other guy using OS X leopard, however, the catch is both of you are having the same computer in the terms of specifications and only differs in the operating system used and of course, the chance of using a fancy computer (as Bruce and Fred implies). Thus at the end of the day why do you did not have the same motivation or could produce the same productivity compared to the other guy? (assuming you guys were working on the same field) Now imagine this, your wife cooks in a completely standard kitchen and for her book club meeting she made a buffalo chicken wings. The other guy wife, also make the buffalo chicken wing in a fully modernised kitchen, however the same ingredients were used. How come at the book club meeting all the people come to the other guy's wife's chicken wing and not your wife?
And finally in an article in the lifehacker, the guy who created Ubuntu promised that in a period of two years he will create a linux distro which will be more prettier and flashier than OS X. All is done to get people to use Ubuntu and thus creating more support towards it.
All of the examples above were suggesting that prettier and flashier machinery or equipment will make yourself more motivated and eager to do work thus increasing productivity. To put it into more sense, it is all about the user experience, whether to create a simple proposal or creating a tables with number or even to show off a fancy presentation. This user experience have to some extend push a creation to become more and more fancier thus giving better user experience.
However, for some people this is just a lot of gibberish. Better user experience would not ensure that a person will work more productively, it is all just depending on the person, well I myself also couldn't agree more.
Anyway, what about the rest of the world? does a fancier machine and better user experience will make you more productive, or does simplicity and easier manipulation of the tool is the key to happy boss?
I personally think it is depending on the person him/herself, and well a pretty equipment does help sometimes.
Cheers
Stuck in a transition.
I am in a period of transition right now, waiting for a revelation which will come soon. For the first time in my life now, I was unsure about things to do with my life, ironically, I feel contented with it. Nevertheless let's try to enjoy this so called "short" holiday
Cheers
Such is life
He has never written the end, He simply follow it
Well it's had been a long time since I write a post (a real post that is, not just a ramblings). In this few days, I have experienced many goodbyes; one from my loved one (miss you so much tang), another from my friends that are going to pursue their studies (best o'luck down there, mates) and from many others that I couldn't see. Anyway let me tell you the story of a fool who wanted the best for everyone, someone who could think that he could giving happiness to those that he cared. He thought he could control it while walking the path and following the end that everybody has written for him, had they know him, comedic ends are ones he wanted to fill the photo-book, as tragedies are only enjoyable in loneliness. What could he do to the ends that he never writes though? letting his voice out would only bring awkwardness, as silence would only bring sequels.
He could only wait, for a time that hopefully would come, that they would realize it with the every senses they had, that it had been tormenting and aching to silently scream. That time would probably come, as he was written his own end surrounded by them, still a paradox he should be, he ironically never wanted comedy for his ultimate ends.
It's only a fiction, and yet I wanted you by my side always when I had my end tang, thanks for everything, and sorry if I always make you disappointed. I love you.
Cheers
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Now playing: Bloc Party - The Prayer
Blending
I have a mixed feelings tonight. It feels like I'm going to cry, and yet my heart still full of joy, and just suddenly void was there, consuming all of them leaving me confused. Such is human minds, they wander aimlessly, while time efficiently running towards their direction.
Cheers
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Now playing: Jeff Buckley - Satisfied Mind
Have They Lost Their Minds?
On my last post I have said things regarding people that have been blinded, by not using their logic which is freely given to us as human, and yet the biggest proof is here:
"A UK schoolteacher who taught English in Sudan was detained, put into jail and get punishment just because allowing her student to give the name Muhammad to teddy bears."
more about the news could be read here.
However even though the court in Sudan had already given the verdict that she is guilty because of insulting religion, give her 15 days in the jail and then deporting her back to UK, some people still think that the punishment is too lenient and ask for death penalty.
Now, here's the thing; not only this is ridiculous, it is also shown how people did not use their minds therefore making them easily stirred by their emotions, which fueled by the sentiments over the western worlds.
Sadly this could be found not only in Sudan but also in various part of the world.Giving the jail punishment, no detaining Gillian Gibbons to the court itself is already considered an action blow out of a proportion, now they are asking for a death penalty? The ones that given the name were the children! and majority of them give Muhammad as the name of their teddy bears, and none of them ever think that they naming the bear after the prophet Muhammad SAW (Peace Be Upon Him).
So why is this still taken out of proportion? does the sentiment against the western world had already culminating because of Palestine, Afghanistan and Iraq? and does the top clerics in Sudan had already lost their minds and senses? had they lost their logic?
In my life, as a Muslim, I have been taught not to be jahil (Arabic for ignorant), to learn and gaining various knowledge in pursuit of education and also things needed in this life. Still now, I can't understand what have gone wrong in their pursuit of knowledge so that they could easily judge a teacher guilty for a mistake she does not even intent to do.
In an update, there is a hope that Gillian Gibbons would be pardoned by the president of Sudan, let's just hope that she will be able to taste the freedom again and this problem would not used by to incite hatred.
Justice for Gillian Gibbons, Cheers!
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Now playing: Au Revoir Simone - Night Majestic
Update: Gillian Gibbons had been pardoned by Sudanese President Omar Al-Bashir , and on her way to be back in UK. It had provided great relief for me that there is no reaction against this decision, and how Muslim and Non-Muslim had been agreed that the punishment against her was unnecessary.
Eaten Logic
Tragedies of humans will always started by not using their greatest treasure of all. The logic were given and rationale were gratis from God, and yet they failed.
Even though history repeated itself and art imitates life, still tragedies befall them.
Because they never learn, and so does people before them, and their children after them.
Their heart all fall blind, leaving them naked and yet still they would stood in the mud of pride.
Cheers
---------------- Now playing: The Smiths - The Boy With the Thorn in His Side