Today I learned…

…that most Muppets are left handed. This apparently is because right handed puppeteers use their strong hand to control the muppet’s head, leaving their left hand to control the arms.
This viral version of Bohemian Rhapsody shows this perfectly with lots of left handed muppet rocking out.

So the saying goes.

The plan is to blog about what new things I learn, every day, and then to choose a fact of the week.

Any contributions of knowledge you may think is currently unknown to me will be gladly considered.

newest fact mix is up and it happens to feature the super-talented breakage. i love his seemingly intrinsic ability to take the best of jungle and apply it to dubstep in his own way. i’m pretty sure breakage was only 17 when he remixed nasty habit’s here come the drums , which just proves that all that bass must’ve be pumping through his veins since birth. you neeeeeeed to listen to this.

tracklist!!!

dj madd – someone (breakage remix) (black box)
benga & kutz – kutenga (digital soundboy)
breakage feat newham generals & david rodigan – hard (digital soundboy)
benny page – original killer (dub)
noah d – srs vip (subway)
benga & kutz – i’ll kut ya (digital soundboy)
breakage – higher (digital soundboy)
seven – siren vip (tempa)
skream – memories of 3rd base (digital soundboy)
bal – remembrance (system remix) (vampire)
vicious circle – havana (digital soundboy)
8 bit – so good (digital soundboy)
jubei – carbon (metalheadz)
system – thought reform (digital soundboy)
benga & coki – night (digital soundboy remix) (tempa)
breakage feat roots manuva – run ‘em out (digital soundboy)
breakage – clarendon vip (digital soundboy)

if you missed breakage alongside noah d and scientist on getdarkertv earlier this month, watch the entire episode here or download the audio and save it to have as a little dubstep snack later.

in addition, catch the multi-talented musician/dj/producer/etc on rinse.fm the last wednesday of every month. download the latest (11.25.09).

ok, as much as i cannot stop listening to hard (out dec 7!) and as much as i love rain, i’ve been feeling a lot of older breakage recently, too. one of my favorites:

of course, both the originals (mars and so vain) are beautiful on their own, but so mars is yet another example of breakage’s versatility and natural ability to layer juxtaposing sounds beautifully.

a friend of mine who might have almost as good of taste in music as i do really digs this tune:

mmm, k. i got my deep, rolling dnb fix for the morning. hope you did, too.

hey, breakage: never, ever stop making music, k? you were obviously born to do it.

By Andrew James Murdoch Stephen

Thank God that stupid fairy like TV fluff is over for this season….what a load of garbage that was….and I’m sure every woman and fairy are totally devastated until the next season….and talking about fairies…not that I saw the AWA show or whatever it was but I saw the so called outrage on CNN and what is the big deal?  A self professed fag kisses another guy on TV…ahhhh…what about Madonna?  what about a double standard here?  I mean come on get real!  all you did is blast his name and so called notority through the roof…man he couldn’t have paid enough for so much publicity…..God, the outrage minions and drones are so stupid….that is all I have to say….Andy from Ottawa

By Andrew James Murdoch Stephen

Ok, ok, Ottawa police department has a long standing tradition of keeping people in their employ as policemen even if they are charged with sex crimes….or, drunken driving or, assaulting their own children with weapons i.e. a belt or whatever….but it must be enough….severe enough that they get charged….but are they under paid suspension?  No…..they are still working as cops….i.e. full duties, wearing a weapon, actually two weapons, actually three weapons….that is to say, their gun, their baton, and mace….and as for the cop who was providing info to a drug big wig here in our area using our computer CPIC system (goes cross country police search on everything about everybody) if I remember correctly he is still working too….now we go back, way back, way back to 1987…I was charged for beating up a ex-boxer, one on one, who it had taken 4 of us to handcuff…but I took him one on one uncuffed…well….I was suspended, with pay, for almost 5 years….then, I was to face, even though I was acquitted criminally, a police act hearing for my job….same circumstances, same evidence, irregardless of my acquittal…..I was to face police act hearing by none other than the ex-police commissioner Dan Chilcott himself….so….chief drunk flannagan and my lawyer negotiated a golden parachute for me…thanks to my lawyer….chief drunk flannagan would have made sure if not for my lawyer that my parachute was full of holes….at the same time my case was going on another cop was charged with sex crimes that he was charged with criminally as well…well….he kept his job….i.e. no suspension, but he got to work everyday, sometimes even as a gasoline jockey at the police cruisers fuel station…but at least he got to work 10 hours a day….and when he was acquitted, for his sex crimes, he wasn’t charged under the police act….so, I guess the Ottawa brass love their criminals in their midst and hate and dispise and loath a real cop who was only doing his job and when he was acquitted (one helluva a lot of publicity over 5 years)they realized they had egg dripping off their jowls but policemen who are underworld spies….no problem….sex criminals….no problem…parental abuse with a weapon…no problem….all in a day’s work…like the vaunted vern white says (ottawa chief of police)…risk your job, to do your job….ya right vern, you piece of crap…been there, been burnt, very very p.o.’d  to this day….you have not heard the last of me yet….until I am dust in the wind…Andy from Ottawa, ex-690.

By Andrew James Murdoch Stephen

Ok, ok, shut off your nitrous oxide so you won’t be laughing as hard as this story will unfold. It is the honest to God quote from Vern White the chief of police of Ottawa…..on November 16th at some late night gathering (of whom I don’t know but it was well attended) he had the balls to stand up and address the audience concerning police and community (ahhhhh I’m an ex-cop so read on…..) police should “risk their job to do their job”….that was then reported the next day at exactly 12:05 p.m. the 17th of November on CTV and I flipped….back in 1987 I “risked MY job to do MY job” with an ex-boxer whom it took 4 of us to handcuff……and by myself when I got him into the cell block to place him in jail (he was under arrest for break and enter, hiding in his ex-girlfriends place where he had broken into and chased out his 13 year old step son whose name was Eddie, and was lying in wait in total darkened apartment to confront her and her new boyfriend) I uncuffed him, one on one, nobody else was around but the jailer four feet away with the keys…to make a long story short I beat him to the punch…..now, fast forward 3 year long trial, got acquitted….charges re-laid under the Police Act….because chief flannagan (notorious drunk, even died years later drunk falling down a flight of stairs, as his wife had 2 years earlier, exact staircase in their home, that is the truth) so, under the Police Act I was facing none other than the ex police commissioner of Ottawa, Justice Dan Chilcott…..so, by now we are looking at over 4 years of me under paid suspension, almost no doubt a million dollars for a court case that left egg dripping off the jowls of the Ottawa brass…..chief drunk flannagan and they came back to me themselves via my lawyer Arthur Cogan Esquire….and I jumped with a hell of a lot of money in my pockets…you know the old saying…better jump than be pushed….now, getting back to today…..Vern White espouses in his wisdom “cops should risk their jobs to do their jobs”….what A POISENED CHALICE TO DRINK OUT OF……ya, as if the police brass are going to stand behind a hard working cop doing his own damn job and expect even today to be protected and stood by, by the brass?  Ya right!  The only brass that stands behind their police officers are the RCMP or the QPP when they are shooting Indians to death…so anyways, I have contacted CTV, CBC, newspapers in my town, even called and left a message or two to the chief himself and the chief didn’t even have the balls to call me back….so remember from this Dear Readers….if you have a son, daughter, or even yourself are considering or are in law enforcement in Ontario, especially Ottawa, the vaunted vern white’s quote that cops should “risk their job to do their job” 16 November 2009 is nothing but drinking from a poisened chalice…they will wreak and ruin you, your good name, your good life and your good reputation….they are nothing but liars and duplicitous bullshiters……..Andy from Ottawa, former badge #690

Happy Thanksgiving to Everyone.

I just want to pay tribute to a terrific group of people who love and support me regardless of who I am or what I have accomplished. I am so lucky to find this group of friends whom I called family. THANK YOU SO MUCH for just being yourselves. I love you all truly. =)

THE HOUSE of FACT

F: Friends
A: Always
C: Come/Care
T: Together

This is a Family of Friends who found one another in Virtual World and are now a close Family. =) The FACT FAMILY is founded in the name of Trust, Respect, Love, Friendship & Togetherness as one would find in a real caring family. WE are a family who love, support, care and be there for each other as REAL LIFE and the Virtual World can be stressful and lonely. We encouraged respect, honesty, love, kindness, common courtesy and of course lots of fun. WE ABSOLUTELY DO NOT WANT ANY DRAMA. We discouraged any of our family members to cause or be part of any drama. ALL THE MEMBERS ARE EQUAL…We have no hierarchy ladder. We do not require the members to change their names or profile. We do not have any monthly fees and we are not about making profits or rays. We are not a CULT. We are not a sex group. We don’t have any weird family practices. Whatever each of our members are into are their own business. We encouraged individuality and respect each member’s lifestyle here as long as it does not hurt anybody. In short, We are just a group of close friends who care about each other, respect everyone and are here to have fun.

We are all unique but came together as ONE. We came from different parts of the world and are comprised of different races, ages, gender, sexual orientation, etc…BUT we share something in common…THE BONDS OF FRIENDSHIP.

Ever one talk about end of earth by 2012( which is not going to happen), & there are many reasons given behind, hope so they would have missed this point to mention in their list, not kidding serious issue.

The continent of Antarctica, which surrounds the South Pole, has an area of more than 5 million square miles. The ice cap that covers Antarctica is more than 6,000 feet thick in many places. At some points, it’s over 11,000 feet thick. It’s been estimated that if the ice cap of Antarctica were to melt, it would raise the level of the oceans by 240 feet, and flood about one-quarter of the earth’s land.

Interesting fact right!

In my current stressful state, I have been shopping often.  Most recently, I find myself myself longing for designer heels.  Perhaps it is a base desire to stand out, feel expensive, feel worthy. but I want some high end, fashionable shoes.  I want glitzy, gaudy and gorgeous.  I want to make like a magpie.  I also fear changing into what I dislike, and having material goods define my self worth is definitely not how I want to be.

Fortunately, a combination of a shrinking wallet and natural pickiness prevented me from spending on unnecessary items.  I’ve also found a thrift shop minutes from my place that I can roam when I feel the need to browse.

In the end, all this worry is for naught; my self control will save me from spending.  If I can debate the ramifications of purchasing a $2.50 for three weeks before taking action, then I’m in no danger or reckless spending.

That said, there will most likely be some big purchases in the future.  I have, after all, been searching for a new bag for about 8 months, an electric toothbrush for 13 months and an immersion blending for three months.  I will also need some more sweaters, as my winter wardrobe is severely limited.  None of these can be considered frivolous items… right?

Don’t mind me, I’m just being a worrywart and excessively cheap.

From http://news.nationalgeographic.com/

It may be called Turkey Day, but the U.S. Thanksgiving Day is about more than just the bird. Learn about a holiday myth—the first “real” Thanksgiving wasn’t until the 1800s—and how we celebrate Thanksgiving dinner today.

Key to any Thanksgiving Day menu is a fat turkey and cranberry sauce.

Some 250 million turkeys were raised in the U.S. in 2009 for slaughter, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Agricultural Statistics Service. Those birds were worth about U.S. $4.5 billion.

About 46 million will end up on U.S. dinner tables this Thanksgiving. (See the Green Guide’s suggestions for having a greener—and more grateful—Thanksgiving.)

Minnesota is the United States’s top turkey-producing state, followed by North Carolina, Arkansas, Missouri, Virginia, and California.

These “big six” states produce two of every three U.S.-raised birds, according to data compiled by the U.S. Census Bureau.

U.S. farmers will also produce 709 million pounds of cranberries, which, like turkeys, are native to the Americas. The top producers are Wisconsin and Massachusetts.

The U.S. will also grow 1.8 billion pounds of sweet potatoes—many in North Carolina, California, and Mississippi—and produce 1.1 billion pounds of pumpkins.

Contrary to legend, the amount of the organic protein tryptophan in most turkeys isn’t responsible for drowsiness.

Instead scientists blame booze, the sheer caloric size of an average feast, or just plain old relaxing after stressful work schedules.

What Was on the First Thanksgiving Menu?

Little is known about the first Thanksgiving dinner in the Plimoth (also spelled Plymouth) Colony in October 1621, attended by some 50 English colonists and about 90 native Wampanoag men in what is now Massachusetts.

We do know that the Wampanoag killed five deer for the feast, and that the colonists shot wild fowl—which may have been geese, ducks, or turkey. Some form, or forms, of Indian corn were also served.

But Jennifer Monac, spokesperson for the living-history museum Plimoth Plantation said the feasters likely supplemented their venison and birds with fish, lobster, clams, nuts, and wheat flour, as well as vegetables such as pumpkin, squash, carrots, and peas.

If you want to eat like a Pilgrim yourself, try some of the Plimoth Plantation’s recipes, including stewed pompion (pumpkin) or traditional Wampanoag succotash.

Where Did Thanksgiving Come From?

American Indian peoples, Europeans, and other cultures around the world often celebrated the harvest season with feasts to offer thanks to higher powers for their sustenance and survival.

In 1541 Spaniard Francisco Vásquez de Coronado and his troops celebrated a “Thanksgiving” while searching for New World gold in what is now the Texas Panhandle.

Later such feasts were held by French Huguenot colonists in present-day Jacksonville, Florida (1564), by English colonists and Abnaki Indians at Maine’s Kennebec River (1607), and in Jamestown, Virginia (1610), when the arrival of a food-laden ship ended a brutal famine.

But it’s the 1621 Plimoth Thanksgiving that’s linked to the birth of our modern holiday. The truth is the first “real” Thanksgiving happened two centuries later.

Everything we know about the three-day Plimoth gathering comes from a description in a letter wrote by Edward Winslow, leader of the Plimoth Colony, in 1621, Monac said.

It had been lost for 200 years and was rediscovered in the 1800s, she added.

In 1841 Boston publisher Alexander Young printed Winslow’s brief account of the feast and added his own twist, dubbing it the “First Thanksgiving.”

In Winslow’s “short letter, it was clear that [the 1621 feast] was not something that was supposed to be repeated again and again. It wasn’t even a Thanksgiving, which in the 17th century was a day of fasting. It was a harvest celebration.”

But after its mid-1800s century appearance, Young’s designation caught on—to say the least.

U.S. President Abraham Lincoln declared Thanksgiving Day a national holiday in 1863. He was probably swayed in part by magazine editor Sarah Josepha Hale—the author of the nursery rhyme “Mary Had a Little Lamb”—who had suggested Thanksgiving become a holiday, historians say.

In 1941 President Franklin Roosevelt established the current date for observance, the fourth Thursday of November.

Thanksgiving Turkey-in-Waiting

Each year at least two lucky turkeys avoid the dinner table, thanks to a presidential pardon—a longstanding Washington tradition believed to have originated with U.S. President Harry Truman.

Since 1947 the National Turkey Federation has presented two live turkeys—and a ready-to-eat turkey—to the President, according to federation spokesperson Sherrie Rosenblatt.

“There are two birds,” Rosenblatt explained, “the presidential turkey and the vice presidential turkey, which is an alternate, in case the presidential turkey is unable to perform its duties.”

Those duties pretty much boil down to not biting the President during the photo opportunity with the press.

In 2008 the vice presidential bird, “Pumpkin,” stepped in for the appearance with President Bush after the presidential bird, “Pecan,” had fallen ill the night before.

After their presidential encounter, the birds share the same happy fate as Super Bowl winning quarterbacks.

“For the last five years,” Rosenblatt said, “They’ve gone to Disneyland”—living out their days at Big Thunder Ranch in the California theme park’s Frontierland.

Talking Turkey

Pilgrims were familiar with turkeys before they landed in the Americas.

That’s because early European explorers of the New World had returned to Europe with turkeys in tow after encountering them at American Indian settlements. Indians had domesticated the birds centuries before European contact.

A century later Ben Franklin famously made known his preference that the turkey, rather than the bald eagle, should be the official U.S. bird.

But Franklin might have been shocked when, by the 1930s, hunting had so decimated North American wild turkey populations that their numbers had dwindled to the tens of thousands from a peak of at least tens of millions.

Today, thanks to reintroduction efforts and hunting regulations, wild turkeys are back.

(Related: “Birder’s Journal: Giving Thanks for Wild Turkey Sightings.”

Some seven million wild turkeys are thriving across the U.S., and many of them have adapted easily to the suburbs.

Wild turkeys, Meleagris gallopavo, can run some 10 to 20 miles (16 to 32 kilometers) an hour and fly in bursts at 55 miles (89 kilometers) an hour. Domesticated turkeys can’t fly at all.

Pass the Pigskin

For many U.S. citizens, Thanksgiving without football is as unthinkable as the Fourth of July without fireworks.

NBC Radio broadcast the first national Thanksgiving Day game in 1934, when the Detroit Lions hosted the Chicago Bears.

Except for a respite during World War II, the Lions have played—usually badly—every Thanksgiving Day since.

Consumers Rejoice!

For those who love marching and music, turkey takes a backseat to the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade in New York City, originally called the Macy’s Christmas parade because it kicked off the shopping season.

The tradition began in 1924, when employees recruited animals from the Central Park Zoo to join the parade.

Helium-filled balloons made their debut in the parade in 1927 and, in the early years, were released above the city skyline with the promise of rewards for their finders.

The parade, first televised nationally in 1947, now draws some 44 million viewers—not counting the 3 million people who actually line the 2.5-mile (4-kilometer) Manhattan route.

Thanksgiving weekend also boasts the retail version of the Super Bowl—Black Friday, when massive sales and early opening times attract frugal shoppers.

The National Retail Federation reports that some 130 million Americans, give or take a few million each year, brave the crowds to shop on Black Friday or on the following weekend.

Planes, Trains, and (Lots of) Automobiles

It may seem like everyone in the U.S. is on the road on Thanksgiving Day, keeping you from your turkey and stuffing.

But just 33 million of about 308 million U.S. citizens drive more than 50 miles (80 kilometers) from home on the holiday, according to the American Automobile Association.

Thanksgiving North of the Border

Cross-border travelers can celebrate Thanksgiving twice, because Canada celebrates its own Thanksgiving Day the second Monday in October.

As in the U.S., the event is sometimes linked to a historic feast with which it has no real ties—in this case explorer Martin Frobisher’s 1578 ceremony, which gave thanks for his safe arrival in what is now New Brunswick.

Canada’s Thanksgiving, established in 1879, was inspired by the U.S. holiday.

Dates of observance fluctuated, sometimes coinciding with the U.S. Thanksgiving or the Canadian veteran-appreciation holiday, Remembrance Day—and at least once it occurred as late as December.

But Canada’s colder climate eventually led to the 1957 decision that formalized the October date.

If you’re wondering what’s up with these “is back” posts, especially since it hasn’t even been a year since FACT’s “debut” album, I’m just lazy.  And I wanted to post this before anyone else.  In the blink of an eye will be released in Japan on January 13 in both CD and CD+DVD+comic versions.  The album was produced by Michael ‘Elvis’ Baskette and mastered by Ted Jenson just like their debut.  No word on when Vagrant will release this in the US.

The following is a sample clip from “Slip of the lip,” their new single that will be released digitally on December 16.

Another song from Pentagon.3 that will most likely wind up on the album:

http://www.myspace.com/factjapan

Selasa, 24 November 2009 kemarin, adalah hari yang benar-benar melelahkan dan menyenangkan bagi saya. Bagaimana tidak melelahkan? Saya harus melakukan banyak kegiatan dalam satu hari itu. Aktivitas saya mulai dengan menuju ke kampus tercinta dengan menggunakan KRL Ekonomi. Perjalanan pergi ke kampus pun saya tempuh dengan berdiri di dalam KRL selama 45 menit. Dengan kondisi KRL yang cukup banyak penumpangnya saya harus berdiri dalam KRL mualai dari stasiun Manggarai – UI. melelahkan sekali memang. Setelah itu saya harus mengikuti Sosialisasi TKA. Mendengar TKA sebenarnya pikiran saya melayang jauh ke sebuah kondisi dimana saya manghadapi sidang untuk tugas karya akhir saya yang menjadi syarat kelulusan di D3 Penyiaran UI ini.

Sudah, kita tinggalkan dulu membicarakan TKA.

Sekarang kita membicarakan lagi mengenai kegiatan yang saya lakukan kemarin.

Setelah saya mengikuti sosialisasi TKA di kampus, saya langsung menuju ke Pusat Studi Jepang. Kedatangan saya ke Pusat Studi Jepang ini adalah untuk memberikan CV kepada HRD SCTV yang sedang mencari Presenter untuk Liputan 6. Dengan hanya membawa CV, saya menuju ke Pusat Studi Jepang lt. 2. Disana saya bertemu dengan staff dari HRD SCTV. Saya disambut oleh staff HRD tersebut dengan kalimat “langsung audisi ya…”

Tentu saja setelah saya mendengar apa yang ia sampaikan kepada saya perihal langsung ikut audisi, sontak saya kaget, karena saya tidak memiliki kesiapan secara FISIK. Saya hanya memakai jeans dan kaos yang biasa saya pakai pada saat saya kuliah. Perjalanan sudah hampir setengahnya, jadi tidak ada gunanya juga kalau saya tidak jadi ikut audisi.

Akhirnya dengan bermodalkan percaya diri, saya memberikan CV, dan menunggu untuk dipanggil interview oleh pihak Liputan 6.

Masuklah giliran saya untuk interview. Saya masuh ke ruangan 201, dan disitu saya melihat Pembaca Berita Senior di Liputan 6 , Jeremy Tetty. Senang bukan main saya bisa bertemu dengan Pembaca Berita yang sering saya lihat di televisi. Saya dipersilahkan duduk dan memakai clip on.

Interview dimulai. Saya diinstruksikan untuk membaca sebuah naskah berita yang ada disana. Saya baca naskah tersebut dengan gaya khas pembaca berita yang saya miliki. Setelah itu saya sempat ditanyai mengenai pengalaman saya pada saat menjadi Host Komunitas Kita di JAK TV. Saya berbicara kepada bang Jeremy layaknya seperti oarang yang sudah kenal sebelumnya. Santai, mengalir, seperti tidak ada tekanan sedikitpun.

Setelah berbincang-bincang sedikit mengenai pekerjaan saya dulu, selanjutnya saya memasuki tahap berikutnya yaitu tahap uji wawasan dan kecerdasan. Saya ditanyai mengenai berita-berita terkini yang sedang hangat dibicarakan. Tentunya saya bisa menjawabnya dengan lancar. Ternyata kebiasaan saya yang suka sekali menonton berita merupakan kebiasaan yang sangat bermanfaat bagi saya. Alhasil, sang penguji merasa puas dengan jawaban saya. Namun tidak hanya sampai situ saja, saya ternyata masih ditanyai seputar Kabinet Indonesia Bersatu Jilid 2. Bang Jeremy menanyakan saya,

“siapakah Menkominfo saat ini?”

Dengan mantap saya menjawab ,

“Tifatul Sembiring”

Interview selesai dan berakhir dengan senyuman lebar,senyuman yang menandakan kepercayaan diri seorang Tera Hikmah.

Walaupun hasil akhirnya tidak sesuai dengan yang diharapkan, saya tidak putus asa dan akn berusaha terus hingga saya bisa berhasil. Untuk saat ini, saya hanya bisa berdoa dan berikhtiar. Semoga apa yang saya cita-citakan bisa tercapai.

]]> http://angelcel.wordpress.com/2009/11/25/climate-change-data-manipulation/ Wed, 25 Nov 2009 08:54:17 +0000 angelcel http://angelcel.wordpress.com/2009/11/25/climate-change-data-manipulation/

Thousands of documents stolen from the University of East Anglia in the UK appear to show that climate change data has been manipulated, on both sides of the Atlantic,  in order to strengthen the case that global warming is the result of human activity.  According to a recent article  in the Daily Telegraph newspaper, data actually shows that global temperatures are declining.  The article says:

“In one email Professor Phil Jones, director of the University’s respected Climatic Research Unit, referred to a ‘trick’ he applied to raw data to ‘hide the decline’ in global temperatures.”

Another article quotes extracts of email exchanges, clearly never intended to be seen by the public:

From: Kevin Trenberth (US National Center for Atmospheric Research). To: Michael Mann (Pennsylvania State University). Oct 12, 2009
“The fact is that we can’t account for the lack of warming at the moment and it is a travesty that we can’t… Our observing system is inadequate”

Prof Trenberth appears to accept a key argument of global warming sceptics – that there is no evidence temperatures have increased over the past 10 years.

And …

From: Phil Jones. To: Many. March 11, 2003
“I will be emailing the journal to tell them I’m having nothing more to do with it until they rid themselves of this troublesome editor.”

Prof Jones appears to be lobbying for the dismissal of the editor of Climate Research, a scientific journal that published papers downplaying climate change.

And maybe the most telling…

From Phil Jones. To: Michael Mann (Pennsylvania State University). Date: May 29, 2008
“Can you delete any emails you may have had with Keith re AR4? Keith will do likewise.”

Climate change sceptics tried to use Freedom of Information laws to obtain raw climate data submitted to an IPCC report known as AR4. The scientists did not want their email exchanges about the data to be made public.

……………………..

There are now calls for a public inquiry over data manipulation claims.

I’ll leave you to draw your own conclusions on this.  If you’ve been visiting here a while, you probably already have a good idea of how I feel about it.

Akhir-akhir ini kesibukan gw di kantor fokus pada pelaksanaan Award yang tiba-tiba harus dipersiapkan dalam waktu hanya sekitar 2 minggu. Ceritanya unit gw yang kerjaannya ngurusin e-learningnya Telkom ngadain event buat ngasih penghargaan ke peserta-peserta yang udah aktif belajar tahun 2009 ini.

Waktu persiapan yang dadakan plus request-request mendadak dari Bos n Big Boss sukses buat gw dan 1 orang temen yang ditugasin buat event ini kocar kacir. Mulai dari pembuatan soal yang H-1, Piagam yang di saat-saat terakhir pun masih menuntut perubahan sampai Hadiah yang ga kunjung fix bahkan sampai Hari H pelaksanaan Award.

Gw akui gw agak kewalahan dengan hal-hal yang serba mendadak ini. Walaupun sebenernya bisa ngelatih fleksibilitas gw juga siy. Tapi yang tak disangka dan diduga, akibatnya gw jadi drop di akhir-akhir pelaksanaan. Entah karena stress atau homesick gw yang rada-rada lebay akhir-akhir ini, tiba-tiba Dokter memvonis gw mengalami kenaikan Asam Lambung dengan kata lain tiba-tiba Maag gw kambuh. FYI, selama ini gw belum pernah merasakan ataupun mengetahui bahwa gw kena Maag. Akibat Maag ini, makan gw jadi ga bener. jadilah gw juga kena serangan diare.

Sebenernya kondisi gw saat ini bisa menjadi alasan gw untuk istirahat dari rutinitas kantor. Cuma masalahnya, event2 di kantor tetap menuntut gw buat beraktivitas seperti biasa. Belum lagi besok, di kantor gw bakalan ada event outbond yang sebenernya bisa jadi ajang refreshing. Kira-kira gw kuat ga ya buat besok ????

Check this out, is awesome. Fact

Sudah hampir dua tahun saya pergi kuliah dengan menggunakan KRL..
Tapi baru kali ini saya benar-benar menikmati berkendaraan dengan KRL
menikmati?? apa maksudnya??

Ketika itu saya naik kereta seperti biasanya
Karena sedang dalam keadaan beruntung, kereta yang saya tumpangi itu lengang dan banyak bangku yang kosong
Saya duduk di salah satu tempat yang saya pilih dan saya pikir paling aman
Kereta mulai berjalan..
cuaca saat itu memang sangat bagus sekali
Tidak hujan dan tidak terlalu panas
Mendung menyenangkan (itu sebutan bagiku bila cuaca sangat menyenangkan)

Kereta berjalan sangat santai sekali

santai layaknya sebuah kereta wisata yang sedang mengajak para wisatawan untuk melihat lebih jelas apa yang ada di tempat wisata tersebut
Benar saja, hari itu saya benar-benar dibawa berwisata dengan kereta yang saya tumpangi
Kalau biasanya kereta penuh dan berjalan lumayan cepat
Hari ini kereta lengang dan berjalan sangat santai
Apalagi ditambah dengan cuaca yang sangat menyenagkan
Amboii.. rasanya

Perjalanan saya yang santai itu membuat saya melihat lebih jelas kondisi jakarta dan sekitarnya
hanya dalam waktu 40 menit saja
Hal yang baru saya ketahui adalah akhir-akhir ini para pedagang di kereta selalu diliputi rasa was-was
Was-was akan adanya seorang PAMSUS (petugas pengamanan khusus kereta yang selalu ada di tiap stasiun)
Selidik punya selidik ternyata para pedagang tersebut tidak boleh berdagang di kereta
Apabila tertangkap tangan oleh PAMSUS sedang berdagang di dalam kereta mereka akan langsung diamankan

Setelah mengetahui itu, saya berpikir memang keberadaan pedagang di KRL sangat mengganggu
Tapi bukankah lebih baik pengemis-pengemis yang diamankan?
Mereka adalah sampah masyarakat
Sampah yang seharusnya bisa didaur ulang agar bisa menjadi lebih berguna
Sampah yang bisa disulap agar bisa menghasilkan uang
Sampah hidup yang bisa menjadi lebih hidup bila dimodali dengan usaha

Ya begitulah.
Ironis sekali memang jika para pedagang dianggap lebih mengganggu daripada pengemis
Padahal para pedagang juga harus bertahan hidup dengan profesinya yang seperti itu

Perjalanan wisata saya masih berlanjut
Kini saya menemui seorang pengemis yang masih anak-anak
Wajahnya tidak asing karena hampir setiap minggu saya melihatnya
Sebenarnya saya sudah melihat ibu dari si pengemis ini saat saya menunggu kereta di atasiun manggarai
Ibunya masih sehat masih bisa untuk bekerja
Tampilannya juga tidak sekumuh pengemis lainnya
Layaknya seorang ibu rumah tangga normal
Tapi mengapa ia tega membiarkan anaknya mengemis di kereta yang resikonya sangat tinggi sekali
Saat itu saya melihat mereka (Ibu dan anaknya) sedang menghitung uang hasil jerih payah sang anak mengemis
Pantas memang jika sang ibu mempertahankan anaknya untuk menjadi pengemis kereta api
Karena uang yang dihasilkan sangat signifikan sekali
Bayangkan saja, sekali anaknya mengemis dalam satu kali rute kereta berjalan
Dia bisa mengantungi uang sekitar Rp 20.000

Bila dikalkulasikan sehari dia bs mengantuni uang 100-200rb
Hasil yang cukup besar
Sang anak memang senang memiliki uang yg banyak
Akan tetapi,anak usia belasan tahun seperti dirinya harus mengenyam pendidikan yang layak
Memang sampai saat ini anak-anak di Indonesia belum sepenuhnya menerima hak mereka

Wisata saya harus berakhir
Tempat yang dituju sudah sampai
Kini saya tinggal memikirkan bahwa betapa beruntungnya diri saya sampai saat ini
Namun,mengapa seringkali saya meningkari nikmatMu…
Saya harus bisa membalas pemberianMu
Saya tetap berusaha…

This November marks the 10th annual National Novel Writing Month or NaNoWriMo. The name may sound strange but the actual event is stranger by far. Every November hundreds of thousands of people commit to writing a novel in thirty days. Here, “novel” is defined as 50,000 words. That’s about 1667 words per day. In old-school writing terms (where a manuscript page is approximately 250 words) that’s 6.7 pages per day. (In a typical paperback book it will be about 5-6 pages.) I’m not an expert or anything, but that seems a reasonable amount of output for a full-time writer, let alone someone who’s doing it for kicks after his day job.

I’d first heard about NaNoWriMo a couple years ago from one of my friends who has done it a couple times.  I considered doing it last year but a couple things stopped me. First, one of the “rules” is that you can’t bring any text into the month. In other words, you can’t add 50,000 words to your existing novel. I thought that was odd. One of the things that I was hoping to accomplish was to actually work on one of my various half-started novels. The other thing that stopped me was that the focus seemed to be on word count. It didn’t matter what you wrote — as long as you churned out 50k words in the month.

Both of these things struck me as wrong, somehow. Shouldn’t you care about what you’re writing? Isn’t it better to write 50,000 good words that mean something to you? This year I decided to take the plunge and find out. Well, that’s halfway true. This year I thought about taking the plunge and finding out. I also told my wife; she in turn told some of my friends. So I was stuck. Write or die.

Four or five years ago I had this idea about a vampire who’s a private detective, but not cast in the “Angel” mold. In fact, he’s a little defensive about it. So I dusted it off, stirred in a few ideas stolen from Hitchcock and other places, and found myself with the beginnings of a plot.

It didn’t take me long to figure out that it was, in fact, not better to care about what you were writing. Not for this sort of exercise. Caring leads to careful writing. It also leads to revision (which is also frowned on), trying to find just the right word, and other types of general fiddling about. All of these things will serve to make a hard task even harder. The trick is to just get in there and fling some words around and see what happens. That’s not to say that you need to write crap — you just need to write something.

A funny thing happened a couple days in. It all started to make sense. Everything clicked. Sure, my lead fell in love with the wrong heroine. Yes, my plot went in a completely different direction from where I told it to go. If I’d been writing something that I “cared” about (and I do care about this, now) I don’t think I ever would have gotten this far. I certainly never have before.

I’d started novels before but never managed to finish one for a couple reasons. First, I have difficulty laying out and entire story from start to finish. I get too caught up in the “what ifs” of the situation. What if this happens? What if that happens? What is something doesn’t happen? I try to resolve all those issues, get bogged down, get bored, and drop the whole thing. I’ve done it time and time again. The second problem that I’ve had is that it seems like every idea that I come up with looks — from the starting line — like it’s going to fall way short of novel length.

This exercise has given me some insight into both of those problems. It’s way, way better (for me anyway — everyone’s process is different) for me to not try to resolve all the questions ahead of time. I think the best solution for me will be a two-stage process of outlining: first, a very loose outline of the overall plot; then — as I get to each section (however that works out) a smaller, more detailed outline of that bit. I think that will allow me to better adjust to things like the lead falling in love with the character who was supposed to be a one-line toss-off in a single scene. I’ve also picked up a few ideas on how to introduce subplots and complications to turn a very short — and totally linear — story into something more substantial and satisying.

Finally, I’ve learned that I can write on a deadline. (Though I have to admit that I’m a bit behind right now due to travel, vacation, and a dead laptop.) Whether I can write anything worth reading remains to be seen.

Hari Jumat yang lalu saya melakukan aktivitas seperti biasanya. Pergi kuliah dengan menggunakan kereta dan pulangnya juga menggunakan kereta. Tapi, hari itu beda. Saya menemukan hal yang tidak mengejutkan sih sepertinya, tapi patut untuk diperhatikan.

Pukul 18.30, saya naik kereta menuju ke stasiun Cikini. Seperti biasanya, sendiri, tanpa ada teman yang menemani. Saya duduk di sebelah seorang wanita berjilbab. Di pertengahan jalan, dia bertanya kepada saya,

“Mba, stasiun Cikini masih lama gak sampainya?”

Karena tujuannya sama, saya langsung menjawab,

“Masih lama mba, nanti turunnya bareng sama saya aj. Soalnya saya juga turun di Cikini.”

“Oh, iya mba!” Wanita itu menjawab.

Kami tidak banyak berbicara. Di perjalanan, kami diam, terlarut dalam pikiran kami sendiri.

Tidak lama dari perbincangan saya dengan wanita berjilbab yang tidak saya tahu namanya itu, melintaslah seorang penjual telur rebus dengan suara nyaringnya menjajakan telur yang ia bawa itu. Setelah melintas di depan saya, penjual telur itu terhenti di depan seorang bapak yang duduk setelah dua orang di sebelah kiri saya yang masih bisa dibilang muda (belum terlalu tua). Bapak itu bertanya,

“Berapaan Bang?”

“Dua ribu tiga, Pak!”, jawab si penjual

“Beli dua ribu Bang”, kata Bapak tersebut yang langsung diikuti dengan mengambil uang dari kantongnya.

Terjadilah pertukaran uang dengan barang. Bapak itu mendapatkan tiga buah telur yang dimasukkan ke dalam kantong plastik kecil berwarna merah.

Beberapa detik setelah itu, tiba-tiba wanita berjilbab yang duduk di sebelah kanan saya memanggil penjual telur rebus tersebut

“Bang, Bang!”, panggil wanita tersebut.

Penjual telur tersebut tidak langsung menoleh ketika dipanggil untuk pertama kalinya.

“Bang, Bang!”, panggil wanita itu dan penjual tersebut langsung menoleh dan menghampiri wanita berjilbab tersebut

“Berapaan Bang?”, tanya wanita itu

“Dua ribu tiga, Neng!”

“Beli satu aja Bang”

Penjual itu mengambil sebutir telur dan mengantungi telur tersebut ke dalam plastik.

Jujur saja, saya sudah sering melihat penjual telur tersebut. Saya agak jijik melihat telur yang dijajak oleh penjualnya karena saya berfikir bisa saja telur yang dijual itu adalah telur busuk atau telur yang tidak jadi dierami lalu direbus dan dijual. Oleh karena itu, saya merasa heran dengan kedua orang yang membeli telur tersebut. Apakah mereka tidak takut untuk memakannya??

Wanita berjilbab tersebut langsung mengambil telur yang ia beli dari dalam kantung plastik. Ia langsung membenturkan telur tersebut sebanyak dua kali ke bangku tempat duduknya layaknya seorang koki yang akan menggoreng telur di dapur.

Muncul pertanyaan di otak saya. Akankah ia memakan telur tersebut?

Diam-diam saya memperhatikan wanita tersebut.

Perlahan-lahan ia membuka cangkang telur yang sudah retak itu. Ia memperhatikan isi telur tersebut dengan seksama.

Ia belah telurnya hingga terlihat kuning telur di dalamnya.

Ia ciumi baunya.

Ia pegang telur tersebut dan merasakan teksturnya.

Tiba-tiba ia berkata pada saya,

“Telur palsu ini Mba!”

“Telur palsu? Tahu dari mananya Mba? Ciri-cirinya apa?”, tanya saya dengan rasa ingin tahu yang meliputi

“Iya, kuning telurnya beda Mba, kalo yang asli kan bulat, tapi kalo ini benar2 seperti di cetak gitu dan bentuknya gak bulat. Liat aja nih!”

“Saya tadi sengaja beli, saya anak IPB Mba. Saya pengen tahu aja masih ada yang jual atau gak telur palsu ini. Ternyata di sini masih ada yang jual. Soalnya saya jarang sekali naik kereta”

“Emang kalo telur palsu gitu bikinnya gimana Mba?”, tanya saya.

“Ini sebenarnya produk dari China. Mereka buat dari bahan kimia. Biasanya telur ini juga dipakai untuk penjual baso. Kan biasanya tukang baso ada baso telurnya tuh.”

Mendengar pernyataan tersebut, sontak saya langsung teringat dengan hobi saya yang suka makan baso dengan baso telur. Alangkah kagetnya saya, karena selama ini kenikmatan yang saya dapat dari memakan baso telur bisa ajdi telur yang saya makan adalah telur palsu murahan yang terbuat dari bahan kimia. Di tengah keterkejutan saya, Bapak yang tadi membeli telur tersebut sedang lahap menyantap telr palsu yang ia beli tadi (tahukah ia bahwa telur tersebut tidak asli?)

Saya terdiam. Pikiran saya melayang jauh pada saat saya memakan baso telur dengan lahap. Apakah yang saya makan itu telur palsu atau bukan. Terlepas dari palsu atau tidaknya telur yang saya makan, kejadian ini sudah mamberi tahu saya bahwa kenikmatan dari apa yang sudah kamu makan tidak selamanya aman bagi tubuh kamu. Jadi, berhati-hatilah dalam memilih makanan yang akan kamu konsumsi.

My family trip this winter went through a small change. Instead of going to Phuket and riding on elephants, we’re going to Taipei. I would be a lot more excited about going to Taiwan if I hadn’t for two months dreamed of going to Thailand. Oh well.

I did a quick search on things to do in Taipei and visiting Taipei 101 came as first on several lists. What’s the deal with really tall buildings? I think architecture is cool, but it’s easier to admire the structure from the ground. And if I wanted to see the city from a top view, I’d take a plane instead. Stop making super crazy tall skyscrapers cool!

Okay, I’m just ranting because I’m slightly scared of uberly tall skyscrapers that have more than 20 stories. And 20 was just a rough guess of the height that sets me off. I also hate those fast moving elevators that take you to the top of said crazy high skyscrapers because I never feel safe in them and they make my ears pop. Seriously now, I’ve been to that tall hotel thing in Vegas, that thing in Seattle, that thing in New York and that thing in Macau. And the Taipei 101 is taller than any of those ! That’s enough. And I called them all things because I ain’t respectin’ them, yo.

I’m not extremely scared of heights, but considering the payoff (i.e. the view) rarely impresses, I just don’t think it’s worth the discomfort of riding a crowded, wannabe Wonka’s glass elevator.

I’m just not going to tell my parents about Taipei 101. Hopefully, they won’t know about it/won’t care about going!