novanowalks

Pembasmi virus amburadul, Pembasmi virus nomer satu di indonesia

2009-08-06T06:46:00.000-07:00

Update Build present the user with the addition of new virus variants. For you PCMAV users are strongly advised to update immediately, so that you PCMAV can recognize and eradicate the virus more.

And to obtain and use PCMAV update, you simply run PCMAV Cleaner (PCMAV-CLN.exe), of course the computer must be in active state is connected to the Internet (non-proxy). Automatic Updates feature of PCMAV akan automatically download and update the database of PCMAV.

Dr.Hardware 2009 v9.9.5e

2009-07-27T22:47:00.000-07:00

Since 1994 Dr. Hardware is among the most advanced system information programs on the market. This program is made for beginners and professional users, for your desktop computer as well as for your notebook or netbook. Dr. Hardware covers the whole machine and includes not only the common stuff (like processor detection etc.) but also some more sophisticated tests like hardware sensor, ATA/S-ATA/Atapi and network analysis. Also it comes with 7 benchmark tests and provides full support for all 32 and 64 Bit Windows desktop versions: Windows 95, 98, Me, NT4, 2000, 2003, XP and Vista.
Features:
• Detailed analysis of core hardware and connected devices of personal computers
• Detects processor, BIOS, cache, bus system
• Detailed information for many current mainboard chipsets
• Examines harddisk, CD ROM, modem, VGA adapter
• Lists your (E-)IDE, ATAPI and SCSI devices
• Description of installed multimedia devices
• PCI list
• Scanner analysis via Twain interface
• SMBios analysis
• SDRAM detection and information (Serial Presence Detect Method)
• Analysis of mainstream sensors
• Network analysis
• Benchmarks for CPU, video adapter, harddrives, CD ROM/DVD, ASPI/SCSI devices, net drives
• List of used IRQ and DMA channels as well as I/O ports and memory areas
• Windows memory analysis, process and module list, system monitor
• Windows version information
• Internet Explorer / Firefox detailed info
• Monitor test screen
• Keyboard input test
• Burn-In and Rating test

Dr. Hardware 2009 Second Edition - Highlights
Detects and analyses the latest processors, mainboard chipsets, PCI devices and much more.
Full Windows Vista 64 bit support due to digitally signed kernel mode driver and program files!
Completely new analysis sections never seen before in Dr. Hardware:
- USB device analysis
- detailed informationen about nVidia video adapters including temperature sensor readings and CUDA
- separate display analysis with additional informations (especially digital displays)
- Keyboard and mouse analysis
- List of installed applications

New features of 9.9.5e:
- This update concentrates around the detection of the latest AMD and Intel processors
- AMD processors: Phenom 2 Triple Core, AMD Sempron(tm) Dual-Core, AMD Athlon(tm) Neo Processor, AMD Athlon(tm) Dual-Core, Six Core AMD Opteron(tm), AMD Phenom(tm)II/X4, AMD Phenom(tm)II/X2 and AMD Athlon(tm) 2 X2
- Intel processors: Atom, Xeon 5500 and 3500, Core i7, Desktop and Mobile Cores 2 Duo, Pentium Dual Core and Celeron E1600
- detects VIA Nano(tm) processor
- SMBios analysis: update to SMBios 2.6.1
- Dual Core Xeon 5200: improved detection of variants
- Support for Intel Server chipsets 5500 and 5520, VIA CX700, VX800/820
- several detail improvements related to CPU and mainboard analysis via SMBios inquiries
- Sensor analysis: Support for SMSC DME1737, Asus A8000 and SMSC SCH5027 sensor chips
- Detects latest processor core steppings

nokia-5800-xpressmusic

2009-07-11T00:22:00.000-07:00

Size

Form: Classic with full touch user interface
Dimensions: 4.37 x 2.04 x 0.61 in
Weight: 3.84 oz
Touch user interface optimized for one-hand use with tactile feedback

Display and 3D

Main display
- Size: 3.2″
- Resolution: 640 x 360 pixels (nHD)
- Up to 16 million colors
- aspect ratio 16:9
- automatic orientation sensor (Accelerometer) for display rotation
3D image engine

Keys and input method

Stylus, plectrum and finger touch support for text input and user interface control (alphanumeric keypad, full and mini qwerty keyboard, handwriting recognition
Dedicated Media Bar touch key for access to music, gallery, share on-line, Video Center and web browser
Voice commands
Physical keys for application launch key (menu key), send & end, power, camera, lock, volume up & down

Colors and covers

Available in-box colors:
- Black
Available colors may vary by country.

Connectors

Micro-USB connector, USB 2.0 High Speed
3.5 mm Nokia AV connector
MicroSD card slot, small DC jack, Micro USB cable interface to PC (CA-101), TV out interface (CA-75U)

Power

BL-5J 1320 mAh Li-Ion battery
Talk time (maximum):
- GSM up to 8.8 hr
- WCDMA up to 5 hr
Standby time (maximum):
- GSM up to 16.75 days
- WCDMA up to 16.7 days
Browsing time with packet data (maximum): up to 3.4 hr
Video playback time (maximum): up to 5.2 hr, Video playback time (maximum, nHD/Mpeg4)up to 3.4 hr, VGA video playback using TV-Out with Stereo BT Headset up to 3.8 hr
Video recording time (maximum): up to 3.6 hr
Video call time (maximum):up to 3 hr
Music playback time (maximum): up to 1.5 days
Gaming time (maximum): up to 5.6 hr

Battery times are estimates only and depend on network configuration, signal strength, features used, battery age and condition, charging practices, temperatures to which battery is exposed, whether use is in digital mode (or analog mode, if any), and many other factors. The amount of time a phone is used for calls will affect its standby time. Likewise, the amount of time that the phone is turned on and in standby mode will affect its talk time.

Memory

MicroSD memory card slot, hot swappable, max. 16 GB
81 MB internal memory
8GB microSD memory card in-box

Operating frequency

WCDMA 900/2100 MHz
GSM/EDGE 850/900/1800/1900 MHz
Automatic switching between GSM bands
Flight mode

Data network

CSD
HSCSD
GPRS/EDGE class B, multislot class 32, maximum speed 296/177 kbps (DL/UL)
WCDMA 2100/900 MHz with simultaneous voice and packet data, maximum speed PS 384/384 kbps (UL/DL), CS maximum speed 64 kbps
HSDPA cat 6, maximum speed 3.6 Mbps (DL)
WLAN IEEE 802.11 b/g (3G version only)
TCP/IP support

Requires data service. Data services may not be available in all networks. Data transmission speeds may be as high as 3.6 Mbps, but may vary based upon network capabilities and other conditions. The establishment and continuation of a data connection depends on network availability, provider support and signal strength.

Local connectivity and synchronization

Bluetooth version 2.0*
- Bluetooth profiles: A2DP & AVRCP
MTP (Mobile Transfer Protocol) support
TV out with Nokia Video Connectivity Cable (CA-75U, in-box)
Support for PC synchronization with Nokia PC suite

*Bluetooth is a registered trademark of Bluetooth SIG, Inc.

Call features

Integrated hands-free speakerphone
Number screening for messaging and calls
Automatic answer with headset or car kit
Any key answer
Call waiting, call hold, call divert
Call timer
Logging of dialed, received and missed calls
Automatic redial
Speed dialing
Voice dialing: speaker independent dialing and voice commands (SIND)
Fixed dialing number support
Vibrating alert (internal), also with tactile feedback
Side volume keys
Mute/unmute
Contacts bar for 4 contacts with images and communication history (SMS, IM, email, web feeds)
Talking ring tones
Conference calling with up to 6 participants
(when supported by service provider)

Messaging

SMS
Multiple SMS deletion
MMS version 1.3, message size up to 600 kb
Automatic resizing of images for MMS
Nokia Xpress audio messagingM
(requires a service plan including data services)
Common inbox for SMS and MMS messages
Number screening for messaging
Distribution lists for messaging
Instant messaging client
Cell broadcast
Only devices that offer compatible multimedia message or e-mail features can receive and display multimedia messages. Content appearance may vary. Some images and ring tones can not be forwarded.

E-mail

Supported protocols: IMAP, POP, SMTP
Support for e-mail attachments
OMA e-mail notification support
Mail for Exchange 2008 in DL client, in 2009 embedded
Requires a service plan including data services

Web browsing

Supported markup languages: HTML, XHTML, WML
Supported protocols: HTTP, WAP, JavaScript
TCP/IP support
OSS browser
Nokia Mobile Search
Requires a service plan including data services

GPS and navigation

Integrated GPS for pedestrian and car navigation
Nokia Maps 2.0 Touch application
The availability and accuracy of GPS location services are dependent on wireless networks, satellite systems. It may not function in all areas or at all times. You should never rely solely on GPS products for essential communications like emergencies. May require a service plan including data services.

Photography

3.2 megapixel camera (2048 x 1536 pixels)
Image formats: JPEG
Carl Zeiss optics
3x digital zoom
Autofocus
Dual LED flash
Flash modes: On, off, automatic, red-eye reduction
White balance modes: automatic, sunny, cloudy, incandescent, fluorescent
Centre weighted auto exposure; exposure compensation: +2 ~ -2EV at 0.5 step
Normal, Sepia, Black&White, Vivid, Negative
Dedicated camera key
Landscape (horizontal) orientation
Photo editor on device
Direct printing to compatible picture printers

Video

Main camera
Video recording at up to 640 x 480 pixels and up to 30 fps (TV high quality), up to 640 x 352 pixels and up to 30 fps (widescreen quality), up to 320 x 240 pixels and up to 30 fps/15 fps (email high/normal quality), up to 176 x 144 and up to 15 fps (sharing quality)
- Up to 4x digital video zoom
Video recording file formats: .mp4, .3gp
Audio recording formats: WAV (normal), AMR (MMS), AAC/MP4 (high quality)
Video white balance modes: automatic, sunny, cloudy, incandescent, fluorescent
Scene modes: automatic, night
Color tone modes: normal, sepia, black & white, vivid, negative
Clip length (maximum): up to 1 hr 30 min (high or normal quality). Dependable on available memory.
RealPlayer
Video playback file formats: MPEG4-SP playback 30fps VGA, MPEG4-AVC playback 30fps QVGA, WMV9 playback 30fps QVGA, MPEG4-SP playback 30 fps nHD
Video streaming: 3GPP and CIF
Landscape mode video playback
Video editor on device
Video Center service supported: download and stream video content, WMV support, video feeds

Music and audio playback

Nokia Nseries digital music player
- Playlists
- 8-band graphic equalizer
- selection by artist, composers, album and genre
album graphics display and audio visualizations
bass booster, stereo widening, loudness
Music playback file formats: .mp3, SpMidi, AAC, AAC+, eAAC+, WMA
Dedicated volume keys & immediate access to Music Player from Media Bar, dedicated music keys in the headset control unit AD-54
Stereo FM radio (requires wired headset to be attached)
3.5 mm Nokia AV connector
Music Player
Nokia Music Manager
Ring tones: 3D stereo ring tones, 64-tone polyphonic, mp3 & video ring tones (3 videos and 9 mp3 songs built-in)
Integrated stereo speakers with surround sound (crystal clear hi-fi sound quality with dedicated audio chip)

Voice and audio recording

Voice commands
Speaker-independent name dialing (SIND)
Voice recorder
AMR, NB-AMR, FR, EFR
Digital stereo microphone

Personalization: profiles, themes, ring tones

Customizable profiles
Ring tones: 3D stereo ring tones, 64-tone polyphonic, mp3 & video ring tones
Themes

Blacberry storm 9530

2009-07-11T00:05:00.000-07:00

Available Features

Camera (3.2 MP)
Built-in GPS
Media Player
Video Recording
BlackBerry® Maps
Wireless Email
Organizer
Browser
Phone
Corporate Data Access
SMS/MMS

Height:
4.43 inches (112.5 mm)

Width:
2.45 inches (62.2 mm)

Depth:
0.55 inches (13.95 mm)

Weight:
5.5 ounces (155 grams)

Kiamat 2012, Doomsday 2012

2009-06-13T00:54:00.000-07:00

Tulisan ini diambil dari http://astrobiology.nasa.gov/ask-an-astrobiologist/intro/nibiru-and-doomsday-2012-questions-and-answers

Buat orang-orang yang telanjur kena HOAX tentang Kiamat 2012 nih baca artikel dibawah,, smoga bisa menenangkan perasaan kalian semua thx..... (syarat baca : harus bisa bhs ing hehe...)

Nibiru and Doomsday 2012: Questions and Answers

Stories about the fictional planet Nibiru and predictions of doomsday in December 2012 have blossomed on the Internet. There are now (June 2009) more than 175 books listed on Amazon.com dealing with the 2012 doomsday. As this hoax spreads, many more disaster scenarios are being suggested. “Ask an Astrobiologist” has received nearly a thousand questions about Nibiru and 2012, with more than 200 answers posted. Many new questions are similar to those already answered. Following is a list of the most popular “Twenty Questions” organized in a logical succession and answered in some detail.

In addition to my responses, there are some other good resources

Neil de Grassse Tyson posted a nice video clip on the Nibiru-2012 issue.
Wikipedia has several useful entries. Start with Nibiru Collision, then look at Nibiru Mythology and Nibiru Sitchin). Also informative is the entry for 2012 doomsday predictions.
For a detailed description of the origin of the Planet X / Nibiru cult see the discussion by Phil Plait on his Badastronomy website.

David Morrison,
NAI Senior Scientist
June 1, 2009

1. What is the origin of the prediction that the world will end in December 2012?

The story started with claims that Nibiru, a supposed planet discovered by the Sumerians, is headed toward Earth. Zecharia Sitchin, who writes fiction about the ancient Mesopotamian civilization of Sumer, claimed in several books (e.g., The Twelfth Planet, published in 1976) that he has found and translated Sumerian documents that identify the planet Nibiru, orbiting the Sun every 3600 years. These Sumerian fables include stories of “ancient astronauts” visiting Earth from a civilization of aliens called the Anunnaki. Then Nancy Lieder, a self-declared psychic who claims she is channeling aliens, wrote on her website Zetatalk that the inhabitants of a fictional planet around the star Zeta Reticuli warned her that the Earth was in danger from Planet X or Nibiru. This catastrophe was initially predicted for May 2003, but when nothing happened the doomsday date was moved forward to December 2012. Only recently have these two fables been linked to the end of the Mayan long-count at the winter solstice in 2012 – hence the predicted doomsday date of December 21, 2012.

2. The Sumerians were the first great civilization, and they made many accurate astronomical predictions, including the existence of the planets Uranus, Neptune and Pluto. So why should we not believe their predictions about Nibiru?

Nibiru is a name in Babylonian astrology sometimes associated with the god Marduk. Nibiru appears as a minor character in the Babylonian creation poem Enuma Elish as recorded in the library of Assurbanipal, King of Assyria (668-627 BCE). Sumer flourished much earlier, from about the 23rd century to the 17th century BCE. The claims that Nibiru is a planet and was known to the Sumerians are contradicted by scholars who (unlike Zecharia Sitchin) study and translate the written records of ancient Mesopotamia. Sumer was indeed a great civilization, important for the development of agriculture, water management, urban life, and especially writing. However, they left very few records dealing with astronomy. Certainly they did not know about the existence of Uranus, Neptune or Pluto. They also had no understanding that the planets orbited the Sun, an idea that first developed in ancient Greece two millennia after the end of Sumer. Claims that Sumerians had a sophisticated astronomy, or that they even had a god named Nibiru, are the product of Sitchin’s imagination.

3. How can you deny the existence of Nibiru when NASA discovered it in 1983 and the story appeared in leading newspapers? At that time you called it Planet X, and later it was named Xena or Eris.

IRAS (the NASA Infrared Astronomy Satellite, which carried out a sky survey for 10 months in 1983) discovered many infrared sources, but none of them was Nibiru or Planet X or any other objects in the outer solar system. There is a good discussion from Caltech to be found at (spider.ipac.caltech.edu/staff/tchester/iras/no_tenth_planet_yet.html). Briefly, IRAS cataloged 350,000 infrared sources, and initially many of these sources were unidentified (which was the point, of course, of making such a survey). All of these observations have been followed up by subsequent studies with more powerful instruments both on the ground and in space. The rumor about a “tenth planet” erupted in 1984 after a scientific paper was published in Astrophysical Journal Letters titled “Unidentified point sources in the IRAS minisurvey”, which discussed several infrared sources with “no counterparts”. But these “mystery objects” were subsequently found to be distant galaxies (except one, which was a wisp of “infrared cirrus”), as published in 1987. No IRAS source has ever turned out to be a planet. A good discussion of this whole issue is to be found on Phil Plait’s website (www.badastronomy.com/bad/misc/planetx/science.html#iras). The bottom line is that Nibiru is a myth, with no basis in fact. To an astronomer, persistent claims about a planet that is “nearby” but “invisible” are just plain silly.

4. Maybe we should be asking about Planet X or Eris, not Nibiru. Why does NASA keep secret the orbit of Eris?

“Planet X” is an oxymoron when applied to a real object. The term has been used by astronomers over the past century for a possible or suspected object. Once the object is found, it is given a real name, as was done with Pluto and Eris, both of which were at some time referred to as Planet X. If a new object turns out to be not real, or not a planet, then you won’t hear about it again. If it is real, it is not called Planet X.

Eris is one of several dwarf planets recently found by astronomers in the outer solar system, all of them on normal orbits that will never bring them near Earth. Like Pluto, Eris is smaller than our Moon. It is very far away, and its orbit never brings it closer than about 4 billion miles. There is no secret about Eris and its orbit, as you can easily verify by googling it or looking it up in Wikipedia.

5. Do you deny that NASA built a South Pole Telescope (SPT) to track Nibiru? Why else would they build a telescope at the South Pole?

There is a telescope at the South Pole, but it was not built by NASA and not used to study Nibiru. The South Pole Telescope was supported by the National Science Foundation, and it is a radio telescope, not an optical instrument. It cannot take images or photos. You can look it up on Wikipedia. The Antarctic is a great place for astronomical infrared and short-wave-radio observations, and it also has the advantage that objects can be observed continuously without the interference of the day-night cycle.

I should add that it is impossible to imagine a geometry in which an object can be seen only from the South Pole. Even if it were due south of the Earth, it could be seen from the entire southern hemisphere.

6. There are many photos and videos of Nibiru on the Internet. Isn’t that proof that it exists?

The great majority of the photos and videos on the Internet are of some feature near the Sun (apparently supporting the claim that Nibiru has been hiding behind the Sun for the past several years.) These are actually false images of the Sun caused by internal reflections in the lens, often called lens flare. You can identify them easily by the fact that they appear diametrically opposite the real solar image, as if reflected across the center of the image. This is especially obvious in videos, where as the camera moves, the false image dances about always exactly opposite the real image. Similar lens flare is a source of many UFO photos taken at night with strong light sources such as streetlights in the frame. I am surprised that people don’t recognize this common photo artifact. I am also amazed that these photos showing something nearly as large and bright as the Sun (a “second sun”) are accepted together with claims made on some of the same websites that Nibiru is too faint to be seen or photographed except with large telescopes.

One widely reported telescopic photo (www.greatdreams.com/nibiru-possible.jpg) shows two views of an expanding gas cloud far beyond the solar system, which is not moving; you can see this from the fact that the stars are the same in both pictures. A sharp-eyed reader of this website identified these photos as a gas shell around the star V838 Mon. Wikipedia has a nice write-up and a beautiful photo of it from Hubble. Another high school student was initially impressed by posted images of a red blob that were said to be of Nibiru. Then he worked out in his Photoshop class how to make just such pictures starting from scratch.
One video posted in summer 2008 on Youtube (www.youtube.com/watch?v=qDKtkWIx00A) shows a guy standing in his kitchen claiming that one of the objects discovered by a NASA x-ray telescope is Nibiru. What is his evidence? That since this false-color x-ray image released by NASA is blue, this must really be a nearby planet with an ocean. This would be hilarious if it were not used to frighten people.

7. Can you explain the fact that the area at (5h 53m 27s, -6 10’ 58”) has been blackened out in Google Sky and Microsoft Telescope? People suggest that these have been blackened out because those are the co-ordinates where Nibiru is located at present.

Several people have asked me about this blank rectangle in Orion in Google Sky, which is a presentation of images from the Sloan Digital Survey. This can’t be a “hiding place” for Nibiru, since it is a part of the sky that could be seen from almost everywhere on the Earth in the winter of 2007-08 when much of the talk about Nibiru began. That would contradict the claims that Nibiru was hiding behind the Sun or that it could be seen only from the southern hemisphere. But I too was curious about this blank rectangle, so I asked a friend who is a senior scientist at Google. He replied that he “found out that the missing data is due to a processing error in the image stitching program we use to display the Sloan survey images. The team assures me that in the next run through, this will be fixed!”

8. If the government knew about Nibiru, wouldn’t they keep it a secret to avoid panic? Isn’t it the government’s job to keep the population at ease?

There are many objectives of government, but they do not include keeping the population at ease. My experience is that sometimes parts of the government do just the opposite, as in the frequent references to various terrorist threats or warnings about driving accidents on long holiday weekends, which are no more dangerous than any other time. There is a long history of associating bad things with political opponents (older readers will remember the “missile gap” in the 1960 election, younger ones will note the many current references to who is or is not keeping the U.S. safe from terrorists). Further, social scientists have pointed out that many of our concepts of public panic are the product of Hollywood, while in the real world people have a good record of helping each other in a time of danger. I think everyone also recognizes that keeping bad news secret usually backfires, making the issue even worse when the facts finally come out. And in the case of Nibiru, these facts would come out very soon indeed.

Even if they wanted to, the government could not keep Nibiru a secret. If it were real, it would be tracked by thousands of astronomers, amateurs as well a professional. These astronomers are spread all over the world. I know the astronomy community, and these scientists would not keep a secret even if ordered to. You just can’t hide a planet on its way to the inner solar system!

9. Why does the Mayan calendar say the world will end in 2012? I have heard that they have been pretty accurate in the past with other planetary predictions. How can you be sure you know more than they did?

Calendars exist for keeping track of the passage of time, not for predicting the future. The Mayan astronomers were clever, and they developed a very complex calendar. Ancient calendars are interesting to historians, but of they cannot match the ability we have today to keep track of time, or the precision of the calendars currently in use. The main point, however, is that calendars, whether contemporary or ancient, cannot predict the future of our planet or warn of things to happen on a specific date such as 2012.

I note that my desk calendar ends much sooner, on December 31 2009, but I do not interpret this as a prediction of Armageddon. It is just the beginning of a new year.

10. What is the polar shift theory? Is it true that the earth’s crust does a 180-degree rotation around the core in a matter of days if not hours? Does this have something to do to do with our solar system dipping beneath the galactic equator?

A reversal in the rotation of Earth is impossible. It has never happened and never will. There are slow movements of the continents (for example Antarctica was near the equator hundreds of millions of years ago), but that is irrelevant to claims of reversal of the rotational poles. However, many of the disaster websites pull a bait-and-shift to fool people. They claim a relationship between the rotation and the magnetic polarity of Earth, which does change irregularly with a magnetic reversal taking place every 400,000 years on average. As far as we know, such a magnetic reversal doesn’t cause any harm to life on Earth. A magnetic reversal is very unlikely to happen in the next few millennia, anyway. But they falsely claim that a magnetic reversal is coming soon (in 2012) and that this is the same as, or will trigger, a reversal of rotational poles. The bottom line is: (a) Rotation direction and magnetic polarity are not related. (b) There is no reason to expect a reversal of magnetic polarity any time soon, or to anticipate any bad effects on life when it does eventually happen. © A sudden shift in rotational pole with disastrous consequences is impossible. Also, none of this has anything to do with the galactic equator or any of the other nonsense about alignments that appears on many of the conspiracy theory websites.

11. When most of the planets align in 2012 and planet Earth is in the center of the Milky Way, what will the effects of this be on planet Earth? Could it cause a pole shift, and if so what could we expect?

There is no planet alignment in 2012 or any other time in the next several decades. As to the Earth being in the center of the Milky Way, I don’t know what this phrase means. If you are referring to the Milky Way Galaxy, we are rather far toward the edge of this spiral galaxy, some 30,000 light years from the center. We circle the galactic center in a period of 225-250 million years, always keeping approximately the same distance. Concerning a pole shift, I also don’t know what this means. If it means some sudden change in the position of the pole (that is, the rotation axis of the Earth), then that is impossible, as noted in the answer to Question 10. What many websites do discuss is the alignment of the Earth and Sun with the center of the Milky Way in the constellation of Sagittarius. This happens every December, with no bad consequences, and there is no reason to expect 2012 to be different from any other year.

12. When the sun and the Earth line up on the galactic plane at the same time with the black whole being in the center couldn’t that cause something to happen, due to the fact that the black hole has such a strong gravitational pull.

There is a giant black hole in the center of our Milky Way galaxy, and like any concentration of mass it exerts gravitational force on the rest of the Galaxy. However, the galactic center is very far away, approximately 30,000 light years, so it has negligible effects on the solar system or the Earth. There are no special forces from the galactic plane or the galactic center. The only important force that acts on the Earth is the gravitation of the Sun and Moon. As far as the influence of the galactic plane, there is nothing special about this location. The last time the Earth was in the galactic plane was several million years ago. Claims that we are about to cross the galactic plane are untrue.

13. I am scared about the fact that the Earth will enter the Dark Rift in the Milky Way. What will this do? Will the Earth be swallowed up?

The “dark rift” is a popular name for the broad and diffuse dust clouds in the
inner arm of the Milky Way Galaxy, which block our view of the galactic
center. The entire “galactic alignment” scare is pretty crazy. Late in
December the Sun is always approximately in the direction of the center of
the Galaxy as seen from the Earth, but so what? Apparently the con-men who are trying to scare you have decided to use these meaningless phrases about “alignments” and the “dark rift” and “photon belt” precisely because they are not understood by the public. It is too bad, but there is no law against lying on the Internet or anywhere else except in a court of law. As far as the safety of the Earth is concerned, the important threats are from global warming and loss of biological diversity, and perhaps someday from collision with an asteroid or comet, not the pseudoscientific claims about 2012.

14. I have heard that the Earth’s magnetic field will flip in 2012 just when the strongest level of solar storms in history is predicted to take place. Will this kill us or destroy our civilization?

Near solar maximum (which happens every 11 years approximately), there are many more solar flares and coronal mass ejections than near solar minimum. Flares and mass ejections are no danger for humans or other life on Earth. They could endanger astronauts in deep space or on the Moon, and this is something that NASA must learn to deal with, but it is not a problem for you or me. Large outbursts can interrupt radio transmission, cause bright displays of the aurora (Northern and Southern Lights), and damage the electronics of some satellites in space. Today many satellites are designed to deal with this possibility, for example by switching off some of their more delicate circuits and going into a “safe” mode for a few hours. In extreme cases solar activity can also disrupt electrical transmissions on the ground, possibly leading to electrical blackouts, but this is rare.

The last solar maximum occurred in 2001, so the next one was predicted for around 2012, 11 years later. However, the most recent solar minimum was unusual, with a period of a couple of years with almost no sunspots or other indications of solar activity, so scientists now guess that the next maximum will be delayed, perhaps to 2013. However, the details of the solar cycle remain basically unpredictable.

You are correct that the Earth’s magnetic field protects us by creating a large region in space, called the Earth’s magnetosphere, within which most of the material ejected from the Sun is captured or deflected, but there is no reason to expect a reversal of magnetic polarity any time soon. These magnetic reversals happen only once in 400,000 years on average.

15. I am confused about a report on the Fox News website that in 2012 a “Powerful Solar Storm Could Shut Down U.S. for Months”. They referred to a report from the National Academy of Sciences that was commissioned and paid for by NASA. If nothing is going to happen as a result of the event in 2012, why would NASA allow such nonsense to be reported?

NASA is pleased with the National Research Council report on heliophysics. As you note, this report includes a worst-case analysis of what could happen today if there were a repetition of the biggest solar storm ever recorded (in 1859). The problem is the way such information can be used out of context. There is no reason to expect such a large solar storm in the near future, certainly not in 2012 specifically. Your reference to “the event in 2012” illustrates this problem. There is no prediction of an “event in 2012”. We don’t even know if the next solar maximum will take place in that year. The whole 2012 disaster scenario is a hoax, fueled by ads for the Hollywood science-fiction disaster film “2012”. I can only hope that most people are able to distinguish Hollywood film plots from reality.

16. All my school friends are telling me that we are all going to die in the year 2012 due to a meteor hitting earth. Is this true?

Your friends are wrong. The Earth has always been subject to impacts by comets and asteroids, although big hits are very rare. The last big impact was 65 million years ago, and that led to the extinction of the dinosaurs. Today NASA astronomers are carrying out a survey called the Spaceguard Survey to find any large near-Earth asteroids long before they hit. We have already determined that there are no threatening asteroids as large as the one that killed the dinosaurs. All this work is done openly with the discoveries posted every day on the NASA NEO Program Office website (neo.jpl.nasa.gov), so you can see for yourself that nothing is predicted to hit in 2012.

17. If Nibiru is a hoax, why doesn’t NASA issue a denial? How can you permit these stores to circulate and frighten people? Why doesn’t the U.S. government do something about it!

If you go to the NASA home page, nasa.gov, you will see many stories that expose the Nibiru-2012 hoax. Try searching nasa.com under “Nibiru” or “2012”. There is not much more that NASA can do. These hoaxes have nothing to do with NASA and are not based on NASA data, so we as an agency are not directly involved. But scientists, both within NASA and outside, recognize that this hoax with its effort to frighten people is a distraction from more important science concerns, such as global warming and loss of biological diversity. We live in a country where there is freedom of speech, and that includes freedom to lie. You should be glad there are no censors. But if you will just use common sense I am sure you can recognize the lies. As we approach 2012, the lies will be come even more obvious.

18. Can you prove to me that Nibiru is a hoax? There are so many reports that something terrible will happen in 2012. I need proof because the government and NASA are keeping so much from us.

It is not logical to ask for proof that the 2012 doomsday is a hoax. Your questions should be to the doomsday advocates to prove that what they are saying is true, not to NASA to prove it is false. If someone claimed on the Internet that there were 50-foot tall purple elephants walking through Cleveland, would anyone expect NASA to prove this wrong? The burden of proof falls on those who make wild claims. Remember the often-quoted comment from Carl Sagan that extraordinary claims demand extraordinary levels of evidence if they are to be believed.

However, I think that astronomers have reached the point where we can offer extremely strong arguments that Nibiru does not exist. A large planet (or a brown dwarf) in our solar system would have been known to astronomers for many years, both indirectly from its gravitational perturbations on other objects and by direct detection in the infrared. The NASA Infrared Astronomy Satellite (IRAS) carried out the first all-sky survey in 1983, and several subsequent surveys would also have seen Nibiru if it were there. Further, if a large mass passed through the inner solar system every 3600 years, we would see its disruptive effects on the orbits of the inner planets, and we don’t.

You don’t need to take my word for it. Just use common sense. Have you seen Nibiru? In 2008 many websites said it would be visible to the naked eye in spring 2009. If a large planet or brown dwarf were headed for the inner solar system in 2012, it would already be tracked by hundreds of thousands of astronomers, professional and amateur, all over the world. Do you know any amateur astronomers who are watching it? Have you seen any photos or discussion of it in the big popular astronomy magazines like Sky & Telescope? Just think about it. No one could hide Nibiru if it existed.

19. What about the scary ads for the new film 2012? They tell us to look at these Internet sites to verify the doomsday threat.

The pseudoscientific claims about Nibiru and a doomsday in 2012, together with distrust of the government, are being amplified by publicity for the new film from Columbia Pictures titled 2012, to be released in November 2009. The film’s trailer, appearing in theaters and on their website , shows a tidal wave breaking over the Himalayas, with only the following words: “How would the governments of our planet prepare 6 billion people for the end of the world? [long pause] They wouldn’t. [long pause] Find out the Truth. Google search 2012”.

The film publicity includes creation of a faux scientific website (www.instituteforhumancontinuity.org/) for “The Institute for Human Continuity”, which is entirely fictitious. According to this website, the IHC is dedicated to scientific research and public preparedness. Its mission is the survival of mankind. The website explains that the Institute was founded 1978 by international leaders of government, business, and science. They say that in 2004, IHC scientists confirmed with 94% certainty that the world would be destroyed in 2012. This website encourages people to register for a lottery to select those who will be saved; a colleague submitted the name of her cat, which was accepted. I learned from Wikipedia that creating this sort of fake website is a new advertising technique called “Viral Marketing”, by analogy with computer viruses.

20. Is it possible that the influx of questions you describe is part of some kind of campaign for a book or movie, in the hopes that the volume of denials is taken as more “evidence” that there is a conspiracy?

I ask myself the same questions every day, as the volume of mail I receive about Nibiru (along with various alignments and pole shifts) keeps increasing — now more than 20 per week. Clearly there is money to be made from people’s fear about an approaching doomsday. Some of this hype is apparently advertising for the science fiction disaster movie 2012 (see Question 19). Many websites are selling books and tapes about Nibiru or even “survival kits”. It is all very sad, that with so many real issues (such as global warming and financial collapse) people are being taken in by these lies. In the final chapter of a new astronomy book (The Hunt for Planet X) by Govert Shilling, he writes: “There is plenty to do for the debunkers – the archaeologists and astronomers who take a long and skeptical look at the tidal wave of Nibiru nonsense and explain with scientific precision what is wrong with this cosmic fairy-tale. They will have their work cut out in the next few years. And on December 22, 2012 there will be a new pseudoscientific cock-and-bull story doing the rounds and the whole circus will start all over again. Because no matter how many new celestial bodies are found in our solar system, there will always be a need for a mysterious Planet X.”

Free Picture Resize Genius download

2009-04-10T19:11:00.000-07:00

Picture Resize Genius includes the ability to batch resize pictures, batch resize photos, and perform batch image resize functions for the purpose of email and Web sites, or just to save space on your hard drive, or whatever reason you might have.
The resizing allows you to force a specified width or height and keep the proportions, or define fixed image dimensions. Besides, Picture Resize Genius can add a text overlay (watermark), rename file and more. You will be able to process thousands of files in a few seconds. Picture Resize Genius can keep all metadata information (Jpg EXIF,Tiff Tags etc) and creating datetime for your pictures,Images and photos. Picture Resize Genius support more than 40 picture file format. And it can convert the file format to GIF, JPG, TIFF, PNG, BMP, MIFF or TGA etc.

Picture Resize Genius can keep all metadata information (Jpg EXIF,Tiff Tags etc) and creating date time for your pictures,Images and photos.

Picture Resize Genius support more than 40 picture file format. And it can convert the file format to GIF, JPG, TIFF, PNG, BMP, MIFF or TGA etc.

Applian Replay Media Catcher v2.10.00.00

2009-04-10T12:07:00.000-07:00

**********************************************************************

Introducing Replay Media Catcher, the only software that lets you capture streaming Flash™ Video (FLV format) and MP3 Audio from previously unrecordable streams. And it's incredibly easy to use! Just click Start Recording, then laugh heartily as tons of great media fills your hard drive as you play it.

New for Version 2.0: Unique Automatic Naming Feature

Replay Media Catcher is smart - it figures out the name of the video or MP3 file you've recorded, and names the file automatically. This makes it easier than ever to organize your recorded media. For MP3 files, the artist, album, song title and other information are added to the ID3 tags - this makes your recorded songs appear as they should in iTunes, Windows Media Player, or any other program that plays MP3 files.
Capture FLV Video files from Thousands of Flash™ Video Sites

For capturing online video, you can record from hundreds of popular places, including:
MySpace™
YouTube™
Sony/BMG Music Videos
NBC™
Charlie Rose
Reuters™
Metacafe™
And many, many more!

Snag MP3s from Popular Music Sites

For audio and music sites, Replay Media Catcher will grab the MP3s as they stream down to your PC. It works great with sites like:
MySpace™
Pandora
Radio Blog Club™
and more!

Well Designed, Well Thought Out

Not only is Replay Media Catcher a great tool for capturing media, but it makes your captured media easy to manage too. Here's some of the handy features you'll enjoy:
Play captured videos with the included Flash™ Video player.
Rename media files.
Edit MP3 tags.
Just start playing a video, and Replay Media Catcher records it all. No need to wait for it to finish!

Captures all the Hard-to-get Formats

Attention geeks: Here's the technical stuff for you. Replay Media Catcher is designed specifically for Flash™ (FLV) format video and music. This means you can capture the following protocols and formats:
RTMP Flash™ Video
HTTP Flash™ Video
RTMP MP3
HTTP MP3
More protocols and formats coming soon!

Note: To capture video and audio files streamed in Windows Media or Real formats, try Replay A/V or WM Recorder.

1. Unrar. Install.
2. Please run the included Patch to convert the Demo
version into a fully Registered version.
3. Enjoy!

Proxy Switcher v3.18.0.4990

2009-04-10T11:50:00.001-07:00

Different internet connections do often require completely different proxy server settings and it's a real pain to change them manually. Proxy Switcher offers full featured connection management solution. This includes flexible proxy server list management, proxy server tester and anonymous surfing capabilities. Proxy Switcher Features: -Change proxy settings on the fly -Automatic proxy server switching for anonymous surfing -Works with Internet Explorer, Firefox, Opera and others. -Flexible proxy list management -Proxy server availability testing -Anonymous proxy server list download

Proxy Switcher Features
Change proxy settings on the fly
Automatic proxy server switching for anonymous surfing
Works with Internet Explorer, Firefox, Opera and others.
Flexible proxy list management
Proxy Server Anonimity testing testing
Anonymous proxy server list download

AnyDVD & AnyDVD HD v6.5.4.0 Final

2009-04-10T11:17:00.000-07:00

AnyDVD is a driver, which descrambles DVD-Movies automatically in the background. This DVD appears unprotected and region code free for all applications and the Windows operating system as well. With AnyDVD's help copy tools like CloneDVD, Pinnacle Instant Copy, InterVideo DVD-Copy, etc. are able to copy CSS protected Movies. You can remove the RPC region code, thereby making the movie region free and viewable on any DVD player and with any DVD player software. With the help of AnyDVD you can watch movies with non matching region codes with every DVD Player Software you like!

AnyDVD is capable of removing unwanted movie features, including subtitles and prohibition messages such as copyright and FBI warnings. It also allows you to launch an external application whenever you insert or remove a disc, or prevent 'PC-friendly'software from automatically launching when you insert a video DVD. AnyDVD decrypts not just DVDs: AnyDVD allows you also to play, copy and rip protected Audio CDs!
Decryption is not all that AnyDVD offers. You can control the drive speed of your DVD drive, allowing you to reduce the noise level when watching movies on your PC. You can even adjust the display frequency of your monitor for both NTSC and PAL displays.
Features of AnyDVD:
- Works automatically in the background
- Removes encryption (CSS) and region code (RPC) from DVDs
- Removes analogue copy protection (Macrovision)
- Removes features such as forced subtitles and warnings
- Decrypts without the need to save the data onto your hard-disk
- Decrypts 'on the fly'
- Prevents automatic launching of 'PC-friendly' software on video DVDs
- Allows adjustment of your monitor refresh rate for both NTSC and PAL monitors
- Allows execution of external programs on disc insertion and removal
- Allows speed control of your DVD drives
- Compatible with all DVD media
- Works with all DVD-drives, regardless of region code
- Works with all DVD copying, such as CloneDVD, and all DVD player software
- Works transparently for the operating system: DVDs can be shared over the network and copied with the command prompt or with Windows Explorer, etc.
- Proven to be stable and fast and does not require an ASPI driver
- Features AnyCDDA: play, copy and rip protected audio CDs

AnyDVD HD comes with same functionality as AnyDVD, but with additional features for full HD-DVD (High Definition DVD) support, including decryption of HD-DVD movie discs. Allows you to watch movies over a digital display connection, without HDCP compliant graphics card and HDCP compliant display. No need to buy an expensive monitor. Sweet! Playback your discs on your PC with PowerDVD Ultra, which otherwise do not run (titles released by Studio Canal, The Weinstein Company, Kinowelt, Optimum Releasing). AnyDVD HD is the "must have" utility for the serious home theater enthusiast using a media center / home theater PC.

Another amazing feature of AnyDVD HD is "magic file replacement ™". Remaster any commercial movie disc using simple XML scripts. These scripts will "magically" replace the files on the physical disc. You can customize discs as you like without even making a copy to harddisk! AnyDVD comes with a UDF 2.5 file ripper, no need to install 3rd party UDF 2.5 filesystem under Windows XP.

Features of AnyDVD HD:
- Same features as regular AnyDVD
- Removes encryption (AACS) from HD-DVDs
- watch movies over digital display connection, without HDCP compliant graphics card and HDCP compliant display.
- playback of discs on the PC with PowerDVD Ultra, which otherwise do not run.
- Removes user prohibitions, you can select the language and subtitle track without going through the disc's menu.
- Removes parental restrictions.
- Allows you to remove or skip Studio Logos and warning messages.
- With "magic file replacement ™" you can remaster any commercial movie disc using simple XML scripts.
- The "must have" utility for the serious home theater enthusiast using a media center / home theater PC.
- Includes a UDF 2.5 file ripper, no need to install 3rd party UDF 2.5 filesystem under Windows XP.

Features Blu-Ray:
- Same features as regular AnyDVD
- Removes encryption (AACS) from Blu-Ray DVDs
- Removes region codes from Blu-Ray DVDs
- watch movies over digital display connection, without HDCP compliant graphics card and HDCP compliant display.
- The "must have" utility for the serious home theater enthusiast using a media center / home theater PC.
- Includes a UDF 2.5 file ripper, no need to install 3rd party UDF 2.5 filesystem under Windows XP.

What's ?
- New (Blu-ray): Added support for new BD+ protections
- New: Added additional information to the logfile
- Fix (DVD): CSS removal did not work with some discs
- Fix: High CPU usage, if tray icon was hidden by Windows
- Fix: Possible crash on program exit
- Some minor fixes and improvements
- Updated languages

Clean My PC registry cleaner

2009-04-10T08:17:00.000-07:00

The Windows registry is a database repository for information about a computer's configuration. The registry keep growing when you use Windows. As it does so, it attracts obsolete and unnecessary information, and gradually becomes cluttered and fragmented. With the growing of the registry, it can degrade the performance of the whole system and cause many weird software problems. To keep your computer in top performance, it is recommended to periodically clean your Windows registry with a reliable and efficient Registry Cleaner. CleanMyPC Registry Cleaner is just what you need!
CleanMyPC™ Registry Cleaner - clean registry and boost Windows performance!
CleanMyPC™ Registry Cleaner scans the Windows registry and finds incorrect or obsolete information in the registry. By fixing these obsolete information in Windows registry, your system will run faster and error free. The backup/restore function of the tool let you backup your whole Windows Registry so you can use it to restore the registry to the current status in case you encounter some system failure. Besides above, the startup and BHO organizer feature let you manage your startup and IE BHO items with ease, and you can control the programs started with Windows and IE more handy with this feature!

In short, CleanMyPC™ Registry Cleaner help you get rid of the bloat in Windows registry and achieve a cleaner, faster system.

Main Registry Cleaner Features:
- Automatic Registry Scanning and Cleanup
- Backup and Restore the full Registry
- Registry Defrag and Registry Compact
- Tracks Eraser feature for privacy protection
- Startup Organizer
- IE BHO Organizer
- Improve system performance
- Remove Trojan which utilize startup items and IE BHO

Registry Mechanic 8.0.0.900

2009-04-10T02:51:00.000-07:00

Registry Mechanic - the Program is intended for clearing, correction of mistakes, check of integrity and restoration of the register. Registry Mechanic - Registry Cleaner for Windows with improved Deep Scan goes further than ever before with new categories. You can safely clean and repair Windows registry problems with a few simple mouse clicks! Fix problems with the Windows registry that are a common cause of Windows crashes and error messages. With a few easy steps, Registry Mechanic will scan your entire registry for any invalid entries and provide a list of the errors found; you can then choose to selectively clean each item or automatically repair them all. For your convenience and protection, Registry Mechanic can also make a backup of any repairs made so that you can easily recover any changes if required.
Registry Mechanic Feature Highlights:
- Repair invalid registry entries that are a common cause of Windows crashes and error messages
- Optimize your system by compacting the wasted space and gaps in the registry
- Increase system speed and stability by removing orphaned references
- Scans your hard drive for invalid and incorrect program shortcuts
- Safely make backups of any registry change made by Registry Mechanic
- Works with Windows® 98, Me, 2000 and XP, with basic support for Windows® Vista™
- Unlimited free upgrades and e-mail technical support for one year

Free 3GP Converter download

2009-04-10T00:49:00.000-07:00

Alive 3GP Video Converter is a 3GP converter to convert popular video to 3GP, 3G2, or MPEG-4. It supports converting DivX, XviD, MPEG, MOV, MPG, MOD, QickTime, MP4, 3G2, SWF, GIF, DV, MJPEG, VOB, WMV, ASF, AVI to 3GP, 3G2, or MPEG-4 video format for mobile phone and PDA. Alive 3GP Video Converter also allows you to convert various video to DivX, XviD, MPEG, or MP4 formats. On the other hand, you can convert your favorite video to MP3 audio with Alive 3GP Video Converter.
Features:
Generate mobile phone video formats
Alive 3GP Video Converer converts all mobile phone video formats, such 3GP, 3G2, or MPEG-4.
Support various formats
This 3GP converter supports most popular video formats, such as AVI, MPEG, MOD, DV, WMV, MOV, QT, MP4, DivX, XviD, ASF, VOB, 3GP, 3G2…
More settings
Many settings are adjustable in Alive 3GP Video Converter, for example, you can adjust video size, bit rate, or frame rate, etc… So that the output 3GP or 3G2 video will be matched for most mobile phone or PDA.
Converting in batches
Alive 3GP Converter supports convert multiple files at one time, and allows you to load all video files you want to convert to 3GP, then click “Convert” button to convert them at one time…
Righ click to convert
Our 3GP Converter is integrated with Windows Explorer, so you can finish a conversion with only 2 clicks, and without launching 3GP Converter in advance!
Schedule converting supported
With Alive 3GP Video Converter, you can load all the videos you want to convert, and then set a schedule to convert them in the midnight.
Support drag-drop
Alive 3GP Video Converter supports drag-drop to load video files, just drag the video files to the icon or main window of Alive 3GP Video Converter, the conversion will be started automatically.
Fast conversion
Super fast conversion speed provided as it full supports Intel Pentium D Dual-Core Processor and AMD Athlon? 64 X 2 Dual-Core Processor which ensures full use of your CPU.
Easy to use
Friendly interface, detailed help document. Even a new user, you can use Alive 3GP Video Converter within a few minutes without any special learning.
Vista compatible
Support Microsoft’s new operation system Windows Vista

cara betulin error komputer

2008-07-05T09:30:00.000-07:00

Taukah kalian kalau 95% dari semua PC mengalami Error yang tersembunyi, ga usah kuatir karena sekarang sudah ada software yang bisa bantu kalian buat ngebetulin error pada PC kalian yaitu "Error Repair Professional" software ini bisa membantu PC kalian bekerja secara cepat seperti saat kondisi baru. klo mau download klik gambarnya aja ya thx

USB Disk Security

2008-07-03T05:11:00.000-07:00

USB Disk Security provides 100% protection against any threats via USB drive, however, the majority of other products are unable even to guarantee 90% protection. USB Disk Security is the best antivirus software to permanently protect offline computer without the need for signature updates, but other antivirus software should update signature database regularly, and they cannot effectively protect offline computer. This light and easy to use solution is 100% compatible with all software and doesn't slow down your computer at all. You pay USB Disk Security once and get it all, however, other antivirus products should be paid for updates every year.

Product Highlights:

>> 100% protection against any malicious programs via USB storage

USB Disk Security uses innovative proactive technology to block any threats via USB drive. There are relatively few products available in shops or on the Internet which offer even close to 100% protection against any malicious programs via USB drive. The majority of products are unable even to guarantee 90% protection. USB Disk Security is the world's best software to block threats via USB drive.

>> The best solution to protect offline computer

Other antivirus software should update signature database regularly, and they cannot effectively protect offline computer that is not connected to the Internet. When new viruses, worms and other malicious attacks strike, traditional signatures are insufficient. Every minute one waits for a virus signature update creates a window of vulnerability that could have devastating consequences. USB Disk Security uses advanced proactive detection techniques, requires no signature updates, and closes the window of vulnerability left open by other reactive, signature-based responses.

>> The world's fastest and smallest antivirus software

With USB Disk Security, it’s not necessary to sacrifice speed for detection and scanning. Compare antivirus software and you'll discover that USB Disk Security is by far one of the smallest applications in the industry. For example, the v5.0 of USB Disk Security installer is just 1 MB. The program utilizes approximately 1 to 7 MB of RAM.

>> 100% compatible with all software

Incompatibility between antivirus programs is an issue. In the vast majority of cases, installing two antivirus programs from different vendors on one machine (for increased protection) is technically impossible, as the two programs will disrupt each other's functioning. However, USB Disk Security is 100% compatible with all software, including Windows Vista.>> Simple to useUSB Disk Security has been specifically designed to perform effectively regardless of the user’s level of computer expertise. Just install and forget it.

>>> System Requirement

100MHz Processor or more, 16MB RAM or more. The operating system should be Windows 95, Windows 98, Windows 2000, Windows XP, Windows NT 4.0, Windows ME, or Vista.

Reg Doctor

2008-07-03T03:39:00.000-07:00

Automatically fix Windows registry problems and improve system performance. Stop computer crashes! Registry problems are the common cause of Windows crashes, error messages, and degraded performance! RegDoctor can safely and quickly clean and repair Windows registry problems with a few simple mouse clicks! RegDoctor uses an intelligent, high-performance detection engine to accurately identify missing and invalid references in your Windows registry. Identified registry problems are listed and rated by risk level using an easy to understand color-coded system for your information.You can choose to have RegDoctor automatically repair all identified problems, or more selectively choose which problems to repair immediately. RegDoctor also offers a Restore feature to create registry backup files, giving you the capability to safely undo any registry changes.The auto-start feature of RegDoctor helps to support its regular use. By using RegDoctor regularly to clean and repair your registry, your system should not only be more stable but it will also help Windows and your software run faster.

Error repair professional 3.8.3

2008-07-02T20:24:00.001-07:00

"95% of All PCs Have Hidden Errors on Them! Let Us Scan Your PC and Discover How Many Errors Are Lurking Inside It...""Eliminate Them Instantly and Have The Peace Of Mind Knowing Your PC is Automatically Kept Error Free, 24 Hours A Day!"Keep your PC operating smoothly by using Error Repair Professional to scan, identify, clean and repair errors in your PC with a single click. With a few easy steps, it will scan your entire registry for any invalid entries and provides a list of the registry errors found. You can then choose to selectively clean each item or automatically repair them all.

Lime wire pro

2008-07-01T23:13:00.000-07:00

LimeWire - The Fastest P2P File Sharing Program on the Planet, running on the Gnutella Network. It is open standard software running on an open protocol, free for the public to use. LimeWire allows you to share any file such as.mp3s, .avis, jpgs, tiffs, etc., allows you to search for multiple files at the same time, available in several different languages, and is most famous for its ease-of-use and cross-platform compatibility. Limewire is written in Java, and will run on Windows, Macintosh, Linux, Solaris, and other computing platforms.

LimeWire still has the following great features:

- Ease of use - just install, run, and search

- Ability to search by artist, title, genre, or other metainformation

- Elegant multiple search tabbed interface

- "Swarm" downloads from multiple hosts help you get files faster

- iTunes integration for Mac and Windows users

- Unique "ultrapeer" technology reduces bandwidth requirements for most users

- Integrated chat

- Directly connect to a computer

- Browse host feature--even works through firewalls

- Added Bitzi metadata lookup

- International versions: Now available in many new languages

- Connects to the network using GWebCache, a distributed connection system

- Automatic local network searches for lightning-fast downloads

- Support for MAGNET links that allow you to click on web page links that access Gnutella

Smarty Uninstaller 2008 Pro 2.1.0

2008-07-01T15:56:00.000-07:00

Powerful professional uninstall manager with intuitive and easy to use interface! Manage and completely remove Windows® applications from your PC (all files, shortcuts and registry entries). Make an applications uninstall with invalid uninstaller, clean up hard drive and registry! Easy to use and modern user interface allows to comfortably work with Smarty Uninstaller! Very fast and reliable. More comfortable solution than regular Windows Add/Remove. Multilanguage support. At this time translated to 27 languages! At most cases Windows applications are very complicated. They put large number of traces to your system. Especially that refers to such things as entries in Windows Registry, Program Files and Shortcuts. In general the problem lies in Uninstaller (simply, an uninstaller is the opposite of an installer. During the uninstallation, the uninstaller removes all the components which were installed) that can't properly remove all traces in Windows. Also some users simply doesn't use uninstaller! They just delete the application program files from hard drive. Other traces still stays untouched! Large amount of junk traces will make your PC much slower.Smarty Uninstaller 2008 will help you to avoid all these problems and much more.

Here are some key features of "Smarty Uninstaller Pro":

· COMPLETELY removes applications from your PC (all files, shortcuts and registry entries)

· Easy to use and modern user interface allows to comfortably work with Smarty Uninstaller!

· Very fast and reliable. More comfortable solution than regular Windows Add/Remove.

· Smart Protection feature. This feature will protect critical system components. You will not be able to delete system files accidentally or in any other way.

· Uninstall applications using drag-drop and context menu! Just drop application's icon on Smarty Uninstaller icon on the desktop. Or choose appropriate command in context menu (Right mouse click).

· Create a queue of applications for analyzing or uninstalling (you can select more than one application at same time)

· Smarty Analyzer will deeply scan your computer for traces left by selected application.

· Force uninstalling applications with broken uninstaller! Complete uninstall.· Automatically detects invalid installations and give ways to fix them

· Detailed information about application (Name, Version, Size, Install location etc.)

· Create and Print detailed reports about installed applications. (html formatted)

· Smarty Analyzer will deeply scan your computer for traces left by selected application.

· Backup your system directly from Smarty Uninstaller.· Useful tips and detailed Help provide you with all information you need to work with it.

· Multilanguage interface!· Fast search feature allows to quickly find application you need.

Any Video Converter

2008-07-01T14:02:00.000-07:00

As professional video converter, Any Video Converter performs to its excellence in converting AVI, MPG, RMVB, MOV, MKV and many other video formats to WMV, AVI, MP4, FLV, 3GP and other popular formats at fast speed and with outstanding quality. Any Video Converter supports iPod, iPhone, Zune, PSP and other Portable Media Players (PMPs) and cell phones. Besides the output formats dedicated for iPod, iPhone, Zune, PSP and cell phones, Any Video Converter supports customizing WMV, AVI and 3GP formats.

Any Video Converter features include:

•User-friendly interface that is easy to use.

• Converts all video formats to Apple iPod Video, Sony PSP and more

• Batch convert any video formats including avi, wmv, asf, mpg, mp4, etc.

• Support DivX and Xvid avi format as importing and exporting video

• Support default video/audio settings or user customized parameters for video and audio.

• Has the option to preview the video in real-time before conversion .

• World's fastest video conversion speed with stunning video and audio quality.

• Supports adjust many video/audio options for MP4 files For example, video/audio sample rate, bit rate, video size...

Requirements:

• Intel or AMD or compatible processors at 1000 MHz minimum

• Display graphics minimum resolution of 800x600x 32-bit color

• RAM 128 megabytes (MB)

• Minimum 40 MB of free hard disk space is needed for installation, minimum 300 Mb for proper working

• Administrative permissions are required for installation

• Sound card

Download MP3

2008-06-23T16:40:00.001-07:00

Pusing nyari download MP3 gratis,, Download aja Software Lime wire
sebelum download "lime wire" kamu harus download "java for windows" karena software lime wire tidak bisa bekerja tanpa java,, thx

Pembasmi virus amburadul

2008-06-22T17:15:00.000-07:00

Buat kalian yang bingung cara membasmi virus amburadul tinggal download aja PCMAV 2.0d build 3 disini....

biasanya setelah aplikasi dijalankan si virus amburadul ini ngeblok aplikasi PCMAV nya, ga usah bingung tinggal rename PCMAV kalian dengan nama apa aja lalu coba jalankan kembali aplikasi tersebut

The oldest people

2008-06-21T12:37:00.000-07:00

The people in modern history who have lived the longest.

1.Kamato Hongo (September 16, 1887 October 31, 2003)Kamato was born in Japan and lived to be 116 years and 45 days old. Kamato had seven children. She was able to become some sort of celebrity after advertising products, highlighting her longevity. She was on Japanese Television several times. She died October 32, 2003 after 5pm of pneumonia.

2.Carrie White (November 18, 1874? February 14, 1991)Carrie was institutionalized in 1909, about the time of her divorce. She was institutionalized due to a nervous breakdown (Can you believe that?). There is some dispute about the legitimacy of her age. Recent research suggests that instead of being 116 she may have only been 102 years old at the time of her death.

3.Elizabeth Bolden (August 15, 1890 - December 11, 2006)Lizzy, as she was known, was the daughter of freed slaves. She was 116 years and 118 days old when she died. When she turned 116 she had 7 children, 40 grandchildren, 75 great grandchildren, 150 great-great grandchildren, 220 great-great-great grandchildren, and 75 great-great-great-great grandchildren. In her final years, she was unable to communicate so the family limited media attention.

4.Tane Ikai (January 18, 1879 - July 12, 1995)Tane lived to be 116 years and 175 days old. She died of kidney failure. She is also the first known person older than 110 years old to be autopsied. Tane is also the oldest Japanese woman ever.

5.Maria Capovilla (September 14, 1889 August 27, 2006)Maria lived to be 116 years and 347 days old. Being a good role model, she never smoked or drank hard liquor. Maria nearly died at age 100, way short of being on this list, but apparently, she really wanted to make this list. By March of 2006, she was no longer able to read the newspaper. She disliked the fact that women were able to "court men," instead of the other way around. Eventually she succumbed to pneumonia in August of 2006.

6.Marie-Louise Meilleur (August 29, 1880 April 16, 1998)Mrs. Meilleur was French-Canadian, born in Quebec. She was married in 1900. Her husband and both of her parents died from 1911-1912. So she moved to Ontario leaving behind her four children. She married her second husband in 1915 and had six more children. He died in 1972. After that, she went to live with a daughter and then finally a nursing home. By the time she died, she was living with one of her daughters, who was 90.

7.Lucy Hannah (July 16, 1875 - March 21, 1993)Lucy is the fourth oldest person ever, having lived to be 117 years and 248 days old. She is also the Oldest living African American, and the oldest person to never be the "Oldest Living Person." because her age coincided with Jeanne Calment the world's oldest person.

8.Sarah Knauss (September 24, 1880 December 30, 1999)At age 117, she set the record for oldest "new" titleholder, meaning that when she became the oldest person in the world, she was older than anyone else was who had received it. She is also the worlds oldest American, having lived longer than any other American has. To me it is crazy to think that she was 88 when man first walked on the moon. Sarah enjoyed watching golf on television and nibbling on things.

9.Shigechiyo Izumi (June 29, 1865? February 21, 1986)This one is a little controversial. Assuming that his birthdate is correct he is the oldest male to ever live, dying at 120 years 137 days old. Some dispute his age suggesting that he was born in 1880, but to get the record changed it would take more evidence. Mr. Izumi took up smoking at age 70 (presumably, to shorten his life, I just made that up). He stood just 4 feet 8 inches tall, and was 94 pounds. He didn't retire from being a sugarcane farmer until he was 105.

10.Jeanne Calment (February 21, 1875 August 4, 1997)She is an interesting case, and her age is well documented. In Genesis 6:3, the Lord says, "They will live no longer than 120 years." She proves this case untrue. Jeanne lived to be 122 years and 164 days old. Jeanne was also the longest record holder for a living person, as she was 113 when she was awarded the title "World's Oldest Living Person." When she was 14 years old, she met Vincent Van Gogh, although she was not impressed. She quit smoking when she was 117, probably because she knew it would shorten her life. She is also the oldest actress ever appearing briefly in the film "Vincent and Me" appearing as herself. She took up fencing at age 85, continued to ride a bicycle at age 100 and was walking freely until almost 115. She attributed her longevity to olive oil, which she poured on all of her food and rubbed into her skin.

The youngest professor

2008-06-21T12:30:00.000-07:00

Alia Sabur has always been a newsmaker. She was the youngest student to attend college, when she was 10, and four years later, the youngest woman to earn a Bachelor of Science degree in Applied Mathematics from Stony Brook University. By 18, she had her doctorate degree in Materials Science and Engineering. And now, the young New Yorker has made headlines again.
Sabur says she is excited about teaching at Konkuk University in Seoul, South Korea Alia Sabur has set a new Guinness World Record as the youngest college professor in history. She broke the nearly 300-year old record set in 1717 by Colin Maclaurin, a Scottish mathematician and student of Isaac Newton, who became a professor at 19."Getting the Guinness World Record was really a great honor to be in such a distinguish company as the former record holder who was Newton's prodigy and a very, very successful mathematician in every calculus book there is," she says. "So I'm hoping to continue the tradition and do the best I can."
Sabur was 18 when she was hired by Konkuk University in Seoul, South Korea in the Department of Advanced Technology Fusion. She says teaching students who are older than she is will not be an issue for her."My classmates have always been older than me," she says. "My colleagues have always been older than me. I'm kind of used to it by now. Usually, once people realize that I really do know what I'm doing, there is not usually a problem."Last semester, Sabur taught four courses in math and physics at Southern University in New Orleans.
Sabur says she loves researching, teaching and public speaking "I really enjoy teaching," she says. "It's fulfilling. I learned a lot in my experience at Southern University in New Orleans, which is historically a black college, and the only university in New Orleans that's still operating out of trailers. I wanted to help their recovery effort."In her new position on the Konkuk campus, Sabur will also be a research liaison with her alma mater – Stony Brook University in New York."The research that I'm working on is in nano technology," she says. "It involves developing nanotube based cellular probes for medical research and studying cures and effective treatments for all kinds of diseases."Through her work – whether it's researching, teaching or public speaking – Sabur hopes to dispel the myth that girls are not as good as boys are at math and science."I'm hoping to be a role model for other girls," she says, "and inspire them to go into those subjects so that they can prove the same thing, that girls are good at math and science and that you don't have to be really nerdy or weird to be successful in them."
Sabur hopes to be a role model for other girlsAlia Sabur credits her family for her success."We tried to encourage her as much as possible to do whatever it was that she was interested in," Sabur's mother, Julie, says. "We let her explore her interests not ours."Julie Sabur and her husband, Mark, were able to recognize their only child's uniqueness when she was just a baby. Alia started to talk and read at 8 months, she says, adding that her daughter has always had an unusual ability for comprehension and processing information. She went from elementary school to college at age 10, skipping 8 years of basic education. And her talent is not limited to academics. The same year she entered college, she began studying the clarinet at the Juilliard School of Music, and made her solo debut with an orchestra when she was 11."She has been very respectful toward her elders," she says. "She's always appreciated great master musicians who she has been fortunate enough to study under. I think maybe she was a little intimidated by the fact they were so accomplished, but usually the music and the science go beyond the age."Alia Sabur says she is excited about living in South Korea, a country she has never been to before. She hopes she will inspire more girls there to study science, and also encourage more international collaboration among universities and their students.

The fastest car

2008-06-21T12:20:00.000-07:00

World’s Fastest Cars
While most of us can only dream of owning the fastest car in the world, some will do whatever it takes to possess such speed and power.So, how fast are the fastest cars in the world? Here is the 10 fastest cars available on the market measures by top speed.

1.SSC Ultimate Aero: 257 mph+, 0-60 in 2.7 secs. Twin-Turbo V8 Engine with 1183 hp, base price is $654,400. Tested in March 2007 by Guinness world records, The SSC Ultimate Aero takes the lead as the fastest car in the world beating Bugatti Veyron.

2.Bugatti Veyron: 253 mph+, 0-60 in 2.5 secs. Aluminum, Narrow Angle W16 Engine with 1001 hp, base price is $1,444,000. With the highest price tag, no wonder this is rank #2.

3. Koenigsegg CCX: 250 mph+, 0-60 in 3.2 secs. 90 Degree V8 Engine 806 hp, base price is $695,000. Made in Sweden, it is expected to take #1 spot in the future.

4.Saleen S7 Twin-Turbo: 248 mph+, 0-60 in 3.2 secs. Twin Turbo All Aluminum V8 Engine with 750 hp, base price is $555,000. Smooth and bad-ass, will make you want to show it off non-stop.

5.McLaren F1: 240 mph+, 0-60 in 3.2 secs. BMW S70/2 60 Degree V12 Engine with 627 hp, base price is $970,000. Check out the doors, they looks like bat wings, maybe Batman need to order one and paints it black

6.Ferrari Enzo: 217 mph+, 0-60 in 3.4 secs. F140 Aluminum V12 Engine with 660 hp, base price is $670,000. Only 399 ever produced, the price goes up every time someone crashes.

7.Jaguar XJ220: 217 mph+, 0-60 in 4.0 secs. Twin Turbo V6 Engine with 542 hp, base price is $345,000. Made in 1992, this car still got what it takes to make the list.

8.Pagani Zonda F: 215 mph+, 0-60 in 3.5 secs. Mercedes Benz M180 V12 Engine with 650 hp, base price is $741,000. With a V12 motor, this baby can do much better.

9.Lamborghini Murcielago LP640: 213 mph+, 0-60 in 3.3 secs. V12 Engine with 640 hp, base price is $430,000. Nice piece of art, the design is very round and smooth.

10. Porsche Carrera GT: 209 mph+, 0-60 in 3.9 secs. Aluminum, 68 Degree, Water Cooled V10 Engine with 612 hp, base price is $440,000. The Porsche most expensive car made the list as #10.

The most poisonous animal

2008-06-21T12:08:00.000-07:00

8. Box Jellyfish
Prevalent in the ocean waters throughout Asia and Australia, this dangerous animal goes out of its way to avoid other creatures. Swimmers must definitely avoid the Box jellyfish. The stingers and tentacles on this animal are extremely powerful. Along with causing excruciating pain for weeks, the animal's venom is capable of stopping the heart or paralyzing the lungs. To top it off, the venom will slowly eat away at the skin.

7. Marbled Cone Snail
Though very slow moving, this snail thrives in reefs throughout the world. The animal uses its strong, toxic venom to catch its prey. While within its shell, the snail shoots out a nose type device called a proboscis. From the probiscis, a tooth like appendage attaches onto the victim. The venom within the animal is transmitted through the tooth into the victim. This leads to paralysis almost immediately. Humans that have experienced a bite are succumbed by weakness, numbness, nausea and death, when the lungs ultimately stop working.

6. Blue Ringed Octopus
The painless bite from a Blue Ringed Octopus may seem innocuous, however the deadly neurotoxins in the animals saliva immediately begin working. Within a few minutes, a human will experience muscular weakness, numbness, followed by a cessation and breathing and ultimately death.

5. Death Stalker Scorpion
Prevalent throughout North Africa and the Middle East, this arachnid lives up to its name. The stinger on this animal is not overly large or strong, however the sting administered is the most toxic from scorpions anywhere in the world. It causes an intense and unbearable pain, then fever, followed by coma, convulsions, paralysis and death.

4. Stonefish
Inhabiting the waters of the Pacific throughout the Australia coast, this complacent fish resembles a sea rock or coral. With its nearly invisible camouflaged assistance, it attacks many fish that swim nearby. A powerful toxin stored within its 13 spines can stop nearly every animal that it connects with. If contact comes with humans, the venom will cause intense pain, swelling of tissue, shock followed by death.

3. Sydney Funnel Web Spider
One of the most venomous creatures in the Australia outback, the Sydney Funnel Web Spider packs a powerful punch. This spider is large and very aggressive, consistently creating the most powerful venom of any spider. Protecting its burrow, the spider places a web across its entrance that passers by should not enter. From its fangs, the spider delivers a powerful neurotoxin that cause extreme pain and are capable of killing a person within 15 minutes. It's venom does not affect most mammals but has a very powerful effect on humans.

2. Inland Taipan
This Australian snake is frequently considered the most poisonous snake on earth. One bite from this serpent contains enough potent toxin about 110 milligrams to kill about 100 people. It toxin can cause vomiting and will cease a persons breathing. Fortunately, the Taipan is a very gentle and shy reptile.

1. Poison Dart Frog
While running through the rain forests of Central or South America, do not pick up the Poison dart frog. The frog's skin contains a toxic chemcal that sickens or kills any animal that touches or eats it. Two micrograms of this deadly toxin (enough to fit on the head of a pin) will easily kill a human being or other large mammanl.

The most greatest eartquake of all time

2008-06-21T12:05:00.000-07:00

The honor of greatest earthquake of all time goes to the 1960 Chile earthquake because scientists were able to 'catch this one on tape'. In other words, there have been a lot of really big earthquakes throughout human history (and even greater ones before we came on the scene), but this one they were able to measure, record and verify its ground motion strength. The instruments that seismologists use to measure earthquake magnitudes are designed to detect the amount of energy released by the movement of the ground during a quake. In the case of the Chile earthquake, the amount of energy released during the quake, not the number of human deaths and damage to structures, earned it the title of greatest.
The epicenter of the earthquake (the point on the earth's surface directly above the focus of an earthquake) was 60 meters down below the ocean floor about 100 miles off the coast of Chile out in the Pacific. The nearby towns of Valdivia and Puerto Montt suffered devastating damage because of their closeness to the center of such a massive quake. The loss of human life was not as bad as it could have been because there were large foreshocks that sent people into the streets talking.

About 30 minutes after the foreshocks, when the main jolt came, many people were still outside calming their jitters from the first shock. The buildings and homes that fell had pretty much vacated. However, damage cost estimates were over a half billion dollars.
Not only was there damage to man-made structures during the quake, but the earth itself was forever changed by the enormous amount of energy released from below. Huge landslides, massive flows of earthen debris and rock, were sent tumbling down mountain slopes. Some landslides were so enormous they changed the course of major rivers or dammed them up creating new lakes. The land along the coast of Chile, particularly in the Port city of Peurto Montt, subsided (sunk downward) as a result of the movement of the ground during the quake and the coastal city was flooded with ocean water.
Flooding of village streets was due to subsidence of coastal land as a result of the 1960 earthquake.
The damage from the quake was not limited to the nearby shores of Chile. Enormous waves or tsunamis , traveled for thousands of miles across the vast expanse of the Pacific Ocean, reaching the shores of Hawaii, the Philippines, and even Japan devastating everything in their path. The tsunamis were created by the shifting of the sea floor that generated the huge temblor. It was as though someone had dropped a huge boulder in the ocean right over the epicenter of the quake, sending enormous ripples in every direction, traveling at speeds up to 200 miles per hour!

Bali

2008-06-21T11:53:00.000-07:00

Bali Island, the perfect holiday destination for all ages offers something for everyone. Bali offers not just various customs but also various "adrenalin pump" parks. Many exciting amusements are available in Bali, with something new opening all the time. The number of offshore and inland attraction are on the rise because many tourists want them. This tropical paradise has a unique blend of modern tourist facilities combined with wonderful shopping and a rich past and heritage. After white water rafting that has gained popularity in Bali, comes offshore rafting or ocean rafting. The more adventurous sort of amusement has now become an alternative sport for tourists. Meanwhile white water rafting is still a popular activity with trips on Ayung, Telaga Waja, Unda Rivers, etc. The tourists can refresh their mind by watching beautiful scenery along the route. Those are not enough, some of the best surfing beaches in the world can be found on the western side of the island whilst conversely the eastern side is a wonderful haven for families, with beautiful white sand beaches and gentle seas.

The culture of Bali is unique. People say that the Balinese people have reached self-content. The Balinese people are proud of having preserved their unique Hindu culture against the advance of Islam, the dominant religion throughout Indonesia. This is still reflected in days to day life and can be seen in the numerous ceremonies, Balinese festivals and magnificent temples and palaces. The Balinese are skilled artisans, particularly in woodcarving and in fashioning objects of tortoiseshell and of gold, silver and other metals. The Balinese are noted for their traditional dance, the distinctive music of the gamelan and for their skills in weaving cloth of gold and silver threads, Songket, as well as for embroidering silk and cotton clothing. Stone and woodcarvings, traditional and modern paintings and intricately designed jewelry in gold and silver are readily available in shops and galleries throughout the island.
As for recreation, there is no shortage of options. Nature walks, horseback riding, diving, surfing - even bungy jumping and white water rafting - await the adventurous here.

Bali is volcanically active and extravagantly fertile. Bali has an area of 5620 sq km, measures approximately 140 km by 80 km and is just 8 degrees south of the equator. Mount Agung known as the 'mother mountain' is over 3000 meters. South and north of the central mountains are Bali's fertile agricultural lands. The southern region is a wide, gently sloping area where most of Bali's abundant rice crop is grown. The south-central area is the true rice basket of the Island. The northern coastal strip is narrower, rising more rapidly into the foothills of the central range, but the main export crops, coffee, copra and rice, are grown here. Cattle are also raised in this area.

Lesser Sunda Islands / Kepulauan Nusa Tenggara

2008-06-21T11:50:00.001-07:00

West Nusa Tenggara
The Wallace Line, named after 19th century naturalist, Alfred Russell Wallace, marks a point of transition between the flora and fauna of western and Eastern Indonesia and acts as the Western boundary of West Nusa Tenggara, which includes the islands of Lombok and Sumbawa.Lombok is noticeably different than its close neighbor, Bali. The northern part of the island is mountainous and lush with tall trees and shrubs. The South, on the other hand is arid and covered by savanna. Large Asian mammals are absent and replaced instead by marsupials, lizards, cockatoos and parrots. The difference becomes more pronounced as one moves further east, where dry seasons are more prolonged and corn and sago are the staple food, instead of rice.At around the time Islam first came to these islands in the 16th century, four Hindu Kingdoms co - existed in apparent peace in what is now West Nusa Tenggara. Lombok experienced strong Balinese influences, but has retained a unique identity. The indigenous people of Lombok, the Sasaks, are predominantly Moslem and have a strong, distinguished tradition, as do the people of neighboring Sumbawa.Soft, white sand, virgin beaches are typical in Lombok, where the motto is : "You can see Bali from Lombok, but not Lombok from Bali". Famous for its ikat hand-woven textiles, the island has exceptional charm and is relatively undiscovered, except for the town of Senggigi, which is becoming a major resort area. Regular shuttle flights from Bali and Surabaya as well as ferries, provide excellent transportation links between the islands of the province as well as the rest of the country.
East Nusa Tenggara
The islands of east Nusa Tenggara have been shaped by the power and force of an enormous chain of volcanoes which begins in the north of Sumatra and stretches east across Java, the legendary 'Ring of Fire'. The province consist of over 550 islands, but is dominated by three main islands of Flores, Sumba, and Timor. Occupying a unique position at the junction of Australian and Asian submarine ridges marked by the Wallace line, it is one of the most dynamic and exotic marine environments in the world. The arid landscape of eastern and southern Nusa Tenggara is the result of hot, dry winds blasting in from the Australian continent. In fact, in many coastal areas not a drop of rain falls during most of the year.
Flores is a Portuguese name which means "flower", and ideally describes the beauty to be found here. This long island between Sumbawa and Timor is crowded with volcanoes and mountains, dividing it into several regions with distinct languages and traditions. Predominantly Catholic and heavily influenced by the Portuguese, there are many examples of a strong European cultural heritage, like the Easter procession held in Larantuka, and the royal regalia of the former king in Maumere.
Formerly known as the Sandal wood Island, Sumba is now famous for its horses and a superb style of ikat cloth. Spirits, both ancestral and natural, are worshipped. West Sumba is famous for its enormous megalithic tombs and traditional thatched and peaked huts raised on stilts. Incredible rituals are a way of life here, such as the "Pasola". Where hundreds of horsemen fling spears at each other in a annual traditional ceremonies, all paying homage to the spirit, take place from July to October, including the building of "adat" or traditional houses. Burial ceremonies require the sacrifice of hundreds of pigs, water buffaloes, horses, and dogs. Other ceremonies include "Pajura" or traditional boxing, festivals for the Lunar New Year in October and November, horse races and ritual dances.Timor is the largest island in the province in terms of population and it is here that the provincial capital of Kupang is located. Timor is rich in culture, beautiful scenery, and magnificent wildlife. The isolated communities have developed a variety of architectural styles. Unlike other parts of East Nusa Tenggara, the roads in Timor are generally good and public transportation is relatively well developed. Kupang is the gateway to Nusa Tenggara with regular, direct flights to and from Darwin in Australia as well as with the rest of the archipelago.

Bali
Bali, one of over 18.000 islands in Indonesia, is famous for its scenic beauty, dynamic culture, and friendly people. Located just south of the equator, tropical Bali traditionally has a hot, wet season (November - March) and a cool, dry one (May - September). Towering volcanoes, some still active, contain large lakes which provide water for irrigating thousands of terraced rice fields, enabling up to three harvests per year. Over the centuries the Balinese culture has proven itself very resilient, managing to blend influences from Asia and West with their own traditions. Buddhism arrived from India during the early centuries of the first millennium followed later by Hinduism and trade contacts with China. Relations with Java began in the 11th century but full Javanese control of Bali did not come until 1334 and lasted only just over 100 years.
Bali's tourism has brought spectacular economic growth, a thriving hotel industry, and major improvements to transportation and communication facilities. The international fame of Bali's culture has also brought a heightened sense of identity among the Balinese. Many villages produce arts and crafts, present music and dance performances, and hold elaborate religious ceremonies. As always, the Balinese take everything in their stride, absorbing and adapting from different sources. They are a flexible people, welcoming new ideas but at the same time retaining a unique life-style guided by their religious, social and cultural traditions.
Religion And TemplesBalinese religion, Hindu Dharma, blends animism, Buddhism and Hinduism. Ancient beliefs in nature spirits are the basis for including other faiths, with a key focus on maintaining a balance in the cosmos and within oneself. The main tenets are belief in a single divine being, the individual soul, reincarnation of the soul, the effect of present actions on future rebirths, and eventual release from rebirth and union with the Divine. Offerings to the deities, demons, humans, ancestors, and priests are seen as gifts of thanks or appeasement. Ceremonies can be done almost any time and any where, but auspicious days and temples are preferred. A pura or Temple is a walled-in space with an inner courtyard containing shrines and pavilions for the visiting deities. Outer areas have cooking areas and performance spaces. An odalan or anniversary celebration is a festive event with music, dance, offerings and ritual worship : it is as much a time for socializing and entertainment as it is a religious occasion. Visitors wishing to see a temple festival should follow basic rules of etiquette as the Balinese appreciate those who show respect for their customs.

Papua / Irian Jaya

2008-06-21T11:45:00.000-07:00

Irian Jaya is a tropical island with primeval rain forests, powerful rivers, beautiful beaches, lakes, and mountains. The highest mountain is Mount Jayawijaya, with snowcaps covering its 5,000-meter-high peaks. The area is also rich in natural resources, including fish, timber, and precious metals. These, however ever, have become a source of conflict between the central government and local peoples.
West Irian Jaya is a hot, humid island rising from the sea with some of the most impenetrable jungles in the world and yet also has snowcaps covering 5,000meter - High Mountain peaks, towering over glacier lakes. West Irian Jaya is Indonesia's largest and easternmost province and covers the western half of the world's second largest island. It is a land of exceptional natural grandeur, with beautiful scenic beaches, immense stretches of marshlands, cool grassy meadows and powerful rivers carving gorges and tunnels through dark and dense primeval forests. The most heavily populated and cultivated parts of the island are the Paniai Lakes district and the Baliem Valley to the east.
The people of the island can be divided into more than 250 subgroup, which are closely related to the islands along the southern rim of the Pacific and include among others, the Marindanim, Yah'ray, Asmat, Mandobo, Dani and Afyat. Those in the central highlands still maintain their customs and traditions and because of the terrain have virtually been untouched by outside influences. Communications hove always been difficult here and different tribes have lived, for the most part, in isolation even of each other, resulting in an incredibly diverse mixture of cultures.
Papua West Papua - Irian Jaya Barat
There are places that you can visit around Jayapura - capital city of West Papua. The Museum Loka Budaya is at the Cendrawasih University. Abepura (between Jayapura and Sentani) is the best place for ethnographic pieces and Asmat arts from the Rockefeller Foundation. Danau Sentani is one of the biggest lakes and you can cross to the Apayo island, where local people make bark paintings. For wood carvings and rock paintings, you can stop by at Doyo Lama Village. The Baliem Valley is the home of the Dani, Lani and Yali tribesmen, it takes a 45 minute flight from Jayapura. Dani and Lani are very close to each other. They have the same laguage, but different dialects.
The Yali tribesmen live far from the two tribes in the rugged terrain. They have their own language, which is very different with the Danis or Lanis. It takes a five day trek from Wamena, the one and only town in Baliem valley. The famous Asmat tribesmen live in the harsh environtment on the south coast of West Papua. This etchnic group are fishermen and carvers. Asmat means street or wood people. Every year they conduct the Sago Larva feast. Recently the local government of West Papua, together the tourist office, started the yearly art and culture festival in the fisrt week of October, to support and maintain Asmat art and culture. Beside traditional dancing during the festival Asmat woodcarvings are sold

Maluku North Maluku
The over 1,000 islands Maluku are sprawled across a vast expanse of ocean, sitting astride one of the world's most volatile volcanic belts. Maluku is blessed with incredible sea gardens, idyllic, tropical beaches and rugged, forest-coated volcanic mountains. These are the famous 'spice islands' which drew Indian, Chinese, Arab and eventually European traders in search of cloves and nutmeg. In 1511, the Portuguese built their first fort in the area on the island of Ternate, and cornered the clove trade. The Dutch, who arrived in 1599, mounted the first serious threat to Portuguese control of Maluku's treasures. Armed conflicts broke out, taking a heavy toll from the island populations as well as the rival European powers. When the Dutch finally emerged as victors they enforced their trade monopoly with an iron fist. Whole villages were razed to the ground and thousands of islanders died, especially on the island of Banda.
The British briefly occupied Maluku during the Napoleons Wars, but Dutch rule was restored in 1814 and it wasn't until 1863 that the compulsory cultivation of spices was abolished in the province. Now fish and other sea products are Maluku's major sources of revenue, but nickel, oil, manganese and various kinds of timber also contribute to the province's wealth.The main gateway into Maluku is through the provincial capital of Ambon, which is served by regular flights to most parts of the archipelago. Air and sea transportation connect the islands with 79 seaports and 25 airports. Roads on many of the islands provide access to the more remote places of interest.

Moluccas / Maluku

2008-06-21T11:41:00.000-07:00

Maluku (Moluccas), a region of Indonesia formerly known as the Spice Islands, was once the source of cloves and nutmeg, spices highly valued for their aroma, preservative ability, and use in medicine before people learned how to cultivate the plants in other parts of the world. Maluku is a cluster of about one thousand islands totaling 74,504 square kilometers, forming part of the Malay Archipelago in eastern Indonesia near New Guinea. The region is divided into two provinces, Maluku with its capital in Ambon, and North Maluku (2002 estimated population 913,000), with its capital in Ternate; other important islands in the group include Halmahera, Seram, and Buru.
Its approximately 1000 islands support a population of less than 1.7 million people. The average population density figure is 19 people per-square kilometer, but the distribution is uneven. Air and sea transportation is the main means, which link the islands together. The province has 32 seaports and 20 airports, and only about 160 km of roads. However, good roads on many of the islands provide easy access to the often-remote places of tourists' interest.

Maluku lies in the transition zone between Asiatic and Australian flora and fauna and has a tropical climate. Maluku's flora includes meranti trees and many kinds of orchids; distinctive fauna includes cuscuses, birds of paradise, wild goats, and parrots. The economy is based on subsistence agriculture, especially sago (the sago palm, producing a starch used in food), and on the export of such products as spices, cacao, coffee, coconuts, fish, and minerals. Important indigenous groups include the Ambonese.
A great variety of endemic plant and animal species are found in the rugged forest-covered and mountainous hinterlands of most of the islands. A few of the best known are the Rucker-tailed kingfisher, the red-crested Moluccan cockatoo, and various brilliantly colored lorikeets and parrots. Most of Maluku sits astride one of the world's most volatile volcanic belts.
GEOGRAPHICALLYMaluku province with its capital Ambon, stay at 30 north latitudes 8,300 south latitudes and 1250 - 1350 east longitudes with the area boundaries: North side: North Maluku ProvinceSouth side: Timor Leste and AustraliaWest Side: Southeast Sulawesi and Central SulawesiEast Side: Irian Jaya Province
THE WIDE AREAThe wide area of Maluku province is 712.479,69 km_, with the land wide is 54.185km_ and sea wide is 658.294,69km_. The Maluku Province plain is 85.728 km2 width or 8.572.800 Ha contain of 3 part that is:- Flat Land: 1.251.630 Ha width (14,6%)- Wavy Land: 2.417.530 Ha width (28,2%)- Hilly and Mountainous Land: 4.903.640 Ha width (57,2%)Almost, Maluku has no upland. The mountain is a back that spread in the middle of the island, forming the mountain with the highest of 3.055 m.
TOPOGRAPHYMaluku province consists of mountains, islands that spread from west to east and form north to south among 1150 km.
GOVERNMENT ADMINISTRATION AREAAdministratively, Maluku Province divided into four regencies and one city that is:1. Central Maluku regency with 15 districts, 296 villages and 6 sub-districts.2. Southeast Maluku regency with 8 districts, 229 villages and 6 sub-districts.3. West-Southeast Maluku regency with 5 districts, 187 villages and 1 sub-district.4. Buru regency with 3 districts, 62 villages.5. Ambon city with 3 districts, 30 villages and 20 sub-districts.
CLIMATEMaluku has 2 seasons, that is: west season or north, and southeast or east. West season in Maluku is come from December until March, while April is transition season to southeast season. Southeast season is average 6 months begin from May and end on October. The transition to West season is on November. The homogenate seasons are give different affect to the land and its sea in this region. The temperature is about 26,2 C (in Southeast Maluku especially in rainy).

Celebes / Sulawesi

2008-06-21T11:37:00.000-07:00

Sulawesi , formerly Celebes island (1990 pop. 12,511,163), c.73,000 sq mi (189,070 sq km), largest island in E Indonesia, E of Borneo, from which it is separated by the Makasar Strait. Ujung Pandang (Makasar) is its chief city and port; other important towns are Manado, Gorontalo, and Palopo. Extremely irregular in shape, it comprises four large peninsulas separated by three gulfs—Tomini on the northeast, Tolo on the southeast, and Bone on the south. The terrain is almost wholly mountainous, with many active volcanoes. Mt. Rantemario (11,286 ft/3,440 m) and Mt. Rantekombola (11,335 ft/3,455 m) are the highest peaks. There are numerous lakes; Towuti is the largest and Tondano, with its waterfall, the most beautiful. Asian and Australian elements are comingled in the fauna, which includes the babirusa (resembling swine), the anoa, a small wild ox found only in Sulawesi, the baboon, some rare species of parrot, and many crocodiles. Valuable stands of timber cover much of the island; many forest products are exported. Mineral resources include nickel, gold, diamonds, sulfur, and low-grade iron ore. The mountainous terrain, with only a few narrow coastal plains, limits agriculture; many inhabitants seek their livelihood from the sea, and there are trepang (sea cucumber) and mother-of-pearl industries. Sulawesi is, however, a major source of copra, and corn, rice, cassava, yams, tobacco, and spices are grown. Tourism was developed in the 1990s, and Sulawesi has become especially attractive to divers. The inhabitants are Malayan, except for some indigenous ethnic groups in the interior. The largest ethnic group is the Makasarese-Bugis, who are renowned as seafaring traders; they are Muslim. In the north are the Minahassa, who are Christian. The Portuguese first visited the island in 1512. The Dutch expelled the Portuguese in the 1600s and conquered the natives in the Makasar War (1666–69). In 1950, it became one of 10 provinces of newly created Indonesia; it has since been divided into 4 provinces. Since 1998 the island has been the site of violence between Muslims and Christians. The Univ. of North and Central Sulawesi is in Manado, and private universities are in Manado, Gorontalo, and Ujung Pandang. The Sulawesi Sea. or Celebes Sea is north of the island, between it and the Philippines.

North Celebes - Sulawesi Utara
North Sulawesi is a land of magnificent coral reefs protecting virgin-white beaches, mountains and active volcanoes, reminding the islanders and the world of the potential power of one of the earth's most awesome forces. The people of North Sulawesi can be classified into four groups; Minahasa, Bolaang Mongondow, Gorontalo and the Sangir-Talaud. The Minahasa are centered around the Provincial capital of Manado, but the entire province has a strong tradition of trade and contact with the outside world.The Sangir-Talaud islands, to the north of the mainland, form a natural bridge to the Philippines providing a convenient route for peoples and cultures to easily move between Indonesia and the Philippines, and many traces of Filipino culture can still be found here. Apart from introducing a strong political and religious structure, the Filipinos encouraged the local populations to raise coconuts, copra and nutmeg. Today the main industries of the province are copra and cloves. North Sulawesi has a larger concentration of coconut trees than any other part of Indonesia. The Dutch, however, have had the strongest influences on the development of the region. First contact with European traders came in the 16th century with the arrival of the Spanish and Portuguese, and with them they brought Christianity. It wasn't until the arrival of the Dutch that Christianity became the predominant religion of the area.
Provincial capital of Manado is one of the international gateways into Indonesia. Regular flights to all parts of the Indonesian archipelago service this beautiful town, as well as the smaller airports of Gorontalo, Tahuna and Talaud. Manado's main attractions are off-shore: the truly incredible coral reefs off nearby Bunaken island are now a protected Marine Park and offer some of the best diving and snorkeling in the world.
Gorontalo
Central Celebes - Sulawesi Tengah
TOGIAN ISLANDSLocated in Poso regency, these numerous offshore islands with white-sandy beaches and spectacular underwater views, are perfect for snorkeling, diving or just relaxing on the beach watching the sunset. Getting There : From Poso it is a 3.5 hours drive to Ampana following a 5 hour boat ride to Wakai. Facilities include cottages and restaurants for your maximum comfort
MEGALITHSThe famous megaliths stones nestled in Napu, Besoa and Bada valleys in Central Sulawesi are among the world's unsolved puzzles. They are covered with unique and mysterious carvings. Some of the better known megaliths are Pokoke, Suso, Pekaselle, Tadaluko, and Watu Palindo being the biggest of them all (4.5 m high)These valleys can be reached by bus from Palu, the capital city of Central Sulawesi, then a moderate hike through magnificent forest to the village.
LORE LINDU NATIONAL PARKa 229,000 hectare tropical rainforest in Central Sulawesi providing a natural habitat for many species of flora and fauna such as palm trees, agatish, anoa, deer hog, monkeys and tarsisius. Getting there : - a 60 km drive from Palu to Kamarora. - a 63 km drive from Palu to Sidaunta and a 17 km hike further to Lake Lindu. - a 100 km drive from Palu to Gimpu and a moderate hike further to Bada valley. Facilities available : guest house, home stay and food stall.
LAKE POSOLocated in Poso regency, stretching 32.3 km long and 16 km wide. The lake is surrounded by a magnificent forest view with crystal clear water for swimming and provides a perfect setting for outdoor lovers of all ages. Situated around the lake are several attractions namely : Bancea Orchid Garden, Saluopa Waterfall, Sulewana Waterfall, Pamona and Latea Caves and also the lake Poso Festival Ground.Lake Poso is accessible by car about 1.5 hours drive from Poso or a 7 hour drive from Palu Facilities available : hotel, cottage and restaurant.
South Celebes - Sulawesi Selatan
Situated at the crossroads of strategic sea lanes steeped in history, the province of South Sulawesi consists of the narrow south-western peninsula of this mountainous, orchid-shaped island. The capital and chief trading port, Makassar, is still the gateway to eastern Indonesia.Spanish and Portuguese galleons, followed by British and Dutch traders, sailed these seas in search of the spice trade, escorted by their men-of-war to protect them from the daring raids of the Bugis and Makassar pirates. Famed for their seafaring culture, the Bugis are still the driving force behind the world's last commercial sailing fleet. Bugis vessels have sailed as far as Australia, leaving behind images of their ships carved in stone, and Bugis words which were integrated into the Aboriginal language of northern Australia.The seafaring Bugis dominate the southern tip of Sulawesi, but in the rugged and remarkable country further north is Tana Toraja, often referred to as the "Land of the Heavenly Kings". The traditional culture of the Torajans rivals any in the archipelago, making this area one of the most popular tourist destinations in Indonesia.Believing that their forefathers descended from heaven in a boat some twenty generations ago, the Torajas have a unique Christian-animist culture. The majority of the people still follow an ancestral cult called "Aluk Todolo", which governs all traditional ceremonies. Their ancestor worship includes elaborate death and afterlife ceremonies, which are essentially great feasts. A strict social hierarchy is followed in the villages, and for an important figure, wedding and burial ceremonies can take days to perform. Water buffalo and pigs are sacrificed in numbers appropriate to social rank, and the deceased's remains are placed in a coffin and interred in caves guarded by lifelike statues, called Tau Tau, who look out from a balcony near the burial caves, watching over the families and friends they have left behind.Tongkonan, the family houses, are built on stilts with the roof rearing up at either end, representing the prows of the first ship to arrive in the area with the Torajan ancestors. The houses all face north, and some say that this is because it was from the north that the ancestors of the Toraja came. Others, however will say that the north (and east) are regarded as the realm of the gods, on the compass of life.South Sulawesi is also famous for its tremendous scenery and the quality and talent of its silk and silver work industries, but the economy is largely based on agriculture. The provincial capital of Makassar, however, has excellent facilities for water sports and is easily accessible by air. There are four daily flights from Jakarta and also daily services from Bali, Surabaya and Manado.
Southeast Celebes - Sulawesi Tenggara
The south-eastern peninsula and Buton group of islands are inhabited by descendents of the Torajans and Bugis peoples, and due to the strong influence of the Islamic Bone kingdom most of the people in this part of Sulawesi are Muslim. There are five diverse cultural groups : the Tolaki, Morunene, Buton, Muna (locally called the Wuna), and the Bajo.
Most of the land area of Southeast Sulawesi is covered by natural jungle, with extensive plantations of teak and ironwood, which are used for local handicrafts and contribute to the local economy. The warmth of the Sulawesi people, the local flora, fauna and untouched beaches are the highlights of this unique locale. Up to the present day it has avoided inundation by tourists, and is waiting to reveal its natural beauty and the spirit of the people who live in it.

Borneo / Kalimantan

2008-06-21T11:33:00.000-07:00

Formerly known as Borneo, Kalimantan is the world's second largest island. The North and North-western part of the island are the East Malaysian state of Serawak and Sabah, with the newly independent state of Brunei Darusalam between them.
The rest of the island is part of Indonesia, divided into four provinces - East Kalimantan, West Kalimantan, Central Kalimantan and South Kalimantan.
The tremendous outspread of jungles and wilderness, which are so rich in natural resources as timber, gas, oil and coal as well as scenic beauty - are comparable to that of a continent alone. Focal point for most visitors is the mighty Mahakam river, which meanders through thousands of kilometers through one of the worlds largest tropical rainforests, from its head water near the center of the island.The twenty main Dayak tribes - once feared as headhunters have their homes in this river basin, A remarkable varieties of plants and animals life including the famous fresh water dolphins which often accompany boats along the river make a visit to Kalimantan an enthralling venture to a different world. In year to come the Mahakam river trips are most likely to have a more modern outlook with modern crafts and all possible amenities. Unfortunately under such circumstances the Dayak village would have last their primitive charm, and a cliche scene of souvenirs shops would cluster along the riverside.
The time to take your Mahakam river trip is now...!! we hesitate to say that this tours are designed for the vigorous and adventurous visitors, but those taking these tours should be prepared for a degree of un-sophistication. River crafts have usually only one toilet on board, and sleeping accommodation is on the thin mattress, with blankets provided. If you are prepared to put up rith a little roughing up for a few days you will be guaranteed the adventure of your life time.
Tanjung Puting reserve, 415.050 hectares is situated in an ecologically diverse area of wetland, lowlands, swamp and hardwood rain forest. Borneo and Sumatra are the only places left in the world where Orang Utans (the man of the forest) still survive in their natural habitat.

West Borneo - Kalimantan Barat
Lying directly on the equator and serving as the main gateway into the Provincial capital of Pontianak. Founded in 1771 by Syarif Abdul Rahman Al-Kadri of Saudi Arabia, the city is now a bustling economic hub as well as home to a sizeable university and a giant indoor sports stadium. Canals crisscross the city and one of Indonesia's longest rivers, the Kapuas (1143 km long), divides the town in two, providing an essential and historical communications link. Like Java and Sumatra, West Kalimantan was once an important cultural crossroads Hinduism reached West Kalimantan by about the year 400 and evidence of both early Hindu and Buddhist civilizations in the region have been discovered. Stone carvings and ceramics can be traced as far back as the 5th century, but it is the influence of Islam that has had the most impact on this region.
The advent of Islam in West Kalimantan occurred at about the same time as the rise of the first Islamic Kingdom in Aceh in the 15th century. Islam was rapidly embraced and various kingdoms grew in strength and power, particularly because of Kalimantan's strategic importance along trade routes to China and Philippines.
The advent of Islam in West Kalimantan occurred at about the same time as the rise of the first Islamic Kingdom in Aceh in the 15th century. Islam was rapidly embraced and various kingdoms grew in strength and power, particularly because of Kalimantan's strategic importance along trade routes to China and Philippines.
West Kalimantan covers an area of over 146.807 sq km, rich in a variety of minerals and precious stones, and remains largely unexplored. Coastal areas are mainly swamp lands with more than 100 rivers sculpting the flat plains. In the mountainous eastern parts of the province, away from the city and plains, there are many Dayak villages.The Dayaks have ancient traditions and beliefs which are expressed in various forms ; earlobes elongated by heavy earrings, tattoos, intricate paintings, designs and carvings and wonderful dances of respect, heroism, welcome and cure. A large Chinese population, Malays and other Indonesian ethnic groups account for the rest of the inhabitants of the province.
Central Borneo - Kalimantan Tengah
Central Kalimantan is the biggest province on the island, covering 153,800 square kilometers, most of which is jungle. The northern area is mountainous and difficult to reach. The central area is dense tropical forest. The southern area is swampy and has many rivers. The climate is hot and humid.The three dayak sub-tribes who inhabit this province area the Ngaju, Ot Danum, and Ma'anyan Ot Siang. The Ngaju are nomadic, adhering to the old Kaharingan religion, which is a form of ancestor worship mixed with elements of animism . With approximately 6,000 people, the Ot Danum is the largest among the three sub-tribes. The Ot Danum live in long houses which sometimes have as many as 50 rooms. The women are know for their skill in plaiting rattan, palm leaves, and bamboo. Like other Dayak, the men are good hunters, using simple tools.
The art Central Kalimantan clearly bears the marks of the Kaharingan religion, which is the traditional belief of the Dayaks in the hinterland of Central Kalimantan. Building styles, statues and carvings have been influenced by the Hindus, Chinese, and Hindu - Javanese. Aside from their aesthetic properties, many objects are appreciated for their magic value.
South Borneo - Kalimantan Selatan
The Meratus mountains divide South Kalimantan into two distinct regions. The eastern part of the province is filled with mountains covered with dense tropical rain forests, home to the "Orang Gunung" or Mountain Peoples. Collectively called the Dayak, they form the minority of the region's population. The southern section of the province is much flatter with large rivers meandering through lowlands to vast mangrove swamps along the coast, helping to make South Kalimantan an exceptionally fertile land. Many villages and settlements have been built along these rivers, by the indigenous majority, the Banjar.
South Kalimantan is full of colorful and distinctive traditional arts and cultures which can be seen in its people's way of life, art, dance, music, ancestral dress, games and ceremonies. Exquisite traditional and commercial handicrafts are all made from local raw materials which include a variety of precious and semi precious stones, gold, silver, brass, iron and a wide variety of woods including bamboo and rattan. South Kalimantan, is one of the largest wood producers in Indonesia. Extensive forests with a wide variety of trees such as ironwood, meranti, pinus and rubber have helped to make the province a unique and rich natural resource.
The provincial capital, Banjarmasin, lies a short distance from the mouth of the Barito River at its confluence with the Martapura River. The rivers are literally the life blood of the city everything revolves around them. They are lined with tightly packed stilt houses. A lot of business is done on the waterways : floating markets flourish selling an enormous variety of goods including a tropical selection of fresh fruit such as Kesturi, a rare aromatic species of mango, durian, rambutan, butter fruit, pineapple, watermelon and banana.South Kalimantan is well connected with cities all over the Indonesian Archipelago through Syamsuddin Noor airport, which is about 25 km from Banjarmasin. This busy airport handles DC-9's, allowing Merpati Nusantara, Bouraq and Sempati dan Dirgantara Air to service the province. South Kalimantan can also be reached by sea at Trisakti and Banjarmasin. For interior travel there are roads, but the waterways are the preferred form of travel.

East Borneo - Kalimantan Timur
As a major producer of oil and timber, East Kalimantan is at present the most industrially advanced province of the island and the second largest province in Indonesia. It is also the home of the original inhabitants of Kalimantan, the Orang Gunung or Mountain People. The tribes are collectively called Dayak, although this name is not embraced by many tribes-people themselves, who prefer to be known by separate tribal names such as Iban, Punan and Banuaq.Local tribes traditionally live in communal long houses called Lamin or Umaq Daru. They are built on wooden piles, sometimes 3 meters high as protection against wild animals and flooding. The Punan people are nomadic hunter-gatherers, and only use the long house at the height of the rainy season.Steeped in tradition, the interior of the long house is typically divided into separate family quarters with a communal areas connecting each of the families. It is in these communal areas that village meetings are held and ceremonies performed, thereby reinforcing the strong tribal bonds in the face of rapidly advancing 20th century technology.
Guardian statues are normally placed in front of long house to protect them against evil's spirits who bring disease and bad fortune. The more remote and traditional tribes-people have pierced earlobes, which over the years have become stretched by the weight of heavy gold or brass rings, and beautifully elaborate tattoos. Local jewelry and designs are intricate and powerful, often giving messages to be passed down from generation to generation.
The most common starting points for many journeys and adventures on the island are Balikpapan and Samarinda, the provincial capital. Traveling along the extensive Mahakam river system is a fascinating adventure. River boats slide unobtrusively through heavily silt - laden waters, wild orchids drip off trees, Proboscis monkeys signal your arrival to the crocodiles and legendary hornbills. A 5,000acre Orchid Reservation close to the village of Kersil I cultivates 27 different species of orchid including the very rare Cologenia Pandurata or black orchid.

Java

2008-06-21T11:29:00.000-07:00

Most populated island of Indonesia, situated between Sumatra and Bali; area (with the island of Madura) 132,000 sq km/51,000 sq mi; population (with Madura; 2000 est) 118,230,300. The capital is Jakarta (which is also the capital of Indonesia). The island is divided into three provinces: Jawa Tengah, Jawa Timur, and Jawa Barat, together with Jakarta Raya (the Jakarta metropolitan district). About half the island is under cultivation, the rest being thickly forested. Mountains and sea breezes keep the temperature down, but humidity is high, with heavy rainfall from December to March. Ports include Surabaya and Semarang.
Java is crossed from east to west by a chain of mountains rising to 2,750 m/9,000 ft. Of these mountains, 112 are volcanic and 35 are active. Eruptions of Mount Merapi (2,911 m/9,551 ft) killed 1,300 people in 1930 and 64 people in 1994. The highest mountain, Semeru (3,676 m/12,060 ft), is in the east. The weathering of volcanic ash has given rise to fertile soils which has helped to produce a very productive agriculture. About 40% of the cultivated land consists of rice terraces, while major commercial crops include rubber, coffee, tea, sugar, quinine, tobacco, cacao, and timber. Mineral wealth includes petroleum, coal, tin, gold, and silver. Industries on the island at centres such as Jakarta, Bandung, and Surabaya are largely based on the processing of these agricultural and mineral products, with the addition of timber processing, chemicals, shipbuilding, and motor vehicle assembly. The population is predominantly Muslim, and includes people of Javanese, Sundanese, and Madurese origin, with differing languages.

Jakarta - Djakarta
Jakarta has been called a study in contrasts : traditional and modern ; rich and poor ; spiritual and worldly stand side by side in this bustling metropolis. Among the 8 million people who call Jakarta home, one finds representatives of the many diverse ethnic and cultural groups which shape Indonesia, a reminder of the nation's motto : "Unity in Diversity". You may have to search high and low in this multi-cultural collage to find one of the proud ethnic Jakartans, called "Orang Betawi". Their language, Betawi Malay, has two variations, conventional Betawi Malay, spoken by elder people born and bred in Jakarta, and modern Jakarta Malay, a slang form spoken by the younger generation and migrants.
Jakarta is the port of entry for many tourists and business people. It is home to a dynamic contrast between Western - style skyscrapers, modern urban life-styles and traditional Indonesian culture. Its rapid growth into a metropolitan city reflects the economic, political, social and industrial development of the nation. In recent years, Jakarta has expanded its facilities for visitors with luxury hotels, fine restaurants, exciting night life and modern shopping centers. It contains many tourist attractions such as Taman Mini Indonesia Indah (Beautiful Indonesia in Miniature Park), restored colonial period buildings, islands resorts in the Pulau Seribu ( Thousand Islands ), and an extensive beach recreation complex called Ancol.
The nation's capital, Jakarta, has a remarkable history. Its history as a trading center started as a small harbor town called Sunda Kelapa, but its actual founding dates back to the year 1527, when it was named Jayakarta by Fatahillah of the neighboring Sultanate of Banten. The name Jayakarta means City of great Victory. During the 17th century it served as the capital of the Dutch East Indies with the name Batavia.
Reminders of this period can still be seen today in the architecture of some of the northern parts of the city. When Indonesian independence was finally secured it was renamed Jakarta, and serves today as the center of government, business and industry, spreading over an area of more than 650 sq.km (410 sq miles ). Jakarta's architecture reflects the history of outside influences which came and left their mark on this vital seaport city. The Taman Fatahillah Restoration Project, begun in the early 1970's, has restored one of the oldest sections of Jakarta, known as Old Batavia or Kota, to one of the most picturesque areas of the entire city. An Old Portuguese Church and warehouse have been reincarnated as living museums. The Old Supreme Court Building is now the National Museum of Fine Arts and houses part of the superb Chinese porcelain collection of former Vice-President Adam Malik. The Old Town Hall has become the Jakarta Museum, displaying such rare items as old Indonesians historical documents and Dutch period furniture. Even the city's tower clock was returned to England to be repaired under its lifetime guarantee, a lifetime which has now stretched over hundreds of years !
As Indonesia's main gateway, Jakarta's Soekarno Hatta International Airport is the central transportation hub of Indonesia. It serves a growing number of international airlines and is the nexus point for domestic flights across the vast expanse of the archipelago. Local transport in all forms within the city is readily available.

West Java - Jawa Barat
The province of West Java is located in the Island of Java. Java is part of the Greater Sunda group of islands which consists of Sumatra, Kalimantan, Sulawesi and Java as the main islands. It is in this region where a majority of the Indonesian population lives. And it is also in this region where the main economic activities of Indonesia are conducted.
The province of West Java with Bandung as the capital city came into existence on July 14,1950, under law Number 11 of 1950. The province of West Java today comprise 26 level II regions, which are divided into 20 districts and 6 municipalities. West Java is, geographically, divided into 3 (three) parts, ie. the Northern, Central and Southern parts of West Java. The Southern part of West Java is an upland strip / plateau that stretches from Ujung Kulon (Pandeglang) to Nusa Kambangan (the South coast plain of Ciamis).
As a means of transportation, the road network in South West Java has nearly all been asphalted. To increase and facilitate access to the flow of goods and people as well as to support tourism potential, the Southern road network is under construction to connect each district, from Labuhan at the west end to Pangandaran in the east. The network is 605 km in length and has several bridges over the rivers that flow in to the Indonesia Ocean.

Banten
This province combines many of the most important Industrial Zones in Indonesia and also has the exteded recreation areas along the western coast of Java and in the south the Ujung Kulon National Park and the mountainous areas which are home to the Baduy people. An endless variety!
Banten has the easiest access to Jakarta being merely an enclave in this province. This province uses its own unique culture and language, both called Sundanese which is also used to call its people. The ancient kingdoms of Tarumanegara, Pajajaran, Banten and Cirebon would make interesting studies for the student of archaeology Cirebon is located on the border between West and Central Java, having a mixed culture originating from the ancient Cirebon and Banten kingdoms, resulting in similar customs and dialects of the two people, although the city of Banten is located at the extreme western part of the province.
The city of Banten on Banten Bay was one of the first palces to begin trade with the Dutch. There is little to see of the past glories of this area today with the exception of the Grand Mosque which was completed in the year 1599 and is certaily worth a visit.
The Province has a great number of attractions, from the wildlife reserve of Ujung Kulon on the south-western tip of Java and the isolated communities of the mysterious Baduy to the unspoiled beaches. The villages are busy and attractive and the pace of life gets slower as you move towards the National Park in the south west.
From any point along the western coast you can see the "son of Krakatoa" volcano which rises impressively from the sea. To hire a boat to go there will cost about $150 and the journey takes about five hours. It has a number of sea resorts on its western coast which have modern hotels and are popular during weekends and holiudays.
Banten offers many different recreational experiences. The trip to the Anyer area from Jakarta is now quick and easy because of the toll road which connects the port of Merak with Jakarta. As you move further south along the west Java coast the lifestyle becomes more relaxed and after Labuan you move into more rural areas where the road conditions worsen and the lifstyle is relaxed. Here access to the forest areas begins and you can move back in time and enjoy the peace of nature. There is a bus each day from Labuan to Taman Jaya which is on the edge of the Ujung Kulon national park. There simple cabins can be hired and a ranger can then take you on a walk into the park. It takes about six hours to reach a camping site. Food is not readily available so take some with you from Matahari in Labuan! This is the cheapest way to get into the National Park. Boats from and of the west coast ports will also take you into the park often using the islands of Panaitan, Peucan and Handeuleum where accommodation is also available. Contact us through our email contact below for more information on ths park or proceed directl;y to the park office at Labuhan.

Central Java - Jawa Tengah
Solo is the city that never sleeps. As a business and cultural city, Solo's night life has never appeared to cease. At night, people usually enjoy the traditional food of Liwet rice along with a cup of tea, in the Keprabon, an area in Yogyakarta where locals usually gather for traditional meals.Cultural tradition has also been passed through generations. With the two Sultanates in the city, Kasunanan and Mangkunegaran, Solo's cultural values have grown among the younger generation. Local government of the city has always nurtured ritual traditions, such as Maleman Sriwedari (celebrations welcoming the fasting month for the Moslems) , Kirab Pusaka (ritual of cleaning up inherited traditional swords), Grebeg Maulud and the Sekatenan (both celebrations of Prophet Mohammad's birth), Tourists in Yogyakarta wishing to see the Ramayana dance at Prambanan temple, can join travel and tour packages offered by tour operators in Yogyakarta, through hotels all over the city. Tickets can be purchased individually from hotels and tour operators in Yogyakarta.
Tourists should seek and confirm the show schedules first, before making the trip. As for the transportation to Prambanan, the temple's officials have provided shuttle buses with the price of Rp 15.000 ( US 2 ) one way, which is a cheap and comfortable option, rather than taking public transport.
Yogyakarta - Jogjakarta
Lying in the shadow of the aptly named "Fire Mountain", (2914 meter-high active volcano, Mt.Merapi), is the seat of the once mighty Javanese Empire of Mataram, Ngayogyakarto Hadiningrat.Yogyakarta (Yogya) came into being in 1755, when a land dispute split the power of Mataram into the Sultanates of Yogyakarta and Surakarta (solo). Prince Mangkubumi built Kraton of Yogyakarta and created one of the most powerful Javanese states ever. The Kraton is still the hub of Yogyakarta's traditional life and despite the advance of the refinement which has been the hallmark of its art and people for centuries.Yogyakarta is one of the supreme cultural centers of Java. Full Gamelan orchestras keep alive the rhythms the past, classical Javanese dances entrance with visions of beauty and poise, shadows come to life in the stories of the Wayang kulit and a myriad of traditional visual art forms keep locals and visitors alike spell-bound. Yogya has an extraordinary life force and charm which seldom fails to captivate.Contemporary art has also grown in the fertile soil of Yogyakarta's sophisticated cultural society. ASRI, the Academy of Fine Arts, is the centre of the arts in the region and Yogyakarta has given its name to an important school of modern painting in Indonesia, best illustrated by the renowned impressionist, the late Affandi.The province is one of the most densely populated areas of Indonesia. It stretches from the slopes of mighty Mount Merapi in the North to the wave - swept beaches of the powerful Indian Ocean to the South.
East Java - Jawa Timur
Little of the Majapahit Empire's former glory still stands in East Java. Nevertheless, East Java has a variety of attractions, ranging from temple sites to unspoiled beaches, stunning volcanoes, extra ordinary highland lakes, resplendent marine parks and fantastic wildlife reserves. Magnificent mountain scenery includes the crater and legendary sea of sand at Mount Bromo, the "sulphur mountain" of Welirang and rugged Ijen Plateau. The island of Madura, famous for its bull races, is also part of the province and has its own traditions, culture and language.The provincial capital, Surabaya is second in size, population, and commerce only to Jakarta. It is also the most industrialized province in the nation with a strong economy based on agriculture, (coffee, mangoes and apples), fisheries and oil. The province is efficiently connected to the rest of Java by good roads, regular trains, and air services between Surabaya and other major cities in the country including Denpasar on Bali, which is only half an hour's flight away.

Sumatera island

2008-06-21T11:25:00.001-07:00

Sumatera was one of the island that located in Indonesia widely 443.065,8 km2. Administratively Sumatra was divided into 8 province territories that are Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam, North Sumatra, South Sumatra, West Sumatra, Riau, Lampung, Bangka Belitung and Bengkulu. Whereas in this island can be found various ethnic group and culture like Aceh, Batak, Melayu, Minangkabau, Lampung, Palembang and Rejang. This island had tour potential that was spread in each province among others Toba lake, Nias island, Air Manis beach, Leuser mountain, and many more. Moreover sumatera is also one of the island in Indonesia that famous with nature resources potential especially petroleum and Gas.

Aceh
At the northwestern end of Sumatra, was the first province of Indonesia to have significant contact with the outside world. Chinese chronicles of the sixth century speak of a kingdom called Po-Li on the northern tip of what is now Sumatra. 9th century Arabic and Indian writings mention Aceh as an important trade centre. The first Islamic Kingdom in Indonesia was established in 804 in Aceh, and the region's position as an Islamic stronghold grew as the city became a centre for Islamic learning and the gateway for Indonesians making the pilgrimage to Mecca.
Over the centuries, a constant influx of traders and immigrants established Aceh as a wealthy and influential trading nation, possessing a strong sense of independence. Aceh's dominance in trade and politics reached its peak in the early 1600's. Aceh's decline began with the death of Sultan Iskandar Thani in 1641, when the British and the Dutch began to battle for control of the region. The London Treaty of 1824 gave the Dutch control of all British possessions in Sumatra, in return for their withdrawal from India and Singapore.
The Acehnese are famous throughout Indonesia for their courage and fierce sense of Independence, and the Dutch lost over 10,000 men during the Aceh Wars, which lasted from 1873 to 1942. Although industrialization and global communications have created a greater openness to western ideas and practices, visitors should keep in mind that the Acehnese take their religion, their manners and their morals very seriously.Aceh after Tsunami Disaster
North Sumatra
Indonesia's most populous province outside of java, stretches from the Indian Ocean in the west to the Straits of Malaka in the East, and from Aceh in the north to west Sumatra in the south. It is thick with virgin rainforest, jungle-covered hills, terraced rice field, mountain rivers, beautiful waterfalls, volcanic lakes and peaceful white beaches.The people of the region can be divided into five main ethnic groups: the Coastal Malays, Living along the Malacca Straits, the Bataks, consisting of the sub-tribes around Lake Toba and Samosir Island, the Pesisirs along the Indian Ocean coast, the Mandailing of Southern Tapanuli, and Nias Islanders off the western coast of the province. These groups each have their own dialects, religious beliefs, arts, customs and cultures. Several ethnic groups live in Medan and other towns of North Sumatra, the largest of these being Chinese and Indian. Other parts of the archipelago are represented, notably the Acehnese, Minangkabau and Javanese.The diversity of arts and cultures make this region a treasure chest for social scientists and culture seekers. Ancient carved-stone graves of Batak kings, the megalithic culture of Nias, unique dances, ceremonies, arts and crafts are just waiting for you to discover.
North Sumatra is also one of the richest provinces in Indonesia for flora and fauna. And of course the jewel of North Sumatra, Lake Toba, the legendary birthplace of the mountain-dwelling Bataks and the largest island lake in Southeast Asia.The region also produces more than 30% of Indonesia's export commodities, making it a vital cog in the Indonesian economy. Tobacco, palm oil, tea and rubber are produced in large quantities, particularly around Medan in the north of the province.
West Sumatra
West Sumatra is composed of three regions: volcanic highlands, a long coastal plain and a series of jungle-covered islands just offshore. Much of the province is still wilderness; virgin jungle inhabited by elephants, leopards and rhinos. It is the traditional homeland of the Minangkabau, who are known far and wide through the archipelago for their shrewd business sense, their fiery-hot dishes and ancient matriarchal customs. The women own property and the men leave home to seek their fame and fortune. Travelling is considered a mark of success and West Sumatrans and their Minang or Padang restaurants are found in all major towns across the nation. The people are hospitable and eloquent, with a poetic style of speech. West Sumatran days are filled with colourful ceremonies and festivals. Legend has it the Minangkabau are descendants of the youngest son of Alexander the Great, King Maharajo Dirajo. West Sumatra's centre of culture and tourism is Bukittinggi, nestled in the highlands north of the provincial capital of Padding.
Surrounded by high mountains, picturesque valleys and lakes, Bukittinggi is considered by many tourists to be the most hospitable city in all Sumatra. Padang Tabing Airport is the main gateway to West Sumatra and serviced by local airlines. The MV. Kerens sails every two weeks for Jakarta from Teluk Bayur harbor. Smaller vessels from Muara harbor sail to small towns along the entire west coast of Sumatra. Regular bus services run between Padang Bukittinggi and other major cities of Sumatra, as well as via trans-Sumatra Highway to Jakarta.
Riau Archipelago
The 3,000 islands of the Riau province straddle the Straits of Malacca, one of the oldest and busiest trading routes in the world. For centuries the islands have provided a safe haven to traders and sailors from Europe, India and China, retaining today the flavour of an ancient 'crossroads of the world". The romantic history of this region is rich with tales of piracy and international conflict. Riau, which includes a large part of East Sumatra, is homeland to the Malays and the source of Indonesia's Malay-based national language. The first book of Malay grammar, called Bustanul Katibin, was written and published here in 1857.
Since its founding in 1402 by Parameswara, the Kingdom of Malacca played a leading role in the history of the area. With the arrival of the Portuguese a period of wars for control of the Straits began. The situation was aggravated by the arrival of the Dutch and British in the early 17th century.A turbulent conflict followed, which was partially resolved by the Treaty of London in 1824, giving the Dutch control of all European territories south of Singapore. This area included Riau, and effectively severed its links with Johor and the mainland.
Riau
The Dutch subjugated and dissolved the rebellious Riau Sultanate in 1911, but the province's influence remained strong. Pekanbaru in Sumatra became the provincial capital in 1959, taking over from the former capital of Tanjungpinang on the island of Bintan. Tanjungpinang is, however, still the most important town in the province. Its proximity to Singapore has made it a main business and shopping port and together with the nearby island of Batam, it is promising to became an area of major investment and development in the years ahead. The future looks bright for Riau; because of it is strategic position with the rest of Asia it is rapidly being developing as a major economic zone.
Jambi
The Province of Jambi, located on the east coast of Central Sumatra, faces the Strait of Malaka and shares borders with four other provinces in Sumatra. It has long been a melting pot for different ethnic groups. The earliest inhabitants of Jambi were of Malays to migrate to Sumatra. The ancient Jambi kingdom of Melayu maintained relations with the mighty kingdoms of Sriwijaya, Majapahit and Singasari, but was eventually attacked and annexed by Sriwijaya in the middle of the 17th century. Encompassing an area of 53,435 sq. km, almost 60% of which is forest, the province is an exhilarating place for active and adventurous visitors. Jambi is one of Indonesia's 27 Provinces. Geographically, Jambi Province is located between 0,450 south latitude, and between 101.100 and 105.550 Eastern longitude. Its total area is 53 436.52 square kilometers and it is bordered by the Berhala Starit, South Sumatra Province to the South, West Sumatra Province to the West and Riau Province to the North. Jambi Province is divided into 5 Regencies and one Municipality. These are batang hari with an area of 11 130.5 sq.km, Bungo Tebo (13500 sq.km), Surolangin Bangko (14200 sq.km) and the Jambi Municipality with an area of 306 square kilometers.
Bengkulu
Bengkulu's history is been a difficult one, filled with changing colonial rulers, internal Sumatran wars, disease and exploitation of the indigenous peoples. It was the site of Sir Stamford Raffles first entry into Indonesia and there are still remains of British influence in the area. The primary crops of the area are pepper, coffee, nutmeg and sugar cane. Bengkulu Provinces is easily accessible by land, air and sea transportation. You can catch regular buses direct from Medan, Padang or Jakarta. Flights arrive three times a day. Domestic ships from Jakarta, Padang and Medan stop over in Baai harbor, Bengkulu.
South Sumatra
One of the greatest kingdoms in Indonesian history, the Buddhist Empire of Sriwijaya, prospered along the banks of the Musi River in South Sumatra over a thousand years ago. Located on the southern-most rim of the South China Sea, close to one of the world's busiest shipping lanes linking the Far East with Europe, the region's historical background is rich and colorful.
The Sriwijaya kingdom practiced a bustling and lucrative trade with ancient China during its era of powerful dynasties. In 672 the Chinese-scholar, I Tsing, recorded that a thousand monks and scholars could be seen translating and studying Sanskrit in what is now the regional capital of Palembang. Few relics of this memorable era remain.
Stretching from the foothills of the mighty Bukit Barisan mountain range in West Sumatra to the islands of Bangka and Belitung in the East, the province of South Sumatra is relatively flat but very fertile, with numerous rivers cutting across the landscape and meandering their way to the sea. Coffee and tea plantations are scattered across the province, but the area's enormous wealth comes from oil, natural gas, coal, tin and quartz reserves.
Palembang is still the gateway to the province with one of the region's three major airports. The other two are on Bangka and Belitung islands. All three provide direct connections with Medan, Batam, Padang and Jakarta. Air-conditioned buses from points north and west of Palembang are also regularly available, as well as from major cities in Java and Bali.
The Province of Jambi, located on the east coast of Central Sumatra, faces the Strait of Malaka and shares borders with four other provinces in Sumatra. It has long been a melting pot for different ethnic groups. The earliest inhabitants of Jambi were of Malays to migrate to Sumatra. The ancient Jambi kingdom of Melayu maintained relations with the mighty kingdoms of Sriwijaya, Majapahit and Singasari, but was eventually attacked and annexed by Sriwijaya in the middle of the 17th century. Encompassing an area of 53,435 sq. km, almost 60% of which is forest, the province is an exhilarating place for active and adventurous visitors.

Bangka Belitung
Belonging to this province are two sizable islands, Bangka and Belitung, off Sumatra's east coast. Both Bangka and Belitung are known for the hospitality of their people and for their appetizing seafoods. They are also important producers of tin.

Lampung
Ancient Chinese travel chronicles refer to a place in the most southerly part of Sumatra called "Lampung" or "Place of the southerly winds". Megalithic sculptures discovered in Kebontebu, Kenali, Pugung and Batubedil also help to date the province to Indonesia's greatest maritime empire, Sriwijaya. Strategically located looking towards Krakatau and Java across the Sunda Strait, Lampung has a long history of trade and is still an important gateway into Sumatra, particularly from Jakarta.
The Province is generally flat with the highest mountains of Gunung pesagi, Tanggamas, Seminiung, Sekincau and Raya all being dormant volcanoes. Pundar Lampung, the Provincial capital, was formerly two separate towns, Tanjungkarang and the port of Teluk Betung, which after the infamous eruption of Krakatau were both completely covered in volcanic ash. In the course of development, however, these towns have merged together to become one single city. Being blessed with incredibly fertile soil, agriculture has naturally become the main industry of the province. Clove, coffee, cassava, cocoa and rice are preferred in the eastern sections of the regions. The area around Lake Ranu is primarily a tobacco growing area.
The Way Kambas Nature Reserve in the west of the province is a perfect place to see Sumatran elephants being trained to work in thick tropical jungles as well as hundreds of species of exotic birds. Tigers still roam this land although they are rare. The largest flower in the world, Rafflesia, can be seen at the Bukit Barisan Selatan National park.

About Indonesia

2008-06-21T11:18:00.001-07:00

Consisting of more than 17,000 islands, the vast Indonesian archipelago spans 5,120 km across the equator, positioned between the Asian and Australian continents. Four-fifths of the area is sea with the major islands of Sumatera, Java, Kalimantan, Sulawesi and Papua. The 300 ethnic groups that exist harmoniously give birth to a potpourri of cultures and fascinating people. The major ethnic groups are: Minangkabaunese, Malay, Javanese, Sundanese, Maduranese and Ambonnese. Arab, Chinese and Indian immigrants have also settled in regions throughout the country, particularly in the coastal cities.
Geographically, Indonesia's landscape is greatly varied. Java and Bali have the most fertile islands and rice fields are concentrated in these two regions, whereas Sumatra, Kalimantan, Sulawesi, Maluku and Papua are still largely covered with tropical rainforest. Open savannah and grassland characterize Nusa Tenggara.
The lowland that comprise most of Indonesia has a characteristically tropical climate with abundant rainfall, high-temperatures and humidity. Rainy Indonesia's tropical climate and unique geographical character provide shelter for flora and fauna that are as diversely rich as its land and people. The plant and animals in Indonesia's western region represent that of mainland Asia while those in the eastern region are typical of Australia. Endemic species, which are the pride of Indonesia exist in the central region, such as orangutans, tigers, one-horned rhinos, elephants, dugongs, anoas and komodo dragons. The warm tropical waters of the archipelago nurture a rich marine environment that holds a myriad of fish, coral species and marine mammals.
A cultural heritage passed on through generations offers a wealth of traditional arts and crafts. Batik, wooden carvings, weavings, silverworks and many other traditional skills produce exquisitely beautiful items. Indonesia's multi-racial and multi-religious culture mean festivals steeped in traditions are celebrated throughout the year. Frequently featured in these events are dances, wayang theaters and other performing arts.

wortel

2008-06-21T05:11:00.000-07:00

Jika mendengar kata 'wortel' yang dalam bahasa Inggrisnya disebut carrot, kita pasti langsung teringat pada buah yang berwarna oranye dan bentuknya memanjang, serta salah satunya meruncing. Wortel termasuk dalam tumbuhan sayur. Dalam bahasa latin, wortel dikenal dengan nama daucus carota. Dalam ilmu biologi, wortel dimasukkan dalam famili Apiaceae. Lalu di mana kira-kira wortel dapat tumbuh, serta khasiatnya apa ya? Jika ingin tahu kelanjutannya, baca lanjutan artikel ini.
Wortel (Daucus carota) adalah tumbuhan sayur yang ditanam sepanjang tahun. Terutama di daerah pegunungan yang memiliki suhu udara dingin dan lembab, kurang lebih pada ketinggian 1200 meter di atas permukaan laut. Tumbuhan wortel mernbutuhkan sinar matahari dan dapat turnbuh pada semua musim. Wortel mempunyai batang daun basah yang berupa sekumpulan pelepah (tangkai daun) yang muncul dari pangkal buah bagian atas (umbi akar), mirip daun seledri.
Wortel menyukai tanah yang gembur dan subur. Menurut para botanis, wortel (Daucus carota) dapat dibedakan atas beberapa jenis, di antaranya: WORTEL (Daucus carota, Linn.) - jenis imperator, yakni wortel yang memiliki umbi akar berukuran panjang dengan ujung meruncing dan rasanya kurang manis. - jenis chantenang, yakni wortel yang memiliki umbi akar berbentuk bulat panjang dan rasanya manis. - jenis mantes, yakni wortel hasil kombinasi dari jenis wortel imperator dan chantenang. Umbi akar wortel berwarna khas oranye.
Nama Lokal
Carrot (Inggris), Carotte (Perancis), Bortel (Belanda); Wortel (Indonesia), Bortol (Sunda), Wortel, Ortel (Madura); Wortel, Wortol, Wertol, Wertel, Bortol (Jawa);
Khasiat Wortel
Baik Untuk Penglihatan dan Imunitas
Wortel merupakan jenis sayuran terpopuler kedua setelah kentang. Wortel mengandung vitamin A yang tinggi. Vitamin A dan Beta karoten kadang-kadang diresepkan untuk hal yang sama, karena beta karoten di dalam tubuh dikonversi menjadi vitamin A. Beta karoten sendiri termasuk dalam golongan karotenoida dan telah diidentifikasi terdapat lebih dari 600 jenis karoten yang berbeda. Antara lain yang cukup dikenal di dunia kesehatan adalah karoten, lutein, dan lycopen.
Beta karoten merupakan bagian penting dari karoten. Jika tubuh diberi asupan beta karoten maka tubuh akan membentuk vitamin A sesuai yang diperlukan tubuh sehingga menyantap wortel menjadikan cara yang aman untuk memperoleh vitamin A.
Mencegah kanker
Dibandingkan dengan sayuran lain, wortel paling banyak mengandung beta karoten, rata-rata 12.000 IU; para ahli menganjurkan 15.000-25.000 IU per hari. Penelitian dari National Cancer Institute mengaitkan kandungan tinggi beta karoten dengan pencegahan kanker, karena sifat antioksidannya yang melawan kerja destruktif sel-sel kanker. Di samping itu beta karoten membantu sistem kekebalan tubuh yang menghasilkan 'killer cell' alami.
Lain lagi dengan penelitian di Kanada yang menguji kekebalan tubuh pada 50 orang yang berusia di atas 65 tahun mendapatkan nutrisi yang mengandung beta karoten dan vitamin E dalam jumlah ekstra. Setelah beberapa saat mereka menjadi lebih jarang mengalami batuk pilek, flu, dan infeksi lain dibandingkan orang yang tidak menggunakan suplemen. Dan jika mereka sakit, mereka lebih cepat sembuh.
Mencegah rabun senja dan memperbaiki penglihatan
Karoten juga baik untuk kesehatan mata. Membantu mencegah terjadinya rabun senja dan memperbaiki penglihatan yang lemah. Kekurangan vitamin A atau yang dikenal dalam istilah kedokteran sebagai Avitaminosis A dapat menyebabkan buta ayam atau rabun senja.
Menurunkan kolesterol darah
Di dalam wortel juga terkandung pectin yang baik untuk menurunkan kolesterol darah. Serat yang tinggi juga bermanfaat untuk mencegah terjadinya konstipasi.
Menurut R&D Department SidoMuncul, meminum jus wortel (Daucus carota var sativa) juga dapat mengatasi kandungan kulit, seperti jerawat, bengkak bernanah ataupun kulit kering. Masalah-masalah tersebut biasa timbul karena diet dan kebiasaan minum alkohol, obat-obatan dan rokok, sehingga menimbulkan kondisi asam yang tinggi di dalam darah.
Dengan adanya kandungan kalium dalam wortel, dapat membantu menetralkan asam dalam darah dan vitamin A membantu hati menghilangkan toksin di dalam tubuh. Wortel mentah atau dimasak merupakan sumber kalium dan vitamin C. Mendapatkan dan mengonsumsi wortel sangatlah mudah, dapat dicampur dalam berbagai variasi makanan, minuman jus ataupun suplemen.
Sebagai minuman kesehatan untuk anak-anak, SidoMuncul mengombinasikan beta karoten dengan ekstrak temulawak dan alang-alang. Produk ini selain untuk menambah daya tahan tubuh anak, mempertajam penglihatan juga menambah nafsu makan

Daun Seledri

2008-06-21T04:57:00.000-07:00

Bagi masyarakat Indonesia secara umum mengenal tumbuhan bernama seledri. Batang dan daunnya selama ini dimanfaatkan masyarakat sebagai bumbu ikutan penyedap rasa. Daun seledri dipakai untuk sayur berkuah seperti sup, soto dan bakso. Ciri-ciri seledri, tinggi sekitar 40 cm dan daun bertekstur gerigi dan batang jenjang menjadikan pohon seledri terlihat cantik.Dalam Atlas Tumbuhan Obat Indonesia Jilid II disebutkan, tanaman bernama Latin Cellery berkhasiat berbeda pada setiap bagian tanaman. Daun seledri berguna untuk menormalkan kadar asam urat dalam darah, mengurangi rasa sakit persendian akibat asam urat, melancarkan sirkulasi darah, menurunkan tenakan darah, menormalkan gula darah, menjaga kesehatan jantung, tulang, persendian, mengatasi infeksi saluran kencing, menetralisir efek degeneratif dan radikal bebas.Akar seldri untuk memacu enzim pencernaan dan peluruh kencing (diuretic). Biji seledri untuk mengatasi reumatik, menurunkan kadar asam urat, peluruh kencing (diuretic), bronchitis , penyakit hati, limpa, kolik dan sakit perut pasca melahirkan. Sejak zaman Mesir Kuno, Yunani dan Romawi kuno, seledri ditanam untuk keperluan pengobatan. Jadi sudah dipakai sebagai obat sejak 850 tahun SM. Biji untuk mengobati demam, flu, penyakit pencernaan, beberapa arthritis, limpa dan hati.Berdasarkan penelitian lain, tanaman ini mengandung natrium yang berfungsi sebagai pelarut guna melepaskan deposit kalsium yang tersangkut di ginjal dan sendi. Mengandung magnesium untuk menghilangkan stress. Daun seledri mengandung protein, belerang, kalsium, besi, fospor, vitamin A, B1 dan C. Hasil penelitian lain menyebut, seledri juga engandung psoralen, zat kimia yang menghancurkan radikal bebas biang penyebab kanker.Akarnya direkomendasi untuk mengobati anascara dan perut mulas. Ia bisa membuka penyumbatan hati dan limpa. Daun yang masih segar bermanfaat bagi perut dan hati yang dingin, melancarkan air seni dan haid, memecah batu, meningkatkan mani dan bermanfaat bagi nafas yang berbau tak sedap.

Tomat

2008-06-20T23:51:00.000-07:00

Tomat selain rasanya yang khas, ternyata juga mengandung vitamin. Sayangnya sejak dulu tomat selalu dipersoalkan. Mengapa? Ada sebagian orang menganggap tomat sebagai buah dan sebagian lagi sayuran. Anehnya lagi, ketika tomat diperkenalkan malah dianggap beracun. Menurut kalian tomat termasuk apa? Yuk, kita cari penyebabnya! Tomat yang rasanya kecut segar ini, ternyata banyak diperdebatkan para ahli. Tetapi sebagian ahli botani (tumbuhan) lebih suka menganggap tomat sebagai buah. Mahkamah Agung Amerika Serikat menetapkan tomat sebagai sayuran pada tahun 1893. Mengapa tomat dianggap sayuran? Karena tomat lebih banyak dipergunakan sebagai campuran masakan daripada dimakan.berbagai jenis masakan seperti sup, saos, pizza, salad dan sebagainya. Selain itu tomat ditetapkan sebagai sayuran karena untuk tujuan perdagangan. Tahukah kalian, kalau tomat adalah tumbuhan liar yang tersebar di Peru, Ekuador, dan Bolivia. Tapi, tomat telah ditanam penduduk Mexico sejak ribuan tahun. Karena, ketika Colombus menginjakkan kaki di Mexico, ia melihat tumbuhan tersebut dan membawanya ke Eropa. Jadi, tomat yang tersebar di Eropa adalah tomat Mexico. Tomat pada awalnya sempat dianggap tumbuhan beracun. Tapi sejak tahun 1900 dianggap makanan bervitamin dan sebagai bumbu penyedap makanan. Sebenarnya tomat adalah kerabat kentang dan tembakau. Tomat dapat ditanam di tanah yang gembur maupun kering. Di negara-negara maju, tomat sering ditanam di rumah kaca pada musim dingin.

Tauge

2008-06-20T23:41:00.000-07:00

Tauge sangat baik untuk kesehatan karena mengandung banyak serat dan air, tauge membantu pengurasan kotoran dalam usus besar. Hal ini menjadi kekuatan ganda “Tauge” dalam memerangi kanker, dengan mendorong kotoran segera meninggalkan usus besar tidak ada lagi zat-zat beracun dalam kotoran yang dapat diserap tubuh. Dan ini mencegah menumpuknya zat racun, yang dapat merangsang berseminya benih kanker.
Kandungan paling tinggi di kacang hijau itu biasanya “Kalium” bagus untuk kesehatan jantung. Kalium itu mineral, posatium, mineralnya untuk kesehatan jantung, kalau kekurangan “Kalium” biasanya kita akan lemas dan tak bergairah.
Estrogen alami yang terdapat dalam tauge berfungsi sama dengan estrogen sintetis. Estrogen dalam tauge secara nyata dapat meningkatkan kepadatan dan susunan tulang, serta mencegah rapuh tulang (osteoporosis). Rajin makan tauge membantu wanita terhindar dari kanker payudara, gangguan menjelang mentruasi (premenstrual syndrome, PMS) keluhan semburat panas (hot flashes), pramenopause dan gangguan akibat menopause.
Tauge bermanfaat juga untuk kecantikan kulit kita, karena tauge mengandung vitamin E yang tinggi. Vitamin E merupakan antioksidan yang dapat melindungi sel dari serangan radikal bebas. Kalau kita konsumsi vitamin ini, otomatis kulit akan lebih cerah dan lebih bersinar. Tauge yang berbahan dasar kacang juga dipercaya kaya protein, protein yang utama dan esensial sangat bagus untuk pergantian kulit.
Sel-sel yang rusak memerlukan pergantian dan sangat membutuhkan protein. Semua jenis kacang-kacangan, seperti kacang hijau kulitnya bisa dimakan karena seratnya yang tinggi. Kalau kita makan kacang hijau dengan kulitnya, otomatis lemak di usus akan terikat oleh si serat sehingga tidak terserap. Otomatis kalau lemak kita berkurang kulit menjadi lebih halus, dan tidak mudah berjerawat. Tapi semua serat bisa mengurangi lemak membantu metabolisme gula dan kolesterol.
Selain itu juga mengandung beberapa vitamin dan mineral, oleh karenanya tauge sangat bagus untuk kecerahan kulit dan menghilangkan vlek-vlek di wajah akibat jerawat dengan adanya pergantian sel-sel tersebut, tauge sendiri akan lebih baik ketika dimakan mentah, walaupun enak juga untuk diolah. Dengan memakannya bermentah-mentah zat gizi yang terkandung tidak akan berkurang. Antioksidan yang dibutuhkan untuk kesehatan dan kecantikan akan berfungsi secara maksimal.
Untuk mendapatkan manfaat yang maksimal, konsumsi tauge sebaiknya dikombinasi dengan sayuran lain. Jadi sebaiknya diet seimbang, protein, vitamin, mineral, karbohidrat itu baru seimbang. Sebagai tambahan untuk balance-nya bisa tambahkan sepiring tauge. Semuanya tergantung selera anda. Dengan mengkonsumsi secara rutin dan dikombinasikan dengan jenis sayuran lain, maka bukan tidak mungkin anda akan mendapatkan hasil yang anda inginkan.

kol

2008-06-20T23:38:00.000-07:00

Dilihat dari bentuknya sayuran ini tampak cantik sekali dan biasanya tumbuh didaerah yang berhawa sejuk. Sayuran yang tampak sederhana ini ternyata memiliki harga yang tidak ternilai bagi kesehatan. Kol atau ada yang menyebutnya dengan kubis terlahir dari keluarga yang banyak sekali jenisnya, diantaranya yang dikenal adalah sawi hijau, sawi putih, kembang kol, kailan, kolrabi, salad air dan brokoli.
Semua keluarga kol mengandung senyawa anti kanker dan merupakan sumber vitamin C, vitamin A, vitamin B1, serta mineral, kalsium, kalium, klor, fosfor, sodium dan sulfur. Kandungan serat kasar pada kol sangat tinggi sehingga dapat memperkecil resiko penyakit kanker lambung dan usus.
Dicuplik dari hasil penelitian di Amerika membuktikan bahwa kol yang dikonsumsi dalam keadaan mentah atau yang telah dimasak dapat mengurangi terjadinya kanker usus besar sebanyak 66 %. Manfaat lain dari kol adalah dapat mencegah dan menyembuhkan luka lambung, menstimulasi kekebalan, menurunkan kadar kolestrol dalam darah serta dapat mencegah infeksi.
Nah perlu diingat, dalam mengkonsumsi jenis makanan apapun sebaiknya memang jangan dalam jumlah yang berlebih, begitu juga dengan kol. Kandungan goitrinsnya dapat menganggu keseimbangan iodium dalam darah, ini dapat terjadi pada orang - orang tertentu yang menderita mag, gastritis dan perut kembung. Mengkonsumsi kol yang berlebih akan menyebabkan terbentuknya gas dalam lambung. Tetapi jika asupan iodium dari makanan lain seimbang, mengkonsumsi kol tidak perlu lagi dirisaukan.

Kangkung

2008-06-20T23:36:00.000-07:00

Kangkung termasuk suku Convolvulaceae atau keluarga kangkung-kangkungan. Merupakan tanaman yang tumbuh cepat dan memberikan hasil dalam waktu 4-6 minggu sejak dari benih. Terna semusim dengan panjang 30-50 cm ini merambat pada lumpur dan tempat-tempat yang basah seperti tepi kali, rawa-rawa, atau terapung di atas air. Biasa ditemukan di dataran rendah hingga 1.000 m di atas permukaan laut. Bagian tanaman kangkung yang paling penting adalah batang muda dan pucuknya sebagai bahan sayur-mayur. Menurut Dr. Setiawan, kangkung mempunyai rasa manis, tawar, sejuk. Sifat tanaman ini masuk ke dalam meridian usus dan lambung. Efek farmakologis tanaman bernama Cina weng cai, ini sebagai antiracun (antitoksik), antiradang, peluruh kencing (diuretik), menghentikan perdarahan (hemostatik), sedatif (obat tidur). Kangkung juga bersifat menyejukkan dan menenangkan. Tanaman bernama daerah kangkueng (Sumatera), pangpung (Nusa Tenggara), kangko (Sulawesi), utangko (Maluku) ini enak rasanya dan memiliki kandungan gizi cukup tinggi. Selain vitamin A, B1, dan C, juga mengandung protein, kalsium, fosfor, besi, karoten, hentriakontan, sitosterol. Herminia de Guzman Ladion, pakar kesehatan dari Filipina, memasukkan kangkung dalam kelompok “tanaman penyembuh ajaib’. Di negara itu, tanaman ini dipakai untuk menyembuhkan sembelit dan obat bagi mereka yang sedang melakukan diet. Akar kangkung juga berguna untuk mengobati penyakit wasir.

Bayam

2008-06-20T23:14:00.000-07:00

mungkin kebanyakan orang bertanya, kenapa sayur bayam tidak boleh dihangatkan lagi???

mari sejenak kita ulas tentang bayam:

1.Bayam itu mengandung zat besi yang berupa Fe2+(ferro) yang berguna bagi tubuh kita Kalau dia terlalu lama kontak dengan O2 (oksigen dari udara), Fe2+ akan teroksidasi menjadi Fe3+ (ferri) yang sifatnya beracun pada bayam. jadi jika sayur bayam itu dipanasi maka berlakulah oksidasi tersebut diatas yang menyebabkan bayam mengeluarkan kandungan zat besi Fe3+(ferri) yang beracun.

2.Bayam itu juga mengandung zat Nitrat (NO3) dan jika teroksidasi maka akan berubah menjadi NO2 (Nitrit), nitrit adalah senyawa yang tidak berbau, tidak berwarna dan bersifat racun bagi tubuh manusia. Sebetulnya bayam itu sendiri pada saat dipanen pertama kali sudah mengandung senyama nitrit sebanyak 5 mg/kg dan bila bayam itu disimpan didalam lemari es selama 2 minggu maka kadar Nitrit akan meningkat menjadi 300 mg/kg. Dengan kata lain Kadar nitrit pada bayam meningkat 21 mg/kg (7%) per hari.

Tips megkonsumsi bayam :

1.Pilih bayam yang baru dipetik dan masih segar

2.Hendaknya langsung diolah setelah mendapatkannya

3.Jangan terlalu lama disimpan di lemari es

Louis Pasteur

2008-06-20T11:51:00.000-07:00

Ahli kimia dan biolog Perancis, Louis Pasteur, umumnya dianggap jempolan bin jempolan dalam sejarah obat-obatan. Pasteur memang menyuguhkan banyak sumbangan pikiran penting bagi kepentingan ilmu pengetahuan. Tetapi yang paling menonjol pada dirinya ialah pendapatnya tentang teori baksil penyakit dan pengembangan teknik pencegahan lewat penyuntikan.Pasteur lahir di kota Dole tahun 1822, bagian timur Perancis. Sebagai mahasiswa di Paris dia memperdalam ilmu pengetahuan. Kegeniusannya belum tampak tatkala jadi mahasiswa bahkan salah seorang mahagurunya menganggap Pasteur "sedang-sedang" saja dalam ilmu kimia. Baru sesudah dia meraih gelar Doktor di tahun 1847, Pasteur membuktikan ucapan profesornya keliru besar. Penyelidikannya tentang asam traktat (tartaric acid) pada kaca mengangkat derajatnya ke tingkat ahli kimia yang tersohor di saat umurnya baru dua puluh enam tahun.Kemudian dia mengalihkan perhatiannya kepada penyelidikan tentang peragian dan membuktikan bahwa proses ini persis seperti proses yang terjadi pada sejenis mikro organisme lainnya dapat memprodusir hasil-hasil yang tidak dikehendaki dalam hal peragian minuman. Pendapat ini segera menuntunnya kegagasan lain bahwa semacam mikro organisme dapat pula menghasilkan hal-hal yang tidak diharapkan dan dapat membawa pengaruh baik terhadap manusia maupun hewan.Pasteur bukanlah orang pertama yang memasalahkan teori baksil penyakit. Hipotesa serupa telah pernah dikembangkan lebih dulu oleh Girolamo Fracastoro, Friedrich Henle dan banyak lainnya lagi. Tetapi, Pasteurlah yang paling menonjol dalam hal teori kuman penyakit yang dibuktikannya lewat serentetan percobaan dan demonstrasi yang merupakan faktor utama dan meyakinkan masyarakat cerdik pandai bahwa teorinya benar.Apabila penyakit disebabkan oleh baksil, tampaknya masuk akal bahwa dengan mencegah masuknya baksil itu ke dalam tubuh manusia, penyakit itu bisa dihindari. Karena itu Pasteur menekankan pentingnya metode antiseptik buat para dokter, dan dia punya pengaruh besar terhadap Joseph Lister yang memperkenalkan cara antiseptik kedalam bidang pembedahan.Bakteri yang berbahaya dapat memasuki tubuh manusia lewat makanan dan minuman. Pasteur mengembangkan teknik (biasa disebut pasteurisasi) untuk memusnahkan mikro organisme dalam minuman. Teknik ini, jika dipraktekkan, dapat membinasakan susu yang kejangkitan hama sebagai penyebab infeksi.Tatkala umurnya mendekati pertengahan lima puluhan, Pasteur beralih lagi perhatiannya kepada penyelidikan baksil penyakit ternak, sejenis penyakit infeksi serius yang menyerang binatang ternak dan binatang-binatang lain, tidak kecuali manusia. Pasteur mampu menunjukkan bahwa sejenis baksil menjadi sebab sesuatu penyakit. Karya lebih penting lainnya ialah pengembangan tekniknya memproduksi corak baksil penyakit ternak yang sudah dilemahkan. Dengan cara disuntikkan ke tubuh ternak, baksil penyakit yang sudah dilemahkan ini dapat menimbulkan penyakit yang ringan dan tidak mengakibatkan fatal sehingga memungkinkan ternak-ternak itu memperoleh kekebalan untuk menghadapi penyakit normal. Demonstrasi Pasteur di depan umum mengenai efektivitas teknik mengebalkan hewan dari baksil penyakit ternak menimbulkan kegemparan. Segera disadari bahwa metode umum dapat digunakan untuk pencegahan rupa-rupa penyakit masyarakat.Penemuan pribadi Pasteur yang paling termasyhur adalah pengembangan teknik penyuntikan terhadap manusia untuk mencegah penyakit Rabies yang ditakuti. Lain-lain ilmuwan, dengan meniru gagasan dasar Pasteur, sejak itu mengembangkan vaksin untuk mencegah lain-lain penyakit berat seperti tifus dan poliomyelitis.Pasteur, seorang yang suka kerja luar biasa banyak, menciptakan penemuan-penemuan kurang penting namun tetap berguna bagi keharuman namanya. Adalah tak lain dari penemuannya --melebihi arti penemuan orang-orang lain-- yang secara meyakinkan mendemonstrasikan bahwa mikro organisme tidak tumbuh lewat pembiakan. Pasteur juga menemukan fenomena anaerobiosis, misalnya sesuatu mikro organisme dapat hidup dalam ketiadaan udara maupun oksigen. Karya Pasteur mengenai penyakit ulat sutera mendatangkan nilai komersial yang tinggi. Penemuan lainnya adalah pengembangan vaksin untuk mencegah berjangkitnya penyakit kolera pada ayam dan penyakit yang menyerang unggas. Pasteur menghembuskan nafas terakhir di dekat Paris tahun 1895.Orang sering membuat bandingan antara Pasteur dengan Edward Jenner, ahli fisika Inggris yang mengembangkan vaksin untuk pencegahan cacar. Meskipun Jenner melakukannya 80 tahun sebelum Pasteur, saya menganggap arti penting Jenner tidaklah sebesar Pasteur, karena sistem pengebalannya berlaku hanya untuk satu jenis penyakit saja, sedangkan sistem Pasteur dapat --dan telah terbukti-- ampuh untuk mengebalkan terhadap banyak penyakit.Terhitung sejak pertengahan abad ke-19, kebutuhan hidup penduduk dunia nyaris bertambah dua kali hpat. Pertambahan kebutuhan yang bukan kepalang cepat dan beraneka luas jangkauannya ini lebih hebat dari apa yang pernah terjadi di sepanjang sejarah ummat manusia. Akibatnya, pengetahuan modern dan dunia kedokteran sebetulnya telah menyuguhkan kita masa kehidupan yang kedua. Apabila penambahan jangka perpanjangan ini dapat dihubungkan dengan semata-mata karya usaha Pasteur, saya tidak ragu dan bimbang lagi menempatkannya pada tingkat pertama dalam daftar urutan buku ini. Bagaimanapun, sumbangan Pasteur begitu mendasarnya sehingga tak perlu dipertanyakan lagi bahwa Pasteur punya saham besar dalam hal mencegah angka kematian pada akhir abad ini.

Galileo Galilei

2008-06-20T11:47:00.000-07:00

Ilmuwan Itali besar ini mungkin lebih bertanggung jawab terhadap perkembangan metode ilmiah dari siapa pun juga. Galileo lahir di Pisa, tahun 1564. Selagi muda belajar di Universitas Pisa tetapi mandek karena urusan keuangan. Meski begitu tahun 1589 dia mampu dapat posisi pengajar di universitas itu. Beberapa tahun kemudian dia bergabung dengan Universitas Padua dan menetap di sana hingga tahun 1610. Dalam masa inilah dia menciptakan tumpukan penemuan-penemuan ilmiah.Sumbangan penting pertamanya di bidang mekanika. Aristoteles mengajarkan, benda yang lebih berat jatuh lebih cepat ketimbang benda yang lebih enteng, dan bergenerasi-generasi kaum cerdik pandai menelan pendapat filosof Yunani yang besar pengaruh ini. Tetapi, Galileo memutuskan mencoba dulu benar-tidaknya, dan lewat serentetan eksperimen dia berkesimpulan bahwa Aristoteles keliru. Yang benar adalah, baik benda berat maupun enteng jatuh pada kecepatan yang sama kecuali sampai batas mereka berkurang kecepatannya akibat pergeseran udara. (Kebetulan, kebiasaan Galileo melakukan percobaan melempar benda dari menara Pisa tampaknya tanpa sadar).Mengetahui hal ini, Galileo mengambil langkah-langkah lebih lanjut. Dengan hati-hati dia mengukur jarak jatuhnya benda pada saat yang ditentukan dan mendapat bukti bahwa jarak yang dilalui oleh benda yang jatuh adalah berbanding seimbang dengan jumlah detik kwadrat jatuhnya benda. Penemuan ini (yang berarti penyeragaman percepatan) memiliki arti penting tersendiri. Bahkan lebih penting lagi Galileo berkemampuan menghimpun hasil penemuannya dengan formula matematik. Penggunaan yang luas formula matematik dan metode matematik merupakan sifat penting dari ilmu pengetahuan modern.Sumbangan besar Galileo lainnya ialah penemuannya mengenai hukum kelembaman. Sebelumnya, orang percaya bahwa benda bergerak dengan sendirinya cenderung menjadi makin pelan dan sepenuhnya berhenti kalau saja tidak ada tenaga yang menambah kekuatan agar terus bergerak. Tetapi percobaan-percobaan Galileo membuktikan bahwa anggapan itu keliru. Bilamana kekuatan melambat seperti misalnya pergeseran, dapat dihilangkan, benda bergerak cenderung tetap bergerak tanpa batas. Ini merupakan prinsip penting yang telah berulang kali ditegaskan oleh Newton dan digabungkan dengan sistemnya sendiri sebagai hukum gerak pertama salah satu prinsip vital dalam ilmu pengetahuan.Menara miring Pisa yang dianggap digunakan oleh Galileo mendemonstrasikan hukum-hukum mengenai jatuhnya sesuatu bendaPenemuan Galileo yang paling masyhur adalah di bidang astronomi. Teori perbintangan di awal tahun 1600-an berada dalam situasi yang tak menentu. Terjadi selisih pendapat antara penganut teori Copernicus yang matahari-sentris dan penganut teori yang lebih lama, yang bumi-sentris. Sekitar tahun 1609 Galileo menyatakan kepercayaannya bahwa Copernicus berada di pihak yang benar, tetapi waktu itu dia tidak tahu cara membuktikannya. Di tahun 1609, Galileo dengar kabar bahwa teleskop diketemukan orang di Negeri Belanda. Meskipun Galileo hanya mendengar samar-samar saja mengenai peralatan itu, tetapi berkat kegeniusannya dia mampu menciptakan sendiri teleskop. Dengan alat baru ini dia mengalihkan perhatiannya ke langit dan hanya dalam setahun dia sudah berhasil membikin serentetan penemuan besar.Pada halaman ini Galileo pertama kali menulis tentang pengamatan bulan dari planet Jupiter. Pengamatan inilah yang menjungkirbalikkan kaidah bahwa seluruh benda langit harus mengitari Bumi. Galileo menulisnya secara lengkap tentang hal ini dalam Sidereus Nuncius pada bulan Maret 1610.Dilihatnya bulan itu tidaklah rata melainkan benjol-benjol, penuh kawah dan gunung-gunung. Benda-benda langit, kesimpulannya, tidaklah rata serta licin melainkan tak beraturan seperti halnya wajah bumi. Ditatapnya Bima Sakti dan tampak olehnya bahwa dia itu bukanlah semacam kabut samasekali melainkan terdiri dari sejumlah besar bintang-bintang yang dengan mata telanjang memang seperti teraduk dan membaur satu sama lain.Kemudian diincarnya planit-planit dan tampaklah olehnya Saturnus bagaikan dilingkari gelang. Teleskopnya melirik Yupiter dan tahulah dia ada empat buah bulan berputar-putar mengelilingi planit itu. Di sini terang-benderanglah baginya bahwa benda-benda angkasa dapat berputar mengitari sebuah planit selain bumi. Keasyikannya menjadi-jadi: ditatapnya sang surya dan tampak olehnya ada bintik-bintik dalam wajahnya. Memang ada orang lain sebelumnya yang juga melihat bintik-bintik ini, tetapi Galileo menerbitkan hasil penemuannya dengan cara yang lebih efektif dan menempatkan masalah bintik-bintik matahari itu menjadi perhatian dunia ilmu pengetahuan. Selanjutnya, penelitiannya beralih ke planit Venus yang memiliki jangka serupa benar dengan jangka bulan. Ini merupakan bagian dari bukti penting yang mengukuhkan teori Copernicus bahwa bumi dan semua planit lainnya berputar mengelilingi matahari.Ilustrasi dari hukum daya pengungkit Galileo dipetik dari buku Galileo 'Perbincangan Matematik dan Peragaan'Penemuan teleskop dan serentetan penemuan ini melempar Galileo ke atas tangga kemasyhuran. Sementara itu, dukungannya terhadap teori Copernicus menyebabkan dia berhadapan dengan kalangan gereja yang menentangnya habis-habisan. Pertentangan gereja ini mencapai puncaknya di tahun 1616: dia diperintahkan menahan diri dari menyebarkan hipotesa Copernicus. Galileo merasa tergencet dengan pembatasan ini selama bertahun-tahun. Baru sesudah Paus meninggal tahun 1623, dia digantikan oleh orang yang mengagumi Galileo. Tahun berikutnya, Paus baru ini --Urban VIII-- memberi pertanda walau samar-samar bahwa larangan buat Galileo tidak lagi dipaksakan.Enam tahun berikutnya Galileo menghabiskan waktu menyusun karya ilmiahnya yang penting Dialog Tentang Dua Sistem Penting Dunia. Buku ini merupakan peragaan hebat hal-hal yang menyangkut dukungan terhadap teori Copernicus dan buku ini diterbitkan tahun 1632 dengan ijin sensor khusus dari gereja. Meskipun begitu, penguasa-penguasa gereja menanggapi dengan sikap berang tatkala buku terbit dan Galileo langsung diseret ke muka Pengadilan Agama di Roma dengan tuduhan melanggar larangan tahun 1616.Tetapi jelas, banyak pembesar-pembesar gereja tidak senang dengan keputusan menghukum seorang sarjana kenamaan. Bahkan dibawah hukum gereja saat itu, kasus Galileo dipertanyakan dan dia cuma dijatuhi hukuman enteng. Galileo tidak dijebloskan ke dalam bui tetapi sekedar kena tahanan rumah di rumahnya sendiri yang cukup enak di sebuah villa di Arcetri. Teorinya dia tidak boleh terima tamu, tetapi nyatanya aturan itu tidak dilaksanakan sebagaimana mestinya. Hukuman lain terhadapnya hanyalah suatu permintaarn agar dia secara terbuka mencabut kembali pendapatnya bahwa bumi berputar mengelilingi matahari. Ilmuwan berumur 69 tahun ini melaksanakannya di depan pengadilan terbuka. (Ada ceritera masyhur yang tidak tentu benarnya bahwa sehabis Galileo menarik lagi pendapatnya dia menunduk ke bumi dan berbisik pelan, "Tengok, dia masih terus bergerak!"). Di kota Arcetri dia meneruskan kerja tulisnya di bidang mekanika. Galileo meninggal tahun 1642.Sumbangan besar Galileo terhadap kemajuan ilmu pengetahuan sudah lama dikenal. Arti penting peranannya terletak pada penemuan-penemuan ilmiah seperti hukum kelembaman, penemuan teleskopnya, pengamatan bidang astronominya dan kegeniusannya membuktikan hipotesa Copernicus. Dan yang lebih penting adalah peranannya dalam hal pengembangan metodologi ilmu pengetahuan. Umumnya para filosof alam mendasarkan pendapatnya pada pikiran-pikiran Aristoteles serta membuat penyelidikan secara kualitatif dan fenomena yang terkategori. Sebaliknya, Galileo menetapkan fenomena dan melakukan pengamatan atas dasar kuantitatif. Penekanan yang cermat terhadap perhitungan secara kuantitatif sejak itu menjadi dasar penyelidikan ilmu pengetahuan di masa-masa berikutnya.Galileo mungkin lebih punya tanggung jawab daripada orang mana pun untuk penyelidikan ilmiah dengan sikap empiris. Dialah, dan bukannya yang lain, yang pertama kali menekankan arti penting peragaan percobaan-percobaan, dia menolak pendapat bahwa masalah-masalah ilmiah dapat diputuskan bersama dengan kekuasaan, apakah kekuasaan itu namanya Gereja atau kaidah dalil Aristoteles. Dia juga menolak keras bersandar pada skema-skema yang menggunakan alasan ruwet dan bukannya bersandar pada dasar percobaan yang mantap. Cerdik cendikiawan abad tengah memperbincangkan bertele-tele apa yang harus terjadi dan mengapa sesuatu hal terjadi, tetapi Galileo bersikeras pada arti penting melakukan percobaan untuk memastikan apa sesungguhnya yang terjadi. Pandangan ilmiahnya jelas gamblang tidak berbau mistik, dan dalam hubungan ini dia bahkan lebih modern ketimbang para penerusnya, seperti misalnya Newton.Galileo, dapat dianggap orang yang taat beragama. Lepas dari hukuman yang dijatuhkan terhadap dirinya dan pengakuannya, dia tidak menolak baik agama maupun gereja. Yang ditolaknya hanyalah percobaan pembesar-pembesar gereja untuk menekan usaha penyelidikan ilmu pengetahuannya. Generasi berikutnya amat beralasan mengagumi Gahleo sebagai lambang pemberontak terhadap dogma dan terhadap kekuasaan otoriter yang mencoba membelenggu kemerdekaan berfikir. Arti pentingnya yang lebih menonjol lagi adalah peranan yang dimainkannya dalam hal meletakkan dasar-dasar metode ilmu pengetahuan modern (metode ilmiah)

Karl Marx

2008-06-20T11:28:00.000-07:00

Karl Marx, pelopor utama gagasan "sosialisme ilmiah" dilahirkan tahun 1818 di kota Trier, Jerman, Ayahnya ahli hukum dan di umur tujuh belas tahun Karl masuk Universitas Bonn,juga belajar hukum. Belakangan dia pindah ke Universitas Berlin dan kemudian dapat gelar Doktor dalam ilmu filsafat dari Universitas Jena.Entah karena lebih tertarik, Marx menceburkan diri ke dunia jurnalistik dan sebentar menjadi redaktur Rheinische Zeitung di Cologne. Tapi, pandangan politiknya yang radikal menyeretnya ke dalam rupa-rupa kesulitan dan memaksanya pindah ke Paris. Di situlah dia mula pertama bertemu dengan Friederich Engels. Tali persahabatan dan persamaan pandangan politik mengikat kedua orang ini selaku dwi tunggal hingga akhir hayatnya.Marx tak bisa lama tinggal di Paris dan segera ditendang dari sana dan mesti menjinjing koper pindah ke Brussel. Di kota inilah, tahun 1847 dia pertama kali menerbitkan buah pikirannya yang penting dan besar The poverty of philosophy (Kemiskinan filsafat). Tahun berikutnya bersama bergandeng tangan dengan Friederich Engels mereka menerbitkan Communist Manifesto, buku yang akhirnya menjadi bacaan dunia. Pada tahun itu juga Marx kembali ke Cologne untuk kemudian diusir lagi dari sana hanya selang beberapa bulan. Sehabis terusir sana terusir sini, akhirnya Marx menyeberang Selat Canal dan menetap di London hingga akhir hayatnya.Meskipun ada hanya sedikit uang di koceknya berkat pekerjaan jurnalistik, Marx menghabiskan sejumlah besar waktunya di London melakukan penyelidikan dan menulis buku-buku tentang politik dan ekonomi. (Di tahun-tahun itu Marx dan familinya dapat bantuan ongkos hidup dari Friederich Engels kawan karibnya). Jilid pertama Das Kapital, karya ilmiah Marx terpenting terbit di tahun 1867. Tatkala Marx meninggal di tahun 1883, kedua jilid sambungannya belum sepenuhnya rampung. Kedua jilid sambungannya itu disusun dan diterbitkan oIeh Engels berpegang pada catatan-catatan dan naskah yang ditinggalkan Marx.Karya tulisan Marx merumuskan dasar teoritis Komunisme. Ditilik dari perkembangan luarbiasa gerakan ini di abad ke-20, sangat layaklah kalau dia mendapat tempat dalam urutan tinggi buku ini. Masalahnya, seberapa tinggi?Faktor utama bagi keputusan ini adalah perhitungan arti penting Komunis jangka panjang dalam sejarah. Sejak tumbuhnya Komunisme sebagai bagian tak terpisahkan dari sejarah masa kini, terasa sedikit sulit menentukan dengan cermat perspektif masa depannya. Kendati tak seorang pun sanggup memastikan seberapa jauh Komunisme bisa berkembang dan berapa lama ideologi ini bisa bertahan, yang sudah pasti dia merupakan ideologi kuat dan tangguh serta berakar kuat menghunjam ke bumi, dan sudah bisa dipastikan punya pengaruh besar di dunia untuk paling sedikit beberapa abad mendatang.Pada saat kini, sekitar seabad sesudah kematian Marx, jumlah manusia yang sedikitnya terpengaruh oleh Marxisme sudah mendekati angka 1,3 milyar banyaknya. Jumlah penganut ini lebih besar dari jumlah penganut ideologi mana pun sepanjang sejarah manusia. Bukan sekedar jumlahnya yang mutlak, melainkan juga sebagai kelompok dari keseluruhan penduduk dunia. Ini mengakibatkan kaum Komunis, dan juga sebagian yang bukan Komunis, percaya bahwa di masa depan tidak bisa tidak Marxisme akan merebut kemenangan di seluruh dunia. Namun, adalah sukar untuk memantapkan kebenarannya dengan keyakinan yang tak bergoyah. Telah banyak contoh-contoh ideologi yang tampaknya sangat punya pengaruh penting pada jamannya tapi pada akhirnya melayu dan sirna. (Agama yang didirikan oleh Mani bisa dijadikan misal yang menarik). Jika kita surut ke tahun 1900, akan tampak jelas bahwa demokrasi konstitusional merupakan arus yang akan jadi anutan masa depan. Berpegang pada harapan, tampaknya memang begitu, tapi sekarang tak ada lagi orang yang yakin segalanya sudah terjadi sebagaimana bayangan semula.Sekarang menyangkut Komunisme. Taruhlah seseorang percaya sangat dan tahu persis betapa hebatnya pengaruh Komunis di dunia saat ini dan di dunia masa depan, orang toh masih mempertanyakan arti penting Karl Marx di dalam gerakan Komunis. Politik pemerintah Uni Soviet sekarang kelihatannya tidak terawasi oleh karya-karya Marx yang menulis dasar-dasar pikiran seperti dialektika gaya Hegel dan tentang teori "nilai lebih." Teori-teori itu kelihatan kecil pengaruhnya dalam praktek perputaran roda politik pemerintah Uni Soviet, baik politik dalam maupun luar negerinya.Komunisme masa kini menitikberatkan empat ide: (1) Sekelumit kecil orang kaya hidup dalam kemewahan yang berlimpah, sedangkan kaum pekerja yang teramat banyak jumlahnya hidup bergelimang papa sengsara. (2) Cara untuk merombak ketidakadilan ini adalah dengan jalan melaksanakan sistem sosialis, yaitu sistem di mana alat produksi dikuasai negara dan bukannya oleh pribadi swasta. (3) Pada umumnya, satu-satunya jalan paling praktis untuk melaksanakan sistem sosialis ini adalah lewat revolusi kekerasan. (4) Untuk menjaga kelanggengan sistem sosialis harus diatur oleh kediktatoran partai Komunis dalam jangka waktu yang memadai.Tiga dari ide pertama sudah dicetuskan dengan jelas sebelum Marx. Sedangkan ide keempat berasal dari gagasan Marx mengenai "diktatur proletariat." Sementara itu, lamanya masa berlaku kediktatoran Soviet sekarang lebih merupakan hasil dari langkah-langkah Lenin dan Stalin daripada gagasan tulisan Marx. Hal ini tampaknya menimbulkan anggapan bahwa pengaruh Marx dalam Komunisme lebih kecil dari kenyataan yang sebenarnya, dan penghargaan orang terhadap tulisan-tulisannya lebih menyerupai sekedar etalasi untuk membenarkan sifat "keilmiahan" daripada ide dan politik yang sudah terlaksana dan diterima.Sementara boleh jadi ada benarnya juga anggapan itu, namun tampaknya kelewat berlebihan. Lenin misalnya, tidak sekedar menganggap dirinya mengikuti ajaran-ajaran Marx, tapi dia betul-betul membacanya, menghayatinya, dan menerimanya. Dia yakin betul jalan yang dilimpahkannya persis di atas rel yang dibentangkan Marx. Begitu juga terjadi pada diri Mao Tse Tung dan pemuka-pemuka Komunis lain. Memang benar, ide-ide Marx mungkin sudah disalah-artikan dan ditafsirkan lain, tapi hal semacam ini juga berlaku pada ajaran Yesus atau Buddha atau Islam. Andaikata semua politik dasar pemerintah Tiongkok maupun Uni Soviet bertolak langsung dari hasil karya tulisan Marx.Mungkin bisa diperdebatkan bahwa Lenin, politikus praktis yang sesungguhnya mendirikan negara Komunis, memegang saham besar dalam hal membangun Komunisme sebagai suatu ideologi yang begitu besar pengaruhnya di dunia. Pendapat ini masuk akal. Lenin benar-benar seorang tokoh penting. Tapi, menurut hemat saya, tulisan-tulisan Marx yang begitu hebat pengaruhnya terhadap jalan pikiran bukan saja Lenin tapi juga pemuka-pemuka Komunis lain, jelas punya kedudukan lebih penting.Juga ada peluang untuk diperdebatkan apakah penghargaan atas terumusnya Marxisme tidak harus dibagi antara Karl Marx dan Friederich Engels. Mereka berdua menulis "Manifesto Komunis" dan Engels jelas punya pengaruh mendalam terhadap penyelesaian final Das Kapital. Meskipun masing-masing menulis buku atas namanya sendiri-sendiri tapi kerjasama intelektual mereka begitu intimnya sehingga hasil keseluruhan dapat dianggap sebagai suatu karya bersama. Memang, Marx dan Engels diperlakukan sebagai satu kesatuan dalam buku ini walaupun yang dicantumkan cuma nama Marx karena (saya pikir saya benar) dia dianggap partner yang dominan dalam arti luas.Akhirnya, sering dituding orang bahwa teori Marxis di bidang ekonomi sangatlah buruk dan banyak keliru. Tentu saja, banyak dugaan-dugaan tertentu Marx terbukti meleset. Misalnya, Marx meramalkan bahwa dalam negeri-negeri kapitalis kaum buruh akan semakin melarat dalam perjalanan sang waktu. Jelas, ramalan ini tidak terbukti. Marx juga memperhitungkan bahwa kaum menengah akan disapu dan sebagian besar orang-orangnya akan masuk ke dalam golongan proletar dan hanya sedikit yang bisa bangkit dan masuk dalam kelas kapitalis. Ini pun jelas tak pernah terbukti. Marx juga tampaknya percaya, meningkatnya mekanisasi akan mengurangi keuntungan kaum kapitalis, kepercayaan yang bukan saja salah tapi sekaligus juga tampak tolol. Tapi, terlepas apakah teori ekonominya benar atau salah, semua itu tidak ada sangkut-pautnya dengan pengaruh Marx. Arti penting seorang filosof terletak bukan pada kebenaran pendapatnya tapi terletak pada masalah apakah buah pikirannya telah menggerakkan orang untuk bertindak atau tidak. Diukur dari sudut ini, tak perlu diragukan lagi Karl Marx punya arti penting yang luarbiasa hebatnya.

Albert Einstein

2008-06-20T10:30:00.000-07:00

Albert Einstein dilahirkan di Ulm, Kerajaan Wuettemberg, Prusia Raya (sekarang Jerman) pada tanggal 14 Maret 1879. Beliau terlahir sebagai putra sulung dari pasangan Hermann Einstein dan Pauline Koch. Ayahnya berprofesi sebagai pedagang kasur bulu. Pada tahun 1980 bisnis ayahnya mengalami kegagalan. Keluarga Einstein pindah ke Munich. Di kota ini Hermann dan adiknya mendirikan perusahaan instalasi gas dan air.
Di waktu kecilnya Albert Einstein nampak terbelakang karena kemampuan bicaranya amat terlambat. Wataknya pendiam dan suka bermain seorang diri. Bulan November 1981 lahir adik perempuannya yang diberi nama Maja. Sampai usia tujuh tahun Albert Einstein suka marah dan melempar barang, termasuk kepada adiknya.
Minat dan kecintaannya pada bidang ilmu fisika muncul pada usia lima tahun. Ketika sedang terbaring lemah karena sakit, ayahnya menghadiahinya sebuah kompas. Albert kecil terpesona oleh keajaiban kompas tersebut, sehingga ia membulatkan tekadnya untuk membuka tabir misteri yang menyelimuti keagungan dan kebesaran alam.
Meskipun pendiam dan tidak suka bermain dengan teman-temannya, Albert Einstein tetap mampu berprestasi di sekolahnya. Raportnya bagus dan ia menjadi juara kelas. Selain bersekolah dan menggeluti sains, kegiatan Albert hanyalah bermain musik dan berduet dengan ibunya memainkan karya-karya Mozart dan Bethoveen.
Albert menghabiskan masa kuliahnya di ETH (Eidgenoessische Technische Hochscule). Pada usia 21 tahun Albert dinyatakan lulus. Setelah lulus, Albert berusaha melamar pekerjaan sebagai asisten dosen, tetapi ditolak. Akhirnya Albert mendapat pekerjaan sementara sebagai guru di SMA. Kemudian dia mendapat pekerjaan di kantor paten di kota Bern. Selama masa itu Albert tetap mengembangkan ilmu fisikanya.
Tahun 1905 adalah tahun penuh prestasi bagi Albert, karena pada tahun ini ia menghasilkan karya-karya yang cemerlang. Berikut adalah karya-karya tersebut: Maret: paper tentang aplikasi ekipartisi pada peristiwa radiasi, tulisan ini merupakan pengantar hipotesa kuantum cahaya dengan berdasarkan pada statistik Boltzmann. Penjelasan efek fotolistrik pada paper inilah yang memberinya hadiah Nobel pada tahun 1922.April : desertasi doktoralnya tentang penentuan baru ukuran-ukuran molekul. Einstein memperoleh gelar PhD-nya dari Universitas Z? Mei : papernya tentang gerak Brown. Juni : Papernya yang tersohor, yaitu tentang teori relativitas khusus, dimuat Annalen der Physik dengan judul Zur Elektrodynamik bewegter K?r (Elektrodinamika benda bergerak). September : kelanjutan papernya bulan Juni yang sampai pada kesimpulan rumus termahsyurnya : E = mc2, yaitu bahwa massa sebuah benda (m) adalah ukuran kandungan energinya (E). c adalah laju cahaya di ruang hampa (c >> 300 ribu kilometer per detik). Massa memiliki kesetaraan dengan energi, sebuah fakta yang membuka peluang berkembangnya proyek tenaga nuklir di kemudian hari. Satu gram massa dengan demikian setara dengan energi yang dapat memasok kebutuhan listrik 3000 rumah (berdaya 900 watt) selama setahun penuh, suatu jumlah energi yang luar biasa besarnya.
Tahun 1909, Albert Einstein diangkat sebagai profesor di Universitas Zurich. Tahun 1915, ia menyelesaikan kedua teori relativitasnya. Penghargaan tertinggi atas kerja kerasnya sejak kecil terbayar dengan diraihnya Hadiah Nobel pada tahun 1921 di bidang ilmu fisika. Selain itu Albert juga mengembangkan teori kuantum dan teori medan menyatu.
Pada tahun 1933, Albert beserta keluarganya pindah ke Amerika Serikat karena khawatir kegiatan ilmiahnya - baik sebagai pengajar ataupun sebagai peneliti - terganggu. Tahun 1941, ia mengucapkan sumpah sebagai warga negara Amerika Serikat. Karena ketenaran dan ketulusannya dalam membantu orang lain yang kesulitan, Albert ditawari menjadi presiden Israel yang kedua. Namun jabatan ini ditolaknya karena ia merasa tidak mempunyai kompetensi di bidang itu. Akhirnya pada tanggal 18 April 1955, Albert Einstein meninggal dunia dengan meninggalkan karya besar yang telah mengubah sejarah dunia.
Meskipun demikian, Albert sempat menangis pilu dalam hati karena karya besarnya - teori relativitas umum dan khusus - digunakan sebagai inspirasi untuk membuat bom atom. Bom inilah yang dijatuhkan di atas kota Hiroshima dan Nagasaki saat Perang Dunia II berlangsung.

Issac Newton

2008-06-20T10:14:00.000-07:00

Issac Newton adalah seorang fisikawan, matematikawan, ahli astronomi dan juga ahli kimia yang berasal dari Inggris. Beliau merupakan pengikut aliran heliosentris dan ilmuwan yang sangat berpengaruh sepanjang sejarah, bahkan dikatakan sebagai bapak ilmu fisika modern.
Dengan berbagai hasil karya ilmiah yang dicapainya, Newton menulis sebuah buku Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica, dimana pada buku tersebut dideskripsikan mengenai teori gravitasi secara umum, berdasarkan hukum gerak yang ditemukannya, dimana benda akan tertarik ke bawah karena gaya gravitasi. Bekerja sama dengan Gottfried Leibniz, Newton mengembangkan teori kalkulus. Newton merupakan orang pertama yang menjelaskan tentang teori gerak dan berperan penting dalam merumuskan gerakan melingkar dari hukum Kepler, dimana Newton memperluas hukum tersebut dengan beranggapan bahwa suatu orbit gerakan melingkar tidak harus selalu berbentuk lingkaran sempurna (seperti elipse, hiperbola dan parabola). Newton menemukan spektrum warna ketika melakukan percobaan dengan melewati sinar putih pada sebuah prisma, dia juga percaya bahwa sinar merupakan kumpulan dari partikel-partikel. Newton juga mengembangkan hukum tentang pendinginan yang di dapatkan dari teori binomial, dan menemukan sebuah prinsip momentum dan angular momentum.
Pendapat Kepala Akademi Ilmiah Berlin tentang Newton: "Newton ialah seorang jenius besar yang pernah ada dan paling beruntung, yang tak bisa kita temukan lebih dari suatu sistem dunia untuk didirikan." [See Shapley.]

Newton sendiri agak ogah-ogahan menerbitkan dan mengumumkan penemuan-penemuannya. Gagasan dasar sudah disusunnya jauh sebelum tahun 1669 tetapi banyak teori-teorinya baru diketahui publik bertahun-tahun sesudahnya. Penerbitan pertama penemuannya adalah menyangkut penjungkir-balikan anggapan lama tentang hal-ihwal cahaya. Dalam serentetan percobaan yang seksama, Newton menemukan fakta bahwa apa yang lazim disebut orang "cahaya putih" sebenarnya tak lain dari campuran semua warna yang terkandung dalam pelangi. Dan ia pun dengan sangat hati-hati melakukan analisa tentang akibat-akibat hukum pemantulan dan pembiasan cahaya. Berpegang pada hukum ini dia --pada tahun 1668-- merancang dan sekaligus membangun teropong refleksi pertama, model teropong yang dipergunakan oleh sebagian terbesar penyelidik bintang-kemintang saat ini. Penemuan ini, berbarengan dengan hasil-hasil yang diperolehnya di bidang percobaan optik yang sudah diperagakannya, dipersembahkan olehnya kepada lembaga peneliti kerajaan Inggris tatkala ia berumur dua puluh sembilan tahun.Newton menghembuskan nafas penghabisan tahun 1727, dikebumikan di Westminster Abbey, ilmuwan pertama yang memperoleh penghormatan macam itu.

Thomas Alva Edison

2008-06-20T09:52:00.000-07:00

Thomas Alva Edison lahir tahun 1847 di kota Milan, Ohio, Amerika serikat. Hanya tiga bulan dia mendapat pendidikan formal setelah itu dia dikeluarkan karena dianggap dungu oleh gurunya.
Ciptaan pertamanya adalah perekam elektronik yang dibuatnya ketika berumur 21 tahun, hasil karya tersebut tidak dijualnya. Tak lama setelah ia menemukan alat perekam elektronik dia menemukan dan menyempurnakan mesin telegraph otomatis yang dia jual seharga $4o.000, tak lama Thomas A. Edison menjadi terkenal dan kaya karena penemuan-penemuannya, mungkin penemuannya yang paling orisinil adalah mesin piringan hitam yang dipatenkan pada tahun 1877. Namun ia lebih terkenal karena pengembangan bola lampu pijar yang praktis pada tahun 1879.

Edison juga memberikan sumbangan luar biasa bagi perkembangan kamera perfilman serta proyektor. bisa dikatakan Edison merancang lebih dari 1.000 penemuan, suatu jumlah yang betul-betul tak masuk akal. Satu sebab produktifitasnya adalah karena pada awal-awal kariernya dia membangun sebuah laboratorium penyelidikan di Menlo Park, New Jersey.

Meski pembaannya bukan seorang ilmuan murni, Edison membuat satu penemuan ilmiah. Pada tahun 1882, dia menemukan bahwa dalam keadaan mendekati hampa udara, arus listrik dapat dialirkan diantara dua kawat yang tidak bersentuhan satu sama lain. Fenomena ini disebut "Edison Effect".

Edison menikah dua kali (istri pertamanya mati muda), punya tiga anak dari masing-masing istri. Dia meninggal pada tahun 1931 di West Orange, New Jersey

Tugu Proklamasi

2008-06-19T13:38:00.000-07:00

Tugu Proklamasi atau Tugu petir adalah tugu peringatan proklamasi kemerdekaan RI. Tugu Proklamasi berdiri di tanah lapang kompleks Taman Proklamasi di Jl. Proklamasi (dahulunya disebut Jl. Pegangsaan Timur No. 56), Jakarta Pusat. Pada kompleks juga terdapat monumen dua patung Soekarno-Hatta berukuran besar yang berdiri berdampingan, mirip dengan dokumentasi foto ketika naskah proklamasi pertama kali dibacakan. Di tengah-tengah dua patung proklamator terdapat patung naskah proklamasi terbuat dari lempengan batu marmer hitam, dengan susunan dan bentuk tulisan mirip dengan naskah ketikan aslinya.
Setelah era reformasi, selain menjadi tempat yang spesial untuk acara peringatan Hari Kemerdekaan RI tiap tahunnya, lokasi ini pun menjadi tempat pilihan bagi berkumpulnya para demonstran untuk menyuarakan pendapat-pendapatnya.
Lain halnya ketika sore menjelang. Pada hari-hari yang biasa, para penduduk yang tinggal tak jauh dari lingkungan taman ini kerap berkunjung ke Tugu Proklamasi untuk berbagai aktivitas. Tempat ini menjadi tempat favorit anak-anak bermain, arena berolahraga, tempat berkumpul dan bertemu, atau hanya untuk duduk-duduk saja menghabiskan sore hingga senja datang.
Naskah Proklamasi kemerdekaan RI dibacakan untuk pertama kalinya oleh Presiden Soekarno pada tanggal 17 Agustus 1945 di halaman kediaman Soekarno Jalan Pegangsaan Timur No. 56. Rumah bersejarah ini, yang dulu disebut "Gedung Proklamasi", sudah tidak ada lagi sejak tahun 1960, Bung Karno menyetujui usul Wakil Gubernur Daerah Chusus Jakarta (DCI) Henk Ngantung agar rumah tersebut direnovasi. Waktu itu Presiden Soekarno sudah bermukim di Istana Negara. Ternyata, renovasi tidak terealisasi.
Di lokasi ini Presiden Soekarno pada tanggal 1 Januari 1961 melakukan pencangkulan pertama tanah untuk pembangunan tugu, "Tugu Petir", yang kemudian disebut tugu proklamasi. Tugu ini berbentuk bulatan tinggi berkepala lambang petir, seperti lambang Perusahaan Listrik Negara (PLN). Tulisan yang kemudian dicantumkan, "Disinilah Dibatjakan Proklamasi Kemerdekaan Indonesia pada Tanggal 17 Agustus 1945 djam 10.00 pagi oleh Bung Karno dan Bung Hatta".
Sekitar 50 meter di belakang tugu ini dibangun gedung yang menandai dimulainya pelaksanaan "Pembangunan Nasional Semesta Berencana". Hanya bangunan ini yang berdiri di lokasi tersebut. Satu dan satu-satuya gedung yang ada sampai sekarang.
Di antara bangunan yang terdapat di lokasi ini, hanya "Tugu Peringatan Satoe Tahoen Repoeblik Indonesia"[1] yang langsung terkait dengan nuansa revolusi karena diresmikan tanggal 17 Agustus 1946 di masa Sekutu masih berkuasa. Di atas tulisan yang dipahat di bahan marmer itu ada tulisan lain, "Atas Oesaha Wanita Djakarta". Di dinding sebaliknya ada kutipan naskah proklamasi dan peta Indonesia juga dari marmer. Bentuk tugu ini mirip lambang Polda Metropolitan Jakarta asalkan dibuang kepalanya yang bergambar api berkobar.
Kisah tugu ini diceritakan oleh sang pembuat, Dra Yos Masdani Tumbuan, dalam buku "19 Desember 1948 Perang Gerilya Perang Rakyat Semesta", hasil wawancara dengan Titiek WS. Diungkapkan, pada bulan Juni 1946, Yos Masdani sebagai seorang mahasiswi anggota Ikatan Wanita Djakarta diminta membuat tugu peringatan proklamasi. Permintaan itu disampaikan Ratulangi dan Mien Wiranatakusumah (kemudian hari dikenal sebagai Ny Mien Sudarpo Sastrosatomo). Tidak disediakan dana, kecuali disebutkan nama pelaksananya, yaitu Aboetardjab dari Biro Teknik Kores Siregar, mantan mahasiswa Tehnische Hoge School (sekarang Institut Teknologi Bandung/ITB). Dana harus dicari bersama kawan-kawan lain.
Pada menjelang peresmian, ada hambatan karena Wali Kota Jakarta Suwiryo melarang peresmian pada tanggal 17 Agustus 1946. Ada larangan dari Sekutu di Jakarta. Mr Maramis yang hadir dalam pertemuan ini pun khawatir, kalau dipaksakan, akan terjadi tragedi seperti di Amritsar (India).
Sutan Sjahrir tanggal 16 Agustus 1946 tiba di Jakarta dari Yogyakarta. Ia menganggap peresmian itu ide yang bagus dan ia bersedia meresmikannya. Pada waktu hari peresmian, memang patroli Sekutu dan Gurkha hilir-mudik, tetapi tidak terjadi keributan. Mungkin karena kehadiran Perdana Menteri Sutan Sjahrir.
Peristiwa mengejutkan terjadi tanggal 14 Agustus 1960. Surat kabar Keng Po memberitakan, Angkatan ’45 menginginkan agar tugu peringatan yang mereka sebut "Tugu Linggarjati" harus dimusnahkan. Pendapat yang aneh karena Perjanjian Linggarjati terjadi pada 10 November 1946, tiga bulan setelah tugu peringatan diresmikan. Menurut Yos Masdani, waktu itu komunis punya kekuatan untuk mengubah wajah sejarah. Tanggal 15 Agustus 1960, tugu peringatan itu lenyap.
Bersama sejumlah tokoh wanita, antara lain Mr RA Maria Ulfah Santoso dan Lasmidjah Hardi, menemui Gubernur Sumarno di Balaikota. Dalam kesempatan ini, Gubernur menyerahkan tiga lempengan marmer yang tadinya melekat di tugu Linggarjati. Atas saran para wanita yang hadir, lempengan marmer itu disampaikan kepada Yos Masdani.
Tahun 1968 kepada Gubernur Ali Sadikin disampaikan usulan agar tugu proklamasi dibangun kembali. Usul ini ditanggapi positif, terbukti urusan pemugaran sampai ke Sekretariat Negara. Pemugaran tertunda karena Yos Masdani berangkat ke Amerika Serikat untuk belajar. Ia menolak tawaran Cornell University yang akan membeli marmer-marmer itu dengan harga tinggi.
Akhirnya, pada tanggal 17 Agustus 1972, Tugu Proklamasi diresmikan Menteri Penerangan Budiardjo di lokasi asal, dihadiri banyak tokoh masyarakat dan tokoh politik. Di antara yang hadir adalah mantan Wakil Presiden M. Hatta (mengundurkan diri 1 Desember 1956).
Pada 17 Agustus 1980, Presiden Soeharto meresmikan monumen Soekarno-Hatta membacakan naskah proklamasi.

Taman Mini Indonesia Indah

2008-06-19T13:31:00.000-07:00

Gagasan pembangunan suatu miniatur yang memuat kelengkapan Indonesia dengan segala isinya ini dicetuskan oleh Ibu Negara, Siti Hartinah, yang lebih dikenal dengan sebutan Ibu Tien Soeharto. Gagasan ini tercetus pada suatu pertemuan di Jalan Cendana no. 8 Jakarta pada tanggal 13 Maret 1970. Melalui miniatur ini diharapkan dapat membangkitkan rasa bangga dan rasa cinta tanah air pada seluruh bangsa Indonesia. Maka dimulailah suatu proyek yang disebut Proyek Miniatur Indonesia "Indonesia Indah", yang dilaksanakan oleh Yayasan Harapan Kita.
TMII mulai dibangun tahun 1972 dan diresmikan pada tanggal 20 April 1975. Berbagai aspek kekayaan alam dan budaya Indonesia sampai pemanfaatan teknologi modern diperagakan di areal seluas 150 hektar.

kebun binatang ragunan

2008-06-19T13:25:00.000-07:00

Taman Margasatwa Ragunan didirikan pada tahun 1864 di Cikini dan dipindahkan ke Pasar Minggu, Jakarta Selatan pada tahun 1966. Taman Margasatwa Ragunan dihuni oleh lebih dari 260 jenis satwa, termasuk satwa yang langka dan terancam punah dari Indonesia maupun dari sebagian dunia. Jumlah keseluruhannya adalah ± 3122 ekor satwa, termasuk burung-burung. Peragaan ini dapat dinikmati oleh para pengunjung. Pertunjukan-pertunjukan ini juga dapat membantu pegawai Taman Margasatwa Ragunan untuk melindungi dan memperbanyak margasatwa Indonesia.
Atraksi-atraksi khusus untuk anak-anak termasuk : Kebun Binatang untuk anak-anak, tempat bermain, dan khususnya pada hari Minggu anak-anak dapat menunggang Gajah, Delman, dan Perahu. Yang benar-benar menyenangkan para pengunjung adalah tontonan Orang utan-Orang utan yang mengelilingi Taman Margasatwa Ragunan setiap hari menaiki Delman. Tersedia juga fasilitas restoran dan tempat piknik yang nyaman serta kios film dan kios kenang-kenangan dari Taman Margasatwa Ragunan.

Kebun Binatang Ragunan mempunyai berbagai fasilitas, seperti kereta api dan delman. Selain itu ada atraksi hewan, antara lain gajah tunggang dan onta tunggang.Pengunjung yang berminat bisa menaiki kedua jenis hewan ini dengan membayar biaya tertentu. Ada juga sirkus dan akrobat hewan, misalnya burung menarik gerobak, linsang bermain bola, dan ular bercanda.Menurut definisi ICOM ( International Council of Museums ) atau Dewan Museum Internasional, kebun binatang merupakan salah satu bagian dari museum. Sebagai museum, kebun binatang menjadi objek pendidikan sekaligus objek wisata yang diandalkan.

Seaworld Indonesia

2008-06-19T13:15:00.000-07:00

Seaworld Indonesia adalah sebuah taman biota laut yang terdapat dalam kompleks wisata terpadu Ancol Jakarta Baycity.
Pada tanggal 2 Oktober 1992, Gubernur DKI, Wiyogo Atmodarminto meletakkan batu pertama pembangunan Seaworld Indonesia. Dua tahun kemudian, pada tanggal 3 Juni 1994 SeaWorld Indonesia sudah mulai beroperasi. Area Seaworld seluas 3 hektar dengan luas bangunan utama 4.500 m2 berisi berbagai macam akuarium, lorong Antasena (lorong bawah air), perpustakaan, tempat penjualan makanan, toko suvenir, dan dilengkap dengan layar sentuh sebagai informasi satwa dan spesies di Seaworld.

Akuarium utama memelihara ribuan satwa laut Indonesia. Sebanyak 3500 spesis ikan laut Indonesia dipelihara disini (jumlah ini merupakan 37% dari jumlah jenis spesies ikan laut di dunia).
Ukuran akuarium ini mencapai 36 x 24 m, dan dalamnya bervariasi dari 4.5 hingga 6 m dan menyimpan 5 juta liter air asin. Karena besarnya akuarium utama ini tercatat sebagai akuarium air asin terbesar di Asia tenggara.
Area Air Tawar dilengkapi dengan koleksi koleksi satwa air tawar dari seluruh dunia, termasuk diantaranya piranha dan Arapaima gigas dari sungai Amazon dan belut listrik.
Lorong Antasena adalah lorong bawah air sepanjang 80m yang dioperasikan dengan pinjakan berjalan otomatis dengan kubah tembus pandang. Memungkinkan pengunjung untuk menikmati pemandangan "bawah laut" tanpa harus khawatir tersandung saat menengadah keatas untuk melihat ikan.
Aquarium Dugong dan Akuarium ekosistem laut yang berisi koral dan sponge yang memperlihatkan keindahan biota dalam laut.

2008-06-19T12:52:00.000-07:00

Putri Duyung Cottage adalah tempat peristirahatan keluarga yang berbetuk cottage dan terletak di kawasan pantai Taman Impian Jaya Ancol. Saat ini terdapat 128 sampai dengan 133 cottage dengan berbagai fasilitasnya yang tersebar di kawasan seluas 70.000 meter persegi ini. Biasanya cottage-cottage ini diberi nama sesuai dengan nama-nama hewan laut seperti Kerang, Kuda Laut, Kerapu, Cakalang, Duyung, Paus dan Marlin.

Pulau bidadari

2008-06-19T12:48:00.000-07:00

Pulau Bidadari dapat dicapai dalam waktu 20 menit dengan menggunakan kapal motor cepat dari Marina Ancol. Tempat peristirahatan dibangun diantara pepohonan yang memberi anda merasa nyaman seperti sedang terintegrasi dengan alam. Kunjungan terasa lengkap, dengan berjalanan keliling ke Pulau Kahyangan, Kelor dan Onrust di mana terdapat sisa peninggalan sejarah penjajahan Belanda dari Abad 17 masih terpelihara dengan baik.

Pada abad ke-17, pulau ini merupakan penunjang aktivitas Pulau Onrust karena letaknya yang tidak berjauhan dengannya. Karena menjadi penunjang, di pulau ini dibangun pula sarana-sarana penunjang. Pada tahun 1679, VOC membangun sebuah rumah sakit lepra atau kusta yang merupakan pindahan dari Angke. Karena itulah, pulau ini sempat dinamakan Pulau Sakit.
Saat bersamaan, Belanda mendirikan benteng pengawas. Benteng yang dibangun ini lebih berfungsi sebagai sarana pengawasan untuk melakukan pertahanan dari serangan musuh. Sebelum pulau ini diduduki oleh Belanda, orang Ambon dan Belanda pernah tinggal di pulau ini.
Sekitar tahun 1800, armada laut Britania Raya menyerang pulau ini dan menghancurkan bangunan di atas pulau ini. Sekitar tahun 1803 Belanda yang kembali menguasai Pulau Bidadari dan membangunnya kembali. Akan tetapi Britania kembali menyerang tahun 1806, Pulau Onrust dan Pulau Bidadari serta pulau lainnya hancur berantakan. Tahun 1827 pulau ini kembali dibangun oleh Belanda dengan melibatkan pekerja orang Tionghoa dan tahanan. Bangunan yang dibangun adalah asrama haji yang berfungsi hingga tahun 1933.
Pulau ini sebelum menjadi resor sempat kosong dan tidak berpenghuni sampai dengan tahun 1970. Bahkan pulau ini tidak pernah dikunjungi orang. Pada awal tahun 1970-an, PT Seabreez mengelola pulau ini untuk dijadikan sebagai resor wisata.
Semenjak tahun 1970 ini, untuk menarik pengunjung, pulau ini berganti nama menjadi Pulau Bidadari. Alasan pengambilan nama menjadi Pulau Bidadari diilhami dari nama pulau lainnya di Kepulauan Seribu seperti Pulau Putri, Pulau Nirwana, dan lainnya.

Pasar seni ancol

2008-06-19T12:46:00.000-07:00

Salah satu pasar benda-benda seni terbaik yang ada di Jakarta adalah Pasar seni yang berada di dalam kompleks Taman Impian Jaya Ancol. Di sini Anda dapat menyaksikan para pembuat wayang, pengrajin perak, penatah kayu, pelukis, dan pengrajin lain dari seluruh Indonesia dengan gembira mengerjakan karya mereka di antara terpaan lembut angin segar yang bertiup dari Teluk Jakarta. Disamping itu, ada pula deretan restoran kecil dan warung yang menyajikan masakan Indonesia asli dan makanan kecil yang senantiasa membangkitkan selera.

Pantai karnaval ancol

2008-06-19T12:42:00.000-07:00

Pantai Carnaval adalah tempat berekreasi keluarga di tepi pantai, tepatnya merupakan bagian dari kawasan rekreasi terpadu Taman Impian Jaya Ancol, Jakarta.
Pantai yang memiliki ruang terbuka yang cukup luas ini sering digunakan untuk berbagai kegiatan, mulai dari Festival Layang-layang, tempat bermain es (Ice World), sampai dengan pementasan berbagai konser musik.
Lokasi ini juga selalu menjadi pementasan kembang api pada malam tahun baru, dan beberapa kali masuk rekor Museum Rekor Indonesia (MURI) untuk penyelenggaraan lomba panjat pinang terbanyak pada pagelaran Ulang Tahun Republik Indonesia.
Cara menjangkau tempat ini amat mudah, tinggal keluar tol dalam kota di pintu keluar Ancol/Kemayoran, segera anda akan berhadapan dengan Pintu Masuk Timur kawasan rekreasi ini.

2008-06-19T06:38:00.001-07:00

Acting recently as an expert witness in a murder trial, I became aware of a small legal problem caused by the increasingly multicultural nature of our society. According to English law, a man is guilty of murder if he kills someone with the intention either to kill or to injure seriously. But he is guilty of the lesser crime of manslaughter if he has been sufficiently provoked or if his state of mind at the time was abnormal enough to reduce his responsibility. The legal test here is a comparison with the supposedly ordinary man—the man on the Clapham omnibus, as the legal cliché has it. Would that ordinary person feel provoked under similar circumstances? Was the accused’s state of mind at the time of the killing very different from that of an average man?
But who is that ordinary man nowadays, now that he might come from any of a hundred countries? The accused in this instance was a foreign-born Sikh who had married, and killed, a native-born woman of the same minority. The defense argued—unsuccessfully—that an ordinary man of the defendant’s traditional culture would have found the wife’s repeated infidelity particularly wounding and would therefore have acted in the same way.
For now, the courts have rejected this line of argument: though, by coincidence, the case took place the same week that the archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, suggested that adopting part of Islamic sharia as the law of the land “seemed unavoidable” and that people in a multicultural society like Britain should be able to choose the legal jurisdiction under which they lived. In contradistinction to such views, it was encouraging to see in the jury a man from a different minority group, one traditionally hostile to that of the accused. The right to challenge jurors without giving a reason, which in the past would have removed this man, has been curtailed in recent years because of a juror shortage. This is just as well, since the right undermines the jury system’s whole justification: that ordinary men, of whatever background, can suspend their prejudices and judge their peers by the evidence alone.
Problems with interpreting the law are not the only, or even the most important, ones that arise in an ever more diverse society. A feeling of unease is widespread, even among the longer-resident immigrants themselves, that Britain has lost its distinctive character: or rather, that the loss of a distinctive character is now its most distinctive character. The country that those immigrants came to, or thought they were coming to, no longer exists. It has changed beyond all recognition—far beyond and more radically than the inevitable change that has accompanied human existence since the dawn of civilization. A sense of continuity has been lost, disconcerting in a country with an unwritten constitution founded upon continuity.
London is now one of the most ethnically diverse cities in the world—more so, according to United Nations reports, even than New York. And this is not just a matter of a sprinkling of a few people of every race and nation, or of the fructifying cultural effect of foreigners (a culture closed to outsiders is dead, though perhaps that is not the only way for a culture to die). Walk down certain streets in London and one encounters a Babel of languages. If a blind person had only the speech of passersby to help him get his bearings, he would be lost; though perhaps the very lack of a predominant language might give him a clue. (This promiscuity is not to say that monocultural ghettos of foreigners do not also exist in today’s Britain.)
A third of London’s residents were born outside Britain, a higher percentage of newcomers than in any other city in the world except Miami, and the percentage continues to rise. Likewise, migration figures for the country as a whole—emigration and immigration—suggest that its population is undergoing swift replacement. Many of the newcomers are from Pakistan, India, and Africa; others are from Eastern Europe and China. If present trends continue, experts predict, in 20 years’ time, between a quarter and a third of the British population will have been born outside it, and at least a fifth of the native population will have emigrated. Britain has always had immigrants—from the French Huguenots after the revocation of the Edict of Nantes to Germans fleeing Prussian repression, from Jews escaping czarist oppression to Italian prisoners of war who stayed on after World War II—and absorbed them. But never so many, or so quickly.
To the anxiety about these unprecedented demographic changes—a substantial majority of the public, when asked, says that it wants a dramatic reduction in immigration—one can add a reticence in openly expressing it. Inducing this hesitancy are intellectuals of the self-hating variety, who welcome the destruction of the national identity and who argue—in part, correctly—that every person’s identity is multiple; that identity can and ought to change over time; and that too strong an emphasis on national identity has in the past led to barbarism. By reiteration, they have insinuated a sense of guilt into everyone’s mind, so that even to doubt the wisdom or viability of a society consisting of myriad ethnic and religious groups with no mutual sympathy (and often with mutual antagonisms) is to suspect oneself of sliding toward extreme nationalism or fascism; so that even to doubt the wisdom or viability of a society in which everyone feels himself part of an oppressed minority puts one in the same category as Jean-Marie Le Pen, or worse. This anxiety inhibits discussion of the cultural question. In view of Europe’s twentieth century, the inhibition is understandable. One consequence, however, is that little attempt has been made to question what attachment Britain’s immigrants have to the traditions and institutions of their new home.
Apart from any such reticence that intellectuals have managed to inculcate in me, I admit to an ambivalence about the unprecedented diversity of British society. True, one feels a certain exhilaration seeing people of so many different origins going about their business in apparent peace. You find Indian shops specializing in Polish provisions. Young women in Somali costume speak English with broad regional accents. Popular music of many regions of the world—all of it much less horrible than its British or American equivalent—emerges from shops selling exotic produce. The peaceful mixture is a reassurance that our society is indeed open, flexible, and tolerant. And whatever other effects that the influx of people from every corner of the world may have had, it has dramatically improved the quality of food available in Britain.
Further, much in my family history weighs against any too-sweeping denunciation of immigration. I am the child and grandchild of refugees who met with precisely the same kind of anti-immigration arguments current today, and it would be unseemly for me now to deny others the immense advantages that I have enjoyed. In any case, it is clearly possible and even common for immigrants and their descendants to become deeply attached to the culture and institutions of the country that has preserved them from a terrible fate.
When I survey my own social circle, moreover, I discover an astonishing variety of origins (though doubtless Americans would not find it surprising). Recently, my wife and I received an invitation to a lunch party. I have already mentioned my own provenance. My wife’s paternal grandparents were Greeks from Smyrna, fortunate to have found refuge in France when the entire Greek population of the city was either killed or had to leave because of the war between Greece and Turkey in 1920. Our host was a Sikh doctor who had been on duty in a Delhi hospital when Indira Gandhi’s body was brought in after her Sikh bodyguard assassinated her; the doctor had to flee for his life from a Sikh-killing mob. His wife was a Greek Cypriot who as a child had fled the Turkish invasion of the island, during which her parents lost everything before coming to England. Thus all of us, either directly or through close relatives, knew the horrors to which too exclusive a national or religious identity might lead. And none of us had any doubts about the evils of dehumanizing those who do not share one’s national, cultural, or religious identity.
But we did not conclude that it was best, then, to have no national, religious, or cultural identity at all. The institutions that allow one to live in peace, freedom, and security require loyalty (not necessarily of a blind variety); and loyalty in turn requires a sense of identification. In a world in which sovereignty must exist, some kind of identification with that sovereignty is also necessary: too rigid a national identity has its dangers, but so does too loose a one. The first results in aggression toward and denigration of others; the second in society’s disintegration from within, which can then provoke authoritarian attempts at repair.
Love of country has never implied for me an unawareness of its shortcomings or a hatred of other nations. I have lived happily abroad much of my life and have seen virtues in every country in which I have lived, some absent from my own. I feel vastly more at ease with cultivated foreigners than with many of the natives of the land of my birth. Those foreigners usually have a much better appreciation of all that is best in British culture than many natives now have. If you want to hear beautiful spoken English these days, seek out educated Indians or Africans.
But nor can one deny, if one is honest (and this is true of every Western European country), that many in the unprecedented influx of immigrants, often poorly educated, have little interest in, or appreciation of, the society to which they have come. Many are not learning to speak English, or speak it poorly, and forced marriages and other practices foreign to British law and custom remain common among them. A government report several years ago found that Britain’s whites and ethnic minorities led radically separate lives, with no sense of shared nationality. And as is now well-known, a disturbing number of British Muslims have proved susceptible to the ideology of Islamism. A recent survey found that 40 percent of British Muslims under 24 wanted to live under sharia; 36 percent supported the death penalty for apostasy. Significantly, the figures for older Muslims were considerably lower. Another poll found that a fifth of all British Muslims had sympathy with the “feelings and motives” of the London suicide bombers. Only a third of British Muslims, a Guardian survey found, want more integration into British culture.
The doctrine of multiculturalism arose, at least in Holland, as a response to the immigration influx, believed initially to be temporary. The original purpose of multiculturalism was to preserve the culture of European “guest workers” so that when they returned home, having completed their labor contracts, they would not feel dislocated by their time away. The doctrine became a shibboleth of the Left, a useful tool of cultural dismantlement, only after family reunion in the name of humanitarianism became normal policy during the 1960s and the guest workers transformed into permanent residents.
Living in two countries, France and Britain, I have found it instructive to compare how each has gone about welcoming (if that is the word I seek) these immigrants. Each has gotten one thing right and one thing wrong: but the French situation, for all the urban violence that broke out in 2005 among the Muslim “youth,” is easier, at least in theory, to put right.
France has the easier task, perhaps, because it is an ideological, or at least a philosophical, state, while Britain is an organic one. The French state, unlike the ancient country it rules, is a new, reborn state. It has a foundation myth, that of the French Revolution, which ushered in the age of Liberty, Equality, and Fraternity. It doesn’t matter whether France has ever achieved any of those desiderata in practice (what political ideal ever has been achieved, at least unequivocally?), or that the storming of the Bastille was in reality more sordid than glorious. The terms “republican equality” and “republican elitism” (the second, the achievement of status by means of effort and talent, an outgrowth of the first) do in fact mean something, and they exert a magnetic pull on almost every mind with which they come into contact. And the exaltation of this myth, which supposed that Liberty, Equality, and Fraternity were every man’s birthright andthat France was a beacon shining the light of reason to the whole world, has meant that (in theory) everyone who makes France his home becomes a Frenchman tout court—not an Armenian Frenchman or a Malian one, but just a Frenchman.
This myth has actually guided French cultural policy. That France, as a result of the Revolution, has for a long time been a secular state de jure, rather than merely de facto, as is Britain (where religious tolerance is an outgrowth of custom, not law), enabled it to abolish headscarves in the public schools without incurring the odium of anti-Muslim bigotry. The ban simply accorded with the state’s secular founding philosophy. Multiculturalism, that is, is not compatible with the founding Enlightenment mythology of France; assimilation, not integration, is the goal. Everyone learns the same history in France; and nos ancêtres les gaulois comes to express not a biological but a cultural truth—and an easy-to-understand one, at that.
Britain’s situation is very different. It is not an ideological state; it has no foundation myths that are easy to identify with. The Battle of Hastings was too long ago and psychologically distant to have any resonance now; the Glorious Revolution of 1688 was too muted an affair, frankly not bloody or heroic enough. As for the English Civil War, its moral meaning is too equivocal: as W. C. Sellars and R. J. Yeatman put it in 1066 and All That, the Roundheads were Right but Repulsive, while the Cavaliers were Wrong but Wromantic.
The French state started with a philosophical big bang; the British state evolved. The French state prescribed; the British state did not forbid. The traditions of the British state, therefore, were much more favorable to multiculturalism, having always allowed people to form associations for their own freely chosen purposes. This lack of central direction served society well while differences among groups were relatively minor and while numbers of immigrants were small; but once there were so many different groups with nothing in common, each with numbers enough to form a ghetto—and worse still, some of them actively hostile to the overarching order of British society—then the laissez-faire approach was bound to run into difficulty. It is hard to oppose an ideology with a tradition.
Even absent multicultural doctrinalism, it would not have been easy to explain the advantages and philosophical underpinnings of the Burkean, nonideological state to peasants newly arrived from, say, the Pakistani Punjab and Bangladesh. The advantages and underpinnings are like the rules of cricket: one can with application and dedication learn them, but it is far easier to assume them as part of your mental and cultural heritage, to be born into them. What could you give the immigrants to read that would explain the British political tradition to them? Reflections on the Revolution in France, perhaps, or Michael Oakeshott’s Rationalism in Politics? Liberty, Equality, and Fraternity is a slogan, and much easier to teach and to learn.
Making matters worse, in Britain, multiculturalism became a career opportunity and a source of political patronage. So-called experts on cultural sensitivity and equal opportunity—generally people whose ambitions far exceeded their talent, except for bureaucratic intrigue—built little empires, whose continued existence depended on the permanence of racial and other divisions in society. The hospital where I once worked recently sent a questionnaire to its staff, asking them to supply the personnel department with details of their race (17 categories), their sexual orientation (6 categories), their marital status (6 categories), and their religion (7 categories), so that discrimination against any of the 4,284 possible resultant categories might be eliminated. Clearly, there is no end to the work of the bureaucrats of equal opportunity.
It is perhaps not so surprising, then, that French Muslim immigrants are better integrated culturally than British ones. Pew Center research shows that six times as many Muslims in France as in Britain consider their national identity more important than their religious one: 42 percent versus 7 percent. (This difference may not result solely from cultural policy, since Muslims from North Africa, from which most French Muslim immigrants arrive, are much likelier in the first place to believe that Islam is compatible with Western citizenship.) Muslims in France also are much less distinguishable from the rest of the population by their mode of dress than is the case with their counterparts in Britain. In the Muslim areas in France, you may notice something different about the people, but you do not think, as increasingly you do in Britain, that the population of the North-West Frontier has moved en masse to the inner cities or suburbs. And this greater cultural assimilation is true notwithstanding the fact that Muslim areas in France, unlike those in Britain, are as physically separate from many of the towns and cities as the black townships were from the white cities of South Africa.
There is another major difference between the Muslim areas of France and Britain, however: this time, to Britain’s advantage. The relative ease of starting a business in Britain by comparison with heavily regulated France means that small businesses dominate Britain’s Muslim neighborhoods, whereas there are none in the banlieues of France—unless you count open drug dealing as a business. (This is one of the reasons why London is now the seventh-largest French-speaking city in the world: many ambitious young French people, Muslims included, move there to found businesses.) And since many of the businesses in the Muslim areas in Britain are restaurants favored by non-Muslim customers, the isolation of Muslims from the general population is not as great as in France.
However, increased contact between people does not necessarily result in increased sympathy among them. A large proportion of the indigenous Muslim terrorists caught in Britain are children of prosperous small businessmen, who have been to university and whose individual prospects for the future were good, if they had chosen to follow a normal career path. Cultural dislocation, the readiness to hand of an ideology of hatred that seems to answer their personal need for a fixed identity and an end to cultural confusion, and a disposable income—these, not poverty, account for their terrorism.
In France, the children of Muslim immigrants may not be as alienated from mainstream culture as are those in Britain; but the inflexibility of the French labor market results in a long-term unemployment that embitters them. In Britain, by contrast, relative economic success has not led to cultural integration: so you have riots in France and terrorism in Britain.
The solution (for which it may now be too late, despite post-London-bombing genuflections on the part of then–prime minister Tony Blair and then–chancellor of the exchequer Gordon Brown in the direction of the very national values they had done so much previously to undermine) would be a combination of French cultural robustness with British economic flexibility: something like the American ideal of the melting pot, in fact, which relied (and, to some degree, relies still) on a clear idea of what it means to be an American, combined with economic openness. The British notion that economic opportunity without a shared culture will result in a flourishing society is whistling in the wind; while the French idea that it is enough to teach Liberty, Equality, and Fraternity while obstructing the possibility of real economic advancement is asking for trouble.
Aware of the polls on immigration, Brown’s Labour government has just taken some hesitant but sensible steps, putting aspiring British citizens on “probation” to show that they can speak English, pay taxes, and avoid jail before granting them citizenship. Britain and France, though, have never been very good at learning from each other: the Channel might as well be an ocean.

2008-06-19T05:04:00.001-07:00

In brief, the issues of “poverty” and “the poor” (depending on the definition which may vary and is related to income, resource management and budget, etc.) have existed in Thailand since before it became a nation state. They survive in all periods, whether pre-capitalist or capitalist, pre-modern or post modern, and affect various classes and/or groups that take over state power including powerful military regimes or political parties.
The issues of “poverty” and “the poor” in Thailand and the world derive from an unequal power structure; poor income distribution has led to a concentration of wealth and land and thus exacerbated inequality.
Different solutions have been applied by successive governments to tackle the issue. For a time, the market economy has been allowed to perform at full scale with minimal state invention. This rests on the assumption that as the economy grows, income distribution will spontaneously occur. However, this has never actually happened.
In other times, to address uncontrollable class conflict, the Thai state has offered social welfare policies both palliative and intensive, though there have been attempts to promote self-sufficiency at other times.
The onslaught of the global economic crisis has however impacted most on the poor. So the current administration has announced its “coupon” policy and aims to address directly problems among the poorest of the poor (those living under the poverty line). Of course, this coupon policy will entail certain administrative problems. Criteria to define who is poor have to be clarified, and the process has to rely on the participation of the poor and checks by civil society.
It is not surprising that the opposition and the anti-government coalition including the Democrat Party and People’s Alliance for Democracy (PAD) and the market economy faithful have lashed out against the coupon policy. They accuse it of being a vote-buying policy aiming to patronize people. They claim the system will simply make people indolent, just like the previous populist policies of the former Thai Rak Thai Party.
The question is, are people willing to be indolent? Will everyone, especially the poor, consent to live under a patronage system? Will the people really let themselves be led astray by the government?
Of course, the previous populist policies were simply social welfare policies aiming to scatter some crumbs among the people. But this must be entirely different from policies that are geared toward helping people to rely on themselves, making them reluctant to demand their rights and making them blame themselves for being “poor, stressed, and drunk” as a TV slogan goes. Thus the poor are supposed to exploit themselves further, work harder and accept lower pay, and continue to blame themselves for their poverty, because it is the result of their “karma from a past life” and “there is no poverty among the diligent”, and the state is not supposed to provide any help.
Do the really poor agree with these ideas? Or maybe they think it is their rights and that any government is obliged to redistribute wealth to them, even temporarily, since they are also Thai citizens and that they also have a role in managing natural resources including land, forests, water, sea, rivers and mines.
We need to ask if there has been any government that has pledged to promote social welfare policies and the redistribution of state resources, even during election campaigns.
The decision should rest with the people and whether or not they prefer this kind of campaign. Will they like this vote-buying tactic? Meanwhile, the Democrats may continue to embrace policies of non-intervention in market mechanisms and leave the poor to struggle while they maintain their indifference.
Having said that, I find this coupon populist policy still fails to address social injustice. Even though the policy sounds better than those offered by previous governments, it does not address issues at the structural level. It is not as progressive as a welfare state that imposes progressive taxation, decreases military and other wasteful government budgets, etc., to redistribute income and land. This would create a basic welfare system for people and lead to justice and equality as in many other countries in the world.
Certainly, a welfare state cannot be established as long as the Democrat Party, the People’s Power Party or any other party, including the coup-makers and those supporting bureaucratic polity are in power since such a system is an obstacle to their interests. Despite that, they may keep professing that they prefer a welfare state system to populist and coupon policies and keep up the propaganda to justify their cause.
So it continues to be the historical and inevitable task for workers, peasants, slum dwellers, traditional fisher folk, ethnic minorities, and those who fight for social justice to struggle in strong collaboration.
Amidst this political conflict, it is no surprise that the PAD comes out strongly against this coupon policy, just as they criticize other government policies to attract more support from groups to topple the government as they have pledged.
Similarly, attacks are made on the price of oil, sugar and rice, wage levels, Kaeng Suea Ten Dam, etc., even though the current government’s policies are no different from a Democrat-led government. Their actions are simply tactics to achieve political goals.
Therefore, any sincere move by any group can be made, but it should be done in a circumspect manner so that their actions are not turned into a tool of opportunistic groups

2008-06-19T05:02:00.001-07:00

Introduction by Perspektif Online: On the 101 East program on Aljazeera TV, Emil Salim defends Soeharto's records. He said that the alleged crimes happened only as excesses in the last years of his rule. Most of Soeharto's rule, says Salim, was used in managing economic growth and stability. Mugijanto one of the student activistss who were kidnapped by the Soeharto regime, disputes that. He said that Soeharto's atrocities started from the beginning of his rule and was maintained throughout all his years in power. Lee Kuan Yew and Emil Salim say that the money Soeharto took for his family and friends is not important compared to the economic growth that he created. Wimar says that whatever good for his economy does not cover the immense damage Soeharto's caused in people's lives. So how could Soeharto stay in power for so long? Wimar says because people defended him and covered his crimes. And that includes Emil Salim.

2008-06-19T04:50:00.000-07:00

Environmentally friendly — the future trend cars
December 27, 2006 in English Article, Environment, Lingkungan
“Jakarta is the third most polluted city in the world, after Mexico City and Panama. And vehicle emissions account for 80 percent of the pollution,” Jakarta Governor Sutiyoso said last year.
People living and working in Jakarta have to pay dearly for this pollution. Research indicates that the health cost of Jakarta’s air pollution was estimated at US$220 million in 1999, and the amount has been increasing in line with the increase in the number of vehicles traversing the capital every day.
Ari Muhammad of Swisscontact, an agency concerned with air pollution, said that air pollutants contained in the exhaust gases from motorized vehicles include carbon monoxide (CO), various hydrocarbon compounds, various nitrogen oxides (NOx), sulfur (SOx) and lead (Pb).
“Carbon monoxide can block the supply of oxygen to body tissues. Besides, it can affect the work of the heart, the central nervous system and all other body organs sensitive to oxygen deficiency,” he said.
Both public transportation vehicles and private cars are to be blamed for the air pollution.
“We usually assume that it is the pitch black smoke emitted by the exhaust pipes of city buses that is hazardous, but in fact the great danger comes from the white smoke emitted by our own private cars,” he added.
The Jakarta administration has made several efforts to improve the cleanliness of the capital’s air.
Last year, the administration issued Bylaw No. 2/2005 on air pollution control, which among other things obliges all private car owners to carry out emissions tests on their vehicles twice a year and public transportation vehicles to use natural gas. Yet, the administration is still facing several obstacles to fully implement the regulation, including the lack of equipment for public transportation vehicles to switch from oil-based fuel to natural gas.
The government has also tried to push the local automotive industry to apply environmentally friendly technology in their products.
In 2003, the state minister for the environment issued Decree No. 41/2003 on the emission threshold for exhaust gases of new motorized vehicles and motorized vehicles under production. The decree requires car manufacturers to apply technology based on the Euro-2 standard in the case of exhaust emissions.
“Under the ministerial decree, new-type cars produced since early 2005 must have all passed an emission test based on the Euro-2 standard. Meanwhile, old-type automobiles that are reproduced will be given a chance to conform to this standard up to January 2007,” Didin Khaeruddin, an official at the State Ministry for the Environment, said.
A motorized vehicle fulfills the Euro-2 standard if the exhaust gases contain a maximum of 4.0 grams of CO per kilometer (g/km) and a maximum of 0.6 g/km of HC + NOx.
Indeed, Europe is the pioneer in pushing the automotive industry to apply environmentally friendly technology.
It started introducing exhaust emission standards in the late 1980s. In 1992, it introduced the Euro-1 standard that limited the amount of CO content in the exhaust of motorized vehicles to 4.9 g/km and HC content to 1,23 g/km, NOx content to 9 g/km and particles to 0.4 g/km.
The standard was effective for three years and was later replaced with the Euro-2 standard, which further cut down the CO, HC, NOx and particle contents. Now, Europe is applying the Euro-4 standard that limits emissions to 1.5 g/km CO, 0.46 g/km HC, 3.5 g/km NOx and 0.02 g/km particles
Many countries have followed in the footsteps of Europe and have applied similar emission standards.
The tighter emission standards have encouraged the world’s automotive industry to produce cars with more environmentally friendly technology. One such product is the hybrid cars. A hybrid car features a small fuel-efficient gas engine combined with an electric motor that assists the engine when accelerating. The electric motor is powered by batteries that recharge automatically while people drive. Hybrid cars are better for the environment as they can reduce smog by 90 percent and they use far less gasoline than conventional cars.
Automobiles of this type have been mass-produced by nearly all carmakers, particularly those from Japan. The Toyota Prius, Camry and Land Cruiser of the FCHC type are some examples.
Chairman of the Indonesian Association of Indonesian Automotive Manufacturers (Gaikindo), Bambang Trisulo, said that the environment and energy were hot topics of discussion in the international automotive industry.
“In Asia, an awareness has also developed about the use of clean energy, although there are still some constraints in respect of regulations and implementation,” he noted.
According to Bambang, Indonesia’s automakers are now ready to produce motorized vehicles that meet the Euro-2 standard. Yet, they face an obstacle in the fact the type of fuel suitable for such vehicles is not yet widely available on the domestic market.
“We hope that unleaded fuel can be supplied to all regions so that it will always be easily available to users of these motorized vehicles,” Bambang said.
As the unleaded gasoline that is suitable for vehicles using the Euro-2 standard is still in short supply, the ministerial decree on emission thresholds for new-type motorized vehicles and motorized vehicles under production cannot be properly enforced.
Late last year, PT General Motors Indonesia launched New Aveo. Company sales and marketing director Antonio Zara said the car was yet to meet the Euro-2 standard. One of the considerations for the firm in deciding to launch the car was the availability of the right fuel for the car.
“The Euro-2 standard requires a car to use a catalytic converter. This instrument necessitates the use of unleaded fuel,” he said during the launch of New Aveo in Jakarta.
He said unleaded gasoline was yet to be evenly distributed throughout Indonesia.
Zara maintained that the car does not violate the regulation that requires that the Euro-2 standard be applied to new cars. “The New Aveo is not an entirely new car. It is an old type that has undergone some minor changes. So it is not compulsory for the car to meet the Euro-2 standard,” he said.
While the production of vehicles that meet the Euro-2 standard still faces problems, Jakarta’s 2005 bylaw on air pollution control has apparently improved public awareness about the emission of exhaust gases from private cars. Carmakers now run their own emission test facilities.
Sutrisno Lesmono, general manager of after-sales service and spare parts at PT Nissan Motor Indonesia, said that as of November 2005, Nissan workshops had officially provided an emission test service for owners of Nissan cars and other makes. “We are applying a tighter standard than what the regional administration has set. For example, our CO content standard is 1-2 percent, far below the regional administration’s standard of 4 percent,” he said, adding that a car was no longer environmentally friendly with a CO content of 4 percent in its emissions.
Didin is pleased with carmakers’ efforts to help keep the environment clean.
“Now that an emission test is compulsory, the public, hopefully, can become more aware of the danger posed by exhaust gas emissions,” he said.
To ensure that the regulation that uses the Euro-2 standard as its reference will not simply collect dust, Didin hopes that relevant government agencies will encourage greater distribution of unleaded fuel. “January 2007 is close at hand. Make sure that the effort to reduce air pollution is not constrained by the availability of the right fuel,” he said. [Asep Saefullah]

Marina Ancol

2008-06-19T04:04:00.001-07:00

Marina adalah dermaga kapal pesiar bergaya kosmopolitan yang pertama di Indonesia dan merupakan satu-satunya marina terlengkap di Indonesia. Dan sekaligus sebagai pusat dermaga wisata bahari ke kepulauaan seribu jarak terdekat adalah pulau Bidadari.Dengan kelengkapannya membuat Marina Ancol bukan saja sebagai tempat bersandarnya kapal pesiar, tetapi juga tempat rekreasi dan pusat olah raga laut seperti ski air, wind surfing, memancing, diving dan lain-lain.

2008-06-19T02:26:00.000-07:00

Dunia Fantasi adalah Dunia keajaiban dan kegembiraan keluarga,atau tempat rekreasi terbesar,terlengkap dan dikelola secara profisional dan sangat inovatif. Keberadaanya setara dengan pusat rekreasi dunia seperti di Amerika, Eropa, Asia dan Australia. Dunia Fantasi memiliki sejumlah wahana hiburan yang tersebar 8 kawasan yaitu Kawasan Jakarta, Kawasan Asia, Kawasan Hikayat, Kawasan Yunani, Kawasan Eropa, Kawasan Indomesia, Kawasan Amerika dan Kawasan Balada Kera. Semua kawasan memberikan hiburan yang khas, Intinya Dunia Fantasi bagus untuk segala umur dan semua pengunjung tidak akan bosan biarpun berkunjung berkali-kali, karena Dunia Fantasi secara intensif, keratif dan inovatif selalu memberikan hiburan terbaik untuk keluarga.

Taman Impian Jaya Ancol

2008-06-19T02:14:00.000-07:00

Sebagai kawasan wisata, Taman Impian Jaya Ancol ternyata sudah berdiri sejak abad ke-17. Waktu itu, Gubernur Jenderal Hindia Belanda, Adriaan Valckenier, memiliki rumah peristirahatan sangat indah di tepi pantai. Seiring perjalanan waktu, kawasan itu kemudian berkembang menjadi tempat wisata.
Sayangnya, ketika Perang Dunia II meletus disusul perang kemerdekaan, Ancol terlupakan. Sungai Ciliwung secara leluasa menumpahkan air dan lumpurnya ke sana sehingga mengubah kawasan tersebut menjadi kotor, kumuh, dan berlumpur. Kawasan yang semula cantik, berubah menjadi menyeramkan bagaikan 'tempat jin buang anak'.
Lalu, muncul usulan agar kawasan itu difungsikan menjadi daerah industri. Namun, usul itu ditolak mentah-mentah oleh Presiden Soekarno. Malah, Bung Karno ingin membangun kawasan itu sebagai daerah wisata. Lewat Keputusan Presiden pada akhir Desember 1965, Bung Karno memerintahkan kepada Gubernur DKI Jaya waktu itu, dr. Soemarno, sebagai pelaksana pembangunan proyek Taman Impian Jaya Ancol. Proyek pembangunan ini baru terlaksana di bawah pimpinan Ali Sadikin yang ketika itu menjadi Gubernur Jakarta. Pembangunan Ancol dilaksanakan oleh PD Pembangunan Jaya di bawah pimpinan Ir. Ciputra.

Pusat rekreasi ini merupakan tempat wisata paling lengkap dan cocok untuk tua maupun muda. Berbagai sarana rekreasi pantai seperti: renang, sepeda air, perahu layar dan atraksi satwa laut dapat Anda nikmati bersama keluarga.Gelanggang Renang. Merupakan salah satu sarana rekreasi yang menyegarkan. Aneka model kolam renang yang ada antara lain: Kolam Arus, Kolam Luncur Spiral, Kolam Renang Lintasan, Kolam Jeram dan Kolam Ombak.Gelanggang Samudra. Memberi hiburan segar bagi pengunjung dengan atraksi-atraksi berupa Pentas Lumba-lumba, Pentas Singa Laut, Balet Air serta peragaan berbagai satwa air dalam akuarium-akuarium besar Sea World. Wahana rekreasi yang menyajikan suasana pemandangan di bawah laut. Dengan melalui lorong kaca, pengunjung akan berada diantara ribuan satwa laut dengan aneka warna dan jenisnya.Disamping itu, terdapat sarana hiburan dan rekreasi lainnya seperti Panggung Terbuka, Pasar Seni dan Pantai Molek.

Museum Wayang

2008-06-19T02:06:00.000-07:00

Gedung yang tampak unik dan menarik ini telah beberapa kali mengalami perombakan. Pada awalnya bangunan ini bernama De Oude Hollandsche Kerk ("Gereja Lama Belanda") dan dibangun pertamakali pada tahun 1640. Tahun 1732 diperbaiki dan berganti nama De Nieuwe Hollandse Kerk (Gereja Baru Belanda) hingga tahun 1808 akibat hancur oleh gempa bumi pada tahun yang sama. Di atas tanah bekas reruntuhan inilah dibangun gedung museum wayang dan diresmikan pemakaiannya sebagai museum pada 13 Agustus 1975. Meskipun telah dipugar beberapa bagian gereja lama dan baru masih tampak terlihat dalam bangunan ini.

Bangunan ini resmi jadi Museum Wayang pada tanggal 13 Agustus 1975, diresmikan oleh Gubernur DKI Jakarta, Ali Sadikin. Koleksinya menampilkan lebih dari 3000 wayang yang terdiri dari berbagai wayang dari daerah-daerah di Indonesia maupun luar negeri. Selain itu dipamerkan juga topeng, alat musik wayang, dokumen-dokumen, peta dan foto-foto lama. Wayang diklasifikasikan berdasarkan bahan yang digunakan. Bahan dasar kayu dan diberi pakaian batik aneka warna indah-indah serta dalam tiga dimensi disebut wayang golek. Bahan dasar kulit dari kulit kambing atau kerbau disebut wayang kulit. Semua wayang ini dimainkan oleh seorang yang disebut dalang yang mampu bercerita panjang lebar serta mampu membuat pertunjukan menjadi hidup.

Museum Tekstil

2008-06-19T01:58:00.000-07:00

Gedung Museum Tekstil dibangun pada awal abad 19 merupakan rumah warga Perancis yang kemudian di jual kepada konsul Turki yang bernama Abdul Azis Al Mussawi Al Katiri. Tahun 1942 gedung ini dijual kembali kepada Karel Cristian Cruq.
Gedung ini sempat menjadi Markas Besar Barisan Keamanan Rakyat (BKR), saat Jakarta sedang diliputi semangat juang merebut dan mempertahankan kemerdekaan. Setelah pertempuran fisik gedung ini dihuni oleh Lie Sion Phin (1947) dan menjadi Museum pada tanggal 28 Juni 1978 yang diresmikan oleh Almarhum Tien Soeharto.

Sebagai sebuah museum tekstil terbesar di Indonesia, museum ini mempunyai koleksi-koleksi yang terhitung banyak, yakni sekitar 1.000 buah. Keistimewaan museum ini terletak pada koleksi-koleksinya yang kebanyakan merupakan koleksi tekstil tradisional Indonesia. Koleksi-koleksi tersebut dikelompokkan dalam empat bagian, yakni koleksi kain tenun, koleksi kain batik, koleksi peralatan, dan koleksi campuran. Wisatawan yang berkunjung ke museum ini dapat menyaksikan aneka kain batik bermotif geometris sederhana hingga yang bermotif rumit, seperti batik Yogyakarta, Solo, Pekalongan, Cirebon, Palembang, Madura, dan Riau.
Selain itu, wisatawan juga dapat menyaksikan bendera Keraton Cirebon yang merupakan koleksi pilihan, karena usianya yang paling tua. Bendera itu terbuat dari bahan kapas berupa batik tulis yang berhias kaligrafi Arab. Bendera mirip plakat itu, konon, merupakan peninggalan bersejarah dari tahun 1776 M yang sangat disakralkan di Istana Cirebon. Pada saat itu, bendera tersebut sering dipakai sebagai simbol syiar Islam.
Selain memamerkan koleksi pertekstilan, di museum ini juga terdapat sebuah taman di halaman belakang yang diberi nama Taman Pewarna Alam. Taman seluas 2.000 meter persegi ini berisi pohon-pohon yang dapat digunakan sebagai bahan baku pewarna alam. Penanaman pohon-pohon itu bertujuan mendidik masyarakat agar mengenal dan mengetahui pohon-pohon yang dapat digunakan sebagai bahan baku pewarna alam.
Keistimewaan lainnya yang terdapat di museum ini adalah kursus membatik. Kursus ini dilaksanakan bersamaan dengan hari-hari buka museum. Kursus membuat batik ini dilaksanakan di sebuah bangunan yang terletak di halaman paling belakang Museum Tekstil. Bangunan ini bergaya rumah panggung lebar yang tak mempunyai sekat di dalamnya. Semua bahan bangunannya terbuat dari kayu dengan cat berwarna coklat tua. Di ruangan ini tidak terdapat pendingin ruangan (AC), karena telah terdapat beberapa jendela yang mengelilingi ruangan untuk mengalirkan udara segar.

Museum Seni Rupa dan Keramik

2008-06-19T01:47:00.000-07:00

Gedung Museum Seni Rupa dan Keramik ini dibangun tahun 1870. Awalnya dipakai sebagai lembaga peradilan Belanda atau Read Van Justitie, kemudian pada masa pendudukan Jepang dan perjuangan kemerdekaan Indonesia gedung ini digunakan sebagai asrama militer. Selanjutnya pada tahun 1967 digunakan sebagai kantor Walikota Jakarta Barat. Pada tahun 1986 digunakan sebagai kantor Dinas Museum dan Sejarah DKI Jakarta hingga tahun 1975. Pada tanggal 20 Agustus 1976 diresmikan sebagai gedung Balai Seni Rupa dan kini berganti nama menjadi Museum Seni Rupa dan Keramik.

Museum ini menyajikan koleksi dari hasil karya seniman-seniman Indonesia sejak kurun waktu 1800-an hingga saat sekarang.
Koleksi Seni Lukis Indonesia dibagi menjadi beberapa ruangan berdasarkan periodisasi yaitu:
Ruang Masa Raden Saleh (karya-karya periode 1880 - 1890)
Ruang Masa Hindia Jelita (karya-karya periode 1920-an)
Ruang Persagi (karya-karya periode 1930-an)
Ruang Masa Pendudukan Jepang (karya-karya periode 1942 - 1945)
Ruang Pendirian Sanggar (karya-karya periode 1945 - 1950)
Ruang Sekitar Kelahiran Akademis Realisme (karya-karya periode 1950-an)
Ruang Seni Rupa Baru Indonesia (karya-karya periode 1960 - sekarang)
Untuk Koleksi seni rupa menampilkan patung-patung sepeti Totem Asmat dan lain-lain.
Sedangkan koleksi keramik menampilkan keramik dari beberapa daerah Indonesia dan seni kreatif kontemporer. Selain itu ada juga koleksi keramik dari mancanegara seperti keramik dari Tiongkok, Thailand, Vietnam, Jepang dan Eropa dari abad 16 sampai dengan awal abad 20.

Museum Nasional Republik Indonesia/Museum Gajah

2008-06-19T00:03:00.000-07:00

Museum Nasional Republik Indonesia berada di kawasan Monumen Nasional (Monas) adalah salah gedung peninggalan kolonial Belanda. Pembangunan gedung ini dikerjakan pada tahun 1862 oleh Pemerintahan Hindia Belanda di bawah Gubernur-Jendral Reinier de Klerk sebagai kelanjutan terbentuknya perhimpunan Bataviaasch Genootschap van Kunsten en Wetenschappen yang bertujuan menelaah riset-riset ilmiah di Hindia Belanda. Museum ini diresmikan pada tahun 1868, tapi secara institusi tahun lahir Museum ini adalah 1778, saat pembentukan Bataviaasch Genootschap van Kunsten en Wetenschappen oleh pemerintah Belanda. Museum Nasional dikenal pula sebagai Museum gajah karena adanya arca berbentuk gajah yang diletakkan dibagian depan museum. Patung gajah ini adalah cindera mata dari Raja Chulalongkorn dari Thailand pada 1871.Tetapi pada 28 Mei 1979, namanya resmi menjadi Museum Nasional Republik Indonesia. Kemudian pada 17 Februari 1962, Lembaga Kebudayaan Indonesia yang mengelolanya, menyerahkan Museum kepada pemerintah Republik Indonesia. Sejak itu pengelolaan museum resmi oleh Direktorat Jendral Sejarah dan Arkeologi, di bawah Kementrian Pendidikan dan Kebudayaan. Tetapi mulai tahun 2005, Museum Nasional berada di bawah pengelolaan Kementrian Kebudayaan dan Pariwisata. Catatan di website Museum Nasional Republik Indonesia pada tahun 2001 menunjukkan bahwa koleksinya telah mencapai 109.342 buah. Jumlah koleksi itulah yang membuat museum ini dikenal sebagai yang terlengkap di Indonesia. Pada tahun 2006 jumlah koleksinya sudah melebihi 140.000 buah, tapi baru sepertiganya saja yang dapat diperlihatkan kepada khalayak. Museum ini terletak di Jalan Merdeka Barat. Koleksi Museum Nasional Gambar Prasasti dari Singosari, Malang bertarikh tahun 1351 Masehi. Prasasti yang merupakan koleksi Museum yang juga dikenal sebagai Museum Gajah ini, terkenal karena menyebut nama Mada yang kemungkinan berkaitan dengan tokoh Gajah Mada.Gambar Prasasti dari Singosari, Malang bertarikh tahun 1351 Masehi. Prasasti yang merupakan koleksi Museum yang juga dikenal sebagai Museum Gajah ini, terkenal karena menyebut nama Mada yang kemungkinan berkaitan dengan tokoh Gajah Mada. Museum Gajah banyak mengkoleksi benda-benda kuna dari seluruh Nusantara. Antara lain yang termasuk koleksi adalah arca-arca kuna, prasasti, benda-benda kuna lainnya dan barang-barang kerajinan. Koleksi-koleksi tersebut dikategorisasikan ke dalam etnografi, perunggu, prasejarah, keramik, tekstil, numismatik, relik sejarah, dan benda berharga. Sebelum gedung Perpustakaan Nasional RI yang terletak di Jalan Salemba 27, Jakarta Pusat didirikan, koleksi Museum Gajah termasuk naskah-naskah manuskrip kuna. Naskah-naskah tersebut dan koleksi perpustakaan Museum Gajah kini disimpan di Perpustakaan Nasional. Sumber koleksi banyak berasal dari penggalian arkeologis, hibah kolektor sejak masa Hindia Belanda dan pembelian. Koleksi keramik dan koleksi etnografi Indonesia di museum ini terbanyak dan terlengkap di dunia.

Museum Bank Indonesia

2008-06-18T23:42:00.001-07:00

Bangunan Museum Bank Indonesia di kawasan Kota merupakan gedung bekas De Javasche Bank (DJB). Dahulunya gedung ini adalah sebuah rumah sakit yang dikenal dengan nama Binnen Hospital. ertama kali digunakan oleh DJB sejak 8 April 1828.
Kemudian pada tahun 1910, atau lebih dari 80 tahun setelah menempati gedung tua bekas rumah sakit ini, DJB mulai membangun kembali gedung ini. Perancangan bangunan dikerjakan oleh Biro Arsitek Ed. Cuypers & Hulswit yang kemudian berubah menjadi Architecten & Ingenieursbureau Fermont-Cuypers.
Pembangunan tahap pertama selesai pada tahun 1912 merupakan gedung bergaya arsitektur neoklasik Eropa yang terletak di sepanjang Binneninieuwpoorstraat, kini Jalan Pintu Besar Utara. Pada tahun 1922, pembangunan tahap kedua dimulai dengan menambah beberapa ruangan baru seperti ruang simpan barang berharga (kluis), ruang arsip, ruang pertemuan besar (ruang hijau), rumah penjaga gedung (concierge) dan garasi.
Pembangunan tahap ketiga dilakukan pada tahun 1924, merupakan perluasan dari tahap sebelumnya dengan membangun sebuah unit di bagian belakang sepanjang Kali Besar menggantikan bangunan tua bekas rumah sakit. Selain itu, dibuat pula bangunan di sepanjang Javabankstraat, kini jalan Bank, yang bertemu dengan bangunan tahap pertama di sisi utara. Bangunan baru ini memiliki kaca patri, dengan ragam hias berupa komoditas perdagangan pada masa Hindia Belanda dan dewa-dewi Yunani yang sangat indah.
Tahun 1933, pembangunan tahap keempat dilakukan untuk memenuhi kebutuhan ruang hasanah yang lebih luas dan ruang efek-efek. Dalam pembangunan kali ini, Biro Arsitek Fermont-Cuypers mendesain beberapa unit tambahan yaitu beberapa kluis baru yang ditempatkan pada perpanjangan bangunan di sisi Binneninieuwpoorstraat. Renovasi juga dilakukan di bagian muka di sisi jalan yang sama dengan gaya yang lebih sederhana.
Pembangunan tahap kelima dilakuka pada tahun 1935 untuk memodernisasi arsitektur tahap pertama. Selain menganut satu pintu keluar-masuk untuk menggantikan dua pintu gerbang sebelumnya. Tahap ini juga menghilangkan kubah yang semula menghiasi atap gedung. Pembangunan ini selesai dan diresmikan pada tanggal 12 Juni 1937. Pembangunan tahap kelima merupakan tahap terakhir dari rangkaian pembangunan gedung DJB. Selama Bank Indonesia menempati bangunan ini, tidak banyak perubahan yang dilakukan.
FasilitasMuseum BI beroperasi secara penuh pada tahun 2008. Museum Bank Indonesia akan menyediakan fasilitas-fasilitas berikut:
Ruang Penitipan Barang, disediakan bagi pengunjung yang hendak menitipkan barang-barangnya selama berkunjung ke Museum Bank Indonesia.
Pusat Informasi Bank Indonesia, dalam ruangan ini pengunjung akan dibanjiri dengan berbagai informasi dari masa lalu hingga masa kini dengan time series yang cukup panjang mengenai sejarah dan peran Bank Indonesia. Informasi tersebut dapat diakses menggunakan perangkat multi media, sehingga bermanfaat untuk keperluan penelitian, pembuatan analisis, dan sebagainya. Di samping informasi yang berasal dari Bank Indonesia, juga dapat diakses informasi dari beberapa sumber lain, dalam dan luar negeri. Disediakan pula fasilitas untuk mencetak (printing) data/informasi dari komputer. Kelengkapan informasi dalam ruangan ini masih ditambah dengan hadirnya BI Virtual Museum, yang akan memberikan informasi tentang Museum Bank Indonesia melalui jaringan internet.
Ruang Auditorium, terletak di lantai 2 Museum Bank Indonesia berdekatan dengan pusat informasi BI (BI Information Center). Ruangan ini digunakan sebagai tempat penyelenggaraan ceramah/seminar/diskusi, baik yang disponsori oleh Bank Indonesia maupun pihak luar.
Kios Buku dan Cenderamata, pengunjung dapat memperoleh berbagai hasil publikasi dan cenderamata yang berkaitan dengan museum, khususnya Museum Bank Indonesia. Snacks juga disediakan di sini.
Banking Expo, fungsi pembinaan bank yang diemban oleh Bank Indonesia, dapat direpresentasikan dalam ruang banking expo. Dalam ruangan ini, bank-bank dapat mempromosikan produk-produk terbarunya, sehingga pengunjung dapat membandingkan keunggulan dari setiap bank. Jadi, para pengunjung tidak hanya disuguhi sejarah perbankan di dalam ruang pamer, tetapi sekaligus dapat bertransaksi secara langsung.
Ruang Serbaguna, salah satu keunggulan Museum Bank Indonesia adalah terdapatnya beberapa ruangan yang dapat digunakan untuk kepentingan pengunjung. Salah satunya adalah ruang serbaguna yang terletak di lantai 1. Ruangan ini dapat digunakan oleh pengunjung untuk berbagai keperluan, seperti resepsi pernikahan, rapat besar, dan lain-lain. Perpaduan pesta modern di tengah-tengah nuansa sejarah akan menjadikan pesta yang diselenggarakan semakin berkesan.
Cafe Museum, merupakan salah satu unsur modernisasi yang dihadirkan oleh Museum Bank Indonesia. Di tempat ini, pengunjung dapat beristirahat sekaligus menikmati makanan dan minuman yang lezat, lengkap dengan bacaan berupa harian dan majalah yang khusus mengupas masalah ekonomi, bisnis, dan perbankan. Ditambah lagi dengan adanya beberapa televisi yang menayangkan program-program yang berkaitan dengan ekonomi, bisnis, dan perbankan, sehingga sangat cocok untuk perjamuan ringan dengan relasi bisnis di siang hari.
Fine Dining Restaurant, berbeda dengan cafe museum yang menawarkan nuansa santai, fine dining restaurant, menawarkan suasana yang lebih eksklusif. Suasana ini akan semakin terasa pada malam hari di area inner court dan outeryard.
Perpustakaan, merupakan salah satu fasilitas unggulan Museum Bank Indonesia. Terdapat dua macam perpustakaan di Museum Bank Indonesia, yaitu: perpustakaan untuk para peneliti museum dan perpustakaan untuk umum. Kedua perpustakaan ini akan menyajikan koleksi lengkap, mulai dari buku-buku referensi, majalah, hingga dokumen-dokumen yang tersimpan dalam perangkat multi media, yang kesemuanya dapat dimanfaatkan oleh pengunjung untuk menambah wawasan, keperluan penelitian, maupun analisis.
Pertokoan, walaupun sarat dengan unsur edukasi, Museum Bank Indonesia juga menyajikan nuansa hiburan, yang diantaranya diwakili dengan jejeran pertokoan yang terletak di lantai 1. Ruang pertokoan ini menjual berbagai macam barang eksklusif, misalnya boutique.
Masjid, Museum Bank Indonesia menyediakan sarana ibadah berupa masjid “Sjafruddin” yang terletak di dalam lingkungan museum.

Monumen Nasional (Monas)

2008-06-18T14:25:00.000-07:00

Monumen Nasional atau yang populer disingkat dengan Monas atau Tugu Monas adalah salah satu dari monumen peringatan yang didirikan untuk mengenang perlawanan dan perjuangan rakyat Indonesia melawan penjajah Belanda.

Monumen Nasional yang terletak di Lapangan Monas, Jakarta Pusat, dibangun pada dekade1960an.
Tugu Peringatan Nasional dibangun di areal seluas 80 hektar. Tugu ini diarsiteki oleh Soedarsono dan Frederich Silaban, dengan konsultan Ir. Rooseno, mulai dibangun Agustus 1959, dan diresmikan 17 Agustus 1961 oleh Presiden RI Soekarno. Monas resmi dibuka untuk umum pada tanggal 12 Juli 1975.
Pembagunan tugu Monas bertujuan mengenang dan melestarikan perjuangan bangsa Indonesia pada masa revolusi kemerdekaan 1945, agar terbangkitnya inspirasi dan semangat patriotisme generasi saat ini dan mendatang.
Tugu Monas yang menjulang tinggi dan melambangkan lingga (alu atau anatan) yang penuh dimensi khas budaya bangsa Indonesia. Semua pelataran cawan melambangkan Yoni (lumbung). Alu dan lumbung merupakan alat rumah tangga yang terdapat hampir di setiap rumah penduduk pribumi Indonesia.
Lapangan Monas mengalami lima kali penggantian nama yaitu Lapangan Gambir, Lapangan Ikada, Lapangan Merdeka, Lapangan Monas, dan Taman Monas. Di sekeliling tugu terdapat taman, dua buah kolam dan beberapa lapangan terbuka tempat berolahraga. Pada hari-hari libur, Minggu atau libur sekolah banyak masyarakat yang berkunjung ke sini.

Tugu itu berdiri tegak, dengan puncak seperti lidah api berlapis emas. Semua orang pasti tahu,itulah Monumen Nasional, disingkat Monas. Monas mulai dibangun pada tahun 1959 untuk mengenang perjuangan rakyat Indonesia melawan penjajah. Presiden Sukarno meresmikannya pada 17 Agustus 1961. Tapi, baru dibuka untuk umum pada 12 Juli 1975.
Tugu obeliks berbentuk lingga yoni ini dibuat dari marmer, bertinggi 137 meter. Lingga yoni adalah simbol kesuburan masyarakat Indonesia kuno. Ia melambangkan alu dan lesung. Ia juga lambang laki-laki perempuan. Arsiteknya adalah F Silaban dan Soedarsono dengan konsultan Rooseno.
Nyala api di puncak yang berdiameter 6 meter dibuat dari perunggu berberat 14,5 ton, dilapisi emas yang didatangkan dari Cikotok seberat 35 kg. Lidah api itu melambangkan semangat yang tak pernah padam melawan penjajah. Cawan pelataran di puncak bawah lidah api, berjarak 17 meter, berukuran 11×11 meter, mampu memuat 50 orang.
Di bagian bawah terdapat cawan yang tingginya 17 meter diukur dari lantai dasar dan 8 meter dari lantai museum. Ukuran cawan 45×45 meter. Ini dimaksudkan sebagai catatan hari kemerdekaan, 17-8-45.
Monas dibangun di kawasan seluas 80 hektare di Merdeka Square. Di sebelah utara dibatasi oleh Jl Medan Merdeka Utara, di sebelah timur oleh Jl Medan Merdeka Timur, di selatan oleh Jl Medan Merdeka Selatan, di barat oleh Jl Medan Merdeka Barat. Di sini banyak kantor pemerintah.

Museum Gedung Joang 45

2008-06-18T14:02:00.000-07:00

Gedung Joang '45 atau Museum Joang '45 adalah salah satu museum yang berada di Jakarta. Saat ini pengelolaannya dilaksanakan oleh Dinas Kebudayaan dan Permuseuman Provinsi DKI Jakarta. Museum ini terletak di Jalan Menteng Raya 31, Kelurahan Kebon Sirih, Kecamatan Menteng, Jakarta Pusat. Museum ini diresmikan pada tahun 1974 oleh Presiden Soeharto, setelah dilakukan direnovasi.

Koleksinya terdiri dari foto-foto dokumentasi berbagai peristiwa bersejarah yang berasal dari masa tahun 1944-1949, seperti peristiwa Rapat Raksasa di lapangan Ikada, Bandung Lautan Api, dan pertempuran 10 November di Surabaya.
Selain itu Museum Joang’45 memiliki koleksi patung dada para pahlawan masa Pergerakan Kemerdekaan berjumlah 17 buah, juga terdapat koleksi lukisan yang berkaitan dengan perjuangan bangsa Indonesia pada masa revolusi fisik.
Koleksi utama pada museum ini adalah 2 mobil Proklamator, yaitu mobil kenegaraan yang pernah digunakan oleh Bung Karno dan Bung Hatta terdiri dari Mobil Republik 1 dan Mobil Republik 2.

Museum Fatahillah

2008-06-18T13:47:00.000-07:00

Museum Fatahillah. Dibangun tahun 1620, dengan menempati areal seluas 13 ribu meter persegi, Bangunannya bergaya arsitektur kuno abad ke-17 yang terdiri atas bangunan utama dengan dua sayap di bagian timur dan barat serta bangunan sanding yang digunakan sebagai kantor, ruang pengadilan, dan ruang-ruang bawah tanah yang dipakai sebagai penjara.
Dulu, pada jaman VOC, gedung ini bernama Stadhuis atau Stadhuisplein yang digunakan oleh pemerintahan Belanda sebagai gedung Balaikota, pusat pemerintahan Belanda saat masih berkuasa di Indonesia hingga akhirnya pada tanggal 30 Maret 1974, oleh pemerintah Indonesia, gedung ini kemudian diresmikan sebagai Museum Fatahillah.
Terletak di Jalan Taman Fatahillah No. 2, Jakarta Barat, museum ini menyimpan banyak hal yang bisa diceritakan dari masa lalu. Mulai dari perjalanan sejarah Jakarta, hasil penggalian arkeologi di kawasan Jakarta, mebel antik dari abad ke-18, keramik, gerabah, hingga batu prasasti. Koleksi-koleksi ini terdapat di berbagai ruang, seperti Ruang Prasejarah Jakarta, Ruang Tarumanegara, Ruang Jayakarta, Ruang Fatahillah, Ruang Sultan Agung, dan Ruang MH Thamrin. Terdapat juga berbagai koleksi tentang kebudayaan Betawi, numismatik, dan becak. Bahkan kini juga diletakkan patung Dewa Hermes (menurut mitologi Yunani, merupakan dewa keberuntungan dan perlindungan bagi kaum pedagang) yang tadinya terletak di perempatan Harmoni dan meriam Si Jagur yang dianggap mempunyai kekuatan magis.
Di masa lalu, selain berfungsi sebagai Balaikota, bangunan ini juga dijadikan sebagai penjara. Terdapat bekas penjara bawah tanah yang dulunya digunakan untuk menjebloskan orang-orang yang melanggar aturan hukum pemerintah Hindia Belanda. Konon, pejuang-pejuang Indonesia seperti Pangeran Diponegoro, pernah menghuni penjara ini. Tanah lapang di depan bangunan Museum Sejarah Jakarta, dikenal dengan nama Taman Fatahillah, merupakan saksi bisu tempat dilaksanakannya eksekusi hukuman gantung bagi ribuan orang Cina yang terlibat dalam pemberontakan melawan Belanda tahun 1740.
Museum Fatahillah hanyalah salah satu di antara makin langkanya bangunan tua dan bersejarah di Ibu Kota, yang menjadi saksi bisu perjuangan rakyat Indonesia terhadap pemerintah Belanda saat itu. Bangunan Museum Fatahillah ini, menorehkan banyak kenangan bagi mereka yang pernah tinggal, maupun yang hanya singgah di Jakarta tempo doeloe. Hingga kini museum ini masih dikunjungi. Tak hanya oleh wisatawan lokal, namun juga oleh wisatawan mancanegara, khususnya wisatawan Eropa.

Museum Bank Mandiri

2008-06-18T13:36:00.000-07:00

Museum yang menempati area seluas 10.039 m2 ini pada awalnya adalah gedung Nederlandsche Handel-Maatschappij (NHM) atau Factorji Batavia yang merupakan perusahaan dagang milik Belanda yang kemudian berkembang menjadi perusahaan di bidang perbankan.
Nederlandsche Handel-Maatschappij (NHM) dinasionalisasi pada tahun 1960 menjadi salah satu gedung kantor Bank Koperasi Tani & Nelayan (BKTN) Urusan Ekspor Impor, kemudian bersamaan dengan lahirnya Bank Ekspor Impor Indonesia (BankExim) pada 31-12-1968, gedung tsb pun beralih menjadi kantor pusat Bank Export import (Bank Exim), hingga akhirnya legal merger Bank Exim bersama Bank Dagang Negara (BDN), Bank Bumi Daya (BBD) dan Bank Pembangunan Indonesia (Bapindo) ke dalam Bank Mandiri (1999), maka gedung tersebut pun menjadi asset Bank Mandiri.
Gedung Museum Bank Mandiri (ex-Nederlandsche Handel-Maatschappij (NHM)) dirancang oleh 3 orang arsitek belanda yaitu J.J.J de Bruyn dan A.P. Smits dan C. van de Linde, Gedung ini mulai dibangun tahun 1929 dan pada tanggal 14 Januari 1933 dibuka secara resmi Oleh C.J Karel Van Aalst, Presiden NHM ke-10. Gedung ex-NHM ini tampak kokoh dan megah dengan arsitektur Niew Zakelijk atau Art Deco Klasik
Koleksi museum terdiri dari berbagai macam koleksi yang terkait dengan aktifitas perbankan tempo doeloe dan perkembangannya, koleksi yang dimiliki mulai dari perlengkapan Operasional bank, Surat Berharga, Mata Uang Kuno, brandkast, dan lain-lain. Koleksi perlengkapan operasional bank tempo doeloe yang unik, antara lain adalah peti uang, mesin hitung uang mekanik, kalkulator, mesin pembukuan, mesin cetak, alat pres bendel, seal press, safe deposit box maupun aneka surat berharga seperti bilyet deposito, sertikat deposito, cek, obligasi, dan saham. di samping itu, ornamen bangunan, interior dan furniture masih asli.

Museum Bahari

2008-06-18T13:18:00.000-07:00

Museum Bahari adalah museum yang menyimpan koleksi yang berhubungan dengan kebaharian dan kenelayanan bangsa Indonesia dari Sabang hingga Merauke.
Koleksi-koleksi yang disimpan terdiri atas berbagai jenis perahu tradisional dengan aneka bentuk, gaya dan ragam hias, hingga kapal zaman VOC. Disajikan pula berbagai model dan miniatur kapal modern dan perlengkapan penunjang kegiatan pelayaran. Di sisi lain ditampilkan koleksi biota laut, data-data jenis dan sebaran ikan di perairan Indonesia dan aneka perlengkapan nelayan dan pelayaran (alat navigasi, jangkar, teropong, model mercusuar dan aneka meriam), tehnologi pembuatan perahu tradisional serta folklor adat istiadat masyarakat nelayan nusantara. Melengkapi penampilan kebaharian Indonesia, museum ini juga menampilkan matra TNI AL, koleksi kartografi, maket Pulau Onrust, tokoh-tokoh maritim nusantara serta perjalanan kapal KPM Batavia - Amsterdam.
Museum ini berlokasi di Jalan Pasar Ikan No. 1 Sunda Kelapa, Jakarta Barat.
Pada masa pendudukan Belanda bangunan yang saat ini dipergunakan untuk museum dulunya adalah gudang yang berfungsi untuk menyimpan, memilih dan mengepak hasil bumi, (diantaranya adalah rempah-rempah) yang merupakan komoditi utama VOC yang sangat alris di pasaran Eropa. Bangunan yang berdiri persis disamping muara sungai [Sungai_Ciliwungciliwung]] ini terdiri dari 2 sisi, sisi barat dikenal dengan sebutan Westzijdsche Pakhuizen atau Gudang Barat (dibangun secara bertahap mulai tahun 1652-1771), sedang yang disisi timur disebut Oostzijdsche Pakhuizen atau Gudang Timur. Gudang barat terdiri dari 4 unit bangunan, dan 3 unit diantaranya yang sekarang digunakan sebagai Museum Bahari.
Pada masa pendudukan Jepang, gedung-gedung ini dipakai sebagai tempat menyimpan barang logistik tentara Jepang. Setelah Indonesia Merdeka, bangunan ini dipakai oleh PLN dan PTT untuk gudang. Tahun 1976 bangunan cagar budaya ini dipugar, dan kemudian pada 7 Juli 1977 diresmikan sebagai Museum Bahari.