Category Archives: General

UK becoming a repressive country ?

General

Since 9/11, a lot of “democratic” countries are changing into repressive regime, without most of its citizen even realizing it. UK seems to be one of it. Here’s an excellent article on the topic :

From the Our World Our Say Team :
On New Year’s Day we were fortunate to be offered a double paged advert in The Independent which we used to highlight the erosion of basic freedoms in this country.

Maya Anne Evans of Justice Not Vengeance, who was arrested for reading out the names of the British soldiers killed in Iraq, was featured in the advert. She writes below to help us with our New Year Appeal, which must secure £50,000 to pay for adverts like the one in the Independent and other campaigns over the next three months.

======================
Dear Friend of Our World Our Say

My name is Maya Anne Evans. On 25th October last year I was arrested and charged. Simply for standing outside Downing Street and reading out the names of the British soldiers who have died in Iraq. It doesn’t seem possible that something like this could happen in our country but it happened to me. I thought we had freedom of speech.

If you believe that it’s time we stood up and challenged this Government then please help Our World Our Say do that in 2006 by making a donation at http://www.securegiving.co.uk/donate_to/owos_donate.html

I was arrested under the Designated Area Order clause of the Serious Organised Crime and Police Act. On 1st January that act came into force in full – giving the police the power to arrest people for any act of petty law breaking – conceivably even dropping a piece of litter.

And under the act for all but a truly minor crime, the Police can take a sample of your DNA, photograph and fingerprint you and take impressions of your footwear. They can keep this even if you are not charged.

If you, like me, are alarmed at the serious erosion of our basic freedoms then please take a moment now to send a donation at http://www.securegiving.co.uk/donate_to/owos_donate.html to help Our World Our Say in 2006. They have big plans if they can raise enough funds including:

A series of high profile adverts and posters outlining how the Government is destroying precious liberties.
Public opinion polls and research to highlight ways of ending the war and killings in Iraq. According to The Lancet over 100,000 people have died.
A relaunch of their web site, which will enable them to run larger and more interactive campaigns – so that supporters and concerned members of the public can take action.

They need to secure at least £50,000 for work that is already in the pipeline. It’s vital that Our World Our Say has the funds to act as it’s not just the new laws that threaten us, it’s also the extremely sophisticated technology that the Government is investing in that enables them to watch and track our every move. You can see details at the foot of this email.

The authoritarian tendencies of this Government and their willingness to give the police almost unlimited powers are deeply disturbing. They seem to have a disdain for individual rights that goes against the fundamental principles of our society.

The Government gives various justifications for their measures: to prevent terrorism; to stop anti-social behaviour; to prevent crime. But the end result is the same. They’re destroying the liberties that are the basis of our democracy. To me that’s not the way to beat terrorism. The underlying message is that no one can be trusted and that wanting to voice your own opinion will not be tolerated.

If you are alarmed about what is happening to our liberties then please take a few minutes now to make a donation.

The Government needs to know that the British people will not let freedom of expression and association be crushed in this way. We must not forget that not dissimilar methods were used by the apartheid regime in South Africa, and the totalitarian government in East Germany before the Berlin Wall came down.

The Designated Area Order clause of the Serious Organised Crime and Police Act, that I was arrested under, makes it illegal to hold any sort of protest around Parliament without police permission and with stringent conditions attached, like no megaphones.

Why are Police resources being wasted on repressing protest when the Police are so stretched anyway? Believe it or not two police sergeants, twelve constables, and two police minibuses were deployed to stop my protest. I was then taken to Charing Cross police station, locked up for five hours, and later given a criminal record.

My story is but one example. Here’s a few more.

# You will remember Walter Wolfgang, who was thrown out of the Labour Party conference for heckling. What wasn’t clearly publicised was that he was held under the Terrorism Act when he tried to re-enter the hall.

# Five protestors travelling to an EU summit on Tyneside wanted to make a point to Home Secretary Charles Clarke about ID Cards. They were carrying a giant ID card and red boiler suits as part of their planned protest. But they were arrested and detained even before they arrived at the summit and held under suspicion of causing criminal damage. What is this country coming to when protest can be stifled on so many fronts?

# In Brighton recently a police helicopter and at least 100 police were deployed for a demonstration of not more than 150 people. They were hemmed in and leafleters were videoed by the police, just like they would be in some countries with repressive regimes.

There are many, many other examples that don’t make the news, but around this country protest is being stifled and individual rights are being eroded and the power of the state to monitor and apprehend individuals has grown beyond reason. Please help Our World Our Say challenge this by making a donation at http://www.securegiving.co.uk/donate_to/owos_donate.html

If, like me, you feel you can’t sit back and let our basic freedoms be curtailed then take action. You could support me in my next protest. If you send an email to mayaaction@ourworldoursay.org your details will be forwarded on to me.

You can also help Our World Our Say build their presence by making a donation online.

By getting people to work together we can stop – and turn back – the erosion of our liberties. The internet offers a new way for millions of people to work together.

Whilst the cost of the ID Cards Scheme could be up to £30 billion those of us protesting do so on tiny resources. You could send £20 or whatever you can afford to pay for adverts, posters, opinion polls and a major upgrade of the Our World Our Say web site.

Thank you and Happy New Year

Maya Anne Evans

INDONESIA KERANJANG SAMPAH NIKOTIN

General

note: saya belum berhasil memverifikasi apakah benar tulisan di bawah ini adalah karya Taufiq Ismail. Jadi, untuk sementara ini anggap saja tulisan ini adalah karya anonim.
Selamat menikmati.

INDONESIA KERANJANG SAMPAH NIKOTIN
(Taufiq Ismail)

Indonesia adalah sorga luarbiasa ramah bagi perokok
Kalau klasifikasi sorga ditentukan oleh jumlah langit yang melapisinya
Maka negeri kita bagai maskapai rokok, sorga langit ketujuh klasisikasinya

Indonesia adalah keranjang besar yang menampung semua sampah nikotin
Keranjang sampah nikotin ini luar biasa besarnya
Dari pinggir barat ke pinggir timur,
Jarak yang mesti ditempuh melintasi 3 zona waktu
Yaitu 8 jam naik pesawat jet,
10 hari kalau naik kapal laut,
Satu tahun kalau naik kuda sumba,
Atau 5 tahun kalau saban hari naik kuda kepang Ponorogo

Keranjang sampah ini luar biasa besarnya
Bukan saja sampah nikotin, tapi juga dibuangkan ke dalamnya
Berjenis cairan, serbuk, berbagai aroma dan warna
Alkohol, heroin, kokain, sabu-sabu, ekstasi, dan marijuana
Berbagai racun dan residu, erotisme dan vcd biru
Sebut saja semua variasi klasifikasi limbah dunia
Mulut Indonesia menganga menerimanya

Semua itu, karena gerbang di halaman rumah kita terbuka luas,
Kita tergoda oleh materialisme dan disuap kapitalisme
Fikiran sehat kita kaku dan tangan kanan kiri terbelenggu
Dengan ramah dan sopan kiriman sampah itu diterima

Di depan pintu bandara, karena urgennya modal mancanegara,
Karena tak tahan nikmatnya komisi dan upeti,
Dengan membungkuk-bungkuk kita berkata begini,

“Silakan masuk semua, silakan
Monggo, monggo mlebet, dipun sakecakaken
Sog asup sadayana, asup, asup
Ha lai ka talok, bahe banalah angku, bahe banalah.”

Keranjang sampah ini luar biasa kapasitasnya
Pedagang-pedagang nikotin yang di negeri asalnya
Babak belur digebuki pengadilan bermilyar dolar dendanya
Ketahuan penipunya dan telah membunuhi jutaan pengisapnya
Diusir terbirit-birit akhirnya berlarian ke dunia ketiga
Dan dengan rasa rendah diri luar biasa
Kita sambut mereka bersama-sama

“Monggo, monggo den, linggih rumiyin
Ngersakaken menopo den bagus
Mpun, ngendiko mawon
Aih aih si aden, kasep pisan
Tos lami, sumping, di dieu, Indonesia?
Alaa, rancak bana oto angku ko
Sabana rancak
Baa caronyo kami, supayo.”

Demikianlah dengan rasa hormat yang lumayan berlebihan
Para pedagang nikotin dari negeri jauh di tepi langit sana
Penyebar penyakit rokok dan pencabut nyawa anak bangsanya
Terlibat pengadilan dan tertimbun bukti
Di negeri sendiri telah diusiri dan dimaki-maki
Ke dunia ketiga mereka melarikan diri
Pabrik-pabrik mereka ditutup di negeri sendiri
Lalu didirikan di Dunia Ketiga, termasuk negeri kita ini
Di depan hidung kita penyakit dipindah ke sini
Dan untuk mereka kita hamparkan merahnya permadani
Lalu bangsa kita ditipu dengan gemerlapannya advertensi
Inilah nasib bangsa yang miskin dan pemerintah yang lemah
Semua bertumpu pada pemasukan uang sebagai orientasi

(2000, 2002)

* Dibacakan di acara Haflatul Ied Keluarga Besar Al-Irsyad Al-Islamiyyah di Jakarta

Al-Quran tertua di dunia ditemukan di Tashkent

General, Islam

Al-Quran tertua di dunia ternyata selama ini berada di Tashkent, Uzbekistan. Masya Allah.

Di mushaf ini ada percikan darah, dan diperkirakan adalah milik khalifah Utsman bin Affan ra, yang sedang dibaca beliau ketika beliau dibunuh oleh orang fasik. (setelah itu umat Islam terpecah menjadi golongan Sunni & Syiah, dan tidak pernah bersatu lagi sampai sekarang)

Beberapa kutipan:

“In an obscure corner of the Uzbek capital, Tashkent, lies one of Islam’s most sacred relics – the world’s oldest Koran.”

“The Mufti of Uzbekistan, the country’s highest religious leader, has his offices there, in the courtyard of an old madrassa.
Just across the road stands a non-descript mosque and the equally unremarkable Mui-Mubarak, or “Sacred Hair”, madrassa, which houses a rarely seen hair of the Muslim Prophet Muhammad, as well as one of Central Asia’s most important collections of historical works.
“There are approximately 20,000 books and 3000 manuscripts in this library,” said Ikram Akhmedov, a young assistant in the mufti’s office.”

“To prevent disputes about which verses should be considered divinely inspired, Othman had this definitive version compiled. It was completed in the year 651, only 19 years after Muhammad’s death.”

“It is said that Caliph Othman made five copies of the original Koran. A partial Koran now in the Topkapi Palace in Istanbul is said to be another of these original copies.”

“The story of how the Othman Koran came to Tashkent is a remarkable one.
After Othman’s death it is believed it was taken by Caliph Ali to Kufa, in modern Iraq. Seven hundred years later, when the Central Asian conqueror, Tamerlane, laid waste to the region, he found the Koran and took it home to grace his splendid capital, Samarkand.
It stayed there for more than four centuries, until the Russians conquered Samarkand in the 1868. The Russian governor then sent the Othman Koran to St Petersburg where it was kept in the Imperial Library.
But after the Bolshevik revolution, Lenin was anxious to win over the Muslims of Russia and Central Asia. Initially he sent the Koran to Ufa in modern Baskortostan.
But finally, after repeated appeals from the Muslims of Tashkent, it was returned once more to Central Asia in 1924. It has remained in Tashkent ever since.”

Bijaksana dalam berdakwah

General, Islam

To: media-dakwah@egroups.com
Subject: Re: [media-dakwah] Bijaksana dalam berdakwah

On 13/13/2005 at 2:51 PM BK wrote:
>Bagaimana orang lain bisa mencerna, apa lagi senang kepada apa yang kita
>sampaikan, kalau menyampaikanya dengan Arogan.

Yah, baru ketemu juga yang model begini beberapa minggu yang lalu 🙂 ustadz tsb berkata, haram hukumnya wanita bekerja !!

Lalu ibu saya bertanya, pak ustadz ada punya pegawai wanita gak ?

Ustadz ybs, yang kebetulan juga pengusaha yang cukup besar, menjadi gelagapan.

Ustadz ini juga pada pertemuan pertama langsung berteriak rokok haram! ini haram! itu haram!
Saya sih mendengarkan saja, tapi beberapa orang lainnya yang baru sekali itu ikut pengajian langsung jadi antipati, dan bukannya simpati, dengan dakwahnya.

Yang beliau sampaikan memang benar adanya, tetapi cara menyampaikannya itu lho. Terlalu vulgar / kurang memperhatikan situasi.
Kita perlu lebih banyak lagi ustadz yang mampu bertindak bijaksana dalam menyikapi situasi umatnya; tanpa melanggar rambu-rambu agama.

Salam,
Harry

Menyikapi masalah ghaib

General, Islam

To: media-dakwah@egroups.com
Subject: Re: [media-dakwah] Menyikapi masalah ghaib

On 13/13/2005 at 8:44 PM RS wrote:
>® Saya termasuk yang selalu berusaha untuk merasionalkan segala sesuatu
>hal yang bersikap ghaib. Istri saya tidak pernah mengalami kejadian ghaib,
>bahkan tidak pernah tertarik untuk membicarakan atau menonton acara tv
>yang berbau ghaib.
>® Masalahnya sekarang saya mempunyai anak perempuan yang mengalami
>(menurut penuturannya) hal ghaib. Ketika sedang ke wc sekolah dia melihat
>sesosok makhluk dan sempat membebani dia dengan naik di pundak. Dia
>menceritakan kejadian tersebut pada istri saya dengan menangis dan menurut
>istri tidak mungkin dia mengatakan sesuatu yang bohong.
>® Hal tersebut membuat saya bingung bagaimana untuk bersikap. Prinsip saya
>menginginkan budaya tahayul tidak boleh ditumbuhkembangkan dalam keluarga
>saya. Tapi saya khawatir jika si anak akan berfikir bahwa kami sebagai
>orangtuanya tidak peduli dengan yang dialaminya.
>® Minta saran dari para pakar agama bagaimana cara yang tepat menyikapi
>hal begini agar sesuai dengan prinsip yang ingin saya tanamkan di dalam
>keluarga, yang tidak ingin keluarga menumbuhkembangkan suatu hal tahayul.
>Kita memang harus mempercayai bahwa ghaib itu ada, tapi kita tidak boleh
>menjadi takut karena Allah menciptakan manusia sebagai makhluk yang paling
>mulia.

Anak-anak saya, terutama yang paling tua, juga dulu sering mengalami masalah seperti ini.

Ini bukan takhayul 🙂 dan kejadian seperti ini tidaklah tidak rasional (alias rasional).

Kembali ke anak saya, kejadian tersebut saya manfaatkan; yaitu untuk membuat dia jadi rajin beribadah.
Saya katakan, bahwa cuma Allah yang bisa menolong kita. Jadi, kamu rajin2 sholat. Baca doa sebelum melakukan sesuatu. Untuk anak bapak, mungkin bisa diajarkan doa sebelum & sesudah masuk WC. Perbanyak tilawah quran.
Dan kita juga membantu dengan do’a.
InsyaAllah, Allah akan membantu kita.

Kalau ternyata masih berjalan terus, beritahu bahwa semua itu terjadi sudah dengan izin Allah, dan adalah ujian untuk kita. Jadi, anak Anda sebenarnya adalah anak yang spesial, karena masih kecil saja sudah demikian diperhatikan oleh Allah.
Seperti kita tahu, ujian/cobaan adalah cara Allah untuk membuat kita menjadi muslim yang lebih tinggi kualitasnya. Sepotong besi harus dibakar dan dipukuli dulu, sebelum akhirnya menjadi pedang yang sempurna.
Jadi tidak perlu takut menghadapi makhluk-makhluk tersebut.

Juga saya mendapatkan informasi bahwa jika makhluk tsb bisa sampai terlihat oleh kita, maka sebetulnya mereka melemah, dan jadi bisa kita sakiti (pukul, tusuk, dst).
Kelihatannya ini sebabnya Umar ra bisa sampai berkelahi dengan syaithan, dan Ibrahim as bisa melempari syaithan dengan batu (yang kemudian menjadi ritual haji).
Ini saya sampaikan kepada anak saya, dan dia jadi bersemangat sekali mendengar ini. Seingat saya, setelah itu, anak saya tidak lagi mengalami masalah gangguan.
(mohon konfirmasi dari yang lebih paham)

Kalau semua ikhtiar telah dicoba, dan/atau anak Anda merasa sangat tertekan karena kejadian ini, maka Anda bisa meminta tolong kepada orang shalih yang paham soal ghaib untuk membantu Anda.
Tapi saya pribadi cenderung menghindari ini, karena orang seperti ini (orang shalih yang paham soal ghaib) kelihatannya sangat sedikit jumlahnya; saya pribadi malah belum pernah menemukannya.
Lebih seringnya bertemu dengan penipu, yang justru berkongkalikong dengan para jin tsb.

Semoga dapat membantu Anda.

Salam,
Harry

Hacker Indonesia

General, Teknoblogia

Setelah beberapa bulan di Indonesia, saya semakin yakin bahwa kualitas SDM IT Indonesia ada yang tidak kalah dengan IT luar negeri. Hacker kita banyak yang punya potensi yang luar biasa.

Di Birmingham dulu saya dianggap “pakar” komputer oleh para kolega saya. Salah satu keluhan mereka pada saat ini adalah “if Harry’s still here, this will be done”, karena kini sayatidak lagi bekerja di Birmingham City Council.
Tapi, saya yakin bahwa sebetulnya banyak rekan-rekan saya di Indonesia yang jauh lebih ahli lagi daripada saya.

Dan saya gembira bahwa saya tidak keliru. Selama ini, sudah berkali-kali saya, yang katanya “pakar” ini, dibuat tercengang melihat keahlian beberapa kawan-kawan disini.

Dulu saya sempat mengira bahwa untuk menjadi pakar komputer, hanya dibutuhkan kemauan belajar & bekerja keras. Namun, seperti seni, kelihatannya juga diperlukan bakat (!), untuk dapat berhasil di bidang IT.
Apakah memang benar demikian? Tapi, rasanya tidak ada penjelasan lainnya lagi, bagaimana bisa ada orang yang mampu menguasai sekian banyak topik IT, dan menjadi pakar di setiap topik tersebut. The difference is simply too vast – I’m jack of all trades, but there are those who are actually master of all trades.

Sejak saya menyadari ini sekitar setahun atau dua tahun yang lalu, saya mulai menyesuaikan arah karir saya. Kalaupun saya akan kalah dari segi kemampuan teknis dan kecepatan belajar (yang mana sangat vital untuk bidang ini); paling tidak saya harus tetap mampu untuk beradaptasi dengan fakta ini.
Kini saya lebih memfokuskan diri ke topik project management dan kemampuan analisis; bagaimana mendesain solusi IT yang tepat untuk suatu masalah. Lalu juga bagaimana memposisikan diri menjadi contact person ke user; bagaimana mengkomunikasikan berbagai isyu IT ke user dengan bahasa yang mudah dimengerti, dan bagaimana mengkomunikasikan berbagai isyu dari user ke para staf IT.

Basically, Making IT Works.

Salah satu kekurangan dari beberapa rekan hacker kita tersebut adalah, walaupun mereka luar biasa ahli dari segi teknis, namun mereka kadang gagal melihat suatu hal dari perspektif user / end user. Karena ini, maka kadang solusi yang mereka buat sangat sempurna dari segi teknis, namun tidak bisa digunakan / tidak diminati oleh para user.
Atau, kadang solusi yang dihasilkan sangat rumit dan kompleks, sehingga tidak feasible untuk di-deploy & di-maintain dalam skala besar. Dst.

Customer / user hanya ingin agar infrastruktur IT mereka berjalan. Just Works. Mereka sama sekali tidak tertarik untuk mengetahui bagaimana kita telah me tuning server mereka habis-habisan, sehingga bisa melayani jutaan request per menit tanpa tersedak sama sekali. Mereka tidak ingin tahu bagaimana software yang kita develop telah di optimalisasi sehingga hanya memerlukan sangat sedikit memory untuk berjalan.
Mereka hanya ingin bisa mengerjakan pekerjaan mereka tanpa masalah.

Jika ada yang menjadi jembatan antara kedua kubu ini, customer & hacker, then we can get the best of both worlds. Customer produktif berkat sistem kita, dan dengan senang hati membayar mahal untuk itu. Hacker yang gembira karena kerjanya dihargai, dan hasil kerjanya semakin meningkat.
I think it’s a worthy goal.

Bagi mereka yang ingin berkarir di bidang IT – Anda tetap bisa berprestasi dengan modal kerja keras dan semangat belajar yang tinggi.
Namun, akan selalu ada orang-orang yang dapat melampaui Anda, tanpa perlu berusaha sekeras Anda. Ini adalah fakta.
Jadi, jangan patah semangat. Cobalah untuk beradaptasi dengan situasi tersebut.
Dengan demikian, maka Anda akan tetap bisa, atau malah jadi sukses, berkarir di bidang IT ini.

Bagi para hacker Indonesia – terus semangat dan berkarya. Semoga akan semakin banyak pihak yang dapat menghargai potensi Anda.

FC3: sensors

General, Teknoblogia

I needed to enable sensors on a server with FC3 (Fedora Core 3) installed. I wasn’t able to find a quick howto, and spent some time figuring out.

From memory, here’s how I did it:

  • yum install lm_sensors
  • sensors-detect
  • service lm_sensors start

Now you should be able to run sensors (by typing sensors). This will show you various information about your server – CPU voltage, temperatures, etc.

Hope it helps.

Awas, security hole paling parah di Windows

General, It sucks, security, Teknoblogia

Jika Anda ada membaca berita komputer dalam waktu beberapa hari ini, mungkin Anda sudah membaca berita mengenai masalah dengan format WMF di Windows. Secara singkat, pada suatu file WMF, bisa disisipkan software di dalamnya – ini bisa berupa virus, trojan, dll.
Salah satu berita mengenai hal ini bisa dibaca disini.

Security hole ini mungkin adalah yang paling parah – karena semua versi Windows (yang dirilis sejak tahun 1990) terpengaruh masalah ini.

Salah satu implikasinya adalah, bagi para pengguna Windows 98 / Millennium Edition sebaiknya segera upgrade ke versi yang lebih baru – karena Microsoft tidak akan merilis update untuk versi tersebut. Mungkin NT4 juga posisinya sama, tapi masih perlu saya konfirmasi lagi.

Dan, sampai saat ini Microsoft juga belum merilis update untuk security hole ini. Sehingga ratusan juta komputer di dunia pada saat ini terbuka lebar untuk disusupi oleh virus, hacker, dan para penjahat.

Beberapa tips:
1. Jangan buka gambar yag di attach di email
2. Jangan membuka situs yang tidak jelas bonafiditasnya.
3. Update anti virus Anda lebih sering lagi pada bulan ini.

Sekali lagi hati-hati, dan semoga informasi ini dapat bermanfaat bagi Anda.

[ FAQ dari SANS ]
[ Bahasan dari The Unofficial Microsoft Weblog ]

Tidur yang efisien

General, Islam, Teknoblogia

Pernahkah Anda tertidur sebentar (5 – 10 menit), dan kemudian terbangun dalam kondisi sangat segar ? Ternyata, ini ada penjelasan ilmiahnya.

Disitu dijelaskan, bahwa tidur (atau tidur siang) bisa meningkatkan produktifitas pegawai :

Mednick’s most recent research also shows that power naps can lift productivity and mood, lower stress, and improve memory and learning. In fact, Mednick has found through MRIs of nappers that brain activity stays high throughout the day with a nap; without one, it declines as the day wears on. Tell that to the boss next time he finds you passed out at your desk.

Ini sesuai dengan sunnah Rasulullah saw dan para sahabat, dimana beliau biasa melakukan qailulah (tidur siang).
Tapi tidak lama, sekitar setengah jam maksimal. Ini juga cocok dengan waktu “power nap” :

THE ORIGINAL POWER NAP: 20 minutes Includes the benefits of the micro and the mini, but additionally improves muscle memory and clears the brain of useless built-up information, which helps with long-term memory (remembering facts, events, and names).

Disitu juga dijelaskan, bahwa tidur pada sore hari cenderung membuat tubuh kita tidak fit :

Try to nap in the morning or just after lunch; human circadian rhythms make late afternoons a more likely time to fall into deep (slow-wave) sleep, which will leave you groggy.

Kemarin ini saya langsung coba praktek 🙂 lembur 2 hari, yang pertama sampai jam 7 pagi, kedua sampai hampir jam 2 pagi; dan pagi harinya hanya tidur sebentar, sebelum bekerja kembali. Tiap kali mengantuk, dicoba tidur 20 menit saja (power nap). Alhamdulillah, bisa bertahan selama 2 hari kerja rodi itu.
Tapi hari ketiga akhirnya kolaps juga 🙂 tidur normal kembali pada malam harinya (7 jam).

OK, mudah-mudahan artikel ini dapat membantu Anda untuk mengatur jadwal tidur Anda setiap harinya agar menjadi seefisien mungkin.

Timezone problem @ Debian sarge

General, Teknoblogia

I was working in a Debian sarge server when I noticed that the timezone indicates WIT (Waktu Indonesia Timur). I was confused, because I’m sure that I chose GMT+7 when I setup that server, which should be WIB (Waktu Indonesia Barat).

I ran tzconfig, and indeed it’s GMT+7, but the timezone still shows WIT.

I finally got the explanation here 🙂
The discussion there is pretty interesting as well.

So it seems to be just a cosmetic bug, nothing serious. Still, it got me confused, he he.
If it caught you too, now you know why it’s like that.

Finally, acknowledgement of UFO from authority

General, Islam, Teknoblogia

Sovyet government is probably the first authority openly admitting the existence of UFO (Unidentified Flying Object).

I knew it was something when I saw it myself back when I was still in high school. In an evening, I was in a road near my school (Al-Azhar, Jakarta), when I noticed a a cylindrical object on the sky. It was red, and it was moving slowly on the sky, before it was gone. It was unlike anything I’ve ever seen.

However, with all the propaganda against UFO, I knew I’d be labeled as fruitcake if I told anyone about it. So I kept my mouth shut until now.

What is a UFO anyway ? There are a lot of people trying to describe what it really is, most of them hypothesizing that they are alien visitors from outer space.
There’s an interesting one – an expert in supernatural activity said that most unexplainable phenomenons are related to jinn (genie). This includes UFO.

For an Indonesian, this makes some sense, since there are still a lot of people here able to get in touch with jinn.
If you ever saw people piercing themselves with blades, walking on fire, or shot by guns; and walk away completely unaffected – they are all cohorts of jinn. I’ve personally played with lesser jinn when I was little. My grandfather saw one. Several of my cousins are able to see them. Several of my friends are unlucky to be disturbed by them, one of them even thrown from upstairs.
There are a so many people here able to interact with them, it’s no longer surprising.

In Islam, we’ve been taught about jinns as well. We’re taught that jinns were created by God as lesser creatures than human. Humans were created to rule the Earth. We’re forbidden from becoming their partner in any activity, since this will increase the status of that particular jinn on their community, and will bring upon God’s wrath on that man/woman.
The jinns are normally invisible, and if they become visible, they’ll also become weakened, enough to even be killed by us.
The jinns are tricksters – I think this is quite well-known even on the West.

Jinns are quite powerful, and they VASTLY outnumber us on Earth. However, God favor us, and protect us from them. If someone got problem from jinns, this is only because God allowed it to happen. The reason varies, sometimes it’s to pay his/her sin here on Earth (instead of paying it in hell later), sometimes it’s to test him/her. When he/she passed the test, his/her status will be raised. Etc.

So know that finally there’s an authority acknowledging UFO, I’m hoping that there will be open-minded discussions on the supernatural phenomenons.
But no fruitcakes please… I’ve seen way too many articles drawing “solid” conclusions from very shaky proof and logic. Let’s keep this rational and open-minded, shall we.

Kuliah gratis

education, General, Teknoblogia

note: bagi yang mencari cara kuliah formal gratis, berikut ini adalah beberapa links yang bisa dicoba :

Informasi PMDK di berbagai universitas.
Info beasiswa dari ITS.
Info beasiswa dari MilisBeasiswa.com

Info beasiswa dari blog Beasiswa
Kuliah D3 gratis.
Kuliah gratis dari Universita Hamfara.
Kuliah gratis di UI.

Kini ada banyak universitas luar negeri yang menyediakan materi kuliahnya secara cuma-cuma. Tapi untuk menemukan semuanya tentu akan memakan waktu dan cukup membingungkan.

Syukurlah dengan Open Course Ware finder, maka kini Anda bisa menemukan berbagai materi kuliah yang free dengan sangat mudah.

Selamat menikmati.

Net Tools

General, hacking, internet, network, Teknoblogia

Bagi peminat masalah security / networking, Net Tools adalah satu koleksi utility yang bisa berguna bagi Anda.

Beberapa fitur Net Tools:

1) IP Address Scanner
2) IP Calculator
3) IP Converter
4) Port Listener
5) Port Scanner
6) Ping
7) NetStat (2 ways)
8) Trace Route (2 ways)
9) TCP/IP Configuration
10) Online – Offline Checker
11) Resolve Host & IP
12) Time Sync
13) Whois & MX Lookup
14) Connect0r
15) Connection Analysator and prtotector
16) Net Sender
17) E-mail seeker
18) Net Pager
19) Active and Passive port scanner
20) Spoofer
21) Hack Trapper
22) HTTP flooder (DoS)
23) Mass Website Visiter
24) Advanced Port Scanner
25) Trojan Hunter (Multi IP)
26) Port Connecter Tool
:
:
107) File Shredder
108) Local Access Enumerater
109) Steganographer (Art of hiding secret data in pictures)
110) Subnet Calculater

Dan terus bertambah setiap saat.

Memang ukuran downloadnya agak besar, tapi dari segi fitur cukup lengkap.

GNU Queue

General, Open-Source, Teknoblogia

This is another of my so-much-to-try-so-litle-time stuff : GNU Queue: clustering made easy.

Since computing performance are still increasing tremendously, clustering is still not a run of the mill stuff at the moment. Most of your work can still be done by a single PC in an acceptable amount of time, so there’s little incentive to make clustering more pervasive into our daily life.
But for those who needs it, GNU Queue seems to be a God-sent for its transparency and ease-of-use.

Now, if only there’s a consulting work coming, asking me to setup a Linux cluster, then I’ll be able to get myself to play with this thing, he he..

Gamespot Top 10 Game Of The Year (GOTY) and the new Falcon 4

General, Teknoblogia

The Gamespot’s GOTY for 2005 can be found here.

There are a few surprises there. For example, I expected Call of Duty 2 to show up, but instead it’s Battlefield 2.
It seems that Battlefield 2 is worth being a GOTY finalist though; for example, on how it makes online co op even better. For those who still remember, it was Return to the Castle Wolfenstein which first made online co op popular (previously, it was all deatchmatches). Battlefield 2 makes online co op FPS even better, by integrating voice chat capability; that’s it, for those who have enough bandwidth for it.
Also, squads is a great idea – if you’ve played RotCW, you’ll remember how sometimes it’s frustrating to get a single objective done. With squads, it’s now possible to tackle even multiple objectives at the same time. And while online co op brings a sense of solidarity for people on the same team; with squads, you and your team mates are like brothers.

The most surprising one is Resident Evil 4. I’ve played previous versions of it, but was not very much impressed.
But since this is the #1 game in this year’s GOTY, there must be something special about it. Alas, not much chance for me finding it out, since it’s on GameCube.

Anyway, I was just going to install Falcon 4 on my PC for my little brother – he’s very interested in planes and said he wants to become a pilot. With Free Falcon 3 and SuperPack 4, it should be good enough to let him experience how it is to become a pilot.
I almost became a pilot myself – passed all Merpati‘s pilot screening tests, and made it to the last test. I failed on that last test, however I later found out this is because I didn’t have any recommendation letter from a high ranking government officials (read: “katebelece”)- so I wasn’t too upset about it.

Back to Falcon 4 – with a good HOTAS (hands on throttle-and-stick), it seems that only a multimillion dollar, specialized, sim machines can rival a PC with Falcon 4 installed.
Stumbled upon a good news though – the next version of Falcon 4 has finally been released, after 7 years !!
It’s probably the magic number for it – after we got Falcon 3 on 1991, we also had to wait for 7 years to get Falcon 4. 🙂

Falcon 4: Allied Force is basically what Falcon4 was, minus the bugs, and with ability to utilize today’s 3D hardware — the original Falcon 4 was designed to run on plain VGA cards ! (later there were patches to let it uses 3D cards, but these are not built-in feature), and actually runs on DOS. Damn, we’ve been waiting for a LONG time indeed, but at least it’s here now.
Best of all, it’s VERY cheap – Falcon 4 costed me close to US$ 50, but this one costs only about US$ 19. This is probably because they made the manuals as PDF file (700+ pages) – I prefer the book, but I can always use the one from Falcon 4.

If you think yourself as hardcore sim player, you are not until you got this.
I’m very much looking forward to try this out with my little brother.

[ Gamespot’s 2005 GoTY ]
[ Falcon 4 HQ ]

Fuel battery

gadget, General, Teknoblogia

Saya memperkirakan bahwa fuel battery akan mulai tersedia di pasaran mulai dari tahun 2007, tapi ternyata saya salah: gadget yang menggunakan fuel battery sudah mulai dirilis !

Fuel battery tidak hanya memberikan baterai yang lebih tahan lama, namun juga memungkinkan munculnya gadget yang jauh lebih powerful daripada yang telah ada pada saat ini.

Semoga makin banyak gadget yang menggunakan fuel battery ini dalam waktu dekat ini.