Touchy comic about video game (one of the best comic)

I think I shed in tears a little. It reminds me of my mum. On of the best comic. Strong emotional story.
Just click the image thumbnail above. It is too long to put it here fullscreen so you need to click it to see it in full size.

Clever ad

Please only read lines 1,3 and 5.... :)

Car Free Day February 2008

Yesterday I had a chance to try my friend's Dahon VD6 for a test ride. Fortunately, that day was a Car Free Day, a one day monthly event where cars and motorcycles are not allow to enter the street of Sudirman, Thamrin all the way to Monas from 6 AM to 2 PM. This event usually held on the last weekend of the month. The uncrowded street then used by pedestrians, cyclists, and families for recrational activities.

There is no special preparation for me, just use my airsoft helm (Protech helm), my Lowepro backpack and of we go. Together with my wife and her Dahon ht661 (see my previous post) we start late around 9 AM, while many people and events are already begun from 6 and 7 AM. After cruising around the street and meet fellow folding bike owners and took some photos we decided to went home and have lunch at Gado-Gado Bu Aam near our home around 12.

The ride with Dahon VD6 is nice, one shortcome is the saddle that is too hard. It really uncomfortable for a long ride or when the road is not that good. And after riding my bike's wife (16" wheel and hi-tens frame) before, you can really feel the difference that come with the 20" wheel and light alumunium frame of Dahon VD6. Next week I'm planning to go to Tamansari where there are some bike stores that sell Oyama folding bike and test ride it.

Folding Bike Fever part 2

I have a habit of doing intense research of something I want before I decided to have it. And internet is a very important source of doing research and it has been for many things I have at this moment. And when I decided to have a folding bike, i go nowhere but digging in the vast resource internet has to offer. Two most important sources for me is Sepedaku (Indonesia bicycles forum) and Id-Foldingbike (Indonesia folding bike mailing list). Both offer important informations for me to choose what folding bike I will have. And right now they are 3 options in front of me, buy one of my friend's Dahon folding bike or buy a new Oyama folding bike. The other option is to buy 2nd hand Hasa F1 folding bike. They all have the same price.

My friend's Dahon actually is a streamlined Chinese Dahon KA062, a version of 2004 Dahon Vitesse D6. The other options is to buy a new Oyama folding bike (a Taiwanese brand) type Skyline Pro that some said it is a copy of Dahon Speed P8 (but with 7 speed). While Hasa F1 is a little bit out of reach because not many people own it and so it is hard find a used one on sale at a reasonable price.

Stupid grammatically correct sentence

Have you read or heard this sentence?:

"Buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo"

There are 8 buffalo words repeated in one sentence. And yet it is still grammatically correct sentence. An example is the proverb "Don't trouble trouble until trouble troubles you". This kind of words particularly the buffalo sentence has been discussed in literature since 1972 when the sentence was used by William J. Rapaport, currently an associate professor at the University at Buffalo.
The sentence can be breaking down into 3 types of buffalo:
1. The place called Buffalo (city of Buffalo, New York) as an adjective (A).
2. The animal American bison commonly called a "buffalo" as a noun (N).
3. The word buffalo as a verb meaning to bully, confuse, deceive, or intimidate (V).
So here are there:

Buffalo(A) buffalo(N) Buffalo(A) buffalo(N) buffalo(V) buffalo(V) Buffalo(A) buffalo(N)

And so the sentence means:
"Bison from Buffalo, New York who are intimidated by other bison in their community also happen to intimidate other bison in their community."

Confuse? Don't be. Lets say we change all instances of the animal buffalo with "people" and the verb buffalo with "intimidate". The sentence then reads:

"Buffalo people [whom] Buffalo people intimidate [also happen to] intimidate Buffalo people."

Or substituting the synonym "bison" for "buffalo" (animal), "bully" for "buffalo" (verb) and leaving "Buffalo" to mean the city, it reads:

"Buffalo bison whom other Buffalo bison bully themselves bully Buffalo bison".

I'm gonna stop here :)

*originally from Wikipedia

[Photos] Hambalang Hills

A photo session with friends from Lensa.Net. Model featuring Amel.

iPaper, a better way to show documents on the web

iPaper is a flash widget that can be embed in any web page to show various document formats. Its like YouTube, but instead of showing video, this one shows documents such as Word, PowerPoint, PDF, etc. It features the ability to add Google Ads directly in the documents. And it also has social features built in to encourage users to share their documents with their friends. In security side, because iPaper documents are embedded in webpages, the documents will naturally inherit the website's existing security system.
Scribd, the developer of iPaper offers 3 methods to begin using iPaper. QuickSwitch, that automatically convert documents on your website. Scribd API, for those who know more about programming. And the simplest method is by using the embeding system. This last method works by uploading document to Scribd website, and then you can copy and paste the embed code on Scribd to embed them on your website. If you do not have a website or just want to share the documents, you can choose to view it directly from Scribd website.
One thing that really interest me is the idea of sharing documents (like YouTube does with video) is something that really sell. Just go the homepage of Scribd and you will see a lot of people share documents. There a lot of documents from simple thing like cake recipe to some heavy stuff in political or religion. And not just documents, here are the list that can be uploaded:

• Microsoft Office Word (.doc, .ppt, .pps & .xls)
• OpenOffice (.odt, .odp, .sxw, .sxi, etc)
• Text (.txt & .rtf)
• PDF (.pdf & .ps)
• Images (.jpg, .jpeg, .gif, .png)

(ebook) US Army Ranger Handbook

Funny bar stools

funny bar stools, originally uploaded by SPAM_King.

It stunned me for a moment. I thought it was real. LOL.

My Flickr photostream

One of my hobby is photography. I was one of the student that start the first photography extracuriculer activities in my high school (SMA 14 East Jakarta) in 1992. Then I went to Department of Journalism in University of Padjadjaran (Bandung) in 1993 and learn journalism photography.

My first camera is SLR Canon AE-1 with Tamron 70-210mm lens from my father. I took mostly journalism and human interest shots and most of it in black and white film. After that camera then I switched on to SLR Minolta Dynax (i forget the type) with kit lens. This camera has been my companion in my college years. By the time I graduated I sold it.
When most of my college friends work in media company, I choose a different path and spend of my post college year in IT sectors being an instructor and graphic designer. At this moment I hardly use my photographic skills and just use a Canon pocket digital camera for graphic design work purpose I have that time.
After spend several years at Bandung I moved on to Jakarta. Having better financial income then I managed to buy my first DSLR, the Nikon D50 with 18-55mm lens and begin my old hobby again. After about a year I decided to buy another DSLR this time a Nikon D80 with several lenses. What I enjoy from my hobby is the time when I gather and have photo hunting/session with fellow photographer friends in various exotic areas. So it is not just taking pictures but at the same time we travell to beautifull places that some of it I never visited before.
At the moment I do not own DSLR at all. I recently sold my D80 for other hobbies and decided to went hiatus on my photography hobby. So now I have a lot of time to review my old photos and decided to begin uploading it to my Flickr account. I will post update here everytime I upload a new photo at my photostream.

Ridiculous biker

I can not imagine driving this bike even just for an evening drive around the neighbourhood. How about touring interstate? Those really a strong arm :)

Folding bike fever

With my wife's new folding bike :)

First time I know about folding bike is from one of my airsoft buddy when we were actually talking about GPS devices. That was about one year ago and that time I was so consume with my airsoft hobby that I did not give it too much attention altough it is stick in my mind from that time. Recently my wife talk to me about having bike at home and we agree having bicycle will be fun for us. And then one of her friend introduce her to the folding bike. One talk lead to another and yesterday my wife bought her first folding bike.

Test riding the new bike :)

The bike is Chinese Dahon HT661 with 16inch wheel with blue finish. I took on a test ride and I immediatly like it. The practicallity and a lot of fun possibilities that come with it are very interesting. Lets say that I can bring it with me to the office (even ride it to the office), take it inside the car trunk, go to some places (Kebun Raya Bogor, Ancol, etc) and when we arrive we can use it instead using the car. Or imagine this: I ride it to one of the Jakarta-Bandung travel station, fold it and put it inside the travel car's trunk, go to Bandung. After arriving in Bandung, unfold the bike and ride it around the city. It is a lot of fun isn't it? How about going to Yogya by train or to Bali by plane? It only weighing at 10-12 kg so it is easy to carry around after you fold it.

The folded bike in the corner of our room. Looks good with my blue Adidas Superstar :)

But then again this is my wife's bike and it has only 16 inch wheel wich is perfect fit for my wife's size but not for me. My wife said I looke like a circus bear on bicycle when I ride it. So I guess I will buy myself my own folding bike with 20 inch wheel that should fit me well. Look forward for posts about folding bike and bike travel next.
In the mean time here are some link to bike community in Indonesia:

• Sepedaku : Indonesian bike community forum. They have dedicated sub forum about folding bike.
• ID-Foldingbike : mailing list of folding bike enthusiasts in Indonesia.
• B2W Indonesia : Bike to Work community in Indonesia.

Three firts for Paloschi wins Milan, Milan 1 - Siena 0

It is so unfortunate condition for Milan right now. Having most of their important players down injured and banned with tight schedule in front of them forcing play twice a week (imagine if they manage to continue in Copa).For tonight game they play with 4-4-2 formation minus Kaka & Pato (injured), Gilardino (banned) and Seedorf (benched) in their starting lineup. Without Kaka and Seedorf as trequartista player, Milan put Ronaldo (looks like not 100% fit tonight) and Inzaghi as strikers. Due to fitness factor it looks like Ronaldo really struggling in playing his duty tonight. In first half he looked like almost invisible.
Overall Milan was struggling in the first half without second player to control the game aside of Pirlo. Usually Kaka or Seedorf with their creativity will be able to cover up Pirlo duty in creating chances for the team. But without them it really looks like Pirlo having a bad time to perform well tonight.
In the 2nd half Carletto substituted Ronaldo and Nesta for Seedorf and Bonera. I do not know what happened to Nesta so he was substituted in the 2nd half. I did not see anything wrong with him in the 1st half. I just hope Carletto substituted him so he can take a rest for the next game. Anyway the substitution worked well. With Seedorf in the pitch, Milan able to create more chances. Tough I still worried about Bonera because he made couple of mistakes in the first 10 minute in the pitch.
The surprise came in in 60mins when Alberto Paloschi, promoted youngster who already played 2 games in Copa Italia (and scored in each game) this season came to the picth replacing Serginho. Paloschi age 18 the same as Pato then made his fist official debut in Serie A. And after Seedorf realesed quick lob pass to the back of Siena defense, without controlling and dribbling the ball, Paloschi just hit the ball with powerfull and precise first time volley kick that went to the right bottom corner of Siena goal.
And again Milan was saved by 18 years old player! I just hope that this goal make Milan management realized that we should depend to a more younger potential player rather than "has been" & "over the hill" players.

Man of the match: Paloschi
Good appreciation should be given to Kalac too. His consisten performance with Milan recently that award him 1st choice goal keeper ahead of veteran Dida really showed up tonight. He made some of very important stop tonight that couple of them I could describe it as "a 90% goal". But the three firsts from Paloschi: first time appearance in Serie A, first touch of the ball in the game and his first goal in the first game in Serie A, is something that is a man of the match material and Milan should be thankful to him for his goal tonight. We just came closer to the 4th position tonight.

Peruvian Riot Police = Judge Dredd + Batman + Ninja + Robocop

Have you seen my recent post about creepy riot police uniform from Polish? This time come from Peru. Not creepy but sure frightening. So from now on do not go rioting in Polish and Peru :)

Originally from Shemuses

Land property for sale - Jual Tanah : Jl. Raya Bogor Km.34 Cimanggis

Location: -6.398°S 106.865°E

English:
Land property for sale in Jalan Nangka about 50 m from Jalan Raya Bogor Km.34 Cimanggis Bogor.
The road is wide enough about 15 m that can accomodate large truck such as container truck.
The size of the land is about 1900 m2. The location is known as industrial area (near the area are Toa electronic factory and Yanmar diesel engine factory). The distance from Cimanggis tol gate (Jagorawi) is about 7 km. There is a new ring road tol currently under plan and it is about 2 km from the site.
Note: The land belong to my family so you deal with first hand owner (myself) of the property.
Leave your number or email in Comments so I can contact you for further details.

Bahasa Indonesia:
Dijual tanah warisan keluarga di Jl. Nangka kira2 50 m dari jalan Raya Bogor Km 34 Cimanggis Bogor.
Jalannya lebar, truk kontainer juga bisa masuk tanpa masalah. Karena bukan dipinggir jalan rayanya jadi aman dari rencana pelebaran jalan Raya Bogor.
Luas tanah kurang lebih 1900 m2. Cocok untuk gudang, warehouse, workshop, dll. Dekat situ ada pabrik Toa sama pabrik mesin diesel Yanmar.
Dari pintu tol Cimanggis kira-kira 7 km. Kalo dari rencana jalan tol ring road yg baru (namanya lupa) kira-kira 2 km.
Note: ini tanah keluarga sendiri jadi langsung deal dengan saya (pemilik) tidak lewat perantara lagi.
Yang berminat silahkan tinggal email atau nomer yg bisa dihubungi di Comments atau yang sudah tahu email saya bisa langsung hubungi saya. Terima kasih.

Undersea internet cable in the world

(Click image for larger version)

Recently internet users in Asia and some part of North Africa have difficulties while accessing some web sites or checking their emails. Later it was found out that there was a cable error in undersea internet cable in Mediteranian sea. This happened because a ship's anchor accidently cuts 2 cables (SeaMeWe4 and FLAG Europe-Asia) reducing internet capacity in Asia by 75%.
Source: The Guardian

Why Rambo is still a badass person

(click to view larger image)
Originally from Geekstir

Pato scored, pato injured. Fiorentina 0 - Milan 1

It was a dull 1sty half i watched with my eyes half asleep. The 2nd half started with the same attitude with Fiorentina really explioted our left flank where Maldini is. The break came when Carletto made a change putting in Pato for Seedorf who looked very angry being subsituted at that time. Leaving from the other side of the field and refusing shakehand with Pato.

With this substitution Milan now played with 2 forwards (Gila & Pato). And then Emerson came in to replace Brochi. Emerson play in deep midfield replacing Pirlo original position while Pirlo move to the right midfield. This change worked well and Pato scored and become Milan saver of the game with his goal.

And the disaster struck. Pato injured his ankle while try shooting a ball. It looks worried as Pato really looked in agony and has to be stretched out of the game. I really hope nothing serious although I kind of doubt it. Looks like we are gonna lost another striker perhaps for another couple of months. It really sadden me.

Man of the match:

Kalac played well tonight. One golden opportunity for Fiorentina to level the score has been succesfully denied by him at injury time. I would say that man of the match will be Pato if he able to finish the game. But he did not. So I will say Kalac because his performance to denies Fiorentina chances.

Most expensive book on Amazon

After reading Digg post about the weirdest book in the world titled Codex Seraphinianus. I wonder what is the most expoensive book sold at Amazon right now. My curiousity arise because the Codex Seraphinianus, said to be rare and expensive, is sold at Amazon for 550 USD.

So I do a little search at Amazon to find out what is the most expensive book they sell at the store right now. And the result is a hard cover book about dog titled: Art of Dog listed at 99,999.99 USD by author Chen, BS. I thought this is ridicoulos and some error because the volume 2 version is available at only 38.95 USD. Too bad there is no image of the book cover available. So do you rather spend more than 90,000 USD for a book about dog or spend it on a real living useful dog instead (and I think it is a lot cheaper too) ? :)

• Product description: museum collection of art of dog.
• Hardcover: 512 pages
• Publisher: Open Hearts Media (March 30, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1425200060ISBN-13: 978-1425200060
• Product Dimensions: 10.8 x 8.2 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3 pounds

Nüvifone. New phone from Garmin.

The convergence of hand-held gagdets become more and more advance right now. After the convergence of phone and camera to media player and office productivity, now the GPS (Global Positioning System) technology has its way.

Recently Garmin as a company well known for its GPS product release their preview for the upcoming product called the Nüvifone. It is practically a cell phone loaded with current technology specification but with a builtin GPS system from the well known company.

Some said the user interface is the same as Iphone from Apple. From its 3,5 inc touch screen you can see 3 big icon: Call, Search and View Map. The idea of making GPS system available into your phone, IMHO is very interesting. There are a lot you can do with the builtin GPS beside of reguler things such as for navigation and finding places. For instances, you can take a picture of beautifull landmark with the camera, geotagged it (put coordinate information in it). The user may then save the image so they can navigate back to the location, or email the image to a recipient who can navigate directly to the location. Or take a picture of yourself waiting, send it to your friend so they will be easy to find you.

Garmin anticipates that the Nüvifone will be available in the third quarter of 2008. Specific details about pricing and sales partners will be announced in the future.

Features include:

• Google local search
• Garmin Online services - traffic, weather, fuel prices, hotel discounts, etc.
• N vi-like navigation on the road or in pedestrian mode
• Email, text, IM functions
• Camera, video camera, MP3 and MPEG4/AAC
• GSM HSDPA
  

Trench Warfare

*I got this from someone who sent it from Flickr. If someone know who is the original author please let me know so I can give him a proper credit.

Light Pollution

Light Pollution, originally uploaded by cestomano.com.

A beautiful shot picturing the light pollution. Long exposure cause the light to be highly intensive resulting in the burn-like effect.

This is Sparta!

Some people are just (in a strange way) too creative.

Java Jazz 2008 Schedule

Full page on Google Document here.
PDF version here.

Seven Medical Myths

These are something that you're likely to get from your mother or mother-in-law the 1st time you accidentally complain about small unimportant headache...and you already know they will say the same thing no matter how old you are right now.

1. Drink at least 8 glasses of water a day. Actually it means your body need liquid about 8 glasses a day. That means any liquid from food, fruit, juice, drinkwater, etc. So you do not have to drink water 8 glasses a day, just try to have liquid minimal as much as 8 glasses a day.
   
2. We use only 10 percent of our brains. This assumption was made back in 1907. Just think what kind of equipments and how deep is medical science 100 years ago? Now, with all technology in neuroscience, experts believe we use more than 10 percent. In fact, high-tech methods of studying the brain have not identified any inactive areas.
3. Hair and fingernails continue to grow after death. Every parts of our body need energy to sustain their function. This include tissue regeneration. Once the body shutdown, there are no source of energy left. And then the dehydration of the body after death can cause retraction of the skin around hair and nails, giving the illusion that they have grown.
4. Reading in dim light ruins your eyesight. Statistic says that rate of myopia (nearsightedness) is higher right now then it was centuries ago when people read in candlelight. Read in dim light can cause eyestraint and difficulty focusing, but never causing permanent effect.
   
5. Shaving causes hair to grow back faster or coarser. Study shows it was wrong. Newly grow hair lacks the fine taper seen at the end of unshaven hair, making it appear coarser. And the fact that it hasn't been exposed to light may make it seem darker than other hair.
6. Mobile phones are dangerous in hospitals. Studies in England and the U.S. have found little in the way of interference and few serious effects. The study showed that no interference at all in 300 tests in 75 treatment rooms. In fact, some reports said that the use of mobile phones by physicians was associated with a reduced risk of medical error or injury resulting from delays in communication.
7. Eating turkey makes people especially drowsy. Some said this is because some substance called tryptophan. But the amount of this tryptophan in turkey is the same as it is in cheese and other meat product. And the true factor is: any big meal can make you sleepy because of a decrease in blood flow and oxygenation to the brain. And then, of course, there's the wine.

*The facts above was taken from a study published in the December 2007 British Medical Journal re-written by Dr. Andrew Weill, MD. You can go to his website for good information in health & medicine.

Destroy that web site!

Have you ever hate some web sites that you really want to tear it up as if it was some crappy tabloid? Or sometime you just wonder if you have power to turn any Web site into a playground of destruction and/or defilement? Then you have to try NetDisaster. Just go to the web, fill in the URL of your victim, choose the kind of destruction you want and press Go. Voila! Instant (and sometime humorous) destruction present it to you the way you like it.
Or if you are a die hard fans of web destruction, you can also install the toolbar so you do not have to go the web, just click your chosen desires and the destruction is yours.

Light Still Shines On The Fair

Light Still Shines On The Fair, originally uploaded by Alec Feld.

A very unique photo. The color tone and light/shadow dynamic are very captivating. The photographer just know how to position himself and look for the right angle. Nice shot!

The most ridiculous arrest photo ever

Allentown man charged in two homicides -- themorningcall.com

Excerpt from the web: "Torres (the arrested guy) was driving on Turner Street Friday afternoon when he was pulled over by police and arrested. He was wearing a hooded sweartshirt with a skull-head pattern on it, pajama bottoms and fuzzy lion-faced slippers at the time. He was still wearing the get-up when he was arraigned after midnight at Lehigh County prison."
A hooded sweatshirt with a skull-head pattern definetly is not a matchup with lion-faced slippers! Oh kid nowadays...

A ticket to hell has never been funnier

Originally from: The Galloping Beaver: I would probably never do this

I do not how those guys find the idea of this...but it is damn funny :)

Pato steal the show. Milan 2 - Genoa 0

It was a good result after disappointing previous game against Atlanta!

The game (1st half):
Milan came with 4-4-1-1 formation with Pato as a lone striker. First I was a little bit dissapointed with this formation as I remember when Milan play with Catania in Copa Italia that ended with a draw. I was afraid Milan will play to defensive with practically 4 midfield player and only 1 striker up front. This became reality in the first half where Milan was not easy to develop the game as they want it. This worsen with Genoa play closely defensive with all their players most of the time stayed on their half and Rubinho (Genoa GK) played very well.

The game (2nd half):
Milan open the 2nd half with fast game and hard pressure on Genoa's players. I was thinking that Pato will be replaced by Gilardino on the 2nd half. Pato have been struggling on the first half with some chances went away. To be surprised Carletto did not make any change at all. What is really surprised me was that Ambrosini playing very well on the 2nd half running wide and creating chances. This is the different between the game against Catania and tonight game. The 4 midfield players on the 2nd half played better and performed very well on the 4-4-1-1 scheme.
I was mistaken that thinking about replacing Pato. The first Milan goal from him was really the game opener. And the key for winning the game for Milan tonight is Milan consistency after scoring goal and lead the game. If you read my previous post, Milan has tendencies to play defensively and become clumsy after leading a game and in the end loosing it. But tonight after Pato's 1st goal Milan, Milan able to maintains their pressure. And this pressure that in the end resulting in Rubinho (Genoa's GK) being sent off for handsball outside the penalty box. After this incident practically Milan control the game and Pato adding another goal after superb pass from Ambrosini.

Man of the match.
Ambrosini surprisingly playing very well tonight even better than Pirlo. Kaka still dangerous although still could be better for his high standard. Oddo playing as a starting lineup and playing better than the previous game I have seen. But I think everybody will agree that Pato really steal the show tonight. Struggling on the first half, he was able to maximize chances he got on the 2nd half and keep the Genoa defense on their foot all the time.
I just hope he will be able to keep up with everybody's expectation and help Milan reach top 4 position.

Last.fm to free the musics

I'm a long time member of Last.fm since the day they only offer simple services. I subscribe to the web just so I can show the musics I played/like to various forums and mailing lists I'm into. Just look at the widget on the right side of this page. The services then developed into more complex and sophisticated and evolve into something very promising in web trend today. I personally admire the goal and the core philosophy of the founders, and I think it is one of the strongest web social network today and still has many room for improvements in the future.
Today as I read my daily morning routine web, I found news about Last.fm. As for 23 January 2008, you can play full-length tracks and entire albums for free on the Last.fm web site. Previously you can only play just the first portion of the song. And now you can freely stream every song you see and hear in the web. Last.fm claimed they have total support from big recording labels such EMI, Sony BMG, Universal and Warner so they have made the biggest legal collection of music available to play online for free. Each time you play one of the song, the artist of the song get paid. This way the artist can get the amount of money based on how popular their song is instead just one fixed amount which sometime can be unreasonable (too big so you spend money for music you do not like or to small so the artist do not get what they deserve).
The other great news is, this "someone play your music and you get paid" scheme not just for those big artists from big labels. You as an individual or come from indie label can also participate in. Just sign up to participate for free. This is a great opportunity for bands and artists to get their songs up and heard by a lot of people and get their name for it.

• Last.fm website
• Last.fm – the Blog · Free the Music
• My Last.fm page. Don't forget to add me :)

Assassin's Creed minimum PC requirements is insane!

This is one of the game that I have been waiting for its PC version. For console version it was already been released couple months ago.

From Wikipedia: "Assassin's Creed is a third-person stealth game in which the player assumes the role of Desmond Miles, an average bartender who is the last descendant of a long family line of assassins. Desmond has been taken to a facility where he is forced to use the Animus, a machine that traces and recreates the memories of his ancestors during the Third Crusade. Through these memories, the player controls Altaïr Ibn La-Ahad (الطائر إبن لا احد, Arabic, "The Flying One, Son of None"), a member of the Assassin Brotherhood. Altaïr's objective in the game is to slay nine historical figures propagating the Crusades in the year 1191. (According to Ubisoft developers, all of the main character's targets are historical figures who died or disappeared in 1191, although not necessarily by assassination.)".

The developer, Ubisoft recently published its minimum PC requirements. And here are the gory details:
In order to play this game properly, your PC MUST meet or exceed these minimum requirements:

• Supported OS: Windows XP / Vista (only)
• Processor: Dual core processor 2.6 GHz Intel Pentium D or AMD Athlon 64 X2 3800+ (Intel Core 2 Duo 2.2 GHz or AMD Athlon 64 X2 4400+ or better recommended)
• RAM: 2 GB (3 GB recommended)
• Video Card: 256 MB DirectX 10.0–compliant video card or DirectX 9.0–compliant card with Shader Model 3.0 or higher (512 MB video card recommended) (see supported list)*
• Sound Card: DirectX 9.0 or 10.0 compliant sound card (5.1 sound card recommended)
• DirectX Version: DirectX 10.0 libraries (included on disc)
• DVD-ROM: DVD-ROM dual-layer drive
• Hard Drive Space: 12 GB
• Peripherals Supported: Keyboard, mouse, optional controller (Xbox 360 Controller for Windows recommended)

*Supported Video Cards at Time of Release: ATI RADEON X1300-1950 / HD 2000 / 3000 series NVIDIA GeForce 6600-6800 / 7 / 8 / 9 series.
Laptop versions of these cards may work but are NOT supported. These chipsets are the only ones that will run this game.
NOTICE: This game contains technology intended to prevent copying that may conflict with some disc and virtual drives.
( Source)

Let's compare it with my pc specifications:

• OS: I'm using Windows XP Pro SP2, so that will be fine.
• Processor: It needs minimum dual core technology???!! WTF! I only have Athlon XP 3000. I wonder if my mobo (DFI Lanparty UT2) can be used with Athlon X2 processor.
• RAM: 2GB??!! Another WTF! It might be the first PC game with minimum 1 Gb RAM needed to play it properly. I have been invested in RAM with my 1Gb (2x512) Twinmoss Speed Premium (wich cost me alot back then, it was a premium RAM Hardware with low lat) and now I need to buy a new RAM. Heck, I think I should go with mediocre RAM instead this time. Anyone want to buy my old RAM?
• VGA: Altough my VGA Card is listed as supported card (mine is 6600GT) but my card only have 128Mb memory. The game need minimum 256Mb pluck in it.
• The rest: no problems.

So how much do I have to spend my money to play this game?

• My old Athlon XP 3000 valued around 300.000 IDR. The new Athlon X2 64 +3800 is around 550.000 IDR. That means I need about 250.000 to 300.000 IDR to get the new processor.
• My old RAM might be around 250.000 IDR. The new 1Gbx2 cost me about 500.000 IDR. So that means I need another 250.000 to 300.000 IDR for new RAM.
• I could not find the price for my MSI 6600GT 128Mb, but based on other type price I think it should be around (another) 250.000 IDR. I could not find local computer webstore that still sell 6600 series so I'm thinking about 7300 series wich cost around 500.000 IDR. That means I need 250.000 to 300.000 IDR for new VGA card. This whole 250.000-300.000 IDR keeps popping around it starts to give me a creep :)

So in the conclusion, to be able to play Assassin's Creed properly I need money as much as 900.000 IDR!! Well it is still cheaper than buy a new Sony PS3 :)

Walk your fiancée on a leash

Goth who walks fiancée on a leash is banned by bus driver who told him: 'No dogs allowed' the Daily Mail

It always becomes a hot topic about how people choose how they live their life. Not just about culture they took but also how they practice their spiritual believe (religion). I always believe as long as whatever you choose to believe or to do does not hurting or bothering the way I live my life, it is Ok.

In Islam there is one verse from Quran that definetly describe it well: "Lakum dinukum waliyadin". Roughly means: "Your religion is for you only and my religion is for me alone". So I do what I choose and you do what you choose, everything is fine as long as we do not interfere with each other believe.
Well back to the story above. The girl said: "...It's my culture and my choice. It isn't hurting anyone...". And I must say that I agree with her......even how weird it is for me.

University of Padjadjaran Reunion

My friends exchanging phone number

On 20 January 2008 I went to my almamater reunion back in Bandung. Not really into the event, just met with some of my college friends and having some good time. Fyi, I finished my undergraduate from University of Padjadjaran in Bandung. Majoring in Journalism from Faculty of Communication class 1993.
I did not bring my DSLR camera and this shot was taken with my Nokia 6120 camera. I will post new pictures as soon as my friend mail it to me.

Largest land vehicle

Move away Megatron, earth has a new player!

This land vehicle is called Bucket-wheel excavators used in mining activities. The one above called The Bagger 288 (Excavator 288), built by the German company Krupp for the energy and mining firm Rheinbraun.

Some facts:

• The machine is 95 meters high and 215 meters long (almost 2.5 football fields in length) .
• Weight is 45,500 tons (that's equivalent to a bumper to bumper line of jeeps 80 miles long)It took 5 years to design and manufacture at a cost of $100 million.
• Maximum digging speed is 10 meters per minute.
• Can move more than 76,000 cubic meters of coal, rock, and earth per day.
• Took 5 years to design and manufacture and another 5 years to assemble.
• Requires 5 people to operate it.
• It moves on 12 crawlers (each is 12 feet wide, 8' high and 46 feet long).There are 8 crawlers in front and 4 in back.
• It has a maximum speed of 1 mile in 3 hours (1/3 mile/hour).
• It can remove over 76,455 cubic meters each day.(100,000 large dump trucks at 40yds. each)

Flying Soccer Man

I'm a big fan of video game. One of my all time favorite is Pro Evolution Soccer (Winning Eleven) series. I like it because of the gameplay and player ingame movement is pretty realistic, although sometime there are some scene where the animation is a little bit "fantastical" like the one in this screenshot I took.

Uranium ore anybody?

Want to know what is like being radiated? Want to know the look of the famous thing that can make an amazing cloud after detonated as an atomic bomb? Wonder no more! As you can buy it for your self! That is right! You can have your own uranium ore. Thinking about making a cool new prank at school? Or start creating your own nuclear plant for your home. Get it at Amazon! Yes, Amazon sell uranium ore. .......weird.....

Milan 1 - Catania 1 (Coppa Italia)

As suspected, Milan play with their reserves team. The only regular player only Pirlo who was wearing the captain's armband. Catania played well and deserve the outcome by stopping Milan advance to the next round (aggregate 2-2 but Catania win by away goal).
There are nothing much I can say about the game, by putting most of their reserves players on the field, it was hard for them to find the rhythm and control the game. I'm a fan of offensive play, so when Carletto decided to play with one striker and fill the midfield with 5 players I shortly began to feel that this was not the game they will win. By placing Gilardino in front alone, I feel a little bit sorry for him as he was practically work alone. The midfield is too cramped with so many players that they didn't know what to to. Emerson and Brocchi play in deep, Cafu (a natural right back) played in wide right with Pirlo and Gourcuff try to support Gilardino up front. This scheme is suck.
Milan has tradition not playing with wide midfielder (pure winger). And now they doesn't have it on the team too today. So I think when you play with one striker, you should utilize the wide of the field as much as you can. This is when you need a winger. Cafu might be a good options even tough he is a natural right back, but he is too old to run and distribute ball as a winger supposed to do. So in addition of having a midfielder to replace Seedorf (read my last post), Milan should find player for wide midfield position.

Here are some players that worth to be noted:

Massimo Oddo
When Milan decided to brought him in, I feel that was a good choice. He already played in national team, been captain of Lazio and so far that time was one of the best player in right back position. But it is rather disappointing performance he has been since wearing Milan's shirt. Not too much impressive for his standard.

Yoan Gourcuff
He might be the next Zidane, but not now. Milan should loan him to other clubs and let him develop. It wastes of talent if he keeps play as a regular substitute. Let him play for other club in one or two season and see what he become. Just do not sell him right now.

Alberto Gilardino
After tonight game, I come to a conclusion that for the good of Milan and him, he should be out of Milan. Sell him while the price is still acceptable. He is a good player but I think he just don't fit in with Milan. I know Carletto is a big fan of him since the day they together at Parma but looks like things are not going to well for Gilardino if he stuck with current condition at Milan. I will not be too surprised if then he will play exceptional with other club after quitting Milan.

Creepy police uniform!

Originally from Marita @ Incredimazing.com

Polish riot police with the most creepy uniform I've ever seen. Try to mindfuck the mob and get them to surrender. Well i'm fucked.

Milan 5 - Napoli 2

It was aired live in 2.30 AM Monday and so here I am feeling sleepy at the office today. But it was a well worthed game to watch. After long suffering home record, my AC Milan finally bring the crowd what it feels to win a home match.
Thanks to what I like to call it a promising performance as I seen better performance before. So here are what I thought about the game this morning:

Goalkeeper:
Dida has been suffered for a lack of quality performance before. Based on this morning match I can not say too much about him as he was barely make any crucial saves. About those 2 goals, those are practically not his fault (more about it below...). Nevertheless I still think Dida has been over his peak performance and Milan should bring a new goalie to the team. There has been a rumour about some other Brazillian goalkeeper in Milan's list but I think we should bring home Abbiati instead. Milan has a habit of wasting promising talents so please get Abbiati back to the team.

Defender:
Milan start with Nesta & Kaladze in the middle with Maldini on the left and Bonera on the right. The first 10 minutes is working well with both flank were not hesitate to support the attack. Until the first goal came up and Maldini's age can not keep up with his gameplay. Shortly it became obvious that our left back become vulnerable. I don't know why but the same thing happen on our right side. Tough it is not about the age factor but Bonera keep loosing position every time Napoli made an attack.
I noticed from Milan every time they play their game, whenever they score first usually they become careless and change the game to be a bit more defensive. And this is exactly what happened on the game, they become careless and from a quick counterattack Napoli drew the score. And again it was happened when Milan lead 2-1 and Kaladze made an unnecessary tackle wich lead to the penalty and brought Napoli back on level term.
I always think Milan's primary concern is on their defense line. Majority Milan's defender is over 30 years old. In modern football today where fast paced and cunning attacker rule the scoreboard, a fast paced and cunning defender is a must have for every team. And we don't have it on our team. The only players that imho should stay with the team are: Nesta (the most experienced and playable for 90 minutes player we have), Bonera (not as good as he was in Parma days but he can be better) and Kaladze (on and off performance but sometime he played well as left back). The other players including Maldini should stay on the bench.
So please Milan get some new (and young) defenders soon. We need left and right back player for covering our flanks and tough center defender. There are a lot of name to be mentioned here but I read that Milan's top list on the summer include Zambrotta and Sergio Ramos. Both players I think could be a useful addition the team.

Midfielder:
Milan's midfield are Ambrosini, Pirlo, Seedorf and Kaka. Gattuso was left behind because of injury. The midfield played well generally. We know Carletto like to play with deep midfielder to control how the team play. This role we know is Pirlo's. Then usually Seedorf and Gattuso covering wider field with Kaka in front of them behind the attackers. But because there was no Gattuso, Carletto bring Ambrossini to the match. This create a little bit of change in the game.
I think Ambrossini is best played as defensive midlfielder to stop the opponents attack before it reach the defender. Usually he substituted Pirlo when Carletto want Milan to play more defensive play. But in this match Ambrossini has to play Gattuso's role wich is a more mobile roles then he usually play as defensive midfielder and Ambrossini was not doing it very well at the 1st half of the game. The first goal from Napoli was a good example of this. There should be someone stopping the counterattack at the first time. I think Pirlo thought Ambrossini will be there and vice versa. After he was replaced by Emerson in 69 minutes, Milan midfield become more stable and it contribute very well to how Milan play for the rest of the game.
For midfield players, Milan should try to invest of some younger players too. Seedorf soon will become to slow. And so far Seedorf has been a very important player for Milan. Whenever Seedorf playing well almost guaranteed that Milan will win the game. This is because Seedorf can play the role of Kaka (attacking midfield) as good as he can play the role of Pirlo (deep playmaker). So everytime Milan's opponent manage to contained Kaka or Pirlo, Seedorf is the one that can save the game for Milan.
There was a substitution on 78 minutes where Gourcuff came in to replace Ronaldo while Milan already lead the game by 5-2. Gourcuff is a promosing young talented player, but looks like he prefer to play in wider position. Beside, as long as Milan have Kaka, Pirlo, Gattuso and Seedorf, it was unlikely he will play as reguler player. So we still have to wait for him. So what Milan need is a midfield player who can distribute ball and create chances. Someone that Milan can look in to when Kaka or Pirlo play below par.

Attacker:
The long waited duo finally came to play: Ronaldo and Pato. Ronaldo altough I think still a little bit slow made up for it with his instinct by doing positioning very well on the game. Two goals from him showed it very well. I think we should give him a chance and at least we can squash a little bit more of him before the age factor come.
And finally Pato "the Duck". His performance on the game really remind me of Sheva. He is quick and explosive with incredible individual skill just like Sheva in his prime time. Yes he score only one goal instead of two as he promised before, but that one goal is incredible. Show how good his skill is by controlling ball like that and with a good attacker instinct manage to put the ball in to Napoli goal.
Yet I think his performance is not yet reach in the level of superb or even good performance. I would say his performance is in category of very promising. Milan should let him play regularly, let him taste what it feels like playing in Serie A. Let him feel what is like being tackled and guarded here. That way he can improve and adapt his style to the game. If things going well, I have no doubt he will be the next Sheva.
Do wee need another attacker? Not as important as we need new defender or midfield but Milan should get one more new player. Inzaghi and Ronaldo is not Milan's future. That left Gilardino and Pato (with Aubameyang in reserve). Pato definetly play, but Gilardino keep dispalying an on and off performance from the first time he joined Milan. He is a good player. I remember him from the time he played for Parma and he was superb. But he can not show the same performance with Milan, I guess his style not yet matched with how Milan play. So even there is still room for improvement for him, I think Milan should get one main attacker. What we need is an executioner and opportunistic type of player. A predator in penalty box. Much like Pipo Inzaghi and George Weah in his prime time. The rumor about Drogba in Milan's top list is really exciting. I really like Drogba style and I really believe he can be very useful for Milan.
So with Drogba and Pato up front I think Milan will have the most fearsome attacante. While Gilardino will provide the best backup for Milan to make it complete.
How about Ronaldinho? He is a great player and I like his style of play. But at the moment Milan does not need his type of play as Kaka already play the same position and roughly the same style of play. I do not mind if eventually Dinho join Milan but with that money we could bring several quality player for defense and midfield. So if Milan has money for all, then buy them all. But if doesn't, be wise and invest on the top priority first which is good defender.

Conclusion:
Milan get lucky this morning. They face Napoli even tough they fast but they not supported by quality players. But that was enough to put 2 goals in Milan's face in San Siro. What will happen if Milan has to face the like of Inter, Roma or MU and Barca? Defense is the most crucial factor to be consider and do something about it fast. Find younger defender and also goalkeeper before terrible things happen.
Pato is definetly Milan's future. Alongside with Kaka, Milan should do anything they can do to keep both players as long as possible.

Player of the game:


Milan did very well to play as a team. I think no one is more stand out above everyone else in term of performance. Kaka playing very well to made him always dangerous with the ball, Ronaldo's 2 goals was something for player thats has not been play for sometime, and Pato performance is very promising and this 18 years old score goal and create chances in his 1st time performance with the team. From those 3 I choose Pato as player of the game, but not based on his contribution for the team's winning but for his promising performance. He successfully made a statement from that game that he will be "something" in Serie A.

*All images from Acmilan.com

Oh yes darth....

image from Geekstir

This picture taken from a Star Wars coloring book for kids. Another ambiguous pose.