A new additional job

The first of July was the first time to involve directly in the new job. Confusing, of course, but  we should responsible to what we have.

" The Wine Cork History and Facts "

In the 1600s a Benedictine monk called Dom Perignon observed that wooden stoppers wrapped in oil-soaked rags used to seal his bottles of sparkling wine often popped out, and so he replaced them with the conical pieces of cork to seal his bottles of sparkling wine.
Cork soon become ess...ential for wine bottling. The world's first cork stopper factory opened in around 1750, in Anguine (Spain).

The best cork comes from Portugal, and the country is the world's leading cork producer.

The bark of mature cork trees is harvested just once every nine years. Cork trees are not regarded mature enough for bark harvesting until they are at least 25 years old, and the bark itself is not suitable for wine corks until the third harvest. A cork tree will yield 13 to 18 useful harvests in its lifetime.

The processing of cork oak bark includes repeated sorting, boiling, punching, slicing, polishing, washing, drying, finishing and wax coating, and takes about a year.
The cork’s cell-like structure (there are around 800 million cells in a single wine cork) makes it best sealing material for wine bottles. However, the cork may sometimes become contaminated with harmless but foul-smelling trichloroanisole thus causing cork taint in wine.

Recently cork has also been used in rocket technology due to its fire resistance.

source: science of universe

A comment box

 I have been a poor blogger for about a year. I rarely write what I have in my mind on to my blog, especially the English one.  

Actually.. there are many things in my mind. But I cannot dig and put them on papers or on my blogs. I feel  blocked.

A year is not a short time. But it seems I know nothing how to manage my blog. I did not realize that blogspot is different with wordpress. Then I got the information from Mr. Afatih's blog that they are different. For instance, the comment box. In wordpress, we can use the comment box directly. On the contrary, in blogspot, we should manage it first. 

I remembered some of friends told me that they could not give any comment in blogspot.  I told them that they should fill the comment box with their opinion and send. But I myself have never tried it. 

Frankly, I often open Mr. Afatih's tutorials when I have difficulties to manage my blog. But I did not find this information.  Thanks God, You gave me Your 'hidayah' this afternoon. I also thank to Mr. Afatih. I got the information here : http://afatih.wordpress.com/2008/08/27/cara-bikin-kotak-komentar-blogspot-seperti-wordpress/#comment-46016 . We know that the tutorial was uploaded in 2008.  And I just got it several minutes ago!.  It is a kind of 'hidayah', isn't it?

Ramadhan and Lebaran

What is Ramadhan? Ramadhan is a fasting month for muslims. The fast begins in the morning just before sunrise, at Imsak, and is broken at maghrib which falls at sunset. Fasting during the month of Ramadhan is one of the five pillars of Islam and an obligation for devout Muslims.

During the month of Ramadhan, Muslims must refrain from eating, drinking, smoking, marital relations or getting angry during the daylight hours. In addition, those fasting are supposed to refrain from bad habits - lying, getting angry, using bad language as well as to be more diligent in prayer and give to charities. It is believed that fasting heightens spirituality and develops self-control.

Actually the people who are expected to fast are: adults, the people who have reached the age of puberty . On the other hands muslims who are not expected to fast are: children, women who are having their period of menstruation , travelers, the sick, those with long-term illnesses, pregnant or breastfeeding women and the mentally ill.

The muslims who fast awaken early in the morning to have a meal before subuh. It is known as sahur. In order to awaken the faithful, the call to prayer is sounded from neighborhood mosques. In addition, groups of young boys do 'ronda'. They walk around neighborhoods beating on drums and other noise makers to awaken the faithful.

The breaking of the fast at sunset is a very social occasion for which special foods are prepared for gatherings with family or friends. When the muslims hear the sound of the athan on the television or radio or the call to prayer from the neighborhood mosque at sunset. The muslims know it's time to break their fast known as buka puasa. This is usually done with a very sweet drink, for instance; kolak and sweet snacks usually kurma. Maghrib prayer is done before a full meal is served. Then, they do Tarawih prayer. The prayer is held after Isya' prayer in neighborhood mosques and or at gatherings every evening at about 19:00 p.m. These tarawih prayers are not compulsory but most muslims do it.

At the end of the month of Ramadhan and its special religious observance is the Eid holiday, called Idul Fitri or Lebaran in Indonesia. Oh yeah... before they do Eid prayer, they should pay Zakay Fitrah. In the lebaran this is the time when Muslims visit their family and friends to 'Sungkem' to parents and the elders ask for forgiveness for any wrongs they have committed in the previous year. They express this wish in the phrase “Mohon Maaf Lahir Batin” which means "forgive me from the bottom of my heart/soul for my wrong doings in the past year".

Idul Fitri begins with mass prayer gatherings early in the morning at mosques, open fields, parks and on major streets. It is an amazing sight to see rows of hundreds of Muslim women all dressed in their mukena performing the synchronized prayer ritual. Muslim men tend to wear sarong, traditional shirts or baju koko and hats or kopyah to Idul Fitri morning prayers.

Traditional foods are consumed, family and friends gather to ask forgiveness and exchange greetings, new clothing is worn but it is not a must.

At last, forgive me from the bottom of my heart for all of my wrong doings. And Happy Idul Fitri.

Invitation

In this month, I got so many wedding and other kinds of celebrations invitations.
It's okay. I don't mind coming to the wedding or other acitivities.
But, yes there must be but.
But I don't like to come to the wedding or other celebrations if I don't know who has invited me.

Think Positively

The students of Senior High School have finished doing the final examination. 

We hope they will pass the test with the outstanding results. Although the criteria of passing the test is higher than the criteria in the previous year, we have to believe that they can pass it easily.

Why? yeah by having a positive thinking we hope the result is also positive. It means that we give ourselves good determination in our mind.   Our grand grand parents gave implicit examples for us. We should not judge something bad although the fact of the thing was bad. We often find that the pregnant mother is forbidden to say bad things, although it is not spoken, just in her mind. They believed that the bad things would happen to the infant. 

We often meet a child with invalid or not normal in his or her organs. Then, we asked his or her families, most od them answered that the mother when she had pregnancy she said bad things based on someone's bad habbits or bad characters. Even, the father did bad things, for example, he stroke a snake's head with a stick. 

Those are the example of thinking something badly. That's why mindset motivator always arouses  the audiences to have a positive thinking in his or her mind.

CELEBRATING THE MAULID, THE BIRTHDAY, OF THE PROPHET MUHAMMAD SAW

 All praises be to Allah, the God who chose Muhammad as the chosen prophet from the Adam's descendant. He sent Muhammad to give good news and warning to all mankind. He is the lamp that brightens the ways.

I bear witness that there is no god but Allah, and I also bear witness that Muhammad is the messenger. May Allah bless our`leader Muhammad along with his companions and his followers until the end of the world.

Actually, we now live in great month, namely the month of Robi'ul Awal. This month is the birth month of the noblest man namely our prophet Muhammad SAW. He is the perfect soul, manner and brain. the presence of him with all his excellence is aimed to be the greatest for all mankind.

Therefore, our oblgatory during this month is making the month of Robi'ul Awal as the month of celebration to commemorate the birth of the noblest man. By commemorating the birth of the noblest prophet, the muslim will be able to get worthly lesson from the life history of prophet Muhammad and His companions.

By celebrating the birthday of prophet Muhammad with deep thinking and contemplation hence the commemoration will awaken the heart of the Muslim to get back to the guidance of the Messenger Muhammad SAW.