Who is faster?

Several days ago, I accompanied my children watching TV. It's about Upin and Ipin. It showed a fable; the  animal story but we can get the moral value from the story. Here is the story :

A Tortoise was walking very slowly when he met a rabbit. He greeted the rabbit, "Good morning, Mr. Rabbit. How are you?"
The rabbit did not answer but laughed at the tortoise and said, "I can't help laughing at you, Mr. Tortoise. You are so slow."
Hearing it, the tortoise became angry, but he pretended to be calm. Then he said,"Why don't you stop teasing me and make fun of me?.
"Wha ha ha ha .. if you are not slow. Let's have a race and see which of us can reach the tallest tree on that hill. It's a very long way off. But it will prove which of us can run faster."
"Okay.. deal" replied the tortoise. "Let's begin the race right away!"

As the race began, Of course, the tortoise left behind by the rabbit. The rabbit looked behind  and he could not see the tortoise. Tha rabbit decided to take a rest. "I think it's better for me to take a rest for a while here. I felt so hot, running so fast. The tortoise need a very long long time to get here. What a fool is Mr. Tortoise to have a race with me, the fastest creature!"

The rabbit laid down to take a rest and soon fell asleep. He slept soundly. He did not hear the tortoise passing quietly.
The rabbit at last woke up. He looked up towards the hill. He saw the tortoise far off very small. He knew the tortoise almost get the tree.
The rabbit murmured,"Mr. Tortoise can be only a few meters from the tree by now. I must hurry. I don't want to loose. I am the fastest. Go... go... goooo!!!"
The rabbit started to jump and run as fast as he could go. He got closer and closer to the tree. He ran with all his strength. He shouted, "I am comiii........iiing!!!"
Unfortunately, at that moment the tortoise reached the tree first. He was the first to arrive the tree. So he was the winner of the race. The rabbit was late ... only in a few seconds!

We got the morals of the story:
1. Do not laugh at anyone who seems inferior.
2. If we want to get something, work on and on, slowly but surely.

RIP Mr. Karmono

In the early morning. I got a bad news. A very bad news indeed. Our friend, Mr. Karmono passed away. He was sick seriously, but in the last few days,  he had gotten his recovery.  He often came to school to forget his sickness. 

No one knows when the death comes nor deny it . Sooner or later we will get the chance to die.  

                         Drs. Engel Bertus Karmono Eko P.  (EB)

                         Born: 29-09-1962          Died: 18-07-2010

Today is Mr. Karmono's time to visit  the Almighty God. We do not know our time. So, let's pray to God to prolong our time to live on his earth. Consequently, we have to do good things for our own sake. 

                                                           Rest In Peace Mr. Karmono

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.