Opera Turbo: A Solution for Low Speed Connection

Perhaps some of us are the ones who don’t lucky enough to have high speed internet connection. Generally, low speed internet is cheap, but we can complain if the speed turns out to be very-very slow or even broken. I currently use low speed too; here I make use of Opera Turbo. It can help to ‘speed’ up a bit our connection.

Users can download Opera Turbo in Opera official site. After installation, make sure that the turbo is turned on by clicking a button in lower left side of Opera Turbo Window. Turbo is on when the button is red (see the image above). The button itself is clock shaped or perhaps speedometer shaped, I am not really sure.

I don’t really understand details how it works. In simple explanation when we are surfing in internet, data are routed through opera server first before reaching our browser, not direct from the source. When we browse a site, data is sent through opera server, compressed, and then compressed data is resent to us. Data is compressed up to 80%, so it is not amusing that we can surf a bit faster. It is not amusing too if images in a site we browse has lower quality, they has been compressed after all.

If you have fast internet connection, don’t bother to use Opera Turbo, it would not give any satisfying result. Fast connection won’t speed up using Turbo, in the contrary good images will be broken; their quality is lowered after passing opera server.

Lombok: Sister island of Bali

Lombok is an island in West Nusa Tenggara Province, Indonesia (Nusa Tenggara means south east island in English). The province’s capital, Mataram, is located in this island. Lombok is located on the east of Bali Island and only separated by a strait. Considering its near location to Bali, the main destination of tourists in Indonesia, and Lombok also has many exotic places as Bali, many people consider Lombok as alternative to Bali. Lombok is less westernized and less crowded than Bali too, a good thing for some people to retreat.

Because of growing potential of tourism, Lombok now has Selaparang International Airport near its capital, Mataram. Selaparang International Airport serves domestic and international flight, even if the main flight is dominated by domestic flight, especially to Denpasar, Bali. Most of tourists usually visit Bali first, and later visit Lombok via air from Ngurah Rai Airport in Denpasar to Selaparang Airport in Mataram. Tourists who have visited many places in Bali can make extended visit to Lombok. But less advertisement makes Lombok has not been as popular as Bali yet; furthermore, many infrastructures in Lombok are still in development. Local government is concerning with this problem, so developments in many potential areas are growing especially after Indonesia recovered from Asian Financial crisis in 1997. Hopefully, recent world economic crisis doesn’t affect badly to those developments even if tourism industry seems to be slowing today due to situation of world economic.

Compared to Bali, main inhabitants of Lombok is Sasak people with majority of them are Muslims. According to Statistic Bureau of Indonesia, 80% of inhabitants are Sasak people with majority of them are Muslims, 15% are Balinese Hindus, and the remaining are Javanese, Chinese, and Arabs. Main language is Sasak language, but Balinese in Lombok use Bali language. Islam as main religion affects many local cultures, compared to Bali whose cultures are affected by Hinduism.

These are many tourist attractions in Lombok such as Senggigi Beach, located in west cost of Lombok. Even if it is smaller, Senggigi is similar to Kuta Beach Bali. Senggigi has natural reef and many tourists go there to do snorkeling activities. Also Gili Meno, one of three Gili islands (the others are Gili Gili Trawangan dan Gili Air). Gili Meno is the place of endangered birds’ sanctuary. There is a unique thing in Gili Meno, i.e. local people intentionally limit motorized vehicle and electricity. In Gili Trawangan, compared to Gili Meno this Gili has more party air. Tourists usually go to Gili Trawangan for scuba diving or snorkeling.

There is one volcano in Lombok, Mt. Rinjani. Mt. Rinjani is a part of Mount Rinjani National Park. It is the second highest active volcano in Indonesia. Nearby, there is Hutan Monyet Pusuk, literally that name means Monkey Forest of Pusuk, located in Rinjani Forest. This forest is the place of Sendanggile Waterfall, a gate to climb Mt. Rinjani.

There are many other tourist attractions other than above. Local guides or travel bureaus in Bali are able to offer information about Lombok. Some people feel that less developed location can bring more enjoyments. Lombok does have places that will satisfy them.

BitTorrent: A Solution for faster download

Comparing to manual download, BitTorrent is incredible in particular things. In manual download, the process is getting slower when there are more users who download particular file together. In the contrary, using BitTorrent is faster when there are active more users downloading same files together.

Getting faster by adding more users is possible using BiTorrent because users don’t depend on single server. Users don’t download file on same source, but they are supporting each other. When a user has downloaded a part of particular file, he then uploads it to another user and next user do the same process in chain. Users are working together, so more users will result in more speeds. So, the term file sharing is more correct than download. See following animated image for more detailed process.

Usually I take BitTorrent files in The Pirate Bay and run them in Bittorrent client. I currently use a BitTorrent client, µtorrent, and it gives incredible speeds. This is a freeware and famous for its small size and stable performance.

Currently, BitTorrent is blamed for copyright infringement and becomes a medium to express anti-copyright movement. The Pirate Bay, a Swedish website that indexes and tracks BitTorrent (.torrent) files. was sued, accused facilitating infringement. By the way, I am not a supporter of copyright, so I just enjoy this BitTorrent.

Converting Cassettes to MP3

Do you own any cassette tapes? Do you want to convert cassettes to MP3 or other audio files? Most of the old songs were recorded in cassettes. I still remember that there were stacks of cassettes in my home when I was in primary school. Now, I hardly see it again when digitally recorded songs are distributed using CDs or even copied and pirated. Moreover, it is difficult to find any cassettes player sold in electronic stores today.

Here I presented a few tricks if you want to re-record those songs in cassettes to be MP3 or any other formats. It is such a waste if we dump those cassettes without preserving its contents.

First, prepare those things:

• Cassette player with earphone out.
• Male to male audio cable.
• PCApplication (software) to record audio (You can choose JetAudio, Audacity, or others)

First connect cassettes player to Line-In slot in PC Souncard. Be careful to mild electric shock if that player has metal chasing. When both of them are on and the player is playing a cassette, you should be able to hear the song from speaker connected to PC Souncard. Set to the best sound as certain as possible.

After that, run your recording application and go to recording mode. Play the player to play cassette from the very beginning and press record button in your application simultaneously. It would be better if you record one side of the cassettes continuously and then cut it per song. It takes less work to do those applications I mention above have ability to cut audio files.

These steps are easy, but perhaps you will need some times to get used to them. It is not considered as piracy if you re-record them for your own use, so just enjoy!
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Google Chrome "The Minimalist"

Google entered browsers market by releasing Google Chrome, a free web browser. That decision seemed to challenge Mozilla Firefox, the leading free browser, to prove which one is the best. Today, Internet Explores is dominating browsers world, because it’s packed with Microsoft Windows. Firefox has been challenging position of Internet Explorer, and succeeded to become the second in use after Internet Explorer. It is not certain whether Google Chrome sided with Mozilla Firefox challenging Internet Explorer or even challenging both Internet Explorer and Mozilla Firefox.

As browsers, Google Chrome has minimal interface and completely different compared to other browsers, but it does not mean that Google Chrome has bad looks. Google Chrome’s interface is very simple, toolbar only consist of navigation tools (back, forward, and reload), address, page control, and Google Chrome control (these last two are equivalent with complex toolbars in other browsers). There is also additional Bookmark Toolbar. Because of this minimal interface, I call Google Chrome as The Minimalist.

Like other browsers, Google Chrome also has ability to open multiple tabs, so users must not open many windows to open many websites. Generally, there are not any problems in performance of Google chrome, but I can recall that it does have less performance in opening multiple tabs. If users want to open multiple tabs simultaneously, especially when users press right click and choose ‘Open link in new tab’, Google Chrome can not response as fast as other browsers. Between opening tabs, users must wait a few second or more before users can open a new tab. So, this delay can become serious problem if users need to open multiple tabs simultaneously. Sometimes, delay also occurs when I want to paste characters I copied in Google chrome window. I can’t conclude whether this problem comes from Google Chrome itself or from PC performance, but I found this problem in many different PCs.

Google Chrome needs online installation, so this is a problem if users have slow internet connection. Installation using slow connection may take place for several hours. This problem is worsening if internet connection downs, installation must be repeated again from the beginning. Other problem I noticed is I haven’t found any features to disable images in Google Chrome. Sometime, to save bandwidth quota, I must disable image appearance in browser. So, I wouldn’t use Google Chrome if I need to disable images.

In my opinion, browsing ability of Google Chrome is good, similar with other browsers. I am just not satisfied with the problems I mentioned above. Generally, interface and browsing ability are good, Google just need to improve its ability in opening tabs. It would be better too if Google adds offline installation option, so users must not go online to install Google Chrome. Online installation of Google Chrome is uncomfortable for users who connect to internet using low bandwidth connection.

Kingdom of Heaven - Romanticizing 3rd Crusade

This film was directed by Ridley Scott, director of Gladiator, Hannibal, and Black Hawk Down. It was shot in Morocco and Spain; the same place Scott shot his two other films, Gladiator and Black Hawk Down. Kingdom of Heaven heavily romanticizes events in Jerusalem during Third Crusade, so we shouldn’t expect high accuracy of it compared to real history. Even if this film was created based on real history and there are numerous scenes correlated with it, there are also many fictions here. Scott didn’t direct Kingdom of Heaven to be historical movie, but I can say that he successfully made a great film.

Personally, I admire Kingdom of Heaven. Scott made right decision in choosing actors and actress to play in his film. He made wise decision when he chose actors like Orlando Bloom, Eva Green, Liam Neeson, Ghassan Massoud, Alexander Siddig, etc. to play in this film. They were able to play their role well, I can say that Kingdom of Heaven has deep emotion in every scenes. Every actor was able to bring emotion in their dialogue, monologue, and action. This factor, combined with battle scenes involving large number of people to play as soldiers and setting in desert and castle, brings a life to the story. Settings are carefully built to represents city, desert, people, and clothing in period of Third Crusade.

I once read that several scholars criticized historical accuracy of Kingdom of Heaven. Now after I watch it, I absolutely agree with them in that point. I can point out that peaceful relation between Muslims and Christians in Jerusalem during Crusade was only in imagination. But why must they bother themselves to criticize historical accuracy? Scott definitely didn’t plan to make Kingdom of Heaven as accurate as events in real history to begin with. Every touch in a work, it is up to the creator.

Here, I try to write a brief synopsis of Kingdom of Heaven:

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Balian is a blacksmith living in France who currently mourned over his wife. She commits suicide for untold reason. Unexpectedly, a crusader named Godfrey of Ibelin approaches him, claiming as his father and persuading him to go to Jerusalem. Balian directly rejects him so Godfrey leaves with his companions without Balian. But after Balian kills a priest in rage for the priest treatment to his wife burial, he decides to follow Godfrey. Godfrey gladly accepts him but soon he is wounded during a fight with soldiers from Balian village who try to arrest Balian because of murder. Realizing that he will die soon because of his wounds, Godfrey knights Balian, make him as his successor, Lord of Ibelin. Godfrey also orders Balian to serve King Baldwin of Jerusalem and protect the helpless.

After his father death, Balian advances to Jerusalem, but his ship is hit by storm. Fortunately he and a horse survive, but that horse run away to the desert when Balian tries to mount it. Tracking the horse, Balian soon confronts two horsemen over possession of the horse. He manages to kill the master, but not the servant, demanding the servant to guide him to Jerusalem. He releases the servant there even gives the horse to him, and later goes to Golgotha, praying to God over his late wife. After burying his wife’s necklace, he enters the city where he meets his father’s men who bring him to Tiberias, and soon he is accepted as new Lord of Ibelin.

Jerusalem is in political turmoil due to ambition of Guy de Lusignan and Raynald of Chatilon to dispose Muslim community from Jerusalem, opposing King Baldwin’s effort to maintain peace relationship between Muslim and Christian community in Jerusalem. Situation is worsening after Raynald attacks Muslim caravan. Afterwards, Saladin advances with his army to Kerak, Raynald’s castle. Balian and his men are ordered to defend Kerak while King Baldwin assembles his army. Being outnumbered, Balian and his men are soon defeated and captured by Saladin’s cavalrymen who arrive before the main army. It turns out that the cavalry leader is the servant Balian freed before; he is one of Saladin’s general. Both of them have a relatively peaceful talk after the battle, until Saladin and King Baldwin arrive with their armies. In their talk, King Baldwin pushes an agreement to Saladin, The King will punish Raynald for his crime raiding Muslim caravan, but Saladin must withdraws his army. Saladin accepts. Later, Raynald is imprisoned, but political tension in Jerusalem still exists.

Realizing that his sister, Sybilla, has an interest to Balian even if she is still married to Guy, King Baldwin offers Balian a deal. He will pair him with Sybilla after Guy is given a death sentence by The King. Balian refuses to involve himself in political turmoil, even if he’ll become successor of King Baldwin if he marries Sybilla. The King’s health is deteriorating and soon he dies, leaving Guy as new king because of his position as Sybilla’s husband.

Tension with Saladin appears again after Raynald attacks muslim caravan once more, even murdering Saladin’s sisters. Afterwards, Guy kill Saladin’s envoy who send Saladin’s message to him, demanding her sister’s body and the head who responsible. Later Guy foolishly assembles the army and marches to the desert, lacking supplies of water and food. Balian refuses to follow Guy, preferring stay to defense the city. Guy decision becomes disaster when more prepared Saladin’s army defeats Guy’s army in Battle of Hattin.

Realizing Saladin victory, Tiberias (the right hand of the late King Baldwin) decides to leave from Jerusalem to Cyprus, disappointed with many people and situations. Balian chooses to stay in Jerusalem dismissing advice from patriach of Jerusalem to flee, defending the city from Saladin’s army even if being outnumbered. Saladin and his army soon arrive, besieging the city for days and attacking the city wall. Realizing that he can not win, Balian tries to prolong the battle in order to push Saladin to a deal, considering that his goal is protecting the people, not the city. After his army breaches city’s wall but hasn’t been able to capture the city, Saladin asks for terms, something Balian waits for days. The talk after heavy battle is taking place smoothly. Saladin agrees to give save passages to Christian land to the people of Jerusalem in exchange Balian surrenders Jerusalem to him. Saladin also promises not to butcher any people like Christian army did before. Balian accepts these terms, ending the war between them.

Later people of Jerusalem leaves to Christian land. Saladin’s general Balian met before returns back the horse to Balian when he says his farewell. Balian and Sybilla leaves to France and live as commoner. In ending scene, Richard I of England, accompanied by a group of Crusaders, meet Balian, seeking for Balian who defended Jerusalem, asking him to join his army taking Jerusalem back from Saladin. Balian tells them that he is just a blacksmith, so Richard leaves. Balian and Sybilla are shown riding horses to sunset after visiting the grave of Balian’s first wife.

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If we compare it to history now, we can see that some scenes in this film are incorrect. In real history Balian never lived in France, the name of Balian’s father is not Godfrey, Balian had no romantic relationship with Sybilla, and King Baldwin had died several years before events on this film. Well, Ridley Scott didn’t plan to make historical film, but he did make a great movie. He also succeeded to choose actors who have excellent acting performance, even chose Ghassan Massoud, a Syrian Muslim actor as Saladin. As lay people I can say that Kingdom of Heaven is an excellent movie.

Black Swan Theory - Possible black swan event in near future

All swans are white, if there is a black swan; it means there is an irregularity. It is my conclusion after read Nassim Nicholas Taleb’s version of Black Swan Theory. Actually, his theory is not about swan at all. Now, let’s see the possible event of black swan.

It was in December 23rd, 1913, Congress of United States passed Federal Reserve Act. This act gives power to Federal Reserve to print gold backed money, something previously done by US Treasury. Even if this Federal Reserve is not federal and also does not have reserve – its name surely has been fooling American and the rest of the world.

For this work, Federal Reserve is paid by what so called seigniorage, a difference between nominal value and print cost. Ironically, Federal Reserve does not receive payment using money it printed – of course because paper money is worthless. Federal Reserve is paid using Gold Certificate, that only exchangeable to gold, real gold!

To avoid any disturbances, the payment is done by 1% of US gold reserve per year. Even if it is relatively small, US government is only able to pay in the period of 100 years. The end of 100 years period dated back from December 1913 is December 2012. So what will happen after that time? Who knows? But I am sure it will not be a pleasant thing. According to Mayan prophecy, 2012 is the end of life on earth. The real truth, we still know nothing.

Here is a quotation from Morgan Stanley in Financial Times:

“…given the size of the current and prospective economic and financial problems, and given the size of the monetary and fiscal stimulus that central banks and governments are throwing at these problems, investors would be well advised not to ignore this tail risk, especially as markets are priced for the opposite outcome of lasting deflation in the next several years. Put differently, we believe that buying some insurance against the black swan event of high inflation or even hyperinflation makes sense and is relatively cheap currently”

I am a lay people, but after witnessing governments over the world releasing what so called stimulus plan, I began to doubt that we will recover soon. It is very open that we will face black swan events in near future. How could they expect better thing by adding more money to market? We see, more money, less valuable it is.

Maison Ikkoku

I just finish watching complete series of Maison Ikkoku anime. It has around 96 episodes, and every episode has 25 minutes playtime. It took around two weeks to finish them all. Here is a video in Youtube.

Comparing to other works of Rumiko Takahashi, Maison Ikkoku is a unique one. There aren’t any magic, demons, monsters, or adventures; the things that usually become the main focus in her work. The character, Godai Yusaku, is a very common student even somewhat a loser in many appearances. As student he isn’t very bright and seems to have much bad luck. The story revolves around him, especially to Otonashi Kyoko who happens to be his love interest and apartment’s manager.

The story begins with Godai is struggling to attend university. He failed last year entrance exam and now is going to preparation school. During this period he stays in an apartment called Maison Ikkoku. But his study here is constantly disturbed by other tenants, Mrs. Ichinose, Yotsuya, and Roppongi Akemi. Before he moves out, Kyoko comes to be the new apartment’s manager. Fascinated by her charm, Godai keep her stay in Maison Ikkoku throughout the story. Kyoko is a widow and Maison Ikkoku is owned by her father in law, it is hinted that her father in law give her the job to soothe her feeling after her husband’s death.

Kyoko takes her job dutifully, and strangely she has a tendency to dote over careless Godai. From here their feeling is built up, but the story is not as smooth as you expect. There Sun Mitaka shows up and tries to get Kyoko’s attention too. Kyoko is torn between two of them complicating the story, not to mention the wishy washy Godai. The story is ranging from Godai’s time in preparation school, his college years, his job hunting aftermath, and finally his formal bond with Kyoko marks the end of story.

In this works, Rumiko Takahashi sets definite happy ending, not an open ending like in her other works. As her fan, I like her works very much, the manga and its adaptation in anime. For complete info, go to wikipedia or other sites. If you are interested, there are many torrents to share the complete series of this anime, of course you must have fast internet connection.