PHILADELPHIA — Word is that contemporary Indian art is the next sensation on the international market. So now’s the time to learn something about where it came from, which the nuanced, storytelling show called “Rhythms of India: The Art of Nandalal Bose (1882-1966)” at the Philadelphia Museum of Art helps us to do.

Along with detailed information about one artist’s life and times, the show delivers a significant piece of news, or what is still probably news to many people: that modernism wasn’t a purely Western product sent out like so many CARE packages to a hungry and waiting world. It was a phenomenon that unfolded everywhere, in different forms, at different speeds, for different reasons, under different pressures, but always under pressure. As cool and above-it-all as modern may sound, it was a response to emergency.

In India the emergency was a bruising colonialism that had become as intolerable to artists as to everyone else. From the official British perspective, India had no living art. Its indigenous traditions were dead, the stuff of museums, and ethnological ones at that. Western classicism was the only classicism; European oil painting was the only worthy medium. Indian artists had to learn it if they wanted careers, but even then their options were limited.

Naturally some people, British and Indian alike, saw things another way. Ernest Binfield Havell, a British teacher and art historian, did. He recognized Indian art as the grand, ancient, still-vibrant phenomenon it was. And as director of the Government School of Art in Calcutta, he encouraged Indian students to bring their own past, transformed, into the present.

This mission really took fire, however, in a social circle gathered around the Tagore family in Calcutta. One of its members, the artist Abanindranath Tagore, taught at the Government School and developed a type of painting based on Indian rather than Western models. His uncle, the writer Rabindranath Tagore, opened an experimental university at Santiniketan in West Bengal. Devoted to the study, preservation and regeneration of native culture, it would be a modernist seedbed.

Into this venturesome environment came a young painter named Nandalal Bose, first as one of Abanindranath’s prize students, later as a teacher and director of art at Rabindranath’s school. From the start Bose understood the concepts behind the school: the idea that an aesthetic was also an ethos, that art’s role was more than life-enhancing, it was world-shaping.


And he knew that shaping was hard work, the result of accumulating, examining and sorting a wide spectrum of data. He observed and closely emulated Abanindranath’s style, which was based on Mughal and Rajput miniatures, and made a success of it. Bose’s watercolor and tempura “Sati” (1907), an image of a goddess who set herself on fire to prove her devotion to her husband, Shiva, was quickly adopted as an emblem of a resurgent, self-sacrificial Indian nationalism. (The original version of the painting was lost during World War II; a 1943 copy by Bose is in the show.)

In 1909 he spent months copying fifth-century Buddhist murals in the Buddhist caves at Ajanta . Everywhere he traveled he paid close attention to popular forms, urban and rural, Hindu and Muslim, from woodblock prints to palm-leaf manuscripts, to ephemeral patterns drawn in rice powder directly on the ground. He went to China and Japan to study ink-and-brush painting, and he kept an assimilative eye on trends in the West.

Steadily and quietly, from all of this he forged an art that was both cosmopolitan and distinctively Indian. It was also a body of work that conscientiously refused to settle on a recognizable style, which is why Bose continues to be an elusive presence in the history books and in the rare museum surveys of Indian modernism.

The Philadelphia show, organized by Sonya Rhie Quintanilla of the San Diego Museum of Art, in collaboration with the National Gallery of Modern Art, New Delhi, retains the eclectic texture of Bose’s career while laying it out within something like a time-line format.

The first gallery includes early work influenced by Abanindranath’s moody, spiritualized miniaturism and by the monumental Ajanta figure type. Later Bose would cook up a highly ornamental version of the Ajanta style in murals done for a private mausoleum called the Kirti Mandir in Baroda. These paintings of scenes from “The Mahabharata” now survive primarily in Bose’s full-scale tempera-on-paper studies, which are in the show.

In 1930 he designed a series of linocut illustrations for Rabindranath Tagore’s children’s book teaching Bengali, and he made a print to commemorate Gandhi’s march to the sea that year protesting the British taxation on salt. The print, a portrait of Gandhi, was an instant hit. Cheap to reproduce, it became the most widely circulated image of the leader of the Indian freedom movement.

The two men, who had met at Santiniketan, became friends, political collaborators and spiritual allies, with Bose creating hand-colored posters of Indian village life for three of the Indian National Congress’s annual sessions that led up to independence in 1947.

After Gandhi’s death Bose continued to teach at Santiniketan; Indira Gandhi and the filmmaker Satyajit Ray were two of his many pupils. In 1951 he retired but kept producing art, mostly Japanese-inspired, ink nature studies that moved toward abstraction, and postcard-size sketches — of friends and students, street scenes and coastal fishing communities, farm animals and flowers — of a kind he had been turning out by the thousands throughout his life.

He spoke of the sketches as a form of seeing. His long-nurtured habit of carrying paper and pens wherever he went suggests a form of yoga. With their formal deftness and avidity of detail, the drawings are his most engaging and personal body of work.

While the almost self-effacing scope of Bose’s art can make his career hard to grasp, its effect on 20th-century Indian art has been important, as demonstrated in a small satellite show called “Multiple Modernities: India, 1905-2005,” organized by the art historian Michael W. Meister and the museum’s curator of Indian art, Darielle Mason, to accompany the Bose survey.

It ranges from drawings by Rabindranath Tagore, through work by Bose’s fellow modernists in Calcutta and Bombay, to pieces by contemporary artists like Atul Dodiya. Mr. Dodiya, who has recently set auction records for new Indian art, is represented here by prints of scenes from the epic “Ramayana” inspired by Bose.

If Bose was ahead of his day, he was also very much of it. Some of his work is now dated. His image of the self-immolating Sati as an ideal of Indian womanhood obviously doesn’t work today. Arpita Singh’s politically ambiguous 1993 oil painting of a pistol-wielding goddess Durga, or Bhupen Khakhar ’s watercolor “goddesses” of uncertain gender are more like it.

But as an example of a polymath artist and teacher who through consistent and diligent generosity put his talent to the service of the life of his time, he is worthy of prolonged and intensive notice. The Philadelphia show, which will travel to India, immerses us, wonderfully, in both that life and that time. And it reminds us that every Museum of Modern Art in the United States and Europe should be required, in the spirit of truth in advertising, to change its name to Museum of Western Modernism until it has earned the right to do otherwise.

Google is providing Indonesian small and medium-scale enterprises (SMEs) the opportunity to advertise on Google Adwords, a Google product designated for businesses with limited cash flows.

'The thing we always have problems with in small businesses is cash flow. Sometimes it is a good month. Sometimes it is not a good month. So, many small businesses are very pragmatic and have cost-effective advertising strategies,' Google Southeast Asia marketing manager Derek Callow told Jakarta Post on Thursday.

'Indonesia is an important market for us in Asia and it's important for us to help small businesses understand that AdWords is a great platform to advertise their businesses online,' Callow said.

Callow said that online advertising, and especially search marketing, could be a powerful driver of business growth for nearly 50 million Indonesian SMEs.

'Google AdWords is one of the most cost-effective and highly-targeted online advertising platforms available today.'

The key benefits of Google AdWords is that it can help advertisers target new audiences on the Google advertising network, Callow said. He added that it gives businesses greater control of their budgets, content, time commitment and the geographic target of the advert.

'There's no minimum spending requirement or time commitment. And with the cost-per-click option, you're only charged if people click on your ads. This means every dollar of your budget goes toward bringing new prospects to you."

Internet penetration in the country is relatively low, Callow said, but it is only a matter of time before this changes.

"One thing is for sure, more and more people are coming online. We are lucky because we are not immediately after revenue. This is not about revenue generation. This is about educating the Indonesian market about opportunities.

"With a minimum bid of Rp 90 per click and where impressions are free, Google AdWords helps small and medium businesses with traditionally small advertising budgets to target and find
relevant customers online through our ad network, which reaches 78 percent of Internet users globally."

So far, he said, the most popular Indonesian adverts on Google were adverts from travel companies, import-export companies, professional service companies such as accounting firms, legal firms and health care firms, and financial companies.

Earlier in the day, Callow spoke at a seminar on how Indonesian SMEs can take advantage of targeted online advertising.

The seminar, which was held in cooperation with detik.com news portal and market research firm Synovate at the Ritz-Carlton Jakarta, Pacific Place, is the first time Google has promoted online advertising in the country. It attracted over 280 participants representing industries ranging from travel to export and retail.

Synovate research found that there were over 23 million Internet users in Indonesia in 2007, Synovate Indonesia associate director Eva Yusuf said during the seminar. The firm expects that it will grow by over 16 percent to almost 27 million users by the end of the year.

"We've also found that most Indonesians turn to the Internet to search for information before making a purchasing decision.

"This trend implies more business opportunities for small and medium businesses to advertise online to a growing pool of Internet users in Indonesia and overseas, Yusuf Said"

- JakartaPost -

Why many people put a lot of interest with online poker game? It’s probably because poker is not a child game, or just funny online game. Online poker is a battle of wits and intellects, and a challenge of your nerve. In short, winning online poker is a big challenge. Play poker to win if you like a challenge, not just for earn money. And the logical mind, will find that player who seek to avoid challenge do not succeed. The winners say that, great explorers explore, and so do great poker players.

Poker skill is the exploitation of advantages in game selection, the venue, bankroll, and hand situations. These are all examples of online poker skill. But unfortunately, many people look at the “skill” in poker strategy in a very limited way. They think of actual hand-playing skills, when these skills are just a subset of a greater number of skills.

Online poker is played for money. The strategy is how we keep score. Remember, that correct play is not judged by who earn the most money. This is a matter of positive expectation on our actions. The best players are the ones who play poker correctly, with the money in hand. A great winning money player is not a great player if he makes losing choices.

The good news is skill is not some mysterious ability. You can learn it from online poker school or other poker strategy sources. These skills exist in actual online poker reality. Some of the most talented poker players are loose because they in fact often play poker terribly. The skill will combine your talent with poker strategy. Poker is more than just a bunch of cards.

Get informed and smart with online poker tips is very important. As most people know, the most successful players were limited. The best skillful players rise from lessons, experience and good strategy.

Why we choose PokerStrategy? Some of the reasons are, they have over 1,000,000 members worldwide, mainly in Germany and Europe. You will support with dozens of poker strategy videos, and live coaching sessions everyday. And the money reward mostly $100,000 will be awarded to top 250 members every month. So get the money with your online poker skills!

Is shopping something you're addicted to? Or perhaps just something you enjoy once every now and then? In general, shopping is a pleasurable thing for everyone – especially when the items you're eyeing are on sale!

The Rosary Basilica and the Basilica of the Immaculate Conception One of our neighboring countries, Malaysia, offers a great deal of fun things to do. Other than sightseeing their beautiful buildings and landscapes, and also learning about their history and culture, Malaysia's capital city, Kuala Lumpur, has recently developed into an international shopping destination with a wide variety of grand shopping centers and mega malls that carry well-known global and local brands.

The annual Malaysia Mega Sale Carnival organised by the Ministry of Tourism, Tourism Malaysia, and the Shopping Malaysia Secretariat runs from July 5th until September 1st 2008. For 59 glorious days, locals and visitors from around the world, are able to whip up a fabulous shopping spree with mind-blowing promotions and tempting bargains. With over 8 weeks of outrages discounts on a wide range of products and services at all major shopping malls and retail outlets nationwide, Kuala Lumpur is definitely one of the best places to visit this month – particularly for those who love to shop!

This year Jakarta Java Kini decided to check out the 9th Malaysia Mega Sale Carnival by joining other journalists from Australia, China, Hong Kong, Japan, New Zealand, South Africa, Taiwan, and the United States for the mega familiarization programme in conjunction with the launch of Malaysia Mega Sale Carnival 2008. Taking place in Kuala Lumpur, about 200 participants comprising travel agents, journalists, TV and radio crew members, and corporate executives attended the event that ran for five days early last month.

During the five days in Kuala Lumpur, we did not only visit the shopping centers like many of the journalists expected in the beginning. That activity was saved for the last couple of days of the trip. On the first couple of days we attended the Tourism Seminar at the Legend Hotel where all the journalists from around the world were given a presentation by the Communication Unit of Tourism Malaysia, as well as speeches from the honorary guests for the programme: Ms Lai Shevren from Ministry of Tourism, Malaysia, and Dato' Mirza bin Mohammad Taiyab, Director General of Tourism Malaysia. We were informed that Malaysia's second biggest income came from the tourism industry. The growing tourism figures have been increasing every year due to the growth in hotel accommodation and shopping which accounts for the largest portion of tourist receipts – clearly indicating a healthy growth for the Malaysian tourism industry.

Japan's GDP contracted in the second quarter as the world's second largest economy succumbed to the pressures of high oil prices and the prospects of a global slowdown.

Japan's gross domestic product, or the total value of the nation's goods and services, in the April-June period shank at an annual pace of 2.4 percent, a sharp downturn from a 4.0 percent
rise registered in the first quarter, the Cabinet Office said Wednesday.

The last time GDP turned negative was in April-June 2007.

On a quarterly basis, GDP contracted 0.6 percent from a 0.8 percent increase in the January-March period.

The data provided further evidence that the world's second largest economy has ended its six-year expansion, and may now be perilously close to a recession.

Private consumption, which accounts for more than half of real GDP, dropped 0.5 percent from the previous quarter.

Two main drivers ofJapan's six-year economic recovery - business investment and exports - also weakened as expected.

Private-sector investment in factories and equipment fell 0.2 percent, while overall exports of goods and services slid 2.3 percent.

Menara Jakarta adalah sebuah menara baru yang akan dibangun di ibu kota Jakarta, Indonesia, di area Bandar Baru Kemayoran. Menara ini setinggi 558 meter dan direncanakan akan selesai pada tahun 2009 atau 2010. Pada saat selesainya pembangunan, gedung ini akan masuk kedalam jajaran gedung-gedung tertinggi di dunia.

Peresmian pembangunan menara yang diproyeksikan menjadi menara tertinggi di dunia itu dilakukan oleh Menteri Sekretaris Negara (Mensesneg) Bambang Kesowo dan Gubernur DKI Jakarta Sutiyoso pada tanggal 15 April 2004.
Menara Jakarta akan dibangun di area seluas 306.810 meter persegi. Gedungnya sendiri akan seluas 40.550 meter persegi dengan tinggi 558 meter.

Seperti desain awalnya pada tahun 1997, dalam pembangunan yang baru ini, menara tetap memiliki tiga kaki yang akan menjulang hingga ketinggian 500 meter. Masing-masing kaki berbentuk silinder, berdiameter 13,2 meter. Dua di antaranya berisi masing-masing tiga lift dengan kecepatan 7 meter per detik. Kaki ketiga berisi delapan lift khusus untuk pengunjung. Pada gedung ini terdapat 10 unit elevator/lift.

Selain itu, pada bagian bawahnya, menara itu diikat lagi dengan cincin beton berdiameter 40 meter dengan tinggi 15 meter. Untuk lebih menstabilkannya, menara tertancap dengan fondasi berdiameter 80 meter sampai kedalaman 58 meter di bawah tanah.

Menurut pengembang, Menara Jakarta akan menyerap 20.000 lebih tenaga kerja selama pembangunan, dan lebih dari 40.000 tenaga kerja setelah gedung difungsikan.

Menara Jakarta rencananya akan dilengkapi dengan fasilitas:

* Tempat parkir seluas 144.000 meter persegi
* Gedung podium setinggi 17 lantai.
* Lift yang mencapai puncak menara
* Restoran berputar
* Mal besar
* Kafe
* Taman hiburan
* Museum sejarah Indonesia
* Hotel
* Ruang serba guna/konferensi yang bisa menampung sepuluh ribu pengunjung
* Ruang-ruang perkantoran seluas 8.000 meter persegi
* Pusat pameran
* Pusat pendidikan dan pelatihan
* Pusat multimedia disertai pemancar siaran radio dan televisi
* Pusat perdagangan dan bisnis
* Pusat olah raga

Diperkirakan, sebanyak 4-6 juta pengunjung setiap tahunnya akan mengunjungi Menara Jakarta.

Jika menara itu selesai dikerjakan tahun 2010 atau 2011, dengan ketinggian 558 meter, ia akan menjadi bangunan menara (namun bukan gedung) tertinggi di dunia, mengalahkan ketinggian:

* Canadian National Tower (553 meter), Toronto, Kanada
* Menara Ostankino (540 meter), Moskwa, Rusia
* Oriental Pearl Tower (468 meter), Shanghai, China, dan
* Menara Kembar Petronas (452 meter), Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Sebagai pembanding, tinggi Tugu Monas Jakarta hanya 137 meter. Dengan demikian, Menara Jakarta akan memiliki tinggi sekitar 4 kali tinggi Tugu Monas.

Menyaksikan Olimpiade di Beijing, Cina, rasanya tak lengkap kalau belum menikmati teh khas negeri Tirai Bambu itu. Salah satu jenis teh yang bisa menjadi pilihan adalah Long Chin Cha. Teh tersebut termahal di dunia karena harganya bisa mencapai 2.450 yuan atau sekitar Rp 3,5 juta per kilogram.

Untuk melancong ke desa penghasil teh Long Chi Cha, pengunjung bisa menggunakan taksi kota bertarif 60 yuan atau sekitar Rp 85.000 sekali jalan. Desa tersebut berjarak sekitar 15 kilometer dari pusat kota Hang Co. Sepanjang jalan menuju Desa Long Chin Cha, pengunjung bisa menikmati hamparan kebun teh yang menjadi andalan perekonomian warga setempat.

Menurut sejumlah warga, teh Long Chin Cha terkenal kualitasnya yang prima karena hanya dipetik pada awal musim semi. Itu pun hanya bagian pucuk daun yang tumbuh pertama kali. Tak mengherankan jika teh Long Chin Cha terkenal hingga seluruh dunia. Bahkan, pemimpin kelas dunia seperti Ratu Elizabeth dari Inggris pernah minum teh di desa ini bersama mantan Presiden Cina, Chian Cek Ming.

On November 5, 2007, after having sat in on a creative meeting at the offices of Firmenich, the Swiss perfume maker, I was offered (briefly) something to smell. It was handed to me by Karyn Khoury, the highest-ranked creative director for the Estée Lauder Companies’ scents. While Khoury did not tell me its name, she did say that the perfume, which she and Firmenich perfumer Annie Buzantian were working on, was to be the next feminine launched by the Estée Lauder brand.

I remember finding the unnamed, unfinished scent jaw-droppingly innovative and beautiful. But I am now uncertain both of my memory of that olfactory sketch and, to a degree, of my impression of the
perfume it has become.

Lauder premiered Sensuous earlier this summer with one of the most spectacular launches ever given a fragrance. Gwyneth Paltrow, Elizabeth Hurley, Caroline Murphy and Hilary Rhoda provide no less than four major faces for this one scent. There is a very specific reason for this. Lauder is the queen of American perfume houses, and it was Josephine Esther Mentzer from Corona, Queens, who transformed perfume into an authentic American art and herself into Estée Lauder. Starting with Youth Dew in 1953, Lauder dominated U.S. sales. For four decades American women viewed her perfumes, from Aliage in 1972 to White Linen in 1978 to Beautiful in 1985 as basically mandatory.

Less so now. In 1995, Khoury and Buzantian collaborated on Pleasures, which became a Lauder franchise to rival Warner’s Batman (Pleasures and Beautiful still sit firmly among atop NPD’s U.S. bestseller lists; Beautiful usually at #1), but the last major Lauder perfume, the excellent Beyond Paradise of 2003, was a major disappointment. The brand’s demographics have aged along with its scents, and the buzz — fickle and capricious — has wandered off to grace other, cooler names.
Lauder put everything it has into Sensuous. The risk the company is taking is serious. Sensuous is a wood, and wood scents for women are notoriously perilous since wood is associated with “masculine” (incorrectly; see Feminité du Bois by Shiseido). Lauder scents are historically either florals or aldehydics (i.e. powders like White Linen). But this is a bet on change. If the bet works, Sensuous will lower the all-important age of Lauder’s clientele; if it doesn’t, it may also turn off existing clients. Putting this perfume on the market is a major act of faith at 767 Fifth Avenue.

Is there a way to dissociate this scent from its backstory? Perhaps. Perhaps not. The perfume opens nicely on skin, a wood mixed with such a striking vanillic chewy accord (plus anise and pepper) that it reads like the smell of the firewood waiting to heat the oven of a pastry chef. The wood has bathed in spices and hot creams and kitchen air steamed with bubbling sugar. Buzantian’s construction is solid, the materials mesh expertly, and Khoury has clearly gotten what she wanted. But if Sensuous avoids copying extant perfumes (a serious plus) and states its case clearly — a contemporary oriental — it does so with a somewhat muted voice. I believe, but can’t judge for sure, that the November iteration was reined in. There is no smoke from this wood. That might have been too edgy. In fact, the wood there is has been kept at such a low volume that the perfume morphs into a golden, accessible gourmand rather than anything close to a full-on wood concept (reference: Chanel’s Sycamore). More pretty than striking.

But that’s what Lauder wanted. And despite an inexplicable bottle, Sensuous was NPD-ranked #2 the week of July 20-26. Also what Lauder wanted. We’ll see what happens when the ads stop. I think that my initial reaction to the sketch of the perfume was, in large part, surprise. To dare, even cautiously, is admirable. The final version of Sensuous dares you for a moment, then offers you more conventional charms. There is such good will surrounding the perfume — one gets the sense that even its competitors somehow wish the queen a success — that it was only after wearing it for a while that I placed this smell. Sensuous is the scent of Estée Lauder holding its breath.

Jakarta is kaleidoscopic Indonesia in the making, a city of multiple cultures and moods that can defy you one day and haunt you the next. For those who take the time to get acquainted, it is ''a city of serendipities,'' an Indonesian said; a city of neighborhoods that lead like stepping stones across hundreds of years of history.

Jakarta is kaleidoscopic Indonesia in the making, a city of multiple cultures and moods that can defy you one day and haunt you the next. For those who take the time to get acquainted, it is ''a city of serendipities,'' an Indonesian said; a city of neighborhoods that lead like stepping stones across hundreds of years of history.

Jakarta, steaming away on the edge of the Java Sea, doesn't regard itself as a tourist attraction, except to people from the Javanese countryside and the Indonesian archipelago beyond who come to get a glimpse of modern living: escalators, skyscrapers and such. Most foreigners bypass it on the way to Bali or other designated vacation spots. Getting to know Jakarta is therefore a do-it-yourself operation, and the discovery can be made in a day or two, if that is all the time there is. Some people who have lived here a decade -not all of them foreigners - say they never stop finding new, always unadvertised corners.

To explore Jakarta in its own footsteps, from trading port to capital of the world's fifth most-populous nation, start at the seafront - Sunda Kelapa, the ''coconut'' town. From the 12th or 13th to the 16th century, a settlement here near the mouth of the Ciliwung River served as an international trading post for the Hindu kingdom of Sunda. It was a humid, pestiferous port - the kingdom's capital was a sensible two-day boat trip upstream at Pakuan-Pajajaran, near the present hill town of Bogor. Ships sailed to Sunda Kelapa from China and India to pick up spices and agricultural products. The port fell into Moslem hands in 1527, when it was conquered by an alliance of Javanese sultans. They renamed it Jayakarta, the Javanese word for victorious. A century later, Europeans came along.

Most historians say there really isn't anything left of Sunda Kepala or Jayakarta that wasn't built over by the Dutch. But there are memories here. Go to the long quay where the wooden sailing boats called prahus from Sulawesi (the Indonesian name for the Celebes) and Kalimantan (Indonesian Borneo) dock to unload their cargoes of timber and other products of the sparsely settled outer islands. The sailors are often fierce Bugis, conservative Islamic people who share and carry on the old seafaring skills of Arab traders from the Indian Ocean.

Now and then whole families seem to live aboard the prahus of the Java Sea: you can see them cooking meals on deck, or coming ashore to stock up on provisions before setting sail again.

From this quay the visitor can also look across to the remains of an early Dutch fort, warehouses and a lookout tower with a fine view of the old port. Before setting off to see them, it is useful to pause and take in the setting at a little distance. From here in the early 17th century, the Dutch began to consolidate their rule over what was then known as the Netherlands East Indies.

Across the harbor, visitors can climb the lookout tower for views to the sea or inland, to what is now one of the densest and poorest - as well as noisiest and most malodorous -parts of the city. Jakarta's fish market, the Pasar Ikan, is nearby, and the lanes leading into it can be hard on the faint of stomach. But for those who love Oriental bazaars at their most authentic, this one is a winner. Small shops sell everything from chandlers' goods to cooking pots and underwear.

Off the lane is the entrance to both the lookout tower and the Bahari Museum, a collection of traditional sailing vessels and other maritime paraphernalia housed in an old godown, or warehouse, from the days of the Dutch East India Company. The museum is worth visiting if only to study its construction. It is a 17th- and 18th-century building of solid timber and plaster construction, and a climb to the third-floor galleries reveals the building's solid wood skeleton. The building, a warehouse for copper and other metals that were precious at the time it was built, runs along what was once the old city wall, with a parapet overlooking the bazaar to one side and the museum on the other. Aside from its maritime paraphernalia, the Bihari has maps showing the progression of Jakarta inland over the centuries.

Jangan Tidur Larut Malam..
Penemuan Terbaru Mengenai Kanker Hati

Jangan Tidur Larut Malam

Para dokter di National Taiwan Hospital baru-baru
ini mengejutkan dunia kedokteran karena ditemukannya
kasus seorang dokter muda berusia 37 tahun yang
selama ini sangat mempercayai hasil pemeriksaan
fungsi hati (SGOT, SGPT), tetapi ternyata saat
menjelang Hari Raya Imlek diketahui positif
menderita kanker hati sepanjang 10 cm!

Selama ini hampir semua orang sangat bergantung pada
hasil indeks pemeriksaan fungsi hati (Liver Function
Index). Mereka menganggap bila pemeriksaan
menunjukkan hasil index yang normal berarti semua
OK. Kesalahpahaman macam ini ternyata juga dilakukan
oleh banyak dokter spesialis. Benar-benar
mengejutkan, para dokter yang seharusnya memberikan
pengetahuan yang benar pada masyarakat umum,
ternyata memiliki pengetahuan yang tidak benar.
Pencegahan kanker hati harus dilakukan dengan cara
yang benar.

Tidak ada jalan lain kecuali mendeteksi dan
mengobatinya sedini mungkin, demikian kata dokter
Hsu Chin Chuan. Tetapi ironisnya, ternyata dokter
yang menangani kanker hati juga bisa memiliki
pandangan yang salah, bahkan menyesatkan masyarakat,
inilah penyebab terbesar kenapa kanker hati sulit
untuk disembuhkan.

Penyebab utama kerusakan hati adalah :

1. Tidur terlalu malam dan bangun terlalu siang adalah penyebab paling utama

2. Pola makan yang terlalu berlebihan.

3. Tidak makan pagi.

4. Terlalu banyak mengkonsumsi obat-obatan.

5. Terlalu banyak mengkonsumsi bahan
pengawet, zat tambahan, zat pewarna,
pemanis buatan.

6. Minyak goreng yang tidak sehat! Sedapat
mungkin kurangi penggunaan minyak goreng saat
menggoreng makanan hal ini juga berlaku meski
menggunakan minyak goreng terbaik sekalipun seperti
olive oil. Jangan mengkonsumsi makanan yang digoreng
bila kita dalam kondisi penat, kecuali dalam kondisi
tubuh yang fit.

7. Mengkonsumsi masakan mentah (sangat
matang) juga menambah beban hati. Sayur mayur
dimakan mentah atau dimasak matang 3/5 bagian. Sayur
yang digoreng harus dimakan habis saat itu juga,
jangan disimpan.

Kita harus melakukan pencegahan dengan tanpa
mengeluarkan biaya tambahan. Cukup atur gaya hidup
dan pola makanan sehari-hari. Perawatan dari pola
makan dan kondisi waktu sangat diperlukan agar tubuh
kita dapat melakukan penyerapan dan pembuangan
zat-zat yang tidak berguna sesuai dengan jadwalnya,

Sebab:

@ Malam hari pk 9 - 11: adalah pembuangan
zat- zat tidak berguna/beracun (de-toxin) dibagian
sistem antibodi (kelenjar getah bening). Selama
durasi waktu ini seharusnya dilalui dengan suasana
tenang atau mendengarkan musik. Bila saat itu
seorang ibu rumah tangga masih dalam kondisi yang
tidak santai seperti misalnya mencuci piring atau
mengawasi anak belajar, hal ini dapat berdampak
negatif bagi kesehatan.

@ Malam hari pk 11 - dini Hari pk 1: saat
proses de-toxin di bagian hati, harus berlangsung
dalam kondisi tidur pulas.

@ Dini hari pk 1 - 3: proses de-toxin di
bagian empedu, juga berlangsung dalam kondisi tidur.

@ Dini hari pk 3 - 5: de-toxin di bagian
paru-paru. Sebab itu akan terjadi batuk yang hebat
bagi penderita batuk selama durasi waktu ini. Karena
proses pembersihan (de-toxin) telah mencapai saluran
pernafasan, maka tak perlu minum obat batuk agar
supaya tidak merintangi proses pembuangan kotoran.

@ Pagi pk 5 - 7: de-toxin di bagian usus
besar, harus buang air di kamar kecil.

@ Pagi pk 7 - 9: waktu penyerapan gizi
makanan bagi usus kecil, harus makan pagi. Bagi
orang yang sakit sebaiknya makan lebih pagi yaitu
sebelum pk 6:30. Makan pagi sebelum pk 7:30 sangat
baik bagi mereka yang ingin menjaga kesehatannya.
Bagi mereka yang tidak makan pagi harap merubah
kebiasaannya ini, bahkan masih lebih baik terlambat
makan pagi hingga pk 9-10 daripada tidak makan sama
sekali. Tidur terlalu malam dan bangun terlalu siang
akan mengacaukan proses pembuangan zat-zat tidak
berguna. Selain itu,dari tengah malam hingga pukul 4
dini hari adalah waktu bagi sumsum tulang belakang
untuk memproduksi darah. Sebab itu, tidurlah yang
nyenyak dan jangan terlalu sering begadang.

Sepatu Kemarau

Panasnya suhu musim kemarau, sering membuat orang pusing, memakai sepatu atau sandal. Pabrik sepatu Inggris, Nat-2, menjawab kebingungan itu dengan meluncurkan produk berdesain unik, sepatu berisi sandal, kemarin. Produk anyar ini sejatinya sepatu kasual. Namun, jika suhu panas, pemakai tinggal menarik resleting di sol dan keluarlah sepasang sandal elegan. Berminat ? Nat-2 pasang banderol Rp 1,076 juta. Harga cukup mahal untuk mengundang pembajakan.

HONG KONG — Many Chinese have been expecting a post-Olympics economic slowdown, but it has already started and the Games have not even begun.

Chinese factories reported a plunge in new orders last month. Exports are barely growing. The real estate market is weakening, with apartment prices sinking in southeastern China, the region hardest hit by economic troubles.

The trends, which actually have little to do with the Olympics (the Games themselves, which open Friday, are small compared with the size of the economy), are being felt worldwide.

China’s slowing growth is one reason that gasoline prices have fallen in the United States, for example. Similarly, world prices for metals like copper, tin, zinc and aluminum have tumbled in the last several weeks, as voracious Chinese factories have closed, or cut back their consumption.

But while China’s difficulties may reduce inflationary pressures around the world, they threaten to slow further the already tenuous global economic growth.

Economists expect growth to slip from its recent pace of 11 percent or more annually to as low as 9 or 9.5 percent over the coming year.

Most nations would envy that rate. But 9 percent growth will make it much harder to supply jobs to the millions of Chinese moving to cities from rural areas in search of work. And any slower growth could prove a shock to workers who have been receiving double-digit pay increases each year, as companies struggle to find enough labor to keep factories open.

How Chinese authorities manage a slower economy, and its effect on China’s 1.3 billion people, will be a test for the regime. It seems to be responding quickly.

A Politburo meeting on July 25 replaced the previous national economic goals, preventing overheating of the economy and controlling inflation, with new targets. As enunciated by President Hu Jintao in recent appearances, the objectives now are to seek fast and sustained economic growth while still keeping inflation under control.

Having put a series of brakes on the economy over the last five years to keep inflation under control, Chinese policy makers are now removing some to prevent growth from slowing too much.

For example, after letting China’s currency rise sharply against the dollar in the first half of this year, China’s central bank has actually pushed it down against the dollar in each of the last four trading days, including a decline of 0.13 percent on Monday. This is helping to preserve the competitiveness of Chinese exporters in foreign markets, although at the risk of angering the United States and other trading partners.

In the last several days, Chinese authorities have also raised export tax refunds for garment manufacturers — an industry previously slighted by regulators, who remain more interested in promoting higher-tech industries.

Policy makers have also reportedly moved to ease lending limits on banks.

Weak demand from the United States over the last year, and now from Europe as well, is part of China’s emerging problem. On Sunday evening, the port here was less full of containers than usual, part of a broader slowing of export growth.

This weakening of exports has been particularly true of light manufactured goods from southeastern China, one of the country’s two main export areas, along with the Yangtze River delta region around Shanghai.

At Union Bags, a luggage maker in Dongguan, about 40 miles up the Pearl River from Hong Kong, sales to the United States have dropped 20 percent in the last year.

Demand is beginning to weaken for big-ticket purchases. J. D. Power and Associates just cut its forecast for car sales in China this year to 5.95 million — still up from 5.42 million last year, but much less of an increase than the company’s previous forecast of 6.2 million.

More serious for the broader Chinese economy are signs that the real estate market is weakening after years of climbing prices that had prompted warnings of a possible bubble. Here again, the biggest trouble seems to be in southern China.

50 romantix things to do, buat cw n co


1. Watch the sunset together.

2. Whisper to each other.

3. Cook for each other.

4. Walk in the rain.

5. Hold hands

6. Buy gifts for each other.

7. Roses.

8. Find out their favorite cologne/perfume and wear it every time you're together.

9. Go for a long walk down the beach at midnight.

10. Write poetry for each other.

11. Hugs are the universal medicine.

12. Say 'I Love You' only when you mean it and make sure they know you mean it.

13. Give random gifts of flowers/candy/poetry etc.

14. Tell her that she's the only girl you ever want. Don't lie!

15. Spend every second possible together.

16. Look into each other's eyes.

17. Very lightly push up her chin, look into her eyes, tell her you love her, and kiss her lightly.

18. When in public, only flirt with each other.

19. Put love notes in their pockets when they aren't looking.

20. Buy her a ring.

21. Sing to each other.

22. Always hold her around her hips/sides.

23. Take her to dinner and do the dinner for two deal.

24. Spaghetti? (Ever see Lady and the Tramp?)

25. Hold her hand, stare into her eyes, kiss her hand and then put it over your heart.

26. Dance together.

27. I love the way a girl looks right after she's fallen asleep with her head in my lap.

28. Do cute things like write I love you in a note so that they have to look in a mirror to read it.

29. Make excuses to call them every 5 minutes

30. Even if you are really busy doing something, go out of your way to call and say I love you.

31. Call from your vacation spot to tell them you were thinking about them.

32. Remember your dreams and tell her about them.

34. Tell each other your most sacred secrets/fears.

35. Be Prince Charming to her parents.

36. Brush her hair out of her face for her.

37. Hang out with his/her friends.

38. Go to church/pray/worship together.

39. Take her to see a romantic movie and remember the parts she liked.

40. Learn from each other and don't make the same mistake twice.

41. Describe the joy you feel just to be with him/her.

42. Make sacrifices for each other.

43. Really love each other, or don't stay together.

44. Let there never be a second during any given day that you aren't thinking about them, and make sure they know it.

45. Love yourself before you love anyone else.

46. Learn to say sweet things in foreign languages.

47. Dedicate songs to them on the radio.

48. Fall asleep on the phone with each other.

49. Stand up for them when someone talks trash.

50. Never forget the kiss goodnight and always remember to say, "Sweet dreams."

It is not too surprising that oil prices have retreated from the lofty highs of more than $140 a barrel reached in July. Energy consumption is falling across the industrial world. Americans, the world’s most avid gas guzzlers, finally responded to higher prices. They drove about 10 billion miles less in May than they did in the same month last year. They are trading in their S.U.V.’s for more sensible vehicles. As oil prices rose by two-thirds, American oil consumption fell by 900,000 barrels a day between the first quarter of 2007 and the same period of 2008.

Unfortunately, a large share of the world’s population is not responding to high energy prices. Across the developing world, governments are subsidizing energy, blunting the incentive to conserve by keeping prices low. They are absorbing the savings made by industrial countries and helping to raise oil prices by stoking demand.

In China, demand rose by 400,000 barrels a day between the first quarter of 2007 and the same period of 2008. Demand in the industrialized nations in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development fell by one million barrels a day over the same period. In the rest of the world, it grew by 1.1 million barrels.

Developing countries are growing faster than rich nations, of course. But experts say that government subsidies are exacerbating their unquenchable thirst for oil. China is expected to spend about $40 billion this year in subsidies. Venezuela and Egypt are forecast to spend more than 5 percent of their total economic output on subsidies this year. Indonesia is predicted to spend almost as much, the International Monetary Fund estimates.

In all, the I.M.F. says that 48 countries are shielding consumers from high energy prices with subsidies. As a result, while demand for oil in the rich world is expected to fall about 1 percent this year, consumption in emerging and developing countries is forecast to rise 3 percent, according to estimates by I.M.F. economists.

Governments in developing countries say they must shield the poor from high energy prices. They worry that eliminating subsidies might lead to inflation at a time when prices are rising broadly. But these subsidies are misguided and mainly benefit the well-off, who own big cars and fly in jets, as well as energy-intensive industries, which are not usually those that create most jobs.

They are expensive, sucking in public money that might be better used on, say, health care or education. And they get costlier as the price of oil rises, which explains why some countries, including China and India, have allowed domestic energy prices to rise somewhat.

Subsidies are a big factor keeping world oil prices high. Outside of the Middle East and some parts of Texas, this is in nobody’s interest.