Poker calculator

The first time you read the title you must be wondering what it means by poker calculator. It is actually a card game product from magicholdem.com. If you are a Texas Holdem player, then you might need the magicholdem calculator. That is because according to the site, the calculaton engine would give you accurate and professional advice for playing the game. There are also online poker tips and Texas Holdem tips, as well as Texas Holdem strategy, that would give you chance to win the game.

Play slots

I just found one of the oldest sites of online slots over the Internet, namely Sloterix. It says that players keep coming back to the site because the site offers interactive slot games with 10 different slot machines and 8 video slots.

It seems like the site is safe enough for players who like to play slot games on the Internet, as it is stating that Sloterix’s objective is to share unique experience of online slots gaming in a trustworthy environment.

Online backgammon

Playing online backgammon, who could say no to such temptation? Now there’s this nicely designed site where you can play backgammon on the Internet. You no longer need a real board and dice to play limitedly with only a few of your friends.

Now, all you need to do is go to Gammon world’s page to play backgammon online. You can even join live tournament every day and play with other players from all over the world. The site is so user friendly and it is available in six languages.

i miss you like crazy...

yup, you might find the title of my entry so corny, eh? ;D it is so bloody true, indeed. uhm, well, i just can't help but writing it. in fact, i don't have the faintest idea why I chose that title.

maybe it's just a pre-valentine's day mood. haha. or maybe, i just miss the feeling of missing someone. ugghh, that makes me sound even cornier... or worst, pathetic!!!

anyways, as pathetic as i am, i am just trying to be honest, at least with myself. and now, i boldly admit that i do missing the feeling of missing somebody, if you know what i mean. or should i add that i also miss being missed by someone? ;D

naik sepeda harus punya SIM?

barusan blogwalking ke blog tetangga dan gue menemukan info menarik, meskipun belum tentu benar, tentang rencana yang bakal mengharuskan orang2 bersepeda untuk punya SIM. ckckck, what a brilliant idea our [dis]respected people in parliament have!!!

kalo penasaran, coba aja blogwalking n baca postingan ini: para anggota dewan yang ter...

fiuh, i know that people can be stupid sometimes, but how can some people abuse that privilege???

Online Billiard

One of the most enjoyable games to play on the Internet is online billiard. And I just find this interesting page for online snooker, Billiard Magic. It is indeed quite magic since we can play the games so easily, just download and play it. The site also offers a wide range of games such as billiard, snooker and pool. Most importantly, you can also meet new people from all over the world by participating in online pool tournaments. The site is designed in a user-friendly manner, it’s just a click away from your mouse.

Zenni Optical

Do you have any plan to get you new glasses? If so, there is a Great Discovery: Zenni Optical, where you can find various types of glasses with different colours, frames, lenses in different prices. One of the examples of the things they offer is Zenni Optical $8 Rx Glasses. So, after several hours browsing the Internet, maybe I must say that so far the Best Thing Found: Zenni Optical, as Zenni also sells internationally.

One of Zenni Optical products

Online backgammon

I just find this interesting site for playing online backgammon. It seems like Mister Gammon site is designed in a user-friendly fashion, so that players can play backgammon games easily.

The site is available in six languages and it offers backgammon players live tournaments every day. Players can also play the game for free or real money with people from all around the globe.

In short, Mister Gammon seems like an interesting site for online game, where we can just play backgammon everyday, just download and play it.

Hair loss is a nightmare

I believe everybody would see hair as the crown of one’s appearance. It could really affect the presentation of a person. Hair could also reflect what kind of person you are. In that sense, can you imagine having hair loss problem without doing any efforts to recover it? I can’t, because it’s like having a nightmare night after night.

But now we don’t have to worry anymore. I just find a very helpful page of provillus to overcome hair loss problem. The page presents the most popular products to handle the problem along with testimonials from customers who used them, as you can read in provillus reviews.

Form the page I can see there are various types of the best hair loss products, such as provillus, procerin, thymusil, advecia, nioxin and rogaine. All of them would give special treatment for our hairs and scalp to create the optimum environment for our healthy hairs.

But if you still have any doubt linger on your thought about provillus, just try to visit the page and read customers comments on the products they have used. Many of them said that they were worried to sick when they found out they have hair loss problem. And after trying some useless hair loss products, they finally find the answer from provillus.

where've my dreams gone?

Yes, I'm still wondering, where have actually my dreams gone? It feels like I still had them months ago. But where are they now? I'm losing track of my dreams. Now I can't find any, let alone having any.

So, please, send back my dreams to me. I don't mind having my old ones. But also, I'd love to have the new ones. Just let me have my dreams back. Now I realise how sad life is when you have no dreams at all.

the one i'm waiting for

yup, the person i'm waiting for apparently decided not to come tonight. it's already one and a half hour past midnight and i didn't see the sign of appearance.

but hey, wait a minute! why should i be waiting for the person, actually? i have no idea at all!!!

gen lucu

kebetulan tadi iseng2 nonton film yang judulnya the heartbreak kid. yaah film2 ringan bertema komedi romantis ala ben stiller lah. tentunya gw gak bermaksud membuat review film itu. cuma mau cerita ada cuplikan kalimat sederhana yang cukup menarik di salah satu scene-nya.

kalimat itu muncul sebagai tanggapan atas alasan ben stiller yang ragu menikahi pacarnya. dia bilang bahwa pacarnya tidak punya selera humor. she doesn't have sense of humour. mau tau apa tanggapan sang ayah atas kalimat itu? funny is a male gene.

jadi mikir2, apa iya ya 'lucu' itu adanya cuma di gen cowok? brarti cuma ada di kromosom y dong? hmmm, atau mungkin bisa juga di kromosom x tapi cewek cuma jadi carier aja.

hehehe, mulai deh ngebahas hal2 yang ga jelas n ga penting...

kunjungan terbanyak

kalau dilihat2 dari catatan pengunjung, postingan di blog ini yang paling banyak dikunjungi orang, setelah pencarian lewat google, ternyata tulisan mengenai ozon. menarik juga ternyata. dari catatan itu juga terlihat bahwa salah satu pengunjungnya adalah EPA, kepanjangan dari Environmental Protection Agency (kalo gw gak salah inget), salah satu badan lingkungan hidup di AS. hebat kan? hehehe.

selain tentang ozon, tulisan yang cukup banyak dicari dan dikunjungi adalah mengenai hutan tropis. kali ini kebetulan gw gak inget persis organisasi2 apa aja yang sempat mampir ke blog ini untuk sekedar ngecek sekilasan tentang tulisan itu.

lucu aja, gak nyangka. ternyata mayan juga yang sudi mampir ke blog ini setelah memasukkan kata kunci pencarian di google.

"In the future everyone will be world famous for fifteen minutes"

kutipan yang menarik dari andy warhol, ikon pop art di era 60-70an (kalo gak salah). gue gak tau sih kapan atau tahun berapa persisnya dia ngomong begitu. tapi kalau dipikir2 bener juga apa yang dia bilang.

sekarang ini orang bisa tenar dengan cepat. di indonesia, misalnya, lewat kontes2 pencarian idola, orang bisa tiba2 menjadi sangat terkenal dan kaya, meski kadang dengan kemampuan pas2an. tapi mungkin juga ia terlihat tiba2 terkenal hanya dari kacamata kita, mungkin dia sudah cukup lama berjuang dari satu kontes ke kontes yang lain.

tapi gue keukeuh tetap percaya bahwa apa yang dibilang andy warhol itu ada benarnya. yang jadi masalah sekarang adalah apa kira2 contoh nyatanya ya? coba tolong dipikirkan...

film horor indonesia

mau tau apa yang dirasakan saat kita berada di lapak dvd/vcd dan memilih2 film indonesia bergenre horor? malu!

yup, sebagai seorang penakut, gue gak ngerasa takut saat memilih2 film horor itu tapi malu. cukup mudah untuk mengatasi rasa takut itu, cukup dengan tidak melihat gambar2 di sampul depan vcd2 horor tersebut. tapi kalau untuk rasa malu, terpaksa gue bermuka tebal, demi memenuhi keinginan teman yang minta tolong untuk dibelikan film2 horor indonesia.

have a good and happy new year

... and may the year 2008 be filled with positive energy and reality.

Voltaire's Candide

Candide is a symbol of optimism and loyalty. Voltaire described his young hero, Candide and friends in a very interesting way through a series of journeys and misfortunes. From the beginning of the story, Candide has faced a lot of tortures and tragedies, starting from him being kicked out from the Baron’s mansion for kissing his daughter, Lady Cunégonde.

From then on, he is destined only to meet torments and agonies, but that doesn’t make him give up his hope in life. “Things cannot be other than they are, for since everything was made for a purpose, it follows that everything is made for the best purpose.” That was taught by his tutor, Dr. Pangloss, and that what makes his optimism stays alive in facing all the tortures he has faced in life.

In this book, Voltaire is not only trying to build optimistic mind in coping with the burden of life, reflected by the incessant suffering, from natural disasters and illnesses to man-made wars, he also presents a story of love searching and loyalty. The optimistic taught from his tutor, not only making him survive from a series of bad lucks and harassments, it also gives him strength to put all his efforts to find and marry the love of his life, Lady Cunégonde.

Candide’s love and loyalty to Lady Cunégonde can be seen when, among all calamities he faced, Candide and his companion, Cacambo finally arrives in a beautiful place called Eldorado, where the king and the people are so nice and friendly. A place endowed with gold nuggets, emeralds and rubies, so rich of them that the people don’t have to be cruel and greedy to be rich.

Having finally found a friendly and wonderful place to live doesn’t make Candide decide to stay there forever. Spending a month at the King’s palace, not a day passed without Candide saying to Cacambo: “It is quite true, my good fellow, that the house where I was born won’t beat comparison with the mansions of this country; but still, I shall never be happy without Lady Cunégonde….” And so, they decide to leave the country and continue searching for Candide’s love. They are willing to sacrifice their beautiful, safe place and be ready to face more difficulties for the sake of finding the loved one.

For a classic literature, this book is quite easy to digest. It has good plot flowing smoothly from one journey to another, one torturing experience to another. Voltaire also brilliantly presents Candide’s companions differently in most of the journeys. Each companion shows different wisdom and, sometimes, wittiness.

I highly recommend this book for it is really a book of unflinching optimism, sacrifice and loyalty. By reading it, an optimistic feeling inside your heart and mind will grow. It will help you optimistically see that any obstacles in love and life are not there for nothing, as everything is made for the best purpose.

Tropical rainforest: national property vs. global common

Tropical rainforests play a very significant role in supporting life on earth. It provides protection to soil stability and hydrology, water supply, climate, and the efficient cycle between soil and vegetation. Moreover, rainforests have a rich biodiversity, containing animals, herbs plants, which are of importance to genetic material, new crops and medicine. Also, from economics point of view, tropical rainforests perform a key role by producing industrial products such as rubber, tropical timber, and a wide range of oils, resins and waxes.

Considering the important role of tropical rainforests, it is deemed necessary to protect the rainforest from destruction. There are two types of forest destruction, namely forest degradation and deforestation Forest degradation refers to changes in forest quality and occurs when the species diversity and the biomass are significantly reduced through unsustainable forms of forest utilization. Another type of forest destruction, namely deforestation, occurs when a forest is cleared to give way to another use of the land.

Deforestation emerged as an international issue during the 1980s and it has been firmly established as global concerns from 1990 up to now. International attention for tropical rainforests has risen due to the concern that ongoing deforestation has global effects such as global warming and loss of biodiversity. Thus, it requires global action, which can be in the form of international cooperation, to solve the problem. Unfortunately, the process of finding solution for deforestation is hindered with arguments between environmental nationalism and the international community’s desire to protect the forests.

One of the basic problematic dimensions of forest conservation is the proprietary dimension, which leads to the competing claim over world’s forests. There are three competing claims exist, namely the acknowledgement of forests as global commons, national resources, and as local commons. The latter is claimed by local people, especially indigenous people, and mainly become the focus of international NGO, which asserts that forests belong to local people. The most problematic issue that raise debates between governments in developed and developing countries in international forum is the competing claims between forests as a global common and as a national resource. Many actors, who mainly come from the developed countries concerned about the global effects of forest destruction, incline towards asserting forest as a global common. On the contrary, the governments of the developing countries resist such claim and assert a counter claim stating that forests, under the state’s sovereignty, are a national resource to be used in line with national policy. Thus, the different point of view over the claim of forests hampers the international cooperation for forest conservation.

Before further discussing the different arguments on world’s forests claim in international arena, it is necessary to recognise what global commons and national property are. Global commons can be defined as the areas or resources that do not or cannot by their very nature fall under sovereign jurisdiction. The benefits from the exploitation of such resources should be shared by all states, which presumably distributed to the people, regardless of the state’s participation in resource extraction. The resources include in this definition are the oceans and deep seabed, Antarctica, space and the atmosphere, because those areas are beyond state sovereignty. Sovereignty can be defined as the legal doctrine that states have supreme authority to govern their internal affairs and manage their foreign relations with other states and IGOs. Thus, forests as a national resource means that it is the property of an individual state, on which state has the right to exclude others from the forest and from decisions affecting the future of the forest.

Starting from those definition, environmental nationalism, which is represented by developing countries, argues that forests should not be claimed as a global common because it certainly fall under the jurisdiction of sovereign state. Therefore, the management and utilisation of forests should be in line with national policy. The argument is also backed up with the widely accepted concept of state sovereignty over their natural resources in the 1970s. In fact, the United Nations Conference on the Human Environment held at Stockholm in 1972 combined this right with the responsibility of states to avoid transboundary environmental damage, which is reflected in Stockholm Principle 21.

The Stockholm Principle 21 is widely accepted so that it will be difficult for the claimants of forests as a global common to dispute national sovereignty over forests resources. Alternatively, members of the international community, mostly from developed countries, try to redefine the nature of sovereignty in two ways. Firstly, they redefine the traditional territorial definition of forests into functional definition. Forests perform global functions by providing biodiversity, carbon sinks, wildlife and beauty. All the benefits and losses occurred from such functions will affect all countries, not just those with forests. Hence, the international community has a stake in the conservation of the world’s forests. Secondly, the nature of state sovereignty over forests is challenged with the moral argument stating that it is important to preserve forest for the common good of humanity, considering its effects in global scale.

The case of contradicting arguments between forests as national resources and as global commons can be seen in the debates on Amazonian rainforest in Brazil. The international community believes that the Amazonian rainforest is a public good for its destruction can significantly diminish the quality of life through massive soil erosion, sedimentation, floods, hydrologic cycle problems, desertification and the release of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. Amazonian deforestation also leads to loss of species of animals and plants peculiar to the rainforest as their habitats, as well as to the depletion of goods supply important to mankind. The international community claims that the Amazonian destruction has damaging effects on the welfare of human being, therefore, it becomes the international responsibility to conserve the natural resources of Amazonia.

Responding to the international community’s claim, Brazil invokes the principle of non-intervention, which is prohibiting one state from interfering in another state’s internal affairs and emphasises its sovereignty right over its natural resource to be determined in line with the national needs. Brazilian government argues that it needs to exploit the Amazonia to meet the basic needs of its increasing poor majority, satisfy the energy needs of its booming population, find export goods for the international market and expand its industrial sector. Nevertheless, Brazilian government points out its willingness to stop the destruction of the rainforest.

In supporting the argument to assert national sovereignty over the forest resources, developing countries point out the relationships between deforestation and the needs for development to erode poverty and national debt. Besides, developing countries alleges the assertion of forests as global commons proposed by developed countries are just their instruments to take control of the resources for their own interests. Tropical forest produce has been of vital importance to the development of Western industries. The future development of Western medicine is clearly heavily dependent on the tropical forests. The development of disease resistant, or more productive and adaptable strains, is dependent on the availability of fresh genetic material, where can only be found in tropical forests as the sole source of such material.

In 1992, the results of the UNCED negotiations regarding forests convention gave benefits to developing countries. The Forest Principles and Chapter 11 of Agenda 21 reaffirmed the rights of sovereign nations to utilise their forests in accordance with their national priorities and policy objectives. Nevertheless, developed countries do not give up their efforts to assert the global responsibility approach in order to form a legally binding regime on global forests, which is reflected on the emerging of several international initiatives on forest conservation, following the failure of the UNCED to produce a global forest convention.

By observing the explained arguments above, it is difficult to refuse the fact that forests are national resources that fall under national jurisdiction. Forest countries have the sovereign right to manage and utilise its forests in accordance with its national policy. Nevertheless, considering the functions of forests and the effects of deforestation that go beyond national jurisdiction, forests can also be seen as global commons. Thus, the actors involved in forest conservation should bear that idea in mind, so that the process of finding solution on deforestation is no longer focused on the proprietary dimension, but more on finding harmonious means that can give benefit developing countries in preserving its forests and in the same time, developed countries could also enjoy the functions of the forests.

Insurance for your life

I’m the kind of person who believes that having insurance policy for me is important. I know that it seems like what a waste of money to spend every month on insurance, but actually what I’m doing is to save money on insurance.

Before deciding to purchase insurance policy, of course we need to consider insurance plans pros and cons, as well as trying to find the best insurance quotes. It’s important to do such things because we want to have the benefit of what we are paying later.

One of the benefits of having insurance can be seen, unfortunately, when we are sick and the treatment bill requires us a lot of money. That is why, health insurance is also needed not only for ourselves, but also for our loved ones. So, it is also suggested to have family insurance for the members of our family.

serba formalin

ada banyak banget jenis makanan di negeri ini yang dicampur formalin. sebegitu susahnyakah nyari duit di negeri ini sampai2 harus mencampur makanan dengan sesuatu yang berbahaya? atau emang aja orang2 itu terlahir berotak majal dan berhati dajjal?

sekarang ini aja, gimana kalau setelah penjahat2 itu ditangkapi, stok formalin yang masih ada disuntikkan aja semua ke otak orang2 itu.