Tuesday, 5 February 2008

HOW TO MAKE MUMMY

The ancient Egyptians made mummies for religious reasons. They believed in life after death. They thought that people were reborn after they died and needed a body in order to live in the afterlife. The Egyptians took special care to preserve the bodies of wealthy, important people.

Making a mummy was complex and took about 70 days. First, mummy makers removed the body’s internal organs and placed them in special containers. They also took out the brain. But they usually left the heart in place. They believed a dead person’s soul remained in the heart. The heart spoke for a dead person in the afterlife, during judgment before the gods.

Next, mummy makers applied chemicals to the body to dry it and remove moisture. Then they perfumed the body and wrapped it in bandages made from linen cloth. They placed lucky charms between the wrappings, for spiritual protection.

Once prepared, they laid the mummy in a wood or stone coffin. After about 2000 bc, mummies were often put in human-shaped coffins. The coffins might be painted with a portrait of the dead person along with pictures of the gods. Sometimes the coffins were made in sets that nested one within another.

Finally, the mummy was carried to its tomb. There, priests performed a ceremony called the Opening of the Mouth Ritual. They believed this ceremony brought the dead person’s senses back to life so they could live in the next world. Family members put useful items and food in the tomb to keep the mummy’s spirit alive.

(sources : Microsoft Encarta Library Premium 2005)

Friday, 1 February 2008

Indonesia`s former president Soeharto dies

Former President Soeharto (86) died on Sunday (Jan 27) at 13:10 after he was treated about two weeks at the Pertamina Hospital in South Jakarta.
The Indonesian second president was admitted to the Pertamina Hospital last Friday on January 4, 2008, for suffering from anemia and severe edema.
Soeharto began his New Order government after then President Soekarno authorized him in March 1966 to overcome the chaotic situation in the aftermath of the aborted Communist coup in 1965.
A special session of the provisional People`s Consultative Assembly (MPRS) in March 1967 appointed Soeharto acting president and he was officially sworn in Indonesia`s second president in March 1968.
Soeharto who was born in Kemusuk village, Yogyakarta, on June 8, 1921, ruled the country for 32 years through six consecutive general elections.
Between 1960 and 1965, the national economy grew merely by an average of 2.1 percent annually. The inflation rate reached over 250 percent in 1961-1965 and even jumped to 650 percent in 1966.
After the stabilization and rehabilitation drive carried out by the New Order in 1966 and 1968, economic growth reached an average of six percent.
Thus, in 1969, Soeharto began to implement his ideas to lift up the country from poverty through five-year development plans called "Repelita".
At the start of Repelita I, Indonesia`s per capita income stood at US$70, and Indonesia was rated as one of the poorest countries in the world.
About three decades later, the country`s per capita income went up to US$1,155 and Indonesia was regarded a middle income country. The economy grew convincingly by an average of seven to eight percent a year over a period of 25 years.
Entering the 80s and the 90s, the inflation rate was maintained at an average of 10 percent, and in 1996 it reached 6.5 percent.
The result of Soeharto`s economic programs made Indonesia which had been crippled by poverty in the previous three decades, one of the newly emerging economies in South East Asia.
The number of poor people declined from 60 percent in 1967 to 40 percent in 1980 and 21 percent or 37 million people in 1987. With a population of about 200 million, Indonesia was able to further reduce the number of its poor to 11.3 percent or 22.5 million in 1996.
The success of his economic development earned him the title "Bapak Pembangunan" (Father of Development) which was conferred on him by the People`s Consultative Assembly (MPR) in 1983 in recognition of his success.
Through diversification in the agricultural sector, Soeharto also succeeded in turning Indonesia from a rice-importing to a rice-exporting nation.
In 1980, Soeharto declared Indonesia self-sufficient in rice and traveled to Rome in 1985 to receive a crowning award fro the Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations.
The New Order era leader resigned from the presidential post on May 21, 1998.(*)



sources : antara.co.id

Tuesday, 15 January 2008

Our Brain

The brain has two sides, the left side which control logical and rational thinking, and the right side which is more dominant in artistic activities which require imagination.

Psychologists believe that most of us have a lot creative ability, but often we don’t use it because our daily lives are dominated by the organized, analytical left side of brain. And this is particularly true at school where much more time and emphasis is given to left brain activities such as art and music.


What’s more, even when we do activities which are more successful using the right side of brain, we often use the left side instead. An example of this drawing. Many people try to identify the thing they are drawing, e.g. an eye or a nose, and then copy their idea or what an eye or a nose looks like. In other words, they draw what they know and not what they see. This is an example of left brain thinking and the result is usually very childlike.


However, you can switch off the left side of the brain when you are drawing by using the following technique, invented by Betty Edwards, who has written a book about learning to draw the right side of the brain.


( sources : True to Life Personal Workbook for Intermediate Cambridge Press)

Bath

Relaxing in warm bath is one of the best things in life. The Roman Emperor, Gordian had four or five baths a day.


Napoleon Bonaparte used to take very hot baths in the middle of the night, which horrified his doctor. But many people are bath-lovers, lying in the bath long after the washing is finished. When they get out of the bath, they feel relaxed and very much better.


One reasons why that is your body ‘floats’ in water, so your muscles can relax. A hot bath can lower the blood pressure too. But very hot water isn’t so relaxing; in fact, it makes your heart beat faster, and it can take thirty minutes for the body to get back to normal.


Craig Sharp, of the British Olympic Medical Center, says that baths and showers are good for tired muscles, and they make athletes recover from fatigue more quickly.


Sharp did an experiment to see how athletes feel in the different circumstances. He did three different tests:

  1. Some athletes went for a run, and then had a cool shower.
  2. Some athletes went for a run, but had no shower afterwards.
  3. Some athletes had no run, but had a shower.

The best feeling was clearly created by the run followed by a cool shower. But to everyone’s surprise, a shower alone was superior to a run without a shower. The feeling of cool water on the skin is enough; it seems, to create a gentle feeling of euphoria.

But, it seems, the ritual of bathing is important in our territorial instincts. People like to bathe when they move into a new house, or even a hotel room. Or is it just that we are tired, and need the bath to relax us?


(sources : True to Life Personal Workbook for Intermediate Cambridge Press)

Attention From a Gentleman to a Lady

If a lady wishes to go further in her acquaintance with a gentleman she must make the first advance, and he must be ready at all times to meet such advances. If he meets the lady in the street, he should wait for her to bow and then take off his hat. If she stops to speak to him, he must never keep her standing, but must walk with her in the direction in which she is going. If he is riding at the time he must dismount and walk with her. The practice of walking arm in arm in the street is now out of date, but in a crowd it would be right for a gentleman to offer his arm to lady, or go before her to clear the way of her.


A gentleman must always raise his hat when a lady bows to him, even he does not remember who she is.


It is correct for a gentleman to stand up when a lady enters the room, and remain standing until she is seated. He must also stand up when she leaves the room, and should open the door for her. This rule should be observed whether the lady is known to the gentleman or not. A gentleman should follow a lady on going up or downstairs; but he must precede her on alighting from carriage or public vehicle.


A gentleman does not force his attention upon a lady. If she shows by her manner that his presence is not agreeable, he should withdraw at once. On the other hand, it is not etiquette for a gentleman to leave a lady abruptly just because she is bored with his company. He must wait for an opportunity to withdraw without hurting her feelings.


(sources : true to life personal workbook for intermediate Cambridge Press)

Saturday, 22 December 2007

KOALA

Koala, tree-dwelling marsupial with a specialized diet consisting almost exclusively of the leaves of eucalyptus trees. Koalas are native to Australia, where they are sometimes called koala bears or native bears, although koalas are not related to bears. Bears are placental mammals—their young develop fully inside the mother’s body, nourished by a spongy organ called the placenta. As marsupial mammals, koala young are born while still in an undeveloped state. Newborn koalas complete their development inside a pouch on the mother’s abdomen.
Today koalas survive in the remaining small patches of eucalyptus forests throughout eastern Australia, from the tropical northeast to the cooler southeast. These patches of forest are widely separated from each other, preventing koalas from moving from one patch to another to find new breeding partners or additional eucalyptus trees.

Koalas resemble a miniature bear, with a large head above a stocky body, a tiny tail, and long muscular limbs. They have a round face with forward-facing eyes; a blunt, prominent nose; and two round ears on top of the head. Koalas range in size from 69 to 79 cm (27 to 31 in) in length, and from 5 to 12 kg (11 to 26 lb) in weight. Males are generally larger than females, and koalas in the south tend to be larger than their counterparts in the north.
The eyes of koalas face forward on the head, enabling the animal to focus both eyes on a single object. This ability, known as binocular vision, allows koalas to accurately judge distances, an important skill for an animal that leaps between tree branches. Koalas appear to have a good sense of smell—they sniff leaves before selecting one to eat, suggesting that they can smell a difference among individual leaves. They also sniff the gland secretions left by males at the base of trees and on branches.

Koalas eat about 200 to 500 g (7 to 18 oz) of eucalyptus leaves per day. Eucalyptus leaves are low in nutrition, however, because they contain little protein and largely consist of fiber and other indigestible compounds. The koala has evolved unique adaptations to exist on this diet, and these adaptations influence many aspects of the animal’s digestive process, from the shape of teeth to the speed of digestion.

The teeth of koalas include four incisors at the front of the mouth, two in the upper jaw and two in the lower jaw. Cheek teeth, consisting of one premolar and four molars, are found in both the upper and lower jaws. A gap, called the diastema, separates the incisors and cheek teeth. Koalas use the incisors to grasp a single leaf and pull it into the mouth through the diastema. The animals then bite the leaf with their premolar, separating the leaf from its branch.

(sources:Microsoft ® Encarta ® Reference Library 2005. © 1993-2004 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.)