Spain, Holland See Unity As Key To World Cup Final 

 

Holland championed unity as the key to Sunday's World Cup final battle while Germany's impressive collection of young talent set out their stall for the 2014 title by clinching third place.

Spain coach Vicente del Bosque believes victory at Johannesburg's Soccer City can strike a blow for national cohesion, a day after a million people marched in northeastern Spain in support of Catalan autonomy.
"There are players from all over Spain here in the squad, we are united and I hope the same feeling of unity occurs back in Spain," said Del Bosque.
"I think sport does many good things and I hope football could lead to better relations in our country."
Barcelona supplied seven of the starting line-up when Spain beat Germany in the semi-finals with that figure likely to be replicated when del Bosque's stylish side look to add a first world title to their European crown.
Dutch skipper Giovanni van Bronckhorst also stressed the significance of team spirit as he confirmed there had been none of the tensions between players that have hampered Holland's chances of success at previous tournaments.
"I think the spirit in the camp has been extremely important," said Feyenoord star van Bronckhorst, who will retire after Sunday's final.
"As players you have to spend six or seven weeks together to achieve your goal and I believe, if the atmosphere is good off the pitch, it will be good on it - you will go that extra mile for a team mate."
It has not always been like that for the Dutch, whose chances of success on the international stage have been frequently sabotaged by squabbling.
Factional in-fighting was as much a part of life for the "total football" generation of the 1970s as it was in the Ruud Gullit/Marco van Basten era of the late 80s, and reached its nadir when racial faultlines in the squad were exposed at Euro 96.
In Port Elizabeth on Saturday, Sami Khedira's 82nd-minute header earned Germany a 3-2 victory over Uruguay in a rousing and rain-soaked third-place play-off.
The Stuttgart midfielder rose to nod the ball beyond Fernando Muslera, while Diego Forlan was inches away from a dramatic equaliser with an injury-time free-kick that struck the crossbar.
Forlan rounded off an impressive individual showing at the tournament with a brilliantly-taken volley to give Uruguay a 2-1 lead early in the second period, only for Marcell Jansen to restore parity moments later.
"Of course we had all hoped for something better, but this match for third place was also a final that we absolutely wanted to win," said Khedira.
"At this World Cup we were a very young team and we've put down a marker. But we obviously want to win more in the future."
Thomas Mueller had put Germany in front in the 19th minute, but Edinson Cavani drew Uruguay level in the 28th.
Mueller and Forlan's goals took them level with Spain's David Villa and Dutch midfielder Wesley Sneijder in the race for the Golden Boot with five strikes apiece.
Miroslav Klose's hopes of matching Ronaldo's record of 15 World Cup finals goals were dashed after a back injury saw him relegated to the German bench by coach Joachim Loew.

 

Gus Dur, Our Champion Of Religious Tolerance

he news that Abdurrahman Wahid, leader of the 40 million-strong Muslim organization Nahdlatul Ulama and a former president, passed away late December might not come as a shock to many. Gus Dur, as he is known colloquially, had suffered complications from kidney and heart disease, as well as diabetes for the past several years; he was partially blind. Yet, his death is a huge loss for the nation. No other person is as well-respected as Gus Dur politically or culturally for championing religious tolerance and democracy. Gus Dur had no reluctance to state publicly to his fellow Muslims - Indonesia's dominant majority - that tolerance and equal rights for minorities are prerequisite for progress. In 1997 Gus traveled to Tel Aviv - with which Indonesia has not had diplomatic relations - to join a peace declaration promoted by the Shimon Perez Institute. As president, Gus decreed the Chinese lunar new year an official holiday, lifted the ban on public displays of Chinese characters, opened negotiations with the Free Aceh Movement, and apologized for human rights violations during Indonesia's 24 years of rule in East Timor. Against the backdrop of a national landscape plagued by political disarray and financial collapse, his presidency was short-lived, lasting only from October 1999 to July 2001, during which time he sacked powerful politicians and generals in his coalition cabinet for corruption or involvement in human rights abuses.
Gus Dur's departure comes at a time when concern looms - particularly among religious minorities - over a strong push by some segments of society - including radical Islamic groups - to introduce strict Islamic syariah law. What appears to have been happening is that the syariah law that has been incorporated into laws in parts of the country has been imposed not only on Muslim populations, but also on religious minorities. The result has been what Gus Dur fought throughout his life - increased intolerance.
Unable to make a strong foothold in big cities, recent movements by strict Islamic groups to introduce and strengthen the presence of syariah law have been carried out in small, rural towns and villages.
Most Indonesians remain positive that their nation can remain a pluralistic and open society for years because the majority of Indonesian Muslims are politically and socially moderate. Over the past decade, Indonesia's experimentation with direct, open presidential and lower-level elections has been stunningly successful. However, unless Indonesian people and politicians maintain their enthusiasm for tolerance as Gus Dur advocated, we have reason to be apprehensive about what the future holds.

Facebook Is Changing The World

 

A recent comment by a well-quoted University of Indonesia mass communication analyst that the theory that online media would cause print media to die is "pretty much refutable" goes against what has been happening in the media arena worldwide in the last decade or so.
While Indonesia may not have seen the full impact yet, the online media have unquestionably had an adverse impact on the livelihood of traditional media--including the print media--in much of the world. Newspapers and magazines in the US, Europe, and Japan have continued to suffer from falling circulation and advertising revenues, and the migration of readers to free online media.
The situation has, for example, forced the New York Times to plan to begin charging online readers (who do subscribe to its print issue) next year. It will give readers free access to a number of articles per month and start charging those who want to read more than the set number.
But evidence has shown that such a scheme will be an uphill, if not a losing, battle. Newsday is a case in point. The US Long Island newspaper's website reportedly has only been able to sign up 35 (thirty-five!) purely online subscribers. Its other subscribers are people who are granted access to its website because they already pay for the print and/or affiliated cable television. The bottom line is that people have become used to having the freedom to access information online.
What is even more striking today is how the online social media have changed the way many people obtain information. Let's take the case of Prita Mulyasari, a mother of two who was taken to court by Jakarta's upscale Omni Hospital on defamation charges for writing to friends about mistreatment by the hospital (her friends later posted the statement on the Internet, which in turn led to the Hospital's legal charges). She was jailed for three weeks awaiting trial. Started by people sympathetic to Prita, a Facebook page enlisted in a few weeks close to 150,000 members in support of her. The Facebook page was the main source of information for most of people following the case closely.
Even more so, the Facebook page put Prita's case in the national spotlight, rallying people around the country to express support for her. Thanks to a plea posted on the page, thousands of people donated money for her legal defense fees. She was cleared of all charges late last year.
The Economist this week reports that online social networks are changing the way people communicate, work, and play. The other great achievement of online networks, The Economist notes, has been "to turn themselves into superb tools for mass communication." People who have taken courses in journalism/mass communication schools must have known that mass communication essentially means mass media. In other words, the Economist suggests that online social networks are moving to take over the place that was once occupied by the traditional mass media--print, television, and radio.
There is little question that Facebook is the most dominant of all social media. The Economist described Facebook as "king of the social networking world." CNN declared that "Facebook Changed the World." Already, there are 375 million people who are members of millions of Facebook groups, making many billions of new connections.
I argue, therefore, that unless the traditional media invest significantly in online media and function closer to that of social media, they will be slowly but surely left behind by many. Indonesian media are no exception to the rule.
This week Facebook celebrates its sixth birthday. Let's tender it a very Happy Birthday.
Facts about Facebook:
Launched on February 4, 2004
Co-founders : Marck Zuckerberg and fellow classmates while attending Harvard.
Facebook paid $ 65 million in settlement in 2007 on complaint from other classmates that Zuckerberg stole their idea
Sold a 1.6% stake to Microsoft Corp. for $240 million (indicating a market value of $15 billion)
Available in more than 70 languages
Has more than 375 million active users worldwide.
Revenue: $280 Million in 2008 (2009 estimate: more than $500 million)

 

apaan itu drum???


Drum sebenarnya bermacam-macam. Ada snare, tom-tom, bass, conga, tymbal, mondo, bedug, tabla... dll, mereka sebenarnya adalah drum, karena memainkannya dengan cara dipukul. Tetapi yang kita bahas adalah DRUMSET, yang bisa dibilang bentuk drum paling modern. Drumset itu sendiri sebenarnya terdiri atas 3 drum, yaitu Snare, tom-tom dan bass drum. Untuk tom-tom masih dapat dibagi dua lagi, yaitu: Mounted tom dan floor tom-tom (tergantung dari peletakan dan diameter saja). Dari ketiga unsur tersebut masih ada beberapa unsur penting lagi, yaitu cymbal, hardware (pedal, hihat stand, cymbal stand, snare stand, tom holder/tom stand) dan drumhead.
Tom-tom terdiri atas berbagai macam ukuran baik dalam kedalamannya dan diameternya. Ukuran suatu drum biasnya ditulis 12x10 yang maksudnya adalah kedalamannya 12 inchi dan diameternya 10 inchi. Diameter tom-tom bervariasi, biasanya tom-tom paling kecil berdiameter 6", dan berlanjut ke 8", 10", 12", 13", 14", 15", 16", 18" dan 20". Ukuran tom-tom 14" keatas dapat digolongkan sebagai floor tom-tom, tetapi tergantung dari peletakannya juga. Tom-tom menggunakan 2 drumhead, atas dan bawah, kecuali pada tahun 70-an dimana tom-dan bass drum hanya menggunakan 1 drumhead saja, dan suaranya jelek sekali. Badan tom-tom atau yang biasa disebut dengan shell terbuat dari kayu. Untuk drum kelas pemula biasanya menggunakan kayu Mahogany dan untuk kelas professional biasanya menggunakan kayu Birch dan Maple. Kayu Birch dan Maple lebih mahal karena menghasilkan suara atau tone yang bulat dan jernih. Kayu pada tom-tom biasanya mempunyai ketebalan dari 4 sampai 10 mm. Semakin tipis kayu maka suara yang dihasilkan semakin kaya dan sensitive. Sedangkan semakin tebal kayu suara yang dihasilkan semakin keras, tetapi suaranya tidak terlalu kaya dan kurang sensitive.
Bass drum tidak terlalu berbeda dengan tom-tom, hanya bass drum mempunyai diameter yang lebih besar, 16", 18", 20", 22", 24" dan bahkan 26" atau lebih. Dan bass drum dipukul dengan menggunakan pedal dan ditaruh dibawah. Tetapi suara bass drum tidak seperti tom-tom yang bersuara "Dung..." tetapi cenderung bersuara "Dug..." (lebih mati suaranya). Kayu bass drum cenderung lebih tebal untuk menghasilkan suara yang lebih keras dan untuk ketahanan drum itu sendiri.
Snare drum adalah drum yang paling berbeda diantara lainnya (dari bentuk dan suaranya). Dan snare drum merupakan unsur utama dari drumset (yang paling sering dipukul). Drum ini biasanya berukuran 10" sampai 15", tetapi yang paling biasa digunakan adalah ukuran 14". Yang membuat perbedaan pada snare drum yaitu pada bagian bawah drum tersebut. Di bawahnya menggunakan kawat-kawat yang berbentuk spiral atau yang sebenarnya dinamakan Snare Wire /Strainer. Benda itulah yang membuat perbedaan pada snare drum. Jika anda memukul head atasnya maka snare wire dibawah segera merespon, dengan cara 'memukul' kembali head bawah dan menghasilkan suara yang tajam. Maka dari itu, sebenarnya 'nyawa' dari snare drum terletak pada snare wirenya. Jika snare wirenya dilepas maka suara yang dihasilkan hampir sama dengan tom-tom.
Cymbal, lagi-lagi merupakan 'nyawa' bagi drumset, karena hampir tidak mungkin bermain drum tanpa cymbal (ibaratnya seperti makan nasi tanpa nasi, nggak makan donk...). Cymbal terdiri atas 4 jenis mereka yaitu:

1. Hihat cymbal:
   'Jantungnya' cymbal dan drum. Berguna untuk menjaga waktu/tempo. terdiri atas sepasang cymbal. berukuran 8" sampai 15". Ukuran standart 14"
2. Ride cymbal:
   Sama fungsinya dengan hihat tetapi dengan bentuk dan suara yang berbeda. Hanya terdiri dari satu cymbal tetapi berukuran besar 18" sampai 22". ukuran standar 20"
3. Crash cymbal:
   Berguna untuk memberi phrase/nada pada suatu lagu. Berukuran 13" sampai 22" tergantung dari selera pemain.
4. Efek cymbal:
   Efek cymbal terdiri atas Splash, bell, china dan swiss. Berguna untuk memberi 'warna' khusus pada suatu lagu. Splash dan bell biasanya berukuran 6" sampai 12" dan untuk china dan swiss biasanya berukuran 16" sampai 22".

Hardware terdiri atas berbagai macam bentuk dan fungsi:

1. Pedal:
   Berguna untuk memukul bass drum, juga tersedia double pedal, yaitu pedal yang menggunakan 2 pedal dan 2 pemukul atau beater untuk mendapatkan suara yang lebih pada bass drum.
2. Hihat stand:
   Untuk menempatkan hihat cymbal yang terdiri atas 2 buah cymbal sehingga anda dapat membuka dan menutup kedua cymbal itu dengan kaki kiri anda.
3. Cymbal stand:
   Untuk menempatkan segala macam jenis cymbal kecuali hihat.
4. Snare stand:
   Untuk menempatkan Snare drum dan anda dapat merubah posisinya sesuka anda.
5. Tom holder/tom stand:
   Berguna untuk memasang tom-tom.

Drumhead mempunyai ukuran, type, fungsi dan ketebalan yang berbeda. Drumhead terdiri atas 3 bagian; Pertama Batter head, yaitu drumhead yang dirancang khusus untuk dipukul. Kedua, Resonant hanya ditaruh pada bagian bawah tom-tom dan bagian depan bass drum. Head ini tidak untuk dipukul, head ini berguna untuk memberi 'hidup' pada tom-tom dan bass drum. Dan terakhir adalah snare side, khusus hanya untuk ditaruh dibagian bawah snare untuk mendapatkan suara snare wirenya. Snare side merupakan head yang paling tipis. Ingat, tidak untuk dipukul.