Tips to Prevent Global Warming

1. Reduce your climate by 1˚C
Dimming down your heaters during the winter period by just 1˚C will save us from 225 kilograms of CO2 emissions per year cut your heating bills by 4%.

2. Change a lightbulb
If every home in the UK would switch one bulb to an energy-saving bulb we could shut down one entire power plant rightaway.

3. Stop leaving equipment on Stand By mode
Did you know that if you left your radio or TV on Stand By for a day, they'd still consume energy. Turn them completely off or even unplug them and you'll save 10% of your energy bill.

4. Say No to plastic bags
The 500 million to 1 trillion plastic bags being used every day end up in a landfill and will not degrade for couple of thousands of years. It's not a happy end. Get a reusable grocery tote bag instead.

5. Shop for local food
An average food item in your supermarket has travelled 1,000 miles to get to you. Buy local food to reduce energy wasted on food transportation.

6. Bike or walk, or go public
One bus can hold as much people as fifty cars. Trains even more. Every mile travelled on a public transport means less fuel consumption. Or if you can, take a walk or bike instead and save even more fossils that would pollute our atmosphere.

7. Plant a tree
Trees take in CO2 and pump out oxygen. One tree provides whole oxygen for two people's needs for their entire lifetime. And besides - trees are nice.

8. Sing in the rain
It will be raining more often. Better get used to it. In other words - it's time to be prepared.

Future Car Technology

Future car technology is now wide open. For instance, with peak oil looming and future shortages of fossil fuels imminent there has been much emphasis lately on cars that run on alternative fuels.

Right now many automakers are gearing up for offering vehicles that are able to run on ethanol or other biofuels (such as biodiesel), which is the path of least resistance for the near future.

But, what about longer term? In the longer term, future car technology will most likely involve cars that run on hydrogen, electricity, air, nitrogen or even nuclear power. Some may see the nuclear-powered car as the most far-fetched of all of the ideas, but this is a mistake.

In fact, in 1958 the first nuclear automobile was pioneered and called the Ford Nucleon. The Ford Nucleon was a concept vehicle that was supposed to be powered by a small nuclear reactor at the rear of the vehicle fueled by radioactive material. No working prototypes were ever built, however.

So, this is not the say that nuclear-powered cars will never be part of the future. Car technology will most likely advance to the state will this will one day be a likely fuel of choice.

But, what is here now? Hydrogen, electricity, air and nitrogen cars all have had working prototypes built. In fact, in regard to electric vehicles, production models have also been built. But, the range of electric cars and their recharging rate have always been their downfall.

So, this is where hydrogen cars step in. Hydrogen cars at this writing can run from either internal combustion engines or fuel cells. Some of the current models of hydrogen cars like the GM Sequel have a proven driving range of over 300 miles in real world conditions. The BMW Hydrogen 7 has rolled out as a lease vehicle and is a dual fuel vehicle that can run off either liquid hydrogen or gasoline.

The Honda FCX was the first hydrogen car to be offered as a lease in 2004 and now the second lessee, actress Q'orianka Kilcher who played Pocahontas in the movie "The New World".

Electric cars also offer an option in regard to future car technology if the aforementioned issues may be resolved. Companies like Tesla, Zap and Phoenix Motorcars are making headway in developing these vehicles for the marketplace.

And, then there is the MDI air cars which may be going over big in Europe and India once the compressed air infrastructure is in place. The MDI air cars also have an onboard compressor that plugs into any outlet so this will help with vehicle acceptance.

So, far their has only been one nitrogen car prototype of note and this is the CooLN2Car developed by the University of North Texas. The car has stalled in development, however, due to lack of research funds.

Two other parts of advanced car technology to note are the future flying cars that will be taking flight over the next two or three years and smart cars that will also be seeing the highways and byways sometime in the future as well.

Pencak Silat as an Instrument of Social Control in the Dutch East Indies

At the beginning of the colonial period, pencak silat continued to expand to all outlying areas of the archipelago, as a result of greater, large-scale mobility of the people. These migrations frequently involved an element of force, such as the exile of Kiai Maja a bodyguard to Prince Diponegoro from Java to Tondano, North Sulawesi, after the Dutch government put a stop to the bloody war in Central Java between 1825 and 1830. Kiai Maja and his followers lived in Tondano, until their deaths. Some of them married local women, giving rise to a particular ethnic group known as Jaton (Java Tondano). It is said that Kiai Maja left behind a specific brand of self-defence, which is today known as pencak silat Tondano. One school in Sulawesi still uses the name of its forebear: 'Perguruan Satria Kiai Maja'. Migration induced by war was however incidental during the first century of Dutch colonial rule, hence it did not have the greatest influence on the spread of pencak silat. Of far greater significance was the migration resulting from the construction of transportation infrastructures and related changes in the agrarian economy. In 1808, hundreds of thousands of farmers from the north coast of Java were forcibly mobilised to build a road from Anyer to Panarukan, the so-called Grote Postweg. In their spare time, coolies from different regions entertained themselves by practising and showing off their pencak silat skills. Their expertise in self-defence was also useful when facing conflict with other coolies or with their oppressors. Once again, a synergy of different pencak silat styles in this case different Javanese styles took place, producing new brands of pencak silat.

The opening of the Java highway enabled the rural population to move, leading to intermingling of rural populations of different ethnic and cultural backgrounds. At the end of the 18th century, it was difficult to penetrate the hinterland of Java due to the dreadful conditions of the roads. Trade was mainly conducted by sea, all along the north coast or along the Solo River and the Brantas River. Thanks to the successful completion of the Grote Postweg which would be followed by the construction of the railroad network at the end of the 19th century not only did land trade intensify, but also farming communities moved to virgin lands (Lombard 1996(1):134-139). Because these migratory communities also brought with them their culture, including self-defence mastery, the diffusion of pencak silat on Java became irreversible. The Java highway also created a single economic zone between Pasundan (West Java) and the rest of Java and paved the way for the commercialisation of colonial products. These economic changes were also linked to the kultuurstelsel ('cultivation system', or in the language of the people 'forced cropping system') imposed by the colonial government to overcome the severe economic crisis in the 1830's. The system required farmers to plant certain types of crops intended for export, such as sugar cane, indigo, coffee, tea and pepper, on one-third of their land, or work on a government plantation 66 days out of the year (Koentjaraningrat 1994:67). This economic structure employed pencak silat as an instrument of social control to govern coolies and rural communities. In particular, the Dutch colonial government used pencak silat experts as 'opas' (from the old Dutch term 'oppasser', meaning guard) or 'kontroleur' (controller), to supervise the work of the coolies. These supervisors were selected from among those people who were already known and trusted by the colonisers.

Since the government plantations opened first in Tangerang and later expanded to Bogor, Sukabumi, Puncak and Bandung, experienced kontroleurs were selected from these locations and then transferred to areas where new plantations were being cleared. Most of them practised maempok, as at that time physical strength and martial arts skills were the main asset in supervising labourers. The supervisors frequently married local women and settled in the new plantation areas. Little by little they passed on their pencak silat skills derived particularly from the Cimande, Cikalong and Cikaret styles to the local population. After gaining a sufficient number of students, they started to teach maempok according to their cultural tradition, requiring jurus performances to be always accompanied by gendang (drum) pencak music played on two large drums (indung), two small ones (kulantir), one small gong and one trumpet. However, since West Javanese musical instruments were not always available in the new settlements, they had to be replaced with local ones. For example, in the plantations of East Java, the supervisors adopted musical instruments brought by migrants from Madura and Bawean (since they comprised the majority of settlers), consisting of six short drums, trumpets and brass instruments (jidur).22 In the former plantation area of the Besuki Residency,23 present day performances of West Javanese styles clearly show cultural Madurese elements assimilated from colonial times. Assimilation also occurred among martial arts of different countries. In many coastal towns in Java, such as Cirebon, Semarang and Surabaya, where there was a concentration of Chinese traders, kuntao and pencak silat influenced one another. The influence of kuntao was strongest in Batavia, because of its longstanding Chinese colony. Many Chinese who lived in Banten were brought to Batavia in 1619 to build the city in a marshland area. They worked as stonemasons, canal builders, gamblers, merchants, medicine traders and wayang orang performers. Amongst them there were kuntao experts who had lost their positions in China, as king's sentinels or as soldiers, when weapons were first discovered. These masters passed down their knowledge to family members as a legacy of their ancestors, to be kept hidden and used for self-defence only if absolutely necessary. In the beginning, the Chinese settlers lived in Chinese-style houses spread out throughout the city. But following the mass killings of 1740, the newly arrived Chinese were prohibited by the Dutch from living inside the city walls and were placed in new settlements named 'pecinan' (Chinese hamlets) such as Glodok and Kramat Bunder Senen. There, kuntao was practised in the many Chinese associations, and existing pencak silat styles eventually absorbed Chinese martial arts elements (de Vries 1989:61-64).

Going again back in time, if during the kultuurstensel period, the acculturation of pencak silat occurred primarily in Java, from 1870 onwards with the liberalisation of the economy and the expansion of private plantations it crossed over to other islands. New areas, including the eastern coast of Sumatra, were opened up to establish tobacco and palm oil plantations. There was great demand for coolies and plantation supervisors from Java and Madura to work on the private plantations in Sumatra. On these plantations, far from the hustle and bustle of the cities, with no entertainment, migrants from different ethnic groups and cultures exchanged self-defence techniques. Again, interaction also occurred with martial arts from other countries, as the Dutch colonialists brought coolies from China to expand exploitation of tin mines in Bangka, Singkep and Belitung (de Vries 1989:68-69). The mingling of Chinese migrants and indigenous people renewed the exchange between pencak silat and Chinese martial arts, especially kuntao. Furthermore, the expansion of private plantations allowed pencak silat styles to trespass the borders of the archipelago. By the end of the 19th century, pencak silat had already reached other countries then ruled by the colonial Dutch government. One such country where pencak silat took hold was Suriname. From 1890 to 1932, more than 30,000 Javanese were moved to Suriname, bringing along their own customs and culture. Even today, Javanese-Surinamese people study the art of kanuragan and pencak silat as a part of their humanistic education. (Parsudi Suparlan 1995:212-217). In general, it can be said that wherever Javanese worked, either contractually or forcibly, styles of pencak silat that exhibit specifically Javanese features can be found. The development of pencak silat is intrinsically related to the colonial system in many other ways, as the description of the 'jago' a pencak silat expert possessing magical power to boost his self-confidence in fighting in the next article will clearly illustrate

Secret Party Bee Honey (IN)

Dengan mengkombinasikan pemodelan robotik dan memperhatikan rekaman video lebah yang terbang dalam gerakan lambat, para peneliti dapat menjelaskan rahasia kemampuan terbang lebah madu meskipun hewan ini memiliki sayap yang pendek. By combining the modeling robotik and consider the video recordings of bees flying in slow motion, the researchers can explain the secret of honey bees flying ability, although these animals have short wings. Para insinyur penerbangan sebelumnya telah menghitung bahwa seharusnya lebah tidak mungkin dapat terbang dengan proporsi sayap yang terlalu kecil dibanding berat tubuhnya. The flight engineer had previously calculated that should not bee may fly with wings that proportion is too small compared to body weight. Oleh karena itu, Michael Dickinson, seorang ahli serangga dan koleganya dari Caltech di Pasadena , California, AS mencoba meneliti gaya yang bekerja saat lebah madu terbang. Therefore, Michael Dickinson, an insect expert and colleagues from Caltech in Pasadena, California, the U.S. tried to examine the work style of the honey bee flying. Pada 1996, Charlie Ellington di Cambridge University , Inggris telah menunjukkan bagaimana pusaran udara di sekitar sayap serangga memainkan peranan penting untuk mengangkat badannya. In 1996, Charlie Ellington at Cambridge University, England have shown how the vortex in the air around the wings insects play an important role to lift the body. Pada umumnya serangga menggetarkan sayapnya kuat-kuat dengan sudut 145 hingga 165 derajat berkali-kali sesuai ukuran tubuhnya. In general, insect wings horrible tight angle with 145 to 165 degrees many times resize according to the body. Tujuannya adalah menghasilkan gaya aerodinamik yang cukup untuk mengangkat tubuhnya. The goal is produce the style aerodinamik enough to lift the body. Namun, cara seperti ini tidak dapat menjelaskan mengapa serangga yang berat dengan sayap pendek, seperti lebah, dapat menghasilkan gaya angkat yang cukup. However, as this can not explain why the insects that wings heavy with short, such as bees, can generate enough lift style. Saat Dickinson dan koleganya merekam lebah yang melayang dengan 6.000 frame per detik, mereka melihat pola unik kepakan sayapnya. While Dickinson and colleagues recorded the bees fly with 6,000 frames per second, they see a pattern unique kepakan wings. Saat mengangkat, sayapnya berputar 90 derajat dan kembali ke posisi awal saat ditarik. When lift, rotating wings 90 degrees and go back to the start position when withdrawn. Dalam sedetik, ia dapat melakukan sekitar 230 kali kepakan. In sedetik, he can do about 230 times kepakan. Lalu tim peneliti membuat model robot untuk mengukur energi yang dihasilkan. Then the research team to create models of robots to measure the energy produced. Luar biasa, besarnya energi yang dihasilkan dengan cara mengubah posisi sayap itu memang cukup besar menghasilkan pusaran udara di sekitar sayapnya. Extraordinary, the amount of energy generated by changing the position of the wings is a large whirlpool generate air around the wings. "Terlihat seperti propeler di mana siripnya juga berputar," kata Dickinson. "It appears as propeler where siripnya also rotates," said Dickinson. Selain itu, sayapnya disibakkan kembali ke pusaran udara yang dihasilkan kepakan sebelumnya sehingga menghasilkan energi dorong lebih besar daripada jika mengepak di udara bebas. In addition, the wings disibakkan return to the air vortex generated kepakan previous energy push so much greater than if the free flap in the air. Inilah tambahan energi lainnya yang membantu pengendalian percepatan saat satapnya berubah arah. This is the additional energy to help others who control the acceleration of the satapnya changed direction. Hasil penelitian yang dimuat dalam Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences mungkin membantu para insinyur untuk mendesain propeler agar dapat berputar lebih stabil atau pesawat agar bermanuver dengan lebih baik. Results of research published in the proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences may help engineers to design a propeler to be more stable or rotary aircraft to bermanuver better. "Tapi, yang paling penting kami telah mengetahui bahwa Tuhan memberikan yang terbaik bagi lebah-lebah itu," lanjut Dickinson. "But, the most important we have to know that God give the best for the bee-bee", he further Dickinson.