Dari Redaksi

Rekan-rekan Alumni
Sebagaimana namanya, penerbitan lembar suplemen ini merupakan kliping dari apa yang dapat ditemui di internet. Kebanyakan hal-hal yang menarik yang dianggap layak untuk ditampilkan oleh Redaksi ternyata lebih banyak ditulis dalam Bahasa Inggeris. Namun kami percaya hal ini bukan menjadi kendala yang berarti dalam menikmati sajian kami. Selamat berkahir pekan.

Musik & DVD

The pop icon's latest video, for the song "What It Feels Like for a Girl," which was directed in a handheld style by her husband, Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels director Guy Ritchie, has been deemed too violent to make its way into regular rotation on MTV or VH1. 

The networks have opted to air the video, which features the Material Girl as an angry woman on a crime spree and ends in a car crash that may or may not be fatal, just one time, a decision they say is irrevocable.

The our-and-a-half-minute video will be shown Tuesday at 11:30 p.m. EST on both stations, after a news segment about it, according to The Associated Press.

"MTV and VH1 feel that the Madonna video is newsworthy and can be seen with proper context," a network representative speaking on condition of anonymity told the AP today.

Madonna rep Liz Rosenberg says the video actually carries an anti-violence message. "There is a lot of violence in the video," Rosenberg conceded to the New York Daily News. "It tells the story of a woman who has probably been abused. It's very strong. It's not the last video you'd want to see before going to sleep at night."

Rosenberg told the AP that if MTV and VH1 don't agree to replay the video, Madonna will seek to have it aired elsewhere, and that America Online has already agreed to make it available on the Internet.

MTV previously censored Madonna for being too sexy in her 1990 video for "Justify My Love," which only boosted video sales of the banned clip. Her 1992 video for "Erotica" was played on the network, but only in the wee hours, a restriction apparently not repeated until the video for Prodigy's controversial "Smack My Bitch Up" — which, incidentally, was admired by Madonna — was relegated to a wee-hours slot by the music network.

Rumors of a big-screen team-up between Madonna and her new husband — who's directed hipster-gangster movies Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels and Snatch — circulated after their high-profile wedding in December, but Ritchie nixed the rumor in January.

Meanwhile, the pair's MadGuy production company is reportedly slinging cash in an unlikely direction for a music-based movie. Def Leppard singer Joe Elliott tells British music magazine NME that MadGuy is fronting the money for a VH1 biopic about the '80s hard rock group.

"I would imagine that Madonna and Guy are just the figureheads for this production company that makes little independent films, though I'm sure she knows she's putting the money up for us," Elliott told the magazine. "But I doubt she went into the production office singing 'Into the Groove' and said, 'You know what, I want to make a movie about Def Leppard.'" 

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Keluarga

TENNIS : 

Jana Nejedly

 

Fotografi

Choosing a Digital Camera for Kids and Seniors
Digital cameras are great fun for folks of all ages. Only, in the same way that you wouldn't hand the keys to a brand-new high-powered sports car to your eleven-year-old son - or for that matter, your 88-year-old grandmother - lending your new, expensive, full-featured, multi-megapixel digital camera to youngsters or seniors may not be a good idea. Many digital cameras are precision instruments that require careful handling and a certain level of photo sophistication, plus a fair degree of manual dexterity. Before I'm accused of age discrimination, let me give you a few instances of what I mean. 

Optical viewfinders may be difficult for older eyes to see out of and sight properly. Arthritic hands and small, immature fingers may have difficulty pressing tiny buttons or removing wafer-thin memory cards, or for that matter, simply holding the camera steady. Minds not familiar with and possibly intimidated by high-tech and computer procedures that most of us take for granted - such as menu pulldowns, changing modes, file formats and data transfers, etc. - may become confused or even paralyzed. And let's face it - kids aren't the most responsible people, so any camera they handle is, likely as not, going to be banged, dropped, or otherwise abused. Similarly, even though most seniors are very conscientious, aged, arthritic hands may allow a camera to slip and fall in the dirt or sand. Perhaps worst of all is span of attention (in kids) and short-term memory (in seniors) that could easily mean putting down an expensive digital camera for a second or two and forgetting about it altogether. 

One of the most important things to consider when selecting a digital camera for the kids and their great-grandparents is ergonomics. Small, sophisticated digital cameras, such as the Sony CyberShot DSC-P1 or the Canon Digital Elph S100, are neat and nice, but they may also be hard to handle and to shoot properly for imprecise hands. Conversely, large and heavy digital cameras, like the Sony Mavica MVC-CD1000 or Panasonic PalmCan PV-SD4090, may be too unwieldy to shoot comfortably. Also, avoid oddly-shaped, complex, or feature-rich digital cameras, like the Nikon Coolpix 990 or the Ricoh RDC-i700. They'll only confuse and frustrate non-technical users. 

Preferably, the camera you will want for oldsters and youngsters should be extremely simple to operate, and of course, not very expensive. Ideally, it should have large, clearly marked buttons and dials, a tethered lens cap or a lens that automatically retracts and closes when turned off, rubber or plastic flaps that cover the ports when not in use, and a easy-to-read control panel with instantly recognizable icons and symbols. Also, though it means nothing for most kids with keen eyesight, if your parents or grandparents are to use it, buy a model that features a focusable diopter on the optical viewfinder. That's the little wheel or tiny lever that allows a user to adjust the lens on the viewfinder so it can be looked through without having to wear eyeglasses. Another must-purchase, especially if your digital camera came with a wrist strap, is a bright and colorful wide cloth neck strap. They're much more secure than wrist straps, and less likely to slip than skinny or leather neck straps. Besides, they make it easier to spot a mislaid camera. 

While there are scores of digital cameras that might fit the bill, here are a few of our favorites that you wouldn't think twice about handing off to kids or seniors. For sheer simplicity, Agfa's brand-new CL20 beats the band. And it doubles as a Web cam, too. For pure, unabashed fun, Polaroid's iZone gives you the best of both worlds: a no-brainer digital camera, and, when you turn it on its side, you have an instant film camera that makes postage stamp-sized color stickers. At $89, KB Gear's JamCam has a rugged look and feel that makes it ideal for the beach or on-the-go activities. And for a street price of well under $200, the Umax AstraCam 1800 delivers very good megapixel-quality images with point-and-shoot simplicity. 

There are two other kids/seniors cameras that are fairly expensive, but they offer advantages that make them worth considering. If hitting the beach or walking through the woods is a common activity for your kids or seniors, you might consider the "ruggedized" Kodak DC5000. Short of dropping it off a cliff or into more than 10' of water, it will take bumps, knocks, and splashes in stride. The Olympus C-211 is a fairly big camera that takes two hands to operate, but besides capturing excellent 2 megapixel images, it has a built-in printer that kicks out baseball-sized photos. It's the perfect device for a party or family outing, because you can display your shots on any TV, upload them to your computer, hand out instant prints that the kids can keep -- or even all three! 

Regardless of the make or model, here are a few words of advice to give youngsters and oldsters using a digital camera. First and foremost, impress upon them that there's virtually nothing they can do to break or harm the camera - other than to drop it. They should go ahead and play with the controls to see what they do. Encourage them to experiment by pointing out that there's no cost for film or processing, so if they get a bad shot or two, all you have to do is delete it and shoot over. Guide them through shooting, downloading, and editing their images on the computer. This will make everything more meaningful and fun. And be sure to share and show the pictures they take with friends and family, by e-mailing or posting them on an ephoto Web site. 

Age should not be a barrier against enjoying digital photography - if you apply some common sense when choosing an appropriate digital camera. 

Please send your comments, questions and suggestions for future column topics to Daniel@DigitalBenchmarks.com.
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Album Formula One

Gambar-gambar di atas diambil pada saat berlangsungnya lomba Formula 1 di sirkuit Sepang, Malaysia pada tanggal 17 dan 18 Maret 2001. Klik untuk memperbesar.
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Arsip Cyber Clips
11 Maret 2001
18 Maret 2001
 
 

Angkasa Luar

Astronomers have caught a detailed glimpse of the donut-shaped dust cloud around a newly-formed star, thanks to new techniques using infrared radiation. The images show details of the dust cloud that are closer to the body of the star than have ever been seen  before. 

In the image abovet, the star is the red area at the center of the dust cloud. The star's intense heat and radiation have created a "hole" in the dust cloud. Astronomers say the new images let them look back in time. They can help shed light on the origins of our own Sun and solar system. 

The star, known only as LkHa101, is found in the direction of the constellation Perseus. It is more than 500 light-years from Earth. The star is less than one million years old, which is only 1% of its expected lifespan of 100 million years.

Mode

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Resensi Buku

BRAVO TWO ZERO 
by Andy McNab. 
New meaning to the English adage of the "stiff upper lip", December 26,  2000.
Reviewer: Christopher Griffen

 What an amazing story. Bravo Two Zero tells the tale of a squad of British SAS soldiers on a mission in Iraq during the Gulf War to take out mobile Scud launchers. When I started reading the book, I expected to read about the detailed accounts of how the launchers were wiped out and how Sgt.  Andy McNab's team contributed to this effort. I was shocked as a chain of unfortunate events ruined  the mission and put McNab's team in great peril. Several of them died and some were captured by Iraqi troops. 

Bravo Two Zero is not for the faint of heart. The detailed account of McNab's torture and brutal beatings at the hand of the Iraqis is tough reading. I'm in awe of the fortitude and subtle defiance that he and his men exhibited in the face of such terrible cruelty. 

But don't mistake this book for a "prison journal." It's anything but. McNab goes into great detail about how the Scud hunting missions and special forces missions in general are planned and executed. You begin to realize that even the best-laid plans can be subject to failure if minute details are overlooked. As McNab points out however, in a speech he recalls from his regimental commander, the true mettle of a soldier is measured not only by his successes, but by how he performs when all hell has broken loose and the mission seems to be a total failure. 

Bravo Two Zero is not only an amazing real-life adventure story, but also a testament to the endurance, determination and courage of the British SAS troops who took part in the Gulf War,  playing a crucial role in the defeat
of Sadaam Hussein.

1950:
A lumberjack sells a truckload of lumber for $100. His cost of production is 4/5 of this price. What is his profit?
1960 (traditional math):
A lumberjack sells a truckload of lumber for $100. His cost of production is 4/5 of this price, or in other words $80. What is his profit?
1970 (new math):
A lumberjack exchanges a set L of lumber for a set M of money. The cardinality of set M is 100, and each element is worth $1. Make 100 dots representing the elements of set M. The set C is a subset of set M, of cardinality 80. What is the cardinality of the set P of profits, if P is the difference set M\C?
1980 (equal opportunity math):
A lumberjack sells a truckload of wood for $100. His or her cost of production is $80, and  his or her profit is $20. Your assignment: Underline the number 20.
1990 (outcome based education):
By cutting down beautiful forest trees, a lumberperson makes $20. What do you think of his way of making a living? In your group, discuss how the forest birds and squirrels feel, and write an essay about it.
1995 (entrepreneurial math):
By laying off 402 of its lumberjacks, a company improves its stock price from $80 to $100. How much capital gain per share does the CEO make by exercising his stock options at $80? Assume capital gains are no longer taxed, because this encourages investment.
1998 (motivational math):
A logging company exports its wood-finishing jobs to its Indonesian subsidiary and lays off the corresponding half of its US workers (the higher-paid half). It clear-cuts 95% of the forest, leaving the rest for the spotted owl, and lays off all its remaining US workers. It tells the workers that the spotted owl is responsible for the absence of fellable trees and lobbies Congress for exemption from the Endangered Species Act. Congress instead exempts the company from all federal regulation. What is the return on investment of the lobbying?