ALTERNATE VERSION OF TORTOISE AND HARE

Lord Dunsany, an Irish dramatist, fantasist, and satirist, had his own adaptation of the story called “The True Story of the Hare and the Tortoise,” published in his Fifty-One Tales in 1915. In it, the hare is at the outset very unwilling to race while it is the tortoise who exhibits all of the confidence in victory. The hare only agrees to do it because all the other animals are on the verge of starting a war over the question of which is faster. Midway though the race, the hare, with an enormous lead, decides the contest is pointless and quits, allowing the tortoise to win.

When the other animals determine the tortoise to be the champion, it is only to their downfall as they later send him to retrieve help for a forest fire in the belief that he’s the fastest animal. This interpretation, while keeping the outcome the same, reverses the two roles. The hare now appears as the more dignified figure as he refuses to plainly defeat a vastly inferior opponent, and it seems as though he falls asleep out of pure disinterest as opposed to stupidity. The other animals thus become the oblivious and unwise ones, to their unfortunate demise.

Wow...an alternate version that very nice....

After 7 months of silent

Dear readers....

After 7 months of silent period, finally I become strong enough to re-blog.

Work loads and the enjoyment of Facebook / Twitter are the main reason for my off work.

But now I realize that the passion of sharing something is best fulfilled with writing.

Not just updating status or tweet something.

But, rather than doing news aggregation like I use to do, now I will write more than what I copy-paste. I will ad my personal opinions and also my friends thoughts about something I share.

Still, the fun will always be the mainstream. Everything I share always be fun.

Begin with tomorrow.

God give me strength.

Thank you.

Work stuff : Indonesia's onliners on the move ( 6 )

Dear blogger ;

A recent news from the Senate ( DPR ) hearing with RS Omni International Tangerang earlier today :

1. The IXth commission of DPR urged RS Omni to withdrawal the case with Prita or will be facing a review of their permit to operated in Indonesia.

2. The commission also sense an arrogance from RS Omni that could be a bad way of doing community service.

3. They will contact the Minister of Health about this recommendations.

Source : Okezone

Work stuff : Indonesia's onliners on the move ( 5 )

Dear blogger ;

An interview with Prita Mulyasari about what her children felt about the case made me and my family are stronger to support her.

Here is the news ( Jakarta Post ) :

Prita Mulyasari, who was imprisoned for three weeks at the Tangerang Women Penitentiary for defamation allegations - after complaining over the Internet about allegedly substandard hospital service in Tangerang - has noticed many changes in her two children since she returned home.

"I have to reacquaint myself again with the way my children speak, because I am no longer familiar with a number of words they are now speaking," Prita said Saturday at her house in Pondok Aren, Tangerang.

Prita was separated from her three-year-old son Khairan Ananta and 13-month-old daughter Ranariya Puandita for the entire the length of her detention, from May 13 until she was released Wednesday following public pressure.

Prita said she missed out on numerous special moments with her children during her three-week detention and therefore had to learn about her children's progress mostly from her housemaid.

"I have been home for three days and found I could not understand several words my children uttered," she said.

*Kuburan' is one of the words she heard Khairan pronounce for the first time in front of her while pointing to the television screen in the living room.

The little boy directed his forefinger toward a group of people wearing strange makeup and dresses on a TV station.

Prita said she was a little bit surprised with the progress her son had made during her absence. Apparently, her son was referring to a music group called Kuburan (cemetery).

"I finally understood that Khairan likes the music group," Prita said.

Prita also heard her daughter Ranariya say words she had never heard her use before.

Prita lamented that during her absence, her two children learned a number of inappropriate words children of their ages should not use yet.

"I guess this happened because they watched endless hours of TV, then tried to imitate the words they heard on TV programs," she said, adding she never let her children watch TV without her.

Prita, who usually reads novels in her spare time, said she had never heard inappropriate words coming from her children's mouth, as she would immediately switch channels every time she saw inappropriate TV content. Now that she is back home, she steers them away from adult songs, teaching them children songs better suited to their ages.

Prita was also taken by surprise - after she came home following the detention - when her daughter Ranariya, who was still crawling the last time she saw her, had learned how to stand and even run.

Prita spent three weeks in prison after being accused of defamation by Omni International Hospital in Serpong. She was separated from Khairan and Ranariya, and therefore unable to breast feed her youngest child Ranariya.

Her story created a buzz over the Internet, with support pouring in through blogs and a Facebook cause, garnering over 220,000 supporters as of Sunday afternoon. She also received support from the National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM), the Consumers Foundation, Legal Aid Institutes, presidential hopefuls Megawati Soekarnoputri and incumbent Vice President Jusuf Kalla.

Prita's Aug. 15, 2008 email - titled Penipuan (fraud by) Omni International Hospital Alam Sutera Tangerang - revealed her disappointment over the hospital.

What's next ?

Work Stuff : Indonesia's onliners on the move ( 4 )

Dear blogger ;

Some pictures of Indonesia's onliners support for Mrs. Prita ....

What is next ?

Work Stuff : Indonesia's onliners on the move ( 3 )

Dear blogger ;

The Prita's case also covered at BBC ( source ) :

An Indonesian mother who complained about her hospital treatment in an email to friends has been charged with defamation and could face a jail term.

Prita Mulyasari has already been found guilty and fined in a civil case. She faces six years in jail and a hefty fine if convicted on criminal charges.

Omni International Hospital took action after her comments about her treatment were widely circulated on the internet.

The case is big news in Indonesia with many thousands calling for her release.

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono - in the middle of an election campaign - has urged the courts to be lenient, while his predecessor and election rival, Megawati Sukarnoputri, has visited Prita Mulyasari in jail.

'Dangerous precedent'

The case centres on emails Prita Mulyasari, a 32-year-old mother of two, sent detailing her experience as a patient at Omni hospital to 10 friends.

According to the Jakarta Globe, she said staff initially diagnosed her with dengue fever, but later said she had a virus and gave her an injection.

She said her conditioned worsened and she began to feel numbness so decided to switch hospitals. But when she asked for her medical notes with the initial diagnosis, the hospital refused to give them to her, she alleged.

The emails were widely circulated on internet mailing lists and the Facebook social networking site.

Omni hospital said her allegations had caused the firm substantial financial losses from patient boycotts and frozen business deals.

"The defendant has deliberately spread a document containing an act of defamation through the internet," prosecutor Rahmawati Utami told the court where she was charged.

But her supporters - nearly 100,000 of whom have signed a Facebook appeal for her release - say it could set a dangerous precedent for freedom of speech in the country.

The growing outrage over the case led to Prita Mulyasari's release from custody on Wednesday, where she had spent three weeks without charge after losing the civil case in mid-May.

She has been ordered not to leave Jakarta until the criminal trial.

The bank worker also faces a fine of $100,000 (£62,000) if convicted on criminal charges. She has already been fined $30,000 under the civil code, says AFP news agency.

What's next ?

Work stuff : Indonesia's onliners on the move ( stage 1 )

Dear blogger ;

What hot in Indonesia today ? Not the upcoming Presidential election or the up raising of oil price. But the case of Prita Mulyasari. Not only in Indonesia, foreign country like Australia already keep an eye of this case :

Woman in jail for hospital email complaint

By Indonesia correspondent Geoff Thompson

( source : abc news )

A mother of two young children has been jailed in Indonesia for defaming a hospital through an email she sent to friends.

Prita Mulyasari sent an email to friends complaining about the service she received from the Omni International Hospital on the outskirts of Jakarta.

In the email, Mulyasari accused the hospital of fraud because she was refused access to her medical records to clarify a disputed diagnosis.

Omni pursued legal action, resulting in prosecutors charging Mulyasari with criminal defamation offences, which could send her to jail for up to six years.

She has already been imprisoned for three weeks ahead of a court appearance tomorrow, after losing a civil case to the hospital which saw her fined $6,000.

Human rights groups and 16,000 supporters have joined an online campaign demanding her release.



Another shocking information that come recently, that Prita Mulyasari already wrote an open letter at nationwide newspaper regarding this matter. The letter clearly told us that this young mother only told the public what she experienced with this hospital so the hospital management can do a better job tomorrow when serving people. No more. Here is the letter ( in Indonesian as it origin ) :


RS OMNI DAPATKAN PASIEN DARI HASIL LAB FIKTIF.

Prita Mulyasari - suaraPembaca

/ist.
Jakarta - Jangan sampai kejadian saya ini akan menimpa ke nyawa manusia lainnya. Terutama anak-anak, lansia, dan bayi. Bila anda berobat berhati-hatilah dengan kemewahan rumah sakit (RS) dan title international karena semakin mewah RS dan semakin pintar dokter maka semakin sering uji coba pasien, penjualan obat, dan suntikan.

Saya tidak mengatakan semua RS international seperti ini tapi saya mengalami kejadian ini di RS Omni International. Tepatnya tanggal 7 Agustus 2008 jam 20.30 WIB. Saya dengan kondisi panas tinggi dan pusing kepala datang ke RS OMNI Internasional dengan percaya bahwa RS tersebut berstandard International, yang tentunya pasti mempunyai ahli kedokteran dan manajemen yang bagus.

Saya diminta ke UGD dan mulai diperiksa suhu badan saya dan hasilnya 39 derajat. Setelah itu dilakukan pemeriksaan darah dan hasilnya adalah thrombosit saya 27.000 dengan kondisi normalnya adalah 200.000. Saya diinformasikan dan ditangani oleh dr Indah (umum) dan dinyatakan saya wajib rawat inap. dr I melakukan pemeriksaan lab ulang dengan sample darah saya yang sama dan hasilnya dinyatakan masih sama yaitu thrombosit 27.000.

dr I menanyakan dokter specialist mana yang akan saya gunakan. Tapi, saya meminta referensi darinya karena saya sama sekali buta dengan RS ini. Lalu referensi dr I adalah dr H. dr H memeriksa kondisi saya dan saya menanyakan saya sakit apa dan dijelaskan bahwa ini sudah positif demam berdarah.

Mulai malam itu saya diinfus dan diberi suntikan tanpa penjelasan atau izin pasien atau keluarga pasien suntikan tersebut untuk apa. Keesokan pagi, dr H visit saya dan menginformasikan bahwa ada revisi hasil lab semalam. Bukan 27.000 tapi 181.000 (hasil lab bisa dilakukan revisi?). Saya kaget tapi dr H terus memberikan instruksi ke suster perawat supaya diberikan berbagai macam suntikan yang saya tidak tahu dan tanpa izin pasien atau keluarga pasien.

Saya tanya kembali jadi saya sakit apa sebenarnya dan tetap masih sama dengan jawaban semalam bahwa saya kena demam berdarah. Saya sangat khawatir karena di rumah saya memiliki 2 anak yang masih batita. Jadi saya lebih memilih berpikir positif tentang RS dan dokter ini supaya saya cepat sembuh dan saya percaya saya ditangani oleh dokter profesional standard Internatonal.

Mulai Jumat terebut saya diberikan berbagai macam suntikan yang setiap suntik tidak ada keterangan apa pun dari suster perawat, dan setiap saya meminta keterangan tidak mendapatkan jawaban yang memuaskan. Lebih terkesan suster hanya menjalankan perintah dokter dan pasien harus menerimanya. Satu boks lemari pasien penuh dengan infus dan suntikan disertai banyak ampul.

Tangan kiri saya mulai membengkak. Saya minta dihentikan infus dan suntikan dan minta ketemu dengan dr H. Namun, dokter tidak datang sampai saya dipindahkan ke ruangan. Lama kelamaan suhu badan saya makin naik kembali ke 39 derajat dan datang dokter pengganti yang saya juga tidak tahu dokter apa. Setelah dicek dokter tersebut hanya mengatakan akan menunggu dr H saja.

Esoknya dr H datang sore hari dengan hanya menjelaskan ke suster untuk memberikan obat berupa suntikan lagi. Saya tanyakan ke dokter tersebut saya sakit apa sebenarnya dan dijelaskan saya kena virus udara. Saya tanyakan berarti bukan kena demam berdarah. Tapi, dr H tetap menjelaskan bahwa demam berdarah tetap virus udara. Saya dipasangkan kembali infus sebelah kanan dan kembali diberikan suntikan yang sakit sekali.

Malamnya saya diberikan suntikan 2 ampul sekaligus dan saya terserang sesak napas selama 15 menit dan diberikan oxygen. Dokter jaga datang namun hanya berkata menunggu dr H saja.

Jadi malam itu saya masih dalam kondisi infus. Padahal tangan kanan saya pun mengalami pembengkakan seperti tangan kiri saya. Saya minta dengan paksa untuk diberhentikan infusnya dan menolak dilakukan suntikan dan obat-obatan.

Esoknya saya dan keluarga menuntut dr H untuk ketemu dengan kami. Namun, janji selalu diulur-ulur dan baru datang malam hari. Suami dan kakak-kakak saya menuntut penjelasan dr H mengenai sakit saya, suntikan, hasil lab awal yang 27.000 menjadi revisi 181.000 dan serangan sesak napas yang dalam riwayat hidup saya belum pernah terjadi. Kondisi saya makin parah dengan membengkaknya leher kiri dan mata kiri.

dr H tidak memberikan penjelasan dengan memuaskan. Dokter tersebut malah mulai memberikan instruksi ke suster untuk diberikan obat-obatan kembali dan menyuruh tidak digunakan infus kembali. Kami berdebat mengenai kondisi saya dan meminta dr H bertanggung jawab mengenai ini dari hasil lab yang pertama yang seharusnya saya bisa rawat jalan saja. dr H menyalahkan bagian lab dan tidak bisa memberikan keterangan yang memuaskan.

Keesokannya kondisi saya makin parah dengan leher kanan saya juga mulai membengkak dan panas kembali menjadi 39 derajat. Namun, saya tetap tidak mau dirawat di RS ini lagi dan mau pindah ke RS lain. Tapi, saya membutuhkan data medis yang lengkap dan lagi-lagi saya dipermainkan dengan diberikan data medis yang fiktif.

Dalam catatan medis diberikan keterangan bahwa bab (buang air besar) saya lancar padahal itu kesulitan saya semenjak dirawat di RS ini tapi tidak ada follow up-nya sama sekali. Lalu hasil lab yang diberikan adalah hasil thrombosit saya yang 181.000 bukan 27.000.

Saya ngotot untuk diberikan data medis hasil lab 27.000 namun sangat dikagetkan bahwa hasil lab 27.000 tersebut tidak dicetak dan yang tercetak adalah 181.000. Kepala lab saat itu adalah dr M dan setelah saya komplain dan marah-marah dokter tersebut mengatakan bahwa catatan hasil lab 27.000 tersebut ada di Manajemen Omni. Maka saya desak untuk bertemu langsung dengan Manajemen yang memegang hasil lab tersebut.

Saya mengajukan komplain tertulis ke Manajemen Omni dan diterima oleh Og(Customer Service Coordinator) dan saya minta tanda terima. Dalam tanda terima tersebut hanya ditulis saran bukan komplain. Saya benar-benar dipermainkan oleh Manajemen Omni dengan staff Og yang tidak ada service-nya sama sekali ke customer melainkan seperti mencemooh tindakan saya meminta tanda terima pengajuan komplain tertulis.

Dalam kondisi sakit saya dan suami saya ketemu dengan Manajemen. Atas nama Og (Customer Service Coordinator) dan dr G (Customer Service Manager) dan diminta memberikan keterangan kembali mengenai kejadian yang terjadi dengan saya.

Saya benar-benar habis kesabaran dan saya hanya meminta surat pernyataan dari lab RS ini mengenai hasil lab awal saya adalah 27.000 bukan 181.000. Makanya saya diwajibkan masuk ke RS ini padahal dengan kondisi thrombosit 181.000 saya masih bisa rawat jalan.

Tanggapan dr G yang katanya adalah penanggung jawab masalah komplain saya ini tidak profesional sama sekali. Tidak menanggapi komplain dengan baik. Dia mengelak bahwa lab telah memberikan hasil lab 27.000 sesuai dr M informasikan ke saya. Saya minta duduk bareng antara lab, Manajemen, dan dr H. Namun, tidak bisa dilakukan dengan alasan akan dirundingkan ke atas (Manajemen) dan berjanji akan memberikan surat tersebut jam 4 sore.

Setelah itu saya ke RS lain dan masuk ke perawatan dalam kondisi saya dimasukkan dalam ruangan isolasi karena virus saya ini menular. Menurut analisa ini adalah sakitnya anak-anak yaitu sakit gondongan namun sudah parah karena sudah membengkak. Kalau kena orang dewasa laki-laki bisa terjadi impoten dan perempuan ke pankreas dan kista.

Saya lemas mendengarnya dan benar-benar marah dengan RS Omni yang telah membohongi saya dengan analisa sakit demam berdarah dan sudah diberikan suntikan macam-macam dengan dosis tinggi sehingga mengalami sesak napas. Saya tanyakan mengenai suntikan tersebut ke RS yang baru ini dan memang saya tidak kuat dengan suntikan dosis tinggi sehingga terjadi sesak napas.

Suami saya datang kembali ke RS Omni menagih surat hasil lab 27.000 tersebut namun malah dihadapkan ke perundingan yang tidak jelas dan meminta diberikan waktu besok pagi datang langsung ke rumah saya. Keesokan paginya saya tunggu kabar orang rumah sampai jam 12 siang belum ada orang yang datang dari Omni memberikan surat tersebut.

Saya telepon dr G sebagai penanggung jawab kompain dan diberikan keterangan bahwa kurirnya baru mau jalan ke rumah saya. Namun, sampai jam 4 sore saya tunggu dan ternyata belum ada juga yang datang ke rumah saya. Kembali saya telepon dr G dan dia mengatakan bahwa sudah dikirim dan ada tanda terima atas nama Rukiah.

Ini benar-benar kebohongan RS yang keterlaluan sekali. Di rumah saya tidak ada nama Rukiah. Saya minta disebutkan alamat jelas saya dan mencari datanya sulit sekali dan membutuhkan waktu yang lama. LOgkanya dalam tanda terima tentunya ada alamat jelas surat tertujunya ke mana kan? Makanya saya sebut Manajemen Omni pembohon besar semua. Hati-hati dengan permainan mereka yang mempermainkan nyawa orang.

Terutama dr G dan Og, tidak ada sopan santun dan etika mengenai pelayanan customer, tidak sesuai dengan standard international yang RS ini cantum.

Saya bilang ke dr G, akan datang ke Omni untuk mengambil surat tersebut dan ketika suami saya datang ke Omni hanya dititipkan ke resepsionis saja dan pas dibaca isi suratnya sungguh membuat sakit hati kami.

Pihak manajemen hanya menyebutkan mohon maaf atas ketidaknyamanan kami dan tidak disebutkan mengenai kesalahan lab awal yang menyebutkan 27.000 dan dilakukan revisi 181.000 dan diberikan suntikan yang mengakibatkan kondisi kesehatan makin memburuk dari sebelum masuk ke RS Omni.

Kenapa saya dan suami saya ngotot dengan surat tersebut? Karena saya ingin tahu bahwa sebenarnya hasil lab 27.000 itu benar ada atau fiktif saja supaya RS Omni mendapatkan pasien rawat inap.

Dan setelah beberapa kali kami ditipu dengan janji maka sebenarnya adalah hasil lab saya 27.000 adalah fiktif dan yang sebenarnya saya tidak perlu rawat inap dan tidak perlu ada suntikan dan sesak napas dan kesehatan saya tidak makin parah karena bisa langsung tertangani dengan baik.

Saya dirugikan secara kesehatan. Mungkin dikarenakan biaya RS ini dengan asuransi makanya RS ini seenaknya mengambil limit asuransi saya semaksimal mungkin. Tapi, RS ini tidak memperdulikan efek dari keserakahan ini.

Sdr Og menyarankan saya bertemu dengan direktur operasional RS Omni (dr B). Namun, saya dan suami saya sudah terlalu lelah mengikuti permainan kebohongan mereka dengan kondisi saya masih sakit dan dirawat di RS lain.

Syukur Alhamdulilah saya mulai membaik namun ada kondisi mata saya yang selaput atasnya robek dan terkena virus sehingga penglihatan saya tidak jelas dan apabila terkena sinar saya tidak tahan dan ini membutuhkan waktu yang cukup untuk menyembuhkan.

Setiap kehidupan manusia pasti ada jalan hidup dan nasibnya masing-masing. Benar. Tapi, apabila nyawa manusia dipermainkan oleh sebuah RS yang dipercaya untuk menyembuhkan malah mempermainkan sungguh mengecewakan.

Semoga Allah memberikan hati nurani ke Manajemen dan dokter RS Omni supaya diingatkan kembali bahwa mereka juga punya keluarga, anak, orang tua yang tentunya suatu saat juga sakit dan membutuhkan medis. Mudah-mudahan tidak terjadi seperti yang saya alami di RS Omni ini.

Saya sangat mengharapkan mudah-mudahan salah satu pembaca adalah karyawan atau dokter atau Manajemen RS Omni. Tolong sampaikan ke dr G, dr H, dr M, dan Og bahwa jangan sampai pekerjaan mulia kalian sia-sia hanya demi perusahaan Anda. Saya informasikan juga dr H praktek di RSCM juga. Saya tidak mengatakan RSCM buruk tapi lebih hati-hati dengan perawatan medis dari dokter ini.

Salam,
Prita Mulyasari
Alam Sutera
prita.mulyasari@yahoo.com


What a shame . A letter of complain from a patient end in a legal action from the hospital. Many people in Indonesia are angry about this. One facebook group that support Prita grow member from 9.201 to 10.122 members in just one hour.

Keep the faith Prita...

Fun stuff : A flash back to facebook

Dear blogger ;

Almost everybody who have an e-mail account today, will also have a facebook account.
Everybody also known that Mark Zuckerberg ( born at May 14th 1984 ) is the creator of this facebook.

How it start ?

Back to October 2003 when he was at Harvard ( a second year student ), he create Facemash together with 2 of his roommate Dustin Moskovitz and Chris Hughes. This network wash originally created as a way to forget the girl he like.

With the support of his friends at the college at September 2006 the Facemash become a Facebook and open for any e-mail owners above 13 years old. For the next year this site jump from no 60 to no 7 of the most hits sites.

Microsoft interesting at this phenomena and bought 1,6% of Facebook share for 240 million US Dollar. At the end of 2007 a Hongkong businessman Li Ka-Shing also invested another 60 million US Dollar to the company Mark owned.

Today, the value of Mark Zuckerber company is estimated around 5 billion US Dollar with 30 %o of it is his personal share.

He is number 785 of the richest man for 2008. It made him the youngest billionaire ( not came from heritage ) for the entire history. Facebook itself had been translated to about 30 languages dan about 150 million of active users all over the world. For Indonesia , probably around 1,3 million people use Facebook everyday.

The Facebook phenomenon is also triggered the birth of Tweeter. A new genre of social networking that focus on the question : "What is you doing at the moment ? "

Regards ;

Work stuff : To Tweet or not to Tweet

Dear blogger ;

Yesterday I stumbled upon a great article regarding Twitter, the phenomenal social networking tools that may overcome Facebook. This article came from Los Angeles Times by Megham Daum :

What am I doing right now? If you must know, I'm staring at the computer screen, toggling between this column and my e-mail program, my online bank balance and photos of my dog. Oh wait, that was a few seconds ago. Now I'm hungry. Now I'm realizing I have no bread for toast. Now an hour has passed since I started this paragraph.

Do you find this interesting? Me neither. But the Age of Over sharing is upon us, and those of us who lack enthusiasm for minutia are in a distinct minority. The current enabler-in-chief of this movement? Twitter, that suddenly ubiquitous "microblogging" system that lets users post updates of 140 characters or less that answer the question "what are you doing now"?

Most people still aren't quite sure what Twitter is -- with only 14 million users, it's no Facebook yet -- but it's insinuated itself into the popular lexicon so vigorously that just about everyone seems to have at least heard of it and its infinitive, "to tweet" (when you use Twitter, technically you are tweeting.)

This is due in large part to a rather sudden media embrace. Last month, both the Doonesbury comic strip and "The Daily Show" poked fun at Twitter and its users, which now include a number of members of Congress (Jon Stewart scolded them for tweeting during hearings). Last week, election protesters in the nation of Moldova were reportedly aided and galvanized by the play-by-play rally updates afforded by Twitter. And over the weekend, when Amazon.com experienced a "glitch" -- Amazon's word -- that caused tens of thousands of gay-related books to be de-ranked on the site, the Twitter outcry went viral so effectively that the company is now experiencing a major public relations crisis.

Meanwhile, many news outlets, ever desperate to attract even a passing glance from tech-obsessed, attention-impaired youngsters, are now tweeting about breaking news (as well as less-than-breaking, not-necessarily news) with the same vigor they bring to reporting. This week, CNN's Breaking News Twitter account (then the most popular account, according to the tracking site Twitterholic) was inching toward a record-making 1 million followers ("followers" are the people who actually read your posts). This was apparently so exciting and dramatic that Ashton Kutcher, whose account was ranked third, challenged CNN to see who could be the first to reach that 1 million mark. Guess who won.

Incidentally, the account of Kutcher's wife, Demi Moore, is now ranked 15th. Other popular tweeters include Britney Spears at No. 2, Barack Obama at No. 6 and Whole Foods Market at No. 24. That's right, nearly 425,000 people have signed up for updates that, presumably, let them know what a $21 jar of olive oil is doing right now.

Look, some of my best friends are tweeting. I know this because their e-mails now have signatures listing their Twitter account names along with their cellphone numbers, website urls and notices that the message has been sent from a hand-held device (as if that's not obvious because they typed "sluts met 4 lunge" instead of "let's meet for lunch.")

But at the risk of unilaterally offending 14 million people, I need to say this: If Twitter were a person, it would be an emotionally unstable person. It would be that person we avoid at parties and whose calls we don't pick up. It would be the person whose willingness to confide in us at first seems intriguing and flattering but eventually makes us feel kind of gross because the friendship is unearned and the confidence is unjustified. The human incarnation of Twitter, in other words, is the person we all feel sorry for, the person we suspect might be a bit mentally ill, the tragic oversharer.

Of course, privacy as a cultural or even personal value has been going out of style for some time now; in a world without boundaries, Twitter alone cannot be blamed for making spewing into a sport. And, to be fair, its initial function was to serve as an information conduit between close friends and family, the idea being that even if the whole world didn't care that you were buying frozen peas right now, your mother (God help her) still might.

But as Twitter's popularity wobbles at the tipping point between faddish distraction and worldwide obsession, it's worth wondering how much of this "connecting" is simply hastening the erosion of our already compromised interpersonal skills. Are we tweeting because we truly want to communicate with a select group of true friends, or because typing has replaced talking and indiscretion has been stripped of all negative connotations? Are most Twitter posts merely inane, or do they carry the faint whiff of the insane?

The jury's still out. But, along with "what am I doing right now?" maybe it's time to ask "what the hell are we doing"?

mdaum@latimescolumnists.com

Work fun : Google Chrome Launch

Dear blogger ;

Google Chrome ( free open source web browser from google ) launched yesterday.

It launch for new 100 country including Indonesia.

Still working for Windows but soon the Linux version will available.

I already download it and replace my Mozila for today.

The overall look is very minimalism.

Control is very easy.

I have not test it on a heavy multimedia web site.

But google claim the browser had a Javascript Virtual Machine - Multi Process.

That can be very useful for multimedia file.

You can try it from google web site.

And give your own opinion about it.

Regards ;

Learning about blogging

Dear blogger ;

As a newbie in this virtual diary world, I try to learn new thing every day.
I know my passion to share and learn about almost everything is high.
But my knowledge about Internet, blogging, or SEO is very low.

After some time browsing , i found several website or blog that i find very help full.

1. www.courtneytuttle.com
Internet marketing school. Easy to access, easy to learn.

2. www.fatihsyuhud.com
One of Indonesian blogger that i find can deliver knowledge in an easy way.

3. www.cosaaranda.com
Also one of Indonesia best blogger ( I think ... )

I like to thanks for the knowledge and motivation i found at those website.
For knowing Internet, you can study it for two hours, but for master it, it takes a lifetime.

Regards ;

T.S

8-8-8 a good date to start a blog

After almost a week studying about blogging, today I decide to start my blog.

Why today ? Perhaps because today is an opening for the 2008 summer Olympic.
Although I'm not at Chinese people, some of their way of live is awesome.
For example today ( 8 - 8 - 2008 ) is a rare good day for Chinese people.

Maybe because the number 8 is the only number which made a perfect curve.
Some said is a symbol of harmony in live and after live. Many mothers choose
to give birth at this date. Also weeding ceremony and opening a new business.

So, I'm start my new blog too.
In this blog i want to share my feeling, knowledge and opinion about work, fun & family stuff.
Work as a marketer at FMCG company, fun like movie, gaming and traveling.
And also family matters like parenting and religion.

I'll try to update my blog an hour daily. Maybe not is Sunday ( Sunday is a family day ).
My daily routine will be post along with work stuff and fun stuff.
As an brand new blogger, I also want to learn from other blogger, how to be a good blogger.
What is the ethics, what is the rules.
Please teach me bros and sis.

As for today, is Friday. Friday is a praying day for Moslem's like me.
Also i have to pick up my first daughter at school today.
She is at the second grade of elementary school.
Her younger daughter had a toothache today, so she is not go for her kindergarten.
Today i may not be able to post work and fun stuff. Tomorrow I'll do my best.

Whew...finally the end of my first posting. Regards from me.