If the original sentence is “A quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog” which is considered plagiarism? Consider all sentences below are published without original writer’s acknowledgement.

1. A quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog. (Obviously, a plagiarism)
2. Seekor rubah coklat cepat meloncat di atas anjing pemalas (Is translation plagiarism?)
3. A fox jumps over the dog. (Short version)
4. A quick big round brown fox spring into the air over the lazy small black dog. (I was inspired by the original sentence)
5. A quick brown cat jumps over the lazy tiger. (Just change the names)

Other resources : One, two, three, four, five, six.

Is plagiarism stealing?

Sunday, August 17th 2008, Indonesia celebrates Independence Day.

Yes, we have ceremony, celebration, marching, pictures, logo, colors, duct tape, flower pot, jokes and games. We even have lunar eclipse and gold medal. Some bloggers write Merdeka, with question mark and with exclamation mark. Some try to find meaning, some rant, some ask questions, questions and more question. Some want their Indonesia back, and other simply write a reflection. The rest said proudly, “Happy Birthday, Indonesia!”

With 63 years from 1945-2008, Indonesian people still struggle to find independence in their existence, in choosing their new leader, and in their work. Indonesian people never stop struggling to find their own independence. When they feel free at last. From poverty, from oppression, and from injustice. When is your personal Independence Day?

Mine is June 21st, 2008.

Why do we even bother trying to feel important?

picture taken from somewhere here

Traffic jam is not a problem. Why? Because there’s not a single demonstration that i know protesting about traffic jam (most demonstrations create traffic jam, anyway). People like to complain about traffic jam because it’s one of the easiest complain topics (others like government, electricity, price) and people connect with that. Really, so much solutions available, and the reason you stuck in the traffic jam is because you want to. Here’s fourteen solutions to avoid traffic jam.

1. Leave early before the sunrise.
2. If you can, leave early with your family and friends that have the same work schedule as you. Misery loves company =D
3. Leave late after rush hour (if your office permits)
4. Come home late, and no, you don’t stay in office because you’re workaholic. Free internet, perhaps?
5. Make your office your second home.
6. Work at home.
7. Use public transportation. What? Those slow and painful boxes? No way. Well, it’s not your car with air conditioner or TV, but if you want AC and TV, it’s because you want to.
8. Use delivery service if you can.
9. On weekend, avoid public place (mall, market, theme park). If you go there, well, it’s because you want to, right?
10. Use your calendar to mark Car Free Day. In Jakarta, it’s the Last Sunday every month. I don’t know if a person using his car on this day, he don’t remember the day or remember the day hoping that others also remember the day (so they didn’t use their car). But the traffic jam is getting worse on Car Free Day. An irony?
11. Call your friend if you feel lonely. Don’t meet them. Want to see her face? Embrace 3G technology.
12. If you want to meet them, choose places with minimal traffic jam (for both of you). If you go to popular spot, well, it’s because you want to, right?
13. Make your house a comfy home. There are thousands activity that you can do at your house.
14. Nomad people (who get bored when stay at home), read no 13, and if you still want to go out, you brought it on yourself. Don’t complain.

Do you feel bored? Here’s some idea :

1. When you feel bored in a meeting, make some quick notes.
2. Explore wikipedia both English and Indonesia, and you’ll find something like Point Nemo or discover R.A. Kartini
3. Play You Don’t Know Jack.
4. Planning to go on diet? Well, make notes on what you eat using twitter.
5. Check your password strength.
6. Create your own business card online.
7. Watch inspirational speaker on TED.
8. See the world in numbers.
9. Clean your place in five minutes.
10. Organise your RSS Reader.

I’ve read about happiness almost everywhere in blogosphere. It’s all positive, cheerful, and full of optimism. But is there any side effect when you’re constantly happy? I think so.

1. You cannot enjoy most of popular songs anymore, because basically artists are miserable people. Yeah, you hear about betrayals, goodbyes, unrequited love, and no matter that you do, you feel disconnected from that song. Your favorite song is now Macarena and you dance stupidly following that song.
2. You’ll be considered naïve. People will look at you and comment, “Get real. Don’t be naïve. The world is full of misery. You need stuffs. You need love. You can’t be happy when you’re not rich, etc.”
3. You’re not sincere. Although you’re aware and concern about the problems of the world, just because you’re happy (concern usually corelated with sadness), you don’t think of the problems seriously.
4. You’re guilty of making other people looks shallow. When you say that you’re happy and you don’t need any love and stuff, you make other people look bad and shallow from wanting those and not happy.

Be happy anyway.

My friend said to me the other day, “Parents always want a son or a daughter. They never want the person that happened to be their son or daughter.”

Meaning : people always have this image in their head about somebody else’s character and rarely accept somebody else just the way they are.

Sometimes people even enforce their image to somebody, and when they have resistance, they said, “I don’t like you, you’re not what i imagine in my head.”

And the funny things is, a lot of people that want to fulfill those images that created by others. They are not completely free because their choices are limited by perception by others.

Free yourself from your peers’ opinions, views and all that they think you should be.

Before it’s too late.

Your children are not your children.
They are the sons and daughters of Life’s longing for itself.
They come through you but not from you,
And though they are with you yet they belong not to you. (Kahlil Gibran)

1. And he replied, “My children are not my children. They are my investments. They will took care of me when i’m old.”
2. And she said, “My children are not my children. They are the vessels of all my unfulfilled dreams. My dreams should be their dreams.”
3. And they said, “My children are not my children. They are our footprints left in this world. When people see them, they should see us.”

Happy National Children Day, Kids. Good luck!