Ampel Mosque: Surabaya, East Java

Ampel Mosque is believed to be the oldest in the country. Its founder, Sunan Ampel (otherwise known as Raden Ahmad Rachmatulloh), was one of nine figures who played a leading role in spreading Islam across Java. Sunan Ampel was born in 1401 in Champa, Cambodia. He is a descendant of Ibrahim Asmarakandi, or Maulana Malik Ibrahim, a Champa ruler. When he was 20 years old, Sunan Ampel moved to Surabaya in East Java, which was then ruled by Raja Brawijaya, a Majapahit king.

The king gave Sunun Ampel a 12-hectare plot of land in the Ampel Dento area where he built a mosque and taught local residents about Islam.

In 1421, Sunan Ampel completed Ampel Mosque using a combination of ancient Javanese and Arabic architectural styles.
Various legends exist about the mosque.

One such legend concerns nine graves present in the area, believed to belong to Mbah Soleh, a disciple of Sunan Ampel.
When Mbah Soleh died, Sunan Ampel asked God to send him back to earth so he could help construct the mosque.

“God gave Mbah Soleh nine lives,” Amin said.
Another legend concerns seven wells dug by Sunan Ampel. The water inside these wells is said to have had the power to heal various illnesses.

Due to such legends, Ampel Mosque, located on KH Mas Mansyur street in north Surabaya, has become quite revered in recent years.

“Just look around. Nearly every inch of space is filled with worshipers,” said Amin.

During Ramadhan, Ampel Mosque is never empty.

Aside from performing the five compulsory prayers daily, the worshipers also perform their nightly tarawih prayers together, followed by Koran recitals until the break of dawn.

Many people catch up on sleep in the mosque’s corridors while waiting to perform the tahajud prayer at around 2 a.m.

Visitors to the mosque also often visit its graveyard to offer prayers to Sunan Ampel and his disciples.

While praying at graves remains controversial among some Muslim communities, Amin said the practice was an important part of local culture.

“Praying at graves is not asking for blessings from the deceased. We are offering our prayers to those who have died,” he said.

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The Legend of Nyi Loro Kidul

The domain of Nyi Loro Kidul, the legendary queen of the South Seas, is Parangtritis in Central Java. Her hair is green and full of shells and seaweed, and, she holds court over sea nymphs and other creatures of the deep. She is venerated and feared by the Javanese. In fact, they never wear the colour green when entering the sea for fear of offending Nyi Loro Kidul whose hair is green!.

‘The legend of Nyi Roro Kidul herself is very popular. Before turning into a nymph,Nyai Roro Kidul was a young princess named Dewi Kandita, the daughter of King Mundangwangi and his first wife. The popularity of Dewi Kandita and her mother Dewi Rembulan was beyond doubt. They were known for their beauty, kindness and friendliness, and people loved them.

However, the misery of their lives began when Dewi Mutiara, another wife of King Mundangwangi, known locally as selir, became green with envy and grew ambitions to become the first wife, thereby deserving full affection and attention from the king.

Dewi Mutiara’s dream came true when one day she bore the son that the king had long been yearning for. Through the assistance of a witch, Dewi Mutiara made the king’s wives Dewi Rembulan and Dewi Kandita suffer from ’strange’ disease, with their bodies covered with scabies that created the odour of fish. The disease led them to be sent into exile in the forest where later Dewi Rembulan died. After a long, hard and helpless journey, the scabies-covered Dewi Kandita eventually arrived at a beach where she met a young, handsome man who promised to cure her illness.

At the request of the young man, Dewi Kandita chased after him as he ran along the beach. When she reached the water, the man disappeared and, to her surprise, all the scabies had disappeared but, strangely, she could not move her legs. Half her body, from the waist down, had turned into the body of a fish.

Since then she became a sea-nymph, and the locals believe that Nyi Roro Kidul is the manifestation of Dewi Kandita’

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Oban's Myths & Legends

A fox and a cat were out walking together when the fox began boasting how clever he was.

“I’m prepared for any situation” said the Fox. “I have a whole bag of tricks to choose from if my enemies try to capture me.”

“I’m afraid I’ve only got one trick, but it has always worked for me” The cat said timidly.

The fox looked at the cat and shook his head “One trick, how dumb is that? I’ve got hundreds of ways of escaping” said the fox.

“I still think it’s better to have one trick that works than waste time trying to choose from a dozen that might” said the cat softly.

“Rubbish” shouted the fox. “You’re just not as smart as me”

Just then they heard a pack of dogs barking as they coming towards them. The cat immediately ran up the nearest tree and hid on one of the highest branches.

“That’s my trick” the cat called from high up in the tree. “You had better reach into that bag of tricks of yours and choose one right now or you're history”

“Ok, Ok, stay calm” said the fox to himself.

“Should I run and hide behind the nearest hedge?

Or should I jump down a burrow?”

The dogs were getting closer and closer.

“Down a burrow that’s the way to go” said the fox, and started running around the field looking for a burrow.

“No, that one’s too small, I can’t get down far enough. This one’s too big, they could get down too. Maybe that one over there?”

Too late. While the fox wasted time, confused by so many choices, the dogs caught him and killed him.

The cat looked down sadly and said, “It’s better to have one safe way than a hundred you can’t choose from.”

The End

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Transliteration Using Google Transliteration

Do you ever writing in systematic way? Mhh, i mean, writing in special font, like an arabic, greek, chinese, hindi, persian, etc. Or the simplest way to say it is, do you ever doing a transliteration?
Do you know what is "Transliteration in" the first place? Transliteration is the practice of converting a text from one writing system into another in a systematic way. Transliteration is a mapping from one system of writing into another, word by word, or ideally letter by letter. Transliteration attempts to use a one-to-one correspondence and be exact, so that an informed reader should be able to reconstruct the original spelling of unknown transliterated words.
Okay enough with definition things.

The good news is, now you don't have to know or understand those language to use them in writing. Our beloved Google has facilitated us with another new invention. That's it, the Google Transliteration. To start using it, just open the project homepage at http://www.google.com/transliterate/ . Done? Now just use it. Choose you desire transliteration language first at the left panel. After that, start to type anything in the input panel, and after you press "SPACE" on your keyboard, your type will automatically change into choosen transliteration language. For example, i will write "Hello World , How Do You Do Today? " in Russian.



See? The words you type automatically change. Now i will try to write in Arabic.



Wow, amazing ! It transliterated in the proper way (note that arabic writing start from the right).
This project has been in "out of labs" status, means that this project can be used by everyone. Another good news is, you don't have to open Google Transliteration homepage everytime you wanna use this. Transliteration is available in Blogger, Gmail, Knol, Orkut and as a bookmarklet. You can also enable it on your website using the transliteration API.

Within this post, i will tell you how to enable it in blogger. Just click on this link. After that, sign in into your blogger account, and it would be enabled on your blog post editor automatically. You will then directed to New Post page, and see at the most right panel. Yes, the transliteration button is there
look at the red circle, it is the transliteration button.

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[REVIEW] The Chronicles of Narnia: the Voyage of the Dawn Treader

Disappointment? Possibly and let us see.

The audio visual FX is actually better than just good, and the additional 3D cinema feature is a push to raise the standard to suit the current trend on animated movies, surely; however, many other independent critics have claimed the feature to be a little too compelling or, at the very least, not necessary.

The deal with my disappointment actually lays upon the creative idea behind the plot, having expected the storyline to be more embracing or at least entertaining. The Chronicles of Narnia: the Voyage of the Dawn Treader is a little too plain in comparison to the first two journeys, where wonders were properly explored.

Overall, if you have seen the first two chapters of Narnia, you should probably watch the Voyage of the Dawn Treader for there will be more chapters to come [as I have been told]. However, I would actually recommend you to get the DVD instead after having watched the movie in the cinema. The whole 3D feature is not even considerable.

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More on gladiator skeleton Roman

Tall, powerfully-built and with a killer instinct he would have been a fearsome sight - especially if you were a gladiator facing him in the ring.

Archaeologists do not know his name but are convinced the remarkable discovery of the Roman gladiator's bones in York provide a clear clue of where the amphitheatre was in the city.

Back when he was fighting for his survival in the ring 1,600 years ago, York was the Roman capital of the north and the ground underneath the Yorkshire Museum has long been thought of as the prime location for the site.

The amphitheatre would have been similar to the one seen in the 2000 film Gladiator which featured Russell Crowe as a bloodthirsty warrior.

The remains of the British gladiator were found just 30cm below the foundations of the museum by builders carrying out refurbishment works.

He was very tall for a Roman, standing at 5ft 10in, and of muscular build. The average height for people living at that time was 5ft 3in.

Analysis of the bones, shows that the skeleton was once a powerful, athletic man who was stabbed at least six times in a fatal attack - including a powerful sword blow to the back of the head.

Because of the way his body was found without hint of burial ceremony experts believe he could have been a disgraced or defeated gladiator who was then literally thrown out with the rubbish after his savage death.

Experts at York Osteoarchaeology have now concluded the man was aged between 36 and 45.

Andrew Morrison, head curator of the Yorkshire Museum, said: 'This was a huge man for the Roman period who died a violent and bloody death.

'The physical evidence reveals he was a swordsman and that his body was literally dumped with the rubbish - there was no hint that he had been buried in a ceremonial way.

'But what is really interesting to us is that he was found in this area, which is not associated with Roman burials and that many believe could be where York's amphitheatre was located.

'It is far from certain but it could well be the case that this man was a disgraced gladiator who was brutally killed and then left to rot.'

The skeleton was found in January by builders carrying out work on the museum a foot below the foundations, during a £2million refit.

Because it is also a key medieval site, the precinct of St Mary's Abbey, excavation at the location has been limited and meant that the Museum Gardens remains one of the few untouched areas in the city large enough to house the amphitheatre.

The scientists discovered that he would have been a very muscular man, with lesions in his vertebrae suggesting spinal stress, possibly through lifting heavy loads.

They also found the man met a most barbaric end. There are six blade injuries on the skeleton which, because there are no signs of healing, must have been delivered at death.

Malin Holst, director of York Osteoarchaeology, said: 'A wound is recognisable as one side is sharp and smooth and the other edge is rough.'

She added: 'To work out his age we looked at the degeneration of his joints and wear to his teeth.

'You can tell height by measuring a long bone like a thigh or shin bone. We knew he was muscular as the bones were shapely.

Experts have eliminated other sites in the city that may have housed the amphitheatre and think this could be a highly significant discovery, as the area is large enough to have accommodated a massive arena.

The remains are now on public display at the museum.

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Brutal Life of British Gladiator

The Yorkshire Museum in York has just made an astonishing and gruesome discovery on the ancient site of Eboracum — the skeleton of a man of tremendous build estimated to have died around AD400 in the late Roman era.

He was some 40 years of age and a study of his bones show that they once carried huge amounts of muscle. It is clear from his broken skeleton and the hole in the back of his head that he was brutally stabbed many times and suffered a fatal sword blow to the back of his head, before being buried without ceremony.

Archaeologists believe he may have been one of the hundreds of gladiators who fought in Britain in bouts of extraordinary savagery. But how did he live and how was he killed? Here, top thriller writer William Napier, who specialises in Ancient Rome, imagines his last hours on Earth…

They ate their last meal in public. It was a solemn occasion. Tomorrow, one in seven of them would die in the arena of Eboracum, before the cheers and screams of the crowd and the grim gaze of the hard-bitten veterans of the Legio VI Victrix — the Sixth ­Victorious Legion that had long been based in Britain.

Marco was the oldest gladiator in the ­training school. Only Scaurus, their brutal, unsmiling lanista, or trainer, was older. A former gladiator himself, he had earned his wooden sword and freedom after countless bloody fights to the death. ‘Munera sine missio’, the fights were called: games ­without remission.

By the guttering light of oil lamps and ­candles on this cold winter’s evening, in this far northern outpost of the mighty Roman Empire, the gladiators ate their meal at a long table in the refectory. It was lavish by usual standards.

Their normal daily fare was stolid, nourishing, and plentiful: barley and lentil broth, boiled beans, oatmeal, coarse bread, vegetables and thin ale. But tonight they dined like wealthy citizens, with the best cuts of meat: roasted boar dripping with winter fat, hare and pheasant, and horsemeat steaks ­oozing red on wooden plates.

All ate with gusto, for to show fear was a ­disgrace. Even those who knew they would die tomorrow ate well. Perhaps some dream or premonition had come to them, a soft word from their ancestors heard in sleep, or a mere chill in the bones.

And Marco was old and slow now. He suffered injuries in every bout. Only a month ago he had been badly mauled by a ferocious Caledonian bear, saved only when his fellow fighters speared the animal and heaved it off him, still snarling. He knew with certainty that tomorrow would be his last day in this world.

The doors of the refectory were thrown open and the people of the town filed in to ogle and stare. Young lads to whom the gladiators were heroes, even more so than athletes or chariot racers. Older men, with gambling money invested in tomorrow’s bloodshed.

And women. Young girls ­giggling and then looking afraid, staring wide-eyed at these men of blood calmly eating their meal. And there were the older women, noticeably dressed in their finest gowns, immaculately made-up by their maids with powder and kohl eye-shadow, their lips tinted and plumped with carmine wax. They watched breathlessly.

The gladiators’ skulls showed many livid scars through their ­close-cropped hair. Even on this cold ­British night in December, they wore no more than coarse homespun tunics, with broad leather belts at the waist, leaving their powerful arms and shoulders bare.

Their muscles were huge, their chests massive, their arms knotted and hands thick with snaking veins like ropes. Their jaw lines were as hard as iron. They were the dregs of society, often criminals or prisoners of war who had been plucked from ­obscurity and ­disgrace by trainers.

They had lost their honour, but fighting gave them a chance to escape execution. They existed on a level with actors, pimps and criminals. Yet the women could not take their eyes off these beasts among men. Such was the living paradox that was the gladiator.

Outcasts doomed to an early death, possessing nothing in this world but their courage, they were desired as well as despised, envied as well as feared. They were the Empire’s ultimate celebrities.

Ordinary men weighed down by the burdensome pettiness of daily life — laws, taxation, bureaucracy — envied the ­simplicity of their kill-or-be-killed lives, their status as icons of doomed glamour, of blood-sacrifice.

They were the most vivid symbols of Rome’s grim martial ethos. ­Gladiators put lesser anxieties behind them when they swore their terrible oath, the sacramentum gladiatorum, promising ‘to endure burning, beating, binding and ­slaying by the sword’.

After such an oath, little else could worry a man. For the women, these men of blood inspired an even more complex mix of loathing and longing — so much so that in the arena, females were only allowed to sit on the very back row, in case they should become over-heated by the spectacle below.

Yet it was widely rumoured that many of the most outwardly respectable women still found ways of ­getting closer to these violent outcasts they claimed to find so repellent. A midnight flit through the streets of the city, with only one trusted servant to carry the lantern. A knock at the door of the gladiators’ ­quarters, the hurried whispers.

Then the favoured fighter taking the woman in his rough hands and dragging her to his cell. The rustle of fine silken robes, before she fled back to her villa and her plump, snoring husband, her heart still beating furiously, her eyes still shining with pleasure. Marco glanced up at the spellbound women.

Among them he knew of at least two who had born his children, their husbands happily unaware that they were raising these young cuckoos in the fine feathered nests of their villas.

The old warrior could have smiled if it were not so solemn an occasion. His blood would be shed tomorrow, he could sense it. The gods had spoken. But his bloodline would live on.

The day of the games dawned bright and cold. The gladiators began to prepare themselves at first light, though it would be hours yet before they fought.

They bathed, exercised lightly, ate nothing, drank only water. You moved faster on an empty stomach. But the waiting was always the worst. Ask any soldier. They played dice, draughts, made bitter jests, and prayed in private to their gods.

The manager and overseer of the games was known as the editor, an unpredictable and irascible man, widely feared. But he knew what the people wanted.

In the arena, the day’s entertainment was carefully planned, ­progressing from knockabout comedy to spectacular atrocity. The mornings were taken up with light-hearted entertainments little different from pantomime.

An actor dressed as a bear pretended to play the flute, and another dressed as a chicken played a brass horn. Then the bear sat on the chicken. The crowd roared with laughter.

After that there was a mock fight between a dwarf and a one-legged man, using wooden swords, and then an elaborate re-creation of a ­mythological Greek battle between Hellenic tribesmen and centaurs.

That one went on far too long, and there was still no real bloodshed. The crowd booed loudly. The editor signalled the midday break for lunch.

The crowds filed out, chattering with eager anticipation, for the best was still to come.

They went to buy snacks from the street vendors: meat patties or fish balls, deep-fried to ­disguise their rottenness. Scrawny prostitutes were already gathering under the arcade. They always did good business on a day of the games.

Then it was back to their seats for the midday punishment of criminals, which decent citizens always enjoyed. Malefactors were commonly slain in public in the arena before the gladiators came in; the crowd liked to look down on them, both literally and metaphorically, from their seats as they died.

In the drill yard, the gladiators were arming: 12 of them today, in six pairs. Marco fought in heavy armour, with a massive bronze helmet, a big rectangular shield, and the classic short stabbing sword with which the Roman legions had cut a fearsome swathe across half the known world: the gladius, from which these slave-warriors took their name.

The differently armed gladiators included a pair of fast-moving retiarii, men who were armed only with net and trident; another pair of Thracian gladiators, with their small shields and curved scimitars; and two laquerarii, who cast lassos to snare their enemy.

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Mengupas jeruk

Seringkali saat kita mengelupas kulit jeruk , kita sering kerepotan dengan kulit ari. Kulit serat yang menempelpada daging jeruk , Sehingga kita harus membersihkanya .

Biar mudah kamu bias memakai cara ini :

1.) Masukkan dulu jeruk jeruk yang akan di kupas ke dalam air panas selama lima menit.

2.) Setelah itu , Kupas jeruk seperti biasanya

3.) Kamu bisa lihat kulit ari yang menempel pada daging jeruk ikut terkelupas dengan sendirinya .

Sehingga tampilan jeruk menjadi lebih polos dan cantik , berwarna oranye , polos dan bersih . !

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Kampreet ..

Sumber : PUISI at G2

Kulihat jelas sisi indahmu
Ajaklah aku bersamamu
Menikmati keindahanmu
Meraba apa yang di raba
Mencium apa yang di cium
Pusing nyatanya kau pergi
Rupanya cinta tertuju pada yang lain
Emang aku bukan manusia ?
Emang aku tak punya hati ?
Emang aku tak punya perasaan ?
Emang aku …. Siapa ???

Terakhir , kuteriaki kau
“KAMPRETTT !“
(Mr.Incrit,Blitar)

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JINGGA

Sumber : PUISI at G2

Keluhku pada jingga

Yang samar hadir iringi senja

Di temani pipit dan gereja

Mengaduku pada senja ;

Bawa pergi saja

Segala tangisku dan duka

Habiskan biru ini ,

Hingga tak bersisa.

(Kiran,Jakarta)

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Menjaga kaki agar tidak cidera

Sumber :Pretty

Kaki adalah anggota tubuh yang menanggung beban berat . Ya , tiap hari kaki memang harus menopang tubuh kita . Oleh karena itu , kaki perlu kita rawat dan jaga agar terhindar dari cidera .

Dari Semua tulang yang berada pada tubuh kita , 25 % ada pada kaki . Di kaki juga ada 33 sendi , 107 ligamen (jaringan pengikat yang mengikat antar tulang) , dan 19 otot . Itulah antara lain yang membuat kaki kita menjadi kuat dan elastis dapat berputar dan bergerak dngan mudah .

Meskipun kuat dan elastis , kaki kita juga perlu di jaga agar tidak mudah cidera . Ingat Cidera pada kaki akan membuat aktifitas kita terganggu .

AGAR KAKI TIDAK CIDERA
*Usaha kan selalu melakukan peregangan kaki setiap kali sebelum dan sesudah olahraga (lari , Jogging , basket , renang , Sepak bola , dll) . Caranya lakukan gerakan perlahan lahan dan seimbang . Seperti lari lari kecil di tempat dan peregangan betis , cara ini mencegah cedera kaki seperti keseleo , kram maupun nyeri otot ,(NB).
*Usahakan tidak berjalan di luar rumah (taman,kebun,atau jalanan umum) tanpa alas kaki . Hal ini untuk mencegah kaki tertusuk benda tajam yang menimbulkan luka atau infeksi.
*Sebaiknya hindari memakai sepatu dengan hak tinggi . Selain karena usia kita belum cocok menggunakanya , juga dapat membuat kaki kita cidera seperti keseleo .
*Pilihlah sepatu atau sandal yang pas ukuranya dengan kaki sehingga tidak membuat kaki kita terjepit atau terganggu peredaran darahnya . Pilih sepatu juga yang tepat dengan menyesuaikan kegiatan yang akan kita lakukan .

BEBERAPA Kegiatan melatih otot kaki ,
>Berlatih lompat tali untuk menguatkan otot betis dan tungkai kaki
>Melakukan seperti (NB) setiap saatnya

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Cara jitu membersihkan jendela

Sediakan Sebuah kain lap bersih .

Basahi dengan air cuka putih

Diamkan beberapa saat kemudian keringkan dengan Koran bekas.

Supaya kaca jendela lebih berkilau , kamu bias membuat cairan pembersih jendela sendiri.

Caranya :

1.) Masukan 3 sendok makan ammonia

2.) Satu sendok makan cuka

3.) Dan air secukupnya

4.) Masukan ke dalam botol semprot

5.) Kocok hingga rata

Semprotkan merata di permukaan kaca dan bersihkan dengan kain lap kering .

Sementara untuk noda yang menempel di besi jendela . Gosok keras dengan kain yang di basahi dengan alcohol .

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