Veda #10 : Sleep Paralysis 9:47 PM

Day 10
Question by : None - "Sleep Paralysis"

common sleep paralysis

Have you ever been on a sleep state between unconsious and awake, and you try to move your body, but you can't move. You try to speak or shout, but that didn't work either. Sometimes followed with strange hallucination, heavy breath, and others phobia. If you answered "yes" to most symptoms, yeah that's what we called "Sleep Paralysis" according to medical term, or our traditional Indonesian people would call it "Ketindihan" (-Stacked, in English) just because we would feel like being stacked by "something".

Surprisingly, many people in this whole world have their explanation about this thing, and it was all about their myths. let's take some example :
In Afro-America culture, this is called "The devil riding your back"
in Chinese beliefs, called "gui ya shen"
The Mexican believe it was a dead person's spirit stick to living person
and many more from Cambodia, Turk, Iceland, Japan, Thailand, Hungaria...they all believe that this sleep paralysis means there was/were a spirit(s) that sit on your chest and try to steal your living spirit.
Could this explained medically?

Explanation
This condition often called "Sleep paralysis", and it could happen to everybody, both men and women. Most of the people have experienced this condition at least once or twice in their lives, mostly the first time occured at age between 14-17. Most of the cases just happened only for a few seconds or minutes, in the advanced case, sometimes the person would felt a hallucination, like seeing black shadow, or heard something around them. That's why many peoples said it was mystical.
The western would call this as "incubus nightmare", or else, based on what they would "see".

According to Al Cheyne, researcher from Waterloo University, sleep paralysis is a hallucination because there is a sleep-malfunction at the stage called REM (Rapid Eye Movement). As for information, our sleeping state could be divided into 4 stage :
Light Sleep ; Deep Sleep ; Very Deep Sleep ; and REM, where event we called as dream could happen (see the diagram below for explanation)

sleeping state

When we feel too tired, or lack of sleep, our brain wave doesn't synchronized well with the sleeping stages. Put it in the simple explanation, we feel like we've take enough sleep, our brain said so, but our body haven't take enough "sleep". Still hard to follow? okay, our brain count 1-2-5, but our body still counting at 1-2-3-4-5. This is when sleep paralysis could happen, we try to wake up but our body still in the sleep state, so we couldn't move it yet.

The Causes
Sleep paralysis often caused by narcolepsy (sudden sleep attack), sleep apnea (snoring), depression. If you ever felt like you had enough sleep, but sometimes without notice, you fell asleep, that's narcolepsy.
Lack of sleep also considered as the cause. Next, your sleep position could affect this Sleep Paralysis, it happened that people who slept with supine position (lying with face upwards, or simple word :Terlentang!) has more chances to caught sleep paralysis when they're too tired.

As for me, i've had this feeling once, and i thought i was dead, because in my case, i'm fully awake but i can't opened my eyes at all....Thank God i'm still living till now.

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Veda #9 : Flame On! 10:25 PM

Day 09
Question by : Babypunk - "Explain sudden combustion on human"

This is Johny Blaze from Fantastic Four...

the Human Torch, not sudden combustion victims...

Sudden Combustion or more popular by Spontaneous Human Combustion (SHC) is a phenomenon when human's body suddenly ignited and burned by itself from within, without being contact with any igniting source. This is also a rare case in medical world, makes it harder to find scientific explanation to this phenomenon (yes, phenomenon is a right term because nothing scientific could explain it). Many said that it was mystical, others said about biological and many blind guesses.
I've gathered some information about SHC, but i must tell you first, none of these theories gonna be more right than the others, as mentioned before this is a rare cases, and most of the victims are burned down to ashes, left no evidence to be investigated.

SHC, How It Happen
Where does the flame that lights these people on fire come from? Skeptical theory said that the victim ignite unconsiously with a cigarette or electrical shock, and their fat then burns slowly like a candle. Others insist that the ignition comes from within the victim, not an external source. Some say spirits, poltergeists, or demons are to blame. One intriguing theory suggests that geomagnetic activity is responsible for SHC.

But there is a good explanation for this phenomenon. It is called the wick effect. The clothing of victims can act as a wick, while their body fat serves as a source of fuel (like an inside-out candle). The burning of the clothes is maintained by liquified fat wicked from the body of the victim, causing a slow burn that can nearly consume the victim and resulting in the greasy brown substance often coating nearby walls.

Static effect from our clothes and linens are a good source of igniters

It is believed that the victims have, consciously or unconsciously, approached an igniting medium that caused their clothes to burst into flames. After this, the burning clothes transmit the fire to the fatty tissues in the victim's body and this is how the combustion occurs. Human body fat, in fact make a good fuel. If heated sufficiently (and able to come out of the body), it could certainly burn quite well.

The second type of theories are supported by scientists that have showed that there is enough methane gas inside our intestines to lead to a fire, while the source of fire could consist in the active enzymes (proteins that speed up the chemical processes in our bodies). As we may know that our digestive systems produced enough gas in the guts as the result of digestion process. This gas is usually flammable.

The Possible Victim
In cases of “spontaneous” combustion, the victims are often overweight, and therefore have plenty of fuel for the fire from the body fat. Remember, body fat is a natural "fuel" so it didn't close the chance it could happen also to thin people. The classic profile of the victim is an overweight, older, single, alcoholic woman, who is a smoker. Older person, drunk person, or people who taking sedative medicine is more likely to be victim, therefore they might be unable to stop a fire once it started. Survivors of spontaneous human combustion will ordinarily report no heat-pain.

The Victim's Condition
Usually only a small pile of ashes remains with one or two extremities, such as a leg from the knee down and the end of the arms, it explained by the wick effect because the burned parts are most likely covered with clothes. If the head remains it may be "shrunken" down to the size of an orange. There is usually no odor or a sweet odor. The air usually is thick with smoke or soot. The flame from the body is generally blue, but is occasionally yellow.

the illustration of victim's condition, based on case report

The Environments
Most of the SHC case, the victim found burned down, often objects even a short distance from the victim are unharmed by fire, even nearby furniture remains largely unaffected by the heat and flame, and in many cases, the very bed or chair in which the victim was seated survives the event with little damage. However, fuel such as wax or oil-based things near the victim vanishes.

The case caused by the burning out of the victims occurred only indoors, never outdoors, happened in a small, closed room with insufficient air circulation. In a closed room a fire will quickly use up the oxygen, reducing the flames to burn slowly in an embers. This is why firefighters do not simply burst into closed rooms in a fire – the sudden rush of oxygen can cause these embers to flare. But if left undisturbed for hours, these fires can consume a body without the flames spreading.

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Veda #8 : Read Till You Drop! 10:24 PM

Day 08
Question by : Me - "What is the world's thickest book ever made?"

Agatha Christie - Queen of Crime

For you booklover, maybe you have read hundreds or even thousand of books, from thin to thick one. And of course, you must've known an author named Agatha Christie, queen of crime novel. Okay, now tell me, can you imagine all of the novels are bundled into 1 book?yes, one book, full of crime.

Agatha Christi has made many detective figures for her books. From Poirot to Miss Marple, from Tommy and Tuppence to Harley Quin. And now for the first time, for celebrating the first appearance of Miss Marple, all the Miss Marple stories (12 novels and 20 short stories) are collected and published in one volume, for fans and collectors only.

Geraldine McEwan starred as Miss Marple

The Complete Miss Marple runs to a staggering 4,032 pages. Its spine is 322 mm thick, weighing at around 8 kg. There are 68 crimes committed; 11 philandering lovers; 68 secrets and lies; 22 false accusations; 59 red-herrings and 21 romances. 43 murders are solved: 12 poisonings; six strangulations; two drownings; two stabbings; a burning; one blow to the head; one death by an arrow and two people pushed.

This is how the book looks like compared to it's reader...

The Thickest Book in The world

Though no one’s tried it yet, reading at a rate of 30 pages an hour, it would take around 134 hours to finish the book.

And here's the contender, i don't know if it was true or just a photoshop works, this book below actually thicker than Miss Marple's

WikiBook, how thick is that?

Offline Wikipedia...

This is the print version of Wikipedia (yes, consider this as an offline version of Wikipedia). Made by Rob Matthews, this book consists of 5000 pages, around 400 articles, and around 475mm in thick, and surprisingly, it only contain 0.01% of entire Wikipedia's site. Ever imagine how thick this book if the entire contents put in a book?

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Veda #7 : Street Vendor a.k.a Pedagang Kaki Lima 10:44 PM

Day 07
Question by : None - "Why Street Vendor in Indonesia called with Pedagang Kaki Lima (Five Feet Merchant)"

Street Vendor Lego Art by Sean Kenney

Note : Only in Indonesia :)
Simple question tonight, why actually street vendor in Indonesia called Pedagang Kaki Lima (or translated Five Feet Merchant)? Were they actually have 5 feet?it's impossible. Many people had their own joke and understanding about this name, the most popular one is because usually this merchant using a cart with 3 wheels to bring their goods, with those 3 wheels plus 2 of their feet, it makes them 5.

Other story said that this street vendors are illegal seller (not illegal according to their goods, but it's about how they put their "shop" in public places such as pedestarian, without proper consent), so they must prepare themselves to run fast if someday the police do screening at those public places.

But a story is just a story. Now i'm gonna reveal why they called Pedagang Kaki Lima. Well, not revealing actually, but at least this is the most logical explanation to this term.

Pedagang Kaki Lima, first introduced at us when Netherland was under Britain's administrative policy. At that time, General Governor of Netherland at Indonesia, Sir Thomas Raffles, instructed "left side traffic system" which means the automobile and anyone using the road must take left side of the road. He also announced about building a pedestarian walk at the outer left of the road, measured 31 cm in height, and 150 cm in width.

Sir Thomas Stanford Raffles

This 150 cm width equal to about Five Feet (remember, Netherland was under administrative policies of Britain, that's why tehy also use Europe measurement). By the time goes, merchants one by one start to sell their goods at the pedestarian. So that's why the merchants at that place called "Pedagang Kaki Lima" or "Five Feet Merchants"

This is so Indonesia...hohoho

Satisfied? :)

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Veda #6 : Kembang Api 9:53 PM

Hari 06
Pertanyaan dari : Emmy Chen - "knapa warna api bisa berwarna warni (utk fireworks) bagaimana fireworks bisa membentuk pola2? (in bahasa please)"


Sebelum membahas pertanyaan, ada baiknya kita bedakan jenis2 kembang api. Pada dasarnya kembang api harus dibedakan antara kembang api hasil dari percikan gesekan metal (biasa disebut bunga api) dan kembang api hiburan yang menggunakan teknik pembakaran bernama Pyrotechnic. Kembang api yang menggunakan teknik pembakaran ini termasuk dalam kategori "Low Explosives" atau bahan peledak tidak berbahaya (selama penggunaannya diatur dan mengikuti ketentuan), inilah yang biasa digunakan dalam pesta kembang api menyambut tahun baru atau perayaan khusus lainnya.

Secara ringkas, struktur kembang api umumnya terbuat dari kertas atau tanah liat berbentuk silinder atau bola. Kembang api berbentuk silinder didalamya terdapat silinder/bola kertas lagi, dan disusun sedemikian rupa sehingga apabila kembang api tersebut disulut maka akan diperoleh bentuk, warna, dan suara yang diinginkan.

Kenapa kembang api bisa menghasilkan warna dan pola ledakan yang berbeda?
Perlu diketahui struktur dasar kembang api berpeluncur (aerial firework) adalah sebuah selongsong mesiu berbentuk silinder atau bola, yang di dalamnya berisi :
1. Black powder atau yang kita kenal dengan nama bubuk mesiu sebagai bahan peledak
2. Hulu ledak, yang berbentuk tabung kecil di tengah2 bubuk mesiu, sebagai pemicu ledakan.
3. "Stars", sebagai bahan pembuat pola ledakan.
"Stars" memiliki berbagai macam bentuk dan ukuran, Peletakkannya pun diatur sedemikian rupa di dalam kembang api sehingga menghasilkan pola yang dapat diatur. Apa isinya?bermacam2 bahan kimia, tergantung warna yang ingin dihasilkan.
4. Sumbu peledak.

Struktur selongsong kembang api

Selongsong inilah yang kemudian dimasukkan kedalam peluncur berbentuk pipa. Ketika pipa diledakkan, akan menghantarkan selongsong kembang api ke udara, sambil membakar sumbu pada kembang api. Simpel saja, semakin tinggi kembang api yang ingin diluncurkan, semakin panjang sumbunya. Ketika berada di ketinggian tertentu, sumbu ini akan habis terbakar dan menyulut hulu ledak di dalam selongsong sehingga menyebabkan ledakan. Komposisi inilah yang membentuk kembang api.

Kenapa kembang api bisa berwarna warni?
Kembang api bisa menghasilkan warna warni disebabkan oleh campuran kimia yang dapat menghasilkan percikan dengan warna api tertentu ketika dipanaskan hingga suhu tinggi. Hal ini disebabkan pemanasan senyawa logam tertentu. Atom logam menyerap energi yang dihasilkan dari reaksi oksidator dan reduktor dan kemudian dia melepaskan energi itu kembali dalam bentuk cahaya dengan warna tertentu. Ion-ion ini memiliki sifat dan karakteristik yang berbeda ketika mengalami oksidasi dengan udara.

Ion logam yang dipakai untuk memberi warna pada kembang api diantaranya adalah:

Merah - Garam stronsium atau garam lithium. Contohnya adalah litium karbonat Li2CO3 yang memberikan warna merah dan Stronsium karbonat yang memberikan warna merah cerah.

Oranye - Garam kalsium contohnya kalsium klorida CaCl2

Kuning - Garam natrium contohnya natrium klorida NaCl.

Hijau - Garam barium atau senyawa yang dapat menghasilkan gas Cl2. Contoh garam bariumnya adalah BaCl2.

Biru - Senyawaan tembaga contohnya tembaga(I) klorida CuCl.

Ungu - Campuran antara garam stronsium dan garam tembaga. Karena stronsium memberikan warna merah dan tembaga memberikan warna biru maka campuran kedua garam ini akan menghasilkan warna ungu.

Putih/Silver - Logam magnesium, titanium, ataupun aluminium.

Lalu, kenapa bisa menimbulkan pola tertentu dan kombinasi warna?
Berdasarkan penjelasan mengenai komposisi kembang api dan ion penghantar warna diatas, seharusnya bisa ditarik logika kenapa kembang api bisa menghasilkan warna yang berbeda. Proses ini melibatkan 3 hal :
1. Pola peletakan "stars"
Biji-biji stars yang terletak didalam selongsong memiliki ukuran dan komposisi yang dirangkai sedemikian rupa hingga menghasilkan efek tertentu. Gampangnya, jika kita ingin menghasilkan efek pancaran yang berbentuk lingkaran, Stars harus disusun dengan konfigurasi melingkar mengelilingi hulu ledak, dengan jarak dan posisi yang sama. Untuk menghasilkan bentuk lainnya, tinggal menyusun stars dalam bentuk dan lapisan yang berbeda2. Perlu diketahui juga, di dalam 1 stars bisa dimasukkan stars lain dengan komposisi yang berbeda untuk menghasilkan kombinasi warna dan jeda waktu ledakan.

2. Lapisan selongsong
Selongsong kembang api tidak harus selalu terdiri dari 1 lapisan. untuk membentuk rentetan ledakan dan kombinasi warna serta pola, umumnya sebuah kembang api tidak terdiri dari 1 selongsong, tapi tersusun atas beberapa selongsong di dalam 1 buah kembang api. Ini dinamakan dengan "Multibreak Shells", yang memungkinkan sebuah kembang api bisa menghasilkan rentetan ledakan yang berlainan.

Multibreak shells bisa tersusun atas selongsong yang diisi selongsong lain, atau memiliki beberapa tingkat tanpa menggunakan lapisan selongsong tambahan. Tiap tingkat memiliki sumbu yang berbeda, sehingga ketika 1 tingkat telah meledak, akan memicu ledakan pada tingkatan berikutnya. panjang sumbu dan hulu ledak divariasikan untuk menghasilkan kombinasi dan jeda waktu ledakan.

3. Pyrotechnic
Ini adalah salah satu keahlian memanipulasi sumber api, sehingga bisa digunakan sesuai kebutuhan. Keahlian ini berhubungan dengan bagaimana cara mengatur ledakan dan jeda waktu ledakan, serta pengamanannya.

FYI, efek ledakan dan warna yang dihasilkan ternyata memiliki penamaan sendiri-sendiri, beberapa contohnya adalah :

Spider fireworks

Salute fireworks, biasa dipakai untuk perayaan nasional, atau final pertandingan.

Roman Candle...untuk jenis ini aku masih punya 2 di rumah :D kapan-kapan harus dipakai...

berbentuk tabung, bisa dipegang tangan tanpa peluncur...

Ring fireworks

Peony Fireworks

Palm Fireworks

Kamuro Fireworks, mirip peony, bedanya cuma di panjang "kaki"

Chrysanthemum Fireworks.

Satisfied? :)

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Veda #5 : Tri-Colored Cat 9:22 PM

Day 05
Question by : Me, just curious - "Is it true that when a cat gave birth a tri-colored male, the parents will eat it?"

A dog once said "This person is so kind to me and feed me, he must be a God"

but a cat said "This person is so kind to me and feed me, I must be a God"

It's a lil bit interesting tonight, I ran across some news about a person saw his cat eat its newborn male kitten, just because it has 3 color. The question is why?is it a myth?a beliefs?or there are actually a logical explanation to these phenomenon?

Not just that, i've found out too, that a male tri-colored kitten, alive, are actually expensive. Any idea how much?30 - 100 millions IDR. Some said it can bring good luck to the owner, but believe it or not, it's up to you to decide after read what i've found.
Oh yeah, in this case, we're not talking about breed cat, just a stray cat, or general cat.
So, i've found the answer, 3 type of answers, mythically, medically, and rationally.

First, Mythically.
In Javanese beliefs, male tri-colored cat called "Kucing Telon". Usually, tri-colored cat is a female, rarely or close to none male. Javanese beliefs said that the parents will eat the male tri-colored kitten, because it was meant to prevent the kitten grow bigger and become a leader of the cat, grow a horn (yes, horn!) and then eat its own parents (hey, i'm not made that up, it's an old belief).

The ancestors once said that if you have a male tri-colored cat in your house, it'll repel bad things and bring wealth to you, it also have some kinds of mystical power. Maybe this is the explanation why this male tri-colored cat is expensive.
Here's a fun fact : Have you ever known about "good luck charm" cat that always waving?apparently, it was made based on this story

Second, Medically.
First off, a tri colored cat is called "Calico" cat in medical term. A calico cat is not a breed of cat, it is a color pattern. To be called "calico", three colors must be present: black, white and orange (or in Indonesian, they said it was yellow). Variations of these colors include gray, cream and ginger. A "true" calico cat has large blocks of these three colors. The interesting part is, Calico cat nearly as always FEMALE, not a male.

This is what Calico Cat looks like...

Now that a calico cat has been defined as a cat with three colors, the question is: why are they nearly always female? The answer is in genetics. Coat color in cats is a sex-linked trait, a physical characteristic related to its gender. Female animals have two X chromosomes (XX), males have one X chromosome and one Y chromosome (XY). The genetic code for displaying black or orange color is found on the X chromosome. The coding for white is a completely separate gene.

Since females have two X chromosomes, they are able to show two colors (orange and black, or variations thereof) and white; creating the 3-color calico mix. Since males have only one X chromosome, they can only be orange OR black. It is more complicated than simply having the color genes.

Can a calico cat ever be male?in rare cases, yes. In this situation, the cat has two X chromosomes and one Y chromosome (XXY). Cats with this chromosomal configuration are usually unstable and not able to breed. This is similar to a condition in humans called Klinefelter's syndrome, or XXY Syndrome. To give you a picture how rare this case, based on research, 1 out of 3000 calico cats is male. and only 1 out of 10000 male calico cats is able to breed.

Third, Rationally.
Actually, this is also could be considered right answer about why the parents will eat their male tri-colored kitten. They did it on purpose, forced by nature fact that the male calico usually born unstable, caused by over-amount of chromosoms, and that made the kitten had an abnormal hormon condition that made it unable to breed. The parents didn't want this condition contaminate the other newborn kittens. It just natural, in fact, rats also have this "cannibalism tradition".
Maybe that's what we called an "Animal Instict"...

So why don't you check your cat at home? :p
Satisfied? :)

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Veda #4 : Who Is The Oldest Human Ever Live In Earth? 7:03 PM

Day 04
Question by : Aileen Halim - "Who is the oldest human ever live in earth?"


Okay, today's question a lil bit ambiguous, did you mean the oldest human at present time?or the oldest human ever live (that means, they already died but they live for more than 100 years)?Several peoples already claim their longevity due to their extreme age above 110 years a.k.a Supercentenarian. This claims need to be approved by Guiness Books Of World Record or fully verified according to the standards of the Gerontology Research Group. Anyway, not a big problem, i'll find the most correct answer to reveal, who is our Supercentenarian. First, let's split into 2 categories : The oldest living human and the oldest human ever. Then, let's divide those 2 categories into female and male group. One more thing, I wrote the answers based on the source and cross-checked the references up until 4th of January, 2010 ; not according to Guiness Book of World Records as i found out that the book isn't too up-to-date (or at least, i can't find the up-to-date version).

And now, the winners are :
A. Oldest Human Ever Lived
A.1 Oldest Female Ever Lived

Jeanne Louise Calment, 112 years old

Age when passed away : 122 years 164 days
Jeanne Louise Calment, born on February 21 1875, a year before Alexander Graham Bell patented the telephone and 14 years before Alexandre Gustave Eiffel built his tower. It seems like Longevity runs in her family as well. Her older brother, François, lived to the age of 97, her father to 93, and her mother to 86. She lived in Arles, France, for her entire life, and outlived both her daughter and grandson. The French had their own theories about why she lived so long, noting that she used to eat more than two pounds of chocolate a week and treat her skin with olive oil, rode a bicycle until she was 100, and only quit smoking five years ago. She passed away on 4th of August 2009.

A.2 Oldest Male Ever Lived

Christian Mortensen, age 115

Age when passed away : 115 years, 252 days
Thomas Peter Thorvald Kristian Ferdinand Mortensen (August 16, 1882 – April 25, 1998), known as an adult as Christian Mortensen, was a Danish-American supercentenarian. By the time he died, he had become (and still is) the oldest male ever whose age is undisputed. From March 1995 until his death on April 25, 1998, during this time, he was blind and could no longer walk on his own, but he was mentally aware and could carry on an intelligent conversation (when he wanted to) almost until the end. He always preferred a vegetarian diet and said the key to longevity is to "live a good, clean life." One of his greatest passions in life was a fine Danish cigar.

B. Oldest Human Living
B.1 Oldest Female Living

Kama Chinen, 114 years old

Age at the present days (4th of January, 2010) : 114 years, 239 days
Kama Chinen born 10 May 1895 from Okinawa, Japan, is, at the age of 114. The world's oldest female living up until now. Kama Chinen took over the vacant title left by Gertrude Baines, 115 years old, when she died of heart attack Friday, September 11, 2009 in LA, California. In September 2008, Kama Chinen was reported to be in a wheelchair: "Though her daily activities require assistance, she enjoys going outside in a wheelchair with a nurse, the ministry said."

B.2 Oldest Male Living

Walter Breuning at his 113, still looks healthy!

Age at the present days (4th of January, 2010) : 113 years, 105 days
Walter Breuning (born September 21, 1896) is an American supercentenarian with the 113-year-old, considered to be the world's oldest man, attributes his long life to eating well and keeping physically and mentally active. On September 2009, the world's oldest man has celebrated his 113th birthday - revealing he takes one aspirin a day to stay healthy. Mr Breuning is in such good shape that he still strolls the halls of the retirement home, wearing a suit and tie, and walks the ramps to his second-floor apartment.

GOD BLESS THIS PEOPLES!!
oh btw, here's a fun fact for you : From 10 oldest people that are still living in this world, 9 of them are FEMALE (rank 1-9) and 1 MALE at the last position. :)

Satisfied? :)
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Veda #3 : Why Only 160?? 9:21 PM

Day 03
Question by : none - "Why i can only type 160 characters when i'm sending text message?"

Have you ever experience something like this : you want to talk about things with your friends, families, or colleagues, then you're texting them, trying to explain something, but unfortunately the text has reached its limit at 160 characters?
why only 160 you asked? (or in this case, i'm the curious one). There seem to be varying stories about the history of SMS, some say it’s the amount of characters on a typical postcard, yeah right, based on the research, most of the postcard sent contain about 150 letters, more or less. But i'm not talking about postcard tonight, hoho, maybe some other time, i'll find the answers.


Now, we know who resposible for the limitation. Once at 1985, a Germany named Friedhelm Hillebrand sat in front of his typewriter, alone in a room in his home in Bonn, and typing randomly several questions, and random things that came across his mind. He then realized that he was never type or use letters more than 160 characters. (my question is : why did he do that?don't he had something to do beside counting the letters?).

Friedhelm Hillebrand

Anyway, based on that magic number, he asked all the GSM carriers at that time to use 160 as texting limit. He could do that because, unfortunately, his position as the chief of non-voice services comittee of Global System for Mobile Communication Group at 1986. This format is still used up until now and being used by one of the social networking site, Twitter. (what?you want to know why Twitter use this number too?)

Here's a hint or quick tip for you who want to text someone about something long (err...referring to the long story, not the story about long thing) and doesn't want to be trapped with this limitation, use this : "call me!important!" :p

Satisfied? :)
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Veda #2 : Kingdoms in the world 7:25 PM

Day 02
Question by : Babypunk - "How many kingdoms are left in the world?"

The Supreme Leaders in the World

(click the image for larger size)

Based on the dictionary, kingdom is a state, territory, lead by an absolut monarchs or by supreme leader. Monarchs have various titles, including king or queen, prince or princess, emperor or empress, or even duke or grand duke or duchess. Many monarchs also are distinguished by styles, such as "Majesty", "Royal Highness" or "By the Grace of God."
and now the question is : how many kingdoms are left in the world?

To answer this, let's list all the kingdoms in the world. However, i'm not gonna mention the name of kingdom under subnation.
Let's start alphabetically :
1. Andorra - Co-Princes Nicolas Sarkozy
2. Bahrain - King Hamad ibn Isa Al Khalifah
3. Belgium - King Albert II
4. Bhutan - King Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck
5. Brunei - Sultan Haji Hassanal Bolkiah
6. Cambodia - King Norodom Sihamoni
7. Denmark - Queen Margrethe II
8. Japan - Emperor Akihito
9. Jordan - King Abdullah II
10. Kuwait - Emir Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah
11. Lesotho - King Letsie III
12. Liechtenstein - Prince Hans Adam II
13. Luxembourg - Grand Duke Henri
14. Malaysia - King Mizan Zainal Abidin
15. Morocco - King Mohammed VI
16. Monaco - Prince Albert II
17. Netherland - Queen Beatrix
18. Norway - King Harald V
19. Oman - Sultan Qaboos bin Said Al Said
20. Qatar - Emir Hamad bin Khalifa Al-Thani
21. Saudi Arabia - King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz Al Saud
22. Spain - King Juan Carlos I
23. Swaziland - King Mswati III
24. Sweden - King Carl XVI Gustaf
25. Tonga - King George Tupou V
26. Thailand - King Bhumibol Adulyadej
27. United Kingdom - Queen Elizabeth II
28. Vatican City - Pope Benedict XVI

FYI, there is a reason why they called Great Britain with United Kingdom. There are 15 countries in the world that unite under Great Britain's monarch. They are : Antigua and Barbuda, Australia, Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Canada, Grenada, Jamaica, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Saint Kitts and Nevise, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Solomon Island, and Tuvalu.
Therefore, they only have one supreme leader, under Queen Elizabeth of UK monarch.

So, that makes there are only 28 kingdoms left in the world, out of 195 countries.

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Veda #1 : Moctezuma 1:41 PM

Day 01

Question by : Babypunk - "Moctezuma"

Moctezuma II

His Profile
Moctezuma II a.k.a Montezuma was an Aztec leader, successful leader and general for around 1502-1520. Moctezuma II ruled over the empire of Mexica, yes also known as Mexico at present day. Moctezuma II was born around C.E. 1480. Of princely background, he was the youngest son of Emperor Axacayatl, who ruled between 1469-1481. Axacayatl was succeeded by Ahuitzotl, a Genghis Khan type whose reign fell between 1481-1502. Able, ruthless and bloodthirsty, Ahuitzotl doubled the size of the Aztec empire and is once said to have ritually slaughtered twenty thousand prisoners at a reconstructed sacrificial "god house". On Ahuitzotl's death, a council of nobles selected a promising theology student in his early twenties to be the next emperor. This was Moctezuma Xocoyotl, the last name meaning simply "the youngest."

His Empire
Moctezuma was every bit as much of a no-nonsense executive in the domestic area. He built temples and furnished a supply of fresh water to his capital at Tenochtitlan by constructing a double aqueduct. To encourage respect for the law, he would resort to such ruses as offering judges bribes just to see if they were corrupt. Moctezuma consolidated an empire that stretched from the Gulf of Mexico to the Pacific, and was centred on the fabulous city of Tenochtitlan, set amid a vast lake and housing perhaps 200,000 people, probably larger than any western European capital of the time.

His Fall
Aztec culture was sophisticated in many ways. Its empire was won and controlled by a fiercely successful military and an elaborate system of taxation and tribute. Yet in just two years, Moctezuma’s rule, and that of the Mexica, collapsed in the face of an invasion led by a few hundred Spanish adventurers. When the Spanish conqueror Hernan Cortes landed at Veracruz in 1519 and attempted to march on, he was well received by the inhabitants and made Moctezuma his prisoner when he invited to the Imperial palace, with an accusation that Moctezuma has invaded Spanish at Veracruz.

Why Cortes was well received by inhabitants and easily held Moctezuma as prisoner?
here's the fun fact : Religious Superstition.
Before became an Aztec leader, he was a theology student, and he was familiar with the legend of Quetzacoatl, the beloved Aztec god who would one day return as beraded and fair-skinned man. When the Spanish landed at Veracruz, Moctezuma fall into agony of indecision. He held a meeting with several top advisers of the kingdom. The meeting was fruitless, as some wanted to resist Cortes while others wished to treat the invaders with the deference due to their beliefs.

His Death
Being a prisoner has broke Monctezuma's spirit. The emperor spent the pathetic last months of his life trying to ingratiate himself with his captors -- playing ball games with them in the imperial gardens. He accepted Christianity and swore allegiance to King of Spanish, Charles V.

In April 1520. Cortés had just returned from defeating a rival Spanish force at Veracruz sent by the envious governor of Cuba. In his absence, Pedro de Alvarado, slaughtered more than 3000 Aztecs because he mistook a spirited religious ceremony for an outbreak of rebellion. The furious population of Tenochtitlan rose massively against the Spanish, who were barricaded inside the imperial palace. The Spanish sent Moctezuma to calm his peoples but he was greeted with stones. One projectile knocked him unconscious and he was carried downstairs by attendants. Though he didn't appear to be seriously hurt, he died within two weeks, maybe of a broken heart.

There are still a controversy about how he died, was he killed by Spanish or by his own people. but, one thing for sure, the Spanish didn't conquer the empire alone, they were only a part of a force that changed the order of things in Mexico.

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