Happy 15th Birthday, Opera

Opera, the speedy underdog of the browser world, has just turned 15.

I love Firefox, and Iron (a more privacy-enhanced version of Chrome), but there will always be a special spot in my heart for Opera. I've been using Opera for about 8 years now and I've written about it before.

As far as I can remember, speed has always Opera's main strength. Not blazingly fast but noticeably fast. It crashes less than other browser. It's far from being the perfect browser but in many ways Opera seems to be on the right track.

I could go on and on about the technical parts, but it's the little things that makes me stick with Opera all these years.

One of it is the fit to width feature. It makes any large web page fit your monitor's width. I prefer to not scroll horizontally, and fit to width solves this issue for me with a single mouse click.

Zooming in Opera is better than in others. A lot of times when the fonts on a web page is small, I open it in Opera and hold down the CTRL key while moving the mouse wheel to adjust the size. Opera resizes the text size and the size of images. (I think the newly released Firefox 3.10 also has an improved zooming feature.)

In Opera, we can go to a text web address (one this is not linked but in text only) by highlighting it, right click and selecting Go to Web Address. I don't think other browsers have this useful feature, which I think they should.

Well, all this pretty much sums up why I'm an Opera user and supporter. Job well done, Team Opera!

Never tried Opera? Tsk, tsk. Don't wait and suffer anymore. Join us now. Get it here.

[ Opera: Celebrating 15 years of browser innovation ]

Kalau tahun lepas jumpa Che, tahun ini? bahagian II

Sepanjang minggu lepas saya berkejar untuk menepati dateline kerja. Alhamdulillah, kerja berjaya dibereskan dan dateline berjaya ditepati. Sejurus selepas kerja dihantar, saya melajukan langkah ke Pesta Buku Antarabangsa KL. Masa untuk 'memburu.'

Kunjungan saya kali ini sangat sebentar. Tumpuan saya hanya kepada beberapa gerai. Secara khusus saya mencari empat buah buku. Satu tidak dibeli kerana penerbitnya tidak mengambil bahagian tahun ini. Akhirnya saya 'terbeli' satu buku lain sebagai 'ganti.'

Siapa yang saya jumpa tahun ini? Bukan bos kawan saya. Kawan saya akhirnya tidak dapat datang kerana sibuk. Saya sendiri nyaris-nyaris tak dapat datang.

Salah seorang yang saya sempat jumpa ialah Faisal Tehrani (FT). Dari hari-hari terawal lagi beliau sudah menyibukkan diri di gerai Al-Ameen berdasarkan apa yang dilaporkan oleh pengunjung awal Pesta Buku menerusi blog masing-masing.

Penglibatan aktif FT serta penulis-penulis lain dalam mempromosikan karya mereka sendiri adalah satu tarikan utama pengunjung ke Pesta Buku. Melaluinya peminat dapat mendekati serta berbual mesra dengan mereka. Juga peluang untuk bergambar dan mendapatkan autograf penulis yang diminati. (Saya kurang berminat untuk bergambar dan saya tiada bukti bergambar untuk menyokong apa yang saya tulis. Tapi percayalah ini bukan kelentong.)

Sembang lima minit saya bersama FT memang menarik. Beliau agak lain dari apa yang bayangkan. (Lebih... cool, mungkin?) Saya sempat bertanya tentang apakah perbezaan antara karya beliau dan blog beliau. Soalan yang lazim ditanya, rupanya.

Blog tadi lebih kepada satira, tulisan secara spontan dan seumpamanya. "Saya mahu dinilai berdasarkan karya-karya saya berbanding apa yang saya tulis di blog saya," ujar beliau sebelum kami bersalaman dan berpisah. Sesuatu yang adil bagi seorang penulis, saya kira.

Beberapa jam kemudian saya di rumah, menyusun 'hasil buruan' bersama buku-buku lain. Nampaknya pertambahan ini telah mengisi segala baki ruang kosong rak buku saya...

Karateka: don't mess with the princess

I find clip especially funny because I played this game back in primary school. (This was the time when I thought that a school's computer room is where we go to play computer games.)

Karateka is one of those beat bad guys and save the princess/girl kind of games. We play a karate fighter who goes into a series of connected rooms, trying to beat the bad guys waiting in each of them. Beat a bad guy in a room, move to the next. Repeat. Until the game's boss's room. He's the bad guy in clip, the last one in the game. Beat him and we get to go to the room where the princess is held captive.

The princess we see us come in and hold out her arms. Run into her arms and the game ends, with a happy ending.

Unless... we try to fight the princess.



Ouch.

Kalau tahun lepas jumpa Che, tahun ini?

Pesta Buku Antarabangsa KL 09. Nak pergi ke tidak? Hmm.

Tahun lepas saya diteman anak seorang kawan. Beliau tinggal di asrama, dan mungkin kali ini tak pulang ke rumah. Tahun peperiksaan, rasanya. Sibuk ulangkaji.

Masalah nak pergi atau tidak, bagi saya, ialah masalah ruang almari. Kalau dah pergi memang susah nak balik tangan kosong. Walhal almari dah senak dengan buku-buku. Yang kebanyakannya belum dibaca. Kadang-kadang bila saya masuk bilik, saya akan alihkan mata daripada memandang almari buku saya. Denial.

Beberapa minggu yang lepas seorang kawan lama mengajak saya pergi. "Bos aku nak lancarkan buku. Puan Hajjah Rohani. Jomlah!"

Insya-Allah. Kalau ada rezeki mungkin tahun saya akan berjumpa bos kawan saya. Kalau jadi pergi.

Bila bekalan air terganggu

Pengumuman gangguan bekalan air bagi pengguna sekitar Langat beberapa hari lalu mengingatkan saya kepada krisis air tahun 1998, yang berlanjutan hingga beberapa bulan. Ketika itu saya dan kawan-kawan masih di pusat matrikulasi. Mereka yang tinggal luar tetapi berdekatan KL (seperti Tanjung Malim dan sebagainya) beruntung kerana mereka boleh pulang dan menikmati bekalan air tak terganggu di rumah. Kami yang tinggal di KL atau sangat jauh dari KL terpaksa bersabar lebih.

Alhamdulillah dalam gangguan kali ini rumah kami tak terlibat. Rumah kami terletak di kawasan yang sering terkena gangguan bekalan, sama ada elektrik atau air, berbanding kawasan lain. Kalau nak kata kami dah lali mungkin tak beberapa kena, sebab siapa yang suka apabila bekalan air atau elektrik mereka terputus?

Semasa kami menghadapi krisis air tahun 1998, bekalan air terpaksa diambil dari lori-lori bekalan air yang dihantar oleh syarikat bekalan air ke kawasan-kawasan berpenduduk. Di pusat matrikulasi, lori turut didatangkan dan kami beramai-ramai turun ke gelanggang sepak takraw dan kawasan letak kereta dengan baldi di tangan. Air diambil sekadar perlu. Tak terlalu sedikit hingga terpaksa mencekau simpanan air orang lain dan tak terlalu banyak hingga membuatkan orang lain tak puas hati.

Bila dikenang semula, pada masa itu keadaan terasa sungguh berat. Dari sehari ke sehari hati tertanya, bilalah boleh nak mandi seperti biasa. Tak perlu mengusung botol atau baldi ke bilik air.

Barulah nak sedar betapa besarnya nikmat air yang Allah sediakan selama ini.

Namun itu kira-kira 10 tahun yang lalu. Segala kepayahan tadi sudah lama tinggal kenangan. Sejak krisis tadi kami belum lagi diuji dengan keadaan yang sama atau yang lebih teruk. Kalau terputus bekalan pun hanya untuk 3–4 hari, paling teruk. Cuma seperti yang saya kata mula-mula tadi, apabila gangguan berlaku fikiran mula teringat-ingat. Semoga hati juga teringat-ingat untuk bersyukur.

Great advice from the Great Gatsby

In my younger and more vulnerable years my father gave me some advice that I’ve been turning over in my mind ever since.

‘Whenever you feel like criticizing any one,’ he told me, ‘just remember that all the people in this world haven’t had the advantages that you’ve had.’

Have you read this book before?

If you haven't, you can download it for free.

Find stuff in your PC with Everything

Everything is a lightweight search tool for locating files and folders in our PC. I use it more often than the Search function in Windows because Everything is wayyyyyy faster. It keeps a database of the files and folders and the results appear in just seconds after typing in the name of the searched filer or folder.

Everything's search capability is limited to finding files and folders using their name, and not their content. This is not a major drawback, although if it can that I might say "ma'a as-salamah" to Windows' Search function.

[ Everything Search Tool ]

House of Glass

House of Glass (Rumah Kaca) is the fourth and final book in Pramoedya Ananta Toer's Buru Quartet. The books are originally stories told by Pak Pram to his fellow inmates when they were incarcerated on Buru Island prison.

The Buru Quartet chronicles the rise of liberation and nationalism movement among the people in the late 19th century Dutch-ruled Indonesia. The events in the books is narrated by Raden Mas Minke, a young man of minor royal Jawa descend. He began his journey as a native student in local European school and later made his way to become a writer and a medical student. During the years, Minke met with pivotal characters who all play a part in the formation of a liberated Indonesia. The story of Minke's journey is told in the first three books, This Earth of Mankind (Bumi Manusia), Child of All Nations (Anak Semua Bangsa) and Footsteps (Jejak Langkah).

In the last book, a significant change occurs. The story is no longer told by Minke, but by a Christian native police officer named Jacques Pangemanann. A now elder and very influential Minke is seen by the Dutch Algemeene Secretariat (AS) as a force of disturbance. The AS calls Pangemanann in to monitor Minke.

Pangemanann is the AS go-to person in matters known as "native affairs." His job is mainly to understand development of the various natives movements and advise the AS on how to deal with them.

Pak Pram's decision to change the story teller seems to work to the story's advantage. From here on we are shown up close how the colonial mind works.

Pangemanann is one of the few fortunate natives who received a extensive education. He went to study in Sorbonne, France, married a French woman named Paulette, and returned home to become a police officer. Such post is beyond the reach of most natives, unless they can speak Dutch, French or another European language.

Limiting education opportunities is one of the ways a colonial government maintains control over a native population. Both Minke and Pangemanann attained above average education level, but they differ in how they make use of it. Minke enlighten his people about freedom and liberation while Pangemanann studied every means feasible to stop Minke in his tracks.

Pak Pram is a riveting historical author. I've never imagined myself being deeply engrossed with a historical novel right from the first chapter. History was never one of my better subjects in school.

The original Buru Quartet is difficult to find nowadays. The ones in stores are the English translated version published by Penguin, which are very expensive. There are other books by Pak Pram to check out, if you can find any, like Perburuan, Bukan Pasar Malam and his memoir, Nyanyi Sunyi Seorang Bisu. Keluarga Gerilya, if I'm not mistaken, was used as a text for Sastera SPM back in the 90s. So go raid your elder sibling, cousin, distant relative or friend's old textbooks cupboard. Or your nearest library.

Also, head to Jiwa Rasa and see his review of Pak Pram's books.