Underwater Plant? No, It's Crinoid!

Crinoid is an aquatic animal that lives at the seabed, anywhere in the world. Although it is an animal, the appearance looks much more like plant.

Crinoid term comes from two Greek words; krinon (lily), and eidos (form). So, if we translate the word Crinoid, it means "form of lily". It is named so, because its appearance is similar to lily, but it's not a lily. It belongs to Echinodermata phyllum, which is included in Animalia kingdom.

Another characteristics of Crinoids beside its similar shape to lily, are that Crinoids live under water, along with other Echinodermata animals, such as starfish and sea urchin. They live in shallow water and in depths as great as 6,000 metres. They move passively, and they have their own stems used to attach their body to the substrate. Some of them live as a juveniles, and by the time they reach adult stage, they become a free-swimming animal. In top of their body, Crinoids have mouth on the surface that is surrounded by feeding arms. Their anus are located next to the mouth. Echinodermata's common characteristic is that it has fivefold symmetry, but most Crinoids have more than five arms.

Crinoids eat the small food particles from the sea water and they filter it with their arm. It has sticky part, so the food particles will stick into the arms, and they will pass through the ambulacral gap that has cilia inside it. The food particles will be brought into the mouth, and after it is digested by the digestive tract located at calyx, the food particles will be excreted by anus. The interesting fact about Crinoids is that they are used to identify the population of plankton in that area. If Crinoids have longer arms, the area has small population of plankton, and vice-versa.

Reproduction of Crinoids can happen sexually and asexually. The asexual reproduction is done by regenerating its body part, and the sexual reproduction is done by external fertilization. They are dioecious, which is the opposite of hermaphrodite. Its body cavity is tight and narrow, and it has gonad that is located in the pinnules. Some Crinoids hold their eggs inside the pinnules and let them hatch, but some release the eggs to the water and let them hatch outside the pinnules. After the egg hatches, it grows into young larvae that doesn't have mouth. After few days, the larvae will escape from its pinnule, and it will attach to the seabed and it will grow its calyx and arms. If it loses the calyx, it will grow another calyx because of its high regeneration.

There are many other informations related to Crinoids. They are nocturnal animals, and they live colonially. Some Crinoids can detach their stem and walk over the seabed, and even swimming in the sea, and they can attach their stem to their substrates. Researchers suspect that Crinoids run away from the hungry predators. They usually have vibrant colours in the tropical sea, and they have pale colours when in the cold sea, for an unknown reason. See the difference below. (The left one is in the tropical sea, and the right one is located at northern part of sea.)

Source:
1. Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crinoid)
2. blogpembelajaranbiologi.blogspot.com (http://blogpembelajaranbiologi.blogspot.com/2013/04/crinoidea.html)

Traditional Shopping Experience at Metro Indah Mall

In Bandung, there are so many shopping places that can be found almost everywhere. Those places are mainly found at center part of Bandung, northern part of Bandung, and western part of Bandung. In the center part of Bandung, we may find places like Riau Junction, Bandung Indah Plaza, Heritage, and shopping district in Jl. LLRE Martadinata, or we also know it as Jl. Riau. In western part of Bandung we can find Istana Plaza. And in the northern part of Bandung, there are Paris van Java and Setiabudi Supermarket.

Now, I will tell you about Metro Trade Centre, the shopping complex located at eastern part of Bandung, Jl. Soekarno Hatta No. 590. It consists of one main building (Metro Indah Mall), parking lots, and hundreds of shop or shophouses in total. The complex has four gates; two front gates that face Jl. Soekarno Hatta, and two back gates that face Jl. Yupiter Barat. In the front gates, the east gate provides the entrance of cars that come from Jl. Soekarno Hatta, but in west gate, it provides both the entrance of cars that come from Jl. Soekarno Hatta and the exit for cars. In the other words, east gate is one-way gate and west gate is two-way gate. For the back gates, it is divided into the car gate which is located at east part and motorcycle/bicycle gate which is in the west part. For the shop or shophouses, it consists of more than twenty building blocks that contains about 10-15 shophouses for each blocks. It is based on Spanish-style building, as it is coloured by pale yellow paints and red-slate roofed. But, it is up to you if you want to repaint your shophouses if you have one. The shophouses sell so many things and services, like foods, pets, lights, salon, fish equipment, travels, exercise equipment, tutoring, and even minimarkets.

Moving to the main building, Metro Indah Mall. It has 7 entrances, which is western entrance called Mediterania, eastern entrance called Oriental, main northern entrance called Millennium, an unnamed southern entrance, a small eastern entrance, and two underground entrance. It has six stories. Starting from bottom to top, those stories are lower ground, ground, upper ground, first story, second story, and rooftop. In lower ground, we can found some shops that sells many things, from CDs, DVDs, music instruments, relaxation, and many more. Not only that, the game center, TimeZone, is located there, and one hypermarket (Hypermart), which is the main center of lower ground. In the ground level, those shops sell clothes, make-ups, shoes, watches, underwears, foods, and many more. In the northern part of ground level, there are 5 eating places, which are Lotteria, KFC, Hoka-Hoka Bento, Tobiko, and Holland Bakery. Not only that, but also in the eastern part, there is Papa Rons Pizza.

In the upper ground, there are also clothing shops, but in fewer amount. We can also find Salemba Bookstore in the northern part of the story. Also, there are Electronic and Home Solution in the southern part. One story above, there are shops which sell gadgets, and a large gym called Helios Fitness and Gym. At the 2nd story, it doesn't contain shops. Instead, it is a large food court called Kampung Priangan. It sells so many food from any types. We can find traditional foods, western foods, and even oriental or East-Asian foods. And, at the rooftop, there is a large family pool that opens everyday.

MTC is a lot more modest than any other mall in Bandung. For example, the seller at ground level mainly sells traditional clothes, such as batik, daster, skirts, and even kebayas. But, we can also find daily clothes and nowadays clothes, such as blazers, cardigans, sweaters, and many more. We can also find many accessories, such as wristwatches, from masculine to feminine style, bracelets, necklaces, earrings, leggings, and many more. So, if you prefer traditional-looking clothes and low-priced textile products, MTC is the place to go.

At the outside of Metro Indah Mall, we can find a lot of shop and food varieties. Not only those, but also the salon and the extra school lessons. We can get massage in Melati Salon or Flamingo Salon, get the extra lessons at Tridaya, Sony Sugema College, Primagama, Kumon, or Ganesha Operation, and if you are hungry but you have low budget, you can visit many food sellers, such as Bakmi Jogja, Baso Grobak, Iga Bakar WS, Orion, Labbaik Chicken, Mie Jawa, Udin Ramen, and many other places.

So, when will you visit Metro Trade Center for thousands of traditional shopping experience? Visit MTC today!

(photos below were taken at 8 a.m., so it wasn't crowded)

 

The main back gate for cars.

 The second back gate, for motorcycles and bicycles.

 The westernmost road.

 The Mediterania entrance.

 The main road of MTC.

 The main front gate. It's so wide!

 The main entrance of MIM, Millennium entrance.

Last but not least, the shophouses. Some of them are repainted, and some retains the original colour.

Inspirational Interview with Inspiring Person

On Tuesday, May 6th 2015, I did an interview with my mother. From hundreds, or maybe thousands of people, I chose my mother because she fits in this subject of interview, which is hardwork.

My mother, who is turning 52 on November, 12th 2015, was asked what she feels for being a female worker, and answered that she is very happy about it, because as a woman, she has participated in the effort for nation. As a lecture in psychology major at Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia, she is not so busy because she only teaches a few courses. But, as a lecture, the "jobdesc" is not only as a teacher, but also as a researcher and as a society servant. Apparently, she has a side job as a psychotest examiner for high schools in Bandung, and she also takes part as a lecture in UT (Universitas Terbuka).

She feels so stressful about the large amount of activities she has to attend in the different places at the same time. For example, in Saturday, she had to attend the important meeting in UPI at 14.30. But, at the same time, she has a class in UT which usually takes place in city besides Bandung, such as Kuningan, Garut, Sumedang, Banjar, and so on. Other than the case above, she is the backbone of her family, as his husband got a stroke 4 years before, and she has to take the responsibility of her two children which is still studying at college and high school, and the approaching of her first son's marriage at September 2015. But, her "burden of life" makes her even more determined to work harder, so she gets more income to pay the school's fee and her first son's marriage expense.

Last but not least, she gave an advice about education. She thought that education is an investment. Education is the ticket for the future of our lives, and don't ever think to avoid school. She also told that success is not achieved inattentively, but with hardwork. So, to achieve success in our life, we must work harder.

Say No To War and Violence by Music

If you're a fan of 90's music, you must have known this song. Yap, Zombie is a popular song by The Cranberries, an Irish rock band which was written by the band's lead singer, Dolores O'Riordan. It was written during The Cranberries' English Tour in 1993, in living the memory of Jonathan Ball and Tim Parry, the two boys who were killed in an IRA bombing in Warrington, Cheshire, England.

"Zombie" was released with a music video in October 1994. The video has been directed by Samuel Bayer, and produced by Doug Friedman and H.S.I. Productions. In the video, Dolores O'Riordan is covered in gold makeup and appears in front of a cross. The video also includes clips of children playing war games, and of British soldiers from the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders (as evident from their thin red line tactical recognition flashes) on patrol in Northern Ireland. The unsuspecting troops were told that their footage was to be included in a documentary about the day-to-day operations of various peace-keeping forces. The video was filmed in Belfast, Northern Ireland.

By its lyrics and music video, we can assume that this music is about the disturbance of world peace at that time, caused by the murder of Jonathan Ball and Tim Parry, which tell us to be peaceful and prevent any war and violence.  Although the song title is "Zombie", if you steep into the lyrics, you will see that this is the song for loving the world peace. This is a rock song, but it touches the listener's heart by its lyrics. People who haven't known about this song will assume that it is a horrifying song, but it is actually touching.

The lyrics of song "Zombie".

Another head hangs lowly
Child is slowly taken
And the violence caused such silence
Who are we mistaken

But you see it's not me
It's not my family
In your head, in your head
They are fighting
With their tanks and their bombs
And their bombs and their guns
In your head,
In your head they are cryin'

In your head, in your head
Zombie, zombie, zombie
Hey, hey
What's in your head, in your head
Zombie, zombie, zombie
Hey, hey, hey, oh
Dou, dou, dou, dou
Dou, dou, dou, dou
Dou, dou, dou, dou
Dou, dou, dou, dou

Another mother's breakin'
Heart is taking over
When the violence causes silence
We must be mistaken

It's the same old theme since nineteen-sixteen
In your head,
In your head they're still fightin'
With their tanks and their bombs
And their bombs and their guns
In your head, in your head they are dyin'

In your head, in your head
Zombie, zombie, zombie
Hey, hey
What's in your head, in your head
Zombie, zombie, zombie
Hey, hey, hey
Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh
Hey, oh, ya, ya-a

Source :
1. Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zombie_%28song%29)
2. Youtube Music Video (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Ejga4kJUts)
3. AZLyrics (http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/cranberries/zombie.html)

FORTES FORTUNA IUVAT!

In SMAN 3 Bandung, Indonesia, we have a special sports event, named Dewa Athena. It consists of many sports competition, from futsal,  basketball, dodgeball, badminton, tabletennis, sprint, relay race, and even tug of war. Annually, it is held from February to June. In this Dewa Athena VII, it is held at the same time as BM Cup - the SMAN 3 Bandung football competition - started.

What is Dewa Athena? Why is it named so? Dewa Athena is an abbreviation of "Olimpiade Siswa Siswi Ajang Unjuk Bakat dan Kemampuan", or if it is translated, it is "Students Olympic, Event to Showcase Talents and Abilities". It is the annual sports event that is including 10th and 11th graders as participants. They picked the committee via online forms at December, 2014, which also includes 10th and 11th graders. The committee includes many divisions, such as documentation, program/agenda, field, and so on. The matchdays are held in Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, with an exception at mid-semester test week.

It was opened at 21st February, 2015 at the morning (08.00), but it clashed with the economy cross-interest schedule, so some of us couldn't attend the opening ceremony at Bali Field. It was opened by the speech of our beloved headmaster, Mr. Encang Iskandar, the vice headmaster, Mr. Irvan Bachtiar, the chief of OSIS LXII, Muhammad Yasyril Mumtaz, and the chief of Dewa Athena VII, Nissa Febriani Solehah. Then, we had a run, passing through many streets, from Jl. Belitung, Jl. Sumatra, Jl. Aceh, Jl. Banda, and back to Jl. Belitung, which we named as "Keliling Indonesia". I was actually tired because I couldn't hold much breath, so instead of running, I was just "fast-walking". After we are back to Bali Field, the committee squirted some removable paints to our clothes. I got so many paints, but I was excited by it.

Then, we had some rest from 08.45 until 09.45, as we watched an opening game from BM Cup 2015, which was the match of Astrajingga (holders of previous BM Cup), and BM Cup All-Stars. After we watched the match, we went back to SMAN 3 to eat some food in the cafétaria. After that, I had to attend additional art class at X IPA 5, from 10.50 to 12.20. After that, I went back to Bali Field to participate the BM Cup match of X IPA 4 and my class, X IPA 7. I had to participate in the game, because we were lacking of players.

But, I found it funny as X IPA 4 had the same problem as we had. Each team had to fulfill the minimum 7 players in the field to play, and maximum of 10 players. When we had fulfilled the term, they were still missing 2 players to play. The committee gave them some time to 16.00 to gather for minimum 7 players. When the time shows 16.00, they still hadn’t fulfilled the term, but the committee gave them extra 10 minutes. Then, we were given a WO win because X IPA 4 lacked of players. But, out of nowhere, the committee cancelled the WO win because X IPA 4 had gathered as a 7-player team. So, we had to play against X IPA 4, and we lost 6-3. It’s actually devastating, but we had to accept the result and be better next time.

Back to Dewa Athena VII. It uses four arenas to hold the games. For the tabletennis, it takes place at SMAN 3 & 5 Main Hall. Badminton and dodgeball take place in the sports hall of Bali Field (we usually call it as “Bangsal” or “ward”). Outside the sports hall, on the Bali Field, there are 2 types of field; main field, and small field. For the sports such as futsal, tug of war, and basketball, the small field is the arena. But, for the sports such as sprint and relay race, it takes place at the main field, because it has the running track. These pictures below are the arena used for Dewa Athena.

We had played several games, and recently we won the boys dodgeball against X IPA 2 within 2 rounds. The girls also won the dodgeball against X IPA 2. We also won the badminton match, won by Refina. And then, the relay race, we also won against X IPA 3. Last time, X IPA 7 played the girls futsal and won 3-0 against X IPA 1. We definitely hope that we can win all of the games and become the champion of Dewa Athena VII.

Dewa Athena? FORTES FORTUNA IUVAT!

The Arachnophobe's Nightmare

If you are terrified by spiders, known as Arachnophobia, then you might not want to think about this. You might not want to hear this. You might not want to know this. Yes, it is a rare, horrifying natural phenomenon caused by spiders in Wagga Wagga, NSW, Australia (March, 2012), and Sindh Province, Pakistan (March, 2011).

This phenomenon happened in March 2012, when thousands of spiders of Linyphiidae family invaded Wagga Wagga. The tiny spiders, which are up to one centimeter long, lost their habitat when flood attacked it. The spiders wanted to search the new temporary habitat, so they invaded the farm and they formed spiderwebs and cocoons in the farm, as you can see in these pictures below. Not only farms, the spiders also covered the resident's houses and trees with spiderwebs! When you look by sight, it looks like meadow covered in thick, white blanket (or should I say a "wool look-a-like" blanket) with few black spots in the blanket. But if you look closely, they are spiderwebs, and the black spots are the spiders. How terrifying!

Graham Milledge, an entomology collections manager at Australian Museum in Sydney said that the behavior the spiders did is called ballooning, and the spiders often do it as a way of dispersing and getting into new area. But, in an event like this, they are just trying to escape from the flood. He also said that this family of spider is harmless to humans. But, it won't change my mind as an arachnophobe, though.

The characteristics of these Linyphiidae spiders, or wolf spiders, are that the spiders are solitary, but they won't mind being around each other and work together in these extreme situations. In this phenomenon, the spiders will eat their own spiderwebs as a protein because the flood had drowned the available foods. They also drink the rain droplets which is trapped around the spiderwebs. And, if the rain droplets are trapped in the spiderwebs, it can make the spider webs more sticky, so that the other insects and bugs are getting stuck in the filaments.

The same phenomenon also happened in Sindh Province, Pakistan, March 2011, when millions of spiders climbed into trees to escape the rising floodwater. As the water has taken so long to recede, the trees quickly became covered in a cocoon of spiderwebs. The result is an eerie, alien panorama, with any vegetation covered in a thick mass of webbing.However, the frightening phenomenon might be a blessing in disguise, because UK's department for international development reported that the invaded areas had fewer malaria-spreading mosquitoes (Anopheles sp.) than it was expected, even there was so much stagnant standing water that could be the place where the mosquitoes reproduce.

Source
(Wagga Wagga Spiderwebs)
1. news.com.au (http://www.news.com.au/national/spiders-spin-wet-blanket-over-wagga-wagga/story-e6frfkvr-1226291542235)
2. smh.com.au (http://www.smh.com.au/environment/weather/web-wonders-spiders-spin-for-their-lives-as-floodwaters-rise-20120307-1ujov.html)
(Pakistani Spiderwebs)
3. National Geographic (http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2011/03/pictures/110331-pakistan-flood-spider-trees-webs)
4. Huffington Post (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/04/01/spiderwebs-in-trees-pakistan-floods_n_843521.html)

(Ad Assignment) Catchy Box from Colour Pastry & Bread

A catchy deal for a Catchy Box! You can get eight different favourite flavours - Raspberry White Choc Stripes, Lemon Choc Quarters, Lemon Curd and Vanilla, Green Tea, Mandarin Orange Vla, Mocca Stripes, Strawberry Vanilla, and Blueberry Jam - for only Rp. 32.000,- from the original price Rp. 40.000,-! From Colour Pastry and Bread.