Sayap Antonov Patah di Ujung Landasan

Jumat, 29 Januari 2010 | 03:35 WIB
Jayapura, Kompas - Sebuah pesawat Antonov AN-26B bernomor lambung 4L-IFE milik PT Manunggal Air Service, Kamis (28/1), tergelincir di ujung Bandara Wamena, Kabupaten Jayawijaya, Papua. Semua awak pesawat yang berjumlah tiga orang selamat. Sayap kanan pesawat tersebut patah dan baling-baling pesawat rusak berat setelah menabrak pagar. Kepala Bidang Humas Kepolisian Daerah Papua Komisaris Besar Agus Rianto mengatakan, dugaan sementara, kecelakaan terjadi akibat rem pesawat rusak.

Pesawat tersebut kini terparkir di ujung landasan.
Pesawat itu terbang dari Bandar Udara Sentani, Jayapura, pukul 12.10 WIT mengangkut enam ton beras dari Perum Bulog Divisi Regional Papua Jayapura. Pesawat yang diawaki tiga warga Rusia, yakni pilot Boris, kopilot Sergei, dan anggota staf mekanik Nikolay, tiba di Wamena pukul 12.50. Pesawat mengalami gangguan saat mendarat. Para awak pesawat segera keluar dari pesawat tanpa luka serius.
Pihak maskapai Manunggal Air Service belum memberikan keterangan lebih rinci seputar kejadian tersebut.
Manajer Cabang Manunggal Air di Wamena Edi Halatu ketika dihubungi mengaku sedang memindahkan pesawat. ”Sampai sekarang kami masih mengevakuasi (pesawat). Tidak ada korban jiwa dan pesawat tidak meledak,” kata Edi Halatu.

Seorang saksi mata, pegawai maskapai penerbangan lain di Wamena yang tak mau disebutkan namanya, mengatakan, pesawat seperti tergelincir dan sayap menabrak pagar bandara di daerah runway 33, ujung landasan.
Sesaat setelah kecelakaan, pesawat Aviastar kargo batal mendarat di Wamena dan memilih kembali ke Bandara Sentani. Namun, pesawat-pesawat lain, seperti Trigana Air dan pesawat kecil milik misi AMA, masih dapat mendarat.

Sumber: Kompas

Defining Light

Light has "duality" concept, travel in the form of waves when radiate, and in the form of particles when interact with matter.

Thomas Young's slit experiment confirmed that light travel as waves. The requirements are:

• 2 sets of waves
• both have same wavelength
• The phase difference must be constant

The interference caused from 2 slits overlapping diffracted beams.

Constructive interference make a bright fring, and destructive interference make a dark fringe.

Wavelength or λ can be determined by using this formula: 

Slit separation a, distance between the centers or edges of slits

Fringe separation x, distance between centers of adjacent bright or dark fringes

slit-to-screen distance D, distance from midpoint of the slits to the central fringe on the screen

Wave

   A wave is a disturbance that propagates through space and time, usually with transference of energy. A mechanical wave is a wave that propagates or travels through a medium due to the restoring forces it produces upon deformation. There also exist waves capable of traveling through a vacuum, including electromagnetic radiation and probably gravitational radiation. Waves travel and transfer energy from one point to another, often with no permanent displacement of the particles of the medium (that is, with little or no associated mass transport); they consist instead of oscillations or vibrations around almost fixed locations.

Definition

Agreeing on a single, all-encompassing definition for the term wave is non trivial. A vibration can be defined as a back-and-forth motion around a reference value. However, a vibration is not necessarily a wave. Defining the necessary and sufficient characteristics that qualify a phenomenon to be called a wave is, at least, flexible.
The term is often understood intuitively as the transport of disturbances in space, not associated with motion of the medium occupying this space as a whole. In a wave, the energy of a vibration is moving away from the source in the form of a disturbance within the surrounding medium. However, this notion is problematic for a standing wave (for example, a wave on a string), where energy is moving in both directions equally, or for electromagnetic / light waves in a vacuum, where the concept of medium does not apply. There are water waves in the ocean; light waves from the sun; microwaves inside the microwave oven; radio waves transmitted to the radio; and sound waves from the radio, telephone, and voices.


Characteristics


Periodic waves are characterized by crests (highs) and troughs (lows), and may usually be categorized as either longitudinal or transverse. Transverse waves are those with vibrations perpendicular to the direction of the propagation of the wave; examples include waves on a string, and electromagnetic waves. Longitudinal waves are those with vibrations parallel to the direction of the propagation of the wave; examples include most sound waves.
When an object bobs up and down on a ripple in a pond, it experiences an orbital trajectory because ripples are not simple transverse sinusoidal waves.

Ripples on the surface of a pond are actually a combination of transverse and longitudinal waves; therefore, the points on the surface follow orbital paths.
All waves have common behavior under a number of standard situations. All waves can experience the following:

• Reflection — change in wave direction after it strikes a reflective surface, causing the angle the wave makes with the reflective surface in relation to a normal line to the surface to equal the angle the reflected wave makes with the same normal line
• Refraction — change in wave direction because of a change in the wave's speed from entering a new medium
• Diffraction — bending of waves as they interact with obstacles in their path, which is more pronounced for wavelengths on the order of the diffracting object size
• Interference — superposition of two waves that come into contact with each other (collide)
• Dispersion — wave splitting up by frequency
• Rectilinear propagation — the movement of light waves in a straight line also helpful for seismographs

Polarization

A wave is polarized if it oscillates in one direction or plane. A wave can be polarized by the use of a polarizing filter. The polarization of a transverse wave describes the direction of oscillation in the plane perpendicular to the direction of travel.
Longitudinal waves such as sound waves do not exhibit polarization. For these waves the direction of oscillation is along the direction of travel.this is very important

Examples of Wave

• Ocean surface waves, which are perturbations that propagate through water
• Radio waves, microwaves, infrared rays, visible light, ultraviolet rays, x-rays, and gamma rays, which make up electromagnetic radiation; can be propagated without a medium, through vacuum; and travel at 299 792 458 m/s in a vacuum
• Sound — a mechanical wave that propagates through gases, liquids, solids and plasmas
• Waves of traffics, that is, propagation of different densities of motor vehicles, and so forth, which can be modeled as kinematic waves, as first presented by Sir M.J. Lighthill
  
• Seismic waves in earthquakes, of which there are three types, called S, P, and L
• Gravitational waves, which are nonlinear fluctuations in the curvature of spacetime predicted by general relativity, but which have yet to be observed empirically
• Inertial waves, which occur in rotating fluids and are restored by the Coriolis effect

Source:  Wikipedia

Black Hole Presentation

This is my presentation about one of the most mysterious pheomenon in this whole universe, the Black Holes.
Supernova / hypernova explosion that occurred on a very huge and massive star forms smaller star called neutron star that has smaller size but very strong gravity that can make human flattened into ashes.

Because of the massive gravitation that the neutron star had, every material near the star and the star itself compressed into the core creating a hole in space-time. Once something (even light) passed it, it will never come back again, because the event of space-time will stop inside the black hole, even no one knows exactly what actually happened inside it.

The presentation contains further informations like:

• Process of black hole formation
• Parts of black hole
• Types of black hole
• Classification of black holes by mass
• And many others... (cool pics inside)

To download the presentation, just click the following link. Hope you enjoy it :)
Black Hole Presentation Download

Pertama di Dunia, Imigrasi & Garuda Luncurkan Imigration On Board

Denpasar - Kantor Imigrasi bekerjasama dengan Garuda Indonesia meluncurkan layanan pemberian visa on arrival di atas pesawat bagi pendatang asing yang berkunjung ke Indonesia. Layanan ini adalah pertama kalinya di dunia.

Peluncuran layanan bernama "Imigration On Board" itu dilakukan Dirut Garuda, Emirsyah Satar, di atas pesawat GA 881 yang terbang dari Tokyo menuju Bali, Kamis (21/1/2010).

Turut serta dalam peresmian tersebut Dirjen Imigrasi Mohammad Indra, Duta Besar Jepang untuk RI, Kojiro Shiojiri, dan Duta Besar Indonesia untuk Jepang, Jusuf Anwar. Pesawat dengan penumpang 245 turis Jepang tersebut mendarat di Bandara Ngurah Rai, Denpasar, sekitar pukul 17.45 WITA.

"Ini layanan pertama di dunia di atas pesawat. Ini sebagai upaya untuk memberikan layanan kepada penumpang," kata Emirsyah kepada wartawan.

Menurut Emirsyah, layanan visa di pesawat bertujuan mengurangi antrean yang panjang di imigrasi bandara. Kini, para pendatang asing tidak perlu mengantre dan dapat menghemat waktu sangat banyak.

Bagaimana proses Imigration On Board tersebut? Pertama, penumpang diminta membeli vocher pembayaran di konter check-in di Bandara Narita, Tokyo. Pemeriksaan paspor dan pemberian visa on arrival diberikan di atas pesawat oleh dua petugas imigrasi khusus yang terbang bersama penumpang.

Setelah mendapatkan visa arrival, petugas memberikan kartu khusus bagi penumpang. Kartu tersebut nantinya diserahkan ke petugas imigrasi di bandara kedatangan di Bali atau Jakarta.

"Penumpang juga menjadi lebih nyaman," ujar Emirsyah.

Rally Dakar 2010 Highlights Part II

Stage 8 Antofagasta - Copiapo

Stage 9 Copiapo - La Serena

Stage 10 La Serena - Santiago

Stage 11 Santiago - San Juan
Stage 12 San Juan - San Rafael
Stage 13 San Rafael - Santa Rosa
Stage 14 Santa Rosa - Buenos Aires

Rally Dakar 2010 Highlights Part I

Here the highlight for Rally Dakar 2010 Argentine/Chile
Stage 1 Colon-Cordoba

Stage 2 Cordoba - La Roja

Stage 3 La Roja - Fiambala

Stage 4 Fiambala - Copiapo

Stage 5 Copiapo - Antofagasta

Stage 6 Antofagasta - Iquique

Stage 7 Iquique - Antofagasta

Fosil Gading Gajah Purba Ditemukan

Senin, 18 Januari 2010 | 02:55 WIB

Sragen, Kompas - Enam fragmen gading Stegodon trigonocephalus atau gajah purba ditemukan di lereng tebing di Desa Manyarejo, Kecamatan Plupuh, Kabupaten Sragen, Jawa Tengah, Jumat (15/1). Panjang gading itu 2,5 meter dan diperkirakan berumur 700.000 tahun.

Gading itu diperkirakan dari gajah yang panjang tubuhnya sekitar 11 meter dan tingginya 6 meter. Gading ini ditemukan di lapisan Kabuh pukul 06.00 oleh seorang warga bernama Asmorejo yang langsung melaporkan temuannya kepada kepala dusun setempat. ”Pak Asmorejo tengah berjalan-jalan menyusuri lereng bukit. Saat itu habis hujan. Ia melihat bagian kecil dari potongan gading yang menyembul ke permukaan tanah,” kata Gunawan, konservator yang juga anggota staf Seksi Pemanfaatan Balai Pelestari Situs Manusia Purba Sangiran (BPSMPS).

Petugas dari BPSMPS langsung menggali lokasi penemuan gading karena khawatir gading tersebut dicuri. Meskipun sebelumnya pernah ditemukan gading gajah purba sepanjang empat meter, gading temuan baru ini cukup istimewa karena tergolong utuh walaupun terbagi dalam enam potongan.

Sejak awal Januari 2010, ditemukan lima fosil lainnya atas laporan warga, yakni fosil rahang atas babi, rahang atas kuda nil, tanduk banteng, tulang rusuk gajah, dan kepala banteng. Penemu gading yang melapor kepada BPSMPS dijanjikan mendapat imbal jasa.

Kurang sepadan

Seorang warga Sangiran, Tono, mengeluhkan imbalan jasa yang dinilainya kurang sepadan dan waktu pemberiannya yang lama. Hal itu, katanya, yang menyebabkan banyak warga diam-diam menjual fosil temuan mereka kepada penadah.

”Kalau kita menemukan gading gajah tiga meter, pedagang menawarkan Rp 50 juta, sementara Balai hanya memberikan Rp 1 juta. Padahal, kalau dinaikkan sedikit, Rp 4 juta-Rp 5 juta, pasti warga memilih menyerahkan ke Balai. Hal lain, pemberiannya lama, enam bulan baru uang diberikan. Padahal, perut menunggu untuk diisi. Tanah pertanian di sini tidak bagus. Hanya fosil yang ada di tanah kami,” katanya.

Tono mengatakan, tiga bulan sekali satu kontainer pecahan kecil fosil-fosil dari Sangiran serta dari sepanjang aliran Sungai Bengawan Solo dikirimkan ke pembeli di luar negeri. ”Fosil kecil biasanya tidak diterima Balai,” katanya.

Kepala BPSMPS Harry Widianto mengatakan, mulai 2010 pihaknya menerapkan imbalan jasa diberikan dalam waktu satu minggu. Sejak awal Januari, pihaknya telah mengeluarkan Rp 8 juta-Rp 9 juta untuk imbal jasa penemuan lima fosil. ”Memang nilai imbal jasa sudah ada kriterianya. Fosil manusia tentu lebih berharga daripada fosil hewan,” ujarnya. (EKI)

Obama, Bush and Clinton Launch Haiti Aid Appeal

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. President Barack Obama, flanked by his predecessors George W. Bush and Bill Clinton, on Saturday said the two former presidents would lead a national drive to raise money for Haiti's earthquake survivors.
"By coming together in this way, these two leaders send an unmistakable message to the people of Haiti and to the people of the world. In these difficult hours, America stands united. We stand united with the people of Haiti," Obama said.
Haitian authorities believe as many as 200,000 died in Tuesday's earthquake that devastated the Caribbean nation, prompting a worldwide humanitarian response as rescuers race against time to save people still trapped in the rubble.
Obama, who has pledged an initial $100 million in quake relief, enlisted the help of Bill Clinton, a Democrat who is the United Nations' special envoy for Haiti, and former President George W. Bush, the Republican who proceeded him the White House, to spearhead private sector fund-raising efforts.
Obama said they had launched the Clinton Bush Haiti Fund and directed Americans to visit the website at www.clintonbushhaitifund.org and give money, because Haiti faced a lengthy road back to recovery.
"We also know that our longer term effort will not be measured in days or weeks, it will be measured in months and even years. And that is why it is so important to enlist and sustain the support of the American people," he said.
BUSH: SEND CASH, NOT BLANKETS
Bush, who spoke next after Obama, said that both he and former First Lady Laura Bush had been deeply saddened by the scenes of horror and death from Haiti.
"The most effective way for Americans to help the people of Haiti is to contribute money ... I know a lot of people want to send blankets or water. Just send your cash," he said. "One of the things President Clinton and I will make sure is your money is spent wisely."
The public has already responded to Haiti's plight.
Hollywood star George Clooney will host a telethon on MTV next week, the music network said, while Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt have donated $1 million from their foundation to Doctors Without Borders.
A texting campaign that First Lady Michelle Obama made a public appeal for had raised almost $6 million by Thursday.
"Right now, all we need to do is get food and medicine and water and a secure place for them to be. But when we start the rebuilding effort ... we want to be a place where people can know their money will be well spent," Clinton said.
The website was already up and running, with a link for visitors to make donations from $25 upward. "What we do right now determines how many lives we can save. Together, we can help communities get back on their feet," the site said.
It was Bush's first visit to the White House since leaving office almost exactly a year ago to return home to Texas.
Since then he has kept a low public profile, but accepted Obama's request to join a bipartisan effort which echoed the mission he asked Clinton and his own father, former President George H. W. Bush, to perform after a massive earthquake in 2004 caused a huge tsunami in South Asia and killed 226,000.
Obama's high profile efforts to stay on top of the Haitian crisis may reflect a determination to counter criticism of his own initial reaction to a foiled Christmas Day bomb attack on a Detroit-bound plane, as well as from Bush's own experience.
Bush was slammed for what critics said was a slow and half-hearted response after Hurricane Katrina deluged New Orleans in 2005, stranding thousands of the city's mainly African American residents and providing the world with a graphic view of festering inner-city U.S. poverty.

 Source: YahooNews

Gerhana Matahari Disaksikan di Bosscha

Bandung - Lebih dari 200 pengunjung observatorium Bosscha di Lembang, terpuaskan melihat gerhana matahari. Teropong Surya dan Unitron menjadi favorit pengunjung, meski harus antre.

Dua buah teropong yang sebelumnya ditutup karena hujan, ketika cuaca cerah sekitar pukul 15.30 WIB, Jumat (15/1/2010), dibuka untuk umum. Untuk Teropong Surya, ini merupakan kali pertama digunakan umum sejak dipasang pada 2009.

Sebagian pengunjung Bosscha memilih menggunakan kacamata khusus, untuk melihat gerhana matahari yang hanya sekitar 8 persen dari beberapa wilayah di Indonesia.

Rumah teropong Unitron atapnya bisa dibuka-tutup, berukuran sekitar satu meter. Sementara Teropong Surya tidak bisa digunakan melihat langsung, tetapi hanya bisa melihat hasil proyeksinya di monitor dan yang dipantulkan ke meja putih berukuran 40x40. Namun posisi meja hanya setinggi 70 centimeter, hingga pengunjung yang berada di belakang ruangan kesulitan melihat.

Gerhana matahari ini juga menarik perhatian para pelajar seperti siswa seperti SD Coblong II, Bandung. Dikatakan Januar (9), murid kelas 3, ini merupakan pengalaman pertamanya melihat gerhana matahari. "Iya bagus, baru pertama kali. Kok bisa ya kayak gitu," ujarnya polos.

Sementara Azizah (8) menuturkan, ia harus mengantre untuk mendapatkan giliran melihat gerhana dari Teropong Unitron. "Lama, tapi bagus kok," ujarnya. Kedua murid tersebut datang berombongan sekitar 50 orang, didampingi gurunya.

Sementara itu Hilda, siswa SMA 6 Bandung, mengaku puas. Apalagi dirinya sempat kecewa karena mengira tidak bisa melihat gerhana matahari akibat cuaca yang sempat mendung. "Kirain tidak dapat lihat, taunya malah puas banget," ujarnya yang datang bersama seorang temannya.

Para pengunjung yang melihat siaran dari negara lain juga cukup banyak memenuhi ruang multi media. Salah satu asal live streaming adalah dari Bangalor, yang memperlihatkan gerhana matahari hampir berbentuk cincin sempurna.

Menjelang akhir dari gerhana matahari sekitar pukul 15.55 WIB pun, puluhan pengunjung masih mengentre di sebuah teropong portable yang dipasang di area taman Bosscha.

Source: DetikBandung

Profesor Nuklir Iran Dibunuh

Teheran, Selasa - Ilmuwan nuklir Iran, Massoud Ali Mohammadi (50), Selasa (12/1), tewas dibunuh dalam sebuah serangan bom yang sangat langka terjadi di Teheran. Media-media pemerintah langsung menuduh pelakunya adalah elemen-elemen kontrarevolusi dan adidaya Barat.

Mohammadi, profesor bidang nuklir yang mengajar di Universitas Teheran, tewas ketika sebuah bom yang dipasang di sebuah sepeda motor diledakkan dengan pengontrol jarak jauh di luar kediamannya di wilayah Qeytariyeh, utara Teheran.

Penyiar-penyiar Iran mengatakan, ”Mohammadi dibunuh dalam sebuah tindakan teroris oleh kontrarevolusi dan agen-agen dari kelompok arogan,” tanpa menyebut sumber-sumbernya. Akan tetapi, para pejabat Iran sering kali menyebut AS dan beberapa adidaya Barat sebagai kelompok ”Arogan Global”.

Jaksa Teheran Abbas Jafari Dolatabadi mengatakan kepada kantor berita ISNA bahwa Mohammadi adalah pengajar di bidang energi nuklir, khususnya fisika neutron, dan menambahkan bahwa sepeda motor bermuatan bom itu diparkir di luar kediamannya dan meledak ketika dia akan masuk ke mobilnya.

”Jajaran penegak hukum telah melakukan penyelidikan, belum ada tersangka yang ditangkap sejauh ini,” jelasnya.

Seorang saksi mengatakan, ledakan bom itu sangat kuat sehingga memecahkan kaca-kaca jendela, dan rumah-rumah serta mobil tetangganya.

Kemenlu Iran mengatakan, dari hasil penyelidikan awal terlihat adanya tanda-tanda keterlibatan AS, Israel, dan agen-agen bayarannya dalam serangan itu.

Serangan-serangan bom jarang terjadi di Iran meskipun beberapa pejabat keamanan dan anggota kelompok elite Garda Revolusi telah tewas dalam pengeboman oleh pemberontak di wilayah provinsi Sistan-Baluchistan di timur Iran.

Televisi pemerintah berbahasa Arab, Al-Alam, menyebut Mohammadi sebagai guru ”Hezbollahi”, sebuah istilah yang digunakan untuk pendukung setia rezim Iran yang terlibat dalam revolusi Islam 1979. ”Pembunuhan ini kemungkinan dilakukan oleh para hipokrit atau direncanakan oleh rezim zionis,” kata Al-Alam.

Tidak ada laporan yang mengatakan apakah Mohammadi terkait dengan program nuklir Iran, yang oleh Barat dicurigai sebagai program senjata nuklir.

Televisi Iran menayangkan cuplikan para juru bersih tengah membersihkan puing-puing dan menyirami jalan-jalan yang penuh percikan darah.

Mohammadi adalah penulis beberapa artikel mengenai kuantum dan teori-teori fisika di beberapa jurnal ilmiah, tetapi tidak tampak mempunyai peran sangat besar dalam program nuklir Iran. Dia menerima gelar doktor dari Universitas Teknologi Sharif di Teheran.

Situs proreformasi pernah memasukkan nama Mohammadi sebagai pendukung calon presiden oposisi Houssein Mousavi.

Sanksi untuk Iran

Di sela-sela perjalanan awal dari rencana perjalanan sembilan harinya ke beberapa negara Pasifik, Menteri Luar Negeri AS Hillary Rodham Clinton mengungkapkan, AS dan sekutu-sekutunya tengah mendiskusikan sanksi keuangan yang tampaknya ditujukan kepada Garda Revolusi Iran dan pemain-pemain politik lainnya di Iran jika diplomat gagal mengatasi ketegangan yang semakin meningkat dengan Iran.

”Sangat jelas bahwa ada sebuah kelompok pengambil keputusan yang kecil di Iran. Mereka itu baik dalam hubungan perdagangan maupun politik. Jika kita bisa membuat sebuah sanksi yang ditargetkan kepada mereka yang membuat keputusan-keputusan, kami rasa itulah cara yang lebih pintar untuk menjatuhkan sanksi,” jelas Hillary sambil menambahkan bahwa keputusan belum diambil.

4 Aplikasi Terbaru iPhone di Awal Tahun

Jakarta - Tahun baru telah tiba. Bagi pengguna iPhone dan iPod Touch, ada baiknya menyimak 4 aplikasi terbaru di AppStore, yang siap menemani kita dalam beraktivitas di awal tahun ini.

Berdasar ketererangan tertulis yang diterima detikINET, Jumat (8/1/2010) Apple mengumumkan aplikasi-aplikasi terbaru, yang sudah bisa diunduh di AppStore.

Berikut adalah keempat aplikasi untuk iPhone serta iPod Touch tersebut:

1. FT LBBT - The Financial Times Ltd
Harga: gratis
Aplikasi yang bernama Financial Times Little Book of Business Travel (FT LBBT) ini, bakal membantu para pebisnis untuk menjelajahi kota Hongkong, Shanghai, Macao dan Beijing. Selain berisi tips-tips kultur setempat, aplikasi ini juga menyediakan informasi kuliner, atau spa yang tentunya banyak dicari wisatawan di China.

2. 1PasswordPro - Agile Web Solutions
Harga: US$ 7,99
Dengan aplikasi ini pengguna bakal mudah menyimpan banyaknya password yang ada pada akun di Amazon, eBay, Facebook, Gmail, Yahoo dan sebagainya.

3. Audio Puzzle - Dexoris
Harga: US$ 1,99
Sesuai namanya, aplikasi besutan Dexoris ini membuat musik-musik koleksi pengguna di iPhone menjadi sebuah permainan jigsaw puzzle yang menarik. Bagi pengguna yang hidupnya selalu dipenuhi musik aplikasi ini wajib dimiliki.

4. Awesome Note (+Todo) - BRID
Harga: US$ 3,99
Mungkin aplikasi catatan harian ini adalah yang paling relevan dengan semangat tahun baru. Pengguna juga bisa menambahkan lampiran foto, dan melakukan sinkronisasi dengan Google Docs serta Evernote.

Giant tuna sells for staggering sum

TOKYO – A giant bluefin tuna fetched 16.3 million yen ($177,000) in an auction Tuesday at the world's largest wholesale fish market in Japan.

The 513-pound (233-kilogram) fish was the priciest since 2001 when a 440-pound (200 kilogram) tuna sold for a record 20.2 million yen ($220,000) at Tokyo's Tsukiji market.

The gargantuan tuna was bought and shared by the owners of two Japanese sushi restaurants and one Hong Kong-based sushi establishment, said a market representative on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to disclose the information.

Caught off the coast of northern Japan, the big tuna was among 570 put up for auction Tuesday. About 40 percent of the auctioned fish came from abroad, including from Indonesia and Mexico, the representative said.

Japan is the world's biggest consumer of seafood with Japanese eating 80 percent of the Atlantic and Pacific bluefins caught. The two tuna species are the most sought after by sushi lovers.

However, tuna consumption in Japan has declined because of a prolonged economic slump as the world's second-largest economy struggles to shake off its worst recession since World War II.

"Consumers are shying away from eating tuna ... We are very worried about the trend," the market representative said.

Apart from falling demand for tuna, wholesalers are worried about growing calls for tighter fishing rules amid declining tuna stocks.

The International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas in November slashed the quota for the 2010 catch by about one-third to 13,500 tons (12,250 metric tons) — a move criticized by environmentalists as not going far enough.

Rally Dakar 2010

DAKAR 2010: READY TO BOARD

For the second consecutive year, the Dakar is welcomed in South America for a challenge of 9000 kilometres leading the riders and crews on the roads, the tracks, the mountains and the deserts of Argentina and Chile. From the 1st to the 17th of January, the competitors will fight it out on 14 stages: the loop to cover, anti-clockwise, will include a thorough visit of the Atacama Desert and its gigantic dunes. The white sand close to Fiambala or the grey one in the area of Nihuil will complete the spread of colours and the variety of difficulties all along the event.

At the end of the registration period, just a few days before the vehicles are welcomed to start the crossing of the Atlantic Ocean on a boat leaving Le Havre, the list of competitors confirms the status of the Dakar: with 184 bikes and quads, 138 cars and 50 trucks, the race remains the most attractive in the world. The expected media coverage, with footage broadcasted in 189 countries provides an outstanding relay for the constructors, the partners and the countries involved. At the moment of launching the celebrations of the bicentenary of its two nations, Argentina and Chile will actually be represented three times more than last year with competitors able to create a surprise.

It's probably in the bike class, where the field has already been transformed by the new regulation adopted, that a "native" rider could triumph. The Aprilia factory believes just as much in the future of the 450cc bikes than in the chances of Chilean Francisco "Chaleco" Lopez. Concerning the French, David Frétigné, 3rd last year on a 450cc Yamaha, or David Casteu who will launch the Sherco brand in the 450cc adventure, intend on being rivals for the winners of the last four editions, Marc Coma and Cyril Despres who will be riding with a bridle limiting the performances of their big cylinder KTMs. The 450cc machines developed by Honda and BMW will also be candidates for a place in the Top 10.

In the car class, the new situation should provide an intense confrontation. With more and more performing vehicles and two top quality recruits, Stéphane Peterhansel and Nani Roma, the BMW X-Raid team will show up with fine arguments against the title holders. The Volkswagen armada including the likes of Giniel De Villiers, Carlos Sainz and Nasser Al Attiyah, are forced to excellence. In the truck race, the Kamaz of Kabirov and Chagin will also have to keep a close eye on ambitious Ales Loprais, in his Czech Tatra truck.

Burj Dubai Officially Opened

Later today, and amid plenty of pomp and ceremony, the mighty Burj Dubai tower will be officially opened by Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid. After five years of construction and a cost of around $1.1 billion USD, the tower is the world’s tallest building.

At around 800 metres high and boasting a whopping 160 floors, the tower will primarily offer luxury residential space (for those with deep enough pockets to afford its prices) thanks to 1,044 apartments.
According to the official Burj Dubai Web side, some of the more notable amenities attached to the tower’s residential portion include multiple swimming pools, a comprehensive fitness centre, a residents’ library, a cigar club, a gourmet market, and valet parking.

A further 37 floors have been allocated for both business and retail opportunities, with 160 hotel rooms designed by legendary fashion icon Giorgio Armani. When fully populated with residents and office workers, the tower is expected to hold somewhere in the vicinity of 12,000 people.
Designed by Chicago-based Skidmore, Owings and Merrill, the Burj Dubai supplants Taipei’s 101 as the world’s tallest structure.

 Source: thetechherald.com

Happy New Year !!!!

Happy new year !!! :)

Yeah, even there are some unhappy tragedies happened, don't make this new year a bad first impression. Do the best for this year, and hope for better world :)

Picture Sources: Google, BBC