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Modern vs Traditional Time

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10/25/15                 It had been few weeks I lived at Groningen, city at the northern part of the Netherlands. That was the place where I took my master degree. It was a very cold morning before dawn, and I waited the bus to the Mosque for performing congregation prayer. The bus was always punctual so I made sure that I was ready at the bus stop five minutes before the time. I waited for five minutes, it did not show up. The five turned to ten, then fifteen, still the bus did not come. I decided to go back to my apartment and missed that day prayer. After few minutes I recognized the difference between the time in my watch and my desktop computer. My desktop showed one hour earlier than my watch. That day was the time when Europe moved back the clock to one time earlier. The daylight saving time ended.                 As someone who came from tropical region, daylight saving time seems weird. Why should we arbitrarily switch back or forth the time? Benjamin Franklin came u
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Star Fish Poem and Complex World

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Starfish Poem & the Anthropocene/Complex? World 9/27/15 One day an old man was walking along the shore just before dawn. In the distance he saw a young man picking up stranded starfish and throwing them back into the sea. As he got closer he called out, "Good morning! What are you doing? Why are you throwing starfish in the ocean?" "The sun is up and the tide is going out. And if I don't throw them in they'll die." "But, young man, don't you realize that there are miles and miles of beach and starfish all along it. You can't possibly make a difference!" The young man listened politely. Then bent down, picked up another starfish and threw it into the sea, past the breaking waves and said- "It made a difference for that one."                 Living in the complex world which is not as simple as it used to be can be very depressing for most of us. Especially, on how to assess the significance our respond to a
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Mosque, Corner Store and Global City

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(9/13/15) “Allah blessed the ghetto” Napoleon , former rapper of the Outlawz The recent study by UnMosqued revealed that 75% of all mosques in America are dominated by one ethnic group. In most case, this one group is either South Asian, Arab, or African American. The massive Muslim migrations in the 1960’s and 70’s that created multicultural living space in American Muslim communities has not successfully removed primordial barriers among them, in fact it strengthen it. Mosque as the embodiment of universal solidarity of Muslims has failing to live up its ideal. So if it is not Mosque, where is the alternative space for that? Muslim-run corner stores has unexpectedly performed that task. In Chicago, one of the most segregated city in the U.S.,  it has facilitated an intensive interaction for better or worse between Black residents, many of them are Muslims and Arab Muslim families who run that businesses. A corner store is a store located at corner of the street common in al
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University 2.0

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 (8/31/15) “You only have to know one thing: You can learn anything. For free. For everyone. Forever.”   Khan Academy The part seven: The Right Stuff, from Thomas Friedman The World is Flat resonated quite well to my concern on how to make education relevant but still accessible for all. Education has been functioned as tool for social mobilization. It is the way for people to achieve better live and actualize their potential. Unfortunately, most of our traditional education institutions are failing to provide that need, including university. It has become more costly, but the outcome is questionable. This essay discusses on how globalization in form of information technology has shaped the way we learn things specifically in term of providing equal opportunities for everyone to gain a meaningful education. The technological innovation has enabled people to gain more information from everywhere and faster through various ways. For instance, students currently learn more through
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Mengapa Amerika? bagian 3-being a Monarch

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Gambar
  Being a Monarch "Kapan berangkat ke Amerikanya?" tanya salah satu kolega di kampus.  "In sya Allah pertengahan Agustus ini pak." jawabku sambil tersenyum karena senang akhirnya tanggal keberangkatanku ditetapkan oleh Dikti.  "Sukses pak ya, jadinya di kampus apa?" lanjutnya.  "Di Old Dominion University , pak." " Old apa?" "Old Dominion University atau ODU, di Virginia." " Virginia State University ya?" "Bukan, ini kampusnya di kota Norfolk, ya masih satu negara bagian tapi kampus saya di daerah pantainya." "Okay, sekali lagi sukses dan selamat jalan ya pak." "aamiin, makasih pak." Dialog itu menjadi dialog tipikal yang sering terjadi sebelum saya berangkat melanjutkan studi S3. Selalu ditanya kapan berangkatnya, padahal di dalam hati saya masih dag dig dug karena tersandung masalah administrasi dengan Dikti. Hal yang menarik berikutnya adalah terk
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