a revolutionary state of mind

It’s been a week since I left Jakarta for a 7 months internship in Germany. The flight was nice. It’s the first time for me to fly with Singapore Airlines and the Airbus A380. The service was pretty good, but not really special compared to other airlines, say, Emirates. The differences may be the more employment of male stewards, and the punctuality of the flights. The boarding pass check was done quickly, so the passengers that about to enter the plane from the terminal didn’t have to wait too long and make a long line of queue.

The plane also doesn’t have really much differences, in terms of flying experience. The interior is pretty much the same with the old Boeing 747. Actually I expected something more elegant and futuristic, just like the 787 Dreamliner. Airbus also didn’t provide its passengers with enough number of lavatories. For a 13 hour flight, that number of lavatories is obviously too small.

The good thing is, the seat is a bit more spacious than the old Boeing. I would say the A380 has about 5 cm more space for the legs. Every traveler that have experienced a cross-continent-flight must understand how important this 5 cm for them.

In-Flight Entertainment

Thanks to the in-flight entertainment, I enjoy the flight very much. The entertainment system offers screening of the latest box offices, a broad range of music collection from every part of the world, and some entertaining games. Along the way from Singapore to Frankfurt, i watched Moneyball and some TV Shows, then listened to some classical pieces from Chopin, played by a piano virtuoso Yundi Li.

There are also some live concert videos available on the entertainment system, ranging from classical and opera music from Andrea Bocelli all the way to dance rhythm performed by Kylie Minogue. The in-flight entertainment system is more than enough to accompany our distant journey.

Food and Beverages

After the plane took off and flying at the steady altitude, the stewardess directly distributed the list menu to the passengers. We got three meals in total: Dinner, Snack, and Early Breakfast. I got information that some of the choices of dinner foods contain pork. So the airlines have to ask the passengers whether they’re muslim or non-muslim. It’s done already by a few days before the flight. As for the muslim, we don’t have any choice other than lamb and rice for dinner; while the others have the option of seared fish or chicken. The lamb and rice surprisingly taste really good.  Never thought a plane food could be that satisfying.

As soon as we finished the food, the stewardess took the tray then the lights went off. Time to sleep fellas! Too bad I found it difficult to sleep. So I kept staring to the screen, choosing some easy listening songs to take my to dreams.

I slept for 3 hours, then the lights went on. Time for snacks. I got three options of snack: an apple, a Lays, and a pack of Ferrero Rocher. I chose the last one. 3 hours later, another food came. The muslim got a scrambled egg for breakfast, with a cheese cake as dessert.

There’s a wide selection of beverages available in the list menu, ranging from mineral water and juices to various brands of liquors and red wines, which you can ask anytime to the stewardess.

Overall, flying with an Airbus 380 is not that different with another airplane. Well, maybe we could experience the difference if we’re flying in the business class or the suite. But since the business class normally costs more than $6000 for a one-way trip to europe, I don’t think I would buy the tickets with my own money. Let’s just hope someday I will be in certain position of a company, so that the company would buy me a business class ticket for a business trip. I’m still looking forward to fly with a Boeing 787 Dreamliner.

Have a nice weekend!

Is it true that height matters in order to achieve successful career? Is it a coincidence that well-known CEOs such as Donald Trump and Steve Jobs are slightly over 6’2”? How about 6’1” actor Neil Patrick Harris, 6’2” athlete/supermodel Maria Sharapova and 6’4” Nelson Mandela? Is heightism still happening in this century?

It is believed that discrimination is a natural instinct of a person in categorizing people. Today, people can no longer be discriminated against other groups: blacks, women, jews, chinese, etc. So it triggers heightism.

Height Measurements of some tallest and shortest athletes

According to Malcolm Gladwell’s book, titled “Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking,” height does trigger a certain set of very positive, unconscious associations. Mr. Gladwell doing this research to about half of Fortune 500 companies and found that the majority of their CEOs are tall and white. Here are some facts:

1. The average CEO are just under 6 feet (average american male are 5’9”).
2. Among the CEOs, 58 percent are 6 feet and over.
3. In the United States, 14.5 percent of men are 6 feet or over.
4. Some 30 percent of the CEOs are 6’2” or taller.
5. Only 3.9 percent of men in the United States are 6’2” or taller.

Timothy Judge, a professor from University of Florida even have stronger statements. His studies suggests that every inch of height amounts to a salary of about $789 per year. So a person who is 6’2” earns $5,523 more than a 5’7” guy. CNN International called this phenomena as “height premium”.

I personally believe that interpersonal skills are the most important thing when it comes to career. It’s not about how good your GPA is. It’s about how good you are to be able to carry yourself, and how to deal with people. Appearance is one of the interpersonal skills, and body height is closely related to it. From this theory, it can be stated that taller people may gain more attention from others, especially at workplace. They have higher self-esteem and not underestimated by their colleagues or employees, resulting better ability to lead people.

Height is also an advantage for most sports, such as mixed martial arts, tennis, and swimming. Though a few sports, such as gymnastics and weightlifting requires shorter athletes. Physically speaking, shorter athletes has lower center of gravity, leading to better balance.

So, height matters. It’s surely not the requirement to have a successful career, but it does matter.

The event was called Java Jazz Festival. But actually it wasn’t only jazz musicians who performed at the festival. It’s a festival for anyone who loves music. Any musical instrument, any genre, any repertoir.

I personally disappointed with the committee. A lot of unnecessary procedure should be fixed. For instance, every visitor have to wait in a very long queue line for a prepaid card, in order to buy food at the food lounge. I gotta say it’s a damn ridiculous procedure. Completely inefficient, considering there are thousands of visitors there. Not to mention the way they commercialize everything. In a music festival, schedule is extremely important. I repeat, EXTREMELY IMPORTANT. and for a sheet of 1-day schedule, visitors have to pay IDR 25,000, packed with a official Java Jazz Festival magazine.

Fortunately, I’m entertained by the performance of the musicians. The Groove performed pretty well with some of their new titles. Sondre Lerche performed solo with only an acoustic guitar, and an electric. and it was damn good. George Benson played some famous numbers from Nat King Cole, such as Nature Boy, It’s Only a Paper Moon, and When I Fall in Love. and Santana successfully rocked the stage with some of his greatest tunes, including Smooth, Corazon Espinado, and Oye Como Va. Awesome!

Day-1 best performer:

Sondre Lerche, while performing “Two Way Monologue”.

Day-2 best performer:

Carlos Santana, performing “Maria Maria”.

“In spite of the opinions of certain narrow-minded people, who would shut up the human race upon this globe, as within some magic circle which it must never outstep, we shall one day travel to the moon, the planets, and the stars, with the same facility, rapidity, and certainty as we now make the voyage from Liverpool to New York.”
-Jules Verne (From the Earth to the Moon, 1985)

2 days ago, NASA’s Discovery space shuttle finally began its last trip to the outer space. Discovery, with 6 American astronauts from NASA, are delivering Multi-Purpose Logistics Module to the International Space Stations (ISS). It will provide additional storage for the station’s crew, and experiment will be conducted inside it, such as fluid physics, material science, biology, and biotechnology. Discovery also carrying the first ever humanoid robot in space, known as Robonaut 2.

The final lift-off of Discovery Space Shuttle. February 25, 2011.

Although Discovery is the oldest NASA’s space shuttle among the other 5, but once again, Discovery continue to mark history in the space industry. It has circled the Earth for more than 5,600 times and logging about 230 million kilometers over its 352 days in space. Quite an achievement from a nearly thirty-years-old space shuttle, considering the horrible accident of Challenger in 1986 and Columbia in 2003.

This final launch of Discovery also mark the beginning of the end of NASA’s space shuttle program. NASA’s last space shuttle mission will be with Endeavour and Atlantis, set for its final takeoff on April 19 and June 28. After those launches, the world will rely completely on Russian Soyuz space capsule for transports between the Earth and ISS.

Is it a good news, or a bad news for astronomers?

Well, it depends. In my opinion, shutting down NASA’s space shuttle program means slowing down the pace of space exploration. As we know, space shuttle has contribute so much to the world. Thousands of satellite has flown to the Earth’s orbit. The Hubble Space Telescope has been repaired a few times, and has successfully captured a massive number of outer-space phenomena, becoming one of the most ground-breaking invention. Also with these space shuttle, the main structure of ISS were carried to the Earth’s orbit.

On the other side, NASA’s space shuttle program isn’t good for economy. They employs roughly 14,000 people for the program. So they feel it’s a wise decision to shut them down. Besides, we already know pretty much everything about our planet and our solar system. Extrasolar planets had been found, and some other galaxies had been identified. We’re done exploring. Let those scientists at CERN do the experiment.

As the successor, NASA will replace space shuttle with the Orion Crew Exploration Vehicle and the Ares 1 rocket. This new program will reduce the number of employees significantly. and moreover, the program is expected to focus on mission to Mars.

The true story of King George VI were documented in this award-winning film by Tom Hooper, titled “The King’s Speech”. Starring Colin Firth as George VI, Helena Bonham Carter as Queen Elizabeth, Geoffrey Rush as Lionel Logue, and Guy Pearce as Edward VIII.

The film is focus on Albert (later called George VI) with his stuttering problem. His lack of communication skills makes him impossible to make a speech in front of great audiences. Which is crucial, considering he’s the son of the current King of England, George V. At that time, 1935, Albert was known as the Duke of York.

The old King George V was concerned about the future of British monarchy. His first son, Edward VIII was currently in love with an American divorcee, which is unacceptable for members of British royal family. Their relationship led Edward VIII to a scandalous abdication. The abdication of Edward VIII and the death of George V made George V’s youngest son, Albert, suddenly crowned King George VI of England.

The people of England were in desperate need of a great leader, because Hitler were about to declare war and the Nazis will immediately make physical contact to the United Kingdom. This situation made Albert feel responsible. He began to believe that communication skills is essential for a King, and he had spirit to rebuild the confidence of the people of England by dealing with his stuttering problem. This spirit led him to a speech therapist, Lionel Logue. The speech therapist persuaded Albert to struggle and deal with Albert’s stuttering problem, so Albert could deliver a speech that inspires and unite his people to face the battle.

The King’s Speech is nominated for 7 Golden Globes, 14 BAFTA, and 12 Academy Awards. The movie was insanely well-made. Genius plot and great performances from the actors and actresses is the reason behind those nominations and awards.

Watching this masterpiece is truly a pleasure. Plenty of information about the British monarchy, the view inside British historical buildings including the Westminster Abbey, accompanied with beautiful classical tunes. It was flawless. Colin Firth’s role as George VI was splendid. The character Queen Elizabeth was beautifully well-played by Helena Bonham Carter.

Tom Hooper’s style of direction is clearly seen. The transitions between scenes, and how he maintained the tempo along the film pretty much reminds us to his other work, The Damned United.

This film is very suitable for those hard-core moviegoers who have interests in British art and culture. 9 out of 10.

*the picture depicting Colin Firth as George VI with the Archbishop were taken from the official site of The Telegraph.