Badang was a Malay boy from Sayong Pinang, located in present-day Johor, Malaysia. He was the only son of two poor farmers who worked hard until the day they died. As a young man, Badang worked as a coolie for the rich farmer Orang Kaya Nira Sura in a place called Salung or Saluang in Aceh, Sumatra (modern-day Indonesia). Badang was small-statured and the weakest of his group. Their job was to clear through the undergrowth to make way for new fields. As slaves, they didn't get paid and received only a few handfuls of rice each day. This was hardly enough to satisfy the hunger of such arduous work, so Badang relied on catching fish for extra sustenance. He set his fish-traps along the stream every evening and gathered the net the following morning.
One morning Badang found his traps empty. The leftover bones and scales proved that someone had eaten his catch. This went on for a few days and Badang was angry. Not only was he not getting enough to eat, his friends even laughed at his plight. Expecting this to be the doing of some wild animal, Badang armed himself with rattan stick (or a parang in some versions) and hid in the bushes of the jungle. Drifting in and out of sleep, Badang dreamt that he was strong enough to lift a boat with all its load. He dreamt that he lifted a great big rock and threw it into the air. The rock travelled many miles and landed at the mouth of a river. In his dream Badang was very rich and lived in a palace with many servants waiting on him. His mother, father and sister wore fine clothes and lived with him in the palace. He also dreamt that he swallowed something that came out of the mouth of an ugly beast. The beast was so big and ugly that Badang shook with fear and woke up.
At dawn, Badang saw none other than the demon from his dream. The beast was a hantu air, a water spirit capable of taking the form of any flora and fauna which lives around bodies of water. He was taller than Badang's house, with waist-length hair and a long beard covering his hairy chest. The demon had a pair of horns on his head, tusks protruding from his upper jaw and matted hair on his arms and legs. In the dim light its eyes shone like that of a wild animal, flashing and red. After eating all the fish in the traps, the demon fell asleep. Badang's anger overcame his fear. He crept up to the demon and used the empty net to tie its hair to a rock. (In another version the demon looked like a short old man with long white hair, eyes like fire and a beard that reached his waist. In this variation, Badang ran at the man on sight.)
The demon turned out to be a timid creature and begged for mercy. He promised to grant Badang any wish if he spared his life. Badang thought of wishing to be invisible but knew he would be hunted and killed. He thought of asking for riches but knew that whatever he owns belongs to his master. Instead he wished for strength so that he would not tire during his chores. The demon said that if Badang wanted great strength he would have to swallow whatever he coughs up. The demon vomited all the fish he had swallowed and Badang ate each one bit by bit. (In some versions the demon coughed out two red gems called geliga for Badang to swallow.)
True to the demon’s word Badang became immensely strong. As he walked back, Badang tested his strength on the trees. Nira Sura inquired how such a large section of the forest was cleared so quickly and Badang explained everything that had transpired. The landowner was so grateful for the servant's loyalty that he freed Badang from slavery on the condition that he never boasts of his strength and uses it to help others. Now a free man, Badang worked for a number of people before heading to the Kingdom of Singapura.
One day in his new home Badang saw fifty men trying to push a heavy boat into the water. Badang continually offered to help but the men refused, saying that no one so small would make any difference. The king Paduka Seri Rana Wikrama eventually sent for 300 men to help bush the vessel but it was to no avail. When he saw Badang being refused, the king gave Badang the chance to push the boat by himself. Everyone present was shocked to find that the small-framed Badang could move the ship after 300 people had just failed to do so. He was summoned to the court of Seri Rana Wikrama and was appointed commander-in-chief of the army.
Badang was frequently asked to do favours. The king once asked him to gather the tasty kuras leaves from Kuala Sayong inSumatra, so Badang set off in a boat by himself. When he climbed the kuras tree, its branch broke and Badang fell a long way, his head hitting a rock. To his surprise, Badang was completely unharmed and the rock was split in two. Today that rock is called the Split Stone (Batu Belah).
Over time, Badang had become known in other nearby countries as well. A king from India wanted to test Badang's strength against his own champion, Nadi Bijaya (or Wadi Bijaya). The Indian warrior sailed to the Malay Archipelago and greeted the local king with the friendly challenge. Seri Rana Wikrama took great pleasure in tests of skill and agreed. As decreed by the Indian king, the loser would owe the victor seven ships of cargo. Badang competed against Nadi Bijaya in several contests of strength and wrestling but the result was always tied. Finally, Nadi Bijaya suggested that whoever can lift the large rock in front of the palace shall be declared the winner. He then lifted the rock to his knees and immediately dropped it. When it was Badang's turn, he lifted the rock above his head and threw it into the sea. Nadi Bijaya acceded to the agreement and gave Badang the seven ships of cargo before returning to India.
Badang spent many years in Singapura defeating challengers from other countries, including the champion ofJava. He eventually grew tired of the attention and requested that he retire from the king's service. Badang returned to Sumatra and stayed there for the rest of his life. After Badang died, even the Indian ruler who sent Nadi Bijaya grieved and sent a marble stone to be placed at the head of Badang's grave
Wednesday, November 28, 2012
Summary
A new form of lie detector that works by voice analysis and which can be used without a subject's knowledge has been introduced in Britain. They are numbers of ways in which this machine can be used and the objection to its use. The vibration of the vocal chords and resonance of cavaties inside the head; these is a third component caused by vibration of the muscles inside the mouth and throat. These have a different meaning, either stress or dishonesty. The detector only detect caused by stress, not dishonesty. Three steps are suggested to overcome this dissiculty. The first one is the subject is supposed to see a full list of the question in advance. Second, there are neutral questions and one to which the subject is specially asked to lie. Third, if an individual shows stress on a vital question, then additional questions must be asked to ensure that this does not reflect an earlier theft or the subject's knowledge of someone responsible.
Wednesday, November 21, 2012
Movie
CAST AWAY
Chuck Nolan (Tom Hanks) is a systems engineer for Federal Express, and the film opens with him showing their Moscow (Russia) staff how FedEx does business. The most important thing he tells them about is time: that the package sorting must be completed precisely on schedule. To prove it, he opens a package he sent to himself from his home base in Memphis, Tennessee, that contains a small timer. Chuck stops it at 87 hours, which he says is a deplorable delivery time. Later, the package sort is threatened when one of the Moscow office's trucks is booted in Red Square. The package sorting is carried out on the spot.
After returning to Memphis (FedEx home base) and visiting his girlfriend Kelly (Helen Hunt), he is again called away to Malaysia. He is able to ride in the "jump seats" of a FedEx jumbo jet crossing the Pacific Ocean, and is the only passenger.
During a fierce storm, the plane is blown off-course and ultimately crashes into the ocean. Noland, the only crash survivor, washes on to the shore of a small tropical island. Chuck explores the island, and recovers a number of FedEx packages that wash ashore from the jet cash; he also discovers the body of one of the pilots. Chuck gives him a proper burial, and then opens the packages. At night on one of the island's beaches, Chuck sees the lights of a ship. Using a small flashlight he recovered from the body of the pilot, he tries to signal the ship but is unsuccessful. The next morning, he attempts to leave the island in the rubber raft that he inflated as his jet was sinking. Owing to high breakers on the coral reef surrounding the island's lagoon, his raft is washed back on to the reef and get's punctured, leaving him with no means to escape the island and badly injured by the sharp coral. Shortly after his escape effort, he establishes a rudimentary camp and begins to open the FedEx parcels. Several of the items he eventually uses to survive (for example, the sharp end of a pair or ice skates serve as an ax). Another parcel contains a volley ball that eventually becomes his companion (he calls his companion 'Wilson,' the name of the company that manufactured the ball). One of the FedEx parcels is marked on the outside with a pair of wings and for unexplained reasons he leaves this parcel unopened. Ultimately, his three most prized possessions, the items that kept him alive in spirit were the volley ball, the box with the wings, and an heirloom pocket watch given to him by his girlfriend (it has her photograph fastened to the inside cover) which he said would always be set to the Memphis time zone. While trying to make fire from rubbing wood together, Chuck cuts his hand. In a fury, he grabs a volley ball and throws it. His bloody hand leaves an imprint on the ball and from the mark he fashions a face naming it 'Wilson;' to mitigate his isolation, this artifact becomes his companion.
Shortly thereafter, Chuck learns to make fire, and soon is able to catch crabs, open coconuts, collect drinking water and spear fish. In a small cave, Chuck sets up his new home and learns to become self sufficient. He suffers from a painful toothache because he so disliked dentists that he put off having the tooth taken care of before leaving for Malaysia: eventually, this tooth becomes so painful and swollen that he is compelled to use the sharp end of an ice skate blade to knock it out of his mouth. One evening, he plots out the direction of his jet to try and figure out where the crash occurred. He estimates that if the search and rescue team looked for the downed cargo plane, they'd have to search an area twice the size of Texas...making him doubtful that he'll ever be found.
Four years pass, and Chuck continues to survive day-to-day. His weight has pared down considerably, and his hair has grown out. One day, he comes across two plastic walls of a broken port-a-potty. Remembering the wings on the FedEx parcel, Chuck develops a plan for a raft with the port-a-potty's walls acting as a makeshift sail. He chops down trees, ties them together rope made from tree bark and augmented with video tape he found in one of the FedEx parcels. Chuck plans his escape when the prevailing winds change from southwest to northeast. While biding his time for the proper weather, Chuck begins to prepare food, water, and other necessities for his escape. He brings his 'companion' Wilson aboard along with the FedEx parcel with the wings. Owing to the direction of the winds, with the aid of his sail and a pair of makeshift oars, he affects his escape over the coral reef. Chuck has no real idea of where he is headed but figures that he would rather die at sea that spend the rest of his life alone on that island. In a storm, his pal Wilson is knocked off the raft and floats away while Chuck is asleep. Chuck is awakened by the splashing of a whale and finds Wilson gone but faced with the prospect of losing Wilson or losing the raft, he lets Wilson go but is pained by his decision. A storm all but wrecks Chuck's raft and it slowly begins to come apart and sink into the sea. Finally, when he has just about given up all hope of rescue, Chuck is found by a large ship that ultimately rescues him.
On returning to Memphis, Chuck is guest of honour at a large company-organised welcome reception. He has been told that Kelly is now married (with children). Kelly intended to meet Chuck at the celebration but she doesn't feel up to it and her new husband comes to apologize for her absence. Kelly's new husband was one of Chuck's dentists before he was lost at sea. Kelly's husband meets with Chuck in private to tell him that Kelly is rather in a state of shock and is having a difficult time coping with the reality of his rescue. He tells Chuck that she needs more time to regain control of her emotions. Looking out of the window he sees Kelly in tears being comforted and led away in the car park.
Later that evening, Chuck takes a taxi to Kelly's home. She was expecting him to come and she invites him in for coffee. They talk for some time about trivia and he discovers how much her life and ambitions have changed and how she coped with his presumed death. Chuck gives Kelly back the watch she had given him telling her that it is a family heirloom and should remain in her family. He elects to keep her picture. She gives him the keys to his car that she has kept in good condition all those years. They apologise to each other for all that has happened and he drives off slowly in the pouring rain.
Kelly runs after him shouting his name and they meet at the end of the drive as Chuck reverses back to see Kelly once more. They declare their undying love for each other but, sitting talking in the car, Chuck realises that Kelly must continue her new life.
Chuck later describes the meeting with Kelly to a colleague and friend, and how he understands and accept that while they will always love each other, their lives have gone in different directions and they cannot be together. He confesses to the utter despair and helplessness he felt on the island, his failed attempt at suicide, and how that watch and Kelly's picture helped keep him alive and that while he has just experienced the loss of the person he loves again (he went though a feeling of loss while on the island), he learned to take one day at a time. Today he is faced with the prospect of finding a new life.
Taking the FedEx package with the wings, the parcel he never opened, he travels west to Texas in his Jeep to deliver it to its owner. Finding no one at the farm from where it was picked up, he leaves it at the door along with a note telling the owner that the parcel saved his life. Driving south to the main highway, he comes to a 4-way junction and gets out of the car to look at his map. A pretty woman in an old pick-up truck stops and asks him if he is lost. He confesses he hasn't made up his mind where he was going. She tells him where the four roads lead, She then takes her leave and drives north. As she pulls away, Chuck sees a pair of wing painted on the tail gate of her truck. After staring for a few seconds in each direction, Chuck turns and faces back north in the direction the woman drove. In his eyes you can see he understand his path is north, to follow the wings. Chuck continues to stare in the direction the woman drove and the scene fades to black.
Chuck Nolan (Tom Hanks) is a systems engineer for Federal Express, and the film opens with him showing their Moscow (Russia) staff how FedEx does business. The most important thing he tells them about is time: that the package sorting must be completed precisely on schedule. To prove it, he opens a package he sent to himself from his home base in Memphis, Tennessee, that contains a small timer. Chuck stops it at 87 hours, which he says is a deplorable delivery time. Later, the package sort is threatened when one of the Moscow office's trucks is booted in Red Square. The package sorting is carried out on the spot.
After returning to Memphis (FedEx home base) and visiting his girlfriend Kelly (Helen Hunt), he is again called away to Malaysia. He is able to ride in the "jump seats" of a FedEx jumbo jet crossing the Pacific Ocean, and is the only passenger.
During a fierce storm, the plane is blown off-course and ultimately crashes into the ocean. Noland, the only crash survivor, washes on to the shore of a small tropical island. Chuck explores the island, and recovers a number of FedEx packages that wash ashore from the jet cash; he also discovers the body of one of the pilots. Chuck gives him a proper burial, and then opens the packages. At night on one of the island's beaches, Chuck sees the lights of a ship. Using a small flashlight he recovered from the body of the pilot, he tries to signal the ship but is unsuccessful. The next morning, he attempts to leave the island in the rubber raft that he inflated as his jet was sinking. Owing to high breakers on the coral reef surrounding the island's lagoon, his raft is washed back on to the reef and get's punctured, leaving him with no means to escape the island and badly injured by the sharp coral. Shortly after his escape effort, he establishes a rudimentary camp and begins to open the FedEx parcels. Several of the items he eventually uses to survive (for example, the sharp end of a pair or ice skates serve as an ax). Another parcel contains a volley ball that eventually becomes his companion (he calls his companion 'Wilson,' the name of the company that manufactured the ball). One of the FedEx parcels is marked on the outside with a pair of wings and for unexplained reasons he leaves this parcel unopened. Ultimately, his three most prized possessions, the items that kept him alive in spirit were the volley ball, the box with the wings, and an heirloom pocket watch given to him by his girlfriend (it has her photograph fastened to the inside cover) which he said would always be set to the Memphis time zone. While trying to make fire from rubbing wood together, Chuck cuts his hand. In a fury, he grabs a volley ball and throws it. His bloody hand leaves an imprint on the ball and from the mark he fashions a face naming it 'Wilson;' to mitigate his isolation, this artifact becomes his companion.
Shortly thereafter, Chuck learns to make fire, and soon is able to catch crabs, open coconuts, collect drinking water and spear fish. In a small cave, Chuck sets up his new home and learns to become self sufficient. He suffers from a painful toothache because he so disliked dentists that he put off having the tooth taken care of before leaving for Malaysia: eventually, this tooth becomes so painful and swollen that he is compelled to use the sharp end of an ice skate blade to knock it out of his mouth. One evening, he plots out the direction of his jet to try and figure out where the crash occurred. He estimates that if the search and rescue team looked for the downed cargo plane, they'd have to search an area twice the size of Texas...making him doubtful that he'll ever be found.
Four years pass, and Chuck continues to survive day-to-day. His weight has pared down considerably, and his hair has grown out. One day, he comes across two plastic walls of a broken port-a-potty. Remembering the wings on the FedEx parcel, Chuck develops a plan for a raft with the port-a-potty's walls acting as a makeshift sail. He chops down trees, ties them together rope made from tree bark and augmented with video tape he found in one of the FedEx parcels. Chuck plans his escape when the prevailing winds change from southwest to northeast. While biding his time for the proper weather, Chuck begins to prepare food, water, and other necessities for his escape. He brings his 'companion' Wilson aboard along with the FedEx parcel with the wings. Owing to the direction of the winds, with the aid of his sail and a pair of makeshift oars, he affects his escape over the coral reef. Chuck has no real idea of where he is headed but figures that he would rather die at sea that spend the rest of his life alone on that island. In a storm, his pal Wilson is knocked off the raft and floats away while Chuck is asleep. Chuck is awakened by the splashing of a whale and finds Wilson gone but faced with the prospect of losing Wilson or losing the raft, he lets Wilson go but is pained by his decision. A storm all but wrecks Chuck's raft and it slowly begins to come apart and sink into the sea. Finally, when he has just about given up all hope of rescue, Chuck is found by a large ship that ultimately rescues him.
On returning to Memphis, Chuck is guest of honour at a large company-organised welcome reception. He has been told that Kelly is now married (with children). Kelly intended to meet Chuck at the celebration but she doesn't feel up to it and her new husband comes to apologize for her absence. Kelly's new husband was one of Chuck's dentists before he was lost at sea. Kelly's husband meets with Chuck in private to tell him that Kelly is rather in a state of shock and is having a difficult time coping with the reality of his rescue. He tells Chuck that she needs more time to regain control of her emotions. Looking out of the window he sees Kelly in tears being comforted and led away in the car park.
Later that evening, Chuck takes a taxi to Kelly's home. She was expecting him to come and she invites him in for coffee. They talk for some time about trivia and he discovers how much her life and ambitions have changed and how she coped with his presumed death. Chuck gives Kelly back the watch she had given him telling her that it is a family heirloom and should remain in her family. He elects to keep her picture. She gives him the keys to his car that she has kept in good condition all those years. They apologise to each other for all that has happened and he drives off slowly in the pouring rain.
Kelly runs after him shouting his name and they meet at the end of the drive as Chuck reverses back to see Kelly once more. They declare their undying love for each other but, sitting talking in the car, Chuck realises that Kelly must continue her new life.
Chuck later describes the meeting with Kelly to a colleague and friend, and how he understands and accept that while they will always love each other, their lives have gone in different directions and they cannot be together. He confesses to the utter despair and helplessness he felt on the island, his failed attempt at suicide, and how that watch and Kelly's picture helped keep him alive and that while he has just experienced the loss of the person he loves again (he went though a feeling of loss while on the island), he learned to take one day at a time. Today he is faced with the prospect of finding a new life.
Taking the FedEx package with the wings, the parcel he never opened, he travels west to Texas in his Jeep to deliver it to its owner. Finding no one at the farm from where it was picked up, he leaves it at the door along with a note telling the owner that the parcel saved his life. Driving south to the main highway, he comes to a 4-way junction and gets out of the car to look at his map. A pretty woman in an old pick-up truck stops and asks him if he is lost. He confesses he hasn't made up his mind where he was going. She tells him where the four roads lead, She then takes her leave and drives north. As she pulls away, Chuck sees a pair of wing painted on the tail gate of her truck. After staring for a few seconds in each direction, Chuck turns and faces back north in the direction the woman drove. In his eyes you can see he understand his path is north, to follow the wings. Chuck continues to stare in the direction the woman drove and the scene fades to black.
Sunday, November 11, 2012
Paragraph Writing Assignment
I believe each of us have gone through the childhood, and yes it is awesome back then, either it was a bad memories or sweet memories. Well, it is what we experienced it, these are my unforgettable childhood memories. When I am about 3 or 4 years old, my family and I went for vacation; as usual, when the school’s break my family and I were enjoying our holidays together. So, it was 8 to 9 hours driving, and of course my parents do tired, so we stop by at the oil station to fill the fuel tank. While we were waiting in the car, my mother go to the groceries store to buy some food for us, so we could eat along the journey. I want to tag along with her but she assist me not to, because she saw the situation at the oil station, it was full with cars and yes it’s a busy day. With my stubbornness, I take my own decision to follow her from back, I ran towards her. Then, I guess she felt something isn’t right, she turn back and she saw me from the distance running towards her. She saw the truck wants to pass through the road, with her worried face, my mother gave me ‘stay there, don’t come any closer’ signal. I stopped and I saw the 16-tyres, blue in color, and big truck, but my feet wants to run to my mother. Finally my feet brings me to her, and the truck driver was like a long press horn at me. I just hug my mother, she sent me to the car, and I got what I deserve, I have been scolded by mother so hard. Yes, I know she was mad at me because she was worried. Thank you mom for everything. My second unforgettable childhood memories, when I was 6 or 7 years old, that time I was in the bathroom, prepared to take my bath. Before I take my bath, well you know kids, they will play in the bathroom, so do I, I enjoy myself. Suddenly, something got my attention in the cabinet, which is sticking at the wall and above the sink. I want to take it but, since the cabinet is high and I wasn’t tall enough, I climbed the sink. When I’m on the sink, I wanted to open the cabinet with one hand, because the other hand is to keep my balance on the sink. Before I can reach it, I fell down on the floor, following by the broken to pieces sink. I was speechless, I saw drops of blood on the floor, quickly I check myself if I got any wound. Thankfully, I relief that I got nothing at all at the first time. But then, I wasn’t satisfied because I felt something wrong, so I checked my hands, turn it upwards and when I turn downwards, I watched my thumbs just hanging there, full of blood and I even saw my bone. I just look at my hands, then my parents knock the door. They asked me what’s going on in the bathroom. So I said I fell, and I open the door, I showed my hands to my mother. She was speechless, and she brought me at my room, wrap my wound to stop the bleeding. My brother and my dad quickly bring me to the nearest clinic. When we were at the clinic, they bring me to the doctor’s room immediately. The nurse take my hand, wash the wound, and I watched the doctor stitch it. So, i get 3 stitches, that’s how I got my scar.
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