to rock, not to roll !

Ow, maafkan saya karena di sela-sela kesibukan saya menggarap proyek masih sempat-sempatnya ngecek bidding di Getacoder. Udah gitu, dapat pula

Ceritanya begini. Beberapa hari yang lalu, tepatnya semingguan, saya menerima email dari Getacoder bahwa seseorang dengan nickname ubercool mengundang saya untuk memasang bidding (kayak pasang togel aja :p) di project yang dia buka di sana.Deskripsi proyeknya adalah Vbulletin guru needed dengan nilainya antara $100-$300. Ya sutrah, kalau liat deskripsi problemnya sih … gampang laa… worthed dengan imbalannya.

Tunggu sehari dua hari. PM saya dibalas oleh pemilik proyek. Dia tertarik karena saya tau letak masalahnya ada di mana dan bisa menyelesakan dalam tempo 6 hari (sebenarnya ini kelamaan untuk kerjaan sejenis itu). Sambutannya positif, dia akan kontak lagi besok.

saya pikir saya punya peluang bagus untuk memenangkannya. Ternyata salah!

Pemenangnya adalah orang lain. Saya coba liat, ternyata harga biddingnya lebih murah dan waktu pengerjaannya lebih singkat, cuma 1 hari. Baru saya sadar, kenapa ngga pasang 1 hari aja, kan sebetulnya bisa dikerjain dalam satu hari. Ah, ya sudah… lepas deh kesempatan kerjasama jangka panjang.

Hari kamis kemarin, project di tutup. Ternyata sore hari (waktu indonesia) saya terima email lagi dari ubercool bahwa dia minta saya merespon pertanyaannya dan akan menyerahkan proyeknya kepada saya. Wah, bukannya udah ditutup? Ternyata dia batal kerjasama dengan pemenang proyek sebelumnya. Okelah, saya coba lagi deh, iseng-iseng berhadiah. Saya tanya, waktu saya tinggal berapa hari? Dia minta 3 hari. Ya sudah, tiga hari juga cukup kalau dikerjain serius.

Kami mulai membahas masalah teknis lewat PM. Saya coba pandu selangkah demi selangkah untuk mendapatkan skin vbulletin miliknya yang bermasalah. Dia agak keberatan kalau saya langsung mengakses admin control panel vbulleting miliknya. File saya terima, saya import ke vbulletin di laptop saya. Liat kode skin-nya dikit-dikit, langsung ketemu deh masalahnya. Langsung bikin patch, trus export ke XML. Sempat juga salah kirim, karena file XML yang saya kirim masih mengandung bug. Saya kirim lagi file yang sudah bersih dari bug, kemudian kami meneruskan kontak lewat email dan Yahoo! Messenger.

Akhirnya saya bisa mengakses admincp karena dia kesulitan melakukannya sendiri. Dan, voyla !!! Bug hilang seketika!! Dia senang sekali.Aha, anda juga mendengarnya bukan? Krincingggg… 200 dolar masuk ke rekening getacoder saya.

Kami masih ngobrol-ngobrol beberapa saat. Ternyata, dia ngga jadi pake bidder sebelumnya karena satu masalah kecil: TIDAK ADA RESPON! Bidder itu tidak pernah merespon emailnya. O.oww…tamparan yang lumayan keras buat saya yang sering menderita autis akut :p Selain itu, ternyata dia berasal dari abura, sebuah bekas koloni Belanda dan sekarang tinggal di San Francisco, California.

Dia juga suka makanan Indonesia seperti sate dan nasi rames yang disebutnya rijsttafel. Apa pula itu? Belom pernah denger deh. Ga taunya, rich table dalam bahasa Inggrisnya, yaitu banyak makanan dalam satu meja. Apa istilahnya di indonesia? Lesehan?

Oh ya, dia punya situs yang bagus. Silahkan kunjungi Ubercool. Situs tentang trend analysis. Forum yang saya betulkan ada di Trendsetter.com

Ok, segitu dulu laporan sejam di Getacoder. Honey, makasih ya udah bantuin dan ngingetin diriku yang autis ini.. hehehe…

Selain Getacoder, website yang menyediakan layanan sejenis adalah:

• Scriptlance
• GetAFreelancer
• Rent A Coder
• Elance

Bisa coding tapi nganggur? PERCUMA !!!

Popularity: 32% [?]

A koala is sitting up .a gum tree … smoking a joint

when a little lizard walks past and looks up and says,

“Hey Koala ! What are you doing?”

The koala says:

“Smoking a joint, come up and have some.”

So the little lizard climbs up and sits next to the koala and they have a few joints. After a while the little lizard says his mouth is ‘dry’ and is going to get a drink from the river. But the little lizard is so stoned that he leans too far over and falls into the river.

A crocodile sees this and swims over to the little lizard and helps him to the side, then asks the little lizard:

“What’s the matter with you?”

The little lizard explains to the crocodile that he was sitting smoking a joint with the koala in the tree, got too stoned and then fell into the river while taking a drink.

The crocodile says he has to check this out and walks into the rain forest, finds the tree where the koala is sitting finishing a joint, and he looks up and says “Hey you!”

So the koala looks down at him and says:

“Shiiiiiiiiiiit dude … how much water did you drink?!!”

Story by: Mike (b***@boilerplant.net)

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Popularity: 21% [?]

Ini sebagian foto-foto pas malam acara Gathering IA ITB Jawa Barat, 8 Juli 2006.

The Gang of Three and Our Partner.

Teguh Panoto Yudho, Doddi Herlambang, Tri Basoeki, Ilham Rizqi Sasmita

Thanks to Tri Laksmana

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Popularity: 10% [?]

“There is a risk that the word `Google’ could become so commonly used that it becomes synonymous with the word `search,’ ” Google noted in its annual report from last year. “We could lose protection for this trademark, which could result in other people using the word `Google’ to refer to their own products.”

Dikutip dari The Boston Globe

Google masuk kamus. Karena menjadi frasa atau kata, apakah Google akan
menghadapi masalah seperti Xerox, Coca-Cola, atau semacamnya?

Contohnya gini:
Gw punya dua celana levis. Artinya orang udah akrab dengan levis sebagai jeans. Konon orang jawa juga mengadopsi kata ’sepur’ yang artinya kereta api dari merek lokomotif. Di tempat gw, orang suka menyebut saklar dengan Broco (merek dagang) atau trafo lampu neon dengan Ballast.

Kalau begitu bukan cuma orang Indonesia doang yang punya kebiasaan kaya gitu. Kirain karena kita kekurangan kosa-kata jadi suka main import sesuka hati.

Kebayang kan, suatu hari akan ada orang yang nanya gini:

Technorati Tags: google, search engine, webster

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Popularity: 23% [?]

Buat yang sering ke Bandung, pasti tau dong terminal Leuwipanjang. Saya mau cerita yang saya tahu tentang Leuwipanjang.

• Masuk gerbang, kita akan bayar Rp. 200 untuk peron. 99 persen petugas tidak akan memberikan karcis yang ada ditangannya untuk kita. Kalau kita minta, dia akan memberikannya berkali-kali lipat (bisa 4-5 lembar) ditambah bonus gerundelan dalam bahasa sunda.
• Pilih bus yang akan mengantar anda ke tujuan. Apapun tujuannya dan apapun kelasnya, anda akan dilayani oleh para pramugara freelance tak berseragam (asongan). Tiap menit kira-kira 4 asongan. Kalau bus ngetem 30 menit sudah ada 120 asongan yang melayani anda. Anda bisa pilih item barang dari koran, majalah, minuman dalam kemasan, tahu sumedang, lontong, dompet anti-api (bukan anti maling), korek zippo lokal, jeruk, mangga, mainan anak, buku doa-doa, panduan sholat lengkap, surat yaasin, kacang telor, kacang bogor, permen mint bolong, sampai vcd porno kalau anda lagi beruntung (atau apes?).
• Kalau anda lapar, di sana banyak pedagang makanan. Kalau mau makan bubur ayam encer, bayar Rp. 5000. Enak ga enak ga penting, yang penting mahal.
• Coba rekam wajah pengemis yang masuk ke bus anda. Kalau bus anda ngetem agak lama, kemungkinan dia akan mengunjungi anda untuk kedua kalinya. Bahkan ketiga kalinya.

Pernah saya ditawari tabloid ponsel. Saya menolak dengan halus. Pedagangnya malah bilang kalau saya harus baca tabloid anu dan menghina ponsel cdma murah yang saya pakai. Belom tau dia, biar murahan tapi udah menghasilkan puluhan juta.

Pernah juga ditawari koran lokal bandung, dan saya juga menolak. Dia agak maksa, udah bawa bacaan belum katanya. Saya bilang udah. Dia tanya, apa. Saya jawab: buku. Dia melenggang dengan mengejek: “heh.. buku…?” Dalam hati saya cuma ketawa, belom tau dia.. buku gw bisa bikin kaya, dia tiap hari baca koran begituan masih jualan koran sampe sekarang

Pernah juga ada seorang pengemis masuk… Dengan nada yang dibuat memelas dan memasang wajah menderita dia memberikan perkenalan singkat… “assalaamualaikum bapa… punten .. blablabla…” Setelah selesai dia turun. Tak lama berselang bus mulai bertolak dan berjalan perlahan. Pengemis yang tadi naik lagi dan mengucapkan kata-kata yang persis sama. Dia tidak memperhatikan sama sekali. Sopir bus menegur:”he kan tadi udah…” . Dia cuma ketawa dan langsung turun pindah ke bus lain.

Begitulah leuwipanjang. Kalau diceritakan semua bisa panjang.

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Popularity: 12% [?]

Diceritakan pada jaman kuno di daratan Tiongkok, seorang murid sedang berguru kepada seorang guru Tao. Ia bertanya kepada gurunya, “Seperti apakah surga dan neraka itu?”

Sang Guru menjawab dengan arif: “Kau takkan pernah dapat memahaminya di dunia”. Kemudian murid tersebut menjadi penasaran, “Mengapa? Tak adakah penjelasan yang dapat mewakilinya dengan keadaan dunia?”

Sang Guru tersenyum dan berkata: “Kalau begitu, mari kutunjukkan”. Ia mengajak muridnya untuk melihat sebuah gentong yang berisi air. Dengan kemampuan yang dimilikinya, Sang Guru mengubah gentong tadi menjadi seperti jendela.

Ia berkata: “Inilah neraka”. Lewat jendela itu mereka menyaksikan empat orang sedang makan bersama mengelilingi sebuah meja segi empat. Mengerikan karena mereka kurus-kurus dan muka mereka pucat. Ternyata mereka kesulitan memasukkan makanan ke dalam mulut mereka karena sumpit yang mereka gunakan sangat panjang melebihi tinggi badan mereka sendiri.

Murid tersebut kebingungan dan berkata: “Aneh, lalu bagaimana keadaan surga?” Sang Guru mengganti pemandangan dalam gentong tersebut dengan keadaan di surga.

Pemandangan di surga mirip sekali dengan di neraka. Ada empat orang yang sedang makan bersama dengan meja segi empat di tengah-tengah mereka. Sumpit yang mereka gunakan pun sangat panjang melebihi tinggi badan mereka sendiri. Namun mereka makan dengan lahapnya dan badan mereka gemuk makmur. Mengapa? Karena mereka SALING MENYUAPI satu sama lain teman di depan mereka dengan makanan di mangkuknya.

Morals of the story:
Kita yang menentukan tempat kita akan menjadi surga atau neraka.

Catatan: Cerita ini pernah dimuat di majalah Bobo periode 80-an.

Technorati Tags: tao, wisdom

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Popularity: 15% [?]

1. You must believe that being a drug addict is a moral failing and a crime – unless you’re a millionaire right wing radio gasbag; then, it’s an “illness” and requires prayer for “recovery”.
2. You must believe that those born to privilege achieve success on their own, but that all of their customers are lazy and stupid.
3. You must believe that ethics are an inconvenience that only Democrats bother with, and that any way you raise money is okay, so long as you don’t get caught.
4. You must believe that folks who work for their money should be taxed at a high rate, but those who get their money for nothing should be exempt from taxation.
5. You must believe that being “morally upright” means hating gays and liberals, and anyone else who doesn’t hate gays and liberals.
6. You must believe that, to rid the country of crime, you must rid the world of people not like you.
7. You must agree that racking up huge amounts of debt and handing it off to future generations is worth the few thousand extra in tax breaks given to your wealthy “investors.”
8. You must believe the US should pull out of the UN, at the same time you claim our highest national priority is to start a war to enforce UN resolutions.
9. You must believe that the best person to represent the United States in the UN is someone who doesn’t believe the UN should exist.
10. You must believe that government should stay out of people’s financial lives, but should socially engineer any behaviors deemed “unacceptable.” That the government should stay out of our checkbooks, but feel perfectly at home on our bedrooms and doctors offices.
11. You must believe that profitable pollution is perfectly ok, and that all science is bunk when it cuts into profits.
12. You must support prayer in schools, as long as no one prays to Allah or Buddha.
13. You must believe that rushing to Washington to vote to keep a dead woman’s tube in place is more important than seeing thousands of people drown in a hurricane.
14. You must believe that nothing is more important than a fundraiser; not even black people drowning. No, especially black people drowning.
15. You must believe that no Republican is crooked, as long as he says the right thing and writes you a big enough check.
16. You must believe that “Standing Tall for America” means firing your workers and moving their jobs to India, and encouraging corporations headquartered here to move their address offshore to avoid taxes.
17. You must believe that, while a woman cannot be trusted with decisions about her own body, huge multi-national corporations can be trusted to make decisions affecting all mankind with no regulation whatsoever.
18. You must believe that Jesus loves you, but shares your hatred and distrust of the poor, homosexuals, and the Clintons.
19. You must hate the ACLU for representing people whose rights have been violated, and believe they owed it to the country to bail out Oliver North.
20. You must believe that the best way to show appreciation to the troops is to charge them to fly home for leave, serve plastic turkey and cut their VA benefits.
21. You must be willing to believe that group sex and drug use are degenerate sins that can only be purged by running for office as a Republican.
22. You must think that keeping sex education and birth control out of schools is the wisest course, because without them, teenagers will never have sex.
23. You must think that the best way to fight terrorism is to alienate our allies and piss off the rest of the world at the same time we demand their cooperation and money.
24. You must believe that single-payer health care, in which everyone pays for and receives health insurance, would be a disaster compared to the current system, in which 40 million people are forbidden from paying into the system, but still receive emergency health care. You must also believe that insurance companies only care about giving you the best darn health care there is, damn the profit. You must also believe that providing health care to Iraqis is good policy, while providing it to Americans is a “Socialist plot.”
25. You must believe that forcing bankrupt people to pay their bills is a much more important problem than addressing how they got there in the first place.
26. You must agree that the link between tobacco and cancer is “dubious,” that claims of global warming are “junk science” and that creationism has a sound scientific basis that should be part of all school curricula.
27. You must believe that waging war with no security or exit strategy was good for Iraq.
28. You must agree that Saddam Hussein was a good guy when Reagan was sending him arms, a bad guy when he invaded Kuwait, a good guy again when Cheney did business with him at Halliburton, and then a bad guy again when Bush decided that a war in Iraq would be a very lucrative deal for his “investors.”
29. You must believe that the Bill of Rights is absolute in the case of the Second Amendment, but negotiable with regard to the rest of the document.
30. You must agree that the adulterous affairs of Democrats require public embarrassment and impeachment, while those of Republicans are a private matter, and excusable because, well, “boys will be boys” (or girls).
31. You must ascribe to the notion that the Clintons’ business deals were major breaches of the public trust, while the fact that Dick Cheney is still being paid by Halliburton, which is now getting billions of your tax dollars, is no big deal.
32. You must believe that everything that Democrats do should be public knowledge, but that the public has no right to know anything that Republicans do.
33. You must always deride a Democrat’s changes of mind and philosophy as a “flip-flop,” while referring to those of fellow Republicans as “growth.”
34. You must openly support “state rights,” except when John Ashcroft wants to force local libraries to turn over their records or Tom DeLay wants to impose new districts because he doesn’t like election results.
35. You must agree that the outcome of an election is always more important than making sure everyone got to vote and that all votes were counted.
36. You must agree that income tax cuts for the rich are good for the economy, while payroll tax cuts for the working class are bad. Furthermore, you must believe that making sure that the rich have a few extra dollars in their pockets is good for the economy, while raising the minimum wage is detrimental.

Read the rest at Lying Socialist Weasels.

Popularity: 14% [?]