East meets West

Checkpoint Charlie is a very historical location that refers to the crossing point between East Berlin and West Berlin during the Cold War. It is located at the junction of Friedrichstraße with Zimmerstraße and Mauerstraße. I'm sure many of IDCSEA2008 participants would have visited this place.



Another location not to be missed is Checkpoint Curry where Eastern Food meets Western Palette. It is located behind the Friedrichstraße railway station. It may not be a historical site, and it should not be missed by the participants. So, the next time you are in Berlin, make this one of your destination!

A Poem From A Mother

This is one of the poem from a mother to her daughters.

I know my dear daughter,
The arrowhead you throw by your bow,
Will not point the star.
But I am sure,
The arrowhead you have,
Will fly far away beyond you,
Beyond everything,
And it will fly towards the star.

What is inside? This poem is just to seize the day and to practice: Scripta manent, verba volant (The writings remain, the words fly away). Greetings from UGM!

Interpretive Literature

This is my first posting from my beloved town, Yogyakarta. After returning back again from a semi-long journey, it is so good to enjoy time in my small library. I found again "50 Great Short Stories" edited by Milton Crane where inside there is a short story about "The Summer of the Beautiful White Horse". I found also "The Old Man and The Sea" of Hemingway, "The Necklace" of Guy de Maupassant, my great junior high school book "Musashi" of Eiji Yoshikawa, some literatures of Kafka, series of "Winnetou" and other books of Karl May, etc. I also found "The Myth of Sisyphus", essays by Albert Camus. Last but not least, of course some Indonesian short stories and novels.

I think interpretive literature helps me to understand more about human existence, to broaden mind, during my school days.

However, my question is: In nowadays activities, do we realize that it is really good to have 10-30 minutes rest during our hectic days to stay alone, read inspirational pages, write, or think? Most of the time, I forget to do it. And I think I miss to do it.

Have a great day ahead! Salam saking Ngayogyakarta Hadiningrat.

Qu'est Quela Vie Sans L'Amour?

Verona, where the love story of Romeo and Juliet began.






Qu'est quela vie sans l'amour? What's life without love?

Yes. Love of a mother to her son named Daoed Joesoef was recently written by Daoed Joesoef, an Indonesian. His recent book, "Emak" (Mother), is a tribute to his beloved mother, Djasi'ah Joesoef. Even though she was not well educated, she had progressive thoughts. She liked listening to other people's ideas and asked many questions. Daoed Joesoef finally found from his mother that, "Our mind is like a parachute, so the adage goes, it only works if it is opened. Therefore, the people should open their minds."

A part of his book told how his mother taught Daoed to choose the pathway in the forest that have never been passed by others. "But I will get lost, Mother," said little Daoed. His mother replied, "No, wherever you go, you will find the way. Evenmore, Daoed, if you find a new way and people finally follow your way, that will be very meaningful in your life."

His mother sent him to a Dutch elementary school, despite the opposition of their neighbourhood, including the ulema (Muslim cleric), who said that the Dutch school was kafir (pagan).

Daoed, whose father owned a dairy farm, was born in Medan and graduated from University of Indonesia. He taught at the University's School of Economics from 1954 to 1963. In 1964, upon the sponsorship of the Ford Foundation, he left Indonesia to study at Sorbonne in France. He was the first Indonesian citizen to study economics at a French University, Universit‚ Pluridisciplinaire de Paris I-Panth‚ on-Sorbonne and obtain the title of doctorate cum laude.

In fact, Daoed had fallen in love with France as a high school student, long before he saw the country for himself. His drawing teacher, inspired by the youth's artistic talent, had suggested that he set his sights on study at a French art school.

"I became more interested after reading Jamaludin Adinegoro's book, Melawat ke Barat (A Journey to the West)," he said.

He returned from France in 1973 and became a minister of education in 1978.

"Someone once told me that I must be rich after my time a minister. That made me angry," said Daoed, who lives in a nice house with a spacious garden in the Bangka area of South Jakarta. He shares the house with his wife, his only daughter, his son-in-law, and his two grandchildren.

"I owned this house long before I was a minister and I never lived at my official residence. I only went to the house to receive guests," he said, "because many of the guests smoked and I do not like people smoking in my house."

In fact, as many people visit his house every year at Idul Fitri, he has placed a "No Smoking" sign in the living room.

"If they want to smoke, they can do it outside the house," he said firmly.

That is Daoed Joesoef to a tee, a man who never hesitates to speak out his mind who wrote a book about a pioneer mother with full of his love to his mother.

Yes. Qu`est quela vie sans l`amour? A posting during my transit back to Indonesia, as I promised to write about a book entitled "Emak" (Mother).

The Lion

Have you ever heard why lion is called the King of the Animal, the King of the Forest? I found this in Indian folklore.

Suppose there are two pathways in the forest. One pathway seems to be easier to pass through since other animals/ creatures follow the path, and the other seems to be difficult to pass through. Lion will surely choose the difficult one, the one which other creatures might never choose. Not like an elephant. Big body, but always follow the path passed by others before. The lion is the pioneer. That is why lion is called the King, and inspired literatures, sculptures, and paintings as well.

A last posting from Nijmegen this period, 2008. Alle beste for you all, and happy father day!

PS. Nijmegen is the oldest city in the Netherlands which is also called Noviomagus (Romans), symbolized by Lion.

Morphogenetics Field

Have you ever heard about morphogenetic fields? The concept of the morphogenetic field, fundamental in the early twentieth century, to the study of embryological development, was first introduced in 1910 by Alexander G. Gurwitsch. Experimental support was provided by Ross G. Harrison's experiments transplanting fragments of a new embryo into different locations.

I am not sure whether the term morphogenetics field firstly came from physics or other science branches, but the morphogenetic field is a middle ground between genes and evolution. It shows that once the fundamental pattern is formed, it will be very easy for other molecules/ genes/ cells to follow the pattern.

In the laboratory, I really found this phenomenon, almost 6-7 years ago. I failed to develop formulas for bioactive agents. I tried to follow every formula under, one of them, the scanning electron microscopy. No changes. I was about to give up when one day, on the surface of one among many specimens, I found bone-like apatite formation. Very tiny. But once we found the tiny molecule, the next days, many similar molecules were developed very fast on the surface of the specimens!

When we transform the lab phenomenon into the real day-by-day life, the same morphogenetic field law seems to happen. A new concept (no matter how good it is) is usually asked, even rejected. But once it becomes evidence, the concept will be easily spread all over.

Is this also what we should believe in managing an institution? I do not know, but once we reach critical mass and critical geometry of something, it is time to see the wind of change. Just a piece of word to live the blog. Groetjes

P.S. Today Holland beat France 4-1! Aanvalluh! Hup Nistelrooy Hup

Two dentists are better than one

After some coaching, she finally logged on.

Sorry for a belated welcome to the other dentist in the group, Bernie! One can never forget Bernie, the ever smiling and jovial person. Maybe it has to do something with dentistry where they, the dentist, have to smile to sell their service?

On the other hand, it is just that Bernie and Ika are what they are, friendly, animated, and above all, a part of the IDCSEA2008. Welcome Bernie.

Posting and uploading pictures

Dear all,

I am aware that all of you want to post to the blog. However, the way the blog works is not so familiar to all. So, i have made a simple write up for you to try and follow.

The write up is mailed to the idcsea2008 group.

If all else fail, you have to invite me to your universities (all expenses paid by the hosting university) and let me show you one-on-one. Deal!

The driving force behind IDC

Because of their vision and outstanding leadership and management abilities, the IDC has been very successful and a unique learning experience for us participants. We sincerely thank these two gentlemen who are the driving force behind the IDC, Dr. Christoph Hansert and Prof. Dr. Peter Mayer.

The Don himself has arrived

Let us all welcome Christopher, the man from the DAAD who's the brainchild behind the IDC project. Looks serious but a jovial person once you get to know him. There is not many snapshots of the Don as he is quite elusive. Any of you who have a better photofit, please post.