Lauren 10PIB2 Fieldtrip (Assignment)

Reporters, bloggers, and other interested individuals are still combing through the more than 90,000 Afghanistan War documents released by WikiLeaks. And while commentators can't agree on whether there's much new or important in the massive document dump, the data miners are certainly uncovering some surprises. Here are seven of the oddest finds, so far: (Watch the WikiLeaks founder defend the document release)

1. Afghan soldiers are killing each other in drug-fueled, fratricidal skirmishes
The WikiLeaks dump includes reports of more than 60 clashes between members of the Afghan security forces. The sometimes-deadly incidents were often fueled by drugs. In one fatal gunfight among Afghan Border Police, "a significant proportion" were "high on opium and having a party." In another incident, a National Police officer shot at National Army troops who caught him smoking hashish in the shower.

2. The U.S. is buying good press?
The leaks contain "intriguing evidence" that the U.S. military is "paying local media outlets to run friendly stories," says John Cook in Yahoo's The Upshot blog. Having U.S. psychological operations units plant positive stories with friendly or compliant radio stations and newspapers has proved a PR "headache for the Pentagon" in Iraq — but it doesn't, apparently, violate military policy or U.S. law.

3. Taliban may have chemical weapons
A February 2009 report ominously suggests that the Taliban could have developed chemical weapons: A special operations unit pursuing insurgents found and detonated an improvised explosive device, when "a yellow cloud was emitted and personnel began feeling nauseous." The report doesn't say if the powder was discovered to be a chemical attack — "I suspect it wasn't," says Wired's Noah Shachtman — but none of he nauseated troops (or the sickened dog) died.

4. Bin Laden was alive in 2006, dead in 2007?
The WikiLeaks documents record only a few references to Osama Bin Laden, including an August 2006 report that Bin Laden and Taliban commander Mullah Omar were at a meeting in Quetta, right across the Afghanistan-Pakistan border, and a sketchy June 2007 single-source report from Afghan intelligence that Bin Laden "had been transported to Peshawar hospital in Pakistan for treatment, where he has died."

5. U.S. forces have a new favorite weapon
The incident reports are full of stories of the U.S. chasing down and killing Taliban fighters with unmanned Reaper aerial drones, flown by joystick-wielding pilots in a Nevada bunker. The Reapers are "increasingly the coalition's weapon of choice against the Taliban," say Rob Evans and Richard Norton-Taylor in The Guardian. But they're not cheap: $13 million each, plus $100,000 for each of its Hellfire missiles seems an "extraordinary amount of cash" to routinely spend "to try to kill a single insurgent."

6. The Taliban pays better than the U.S.
One of the WikiLeaks documents, from February 2008, describes how a Taliban leader offered an Afghan National Army brigade commander $100,000 to quit, dwarfing the $805 a month that an officer of his rank would pull in after 24 years of service. "That should give a sense of what the incentive structure is for Afghans," says Spencer Ackerman in Wired, and the pay disparity is widespread. It's hard to recruit competent men if the Taliban is "shelling out more money for their fighters than the U.S. and the international community are for Afghan security forces."

7. The Taliban tried to poison U.S. troops' beer
Among the "range of sensational plots" allegedly hatched by colluding Taliban and Pakistani intelligence agents was one to poison the beer headed to Western troops, says Wired's Shachtman, citing a June 2007 tip. The Taliban apparently hoped to hijack U.S.-bound supply trucks, and "inject the bottles or the packages of food with unidentified chemicals." U.S. diplomat Peter Galbraith notes in The Guardian that a "plot to poison Kabul-bound beer" would be "an enormously complex operation with limited payoff since U.S. troops are not allowed to drink alcohol in Afghanistan."

source : theweek.com

Leading internet company Google has said it will censor its search services in China in order to gain greater access to China's fast-growing market.

Google has offered a Chinese-language version of its search engine for years but users have been frustrated by government blocks on the site.

The company is setting up a new site - Google.cn - which it will censor itself to satisfy the authorities in Beijing.

Google argued it would be more damaging to pull out of China altogether.

While removing search results is inconsistent with Google's mission, providing no information... is more inconsistent with our mission
Google statement

Chinese results toe the line
Critics warn the new version could restrict access to thousands of sensitive terms and web sites. Such topics are likely to include independence for Taiwan and the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre.

The Chinese government keeps a tight rein on the internet and what users can access. The BBC news site is inaccessible, while a search on Google.cn for the banned Falun Gong spiritual movement directs users to a string of condemnatory articles.

Google's move in China comes less than a week after it resisted efforts by the US Department of Justice to make it disclose data on what people were searching for.

Google has lost ground to Beijing-based web search company Baidu
Google hopes its new address will make the search engine easier to use and quicker.

Its e-mail, chat room and blogging services will not be available because of concerns the government could demand users' personal information.

Google said it planned to notify users when access had been restricted on certain search terms.

The company argues it can play a more useful role in China by participating than by boycotting it, despite the compromises involved.

"While removing search results is inconsistent with Google's mission, providing no information (or a heavily degraded user experience that amounts to no information) is more inconsistent with our mission," a statement said.

Send us your comments
Julian Pain, internet spokesman for campaign group Reporters Without Borders, said Google's decision to "collaborate" with the Chinese government was "a real shame".

The number of internet search users in China is predicted to increase from about 100 million currently to 187 million in two years' time.

A survey last August revealed Google was losing market share to Beijing-based rival Baidu.com.

Last year, Yahoo was accused of supplying data to China that was used as evidence to jail a Chinese journalist for 10 years.

source : bbc news

On the 8th of February, the school held a 3-day-2-night fieldtrip event to Jakarta and Bandung. We had to gather at the airport at 5 AM, but I was 15 minutes late. I woke up at 4.15 AM and the trip to the airport took longer than I thought it'd be.

After we all went on air with the Garuda Indonesia, we spend one whole day on it's training center. First we went to the place where they fix all the airplanes. There was a model airplane, there were workers. We were asked to do an interview to some of the workers there, and video the interview. After we done that, we got a chance to go on the pilot cockpit and see all the buttons they had to memorize in order to operate the flight. We spent approximately 1 hour there, walking around, asking questions, taking pictures. We never thought that it'd be that complicated. I never thought that the back section of the plane is being used as a storage for beverages and meals. I guess I never thought where the flight food appears.

And then we move on to the Aerofood, it is where they prepare all in-flight meals. Turns out it is also, not as simple as we thought they were. We didn't know that a single hair on a customer's meal would cause 2 million rupiah  from the company. Then the PIC took us to the freezer, where they keep all the food and cook it. The kitchen and the storage room was very sterile. All ingredients must be used within a period of 3 months, or else they'll be thrown away. I even caught a glimpse on 10 baskets of rotten fruit being piled up, ready to be thrown away. Then we moved on to the kitchen. The kitchen itself is divided into many departments, the Japanase flight have their own meal, prepared in a Japanese style. The menus are also different in every flight. For example, if the flight is from China they prepare noodles, or dim sum. If the flight is from Indonesia then they prepare ordinary menus. After all food are cooked, they are all being placed on trays. We got a chance to come to their warehouse, where they keep all their silverwares and dishes. Every flight has their own silverware, with the colors resembling their own company's logo.

After all that, we were so tired but we had to go to the Garuda Training Center. This is kinda special, because this is where they train all their stewardess and their pilots. We didn't really see actual training of the pilots, but we did see how they train and shape their stewardesses. They were forced to get used to being a true lady, talking almost with a smile, sitting with legs crossed, back straight, and other things I couldn't possibly do! We also saw a big pool, which was 2 meters deep, they used it as an emergency training. So that the pilots and the stewardess know what to do when they accidentally crash on the land or on the waters. That is why swimming is also one of the qualification that they must fulfill. And with that, they first day was over. The trip from Jakarta to Bandung took over 5-6 hours. It was already 9 PM when we reached Bandung, and we a very late dinner at Kampung Daun restaurant, a very village-like surrounding. It was quite relaxing after a long, tiring day. Then we go straight to the hotel, to get prepared for the second day.

The second day we went to the KAA (Konferesi Asia-Afrika / Asian-African Convention). It was an important museum for Bandung citizens, it shows. It is Bandung's pride that they are able to prepare a world-class convention for leaders all over the world with an international style. We first arrived, and we sat on a large hall, on the very chairs that the world leaders used during the convention. All the chairs were still in perfect condition, even the stage, which is very impressive because it must've been hard to maintain them since it's been around 50 years since the big event. The speaker was very passionate about this convention, and I was almost brought in by the way he tells the story. I was amazed, too.
We were also given an assignment to the a role play. One of us will pretend to be a reporter, and several of us will pretend to be a visitior. The idea is to do a talk show. After that, we didn't really get a chance to look around even more because the time is limited.

We immediately left the museum and head to an area where there are a lot of distros. Distros are small shops that sells a lot of clothes and accesories in a much cheaper price. After about an hour spent there, we had lunch at Pagoda, which was very good. And then we went to the geology museum, where we examine rocks, and prehistoric fossils. The geology museum was actually a laboratorium, where Dutch scientists study human fossils. But then their collection grew, and finally they decided to open the lab to public, and turn it into a museum. If you were there you could still see the historical touch of the building, since the original shape of the building was never reconstructed, only maintained. We had an interview assignment there, and we interviewed a staff, he was a security. He told us that there are also many social activities held by the museum for schools visiting there, such as movies, games, and et cetera.

After we went to the geology museum we went to C59, which was a T-shirt making factory. We examined the makings of the T-shirt. From pattern making, sewing, printing, we even got a chance to print a t-shirt for ourselves. Then, we go to Rumah Mode. It's like a small factory outlet with lots of clothes. The quality of the clothes here are much better than the ones in the distros. We spent around an hour there, and then we head on for our free time at the Paris van Java mall. The mall was outdoor, with stores on your right and left. There are so many of them, and many are branded stores such as Zara, Guess, Mango, Cache Cache, etc. I bought a whole lot of stuff here, and I spent too much but I managed to get all my family members something. We went back to the bus on 9 PM, and we were all very tired and late, because we were supposed to gather at 8.30 PM.

The third day was the last day. We didn't go much, but we went to Saung Angklung Udjo, which was the most interesting of all. In the performance they combine angklung with modern instruments such as bass and drums. It was really nice, they were very creative and I have never heard they play music like that. There are many children that took part, most are at a very young age. The purpose of this place is to preserve our cultural values and not let it fade by implementing it to children from a very young age.
After going to Saung aklung we went to Primarasa, which is a place where we buy food souvenirs for our family. And then we go straight back to Jakarta, went on board, and go home.

This fieldtrip has been very tiring but it was incredibly fun. Since this is new and Cita Hati has never done this kind of field trip before. I think the Week Without Walls is a very fun and useful concept and I look forward in participating again.

Hey everyone! My name is Laurentia Editha. I'm a 10th grade student studying at Cita Hati Christian High School in Surabaya. 


I was born in the 23rd of January 1995, Surabaya, Indonesia. I'm born at 01:05 AM. I have a mother, a father, and a little sister that is 3 years younger than me.


I'm artsy. I love music, art, graphic design, photography, and many other things that includes art. I'm not very good in school subjects, but I'm pretty good at Biology. That's all.


I have a boyfriend his name is William. He is so handsome. :)


Well that's all about me. :)