Pastimes of the Digital Age (Published in: Now!

Jakarta January 2012) By: Diana Tri Wulandari Word Count: 759 words (Intro) It is impossible to deny the phenomenon of Finnish bird-throwing video game, Angry Birds. The game that was initially developed for Apples iPhone has now been downloaded over 350 million times through various platforms worldwide. There are thousands of other games developed for smart phones, but by far nothing has been able to compete with the popularity of Angry Birds. This touch screen-based game is now officially the most popular game in the world. Just look at all the plush toys and merchandises even cupcakes and cookies - sold everywhere. Angry Birds even has its own Hollywood movie coming soon. The birds are everywhere! (body) It is not an overstatement to say that Angry Birds or some other smart phone game might be one reason your child wants an iPad or other fancy gadget or it could be the only reason. The game is addictive, even for adults. It is the perfect game to keep your thumbs and mind occupied while sitting in Jakarta traffic, the long queue for your movie ticket, or just basically anything that allows you an idle 2 to 5 minutes. The goal is to blast all the pigs on the map using the limited provided birds. The rewards are high scores and advancement to the next level. Every Angry Bird addict knows how it feels to see each level on the map marked with three yellow stars it is the thrill of achievement. Angry Birds seems able to revive the child in each one of us. However, addiction to Angry Birds is unlikely to cause malnourishment, which is the case with more intense multiplayer online games like World of Warcraft, or Halo or games on Xbox or PS3. These kinds of addictive games have garnered negative reputations, perhaps because spending too much time with online friends can make you a social outcast. Another type of gaming addiction, though, can come from multiplayer online games like Second Life or Utopia. These games are gaining popularity, especially as fast computers become more affordable and accessible. Because thousands of people can play at once, these games are fundamentally different from traditional computer games in which one or two people play on one PC. Think of social networking sites where you can meet people, interact with them, or even do business through an avatar of yourself which you create. To play, participants launch Second Life's software on their personal computers, log in, and then use their mouse and keyboard to roam endless landscapes and cityscapes, chat with friends, create virtual homes on plots of imaginary land, and conduct real business with real money. There is no joining fee and the software is also free, but additional necessities like customized clothes, a place to live, and others all come with a price to pay. At first, you might think, whats the point? Theres not much of a goal, theres no plot. For a complete beginner or outsider, Second Life, or any other virtual platform game out there, might seem like just

another gaming fad. But wait until you hear the amount of actual money being transacted in this game. In 2009, the company said that Second Life Residents had transacted the equivalent of more than USD 1 billion with each other, with nearly USD 50 million each month in user-to-user transaction, making it the the largest virtual economy in the industry. It seems like this game gives people a clean slate for them to start another life, a second life, as whomever they want. The population growth of Second Life and the real money involved has lured big real-life corporations to set up stores, or even an island, in Second Life. American Apparel has a virtual shop selling jumpers and t-shirts to comfort residents, as the Second Life players prefer to be called. Toyota built an in-world dealership and driving track to let residents test drive their latest cars. Second Life, is in fact, a second universe, where people from the real world actually live, build houses, buy clothes, watch concerts (held by real artists); and use real money exchanged to the Second Life currency, Linden Dollars. There is no slowing down this digital playground. Its growth is exponentially exploding in line with how fast the technology is getting, and how much time and money people are willing to spend on it, which is a lot. Its a bountiful world to be discovered, but just be very careful not to get carried away and find yourself caught in a new breed of addiction, or worse, social or bodily malnourishment!

Sustainable Seafood: How Choosing your Dinner Can Save the Marine Biodiversity By: Diana Tri Wulandari Published in Now! Jakarta February 2012 Word count: 801 words

(intro) Life began in the oceans, and continues to thrive in its diverse habitats. With as many as 100 million species - from the largest animal on Earth, the blue whale, to the tiniest bacteria - marine biodiversity far outweighs that on land. And new species are being discovered all the time. (body) In 2008, according to the World Wildlife Fund, the worlds seafood consumption reached 143 million metric tons. This amount of consumption related directly to how much seafood production in the world. The more people consume, the more fishing and catching happened at every single waters area in the World. More than 70 percent of the worlds commercial marine fish stocks are either fully exploited or overfished. The existing threat is real. About 80 percent of the worlds seafood production occurs in developing countries, Including Indonesia. The challenge is to break the commodity trap that holds on to a principal: produce seafood as much as possible, as quickly as possible, and as cheaply as possible. This may be achieved through changing the system from within and build a new system for example, value based economy, fishing certification or development of a new financing mechanism from the banking sector. All of which aimed to create sustainability of marine resources for the prosperity of human beings. We need to take action. Unsustainable fishing practices and habitat destruction are threatening many fisheries with worldwide collapse. At the same time, some fisheries remain healthy and productive due to successful management, responsible harvesting, and advanced fishing practices. By selecting wisely when enjoying seafood, we can help to ensure that our fisheries remain sustainable and the marine ecosystem remains healthy. To know which seafood is safe to consume, we will need to trace back the seafood we consume to how it was gathered. Capture fishery refers to all kinds of harvesting of naturally occurring living resources in both marine and freshwater environments, with the aid of fish-capturing tools. The tools used have various impacts towards the habitat and population of marine life/marine bio-diversity. On a broad level, capture fisheries can be classified as industrial, small-scale and recreational Responsible capture tools are the ones that are selective; do not generate by-catch or incidental capture of non-target species, do not capture endangered marine species nor juvenile fish, and do not damage the marine habitat. Based on those principals, the World Wildlife Fund categorizes capturing tools in three main categories: tools with damaging impact which includes the use of trawl, purse seine, gillnet and long-line; tools with medium impact which includes the use of lift net and fish trap; and minimal impact methods which include hand line and hand pick fishing.

The more favoured methods of aquaculture or aqua farming is defined by World Wildlife Foundation as all fish farming methods that abide to the environmentally friendly principals, which includes the cultivation of aquatic organism with eggs obtained from hatchery process and not from the wild, without using prohibited chemicals and without the conversion of protected habitats. Intensive aquaculture is farming with high amount of eggs dissemination, also with high amount of fodder dispersion. The WWF Indonesia Sustainable Seafood campaign focuses on advocating consumers to be more careful in consuming the 4 primary species; tuna (including skipjack), grouper, snapper, and shrimp and also fishing practices that endanger secondary species which mostly are found as by catch fishing practices like turtle, shark, dugong, whale, rays, etc. Here is a list of species found in Indonesian waters, classified by the ones that are safe to consume, advised to be reduced, and should be avoided altogether. To Avoid - abalonies [3] - coconut crab [2] - dolphins [2] - dugong [1] - giant clam [1] - grouper [2,3] - lobster [2] - manta ray [2] - napoleon wrasse [2,3] - sun fish/mola-mola [2] - sharks, all products [2] - triton [2,3] - trochus [3] - turtle egg [1] - turtle [1] - whale shark [2] - blue fin tuna [2] To Reduce - emperor/scavenger[3] - fish egg [3] - flounder [3] - yellow tail [3] - crab [3] - marlin [4] - octopus [2,3] - rabbit fish [3] - sea cucumber [3] - sweetlips [3] - trigger fish [3] - big eye tuna [2] - yellow fin tuna [2] - sea horse [3] - sword fish [4] - shrimp [3] - rays [3] - snapper [3] - butana [3] Safe - anchovies - barracuda - mahi-mahi - eastern little tuna - marine catfish - milk fish - pomfret - rainbow runners - sardines - scads - skipjack tuna - little mackerel - spanish mackerel - squid - albacore tuna - trevally - jelly fish

Codes: 1=legally protected species; 2=low fecundity and vulnerable to over-fishing; 3=capture techniques threaten habitat integrity; 4=health hazard due to potential ciguatera or metal bioaccumulation. WWF-Canon / Cat HOLLOWAY Sources : www.panda.org www.wwf.or.id/seafoodguide