Bully – In the Real Life

Bullying is the act of intentionally causing harm to others, through verbal harassment, physical assault, or other more subtle methods of coercion such as manipulation. Bullying can be defined in many different ways. Although the UK currently has no legal definition of bullying, some US states have laws against it. Bullying is usually done to coerce others by fear or threat.

Bullying in school and the workplace is also referred to as peer abuse.

In colloquial speech, bullying often describes a form of harassment perpetrated by an abuser who possesses more physical and/or social power and dominance than the victim. The victim of bullying is sometimes referred to as a target. The harassment can be verbal, physical and/or emotional. Sometimes bullies will pick on people bigger or smaller than their size. Bullies hurt people verbally and physically because they themselves have been the victim of bullying, (e.g. a bullying child who is abused at home, or bullying adults who are abused by their colleagues).

Many programs have been started to prevent bullying at schools with promotional speakers. Bullying consists of two types – verbal and physical.

Norwegian researcher Dan Olweus defines bullying as when a person is “exposed, repeatedly and over time, to negative actions on the part of one or more other persons.” He defines negative action as “when a person intentionally inflicts injury or discomfort upon another person, through physical contact, through words or in other ways.“

Bullying can occur in any setting where human beings interact with each other. This includes school, religious community, the workplace, home and neighborhoods. It is even a common push factor in migration. Bullying can exist between social groups, social classes and even between countries (see Jingoism).

Bullying is an act of repeated aggressive behavior in order to intentionally hurt another person, physically or mentally. Bullying is characterized by an individual behaving in a certain way to gain power over another person (Besag, 1989). Behaviors may include name calling, verbal or written abuse, exclusion from activities, exclusion from social situations, physical abuse, or coercion (Carey, 2003; Whitted & Dupper, 2005). Bullies may behave this way to be perceived as popular or tough or to get attention. They may bully out of jealousy or be acting out because they themselves are bullied (Crothers & Levinson, 2004).

USA National Center for Education Statistics suggests that bullying can be broken into two categories: Direct bullying, and indirect bullying which is also known as social aggression.

Ross states that direct bullying involves a great deal of physical aggression such as shoving and poking, throwing things, slapping, choking, punching and kicking, beating, stabbing, pulling hair, scratching, biting, scraping and pinching.

He also suggests that social aggression or indirect bullying is characterized by threatening the victim into social isolation. This isolation is achieved through a wide variety of techniques, including spreading gossip, refusing to socialize with the victim, bullying other people who wish to socialize with the victim, and criticizing the victim’s manner of dress and other socially-significant markers (including the victim’s race, religion, disability, etc). Ross (1998) outlines other forms of indirect bullying which are more subtle and more likely to be verbal, such as name calling, the silent treatment, arguing others into submission, manipulation, gossip/ false gossip, lies, rumors/ false rumors, staring, giggling, laughing at the victim, saying certain words that trigger a reaction from a past event, and mocking. Children’s charity Act Against Bullying was set up in 2003 to help children who were victims of this type of bullying by researching and publishing coping skills.

Effects

The effects of bullying can be serious and even fatal. Mona O’Moore Ph. D of the Anti-Bullying Centre, Trinity College Dublin, said, “There is a growing body of research which indicates that individuals, whether child or adult who are persistently subjected to abusive behavior are at risk of stress related illness which can sometimes lead to suicide”.

Victims of bullying can suffer from long term emotional and behavioral problems. Bullying can cause loneliness, depression, anxiety, lead to low self-esteem and increased susceptibility to illness.

School bullying

In schools, bullying usually occurs in all areas of school. It can occur in nearly any part in or around the school building, though it more often occurs in PE, recess, hallways, bathrooms, on school buses and waiting for buses, classes that require group work and/or after school activities. Bullying in school sometimes consists of a group of students taking advantage of, or isolating one student in particular and gaining the loyalty of bystanders who want to avoid becoming the next victim. These bullies will taunt and tease their target before physically bullying the target. Targets of bullying in school are often pupils who are considered strange or different by their peers to begin with, making the situation harder for them to deal with. Some children bully because they have been isolated, and they have a deep need for belonging, but they do not possess the social skills to effectively keep friends “When you’re miserable, you need something more miserable than yourself.” This may explain the negative actions towards others that bullies exhibit. However, just like with adults, there are also those who simply enjoy hurting other people.

Bullying can also be perpetrated by teachers and the school system itself: there is an inherent power differential in the system that can easily predispose to subtle or covert abuse, humiliation, or exclusion – even while maintaining overt commitments to anti-bullying policies.^[

School shootings receive an enormous amount of media attention. The children who perpetrate these shootings sometimes claim that they were victims of bullying and that they resorted to violence only after the school administration repeatedly failed to intervene. In many of these cases, the victims of the shooters sued both the shooters’ families and the schools.

Some suggest these rare but horrific events have led schools to try harder to discourage bullying, with programs designed to teach students cooperation, as well as training peer moderators in intervention and dispute resolution techniques, as a form of peer support.

American victims and their families have legal recourse, such as suing a school or teacher for failure to adequately supervise, racial or gender discrimination, or other civil rights violations. Special education students who are victimized may sue a school or school board under the ADA or Section 504.

Workplace bullying

According to the Workplace Bullying and Trauma Institute workplace bullying is “repeated, health-harming mistreatment, verbal abuse, or conduct which is threatening, humiliating, intimidating, or sabotage that interferes with work or some combination of the three.” Statistics show that bullying is 3 times as prevalent as illegal discrimination and at least 1,600 times as prevalent as workplace violence. Statistics also show that while only one employee in every 10,000 becomes a victim of workplace violence, one in six experiences bullying at work. Bullying is a little more common than sexual harassment but not verbal abuse which occurs more than bullying.

Unlike the more physical form of schoolyard bullying, workplace bullying often takes place within the established rules and policies of the organization and society. Such actions are not necessarily illegal and may not even be against the firm’s regulations; however, the damage to the targeted employee and to workplace morale is obvious.

Particularly when perpetrated by a group, workplace bullying is sometimes known as mobbing.

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Shisha and its side effects

Urdu: حقہ hukka) or shisha (Arabic: شيشة‎, Hebrew: נרגילה, Nargilah‎),(Persian: قلیان Ghelyan) or (Turkish: nargile) is a single or multi-stemmed (often glass-based) water pipe device for smoking. Originating in India, it has gained popularity, especially in the Arab World.^[1][2] It had gained popularity under the reign of the Ottoman Dynasty. A hookah operates by water filtration and indirect heat. It can be used for smoking herbal fruits.

Depending on locality and supply, hookahs may be referred to by many other names (often of Arab, Indian, Turkish, Uzbek, or Persian origin). Arghile or Nargila is the name most commonly used in Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, Jordan, Israel, Albania, Kosovo, Greece, Turkey, Armenia, Palestine, Bulgaria and Romania, though the initial “n” is often dropped in Arabic. “Narghile” is from the Persian word “nārgil” or “coconut”, from Sanskrit nārikela (नारिकेल)–as the original hookahs were made out of coconut shells.^[3] Shisha (شيشة) is from the Persian word shishe (شیشه, literally translated as glass and not bottle), and is primarily used for water pipes in Egypt and the Arab countries of the Persian Gulf (such as Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, UAE, and Saudi Arabia) as well as Morocco, Tunisia, Somalia and Yemen. In Iran it is called ghalyun (غلیون), ghālyun (قالیون), or ghalyān (قلیان) and in India and Pakistan it is referred to as huqqa (हुक्का /حقہ). The more colloquial terms “hubble-bubble” and “hubbly-bubbly” may be used in the region surrounding the red sea.

Health risks

Today’s media sometimes suggests that hookah sessions are more threatening to a person’s health than smoking cigarettes.

Research shows that each hookah session typically lasts from 20 – 80 minutes and consists of 50 – 200 puffs which range from 0.15 – 1 liter per puff . This exposes the hookah smoker to considerably more smoke over a longer time period compared with a cigarette which ranges from 0.5 – 0.6 liters per cigarette. While the water absorbs some of the nicotine in the tobacco smoke, the smoker can be exposed to enough nicotine to cause addiction . Furthermore, the water moisture induced by the hookah makes the smoke less irritating and may give a false sense of security and reduce concerns about true health effects .

Other research shows that a 45 minute session of hookah tobacco smoking (tobacco molasses) delivers slightly more tar and carbon monoxide (around 5-10%) than a pack of cigarettes. This study has, however, come under criticism for using unrealistically high temperatures for the tobacco (600-650 degrees C) and using arbitrary figures for tar filtration rates. This could possibly have skewed results, as the carcinogenic and toxin levels of smoke increases dramatically with temperature (Wynder 1958). Common practice is to keep temperatures to degrees which do not “char” the hookah; that is within a temperature range of 100-150 C. (Chaouachi K: Patologie associate all’uso del narghile). The effects of these lower temperatures on tar are inconclusive, though Chaouachi indicates the tar would be less harmful.

Some hookah tobaccos claim to contain 0.0% Tar, but this is misleading due to the fact that tar is created when tobacco burns. However, when smoking a hookah the tobacco is heated rather than burned. More research is needed to determine the exact amount of tar produced in a session before the burning of the tobacco.

The World Health Organization Study Group on Tobacco Product Regulation (TobReg) presented an advisory note in 2005 on waterpipe (hookah) tobacco smoking  and concluded that “waterpipe smoking is associated with many of the same health risks as cigarette smoking, and may, in fact, involve some unique health risks” and recommends that “waterpipes and waterpipe tobacco should be subjected to the same regulation as cigarettes and other tobacco products.” However, Kamal Chaouachi, a French researcher who has been studying hookah usage and effects throughout the world since 1997, has criticized the WHO advisory note in a report and a book.

Some research has suggested that the use of the hookah may have less comparative cancer risks, though such studies are not conclusive (Hoffman, Rakower, Salem 1983 and 90, Gupta Dheeraj 2001, Tandon 1995, Lubin 1992, Hazelton 2001, Stirling 1979). The levels of carbon monoxide produced during a hookah session varies widely depending on the type of coal used. Japanese charcoals are thought to produce lower amounts of carbon monoxide. However there is a notable difference in areas of carbon monoxide absorption, in that while cigarettes have a notable effect on the small respiratory tracts rather, shisha smoking mostly affects the major airways (Bakir 1991, Kiter). This means a lessened FEV vs FEV1/FVC ratio compared to cigarettes, which is believed to be less harmful for the airways long-term though it may lead to general hoarseness.

The level of impact on a smoker’s health is linked to the set-up and components of the hookah as well. A hookah only utilizing the basic components listed above is believe to have much harsher health consequences than one setup properly and with various safety devices installed: Since the tobacco in a hookah is roasted as opposed to burned, the density and temperature of the tobacco is paramount to ensure a safer quality of smoke (Wynder 1958). Distancing somewhat the coal from the tobacco and placing a perforated thermal cover (not to be confused with a wind cover) over the bowl will reduce tar output. Using a Heba diffuser around the downstem in the water basin may provide a slightly greater amount of filtration, however a properly conducted study is needed to validate these claims. The use of a nicotine filter at some stage of the smoke cycle, preferably in the hose, may reduce health risks, but once again a properly conducted study is needed to validate these claims.

Hookahs can also be smoked with tobacco-free herbal flavors. These contain Sugar Cane Bagasse with no tobacco, nicotine or tar. This new method of smoking is aimed at replacing tobacco and thus eliminating its negative health effects. There have been few studies to show the impact of smoking herbal flavors in Shisha pipes.

Many articles suggest that there is simply not enough research to provide answers to determine the effects of hookah smoking. Research is under way by Fogarty International Center-funded Syrian Center for Tobacco Studies, Egyptian Smoking Prevention Research Institute, Research for International Tobacco Control-funded Tobacco Prevention and Control Research Group at the American University of Beirut, Lebanon.

The archaic form of this latter Indian name hookah is most commonly used in English for historical reasons, as it was in India that large numbers of English-speakers first sampled the effects of the water pipe. William Hickey wrote in his Memoirs that shortly after his arrival in Kolkata, India in 1775:

“

The most highly-dressed and splendid hookah was prepared for me. I tried it, but did not like it. As after several trials I still found it disagreeable, I with much gravity requested to know whether it was indispensably necessary that I should become a smoker, which was answered with equal gravity, ‘Undoubtedly it is, for you might as well be out of the world as out of the fashion. Here everybody uses a hookah, and it is impossible to get on without’…..[I] have frequently heard men declare they would much rather be deprived of their dinner than their hookah.

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Amazing Views ( Ginza – Tokyo )

The Big Apple of Asia, that is the most appropriate nickname for this place, starting from hotels, department stores, restaurants, comic-book stores, pachinko, underground-station, kabuki theater, naked theater, house of naked women, internet-cafe, toy-stores, and many things are all in this place.

Modern Ginza began in 1872 when, after a devastating fire, the district was rebuilt with two- and three-story Georgian brick buildings designed by the Irish born architect Thomas Waters along with a shopping promenade on the street from the Shinbashi bridge to the Kyōbashi bridge in the southwestern part of Chūō Ward. Most of these European-style buildings are gone, but some older buildings are still there, most famously the Wako building with its clock tower.

Amazing Views ( Burgemeester Oudlaan – Rotterdam )

Nothing special about this, I made this picture, for remembering me, that ” I WILL BECOME ONE OF THE FRESHMAN OF IBEB 2008 / 2009 !! “

Corporate History

Background

Two themes have dominated the evolution of SPSS Inc. as a company:

• SPSS technology has made difficult analytical tasks easier through advances in usability and data access, enabling more people to benefit from the use of quantitative techniques in making decisions; and
• The company’s domain expertise has centered on analyzing data about people their opinions, attitudes, and behavior.

The Company’s mission to “drive the widespread use of data in decision-making” derives directly from these two themes. The company’s success has been based upon its ability to demonstrate the very real benefits that the use of SPSS technology provides. Underlying this ability is the collective conviction that analyzing data, and incorporating the results into the decision-making process, leads to better decisions.

The origins of SPSS

In 1968, Norman H. Nie, C. Hadlai (Tex) Hull and Dale H. Bent, three young men from disparate professional backgrounds, developed a software system based on the idea of using statistics to turn raw data into information essential to decision-making. These three innovators were pioneers in their field, visionaries who recognized early that data and how you analyze it is the driving force behind sound decision-making—the DNA of intelligence.

This revolutionary statistical software system was called SPSS, which stood for the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences. Nie, Hull and Bent developed SPSS out of the need to quickly analyze volumes of social science data gathered through various methods of research. The initial work on SPSS was done at Stanford University with the intention to make it available only for local consumption and not international distribution. Nie, a social scientist and Stanford doctoral candidate, represented the target audience and set the requirements; Bent, a Stanford University doctoral candidate in operations research, had the analysis expertise and designed the SPSS system file structure; and Hull, who had recently graduated from Stanford with a master of business administration degree, programmed.

As is typical of creations born of necessity, SPSS quickly caught on at universities throughout America and was soon in demand. It also became apparent to the developers of SPSS that they had more on their hands than an effective, efficient method of analyzing data; they had a viable product. In addition to their academic work, they now needed to consider pricing, shipping and other issues of commerce. They made sure that tapes of source code were sent to a small, but enthusiastic, user community, and continually maintained and enhanced SPSS.

After graduate school in 1969, Nie joined the University of Chicago’s National Opinion Research Center. The University of Chicago considered SPSS an important intellectual property and encouraged Nie’s continuing development of the software system. Nie was successful in recruiting Hull to join him at the University of Chicago by encouraging him to take a position as the head of the university’s Computation Center. Bent, a Canadian, decided not to join Nie and Hull in Chicago, and returned to Canada where he had an academic appointment at the University of Alberta. With Nie and Hull juggling both their academic and SPSS responsibilities, they continued to work diligently spreading the word and market appeal of SPSS.

The early success of SPSS was directly related to the quality and availability of the documentation that accompanied the software. McGraw-Hill published the first SPSS user’s manual in 1970. Once the manual was available in college bookstores, demand for the program took off. Nie, Bent, and Hull received a royalty from sales of the manual but nothing from distribution of the program. In Nie’s words, “It was like Gillette selling razors at cost and getting its profits from the blades.”

With the sales of SPSS growing rapidly, the IRS determined in 1971 that SPSS was a small software company, which threatened the non-profit status of the University of Chicago within which SPSS had been housed. In 1975, SPSS incorporated and the two founders, Nie and Hull, neither of whom ever dreamed of running their own business, became the new company’s executives. In spite of having no venture capital or financial backing, these two entrepreneurs secured for SPSS universal control of the academic marketplace due to the fact that SPSS was, and is, a portable code that enabled academic institutions to port it to most of the large mainframe computer systems, which included Control Data 6000 series, Burroughs large systems, Univac 1108, GE (subsequently Honeywell) large systems, Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC) large systems. SPSS also quickly became useful to the government and commercial markets. NASA began using SPSS for mean time between part failure on the space shuttle in the mid-1970s, and the National Forest Service used the software for incidences of injuries and bear encounters throughout the national parks system. Consumer products companies like Procter & Gamble and Anheuser-Busch also realized the value of SPSS in analyzing marketing research data.

Another factor contributing to the growth of the Company in the 1970s was Nie’s, Hull’s and their employees’ effectiveness in understanding their customer base and staying ahead of the technology curve. In the mid-1980s they introduced the first mainframe statistical package to appear on a personal computer. The organization was first again in 1992 with the release of statistical products for the Microsoft Windows® personal computer operating system. SPSS Inc.’s reputation for thought leadership and innovators continued to grow with the onset of the Internet and the dawn of the Information Economy.

In 1992, Nie felt that it was time to turn over the day-to-day management of the Company to new leadership. Jack Noonan was appointed SPSS Inc.’s president and chief executive officer, and Nie continued as chairman of the board. Hull remained on the development side of the business where he is still currently involved in the development of SPSS and other key technologies. Many of the original employees of the company still remain employees of SPSS Inc.

Under Noonan’s leadership SPSS Inc. continued to flourish by keeping in touch with its customers’ needs and staying abreast of technological advances. The Company strengthened its leadership in the analytical marketplace through acquisitions that expanded the depth and breadth of its analytical offerings. Acquisitions included the addition of technologies such as data mining, a business intelligence suite for the IBM® eServer iSeries, Web analytics, sophisticated analytical components, a Web interface for online analytical processing (OLAP) technology and text mining. These technologies were introduced by SPSS Inc. to better capitalize on the expanding need for understanding ever-increasing volumes of data, and to support the company’s mission to drive the widespread use of data in decision-making.

Over its thirty-seven year history, SPSS Inc. has evolved into an international corporation that delivers analytical tools and solutions to organizations around the globe. While customers and their industries vary, they share a common need to gather insight from the analysis of data. The Company’s analytical technology from its early beginnings has enabled organizations to learn from the past, understand what is happening today and anticipate the future in order to manage it effectively.

Company Timeline

There have been five stages of growth in the institutional history of SPSS:

1968-1975: “SPSS becomes a product,” when the technology was first developed and grew on its own as an academic enterprise. SPSS founders, Norman H. Nie, C. Hadlai (Tex) Hull and Dale H. Bent, distribute tapes of source code to a small, but enthusiastic, user community, while maintenance and enhancement was done by the original authors.

1975-1984: “SPSS becomes a corporation.” The Company is separately incorporated when its revenues threatened the non-profit status of its original hosting institution, the National Opinion Research Center at the University of Chicago. During this start-up phase, the business was organized and a number of development initiatives were undertaken.

1984-1992: “The age of the PC, ” with the Company growing from $18m to $38m on the strength of the market-leading statistical analysis system for PC DOS. SPSS was the first to market with a statistical software product on PC DOS.

1992-1996: “The age of Windows,” with the Company shipping the first Windows version of a statistical software package in 1992. This version drove revenues to $84m by 1996. The business was focused on statistical products, and the acquisition strategy complemented this direction by bringing in other statistical products companies, such as SYSTAT (1994) and Jandel (1996).

1997-2002: “The transition to the enterprise.” This period has been the age of growth by acquisition and the rise of analytic applications as a complement to the core statistical products business. The Company grew from $110m in 1997 to a projected $209m in 2002 through the acquisitions of Quantime (market research application software), ISL (data mining software), ShowCase (business intelligence software for the middle market), NetGenesis (analytical application for Web data), LexiQuest (text mining software), and netExs (a Web interface for OLAP technology).

2003: Predictive analytics is successfully established as a market segment. SPSS played a thought-leadership role in the emergence during 2003 of predictive analytics as an important, distinct segment within the broader business intelligence software sector. Predictive analytics complements and enhances other information technologies. Organizations that employ predictive analytics not only know what has happened, they also know what is likely to happen next. Most importantly, they know what to do about it by using this knowledge to increase revenue, reduce costs, and improve outcomes. SPSS saw a growing awareness of these benefits among the commercial, public sector, and academic organizations its serves. To enhance it focus on predictive analytics, SPSS acquired Dutch-based DataDistilleries, a provider of predictive analytic applications in November of 2003.

2004: Predictive analytic applications come of age. In 2004, SPSS a ccelerated the introduction of predictive analytics applications, leveraging skills and integrating technologies from recent acquisitions, including DataDistilleries. A new version of PredictiveMarketing was introduced, as well as a new application, PredictiveCallCenter. Additional development work set the stage for additional applications to be introduced in 2005.

Today: SPSS is recognized as a leader in the predictive analytics market space. Predictive analytics, which combines advanced analytics and decision optimization, will continue to be a focus for the organization as it seeks to increase marketplace understanding of the business benefits that predictive analytics provides.

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Amazing Views ( Kyomizu Temple – Kyoto )

This is a buddhist temple located in Eastern Kyoto, now I realized why Kyomizu Temple replaced Borobudur as the new Amazing man-made building. Gosh !! if Borobudur were made from rocks and eggs, Kyomizu Temple were made from woods !

When I arrived there, the local authority was promoting Kyomizu Temple as the new World’s Heritage. So at that time, there were so many local people tried to help to promote Kyomizu Temple.

Amazing Views ( Stamford Bridge – London )

Again, man-made mega-structure building, Stamford Bridge, home of Chelsea Football Club. The club that has just recently made their first final to the Champions League ( I hope they lost against man yoo ).

It was 03.00 PM when I arrived there, by an underground train. But sadly, the stadium was closed ( except the shop ), because Chelsea will have a game to be played at the next two days.

Amazing Views ( Emirates Stadium – London )

I got the chance to see this man-made mega-structure building on last year. It’s nice that I can finally saw a stadium from a Premier-League Club, Arsenal.

Sadly, I can only got chance to see the stadium from outside, and just get to the Arsenal Fan Shop, because the Bad weather, as you can see on above, it was heavily cloudy there.

This is the weapons that have stood since the Highbury era. The stadium has an all-seated capacity of 60,355,  making it the second largest stadium in the Premier League, after Old Trafford, and the third-largest stadium of any kind in London, after Wembley and Twickenham. During the planning and construction stages, it was known as Ashburton Grove before a naming rights deal with the United Arab Emirates’ Based airline, Emirates was struck in October 2004.

Independent fashion moves from margins to mainstream

Clothes may maketh the man, but after glancing down Bandung’s famous clothing strip, I would argue they also make the economy. Today ‘Jeans Street’, or Jalan Ciamplas, is more crowded than ever. But pitching to a youth market, which has a sensitive barometer for what is ‘in’, is not as easy as it might seem.

The mushrooming of distro, or independent fashion outlets, throughout Indonesian metropolitan centres shows that sometimes the best people to satisfy the youth market are young people themselves. But have the original reasons for distro been lost to capitalism and competition?

Collectivism and creativity

Distro is a shortening of the Indonesian word distribusi, or distribution. Generally distro differ from other youth fashion outlets by their links to the independent music industry, the age of those involved, and collective ownership styles.

In 1993, a few die-hard music fans set up a music studio in Bandung known as Reverse. This studio was also one of the first to sell international and local indie (independent) band merchandise including t-shirts, hooded jackets, cassettes and posters. A pioneer distro, Reverse mapped out the format that many independent fashion outlets were to follow.

Distro provide a vehicle for creative collective members to market and disseminate their talents. Promoting artistic licence over profit margins, distro do not source stock from factories. Instead most have their own in-house labels with all goods made in small runs. Originality and scarcity are selling points.

Cooperation marked the birth of distro, and to a certain extent it is still evident today. Lined up alongside the distro’s own merchandise are products made by friends also in the clothing game. Staffing is usually a collegiate arrangement with members working in shifts to keep overheads down. Profits are split in proportion to capital investment in the store.

Distro size and scale is as varied as the size and shape of the wallets behind them. One of the first distro I went to was Bandit. A punk hangout, Bandit was just a glass cabinet covered by a tarpaulin with two rickety benches, right next to a McDonald’s garbage skip. These days most are housed in converted garages or small shop fronts.

Distro are a contrast to Indonesia’s mall epidemic. Multi-level malls are vast expanses of bright and shiny marketing providing the shopper with a clean, air-conditioned opportunity to spend. In comparison, distro are cramped by low ceilings and are filled to the brim with merchandise stocks. Posters and stickers cover all available surfaces. Graffiti scars the walls. In Jakarta, one distro advertises its location with a burnt-out, spray-painted van parked in front of the store.

Underground beginnings

Distro originally developed from the do-it-yourself ethic of the underground music community. However, they soon evolved into a forum for exchanging news about developments in the music scene.

In the early nineties, before the internet was easily accessible, dedicated fans could only gain information from overseas through mail order. As a result, underground music news had very limited circulation. I remember the frustration when a much-awaited newsletter would be sent wayward in Indonesia’s temperamental postal system. Distro filled this void by providing a central point where information and music could be swapped and shared.

In this embryonic stage, political aspirations were rarely expressed overtly. The repressive nature of Suharto’s New Order government meant that rebellious, anti-establishment political views were best whispered, rather than yelled.

Amid the popular discontent of 1997, however, the group behind Riotic Distro broadened discussion to include politics. Riotic was the first Bandung distro to become a hub for political agitation within the punk subculture. Its publications sub-division, Riotic Papers, produced Submissive Riot, the first Bandung zine to debate social and political issues instead of purely music. Submissive Riot was followed by the equally political Harder, published by Harder distro. The Counter-Culture Collective also agitated for change, using distro networks to propagate anarchistic literature.

At the peak of the radical punk movement in Bandung between 1999 and 2000, distro served as the spot for midnight meetings to plan demonstrations and rallies as radical punks formed the aggressive frontline of demonstrations about human rights, workers rights, food subsidies and other issues. The placement of distro on main thoroughfares kept them away from neighbourhood surveillance and the control of urban village officials.

Going mainstream

In 2003, however, distro underwent a rapid shift. One of Bandung’s clothing and accessories distro, 347, exploded onto the fashion scene. Wearing the 347 label suddenly became the funkiest trend among Bandung’s fashion conscious. It was the first time a distro had moved outside its underground niche and captured a mainstream market.

The crew behind 347 were from upper middle-class families and had more capital at their disposal than most of their forerunners. This capital, and a clever combination of marketing, attractive packaging, high quality design, good fabrics and screen printing, was 347’s strength. Very quickly its products matched those of international street and surf wear brands, although without the prohibitive price tag.

Taking millions of rupiah a day, the store soon became well-known throughout Indonesia. 347 has even penetrated markets abroad. Hot on the heels of 347’s success, distro began appearing throughout Indonesia – in Jakarta, Yogyakarta, Malang, Semarang, Surabaya, Bali, Makassar, Medan and Lampung. There are now over 200 distro in Bandung alone.

This success means that distro are no longer hidden from mainstream view. Where once they were a place for underground music sub-cultures and the politically disenfranchised to share ideas away from the scrutiny of society, they now vie for strategic space close to city centres, shopping malls, high schools, and universities. It is not uncommon for a distro to be a popular after-school hangout.

In Bandung, distro are even beginning to out-compete the city’s famous fashion outlets for the youth fashion market. Foreign labels are now being shunned in favour of locally designed and produced clothing and accessories.

Music

Distro über cool is not limited to clothing. What’s ‘in’ is broad in definition and covers everything from clothes and accessories to cassettes, CDs and posters. Any respectable distro offers a selection of all of the above, but with affordable prices that mock the efforts of their large-scale competitors.

Continuing links to the underground music scene mean that these days many of the larger distro have a department that produces music. This scenario provides a means for independent bands to release music, while at the same time avoid the drawbacks of the commercially-orientated recording industry. In an elegant symbiosis, the resulting album is then sold through the distro networks. Key indie labels that have grown from distro include Riotic Records (from Riotic distro) and Flatspils (from 347 distro).

This cooperation can also extend to band merchandise. Bands will request distro to design and sell band t-shirts. In return, band members will wear distro-designed t-shirts during gigs.

Commercial orientation

Yet the increased popularity of distro has resulted in a shift in the orientation of many distro from an ideological one to commercial one. In recent times, entrepreneurially-minded individuals have also set up distro as profit-making enterprises rather than creative collectives. Distro now market their t-shirts, wallets and backpacks to the fashion-conscious. They have also lost the political potency that characterised early distro. Instead of facilitating revolutionary meetings, distro are more likely to use their strategic placement to host Saturday night street-side gatherings.

With increased competition, less flexible and imaginative distro failed. The survivors are more commercially savvy and have learnt the importance of self-promotion. Distro now hand out free items such as stickers, badges, and posters at concerts and gigs. At a recent hip-hop gig in one of Bandung’s sports halls, I became the proud owner of three new key rings, all from newly established distro.

Many distro also advertise in the larger, more widely distributed glossy independent print media publications such as Ripple Mag, Suave, and D!!Side. Some of the larger distro are even sponsoring timeslots on local radio, holding quizzes and hosting local indie bands.

Some elements of the original collective ideology of distro remain, such as information sharing and fostering local music. Many websites are devoted to information and tips on setting up a distro or fashion label. Distro-run forums and blogs (web-based diaries) are used for networking and advertising other distro and labels. Forum members can also post information about gigs and events that their store has organised.

Costs of success

From humble beginnings, distro are making a significant impact on the youth fashion industry. But has this success come at a cost? When 347 first became successful, many of the people behind distro collectives explained to me they felt the distro scene had been ‘sold out’. They felt the original anti-capitalist push behind distro had been betrayed.

Indeed, discussion of fashion, promotion and sales now dominate the conversations held over distro counters, discussions that used to focus on political ideology and mechanisms for social change. Political resistance is almost entirely absent from the distro of today.

Yet despite recent changes to distro and ownership styles, they continue to be created by young people for young people. The design and sale of goods provide a creative outlet for young designers, and allow young shoppers to determine, create and exhibit their take on fashion. They also provide an opportunity for local bands to gain a foothold in the notoriously cutthroat music industry. Distro undoubtedly remain a meaningful place for the creation and direction of Indonesia’s youth culture.

Uttu (satanarchy2001@yahoo.com) is a fervent pop culture aficionado. He runs a distro in Bandung.

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The Simpsons S19E16 – Papa Don’t Leech – Personal Review

Personal Review :

Quite good, even though Lurleen Lumpkin made her comeback, but I just felt, that she didn’t made any big impact to this episode. Overall, it was nice to see Lurleen again, but she’d probably get more laughs in future cameos than in carrying an entire episode.

Rating by me : 7.1 / 10

Plot ( Wikipedia.com )

Lisa tries to sell Girl Scout Cookies to Mayor Quimby, but finds the entire town treasury empty. Quimby explains the city spent their money on a new slogan, “Springfield: Good”. A town meeting is held to inform the town they have to raise money. They try faking a natural disaster in order to get relief money from the government, but are tricked and end up in more debt than before. Lisa then reveals Springfield has millions in uncollected taxes, and Springfield soon starts hitting up its most notorious tax evaders. In a news report, Kent Brockman reveals that all tax evaders have been caught, and the only one remaining is Lurleen Lumpkin, a country music star who was once managed by Homer and fell in love with him . As the city searches for her, Homer finds Lurleen hiding in his car, and learns that after leaving her, her life had spun out of control.

Homer comforts the nerve-wracked Lurleen, who says she has no money. Homer agrees to take her home, but Marge remembers how Lurleen caused a huge rift in her marriage, and demands that she gets out. Angrily driving her away, she discovers that Lurleen lives with the homeless. Marge begins to pity her. Marge reluctantly allows her to stay with the family. As a thank-you, Lurleen cooks a barbecue for the family, and Marge apologizes about the argument earlier. Lurleen forgives her, and the two become friends. Soon, though, Lurleen is found, arrested, and taken to court. Judge Snyder decides to go easy on her, with one exception: Lurleen must find an immediate way to pay off her debt to society. When the trial finishes, she explains how she can’t pay off her taxes because all her money went to her ex-husbands (who all resemble Homer).

Lurleen becomes depressed, and the whole family soon hears Lurleen singing through the vent about her father. Marge realizes that after her father left Lurleen, Lurleen had given up faith in all men. Marge decides to get the two Lumpkins back on a proper parent-child relationship. Scouring Springfield, she finally finds him in the corner of Springfield. Royce Lumpkin left Lurleen because he realized he could never be a great father. He is now deadbeat. Lurleen forgives him for leaving her, however, and she writes a new song to celebrate their reunion. The two appear to have a newfound happiness, and spend a lot of time together. But Royce decides to leave Lurleen again. Soon a new song from The Dixie Chicks goes on the radio, Lurleen’s father is there, and he claims he wrote the song, a clear plagiarism of the song Lurleen wrote for their reunion. She goes to the basement to sulk. Colonel Homer and Marge come to her, and tell her to take control of her destiny. Lurleen tells the Dixie Chicks that her father stole her song and they proceed to hit him with their instruments. Lurleen becomes the new opening act for the Dixie Chicks. She has a new husband (who has a resemblance to Homer), and Marge threatens her against ever returning.

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