Mereka dikenal karena otaknya genius, temuannya yang berpengaruh pada dunia. Selain itu mereka juga populer karena nyentrik, agak gila, dan penuh kontroversi. Siapa sajakah mereka? Berikut 10 ilmuwan paling gila menurut LiveScience.com
1. Albert Einstein
Parodi kartun dan komik tentang Einstein banyak dibuat hingga masa kini. Mulai dari rambutnya yang amburadul atau ekspresi wajahnya yang dibuat “melet” atau teorinya sekalipun. Tak bisa dibantah penemu teori relativitas ini sudah jadi selebriti dunia sains. Namanya bahkan identik dengan kata genius dan gila itu sendiri.
2. Leonardo da Vinci
Menyusul popularitas Einstein adalah Leonardo da Vinci. Novel Da Vinci Code, tokoh komik, isu bahwa ia gay adalah bukti bahwa seniman dan ilmuwan Italia ini memang sangat terkenal. Ia juga diketahui sangat nyentrik. Peninggalannya berupa tumpukan buku sketsa, aneka aplikasi teknologi, mesin, tetap abadi sepanjang masa.
3. Nikola Tesla
Kalau yang ini, namanya sempat dikenal sebagai sebuah kelompok musik rock. Sebenarnya sesuai, sebab penemu radio nirkabel dan generator AC inilah yang memulai era elektrik di akhir abad ke-19 dan awal abad 20. Tesla dianggap gila sebab berani mendemonstrasikan bagaimana ia memakai tubuhnya sebagai konduktor listrik.
4. James Lovelock
Dikenal sebagai ilmuwan berwawasan lingkungan dan penemu hipotesa Gaia. Konsep perubahan iklim yang kini diributkan banyak orang sudah diusungnya sejak beberapa dekade silam. Lelaki kelahiran 1919 ini pernah memprediksikan bahwa tahun 2100 akan terjadi kematian massal terhadap 80 persen umat manusia. Wow! Akan terbukti jugakah?
5. Jack Parsons
Jack Parsons dikenal sebagai salah satu pendiri Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Tapi sesungguhnya ia juga sibuk berlatih sulap dan menyebut dirinya Antikris. Ia tidak pernah mengenyam pendidikan formal tapi mampu mengembangkan bahan bakar roket dan sukses mengantarkan Amerika Serikat ke angkasa pada Perang Dunia II. Tragisnya, Parsons menembak dirinya sendiri sampai mati di laboratoriumnya tahun 1952.
6. Richard Feynman
Ia adalah bagian dari tim genius pengembang bom atom. Feynman menjadi salah satu ilmuwan terpenting di akhir abad ke-20. Selain dikenal sebagai profesor, ia juga suka mengeksplorasi musik, alam dan mempelajari hiroglif suku Maya.
7. Freeman Dyson
Tahun 1960, Dyson menelurkan ide bahwa di masa depan manusia harus mendesain cangkang buatan yang dinamakan Dyson Sphere. Cangkang ini akan mengelilingi sistem tata surya dan menggunakan energi matahari secara maksimum. Saat itu ia dianggap sebagai pemimpi fiksi ilmiah. Ia juga yakin adanya kehidupan di planet lain. Menurutnya manusia akan berinteraksi dengan mahluk angkasa luar dalam beberapa dekade mendatang.
8. Robert Oppenheimer
Dijuluki sebagai bapak bom atom, lelaki kelahiran 1904 ini juga memiliki pandangan politik sosialis. Ia punya ketertarikan khusus pada kultur Hindu dan bahasa Sansekerta dan Belanda. Oppie, begitu pangilan akrabnya, senang mengutip kitab Bhagavad Gita.
9. Wernher von Braun
Di usia 12 tahun, Braun meledakkan gudang mainannya dengan kembang api. Dari situlah muncul ide mengembangkan roket. Akhirnya ia ditunjuk sebagai pempimpin program roket oleh Hitler. Ternyata ia juga meminati eksplorasi bulan dan antariksa. Di sela waktu luangnya Braun juga senang membaca filsafat dan sesekali bermain scuba diving.
10. Johann Konrad Dippel
Lahir dan besar di kastil Frankenstein, Jerman, Dippel dikenal sebagai penemu bahan kimia sintetis bernama Prussian Blue. Ia mengklaim pernah menciptakan cairan hidup abadi. Kabarnya, percobaannya itu terinspirasi oleh karakter yangs esuai dengan nama kastil tempat ia lahir, Franskenstein.
About Me
Kamis, 18 September 2008
10 Ilmuwan Paling Gila di Muka Bumi
Jumat, 12 September 2008
Situs Terbaik dan Terburuk Versi Majalah Times
Menurut Majalah Times tahun 2008, terdapat 25 situs yang dinilai penting dan berguna dalam kehidupan manusia. 1. amazon.com Sementara menurut Majalah Time terdapat beberapa situs yang dinilai buruk atau jelek atau tidak berguna. Lima Website Terburuk : Sumber : beritaNet.com
Messenger, juga portal Yahoo! Answers yang unik dan mampu menampung lebih dari 130 juta pertanyaan untuk dicarikan jawabannya.
Dua puluh lima Website Terbaik :
2. bbc.co.uk
3. citysearch.com
4. craigslist.org
5. del.icio.us
6. digg.com
7. ebay.com
8. espn.com
9. facebook.com
10. factcheck.org
11. flickr.com
12. google.com
13. howstuffworks.com
14. imdb.com
15. youtube.com
16. kayak.com
17. nationalgeographic.com
18. netflix.com
19. technorati.com
20. tmz.com
21. usa.gov
22. televisionwithoutpity.com
23. webmd.com
24. wikipedia.org
25. yahoo.com
Myspace.com, situs jejaring social yang hampir mirip dengan Friendster ini tak mampu mengumpulkan 20 ribu pengguna internet di seluruh dunia untuk membuat blog, baik tulisan, foto dan video. Selain itu, MySpace juga dipenuhi dengan identitas palsu dari anggotanya yang kemudian mengirimkan virus atau promosi produk daripada mencari teman.
1. eharmony.com
2. evite.com
3. meez.com
4. myspace.com
5. secondlife.com
Senin, 08 September 2008
10 Most Expensive Foods
With the world in the grip of an international food crisis, supermarket prices increasing weekly and the cost of a Pot Noodle at an all-time high it seemed like a good time to take a somewhat tasteless (pun intended) look at the world’s most expensive foods. While people across the globe struggle to feed their families, many of these luxurious foodstuffs are most likely to be found piled high on a sliver spoon and stuffed into the yapping holes beneath the snooty noses of the world’s wealthiest gourmands. Put another way – if you want to make an omelette with the following ingredients you’ll probably need to remortgage your house, I’m not sure it would taste too good though! (Note: the prices below are attempted approximations based on data from a broad range of web sources; if you can find a more accurate price, or any other expensive foods, then let us know!) 10. Fugu Fish So, potentially containing a poison (tetrodotoxin) 1,200 times more lethal than cyanide with no known antidote, it might not be the most expensive food on the list, but it is the only one that may cost you the ultimate price… (I should add that deaths resulting from incorrectly-prepared fugu are very rare). 9. Jamón Ibérico de Bellota 8. Matsutake Mushrooms In keeping with the country’s reverence for ancient customs, some reportsattribute Japan’s affection for the matsutake to its respect for tradition rather than the mushroom’s flavour, which is said to be rather bland. 7. Kopi Luwak Coffee For those of you who haven’t tried a “crappuccino”, as some jokers have dubbed it, you may not only be sceptical as to the culinary merits of an excreted coffee bean, but moreover, its level of hygiene. However, a scientific study carried out in 2002 verified the coffee’s quality; the lead researcher confirmed that tests revealed “the Kopi Luwak beans had negligible amounts of enteric (pathogenic) organisms associated with faeces”. Funny, that’s exactly how I like my coffee: milk, no sugar and negligible amounts of faeces… 6. Kobe Beef The criteria for 100% authentic Kobe beef is very strict: the meat must come from the black Tajimi-ushi breed of Wagyu cattle, born, raised and slaughtered in the Hyōgo Prefecture region of Japan (in which lies the city of Kobe). According to tradition the cows are fed a special diet and are brushed and massaged regularly. Rumours abound when it comes to the cows’ special treatment - many refer to them being fed beer and being rubbed with sake (Japanese rice wine). However, these are generally dismissed as popular myths. The near-mythological status of Kobe beef has lead to an industry of imitators. Nowadays, cheaper “Kobe-style” steaks from cross-bred domestic cattle are readily available in steakhouses and butchers throughout the West. According to experts these approximations should not be considered authentic Kobe and pale in comparison to the real thing. 5. Saffron Today, saffron’s characteristic vibrant yellow-orange colour and strong aromatic flavour is evident in a wide range of international recipes from Spanish Paella and French Bouillabaisse to Indian Biryani dishes. In terms of price, there have been periods when Saffron has been worth more than its weight in gold. This high price comes from the flower’s exacting growing conditions and labour intensive harvesting process – a consequence of the huge number of flowers needed to produce the spice –around 150,000 per kilogram (68,000 per pound). 4. Bird’s Nest Soup Known as the ‘Caviar of the East’, these valuable nests are actually made of hardened strands of the birds’ unique glue-like saliva – that’s right, spit soup. As you would expect, harvesting the nests of these cave-dwelling creatures is a tricky job, albeit one that has been refined over around 400 years. The birds nests come in a variety of colours and though all are prized for their culinary, nutritional, medicinal and even aphrodisiacal properties the rarer, and more expensive, ‘blood-red’ nests are prized most of all. 3. White Truffles Of all the types of truffle, the white truffle is held in the highest esteem due to its intense flavour, rich aroma and aforementioned scarcity. The highest price ever paid for a truffle was in December 2007 when a 1.5kg (3.3lb) white truffle sold for $330,000 (£165,000). It was, however, sold at a charity auction; therefore the huge price tag is not a reflection of the average market price. 2. Almas Caviar According to London’s Caviar House & Prunier in 2003, where 1kg of Almas in a 24-karat gold tin will apparently set you back £25,000 ($47,500), the increasing demand for this rare delicacy meant that buyers of Almas were put on a four-year waiting list. Still, I suppose it gives them a chance to get saving. 1. Gold As one of nature’s edible metals gold, like iron, is safe to eat in relatively small amounts. According to EdibleGold.com, “Gold is an inert metal that simply passes through the intestinal system. Edible Gold will pass out of the body after about 24 hours unchanged without causing any harm or reaction on the body”. After which, I presume, the lavatory becomes the recipient of the world’s most expensive crap.
Price per kilo: £70-£160 ($125-$300)
Price per pound: £30-70 ($55-$135)
Fugu, an ancient Japanese food, is highly revered and served in a heavily ritualised manner. But as Homer Simpson is well aware, this innocuous-sounding delicacy has a deadly aspect. Made from the meat of particularly poisonous pufferfish (or blowfish, pictured above), just one of which contains enough poison to kill 30 people, it probably comes as no surprise that, if prepared incorrectly, an unlucky diner is likely to experience nausea, vomiting, paralysis and eventually death by asphyxiation.
Price per kilo: £100-£210 ($185-$395)
Price per pound: £45-£95 ($85-$180)
Jamón ibérico de bellota (which translates as Iberian acorn ham) is the world’s most expensive pig product. The highest grade of Spanish jamón ibérico meat, jamón ibérico de bellota comes from the Black Iberian Pig breed which is raised free-range among the forests along the Spanish-Portuguese border and eats only acorns. This luxury ham has only been available to buy in the US and UK since 2007 but now has a steady supply both sides of the Atlantic.
Price per kilo: £105-£1,050 ($200- $2,000)
Price per pound: £50-£480 ($90-$905)
The matsutake mushroom (Tricholoma matsutake) has been highly-valued in Japan for centuries. Also known as mattake, this large fungus is primarily found on particular types of pine tree in areas of Japan, Korea and China (although they are also grown around the world and exported to Japan to satisfy the voracious demand).
Price per kilo: £140-£700 ($265-$1325)
Price per pound: £65-£315 ($120-$600)
Here’s a weird one. Kopi Luwak, also known as civet coffee, is the world’s most expensive coffee. Produced primarily in Indonesia, what sets this bean apart from your average Gold Blend is that the coffee berries are eaten by the wildAsian Palm Civet (a small feral cat-like mammal, pictured above), excreted undigested and then harvested from their droppings. Apparently, the animal’s stomach acids cause an enzymatic process that imbues the bean with a complex and unique flavour.
Price per kilo: £295-£410 ($550-$770)
Price per pound: £130-£190 ($250-£350)
For meat lovers Kobe beef is the holy grail of steaks. In Japan a meal consisting of this legendary meat, prized for its rich flavour, tenderness and heavy marbling of fat will set you back around ¥13000 (£65/$130).
Price per kilo: £580-£5,800 ($1,100-$11,000)
Price per pound: £265-£2,650 ($500-$5,000)
Saffron is undisputedly the most valuable spice in the world. Derived from the saffron crocus (Crocivus sativus) which is believed to have originated in Greece, it has been cultivated for over 3,000 years for culinary and medicinal uses and gets a mention in many classical writings including the Bible and Shakespeare.
Price per kilo: £1,000-£5,000 ($2,000-£10,000)
Price per pound: £455-£2,270 ($910-$4,535)
When it comes to strange culinary delicacies, China’s Bird’s Nest Soup is right up there with monkey brains and haggis. The birds whose homes make up the soup’s main ingredient are a handful of swift species, particularly the White-nest Swiflet and the Black-nest Swiftlet.
Price per Kilo: £1,600-£5,000 ($3,000-$9,350)
Price per pound: £725-£2,250 ($1360-$4,200)
The elusive white, or Alba, truffle (Tuber magnatum) has stubbornly evaded attempts at domestication and cultivation. Therefore, the only sources of these precious fungi are to be found underground on the roots of certain tree species in particular regions of Italy and Croatia. Since they are notoriously difficult to find truffle-hunters are traditionally aided in their task by pigs, as the truffle’s aroma resembles that of a porcine sex hormone (although dogs are also used).
Price per Kilo: £10,000-£18,000 ($18,500-$34,200)
Price per Pound: £4,500-£8,165 ($8,400-$15,500)
If you want to flash your cash, nothing says “opulent decadence” quite like a bowl of shiny black fish eggs. For those in the know, however, it is the pale amber eggs of the Iranian Almas caviar that are the ultimate in conspicuous culinary crowing.
Price per kilo: £17,000-£60,000 ($33,000-$110,000)
Price per pound: £8,000-£27,000 ($15,000-$50,000)
Known in the food industry as additive E175, to the rest of us it’s just plain old gold – officially the world’s most expensive foodstuff. Prized for its, erm, flavourless taste and, erm, golden colour it is used primarily in the form of small quantities of 23K gold leaf or flakes as decoration for ludicrously lavish and pricey dishes and food products (see the DeLafée website for some ridiculous, gaudy examples).
