Micro Post; Hermit Crab

Hermit crab walk on the beach.

Hermit Crab is very unique because it is a creature that resembles a crab but require home (usually empty snail shells) which will be taken here and there to protect the soft parts of their body.

Although resembling crab, hermit crab has its own species and consists of the 1100 species known. Although hermit crabs usually use snail shells to serve as 'home' for their protection, there is also a hermit crab using stones or empty timber as cover material.

Hermit crab body is too soft and become an easy prey for predators.

Hermit crabs inhabit the ocean at various depths, whether on the beach, or even in the shallow waters or deeper. In the tropics there are hermit crabs that live on land (as well as species of land crab and coconut crab). It is nevertheless going into the sea to lay their eggs and hatch their eggs. Besides, most of the hermit crab is out at night to find food.

The biggest problem for a hermit crab is when it’s getting bigger; it needs to get bigger shells to enable it to be comfortable. The narrow shells will cause stunted growth and the possibility of losing their very precious shelter. You may be surprised to see a competition between a hermit crab to grab the empty shells to be used as a shelter. This competition may cause a hermit crab kill each other.

Hermit crab with sea anemones.

For some larger species, the security measures are also using sea anemones to scare other predators. This is because sea anemones have poisonous tentacles that could have resulted in the deaths of these predators.  Sea anemones will benefit from a hermit crab food waste as one of the rewards of this partnership.

To give you a clearer picture about the fierce competition in the life of a hermit crab to get protection (shell), you may watch the video below for a better understanding.

Unique location in Leshan China - Giant Buddha

Giant Buddha statue in Leshan, China.

As always proposed by MyRokan the places of interests to be visited are locations that provide values such as educational, motivation, cultures, and histories and so on. Although today we are making better progress in technology than people before us, but their determination to do something give us something to think about. That is why the remains of these monuments, still admired us to this day.

This time we will see another exciting remnant of a giant Buddha statue in Leshan, China. Sculpture that reaches a height of up to 71 meters (233 ft.) Is not built with ease but it took a very long time and have a sketched of histories. Indeed it is one of the most important places to visit and was listed as part of the "World Heritage Site" by UNESCO since 1996.

The history of its construction began in 713 led by a monk called Hai Tong, the construction of the Buddha statue that is expected to reduce the strong currents of the river flowing underneath. These jetted danger to ships using the route. His efforts, however, suffered a setback when the provision of the construction of the giant statue is not successful. Hai Tong said gouges his eyes as a sign of sacrifice to complete the statue. When he died, the construction work has been abandoned. Only 70 years later, his effort was refinanced again by jiedushi and construction projects were passed by the followers of Hai Tong in the year 803.

View from above.

Going down the stairs to the foot of the Giant Buddha.

View from the bottom.

Construction of the statue caused huge amount of rock and dirt to be thrown into the river in front of the statue which is also a clash of 3 rivers of the Minjiang, Dadu and Qingyi makes it current calmer.

This giant statue is actually equipped with unique irrigation / drainage systems to avoid the effects of erosion from flowing rain water. The system still works to this day.

During the process of carving the statue, a 13-storey wood building built to protect it from rain and hot sun. This construction, however, destroyed by the Mongols during the war at the end of the Yuan Dynasty. So starting from that the statue was exposed as seen today.

Water flows in the river during the low season.

View of the Giant Buddha from the river cruise.

Picture from National Geographic.

Sure it is among some large constructions people interesting to watch. Although it may be a religious symbol for some people, but for others it became a symbol of determination, persistence, determination and confidence to do something. For those who like to visit here, the closest town to this location is Chengdu with a distance of less than 150 km.

7 Wonders Of The World

Machu Picchu has many unique features and wonders.

Wonders of the world are often questioned because it is the pride of civilization and even to the people in that particular country. There is no definitive list of the 7 wonders of the worlds, because it is based on the lists issued by various groups based on different criteria.

The first listing of 7 wonders of the world was done by Herodatus (484 - ca. 425 BCE), and the scholar Callimachus of Cyrene (ca 305-240 BC) at the Museum of Alexandria, their original texts unable to be saved but still remains as important reference.

The first listings of 7 wonders are;

• Great Pyramid of Giza
• Hanging gardens of Babylon
• Statue of Zeus at Olympia
• Temple of Artemis at Ephesus
• Mausoleum of Halicarnassus
• Colossus of Rhodes
• Lighthouse of Alexandria

Cairo Citadel sebagai antara 7 pilihan klasik.

Out of this list only one that still remains to this day is the 'Great Pyramid of Giza’. And from this list, new listings made by various parties, various times and on various criteria.

Among these listings the popular objects come from the medieval era that still exist until today where the things still can be seen (or evidence of its history is still stored properly). The list is as follows;

• Stonehenge
• Colosseum
• Catacombs of Kom el Shoqafa
• Great Wall of China
• Porcelain Tower of Nanjing
• Hagia Sophia
• Leaning Tower of Pisa

Other list includes: -

• Taj Mahal
• Cairo Citadel
• Ely Cathedral
• Cluny Abbey

This list last longer, but the listing criteria is unclear because it is not organized by any professional body. The question is whether the definition of wonders about all of these objects?

In addition, there’s a listing of wonders objects in the construction of the 20th century has also been issued by the American Society of Engineers to showcase modern constructions. In this list of wonders, objects that listed are as follows;

• Channel Tunnel
• CN Tower
• Empire State Building
• Golden Gate Bridge
• Itaipu Dam
• Delta Works, Netherlands
• Panama Canal

While in 2001, an effort undertaken for new listings ‘wonders of the world’ was runs by a body known as the Swiss New7Wonders Foundation to choose from a list of 200 nominated objects, from this list, 21 of which are listed to the final stage were announced on January 1, 2006. The list of winners was announced on 7 July 2007 in Lisbon, Portugal.

Petra, Jordan is absolutely unique.

The list is as follows;

• Great Wall of China, China
• Petra, Jordan
• Christ the Redeemer, Brazil
• Machu Picchu, Peru
• Chichen Itza, Mexico
• Colosseum, Italy
• Taj Mahal, India

** Great Pyramid of Giza, Egypt (honor candidate)

List New7 wonders of the world.

In the method listing this time it is done by public vote via the web and sms. Many countries do vote campaign in their respective countries for several months through the media and so on. So this method will favor only those countries that have more population!

Following on from that, there are again some 7 listings of other things by various parties covering various ranges of subjects. Listings of 7 objects became the current trends and it is easier to get people’s attention.

Great Wall of China, still remains in the New7 wonders of the world.

So ‘7 wonder of the world’, is not a list that is adequate to represent wonders objects in the world. This is because there are lots of marvelous objects, old or new construction with various values not only in terms of construction, the function and also the technologies used during its construction. Then it should be given a wider scope to ensure that the main purposes of the listing.

While recognizing objects of ‘wonders of world’ the more important list to know is the list of 'World Heritage' as issued by UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) in identifying cultural heritage or natural areas that have value to human civilization. These lists are important because it can give you lots of useful information.

So it is up to you to make a judgment about the 7 things of wonders as it may be different for each individual.

Kirikane, Japanese Fine Art Made of Gold

Kehalusan seni "Kirikane" diterapkan pada pinggan kaca ini.

Kirikane (截金), the Japanese art using thin sheet of gold pieces that are rarely heard. This art brought from outside of Alexandria is said to come as part of ancient Egypt around the 3rd century BC. But this art in Japan was brought from China as part of Buddhist art decorations for statues and paintings.

Maybe you have not heard about it because in Japan this art is re-introduced since Kirikane got less attention previously. Kirikane art is not easy to master by everyone because it is not only uses materials such as gold, silver and platinum, but the pieces of precious metals that are used are very thin and difficult to handle without skill and patience.

This art was brought to Japan from China during the Tang Dynasty (618-907) and examples can still be seen to this day such as Tamamushino Zushi at Horyuji Temple. This art is very popular around the 11th century up to 14. It was then almost disappeared due to the lack of decoration of Buddhist art in Japan.

Best applied Kirikane techniques.

Ball container with Kirikane.

Akane Yamamoto expressing Kirikane through art glass.

Today this art is given a new style, although some still retained its original art on a small scale. Through the efforts of activists of the new generation of Japanese art, Kirikane been used for larger media covers wider range of decorations. Among the famous Kirikane artists is Akane Yamamoto, one of successful artist who bring back Kirikane globally with "Kirikane Glass" she'd produced.

Although Akane using new media in the production of "Kirikane Glass" design, she still displays the characteristics of original Kirikane through traditional pieces of sheet metal that is used, it is the fine shapes of lines, diamonds, triangles, squares and geometric as on the classic Kirikane. Anyway, with the use of glass, Akane highlights this art through deeper dimension.

Beside her, the other artists are also using Kirikane according to their inclination for this art can be used with various media. Just Kirikane art has a distinctive shape that can be observed easily through the piece of sheet metal that it’s used.

The classical usage of Kirikane in Buddhist Art.

It can also be used on many other items.

Wooden box decorated with Kirikane.

This art needs to be done with high accuracy as the precious metal pieces used very thin. It requires very careful handling to ensure that the work done to produce a final result as desired.

• Usually two types of metal sheets used in the decoration consist of gold, silver and platinum. These plates have to undergo a heating process (with its own technique) to attach to one another to increase thickness.
• These pieces will be cut using a bamboo knife (metal blade cannot be used) over cutting board that covered with buckskin - to produce a good cutting.
• It subsequently attached using adhesive (from seaweed, funori and ' hide glue ', Mikawa) on items to be decorated with Kirikane.

  

Looking at the results of the Kirikane, then you will definitely agree that it should be preserved as a legacy for the next generation. Although it is less known compared to other Japanese cultural arts, but it has a very high value in describing the cultural wealth of Japan and this telling us that every art in every culture too are just as precious as Kirikane and need to be preserved.