A zoological garden, shortened to zoo, is an institution in which living animals are exhibited in captivity. In addition to their status as tourist attractions and recreational facilities, modern zoos may engage in captive breeding programs, conservation study, and educational outreach. Zoos are a subject of controversy stemming from many sources, including the quality of life of the animals they exhibit, and the perceived necessity or purpose of exhibiting captive animals at all. Zoos are frequently criticized by animal rights groups. ^[1]

Collections of wild animals existed already in the ancient civilizations of Mesopotamia, Egypt, and China. In medieval Europe some monarchs, monasteries, and municipalities continued to maintain collections of wild animals. The transition from menagerie, a predominantly private collection, to public institution marks the beginning of the modern zoo concept. Collections established during the nineteenth century began calling themselves zoological gardens. Throughout the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, many new zoos and related facilities were founded for very different motives and purposes.

Zoo professionals proclaim demanding aims for their institutions, from educating the public to conservation of biodiversity. Many zoos define their aims as recreation, education, research, and conservation. Animal-rights groups claim that there is a wide gap between these claimed aims and actual practice, and that zoos have commercial and entertainment purposes in mind as well as financial profit.

Types of zoo include urban, open-range, safari, animal theme, roadside, rescue, sanctuary, petting, and specialized. The most traditional form of maintaining wild animals in captivity is keeping them in cages constructed of concrete or metal, in aviaries, or fenced paddocks. Most zoological gardens incorporated within international umbrella organizations are led by professionals such as zoologists or veterinarians.

Animals are a major group of multicellular, eukaryotic organisms of the kingdom Animalia or Metazoa. Their body plan eventually becomes fixed as they develop, although some undergo a process of metamorphosis later on in their life. Most animals are motile, meaning they can move spontaneously and independently. Animals are also heterotrophs, meaning they must ingest other organisms for sustenance.

Most known animal phyla appeared in the fossil record as marine species during the Cambrian explosion, about 542 million years.

Origin and fossil record

Animals are generally considered to have evolved from a flagellated eukaryote. Their closest known living relatives are the choanoflagellates, collared flagellates that have a morphology similar to the choanocytes of certain sponges. Molecular studies place animals in a supergroup called the opisthokonts, which also include the choanoflagellates, fungi and a few small parasitic protists. The name comes from the posterior location of the flagellum in motile cells, such as most animal spermatozoa, whereas other eukaryotes tend to have anterior flagella.

The first fossils that might represent animals appear towards the end of the Precambrian, around 610 million years ago, and are known as the Ediacaran or Vendian biota. These are difficult to relate to later fossils, however. Some may represent precursors of modern phyla, but they may be separate groups, and it is possible they are not really animals at all. Aside from them, most known animal phyla make a more or less simultaneous appearance during the Cambrian period, about 542 million years ago. It is still disputed whether this event, called the Cambrian explosion, represents a rapid divergence between different groups or a change in conditions that made fossilization possible. However some paleontologists and geologists would suggest that animals appeared much earlier than previously thought, possibly even as early as 1 billion years ago. Trace fossils such as tracks and burrows found in Tonian era strata in India indicate the presence of triploblastic worm like metazoans roughly as large (about 5 mm wide) and complex as earthworms.^[7] In addition during the beginning of the Tonian period around 1 billion years ago (roughly the same time that the trace fossils previously discussed in this article date back to) there was a decrease in Stromatolite diversity which may indicate the appearance of grazing animals during this time as Stromatolites also increased in diversity shortly after the end-Ordovician and end-Permian rendered large amounts of grazing marine animals extinct and decreased shortly after their populations recovered. However some other scientists doubt that these fossils are authentic and have suggested these trace fossils are just the result of natural processes such as erosion.

In motorsport, road racing is racing held on public roads, as opposed to at a race track or off-road racing. Different types of event exist, in both automobile racing and motorcycle racing.

Types of road courses.

A small portion of these automobile race tracks are called temporary street courses.

Of the former, closed circuit type, purpose-built race tracks are used that, due to their irregular shapes and many turns and curves, resemble true road courses. Due to safety and insurance concerns, this style of racing has largely supplanted true road racing, particularly in Europe. Road racing is also occasionally conducted using the infield and oval portions of tracks making a “roval“, such as the 24 Hours of Daytona. Road racing has become a featured part of many racing video games.

Global road courses

Global road-racing series such as Formula One car racing and MotoGP motorcycle racing are almost always conducted on dedicated race tracks—with only a few exceptions. Several of these tracks are world-renowned, such as the circuits at Le Mans, Imola, and Silverstone. Recent expansion of these international series has resulted in dedicated tracks being built in Qatar in the Middle East, Sepang in Malaysia, and Shanghai in China.

 North American road courses

There was a long tradition of road racing on real streets in United States. Now the most famous American road courses are all purpose-built, but some where the original tradition evolved include: Riverside International Raceway at Riverside, California (now closed); Watkins Glen International at Watkins Glen, New York; Road America at Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin; and Infineon Raceway at Sonoma, California. After a few decades of such events three sons of Barron Collier—Barron, Miles, and Samuel—founded the Automobile Racing Club of America in 1933. That organization became the Sports Car Club of America in 1944. Throughout its history, American race car drivers such as Briggs Cunningham, Lake Underwood, Carroll Shelby, and Mark Donohue were among the contestants at these road racing events.

American purpose-built road courses include: Moroso Motorsports Park, Barber Motorsports Park, Miller Motorsports Park, Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, Heartland Park Topeka, Lime Rock Park, Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca, Road Atlanta, Portland International Raceway, and Virginia International Raceway. Additionally, Grand Prix-style road course racing over public streets is making something of a comeback; the most famous race of this sort currently held is the one hosted annually in Long Beach, California. Other famous street circuits in North America include events held in St. Petersburg, Florida, and two in Canada that were cancelled in 2008 due to the merger of Champ Car and the Indy Racing League, Vancouver, British Columbia, and Toronto, Ontario; a third, in Toronto will return in 2009 as a replacement for Nashville, Tennessee. Airport runways figure into several part-time road courses in North America: Burke Lakefront Airport in Cleveland, Ohio hosted a Champ Car race through 2007; however, the 2008 merger with IndyCar ended that for at least one year; the St. Petersburg course uses the runway of Albert Whitted Airport as its main straight, and Sebring International Raceway, home of the prestigious 12-hour race in March, was formerly a military airfield in Sebring, Florida, also Edmonton, Alberta is on the runways of Edmonton City Centre Airport.

Pemanasan Global ternyata telah memaksa semua bidang industri untuk berpikir keras untuk mengusahakan penanganannya, tanpa terkecuali bidang Teknologi. Hal ini dikarenakan oleh parahnya dampak kerusakan yang ditimbulkannya bagi ekosistem dan kelangsungan kehidupan manusia secara luas.

Menurut penelitian Intergovermental Panel and Climate Change (IPCC), sebuah lembaga internasional beranggotakan lebih dari 100 negara yang diprakarsai PBB, pada tahun 2005 telah terjadi peningkatan suhu di dunia sekitar 0,6 hingga 0,7 derajat, sedangkan di Asia lebih tinggi lagi, yaitu 10 derajat. Hal ini berdampak pada melelehnya Gleser (Gunung Es) di Himalaya dan Kutub Selatan serta berkurangnya ketersediaan air di daerah-daerah tropis sebanyak 20% hingga 30%. Melelehnya Gleser di Himalaya dan Kutub Selatan sendiri berdampak secara langsung pada peningkatan permukaan air laut setinggi 4-6 meter. Jika hal ini terus menerus dibiarkan maka pada tahun 2012 air laut akan mengalami kenaikan lagi sekitar 7 meter. Dengan begitu otomatis ekosistem dan kehidupan di daerah pesisir dan kepulauan akan terancam punah.

Sedangkan perubahan secara umum yang dirasakan dunia saat ini adalah semakin panjangnya musim panas dan semakin pendeknya musim hujan. Hal ini tentu saja sangat berbahaya bagi kelangsungan hidup dunia secara luas.

Berangkat dari keprihatinan inilah berbagai bidang industri kini mau tidak mau harus memikirkan langkah penanganan pemanasan global ini. Dimulai dari pengurangan emisi gas buang dari sektor industri dan transportasi yang selama ini dituding sebagai salah satu kontributor utama pemanasan global, hingga penciptaan teknologi yang ramah lingkungan untuk berbagai produk mulai dari alat transportasi hingga berbagai perlengkapan elektronik dan komputer yang ramah lingkungan pun mulai dibuat.

Bidang industri Teknologi Informasi walaupun tidak terkait secara langsung pemanasan global seperti halnya bidang pertanian dan lingkungan hidup, namun harus mampu menghadirkan teknologi yang mendukung penanggulangan global warming atau pemanasan global ini. Hal ini disebabkan karena pada berbagai bidang usaha yang ada di dunia saat ini, teknologi informasi telah menjadi tulang punggung bergeraknya industri yang ada. Mulai dari mesin-mesin di pabrik yang mempergunakan mikrokomputer hingga proses komputasi di perkantoran yang juga mempergunakan komputer. Secara tidak langsung hal-hal tersebut di atas telah menunjukkan bahwa bidang IT telah banyak menyedot penggunaan energi dunia secara luas,

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Barack Obama

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Barack Obama Akhirnya Jadi Presiden AS Kulit Hitam Pertama /KompasTV

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Rabu, 5 November 2008 | 11:05 WIB

WASHINGTON,RABU-Calon presiden partai Demokrat Barack Obama mencetak sejarah menjadi presiden kulit hitam pertama AS, Selasa (4/11) waktu setempat atau Rabu (5/11) waktu Indonesia.

Kunci kemenangan Obama  atas John McCain dari partai Republik adalah menguasai sejumlah negara bagian yang menjadi medan pertempuran termasuk di  Ohio dan Pennsylvania. Selama ini tidak pernah ada presiden dari Republik yang kalah di Ohio.

Menurut perhitungan sementara kantor berita AS Associated Press, Obama memastikan kemenangan dengan perolehan sementara 349 electoral votes. Itu jauh melebihi 270 electoral votes yang dibutuhkan untuk memenangkan pemilu AS.

Sementara itu, McCain baru meraih 147 electoral votes berkat keunggulan di negara-negara bagian yang biasa dimenangkan Republik. Termasuk Texas, wilayah South, Midwest, dan kawasan Rocky Mountain.

Sebagai perbandingan, George W Bush memenangkan kursi presiden dua kali namun tidak pernah meraih lebih 286 electoral votes.

Hingga sore hari ini waktu Indonesia, tiga negara bagian belum diketahui perhitungan suaranya. Yakni Georgia, Missouri, dan North Carolina. Semua negara bagian itu dimenangkan Bush pada 2004.
   
Electoral college terdiri atas 538 orang dari 50 negara bagian yang komposisinya sesuai jumlah perwakilan negara bagian di Kongres AS (435 anggota DPR AS/House of Representatives dan 100 anggota Senat). Untuk menjadi presiden AS, para kandidat harus mengumpulkan setidaknya 270 electoral vote.

Setengah jam setelah memastikan kemenangan atas John McCain, Barack Obama dan istrinya, Michelle, melangkah ke atas panggung. Mereka menggandeng kedua putrinya di tengah gemuruh sorak-sorai pendukungnya di Grant Park, Chicago.

Presiden kulit hitam pertama AS itupun menyampaikan pidato kemenangan. Ia menegaskan bahwa segalanya mungkin terjadi di AS. Dan ia telah membuktikannya.

“Jika masih ada orang di luar sana meragukan bahwa Amerika adalah tempat di mana semua hal mungkin; yang  masih mempertanyakan kekuatan demokrasi Amerika, malam ini adalah jawaban Anda,” kata Obama.

Sementara itu John McCain mengakui kekalahannya atas Obama. Ia mengatakan Demokrat mendapatkan “sesuatu luara biasa” dengan kemenangan bersejarah Obama, Selasa (4/11) waktu setempat atau Rabu (5/11) siang.

McCain yang didampingi istrinya, Cindy, dan calon wakil presiden Sarah Palin menyerukan para pendukungnya untuk mengakui kekalahan dan tetap berjuang bagi kemajuan AS.

Berpidato dari Arizona Biltmore Hotel di Phoenix, McCain mengatakan kepada pendukungnya :”Wajar malam ini merasa kecewa. Tetapi kami merasakan hanya sebentar, kegagalan ini adalah milikku, bukan milik Anda.”

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