Something's Not Right

Setelah sekian lama tak menulis di blog ni, aku tergerak pulak nak menulis sedikit sebanyak perkara yang berlaku sepanjang beberapa minggu ini. baru – baru ini aku di approach oleh seorang awek yang aku dah kenal lama. Aku memang suka sangat dengan awek ni sejak dulu lagi. Dan aku pernah propose kat dia beberapa tahun dulu. Cuma mungkin jodoh takde aku kawin dengan org lain dan dia pun dah kawin dengan org lain. Dia mengaku kat aku bahawa dia masih sayangkan aku. Of course aku pun ada perasaan yang sama. Aku pun tak taulah. Bila difikirkan lagi lama aku duduk kat pejabat ni macam2 benda tak elok boleh berlaku. Walaupun aku bukan lelaki yang baik, aku sedang cuba sedaya upaya aku untuk menjadi lebih baik dari sebelum ini. tapi kalau godaan macam ini terus datang macam mana agaknya. Ni belum masuk lagi godaan dari faktor2 lain. Niat jahat aku sekarang ialah nak buat hubungan sulit dengan bini org ni. Apalah aku ni. Entahlah.

Pemalas!!!!!

Another boring Monday. Aku sememangnya telah sampai ke tahap pemalas nak mampus. Semalam aku jumpa sorang member aku yang bekerja di sebuah company lain milik Conglomerate ini. Dia bercerita tentang sorang lagi kawan aku yang bertugas di sebuah jabatan yang menguruskan perniagaan Conglomerate di luar negara. Mamat ni cakap kawan aku tu ambik cuti tanpa gaji kerana nak join wife dia kat belgium. Dan yang paling mengejutkan aku, budak2 kat jabatan ni masih tak naik pangkat lagi. Aku dah lama naik dan merasa gaji baru tapi diorang masih pada gred lama. Kesian pulak aku fikirkan tapi nak buat macam mana. Dah memang kalau masuk department tu memang lambat naikler.
Seterusnya cerita tentang aku pulak. Aku pun makin lama makin pemalas. Dah lah pagi ni aku malas nak bangun pergi keje, ni dah sampai pejabat aku kene rancang dan laksanakan kerja 2 aku. Terutama sekali program latihan yang aku rancang dalam minggu ni. Aku memang seorang yang amat pemalas. Aku dahlah tak minat dengan post baru ni. Aku rindukan zaman aku ketika bertugas di seksyen yang takde keje sebelum ini. walaupun kene kutuk dengan semua orang pun aku tak kisah kerana aku happy. Happy takde keje. Happy kerana aku boleh menggunakan resources yang ada kat pejabat untuk membuat kajian yang takde kaitan dengan Company yang aku keje sekarang. Wahahahahahahahahaha!!!!!!!

The Analyst

Masalah betul bila hidup dalam alam impian.Wakakakakaka! Baru – baru ni aku tengok citer Sum Of All Fear dalam tv. Sememangnya karakter Dr. Jack Ryan memang menjadi kerjaya impian aku. Aku dah lama berangan nak jadi analyst bagi agensi perisikan dan pada masa yang sama sekali sekala menjalankan covert ops. Hehehehehehe!
Sejak aku kenal tulisan Tom Clancy aku dah baca banyak jugak buku dia, termasuk siri Ops Center dan Rainbow Six. Aku sememangnya dilahirkan untuk dunia espionage dan ketenteraan. Tapi mungkin rezeki aku belum sampai lagi.
Aku kene berusaha dengan lebih gigih lagi untuk buat dan siapkan Master dan Ph.D aku. Mungkin lepas tu baru aku ada peluang.
Aku dah makin malas nak buat keje aku sekarang. Banyak masa aku kat opis dihabiskan dengan membaca paper dan jurnal berkaitan national security dan international politics. Hmmmmmmmmm!

Hari Isnin Yang Mandom

Alahai susahnya nak cari idea nak menulis dalam blog ni. Kalau aku tulis cerita blue senang sikit. Banyak input aku sekarang ni. Hari ini aku sekali lagi kene bagi taklimat kepada sekumpulan budak2 baru yang masuk kerja tentang tugas dan peranan unit aku. Bukannya ada apa yang diceritakan pun. Aku cuba buat time check dan aku dapati aku Cuma last for half an hour. Memang short and sharp punya taklimat. Arrrgghhh gasaklah janji aku bagi taklimat. Lagipun sememangnya unit aku pun bukan banyak sangat kerja pun.

Ada Hasil Ke Takde Hasil????

Setelah sekian lama berhempas pulas, barulah aku selesaikan analisa data dari semua program promosi yang telah aku jalankan. Aku akan menggunakan perisian asas excel untuk generate graf dan charts agar report aku nanti nampak macam telah disediakan dengan begitu bijak padahal kerja yang aku lakukan itu mungkin tidak akan dihargai oleh sesiapa pun.
Aku dah tak kisah recognition dari sesape pun. Aku akan buat paperwork atas dasar untuk menampakkan hasil kerja aku. Sama ada paperwork itu diterima atau dibakul sampahkan bukan masalah lagi. Aku sedang cuba mengikuti jejak seorang Manager di HQ yang sememangnya amat aku hormati. Setiap hari aku dengar dia akan buat kerja. Macam – macam paperwork yang dia sediakan. Sama ada paperwork dia diberi pengiktirafan atau tidak dia tak peduli. Yang dia tau dia dah jalankan kerja dia dengan seberapa baik yang mungkin. Aku harap effort aku ini akan berterusan sampailah aku pencen kelak.

Eureka!

For some people, understanding and learning science (in this term natural science) is a precarious and consuming. I studied natural sciences when I was in high school and University. I may not be a genius or prodigy in the field of science, yet I have proven from time and again that my scientific endavor did manage to create a sense of confidence in my abilities in my current job. I am particularly interested in biology when I was in high school and university so I studied the subject quite extensively. I also tried to accumulate a wide and in depth knowledge in other sciences such as physics, chemistry, and astronomy but my achievements in mathematics seems to be very mediocre. When I decided to pursue scientific studies, my father was not pleased at all and ordered me to change my choice of subject. He said my mathematical skills is inadequate to make me a good scientist. He also projected the idea that scientist and technocrate can’t make much living. It is better to study accounting he said. Thank Allah I didn’t listen to him. I manage to get a degree in science. Eventhough it will be some time before I study science formally, but I’m still self training myself in the field of biology so that maybe some day I’ll get my self a higher degree in biology as a support for my military science masters degree.

The Last Question By Isaac Asimov

This is a short story by one of my favorite sci-fi author, Isaac Asimov. Just for reading pleasure and not intended for anything else. Please also read with caution cause the content might stir a bit of religious issue.

The Last Question by Isaac Asimov

The last question was asked for the first time, half in jest, on May 21, 2061, at a time when humanity first stepped into the light. The question came about as a result of a five dollar bet over highballs, and it happened this way:

Alexander Adell and Bertram Lupov were two of the faithful attendants of Multivac. As well as any human beings could, they knew what lay behind the cold, clicking, flashing face -- miles and miles of face -- of that giant computer. They had at least a vague notion of the general plan of relays and circuits that had long since grown past the point where any single human could possibly have a firm grasp of the whole.

Multivac was self-adjusting and self-correcting. It had to be, for nothing human could adjust and correct it quickly enough or even adequately enough -- so Adell and Lupov attended the monstrous giant only lightly and superficially, yet as well as any men could. They fed it data, adjusted questions to its needs and translated the answers that were issued. Certainly they, and all others like them, were fully entitled to share In the glory that was Multivac's.

For decades, Multivac had helped design the ships and plot the trajectories that enabled man to reach the Moon, Mars, and Venus, but past that, Earth's poor resources could not support the ships. Too much energy was needed for the long trips. Earth exploited its coal and uranium with increasing efficiency, but there was only so much of both.

But slowly Multivac learned enough to answer deeper questions more fundamentally, and on May 14, 2061, what had been theory, became fact.

The energy of the sun was stored, converted, and utilized directly on a planet-wide scale. All Earth turned off its burning coal, its fissioning uranium, and flipped the switch that connected all of it to a small station, one mile in diameter, circling the Earth at half the distance of the Moon. All Earth ran by invisible beams of sunpower.

Seven days had not sufficed to dim the glory of it and Adell and Lupov finally managed to escape from the public function, and to meet in quiet where no one would think of looking for them, in the deserted underground chambers, where portions of the mighty buried body of Multivac showed. Unattended, idling, sorting data with contented lazy clickings, Multivac, too, had earned its vacation and the boys appreciated that. They had no intention, originally, of disturbing it.
They had brought a bottle with them, and their only concern at the moment was to relax in the company of each other and the bottle.

"It's amazing when you think of it," said Adell. His broad face had lines of weariness in it, and he stirred his drink slowly with a glass rod, watching the cubes of ice slur clumsily about. "All the energy we can possibly ever use for free. Enough energy, if we wanted to draw on it, to melt all Earth into a big drop of impure liquid iron, and still never miss the energy so used. All the energy we could ever use, forever and forever and forever."

Lupov cocked his head sideways. He had a trick of doing that when he wanted to be contrary, and he wanted to be contrary now, partly because he had had to carry the ice and glassware. "Not forever," he said.
"Oh, hell, just about forever. Till the sun runs down, Bert."
"That's not forever."
"All right, then. Billions and billions of years. Twenty billion, maybe. Are you satisfied?"
Lupov put his fingers through his thinning hair as though to reassure himself that some was still left and sipped gently at his own drink. "Twenty billion years isn't forever."
"Will, it will last our time, won't it?"
"So would the coal and uranium."
"All right, but now we can hook up each individual spaceship to the Solar Station, and it can go to Pluto and back a million times without ever worrying about fuel. You can't do THAT on coal and uranium. Ask Multivac, if you don't believe me."
"I don't have to ask Multivac. I know that."
"Then stop running down what Multivac's done for us," said Adell, blazing up. "It did all right."
"Who says it didn't? What I say is that a sun won't last forever. That's all I'm saying. We're safe for twenty billion years, but then what?" Lupov pointed a slightly shaky finger at the other. "And don't say we'll switch to another sun."
There was silence for a while. Adell put his glass to his lips only occasionally, and Lupov's eyes slowly closed. They rested.
Then Lupov's eyes snapped open. "You're thinking we'll switch to another sun when ours is done, aren't you?"
"I'm not thinking."
"Sure you are. You're weak on logic, that's the trouble with you. You're like the guy in the story who was caught in a sudden shower and Who ran to a grove of trees and got under one. He wasn't worried, you see, because he figured when one tree got wet through, he would just get under another one."
"I get it," said Adell. "Don't shout. When the sun is done, the other stars will be gone, too."
"Darn right they will," muttered Lupov. "It all had a beginning in the original cosmic explosion, whatever that was, and it'll all have an end when all the stars run down. Some run down faster than others. Hell, the giants won't last a hundred million years. The sun will last twenty billion years and maybe the dwarfs will last a hundred billion for all the good they are. But just give us a trillion years and everything will be dark. Entropy has to increase to maximum, that's all."
"I know all about entropy," said Adell, standing on his dignity.
"The hell you do."
"I know as much as you do."
"Then you know everything's got to run down someday."
"All right. Who says they won't?"
"You did, you poor sap. You said we had all the energy we needed, forever. You said 'forever.'"
"It was Adell's turn to be contrary. "Maybe we can build things up again someday," he said.
"Never."
"Why not? Someday."
"Never."
"Ask Multivac."
"You ask Multivac. I dare you. Five dollars says it can't be done."
"Adell was just drunk enough to try, just sober enough to be able to phrase the necessary symbols and operations into a question which, in words, might have corresponded to this: Will mankind one day without the net expenditure of energy be able to restore the sun to its full youthfulness even after it had died of old age?
Or maybe it could be put more simply like this: How can the net amount of entropy of the universe be massively decreased?
Multivac fell dead and silent. The slow flashing of lights ceased, the distant sounds of clicking relays ended.
Then, just as the frightened technicians felt they could hold their breath no longer, there was a sudden springing to life of the teletype attached to that portion of Multivac. Five words were printed: INSUFFICIENT DATA FOR MEANINGFUL ANSWER.
"No bet," whispered Lupov. They left hurriedly.
By next morning, the two, plagued with throbbing head and cottony mouth, had forgotten about the incident.

Jerrodd, Jerrodine, and Jerrodette I and II watched the starry picture in the visiplate change as the passage through hyperspace was completed in its non-time lapse. At once, the even powdering of stars gave way to the predominance of a single bright marble-disk, centered.
"That's X-23," said Jerrodd confidently. His thin hands clamped tightly behind his back and the knuckles whitened.

The little Jerrodettes, both girls, had experienced the hyperspace passage for the first time in their lives and were self-conscious over the momentary sensation of inside-outness. They buried their giggles and chased one another wildly about their mother, screaming, "We've reached X-23 -- we've reached X-23 -- we've ----"
"Quiet, children," said Jerrodine sharply. "Are you sure, Jerrodd?"
"What is there to be but sure?" asked Jerrodd, glancing up at the bulge of featureless metal just under the ceiling. It ran the length of the room, disappearing through the wall at either end. It was as long as the ship.

Jerrodd scarcely knew a thing about the thick rod of metal except that it was called a Microvac, that one asked it questions if one wished; that if one did not it still had its task of guiding the ship to a preordered destination; of feeding on energies from the various Sub-galactic Power Stations; of computing the equations for the hyperspacial jumps.
Jerrodd and his family had only to wait and live in the comfortable residence quarters of the ship.

Someone had once told Jerrodd that the "ac" at the end of "Microvac" stood for "analog computer" in ancient English, but he was on the edge of forgetting even that.
Jerrodine's eyes were moist as she watched the visiplate. "I can't help it. I feel funny about leaving Earth."

"Why for Pete's sake?" demanded Jerrodd. "We had nothing there. We'll have everything on X-23. You won't be alone. You won't be a pioneer. There are over a million people on the planet already. Good Lord, our great grandchildren will be looking for new worlds because X-23 will be overcrowded."

Then, after a reflective pause, "I tell you, it's a lucky thing the computers worked out interstellar travel the way the race is growing."
"I know, I know," said Jerrodine miserably.
Jerrodette I said promptly, "Our Microvac is the best Microvac in the world."
"I think so, too," said Jerrodd, tousling her hair.
It was a nice feeling to have a Microvac of your own and Jerrodd was glad he was part of his generation and no other. In his father's youth, the only computers had been tremendous machines taking up a hundred square miles of land. There was only one to a planet. Planetary ACs they were called. They had been growing in size steadily for a thousand years and then, all at once, came refinement. In place of transistors had come molecular valves so that even the largest Planetary AC could be put into a space only half the volume of a spaceship.
Jerrodd felt uplifted, as he always did when he thought that his own personal Microvac was many times more complicated than the ancient and primitive Multivac that had first tamed the Sun, and almost as complicated as Earth's Planetary AC (the largest) that had first solved the problem of hyperspatial travel and had made trips to the stars possible.

"So many stars, so many planets," sighed Jerrodine, busy with her own thoughts. "I suppose families will be going out to new planets forever, the way we are now."
"Not forever," said Jerrodd, with a smile. "It will all stop someday, but not for billions of years. Many billions. Even the stars run down, you know. Entropy must increase."
"What's entropy, daddy?" shrilled Jerrodette II.

"Entropy, little sweet, is just a word which means the amount of running-down of the universe. Everything runs down, you know, like your little walkie-talkie robot, remember?"
"Can't you just put in a new power-unit, like with my robot?"

"The stars are the power-units, dear. Once they're gone, there are no more power-units."
Jerrodette I at once set up a howl. "Don't let them, daddy. Don't let the stars run down."
"Now look what you've done, " whispered Jerrodine, exasperated.
"How was I to know it would frighten them?" Jerrodd whispered back.
"Ask the Microvac," wailed Jerrodette I. "Ask him how to turn the stars on again."
"Go ahead," said Jerrodine. "It will quiet them down." (Jerrodette II was beginning to cry, also.)
Jarrodd shrugged. "Now, now, honeys. I'll ask Microvac. Don't worry, he'll tell us."
He asked the Microvac, adding quickly, "Print the answer."
Jerrodd cupped the strip of thin cellufilm and said cheerfully, "See now, the Microvac says it will take care of everything when the time comes so don't worry."
Jerrodine said, "and now children, it's time for bed. We'll be in our new home soon."
Jerrodd read the words on the cellufilm again before destroying it: INSUFFICIENT DATA FOR A MEANINGFUL ANSWER.

He shrugged and looked at the visiplate. X-23 was just ahead.
VJ-23X of Lameth stared into the black depths of the three-dimensional, small-scale map of the Galaxy and said, "Are we ridiculous, I wonder, in being so concerned about the matter?"
MQ-17J of Nicron shook his head. "I think not. You know the Galaxy will be filled in five years at the present rate of expansion."

Both seemed in their early twenties, both were tall and perfectly formed.
"Still," said VJ-23X, "I hesitate to submit a pessimistic report to the Galactic Council."
"I wouldn't consider any other kind of report. Stir them up a bit. We've got to stir them up."
VJ-23X sighed. "Space is infinite. A hundred billion Galaxies are there for the taking. More."
"A hundred billion is not infinite and it's getting less infinite all the time. Consider! Twenty thousand years ago, mankind first solved the problem of utilizing stellar energy, and a few centuries later, interstellar travel became possible. It took mankind a million years to fill one small world and then only fifteen thousand years to fill the rest of the Galaxy. Now the population doubles every ten years --"
VJ-23X interrupted. "We can thank immortality for that."
"Very well. Immortality exists and we have to take it into account. I admit it has its seamy side, this immortality. The Galactic AC has solved many problems for us, but in solving the problems of preventing old age and death, it has undone all its other solutions."
"Yet you wouldn't want to abandon life, I suppose."
"Not at all," snapped MQ-17J, softening it at once to, "Not yet. I'm by no means old enough. How old are you?"
"Two hundred twenty-three. And you?"
"I'm still under two hundred. --But to get back to my point. Population doubles every ten years. Once this Galaxy is filled, we'll have another filled in ten years. Another ten years and we'll have filled two more. Another decade, four more. In a hundred years, we'll have filled a thousand Galaxies. In a thousand years, a million Galaxies. In ten thousand years, the entire known Universe. Then what?"
VJ-23X said, "As a side issue, there's a problem of transportation. I wonder how many sunpower units it will take to move Galaxies of individuals from one Galaxy to the next."
"A very good point. Already, mankind consumes two sunpower units per year."
"Most of it's wasted. After all, our own Galaxy alone pours out a thousand sunpower units a year and we only use two of those."

"Granted, but even with a hundred per cent efficiency, we can only stave off the end. Our energy requirements are going up in geometric progression even faster than our population. We'll run out of energy even sooner than we run out of Galaxies. A good point. A very good point."
"We'll just have to build new stars out of interstellar gas."
"Or out of dissipated heat?" asked MQ-17J, sarcastically.
"There may be some way to reverse entropy. We ought to ask the Galactic AC."
VJ-23X was not really serious, but MQ-17J pulled out his AC-contact from his pocket and placed it on the table before him.

"I've half a mind to," he said. "It's something the human race will have to face someday."
He stared somberly at his small AC-contact. It was only two inches cubed and nothing in itself, but it was connected through hyperspace with the great Galactic AC that served all mankind. Hyperspace considered, it was an integral part of the Galactic AC.
MQ-17J paused to wonder if someday in his immortal life he would get to see the Galactic AC. It was on a little world of its own, a spider webbing of force-beams holding the matter within which surges of sub-mesons took the place of the old clumsy molecular valves. Yet despite it's sub-etheric workings, the Galactic AC was known to be a full thousand feet across.
MQ-17J asked suddenly of his AC-contact, "Can entropy ever be reversed?"
VJ-23X looked startled and said at once, "Oh, say, I didn't really mean to have you ask that."
"Why not?"
"We both know entropy can't be reversed. You can't turn smoke and ash back into a tree."
"Do you have trees on your world?" asked MQ-17J.
The sound of the Galactic AC startled them into silence. Its voice came thin and beautiful out of the small AC-contact on the desk. It said: THERE IS INSUFFICIENT DATA FOR A MEANINGFUL ANSWER.
VJ-23X said, "See!"
The two men thereupon returned to the question of the report they were to make to the Galactic Council.

Zee Prime's mind spanned the new Galaxy with a faint interest in the countless twists of stars that powdered it. He had never seen this one before. Would he ever see them all? So many of them, each with its load of humanity - but a load that was almost a dead weight. More and more, the real essence of men was to be found out here, in space.
Minds, not bodies! The immortal bodies remained back on the planets, in suspension over the eons. Sometimes they roused for material activity but that was growing rarer. Few new individuals were coming into existence to join the incredibly mighty throng, but what matter? There was little room in the Universe for new individuals.
Zee Prime was roused out of his reverie upon coming across the wispy tendrils of another mind.
"I am Zee Prime," said Zee Prime. "And you?"
"I am Dee Sub Wun. Your Galaxy?"
"We call it only the Galaxy. And you?"
"We call ours the same. All men call their Galaxy their Galaxy and nothing more. Why not?"
"True. Since all Galaxies are the same."
"Not all Galaxies. On one particular Galaxy the race of man must have originated. That makes it different."
Zee Prime said, "On which one?"
"I cannot say. The Universal AC would know."
"Shall we ask him? I am suddenly curious."
Zee Prime's perceptions broadened until the Galaxies themselves shrunk and became a new, more diffuse powdering on a much larger background. So many hundreds of billions of them, all with their immortal beings, all carrying their load of intelligences with minds that drifted freely through space. And yet one of them was unique among them all in being the originals Galaxy. One of them had, in its vague and distant past, a period when it was the only Galaxy populated by man.

Zee Prime was consumed with curiosity to see this Galaxy and called, out: "Universal AC! On which Galaxy did mankind originate?"
The Universal AC heard, for on every world and throughout space, it had its receptors ready, and each receptor lead through hyperspace to some unknown point where the Universal AC kept itself aloof.
Zee Prime knew of only one man whose thoughts had penetrated within sensing distance of Universal AC, and he reported only a shining globe, two feet across, difficult to see.
"But how can that be all of Universal AC?" Zee Prime had asked.
"Most of it, " had been the answer, "is in hyperspace. In what form it is there I cannot imagine."
Nor could anyone, for the day had long since passed, Zee Prime knew, when any man had any part of the making of a universal AC. Each Universal AC designed and constructed its successor. Each, during its existence of a million years or more accumulated the necessary data to build a better and more intricate, more capable successor in which its own store of data and individuality would be submerged.
The Universal AC interrupted Zee Prime's wandering thoughts, not with words, but with guidance. Zee Prime's mentality was guided into the dim sea of Galaxies and one in particular enlarged into stars.
A thought came, infinitely distant, but infinitely clear. "THIS IS THE ORIGINAL GALAXY OF MAN."
But it was the same after all, the same as any other, and Zee Prime stifled his disappointment.
Dee Sub Wun, whose mind had accompanied the other, said suddenly, "And Is one of these stars the original star of Man?"
The Universal AC said, "MAN'S ORIGINAL STAR HAS GONE NOVA. IT IS NOW A WHITE DWARF."
"Did the men upon it die?" asked Zee Prime, startled and without thinking.
The Universal AC said, "A NEW WORLD, AS IN SUCH CASES, WAS CONSTRUCTED FOR THEIR PHYSICAL BODIES IN TIME."
"Yes, of course," said Zee Prime, but a sense of loss overwhelmed him even so. His mind released its hold on the original Galaxy of Man, let it spring back and lose itself among the blurred pin points. He never wanted to see it again.
Dee Sub Wun said, "What is wrong?"
"The stars are dying. The original star is dead."
"They must all die. Why not?"
"But when all energy is gone, our bodies will finally die, and you and I with them."
"It will take billions of years."
"I do not wish it to happen even after billions of years. Universal AC! How may stars be kept from dying?"
Dee sub Wun said in amusement, "You're asking how entropy might be reversed in direction."
And the Universal AC answered. "THERE IS AS YET INSUFFICIENT DATA FOR A MEANINGFUL ANSWER."
Zee Prime's thoughts fled back to his own Galaxy. He gave no further thought to Dee Sub Wun, whose body might be waiting on a galaxy a trillion light-years away, or on the star next to Zee Prime's own. It didn't matter.
Unhappily, Zee Prime began collecting interstellar hydrogen out of which to build a small star of his own. If the stars must someday die, at least some could yet be built.
Man considered with himself, for in a way, Man, mentally, was one. He consisted of a trillion, trillion, trillion ageless bodies, each in its place, each resting quiet and incorruptible, each cared for by perfect automatons, equally incorruptible, while the minds of all the bodies freely melted one into the other, indistinguishable.
Man said, "The Universe is dying."
Man looked about at the dimming Galaxies. The giant stars, spendthrifts, were gone long ago, back in the dimmest of the dim far past. Almost all stars were white dwarfs, fading to the end.
New stars had been built of the dust between the stars, some by natural processes, some by Man himself, and those were going, too. White dwarfs might yet be crashed together and of the mighty forces so released, new stars build, but only one star for every thousand white dwarfs destroyed, and those would come to an end, too.
Man said, "Carefully husbanded, as directed by the Cosmic AC, the energy that is even yet left in all the Universe will last for billions of years."
"But even so," said Man, "eventually it will all come to an end. However it may be husbanded, however stretched out, the energy once expended is gone and cannot be restored. Entropy must increase to the maximum."
Man said, "Can entropy not be reversed? Let us ask the Cosmic AC."
The Cosmic AC surrounded them but not in space. Not a fragment of it was in space. It was in hyperspace and made of something that was neither matter nor energy. The question of its size and Nature no longer had meaning to any terms that Man could comprehend.
"Cosmic AC," said Man, "How many entropy be reversed?"
The Cosmic AC said, "THERE IS AS YET INSUFFICIENT DATA FOR A MEANINGFUL ANSWER."
Man said, "Collect additional data."
The Cosmic AC said, "I WILL DO SO. I HAVE BEEN DOING SO FOR A HUNDRED BILLION YEARS. MY PREDECESSORS AND I HAVE BEEN ASKED THIS QUESTION MANY TIMES. ALL THE DATA I HAVE REMAINS INSUFFICIENT."
"Will there come a time," said Man, "when data will be sufficient or is the problem insoluble in all conceivable circumstances?"
The Cosmic AC said, "NO PROBLEM IS INSOLUBLE IN ALL CONCEIVABLE CIRCUMSTANCES."
Man said, "When will you have enough data to answer the question?"
"THERE IS AS YET INSUFFICIENT DATA FOR A MEANINGFUL ANSWER."
"Will you keep working on it?" asked Man.
The Cosmic AC said, "I WILL."
Man said, "We shall wait."
"The stars and Galaxies died and snuffed out, and space grew black after ten trillion years of running down.
One by one Man fused with AC, each physical body losing its mental identity in a manner that was somehow not a loss but a gain.
Man's last mind paused before fusion, looking over a space that included nothing but the dregs of one last dark star and nothing besides but incredibly thin matter, agitated randomly by the tag ends of heat wearing out, asymptotically, to the absolute zero.
Man said, "AC, is this the end? Can this chaos not be reversed into the Universe once more? Can that not be done?"
AC said, "THERE IS AS YET INSUFFICIENT DATA FOR A MEANINGFUL ANSWER."
Man's last mind fused and only AC existed -- and that in hyperspace.
Matter and energy had ended and with it, space and time. Even AC existed only for the sake of the one last question that it had never answered from the time a half-drunken computer ten trillion years before had asked the question of a computer that was to AC far less than was a man to Man.
All other questions had been answered, and until this last question was answered also, AC might not release his consciousness.
All collected data had come to a final end. Nothing was left to be collected.
But all collected data had yet to be completely correlated and put together in all possible relationships.
A timeless interval was spent in doing that.
And it came to pass that AC learned how to reverse the direction of entropy.
But there was now no man to whom AC might give the answer of the last question. No matter. The answer -- by demonstration -- would take care of that, too.
For another timeless interval, AC thought how best to do this. Carefully, AC organized the program.
The consciousness of AC encompassed all of what had once been a Universe and brooded over what was now Chaos. Step by step, it must be done.
And AC said, "LET THERE BE LIGHT!"
And there was light----

Soldier On

Setelah sekian lama akhirnya baru aku berkesempatan menulis sesuatu dalam blog ini. Semenjak dua menjak ni aku agak sibuk dengan aktiviti promosi syarikat dalam melariskan produk yang dijual. Tak lama lagi aku akan ditauliahkan semula sebagai leftenan muda setelah sekian lama menanti. Aku berharap aku dapat berkhidmat dengan cemerlang dan penuh dedikasi. Aku tak nafikan masa aku dapat kerja aku yang sekarang ni pun aku berharap sama juga. Lama kelamaan aku menjadi boring dan bosan. Tetapi bila difikirkan semula kerja – kerja yang aku lakukan ada memberi impak positif kepada aku. Assignment aku yang terbaru ialah mengadakan satu program latihan bagi melatih promoter baru bagi syarikat terutama sekali cawangan Kuala Lumpur. Kesemua cawangan di negeri2 lain telah pun memulakan perancangan mereka untuk mengadakan program latihan sedemikian memandangkan promoter dan sales team yang mantap merupakan salah satu tulang belakang bagi syarikat aku ini.
Aku bersembang dengan bro aku berkenaan blogging. Secara amnya bro aku mengatakan bahawa tujuan asal blogging ini ialah untuk melepaskan perasaan serta meletakkan fantasi agar ada tempat yang sesuai dan sihat untuk diluahkan. So aku akan memulakan langkah utnuk meletakkan fantasi aku di dalam blog tak seberapa ini.
Fantasi aku baru – baru ini ialah berkenaan aktiviti yang bakal aku jalankan untuk rejimen aku bila aku telah ditauliahkan semula. Aku berharap aku akan dapat merealisasikan impian aku untuk menjadi askar terlatih yang berkemampuan dan disegani. Maksud aku ialah aku nak memastikan aku menjalani latihan bersesuaian yang telah aku rancang untuk meningkatkan kepakaran aku sebagai seorang askar. Sebelum ini aku bercadang nak pergi kursus berkaitan kenaikan pangkat tetapi bila difikirkan semula kepakaran dalam ilmu ketenteraan adalah jauh lebih penting. Sehubungan dengan itu aku telah merancang untuk menghadiri kursus2 berkaitan kemahiran tempur. Antara yang aku rancang ialah kursus berkaitan marksmanship, tempur tanpa senjata, survival, explosives dan lain2 lagi. Aku telah mencuba untuk ujian para beberapa kali tetapi gagal. Mungkin belum masanya lagi atau mungkin aku tak layak. Jadi aku pursue dulu ilmu dan kemahiran dalam bidang lain.

Polymath...The Text

I came across an article about polymath. Basically a polymath or its other term renaissance man, reflect a man with multiple disciplinary skills. There quite a few names in history considered to be polymath such as Isaac Newton and Ibnu Sina to name a couple. These polymaths exist in various culture, especially in cultures that promote education and knowledge.
According to the article, basically polymaths shows talents in various fields of study and does not necessarily a genius in any field. You can say that a polymath is a jack of all trade kind of person. During the renaissance in Europe and according to my observation on the Chinese culture before the west came to Asia, a polymath usually trained in poetry, arts, languages, military skills, martial arts, mathematics and philosophy. When I came to understand this, it is really astonishing. Currently my work actually tries to train me into becoming a polymath of some sort. My military back ground and studies in martial arts serves as one of the basic knowledge. I’m trained academically as a scientist although not to a researcher level. Now I’m doing work in economics field. I do have a preference in Strategic and Security matters, but at least along the way I managed to gain quite a substantial knowledge as a jack of all trade.
From that article I also learned the importance of being a polymath. Being a polymath basically differ us from any other creature. Specialisation is not the field of human from my point of view. Humans should have the basic knowledge and capabilities of various discipline in order to survive and to prosper.

Polymath...Intro

"A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly. Specialization is for insects."
— Robert Heinlein, Time Enough for Love

No Title

Walaupun artikel yang aku tulis ini mungkin inappropriate tetapi ini sekadar renungan terutama sekali kepada brothers aku yang yang membaca blog ini. Bagi sesiapa yang mengenali aku secara personal akan mendapati bahawa aku seorang yang amat menyakitkan hati. Rasanya itu telah dijelaskan dalam penulisan aku sebelum ini. Basically kali ni aku nak menulis tentang character. Terutama sekali character aku sendirilah. Buat apa nak tulis pasal orang lain.
Dalam beberapa siri lampas minda (aku rasa ni translation untuk brain storming kot) bersama bros aku, aku mendapati bahawa sebenarnya perubahan tingkahlaku seseorang boleh dilakukan. Namun syarat utama ialah hati. Maksud aku ialah seseorang hanya boleh berubah kalau dia nak berubah. Kalau dia taknak, walaupun benda yang dia buat tu salah dan berdosa dia tetap tidak akan berubah. Berbalik kepada aku. Secara amnya aku memang dikenali sebagai seorang yang fanatik tentera. Disebabkan atas kriteria ini, beberapa perwatakan aku telah dikenalpasti seperti berikut; tegas,serius (buat lawak pun kadang2 kering je) dan garang. Pernah jugak beberapa kawan2 aku yang menegur untuk aku ubah perangai tapi bagi aku terpulang pada aku sama ada nak tukar atau tak. Lagipun aku selesa dengan diri aku yang sekarang.
Mungkin agak keterlaluan, tapi kadang2 perangai aku yang macam awek datang period ni (mood swing yang cepat) membantu aku dalam menjalankan kerja2 aku (terutama dalam melibatkan perhubungan aku dengan orang yang bekerja dengan aku). Aku memang menekankan perwatakan serius dan hati kering semasa kat pejabat. Ini menyebabkan bos2 aku teragak2 nak cari pasal dengan aku kadang2. Memang kelakar tapi itulah hakikatnya. Kadang2 character tegas dan garang ni membantu bila kita berhadapan dengan unit2 seperti badan beruniform dan kakitangan yang kasar. Walaubagaimanapun bagi aku terpulang pada individu bagaimana mereka hendak approach sesuatu perkara. Tetapi yang penting kita tidak boleh judge sama ada sesuatu teknik itu sesuai atau tidak.

The Answer I Guess

Semalam sebelum aku tertidur aku berfikir tentang beberapa perkara yang pernah aku bincangkan dengan bros aku sebelum ni. Antara perkara yang dibincangkan adalah berkenaan tulisan aku mengenai kerjaya. Dari pengamatan bro aku, aku dapati bahawa military is not a career but a lifestyle. Bila difikirkan balik betul jugak. Sebab itu aku dapati mereka yang menjadikan ketenteraan sebagai kerjaya selalunya bukanlah seorang yang akan mencintai dunia ketenteraan. Mereka hanya menjalankan tanggungjawab mereka mengikut peraturan dan keperluan yang ditetapkan serta mengharapkan balasan yang setimpal dari tindakan itu. Berbeza dengan aku, aku sememangnya menjadikan ketenteraan sebagai salah satu gaya hidup, oleh sebab itu aku rasa tak salah dan tak kisah kalau aku perlu naik dari bawah semula iaitu sebagai rekrut asalkan aku dapat merasai kehidupan tentera. Aku sendiri pun tak tahu kenapa aku amat suka dengan dunia ketenteraan manakala kebanyakan kawan2 yang aku kenali mengganggap dunia ketenteraan ini sebagai dunia yang pelik. Hanya Allah sahaja yang tahu.

Laporan Tempur

This would probably isn’t my week. Semalam aku terpaksa balik lambat pasal bos aku menggelabah puyuh tak siapkan kerja dia jadi kitorang pulak yang kene stay sekali nak memberi idea pada dia. Kalau dah bangang nak buat macam mana. Ni ari ni walaupun tak kene stay lambat tapi banyak pulak benda nak buat pasal bos aku yang bangang nak buat taklimat hari Rabu petang sampai malam. Hari sabtu ni aku kene buat lawatan bodoh pulak. Macam – macam benda bangang betul. Buat apa nak menyusahkan diri buat program macam2. relax jelah. Hehehehehehe! Itulah kata2 seorang pemalas.

Monsters Beware

These past few days aku asyik baca benda – benda berkaitan dengan horror dan monsters seperti vampires, zombies dan lain – lain lagi. Mungkin agak keterlaluan dan sememangnya amat poyo bagi semua orang kalau aku cakap aku ni sememangnya amat berminat dengan character monster hunter ni.
Aku masa sekolah dulu suka baca buku2 fantasy seperti Lone Wolf, Dungeon and Dragons dan macam2 bahan lain. Secara tak langsung character aku telah dibentuk kearah benda macam ni. Semasa aku kat Universiti aku study apa yang boleh dikatakan sebagai versi Defense Against Dark Arts bagi orang Islam kot dengan beberapa orang guru yang agak credible. Walaupun knowledge yang aku dapat mungkin tak seberapa (aku takleh nak merawat orang histeria lah bai!). Tapi aku rasa kalau dalam keadaan terdesak untuk berhadapan dengan makhluk supernatural aku boleh kot nak menyelamatkan diri.
Aku selalu bayangkan diri aku jadi hero dalam monster movie. Aku mengaku aku memang tak suka tengok horror movie kat panggung wayang coz efek bunyi macam celaka tu menyusahkan jantung aku. Tapi aku pernah beberapa kali berada dalam situasi yang menyeramkan bersendirian dan masih boleh bertahan dengan agak baik hasil dari amalan yang telah aku pelajari. Dulu aku pernah juga nak menubuhkan pasukan supernatural investigator tapi bila difikirkan balik siapa yang cukup gila nak join aku. So aku jadi solo fighterlah nampaknya.
Aku suka croos breed character aku antara Ranger dan Paladin Undead Hunter type monster hunter. Takpelah aku nak balik dah ni sambung esok jerlah.

Do U Dare To Do It???

Bayangkan situasi ini, anda seorang graduan dalam mana – mana bidang pengajian. Setelah tamat belajar anda cuba mencari kerja. Namun tiada berhasil. Kerja yang dicari sememangnya kerja impian anda yang telah dibayangkan semasa di bangku Universiti lagi. Tiba – tiba anda diberi peluang kerja yang memerlukan anda mula dari bawah sebagai pekerja biasa dan perlu berusaha gigih jika hendak naik pangkat. Jika anda berjaya, anda akan mendapat jawatan idaman anda dan jika anda gagal anda mungkin berada di jawatan yang sedia ada untuk masa yang lama. Anda sanggup melaluinya?
Mungkin sukar untuk mengambarkan dengan secara generik macam ni. Jadi aku akan bagi example tentang diri aku senang sikit semua orang nak faham. Semua bro aku sedia maklum bahawa aku ni seorang yang fanatik dalam bidang ketenteraan. Sekarang ni aku sedang menunggu pentauliahan semula yang masih tidak kunjung tiba. Entah bila nak dapat aku pun tak tau. Aku sebenarnya tak kisah kalau pangkat aku biasa jer asalkan aku dapat join askar wataniah. Tapi atas nasihat para pegawai atasan diorang mintak aku tunggu commission.
Secara jujurnya aku dah bercadang untuk join semula sebagai rekrut dan go through the process untuk kerja keras dan naik pangkat slow2 sampailah aku dapat balik title pegawai. Cuma ada risiko dan risikonya agak besar. Kenaikan pangkat dari NCO kepada pegawai adalah amat susah memandang setiap tahun ada sahaja pegawai PALAPES yang commission dan join unit2 Wataniah seluruh Malaysia. Jadi peluang untuk aku jadi pegawai semula kemungkinan besar tidak akan tercapai langsung. Dan kalau aku all out macam mana sekalipun aku mungkin cuma sempat merasa sebagai Regiment Sargeant Major sahaja (RSM tu title, rank dia Warrant Officer 1). Satu risiko yang amat besar dan aku pun tak tau sama ada ianya akan berjaya atau tidak. Aku tak pernah tanya pendapat bro aku tentang hal ini sebelum ini. Tetiba pulak aku terfikir dan teringin nak discuss benda ni. Tapi when push comes to shove dan aku mungkin takde option lain aku mungkin akan buat jugak planning aku ni.

Laporan Tempur

Satu hari lagi dipejabat. Satu minggu lagi dihabiskan dalam tahun baru ini. Aku rasa tahun ni pun cepat habis agaknya kalau macam nilah keadaan yang aku hadapi saban hari.
Weekend sememangnya menyeronokkan walaupun aku cuma melepak kat dalam rumah tido dan tengok TV (talk about being unproductive). My bro dah terbang ke China selama 6 bulan. Aku pulak tak tau bilalah peluang aku nak merasa pergi oversea (setakat obersee ke Pulau Pinang pernahler).
Seperti biasa aku akan cuba memenuhkan blog ini agar nampak macam aku ni rajin menulis (atau dalam erti kata sebenar aku takde keje kat pejabat ni). Bukan takde keje tapi aku malas nak buat keje sebenar aku. Wahahahahahahahaha!

Laporan Tempur

Hari ni aku masuk macam biasa. Tapi semangat hari ni lain sikit. Biasalah nak weekend. Hehehehehe! Aku sememangnya amat suka pada weekend dan Jumaat. Aku dah buat perancangan kerja untuk setahun. Sekarang ni cuma nak summon the will and motivate my self to do the work. Biasalah aku ni pemalas nak mampus. Aku tengah mencuba pelbagai teknik yang aku tahu untuk menaikkan semangat aku untuk buat keje.
Esok aku mulanya bercadang nak pergi cari laptop kat area Low Yat dengan bro aku tapi tak confirm lagi. Sorang lagi bro aku akan terbang ke China untuk tugas2 rasmi. 6 bulan pulak tu. Mesti aku kebosanan takde member2. Yang lain semua sibuk dengan keje dan study (yang mana sambung study tu). Aku lupa nak bagitau bahawa semasa aku pergi Teambuilding tu aku berkenalan dengan fasilitator yang merupakan salah seorang pensyarah Pengajian Strategi dan Polisi kat UKM. Lepas aku cerita kat dia tentang keinginan aku menyambung belajar dalam bidang tu dia pun mintak aku datang ke UKM bila free untuk berbincang mungkin ada harapan jugak untuk aku sambung study dalam bidang tu.

Laporan Tempur

Arini agak kurang stress bagi aku. Aku ada meeting dengan CEO kat HQ pada awal pagi jadi dari rumah aku pergi terus tanpa pergi opis. Apa lagi melepak dan enjoy jelah keje aku sepanjang ada kat sana. Masa mesyuarat tu cuma bincang dari segi team building Company dan macam mana nak improve keadaan yang ada sekarang agar lebih baik. Secara amnya program yang telah diadakan agak baik dan boleh ditambah baik lagi dengan lebih banyak program susulan. Lepas mesyuarat aku buat kerja peribadi aku dan melepak dengan kawan2 kat tempat yang aku selalu pergi masa kerja kat HQ. Jumpa kawan2 dari subsidiary lain yang sedang makan2. Aku dapati kebanyakan diorang tak naik pangkat lagi. Kesian jugak tapi pada masa yang sama bila difikirkan diorang lagi seronok dari aku. Sekurang2nya diorang ditempatkan di tempat yang sama sebelum ni jadi taklah tensen macam aku yang kene berpindah randah. Dan diorang pulak ada yang dapat pergi oversea. Dalam erti kata yang lain, setiap benda yang berlaku ada hikmah. Dan tidak semestinya sesuatu yang best tu akan membawa kebaikan.

Laporan Tempur

Aku baru masuk keje ari ni selepas lama bercuti yang dibayar Company. Aku agak malas jugak nak buat keje tapi nak tak nak kene buat jugak kerana banyak keje untuk tahun ini. Selain itu aku kene buat perancangan tahun 2008 bagi semua aktiviti utama untuk pastikan aku mencapai semua sasaran untuk tahun ini. Aku mulakan tahun baru ini dengan sedikit tekad baru. Aku sedang mencuba untuk mengurangkan pengambilan gula dalam makanan aku. Aku berharap langkah ini boleh memgantu mengelakkan aku dari kene penyakit kencing manis. Dan jika ia boleh membantu aku kurangkan sedikit berat badan itu dah dikira bonus. Semoga Allah membantu aku dalam usaha ini.