Paradox

Despite its impossibility, for some reasons, sometimes we wish that we could turn back time. Probably to set sumthing right or to go through the good old days once more. We know this is impossible, but we enjoy the idea of it in fictions like Doraemon or Back to The Future. It would be great if one day, a time travelling machine like the ones in those fictions become a reality. But even if there will be a time travelling machine, travelling into past is still impossible (logically, at least).

This is explained by the Grandfather Paradox. Stephen Hawking has a simpler version which is called the Mad Scientist Paradox.

This is how it goes. Say there's a scientist named Bill. After going through a very difficult research and development, he has constructed the first ever time machine in history, untested. The furthest that he can travel back into time is 5 minutes in the past. Since he is labelled a mad scientist, his experiment had to be a mad one, to defend his reputation. So, with a sword, Bill travel through time and met his 5-minutes-ago-self in the same room. Quickly, he stabbed his past-self with the sword through the chest. After a few moment of agony, past-Bill dies.

Now, the question is: Is that possible? If past-Bill was murdered before the future-Bill commit the murder, then who did the kill? So, logically (at least), this is not allowed. Therefore, travelling back into time is not quite possible.




Now, we can appreciate that everything that happens to anything physical abides a certain rule which doesn't allow them to go backwards in time, insyaAllah (if God wills it). Everything physical - us included - abides the rule of cause and effect, action and reaction, insyaAllah.



Do nothing, we are still travelling into the future. The present is the result of the happennings in the past. What happens now will have an effect to what's coming in the future; and we go through present only once. InsyaAllah...



By the time,

Verily Man is in loss,


Except such as have Faith,

and do righteous deeds,

and (join together)

in the mutual teaching of

Truth,

and of Patience

and Constancy.




(Al-'Asr 103:1-3)


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Diri, Pendirian

hari ni hari ahad. bagi sesetengah orang, hari ahad tu hari ketujuh dalam seminggu. mungkin sebab bagi mereka, hari ahad tu terletak pada hujung minggu. jadi, bagi mereka, hari ahad tu lebih sinonim dengan hari yang akhir dalam seminggu.

bagi aku, aku suka untuk menerima hari ahad tu sebagai hari pertama, sesuai dengan namanya. sebabnya, hari-hari dalam bahasa melayu tu asal-usulnye dari bahasa arab. wahid-ithnani-thalatha, satu-dua-tiga. jadi, hari ahad, hari pertama.

hari ni hari ahad. hari ni aku nak tulis pasal aku; subjek penulisan yang aku memang berniat nak elak kat laman blog ni. kenapa aku nak elak tulis pasal aku, padahal ni blog aku? sebabnye, mungkin aku masih lagi keliru tentang peranan blog peribadi. asalnye adalah dari perkataan web log. log boleh dimaksudkan dengan jurnal, atau diari. nah, sepatutnya semudah itu nak merungkai peranan blog; fungsinya seperti sebuah jurnal, apa saja entri yang memberi makna, dirakam. ramai saja di luar sana yang menjadikan blog peribadi mereka seperti diari. sebenarnye, hal itu yang buat aku jadi keliru. bukankah diari itu sifatnya peribadi, untuk diri, mungkin juga untuk mereka yang dipercayai. jadi kenapa ada yang jadikan blog seakan diari? dua hal yang saling bertentangan; diari dan laman sawang, peribadi dan capaian umum.

...

...

...

(penulisan entri ni dah terpisah. semalam tak sempat dihabiskan. ada keutamaan yang lebih penting; melawat adik di UiTM Melaka bersama ibu dan adik-adik)

hari ni hari isnin. tak sampai setengah hari yang lepas, pasukan sepanyol baru saja menang piala dunia. tahniah buat pasukan sepanyol. tahniah buat yang gembira atas kemenangan sepanyol.
hal yang aku keliru tentang blog masih ada. tapi tu tak menjadi masalah, sebab kekeliruan tu tak menjadi masalah besar kalau tak dibahaskan pun. laman blog boleh saja digunakan untuk apa sahaja tujuan.

kalau nak dikaitkan dengan benda lain, aku terfikirkan tentang jambatan di lebuh raya. tujuan asalnye nak hubungkan dua daratan yang terputus. tapi bile diamati balik, skarang ni jambatan pun boleh jadi papan iklan. tak kisah la iklan besar kat sisi jambatan, atau iklan tayar pancit bermodalkan cat sembur dan templat. ada saja jambatan yang dibina sebelum digunakan sebagai jambatan. tak rugi sepenuhnya kalaupun jambatan tu tak berfungsi sebagai jambatan pun. biarlah apa saja tujuan dan harapan sesiapa atas tulisan mereka dalam blog mereka. biarlah ada yang meluahkan hal-hal peribadi, atau separa peribadi, atau berkongsi ilmu, atau membebel-bebel seperti ini. sebab, apa pun, setiap kita punya pilihan. pilihan untuk menulis, pilihan untuk membaca, pilihan untuk menjadikan blog sebagai mesin masa ke masa depan selepas jasad dan jiwa telah terpisah, pilihan untuk melakukan apa saja yang mungkin dalam batas ruang dan masa. bebas.

tentang bebas,

kurang dari seminggu yang lepas,

aku dengar segmen motivasi pagi di radio dalam perjalanan ke tempat kerja. bicaranya berkait tentang kebebasan. inti yang aku dapati bermakna dalam segmen pagi tu ada dua:-

1 - sedar bahawa diri punya kebebasan
2 - kawalan atas kebebasan itu, perlu

dalam hidup yang (insyaAllah) sentiasa mematuhi peraturan sebab dan akibat, dua hal tadi sangat relevan. keputusan kita atas segala tingkah laku akan dipertanggungjawabkan kepada kita. teringat satu perbualan santai dengan teman bilik beberapa tahun lepas. aku tiba-tiba ditanya tentang pendapatku tentang freedom of speech. dalam borak-borak itu, temanku berpendapat freedom of speech akan akhirnya menghancurkan diri. pendapatnya berasas. benar, tanpa pegangan, manusia mudah menurut nafsu. dan nafsu itu bukan akal. kalau pilihan yang dibuat terus-menerus sepenuhnya didorong nafsu, pilihan-pilihan itu bukan lagi pilihan yang berakal.
di situlah kepentingan pegangan, kerana pegangan mendorong kawalan ke atas kebebasan.

أَرَأَيْتَ مَنِ اتَّخَذَ إِلَهَهُ هَوَاهُ أَفَأَنتَ تَكُونُ عَلَيْهِ وَكِيلًا

Nampakkah (wahai Muhammad) keburukan keadaan orang yang menjadikan hawa nafsunya: tuhan yang dipuja lagi ditaati? Maka dapatkah engkau menjadi pengawas yang menjaganya jangan sesat? (Al-Furqan 25:43)


pesan ustaz itu juga. walau sejauh mana kita bebas dan dapat membebaskan diri dari segala apa, tak mungkin kita dapat bebas dari memerlukan pertolongan. kita tak mungkin dapat hidup sendiri. kalaupun sepanjang hidup, ada orang yang tidak perlukan bantuan dalam melakukan segala apa, dia masih memerlukan seseorang untuk memotong tali pusat ketika dilahirkan. dia juga tak mampu untuk menguruskan jenazahnya sendiri selepas dia mati. jadi tak perlu ada rasa sombong sesama kita, kerana kita memang saling memerlukan.

kurang dari seminggu yang lepas,

ulang tahun kelahiran aku. macam-macam boleh terjadi pada hari-hari ulang tahun. apa saja; kesedihan, kegembiraan, kenikmatan, musibah, atau sesuatu yang menakjubkan. apa saja boleh ditafsirkan sebagai sesuatu yang menakjubkan menurut kacamata dan sudut pandang masing-masing. sebab kita bebas untuk memilih sudut pandang dan kacamata. aku juga bebas untuk memilih sekiranya untuk ulangtahun kali ini aku mahukan kenderaan selaju cahaya, atau jongkong-jongkong emas seberat tiga tan, atau kasih sayang dan keikhlasan dari semua. aku juga bebas untuk memilih dan merasai andai ulang tahun kelahiranku, sesuatu yang menakjubkan.

seperti iniesta,
yang mempunyai kebebasan di atas padang,
dan mempunyai kawalan,
menjaringkan gol,
membawa pasukan sepanyol menjadi juara dunia.

baginya, itu sesuatu yang menakjubkan.

I'd Rather Have Some Lamb Shawarma

To move a car, the wheels need to be rotated. fuel is burnt in the engine, and through gears and shafts, motion is transferred from the pistons to finally rotate the wheels.

We have learnt in school (in most cases) solids expand when exposed to heat. so does metal - in which engines are made of.

Let's have a short and simple revision on how does an engine convert energy in fuel into rotational motion.

Fuel is burnt/combusted in succession and that will result in the up and down movement of the pistons. this linear motion is then converted into circular motion by the crankshaft. this action is quite similar to cycling the pedals of a bicycle. simply, that's how an engine works.

As mentioned earlier, solids will expand when heat is applied. since fuel combustion produces heat , some form of cooling is needed to prevent the engine parts from expanding too much. we really don't want the engine to overheat. if, let's say the pistons expand too much, they will be jammed/stuck in the cylinder and put the engine to a halt.

A means of cooling down the engine is by allowing water or coolant fluid to pass through the engine construction. this will draw the heat away from the engine. the component responsible for this is the radiator.

As the fluid passes through the engine, it will take some of the heat away from the engine. it will then flow out of the engine hotter than when it entered. this hot fluid will then be cooled down by the fan or ram air (flow of air that you get when the car moves forward). there is a pump sumwhere to ensure continuous flow of fluid. this is how engine temperature is regulated.

Let's take a look at the path of water/coolant inside the engine. first, here's a simple construction of the engine.

Let's call these two parts head and block. cylindrical holes are made to make way for pistons to be fitted in. these holes are the space where fuel is burnt and piston heads reciprocate. you can call it combustion chamber or cylinder, if u like.

More holes are made inside the engine block and head. these are the channels where water/coolant flows in/out from/to the radiator. to make sure that ther'll be no leaks when all of these holes meet, a gasket is fixed in between block and head. the gasket is made of material softer than the block/head. when they're assembled together, the gasket will be sandwiched, deforms and comforms to the shape of block/head, hence forming a tight seal. now, water can flow through its channel, isolated from the combustion chamber.

In a long journey, the last thing that you want to know about your car is an empty/dried radiator. that is because of the nasty things that will happen when the engine overheats. however, if somehow the engine does overheat, there is still a little hope for you to continue your journey, provided that you don't do the don'ts.

When you find out that the temperature indicator on your dashboard shows an unusually high temperature, stop at the nearest place where you can find water. if the dial is way off the scale, just pull over and stop immediately. (be sure to be safe. try not to stay in the car, off the road. some drunk or sleepy driver might just crash his trailer into your car).

Wait for the engine to cool down before you open that radiator cap. not only because it's hot, but also because very hot steam and water might just gush out and injure you. you might wanna wait long enough for your engine to cool down before trying to add water and attempt to start the engine.

Here is the worst case scenario. due to overheat, engine parts expand more than usual. this might cause engine head to warp or bend, forming a gap in that head-gasket-block sandwich.

If the gap is there when the engine is started, instead of having an isolated flow, water from the radiatior might flow into the combustion chamber since the channels are no longer tightly sealed. when this happens, you're done. the engine needs an overhaul before it can function again. not only it will majorly affect your journey, it's gonna cost you a bomb for the overhaul too.

Water, essential to life. scientists have been searching extensively for its presence in Mars. yet, it is the last thing that you wanna find in the combustion chamber. so, before starting a long journey, do make sure that the radiator has water in it. if there are any faulty parts or leaks in the radiator, it is a much better idea to have it repaired than having the engine overhauled. seriously, it will cost you a bomb.

I'd rather buy a tablet PC with that cash, or give it to charity, or have some lamb shawarma (perhaps with cheese).