The science of love...

I've come across this situation several times. An awkward situation in which in a group of people in a social gathering, one person turns to you and asks "So, what do you do?". It seems an honest introductory, applicable question to get to know a stranger. Well, you might as well throw the bucket as you can be sure you're highly probable on not seeing each other again, or you might devise a plan on not ever running into this poor person all your might! But I digress... So I say, "I study Physics" with a wide smile on my face.

In that blink of a second, you could see the person's face turned white or something and you quickly adjusted your smile so as not to pin the poor person soul onto the wall and hear him screaming "Why, out of many people here, why me? There goes my one night of the week!". This tell you so much why scientists are rarely invited to 'social gatherings', except when the host is actually a scientist.

Anyhow, he'll go on on asking how my study of Physics can actually be applicable in real life out of courtesy. I learnt over the few parties that I shouldn't talk jargons or else I'll end up eating away with the chips at the corner of the space alone. You see, it didn't register to me that most people see Physics as something that is entangled with equations for questions that they didn't care to ask and by attending Physics it's simply diminishing the beauty of the object of interest. It's sad that it's (the belief that Physics is a tedious Math) becoming more and more widespread these days, but I believe that the maths that we uses in Physics are inevitable, especially when you're curious about what's happening inside an atom. We're made up of atoms for that matter, aren't you interested in learning how and why we're doing what we do now?

If we're to trace back in time the birth of Physics, we'll all come to a conclusion that Physics is the 'nature philosophy'. So when we talk about the Physics of something we naturally proposed our theories based on the observations. Now that is SCIENCE, a theory that can be tested with experiments (Math is not science as it cannot be tested in actual experiments, but I don't think it is bad if it is not science. There are many other good things that need not be proved through experimental setups, like LOVE. Love is not science, but it's a good thing).

So we come to an example of the way people see flower for instance to look at the nature philosophy. What can you see in a pretty flower, like a hibiscus or a rose? The colors? The textures? And some more? Now lets look at it through the eyes of a scientist. Sure what you see is also observed by the scientist, but wait, there's more to it in the eyes of the latter. He sees how the color of the pigments of the flowers gets to be there in the first place. The interactions of many atoms in the plants cells that give out the glaring red color reflected by the white light into the eyes. In the one of the many atoms, he can imagine the electrons buzzing around the nucleus that give off energy to sustain the one cell, and it's the same process for every other cell, and these make up the petals, the leaves. And there are many other aspects that a scientist can imagine that will add up to the beauty of the flower, in a way that other people cannot see further. I don't see how science can subtract to the quality of the pretty flower seen. It, in particular Physics, can only add up, but never subtract.

Comment: And love remains an observer at the outside of the science field. Should it wants to come and join in, its wonderful magic can only be summed up by infinite positive exponential terms.

Some elected politicians..(sigh)

Now this post is probably highly controversial, presumptuously will make me a headline in The Star even (remember what happened to the poor guy Wee who'd complaint about TNB terrible service in Youtube?)! Someone suggested I should've gone for the highest office in Sabah, yes, the CM chair!

It all started with one of the comments following a friend of mine, Nelly, blog post (here). It's basically containing a very honest, true story that she's experienced with one of the 'elected' politicians in Sabah. To give you a brief 'resume' of this particular guy, he's currently holding the 'tourism portfolio/ministerial' post in the state cabinet. Google that one up, and you'll be lucky to find this guy face on the web (yes, you're blessed to see him)!

If you'd read his email replies to one of my wise, highly intellectual friends (click on the link to Nelly's blog entry above), you can see a STARK contrast between ones that actually research a problem and try to find coherent solutions to solve the matter, and the ones that realized the problem but chose not only to tie hands and feet to nail the matter in the head but also are quick to shift the blames to others so as to save their own asses (please excuse the profanity as I find it's discomforting not to be able to express my freedom of writing).

That this is one example of the many out there (not limited to Sabah, but around the globe unfortunately) where elected leaders show uncharismatic values of a leader is very regrettable I believe. But, let me focus on this particular matter at hand that I find contemptible about this particular minister: 1) being aware of the pressing problem but doing nothing and 2) finding somebody for a scapegoat.

This particular minister, whatever his name is, I hope had been aware of the problem long before my friend brought up the matter to him, that the choking price just to climb the darn 4 km in height Mt. Kinabalu is killing the locals proud intention to see the sunrise on the highest mountain in the country. This same ministry is responsible for going out there to promote our untouched serene nature, majestic few of the many oldest rain-forests in the world, our dignified cultures and customs, but at the rate at which it's promoting 'our values' put too much emphasis on short term profit rather than a long term one. Charging locals a rate that's comparable to that of the international tourists, I think is too much over the top. Well, sure you'd like to say 'hey it's dog eat dog world out there,' but lets remind ourself that the mean annual salary for Malaysian par way below that of the Americans, Europeans, in fact most of the developing countries! We're also being taxed at a ridiculous rate in exchange to subsidized oil and some others. Shocking statistics? I didn't have to hold a degree in Economics to read with disbelief the numbers! So, dear minister, if you so wanted to charge us the same as our American friends, get our GDP running on the same speed as theirs then you can start the fair-play game!

Why, yes, I find it's disgusting for some leaders to call themselves leaders when they cannot take on criticisms with opened minds equally as they'll regard favorable praises for their works, and amazingly most of them are politicians. Whatever happened to that saying 'failure is a mother of success' that they speak with volume in their motivational speeches to the electorates? Some things didn't work out fine, be it your misjudgments or somebody (who happened to be in your team, predecessors) else's but was it necessary to explain who blew the shit up? It sure didn't reflect a nice impression of this particular minister, at least to most of us. Why would resorting to assigning responsibility for a fault to somebody else making it seems he's complete innocent is beyond any ordinary citizens, one of them is me. It only painted one clear picture of him, that is beyond that garlanded title, respect of his is an empty-headed guy of no talent whatsoever, not worthy of any admirations from whomsoever, and above all devoid of any dedications and devotions to his vocation. So, here's the dagger to bring this particular minister home: get your lazy bum out of that comfy leather chair that we paid for with our sweat and blood if you're not going to be serious about your job. Shape up or ship out, pal!

Comments: Thanks Nali, for the idea of me sitting in the CM chair. Politics are one of the careers that I'll be thinking when we're in almost in the brink of extinction from qualified leaders. Until then, we'll (yes, you and me!) have to vociferously voice out and stand for however little injustices trampled upon us.