Tidak Usah

Yang dibilang Buddha itu benar: bahwa hidup ini samsara. Sengsara karena ingin menggapai bulan, padahal bulan tidak pernah peduli. Sengsara karena ingin menyenangkan orang lain dan mengabaikan diri sendiri. Sengsara karena besar pasak dari tiang.

Yang dibilang Muhammad itu benar: bahwa hidup ini perlu ikhlas. Tidak berguna berharap jika diluar kendali. Semua diserahkan dan cukup kerjakan sebaik mungkin. Kerja jangan mencari uang, tapi carilah kepuasan.

Yang dibilang Yesus Kristus itu benar: bahwa hidup ini perlu cinta. Semakin tua semakin sukar berbohong akan cinta. Semua yang berlandaskan cinta akan menyenangkan dan kekal. Apa yang dicinta akan tumbuh dan mencintai balik.

Orang bilang hidup ditata dengan menata hati dulu. Yang benar sebenarnya menata otak dulu. Berpikir sebelum bertindak dan tidak pernah acuh tak acuh. Semua ada sebab akibat.

Lantas kenapa masih ada yang bersilah silang perbedaan agama? Pertengkaran seperti ini sudah bukan jamannya. Bagimu agamamu, bagiku agamaku.

Split Pin v. R-pin

Split pin or R-pin is used to secure the end of a rod or a shaft so that the shaft remains in place. Which pin is more secure? In other words, which pin requires a larger force to remove?

A diagram of split pin (Cotter pin) is shown below. A split pin usually has two flat inner surfaces, so that cross-sectionally the pin would look like a circle. The two flat inner surfaces can be individually bent so that the pin can be locked in place to prevent a shaft from moving axially, as shown in Fig. 1.

Fig. 1. Split pin is initially straight, but its two ends are bent to lock the pin in place. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Split_pin.)

The free energy per unit length of a bent rod is EI/2r², where E is Young's modulus, I is moment of inertia of the rod, and r is the radius of curvature of the bent section. The force required to bend the bent rod is equal to the derivative of the free energy with respect to r, yielding EI/r³. Assuming that the length of the bent section is one-fourth of a circle (= π R/2), where R is the rod's radius, and given that I = π R⁴/4, we get the force required equal to π²ER⁵/8r³.

When we bend the rod, it is quite reasonable to assume that the radius of curvature is equal to 10 times the rod's diameter: r = 10R (see Fig. 1). With this assumption, the required force to remove the split pin should be equal to π²ER²/8000. For a steel split pin with a rod radius of 2 mm, the force required is about 986 N. The maximum force a bare hand can deliver is about 100 N, so a tool - wrench, for example - is needed to leverage a bare hand in order to remove a split pin.

While the split pin removal relies on bending the rod, the R-pin relies on combined action of bending and friction, as shown in Fig. 2.

Fig. 2. The straight edge of an R-pin is inserted through a hole and the middle curved section will wrap around the rod to secure it. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R-clip.)

To remove an R-pin we have to push away the curved section, which effectively bends the top loop of the R-pin. The radius of curvature for this top loop is clearly several times larger than the rod's radius. The force required would be smaller than π²ER²/8000 and tools are not required since the curved section serves as a lever as well. This is an advantage for the R-pin: a human hand can remove the pin. In addition, the R-pin is reusable while the split pin is not due to fatigue stress.

Friction holds the R-pin in place. The coefficient of friction for steel on steel is quite large, about 0.75. The bending force multiplied by this friction coefficient is required to the force required to release the pin. It is smaller than the bending force for the split pin. To remove the R-pin, however, requires first bending the top loop, followed by the friction force. The friction force is perpendicular to the bending force, so this creates redundancy and can make an R-pin more difficult to remove than a split pin.

The split pin requires a larger force to remove, but it does not have increased redundancy that the R-pin has. A human hand can remove the R-pin, but the split pin requires a tool to remove it. It is a case of a clever engineering design that achieves both safety and ease of use.

Dumb Memorization

I don't know why Indonesian school system is so difficult. Too difficult for its own good, I say. My son complains that his elementary school experience is not fun anymore since moving to Indonesia. He wised up a bit - a sign of adaptation - when he said that he would be more clever than his schoolmates when returning to Canada.

The perverse side of the school system is that once the graduating high school students go to university, the level of difficulty of their education starts to slide downward. This is opposite to what happens in North America where the level of difficulty is almost zero in elementary school and gradually increases to a crushing weight in university.

I was one of Indonesian kids who actually benefited from the Indonesian school system. I was very good in memorization and could cruise through chemistry, geography, or history exams with flying colors. It was great for me, but I realize now that a lot of these memorization drills are really useless. Times changed a lot of things, but not the Indonesian school system, apparently. Who cares if a kid now could memorize the capital of Burkina-Faso when a google search will get that information in 1 second.

The obsession with stressing too much memorization causes much less time spent on learning to think, present ideas coherently, and argue. Students are judged on their memory retention, which will only get worse over time as we age anyway, instead of on their thinking and judgment process. Mathematics becomes arithmetics instead of geometry and pattern recognition. Physics becomes a huge encyclopaedia of formulas instead of wondering about and explaining nature's machinery.

When kids are not trained to think properly, the effect is long lasting. Dumb memorization strategy founded in school does a huge disservice to a nation that really cries to move forward.

Trading Nation

Indonesians are a nation of traders. Everybody is selling something. To make ends meet when salaries are not enough. To help friends who started a trading business. To start a dream of owning a trading company.

Trading activities are everywhere. On the road, you will find street hawkers peddling their fried tofus and bottled water when traffic jams fill highways. During family or friend get-togethers you will be greeted politely by friends and relatives selling from stoves to muslim wears.

One has to be polite to everyone since the opposite could hamper a chance of making that important connection or big sale. One cannot offend other people while at the same time makes a point that her item is better than everyone else's. One has to keep a trade secret tightly while being as open as possible to reveal where she buys her item from. Appearance becomes very important: the more attractive the person is the easier for her to sell her items.

With coastal lines measuring tens of thousands of kilometers, Indonesia is impossible to patrol. There must be a lot of smuggling activities, where goods from China and other countries flood the market freely. However, I think it is futile to try to patrol the coastal lines. It might be more productive to control the market by demanding high quality standard for goods sold and taxing them than to use customs to control the flow of imported goods.

Trading nation seeks a quick return of investment. Money needs to circulate quickly and steadily. I notice business people in Indonesia are not patient to a long investment horizon. They are correct in some respect: if I can make money from trading, why should I bother making a long term investment?

This is not surprising. Indonesia is an archipelago, where each island offers its distinctive products. From candle nuts to rice to oils and minerals. We need each other and from this trading activity comes a healthy profit since its land remains fertile despite increased land and water pollution.

A lot of imported goods flood Indonesian market. It makes manufacturing challenging since many tools have to be imported. Cost to purchase tools is much higher than salary cost. Craftmanship is poor. It is not that craftmanship is poorly appreciated since Bali and Yogyakarta - two artisan cities - are well known for their arts and crafts. But craftmanship is still confined to only arts products.

Bowl

I love my stainless steel bowl. I always carry it when backpacking in the Canadian Rockies. I use it as a plate and a mug – in that order so that often I don't have to wash it after a meal. I use it to eat cereal in the morning and drink water. I use it as a mug for tea when my Japanese ceramics mug seems too small for my thirst. The stainless steel material keeps it sturdy and easy to clean. The bowl and a spork (spoon-fork) are the only kitchen utensils I need.

It seems the bowl has additional use in Indonesia. Food is excellent here and my appetite is even better, so I have to watch out for overeating. This bowl helps me ration what I need to eat. At least, that's the theory. If you are struggling with controlling your weight, you might consider carrying around with you such bowl, so that you always know how much you can only eat.

We live in a small apartment and the kitchen is much smaller than it used to. Reducing the amount of kitchen utensils I use helps reduce the dishwashing load. It helps reduce my domestic water consumption as well. Using fewer utensils helps preserve our environment.

The bowl needs some design improvements. To make it more useful as both plate and mug. To make it easier to grip. To make it more thermally insulating. I am obsessed to make it better. If I can make it better, would you be interested?