Two Star Trek and one cup

WARNING: SPOILER AHEAD. Anda sudah diperingatkan. Jangan baca kalau belum nonton filmnya.

Malam ini saya terpekur setelah menonton Star Trek. Yang ditunggu-tunggu akhirnya tiba, J.J. Abrams menjanjikan perubahan pada waralaba yang kini sudah dianggap basi oleh banyak trekkies, dan dia sungguh-sungguh memberikannya. Sebuah dialog terjadi antara pembuat film ini dengan saya, salah seorang fanboy Star Trek (karena sebuah film pada hakikatnya adalah sebuah dialog antara si pembuat film dan pemirsa, sebuah transfer ide). Saya mencerna ide-ide yang ditawarkan para pembuat film, sebuah proposisi yang menarik: Ini adalah retcon, semuanya tidak terjadi di realitas yang kita alami selama ini, tetapi adalah sebuah realitas alternatif. Pertanyaannya kini: dapatkah kita menerima realitas alternatif ini?

What does “Summer of ‘69” means?

Whenever Bryan Adams’ “Summer of ‘69“ is played on the airwave or some drunken girls on the pub sing the tune, I always ask people nearby: Does the song refers to the year or the position?

Many people that I asked replied flatly that it was about the year, for obvious reasons: There’s an apostrophe before the “69”, a sign that people take for granted as a shorthand for writing a year. The lyrics clearly describe the year when the narrator (it does not have to be Bryan Adams himself, as he was only 10 years old in 1969) bought his/her first real six string from a five-and-dime and played it until his/her fingers bled. Those were the best years of his/her life. You know the rest. There’s nothing that can be interpreted as some couple performing a give-and-take and only a handful of people with a dirty mind like me would dare to think that the whole song is all about a whole summer full of the famous le soixante-neuf.

As for me, I have always been suspicious of double entendre, so I had always been suspicious of the nature of the song. Or maybe I just have a dirty mind. Anyhow, if you need proof that the whole song is all about THE position, just watch the videoclip and wait until minutes 2:59. Get back here and I’ll show you more.

Now that you’re back, you might not accept the fact that your favorite singer had a dirty mind when he wrote his signature song. So why don’t we just listen from the man himself.

Well…now that I have revealed to you the age-old question of whether “Summer of ‘69” refers to the year or the position, I hope you can handle the truth now and still enjoy the song like before you know what it all means :p

“Quantum of Solace” is actually gramatically correct

Weeks ago I was thinking that “Quantum of Solace” is not a gramatically correct sentence. Now I stand corrected. My argument was because “quantum” is an adjective and you can not put a preposition after it. It would feel like writing “nice of dress” instead of just “nice dress.” In this sense, “quantum” means something that is packet-like (derived from the latin word quantus meaning “how much”). The term “Quantum Physics,” “Quantum Mechanics,” or “Quantum leap” are correct in this sense and they all mean “physics of quantum-like objects (i.e. electrons),” “mechanics of quantum-like objects,” and “leaps of quantum-like objects,” i.e. the change or energy in an electron that would make them change their orbit instantenously. “Quantum solace,” however, is gramatically correct, and it means “a minuscule, very little, consolation.” The term “quantum” is, of course, popularized by atomic physicists who found out that electrons can only have a certain discrete quantity of energy and thus can only occupy a certain orbital position around the nucleus. Because these energies are discrete and noncontinous hence they come in packets of energy called quanta. Since this view applies only on the atomic scale which is very small, thus the word “quantum” used to describe something that is incredibly small. Speaking of “quanta,” this will bring us to another meaning of quantum…

…In which “quantum” can also be a noun, the singular form of “quanta,” which is the plural form. Remember “datum” and “data”? Those are the same form. “Datum” is singular while “data” is plural, a collection of “datum.” Thus “quantum of solace” means “a single, minuscule, consolation.” This would make sense to the plot of the movie, in which a heartbroken and hell-bent on revenge Bond finally get a bit of solace at the end of the movie by not killing Vesper’s ex boyfriend (who is a poser with the task to woo female agents) and give him to MI6 for questioning, as well as finally forgive Vesper’s treachery on him.

On a side note, “Quantum of Solace” is originally a short story written by Ian Fleming as part of his James Bond short story collections titled “For Your Eyes Only.” This short story is not an espionage story and James Bond appears only in the background. Here “quantum of solace” might refers to the interesting story that the Governor of The Bahamas told Bond after a dinner party Bond found boring. But then again that little solace might refer to the fact that Bond’s adventures are pale compared to real life drama, and that we are actually more lucky than James Bond because we had real-life drama in our life. This is just a speculation since I haven’t read the short story.

Penemu rasi bintang: antara invention dan discovery

Ini salah satu search term dalam google yang membawa seseorang ke blog ini. Penemu rasi bintang. Barangkali orang ini mau tau, siapa sih yang menemukan rasi bintang? Google kemudian menampilkan sekian hasil dan entah bagaimana, mendaratlah orang itu ke blog ini. Barangkali di blog ini ada jawabannya.

Haruskah segala sesuatu ada penemunya? Aneh sekali memang dunia pendidikan kita (mungkin negara lain juga gitu?), segala hal harus punya penemu: Siapa penemu mesin cuci? Siapa penemu komputer? Siapa penemu telepon? Siapa penemu radio? Siapa penemu bola lampu? Siapa penemu teleskop? Siapa penemu Benua Amerika? Hingga… siapa penemu rasi bintang?

Gore and nudity in my latest talk

Today I just gave my student colloquium, which is part of the compulsory things we have to do as Leiden Observatory’s MSc student in astronomy. You can look at the presentation slides here (I hope the 17 Megs size don’t put you off from looking!).

The talk was about the result of my research project that I do for my master thesis. Since they gave me 40 minutes of time to give my talk and my project is kinda boring (it’s only filled with so-and-so tools of analysis and reduction that nobody cares about) with no exciting result whatsoever, I then put some more motivations and historical background in my introduction, just to spice-up things. In the first slide there is Rembrandt’s famous painting, The Anatomy Lesson of Dr. Nicolaes Tulp (See Asterix’s parody of the painting here). What the hell is this gory (some people said so, although I beg to differ) picture doing in the opening slide? Well… I want to say that doing Galactic structure is like doing anatomy of human bodies: we study a corpus and try to understand how does it works. We dissect the body, observe one component in detail and assemble the components back together and try to get a greater picture. Of course there are complications in studying the Galaxy since we can only observe and can not experiment with it (only in computer simulation is that possible) and sometimes it is difficult to discern different components of a galaxy. Some anatomists noted that Rembrandt’s depiction of muscles and tendons are quite accurate. I saw the painting in Mauritshuis, it is really a big painting. My friend said the painting is gory. Aaww c’mon, it’s not melting Nazis.

Gubuk Penceng dan “Dua Puluh Ribu Mil di Bawah Laut”

“Selamat tinggal, o Matahari!” Seru Kapten Nemo saat mencapai Kutub Selatan dan melihat matahari senja tanggal 21 Maret merayap mendekati horizon.

“Le lendemain, 22 mars, à six heures du matin, les préparatifs de départ furent commencés. Les dernières lueurs du crépuscule se fondaient dans la nuit. Le froid était vif. Les constellations resplendissaient avec une surprenante intensité. Au zénith brillait cette admirable Croix du Sud, l’étoile polaire des régions antarctiques.” –Jules Verne, Vingt Mille Lieues sous les mers: Deuxième partie, Chapitre XV, Accident ou incident ?
(Pagi berikutnya, 22 Maret, pukul enam pagi, persiapan untuk keberangkatan telah dimulai. Berkas senja terakhir meleleh bersama malam. Dingin begitu terasa. Rasi-rasi bintang bersinar terang mengagumkan. Di zenith bersinar Salib Selatan yang mengagumkan, bintang kutub di daerah antarktika. –Jules Verne, Dua Puluh Ribu Mil di Bawah Laut: Bagian Kedua, Bab 15, Kecelakaan atau insiden?)

Waktu kecil aku suka baca buku-buku Jules Verne. Favoritku tetap Keliling Dunia dalam 80 Hari, lebih karena sosok Phileas Fogg yang cool dan penuh perhitungan. Kalau dipikir-pikir hidupnya yang sangat teratur sangat membosankan dan snobbish, tapi petualangan yang dijalaninya selama 80 hari menarik sekali.

Indiana Jones, kemarahan tuhan, dan von Däniken

Peringatan: Ada spoiler-nya. Baca atas risiko sendiri, jangan salahkan saya.

Dalam Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, siluet Indiana Jones dan topi fedoranya terlihat lebih dahulu sebelum kamera menampilkan wajahnya. Serupa dengan Raiders of the Lost Ark yang hanya menampilkan siluet Indy sebelum akhirnya menampilkan wajahnya setelah hampir 10 menit. Dalam sebuah wawancara, Spielberg mengatakan bahwa Indiana Jones adalah satu dari sedikit karakter yang dapat ditampilkan dalam siluet dan tetap dikenali. Siluet ikonik Indiana Jones ini beberapa kali dimanfaatkan Spielberg untuk efek dramatik, dan dengan efektif menandai kemunculan kembali sang pahlawan setelah 19 tahun absen. Aku menonton film keempat Indiana Jones ini pada hari premiere di Amsterdam. Semenjak aku langganan Star Wars Insider sekitar 14 tahun lalu, berita tentang film ke-4 Indiana Jones sudah beredar dan film ini memang kutunggu-tunggu sejak tahun 1995an, barangkali lebih kuharapkan ketimbang prekuel Star Wars yang jadinya mengecewakan (Jar-Jar Binks? Midi-chlorian? Eugghh…). Setelah hampir 20 tahun semenjak The Last Crusade, kupikir ini pasti banyak nostalgianya. Ternyata memang betul: Spielberg dan Lucas sedang bernostalgia dengan Indiana Jones.

Sony Crockett dan prakiraan cuaca

Sony Crockett, dimainkan oleh Don Johnson, bintang utama serial tv Miami Vice, diputar RCTI setiap hari Senin jam 20.00. Ganteng, dashing, selalu bawa beceng dan mengenakan setelan putih, tinggal di kapal, selalu naik mobil mentereng, dan punya partner kerja yang juga tak kalah keren: Ricardo Tubbs, dimainkan oleh Phillip Michael Thomas. Serial yang sangat chic dan menjadi trend-setter pada jamannya, dan menjadi fenomena.

Jan Hammer, komponis tema-tema dalam Miami Vice juga menggubah tema pembuka yang mencerminkan musik 80an yang menggunakan synthesizer. Untuk karakter Sony Crockett juga diciptakan tema khusus berjudul Crockett’s Theme:

Joe Satriani dan Radio Republik Indonesia

Bukan… Joe Satriani tidak pernah rekaman di Radio Republik Indonesia (kalau pernah, wah keren sekali!)… tapi setiap kali aku mendengar lagu ini (waktu itu si bos masih gondrong):

…pasti teringat dengan Radio Republik Indonesia (RRI). Apa pasal?

A bad workman always blames his tools

“A bad workman always blames his tools” means somebody always blames something for his own incompetence. This is an equivalent proverb for this wise word: “Buruk muka cermin dibelah,” (Ugly face and the mirror is shattered) There are several examples I’ve encountered:

• “A bad programmer always blames his programming tools,” said Ebonk one time when I complain about my code.
• “A bad photographer always blames his tools,” said D. Setiadi to photographers who think that their cameras are the one who make their photos under-exposure or badly composed. There is even another version for this proverb: “Buruk foto, kamera dijual” (Ugly picture and the camera is sold).
• “A bad experimentalist always blames his laboratory equipment,” somebody once said to me concerning laboratory science.

Now what about theoretical physicists? Does a bad theorist always blames his brain?