A Journey in a Lifetime

It started in 1820, when Hans Christian Oersted discovered that electric current in a wire causes a compass needle to orient itself perpendicular to the wire. This was the first clue that electricity and magnetism are not two separate entities, but rather always coexist. In 1861, James Clerk Maxwell published a paper which presents a set of four equations describing the interrelationship between electricity and magnetism.

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On January 2007, I attended a training lectured by a general manager. One of his material was about signs of inexperienced engineer. Because the training was given in Japanase, and at that time my Japanase was still poor (even now ), I didn’t really understand the content.

Tonight I reread the training’s handout and I think probably I gained better understanding of the material . Finally, there is sign of improvement in my Japanese . So here it is:

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Kemarin saya membaca sebuah artikel tentang hasil survei negara-negara paling inovatif di dunia yang diselenggarakan oleh lembaga Economist Intelligence Unit. Setelah mencari tahu lebih jauh, saya mendapati bahwa survei ini mendefinisikan inovasi sebagai “the application of knowledge in a novel way, primarily for economic benefit“. Yang dijadikan sebagai parameter utama adalah jumlah paten yang dihasilkan suatu negara per satu juta penduduk negara tersebut dalam rentang 4 tahun (2004-2006). Hasil survei menunjukkan Jepang sebagai negara paling inovatif di dunia, diikuti oleh Swiss dan Amerika Serikat di posisi kedua dan ketiga.

Saya sedikit terkejut dengan keberadaan Jepang sebagai pemuncak hasil survei tersebut. Tadinya saya mengharapkan Amerika Serikat atau negara Eropa (seperti Jerman, Perancis, dan lain-lain) yang menjadi pemenang.

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Broadcasting is a mass communication method. The basic idea of broadcasting is to make information sent from one source can be received by multiple receivers.
Digital broadcasting system is a telecommunication system of sending and receiving information by means of digital signals. This information can be sounds, moving pictures, or data.

Before digital broadcasting systems emerged, information is broadcasted using analog signal. Analog signal is signal that is continuous both in time and amplitude. Analog signal can be used to convey information by making variations of its properties. This variation is equivalent or analogous to information it conveys. For example, electrical analog signal is used to convey information by varying the voltage or frequency of the signal. By this property, small fluctuations in analog signal are meaningful. Any small different in the signal means different information.

In contrast to analog signal, digital signal is discrete in time. The values of the signal are noted at fixed intervals rather than continuously (for example, every millisecond). In addition to that, the value, instead of being measured to the exact value, is approximated to certain precision. This will allow the value to be represented by limited number of digits. In other words, digital signal’s values are quantized.

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I was spending a lazy evening in my room when my friend Dana sent me a website link. It’s a link to Wikimapia, an online map utilizing Google Maps. The difference is, you can add note to any location in the map. In other words, you can make notes on places all over the world.

I was so tempted to explore it, so I spent the night making or finding notes on places I’ve ever been and on places I’m living now. Here are some of them:

• Home
  My house in Duri, Riau, Indonesia.
• SMU Cendana Mandau
  My senior high school.
• HKBP Simpang Padang Duri
  The church I used to go to in Duri.
• Institut Teknologi Bandung
  I spent four years here.
• UKSU ITB
  I spent crazy times here. UKSU : Unit Kok ruSUh?? hahaha
• HME ITB
  Elektro…elektro…elektro…!!!
• Labtek VIII ITB
  Finished the final project here.
• GII Hok Im Tong Dago
  The church I used to go to in Bandung.
• Toshiba’s Headquater
  CEO’s office .
• Toshiba Fuchu Complex
  My working place.
• Creare Toshiba Fuchu Dormitory
  My living place.
• GIII Tokyo
  My church here in Japan.

Now it becomes not enough just to ask someone, “Hey, where do you live?” Now we can ask, “Give me the link of your living place’s map!”