There is a wise saying; a Pen is mightier than a Sword. With a Sword, you can start a War and kill millions of people. But with a Pen, you can sign a Peace Treaty and save billions of life. As War doesn't determine who is Right, War determines who is Left. I guess that is the reason why I am willing to spend a hundred dollars on a Millennium Space Pen instead of spending it on a Japanese Samurai Sword. If the pen can let you write on any surface, in any extreme conditions and the ink can last you a life time without refilling, it is really quiet a good deal when you think about it.
This reminds me of a story about Space Pen which I had read on the Internet a few years ago:
When NASA first started sending up astronauts, they discovered that ball-point pens would not work in zero gravity. To combat this problem, NASA scientists spent a decade and $12 million developing a pen that writes in zero gravity, upside down, underwater, on almost any surface including glass and at temperatures ranging from below freezing to over 300C. When confronted with the same problem, the Russians used a pencil.
This Space Pen story also reminds me of another story about Chicken Gun:
Scientists at NASA built a gun specifically to launch dead chickens at the windshields of airliners, military jets and the space shuttle, all traveling at maximum velocity. The idea is to simulate the frequent incidents of collisions with airborne fowl to test the strength of the windshields. British engineers heard about the gun and were eager to test it on the windshields of their new high speed trains. Arrangements were made, and a gun was sent to the British engineers.
When the gun was fired, the engineers stood shocked as the chicken hurled out of the barrel, crashed into the shatterproof shield, smashed it to smithereens, blasted through the control console, snapped the engineer's back-rest in two and embedded itself in the back wall of the cabin, like an arrow shot from a bow. The horrified Brits sent NASA the disastrous results of the experiment, along with the designs of the windshield and begged the US scientists for suggestions. You're going to love this. NASA responded with a one-line memo: "Defrost the chicken."
Actually the solutions to the problems in both the story are actually very simple; in Engineering we call it Trouble Shooting. It takes years of experiences to develop a skill for basic Trouble Shooting, like it will take years of experiences for a doctor to diagnose the symptoms for a sickness.
There is another wise saying; an Empty Vessel makes the most Noise. People who talk much doesnÂ’t think much, while people who think much doesnÂ’t talk much, and people who doesnÂ’t talk too much and think too much is most likely insane. Somebody once told me that I had a foul mouth, I told him that it is because my mouth is an enclose space. As a Marine Engineer we have to complete a Safety Checklist for Enclose Space Entry to ensure there are no toxic gases before it is certified safe for entry. It is not me who is having an attitude problem; it is just you having a perception problem.
The famous Albert Einstein once came up with the brilliant Relativity Theory, now the not so famous Alex Chase came up with the not so brilliant Reality Theory. The idea just happen to struck my mind like a big sledge hammer while I was playing an old Super Nintendo game named EVO, I happen to be a very safety conscious Marine Engineer and was wearing my Safety Helmet instead of my Thinking Cap, and so the impact just didnÂ’t manage to kill me instantly.
The game was all about Evolution and I manage to complete the game till perfection with evolution of six super cool creatures in just two boring night at sea. From Fish to Reptile, from Reptile to Dinosaur, from Dinosaur to Bird, from Bird to Mammal, and finally from Mammal to Human. In between, I also manage to transform into three awesome creatures of Eel, Dragon and Bat with the help of the Red Crystals, and manage to evolve into a Mermaid during the process of the game too.
What makes the game so interesting is the ability to make your own choices about what you want to become in your journey through Evolution. You have to find a balance between Strength and Speed in order for you to beat the harsh reality of survival of the fittest. You have to keep improving yourself to adapt to the changes of the environments around you so that you can ensure that your future will be secure.
When I saw Monkey learning how to use a Tool, it reminds me of the Chinese Novel of Journey to the West. The Monkey God manages to steal all the Fruits and cause the other Deities in Heaven to suffer from Constipation. All the Deities were not in a good mood and Buddha had to subdue him by holding him under the Five Finger Mountain. With the Rule of Thumbs for Evolution, Buddha would only need to use one finger instead of five. I guess that really define the wise saying of let the Finger do the Talking.
I once attend a Management Course which teaches me about Management of Subordinates by catering to their basic needs of life to get optimum work output from them. You need to satisfy their basic need of Foods and Rest, then go on to satisfy their more sophisticate needs of Mental and Emotion. If the company going to pay Peanuts, it is going to get Monkeys, and a Peanut cost Sixty Thousand Dollars in Singapore after the famous NKF incident.
That is where I realized that Evolution had been going on throughout the ages and is still going on around us as we speak. It doesnÂ’t only apply to all living things, but it also applies to all matters in the universe too. Now I am starting to sound like the famous Albert Einstein already, and I can assure you that the simple formula for explaining the same complicating theory is still E equal to MC Square.
Still here with me? Good! Because you are going to pursuit on an amazing journey of Modern Evolution with me in time to come. Now this is where I collect my thoughts and think about where I should really begin to guide you through this amazing journey. Let us start from the basic of things where every things use to be so plain and simple when we were still young.
I once study the art of Fortune Telling through Palm Reading, and through my life line I knew that I am going to live a life of about seventy years. Since now I am already thirty plus, I can gladly tell you that I have already lived half my life. So you are actually learning from my years of experience through my years of learning, traveling and painful mistakes which I had made throughout my life.
When we were young, life is so simple, even the choices we made are simple as compare to the choices which we made now. We are only concern about the basic need of life, foods to fill our stomach and clothes to keep us warm. We are not much different from the other living things on this Planet Earth, without much worry about our future or our life. But things just have to change, because that is the rule of Evolution as we experience a change of environments.
I remember when I was still very young, I saw my cousins playing around with a very simple radio. That is when you realize what desire is all about, but all you wanted is just a simple radio only. As I grow older and see the people around me having a cassette player with radio, I start to set my goal to having it. Then came Walkman, Mini Compo, Discman, Hi-Fi System, Mini Disc Player, MP3 Player and the list just getting better and better.
What about the time where we are still using a normal House Phone? Then it slowly became from Cordless to Pager, from a simple Cell Phone to sophisticated Cell Phone with all the gargets like Camera, MP3 Player, PDA Function and much more. Evolution just doesnÂ’t restrict to living things, it also apply to Consumer Electronic Goods too.
Another very good example is the simple Black and White Television, then came Color Television, Flat Screen Television, LCD Television, Plasma Television and more. What about Computers? From 486 to Pentium, from DOS to Windows, from XP to Vista, from Desk Top to Lap Top, from Centrino to Duo Core. And from the normal Compact Film Camera to SLR Professional Camera, to the Digital Camera with auto white balance and anti shake function.
The lists of things can just go on and on, and we have to come to a conclusion of when enough is enough? There is a wise saying that a Content Heart is always Happy, so are we going to keep on being a slave to our desire or are we going to break free and go back to the plain and simple life? The Reality of Life is often cruel, even if we know that we are bound by our own desire, not many of us can really be free. Only the wise choose to improve their mind instead of their body, only the smart survive the trials of times.
Singapore Girls once set a Five C Criteria for choosing their future husband, Car, Condominium, Career, Cash and Credit Card. Later they manage to upgrade it to Five B, BMW, Bungalow, Bachelor Degree, Billionaire and Body. Now I guess they have again upgraded it to Five M, Mercedes, Manson, Master Degree, Multi Billionaire and Muscle. You can really predict that it will be upgraded into Five P in the future if you think hard enough, Porsche, Palace, PHD, Prince and Physically Fit.
In Singapore, the definition for Simple Living is having One Wife, Two Children, Three Bedroom Condo, Four Wheels Vehicle, and Five Figure Salary. While the people in neighboring country definition of Simple Living is having Five Children, Four Wives, There Figure Salary, Two Wheel Vehicle and One-Storey Link House. The Truth to Simple Living is that you tell me what you need, and I'll tell you how to get along without it.
Yes, Upgrade is the new name for Modern Evolution, and you hear this word being spoken every where you go. If at first you don't succeed, try again. Then quit. No use being a damn fool about it. Quitters never win, winners never quit. But those who never win and never quit are idiots.
When you are young, you got all the Energy and Time you need but no Money. When you grow up, you got all the Money and Energy you need but no Time. When you grow old, you got all the Time and Money you need but no Energy. So lack of Time, Money and Energy are always the reasons people give as an excuse for not achieving anything in their life.
So the big question now is what is the E equal to MC Square really mean in this Reality Theory? The answer is actually really simple; Energy is actually equal to Money multiply by the Speed of Light.
Blue Water,
Alex Chase.
