Rocket

When I was studying, one lecturer gave me this story. See… stories make us better at remembering things. I doubt I even remember any formula from his lectures. Basically the story describes what engineering is really about. It is simply problem solving. I am not sure though whether the story is true or not, but I’ll share it with you regardless.

During the early years of space exploration, it is said that American astronaut faced one minor problem. The pen they are using just cannot function properly in zero gravity. If you notice, here on the earth, we usually fail to write something using a pen on surfaces like the wall or the ceiling. In zero gravity, obviously the situation worsen as there is just no force pushing the ink out.

Fascinated, the american spend thousands to overcome the problem. They come up with hydraulic system based pen. It is slightly heavier but then in zero gravity, that will not be a problem.

When the Russia start going into space. They encounter the same problem. they then used pencils.

/end story

The most important step in problem solving is actually defining the problem. You wrongly define the problem, you will end up solving another problem instead of the current at hand. Like in this example, the actual problem is “how to write?” and not “how to force the ink out of the pen?”. How to apply to real life? Simply put, just spend more time analyzing the problem. Redefine it again and again until you know exactly what’s the the problem.

————— Personal Note ————————–
First of all, I appreciate my friends who visited the blog everyday. I only know you via my statistic. For that I thank you with all my heart. I was wondering though whether to change my medium to Malay or stick with English? I’ve had some feedback that some people may not be comfortable with english and thus prevent them from writing any comment. To tell you the truth, what keeps me motivated to keep writing besides my newly found passion for writing, is the 20+- regular friends visiting this blog everyday. Again I thank you. If it’s not much trouble, do leave me some comments ya, Malay or English. I don’t mind. Just want to know the 20 of you better 🙂

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This post has 2 comments.


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  1. filantera
    24 May 07 4:35 am

    wah makin maju

    citer ni ada gak di accompany ngan citer kotak sabun yg kosong tu..hehe bebaru ni wat gak, utk capsule yg kosong lak

  2. banji
    24 May 07 5:14 am

    thank you… tengah rajin,

    betul la… terlupa lak cerita kotak sabun kosong tu. lain kali akan diceritakan…. takpun ceritakan kat sini je, utk org lain baca

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