Three men are in a hot-air balloon. Soon, they find themselves lost in a canyon. One of the three men says, "I've got an idea. We can call for help in this canyon and the echo will carry our voices far." So he leans over the basket and yells out, "Helllloooooo! Where are we?" They hear the echo several times.
Fifteen minutes later, they hear this echoing voice:
"Helllloooooo! You're lost!" One of the men says,
"That must have been a mathematician." Puzzled, one of the other men asks,
"Why do you say that?" "For three reasons.
One, he took a long time to answer; two, he was absolutely correct, and three, his answer was absolutely useless."
--------------------------------------------------
Two male mathematicians are in a café. The first one says to the second that the average person knows very little about basic mathematics. The second mathematician disagrees, and claims that most people can cope with a reasonable amount of maths. The first goes off to the toilets, and in his absence his companion calls over the waitress.
He tells her that in a few minutes, after his friend has returned, he will call her over and ask her a question. All she has to do is answer one third x cubed. She repeats,
"One thir - dex cue"? He repeats, "One third x cubed".
"One thir dex cubed?" Yes, that's right, he says. So she agrees, and goes off mumbling to herself,
"One thir dex cubed..."
The first guy returns and the second proposes a bet to prove his point that most people do know something about basic maths. He says he will ask the blonde waitress an integral, and the first laughingly agrees. The second man calls over the waitress and asks, "What is the integral of x squared?".
As instructed, the waitress says "One third x cubed," and while walking away, turns back and adds over her shoulder, "Plus a constant."
Saturday, June 18, 2005
Thursday, June 16, 2005
Computational Science is not Computer Science
Computational science explores models of natural and artificial world aiming to understand at greater depths than otherwise possible. It’s a modern field where computers are used to solve problems whose difficulty or complexity places them beyond analytic solution or human endurance. Sometimes the computer serves as a super-calculating machine, or as a laboratory for numerical simulation of complex systems, or as a lever for human intellectual abilities, and optimally as all of them.
The focus of a computational scientist is science. So, computational science is not computer science. Computer science studies computing for its own intrinsic interests and develops the hardware and software tools which computational scientists use. This difference is not just semantic or academic. Computational scientists are interested in computer applications in science and engineering, and their values, prejudices, tools, organizations, goals, and measures of success reflect that interest. For example, a computational scientist may view a particular approach as reliable, self explanatory, and easy to port to sites throughout the world, while a computer scientist may view it as lengthy and inelegant; maybe both are right, because both are viewing it from their different disciplines.
Computational science is a team sport. It draws together people from many disciplines via commonality of technique, approach, and philosophy. A computational scientist must know a lot about many things to be successful. But because the same tools are used for many problems in different fields, he or she is not limited to one specialty area. A study of computational science helps broaden horizons, which is a welcome exception to the stifling subspecialization found in science.
The focus of a computational scientist is science. So, computational science is not computer science. Computer science studies computing for its own intrinsic interests and develops the hardware and software tools which computational scientists use. This difference is not just semantic or academic. Computational scientists are interested in computer applications in science and engineering, and their values, prejudices, tools, organizations, goals, and measures of success reflect that interest. For example, a computational scientist may view a particular approach as reliable, self explanatory, and easy to port to sites throughout the world, while a computer scientist may view it as lengthy and inelegant; maybe both are right, because both are viewing it from their different disciplines.
Computational science is a team sport. It draws together people from many disciplines via commonality of technique, approach, and philosophy. A computational scientist must know a lot about many things to be successful. But because the same tools are used for many problems in different fields, he or she is not limited to one specialty area. A study of computational science helps broaden horizons, which is a welcome exception to the stifling subspecialization found in science.
Wednesday, June 15, 2005
Concept of Faith in Ahlus Sunnah wal Jama'ah
The Concept of Faith With Ahlus-Sunnah
Shaykh ‘Abdul-Muhsin bin Hamd Al-‘Abbad Al-Badr
Faith (Eemaan) with Ahlus-Sunnah Wal Jamaa'ah comprises of belief with the heart, statement of the tongue and action of the limbs. These three affairs with Ahlus-Sunnah all enter into what is specified and termed as Eemaan. Allaah the Mighty and the Majestic has said:
"The believers are only those who, when Allaah is mentioned, feel a fear in their hearts and when His verses are recited unto them, they (the verses) increase their faith, and they put their trust in their Lord. [Those] Who perform the prayer and spend out of that which We have provided them. It is they who are the believers in truth, for them are grades of dignity with their Lord and forgiveness and a generous provision." (Al-Anfaal: 2-4)
So in these verses the actions of the hearts and the actions of the limbs enter into Eemaan. Imaam Muslim has narrated in his Saheeh from the Hadeeth of Abu Hurayrah-may Allaah be pleased with him- who said that the Messenger of Allaah Sallahu ‘Alihee Wasallam said:
"Al-Emaan is seventy odd or sixty odd branches, the best of them is the statement: No one is worthy of worship except Allaah and the lowest of them is removing something harmful from the path and Hayaa (shyness) is a branch of Eemaan."
So indeed this Hadeeth shows that what is established and founded with the heart, the tongue and the limbs is from Eemaan…
Eemaan increases with obedience and decreases with sins, from the evidences that it increases, is the statement of Allaah the Mighty, the Majestic:
"Those (believers) unto whom the people (hypocrites) said: Verily the people have gathered against you, therefore fear them, but it only increased them in faith." (Al-Imraan: 173)
Also His statement:
"And when the believers saw the confederates they said: This is what Allah and His Messenger had promised us, and Allah and His Messenger had spoken the truth. And it only added to their faith and to their submissiveness." (Al-Ahzaab: 22).
And from the evidences that it (Eemaan) decreases is his statement Sallahu ‘Alayhee Wasallam:
"Whoever sees an evil from amongst you, then let him change it with his hand, and if he is unable, then with his tongue, and if he is unable then with his heart, and that is the weakest of Emaan." (narrated by Muslim)…
So Ahlus-Sunnah hold the middle ground, with regards to the one who commits a major sin, between what the Murji'ah are upon and between what the Khawaarij and the Mu'tazilah are upon. So the Murji'ah compromise and fall short and make him (the one who falls into major sin) a believer with complete Eemaan and they say: Sins do not harm a person's state of Eemaan, just like obedience does not benefit a person's state of Kufr (disbelief). And the Khawaarij and the Mu'tazilah go to the other extreme and to exaggeration and remove him (the sinner) from the fold of Eemaan, then the Khawaarij place a ruling of Kufr upon him. The Mu'tazilah say that he is in a state between two states ( i.e. he is not a believer and not a Kaafir), and in the hereafter they both agree that he will reside in hellfire forever.
Where as Ahlus-Sunnah describe the sinful person, as being a believer with deficient Eemaan. So they do not make him a believer with complete Eemaan, as the Murji'ah say, nor do they remove him from Eemaan as the Khawaarij and the Mu'tazilah say. Rather Ahlus-Sunnah say: "He is a believer with regards to his Eemaan and a sinner with regards to his major sin."
.
Sharh Hadeeth Jibreel fee Ta’leem ad Deen: P: 70-73 / The Explanation of the Hadeeth of Jibreel in Teaching the Deen
Translated by: Abu Sumayyah Abdur-Raoof Muhammad
Shaykh ‘Abdul-Muhsin bin Hamd Al-‘Abbad Al-Badr
Faith (Eemaan) with Ahlus-Sunnah Wal Jamaa'ah comprises of belief with the heart, statement of the tongue and action of the limbs. These three affairs with Ahlus-Sunnah all enter into what is specified and termed as Eemaan. Allaah the Mighty and the Majestic has said:
"The believers are only those who, when Allaah is mentioned, feel a fear in their hearts and when His verses are recited unto them, they (the verses) increase their faith, and they put their trust in their Lord. [Those] Who perform the prayer and spend out of that which We have provided them. It is they who are the believers in truth, for them are grades of dignity with their Lord and forgiveness and a generous provision." (Al-Anfaal: 2-4)
So in these verses the actions of the hearts and the actions of the limbs enter into Eemaan. Imaam Muslim has narrated in his Saheeh from the Hadeeth of Abu Hurayrah-may Allaah be pleased with him- who said that the Messenger of Allaah Sallahu ‘Alihee Wasallam said:
"Al-Emaan is seventy odd or sixty odd branches, the best of them is the statement: No one is worthy of worship except Allaah and the lowest of them is removing something harmful from the path and Hayaa (shyness) is a branch of Eemaan."
So indeed this Hadeeth shows that what is established and founded with the heart, the tongue and the limbs is from Eemaan…
Eemaan increases with obedience and decreases with sins, from the evidences that it increases, is the statement of Allaah the Mighty, the Majestic:
"Those (believers) unto whom the people (hypocrites) said: Verily the people have gathered against you, therefore fear them, but it only increased them in faith." (Al-Imraan: 173)
Also His statement:
"And when the believers saw the confederates they said: This is what Allah and His Messenger had promised us, and Allah and His Messenger had spoken the truth. And it only added to their faith and to their submissiveness." (Al-Ahzaab: 22).
And from the evidences that it (Eemaan) decreases is his statement Sallahu ‘Alayhee Wasallam:
"Whoever sees an evil from amongst you, then let him change it with his hand, and if he is unable, then with his tongue, and if he is unable then with his heart, and that is the weakest of Emaan." (narrated by Muslim)…
So Ahlus-Sunnah hold the middle ground, with regards to the one who commits a major sin, between what the Murji'ah are upon and between what the Khawaarij and the Mu'tazilah are upon. So the Murji'ah compromise and fall short and make him (the one who falls into major sin) a believer with complete Eemaan and they say: Sins do not harm a person's state of Eemaan, just like obedience does not benefit a person's state of Kufr (disbelief). And the Khawaarij and the Mu'tazilah go to the other extreme and to exaggeration and remove him (the sinner) from the fold of Eemaan, then the Khawaarij place a ruling of Kufr upon him. The Mu'tazilah say that he is in a state between two states ( i.e. he is not a believer and not a Kaafir), and in the hereafter they both agree that he will reside in hellfire forever.
Where as Ahlus-Sunnah describe the sinful person, as being a believer with deficient Eemaan. So they do not make him a believer with complete Eemaan, as the Murji'ah say, nor do they remove him from Eemaan as the Khawaarij and the Mu'tazilah say. Rather Ahlus-Sunnah say: "He is a believer with regards to his Eemaan and a sinner with regards to his major sin."
.
Sharh Hadeeth Jibreel fee Ta’leem ad Deen: P: 70-73 / The Explanation of the Hadeeth of Jibreel in Teaching the Deen
Translated by: Abu Sumayyah Abdur-Raoof Muhammad
My first post
This is my first posting at blogger. Despite of my Indonesian nationality and my love for Bahasa Indonesia, I choose to make posting in English. To get broader range of reader is one of my intention, so I decided to ignore (for a while) my stupidity in written English and hope some readers who find any mistake can tell me about it.
So please, for you who find any mistake in my postings, tell me! I can't give you any reward, but as they say, good things in life are free. You can criticize my English in any way you like, as long as you have good reasons to do so. If you feel good and superior when criticizing (and maybe insulting) me, don't worry too much. It's normal. But if you find no mistake and just can't stop looking at my typing, hoping to find a mistake and excuse to criticize, wasting more than 1 hour just to do so, please check yourself at nearest mental hospital. Take it as an advice from a friend.
Thanks anyway..
So please, for you who find any mistake in my postings, tell me! I can't give you any reward, but as they say, good things in life are free. You can criticize my English in any way you like, as long as you have good reasons to do so. If you feel good and superior when criticizing (and maybe insulting) me, don't worry too much. It's normal. But if you find no mistake and just can't stop looking at my typing, hoping to find a mistake and excuse to criticize, wasting more than 1 hour just to do so, please check yourself at nearest mental hospital. Take it as an advice from a friend.
Thanks anyway..
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