Lukman's Blog
Latest Article
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Canon and Nikon, a Legendary Debate of the Fools
Posted on: 2009-02-18 -
Is Okayama University Mediocre?
Posted on: 2008-07-06 -
Nihongo ojyouzu desu ne
Posted on: 2008-07-05 -
Book: Idiom Bahasa Jepang
Posted on: 2007-08-21 -
Live Under the Same Sky with Nuclear Bombs
Posted on: 2007-08-15 -
Tsunami in Aceh: Disaster?
Posted on: 2004-12-31
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Canon and Nikon, a Legendary Debate of the Fools
Posted on 2009-02-18
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"Which is better, Nikon or Canon?" I found this question almost like a trademark for someone who want to get their first DSLR (Digital Single-Lens Reflex) camera, and people who are ready to answer this question mainly can be divided into two groups: those who are ready to answer, Canon and Nikon are the main player in DSLR industries, and together they hold about 80% of DSLR marketplace in Japan. Both of them are ultra-billion company which produce high-quality lenses. Yes, it's lenses, not camera. So, it is really weird to see someone invest so much in camera but refuse to invest in good lenses. Some expert even said that having high-quality camera attached with low-quality lenses is the same as having high-quality CD player plugged with crappy speaker: you won't get a good sound no matter how good the player, the CD, and the singer. Back to the topic, this phenomenon is somewhat similar to religion case, especially in case of sectarian struggle among the fool. In such level, the fool are quite loyal to what he/she believes first, and some even have good confidence to insult the others. In fact, the person who pledge for loyalty doesn't always understand about what he/she believes, not even mentioning about other thing which he/she doesn't believe. Things can be worse if "this is good" and "this is bad" are statement heard from a third person, and to make thing even worse is: that third person also doesn't have qualification to judge. Another case is when a person has a chance to compare both side, but using invalid method to produce invalid conclusion. Let say a person shoot some objects inside a bright room with camera A in automated mode and the camera decided this setting: ISO 400 f8 1/100. Then in another chance, the same person is going to shoot the same object inside a less bright room with camera B in automated mode, and the camera decided this setting: ISO 1600 f3.5 1/15. When the result comes out, the person get pissed with camera B for giving blurred and noised picture. A great comparison method, huh? When I heard the voice of professional photographer regarding to this matter, they tends to be the people of second group. Some of them even said, "That brand is very good. But now I'm using this brand. That's all." Come to think of it, with such reputation, no one would deny if this professional said, "that brand is bad," and no beginner would refuse to believe the person said, "this brand is good." Yet they don't do it. So, it is ironic to hear "this brand is good, that brand is not" coming from a camera-man who even needs more than 3 second to set the ISO of its own DSLR ... if the person know what is ISO. Of course, each person is free to make their judgement. But improper judgement, which is delivered to the public, only revealing how poor the person who judge. On top of that, people who heard the judgement may not obtain any benefit. In order to make a good judgement, one needs to have experience in both brands AND handled both of them properly. It is very ridiculous to say that a certain brand of ice cream is awful in taste, if the person never actually tasted it before. Also, we can't claim that ice cream A is better than B, if we ate ice cream A as it comes out from freezer but ate B when it had been boiled together with instant noodle. Additionally, a person can't make a good comparison if: he utilized camera A with all of its feature because he understand, but utilized camera B for point-and-shoot in auto-mode because he doesn't want to understand the feature inside. |
Saya sering menjumpai orang yang ingin membeli DSLR (Digital Single-Lens Reflex) senantiasa menanyakan, "Mana yang lebih bagus, Nikon atau Canon?", dan orang-orang yang siap menjawab pertanyaan ini dapat diklasifikasikan menjadi dua kelompok: Canon dan Nikon adalah pemain utama dalam industri DSLR, dan keduanya memegang 80% DSLR market-share di Jepang. Canon dan Nikon adalah perusahaan besar yang memproduksi lensa kualitas tinggi. Lensa, bukan kamera. Jadi agak janggal ketika ada orang yang berinvestasi habis-habisan di kamera namun ogah berinvestasi di lensa. Seorang pakar ada yang menganalogikan bahwa memasang lensa kualitas rendah pada kamera profesional dapat disamaka n dengan seseorang yang memasang speaker kualitas sampah pada CD playernya, yaitu orang tersebut tidak akan memperoleh suara yang bagus, meskipun CD-nya bagus, playernya high-tech, dan penyanyinya bersuara emas. Kembali ke topik, fenomena Canon VS Nikon ini persis dengan agama, khususnya mengenai aliran dan sekte di akar rumput. Pada level dasar tersebut, pengikut suatu aliran cenderung fanatik dengan keyakinannya dan bahkan ada yang cukup pe-de untuk mencela aliran lain. Padahal, yang bersangkutan belum tentu paham dengan apa yang ia yakini, apalagi terhadap hal lain yang ia tidak pelajari namun ia cela. Bisa jadi yang mengatakan ini bagus dan itu jelek, tidak lain lantaran mendengar dari orang lain, dan orang yang menjadi narasumber pun belum tentu layak dijadikan narasumber. Kasus lain yang mungkin terjadi adalah ketika seseorang berkesempatan mempelajari kedua sisi, tetapi metodenya yang kurang tepat justru malah berpotensi menghasilkan kesimpulan keliru. Katakanlah seseorang menggunakan kamera pocket merek A setting semi automatic (karena pemula) dan si kamera menetapkan ISO 200 f8 1/100 untuk memotret bunga di cahaya yang cukup, kemudian di lain kesempatan ia menggunakan kamera prosumer merek B dengan setting semi automatic juga dan si kamera menetapkan ISO 1600 f3.5 1/15 memotret jenis bunga yang sama di bawah pohon rindang. Kedua foto dicetak dan dibandingkan, lalu dimaki-makilah kamera B karena hasil fotonya berbintik-bintik dan kabur, sementara hasil dari kamera A sangat cemerlang. Apakah metode perbandingan semacam ini bisa dijadikan referensi untuk mempercayai bahwa kamera B lebih jelek daripada A? Saya amati para fotografer professional yang berbagi cerita di dunia maya, cenderung pada kelompok kedua. Bahkan ada yang sanggup berkata, "Merek A sangat bagus, tapi saat ini saya tengah menggunakan merek B. Itu saja." Padahal dengan reputasinya, tidak akan ada yang membantah kalau ia mengatakan merek A sangat jelek, dan pemula mana yang tidak percaya kalau ia mengatakan merek B sangat bagus. Tapi, mereka tidak melakukannya. Di sisi lain, ironis rasanya ketika mereka yang masih memerlukan waktu lebih dari tiga detik untuk men-set ISO kamera-DSLR-nya sendiri ternyata mampu mengklaim, "Merek ini bagus, merek itu tidak." Tentu saja tiap orang bebas membuat penilaian terhadap sesuatu. Tetapi, penilaian yang tidak memiliki dasar kuat dan dilempar ke publik hanya menunjukkan kekurangan orang yang membuat penilaian tersebut. Lebih jauh, orang yang mendengarnya pun tidak akan memperoleh banyak manfaat (itu pun kalau masih ada manfaatnya). Untuk menghasilkan penilaian yang tepat, seseorang perlu memiliki pengalaman dalam menggunakan kedua benda tersebut dan menggunakan keduanya secara tepat. Akan sangat konyol jika seseorang mengklaim bahwa es krim merek A tidak enak padahal yang bersangkutan belum pernah memakannya. Seseorang juga tidak layak mengklaim bahwa es krim A lebih baik daripada B, jika ia mengujinya dengan mencicipi es krim A sesaat setelah dikeluarkan dari freezer dan mencicipi es krim B yang direbus bersama mie instan. Lebih jauh, seseorang juga tidak bisa menghasilkan perbandingan yang baik jika: ia menggunakan kamera A dengan segala featurenya karena ia mengerti, namun menggunakan kamera B hanya untuk point-and-shoot dengan mode otomatis karena ia enggan untuk mengerti feature di dalamnya. |
Professional photographers (in counter-clockwise direction): John McDermott, Jim Richardson, Sara France, and Bob Davis. Canon or Nikon?
The photos were taken from Apple's website
Is Okayama University Mediocre?
Posted on 2008-07-06
At least there are two students from a country who told me that they think this university is a low-rank with mediocre publication while many other universities have better publication. Really I don't want to care because I don't think they have qualification to spit that judgement out. One of them let the electricity cables stacking haywire in his apartment violating the safety rule which made me think that this guy doesn't even have basic skill as a scientist; that is safety.
But let's get straight with the title. At an instant sight the answer may be yes, but the fact is it doesn't even half true.
There are seven imperial Universities in Japan and they have long history which of course have made glorious reputation. Unfortunately Okayama is not one among them. According to an associate professor, based on research fund received by University in Japan, Okayama University stand in 13th position, which means other than imperial universities Okayama university is inferior only to five universities.
That's the general thing. What I want to emphasize is that since Okayama University is a research university then judgement should be based on the research. When we are talking about research, then you have to look at the laboratory, not the university in overall, as University has a strong point in certain field. Shortly, judge by looking their individual laboratory.
Let me get one small example: my current laboratory. When I wrote this, the boss is 52 years young, and the associate is 40 years young. Both of them are used to publish their work in Nature, a journal whose impact factor is 27, the rest of publication can be found in ACS publication whose impact factor can't be underestimated too. Then what kind of publication else can you expect?
In case of paper test, this is quite amusing. As you may already know, University is far from being a magic box which transform idiot student to be a genius one. University with long history and reputation of course naturally invites many students to apply and they can freely select the best of the best among them and discard the others to less famous university. If you, ryuugakusei, are looking for a fame, then there is no point to choose Okayama University because it is meaningless to boast "I'm an alumnus of Okayama University" in front of alumnus of imperial university no matter how good your publication is.
When I heard from those who regret that they are studying in a University which they think mediocre, I was wondering, "You guys can use internet and get information of a laboratory and its publication, yet why did you choose a university or a laboratory which you think mediocre from its publication? And what is the point of complaining what you have chosen? Second, you are a free man, why don't you just quit and move to 'elite' university?"
Nihongo ojyouzu desu ne
Posted on 2008-07-05
Most foreigner who came to Japan with little knowledge or skill in Japanese language will certainly have experience of being praised by Japanese with this sentence.
When the Japanese people start to point this phrase to you, it actually indicates that your Japanese is very bad. I said "indicates" and that doesn't mean the Japanese saying such thing on ill purpose. Really the Japanese doesn't want to let you down and probably want to motivate you also. This is a part of their habit called oseji (flattering), in which almost all Japanese are expert (read my article about oseji in this page).
I think the Japanese are actually not lying either because maybe they have not finished the words. While "Nihongo ojyouzu desu ne ..." is the first part of the sentence, the later part: "..., Nihongo zenzen shabettenai gaijin ni kurabetara" may be kept in their mind. So it is not necessary a lie.
If your Japanese is really cool, you will notice that they keep talking normally to you without praising your Japanese skill (either they forget or they feel it is unnecessary). Your Japanese is even better when the Japanese said "kare/kanojo, nihongo ojyozu desu ne" in low-voice to their Japanese friend, instead to you.
Those who don't get disturbed with this oseji can happily enjoy the daily life. But for those who become irritated and want to get rid of that repetitive words from their ears, the only way out is to master Japanese language up to intermediate-level where the praising frequency will slowly decrease. If you translate "Osuki na dake tabetekudasai" as "Please eat only what you like" then prepare to be praised by the Japanese with "Nihongo ojyouzu desu ne", which means your Japanese is bad.
Book: Idiom Bahasa Jepang
Posted on 2007-08-21
Idiom can jazz our language style, and some complicated things can be easily expressed by using correct idiom. Like other languages, Japanese language also has many interesting idioms to be known. This book is a good start for that purpose. The topic is divided according to human body parts, because this book emphasizes on idioms which are constructed from that parts. The book is well organized and example sentences is well given. An interesting book for those who want to add some spices to his/her Japanese language.
What I read is the Indonesian translated one, published by Kesaint Blanc. Since this is a translation, I assume that it has the same contents as the original book. But, whether it is a mistake or not, the original title of this book suggested that it should have a wider topic than just a mere idioms.
What I want to heavily criticize from this Indonesian-translated-book is the usage of Indonesian language inside. Despite of being reprinted for 14 times (since 1990 to 2002), the book contains too many serious errors in Indonesian language and it seems the publisher or author does not realize it at all. It may not be that serious if the book talked about Advanced Mathematic for the Expert, but this book is talking about linguistic, where both Japanese and Indonesian language should be put on honorable place.
When the chapter of a body-part begin, an explanation regarding to that body-part will be given, and I must say that this part is the worst. I will give an example from p.39:
"Di Jepang bibir bukan hal yang sensual; orang tidak mengabadikan bibir Marilyn Monroe maupun Andy Warhol. Kepekaan itu kini mulai menjadi perhatian banyak orang, agak keterlaluan memang kalau mempertanyakan peranan bibir dalam kebiasaan bercinta. Dengan perhitungan seperti itu barangkali, maka sedikit idiom yang memfokuskan kepada bibir. Apapun alasannya, para pelacur di Jepang juga tidak biasa melakukan begitu."
Even the native Indonesian will not understand what on the hell is this paragraph trying to explain. The connection between sentences, the choice of word, and the punctuation are really horrible. This is certainly not a technical misprint, and this is happen almost in all chapter introduction. Minor mistranslations in example sentences, such as "kubi o kiru" (p.58) was mistranslated as "Kepala putus", "muzukashii mondai ni mina wa atama o kakaeta" (p.6) was mistranslated as "Semua masalah sulit sudah dipecahkan", etc., should not be underestimated too.
I believe that this condition happened not because the translator didn't understand Indonesian language, rather it is because the author didn't carefully re-check and read the sentences back. I saw that the translator seems to translate from English to Indonesian directly sentence by sentence, not meaning by meaning, which make the paragraph became stiff and monotone. Since this is a linguistic book, a revision in the term of language should be considered as priority.
Nevertheless, readers who already has enough Japanese vocabulary and grammar skill can enjoy the benefit of this book by looking at the example sentences. Unfortunately, the explanation in Indonesian language should be skipped for good.
Book Name: Idiom Bahasa Jepang
Original Title: Body Language (?)
Writer: Jeffrey G. Garisson
Illustrator: Taro Higuchi
Translator (to Indonesian Language): N**** R****
Language: Indonesian
Price: Rp 12,800
Live Under the Same Sky with Nuclear Bombs
Posted on 2007-08-15
Today, a group of Japanese in Okayama commemorates the end of World War II by strucking the so called peace-bell in several buddhist temples, despite the fact that the end of WWII also remarks the nippon army defeat in 1945. Through this commemoration, they are praying for a peaceful world - a world without war.
In addition to hitting the bell, I was also given a chance to give my opinion about peace in front of the audiences, of course in Japanese. While most of Japanese people associates the meaning of peace with a condition without war, I think the meaning of peace is far wider than that. Even there's no war, if people live in fear all the time, then we can't say those people are living in peace. For example, in my home island, although there is no war, people can't live in peace because there is no certainty in law, labor right, medical service, food supply, etc. Indeed, those conditions are not found in Japan, thus might became the reason why Japanese tends to associates the meaning of peace with one condition: that is a condition without war. At that time, I just want to remind the audiences that the world peace is not simply a matter of war only.
Several days back, I saw a new drama, yet the story is very touching, aired on Japanese TV. The story is about a family who live in Hiroshima during the world war II. The father is a common person who disagree with government policy to declare war, which make his daughter and two sons often bullied by teachers in primary school. A scene showed the son was slapped suddenly by his teacher, just because he said that he was proud with his father way of think. I can understand this because such situation also happened in my country post WWII, where the students are forced to believe that our president is a national hero. Back to the story, although the family was poor, they lived a happy life, until the atomic bomb was dropped and left no happiness remained. The producer is on the right path because not many people are crazy enough to believe that a weapon which originally designed to massacre human and destroy environment can bring happiness.
Although I'm a part of people who disagree with the existence of nuclear weapon in this small polluted-planet, I also wondering: suppose there was no nuclear weapon then would Japanese stop their invasion? Despite that, one thing is very clear to me: whenever a nuclear bomb is dropped, it is always the innocent people who will suffer, not the war-criminal. One may say that the winner in the war will not be called war-criminal, nor the loser will be called hero. But for me, whoever inflicted harm to common people in their war, then they deserve the title of war-criminal.
