Exothermic or Endothermic?

The following is an actual question given on a University of Washington engineering mid-term. The answer was so “profound” that the Professor shared it with colleagues, and the sharing obviously hasn’t ceased…

Bonus Question: Is Hell exothermic (gives off heat) or Endothermic (absorbs heat)?

Most of the students wrote Proofs of their beliefs using Boyle’s Law, (gas cools off when it expands and heats when it is compressed) or some variant. One student, however, wrote the following:

“First, we need to know how the mass of Hell is changing in time. So we need to know the rate that souls are moving into Hell and the rate they are leaving. I think that we can safely assume that once a soul gets to Hell, it will not leave. Therefore, no souls are leaving. As for how many souls are entering Hell, let us look at the different religions that exist in the world today. Some of these religions state that if you are not a member of their religion, you will go to Hell. Since there are more than one of these religions and since people do not belong to more than one religion, we can project that all souls go to Hell. With birth and death rates as they are, we can expect the number of souls in Hell to increase exponentially.

Now, we look at the rate of change of the volume in Hell because Boyle’s Law states that in order for the temperature and pressure in Hell to stay the same, the volume of Hell has to expand as souls are added. This gives two possibilities:

1. If Hell is expanding at a slower rate than the rate at which souls enter Hell, then the temperature and pressure in Hell will increase until all Hell breaks loose.

2. Of course, if Hell is expanding at a rate faster than the increase of souls in Hell, then the temperature and pressure will drop until Hell freezes over.

So which is it?

If we accept the postulate given to me by Teresa Banyan during my Freshman year, “…that it will be a cold day in Hell before I sleep with you.”, and take into account the fact that I still have not succeeded in having sexual relations with her, then, #2 cannot be true, and thus I am sure that Hell is exothermic and will not freeze.”

This student received the only A.

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LeBridge @ Ancol + NAV @ Gading

友情是很微妙的一种东西，我曾经听说过这么一句话“朋友是拿来出卖的”我觉着说这句话的人一定是受到了朋友所带来的很大的打击、伤害。

我应该说是相信友谊，至少在此时此刻我是很相信友谊的。朋友就像是你生命中的一盏灯，在你最需要温暖的时候给你送来温暖，朋友就像你的精神支柱，在你最颓废的时候给你勇气。在生活中朋友的每一个细小的细节都会另人感动，在忙碌的生活中，朋友的一个问候的、祝福的短信就会给你带来莫大的感动，你就会在心里默默的说这就是朋友这就是友谊啊！忙碌的生活中，朋友的一通电话也会给你带来欣喜，一句“你好吗”？会使你热泪盈眶。

当然友谊是需要彼此付出的，一个人单方面的付出是不够的，友谊需要两个人共同的付出才会有回报，才会收获到友谊。我们也不能过多的要求我们的朋友为我们做 什么事情，为我们所服务，试着想一想如果你的朋友一味的要求你为她做这做那，你又会有什么样的想法呢？你是不是会想这样的朋友我宁愿不要，我宁愿不交这样 的朋友，所以不要刻意的要求朋友为你做什么。

其实，朋友也是靠自觉的，在忙碌的工作后突然想起了朋友给朋友发个短信息，彼此联络一下感情，给友谊充充气。这就是友谊了。友谊是一种自觉又不自觉的行为。

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Stop and Stare!

I’ve just received an email notification from one of my employment agency regarding my ocbc IT position status, they said they need me to do yet another final test which will eventually determine whether i’m accepted to work there or not. Last 2 interviews have been successfully conducted and to it’s 1 more step to confirmation status.

So I replied back and said how unfortunate it was, really.. I really hoped for that vacant position but due to distance, timings and such.. I’m afraid i’m forced to let it go.. Sighs.. 😦 sad facts.. My parents also said that they needed my help, perhaps to help utilizing family assets.. I’m offering some sort of assistance which i’m particularly interested on, which is to create an integrated system to manage business workflows. I’m observing things these days, asked around why are things like this and that, it’s been a useful experience I should say, but what I worry is the fact that my father isn’t a computer literate person, which I deemed as a barrier to a successful implementation of the system. However, there’s a sign of progress ever since I gave my old laptop to my mom. He’s been able to check email frequently, search infos using google and such…

I’ve been browsing around sourceforge.net lately, searching for particular open source erp solution for both my father’s car repair and rental company.. The result isn’t much satisfying, with lack of customization and abit buggy… So at least for now i’ll mke an introduction to my father’s business by creating a website. Small step indeed but it’s also inexpensive. I’ve managed to rent a local webhost and its domain a year for quite an affordable price, appx S$40. It’s inexpensive compared to the longterm effect I’d say.. The existence of the company can now accessible through vast virtual world of the internet..

I’ve also tried to enhance collaboration amongst family members by adopting Google Aps.. Excellent tool which also provides me with star page with suffixes, customized 6Gb email with my own company logo and domain name extension, something like exeqzalie@jayamotor.net, calendars, google talk, etc.. thanks google for letting us use various services freely imo!.. Well it’s been a week now, my spirit of helping family biz hasn’t been so much before.. About a few years ago i’d always complain if my dad told me to do something or even trivia things for him.. Now i wanted to do something, a change, a BPR if I could, or perhaps open a new biz.. But no matter what, I’d like to create a small but yet important contribution that I can proud of..

I found out that the workflow abit lack of transparency and accountability, top level decision and price offering are often influenced by the market price itself, and lots of human (driver) and car resources are not fully controlled and measured properly. Gasoline isn’t taken into consideration when renting a car.. And it seems difficult to track down car repair cost and maintenance each month, insurance fee etc and very much lack detailed view of the overall car performance.. Well, I could say this isn’t even a professional way of doing business..

I responded back to my dad about this but he said he’s taken almost all into consideration, most of the time using an approximate measures approach and gut feelings in handling biz.. Ended up much more flexibility and some of the frequent cust also praised my dad’s trustable and reliable attitude.. This brings fortune but there’s also a side effect of over-trusting cust.. Some o the cust that I know of have over 15mil debt but he’s still renting the car and pleaded to made each week payment of 1mil to my dad.. Lol.. Lots of funny cases occurred here and there but in the end i’d say i’m very proud of my parents.. Esp. my fierce mom for her unique management breakthrough of handling troublesome employees.. Idk but my parents said their attitude is very much different from the rest of ppl… Maybe it’s also affected due the fact that many ppl here aren’t very much educated.. Iono..

Well, I saw lots unfairness in this world happening at my very own eyes.. Beggers and slump everywhere, starvations, social problems, disasters, floods, almost unbearable situations for a mere human being I’d say.. Perhaps it’s the consequences of the very fact that our city is overcrowded… Overpopulation becomes the root of all evils and problems.. Imho..

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