Monthly Archives: September 2007

Daily Scribble

Mid Autumn Festival

1 Comment

Today is the mid autumn festival.  In Chinese tradition, people suppose to look up the sky tonight and adore the roundness of the moon.  To me, today is just a normal work day and then have some church function in the evening.  I am not even aware it is the day of mid-autumn festival until Pat gave me a moon cake.  I didn’t bother to raise my head and check out the moon, since the shape of the moon is none of my concern.

A traditional festival loses its meaning if it doesn’t come with a holiday.  When the meaning is hollowed out, people will move on and slowly forget the festival.  The festival may has some symbolic in the past, but in the this post-modern world anyone can associate any meaning to any symbol or associate any symbol to any day.  Mid-autumn symbolizes thinking about far way family members in the past.  Now you can simply call them up to say hello at any time.  You can make any day carry the same meaning of the  mid-autumn festival.  The traditional festival has lost its meaning, what’s left in a festival is just an excuse to give us a day off to enjoy ourself.

Daily Scribble

How to buy a gun

1 Comment

This is a speech prepared for the Toastmaster humorous speech contest.

A woman walked into a gun shop and said to the shop keeper, “I would like to buy a gun for my husband.” The woman said she don’t know much about guns and ask for some advice. The shop keeper then asked her, “What type of guns your husband likes?” The woman said, “Are you kidding? He doesn’t even know I am going to shoot him!”

Mr. Chair, fellow Toastmasters, when you walk into a gun shop, you don’t to be as clueless as the woman in the story. Today I am going to give you some tips on how to buy a gun.

First you decide what type of guns you want to buy by asking yourself what targets are you going to shoot? Paper target, sports clay, wild games or your mother in law. You need to buy the right gun for the right target. Rifles for far away target, handguns for close combat, and shotguns for anything that flies.

Buying guns is like buying shoes, you have to try it out to find the one that fits you. You may have to try out many guns before finding one that is comfortable to use. Pick up the gun, pretend you are Bruce Willis in Die Hard, imagine you are fighting a group of terrorist. You want to make sure your gun feels like an natural extension of your hand at all time.

The next tips is specially for the ladies or any fashionable gentlemen. Guns come in different colors, such as black polyester, dark blue steel finish, shiny silver nickel finish, fine-wood walnut finish, marine camouflage in different shades of green. You may want to pick a gun that matches your dressing style. When you are holding a gun, how cool you look is as important as how good you shoot.

Last time when I went to the gun shop, I overheard a conversation between two hunters. The first hunter asked the second one, “Why do you hunt without bullets?” The second hunter replied, “It is much cheaper and the result are the same.” I am sure my fellow Toastmasters are much better shooters than the second hunter, so you may want to buy some bullets. Buying bullets require some delicate knowledge, you have to know how to read numbers. All you have to do is read the caliber marking on the gun and find the bullets that match the number.

A single bullet is not expensive, but if you plan to do lots of shooting, the ammunition bill may add up quite high.  Do you know that you can get bullets in every day low price at Wal-Mart. Wal-Mart carries a huge selection of bullets. If you buy in bulk, you may even get volume discount.

Let me ask you a question. What will you do if you catch you teenager son buying dirty magazines? I will tell him buying dirty magazines is wrong, because it may jam your gun. In a gun shop, a magazine is not something for you to read, it is something that holds extra bullets. It is always wise to have a few spare magazine with you. You don’t want to find yourself run out of ammo in the middle of a shooting.

Now you have buy your gun, some bullets and a few magazine. You are ready to shoot. But wait a second, let me tell you a real story of how not to use a gun. In 1990, a Seattle man named David Zaback got a gun from the black market. He decided to turn make some quick bucks. He walked in to shop, pointed his gun at the shop keeper and ask for money. However, he made a big mistake, he picked to the wrong shop. He was trying to rob a gun store! He was shot dead right on the spot by the shop keeper and other customers. Remember, don’t do stupid things with your gun. Happy Shooting.

動漫

Murder Princess 虐殺姬

Leave a comment

Murder Princess 我一向對長劍少女沒有免疫力﹐見了這套「虐殺姬」的預告片便已經想看。這套動畫是六集的OVA短篇﹐由曾繪製Noir和Madlax的Bee Train工作室製作﹐作畫水準有一定的信心保證。雖然這動畫是漫畫改篇﹐但故事性不強的例牌劇情﹐主要賣點還是凌厲的打鬥場面﹐以及主角那身超萌的染血白色禮服的公主造形。

故事開始於某一個小國發生政變﹐艾利塔公主從城堡逃出來﹐身旁的護衛給敵人一個個幹掉。走投無路之際﹐在樹林中遇上最強賞金獵人法莉絲﹐機綠巧合下兩人的身體互相對調。艾利塔請求法莉絲保護她的國家﹐並承諾把國家的王位讓給她﹐於是史上最強的虐殺公主自此誕生。行動粗魯的賞金獵人化身為高貴的公主﹐想必會發生不少笑話。不過這動畫主要還是著重動作打鬥﹐所以只在第三話青蜓點水的加插點笑料作點綴。故事中敵人一個緊接一個出現﹐虐殺公主拿著劍砍殺的時間﹐比在宮庭中要舉止優雅的時間還多。

這動畫的女主角虐殺公主形象鮮明耀眼﹐相比之下劇中其他角色就黯然失色。艾利塔留在公主的身邊作女僕﹐算是搭單多送一個萌系女角﹐除此之外這位第二女主角的角色其實可有可無。法莉絲還有兩名科學怪人手下﹐他們的唯一作用就是打雜魚﹐讓觀眾悄作中場休息﹐鬆馳一下再欣賞公主的戰鬥。六集動畫總共出現五個敵人﹐平均每集公主打敗一人。那些敵人勉強也算是同伙﹐背後藏有個穿鑿附會毀滅世界的大陰謀。觀眾可以無視故事的合理性﹐公主在上一個鏡頭給打到噴血倒地﹐下一個鏡頭卻凌空跳躍使出絕招解決對手﹐事後除了衣服上的點點班班的血蹟﹐生龍活虎好像沒有受傷一樣。觀眾亦可以不用理會敵人的真正身份﹐虐殺公主武功高強的身世秘密。編劇根本沒有打算詳細交代﹐只在最後一集花幾分鐘時間隨口亂說解釋﹐若要深究的話會自相反駁產生更多疑問。只要記著虐殺公主是好人﹐敵人是要毀滅世界的壞人﹐餘下來便可以靜心欣賞打不死公主的連場激鬥。

「虐殺姬」沒有曲折離奇的劇情﹐也沒有感動落淚的愛情故事﹐只有一場緊接一場的精彩打鬥。適合只講求純視覺觀感刺激的觀眾﹐喜歡其他動畫元素的觀眾﹐千萬不要有錯誤的期望。

政治經濟, 書評

The Road to Serfdom 自由到路役之路 – Freidrich A. Hayek

Leave a comment

road to serfdom 據說在蘋果日報報社的大堂有三尊銅像﹐代表著香港一直以來賴以成功的自由經濟體系﹐背後的三個位著名經濟學家。第一位是香港六十年代的財政司郭伯偉(John J. Cowperthwaite)﹐任內政府推行經濟積極不干預政策。第二位是去年去世的經濟大師佛利民(Milton Friedman),建立自由市場的經濟理論反對政府干預。第三位則是政治哲學家海耶克(Freidich A. Hayek)﹐為反對社會主義和集體主義寫下理論基礎。

「自由到路役之路」 是海耶克最重要的著作﹐書中詳細推論社會主義最終必然會變成極權統治。此書出版於二次大戰未期﹐當時凱恩斯主義(Keynes)當道﹐鼓吹由大政府主導的計劃經濟﹐工會勢力以保障工人之名抬頭﹐陰影籠罩著西方的自由經濟傳統。此書最初出版時不受到重視﹐反對聲音甚至打擊海耶克﹐認為他的理論危言聳聽﹐不適合主導經濟發展的政策。後來歐蘇聯共產實驗的失敗﹐六七十年代西方在左翼思潮影響下經濟一蹶不振﹐正好反證了到海耶克理論的先知先覺。海耶克在1974年獲得諾貝爾經濟獎﹐八十年代英美列根和戴卓爾政府下﹐古典自由主義從新抬頭﹐經濟急速發展﹐再一次肯定了海耶克理論的正確性。海耶克反對集體主義的計劃經濟﹐因為我們的自由會慢慢流失﹐最終我們會淪為專制政府統治的奴隸。

海耶克並不反對有關經濟的計劃﹐只要計劃的目的是促進競爭﹐而非由政府主導市場﹐選擇推行單一發展模式。支持計劃經濟的人﹐認為政府可以制定一套最完善的發展策略﹐只要跟從就能夠建設社會。可是不同人對社會有不同的期望﹐沒有一個經濟計劃可以迎合所有人的需要。政府要推行計劃經濟﹐就必需惘顧社會上一部份人的意願。民主程序並不能解決問題﹐絕大多數人意見分歧像一盤散沙的情況下﹐只要少數人達成統一意見﹐就可以凌駕並騎劫多數人的意願。而最容易達成統一意見的﹐偏偏卻是不會獨立思考的人群﹐他們把權力給與說話動聽的領袖﹐希望他運用絕對權力﹐去掃除推行計劃經濟的障礙。領袖在擁有絕對的權力後﹐在推行經濟計劃的大前題下﹐動用宣傳機器打擊反對聲音﹐因為經濟計劃要成功就不能受到質疑。當領袖完全操制與人民生活息息相關的經濟﹐人民喪失自由再沒有能力反抗時﹐踏上給專制政權奴役之路。

海耶克指出在社會主義中﹐自由一詞的意義被扭曲使用﹐誤導人民去支持計劃經濟。自由原本的意思是指政治上的自由﹐有不受到安全威脅的自由﹐不受到他人權力隨意操控的自由。在社會主義中﹐自由的意義變為經濟上的自由﹐成為不用擔心生活所需而限制選擇的自由。在這個意義中﹐自由只不過是財富的代名詞﹐社會主義的自由就只是財富的重新分配。海耶克並不反對基本的社會保障制度﹐在現代會中不應有人挨餓﹐衣不蔽體或露宿街頭。可是海耶克反對是在滿足基本生活需要後﹐還要追求人民在財富上也要相對地均等。政府不能只保障一部份人(如工會工人)有比較好的生活質素﹐因為社會的財富不是無限﹐若果保障他們所分配到的財富﹐則必然會損害其他沒有保障的人的利益。若果政府要保障所有人分配到的財富﹐政府就要分配每一個人的工作岡位﹐等同於要全面推行計劃經濟。人民喪失選擇工作的自由﹐生活各方面也要依懶政府﹐受到經濟政策決策者的支配。於是我們不單沒有獲得到經濟自由﹐反而連我們的政治自由也賠上去。

這本書中的政治推論深入詳細一環緊扣一環﹐對於初接觸這些政治述語的人來說比較艱深。我把這書前後看了兩遍﹐加上網上簡易精讀版的幫助﹐才勉強認識海耶克的理論。這本書挑戰我們反思一些習以為常的政治慨念﹐追溯自由﹐民主﹐計劃﹐競爭﹐權力﹐法治這些詞語背後的意義﹐讓我們對社會主義的浪漫幻想有所警 惕。 在網絡上我遇到不少左翼的社運份子﹐他們高舉社會主義的自由旗織﹐一廂情願地要求政府干預市場﹐好改善他們關心社群的生活。可是他們缺乏扎實的理論基礎﹐只能看到事情的表面﹐並不意識到的他們訴求﹐正正是踏著海耶克的通住奴役之路。

Daily Scribble

Practice attitude

Leave a comment

We have a foosball table in the game room at work.  We have a group foosball friends usually go to the game room after lunch to have some fun.  Some of us had played foosball in school, have really good skills, while the others play foosball the first time here at work.  We have been playing foosballalmost  daily over a year, practice really improves our skill.  I started as a novice player, but now I can pretty much rule the table playing against an average player.

We play foosball just to relax between work, most of us play casually to have fun.  Somehow one of my friends takes foosball quite serious.  Foosball suppose is not an vigorous game, you just have to stand next the to table doing nothing other than rotating your wrists, but this guy manage to sweat like playing a basketball game and totally exhausted after playing foosball.  I think most of us play the same amount of games.  Because this guy play really seriously every day, his skill improve much faster than us.  He started as a novice, now he is probably the best player in the group.

The more you practice the better you become, but the attitude of how you practice can make a big difference.  If you want to be good at something, not only that you have to do it a lot, you have to do it seriously.