Free money

Yes!  There is free money in the world.  On the Chinese new year day, I went to dim sum at the new Kirin restaurant in New Westminster, which is right next to a new casino.  Kirin give each customer a $10 coupon for the casino.  At first I though the coupons just exchange for chips, so I have to gamble away the chips.  It turn out that I can change the chips back to cash right away!  I got $10 for free!  My lunch cost $14.5, minus the $10 cash back, the real cost is only $4.5.  What a good deal!

We have a big group of engineers went to lunch that day.  We are good at maths, we know the odds are against the gamblers.  So none of us would spend a dime gambling in a casino.  However, we all   walked out from a casino with a small profit.  Of course there many stupid people in this world.  They will take the $10 coupon to gamble, at first they will lose the $10, then they will start losing their own money.  The casino is quite smart giving out free money, as baits to fish stupid gamblers.  I guess if everyone thinks like engineers, the casino would go bankrupt pretty soon.

Mogul skiing

Today I am trying to learn a new way of skiing mogul.  Long time ago, my ski instructor told me that are two ways skiing the mogul runs.   The first skill is easier, you go on top of the bumps, use the bump to slow down than make a turn by going around bump.  The second skill is more advance, you have to run on the troughs without slowing down.

I have been skiing using the first skill for quite some time, it is slower and more tiring, since the knee has to constantly absolute the shocks from the bump.  It does look like a pro, but I can come down on mogul runs in one piece.  My friend just took a week long skiing lesson, so she teach me her newly learned technique.  Instead of going around the bump, use the side of the bump to slow down.  It is not curving or edging, but leaning on to the curve, extend the leg and use the pressure to slow down.  Instead of making big traverse cut across the bumps, ski down the moguls fellowing the fall line.  I am able to make a few turns using this new technique.  I found my movement is much smoother and I really ski like a pro.  However after a few turns, I will either turn too much and fall into through, or I will turn not enough and fly over the bump.  I am exploring how to control the pressure so that I can link up the turns.

I found my skill has improved quite a bit after practicing on moguls for the whole day.  If you can conquer mogul runs, you can conquer any other run.  Whenever I see HK TV programs talk about skiing, they always say skiing is an high speed exciting sport.  Obviously, the script writers do not a thing about skiing.  Skiing is not about high speed, it is all about staying in control.  The satisfaction of skiing is not from zoom down the mountain as fast as possible.  The satisfaction is from conquering all kinds of terrains with a good down hill rhythm.  In the matter of fact, each slope has its own rhythm.  Skiing too fast or too slow won’t look good, you just have to find the right balance.

阿嬌的新衣

皇帝的新衣這個故事相信大家也聽過。話說皇帝著了一件只有聰明人才看得見的新衣出遊﹐沿途文武百官平民百姓無不盛讚新衣漂亮﹐只有一個不識相的小孩子﹐點破皇帝光著身子根本沒有著衣服的真相。這個童話故事發生在外國﹐所以有個正面的結局﹐在小孩道出皇帝沒著衣服真相後﹐眾人自發訕笑皇帝的新衣。若果這個故事發生在中國﹐這位小孩只會忽然人間蒸發﹐眾人繼續若無其事地讚美新衣多漂亮。在中國文化中真相是什麼並不重要﹐反正有權勢的人可以製造一個虛假的真相。

這個星期香港人最關心的新聞﹐ 莫過於陳冠希與一眾女星的的床上照。事到如今警方高調拉人﹐陳冠希出來認錯﹐那些相片中的女星是誰﹐大慨己是公認的事實。香港不是塔埋班執政﹐也不是由明光班話事。兩個人在關上房門幹什麼﹐是那兩個人的私事。喜歡自拍四仔又好﹐與誰大被同眠也好﹐反正雙方是成年人你情我願﹐不論在法律還是道德上﹐也不能說有什麼做錯的地方。不小心讓照片曝光﹐錯也最多只錯在是死蠢﹐沒有好好小心保管私人珍藏。

很多人覺得那幾位女星是受害者﹐ 這些床上照破壞她們的形像。若果照片是偽造的話﹐那是惡意中傷謗誹﹐當然應該要訴諸法律要求賠償。若果自己有做過會心虛﹐大可以避避風頭不回答問題﹐或堅持那只是私事與人無關。床上照並沒有破壞她們的形像﹐只是像她們的形像還原到真實的面貌。可是英皇娛樂竟然眼睜說瞎話﹐還宣稱那些是不法之徒移花接木的相片﹐更向警方施壓要盡快拉人﹐防止相片續繼在網上流傳。有人說那些相片內容色情教壞細路﹐有人說不應該偷取照要尊重私穩﹐也有人說香港人太過八掛侵犯明星的私人空間。可是卻從沒有人說做人要實誠﹐不應該說謊要說出事實的真相。有權勢的人為了掩飾真相﹐不惜濫用法律去打擊勇於說出真相的人。打個比喻﹐有人買假藥欺騙市民﹐有人站出踢爆謊言﹐並提出證據證明那些是假藥。可是買假藥的人有法律包庇﹐禁止別人拿出事實真相的證據﹐好讓他們可以繼續欺騙市民。這是否我們一個樂意見到的社會呢﹖

這次陳冠希床照事件中﹐教壞下一代的不是四仔自拍影像﹐也不是不誠實地用電腦擅自抄相﹐而是給下一代灌輸一套只求假像不求真相的價值觀。原來只要禁止別人說出真相﹐就可以明正言順地公然說謊﹐開放可以扮純情﹐做了事也可以不認。若只拘泥於取得相片的手段是否恰當﹐而不能跳出框框思考事實的真相﹐那麼令尼克遜下台的水門事件就不可能發生了。若有人蓄意欺騙你﹐你從某些途征得知他說謊。在你找他當面對質時﹐他不為欺騙你道歉還反咬你一口﹐說你不應該知道真相﹐這道理說得通嗎﹖若果有公眾人物公然地對全港市民說謊﹐能夠踢爆他謊言的證據就不應受私穩保護﹐只要是無花無假的真相﹐不論從什麼途征獲得﹐任何人也可以公佈出來﹐推翻公眾人物的謊言。難道我們想生活在一個充滿謊言任人欺騙的社會嗎﹖

恭喜發財

One Click Fat Choy

祝各位朋友新年快樂﹗

單身的朋友 ﹐新年找到另一半。

蜜運中的朋友﹐新年拉埋天窗。

結了婚的朋友﹐ 新年生個老鼠仔。

Firefox add-on

Recently, I found my Firefox is crashing very often and take up lots of CPU time. At first, I thought there are some virus or Trojan horse hijacking my browser. After I run extensive anti-virus scan and found nothing. I am suspecting it is the fault of the add-on. I completely uninstall Firefox, deleted all the add-on I have downloaded over the years. I reinstall a clean copy of Firefox. Viola! It is running lighting fast and I have no more crashes.

I slowly adding back some useful add-on, trying to limit myself not to install add-on that I never use.  Add-on that stays inactive until invoke by me are fine.  Those are most productivity tools.  I tends to stay away from any add-on that mess with the rendering engine or trying to modify the page on the fly.  I found those add-on really slow down Firefox.  In some cases when the connection is patchy, it may even stuck in an infinite loop and lock up the browser.  Sometimes more is less, sure is in the case of installing add-on.  Actually, it is true for all software project.  Any feature you don’t need slows the software down. Load up the software with tons of useless feature make it crawl like a snail, Vista is a perfect example.