Daily Scribble

Greener grass

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My colleague sit next to me just resign. He quits his job to start his own business. My first response is congratulate him getting out of this hell. The executives find new ways to lower the employees’ morale every week, it’s just a matter of time before someone said that’s enough. The current economy downturn and the lack of opportunities in Vancouver hi-tech industry in may silence some complaints, we are all realist after all. The colleague who quit is the one whom the VP asked his where about last weekend when I am working overtime. I would be really funny if I know he is quitting last weekend, so that I can tell the VP why he is not working overtime on weekend. I really want to see the look of the VP upon he hear the response.

I wonder is it just the grass is always greener on the other side of the fence. I envy my colleague who have the guts to make such a bold decision. As we know feeling is unreliable, decisions should be made with rational proofs. Six Signs It’s Time to Move On is a good article with useful guidelines to examine my career growth in the company. Here is the six guidelines:

1. You’re treading water, not swimming forward.
2. You’re not learning anymore.
3. You find yourself watching your back.
4. The future is fuzzy.
5. Your boss isn’t boss material.
6. The intern fits in better than you.

Daily Scribble

Sabbath

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There are many interesting rules for the Jews on Sabbath days. Today I went to Whistler with a colleague from Israel. The drive on the Sea to Sky highway is long and boring. To keep myself awake, I chat with him about the Jews culture and one of the topics we talked about is Sabbath. When we read the Bible, it always mentions the Jews can’t do this or can’t do that on a Sabbath day. It turns out the Sabbath rules are still followed by religious Jews after 2000 years.

Sabbath begins on Friday evening until Saturday evening. According to Jews religion rules, people are not allow to work on Sabbath. Not allow to work does not mean only not going back to the office, it means you cannot do anything that produce anything nor any action that has any consequence. In Sabbath day, religious Jews cannot cook because use of fire is forbidden. They can’t turn on the lights, because generation of light is consider as work. Taking evaluator is not allowed because your action of pushing a button causes something to move. It’s quite obvious driving is also banned.They can only stay home and have cold food on Sabbath. That sounds pretty boring.

However, the Jews have some few clever ways to work around Sabbath rules. Their fringe has a Sabbath mode, so opening the fringe door on Sabbath will not turn on the small light bulb inside the fringe or otherwise it violates the Sabbath rules. Their evaluator stops on every floor on Sabbath day, so no work is done as a consequence of anyone’s action. Suddenly, I see a huge market of automated robots for the religious Jews. They can do whatever they like on Sabbath as long as they don’t really do anything on Sabbath. The robot can act on their behave, so they do not violate any Jews rules. Unfortunately, my idea is rejected by my friends at once. There is already a solution in the market and is much cheaper than my AI robot. It is called non-Jews servants.

Daily Scribble

Seiko Spring Drive

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Seiko Spring Drive

I always fantasy about mechanical watch. I think mechanical watch is a more true art form than many other so-called arts, such as meaningless fine arts. Watch making originate from the quest of making an accurate time piece to calculate the longitude in high seas. Today, we can find a better accuracy in quartz watch or even atomic watch, but they can never replace the unique charm of the craftsmanship and clever design in mechanical watch.

The basic design of mechanical watch did not change for the past 500 years. The main spring store the power and push the gears train. The movement of the hands is regulated by the escapement and balance wheel. In 1960s, engineers in Seiko dream up a revolutionary design. But this new design was so advance that the technology is not ready until 21st century. The spring drive mechanism use electromagnetic energy to regulate how fast the spring can unwind. This result of this ground breaking design is second hand not longer jumps from one second to the next second or in a fraction of a second, instead the second hand has a smooth continuous analog gliding motion.

The spring drive design is very clear, but it is really a quartz watch in disguise. The watch steal nano-watts current from the glide wheel to drive an ultra low power quartz control circuit that generate the electromagnetic force to regulate the glide wheel. The watch took half a century from idea to become reality is the wait of a ultra low power silicon design that make this design possible. On the surface, the spring drive seems like an useless idea simply combining a mechanical watch with a quartz. However deep down inside, I really admire this genius solution for the gliding second hand problem. It’s a classic engineering challenge. The ultimate answer to why the second hand of a watch always jumps.

宗教, 書評

A History of Christian Thought – Paul Tillich

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A History of Christian Thought

田立克是二十世紀四大神學家之一﹐去年基督教人文學會舉辨網上讀書組﹐閱讀他的名著基督教思想史。這是難得學習基督教歷史的好機會﹐我二話不說便立即報名參加了。這次參加讀書組雖然獲益良多﹐但過程只可以用痛苦來形容。閱讀田立克這本神學巨著並不容易﹐特別對我這個神學的門外漢。既然下了決心要看畢全書﹐便每星期按進度表閱讀﹐並寫下閱讀筆記幫助理解內容。我在閱讀小組所花的時間﹐大慨足夠讀大學兩課的學分。我看書的速度已經比常人快﹐但也要花一小時才讀二十頁左右﹐實在需要時間去嚼咀吸收書中的解釋。每章我至少看了三次﹐第一次速讀繪畫記憶地圖﹐第二次細心閱讀跟隨默絡﹐第三次綜合整理知識寫下筆記。讀書小組進行到四分三時﹐我因去印度工幹事忙﹐跟不上閱讀度﹐險些兒就此半途而廢。雖然讀書小組早已完結了﹐最近兩個月我還是重新拿起書來﹐努力地完成餘下的章節。很高興我能夠堅持到底﹐成為讀書組中少數能夠完成此巨著的人。

這本書分為兩個部份﹐第一部份是田立克所寫的大學課本﹐從耶穌之前開始一直到宗教改革為止。第二部份是他大學的講義﹐教授近三百年的神學發展。第一部內容雖然艱深﹐但內容編排很有組織很嚴緊﹐讀起來只要肯花心機就會明白。第二部的內容則有點混亂﹐雖然大至上順著時間線﹐但在不同課題間跳來跳去﹐讓讀者有點無所適從。第一部份的內容比較少爭議性﹐畢竟那是有幾百甚至幾千年歷史的神學觀念﹐其中的優點缺點早有定案﹐作者可以比較客觀地如實陳述爭論。第二部份的內容主觀成份較強﹐可能有些神學觀與作者本身的思想有衡突。有時我也分不清那些是其他神學家原來的意思﹐那此是作者加上去補充或辯駁的想法。

這本書並不是靈修書藉﹐讀完不會覺得心靈充實﹐也不感覺與神的關係更加親近。這是一本純學術性的讀物﹐滿足讀者的求知慾﹐解釋一些在教會沒有人會去問﹐只會視為理所當然的神學前設。這些形上問題可以說毫不重要﹐對教徒沒有任何實用價值﹐不會影響教徒的日常生活。但同時也可以說是非常重要﹐因為若不弄清楚最基礎的神學理論﹐整個基督教架構在空氣之上﹐一切信心和行為也沒有任何意義。若從現代的眼光去看﹐同是相信耶穌相信聖經的教派﹐卻有完全不同神學理論很奇怪。不過若放回歷史默絡中去看﹐每次教義出現不同的轉變﹐也是為了解答當時教會面對的一些難題﹐去修正原有教義的毛病。未讀此書時當我遇到一些我不認同的神學理論﹐我總是下意識地認定那理論有違真理。現在則眼光廣闊了﹐神學理論本身不是問題﹐只是另一個神學問題的答案。重點是找出那個相應的問題﹐否則只是推翻了不認同的神學理論﹐還是解決不了原先要解決的問題﹐除非能夠找到一個更好的答案。

書本的內容在此我不再重覆﹐有興趣的朋友可以參看我的閱讀筆記﹕

序章 – 教義的慨念
第一部
第一章 – 基督教的準備
第二章 – 早期教會的神學發展
第二章 – 早期教會與諾斯底主義
第二章 – 新柏拉圖主義
第二章 – 三位一體的爭論
第二章 – 基督論問題
第二章 – 聖奧古斯丁的生平思想
第三章 – 中世紀神學源流
第四章 – 從天特會議到今天的天主教會
第五章 – 馬丁路德的神學
第五章 – 慈運理的神學
第五章 – 加爾文的神學
第六章 – 新教神學的發展
第二部
第一章 – 正統神學、虔敬主義和理性主義
第二章 – 啟蒙運動及其問題
第二章 – 古典主義與浪漫主義對啟蒙運動的反抗
第三章 – 普遍綜合的崩潰(上)
第三章 – 普遍綜合的崩潰(中)
第三章 – 普遍綜合的崩潰(下)
第五章 – 調解的新方式 (上)
第五章 – 調解的新方式 (下)

宗教

基督教思想史第二部 – 第五章：調解的新方式 (下)

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哈納克
哈納克(Harnack)是Ritschlain學派的重要人物。他的著名教義的歷史(History of Dogma)﹐提出很多今天仍解決不到的神學難題。早期教會決定教義時﹐引用了很多希臘哲學的思想。他並為諾斯底主義翻案﹐指出諾斯底主義不完是無稽之談﹐是配合當時民情的想法﹐不失為解釋救贖問題的神學嘗試。基督教反對諾斯底主義的原因﹐是諾斯底主義反對舊約﹐善神邪神的二元論世界觀。他的另外一本著作什麼是基督教(What is Christianity)﹐指出跳出教義的限制﹐又不會失去基督的訊息。他提出應該要分辨清楚耶穌說的福音和後世寫關於耶穌的福音。這成為自由神學常用方程式﹐指出關於耶穌的福音﹐沒有包括耶穌說的福音。

神學中的各種運動
最後一節田立克簡介其他新興神學運動﹐每個運動只有一兩段的描述﹐並沒有足夠資料去理解其內容。他只是指引神學界的新發展﹐讓讀者自行尋找更多相關資料。第一個是路德復興運動﹐反對自由神學把神刪減剩道德功用。第二個是聖誕真實運動﹐反對向聖經作出歷史批判。第三個是激進派﹐認為要把聖經還原本貌﹐
刪去保羅和約翰加添入聖經的元素。第四個是Butlmann的把聖經去神話化運動。第五個是宗教歷史運動﹐用宗教歷史的角度去分析基督教。第六個是Troeltsch研究宗教意義與人類思維的關係。第七個是宗教社會主義﹐認為在教會外社會中也要推行神的公義。第八個是Karl Barth。第九個是二十世紀存在主義。

  • 全書完 –