Daily Scribble

Revision Sawfly

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sawfly

I want to get a cool looking one piece sunglass for along time. However there is one small problem. Somehow all the sunglasses brands like Oakley or Ray-Ban never make one piece sunglasses support eye prescriptions. They assume all cool looking guys who wear sunglasses will also wear contact lens. I can’t wear contact lens, so I can’t wear one of those cool one piece sunglasses.

Finally, I come across the Revision Sawfly military eyewear system fits all my requirement perfectly. Sawfly is the standard equipment of the US army in Iraq. The sunglasses not only looks cool, but also built ultra strong. It can withstand shotgun blast from 16 feet away. It comes with interchangeable lens in shades for outdoor, clear color indoor and high contrast for shooting.

revision insert

The features I love most is the Sawfly support Rx insert carrier. The prospection lens fit comfortably over the nose piece. Best of all is the price, it only costs $30 on eBay for the basic kit comes with the frame and 2 lens. If the lens is scratched, you can simply buy a new lens for replacement instead of throwing away the whole eyeglasses.

The Sawfly is a no thrills, purely functional design. It is way cooler than those brand name sunglasses designed by gay designers who put styles over substances.  Highly recommended for any sports that need eye protection.

宗教

基督教思想史第二部 – 第一章﹕正統神學、虔敬主義和理性主義

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這個星期的田立克炒冷飯﹐正統神學同虔敬主義的內容基本上同上期沒有分別。正統神學那一節﹐田立克用另一個角度去解釋﹐比上次清楚易明些。虔敬主義則差不多照抄上次的內容。

田立克記為正統神學的重要原則﹐並不是因信稱義﹐正確的說法是因恩寵﹐通過信來稱義。信心並不是得救的原因﹐因為人只可以接受信心﹐信心不會產生任何東西。田立克認為如果說信心是得救的原因﹐比天主教說好行為是得救的原因更差。

不論是路德神學還是加爾文神學﹐是聖靈的工作讓我們可以接受福音﹐從而令我們的罪得到赦免。如果說教徒要先信什麼教條﹐罪才可以得到赦免的話﹐那是完全違背改革神學的原意。最重要是開放心靈給聖靈﹐而非強迫自己信相一些我們根本不相信的教義﹐打壓內心的實誠認真疑問﹐完全扭曲了基督教的神學觀念。

正統神學的另一個重要原則﹐是聖經為不可動搖的根基。可是歷代神學家對聖經有不同的解讀﹐不同譯本間內容也有差異﹐那我們如何得知聖經的真正意思呢﹖正統神學認為解經的原則是要以經文解釋經文﹐可是一個普通教徒拿起聖經來讀﹐如何可以保證他不會因為神學知識不足﹐像基要派般把經文亂解一通﹐自行創造出一套錯誤的教義呢﹖改革派不想把解釋聖經的根據﹐來源自教會的權威。正統神學認為要依靠聖靈的帶領﹐才能夠解讀聖經的內容。可是我們沒有辨法去客觀地證明﹐別人解讀聖經時真的有依靠聖靈﹐於是無可避免混入個人的主觀意願。

一般天主教徒只需要相信教會頒佈的教義﹐並不需要擔心這個教義是否真的正確﹐因為教會擁有解釋聖經的權威。可是基督教否定教會的權威﹐教徒必需自行解讀聖經去找出教義。那教徒如何肯定自己所信的教義是正確呢﹖理性主義正好提供一個解決方法。正統神學認為﹐教徒不能依靠神學家或神職人員的權威﹐每個人也必需明白教義的正確性。教徒可以通過理性討論去解讀聖經﹐從中發現正確的教義﹐整個神學系統的基礎就是建立在理性邏輯之上。

理性主義與神秘主義並不存在對立﹐反而理性主義是神秘主義的申延。人因理性思考明白教義﹐還是因通神經驗領悟教義﹐兩者之間只有程度上的差異。因為理性是神賜給人的內心明燈﹐也是一種內在的經驗。與理性主義相對的是權威主義﹐我們不經思考就接受權威所說的教義。很多現在基督教忘卻了正統神學的理性主義傳統﹐把教義視為一套不容質疑的律法戒命﹐把聖靈從神學中宗教生活中排擠了出去。反觀回歸神神秘主義的恩靈教派﹐倒更為接比理性主義的神學傳統。

Daily Scribble

Martial arts vs guns

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Some time back then, I went into a discussion with a friend who is a kung-fu master. Martial arts is taught as an exercise, a spectator sport and self a defense skill. I was questioning the usefulness of martial arts in self defense among modern weapons, like guns. This is one of the reasons that leads me into learning shooting. How useful can martial art be under gun point?

Since then I have learned more about shooting and combating handgun skills, now I realize how wrong I was. Even when you are in a standing off situation with another gunner, martial art skills prove to be extremely useful in winning the gun fight. Most handgun fights happen within a few feet, that is within the range of martial art striking distance. If the bad guy reach for his gun, even your are skillful shooter, you can’t beat him in reaching you gun. The best you can do is draw and fire slightly before he fires at you. The reaction time delays you enough from stopping him before he pulls the trigger. Mutual death is not the best way to win a gun fight. In a gun fight, the goal is not to shoot the bad guy, the goal is not to get shot. Shooting the bad guy is just a mean to archive the goal by disarming him. If the fight is within martial art striking distance, it is actually faster to reach for his gun instead of drawing your own gun. Once you push his muzzle way from pointing at you, you gain the valuable split second to draw your gun and fire at him.

Yes, martial arts is no match of a gun in a distance. However in real life combat situation when both sides have guns, martial arts will give you a tactical advantage that can help you win the gun fight.

Daily Scribble

Yet another round of layoff

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The rumor is true, there will be another round of layoff in my company. We saw managers packing their belongings after work today. The managers know their fate a day earlier than the grunts, so the big axe is already swinging up, waiting to chop down the head counts tomorrow. According to reliable source of water cooler talks, they are laying ten or so people off from my on-loan department and shut down a money losing division.

It is pure bad management decisions lead to the end of that division. The now defunct division is working on DSL product line. Somehow the executive think the VP of the PON product line should also manage the DSL products. DSL and PON are two competing technology for the next generation home access network. It is a clear conflict of interest asking the PON VP to manage the DSL products. The PON VP must secretly wish the DSL product die and fade away instead of gaining market share. Long story short, because the PON VP didn’t put enough resource into the DSL division, we lose some potential big accounts. If we had those account, the balance sheet of the DSL division would in black instead of red. The division should have survived this round of lay off.

Well, being lay off is not necessary a bad thing. Some people laid off in last round filed class law suite against the company for wrongful dismissal and they won the case. The court ordered the company to pay them one year of salary for the severance package. In other words, whoever get laid off in the future can use this case as precedence to sue the company if the severance package is less than one year of salary. I am sure if the company ask volunteers to be laid off with this generous severance package, there will be a long line up to take the money and run.

電影

出埃及記

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Exodus 當一個導演成名之後﹐就不用受制於幕後老闆的商業條件﹐可以擁有較高的自由度﹐去拍攝他心中的理想電影。可惜導演想拍的電影﹐未必是觀眾想看的電影。有閒情雅緻去看藝術電影的人﹐畢竟只是一小撮電影觀眾。一直以來我也十分喜歡彭浩翔的電影﹐尤其欣賞天馬行空的黑色幽默。他在「出埃及記」中嘗試發掘新風格﹐很多影評大讚電影中的藝術元素﹐把彭浩翔捧為黃家衛的接班人。老實說﹐我不懂欣賞什麼細緻畫面﹐凌厲影像﹐構圖意境。對於我來說﹐「出埃及記」是一套超級沉悶的電影﹐我按著極大的耐性﹐心懷對彭浩翔的敬意﹐才可以挨到完場。

這套電影節奏嚴重緩慢﹐九十分鐘的故事﹐若用正常的手法來拍攝﹐大慨半個小時就可以講完。 節奏慢還不是最差﹐電影中間夾雜很多無厘頭鏡頭﹐也不知與故事有什麼關係。啊﹗那些藝術電影的愛好者﹐大慨可以分析每個鏡頭﹐解構每個細節與電影的關係﹐寫篇洋洋數十萬字的論文出來。不過對於一個普通觀眾﹐只能聯想到呵吹連連。開場那段祼體蛙人打人場面﹐有人認為導演別出心裁﹐與未段的伏筆首尾呼應。我則看了十秒後心想﹐大件事﹐整套戲會不會也是這些古怪場面﹐還來得及按停止鍵。我還是懷著一絲希望繼續看下去﹐一廂情願以為還是我熟悉的彭浩翔﹐結果白白浪費了個半小時。

電影的故事很怪雞有趣﹐用藝術電影的手法拍攝﹐糟塌了一個有潛質的好劇本。任達華飾演一個老差骨﹐給卷入了一宗離奇的案件﹐女人集體謀殺男人。劉心悠演任達華的妻子﹐演技比「阿嫂」時成熟不少。不知她是否不好運﹐接拍的都是悶藝電影﹐命中注定要當票房毒藥。張家輝演偷拍女廁的變態佬﹐給任達華落證供時﹐說自己入女廁偷拍﹐是要調查女人殺人組織。他戲中大講粗口﹐電檢處沒有把這齣戲列為三級﹐算是製造個宣傳的小話題。不過想聽粗口不用看電影﹐入夜後去旺角打冷宵夜﹐保證聽到比戲中更粗的粗口。溫碧霞久休復出演張家輝的老婆﹐在張家輝被謀殺後﹐與任達華發生肉體關係。大慨她是整齣戲演得最好的演員。雖然整齣戲也過份沉悶﹐但我十分喜歡任達華不停打嗝的結局﹐好玩聰明之餘亦合情合理。

大慨我對這齣電影有錯誤的期望﹐原本想看彭浩翔讓人捧腹大笑的招版電影﹐卻變成一套悶死人的藝術電影。期望越大失望越大﹐難怪我會邊看邊罵﹐差點想學張家輝爆粗。希望彭浩翔吸取今次的教訓﹐下套開拍的電影回歸主流﹐做回那個帶給我們「買兇拍人」和「大丈夫」的彭浩翔。香港有一個王家衛也嫌太多﹐藝術電影還是留給藝術學院裏﹐那些無所事事的學生去拍吧。