Raymond Poon's reading notes

要補習嗎

noreply@blogger.com (Raymond Poon) — Sun, 27 May 2012 13:36:00 +0000

要補習嗎？幾十年前，這是一個略有侮辱性的問題。通常是一些學習成績不佳，達不到水平的學生需要補習。提供補習的是一些高年級的學兄，或由老師額外加課。但現在補習已是一個職業，市面上需求極大，供不應求，而補習已專業化，而且收費很高。

下面報導的一項調查，顯示72%的中六學生有補習。補習似乎已成為教育的必然部份。香港現提供十二年免費教育，理論上家長在子女教育方面的壓力應該減輕。但實情剛好相反；雖然在受教育的層面上沒有競爭，但家長仍想子女在競賽中勝出，以奪得升學機會或就業機會。更令人鼓舞的是學生竟然上進心大增，渴望在上學時間之外再補習。補習風氣盛行，學者歸咎於三方面。第一是教育制度畸形，計對考試的重要性，而補習不是教育，只是傳授應付考試的技巧。二是家長責任心和虛榮心，覺得有責任讓子女更有機會，更千萬不要失禮於別人。第三是專業補習社大量宣傳，補習不只是為考得好，而是潮流所向。

補習的受害者理應是學校和老師。學校提供了全日教育，到最後保送學生去考公開試。考試成績就反映了學校和老師多年來的努力。在正常的教學情況下，大部份的學生應該可以從容應付考試。聰明的有好成績，平常的都應該合格。如果真的有學生在水準之下，補習亦無可厚非，但應是例外而非必然。在應付考試的技巧方面，老師懂的招式絕不會比補習社弱。

但現時的風氣是連學校和老師都鼓勵學生補習，直是承認自己不能教育學生達到公開試的水平。亦有社會工作者要求政府為低收入家庭提供補習津貼，他們認為貧窮學生因經濟問題沒有補習是對他們不公，而並不是因為學習成績不佳。在我協助的校友會內就有這一個辯論，是否應撥款資助學生補習。學校的立場是公開試成績反映校譽，直接影響家長意欲和收生效率。如果校友會資助相當數目的學生補習，優良級成績多了就對中一收生有幫助。老師們亦支持這個想法；他們其實間接承認自己無法教育學生使其有好成績而建議假手外人來救援。校友會當然希望學校地位和評級提高，但學校卻不能確認補習的成本效益為何。資助優質學生有點多餘，而資助成績差的學生沒有明顯收獲。倒不如提升教學質素，讓所有學生在上課時間都得到足夠的知識和考試訓練。

正如下文所說，要打擊過度補習，應加強學校的教學能力和提升教師的教學水平，讓學生和家長明白補習並非必需品。正如我的一位教授所說，考試是一定pass的。Pass的意義就是渡過。

**********
港逾五成中三生補習
(綜合報道)(星島日報報道)望子成龍是不少家長的願望，補習活動更由此應運而生。香港大學教育學院比較教育講座教授貝磊過去一年訪問了十六所中學逾一千七百名學生，發現逾五成中三學生有補習，中六生補習的比率更高達七成二，與其他補習盛行的亞洲地區相比排行不算低。他認為，補習雖能協助學習能力較遜的學生補底，但會因學生的經濟背景不同而出現不公平情況。

隨着新高中的推行，會考及高考已被文憑試取代，學生應付公開考試的壓力卻沒有因公開試數目減少而有所紓緩，補習社更因此成行成市。從事比較教育研究多年的貝磊（Mark Bray），今學年以問卷形式訪問了十六所中學逾一千七百名學生，發現分別有五成四的中三學生及七成二的中六生曾接受補習。貝磊表示，從過去的研究數據中顯示，亞洲不少國家及地區如南韓、台灣、日本等都盛行補習，其中南韓初中生的補習比率高達八成八，六成五的日本中學生亦有上補習班，而香港在亞洲地區的排行並不算低。

他解釋，新一代生活於複雜且富競爭性的社會，對教育制度產生了衝擊和挑戰，家長均希望子女成才，補習成了新興學習風氣。「以數學科為例，對學習能力較遜的學生而言，補習老師可重新教授他們基本的數學概念，讓他們適應學校的上課步伐。」他相信，適逢今年是本港首屆文憑試，考生怕「蝕底」而去補習，預計補習趨勢會持續增長。

但他又同時指出，現時本港的補習不止限於中學生，連小學生及幼稚園學生都上補習班，部分人更星期一至日都要補習，對他們造成無形的壓力，「並不是所有人都有錢補習，這會造成社會不公，而目前本港沒有嚴謹的法例監管補習社及補習老師的質素，家長很難作出選擇。」

對於如何打擊過度補習的問題，貝磊認為，本港可參考芬蘭的做法，「教育局應加強學校的教學能力和提升教師的教學水平，讓學生和家長明白補習並非必需品。」他又指，政府若為低收入家庭提供補習津貼，等於認同學校的教學能力薄弱，鼓勵學生出外補習。貝磊昨日獲頒聯合國教科文組織教席，是本港首位獲頒教席的比較教育系教授。
**********

Michael Tilson Thomas

noreply@blogger.com (Raymond Poon) — Sat, 26 May 2012 12:42:00 +0000

Michael Tilson Thomas 是著名指揮家，有很多出色的唱片錄音，和各國的管絃樂團合作。他現在是三藩市交響樂團音樂總監，又參與很多音樂教育節目。TED邀請他演講，他選擇的題目是音樂的發展和對感情的影響。下面這一段錄影，簡略介紹音樂發展史和有趣的樂譜發展史。更重要的，是他介紹音樂對人類感情的重要性，尤其是 why和how。最後他又介紹最新音樂媒介;得到科技協助，音樂已提升到人類不能自行演奏，音樂複雜程度人腦不能想像出來，音樂含意亦不能全部了解，但基本的原素what和how仍然存在。

雲端保安

noreply@blogger.com (Raymond Poon) — Wed, 23 May 2012 16:23:00 +0000

雲端運算搞得越來越熱烈，網上資訊科技評論要向它極度傾斜，文章不絕。最新一篇文章又談雲端保安，不是警告，而是調查結果，情況令人驚訝。

近來雲端服務湧現，我們看到的宣傳口號都是標榜其安全性。林林總總的保安設計可保證你的資料不會遺失又有私隱。這些高科技公司保安相當有水準，一些個人的保安要求可算是無話可說。但對一些公司來說，敏感資訊是其生命線，而它們要面對的惡意襲擊亦比家庭用家更嚴重。對一間公司來說，移民雲端只是將數據和程式轉移，資訊科技基建改換了形式，但公司原有的保安水平應該不能降低。調查的結果卻顯示很多公司去了雲端後，保安意識低落，只信賴雲端供應商的既有設備就算了。調查的數字說：31.2%的公司只由雲端供應商提供保安；21.3%的公司自己保護其雲端伺服器，但多是手動而非常設；20%的公司沒有為雲端伺服器做保安。

公司原本有內部儲存設備，對數據有嚴密掌控。當數據去了雲端，由他人管理，雖然程序簡化了，但數據不知身在何方。雲端供應商有防範，連客戶自己都要跟隨既定程序才能讀取資訊。因此，公司應該更有保安意識，在雲端以外加強保安，例如將雲端數據再加密或加上額外驗證程序。現時已有保安公司提供額外雲端保安服務，使用另一團雲去控制雲端。其保安程式不用購買，而是以服務方式SaaS (Software as a service)來收月費。

但為何很多公司去了雲端保安反而鬆懈了？調查得到的印象是雲端服務使公司內的資訊科技部門影響力下降。移民雲端的誘因多是因為可降低成本和簡化內部資訊科技工序，而決定則是基於對雲端科技的安全保證。額外保安工作的資源要由CFO或COO決定，在此，CIO的地位已下降。這是一個危險的趨勢，需要有災難發生才能使形勢逆轉。

這幾年來，政府亦向雲端發展。OCGIO成立了數據中心，邀請各部門將一些中小型系統轉往使用。這是一個私家雲端，因為名義上不使用互聯網體系而有獨立連線。但數據中心要遙距連接，其實亦要使用公共電訊網絡，只是中繼鏈接時受保護和被優先處理；而其技術基礎仍是TCP/IP機制。因此，雲端的保安問題仍然存在。聽聞這個私家雲端的用家從未使用額外保安措施，一些對外的系統如EGRIN很容易就被入侵。現只能希望OCGIO的道行高超；但政府系統是高危一族，因為全世界的黑客都以它們為首要目標。

職位創造者

noreply@blogger.com (Raymond Poon) — Sun, 20 May 2012 15:17:00 +0000

試想想這一個邏輯：李嘉誠是香港最大的僱主，他的公司業務涵蓋香港市民生活每一個細節，聘用了大量的員工，使很多市民可以有工作維生。如果他的業務再發展，大量的職位就會被創造。所以政府應該鼓勵他投資香港，方法是減低他的入息稅和公司利得稅，以利香港的經濟。

你可能認為這一個想法不合理，但這卻是美國現時的稅務政策。民主黨想改變，但受到共和黨激烈反對，而美國竟然有不少人支持這個政策。Nick Hanauer是美國巨富，他在TED有一個演講，解釋這一個經濟學邏輯的謬誤。但意想不到的是TED竟然將錄影抽起不公開，原因是它的政治意味太重，有為選舉拉票之嫌。經網民激烈抗議，又自行上載這段錄影之後，TED終於屈服，正式將其發表。請你點點下面看一看。

共和黨政策有一個口號：如果對富人加稅，職位數目就會下降。Nick Hanauer指出就只是這一個簡單的錯誤觀念，使美國貧富懸殊加劇。他說富人不是職位創造者，他們不會增加職位來發展業務。反之，在資本主義制度下，員工是成本開支。只有在迫不得已的情況下一間公司才會增加員工，而這個情況就是對公司的服務需求增加至現時員工水平不能應付的時候。對富人減了稅，他們的收入就多了，對擴展業務的動力反而降低了。其實職位數目的變化是消費者和業務之間的反饋和互動，消費者來消費，業務就會對需求作出反應，增加員工數目來應付。反之，公司擴展業務聘請員工，但消費需求不足，結果都要解僱他們。

富人並不是職位創造者，職位創造只是他們的滯後反應。他們將創造職位歸功於自己，只是想保障地位和特權。富人的財富增加後並不會使他們的消費活動相對地增加。真正的職位創造者是消費的中產階層。要刺激經濟，應該對富人加稅，再相對地將資源回饋至中產階層，減稅加薪使消費活動活躍起來。對各種服務需求上升，職位就會增加，再有連鎖反應使需求再上升。富人在此並不是輸家，業務發展亦會使富人得益，是雙贏局面。

要不要雲端

noreply@blogger.com (Raymond Poon) — Sat, 19 May 2012 04:07:00 +0000

雲端運算已經出現了一段不短的時間，但幾經嘗試尚未能普及，主要原因有二。一是保安問題，大家都不放心將重要資料放在別處，怕會洩漏；第二是連線的可靠性，擔心最需要時卻不能連上。這些憂慮現已大致解決，大部份雲端供應商都有高效能加密，銀行和網上商業都放心使用；而現時高速寬頻上網已很成熟可靠，各種網上即時服務都已出現。

很早之前已有不少人利用互聯網傳遞資訊，使用網上電郵又加上附件檔案，又使用網上服務分享音樂相片檔案。但雲端運算是更進一步，將互聯網空間整合為桌上設備一部份。現在已有很多程式以在線形式或App提供服務。最新的Google雲端硬碟更將雲端空間變成你的桌上硬碟，即時存取實時處理檔案。

正當大家興高采烈，準備將一切數據都移民到雲端之際， IT World雜誌發表了一篇文章，警告大家雲端運算的限制，有興趣可以一讀。它指出雲端處理尚有兩大不足。第一是上載速度；一般認為是理想的上載速度都只是約10Mbps。上載1TB的數據總共需要12.5天；就算一個略為大的如10GB的檔案上載都要兩小時。第二是流量限制；大部份的供應商都在流量設限，如流量過大連線速度就會下降。互聯網供應商採取這些措施其中一個主要目的是希望保護固網寬頻的市場，但對雲端服務的發展卻有障礙。

在我看來，這些警告只是計對機構用家而言。雲端處理大大簡化了機構內部的IT基建和IT技術支援，這些警告提醒機構用家大規模雲端處理架構的潛在成本和限制。但對家庭用家這些限制不是問題。上載大量數據只是一次性，日常使用的檔案大部份不超過幾個MB；而且在公平使用的條款下，家用數據流量通常都不會超標。

我們其實要注意的是雲端運算帶來的利益。雲端其實不能提供很多的額外儲存空間，一隻便宜的流動硬碟500GB就比它多出很多。雲端存取速度亦比硬碟存取速度慢。但雲端運算提供的服務卻比桌上設備更好。第一是數據後備儲存和復元的能力和可靠性。電腦硬件軟件如有損壞可以從新添置，但個人資料數據可能永遠不能重整，所以保存個人數據最重要。現時一切的儲存設備都不可靠，包括硬碟、光碟、磁碟、磁帶、儲存卡、USB手指。雲端儲存不是百份百可靠，但你可以想像各供應商會有保護設備如Raid，又會將數據後備儲存在多個不同地點，甚至遠至冰島和格連蘭都有數據中心，安全程度一定比將數據放在家中為高。

雲端運算最重要的賣點是多點存取multi-point access。雲端數據可以跨越地點，跨越設備，跨越操作系統來運作。這個優點對跨國公司或有大量在外工作員工的公司很吸引。但對一些小型公司和只限內部操作的部門利益不大。對個人來說，如果你只是在書桌上的電腦工作，亦未能全面感覺其方便。但以我為例，桌上電腦用Windows，平板電腦用Android，智能電話用iOS，它們都可以隨時在雲端處理同一個檔案。在構思一篇較長的文件時，如忽然有新想法，就算在巴士地鐵都可以即時用電話更新檔案。平板電腦放在沙發上，在電視廣告時間又可繼續寫作。因有雲端，隨時隨地想做就去做，人就更自由了。

十誡

noreply@blogger.com (Raymond Poon) — Mon, 07 May 2012 15:03:00 +0000

曾在BBC頻道看過一個特輯，以歷史角度研究出埃及記，再以考古資料加以考證。結論是出埃及記雖然是舊約聖經，但其實來源是口傳史實，發生在約公元前一千五百年，而在約公元前五百年開始由在巴比倫的猶太囚犯以文字記下。因為年代久遠，事件細節被神化虛構，但重大事件仍可被考究以其他歷史資料證實。

公元前約二千多年，中東最強盛的國家是古埃及，各地的人都慕名前來。猶太人都一樣，他們很早就移居埃及，是經濟移民。出埃及記1:1-1:7說明猶太人在埃及有多個世代，而且生活得很好，相信對埃及的經濟很有幫助。但為何忽然要大舉出走呢？雖然出埃及記說是摩西迫法老王讓猶太人離開，但歷史學家認為不合理，其中應有重大事件發生。出埃及記提及很多災害，應是氣侯大變化又引致尼羅河改道；而當時的埃及首都亦被放棄，其廢墟近年才被發現。和現代社會一樣，移民的地位較低，在逆境爭奪有限資源時，移民會處於劣勢。當時的情形可能是在埃及的人已經無以為生，而猶太移民就決定集體北移。但巴勒斯坦已沒有猶太國，他們要攻打當地的城市。

十誡的出現是因為猶太人隊伍有紀律問題。出埃及記講述他們在西奈沙漠的苦難，一大群人在資源不足的情況下求生，他們之間的衝突一定很嚴重。除開各種神跡迷信之說如收藏十誡的約櫃的神力，十誡只是當時一套律法，規範猶太人隊伍成員的行為。當出埃及記被捧為聖經，猶太教就索性將之納入宗教教條，這套經文再被基督教和伊斯蘭教發揚光大，十誡就被捧為普世價值。但十誡是什麼？現在它在各教派之間有多個版本。最常見的一個是：一欽崇一天主在萬有之上，二毋呼天主聖名以發假誓，三守瞻禮主日，四孝敬父母，五毋殺人，六毋行邪淫，七毋偷盜，八毋妄證，九毋願他人妻，十毋貪他人財物。這些適用於猶太人難民隊伍的守則被當作普世價值有點問題：首先第一至第三誡和其宗教有關，世上大部份人不屬這個宗教都不適用。其他的誡條定義不明確，在很多情況下不能遵守，尤其是有關群體而非個人利益時。結果是各人以及教會都有種種冠冕堂皇的理由不遵守，有理地殺人又搶奪各種資源。

但教會內其實不乏有獨立思考能力的人士。千多年前有些教士已經意識到十誡流於表面和教條化，針對的是表徵行為而非企圖。他們努力尋求犯罪的根源，研究人類的心理和慾望，又參考了其他古文化對罪惡的描述。到了十四世紀，教會確立了七宗罪理論，為罪惡根源。這些說法不是源自聖經，只是由教會自行設定而執行。七宗罪是：色慾 Lust、貪食 Gluttony、貪婪 Greed、懶惰 Sloth、憤怒 Wrath、妒忌 Envy、傲慢 Pride。進入了宗教殿堂，七宗罪變成了教條，又添了神秘色彩。多少人因此而受到迫害；很多奇情故事、小說、電影、音樂都以它為題材。七宗罪較概念化，比十誡更加界限不清，要以之加罪某人容易不過。

心理學家看七宗罪，認為是生物基本求生慾望。人類進化而來，這些基本慾望我們發揮得最有效率，以致適者生存。物種要生存延續，第一是要維生，盡量搜集食物資源和保存能力，所以必須貪食、貪婪和懶惰；第二是要安全和保護自己的生命，所以會憤怒、妒忌和傲慢；更重要的是要將基因傳遞至下一代，所以色慾是基本本能，傳得越多越好。但當個體聚集成群體，這些行為會和群體內其他成員的利益有衝突。道德律法由此產生，硬性規範人類的行為，壓制人類的天性，以維持群體內的秩序。但群體之間仍有同樣的衝突；越是利益疏離的群體越不受規範。很多社群、集團、國家之間常有戰事發生，其時一切人類文明道德都會即時拋諸腦後。

姑勿論教會推動七宗罪教條是何居心，起碼都是經過慎密思考。但經過了幾百年，七宗罪熱潮已過，現時的教徒都只是讀讀經書記載的十誡就算了。但近年奇兵突起，教庭竟然搞新七宗罪教條。新七宗罪是暴發驕奢、污染環境、基因改造、社會不公、吸毒、戀童、墮胎。這些新罪行和原有的七宗罪水平相差實在太遠。它們只是拉雜成軍，未經深思熟慮，只是將現代有爭議的議題炒作一碟，表示教庭的立場；似是廣告而不是教義。教庭在這幾方面的保守立場在過去幾年已不斷受各界批評。新七宗罪經梵諦岡宣佈後，只經新聞報導當為笑談，接著就已經不成話題。

The Road to Serfdom

noreply@blogger.com (Raymond Poon) — Wed, 18 Apr 2012 02:40:00 +0000

The Road to Serfdom by F. A. Hayek

I bought the definitive version of this classic, published by the University of Chicago Press. It is to be used as an academic text book. Besides the main text, there are numerous additions including an introduction, five very long forwards/prefaces to five different editions, plus some reviews by famous readers. This makes the pages 43% more than the original text. The additional materials give a detailed background to the political environment at the time of writing of the book.

It is a difficult book to read. Besides the difficult theories, the language is written in a very academic style, aggravated by long sentences which must be read twice to understand. I took two years to complete reading, on and off during long flights on vacation trips. At the end, I was not very sure if I understood it correctly. I then searched for reviews and critics of the book, and found two interesting references: one is a condensed version, and the other is a picture book further condensing it. This finally confirmed that my understanding of the book was correct. Democracy could be our greatest enemy leading us to serfdom. We are in the danger of going down to serfdom and surrendering our freedom under the chaotic democratic system.

The time was the Second World War. The greatest enemies to the British were Germany and the Soviet Union. These were the main thrust of the book: British individualistic ideology against the Communist Soviet Union and the National Socialist Germany. This further boiled down to personal freedom against a collectivist approach to freedom. The Soviet Union was blamed of her planned economy, while the nationalist Germany of her fascist governance of national freedom.

The book pointed out that the democracies of UK and USA after the Second World War were going down the same path as national socialist Germany and were in the danger of leading her people to serfdom; a totalitarian government could be born.

At that time, UK after the war was plagued by inflation, taxation and the labour movement. Taking the advantage of such resentment, the Conservative Party ordered 12,000 copies of the abridged version of this book and distributed them as election propaganda. This showed that the ideology of Hayek was deployed to campaign against the policies of the Liberal Party.

In short, democracy is the governance by the public, hence the theory of public choice and the respect for public opinion. The reality is that the public is the population comprises of many millions of individuals. There could be many millions of different opinions. The rule of governing by a majority means that many individuals are competing to be the majority. To further complicate the problem, there are opinion leaders forming political parties whose main function is to become the majority and win elections. This is the core characteristic of democracy where groups of individuals are organized just for that purpose. It is no wonder in many democracies, rivalry between political parties in all fora is a common sight. This eventually leads to ineffective governance.

Ineffective governance is something not easily tolerated. It is therefore tempting, when a good leader emerges, the public is willing to confer to him greater power so that he is in a more favourable position to govern. This is the starting point of the path to a totalitarian government.

Hayek observed early signs where a deadlock of democracy created islands of power. The elected government would be constantly under pressure from the legislative institution where a considerable number, though a marginally minor, would be present to block government initiatives. Both sides would distrust the other. On essential elements of policy where a deadlock could have serious consequences, a compromise could be the delegation of power to an independent agency hosted by professionals. Thus many such agencies with swift power in specific areas were created. We are seeing the same thing in Hong Kong where many essential services are under the control of high-powered agencies outside the government, incorporated by law passed by the legislature. They now include the Monetary Authority, Airport Authority, Hospital Authority, Housing Authority, Urban Renewal Authority, etc. This list is very long. These are pseudo totalitarian governance in miniature.

He did not stop at the intrinsic weakness of democracy. In fact, Hayek considered at depth the path of communism and national socialism. These two ideologies were actually the fruit of liberal thinking emerging from the awakening from feudal and theological governance. The liberal thinking was on liberty and equality, and both the Soviet Union and Germany had an elected government claiming just that. The problem as Hayek saw it was in organizing and planning. Both countries were planning for the good of the nation and a fair distribution of resources.

Organizing and planning are the activities in our daily life. We all hope things will happen as we wish towards a goal we like. They are the bread and butter of the work of a manager, and are the core competencies of an EO. However, Hayek saw that a plan has a tendency of moving in a fixed direction. The planner will do what they can to make sure that it happens that way. A powerful planner will use his power to do so. When done in the Soviet Union and Germany, the planner actually made the citizens follow the plan, sometimes against their free will.

Hayek thought the democracy in UK and US were leading their citizens towards serfdom. Many other democracies would also head down the same path through planning for the nation and eventually planning for the citizens. He thought of a society where the citizens would be free from the control of the nation. Government intervention should be kept at the absolute minimum. The goal of governance should be one which would enable a fair playground so that citizens could exercise their free will. However, the main problem of such governance would be a free or chaotic market where freedom of individuals could be clashing with each other. This could be left to conciliation effort or judicial tie-breaker. The worst that could happen would be government intervention using coercive method on the behaviour of individuals which were supposedly undesirable. The most criticized approach is the Pigovian Tax, or sin tax, which is a kind of taxation aimed at punishing taxpayers on undesirable behaviour and changing them against their will. In Hong Kong, we are seeing more and more such legislation. They include the famous plastic bag tax and the now proposed garbage tax, taking away personal choice and freedom for the collective benefit. More such measures could be taken on any behaviour considered undesirable by the government or the majority. This is a negative approach leading to serfdom. We should instead put our effort to positive approach in persuading people to change their behaviour under their free will.

不死之謎和人類文明

noreply@blogger.com (Raymond Poon) — Fri, 06 Apr 2012 13:56:00 +0000

剛在美國科學人雜誌看到一篇文章，推論不死之謎和人類文明進步的關係，可當是趣文一讀，又可思考一下作者的邏輯。

死亡在人類的意識上是一件很玄妙的事。我們知道古往今來都不斷有人死亡，他人的死亡是很真實的事情，後事怎樣辦後人很清楚。但我們卻無法真正知道自己死亡後的現實是什麼。死亡的定義是一個人從有意識的生命進入無意識的狀態。我們是不能真實地意識到自己無意識時的狀態是怎樣。在此來說，自身的死亡是不真實的。這兩種概念形成一個異論，使人對死亡有恐懼感，每個人心底裡都可能有一個慾念，希望可以解開不死之謎。

要永生不死，人類有多種想法。作者將之歸納為四大類。第一類最直接的做法就是保持活著。自古以來不少人都在尋求不老的方法，其結果是無人可成功。以現時的醫學水平，似乎尚無人可活過120年。就算醫學再突飛猛進，我們只可預計人類壽命可再延長數十年。長生不老在物理上，或在熱力學原則上，最終是不可能。

第二類是復活。不是宗教迷信的復活而是科學上重做一個一模一樣保有原來記憶和思維的生物體以延續自己。這一種複製的想法有著矛盾；準確的複製品會和原品有同一樣缺點，亦會衰敗。更重要的是複製品無論如何準確其實都只是複製品而非自己。如果複製品和自己同時存在，就更突顯這個矛盾。

第三類是靈魂。幾千年來宗教都利用這個思想與身體分離的二元說法去描述死亡後生命的延續。這個無法證實的解釋信眾沒法質疑。但現代醫學、神經生物科學和心理學的研究已證實人的記憶、意志、思維、信念都要依靠腦部組織的健康。沒有身體的支持就沒有思想靈魂。物理上的死亡就是一切的終結。

第四類是傳承。人的身體隨著時間衰敗，保留下來亦沒有價值。要世世代代保留的反而是一個人做過的事，更應該是為人讚頌的功績。很多人在我們這一年代之前已死去，但仍為人所知，全因為他們有些東西或事跡遺留下來。在七十年代有一套心理學理論：恐懼管理論；它推論人類對死亡的恐懼形成潛意識的壓力，推動了人類各種行為，導致人類文明的發展。在群體層面，恐懼死亡的威脅而要保存生命的動力，驅使社群壯大，團結而建立社會、律法、宗教、文明、思考系統去理解生命。在個人層面，傳承的慾望亦驅使人類將精力投放在事業，文化藝術和建築等各種創作。

傳承還有一個方法就是傳宗接代，這其實是一切生物的本能，亦是進化論的基本原素。很多生物美化自己目的就是要吸引異性。人類在此的行為更是多采多姿，潛意識的目的就是要將自己延續下去。不少行為和文化藝術，如果不是說人生哲理，民族尊嚴，總是走不出羅曼蒂克的一套。

金星凌日 Transit of Venus

noreply@blogger.com (Raymond Poon) — Sun, 01 Apr 2012 05:14:00 +0000

金星凌日是一個神秘的名詞，有點像武術秘笈裡的殺著招式，又似是宗教迷信的祭神驅魔儀式。就算是科學家都會說是一個驚人的天文現象。但說穿了其實很簡單，只是金星走到地球和太陽之間的位置，在地球看到金星在太陽光面上經過。

但金星凌日事件近期被大力鼓吹，其中有特別原因。有一個金星凌日特設網站 transitofvenus.org 做了一個短片，介紹事件的前因後果和它的重要性。有興趣可點點下面圖片看看。

最切身的資料是金星凌日將於2012年6月5日發生，歷時6個小時，當日梁振英還未正式成為特首。在香港，我們可以在2012年6月6日上午看到這個現象，大約到中午就會完結。之後我們今生都無法再見到。但請大家不要蜂擁去看，電視傳播就可以了，自己看太陽幾個小時可能會眼盲。

金星和地球都繞著太陽轉，金星走到適當位置不是偶然而是必然；但因為大家軌跡和速度不同，這個最小公約數以人類時間觀來說就要很久才出現一次。根據天文學計算，金星凌日事件會大約在8年和110年交替出現。上一次是在2004年，而再下一次就要等到2117年了。雖然在地球歷史上這個現象出現過無數次，但人類有意識地觀察和理解金星凌日只是由17世紀開始。由1631年起只遇上7次。

天文學家克卜勒Kepler是預告金星凌日發生日期的第一人。他預告了1631年的金星凌日，但因發生時歐洲是晚上，所以沒有觀察成功。在1639年金星凌日再發生時，英國天文學家霍羅克斯Horrocks第一次以望遠鏡觀察，又作出準確量度和詳細記錄。之後世界就理解金星凌日的重要性，因為這個天體運動可被準確量度，就可以之推算金星和各行星的距離，和太陽系的面積。於是在18和19世紀的四次金星凌日，全世界都瘋狂起來，各國派出探險船隊到各大海洋，務求將金星凌日的每一分鐘都記錄下來。20世紀沒有金星凌日；對上一次在2004年首次有太空望遠鏡加入觀察。今年是本世紀最後一次，科學家們已做好準備。

金星凌日在科學上和宗教上都有重大意義。由哥白尼Copernicus至伽利略Galilei，在16/17世紀時天文學家已推翻了地心說而理解太陽系的結構。這些學說被宗教權力以固執的教條暴力鎮壓。當金星凌日被準確地預測又實質地觀察到，強力的事實證據就將宗教無知而堆砌出來的道學徹底推倒。人們真正感覺到太陽系的浩瀚和行星系統的奧秘，然後知悉地球的渺小。近代幾個世紀以來宗教迅速沒落，17世紀開始為人清楚認識的金星凌日是一個重要的轉捩點。

其實水星亦是位於太陽系的內軌道，所以都有凌日。但因軌道較短，幾年就有一次；又因水星體積細小，觀察較難，所以天文學家對水星凌日沒有那麼興奮。金星凌日在18世紀時還有一個發現，就是在和太陽影像非常接近時金星的圓周有模糊點，科學家因此知道金星有大氣層，干擾了太陽光；這現象在水星凌日時不明顯。這個事實十分轟動，因為證明有大氣層意味另一行星會有生命存在，對宗教是一大打擊。最新的發展是利用凌日原理，天文學家在太陽系以外發現多個系外行星exoplanets，現時已知四百多個，預計可知的會有600億個；和地球類似又有生命存在的行星一定會大量被發現。

God of Carnage

noreply@blogger.com (Raymond Poon) — Wed, 28 Mar 2012 10:52:00 +0000

波蘭斯基 Roman Polanski 是鬼才導演，先此聲明他的醜事：喜歡未成年少女，因此被美國通緝，應要坐監十多年，但避走法國，繼續拍片，繼續得獎。剛看了他一套近期佳作 God of Carnage。香港譯名躁爸爸狂媽媽，非常無厘頭的戲名。

只得一個客廳場景，四個演員，一個半小時，齋講對白。劇情沒有衝突情節，但越講越有味道，好似我們幾個人圍在一起吹水，天南地北，越講越有火。戲名是 God of Carnage，屠殺之神。起初是彬彬有禮客客氣氣的對話，慢慢話題轉變，觸動各個人生題目，心理陰影，不同性格，反應又反反應。直至最後，對方，夫妻，各人之間對各事都有不同觀點意見。由客氣互相恭維到針鋒相對，到最後快要變成大屠殺。屠殺之神就正是這樣辦事，人類在不知不覺的互動交往過程中就可以因少少不同意見越搞越大致要互相仇視屠殺。全場看著他們交談辯論，妙語不絕，完全沒有悶場。一套沒有劇情，沒有動作，沒有佈景的電影可以這樣吸引，不能不佩服波蘭斯基的處理手法，在僅有的場地可以使用拍攝手法配合談話的進行和人物的表情反應，將情緒層次逐一提升至高潮。這套電影在2011年和2012年已獲得數個獎項。

只靠對白的電影，其靈魂是劇本。雖然編劇亦是波蘭斯基，但原著是法國女作家雅思米娜雷扎Yasmina Reza的舞台劇作品。故事寓意是諷刺道貌岸然的中産階級的虛偽，跨越國際文化。原著是法文，但首演在瑞士蘇黎世；譯為英文後在英國獲得奧利花戲劇獎，又在美國獲得百老滙東尼獎。波蘭斯基將美國舞台劇版本改為電影劇本，在巴黎拍攝，假扮紐約場景。故事開始時因兩個小孩打架，雙方家長見面傾談，大家都想和解，給小孩一個成長模範；交談之間對各種小事看法不同而氣氛漸變激烈。在此要稱讚劇本的功力，在營造劇情推進漸漸增加張力直達高潮別有一手。到最後，屠殺之神做完了一切準備，屠殺即將開始之際，影片就完結，留待觀眾自己決定殺或不殺。之後是反高潮，小孩子和好如初。中間引人入勝的情節留待有興趣的朋友自己去看。

吸引我買票去看的起因是兩個女主角：Jodie Foster和肥溫Kate Winslet，兩個都是演技派高手。Jodie Foster有不少著名演出，演技不用懷疑；Kate Winslet因鐵達尼號一片更成為大眾偶像。這套靜態電影，演技稍差都不行。困在固定的場景內，沒有大動作，只是唸對白，如何可以吸引觀眾引起共鳴？演員們全情投入，對白自然而有感情；幾公尺的距離，每個鏡頭都可以是大特寫，對表情的要求甚高，要和氣氛緊緊配合。各演員的演出功架絕對不令大家失望。

人肉WiFi熱點

noreply@blogger.com (Raymond Poon) — Sat, 17 Mar 2012 02:28:00 +0000

最近新聞報導，一間英國廣告公司在美國德州奧斯汀有創意廣告設計，請一班無業遊民帶著無線4G路由器在街上四處走動，作為人肉WiFi熱點。路人只需付兩元美金，就可在他附近用WiFi上網。

這個措施在互聯網上被猛烈抨擊。不少人說這個做法是把遊民當作商品，有人更說這是可恥、可怕且悽苦的想法。但廣告公司反駁這只是一貫廣告的做法，和雜誌報紙請人在街頭派發刊物一樣，更有廣告是用真人廣告牌和扮演卡通商品在街上遊行。參與計劃的人表示他們只是當此為一項工作，並可獲得報酬。

這個事件使我想起社會上有很多需要幫助的人，又有很多善心人會提供現金或物資援助。有社會學者，不是福利主義者，指出這些援助只能拯救燃眉之急，對他們實際上是無補於事。幫助他人是要使他們真正站起來，自給自足。正如諺語所說，不要只給他們魚吃，要教他們捕魚。以前做過的一個部門，其中一項工作是負責為傷殘人士找工作；有一些善心的顧主會特別設計一些簡單的工序，專門顧用這些工作能力不高的人。但有福利界人士不領情，認為顧主刻意剝削弱能人士，要他們為少少工資做血汗工。他們認為弱能人士應該留在家中或療養院，收政府福利金過活。

人肉WiFi熱點事件是一個很好的例證，幫助他人最好是讓他們有機會幫助自己。記者訪問了幾個人肉熱點，他們對有機會工作覺得很高興。身上帶了無線路由器，和路人交談推銷，收取費用又看見服務受歡迎，非常有滿足感；比收了福利金然後就隱藏起來不和他人接觸優勝得多。

這一個WiFi共享的構思，亦是互聯網的未來世界。我在不久之前在科學雜誌看到一篇文章，描述一個不受控制的互聯網，起因是在阿拉伯之春很多國家都採取措施封鎖互聯網通訊，其方法是將所有本土互聯網供應商的數據中心關閉。因為現時網絡的結構都是由多個數據供應商連接至用戶，這個封鎖方法可以使整個網絡癱瘓。現時家用WiFi路由器流行，我們在家打開電腦的WiFi設定，都會見到附近有不少無線熱點在運作，不過多數有密碼保護而不能連上使用。幾年前有一家網絡公司推出一個程式，可以將WiFi路由器開放使用而又可保護自己的資料不外洩，其目的是讓用家共用大家的互聯網連線，就可保證永不斷線。這個構思需要大量用家參與才可行，結果是現時尚未流行，因為用家都不想自己先行，所以到現在用家數目尚未達到臨界數量。那篇文章預見當這些用家WiFi互享網絡成為事實後，網絡結構就不用再完全依賴數據供應商，互聯網連線可以跨境在用家之間轉接，而封鎖互聯網變成不可能。人肉WiFi熱點是這一個構思的延續，在需要緊急通訊的時侯，大量的流動熱點可以使通訊網絡變成有機體，自行修補破損的部份而使整個通訊網絡可以不間斷地使用。

Iron Lady the movie

noreply@blogger.com (Raymond Poon) — Thu, 15 Mar 2012 13:59:00 +0000

To the people of Hong Kong, Margaret Thatcher is a familiar name. Therefore a movie on her life story is both easy and difficult. It is easy being it does not need any introduction or advertisement. We know her life story pretty well and will want to see how the movie interprets If is difficult because we know it too well. We will consider any depiction in a two hour movie incomplete and full of omission. The greatest omission to me is that the Margaret Thatcher era was the crucial years when the British returned the sovereignty of Hong Kong to China. It is not mentioned in the movie but we can still see the political scene in UK during that time.

The first reaction to this movie in UK was that it paints a biased picture of Margaret Thatcher by presenting her throughout the movie as a senile old lady. This approach adopted by the script can be argued on the artistic angle. Art has a protective armour in that it cannot be bad; one can only say he does not like it. Notwithstanding such criticism, legendary stories and biographies are often told as memoir or a reflection of life when one gets old. Unlike many stories which only tell a part of the picture, biographies should be complete in presenting the whole life. The reality is that life is only complete when one is old.

No matter how well one knows Margaret Thatcher, it is only a movie. From the cinematographic point of view, you just cannot miss Meryl Streep. She is the soul of the whole movie. When she received the Oscar, she said the American would say oh no not her again. This is precisely the point. She did it again. You really have to admire the professionalism of this actress. She is Margaret Thatcher in reincarnation in the movie. She looks like, moves like and speaks like Margaret Thatcher. She also projects very accurately the character of Margaret Thatcher, her obstinance and persistence.

The ideology of Thatcherism, or the liberterianism, or individualism is portrayed in the movie as the basic philosophy of Margaret Thatcher. She considered that individuals should care for themselves, rewards should be commensurate with the contribution of the individual. She also considered a social structure should be based on public choice, to be made on an aggregate of individual choices.

She even argued her philosophy and justified it in the theological sense. In a famous speech when she addressed the General Assembly of the Church on 21 May 1988, which was referred to by the press as the Sermon on the Mound (not mount), she told the religious gurus that Christianity was about spirit redemption, not social reform. This event is too controversial to be included in the movie, which I would call a grave omission. Margaret Thatcher quoted the bible to the bishops: in 2 Thessalonians 3:10, St Paul said "If a man will not work he shall not eat." She also claimed that choice was Christian as Christ chose to end his life, and that God has given all individuals the right to choose between good and evil. This is a mockery to the church because this argument was made up by the church desperately to save her from the paradox that the almighty god cannot prevent men from doing evil.

In the end, her management style led to her downfall. She was furious at her cabinet members of cowardice because, same as many politicians, they cared too much about public opinion instead of upholding principles. She accused them of relying on feeling instead of thinking. So, the movie ends with a whisper of Margaret Thatcher saying an old proverb:

Watch your thoughts, for they become words.
Watch your words, for they become actions.
Watch your actions, for they become habits.
Watch your habits, for they become your character.
Watch your character, for it becomes your destiny.
You are what you think.

福島核災的未來

noreply@blogger.com (Raymond Poon) — Wed, 14 Mar 2012 14:36:00 +0000

日本地震海嘯大災難已一年了，重建已展開。這個規模的自然災害幾百年一遇，可能短期內會相對平靜。但其引發的福島核災卻後患無窮。美國科學人雜誌網上版在災難周年有一篇特稿，講述核子設施如何退役。除了正常程序，還有三里島、車諾比和福島的經驗。在此可以看見專業核子科技工程師面對的困難和可能應對的辦法，亦可較準確地估計福島和周邊地區的未來。專家評論這篇特稿，說它資料充足，觀察準確，清楚解釋了現狀和面對的挑戰。

海嘯即時的影響只有數小時，接下來的災難是福島核設施自己的問題，由電力供應、核心過熱、氣體爆炸至輻射洩漏都和過時的設計有關。未來新設施的設計可以改良，但福島的問題只是如何善後，需時若干，和是否可以將其回復到自然狀態以作其他用途。

核子設施退役首要工作是處理核燃料，要運走妥善貯藏。但在核子災難的廢墟內，這項工作甚難完成。福島的問題不只是一個核反應堆，而是三個可能已融解的反應堆，還有兩個已損壞的核廢料儲存池，四周還有兩個未受損的反應堆和五個廢料池。因現時場地已被輻射嚴重污染，就算處理未受損的部份都有危險。現時的工作只是盡量控制輻射不洩漏至場外，然後等候數年直至燃料冷卻至危險略為減低才能開始移走完好的核燃料棒，和真正評估反應堆損壞程度和污染的深度。

以現時僅有的已知資料，科學家作最保守的估計，已認定三個損壞的反應堆有核蕊融化現象。現只希望有一部份燃料棒只是輕微變形，可以用器械取出，但肯定有一些數量未能確定的核燃料已完全融化，沉在反應堆底部，和其他物料融合，還有可能已穿過底部進入地下泥土。

已融解的核燃料會和容器的金屬和水泥融合為不規則的廢料堆。工程師形容其結構好像是輻射物料被陶瓷質的盔甲包裹，要移走的工序像是採礦；更因為廢堆有強烈輻射，不能安全地接近。唯一可行的處理方法是用厚重的水泥做成石棺就地掩蓋，希望在很多年之後輻射性自然衰減至可接受程度。以車諾比為例，掩蓋一個反應堆的巨型石棺是270x150公尺，100公尺高；福島的三個反應堆需要一個更大的石棺。車諾比石棺周圍30公里範圍為隔離區，面積約為3000平方公里；福島的隔離區起碼有這個規模；雖然有一半是在海上，但都有1500平方公里土地要隔離，大約是一個半香港的面積。等待輻射廢料自然衰減至無害程度可能要數百年；以人類壽命作計算單位，這1500平方公里的土地我們這一代已是永遠不能再使用。

既有石棺保護，為何仍要隔離？原來核災和其氣體爆炸已將不少輻射性物質散佈在核電廠四周。重物質鈽不溶於水，但仍可以和土壤微粒結合而流動。輕物質銫可溶於水，可以被植物吸收而進入生物鏈。這些混在泥土裡的物質沒有可行辦法清理；不可能將廣大面積的表層泥土全部移走處理，唯有希望將它們隔離，遠離人類。

反應堆的冷卻水會被輻射污染，水箱內滋生的藻類亦帶有輻射性。這些廢水需要處理過濾，將重輻射分子和其他固體物質分隔貯藏。剩下來的水帶有重氫仍有短期輻射性。以三里島為例，輻射廢水貯藏了十四年以待重氫衰減然後才讓它自然蒸發。福島亦過濾然後貯藏廢水，但因數量太多，有一部份經過濾的廢水已排放出海。殘餘的輻射性有可能被海洋生物吸收，其真正影響現時無法評估。

在隔離區內，輻射物質會被封存在泥土內和植物動物體內。雖然有少量動物鳥類的遷移，輻射物質的擴散問題仍不太大。但最令人憂慮的是如果隔離區發生森林火災，輻射物質會因此而散佈於空中而經空氣傳播到區外。

核災已過了一年，但其遺骸有如一個計時炸彈，永遠陪伴著我們。

The unprotectable IT security loophole

noreply@blogger.com (Raymond Poon) — Sat, 10 Mar 2012 02:35:00 +0000

There are many whiz kids among us. Octopus is money which is the resource most protected by everybody, especially the banks. IT data are flowing securely in networks, and stored in everybody's and every company's vault. But nothing is absolutely safe. The cat and mouse game of IT security is a forever battle being escalated everyday. The most recent horror story is the breach of security of the Octopus reported below.

Money is a constant target to be faked. Counterfeit money is an ancient crime found in many generations. Now we have a new generation of electronic money. We suppose that it will have the same level, if not higher, of protection. Transactions of electronic money leave detailed records. These make them doubly safe. So it is really a surprise that we now have fake Octopus.

The trick was quite complicated. The hackers did not hack the Octopus computer. They hacked the Octopus cards. The reading and writing of data on Octopus are proprietary technology. They require a specially designed device. The hackers made one. They were also clever enough to take advantage of the time gap between transactions and the transmission of data to the Octopus computer. It took the Octopus company quite some time to realize that the accounts did not tally and much longer to figure out that someone tampered with the cards.

How could they do that? There is a reasonable explanation, the insiders did it. The daily job of these guys was the maintenance of Octopus readers. There is no wonder they knew the tricks and the loopholes. Notwithstanding the most sophisticated IT security measures, you could not keep the locked secrets from the key holder.

There is an unprotectable IT security loophole, which is from within. There are many IT security breach incidents which were the result of an insider job. A dissatisfied staff is a possible danger. Even a satisfied staff can be a potential danger because there is no way to know when the relation could get sour. So, when it comes down to maintaining staff loyalty, love them everyday no matter what.

The most unprotectable IT security loophole is yourself. You can guard against anyone yourself, but you cannot guard against yourself yourself. It is human nature that keeping secrets give you some satisfaction; and there is always an impulse to share the satisfaction with others, to the point of boasting how clever one was, with some supposedly harmless demonstration. Many secrets were leaked to unfamiliar persons such as bartenders or one night partners. I read about the ways hackers worked. Not all the tricks were sophisticated. They said that the most useful trick was social engineering. They could guess the common passwords, and could tempt the innocents to tell their secrets with seemingly harmless email.

Despite the best designed systems and guidelines, eventually someone will break the rules. It may not be the fault of the systems. A person with ill intent is always the culprit. Just look at the Bowtie case. Even with the water-tight Anti-corruption Ordinance, Civil Service Regulations and Administrative Order, nothing can stop the ultimate key holder from opening the Pandora Box himself.

**********
Five arrested for Octopus scam
08-03-2012

The police have arrested five people and seized a homemade device for adding value to Octopus cards. Officers said the case is the first of its kind. The scam came to light after the Octopus company detected unusual activities involving a series of value-added transactions and contacted the police. A man was detained along with his girlfriend, sister and parents.
**********

幸福的母雞

noreply@blogger.com (Raymond Poon) — Tue, 06 Mar 2012 14:08:00 +0000

人類需要吞食其他生物維生，但又將它們分等級，以人類自以為是的道德標準分類。人類本身就為此產生矛盾，食什麼生物可以引發各文明之間的衝突。人類以自身感官作指引，將生物分高低，依序約略是：會發聲的、會流紅血的、會動的、不會動的、沒有可見的感覺的，包括似乎不能招架逆來順受有生命的植物。有些自命有愛心的人會反對吞食似是高級的生物。對那些我們有限的認知能力不能辨認的生物智慧就當是低等。還有一些以宗教迷信和偏見的理由將生物分級。神聖的牛不能吃，骯髒的豬不能吃，可愛的貓狗不能吃，只需虛構一個理由就有生物不能吃，人類在此其實十分虛偽。但在飢餓時人類就什麼都吃。

在各種被食用的生物中，雞是最悲慘的。似乎沒有一個民族對食雞有反感，所以食物產業對雞的需求最高，而食物工業對生產雞的方法已高度改良。全球人類對雞的需求非常驚人，而供應亦是同樣驚人的有效率。且看現時雞的價錢比其他肉類都要低。但雞以我們的標準卻是很高級的生物；它們懂得以發聲來溝通，受傷時會流紅色的血，有危險時會掙扎；幸好現代城市食雞的消費者不會見到這些，除非你懂得在家中自行處理活雞。但其實在二三十年前家家戶戶都是這樣做。

我聽過一個專家解釋雞工業的運作。基於一些國家對防範疫症的要求，雞的生產要完全密封隔離。由生蛋、孵蛋，小雞，成年雞，殺雞，冷藏，母雞，生蛋的環迴過程全部一條龍在農場或工廠內完成。工廠只需輸入飼料，藥物和水電，就可輸出食用雞和蛋。這個工業已很成熟，由於競爭激烈，邊際利潤很低，需要大量生產才有微利；接下來使用其產品的下游工業亦很蓬勃，環環相扣，互相依賴，構成一個共生的網絡，唇亡齒寒。

有不少報導講述雞工廠的實況。雞是產品，不被視為生物。生產過程以效率為主，以最少的資源得到最大的產量。以人類生活的標準來說，活生生的雞在工廠內的生活很苦，尤其是擠迫的程度。在香港，社運人士為人民爭取的亦是一樣：公屋的標準尺寸以人數計算，每人所需的合理面積是一場永恆的爭論；我們見到有人住在籠屋和劏房，就會指說他們很擠迫。動物權益人士當然要為擠迫的雞出頭。首先得益的是母雞，它們是母親，更值得同情。在政治壓力下，幸福的母雞終於可以有一個略為寬闊的居所。

但世事往往不是人類想像的那麼簡單。從下面的報導可以看見沒有周詳考慮的衝動行為帶來的後果。沒有準備好如何處理改變帶來的影響，結果一個改變可使整個緊緊相連的網絡有巨變。首先是加大了母雞所用的面積就直接影響了可飼養的數目，多出來的母雞就要被殺；改裝工廠去符合新要求需要大量資源，不能負擔的經營者要結業而老板和員工要受苦，母雞又要被殺；雞蛋供應減少市場機制立刻失衡，產生混亂，價格暴升；沒有供應，下游工業生產困難，一系列產品供應減少，市場失衡的現象以波浪形式擴散。

香港真幸福，可以從容的說雞蛋供應沒有影響；只因我們有大陸蛋輸入，而大陸的母雞沒有那麼幸福。但如果世界趨勢是要為母雞謀福利，較昂貴的養雞法可能都要實行。不過虛偽的是，無論怎樣養雞，其目的只是作為人類的食物。另一個考慮是人類的存亡；人口爆炸，食物需求不見頂，食物生產稍為不夠效率就會有不少人餓死。我估計世界各地不會像歐盟那樣天真；改善雞工業要循序漸進，保證市場可以適應改變而不會崩潰，還要保證食物有足夠的供應。後者十分困難，因為預測世界人口在三十年內會增至九十億，而食物需求會增加一倍。究竟母雞和人類的前途為何，可能在我們仍在生之年就有結局。

**********
【明報專訊】歐盟維護動物權益的新措施，意外引發歐洲多國陷入雞蛋荒。歐盟今年元旦起禁用「集中營式」層架雞籠，但在財政緊絀下，很多蛋商都沒錢添置「較為人道」的新雞籠，很多蛋場甚至寧可大舉殺雞結業，令英法等國都鬧蛋荒，蛋價暴漲直接衝擊蛋糕、雪糕等食品製造。英國《觀察家報》昨警告，受缺蛋危機影響，英國超市大批食品可能在1個月內出現嚴重短缺。在供應緊張下，歐盟的雞蛋批發價格，一周內飇升近四倍。一名業內人士更說「現在不再是價錢問題，是供應問題。我估計在3至4周內，一些食品生產公司便將處於存亡臨界點。」

這場食物供應鏈危機，始於今年元旦歐盟落實執行「生蛋母雞福祉指令」。指令禁止歐盟成員國雞農繼續採用傳統的多層式金屬雞籠，要求他們改用「較人道寬敞」的雞寵，又或以圈養法等模式，飼養母雞。新法贏得保護動物權益人士歡迎，強調雞隻不應再被困在連活動轉身也有困難的集中營式雞籠中，但雞農、蛋農卻極度苦惱，因購置新雞籠或新雞欄成本太高，這在陷入財困的歐洲國家情况尤其嚴重。英國農民工會直言，英國雞蛋商為符合新規定，已花了4億鎊。由於不少農場無法符合新規定，遂放棄生產雞蛋業務。西班牙更有大批農民選擇殺掉母雞結業，令該國由雞蛋淨出口國變為淨進口國。《觀察家報》稱，英國一間食品商最近接觸了十家雞蛋供應商，但八家均表示無法供貨。有些食品商甚至因負擔不起「昂貴」的雞蛋成本，自身的製成品又無法大幅加價（以免嚇走消費者），因而被迫停產。

法國蛋農組織SNIPO亦表示，現時法國一周缺蛋約2100萬隻（相當於總量的一成），促請政府緊急行動，增加短期雞蛋供應。資料顯示，香港2010年輸入約19億隻雞蛋，當中約67％來自內地，18％來自美國，約7％為泰國蛋，雖有從歐洲輸入雞蛋，但百分比不算高。香港豐貴堂蛋業商會理事長楊金炎稱，本港雞蛋供應來源多元化，令價格保持穩定。他說香港已多年沒從英國入口雞蛋，估計歐洲生產雞蛋數量銳減，對本港供應及價格均影響不大。
**********

佛道哲學

noreply@blogger.com (Raymond Poon) — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 16:25:00 +0000

香港是中國的地方。佛教發源在印度，再在中國生根，所以香港民間風俗處處都和佛教有關。但我從小所接觸的都是佛教的宗教部份，印象中有滿天神佛，迷信之說處處都是。但佛教開始時是一個哲學思考結果，只是之後才被宗教的怪力亂神污染。反而在西方，研究佛道的學者可以專注在佛道的哲學解釋。西方學術研究有一優勢，就是可以不被宗教迷信影響，直接研究它的起源歷史和核心哲學思想。

幾年前我看過國家地理雜誌一篇文章，以人文地理角度介紹佛道和它在西方的發展。話說約二千五百多年前，有一個印度王子，他享盡榮華富貴，生活無憂。但有一天，他忽然覺得人民在受苦，心有不安，就離開皇宮出走。在現代社會，有不少人都有這種想法，醫學上叫抑鬱症。王子思前想後，覺得自己想通了因果，就是佛道的基本哲學四諦。

四諦即是四個原則，有因果關係。第一是苦諦：世間有情悉皆是苦。第二是集諦：苦的原因是貪瞋痴三毒。第三是滅諦：斷盡煩惱業，則得解脫。第四是道諦：走上解決煩惱之道。佛道修行，大都是在深入理解三毒和解脫方法。市面上有林林總總的佛教書籍；除了宗教儀式迷信的一類，其他很多就是在此鑽研。我在台中曾到訪中台禪寺，它是一個沒有香火禮拜的寺院，主要供人修行。它有一個網頁，上有各修行禪師的文章，大都是一些哲學思考的感受。

貪是貪婪，內心覺得不足；瞋是生氣，對事物不順心便不高興和動怒；痴是不知真相，不辨是非。很多禪語都是指出苦就是從此而來。解決的方法有佛家八正道，又再細分為三十七道，詳細說明修行方法。歸根結底，就是要正確辨認三毒然後放下。這套思考方式和現代的情緒商數 Emotional Quotient 和抗逆商數 Adversity Quotient 理論相似，都是說逆來順受，有包容和寬恕之心，以便日後再翻身。

有哲學評論指出佛道不足之處就在第一諦苦諦。它假設世事一切都是苦；就算是快樂都是短暫而都會以苦收場。心存抑鬱的人可能有此感覺，但不是人人皆是。心境健康的人是可以真正享受快樂的時刻，而知足的人更可以處處都找到快樂，更有人說一剎那的快樂已是永恆；而人類感情可以昇華，感官上的苦是不可掩蓋精神上的快樂。第二是三毒的定義太廣闊以致可以包括一個人的所有行為。如果要鑽牛角尖，所有人所做的每一件事都在其中。第三是佛道最受人非議的消極思想。EQ 和 AQ 的理論只是引導我們在逆境時要保持心理平衡，但當有對策有機會出現時就不要放過。佛道哲學有其用處，但要和其他思想結合，取長補短，才可以在適當的時侯有適當的應對。

相信有不少朋友對佛教有較深刻的認識。歡迎加入討論。

Blaise Pascal

noreply@blogger.com (Raymond Poon) — Sat, 11 Feb 2012 07:27:00 +0000

I know Blaise Pascal from the secondary school science class. He wrote the famous Pascal Law of fluid pressure which is a hot topic in Physics examination. He was also a famous scientist, mathematician and philosopher of the 17th century in France. To my surprise, in a Christian gathering, I heard the pastor using Pascal as an example of faith. The main points conveyed were that, despite being a famous and successful scientist, he suddenly converted to Christianity; donated all his fortune to the church; and devoted himself to writing for Christianity.

Pascal was well known for his philosophy, but not well known as a Catholic. I therefore tried to research into the truth of the historical events leading to such presentation.

In France in the 17th century, all French would automatically be a Catholic. Pascal's second conversion came in 1654 after the death of his father and the decision of his sister to enter the convent. He went into a depression and fell seriously ill. Then he suddenly claimed to have had an intense religious vision. It was not sure if this was the result of a miracle or the illness. But Pascal then decided to go into religion.

His fortune was inherited from his father. Actually, the majority of the estate was given to his sister Jacqueline, with Blaise Pascal as the conservator for his sister. When Jacqueline entered the convent, he had to give back the fortune by sending it to the church.

He seemed to be deeply troubled by the Christian doctrine and tried very hard to justify the faith and belief by logic. The famous book Pensees was a collection of his thoughts. There was one part on the god gamble where he used the logic similar to the game theory to prove that believing in god's existence was the logical choice. This was later disputed by many philosophers. I also wrote such arguments in a blog article the God Gamble in 2008.

With all these contributions, I wonder why he was not canonized by the Catholic church. There are two main reasons. First, Blaise Pascal and his sister Jacqueline belonged to the Jansen Church. Jansenism was a branch of the Catholic Church which was in competition with the Jesuits. The Jesuits had the upper hand and the favour of the French king. In fact, King Louis VIV suppressed the Jansenist movement in 1661. So Blaise Pascal was in the wrong church at that time. He died in 1662.

The second fatal mistake he committed was the attempt to justify Christian belief by logic and reason. The bible is full of contradictions and many deeds recorded are against the preached conduct. The method used by the church all along was to ask the followers to believe whatsoever; and called it the virtue of faith. It worked for many centuries until knowledge become widespread in the last few hundred years. Since then, there were continuous debates on religious belief. On the side of logic and reason, religion always fails. The present tactic is not to enter into any intellectual debate, claiming religion and science are in separate paradigms. However, the church has many learned persons. They only know too well the defects of religious thoughts. They could not help but contemplate the logical arguments in pain. Blaise Pascal is a good example. He wrote down his thoughts on a possible logical explanation of religious belief in secret. The work was incomplete. After his death, his writings were found in scrap notes which he hid away. Such notes were later assembled and published as the Pensees. You can imagine how the church reacts to such publication. Using Pascal as an example of faith is not a good choice.

The report of The Commission on Assisted Dying

noreply@blogger.com (Raymond Poon) — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 15:55:00 +0000

We discussed euthanasia in 2009. I had a blog article talking about various forms of voluntary dying. I also referred to the proposal of an euthanasia court for saving lives in addition to determining the genuine euthanasia cases. This is a complex and controversial subject which we often heard people said let us not discuss it. But the reality is that euthanasia is being practiced in many countries. Britain in particular is under immense pressure to have this resolved. In 2010, the Commission on Assisted Dying was set up for conducting an in-depth inquiry on this subject.

The Commission was chaired by Lord Falconer, a barrister and former justice secretary, and included members with expertise in law, medicine, social care, mental health, palliative care, theology, disability and policing. The Commission engaged in a wide-ranging inquiry into the subject, including a public call for evidence which received over 1,200 responses, public evidence hearings, international research visits, and original and commissioned research on the issues surrounding assisted dying.

The report of the Commission was published this month. You may wish to see the BBC news article on this. It concludes that the current legal status of assisted suicide is inadequate and incoherent. The current legal regime can be distressing for the people affected and their families, health and social care staff, and also on police and prosecutors. A proposed legal framework for assisted dying is laid out in detail in the report, including strict criteria to define who might be eligible to receive assistance and robust safeguards to prevent abuse of any new law. The Commission also considers that substantial improvements to health and social care services would be needed in parallel with changes to the law. It proposes that the role of any future assisted dying legislation must be to provide all people with access to high quality end of life care and protect potentially vulnerable people from any form of social pressure to end their lives, at the same time as providing people with greater choice and control regarding how and when they die. If you are interested in the details, please read the full report.

It would be interesting to know what was the views of the religion sector towards this issue. Among the 11 commissioners, only Reverend Canon Dr James Woodward disagreed with the conclusion. The report duly carries an appendix on his statement on the inquiry. In particular, he said "This complex and contested area of human life cannot be dealt with through the law or medicine alone. We need to engage further with the social and ethical reflections on experiences of death and dying." Despite almost two years' inquiry and 1,200 responses, hearings and researches, he was still undecided and wanted never-ending reflections. A better reflection of his intention continued: "There are important theological questions about suffering, personhood and the value of the vulnerable that need to inform a more open conversation about death and dying in Britain today."

Suffering is actually the central point in the whole issue. Euthanasia is for the relief of unnecessary suffering, but there is another meaning of suffering in the theological sense. Suffering may be good in the sense of sacrifice and repent. Thus there is no need to end the suffering prematurely. But there is another religious notion that dying is the passage into eternal life. For a good person, he will pass into heaven. The encouragement of endurance to unnecessary suffering and the delay to the passage seems to contradict this notion. Perhaps everybody has to first go to the purgatory before going to heaven. Suffering before dying may somehow offset the purgatory fire a little bit.

人生第三幕

noreply@blogger.com (Raymond Poon) — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 03:27:00 +0000

在TED Women看到珍芳達講人生第三幕，很有趣味，送給退休的同事看看。

現代人很幸運，壽命比起三代前長了一半。二十世紀初，人類的平均壽命約六十歲；但現代人的壽命可達九十歲，而且不限於少數富有的人，大多數人如身體正常都可活到這個年紀。社會對退休年齡的概念追不上時代，現代的退休計劃是基於人類只可有效工作至約六十歲，然後就要退下來等待最後時刻。但是現代人的退休生活期可以非常長，因此我們需要重新思考其位置和價值。

人們對生命周期的一般理解是一條拋物線，由零至頂點然後下降至零。新的概念是人生應是向上的階級，由低至高直至頂部。但以熱力學原理，所有系統都要回歸至熵entropy，其間不斷衰退，而人類體能亦是一樣。但人類精神卻不跟從這定律，精力隨時間下降，但精神意志卻可以上升。

人生如果像一套戲劇，會是一套三幕的劇。第一幕是開頭的二三十年，由出生至經歷少年求知階段和初出道在工作中受訓練的階段。戲劇的第一幕是介紹背景和進入角色，使觀眾心理上預備接受接下來的情節。人生第二幕是生活與工作高峰期的三十年，大約至五六十歲；所有人生的疑惑、壓力、成功、失敗、鬥爭、衝突、情慾等都在這階段發生。戲劇的第二幕都是如此處理；最甜蜜的情節，最矛盾的掙扎、最不公平的對待、最懸疑的陰謀、最熱血的惡鬥都會發生，務求令觀眾看完第二幕後坐立不安，很多疑問有待解決，希望第三幕盡快開始。

三幕劇的第三幕是大結局，雖然結局可能是完滿的或是悲慘的，但總會給你一個答案，還有可能答案會引起思考然後使你想再看下一套戲。第二幕的伏線將會一一解開，所有情節都有解釋。可能背後原因和你想像有差別，其結果亦和你的期望不同，但你會明白真相。人生的第二幕不能盡如人意，大家都希望之後會有好結局。人生有了第三幕，大家就不用在第二幕完結後就充滿疑惑的離去。人生第三幕約在退休後開始，長度不比第一二幕短，可以充份使用來將第二幕的情節解開。

珍芳達說第三幕開始時，我們因年紀漸大和經驗較豐富而變得感覺良好、較少壓力、較友善、沒有那麼焦急、會較關心和別人的共通點而非差別。第三幕是人生不可或缺的一幕，亦是最重要的一幕，和第一二幕有莫大關係。每一個人在其第三幕都有不同的任務，但總需要和之前的情節連接。我們會回顧自己所做的事，理解其真正意義和後果。在大結局的一幕，我們可以糾正以前的錯誤，完成未了的心願，將疏遠的關係修補，成為一個較為完整的人。我們可以自問，一生所為足夠保證上天堂嗎？天堂是否存在是否最後結局？答案可能就在第三幕與之前兩幕的一個理性連結，形成一個完整的圓圈，一生就完滿了。

HTML5, truce or war

noreply@blogger.com (Raymond Poon) — Wed, 28 Dec 2011 04:39:00 +0000

The HTML Hypertext Markup Language is the basis of Internet today. When it was first standardized in 1990, it mainly defined how the text, hypertext and image should be shown in a webpage by the browsers. Different kinds of browsers in the markets were able to do more or less the same thing and webpages could be correctly viewed on different platforms as they were compatible with each other. As multi-media became more and more popular, sound and video were being incorporated in webpages. The pace of such advancement was so rapid that browser companies were unable to cope. There were many third party companies coming into the market offering various types of software which could be added, or plugged-in, to a browser to enable it to play audio and video. The Internet world was then in chaos with companies offering different technologies and file formats. Browser companies and the Internet users found it very confusing and inconvenient where webpages were not correctly displayed all the time and media often not correctly played.

You may have experienced the various types of music files and many different types of video files which required different devices or programs to run. Same as the video tape format war many years ago, many companies are also at war promoting their own formats. Music format war started early and the battles were on resolution, clarity, compactness with fans supporting different products. Audiophiles like no compression or lossless compression files, while others like highly compressed file with very small size but acceptable sound quality. For video, the battles were very intense. You may have heard that Adobe Flash is trying to dominate the market while Steve Jobs refused to support it in Apple devices.

The latest version of HTML version 5 is meant to solve this problem. The syntax of HTML5 has been rewritten to make the language more simple and streamlined. Most importantly, it added the universal Audio and Video tags in the language so that all browsers could interpret them in the same way. The most obvious benefit is that a truce is called among all browser companies. They can all go and enhance their browsers to support HTML5 and the standard will be universal. There will be better compatibility among browsers on all multi-media webpages. On the other hand, you can guess that the third-party plug-in software companies will go out of business if they do not diversify, as audio and video plug-ins are no linger required.

The reaction in the content providers field is enthusiastic. Steve Jobs commented that HTML5 is the best way forward for a multi-media Internet over Flash. Adobe announced that it would no longer develop Flash for mobile devices. Almost all major content providers are now upgrading to HTML5. YouTube has already released a test version of HTML5 video playing. In a few years time, users will migrate en masse to browsers that support HTML5.

However, the world is not as peaceful as we like it to be. While HTML5 defines the language standard of audio and video tags, it does not define which file formats should be used. It is left to individual browser companies to decide which file formats are to be supported. Judging from the experience of image file format, browsers would support all popular image file formats in use, as the program required to code and decode (codec) the popular file formats are readily available. But of course there are still some advanced image file formats not supported by any browser and cannot be displayed in webpages.

Sound and video files are more difficult as these dynamic and streaming data require more complicated codec. Browser companies do not want to include many copies of different codec in their program. They can only choose the most popular ones. This choice triggered another file format war.

A very popular format today is the MPEG. Its popular audio file is MP3 and video file is MP4. You may think that most browsers would support these formats. However, there is a hitch. MPEG file formats are copyrighted. The rights are owned by a consortium of which the stake holders include Microsoft and Apple. Surely these companies will push for MPEG as the de facto standard. But many companies which use open source codes are unwilling to pay the MPEG copyright fees. They are the giants Google and Mozilla who adopted copyright-free audio and video file format of OGG. The war at present comes to a stalemate where different browsers support their own file formats of choice. It is really like the video tape war where there were different video tape players supporting VHS and Betamax.

The victims of this war are the content providers and the Internet users. Much valuable contents are using different file formats and we cannot give up either one. The solution is troublesome. Notwithstanding the war and the different file formats used by different browsers, content provider companies encode several copies of an audio or video file in all popular formats. The webpages are written in a way that any browser could detect the file format supported and choose the correct file to play. This is for the benefit of users who do not have to worry about file formats. The problem is that the media file libraries of the content providers are several times larger than needed.

民主自由的酒樓

noreply@blogger.com (Raymond Poon) — Mon, 26 Dec 2011 02:01:00 +0000

有一位老人家，每天早上都會到酒樓飲茶，和大家都混得很熟。他可以自由出入，隨意搭檯，自己取用茶水點心，吃飽就自行結賬，十年如一日。但酒樓要結束了，屋邨要增值，改善服務，換上一個較有規模，管理較好的經營者。今後座位安排有秩序，要按號碼安排入座，不能搭檯，茶水有侍應安排，結賬亦有部長親自打理，務求令客人滿意。但老人家很不高興，覺得服務不佳。他向我投訴，認為是民主自由大倒退。

究竟酒樓服務要怎樣才能令顧客滿意呢？有人認為有秩序的管理較為文明，對所有顧客都較公平理想；但亦有人認為規範會侵犯個人自由，是為霸權，凸顯貧富不公平。顧勿論你喜歡那一種飲茶方式，但以民主自由的角度來看，這卻是一個很基礎的問題。

我們要極力爭取民主自由，但對民主自由的尺度卻有不同的理解。比較清晰的概念會兩極化。有人追求自命的普世觀念，認為任何政府措施都在限制民主自由；有人以自身利益出發，認定所有損害自己利益的行為都是侵犯自由。

人類自古以來都很自由；古人從容在草原上覓食，互不相干。但隨著文明發展，人口增加，人類聚居又追逐有限的資源，個人自由就和他人自由有衝突。人類的文明迫使我們限制自己的自由以遷就他人的自由。其結果是自由有限制，但有限制的自由怎能算是自由呢？

酒樓打開門做生意，歡迎顧客自由光顧。顧客有自由，酒樓有生意，皆大歡喜。但市場並不時常公平，供求亦不會時常平衡；這時自由就要受限制了。顧客太多，酒樓要限制顧客的自由，目的是為了酒樓的利益還是顧客的利益呢？通常情況是如果需求大過供應，供應者就會因市場不平衡而得到額外利益，而受害者乾脆稱之為暴利。顧客乖乖的放棄自己的自由，究竟是為了自己的利益、他人的利益，還是為了遷就酒樓的利益？為了民主自由，答案很簡單，老人家轉了去街尾的茶餐廳，因為那裡仍有民主。為什麼？這亦是因為市場不平衡。茶餐廳生意不佳，供應大過需求，所以顧客至上，個人自由萬歲。其實自由是相對的，永遠都有更民主自由的情況。我們只可以考慮是否可以接受現時民主自由的尺度。所以如果你是理想主義者，就永遠都得不到真正的民主自由。

Online human resource management

noreply@blogger.com (Raymond Poon) — Tue, 20 Dec 2011 16:39:00 +0000

There is a saying that human can only organize and manage human resource up to a certain limit. The limit is about one hundred thousand owing to the enormous effort required to handle such amount of data. For some very large projects in history, such as building the Pyramid, the Hoover Dam, putting a man on the Moon and even a war, the human resource involved might not exceed 100000. But we have all kinds of wonderful achievements from human collaboration at this scale.

The scenario changed now that we have the Internet which means the ability to manage large human resource of hundreds of millions of online Internet users. Just think what we could achieve with such manpower potential. You may think that the Internet is in chaos and it will be impossible to make millions of users do one thing in common for free. But here come some clever thinking and some projects have been launched to do just that. I saw this interesting TED presentation below which introduced how these are done. Please take a look. This is inspirational for the human resource managers, resource and system managers and the IT managers.

Two particular projects are mentioned. One is the digitization of old books. We all know the limitation of optical character recognition. This is particular difficult for old books with strange fonts. Not surprisingly, what the computer cannot do human brains can. We can read an old book and recognize what the strange characters are. Digitization by a human with actual typing work is expensive and time consuming. To engage the human brains of millions of Internet users, a project makes use of the security control of some websites where you are asked to input some strange characters shown on the screen upon logging in. Such characters are not recognizable by computer. The trick is to use two such words. While the first is the security code, the second is an image of a word from an old book which the project needs you, secretly, to recognize. Millions of people type the security code everyday and an old book of many characters is digitized in parallel this way. Now we know this, we may ask the bank to give us a discount every time we log in.

Another interesting project is the translation of websites into different languages. Professional translators are expensive and computer translation is rubbish. The project asks Internet users to translate one sentence of a webpage at a time. But how can you make sure the translation is correct and make human do it for free? First, the sentence is translated many times and the computer chooses the best translation which most users did. Second, it uses the project as an education medium where people can learn another language by participating. Instead of paying for translation tuition, Internet users pay with their time doing simple translation and have it corrected by many other users doing the same translation.

There is already an app in Facebook called Translations. You can translate some selected sentences from English to Chinese, or vote on the best among several translated versions. Facebook will then use it in the Chinese version of the website. I think Facebook is doing this on several different languages. It will then have muilti-lingual websites for free.

Pension in danger

noreply@blogger.com (Raymond Poon) — Sun, 18 Dec 2011 07:42:00 +0000

The pension in UK is akin to our Mandatory Provident Fund and the Civil Service Provident Fund where employers and employees contribute to the fund for benefits after retirement. We have heard that there are much shortcomings in the management of these funds in Hong Kong. But the situation in UK is worse. You may wish to see the news in the Guardian below where there was an outcry on the high fees of management of the fund leading to retirement benefits being eroded.

We saw the proposal presentation of the MPF and the CSPF where an inflation factor was included assuming there would be annual earning on the fund investment. It was a healthy and delightful 5%, making the MPF and CSPF a fortune at retirement. We now know the truth. Market turmoil and high management fees have decreased the asset value. If you retire now, you would probably get less than the contribution. There would be serious social problems if retirees could not make ends meet. The contribution of the UK government towards pension also exerts pressure on her public finance. The UK solution is the delay of retirement and the increase in employee contribution. You can imagine the resistance from the citizens. The adjustment to management fees and making the managers more responsible are only small steps.

There are optimists who say that market turmoil is a natural phenomenon. What goes up must come down, and vice versa. In the long run, the market is in a slow but steady upward trend. They also say this for blue chip stocks. This may be true, but there are much peaks and troughs in between. If you are not lucky and have to realize your investment at the inopportune time, like the mandatory retirement at the statutory age, or you just die when the market crashed, then you are trapped in the trough. Pension locked in an investment fund which you have no control will have the same risk. So, there are people who wish to manage their own retirement savings actively, or some people just wish to keep their savings under the pillow. The former is very tiring and requires you to take your own risk; the latter is easy but is vulnerable to fire.

Does anyone have any foolproof method to safeguard pension?

**********
Revealed: how City fees are eating into our pensions
Traders' hidden charges leaving pensioners and savers worse off, Treasury warned

Daniel Boffey, policy editor
guardian.co.uk, Saturday 17 December 2011 21.30 GMT

Highly paid City traders are depriving pensioners and savers of thousands of pounds through high management fees that are often hidden, according to leaked advice provided by consultants to the Treasury. The charges are spreading and are so steep that savers may find they get less back in retirement than they invested in savings accounts and pensions over their lifetimes.

If the size of the charges were to become widely known, the UK's "fragile savings culture may be permanently damaged", according to the warning presented to the Treasury last month.

The damning findings come at a time of growing anxiety that millions of Britons will not have enough money for their old age. They will also raise new questions about the prime minister's decision to veto a new EU treaty over his demands for greater protection for the City.
cont.... http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2011/dec/17/treasury-warned-over-traders-fees
**********

A responsible church

noreply@blogger.com (Raymond Poon) — Wed, 14 Dec 2011 02:23:00 +0000

The newspapers in UK remarked that this was a landmark case. The High Court ruled in November that the Roman Catholic Church could be held liable for the wrongdoing of its priests. The case under trial was the one committed by Father Baldwin who sexually assaulted a child under his care. The legal principle under consideration was that the Church would be vicariously liable for the priest's wrongdoing. You may wish to read the complete BBC news report.

If you attended the management training on basic legal knowledge, you might have come across vicarious liability in the law of tort. It has very common usage in human resource management as it concerns the relationship between employers and employees. In particular, the employer is vicariously liable for the conduct of his employees even without direct connection to such conduct, the principle being that the employer has the responsibility and the duty of care towards his employees.

But this was not the case for the Roman Catholic Church. The numerous cases of wrongdoing of priests damaged the image of the Church very much. The well respected holiness was eroded and the faith of followers fading. The reaction of the Church was that it wanted to distance itself from the priests and did not intend to take responsibility of their wrongdoing. Thus the Church claimed it could not be held vicariously responsible because there was no formal employment relationship with the priests.

Lawyers for the claimant asked the court to rule on whether the relationship between a Catholic priest and his bishop is akin to an employment relationship. Children's organizations claimed that all organisations that work with children have a clear responsibility to ensure their safety. Religious organisations are no different. The argument is that the Church has the responsibility to ensure that they select and monitor priests carefully and have robust procedures in place to take steps to protect children when there are concerns.

Mr Justice Macduff decided the professional relationship between a priest and his bishop was sufficiently close so as to impose responsibility.

The result of this judgment is that the Church will finally become a responsible church and be held vicariously liable for the wrongdoing of the priests. The implication is that there will be court cases seeking damages and remedy from the Roman Catholic Church from the victims of sexual assaults. This will also apply to other Christian churches.

Following the court ruling, The Catholic Church in England and Wales issued a statement. You may wish to read the complete text. Besides the standard words of defense and reassurance, it stated that the costs and damages would be paid by the insurers, and the funds of the Church would not be at risk. I think this is cold blooded. At least it should be sorry for the priests' crime and take the responsibility. We haven't heard anything of that sort yet. Even B16 was accused of covering up the cases.

Evolution of the eye

noreply@blogger.com (Raymond Poon) — Fri, 09 Dec 2011 09:01:00 +0000

I have heard on more than one occasion someone used the complexity of natural beings as the proof that everything is created directly by god, instead of evolving from simpler beings. Examples quoted are the complexity of flower, the brain and especially the eye. For the later, it is an extract of a quote from Charles Darwin where he admired the complexity of the eye and remarked that it would be absurd to think the eye evolved from natural selection. Although in subsequent passages he firmly believed the eye did evolve even without evidence of intermediate forms at that time, he was very often misquoted as having made a statement supporting supernatural creation.

A lot of researches have been done on the evolution of the eye. Scientific American has an article in its July issue on this particular subject detailing the conclusion. You may wish to take a look.

Light is an essential element of the environment. It gives us warmth and is a supply of food and energy through photosynthesis. It is natural that the primitive living things would seek out light in order to survive. It began with light sensitive molecules in a cell. The earliest beings evolved with light sensitive cells which could tell the light cycle of day and night and the direction of this energy source. This group of cells evolved to a more complex form and a primitive eye.

During the Cambrian Period, the evolution of the eye split into two branches, one is the compound eye mainly found in insects, and the camera eye in other animals. Compound eye is an array of many small and simple imaging units with individual lenses which could give the animal wide-angle vision with moderate resolution. For larger animal requiring better vision, the camera eye gradually evolved to a single complex structure of lens, retina and neural system, and subsequently to the eye we have today.

Fossil records of the eye are hard to find because soft tissues are not well preserved. However, there are three major developments which successfully illustrate the history of the evolution of the eye. First, the eye evolved in various stages among various animal species. There are still many primitive forms of animal with less evolved eyes. The line of change in the evolution of the eye in progressive intermediate forms are now found in many animal species. The evolution of the eye follows natural selection. There are even examples of animals evolved with degenerated eye, i.e. a well evolved eye subsequently degenerated into less useful form owing to a change of environment with deprivation of light.

We can also follow the evolution of the eye in the embryonic development of present day animals. The process of development of the eye of the embryo represents the events that occurred during the evolution lineage.

The structure of the human eye is not prefect. There are many defects which are actually scars of evolution: features incorrectly developed and would hinder image quality. The retina is designed inside out, forcing light to pass through cell bodies and nerve fibres before reaching the photoreceptors. Blood vessels sprawl across the inner surface and create undesirable shadows onto the retina. Nerve fibres gather to push through a single opening to become the optic nerve, creating a blind spot in the retina. These are evidence of the errors of evolution which the eye has gone through before reaching the present day form. If the eye is designed outright, it would not be intelligent design but poor design. All these results of researches put the nail in the coffin of the ID theory.