2007-07-31

萬惡的GFW

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Site visits in a week in June (3rd-9th)


萬惡的GFW就如Voldermot, 墙還在,心不死,終于在6月20日左右復辟。

Site visit in a week in July (8th-14th)


註:此圖不顯示臺灣的數據

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Good old days (all time stats for mainland China)


Taiwan (all time stats)


"自由中國" in July 2007 (其實過去只有澳門才是真正的自由中國。自稱‘自由中國’的臺灣直到1987年才解嚴,香港一直有迫害當地左派)

2007-07-29

推薦一個香港作家

推薦一個香港作家,他的觀點,我不完全同意,同意的大概60-70%吧。可是,我相信他說的都是經過反復思考的,不是人云亦云的。看他的文章,看到他的誠意。

吳靄儀為何替惡法護航?

撑港台,撑港台什麼?

曾蔭權方案不及查良鏞方案

古惑天皇不夠古惑

「寸爆」名嘴又如何?

多謝李八方俾面

直斥陶傑無人性舊文

陳 太臨 別 演辭 用 心不 良

What Queen's Pier? 反對重置皇后碼頭

想來想去,實在想不出皇后碼頭有甚麼價值。四個平庸的毛筆字,同樣平庸的鐵欄、石柱,為甚麼要浪費我們納稅人的血汗錢來重置?港人對這件事已經越來越不理性,假如皇后碼頭要重置,鵝頸橋公廁是不是也要重置?

即使從歷史的角度來看,有多少人去過皇后碼頭多少次,都去那里干了甚麼事情?就本人了來說,以前游船上落點都是在天星的左邊,到卜公碼頭之間。直到回歸后才在皇后碼頭登了一兩次船。在盲目跟從媒體和所謂保育人士的宣傳之前,是否先想想,自己到底對這個地方有甚麼回憶?

我支持拆卸皇后碼頭,反對浪費納稅人的金錢去重置。

政府應該對人民有信心,就來一次民意調查或公眾投票,看看這是多少人的集體回憶。

要重置可以,政府也應該配合。不過應該由這些希望保留的人出錢買地和重置。畢竟,這是你們的集體回憶。

要進行民意調查也不難,先在此做一個網上投票。


(there was something wrong with the poll java script. it is now redone, please vote again)

相關連接:皇后碼頭的困局

light reading: Engrish menu in Japan

We have heard enough about bad/mechanical translation of Chinese menu into Engrish, and that Beijing has launched campaigns to clean this "racist park" fun away from us, preparing for the Olympic.

This will be something anyone with a sense of humour will surely miss. I wonder if those activists who are camping out of Queen's Pier in HK care to sit out for this piece of collective memory / 集体回忆 for us. Perhaps not, they only care about the colonial nostalgia and where their old colonial masters landed.

But no worry, our neighbour, the Japanese, now come to the rescue



FYI, "asspara" is not a para-para dance with the bottom. it is a vegetable that we all know, translated into Japanese Katagana with some truncation in phonetics and translated back to Engrish again losing some more fidelity. (like compressing a picture file into jpeg and then to gif and back to jpg again -- if that makes it easier to understand) As for "Shrimp and cock soboro hammering out pasta curry cream", I will leave your imagination to figure out what it is. All I can say is that I know how to distinguish male lobsters from female ones, but I have never been able to identify the same part of the body for shrimps.

2007-07-28

Miss HK Will Hung 香江小姐孔慶翔

香江小姐選美,選出一個女版孔慶翔

黑幕內定各有其論,不過最一針見血的莫過于把前任落選港姐的評語斷章取義來讀,“ 好多網友淨係睇樣同身材,我審美係會睇埋邊,最初睇佢個個人履歷,知道佢加拿大返,識英文已經對佢有好感,睇佢寫文字仲知佢係有內涵

噢,原來這一次選的是絕對內在美。去年選的可能也是內在美。1988年選的絕對是外在。前年呢?明年呢?反正每年有新的評判,自然選的標準不一樣。務必讓你們這些蟻民無可適從。內定又如何,又不是你們在選,各位看官,你們只有看的份兒。“吹咩!”

我們特區還有一個八百人的評判團,成員與各次選美多少有重疊之處。都是名流仕紳,達官貴人,社會精英是也,且大都身懷絕技,掌握某些能人所不能的特異“功能”。選出來的特區代表如出一(車撤),都是傾城之貨色

有好事者,謂來年香港選美必重現1988之輝,以應本年成為郭隗千里馬頭骨蓋之典,戲言矣!由來唯客觀不變難以爭辯之基準能成長久之計,比如一號一票之SMS公投。只有公平、公開的規則標準,才能保證最有實力競爭者的勝利,也因而能鼓勵最有實力的競爭者來參賽。胡主席也理解只有社會公平才能持續發展。

不能把800個傀儡拉下馬,未來我們這些蟻民也免不了再遭建華之殃,者我們無能為力。可是,讓大家一起決定甚麼是美總可以吧?

連內地都可以一號一票選出超女快男,而這邊廂欣賞的美卻被牽著鼻子內外亂晃,難道這就是一國兩制?

泛民諸公,該是給三色臺施加壓力的時候了。

2007-07-25

的士價格管制方法"板凳刻"

年多前本博已曾建議香港的的士價格計算方法需要改變了。

今天知日部屋提出了京都的板凳刻(benchmarking),其實并不新鮮,比如雅加達(Jakarta),便有銀鳥、藍鳥(此二鳥同屬PUKASA公司)等'的',價格各不一樣。北京的士起步價和每公里價也有多種選擇(跟公司無關)。吉隆坡(KL)也有Premier Taxi。有選擇有競爭當然好。可是這些改變沒有根治香港的士價格的根本問題。

香港的的士定價的問題出于其忽略了的士接客過程所需的固定成本,而形成了目前的不合理性。也就是說,的士每接一客,中間所費的時間空轉及其相關油費租金成本沒有反映在計價系統內。難怪司機會拒載短程客。

大家可知道,當你打的送朋友回家的話,假如要在朋友家門寒暄幾句的話(超過一分鐘),重新叫一輛的士比讓同一的士等待較省錢?(假如附近不難找的士的話)因為的士的起步價($15/2km)比起每公里價($7/km)相差無幾。(除非你家離朋友家的距離是在2公里內)

因此,價格改革的關鍵在于使這固定成本能反映到價格系統里。例如以下方案,就同時解決了長途的士折扣和短途拒載的問題。



其實上表的計價方法非常簡單,只是把每公里價按里程往下調。每增加一公里則新增公里價格減低一毫,直到略比邊際成本高一點為止。更重要的是,根據價格彈性的計算,的士司機的總收入其實增加了。詳細解釋見年前拙文,恕不贅述。

以前電腦技術昂貴,的士計價表只能用簡單的計價方法。現在,要做到上述的計價表成本是幾乎相同的了。是電腦技術為我們解決了經濟問題,請運輸處諸公,不要墨守成規,也不要等甚麼顧問公司的研究。這些三流顧問公司,不是McKinsey,BCG,很難靠他們真正解決問題。

2007-07-23

A google bomb experiment to promote corporate governance (on 鍾斌銓 鍾金榜 鍾燊榮)

the result now is 3 2 2 1.

so i addition to linking to this OP, i am copying the whole html down here as well. and try to boost the laggers a bit

鍾斌銓 3 鍾金榜 2 鍾燊榮 2

below is the OP:

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對付無良大股東 初見成效
繼續連結榮豐!繼續推!Search 鍾斌銓 As of this moment, 3rd result.Search 鍾金榜 As of this moment, 5th result.Search 鍾燊榮 As of this moment, 6th result.Search 鍾斌盛 As of this moment, 1st result. 1st!要揭榮豐(063)無良大股東的所作所為!認識他們的人,告訴他們這個後果!

How I learned to be not troubled by the re-militarization of Japan

It is not because I know that most people in Japan are peace-loving, or that Japan is a democracy or things like that.

The Weimar Republic was a democracy, so is the USA. (caveat here) The people in USA are definitely mostly peace-loving and benevolent, anyone who studied the history of the last century knows how USA has saved the world, twice. But look at what a mess it has created in Iraq today.

India is said to be the largest democracy in this world, look at how many wars it fought against Pakistan, how Sikkim, Goa, and the Andaman Isles were annexed, and how it detonated a nuke with no provacation or threat.

Now back to Japan. Read this IHT coverage of its remilitarisation.

Japan has accumulated the the economic power and the technology such that it can modernize militarize in just a few years whenever it wants to (or it has already done so), perhaps even faster that how Hitler has militarized Germany in the early 1930s.

The reason I think we should not worry about Japan's re-militarization is as below
  • If it wants to build an aggressive force. It can always do it in a few years
  • If it is doing it too early before it acts, the chances are that these resources are most likely wasted (as I explained in an earlier post regarding China), and be turned into obselete equipment in the future. Less than optimized timing in investment in military often lead to less than optimal deployment of resources, and hence affect its over economic progress (and generalized "power" per Paul Kennedy), a la USSR in 1970-80s

For years Japan has been able to flourish under the umbrella of US protection. Let it waste its resources if it chooses to do so. The gap between Japan and its neighbour is much narrower than it was in 1937 or 1941. Moreover, it is very unlikely that US would let Japan bully around.

Yes, there is concern on Japan's re-militarization, but the country that should most worry about Japan should be the one which has been most active in encouraging it to do so, because that country has humiliated Japan 62 years ago and nuked two of its cities. If you watch the pop arts (manga, animation, movie) you will understand why this is so.

What we really need to take out from Japan is, its enormous stockpile of Uranium and Plutonium, and make sure that US has the ability and the reason to "contain" Japan when it went out of control (i.e. to the right wing such as Isihara).

2007-07-22

原來影視處官僚都是小和尚

影視處(其實主要是旗下的淫審處)最近似乎越來越白癡 ([068])。其處長鄭美施一出面就更越描越黑

鄭當然犯了推卸責任的錯誤。可是,作為一個傳統的AO官僚Technocrat,他們到底是無能,是無知,是盡責,還是顢頇?

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這里是TELA網頁里的“使命”(mission statement)

  • 理 想
  • 作 為 廣 播 和 娛 樂 事 務 監 管 機 構 , 本 處 以 充 分 滿 足 市 民 需 要 和 社 會 期 望 為 己 任 。
  • 使 命
  • 我 們 承 諾 , 必 定 會 -
  • 緊 密 依 隨 社 會 的 品 味 和 道 德 尺 度 考 慮 各 有 關 事 宜 , 並 據 此 準 則 作 出 決 定
  • 有 效 監 察 廣 播 服 務 和 刊 物 ;
  • 就 電 影 檢 查 、 娛 樂 中 心 /遊 戲 活 動 發 牌 , 以 及 本 地 報 刊 註 冊 工 作 , 提 供 快 捷 妥 當 的 服 務 ;
  • 協 助 推 動 電 影 業 發 展;
  • 確 保 本 處 監 管 機 制 可 充 分 配 合 社 會 需 要 、 科 技 發 展 , 以 及 海 外 的 做 法; 和
  • 不 斷 提 高 本 處 專 業 水 準。
  • 信 念
  • 言 論 自 由 與 社 會 責 任
  • 專 業 水 準
  • 公 正 不 偏
  • 透 明 公 開
  • 積 極 回 應
  • 優 質 服 務

In English

  • VISION
  • To be a broadcasting and entertainment regulatory agency that fully satisfies the needs and expectations of the community.
  • MISSION
  • We are committed to -
  • following closely standards for taste and decency accepted by the community and reflecting them in our decision making;
  • effectively monitoring broadcasting services and publications;
  • providing an efficient service for film censorship, entertainment centre and gaming activity licensing, and local newspaper registration;
  • facilitating the development of the film industry;
    maintaining the relevance of our regulatory framework with regard to community needs, technological development and international practices; and
  • continuously enhancing our professionalism.
  • VALUES
  • Freedom of expression with social responsibility
  • Professionalism
  • Impartiality
  • Openness
  • Responsiveness
  • Quality Service

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似乎TELA的問題根本出在其“使命書”上。“緊密依隨社會的品味和道德尺度考慮各有關事宜”,其實是很難做好的一件事。TELA是應該"緊密依隨社會的品味和道德尺度"去放行呢?還是要"緊密依隨社會的品味和道德尺度"去限制?很明顯,目前TELA選擇了后者。這就跟只要陪審團里只要有一票認為被告有罪,就得判死一樣。若凡事都要討好社會各方的“品味和道德角度”,而且還要“緊密地”,勢必會變得所有事情都不可為。而且,所謂的“社會的品味和道德尺度”,根本是無法進行客觀定義的一件事。

(影視處據聞乃廣管局的行政部門,為何兩者的使命完全不一樣?)

更可怕的,是其“信念”里的第一項,把“言論自由與社會責任”來了一個大捆綁。前者比較容易理解,可是"社會責任"卻一點不簡單。每個人對社會責任都有不一樣的定義。比如說,有些人就認為船頭尺說了一句“福佳”就毀滅了我們的社會。

要根本解決TELA的問題。政府應該重新考慮TELA的使命和價值(“信念”)宣言,回歸憲法(基本法?),和依法辦事(presumed innocent, 依據判例,如前些年大衛像)。否則,香港在國際社會出洋相的日子,無日無之。

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話說回來,影視處官僚冤不冤?也不全冤。

  • 使命不是包括“配合科技發展”嗎?為什么連超連接都要告?
  • 不是說“公正不偏”嗎?為什么都偏向了明光社?

是不是有無間道進入了淫審處?

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這里我想起了這麼一個故事,色由心生也。。。

  • 一個老和尚帶著一個小和尚過河,發現河邊也有一名年輕女子正在發愁如何過河。老和尚二話不說,抱起女子就過了河。過河後老和尚放下就走,跟在老和尚後面的小和尚非常納悶,對師父的做法百思不得其解。終於,小和尚忍不住問師父:「我們是出家人,你平常教導我不應該近女色,可剛才你怎麼能抱她呢?」
    老和尚驚訝道:「我已經把她放下了,你怎麼還抱著?」

讓老和尚掌管TELA吧。TELA 諸位官僚,還有明光的神棍們,大概自己是小和尚,便想當然地以為廣大民眾也是小和尚吧?

2007-07-21

Ah, WSJ! ... and why I knew they must reach a deal

Look at the lower right corner: "he may expand this section". via The Big Picture.

I had been puzzled about the Bancroft's family's complaint about Murdoch from the start. Haven't they been in the same camp all the time? Fox and the op-ed pages. This comic tells all. There is no question that there will be a deal.



related: the shameless defense for Wolfowitz on WSJ.