A Chaotic World

There are too many issues going on at the same time. I find it so difficult to catch up with even the major ones, so I'll just try to discuss some of them here:

Legislative election in Hong Kong - minor issue. Under this crippled election system the candidates cannot do much anyway. "Demoralizing Assholes for the Bullshit of Hong Kong" supports our crappy government in all ways and they do a wonderful job of acting on the best interest of the Tsang's family. "Deceptive Party" are a bunch of actors that always claim themselves as victims of the the system and never attempt to drive changes in constructive ways. "Honda Party" is marginally better but I hate them putting an inexperienced person on the top of the list (and shouting loudly later that Audrey Hepburn will not be elected without your vote). However, the top shot on my hate list is not any of them - but someone called Samson Tam instead. This is just a shame to the whole IT industry and his TV ad series make everyone in this profession look geeky and impotent. Crap.

Japan to spend 2 trillion yen on economy stimulus plan - minor issue. Despite my hatred towards those who denied Nanjing Massacre, I do have a positive perception towards this country. However, their never-lose-face attitude has cost them dearly in the last 20 years. Stimulus plan is not going to be effective unless they allow unprofittable and incompetent companies to go bankrupt. This is what Darwin's theory of evolution is about, my friend.

Russia's invasion of Georgia - MAJOR ISSUE. Years of political stability under strongman Valdimir Putin, huge influx of petrodollars and increasing reliance of Europe on Russia's oil strengthened Kremlin's determination to restore glory of Czar's dynasty. This could turn out to be a major event in history, in a sense similar to Hitler's occupation of Austria before the Second World War. People often talk about the rise of the East - could that be Russia instead?

US presidential election - MAJOR ISSUE. Barack Hussein Obama II (yes, his middle name is Hussein) is a charismatic young black man who, in everyone's surprise, represents Democratic Party in the presidential election. He is quite popular but inexperienced, and his vague promise of "Change" is probably not the best plan to govern a country. On the other hand, John McCain seems to be too old to be a president (The Economist says he would be the oldest president every inaugurated apart from Ronald Reagan in his second term). Why must the US citizens choose between these two extremes?

Word of Wisdom

Abraham Lincoln said:

"You can fool some of the people all of the time, and all of the people some of the time, but you cannot fool all of the people all of the time"

I would like to change it slightly:

"You can please some of the people all of the time, and all of the people some of the time, but you cannot please all of the people all of the time"

I tried, and I could not even please myself.

Pathetic. Miserable.

還不清的債

小弟的債務越來越重了。越是心急想把它們還清，積累卻是越多，恐怕今生無翻身之日。

不是錢債、不是情債，書債是也。

每年從書展、書店買回來的就已經有一大堆。再加上從圖書館借回來和本身已訂閱的雜誌，想要完成更是遙遙無期。偶爾在網上看到一些文章（繁體版請按此），頓感汗顏。裏面所提及的書，大半都有聽過，卻是差不多完全沒有讀過；再加上記性奇差，一本書每每要讀數次才大約記得住，真是浪費時間之極。

有一段時間頗喜歡張愛玲的書。看了數本以後，乾脆把她丈夫胡蘭成寫的《今生今世》買了回家，卻只看了數十頁便棄在一旁；數個月前開始對術數有一點興趣，便把一大堆周易、四柱、紫微斗數買了回家，嘗試學習卻始終只學得皮毛；讀了數本二月河寫的歷史小說，便提不起勁再讀唐浩明的《曾國藩》；《紅樓夢》之前看了五十多章，人物已經忘記大半，不得不推倒重來 ...

還好這些是書不是女人，否則恐怕我死無葬身之地。

Twitter

最近在網上興起了一種名為 Twitter 的玩意。它的用法是用戶可以寫一段不多於 140 字的句子，而已經訂閱的朋友們可以透過不同的渠道如電子郵件、短訊、即時信息等收到並加入討論。

自己作為一個「電腦人」，對於新產品當然是歡迎的；不過另一方面，這在側面亦反映了在社會上流行的「即食現象」。在古代資訊傳播仍然困難的時候，當人需要記錄某些想法時，大概會先想得很清楚而且再用最簡短的方法寫出來（這亦做成了大家讀文言文時有一定的困難）。現在則完全相反 － 寫作太容易，而思考的重要性反而被忽略。數量是提高了，但質量卻大不如前。

這種「即食文化」對現代社會的影響不少。政治上，大眾普遍接受口號式的發洩，而忽略深層次的思考和長遠的計劃；文化上，大家對長篇文學作品的接受程度越來越低，而報紙雜誌上的「有味標題」和「你母親是女人」式的報導手法卻大受歡迎。平心而論，我們這輩的年青人比上一輩要膚淺得多。這是社會的進步還是退步？就科技而言，進步是肯定的；但思想層次而言，則恐怕有所不及。