All about the photos

This is the first time in my life realizing the advantage of being handsome.

Being an ordinary male, most of them, but not all, are my dream girls. I can do anything to attain anyone of them, especially Chung. But, the handsome Chan can take all! The world has never been fair.

Being an ordinary male, I constantly surf the web with single hand and search for good photos, I have seen more than enough similar victims, some were drunk and (half) naked, some were conscious and showing their organs, some photos were taken by a hidden carmer. Yes, I know, one victim is already too many. This issue is not unprecedented, it has been happening since the digital camera gained its popularity. What makes this such an serious offense that could involves the Interpol?

I agree this is an serious offense, at least, without the subject’s approval, it is morally wrong to put their naked photo in a public place. The question is what on earth make Chung and Cheung so prominent and privileged that makes the police put so much effort on it? What if they are not singer, but a layman, go to the police station and say that report that her photos are unapprovingly published on the web, how much police force will be spent on this one single tiny plain case?

The only thing I concern is if the government will pose any law to monitor the net.

And, be ware of all other news coming out in this week.

I totally agree with Suen that now it is a great chance for the PRs, actually, not only in the entertainment industry, but also in any aspects.

In Aug 2006, Ho, the law maker, was assaulted in a McDonald’s in central, this was the most offensive act towards a law maker in recent years. The case quickly became the main issue of the city, and it imposed a great pressure on the government and the police force. It was far more than assault, it involved a lot of politics, and part of the case was outside the jurisdiction of Hong Kong.

However, two days later, there was another more stunning and attracting issue, a magazine published a series of photos which were taken when she was changing. All of a sudden, the focus of conversation shifted to Chung, and from that point, Ho’s case got a very low attention.

Great to see that today Au’s case defeats Chan’s and appears in the headline of a number of newspapers.

This week, we should would pay more attention to other buried news.

Thanks for reading until this line. These days there are too many people reach here by searching Chung and Chan’s name. I intentionally use my poor English.

Moving On Stage

來了半年，錯失了一個陳奕迅一個楊千嬅一個黃子華，今日無聊在網上遊蕩，竟然發現陳生在開世界巡迴演唱會，其中一站是美國，二月十日星期日，位置是隔離省。

點解我之前完全唔知既！！莫非羅德島真係咁與世隔絕？

不過好貴，最平既飛都要五十八蚊，仲未計車費。响紐約既有免費車來回，之但係响羅德島既人就要自已飛。

加加埋埋，唔計食飯，已經要八十幾蚊，好鬼貴。之但係，陳奕迅喎！！

印度共和日

昨天是印度共和日，印度同學為隆重其事，廣邀各界朋友出席其慶祝活動。開party也。

來這裏才半年，已參加過大大小小超過二十個大同小異的派對，基本上是如american pie裏的，在某某人的家裏，有來自五湖四海的陌生人，有很多不同類型的酒清類飲品，然後每人拎著一杯野飲，行行企企，跟人吹水，吹呀吹呀吹。

近來基本上每個週末晚上都有party，再上星期六的叫knife fight new year，因為那個party的host的花名叫knife fight。今次的host是印度同學，於是就叫做Indian Republic Day。我問印度同學究竟他們的共和日是甚麼一回事，聽他們的口吻似是他們從來沒當過共和日是個喜慶節日，印度同學說那天確實有很多文藝活動，又有花車巡遊，多是政府搞的；我心想咁即係回歸和國慶，那都是十歲以後都沒再有興趣的興祝節目。

說穿了，也不過是為了考立名目來開party，就算是清明節，想他們也會同樣慶祝。

也為了玩野，主辦單位要求人們穿著（至少部份）印度服飾，他們並且提供購買指南。我當然沒有他們好氣，不會為了一個party而買衫買褲，只拿了一條從來沒穿過的鬆身褲當印度褲。一進場，每人一個name tag，是各人英文名的印度譯音。我叫做Jaspreet。

即其實我覺得開party好鬼悶，一方面我又唔飲得，另一方面人們的談話內容空廢的很。不知道是否在酒清的作用下，好像顯得特別興奮，又跳又叫又嗌又笑，他們時常說很多時候飲得太多派對中段以後都已經blackout，表面上很清醒，事實上不知道自己在做甚麼。

晚上九時開始，十二時我已經想離開。但環顧四週，無人有倦意，咁我冇理由第一個走咁衰仔。於是繼續四週游蕩胡謅。

滴搭滴搭，青春漸漸溜走，有人開始離開，望望鐘，一點，我心想都差不多了。我打算多留一會就走，未幾，音樂突然停止，主持同學在說話，但太嘈，我聽不見他的話。四週的聲浪漸漸減少，同學說有鄰居投訴，警察上門，如果五分鐘內唔清場，每人罰二百！

終於走得，或者是我日行一善，估唔到美國警察幫左我一把。

黑天鵝

French Bank Says Rogue Trader Lost $7 Billion

睇見都嚇左一嚇，還來不及數算1Billion有幾多個零既時候，然後就想起唔知幾多年前有個𡃁仔就咁炒起左間銀行，之後又唸起人地話每日收市後都要計一大輪數交report俾controller⋯⋯

昨日（定係前日？）還在痛心點解我唔遲半年先買隻輪，如果唔係已經發到豬頭咁，話唔定自己有錢交學費，冇幾耐就全球股票市場風起雲湧，又升又跌千幾二千點，人人都話因為外圍因素於是唔會有大奇蹟日，點鬼知一日又升番二千幾點，好彩我冇買輪，以我咁既心理質數，肯定輸餐死。

今日又見黑天鵝。

好得意的。

Before discovering the fraud, Société Générale had been preparing to announce pretax profit for 2007 of 5.5 billion euros, or $8.07 billion, figures that Mr. Bouton said would have demonstrated “our capacity to absorb a very grave crisis.”

風高浪急，危機四伏，當咁多間銀行都貶到爬街、啲CEO都曾住唔出糧以示跟公司同生共死既時候，佢仲賺六百幾億（小弟都contribute左六千幾），都好難怪佢唔鬆毛鬆翼咁話自己好勁。可以比一個交易員輸五百幾億，好明顯係响事發之前冇乜人留意到，如果唔係，就唔會輸咁多錢。

黑天鵝（又或者係Fool by randomness）既中心思想係，最會令人輸大錢既，係一啲你從來都估唔到佢會發生既事，簡單黎講，即係The Impact of the Highly Improbable（即係Black Swan既副題）。

Black Swan 裏有一個故事：主角Taleb跟兩個人玩遊戲，一個主張"Finding who the sucker is"的充滿street smart的Fat Tony，另一個是工程學的Phd Dr. John。（唔好煩，懶得中譯，原文照錄）

Taleb: Assume that a coin is fair, i.e., has an equal probability of coming up heads or tails when flipped. I flip it ninety-nine times and get heads each time. What are the odds of my getting tails on my next throw?
Dr. John: Trivial question. One half, of course, since you are assuming 50 percent odds for each and independence between draws.
Taleb:What do you says, Tony?
Fat Tony: I’d say no more than 1 percent, of course.
Taleb: Why so? I gave you the initial assumption of a fair coin, meaning that it was 50 percent either way.
Fat Tony: You are either full of crap o a pure sucker to buy that “50 percent" business. The coin gotta be loaded. It can’t be a fair game. (translation: it is far more likely that your assumptions about the fairness are wrong than the coin delivering ninety-nine heads in ninety-nine throws.)
Taleb: But Dr. John said 50 percent.
Fat Tony (whispering in my ear): I know these guys with the nerd examples from the bank days. They think way too slow. And they are too commoditized. you can take them for a ride.

利森做低左霸菱銀行之後，連大學生去見工都識得答要做好風險管理，但係講還講，現實証明左總有些地方會出事，而且係大件事。如果睇得穿次按危機風險評級問題既係叫做跟足assumption咁玩遊戲，咁，原來最安全既地方係最危險既，計左一大輪數原來發現係個assumption錯左（Taleb好鐘意用既例子—呢一兩年人人都識講既Black-Scholes竟然係based on Gaussian Distribution，而佢本人，同佢老細Benoît Mandelbrot（發明/發現fractal果位仁兄），都係唔同意用Gaussian黎分析stock market既）。而今次，佢地計到出面有事，之但係睇唔到自己裏面管理原來係千瘡百孔（又係果句，如果佢事先就知，就唔會輸咁多）。

千算萬算，就係算唔到自己裏面有問題（又或者算到，就好似上面篇報篇提到，好地地冇理由一個交易員可以動用到咁多錢既，佢輸咁多錢，前提係佢要有番咁上下錢落注，好喇好喇比你借錢借到幾百億番黎，咁大間銀行真係冇奶油唔發覺。所以呢位交易員可能只係替死鬼），間銀行咁多人咁多資源咁多心機賺番黎既錢，一條友就可以輸番曬（輸錢事少，就算呢間銀行今年貶錢，都大把人陪，之但係，失節事大）。

十二年前發生過既事，今日重演，又有咩咁出奇？（呢啲係唔係叫做retrospectively (in contrast to prospectively) predictable?）

記者

最近，很喜歡看一位快（已？）離職的記者的blog，將近離職，感概萬千，把本來好看的文字變得更加好看。

記者可算是我最專敬的職業之一，哪管我時時刻刻都在罵很左冷禪的文匯大公太陽東方很岳不群的日月星島，然而那是老闆的問題，做細的根本無從選擇，只好依據上面的意願來行事。當然，理論上可以離開轉公司，但可選擇的根本不多，世上又有幾多間報館有夠薑如黎智英的老闆敢與建制作對？

記者天天東奔西走又日曬雨淋，人工低之餘又工時飄忽，別人放假他們開工，他們放假別人開工，朋友說做記者以後連跟朋友見面的時間買少見少，趕搭車趕寫稿趕這趕那，匆匆忙忙又一天但到深宵也未能停止那個還在急速轉動的腦袋。

為甚麼還有人願意做記者？擴闊人面（相信做記者一星期見的人比我這個研究生一年見過的還要多）之餘，也相信是為了對身邊對社會所發生的事的體會，能第一身地經歷發生的事，能狠狠串盡高官，就算老闆不同意不能出街，但起碼自己知道發生過甚麼事，自己好作判斷，總比讀染紅染綠的二三手新聞好。

A few words about MBA

Yesterday Jobs has announced Apple’s new sub-notebook, MacBook Air. Everything that could be made wireless is now made wireless. Regarding the ports, I guess there will be one more move. Why don’t the USB port provide video output? like, with a dongle? And the dongle can actually be a usb hub that provide one (or more) usb port that connect to other devices. Power is not a problem, because the monitor is not going to draw any power from usb, so now, again, one port less.

Actually, I don’t think macbook air is a big surprise. Apple has discontinued their 12″ sub-notebook line since their transition to Intel, everyone were expecting a new super slim laptop from Apple.

The media is now overwhelmed by this super slim machine, however I think that the storage device will make a greater impact to the world. KK has the point. The more important product is the Time Capsule, the machine that do all the storage work automatically (though currently, it is only a backup device). As currently the network speed is getting tremendously fast, it only takes a few minutes to download a HD movie from the net, documents and photos could be stored online. For a portable machine, all we need is a hard drive with reasonable size, that could fit the operating system, some essential files, a few movies and dozens of mp3s. All else could be retrieved from the net (or from any personnel storage device that accessible from the net).

Google is one of the pioneers in this aspect, as all documents and spreadsheets and photos (WebPicasa sucks, though) could go online, all we need is a web-browser. Hard drives are cheap, storage is technically free. We all get a free gmail account with an almost unlimited space. Paying like a few bucks a year and you will get a unlimited web storage space. Yet, here is a privacy concern. One has the admin privilege in gmail has access to all mails, so as in all web storage service. We have no way to tell if someone has read our email or documents. Hence a personal storage device (a “Data Box" in your home) is a good and reasonable alternative.

Money cafe insisted that MBA pose a treat to the hard drive manufacturer. I don’t agree with this. Movies are getting higher resolution, so as our digital cameras. We need to store it in anyway, either in a public web space or personal hard drive. More importantly, for those who is afraid of the Big Brothers, they are inclined to have a personal storage place, so I guess one of the next move will be, as KK mentioned, an easy-to-use “Data box".

MBA is fabulous, but expected, not a great suprise. I do look forward to see what moves Jobs will make in the storage device.

真係MacBook Air喎！

睇黎，又要開始儲錢。

我的志願

我這一代人，小學一年級的作文課便開始寫「我的志願」；年紀漸長，在申請獎學金與交流團的面試裏被問及對將來的期望；大學畢業，四處求職去，又再是面對同一條問題，用字當然並不會如「我的志願」般老土，取而代之是問我對工作的期望。但其實，這一切都在問「我的志願」。

事實上我很害怕別人問我的志願，亦很怕別人問我日後的打算，因為我並不知道答案。

問題是，為甚麼人們總期望別人有個「我的志願」，倘若一個人有個清晰確切卻離主流價值太遠的志願，他又有沒有如實說出的勇氣？反過來，人們又能否接受一個沒有或未有志願的人？一個未有志願的人，又有沒有敢不敢說自己未有志願？

對於二十出頭、剛剛離開大學堂的年輕人，他們才剛剛離開溫室般安全的校園，進入狂風暴雨的職業鬥獸場，這才是他們第一次正正式式地過「大人」的生活，一切都是新鮮的。在畢業後一年間轉過幾份工作的同學屢遇不鮮，正因為只有投入工作，才能明瞭每份工作的性質與環境。一個學生對不同職業的認知，時常來自道聽途說與招聘講座，另加自己的幻想，剛畢業時，他們又豈會清楚自己的志向？

我很清楚自己喜歡的工作方式。我喜歡穿便服上班、自由的辦工時間、累了可以倒頭大睡的環境、可讓我赤腳走動的工作間和新奇不沉悶不重覆的工作。可是，除此以外，其實，連我自己也不清楚自己的志願。又或者，當別人問起，我如此誠實的答，別人會否覺得我好逸惡勞不事生產？顯然，沒有人會期望這樣的答案，我亦不敢這樣回答。

當然，在見工面試時總要把自己表現得成熟表現得滿有計劃，我可以自己的專業知識去胡謅一個絕對可以令人滿意的答案，同時自己從心底裏毛管動。

這樣，大概又回到了呂大樂於《四代香港人》裏所描述第二代人與第四代人的關係，第四代人（如我）其實往往不知道自己想要甚麼（或者知道卻不敢答），但我們卻很清楚上一代（如我的父母）的期許；同時，有二三十年豐富社會閱歷的第二代人，又以自己當下的經驗去評定初出茅蘆的畢業生，並認為我們於二十歲時就要像正值事業黃金時期的他們一樣，對自己的定位一清二楚。於是，為迎合他們的要求，我只好答他們想要的答案。

我這代人寫了說了答了近二十年「我的志願」，但到底，又有幾多個人會寫自己心底裏的志願？

（同刊於同日《香港經濟日報》）