西九

西九支出龐大，但收入 ...

沒有地產項目(當年被迫取消了) ...

所謂本土文化的收入又有幾多？ ...

所謂本土文化又如何長期吸引外來遊客或藝術發燒友來欣賞呢？ ...

香港人何時才清醒呢？

一地兩檢

一地兩檢是個複雜的問題，由於在香港特區境內進行，但換個角度，只要有關安檢地區被劃為非香港特區，問題便會消失。當然，這牽涉到政治互信這個問題了。

doctrine of necessity

Seriously, can the doctrine of necessity be applied in LegCo to resolve the impasse arising from filibustering?

"The Doctrine of Necessity is the basis on which extra-legal actions by state actors, which are designed to restore order, are found to be constitutional. The maxim on which the doctrine is based originated in the writings of the medieval jurist Henry de Bracton, and similar justifications for this kind of extra-legal action have been advanced by more recent legal authorities, including William Blackstone.

In modern times, the doctrine was first used in a controversial 1954 judgment in which Pakistani Chief Justice Muhammad Munir validated the extra-constitutional use of emergency powers by Governor General, Ghulam Mohammad.[1] In his judgment, the Chief Justice cited Bracton's maxim, 'that which is otherwise not lawful is made lawful by necessity', thereby providing the label that would come to be attached to the judgment and the doctrine that it was establishing.

The Doctrine of Necessity has since been applied in a number of Commonwealth countries, and in 2010 was invoked to justify extra-legal actions in Nigeria."

Discussion on Democracy

29 December 2014 : 答應了 Portia Nora 與 Bryan Tang 討論民主，今天晚上吃過飯後 bryan 負責寫 bullet points 及劃 flow charts, 而 portia 則用 laptop 繼續寫她的論述。 bryan 寫了5張A4 紙，很有意思。 we started from occupy central versus anti-protest, then moved on to a comparative study of the westminster system, supremacy of the parliament, house of commons, house of lords, to the US system including congress, senate and the electoral college, and onto the bicameral legislature and the 2012 election committee in HK, followed by the 2017 proposal regarding the nominating committee and the counter arguments including the proposal for civil nomination, and then we talked about the basic law, national security present and past, and the failures and success if any of the occupy central and in particular its strategies vis a vis the local backlash and lack of support from mainlanders, the views of the judiciary, the waning interest from the media and governments around the world at the later stage, etc. (also democracy vs. meritocracy, etc.)

Katie Melua - If You Were A Sailboat

civil strife

lines of decency crossed, no trust from both sides, posing threats to civil society and civilisation, credits and credibility, confidence and predictability.

hong kong

as asked, hong kong has already opened the pandora box.  everyone is talking and walking his or her own ways, while so called core (which means shared) values are no more shared.  families split, friendships torn, it takes years to heal and reestablish values, east meets west, collectivism vs individualism.

中英聯合聲明

其實事情很簡單，就着中國拒絕英國國會代表團(不是政府代表團)來香港這一事實(或許即使是政府代表團)，又違反了中英聯合聲明哪一條款呢？簡言之，哪一條款賦予英國國會代表團來香港高調地作出所謂調查的權力呢？

國與國之間，最理想是通過外交渠道解決問題或紛爭，最不希望當然是軍事行動。然而，美國便是最多使用軍事行動的國家。

還有，一直以來，英國是搞政治的能手。

democracy - twisted logic?

Well, everyone intelligent or otherwise has his or her own values and we must respect one another. In a pluralist world, I think you will agree that we can't have everyone with the same value. Some people are driven by idealism, some pragmatism. I am somewhat in between. I think even an idealist needs to observe and re-calibrate his or her thinking having regard to the observable reality. In short, I believe that one needs to have a strategy to achieve what you want to achieve; and it's sad that many idealists may not achieve what they want to achieve. In the end, usually pragmatists do. Indeed I am most wary of the story (history) about Athenians vs Spartans; and it's the latter who prevailed in the end. ... ... ...

as i see it, at the end of the day, it all depends on what you want to achieve. and the question arises, does the means matter? is this a moral question? and if so, why shouldn't we have democracy in the work place? oh, is it because liberal democracy is simply democracy on the surface, while deep down all the capitalists / bosses indeed rule the country?!

democracy doesn't guarantee that you will have a good leader. usually its choosing the lesser evil supposedly, and mostly it has been choosing the worse evil. the beauty of it is to let people have another choice 4 to 5 years later, so that they can choose the worst evil. after all, the average IQ in society is simply average.

back to the question on work place. if workers have a vote, they'll vote for a pay rise and the company will soon go bankrupt.

the voting power rests with share holders and board members.

time is on our side

甚麼是time is on our side？
每一代的年青人都想改變社會，
但每一代的年青人當他們長大了，
工作賺錢、成家立室、養兒育女  ...
看透了現實，懂得計算 ...
當代的熱血青年的人數自然減少而非增加，
剩下來的可能生活潦倒。
除非革命或科技突破，否則社會只會蛻變，
歷史不斷地重演。
至於革命的結果，不敢想像。
所以，甚麼是 time is on our side？
可能只是一句口號。

佔中

法庭頒布禁制令，在某程度來說，是預先昭告，即使是公民抗命(即自我犧牲)，亦不能以"犧牲他人"的途徑以達到目的。屆時學聯(泛民議員失去踪影)自首，然後到法庭抗辯時，未必能以純正公民抗命而答辯。唉！

國際游擊戰

" 克里強調，美國歡迎一個和平、繁榮與穩定的中國崛起，歡迎中國在亞洲以至整個世界範圍內承擔更多責任。"

似乎美國要兼顧太多火頭，暫時寄望中國"負責任"地共同看顧着亞洲。日本亦似乎收斂了，畢竟日本已達到其提升"集體自衛權"的目的。當然中國亦成功地擴大了防空識別區，包括了釣魚島。若此情況維持一段長時間，則亞洲會取得新的平衡，而中國亦已在某程度上衝出了亞洲，包括與印度及南美等國家建立更緊密關係，當中亦包括最近在英國及過去在歐洲及非洲各國的投資。一直以來，中國都不跟美國硬碰，而是打"國際游擊戰"。

drone

while helicopters cannot be used to rescue people in a fire zone given the wind it creates while hovering that fans the fire (my guess), what if we use 6 to 8 drones that can hover away from the fire zone with 6 or 8 ropes tied in the middle to rescue one person at a time.

such drones are easy  to manoeuvre while GPS provides the exact position of the fire zone and flying paths, with the distance among them remaining constant.

democracy

democracy is a funny thing, e.g. ~

why can't a child vote in the family?
why can't a worker vote in the factory?
why can't every human being vote in any world affairs?

you may have your answers ready ...

the child is too ignorant, the worker will vote for a huge pay rise and bankrupt the company, and China will have too many votes ...

so, how does democracy actually work in society?  food for thoughts, apart from any standard answers.

政改

人大常委會作出決定後，特區政府便可直話直說，不用怕司法覆核了。

contemplating the universe

while reading about the big bang singularity and the big crunch singularity, it is unthinkable that i, a conscious self, exist to marvel at the beauty of the universe while the universe simply exists without any consciousness of its own existence and beauty and yet it begets me, a conscious being, to think about it, to contemplate it, without true understanding.

that in my opinion proves that God must exist to render the whole thing a meaning.

my dialogue with david

資本主義本身就是建基於貧富懸殊。若每個人都一樣富有，搵鬼人做嘢。

事實上資本主義出現前，人民（農民，因為未有工業革命）一窮二白，貧富懸殊可能更嚴重，只不過無統計而已。

正是。在共產主義下，人失去動力。可能在未來世界，人類不用工作，交由機械人勞動。當然到時有另外的社會問題了。

機械人是資本，因此未來是資本大規模取代勞力的時代，只有少部分無法以機械人取代的工種才會存留。社會急須發展出新的工種以吸納勞動力，否則擁有資本（機械人）的人就會控制社會的財富。

即使有很多機械人，仍然需要人類通過不斷學習及創造才有發展及進步。在失去動力的時候，人類會懶於學習及創造，而交由機械人去代勞。擁有人工智慧的機械人不單做得更好，最終它們更取得了人性的尊嚴，反之人類逐漸感到機械人的優越性，那時人類的自尊會徹底消滅，人的存在價值沒有了，到時便是人類的滅亡。

政治

政治是交易，不能一面倒。問題是取了甚麽，更重要是可以給甚麼。政治能量多少取決於後者。

國際游擊戰

美國重返亞洲，中國不與美國正面交鋒，但採取"國際游擊戰"，不用實彈，而用銀彈，直闖歐洲。

普選的希望

"李源潮又提出「四點希望」，包括：1 支持行政長官 和特區政府依法施政；2 按照基本法和人大常委會 的有關決定，推動2017年實現特首普選；3 選出愛 國愛港的特首；4 推進香港繁榮穩定。"

從上述報導可以看出中央的優次！依法施政至為重要，有没有普選只是（第二）個希望，香港是否繁榮是最後考慮（即可能認為香港人那麽寸，便你死你事）。佔中有甚麽作用可想而知。