句點

2008年的最後一天了，照理說應該要寫一篇回顧回顧一下過去的一年，或是展望展望來臨的一年。可是因爲我是千年反對黨，所以照例不跟著大隊走。

酒呢，照例是要喝的。這點不能折衷。

新年。快樂。

解釋一下爲甚麽新年與快樂之間要有句點。因爲新年歸新年，快樂是快樂。不因爲新年所以才快樂。快樂是無時無刻地。新年是一年一度地。

千年反對黨

老婆說我是千年反對黨。她說：“反正我說甚麽，你第一個反應就是要反駁我”。我只有訕訕的乾笑。我自己也覺得好像是這樣。

我天生不喜歡排排坐吃果果。在所有人往前走的時候我一定是往後走，雖然不一定是第一個。在小孩時期還可以説是爲了吸引大人們的注意，可是現在老嗑嗑了還是喜歡唱反調，也不知道是爲了甚麽。我大概是社會進步的阻力吧，廣東人說的：阻著地球轉。林吉祥可能會很期望我加入行動黨吧？

可是我必須強調這只是建立在（我認爲）無關痛癢的事情上。在工作或私人的重大決定上我一般都會聆聽。我會建議，但不會堅持，除非我清楚地知道某個決定的後果。。。有反對我這麽說的請舉手。

個人來説我比較隨便，唱反調只是爲了增加生活樂趣（又是我認爲）。老婆一定會說：“你就是愛惹我，看我我生氣你就開心，是不是？”。我惟有嘿嘿的奸笑。我自己也覺得好像是這樣。

我曾經是一個不會道歉的人，道歉是一件丟臉的事。跟朋友爭執爭得面紅耳赤，就是不肯認輸。即使表面證據成立，我還是永遠有一種“你的方法是對的，可是這不代表這是唯一的方法”的想法。然後我會說哥白尼就是這樣才證明地球是圓的。

雖然到今天爲此都還是以一和零為基礎看事情，可是現在逐漸會運用模糊邏輯了。

人生嘛，本來就是在不斷的在改進，在進步。。如果你認同我這是進步的話。

最浪漫的事

甚麽是幸福？趙詠華的這首歌唱出來了。。雖然她已經離婚了。。

 

背靠著背坐在地毯上　聽聽音樂聊聊願望

你希望我越來越溫柔　我希望你放我在心上

你說想送我個浪漫的夢想　謝謝我帶你找到天堂

哪怕用一輩子才能完成　只要我講你就記住不忘

我能想到最浪漫的事　就是和你一起慢慢變老

一路上收藏點點滴滴的歡笑　留到以後坐著搖椅慢慢聊

我能想到最浪漫的事　就是和你一起慢慢變老

直到我們老得哪兒也去不了　你還依然把我當成手心裡的寶

Dream Phone

I am not a technology freak. I am happy with my Nokia 8310 until recently, when I have bought my wife a Sony Ericsson w760i.

w760i is an excellent mobile phone indeed. I am not going to spend time describing how great this phone is. Google it if you are interested.

The main reason why I am particularly interested in this mobile set is because of its built-in GPS feature. Of course there are many such phones out there in the market, but of all this particular set caught my eye. It is value for money.

I tried out the built-in GPS navigation. It works brilliantly. I couldn't resist but went crazy in digging out the features of the phone. I installed bunch of Java software applications, games, etc. I tried out the RSS feeds, etc etc. I was impressed, deeply.

I have been in the denial state of technology, but now I am beginning to change. I often tell my wife that the reason I do not want to trash my Nokia is because I am waiting for my dream phone, a phone that has all features I am looking for. So, what features? Sorry, I don't know, really. I simply feel the current mobile phones in the market are still lacking some "basic" features that inspire me to buy.

When Google announced its phones, I thought this could be the one I have been looking for, and I was dissapointed. When iPhone was launched, I thought this could be the one I have been looking for, and I was even more dissapointed.

But now, looks like my dream phone is emerging somewhere...

嘰里呱啦

看新聞，蔡光碟批評婚前檢查艾滋病是行不通的。別人這樣說沒有甚麽，不過由蔡光碟口中說出來好像。。嗯。。有一點那個。反正只要踫到“性”的議題，我想蔡光碟最好還是低調一點的好。

又，蔡光碟還想重當部長。翁大頭反問華社：你叫我怎麽處理？蔡光碟拿著無堅不摧的矛，翁大頭拿著一個無尖不擋的盾，一個主席，一個署理主席，這樣一支斗下去，吃虧的還是馬華。就像新紀元事件一樣，吃虧的還是整個華社。

一波未平，一波又起。陸庭瑜，人稱陸老的華教鬥士，竟然在八十嵗的年紀被投訴咸豬手，而且還是“一路來都是公開的秘密”。一夜間由天堂落入地獄。

不想去評論，只是感嘆，真的，只要不死，每一天都有新鮮熱辣的的新聞給你當佐料。

活著，還是很有趣的。

Bravo! Linux.

Have been using Fedora Core 4 for a few years. Recently the company purchased a new HP A3 printer that require the upgrade of the printer driver. After searching the HP website for the printer driver, I found my familiar HPOJ driver was no longer actively supported. Instead I have to get the latest HPLIB driver.

Oh, well. That's OK so far. I went on to download the driver and installed it. Opps,  a bunch of error messages popped up, showing incompatibility with Fedora Core 4. Annoyingly, I tried to update the associate files without success, the chain-files involved were enormous.

Finally I decided to upgrade from Core 4 to Core 5. First of all, read the manual! I did a search on the Fedora Core upgrade... hey! Fedora 10 is now on the way to release, and I am still using the old ancient version! See what Core 10 is all about here.

After much of the searching, a website gave a good guideline on upgrading different Fedora versions. Check this site if you are interested.

Looks simple but... no free lunch! Following the instruction gave me yet another series of compatibility issues. I had to carefully remove the incompatible programs before I can successfully proceed to upgrade the system.

Ding dong ding dong... finally... holly smoke! The package size is 1.7GB. With our current snail speed connection, it took me 3 days to get all files downloaded successfully.

(At press time, I just came across the news about three major fiber optic cables interconnecting Asia and Europe were cut in Mediterranean, causing disruption to the Internet and phone. Bad luck!).

The installation process was rather straight forward. Everything has been taken care of. What I needed to do was sit back and relax, watching the progress bar rolling... and the moment of truth came, bingo! It was upgraded to Fedora Core 5.

I am yet to upgrade from Core 5 to Core 6, then Core 6 to Core 7, then Core 7 to Core 8... I think I am going to stop at Core 8, as I think Core 9 and Core 10 require substantial hardware resource to deliver good performance. My old junk wouldn't be able to cope with it.

Upgrading through the network.. this is something you cannot do with Windows. Linux bravo!!

我們要那些專家來幹嗎？

再來談談我最不熟悉的金融。

目前市場上的基本借貸利率平均都往下滑。以馬來西亞來説，平均下滑了百分之二點五。

基本借貸利率是甚麽？基本借貸利率與存款利率又有怎樣的關係？抱歉，我也不懂。我知道的只是，基本借貸利率下滑表示了商業銀行，在國家銀行的政策下，需要大量流動資金來刺激市場，以復蘇懈怠的經濟。這樣的情況一般發生在經濟蕭條的時候，就像現在。

借貸利率下滑，就會有比較多的人願意借貸。借貸的目的是甚麽？當然是買賣或投資。投資股票，投資房產，買新車。這樣一來，市場就會因爲有大量的買賣而顯得比較有活力。

借貸利率下滑，存款利率也跟著下滑。爲什麽？因爲國家銀行不要你把錢收起來，要你大花特花，花光最好。給你少得可憐，廣東人說的：雞碎降多，的利率，還不如拿出來投資在其他地方。

反之，當過量的資金在市場流動時，就會造成通貨膨脹。這時候國家銀行就會提高借貸利率，以阻止人們貸款。與此同時，存款利率上揚，許多人也樂得將錢存到銀行裏賺取利息。

所以，經濟蕭條不等於通貨膨脹。

是這樣的吧，我想？可是事實上當然不可能那麽簡單。如果真的是這樣三言兩語就可以解釋的話，那麽我們要那些專家來幹嗎？