Some thoughts about star ferry pier incident

關於市民反應：

來來去去都得小貓三幾隻去反對，可見大多數市民都唔 care 的，傳媒也不怎麼報導。如果有幾十萬人去包圍，難道還能拆嗎？看來我不得不相信某才子的「民族 DNA」說法，中國人就是喜歡拆拆拆，是不配有古蹟的，要看去外國看好了...

關於政府反應：

本來市民唔 care，政府理應好辦事，但它大概自己心虛，於是有調虎離山、摸黑拆樓、快刀斬亂麻等行為。到星期一甚麼立法會，專家會議云云，還開個屁。這些「懶醒」戰略，使人十分反感...

關於爭論本身：

那些反對人士大概自己也不清楚想怎樣，是反對填海呢，還是反對拆碼頭呢，還是只反對拆鐘樓呢，...

至於親政府陣營，則再一次示範中國人的醜陋，以「只問動機，不問是非」的思維方式，不斷質疑別人「遲唔反對，早唔反對」，是「有陰謀」。別人有沒有陰謀，跟應不應該拆鐘樓有甚麼關係？

關於填海：

據說拆卸鐘樓是為了填海建馬路以解決交通擠塞問題云云。這等廢話早有人駁斥。填了海自然要起樓， (你不是以為真的填海來起公園吧？) 起了樓自然有更多交通流量，之後交通擠塞，然後又要填海，如此循環不息... 直至維港填平了為止。那之後怎解決交通擠塞？

其實大家只要看看地圖就可以了，會展一頭突了出來，IFC 在另一邊突了出來，中間豈有不填之理？早有預謀的了...

關於拆下鐘樓的下場：

據說拆下的鐘樓已運往堆填區。這我又不明白了，眼前不就有一個「中環三期」填海工程嗎，幹嗎不「原地拆卸，原地堆填」，方便快捷呢...

關於「三維立體」激光掃描技術：

「土木工程拓展署也已採用了先進的「三維立體」激光掃描技術，把整個碼頭的資料，以電子數碼方式詳細地保留下來。」

「發言人說，當局會研究如何把鐘樓及碼頭的特色部分融入新海濱的設計，政府早前已用「三維立體」激光掃描技術，保留碼頭資料。據悉，當局有不同構思保留鐘樓，包括在新碼頭重建、與九倉舉辦大型展覽讓市民憑弔、或把設計融入新中環填海區。」

以上文字的荒謬程度，實在很難以筆墨形容，唯有引用某討論區的說法：

市民也準備採用先進的「三維立體」激光掃描技術，把整個孫明揚的資料，以電子數碼方式詳細地保留下來。之後，孫明揚將被拆毀。有關人士稍後將會研究仿製一具孫的屍體，樹立於中環舊天星碼頭舊址供市民憑弔*。

(*: 在原文中，「弔」字被改為某粗口字)

關於新碼頭：

我只想說，那個新碼頭「很膠」...

International Conference on Junk Emails 2006

This looks like a very interesting conference. For one, it is held in Hong Kong Productivity Council, which is certainly appropriate since it relates to the productivity of everyone. Also, some talks look particularly interesting:

How AMD Opteron processor architecture well fit into Email marketing?

Poor processor designers. Do they have special instruction sets for sending spams?

又來奇文共賞

沒有甚麼值得怕的 ~ 梁立人

29/11/2006

近日食物安全中心接二連三公布有淡水魚含孔雀石綠，內地淡水魚商會為報復本港的行動，宣布暫時中止所有淡水魚輸港，香港人食無魚的日子即將到來。

其實豈但食無魚而已，如此下去，香港將會失去內地的食品供應，需要完全依靠其他地區進口，生活指數定會瞬時飆升，社會不穩定的情況必會加劇。

政 府呼籲內地淡水魚商會要理性行事，但雙方是否能達成諒解那是後話。其實內地食品超過安全標準並非一朝一夕的事，近幾十年來我們都在吃這些有毒食品，但為甚 麼現在才開始警醒，才開始害怕呢？再說，即使香港完全不再進口內地食品，難道每天十萬八萬的人進入內地，這些人所吃的食品就沒有問題了嗎？可以說，只要香 港和內地的關係切不斷，有害食品就無法根除，面對這種現實，我們只有兩種選擇：

一是移民到外國，遠離內地有害食品的威脅；二是習以為常，繼續若無其事的吃下去。

我會選擇後者，因為一來走到全世界都有內地供應的食物，二來使用化學藥品先進國家比內地更內行，只是毒性沒有殘存在表面而已，誰敢保證他們的食物會比較安全呢？

其實，我們吃這些有害食物已經有數十年之久，身體早就適應了，香港人的人均壽命已是世界之前一二名，我實在不明白人們還害怕甚麼。我會毫無懼色的繼續吃這些有害食物，就像我會繼續吸煙一樣，而且相信，自己會活得比那些怕得要死的人更加長久！

消滅香港

消滅香港是香港城市規劃的唯一目標

消滅香港的歷史
消滅香港人的集體記憶
消滅香港人的社區
消滅香港人的家庭
消滅香港人的個人意識

消滅海港
消滅街道，消滅街市
消滅小販，消滅大排檔
消滅老商店，消滅戲院
消滅樹木

香港成為了一座八百萬人的石屎監獄，不是石屎森林
全香港佈滿著一式一樣的大型商場
一式一樣的樓貼樓大型樓盤大型豪宅
香港不需要社區，不需要鄰居，不需要家庭，不需要有個性的個體
需要的是更多的消費，更多的信用卡，更多的名牌，更少的人情味，更少的清新空氣
街道佈滿的是巴士，更多的巴士，比火車地鐵還要長的巴士鐵路
香港的春夏秋冬都是冷氣，室內四處都是冷氣，室外四處都是廢氣
小市民不可在街作小販，大企業可以在街邊推銷信用卡，推銷寬頻，推銷樓盤
不正常的在香港成為正常

香港只可以有現在，沒有未來
租金可以無止境的上昇
投資只可以是投機
沒有人會安分守己
沒有人會腳踏實地
沒有人會做好學問
沒有人會相信未來，相信理想

香港已經不是以前的香港
對於現在的香港人，人情味是笑話
認真是一種謊言
狗仔隊是神是真理
香港人沒有人相信人可以是好人
憎人富貴厭人窮
講權利但不相信義務
假道學成為主流

城市的規劃影響著我們的價值
個人的價值
家庭的價值
朋友與朋友之間的價值
社區的價值
人類存在的價值

以金錢為唯一指標的香港規劃政策
令短期金錢效益成為香港成功的唯一指標
香港成為了一個沒有賭場的賭城
短視
功利
投機
膚淺

造成這種以錢為本的價值
是香港政府的責任？
是香港政黨的責任？
是香港傳媒的責任？
是香港教育界的責任？
是香港文化界的責任？
是香港學者的責任？
是香港市民的責任？

這是香港人的命運？
還是中國未來的命運？
命運可以改變嗎？
我們會認命嗎？

《 香港風格 2 ─ 消滅香港 》 胡恩威

Halfway through the algorithms module

In the classroom:

Me: Are there any questions about the assignment?
Student X: We want extension.
Me: That's not a question. Actually, some of you told me that the assignment is "too easy".
Student Y: Who's that?
Me: Yeah, who's that? Do you know? I don't remember...
Student X: (pretending to be looking around) ...

***

The old problem of "Find an efficient algorithm for returning the n copies of assignments to n students" arises again. Although we clearly know there is an O(n) time algorithm, in practice no one (including the teacher) like to use it and end up with the O(n^2) time algorithm.

***

Teaching algorithms has the advantage of you really know what you are talking about, so you don't need too much preparation, don't need to look at the screen every second, etc. The feeling of my best year of DAA teaching, where I have the freedom to say almost anything I like, seems to have come back.

***

However, too little preparation and relying on memory can be a problem. The lecture notes on quicksort and order statistics - I just don't remember how many bugs have been fixed during or after class. I would blame the CLRS again - I'm not fully aware that a different Partition() algorithm in its second edition affects that many things.

DSA and Gantt charts

So, I think I have almost covered the first-year Data Structures and Algorithms part in a third-year module. (I mean, the absolutely essential part. Sorting is n log n, etc etc. They will never know what a "binary search tree" is.) Sometimes I don't really understand their math thinking. OK you don't know geometric series, or have forgotten logarithms, or never really know what is induction. But given the recurrence T(n) = 2 T(n/2) + 1, say, isn't it "immediately obvious" that T(n/2) = 2 T(n/4) + 1?

On a completely unrelated thing, in final year projects, I think I have seen 10 different spellings of "Gantt chart"...

25th anniversary

A prospective applicant asked "when is the department established". (You see here the time of an academic staff is spent on these things.) Fully confident that not more than three people in the department could know the answer, I sent a broadcast email to ask. This led to the discovery that the department is (depending on how you count it) having its 25th anniversary. No one notice that before...

Algorithms textbooks

CLRS has been the standard algorithms textbook for quite many years. Yet in the last minute I decided not to list it as an "essential" textbook. The simple reason is that they refused to give me a free copy (or more precisely, ignored my request). The one I have is a first edition. It's a bit embarassing to fight with students to borrow the library copies, isn't it?

Debit card, issue 2

I never really forget about my personal belongings - haven't even lost a key before. (With a slight exception, that once at a US airport I left behind a bag containing passport and other important things, and walked away only to realize that after two minutes. I rushed back and it's still there. But that's the result of very insufficient sleep.) But within 1 year in UK I've lost my debit card! I think I must have left it behind after paying with it in a supermarket. And I only realize this after a few days. Actually, I felt my wallet being thinner those days, but I just thought it's because "I have no money".

Anyway, the card replacement process is quite smooth and I got my new card today. Except that when I ask the card to be sent to the university branch, they sent it to the city centre branch...

CX 60th anniversary

CX 今年六十週年，我都同佢贈興一下。圖中所見既並唔係個別事件，我一年前就已經親眼見過(雖然唔係呢班/呢架機)，之後亦聽人講過。不佢地成年都唔理個問題，任佢漏水的嗎?

ALGO'06

ALGO'06 is in Zurich, Switzerland this year. An incomplete list of what happened:

(1) It is essentially impossible to get to a flight on time in Heathrow Terminal 4. You go early enough and they won't tell you where to check-in. Self-service check-in machines are hidden behind the fast bag drop queue, which in turn is hidden behind another queue. Before going to security you need to wait outside the airport building. And of course you know the security itself. I went to the gate at 15:52 when the flight was supposed to depart at 15:50. Of course, I could still catch the flight. Half of the people would have missed it if they didn't wait.

(2) Switzerland probably has the most expensive McDonalds among the places I have been to.

(3) As everyone knows, people don't really listen to talks. So they designed something to keep you busy.

(4) Just before my talk, someone looked at my first slide which was already shown on the screen, and asked me "Is Fxxxxxx Cxxx the wife of Andy Yao?"

(5) In a reception, some girls asked me where is the "boy" that was with me. They were referring to Txx-Wxx Lxx. When they knew that he is already a professor, they couldn't close their mouths for a few seconds.

(6) As far as I can remember, I have never been to a conference together with the professor mentioned in (5) above. I should try to do it more in the future. You just hang around with him and some girls will appear and talk to you. I mean, it never happened like this before and it couldn't be me getting more handsome, right?

(7) How many more times do the officers in passport control in London airports like to ask this: "What do you do here?" "Lecturer." "Lecturer! What do you lecture?" How could they sound like surprising when the thing is written on both the visa and the landing card? And should I say "algorithms"?

more applications

Some more interesting applications:

1) A long, long time ago, I told you when you copy assignments, don't put the two copies consecutively into the assignment box. The same holds when you apply to universities. Even when you are applying to different departments.

2) And there is a reason why the Ig Nobel Prize in Literature 2005 is given to people in this country rather than some others.

3) Can anyone tell me how Thailand's calendar works? Is their "September" the 8th month of the year? I don't feel all that comfortable looking at something from future...

香港 vs. 烏茲別克

香港隊做乜忽然咁叻仔，竟然主客兩場都逼和烏茲別克... 雖然出線機會都係好微，但和總好過輸... 范俊業好野!

A new problem in my linux every day

I am using Linux in most of the time with my office PC, and it has just a bit too many nasty problems. Typically they come with no reason and disappear by themselves after several weeks (or months). The PCs are centrally administered and I suppose the technical support people change things every now and then and therefore problems come and go.

The newest invention is that the attachment bar in the bottom of Thunderbird becomes so thin that I can't see and click any attachment in it. And the little plus/minus sign that allows you to expand/collapse the viewing of the complete subject/from/date headers does not work. Well actually it only fails to work for mails with attachment.

Some other problems that get solved by itself included:

1) Chinese characters were displayed normally, then one day all become strange symbols, and then another day the characters came back - with a much better font!

2) Gnome refused to work properly; after the machine was up for a while then gpdf, ggv, gedit, g-whatever all cannot get started. So the very first thing I did after the machine was booted up was to open some pdf or ps files... then it would stay fine.

3) On a few occasions the clock was fast by exactly one hour. Although this one goes away easily (just a reboot).

Bank holiday

OK, I know this is bank holiday, but it is not the only bank holiday, huh? everyone is away this two weeks? The HoD, ex-HoD, ex-ex-HoD, my research mentor, teaching mentor and basically everyone directly "above" me are away...

DODOON 2006

(1) COCOON 主辦單位安排的 tour 其中一站是參觀故宮博物院。Prof. Dxxx Xxxxxxx 在某個商周時期的鼎內刻著的古代文字中，發現了一個「D」字，即場向工作人員詢問相當於今天的那一個字...

(2) 晚上的 conference banquet 變成了唱 K 大會，或者正確點說是 Dr. D X Xxx 的個人演唱會... 另有笑話指某 postdoc 靠唱歌揾到工...

劉江華

左口左面嘅劉議員大發偉論，表示「你話係走狗又好，係朝廷鷹犬又好，係維護香港治安穩定嘅警犬也好，我地始終係一隻狗，就係一塊狗餅都唔可以放過，就係唔可以俾反對派破壞狗糧供應得逞。」發言時個樣型到哩...

其實佢以前係我個區嘅區議員，我冇選過佢，因為佢次次都自動當選。後來唔知黐左邊條線走去空降挑戰某師奶，點知輸左。仲有人整張 banner 賀佢...

「三」號風球

天文台次次掛風球都俾人插，但今次實在太過份，我適逢其會都要鬧埋一份。我唔知天文台風力幾強，我剩係知馬鞍山風力俾好多次八號風球都要強。唔該阿天文台台長唔好係到 X up, 自己行出去睇吓，冧左幾多棵樹，海陸空交通受幾大影響。咁既天氣點可以安全返工返學？根據佢地既解釋，「維港風力怎樣怎樣．．．」而家咁多高樓大廈擋晒 D 風，應該以後都唔會有八號風球．．．

睇黎確保恐怖極權偷聽法例順利立法似乎係唯一合理解釋．．．

另請看你知道天文台欺騙了你嗎？

Coming back

After surviving the heat without air conditioning, I'm on the way back. The train strike is supposed to be cancelled, but still my train is delayed somewhat. At the airport, they are overbooking and can't give me a seat until the very last minute. Just too many people are travelling in the summer... An aisle seat, it turns out.

The aircraft just waits and occasionally moves around on the runway for a whole hour before it finally takes off. But then it arrives half an hour earlier than scheduled...

The purpose of a library

I seldom go to the library here. It has practically none of the books that I want (for example, no book about online algorithms). Last time the department is soliciting book requests for the library to buy, and I managed to trick them to buy some, although they did it just a bit weirdly - now a module has more copies of a reference book stocked than the main text, and an online algorithms book with a chop "received 1998" appears when I'm absolutely sure it wasn't there before.

But this is not the point of this post. This library is among the few places in the campus to have air-conditioning. Looking forward to a 35 degrees Celsius tomorrow, the library suddenly becomes a very nice place.