Device for the Lazy, or the Super Lazy

A very handy book stand for lazy bookworm who does not even want to hold his book!!!

In case you experience insomnia, do try to put on a book that you hate to read. You should get into sleep before you can concentrate. This method is recommended in psychology textbook!!!

娛樂場#>(麥當奴#+便利店#)

趁再開學前去了澳門一躺。

認知中有很多關於澳門的資料：人口數十萬、地方小、GDP急速增長、高宫被當地廉署拿下、又有新賭場快要開幕。抵步的第一個發現就是有很多的建築工地，似乎真是個發展迅速的地方。

另一特點就是澳門娛樂場所甚多，在短短兩日的停留裏，我眼見的所有便利店及麥當奴加起來的數目應該還不及娛樂場總數。當中只去了比較新的幾家參觀，由於去的時間是星期五下午，賭場仍未爆滿，但生意似乎仍然不錯。

一直想玩傳統的角子機，去拉幾下，但原來很多的賭具都電腦化了。以更少的人力，更高的賭量，及更少的錯誤去做生意實在是無可厚非，但這樣去人性化的時候，連聽一下拉下角子機手柄咔嗟一聲、感受角子機內機件運作的震動、最後噠噠噠停下來的期待也奪去了，賭場實在是要賺盡每一分毫。

我亦很難想像澳門新一代是在個怎麼的環境下成長。

哥哥是荷官，爸爸在賭場當護衞，媽媽在賭場附近的小食店當散工，某天上學發現老師不見了，某次求診發現醫生不見了，替全家處買保險的經紀也失踪了，原來都紛紛加入娛場樂這門大生意。前路也茫茫，與現實脫節的樓價，騰飛的租金，怎麼生活？讀完中學稍會計算又手靈便可做個荷官，連賞錢每月可賺兩萬大元，為何仍要讀書？早點出來賺錢吧！

可觀稅收背後的代價是沉重得難以想像，玩樂的遊客其實與先進國家將難以處理的垃圾直接運至第三世界無異，都為澳門帶來大量的社會問題。相比起澳門，拉斯維加斯還是略勝一籌，最少賭城前身是個沙漠，但澳門在成為世界界賭城後卻變成了另一個沙漠。

Hard facts

Until recently I had been always puzzled by situation like this.

A girl with brain tumor refused to go through conventional medical treatments; instead she took a pill that was marketed as miraculous universal answer to almost all diseases. She believed that the medicine was God's purpuse to heal (or kill?). In order to make the story interesting, surely some authorities stood up and highly condemned the medical validty of the drug that was not even approved by the FDA*. After consuming the pill for months, MRI# showed the size of tumor remained unchanged. That's the delicacy of 20/20.

The pinpointed case above is yet another seeminly obviously conflicting occurrence. It is of logical dissonance. We could not care less about the ending. The mega importance lies in where we focus.

What conclusion can we draw if the girl dies because of her "faith?" Obviously it is unlikely that how one makes sense of the world would change what God really is about. God remains God. The argument here is: IF she TRULY believes that's the will of God AND THEN she DIES because of her faith, it is easily to conclude that God sets her up. This kind of conclusion is almost like reflex. The natural outcome is incongruity between faith and facts: So, God created to destroy!?

Defensive Christians' physiological and mental resource will be triggered by such conclusion in order to fight back: Yes, God is authoritative. He even can create and destroy at His will for His purpose. Good, but that does not help resolve the conflict because: IF God created and destroyed HER, God could ALSO create and destroy ME at WILL. So the big guy "me" gets involved now. The argument can go on and on, but it is folly.

As a bystander, it is hard to accept the fact that I might also "fall victim" at God's will. How can a loving God do such a damned thing? Who would follow a boss who would do anything to oneself? Nevertheless, that is the essense of faith. In the above case, in case the girl truly believed the drug was God's answer, she must have also looked beyond the healing effect of it. If so, that is total faith. Oh well, actually there is nothing such as half faith.

Not swallowing such fact only hinders Christians' growth. Being mere defensive would not make oneself immune of adversity. Gold can be only refined by nothing but fire. Weren't we warned the Christian way is the hard one?

*FDA: Food and Drug Administration 如香港的衞生署吧

#MRI: Magnetic resonance imaging 磁力共振