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點解一個韓國的研究會變咗美國研究？
Sample size N=4的研究你都攞出黎講？
成個研究嘅methodology dodgy到咁都講到好似真理咁，寫稿個編輯可唔可以專業少少？
武漢肺炎疫情蔓延嘅今日，可唔可以少d 19低質報導，at least read and digest before you write ok？如果有人信你唔戴口罩面感染，you sure you want those blood on your hands?
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【Non-Confined Space 非/密閉空間】首張專輯《Flow, Gesture, and Spaces》Bandcamp已經上架，附上英文版的介紹。
Between the spheres of free improvisation, jazz, trap, and musique concrète, lies Non-Confined Space. The name of this Taipei-based duo – saxophone polyglot Minyen Hsieh and audiovisual electronica experimentalist Ge-Chun Cheng (aka Sonic Deadhorse) – aptly describes their approach to exploring the fertile space they find themselves in. Drawing inspiration from their differing musical approaches and worlds, plus energy from the lively Taiwanese music scene, Non-Confined Space is a bold and future-facing hybrid. Cheng deploys piles of samples alongside Hsieh’s versatile saxophone, resculpting the results into a sublime and boldly experimental debut album of beats and processed improvisations unlike anything you’ve heard before.
Taking its title from a philosophical textbook about free-jazz, Flow, Gesture, and Spaces is a revelatory introduction to the duo, mixing the utterly free improvisations of their live shows (exemplified with spontaneous straight-to-tape takes on two of the album’s ten tracks) with an approach to studio composition inspired by the philosophy of improvisation. Basic outlines – often borrowing chord movements from the likes of Coltrane and Wayne Shorter, or pulling beats from Cheng’s huge library – would be cut loose in studio sessions, later augmented by psychedelic post-production. Utilizing methodology from the eponymous book, Flow, Gesture, and Spaces is nonetheless based on “simple elements” as the duo put it, “rhythm, intervals, timbre, and energy.
As a pairing, Non-Confined Space seem to come from polar opposite ends of the spectrum, musically. Performing professionally since the age of 19, Minyen Hsieh first picked up the saxophone back in high school, going on to study with local jazz musicians, and eventually studying the instrument at Koninklijk Conservatorium in Brussels. He’s since made a vast array of music, from traditional swing to the loosened bop of his debut solo album Firry Path, and collaborations with pianist Shih-Yang Lee and legendary Japanese free-drummer Sabu Toyozumi. Non-Confined Space is Hsieh’s first deep foray into the art of electronic processing.
Ge-Chun Cheng’s primary solo project since 2007 has been Sonic Deadhorse. A sample-hungry outfit blending the “indulgence of the 70s, melancholy of the 80s, nihilism of the 90s, and isolation of the new century”, the project has produced a wide-range of sounds from post-Flying Lotus fusion beats to wild live performances of a club-influenced mix of post-rock, dubstep, and chiptune (documented on a 2016 live set for Boiler Room). Working as something of a one-man band has left autodidact Cheng well prepared to not only match the classically trained Hsieh, but to push his partner into wild new directions. “I can always get organic feedback and responses from Minyen,” explains Cheng. “It makes me want to put more elements and processing into the music, and to change style more often.”
Since first meeting at a jam session in Taipei City, Non-Confined Spaces have evolved into an improv outfit for the 21st century, as indebted to Aphex Twin and Squarepusher as they are to Archie Shepp and Sun Ra. The road to Flow, Gesture, and Spaces has seen the duo play for dance performances, visual exhibitions, and even live-painting. Their own live shows also include various interactive and audiovisual elements, consistently focusing in on those three core elements checked in the album’s title. Non-Confined Spaces is a project far from tied down, flirting with bass-heavy tropicalia on ‘Serotonin Cell’, psychedelic post-Madlib hip-hop on ‘Melodic Gesture’, and noisy electrified free jazz on ‘Entropy’. The latter is one of two live takes featuring drummer Weichung Lin and keyboardist YuYing Hsu – allies from the Taiwan scene – capturing the explosive spontaneity and uncannily wonky sounds of this unique duo reconstructing samples live on the spot. Flow, Gesture, and Spaces is a true journey into the heart of the unknown.
Tristan Bath
【名家搶先睇】調控樓市，必要搞官方樓價指數（渾水）
過往渾水在筆欄寫過很多樓市公析，最新的主張是提出「樓價掛鉤債券」，概念上借自經濟學家徐家健教授，目的是讓想上車的年輕人共享樓價上升的成果，同時找藉口幫辣招解辣，回復市場真實面貌。更重要係，平衡了最大公因素。如果立馬出招打壓樓價，政客、市民固然不會擔心地產商的死活，但可憐一班已經上了車的年輕人和中產，一定好大鑊。
不論我提出樓價掛鉤債券，還是之前講過的樓價期貨都好，最應該做，而且不會出錯的第一步，就是成立官方認可的樓價指樓。無一個可靠的官方認證樓價指數，咁講乜都無用。道理很簡單，統計署有很可靠的GDP、通脹等數據，只要方法學（Methodology）正確，大家唔會對客觀數據有大疑問。點解樓市，唔可以有指數？只要有客觀數據，政府才能對症下藥，以更科學的方式去制定政策。正如出ibond，大家都會睇統計署公布的通脹率，搞扶窮都公認要定貧窮線（貧窮線的釐定爭議是另一問題，但起碼大家都有公識要行呢一步）。
如果政府真係想調控樓市，又或者看清楚樓市底蘊，何不按照以往的政策方針，做一些樓市的benchmark或index編制。這是必定正確的大方向，而且不會有意識形態的政治爭議。
按照財經媒體報導慣性，大家慣用中原樓價指數去睇樓市高低，如果要睇更leading的指數，往往會睇中原領先指數。不能否認，凡是指樓都必有其局限，客觀如恒生指數亦有，總會有人吹毛求疵追問「點解權重股不能加到去70隻、100隻」之類，總會有人追問釐定的公式是什麼、smoothing factor如何搞、sample size夠唔夠大等。
我不敢說中原編制指數有問題，只是中原是私營機構，政府作為官方機構引用私營機構的數字，必定被政治反對派垢病，扣官商勾結之類的帽子，那對大家都不好。中原編制指數有多年經驗，它跟官方不一定是「取代」關係，而是可以「合作」關係。只要條件適合，我覺得中原還是樂意做顧問，公開指數編制的公式和數據方法，互相交流。正如恆生指數是公認最具參考性，官方文件會引用的港股指數，但恆生指數外，還是可以有MSCI、富時等私人編制指數並存。
關鍵在於，有無方法整一個有代表性的樓市版「恒生指數」？無可否認，香港土地交易最確實的數據是田土廳，但交易內容要上載至田土廳需時，樓市代理之間存在競爭關係，不會有動機去交換、整合樓市買賣資料，方便制定更客觀的指數。政府不同，由政府牽頭去整合代理之間的交易資料，是出師有名，又或者改善和提升資料上載至田土廳的速度和流程。這對整個市場也是好，至少多一個客觀數據去參考。
如果怕「私營」味道太濃，可以參考鬼佬做法，搬幾個有名經濟學家坐陣，例如美國有Karl Case和Robert Shiller為名的Standard & Poor's Case–Shiller Home Price Indices，很有參考價值。總之，方法有萬幾種，但由官方統籌一個樓價指樓，是錯不了的大方向。新政府和林鄭，應該要參考下。
渾水
專業投資者、上市公司執行董事、90後
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