As usual, the media got it wrong ..

Yesterday, there was an article on complaints from the residents about explosion from nearby mines in Teluk Ramunia, Johore. When I looked closely at the picture, it was definitely not a mine but a rock quarry. The article stated that the "mine" was extracting sand for sale to Singapore. According to National Land Code, natural sand from rivers, land or from the sea cannot be exported without special permission from the state authorities. But another picture of a barge being loaded with rock materials showed it was really aggregates used for the construction industry.  At best, the picture showed quarry dust or fine aggregates, but definitely not natural sand, or mining sand, river sand or sand from the sea. The article that appeared in the Utusan Malaysia was definitely inaccurate.

The company that extracted the "sand" for sale to Singapore was not contravening the Land Code provisions.

Update:07/12/2008: The Johore Land Authority confirms what I say above - that it was sand from the quarry operation, not natural sand, that is exported to Singapore. The quarry operator is therefore not contravening any Land Code provisions.

Petronas, good for you ..

It's heartening to know that Petronas makes RM 42.68 billion in profit in the first half of its fiscal year which ends in 30th September 2008. Its next half wont be as much because of falling crude oil prices in the international market. The CEO of Petronas, Hassan Marican, also says that for every 10 sen drop against the USD, Petronas stands to lose about RM 2.5 billion in profit. Just imagine how much Petronas would make if the USD had not strenghtened from RM 3.21 in July 2008 to RM 3.628 now.

Petronas's biggest contributor comes from its international operation.

Of the Fall and the Rise of Man ...

Of all the games that I have played, never have I levelled any criticisms against the creators except those creators in Imsoniacs Inc. that created Resistance 2. Not that Imsoniacs are any good for the creators have proved to be imaginatively creative when designing Resistance: The Fall Of Man. This game is addictive in that once you get the hang of handling the controls, you tend to repeat play so many times from easy mode to superhuman.

Resistance 2 is not a great improvement over Resistance One. Sure, the ability to heal automatically is better than when you have to look for health pods during game play as in R1. Another slight improvement is the introduction of the Magnum. As for weaponry, the addition of the Wraith, the Bellock, the Marksman, the Spider grenades merely padded gameplay for nothing. Weapons from R1 are sufficient to defeat Daedalus and his Chimera soldiers. The shotgun was a letdown, being only armed with 16 shells instead of 24 and the Bullseye with 35 rounds to a magazine.

I find some of the scenes faded too quickly for me to enjoy when winning a battle. One example is when Nathan Hale and his squad of sentinels were fleeing in a Chimera space pod after having placed explosives in the enemy warship. There were 3 explosions to show that Nathan Hale was successful and before I could watch a chain of explosions breaking the ship which should plunge to earth in a huge explosion, the scene quickly faded to Hale's space pod making an almost vertical plunge which unrealistically did not explode.

Another scene concerned the death of some sentinels. While Hawthorn was spectacularly ripped apart by Daedalus, how Major Blake died was not shown. You merely see him slumped with blood covering his chest. Warner was simply attacked by Daedalus, lifted up and dropped to die in front of Hale. But the worse death scene was how Nathan Hale died. Imagine, the hero of Britain who single-handledly defeated the Chimera, was executed by a bullet in the head from a deranged sentinel by the name of Capelli who, throughout game, never shot straight and was saved by Nathan Hale many a time.

Another weak scene was the fission bomb explosion aboard the Chimera's mother ship. The scene showing the explosion and the destruction of the Chimera ships was too brief. I would expect to see ships breaking up in slow motion.

At the end of the game, one is left wandering whether the Chimera is really defeated unlike, as in Britain, Captain Parker announced quite certainly of the defeat of the Chimera.

In conclusion, I would not recommend this game to anyone. I will enjoy Resident Evil 5 much better than Resistance 2. It is one huge disappointment.

TNB is strangely quiet ....

The price of crude oil has been going down in the world market. From a maximum of some USD 147/= per barrel, the price now is some USD 49/= per barrel. In just about a few months , the price of the commodity is one-third of its maximum, and it's likely to stay at this level for many, many more months. And I hope it's going to be at this level for many years. 

The price of RON 97 petrol at the pump has plunged to RM 2.00 per liter from a high of RM 2.70 per liter when crude oil was at its peak price. The prices of consumer products which went up in tandem are apparently not dropping from a level they reached when prices of fuels are at a maximum. 

The people of Malaysia are getting fed up with suppliers who have been quick to increase their product prices when fuel prices go up but are not quick to lower them  when fuel prices drop, citing unreasonable excuses. Even that dim-witted PM of Malaysia was frustrated at the attitude of the traders. No matter how much he has said about prices of products, the traders are ignoring him completely. NGOs, politicians, and the general public have also been complaining about prices that seem to stay in orbits. Don't they realise that prices are determined by the law of supply and demand ? 

If he is strong enough, one measure is for the PM to force the traders to drop their prices is to encourage a boycott of the traders. Instead of talking about the prices of chillies, vegetable oils and ikan bilis, why not look first into one of the biggest institution that has an absolute monopoly on electrical power. The Tenaga Nasional Berhad has an strangle hold on electrical power they distribute and has increased the electrical tariffs for so long and at every time there has been an increase in the price of crude oil. Strangely, when prices of fuels have been down this last few months, TNB remains quiet.

This is what I have been paying to TNB. My latest bill shows that I consumed 1,297 kwh. For the first 500 kwh, I am billed at RM 0.300 per kwh. My cost is therefore RM 150.00. For the next 400 kwh, I have been billed at the rates of 0.390, 0.400, 0.410, and 0.430 for every 100 kwh increment in usage. For any amount beyond the 900 kwh of consumption (which in this case is 397 kwh) I am billed a flat rate of 0.460 per kwh. My bill for this month comes to RM 495.62.  TNB's tiered billing escalates on increasing usage i.e. the more you use, the higher the rate you pay when it should be the other way round. Further, the basic rates and the tiered rates were increased based on when the prices of crude were at high levels (to update here).

So I am expecting the PM to take bold action on TNB.