The European Union is in such a mess right now. One would believe that the main pillars of the Union would strongly support the roof. Apparently, that is not so.

Right now, the French are having a referendum to ratify a new EU Constitution that would bring EU members closer. Unfortunately or fortunately, depending on which side one stands, according to the April 30th issue of The Economist, 20 polls revealed that France is set to reject the European Constitution. Add in the error, result could go either way. Wikipedia as usual provides a fine explanation of the drafted Constitution.

The final result will be as close as 2000 US presidential election. Whatever the result maybe, I do hope it will be an oui.

I do think the formation of the EU and the subsequent activities to strengthen a central government takes away the autonomy each member enjoys. I prefer a decentralized system while idea of a super state scares me. Somehow however, charms free-flow of capital and labor is too great to resist. Of course, in the EU, free-flow of labor does not quite exist yet given that the newcomers are currently being barred from the Schengen zone. Still, sooner or later, it will be a reality and hence reestablishing the great free trade era prior to the 1930s.

The reason why I support a stronger European Union is that I would like to see a counterweight to Pax Americana; I admire the US as much as I admire any other great civilizations in the past. Fact is however, a unipolar world will never be safe.

Another main reason why I support the EU is because of ASEAN. If Europe one day is united under one banner, perhaps ASEAN should pursue almost the same path as the EU is taking right now.

From purely economic point of view, the use of a single currency will lead to an explosion of trade between members of a single-monetary zone. Of course, setting a uniform interest rate will be hard but unification could be done stage by stage. For instance, Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand could be the first to use a single currency. These three countries have about the same rate currently and they're neighbors. And then, if situation improved in the Philippines and Indonesia, then they could be included in the zone. And when others progressed (which is going to take a very long time), they could be invited to use a single currency.

Later, with a population size similar to Europe, perhaps ASEAN would have a bigger role to play on the world stage. And then, we all could play World of Warcraft and kill Onyxia together, including all fractions of the horde too.

p/s - My favorite city is now San Francisco. New York falls to the second rung.


Captured the city skyline from Municipal Pier. The Transamerica Pyramid is clearly visible while the Russian Hill to the left. (or right-side of the photo. I'm still confused about which side is the right/left on a picture.)

And I can't believe that I walked all the way from a Caltrain station south of San Francisco to the Marina Boulevard up in north San Francisco.

pp/s - Star Wars, I love. Go to the cinema, you must! Watch all the episodes again, I will!

ppp/s - I learnt that the UN World Environment Day will be celebrated in San Francisco from the 1st till the 5th of June.


Banners seen in the photos are almost omnipresent in San Francisco. Too bad I didn't have the time to hang around the city longer. Else, I would certainly want to check it out.

The latest installment to Star Wars saga is explosive. I saw it in the morning at a local cinema and I very much love it. It is better in many aspects when compared to the first two prequels. Revenge of the Sith is involving because instead of depending solely on choreography of lightsaber duel and special effects, Episode III rely more on emotion - betrayal, to me, seems to be the central theme.

My two favorite moments are when the clone troopers turn on the Jedi and when Anakin loses to Obi-Wan. The betrayal, if it is not for the original trilogy and the expanded universe, would have been shocking. I was especially moved during the assasination of Ki-Adi-Mundi.

Most memorable quote is spoken by Padme Amidala: "This is how liberty ends: with thunderous applause". What makes the quote memorable is its great relevancy to the real world.

Seven bucks well-spent.

Well, I'm off to San Francisco to meet some people. Later.

World of Warcraft in-game economy is confusing to say the least. To be fair, it�s confusing at the first glance and it will make sense after awhile.

While I was browsing an in-game auction house for materials that I need to brew a few potions, I found that that the price of the end product is lower than the total cost of materials needed to make the end product. I�ve heard about this phenomenon earlier in World of Warcraft forum but never really had the curiosity to investigate it myself. I was more interested in killing some other players and brag about it. But

For instance, to make a major healing potion, one needs mountain silversage, two golden sansams and a crystal vial. When I checked the price of silversage, it was priced at 99 silver (1 gold = 100 silver = 1000 copper). According to a census by Allakhazam, the average price is 72 silver. A sansam costs 39 silver on average while a crystal vial cost 20 silver from an NPC vendor.

And guest how much, on average, does it cost to buy a major healing potion.

If you�d guess around 1.70 gold (which comes from 72 + (39*2) + 20), you�re wrong. On average, the potion costs just 1 gold.

Funny isn�t it?

This sort of pricing is ruining my in-game profession, which is an alchemist. I gather all the materials and make those materials into potions. Most of the time, I buy the materials instead of looking for them. Gathering the materials takes extensive effort.

By looking at the current trend, it seems that I should simply collect the materials and immediately later, sell them straight to the market instead of using up the materials for potions and then offer the market the end product. This is a way to get around the weirdness of the in-game economy. But it certainly doesn�t explain the anomaly of the economy.

One explanation for what seems to be a weird pricing is that some sellers actually gather (or in fact, gotten it for free) the material instead of buying it off from someone else. With that, their cost, strictly speaking from monetary perspective while ignoring the effort needed to search for the materials, is lower than those that get their material from the market.

This explanation makes perfect sense. However, I wouldn�t these people that gathered the material by themselves gain higher mark-up if they had priced their items as if they had bought it from the market? Shouldn�t more profit and more gold be the goal? Moreover, these sellers don�t seem to add their effort into the price, which is ludicrous. As if, their effort shouldn�t be rewarded. Or maybe they just have different preferences, which is generally lower than those that think like me.

Because of these people, which I call �deflationers�, prices of everything related to alchemy are deflated, save those highest levels potions. In the end, every decent alchemist is forced to sell at lower prices.

Then, I realized, this is game theory, with a pun.

p/s - Leeeeeerrrroooooyyyyy Jeeeenkiiinnsss. Warning, large vid file. 16 meg.

I�m currently preparing for a guild raid on Oxynia. Oxynia is a dragon, an terrible one, in the World of Warcraft. There are two more steps that I need to take before the most anticipated event by my guild, Sanct, in this MMORPG start. Sanct is probably one of the largest guilds on server Destromath, with nearly 250 characters. Up-to-date, 40 guild members have pledged to meet up at 13:45 PST.

My preparation started nearly two days ago. Yesterday was the day when I sat in front of my computer, with the game loaded, for nearly 15 hours straight trying to get everything right. It was crazy feeling � started just after noon and ended roughly four o'clock in the morning in the next day - at the end of the session, my eyes couldn�t open anymore, my left arm tendon that was badly damaged started to feel different (like it was going to fall off) and worst of all, my ass hurt.

A 15-hour of continuous game play is no joke. I skipped my lunch, took my dinner in front of the game and even almost slept on the keyboard. If I could take a leak on my chair, I�d have probably done that too.

After this, I plan to read The Onyxia Bible thoroughly and then log back into a world where killing is encouraged and the economy is messed up.

Memorable moments?

Episode IV: the dogfight in the trench of the first Death Star.

Episode V: �Luke, I am your father�.

Episode VI: Ewoks kicking stormtroopers� ass with Leia in interesting custom.

Episode I: Darth Maul vs. Obi-Wan Kenobi and Qui-Gon Jinn. Another one is probably the pod race. And maybe Padme Amidala (Keira Knightley and Natalie Portman!).

Episode II: Yoda! And Amidala.

Episode III: I bet it's going to be Anakin vs. Obi-Wan.

In about ten days or so, the final installment of Star Wars will be �in theaters near you�. I was a Star Wars fanatic a long time ago, in a galaxy not so far away. In fact, the galaxy is actually this galaxy. In read all the novels and the so-called technical book filled with pseudo-scientific details of Star Wars. I bought weird Star Wars stuff too and called it collector�s edition. Hence, I know the well-announced TIE-Fighter (TIE is twin ion engine if you are wondering) to the less-known but powerful TIE-Defender; from the exciting X-Wing to its obscure predecessor Z-95 Headhunter and the corporations that played important roles in development of the machines.

I only stopped being a fanatic after the official publisher of Star Wars novels was switched from Del Ray to Random House. Not that I hate Random House but the first Star Wars novels released under Random House was Vector Prime. By coincidence or by design, it has roughly the same storyline as The Truce at Bakura, a Star Wars novels published under the previous publisher. I have both novels in Malaysia; read Truce from leaf to leaf but read only the first few chapters of Vector Prime. I told myself, I�m not going to read this thing all over again. Hence, Vector Prime is practically the last Star Wars novels I have read. I have never touched any Star Wars novels since. Along with that, my fascination with Star Wars Galaxy diminished.

However, I remember someone said, once a Star Wars freak, always and a Star Wars freak. Not true entirely but perhaps, it is, to some extend. One proof is, I�m still excited about Episode III. It is where all the questions will be answered, where all the loose ends will be tied up.

The two other prequels have answered some of the questions. I must express however my disappointment with both Episode I and II. The hype around the two movies was extremely high but when I was inside the theater in 1999 and 2002, I found there is too much fat. Things don�t go smoothly with the dialogue. My taste of a good movie is a movie with witty and flowing dialogue, much like Casablanca.

To come to think of it, movies these days depend too much on motion, appealing to the eyes and rarely to the ears (minus the music but even if soundtrack is considered, many movies lack memorable compositions). In my opinion, all those black and white movies, such as Dr. Strangelove needs attention of the audience to be fully appreciated since the dialogue is complex. Casablanca�s dialogue in particular, is especially complex that I dare say, if one takes the classic from TV to radio, one will still be able to admire it. Not so with Star Wars and most others modern works.

In spite of that and the disappointment of earlier episodes, Episode III looks promising. Critics themselves are impressed by it, claiming there's meat to it.

Of course, who cares what the critics are saying. If the critics are so good, they should be the ones that direct the movies, not the directors. Regardless what the critics say, hell, I�m still going to watch Star Wars.

Long live and� May the Force be with you, always.

I�m a person that always carries a camera with me; that one pocket filled. Then I bought an mp3 player and bring it to almost anywhere with me; another pocket filled. Usually, I put in my keys along with the mp3 player on the same side of my pant.

I wore a pant with three pockets yesterday. My wallet made the third pocket full.

And then I bought a cell phone. Never really wanted it nor needed it until I moved to an apartment 14 floors scaling up the charming blue May sky that was plagued with December cloud and wind just a few days earlier. The apartment has everything but a phone. So, I figured, I needed a phone. Well, my friend had some influence in that decision but that's not the point.

When I received the phone from the sales representative, I found something odd was happening � I was out of pockets! It might be just a problem of the uglier sex; I don�t know about the fairer one. I don�t think girls have pockets at all, all the time; or at most maybe just two pockets, most of the time. No pocket. It must be sucked to be a girl-wearing-dress. Boy, it's hard to not to digress.

Anyway, moments after that awkward moment, I realized that I had with me too many gadgets. I usually bring a couple electronics with me and in the future, I would probably carry more along � laptop, PDA, crab, crap � all the stuff that I plan to purchase soon. Hence, this crisis of the pockets hits hard on me.

Why this is a crisis?

Imagine this - increasing demand for pockets with a constant supply of it. This could only mean one thing - shortage of pockets! I should be paying for more pockets. Heck, I should kill for more pockets!

I�ve come to one conclusion � I need cargo pants and a small bag for future cool gadgets. Pant with three pockets is obsolete. Demanding to wear a three-pocket pant in the light of increasing number of fun stuff is bad. Actually, it's not too bad stuffing all in that three pockets. It is uncomfortable nevertheless.

I need a pocket subsidy to finance my more-pocket plan. But of course, there is no such thing as a pocket subsidy, or is it? If there is, I should well damn take it. If those people back in Malaysia can have their oil subsidy, I want my pocket subsidy too!

Exactly a year ago, Paul Krugman wrote an article entitled The Oil Cunch. He started off with:

Before the start of the Iraq war his media empire did so much to promote, Rupert Murdoch explained the payoff: "The greatest thing to come out of this for the world economy, if you could put it that way, would be $20 a barrel for oil." Crude oil prices in New York rose to almost $40 a barrel yesterday, a 13-year high.

Rose almost to $40 per barrel; about a year later, it is hovering more or less above the $50 per barrel benchmark. There was a time when lots of people thought $50 per barrel has too much fantasy in it. Now, nobody dare to question the $60 level too much.

The Economist latest edition has oil has its main focus. From one of its articles, it is clear than the team at The Economist doesn�t approve the plan to drill ANWR. The magazine bills such action as �This is mad�, or was it �This is madness�.

I agree so much that this is madness. Drilling the nature reserve in Alaska won�t alleviate the current crisis. The drilling return on investment won�t come immediately and by the time the extraction hit full speed, given the increasing global demand and little sign of slowing demand in the near future, oil from ANWR won�t be able to make a noticeable impact. It won�t make a lasting impact at all.

Believing the act of opening ANWR would relax the oil price is similar to believing one is Superman; able to stop a speeding bullet train by standing in the middle of the track, head to head.

The only solution is renewable energy. Or nuclear. We need to act now. Oil won�t last forever; renewable will.

p/s � I�ve come to a conclusion that The Economist is environmentally-friendly.

pp/s - can you feel it?


Because I do.

I found out last week that the Alumni Memorial Hall, which houses the University of Michigan Art Museum, is set to undergo a renovation in 2006. According to the project description, the renovation will increase the museum space to more than double.

My take � I sort of hate it but at the same time, the plan looks daring, much like the pyramid at the Louvre. The Art Museum has Roman feeling to it and the plan includes a modern design. There is a model of what the Art Museum would look like after completion in the building lobby.


Despite my possible reservation of what I'd call a clash of the temporal dimension, the plan would probably do lots of good to the area. From my understanding of the building style, passersby would be able to see what's going on inside the Museum, or at least inside the proposed extension, from the outside. It would give a feeling of openness to the building.

Anyway, somebody donated 5 million dollar to the Museum for renovation purpose.


Too much money � that�s all I could say when I first saw it. At least, it is for a good purpose.

Lastly, in the Museum, there is this one huge painting - hung on a wall, needless to say - which nothing drawn on the canvas. Just a huge frame, colored with purple painted on it. I stood in front of the painting, trying to figure out what the "work of art" is all about for a moment or two. After that, I asked myself, "why am I staring at a blank framed purple-painted canvas?"

I appreciate art, but what I did is stupidity at its best.

It's an end of an era; blurgh; clich�; but hey, so sue me.


Caught this while I was freezing to death, sitting right next to a nice girl from nursing school. I'd suppose, being freezed to death encourages conversation.

Aha! Should the temperature in Ann Arbor or anywhere else drops to sub-zero all over again, I'll sit right beside a pretty girl and test this stupid theory of mine.

But seriously, a few days ago, Bob Hunter passed away. He was the founder of Greenpeace and more importantly, he was one of the few people that actually changed how environmentalism works.

Bless him. Thanks to Boris, again, for emailing the news to me.

And hurrah for the yellow and blue.