YEONPYEONG ISLAND, South Korea (AFP) – North Korea forswore retaliation against a South Korean live-fire drill and held out an olive branch over its nuclear drive, raising hopes for an easing to the region’s worst crisis in years.

The communist state said it “did not feel any need to retaliate against every despicable military provocation”, despite previously vowing a deadly riposte to the South’s drill on the border island of Yeonpyeong

According to news.yahoo.com

SHANGHAI – Communities in central and northern China are facing power cuts and rationing as winter coal supplies fall short of surging demand.

Cold weather and transport disruptions typically cause shortages most years, but the problem has been complicated by coal producers’ unhappiness over price controls that are crimping their profits.

The disruptions to supply appear to be worst in major coal producing regions such as Henan, where 40 percent of coal-fired power plants had fuel reserves equivalent to no more than three days of demand, according to a report on the State Grid’s website.

According to startribune.com

TOKYO – Asian stock markets rose Tuesday as tensions on the Korean peninsula eased a few notches.

Investors spent the previous day worried about possible North Korean retaliation against South Korean military drills on a frontline island that was shelled by the North last month.

Instead, Pyongyang backed off threats to strike back and reportedly offered concessions on its nuclear program.

All of the above are result of North Korea backing off any military retaliation in event of South Korea conducting of military exercises.

I think either China had finally pressured North Korea down or given North Korea sufficient aid to “calm down” while both country now suffer one of the harshest winters in the coming days.

Could this event is a simple begging for humanitarian aid by bad boy North Korea using the usual hostage situation to blackmail the region into negotiation & resume more “6 party talk” which may means exchanging of food for nuclear disarmament.

However, if China & South Korea cannot help North Korea in the future…due to unforeseen circumstances…will North Korea really carry out their threats?

Let’s pray they will not, politics & the strategy of conflict negotiation is a very complex chess game that not many countries can decipher North Korea’s next move.

With end of current five-year plan looming, many regions are desperately pulling the plug to meet usage targets

Anping County, in Hebei Province, cut electricity to homes, factories and public buildings for 22 hours every three days in a radical move that has highlighted both the serious last-minute effort that China is making to achieve environmental goals and the immense long-term difficulty of shifting away from a dirty, wasteful model of economic growth.

What are affected by the blackout in Anping County?

1. Two Hospitals
2. One set of traffic lights
3. Tens of thousands of households

There are less than four months left until the end of China’s current five-year plan, during which the economy is supposed to have become 20% more energy efficient.

This means more rolling blackouts may come soon for the worst performance county in China.

My friends are telling me this article as if the world had gone crazy but there are pros & cons to this decisions by China top leadership.

Pros

1. Citizens can get use to rolling blackouts and many may start installing renewable energy installation to prevent these blackouts.
2. Meet China’s target of increasing power efficiency but in a very dangerous way boosting their GDP.

Cons

1. Decreasing productivity work during the black out
2. Increasing in crimes at darker nights
3. food storage will need overhaul as fridge becomes unreliable
4. Millions in lost revenues in spoiled goods in supermarkets, perishable food industry and stalls.
5. More people to start doing things that human do during black out resulting in a baby boom.
6. Angry citizens
7. Potentially dangerous for vehicles to travel in the dark.

This should not be followed by other countries as it’s potentially dangerous especially in mega-cities when electricity may be one of their main support of their jobs that supplement their income.

For technological world, that’s a disaster waiting to happen.

However, if with proper planning & execution…this blackout can means a opportunity to change China into the first country that can partially self sustain themselves.

I do ask around what people will do during this Earth Hour self controlled blackout…and the result is the list below.

1. Send A Twitter Message “Commencing Earth Hour Blackout 3…2…1…” to all Twitter linked applications.
2. Join the Earth Hour Concert In the Dark 7pm to 10pm if you are in Singapore.
3. Gather around with friends indoor at the most windy spot to tell Ghost Stories!
4. Light all the scented candles, then let loose!
5. Open All Windows & Doors (not the grills) and let the wind pass through the whole house
6. 1 Hours before Earth Hour, SMS or Email Everyone to remind them of the countdown.
7. BUY NOW Glow in the dark T-Shirt and wear during the Earth Hour…(Remember to shine light on it first)
8. Battery Powered Aquarium Bubble Generator to avoid dead fish.
9. Go out of your house and get to know your neighbors.
10. Candle Light Dinner with Love ones
11. Scented Bed Sex for ONE FULL HOUR in total darkness.
12. Soak in bubble bathtub with facial mask on, with a candle.
13. Sleep!
14. Set a verbal discussion about the future with your friends, family or love ones.
15. Dance Naked in Darkness
16. Use manual hand held fans & Torches to do your homework (sucks).
17. Use hand cranked radio for music
18. Solar Charged LED lights for moving around the house
19. Listen to Neighbors talking if nearby
20. Go around the area with Earth Hour pamphlet (few hours before it happen)
21. Go Sell Earth Hour T-Shirt, Hand Crank Torch/Radio, Candles, Shopping List.
22. Get enough bottle plain water or mineral water for the whole family.
23. Drinking session in the dark!!
24. Set up a small tent inside the house and pretend to be in the wilderness.
25. Go camping in the wilderness.
26. Teach your kids during this hour why Earth is changing climate & the fossil fuel problems that will cause to their future (Research more)
27. Pray to God for 1 full hour with your cell group
28. Sing a song without the music.
29. Play with your iPhone/iPod/PSP/netbook until the battery goes flat (and find ideas how to charge it without electricity from the grid)
30. Yoga in darkness
31. Exercise in nude?
32. Meditate in the dark
33. Visit places that had pledged to switch of all their lights for Earth Hour (don’t bring valuables).
34. Gather all available friends with candles inside lanterns to go round the neighborhoods in Earth Hour T-Shirts.
35. Go to the sea side and listen to the waves in darkness!

Do email me or comment below for what WILL YOU DO during Earth Hour to contribute to the awareness of saving mother Earth (actually our own asses from self destruction!).

The electricity tariff is coming down for the second straight quarter.

For the period of April 1 to June 30, it will be reduced by 21.37 per cent or 4.9 cents to 18.03 cents per kWh. This is the lowest rate in four years, since April 2005.

The tariff is currently at 22.93 cents per kWh for January to March 2009.

SP Services said the reduction is largely due to lower fuel oil prices.

The electricity tariff is reviewed quarterly and adjusted in line with the changes in the cost of electricity.

- Currently, the Singapore household are being charged using regulated tariff that changes every 3 months.

Many do not know that there might be a chance that we will be using a new pricing methods in the future after Singapore electricity market gets fully liberalized, that may be sometime in the future….but it will be more volatile using the future pricing methods that changes every 30 minutes.

Pray hard it will not come soon as any changes of oil prices in the future will means immediate price flucutation and bigger impacts…(For people staying in Singapore)