Badminton: Front Attack

Here I will show some videos where I am stationed at the front for a double match.


Shifting from front to side depending on the situation



Watching out for net play and return



Waiting for opponents to make a mistake for the in front of the net



Watch how I dodge the attack in front of the net.

Rice Shipment to Sibu

Wonder where Siburian get their rice supply? As the news of shortage of rice is not new in our country, one might wonder where we got our rice from.

From the past few weeks and months I had been noticing some foreign vessels discharging rice to Sibu port. Just recently there were a few Vietnamese ships calling at Sibu port. The cargo were rice.

My guess is that the rice could have been imported from Thailand or Vietnam itself. Strangely enough, there is no Malaysian vessel carrying the rice to our place. Few weeks ago, I noted a North Korean registered vessel unloading the rice here also some time ago. Most of the ships carrying rice will usually at the port around 4-7 days for the discharging process. So, one can imagine the amount of rice these ships carried.

These ships do not have onboard its own cargo gear and hence a shore crane was needed to offload their cargo.

I am no expert in rice but I not sure if this is a quality rice. There had been complaints around here that the rice available in the market here are of poor quality rice.

This is a packet of rice found in our stores here. It kind of confirms my earlier prediction that the rice is from Vietnam

Bonsai

Just to share some of my Bonsai photos at my home. All of these plants are the effort by my parents.

I not sure what plant this is but sure is beautiful

VENOM: Switchblade

VENOM stands for Very Evil Network of Mayhem, the nemesis for the MASK team. VENOM is leaded by an evil leader, Miles Mayhem.

Miles Mayhem main vehicle is called Switchblade, a helicopter that changes to airplane. For all MASK toys, there are 2 types of box packaging, the US version and the European version. This is a MISB Switchblade which I acquired through e-bay few years ago.

Here is the US version box of Switchblade with its description and weapon specification. The US version box fetch higher value as its appearance is more attractive and the specification of the vehicle and the mask are well illustrated.

The European version is a bit lame as can be seen. The weapon specification is clearly lacking. Even there is no description of the Miles Mayhem's mask power.

This is my switchblade bought few years ago from e-bay form a guy in the UK. Note: I basically got 2 Switchblade. This and another one in MISB box. There is no missing parts. It consists of a Swtichblade unit, Miles Mayhem's figure, Viper Mask and a missile.



Sleek helicopter quickly converts to lethal pursuit airplane



and back!

The instruction manual for Switchblade from Kenner

This is Switchblade in helicopter mode at different angles

This is Switchblade in helicopter mode with all its weapon system revealed.

Here is switchblade in airplane mode. The VENOM insignia can be seen in the airplane mode.

Missile is hidden under fuselage. There is a wording here. The toy was manufactured by Kenner in Taiwan on 1985.

Landing skids snap up to become wing mounted energy launchers

Dual laser canons near the cockpit

View of the cockpit area

Miles Mayhem figure and his Viper Mask. Viper mask spit a corrosive poison

This is another variant which I modified from Switchblade. One will not see this in the cartoon series or in comic. Basically, I just lifted the landing skids in helicopter mode to give it a more evil look in helicopter mode.

Overall, Switchblade is really nice. It look mean in both helicopter and airplane mode. Probably one of the most powerful vehicle for the VENOM

Waterworld

Flood affected Sibu yet again yesterday. I did not realize this until my lunch time when I passed through Jalan Bako, near Ngiu Kee.

This are the view of a section at Jalan Bako which is flooded. Notice the water is brownish, meaning that it is water from our Rejang River.

Realizing some of the low lying areas might be affected, I cycle to some of these areas after work to check it out and indeed most of those areas were flooded.


I check areas around Nanyang Garden, some parts of Oya Road, Belian Road, Tong Sang Road and Kapor Road and one can see for yourself the flood and the water level. This is still not yet considered serious if flood situation from previous year is taken into account. I will regard this as minor flood only. So, one can imagine what is it like when there is a major flood here.

The main reason for the flood is that the river bed is now shallow as the government do not want to dredge it. Hence the river overflow when there is a king tide or heavy downpour to the drainage system and causing this flood. This problem been around for years without any effective corrective actions.

MASK: Thunder Hawk

For those born in the late 1970s and 1980s, one should be familiar with the cartoon series M.A.S.K, aired around 1985-1987. M.A.S.K stands for Mobile Armour Strike Kommand with the tagline "Illusion is the ultimate weapon". I wonder if they plan to make a movie out of it but I'm indeed interested if there is enough sponosrs. I can be the director, actor and etc.

I have a large collection of MASK toys. Some I kept it back when I was a kid and some I purchased in e-bay few years ago. One of the most recognised vehicle is Thunder Hawk, the vehicle used by MASK leader, Matt Trakker. This Thunder Hawk box is MISB (Mint in Sealed Box). I got this through e-bay few years back as my collection as I am sure it will fetch higher value in the future. There will be someone out there dying to get a hold of this MISB Thunder Hawk. Back when I was a kid, I purchased a Thunder Hawk for only RM45 from a store at Kuching Plaza.

A round tour at the box where the vehicle weapon specification is well illustrated as well as the mask power.

This is the Thunder Hawk which I purchased when I was a kid. It still been maintained in good conditioned without any missing parts. It consists of the Camaro, 2 stuns bomb, Matt Trakker figure and Spectrum Mask



Thunder Hawk changes from Camaro sport car to fighter jet



and back!

The instruction manual from Kenner

Here is Thunder Hawk in Camaro mode taken at different angles

The Camaro quickly transforms into fighter jet with gull wing doors and infrared wing blaster

Rear stabilizer and dual jet thrusters. MASK insignia can be found here

2 powerful stun bombs under the fuselage. Also found here is the wordings found near the thruster regarding the manufacturer of this toy, which is Kenner in 1985. The toy is made in Hong Kong. This Thunder hawk is now 23 years old.

To release the stun bombs, push one of the dual jet thrusters

Thunder Hawk cocpit area

Matt Trakker, the heroic leader and his mask. The Spectrum mask create high frequency radio intereference. In the cartoon, the Spectrum mask also help Matt to hang glide, seeing through solid object, used as laser and copy wide spectrum of radio frequencies. Definitely a multi purpose mask indeed and I regard Spectrum mask as the most powerful mask in the series.

Matt Trakker in the Thunder Hawk

This is definitely a must have toy for the MASK fan out there. It is good looking and easy to operate. Most importantly, it is the vehicle of the MASK leader, Matt Trakker