Singapore celebrates Deepavali with fantastic light-up

Deepavali, or Diwali, literally means " row or garland of lights" - is celebrated by Hindus worldwide on Monday 27th October 2008.
It symbolises the victory of Lord Krishna, one of the deities of the Hindu pantheon, over the demon king Narakasura, a victory of good over evil.

Hindus believe that departed souls return during this time, so their favourite food, along with new clothes, are placed on banana leaves before their photographs, and prayers are said.

Weeks before Deepavali, preparations for the celebration such as spring cleaning of the home, buying new clothes are carried out. The women will beautify their hands by painting with the intricate designs of mehndi, also known as henna. The women also make cakes and other tidbits - the most popular and favourite being murukku.

Hindus celebrate the day with an early morning traditional oil bath. The gingelly oil is extracted from fermented sesame seeds. Visiting the temple to receive the blessings of Lord Krshna and the Goddess of Wealth is also part of the ways to celebrate Deepavali.

If you have the opportunity to drop by at Little India in Singapore, you will definitely able to soak yourself in the Spirit of Celebration of Deepavali.

Let's hear from you, how other Hindus celebrate Deepavali in other parts of the World.

Last Titanic survivor, Milivina Dean, 95, selling mementos

WHO is the last living survivor of the tragic event - sinking RMS TITANIC - that hit the iceberg on the night of April 14,1912. It did not have enough lifeboats for all 2,200 passengers and crew, and only 700 people - mostly women and children - survived. Milivina Dean, the last living survivor was just two months old, was among the 700 people. She was wrapped and lowered into a lifeboat from the deck of the sinking RMS Titanic.

Now, more than 95 years later, is hoping to help pay her nursing home fees by selling artefacts of her rescue - a suitcase and other mementos expected to auction.

The suitcase and other mementose are to be sold today ( Oct 18,2008) in London at an auction organised by Henry Aldridge & Son. which specialises in Titanic ememorabilia. Last year, a collection of items belonging to Ms Lilian Aspund, the last American survivor of the disaster, sold for more than GBP 100k.

Singapore will go 3-D on Google

Wow ! Wow! Singapore will the 5th country after the United States, Australia, Japan and France to be featured on Street View.

Lately, some Singaporeans may have spotted cars jetting around town with four cameras mounted on the roof and the word "Google" emblazoned on the side. The vehicles are part of a project to put Singapore on the virtual map. Google Street View, which is 3-D that combines thousands of photos to create a panoramic view of a city.

Are you not excited ? I am. See what others are talking and excited about:
1) It is perfect for people who can't read maps, it offers a real, ground perspective of how to get to a place.
2) It will allow users to search for places, such as resturant, for example, and view it as if they were standing at the front door. Isn't it exciting?
3) Small business owners are also excited. Especially for those located at street level. Users can walk their way to their shops/cafe online.
4) The whole World can also have a view by a search in Google. This allow tourist to preview restuarants, hotels, tourist attraction and public events before arriving in Singapore.

According to Google, this project is scheduled to be finished in a few months.
Very soon you and I and the whole World will be able to view Singapore, akin to someone standing on the street and taking a snapshot.
Isn't this COOL ?

Looking forward to your comments.

Singapore is 5th Most Competitive economy

Found this articles in The Straits Times on 9 Oct 2008. According to the articles, in the annual survey released in the World Economic Forum(WEF) on 8 October 2008, few things has shown up :

1) The most competitive Asian economy, Japan, had dropped to ninth from eighth spot
2) Singapore overtook Japan, only last year, has climbed two notches to fifth place
3) Perennial business rival Hong Kong improved one place to 11th.
4) This annual ranking polled a record 12,297 business leaders in 134 economies.
5) Economies were assessed according to 12 "pillars" of competitiveness, ranging from infrastructure and macroeconomic stability, to business sophistication and innovation.
6) Singapore's improved ranking - strong institutional environment. strengthening all aspects of the institutional framework.
7) Singapore's best ranking - all economies :
a) Public trust of politicians
b) wastefulness of government spending
c) burden of government policymaking.
d) Top 2 countries - efficiency of all markets - goods,labour and financial.
e) Singapore has world-class infrastructure - its port and transport facilities.
f) Other indicators - Singapore also scored higher, such as higher education and training and technological readiness

The flipside, Singapore is constrained by :
a) its small domestic market,ranked 50th
b) Mixed performance in the macroeconomic stability pillar, interest rate spread and government debt - 12th
c) Inflation as one of the biggest bugbear for doing business in Singapore.

Other considerations in reading this survey, such as :
a) the survey was conducted between Jan and May this year, which means that the index does not reflect the worsening global crisis - US retained its position as 1st
However, the index aimed to take a longer-term view. US is endorsed with many structural features, strong footing for business cycle shifts and economic shocks. On that basis, the US ranking was still justifiable.
b) Northern European countries, Switzerland, Denmark and Sweden, rounding off an unchanged top listing.