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Davies McDonalds Happy Meal Project

2010-10-18T18:26:00.001-07:00

The whole world is talking about Sally Davies's photos about this popular McDonald Happy Meal. Mrs Davies, 54, had purchased this McDonalds Happy Meal from McDonald on April 10, 2010 and posted her pictures to Flickr and have been photographing for the past 6 months.

Take a look at : http://www.flickr.com/photos/sallydavies/sets/72157624739645253/

Placed on her coffee table with nothing covering it. According to the reports and photos, the Meal looks almost as fresh as the day it was bought with no sign of decomposing after SIX MONTHS.

Without any sign of mould or decay ? According to her, it no longer emit any smell on day two of her experiment and her dogs stopped circling and sniffing around the Happy Meals.

Many had responded to Yahoo! Answers on this Happy Meal.
Will you still eat this Happy Meals ? What is your response and view ?
We welcome to share your view with us.

Facebook and Mark Elliot Zuckerberg

2010-08-18T04:25:00.000-07:00

Mark Elliot Zuckerberg,a Harvard sophomore,is the youngest billionaire in the world,as at March 2010. Do you know what is his net worth ? US4 billion, yes, ie 24% share of Facebook. Wow, so how old is he ? Born May 14, 1984.

Facebook,founded in 2004, apparently the world's largest social-networking site now has 500 million members and a valuation of $10 billion, according to some reports. Facebook is cementing itself as the leader and often displacing other social networks,MySpace and Friendster

Who are the investors in Facebook ? Paypal co-founder Peter Thiel,Accel Partners, and Greylock Partners. Microsoft took a 1.6%, which is $246 million in 2007. Hong Kong billionaire, Li Ka-shing also made a large investment too. Interested to buy over. we have Yahoo! and Google, but Mark Zuckerberg apparently has rejected that Facebook is not for sale.

Interested to find out how to search Facebook by location ?
http://www.ehow.com/how_4818870_search-facebook-location.html

Double helix bridge at Marina Bay

2010-06-17T08:44:00.000-07:00

The Helix Bridge ( Chinese :螺旋桥), previously known as the Double Helix Bridge (Chinese : 双螺旋桥) is one magnificent structure was officially opened on April 23, 2010 at 9 pm. It is the world's first double helix curved bridge. It is located beside the Benjamin Sheares Bridge.

The Helix Bridge is to link up the Marina Bay precinct, from Esplanade, to the Marina Bay Sands integrated resort.

This 280-metre long new iconic pedestrian bridge,assembled with great precision, using a special stainless steel to withstand corrosion. It includes a computer-controlled lighting system to set the mood.

It is made up of a major and minor steel helix that wing around each other. If the steel was stretched out straight end to end, it would have a length of 2,250 meters and the entire structure weighs about 1,700 tons equivalent to about 1,130 saloon cars.

The pedestrian bridge, just beside Marina Bay floating platform - world's largest floating stage and is chosen to hold the opening and closing ceremonies of the inaugural 2010 Summer Youth Olypmics in August - further help to transform Singapore's city landscape to another level.

At night, the bridge will be illuminated by a series of lights that highlight the double-helix structure, thereby creating a special visual experience for the visitors.

It will probably take less than five minutes to walk the entire length of the bridge. While doing so, one will be able to admire the city skyline and the entire structure of the bridge.

How to go to the Helix Bridge?

Nearest MRT station: Promenade MRT Station (just opened on 17 April 2010)

Getting to know Hokkaido

2010-06-03T09:11:00.000-07:00

Japan is an archipelago of 6,852 islands.The four largest
islands together accounting for 97% of Japan's land area. They
are : Honshū, Hokkaidō, Kyūshū & Shikoku.

Japan is separated from the east coast of Asia by the Sea of
Japan. Most of the islands are mountainous, many volcanic; for
example, Japan’s highest peak, Mount Fuji, is a volcano. Japan has the world's tenth-largest population, with over 128 million people. The Greater Tokyo Area, which includes the de facto
capital city of Tokyo and several surrounding prefectures, is the largest metropolitan area in the world, with over 30 million residents.

Recently, we have the chance to take a short trip and visited Hokkaido. Will take this opportunity to find out more about the island.

Hokkaidō - 北海道, literally "North Sea Circuit", is Japan's second largest island, northernmost and least developed of Japan's four main islands. The largest city on Hokkaidō is its capital, Sapporo. It has a population of 1.8 million, is the administrative and economic center of Hokkaido. It is the largest city north of Tokyo, and about a third of all Hokkaidō residents live there. Sapporo became a household name in 1972 when it held the Winter Olympic Games.

Hokkaido's weather is harsh in winter with lots of snowfall, below zero temperatures and frozen seas, while in summer, it does not get as hot and humid as in the other parts of the country.

With its unspoiled nature, Hokkaido attracts many outdoor lovers, including skiers and snowboarders in the colder seasons and hikers, cyclists and campers from June to September.

Home to Japan's aboriginal Ainu race, Hokkaido continues to represent the untamed wilderness with many great national parks.

Asahikawa, the coldest city in Japan & Noboribetsu Onsen is Hokkaido's most famous hot spring resort.

Japanese sometimes feel that Hokkaidō is not really Japan, although it belongs to it. Even food is different. Here, people eat lamb (a popular dish is called "Genghis Khan"), which most other Japanese never do.

Hokkaidō has however become indispensable to the Japanese economy and even culture. Most of Japan's milk and dairy products come from Hokkaido. Japan's first beer brewery (Sapporo) is also from Hokkaido, and is still one of the country's most popular.

We also visited Lake Toya (Toyako) which is part of the Shikotsu-Toya National Park. In addition to the lake itself, the Toyako region features hot springs and an active volcano, Mount Usu, which last erupted in the year 2000. The area also offers many fishing, hiking, and camping opportunities.

What are your thoughts about retirement

2010-05-12T09:34:00.000-07:00

After the stock-market debacle,the challenge of retirement seem hit uncomfortably close to home. Time to re-think about your retirement plan and check your assumption again. So how do you realize your retirement goals?

What are your thoughts about retirement ?

* Do I want to retire?
* How do I want to spend my time in retirement?
* How will I handle not having to go to work?
* How much will I miss the social contacts and friends at work?
* Will my friends also be retired?
* How much income will I need in retirement?
* Am I psychologically ready to retire?
* Should I consider semi-retirement or a second career?
* What impact will my retirement have on my family?
* What if I don't retire and instead keep on working like I am now?
* Will I have to get a part-time job to make ends meet?

Let take a look at some of the quotes on retirement :

1) A time to do what you want to do, when you want to do it, where you want to do it, and, how you want to do it."
Catherine Pulsifer

2) Is the beginning and not the end.

3) Retirement is when the living is easy and the payments are hard.

4) Retirement: World’s longest coffee break.

5) The challenge of retirement is how to spend time without spending money.

6) Retirement is not at what age but at what income level.

7) Retirement is wonderful if you have two essentials - much to live on and much to live for.

Share your views on how you would plan your retirement. We welcome your comments here.

Singapore Ageing population

2010-04-22T08:55:00.000-07:00

Singapore has one of the fastest aging populations in the world, with over 65-year-olds estimated by 2030 to represent 23% of the population, the second highest percentage in Asia lagging behind only Japan. If current demographic trends hold, the island state's median age will rise from 36 presently to 41 by 2030.

Silver tsunami - referred to the Baby-Boomer generation, those 76,000,000 persons who would begin celebrating their 60th birthdays in 2006.

Baby-Boomers are unlike their parents and grandparents in the following ways:

* Achieving higher levels of education with different quality of life expectations.
* Hold worldviews vastly different.
* Not experienced the same struggles and suffering of the Second World War and Great Depression as their parents and grandparents did.
* Living Longer and have greater physical health.
* Able to take better care of themselves, physcially and financially, less in poverty.
* With high disposal income.

Singapore government has long enforced individual savings through the mandatory Central Provident Fund (CPF). More recently the government has also announced plans to pass a so-called Re-exmployment Act, which will take effect in 2012 and extend the standard retirement age from 62 to 65.

With the growing number of senior citizens and cash-strapped children who are unwilling or unable to shoulder the burden, what are some of the solutions to our ageing population ?

Is ageing population, a looming time bomb for Asia or can be repackaged as a business opportunity ?

The inaugural annual CEO-level conference, Ageing Asia Investment Forum (AAIF) the first conference in Asia, held in Singapore on 5 & 6 April at Pan Pacific Hotel. They included business and government leaders from the Netherlands, USA, China, India, Philippines, Australia, New Zealand, Thailand and Malalysia.

It focused on key growth industries - Property, Nursing, Healthcare, Wellness, Finance and Investment. By 2050, the number of people in Asia above 60 years of age is expected to be
1.2 billion, four times higher than Europe and the United States, combined. In Asia-Pacific, baby boomer consumers control an estimated wealth of us$11.3 trillion, 35% of the total.

That prospect has led to rapid job creation in the health and social service sectors. Property developers are also cashing in by building multimillion-dollar integrated retirement villages and private residences catering to the needs of the elderly.

What are your visions on your retirement plans ? Share your comments with us.
Photo extracted from Straits Times article 6/4/2010 -Riding on silver tsunami.

Singapore Circle Line another 11 stations opened

2010-04-18T07:08:00.000-07:00

At last the long awaited opening of the Circle Line's (CCL) 11 new MRT stations opened on Saturday, 17 April 2010, joining the 5 stations - Marymount to Bartley - which were opened on 28 May 2009. This is part of the 29-station line, 33.3 km long.

These 11 stations, Tai Seng - Dhoby Ghaut, opened to much fanfare. From now,catching a concert at the Esplanade, support your favourite football team at the National Studium, and shop at Plaza Singapura is just a train-ride away from one another and linking these parts of town to the suburbs.

A summary of the 11 stations are :
1) Dhoby Ghaut station
2) Bras Basah station
3) Esplanade station
4) Promenade station
5) Nicoll Highway station
6) Tai Seng station
7) Stadium station
8) Mountbatten station
9) Dakota station
10) Paya Lebar station
11) MacPherson station

As at 8pm Saturday, SMRT had a ridership of some 220,000. Over at the Stadium Station, we
had the Taiwanese pop band SHE event and Taiwanese rock band Mayday's concerts.

Before the opening of Stadium Station, concert-goers had to go to the Kallang MRT Station, transfer to a bus or walk to reach the Singapore Indoor Stadium. With the opening of Stadium Station, which is withing walking distance to the one of Singapore's most popular concert venues. Cheers to all concert-goers.

1) The Dhoby Ghaut and Paya Lebar interchange stations will allow commuters who are travelling to and from the east, north and north-east to bypass City Hall and Raffles Place.

a) Paya Lebar to Bishan, 17 minutes instead of current 35 minutes.
b) Kovan to Suntec City, 26 minutes instead of current 40 minutes.

The original budget of $6.7 billion was busted after a tunnel near Nicoll Highway collapsed in 2004, killing four workers. Since then, all underground works had to be made far more robust and changes made for some stations. Also with the increasing cost of raw materials like sand, concrete and steel from year 2007, it definitely has pushed the cost up. What is your guess of the cost of the entire project may reach, $10 billions ?

The Circle Line Stage 3 that connects Bishan on the North-South Line and Serangoon station on the NEL was opened for revenue service on 28 May 2009. More stations on the Circle Line such as the Thomson and West Coast Stations will be opened subsequently to enhance the reach and connectivity of the Circle Line, and allow more people to benefit from the MRT. The remaining stretch of the line will open some time next year, he said. It lies in the northwestern and western parts of Singapore, with stations at places such as Holland Village, Botanic Gardens and the National University of Singapore.

To enhance the accessibility of the Marina Bay area to the rest of the island, LTA will also build and open the Marina Bay station as part of the CCL extension beyond Bayfront station in 2012.

Alkaff Mansion for public tender in Singpaore

2010-04-11T06:51:00.000-07:00

Sitting majestically atop Mount Faber, The Alkaff Mansion was built in 1918 by a wealthy trader and philantropist,named Syed Abdul Rahman Alkaff who came to Singapore from Yemen. It was one of Singapore's more expensive and elegant resturant, offering international cuisine and an Indonesian-Dutch Rijsttafel buffet. It was located on Bukit Jagoh (the old name for Telok Blangah Hill) and was also known as Mount Washington. The house sits along the Mount Faber Ridge and had a commanding a panoramic view of Singapore Harbour.
1) The Alkaff Mansion was sold after World War II.
2) In 1986 the Singapore Tourist Promotion Board restored it to become a restaurant.
3) In 2003, the restaurant ceased operation again due to economics reason.

Alkaff Mansion is located at 10 Telok Blangah Green, Singapore 109178.

The property has a land area of 96,699 sq ft and a gross floor area of 13,142 sq ft. An outdoor refreshment area (up to 969 sq ft) may be allowed subject to evaluation Singapore Land Authority (SLA) has launched a tender to lease out the property, which has conservation status, for the following uses - food & beverage/ restaurant, art gallery, wellness/spa facilities and museum. The guide rent is $28,100 per month and SLA will issue an initial tenancy term of three years, renewable for a further two terms of three years each.

Take a look at the first 3 highest value bidders :
1) The two-month-old company,LES, topped the tender with a monthly rent offer of $79,251,

which is about three times the SLA's monthly guide rent of $28,100.

2) The second-highest bidder is listed Fragrance Group, with a monthly rent offer of $41,300.

3) The third-highest bidder is Bakerzin Holdings with a monthly rent offer of $36,380.

The two-storey property is said to have been left vacant since former tenant Hotel Properties Ltd returned it to Singapore Tourism Board (STB) in 2004, when its 15-year lease expired.

The tender closes at 11 am on April 6. Bids will be evaluated on tender price, concept and proposed uses, among other factors.

What is your opinions on how bids will be evaluated ? Should you prefer the SLA selects the

bidder that offers the highest rent, or SLA should choose the operator with the best concept
or product ?

Do let us have your comments here. Most welcome to comment.
Photo extracted fr ST PHOTO: DESMOND LIM

First made-in-Singapore satellite launching soon

2010-04-01T22:59:00.000-07:00

Singapore is ready to head to space with the country's first satellite built from scratch. With the launch of the 120kg satellite, Singapore is believed to be the first Southeast Asian country that will have its own locally built satellite in space.

Work began as early as nine years ago.The estimated cost of the satellite is about 40 million Singapore dollars (about US$29 million. X-Sat, a micro-satellite about the size of a refrigerator will be expected to launch in June or July 2010 from India's Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Andhra Pradesh, 100km north of Chennai.

The X-Sat, expected to spend three years in orbit at a height of 800 km, will take photos to measure soil erosion and monitor environmental changes, the communications systems on the satellite will also be able to relay information from sensors to a ground station at NTU, according to articles in ST 29 March 2010.

Other countries like China, US and Isreael, with more established space programmes has launched more sophisticated satellites weighing between 500kg and 1,000kg every year. These include spy and communications satellites by military agencies.

While the X-Sat is small, it is still a credible effort by Singapore.The fact that not many countries in the world have this capability to build their own imaging and communications satellite,is an achievement to Singapore.

AIG and Prudential on possible merger

2010-03-18T08:24:00.000-07:00

AIG, which is nearly 80 percent owned by the U.S. government and is trying to pay back taxpayers after a $182.3 billion bailout, had been planning an initial public offering for AIA in Hong Kong, when Prudential jumped in with an offer.

Lately the latest news that Britain's largest insurer, Prudential plc confirmed that it has reached an agreement to merge with AIA Group, the Asian life insurance business wholly owned by American International Group (AIG).

On March 1 2010, AIG agreed to sell AIA to Prudential for US$35.5 billion (S$50 billion), comprising US$25 billion in cash, and US$10.5 billion in shares and other securities.

Prudential arranged with Credit Suisse, HSBC and JP Morgan Cazenove to underwrite a US$20 billion rights issue of shares and US$5 billion of senior debt to raise the US$25 billion in cash. Prudential agreed to pay AIG a break fee of & pound 153 million (S$322 million) if it failed to complete the purchase within 12 months.

The merger, which ranks as the largest insurance M&A ever, will create a life insurance powerhouse in Asia with more than 20 million customers and businesses in 15 countries. It will also provide AIG with much needed cash as it strives to repay the $182.3 billion.

Now a bit of the history,American International Assurance (AIA),founded in 1919, is the Asian insurance business of American International Group (AIG). AIA is a major player in 15 Asian markets, with 23 million policies in force for more than 10 million customers and a sales force of 320,000 agents.

Faced with financial difficulties, AIG had planned to divest AIA through an initial public offering (IPO) of shares in the company on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. However, British insurer Prudential pre-empted the IPO.

In a statement to the London Stock Exchange announcing the acquisition, Prudential remarked that the combination of AIA and Prudential would be 'the leading life insurer in Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Vietnam, Thailand and the Philippines'.

It would be one of the largest overseas deals to date for a British firm and make Prudential one of the biggest insurers in Asia.

For Prudential, one of the key benefits is to establish itself as an industry leader in seven Asian markets. In Singapore, the combined company would be responsible for 28 per cent of all non-investment-linked life insurance policies in force. It would command an even larger share, 59 per cent, of all investment-linked life insurance policies in force. The market share of the combined company in new policies would be similar.

To show how important is this merger, soon after the agreement, Prudential chief executive officer (CEO) Tidjane Thiam made a flying visit to the region with AIG chief Robert Benmosche. Together, they met staff and agents to reassure them of their future with the combined company. In Singapore, about 800 staff and agents attended a town hall-style meeting at Suntec City with the two CEOs. Apparently, Mr Benmosche and Mr Thiam also met government regulators.

The extent to which a merger or acquisition limits competition depends in part on the market shares of the respective parties. In the AIA-Prudential case, as the figures above illustrate, the market shares vary with the market. Clearly, there will have to be deep analysis and discussions about the definition of the market in each instance.

The Prudential acquisition of AIA potentially affects millions of policyholders. From the consumer viewpoint, this may perhaps be one of the most impactful cases to come before the competition authorities in the region.

Incredible Versatile root vegetable - Radish

2010-03-09T07:43:00.000-08:00

Do you know that radish, a popular root vegetable in Chinese and Japanese cuisine is also known for its health promoting properties.

According to the article extracted from The Straits Times dated 4, 2010. this root vegetable is rich in vitamins A, B and C, calcium and potassium. It has an extremely low calorie content - an 85g portion has only 18 calories.

Daikon, radish in Japanese, is promoted by traditional Chinese physicians as a " cooling" food that is good for those who have phlegm, cough and fever.

I have appended below the recipe extracted from the article. I hope we can try it out and share our comments on the results of our cooking.

Daikon Beef Soup :

Ingredients :
1 small radish ( daikon), 500g, peeled
1 large carrot, 300g, peeled
300g lean beef cubes ( more if you want)
3-6 cloves garlic
1 large knob of ginger, peeled and bruised
1 tsp cracked black peppercorns
1/2 tsp sea salt ( optional )
1.5 litre water
Spring onions, finely diced for garnish

Method
Cut carrots and daikon into chunks of about the same size.
Blanch beef in hot water to remove surface impurities.
Place all ingredients, except salt, in a slow cooker and cook on medium heat for three hours or on low heat for six hours.
If you are not using a slow cooker, simmer over a low heat for two to 2-1/2 hours.
Check on the dish halfway through the cooking process and top up with water if needed.
Serve with brown rice and kimchi for a healthy Korean-inspired meal.

How a Heart Attack happens

2010-03-02T06:51:00.000-08:00

What Causes a Heart Attack?

The medical term for heart attack is myocardial infarction. A heart attack is also sometimes called a coronary thrombosis or coronary occlusion.

The heart is a muscle that acts as a pump. The heart pumps blood, rich in carbon dioxide and depleted of oxygen, through the lungs. The lungs remove carbon and add oxygen. Once oxygenated, the blood returns to the heart to be
pumped to the rest of the body. After blood circulates through body tissues, it is returned to the heart and the process is repeated.

The heart muscle requires a constant supply of oxygen-rich blood to nourish it. Most heart attacks occur as a result of coronary artery disease (CAD). CAD is the buildup over time of a material called plaque on the inner walls of the coronary arteries. The plaque deposits are hard on the outside and soft and mushy on the inside. With blood flow impeded, the heart becomes starved for oxygen, causing chest pain. (angina). If a blood clot forms and completely obstructs the artery, a heart attack (myocardial infarction) can occur.

If the blood supply is cut off for more than a few minutes, muscle cells suffer permanent injury and die. This can kill or disable someone, depending on how much heart muscle is damaged.

Symptoms of a heart attack can include:

* Chest pain, discomfort, pressure, squeezing or fullness
* Pain or discomfort in one or both arms, the back, shoulders, neck, jaw or stomach
* Shortness of breath
* Feeling sweaty, nauseous or lightheaded

Not all these symptoms happen in every heart attack. Heart attack symptoms may start slowly and gradually get worse or they may go away and come back.

If your heart disease is severe, or if your chest pain and other symptoms can't be controlled with medicines, you may need to think about other treatment, such as:

* Angioplasty.
* Stenting.
* Atherectomy.
* Coronary artery bypass surgery.

These treatments, along with making changes like eating right and not smoking, can help you live a longer, healthier life. If your disease becomes much worse, it can lead to serious medical problems. Many important end-of-life decisions can be made while you are active and able to communicate your wishes.

Sudoku - brain training game

2010-01-03T05:44:00.000-08:00

I am wondering anyone interested to crack your mind on this piece of paper which I have extracted from ST dated 3 Jan 2010 ? Yes, this is Sudoku - the puzzle where you fill numbers in on a grid. The number puzzle can help to keep the mind busy.

BTW, do you know who is the "Father of Sudoku" ?
Yes, Mr Maki Kaji. He gave it its name and helped to make it to a worldwide success.

The rules of Sudoku are simple. Enter digits from 1 to 9 into the blank spaces. Every row must contain one of each digit. So must every column, as must every 3x3 square.

Be the first to comment on this topic. We look forward to your interest and participation.

Boon Lay Air-con Bus Interchange

2009-12-30T08:49:00.000-08:00

The old bus interchange has turned into the new extension building of Jurong Point. The new Boon Lay Bus Interchange is fully air-conditioned and has 60 bus bays with escalators linking from JP2 Level 3, near Fairprice Xtra, JP2 Basement 1, beside Stalford Learning Centre, and 3 linkages from JP2 Level 1.

Boon Lay depot, the busiest, largest and newest air-conditioned bus interchange in Singapore was opened on 27 December 2009. Together with Jurong Point Shopping Mall, the MRT station and itself, it is part of the Boon Lay Integrated Public Transport Hub.

The fourth air-conditioned bus depot in Singapore, the $24 million facility, will serve 150,000 commuters daily, nearly double that of the second-largest air-condiitoned bus interchange, in Toa Payoh.

Ang Mo Kio and Sengkang, the 3rd and 4th airconditioned bus interchanage. In 2011 we can expect Clementi and Serangoon will undergo similar makeover.

Photo by courtesy of ST

Christmas is round the corner

2009-12-22T06:11:00.001-08:00

Christmas is the time when Christians around the world celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ. A global festival, it is all around the world celebrated. A time for beloved traditions that are honored on 25th December, year after year, the most popular holiday of all. The festival of Christmas brings happiness, joy and love.
Christmas is celebrated differently by the the various countries and cultures of the world. It is interesting to see how different countries celebrate Christmas.

Christmas In BETHLEHEM
The little town where Jesus is said to have been born is the site of the Church of the Nativity, which is ablaze with flags and decorations every Christmas. On Christmas Eve natives and visitors alike crowd the church's doorways and stand on the roof to watch for the dramatic annual procession. Galloping horsemen and police mounted on Arabian horses lead the parade. They are followed by solitary horseman carrying a cross and sitting astride a coal-black steed. Then come the churchmen and government officials. The procession solemnly enters the doors and places an ancient effigy of the Holy Child in the church. Deep winding stairs lead to a grotto where visitors find a silver star marking the site of the birth of Jesus.

Christmas In CHINA
Christians in China celebrate by lighting their houses with beautiful paper lanterns and decorating their Christmas trees, which they call "Trees of Light," with paper chains, paper flowers, and paper lanterns. Chinese Children hang muslin stockings and await a visit from Santa Claus, whom they call Dun Che Lao Ren (dwyn-chuh-lau-oh-run) which means "Christmas Old Man.".
Since the vast majority of the Chinese people are not Christian, the main winter festival in China the Chinese New Year which takes place toward the end of January. Now officially called the "Spring Festival," it is a time when children receive new clothing, eat luxurious meals, receive new toys, and enjoy firecracker displays. An important aspect of the New Year celebration is the worship of ancestors. Portraits and paintings of ancestors are brought out and hung in the main room of the home.

Christmas in Singapore
Christmas Light-up stretching continuously from Tanglin Road, Scotts Road, Orchard Road to Marina Bay area, the myriad of Christmas celebrations promises both residents and visitors, an exciting and memorable time this festive season. The wide range of activities include countdown parties, mega concerts, internationally acclaimed performances, art exhibitions, special programmes at Singapore’s attractions, attractive shopping promotions and tantalising culinary treats that will bring festive cheer to one and all.

Christmas Celebration Ideas for You
How are you planning to celebrate Christmas this year? If you have not yet decided, then I hope the following Christmas celebration ideas are of some help to you.

• Present gifts to your loved ones
• Visit a Church
• Make Christmas cakes
• Arrange parties at home or go out for dinner

Do you like any of those items shown above ? Delicious and tempting to lure you to have them for your Christmas celebration ?

Share with us on how you celebrate your Christmas. We welcome your comments here.

Brittany Murphy death sparks speculation over cause

2009-12-22T01:46:00.000-08:00

Actress Brittany Murphy, known for her roles in films such as "Clueless" and "8 Mile," died after suffering a cardiac arrest at her home, police and hospital officials said. She was 32.

Actress Brittany Murphy first made an impression on audiences in 1995's "Clueless" as Tai, the socially insecure friend of Cher ( Alicia Siliverstone). Following her iconic role in 'Clueless,' Brittany appeared in more than 25 movies, including 1997's "Bongwater," "Girl, Interrupted" in 1999, "8Mile" and "Sin City."

Los Angeles, Investigators later said foul play was not suspected in the death.

Murphy's family meanwhile appealed for privacy.
"In this time of sadness, the family thanks you for your love and support. It is their wish that you respect their privacy," read a statement released by the actress's spokeswoman.

As we mourn the loss of such a talented young actress, we trailed into some of the talent of Brittany Murphy. In addition to acting, Murphy also enjoyed a successful foray into music, collaborating with British DJ Paul Oakenfold on the single "Faster Kill Pussycat," a club hit that reached number one on the dance charts. In the dancing penguin animated hit film "Happy Feet," she performed a cover version of Queen's "Somebody to Love" and Earth, Wind & Fire's "Boogie Wonderland."

On a side note, earlier this month, when Murphy and her husband of two years, British screenwriter Simon Monjack, returned to Los Angeles, he lost consciousness on the plane and was rushed to hospital.

We will miss our talented Brittany Murphy. We welcome your sharing here.

Recipes for Kueh Ambon

2009-12-13T07:23:00.001-08:00

Recently we have organised a trip to Batam and the tour guide had recommended us this kueh. A few of us bought a box each home. Out of curiosity, after the trip, I wanted to know the recipe for the kueh. From the internet, I established that the name for the kueh is called Kueh Ambon.

I have managed to find the following recipe from Asiarecipe to share with those who are interested.
Ingredients :

15g instant yeast
110ml warm water
80g plain flour
1 tsp sugar
pandan leaves
350 coconut milk
30g butter
250g sugar
120g tapioca flour
6 eggs
a pinch of salt

Instructions

Mix yeast, warm water, 1 tsp of sugar and plain flour in a bowl. Stir till batter is smooth.

Cover and leave in a warm place for an hour.

Cook pandan leaves, coconut milk and salt over low heat.

Stir in butter and leave it to cool.

Pour in the batter and sugar.

Beat briefly.

Add in tapioca flour and eggs.

Beat at low speed for a while and add in coconut milk mixture.

Pour into a lined tray and leave to prove for 2-1/2 hours.

Bake in a preheat oven at 170 degree for 15 minutes and then lower to 150 degrees and bake till cooked.

Once you have tried it out hope to hear your comment.

Share your recipes or good eating places with us

2009-12-13T06:28:00.000-08:00

When it comes to food, I think it is dfficult to lay claim as its own and over the origins of some popular dishes. Our recent debate caused some uneasiness among food experts and food critics in Malaysia and Singapore when Dr Ng claimed that food such as Hainanese Chicken rice, chilli crab, nasi lemak and bak kut teh belonged to Malaysia.

Just within the first 11 months, Malalysia recorded its highest tourist arrivals this year at 22 million and RM 50 billion in reeipts. With a projected forecast for next year's arrival at 23 million tourists and reeipts to expect at RM52 billion. It is apparent and understandable why the The Malaysian Tourism Ministry goes all ways out to promote the industry.

The Ministry launched the new website, fabfood1malaysia, as part of the campaign to promote popular local food.
By any chance, if you have tasted any of these popular dishes, do drop us your comments.

Smart cities not just about clean air

2009-12-13T06:06:00.000-08:00

Do you want to know which are the countries rated as the "Smartest" cities ?

Singapore
Hong Kong
Curitiba, Brazil
Monterrey, Mexico
Amsterdam, the Netherlands
Seattle, the United States
Houston, US
Charleston, South Carolina, US
Huntsville, Alabama, US
Calgary, Alberta, Canada

You can read more about the articles, written by Joel Kotkin, here.

The articles was also published in ST Friday, 11 December 2009.

Take a look and share your comments.

Dr and Mrs Schwoerer - Family seafaring with a mission

2009-11-18T16:11:00.001-08:00

A mission to scale the highest summits in each of the seven continents, while leaving a zero carbon footprint. Swiss adventurers Dario and Sabine Schwoerer, who for the last seven years have called the world's seas their home, not just the two of the them, but with their three young children. Their mode of transport which does not use fossil fuels.

The 15m yacht runs on solar power and wind, what a fantastic idea. Using 11 panels and two wind turbines donated by sponsors. Once they reach a country, on land, they move around on bicycles. Oh! How I envy their lifestyle.

Dr Darlio Schwoerer, 40, a Geneva native and his wife, Sabine, 33, a trained nurse with their three children ( daughter, salina, four and son Andri, three and their youngest child Noe, just three months old, are halfway through their expedition. They have scaled the highest summits in Europe, Australia and South America: Mont Blanc in France, Mount Kosciuszko in Australia and Aconcagus in Chile.

Along the journey, they educate young people about climate change by engaging them in outdoor activities to raise their apppreciation of nature. They also conduct clean-ups in the places they visit along with other expedition members. Presently there are about 130 members from 33 countries under the ToptoTop Foundation set up in 1999 by Dr Darlio Schwoerer.

To read more about their mission, an article published on Saturday, 21 Nov 2009 : http://www6.lexisnexis.com/publisher/EndUser?Action=UserDisplayFullDocument&orgId=574&topicId=100019547&docId=l:1078782646&start=2

Also you can visit : http://www.toptotop.org/ to know more about the Foundation.

You are also welcome to drop me your comments here to share with us.

Heart risks and slow walkers

2009-11-18T16:11:00.000-08:00

Older people who walk at a brisk pace are less likely to die of heart disease compared to their slower contemporaries.

Following a 5-year study on how heart risks related to slow walkers, the British Medical Journal (BMJ) published an online report, involved more than 3,208 men and women aged 65 to 85. researchers excluded people with Parkinson’s or dementia, since these diseases tend to cause problems with walking.

The authors, from the University Pierre and Marie Curie in France, found a link between cardiovascular deaths and walking speed even when factors likely to influence the results were taken into account.

They wrote: "This increased risk of cardiovascular death was seen in both sexes, younger as well as in older participants, those with or without a high risk vascular profile, and those with low or usual physical activity."

The experts said there was evidence of a link between low walking speed and increased thickness of arteries, which is associated with cardiovascular disease. Walking quickly has also been shown to increase levels of "good" cholesterol in the blood, which can cut the risk of heart disease.

The authors said the results showed the need to keep fit and healthy as people age. "These findings show that assessment of motor performances in older people with simple measures such as walking speed can be performed easily and that the role of fitness in preserving life and function in older age is important."

Brain stimulating activities keep dementia at bay

2009-11-03T05:59:00.000-08:00

Studies have shown that a board game like mahjong or scrabble games can stimulate the brain and therefore keep dementia at bay.
Mahjong (麻將) is a game for four players that originated in China. It was called (麻雀), meaning sparrow in ancient China. It is still the name most commonly used in some southern Chinese dialects such as Cantonese and Minnan, as well as in Japanese. However, most Chinese now call the game má jiàng (麻將).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mahjong

Mahjong is a social game of skill, cunning strategy and to keep things interesting, a bit of luck. Some compare this as very much similar to rummy. It is an exciting game requiring four players. Some variations can be played by three. Playing the game requires strategy, skills, calculations and luck. The game is very popular in Asia as gambling game. In western countries, the game was introduced as a hobby game to while away free time. In a typical game, you get 13 or 16 tiles and you have to make four groups, also known as ‘melds’, and a pair or ‘head’ before other
players to win the game.
SINGAPORE: The People’s Association (PA) will be offering mahjong classes in English.
The PA is organising three sessions in total. The next session will begin on November 5.
Check it out if you are interested. Do drop us a line to share what you have learned. We look forward to your sharing.

Check your second-hand phone a stolen item

2009-11-01T01:17:00.000-07:00

Police launch service to curb sales of stolen, missing cellphones. This service is an enhancement to its Handphone Imei Tracing System, or Hits, which began as a website service in 2006.

The system uses a cellphone's unique International Mobile Equipment Identity (Imei) number to identify phones that have been reported stolen.

To reveal the Imei number, key in *#06# on the cellphone.

To screen whether a mobile phone is a stolen item, SMS :

For Singaporeans, permanent residents, employment-pass and work-permit holders, send an SMS to 74688 with the following :
"SPFHITS(space)NRIC no./FIN no.(space)Imei no."

For tourists or visitors, send an SMS to 74688 with these information :
"SPFHITS(space)Identity no.(space)O(space)Imei no."

If gthe screening result says "Wanted", the public should lodge a report with the police immediately.

Retiring an active and fulfilling life

2009-10-25T06:35:00.000-07:00

Singapore Minister Lim Boon Heng is the head of The Ministerial Committee on Ageing. Mr Lim said that plans to promote active living among old people includes the Council for Third Age to champion active ageing, other initiatives include ComCare, CPF Life and the 3Ms framework, which will all help the elderly finance their long-term needs.

It aims to enable Singapore elderly to remain active, independent, financially secure and productively engaged with the wider community.

To the individual active agers, able to slowing down and taking time off to smell the roses, doing things like able to help out at the community level and organising regular exercise seesions for the seniors to lead active and fulfilling life.

Free Yoga lessons

2009-10-17T18:10:00.000-07:00

Know anything about Yoga. Like to share some information I have gathered.

What can we gain out of this yoga practice ?

Physically, it apparently has proven to be extremely effective for various disorders. Such disorders like : digestive disorders, back pain, Arthritis, anxiety and depression, etc

1) Increasing Flexibility - joga has positions that act upon the various joints of the body including those joints that rarely taken note or exercised on.

2) Increasing lubrication of the joints, ligaments and tendons.

3) Massaging of all organs of the body - this stimulation and massage of the organs in turn benefits us by keeping away disease.

4) Complete detoxification - yoga ensures the optimum blood supply to various parts of the body thereby helps in the flushing out of toxins.

5) Excellent toning of the muscles - flaccid, weak or slothy are stimulated repeated to shed excess flab and flaccidity.

Find this website interesting and informative : http://www.healthandyoga.com/

Have you seen the picture above ? I have extracted it from ST 27 Sep 2009

Yoga lessons with a twist - they're free for everyone. Isn't it interesting. A brief summary for your sharing.

Mr C .V. Jagadish - the chief executive of a chipmaker co. turns yoga instructor twice a week, leading night classes at Pasir Ris Elias Community Club. Each night classes, in the spacious, brightly lit hall, consist of about 60 adults, many of whom are in their 40s and 50s.

"Lift your toes above your head, see if your toes can touch the floor". Speaking into a microphone, he tells his student to perform the stretching exercise carefully.

Lessons are free but participants pay a one-time fee of $5 to 30, which helps to cover the cost of facilities where lessons are held.

Interested, check it out.

Do drop us a comment to share either in your interests, training etc. We welcome your sharing.

A corn pudding recipe to share

2009-10-17T09:12:00.000-07:00

Today need to attend a potluck gathering with a group of friends. Each to cook a dish to share. Scratching my head as what to prepare for the group.

So in the end I have prepared this corn pudding.

This is my recipe:

100g of Hoon Kueh flour
500g of coconut mixed with 4 cups of water to squeeze out 5 cups of milk
200g of sugar
400g or one can of full whole corn kernels
one small tsp of salt
banana leaves for wrapping

1) Combine coconut milk with hoon kueh flour, sugar and salt in a heavy-based saucepan. Bring to boil over low heat, stirring constantly until the mixture thickens.

2) Stir in corn kernels and mix thoroughly.

3) Cut the banana leaves to 11 x 15 cm and wash it with hot water.

4) Spoon mixture into the centre of one banana leaf and fold the both ends by revering to the back.

5) Leave to cool and refrigerate until ready to serve.

Fills about 40 small packets.

Give it a try and do let me your what is the opinion. We welcome your sharing here.

What are you Good at ? Holding out for a hero ?

2009-10-10T18:12:00.000-07:00

The writer, Neil Humphreys wrote this article " Holding out for a hero" on 10 Oct 09 for ST Life! He wrote these interesting article by starting phrases as below :

" I can't give first aid, change a light bulb or install a phone line but I can write about them".

Just a brief summary, I have extracted from his article, the story goes:

A young woman was taken ill suddenly in his office and he was the guy who waited for the ambulance guys to show and direct them to the patient. He had witnessed the paramedic finished treating his colleague and gently helped to her feet. Quoting from the articles:

" Thanks for everything." I gushed, opening the door. "You were great, just great. Is there anything I can do ?" The paramedic looked me up and down. "No, there 's nothing you can do."

Well, the paramedic was really wrong, and Neil is great. He took the whole incident in such positive stride and wrote the above article. Isn't it great, he is able to find his happiness and worthiness from his job as a columnist.

Bernard Haldane, a pioneer in career counseling, died at the age of 95. One of his core beliefs was that most people who don’t like their career are unhappy because they’re not using their best abilities. I think this is a good example.

Everyone in this world is good at something. All we need to do is to find out that ‘thing’.

Do you have something to share with us ? We welcome your comments here.

Jobs credit scheme to extend or scrap

2009-10-03T19:02:00.000-07:00

The scheme was introduced by the Government of Singapore in January to help companies hold on to workers by defraying part of the local workers' wage bill. This is achieved by paying employers 12 per cent of workers' wages for he first 2,500 a month.

Employers will receive a 12% cash grant on the first $2,500 of each month’s wages for each employee on their CPF payroll.
The Jobs Credit is for one year, and employers will receive the Jobs Credit in four payments: March, June, September and December 2009.
For each payment, employers will receive Jobs Credits on the employees that are on their CPF payrolls at the start of the quarter in which the payment is made. The wages paid to these employees in the previous quarter will be the qualifying wages used to calculate the 12% cash credit that employers will receive.

Nine months on, the S$4.5 billion financial stimulus program is put to question whether to be extended beyond December ? Will it be tweaked, phased out or scrapped ?

Straits Times Saturday, 3 October 2009 put up an article on this Job credit scheme and the question of this scheme be extended, tweaked, phased out or srapped, and encourages readers to email, SMS your insights.

If you have anything to share, we welcome your comments here.

World first clown send to Space

2009-10-02T06:08:00.000-07:00

US billionaire is first tourist to go twice into space on THURSDAY 26
MARCH 2009
Hungarian-born US billionaire Charles Simonyi has become the first
tourist to go into space twice. The 60-year-old blasted off in a Russian
rocket bound for the International Space Station.

Billionaire Guy Laliberte became Canada's first space tourist - and the world's first space clown - when he blasted off towards the International Space Station in clear blue skies on Wednesday 30 September 2009 morning.

Laliberte, 50, paid $35 million for his ticket to space. He plans to use the publicity to draw attention to the importance of access to clean water on Earth.

An acrobat, fire-breather, philanthropist and a keen gambler, 50-year old Laliberte plans to use his trip to publicize the world's shortage of clean water by holding a global artistic performance organized by his One Drop Foundation. The Quebec-born entrepreneur is worth an estimated $2.5 billion and holds a 95 percent stake in Cirque du Soleil, which he founded 25 years ago.

Laliberte plans to stream out a webcast during his journey, which will be carried live on www.onedrop.org on Oct. 9. He's due back on Earth on Oct. 11.

Google's Street View three-wheeler

2009-10-01T02:13:00.000-07:00

Google Street View car spotted in Singapore. Have you read this article from news.cnet.com sometime way back in October 2008 ?
Seen this photo posted then ?
Latest news and photo of a tricycle mounted with a camera on it, is another articles spotted in ST on 20 September 2009.

Somewhere last year on October 13, 2008, I have also followed the news and put a blog about Singapore will go 3-D on Google.

For those who do not know what is Google Street View, I have extracted some information from Wikipedia as follows :

Google Street View is a feature of Google Maps and Google Earth that provides for many streets in the world 360° horizontal and 290° vertical panoramic views from a row of positions along the street (one every approximately 10 or 20 metres), from a height of about 2.5 metres. It was launched on May 25, 2007, and has gradually expanded to include more cities, and in these cities more streets, and also some rural areas.[1] These photographs are currently available for the
United States, several European countries, including France, Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom, and Japan, Taiwan, Australia, and New Zealand. Coverage is shown by dragging "pegman" icon from its position, onto a map of any scale.

So on the lookout. If you see the car or the tricycle, put on a big smile.
However, the fear of privacy invasion and other similar concerns have arisen. What is your view on this ? Do share with us here if you have any. We welcome your sharing.

Couch surfing catching on here in Singapore

2009-09-28T06:45:00.000-07:00

Wow, Wow, times fly. The couch-surfing community is growing at a very significant rate. From 17 in 2004 to now, 5090. I remember writing about this surfing community on 17 Feb 2008. To read more about this community, visit the website at : http://www.couchsurfing.org

Take a look and share with us here of any comment that you have. We welcome your sharing.

Diploma in interactive media, Get Govt Funding

2009-09-25T21:00:00.000-07:00

At the age of 40 & above and thinking of taking a course in interactive media ? If you are one of them, good news for you. The Govt is giving up to 90% of the Course Fees in this Booming Industry - Interactiv Media. Apparently there will be some 10,000 jobs are expected to be created in the media industry over the next 6 years, according to Media Development Authority. Position as a Graphic Designer, Web Page Designer and/Developer, Animation Artist, Video & Audio Editor, Advertisement Designer, Multimedia Designer, Web Marketer, Games Developer and many more.

Reported by CHANNEL NEWSASIA and published in Today Newspaper, 6 of March 2009, pg 8.Singapore Govt has approved some funding (UP TO 90% FUNDING OF COURSE FEES) for working Singaporeans/ PR to take up (skill upgrade) a 1 year part time Diploma (UK Diploma) In Interactive Media - a course which is approved by MOE and also SDF funding.

The funding comes with 2 option :

Funding1. Those below 40 yrs old = monthly $133.75 for 12 months

Funding2 Those 40 yrs old & above = monthly $44.58 for 12 months

One time Registration fees of $165.85 when you get the approval from the Govt for the Funding and start the class. In addition to this funding, if your monthly salary is below $1500, you will get extra training allowances (more than the course fees) in addition to the funding by the govt.

If you are interested or want to know more, call AEC Edu Group at 64120702/97701007 and ask for Diploma In Interactive Media course. Course will be held at AEC Edu Group 167 Jalan Bukit Merah, Connection OneTower 4, #02-13, Singapore 150167 Tel: +65 6412 0702Fax: +65 6412 0750 Website: http://www.aec. edu.sg/soim_ dip_im.php Only 12 months in part time mode.

Choose only 1 session :

1) Tues & Thurs (7pm - 10pm) OR

2) Mon & Fri (7pm - 10pm) OR

3) Sat (10am - 4pm) OR

4) Wed & Sun (7pm-10pm and 10am to 1pm)

The above info was published in Today Newspaper, 6 of March 2009, pg 8.

If interested get in touch with Mr Abdul Hamid : 97701007 OR email : ahamid@aec.edu. sg

Do share with us how it has benefited after attending the course. We welcome you to share with us.

New Ez-link card, Cepas-compliant and Top-up

2009-09-20T18:33:00.000-07:00

Members of the public started to exchange their ez-link cards for new cards that are CEPAS-compliant in a free one-for-one card as early as 9 Jan 2009.

The card replacement exercise is conducted in stages. Replacement of cards for holders of the ez-link Adult Anonymous cards started on Jan 9.

It was followed by the replacement of cards for holders of concession cards from 16 February.

The new cards are required for the next generation e-payment system for public transport, Symphony for e-Payment (SeP) which was launched by the Land Transport Authority in December 2008. SeP is based on the Singapore Standard for Contactless ePurse Application (CEPAS) and allows more card issuers to issue CEPAS-compliant cards for use in Singapore's public transit system, thus giving commuters more choice.

The one-for-one card replacement exercise will end in September 2009, when the current EIFS fare system will be discontinued.

Let us take a look at what are the features of the new Cepas-compliant and old ez-link cards.

Extracted this information from The Sunday Times Sep 20, 2009

1) Minimium cash balance

Old : none

New : $3.00

2) What happens when the card balance falls below $3.00 ?

Old : Cards can be used to pay for transport on the MRT.

New : Cards cannot be used to pay for transport on the MRT.

3) What happens when the card balance falls to zero ?

Old : Cards can be used once for travel.

New : Cards cannot be used for travel.

4) Giro top-up application

Old : It can be done immiediately at general ticketing machines.

New : A form must be submitted manually and the process can take up to 21 days.

5) Giro top-up application fee

Old : None

New:A one-time $1.50 fee applies, but this is waived until Feb 26.

6) Giro top-up fee

Old : None

New : 25 cents a transaction.

With all these new changes, is it more costly to maintain the new Cepas-compliant card ?

We welcome your sharing and comments here.

Singapore is Top Easiest Place to do Business

2009-09-10T17:47:00.000-07:00

In the recent World Bank's survey on ease of doing business, Singapore has been ranked as the easiest place in the world to do business.

Singapore has continued to implement more reforms over the past year, helping it to remain on top for the fourth time. A lot of emphasis on implementing e-government initiatives, making everything as transparent, easy and efficient as possible for local businesses.

However, property registration remained Singapore's weakest point. It was ranked 16th in the world in this area, lagging behind countries such as Saudi Arabia, New Zealand and Thailand.

The World Bank noted that in Singapore, property registration requires three procedures and five days. It said Singapore could perhaps learn a thing or two from some of the economies that came out tops in this area.

"One example is Norway. In Norway, you go through your lawyer, there's an electronic system, the land cadastral is mapped directly to the registry. "Everything is done electronically, very secure and the land transfer is a question of an hour. It's the most efficient system that we have seen globally, and that could maybe be an inspiration for how to move forward in Singapore."

New Zealand came in second, while Hong Kong took the third place.

Four more Asia-Pacific countries clinched the top 20 places in the survey, with Australia at number 9, Thailand in 12th place, Japan in 15th and South Korea in 19th.

Do share with us the news in your country or any comments. You are welcome here.

Porsche 911 VS Boeing 747

2009-09-06T00:14:00.000-07:00

It was a race never before seen in Asia. In a bid to rake up publicity for the Formula 1 night race taking place later this month, and as part of the launch activities for the new Porsche 911 GT3 RS, Singapore’s Changi Airport organised a race between a jet plane and a sports car.

It had got everyone excited to know what the result. So what's the conclusion?

While many couldn’t figure out who won in the end, judges ruled it was the car. The car was driven by Yuey Yu Tan Hian, 27, by just 0.4 seconds ahead the jumbo aircraft.

Take a look at the video and have some excitements with a jubilant Yuey Tan getting the trophy in the end.

Have your blog Backup Regularly

2009-08-29T22:06:00.000-07:00

I think nothing worse than after you have spend couple of hours working on a document or project, only to realise something unexpected happen that casues you to lose the changes you just made.

Or one day when you try to login in to Blogger and find your blogger blog gone, corrupted or deleted. Should your server crash for some reason, or your website get hacked, you will lose valuable date.

Back up is very important. Came across articles with tips and few simple ways to keep your Blogger blog safe and backed up..

Eat Round the Clock

2009-08-10T06:27:00.000-07:00

Singapore actually has a lot of food to eat at night. You just need to know where. So, I take this opportunity to take down a few of these places. When you are feeling peckish in the middle of the night, check this out.

Central -

1) Balestier - An Fu Restaurant -331 & 333 Balestier Rd - Tel:6254 3266

Bak Ku Teh, prices start from $5 a bowl. The soup has a strong pepery zing.

2) Beach Road/New Bridge Rd - Chong Qing Zheng Zhong Shan City Steamboat

85 Beach Rd, #01-00 Heap Meng House - Tel : 6339 9271 - Open : 3pm-5am

Chinese steamboat, prices start from $19.70 per adult.

3) Rong Cheng Chuan Wei hotpot restaurant - 271 New Bridge Rd - Tel 6536 4415

Open : 4pm -6am. Specialities in Sichuan dishes and mala hotpot at $15 per person.

4) Geylang - 126 Eating House at 126 Sims Ave - Tel : 6746 4757 - Open : 24 hrs

Dishes are served fresh and piping hot. Popular bites such as fried bean curd from about $5

5) Yong He Eating House - 517 Geylang Rd (Lor 27A) Tel : 6745 5682 - Open : 24 hrs

Bean curd and soya bean drinks. Favourite shaobing (Chinese pastry) with egg : $2.80

6) Jalan Besar - Swee Choon Tim-Sum Restaurant - 187, 189 & 191 Jalan Besar Rd

Open : 6pm-10am : Well-known delicacies such as xiao long bao. Tel: 6294 5292

7) 425 River Valley Rd - Boon Tong Kee Chicken Rice - Tel : 6736 3213 : Open:11.30pm-2am

for weekdays and till 4am for weekends. Air-conditioned setting.

8) 409 River Valley Rd - The Makan Place - Tel:6734 9194 - Open:6pm-6am - Serves

Indian, Thai, Chinese and Mediterranean dishes. Popular dish:Thai nasi goreng:$5.50

comes in generous portions.

WEST :

1) Clementi - Fong Seng Nasi Lemak - 22 Clementi Rd - Tel: 6775 7853 - Open : 6pm-4am

2) Upper Bukit Timah - Al-Azhar Eating Restaurant-11/11A Cheong Chin Nam Rd -Open:24hrs

Tel : 6466 5052 - North Indian and Thai dishes. Prices range from $3 to $10.

3) Al-Ameen Eating House : 2-4 Cheong Chin Nam Rd - Tel: 6462 1996 : Open : 24 hrs

Popular Thia or Indian dishes from $1.50 to $15, from Murtabak to tandoori chicken and kambing soup.

Glad to find all these information extracted from The Sunday Times 9 August 2009

Web Stimulus package for SMEs

2009-07-31T02:50:00.000-07:00

How many companies in Singapore has a website ? According to the IDA Annual Servey on Infocomm Usage by Enterprises, only 12 per cent of Singapore SMEs have company websites.

Wow, so an 88 per cent still do not own a company website. Is a big market to tap into.

SME Infocomm Resource Centre (SIRC), established in Jun 16, 2007, is a not-for-profit organisation. Google, SME Infocomm Resource Center (SIRC) @ Singapore Polytechnic (SP) and PurpleClick are partnering together to offer Singapore businesses a stimulus package to attract new customers and grow sales by tapping into the power of the Internet.

Just a quick statistics, over 60 billion searches conducted on the internet worldwide per month and over a billion people around the world search on Google for information every day. Among Singapore's 3.1 million Internet users, nearly 7 out of 10 search on Google every day. Capitalising on this trend, many SMEs are shifting their budgets to search marketing and growing their business.

The business stimulus package aims to help local SMEs:

Be available 24/7 by establishing an online presence on the Internet
Grow the business cost-effectively with a user-friendly website and search marketing
Go global and connect with over one billion Internet users in the world

Recipients of the business stimulus package will enjoy:

A company website developed at no cost by SIRC @SP (Applicable only to businesses without a website. The no-cost offer applies to the first 100 SMEs who apply; subsequent applicants need only pay a one-time fee of S$180 to SIRC @SP for the development work.)
S$100 worth of free credits from Google to start using its premier search marketing platform, Google AdWords.
A free one-on-one tutorial from PurpleClick (worth $550) or a Google authorised representative on how to set up and maintain a search marketing campaign.

Interested SMEs can sign up for the business stimulus package at www.google.com.sg/stimulus.
You are welcome to come back and share with your experience with this stimulus package.

New 7 wonders of Nature - Voting

2009-07-25T19:00:00.000-07:00

The Official New7wonders of Nature voting is on again. It was started in 2007. A very successful campaign, 100 million votes were cast over 440 participants representing over 220 countries- more countries participation than the Olympic Games. It took democracy to a new global level. The Official New7Wonders of Nature is now in its third and final phase in which the wonders themselves will be chosen by an estimated 1 billion votes. The Official Declaration of the New7Wonders of Nature will be in 2011.

Sighted one of the representing wonders - Angel Falls.

Angel Falls is located in the Canaima National Park in Bolivar State, along Venezuela's border with Brazil. It is the world's tallest at 1002m.

At 979 meters (3230 feet) with an uninterrupted drop of 807 meters (2663 ft), Angel Falls is sixteen times ( some recorded as 19 times - have yet to check ) the height of Niagara Falls. Appreciate this picture, such an awesome waterfall.

Pictures from : http://www.new7wonders.com/

& http://gosouthamerica.about.com/od/topdestangelfalls/ig/Angel-Falls-Photo-Gallery/Angel-Falls-and-Waterfall.htm

Cast your votes and enjoy the awesome photos that are shown there.

Do let us hear some of your comments about the Wonders of Nature.

We welcome your sharing.

What are the plans for your retirement ?

2009-07-24T18:13:00.000-07:00

How much does it cost to retire ? Recently read an article in ST dd 16 July 09 - about the basic care in Britain to cost retirees $48k (GBP 20k) per person after retirement to guarantee basic social care and support if they need it at the end of their lives, under new overnment propsals.

Britain has more pensioners than children. Unless urgent action is taken, there may be a GBP 6 billion hole in the funding of social care within 20 years.

Three models to fund a new national care service that give the same basic entitlement. A top-up, voluntary insurance or compulsory insurance. The bottom line is it requires the elderly to pay up around S$48k. According to Times of London, the legal retirement age of 65 would be scrapped or raised. The age from which the state pension is payable is also due to increase to 68 for both sexes by 2046. The consultation on the proposals will run until November, with the chosen system expected to be published in a White Paper next year and phrased in from 2014.

Singapore's compulsory annuity plan.

By 2030, one in five Singaporeans will be over the age of 65 as compared to one in seven at the moment. WIth this fast ageing population issue, The Government, all this while has been implementing plans to provide them with a lifelong income into the old age so that they have the means to pay for the services they need as they grow older.

An extract from the CPF board website. In Singapore, one recent innovation is the introduction of CPF Life. Upon a member’s enrolment into CPF LIFE, a portion of the cash savings in his Retirement Account (RA) will be set aside as the premium for an annuity. Combined with the remaining cash savings, the member will get a lifelong monthly income from his Draw Down Age (DDA). For refundable plans, depending on the member’s age when he passes away, his beneficiaries would be able to receive a bequest.

These are some of the plans the Government is implementing for the country. Do you have anything to share about your country. We welcome your sharing here.

Xiluodu dam is China's 2nd largest hydro-electric dam

2009-07-22T17:46:00.000-07:00

Xiluodu dam, China's 2nd largest hydro-electric dam, is built along the upper reaches of the Yangtze River. This dam is also due to be the world's third-biggest hydropower project.

However, such a big massive dam projects lately got the alarm bells rang after builders brought forward by moe than two years their deadline for finishing the Xiluodu dam. A sum of 1.4 billion yuan earmarked for resettlement has yet to be disbursed. The project was schedules to start in 2002 but was postponed for 15 months. Other issue on relocation for more than 61,000 people since its launch in 2003 are some of the controveries and often riddled with corruption.

Some statistics on this project :

Cost of construction : 68 billion yuan ( S$14.4 billion )
Power generation : 60 billion kWH
Height : from 278m revised to 285.5m
Maximum water level : 600m deep

Article extracted from STimes 22 July 2009.

Are you one of those property investors feeling jittery about the TAX POLICY

2009-07-14T08:21:00.000-07:00

The property market is Ministry of Finance (MOF) to propose to clarify the law on taxing profit from property sales. If it succeeds, property sellers will not have to worry about being taxed on their profit - as long as they let at least four years pass between each sale.

The clarification of the four-year period which MOF says is meant to provide reassurance to property owners - has sent a wave of jtters through the property market just as it is starting to pick up. Overall, one of the main gripes is that the four-year period seems arbitrary. In the first place,for new HDB flats, you can't sell until five years later. For resale, it's one year. So how did they come up with four years for this rule ? Specifically, how IRAS could deem one a "trader" which means that he relies on property transactions for income is up to IRAS to decide.

Whether or not a property seller is taxed on his profit is ultimately up to IRAS.

The tax agency does nto require individuals to alert it when they sell their properties. IRAS will use its own yardsticks such as the circumstances leading to the sales, how long the investor has held the disposed property and how frequently he has been selling properties in the past.

Take an example to show the implication of the tax consequences if IRAS decides that he should be taxed. If he earns an annual income of $100,000 and he has made a gain of $300,000 on selling his properties, his total assessable income for the year will now jump to $400,000

His income tax will aso soar by $51,600 - from $7,000 to $58,000 The surge in his income has pushed him into a higher tax bracket, from 14% to 20%

In Singapore, individuals do not pay tax on the 1st $20,000.

Just take a look at the tax rate :

1) 3.5% on the next $10,000

2) 5.5.% on the following $10,000

3) 8.5% on the income above $40,000

4) 14% on the income above $80,000

5) 20% on the income over $320,000

Above info extracted from Sunday Times - Home #7 - 12 July 2009

Care to share your view on this tax issue ? We hope to hear from you.

Bull's eye for BLIND ARCHERS

2009-07-10T09:42:00.000-07:00

Blind people are not useless. Mr Ken WOng, 61, and Mr William Hiu, 55, both are legally blind, but the two competitors came in third and fourth spots at the recent archery meet. This event was organised by the Singapore Disability Sports Council (SDSC) on June 13. They have stunned the field and left sighted competitors slack-jawed.

The pair really give sighted rivals a run for their money. So how did they do it ? The answers lies in training, repetition and focus. Aiming and keeping in mind his "anchor point" at all time during the training sessions.

Having proven themselves in competitions for the disabled, Mr Hiu and Mr Wong are aiming higher. They will shoot against able-bodied competitors in an international meet in Bangkok, later this month.

What is the moral we can learned from their story and can be applied to Internet Martketing for frustated IM beginners ?

1) Do something, do not let the fear that holds you back.

2) Do not be afraid of failure. Every failure we endure, puts another notch in our delicate egos.

3) Those we succeed in life, are the ones that take chances. The one that take action.

4) Do not just want to be successful but YOU MUST BE SUCCESS

5) Never limit yourself to think small, THINK BIG

6) Perseverance and a strong burning desire to succeed

7) Focus, Focus and focus.

ZAP FOR FREE PHONE DOWNLOAD

2009-07-10T08:30:00.000-07:00

Zap for free phone downloads. What is this all about ?

What do you think of this promotion from Coca-cola ? Buy Coca-cola and download free ringtones, wallpapers and games onto your mobile phone.

Is this cool ? This promotion will run till end of this month. Colour squares called Zapcodes will be printed on millions of cans of Coke, Coke Zero and Sprite.

A user just needs to download a free software program developed by technology company ColorZip onto his mobile phone. This transforms the phone into a scanning device that can read the code on the cans, so users can download ringtones, wallpapers and games, etc onto their mobile phones.

ColorZip SEA is the company that holds the rights to this patented technology, ZapCode. It is now in partnership with SPH to extend their strategy into the Singapore market.

ZapCode - is a breakthrough technology that is set to revolutionise the way you use your mobile phone to access information from the Internet. It is launched in Singapore exclusively by Singapore Press Holdings Ltd.

Coca-Cola Singapore is the latest company to make use of the digital marketing tool.

World economy in crisis - financial panic: where are we now?

2009-07-08T07:32:00.000-07:00

Is the world still facing economies crisis and recession ? Yes and no. It is becoming increasingly clear that Asia is emerging from the global economies crisis faster than the rest of the world. Over the past five years, China contibuting to world gross domestic product growth from one-fifth to one-third. India's contribution from 6 per cent to 16 per cent.

Different economic indicators from different parts of the world have brightened. China’s economy is picking up. The slump in global manufacturing seems to be easing.

According to IMF, China, a land of 1.3 billion people and India — the only sizeable economies likely to record growth rates of over 5% — will prevent the world from recording negative growth in 2009. Ironically, while the US — where the current global crisis originated — will suffer a decline of only 1.6%, the UK will see its economy shrink by 2.8%, Japan by 2.6% and Germany by 2.5%. The Euro area as a whole will fare worse than the US with a 2% drop in output in 2009, the IMF projected.

With another six months turning to 2010, Asia is looking forward the positive forecast from IMF to foresee an impressive global recovery to 3% growth, with China's 8% and India's 6.5% once again leading the way. Once again, while the US will bounce back to grow by 1.6%, the Euro area will grow by a minuscule 0.2%, the UK by a similar rate and Japan by a somewhat better 0.6%.

US weakened by the financial crisis, deeply indebted, bogged down in Irag, facing major challenges in Afghanistan and Pakistan, and feeling psychologically humbled. It is expected that US may no longer be in the same position as before to lead the international community.

All the nations, especially the Asian countries, all working together to revise their models for international co-operation in a way that incorporates the global shift in economices, will assume more meaningful responsibilities in managing global crises.

Singapore Housing Board's new Lease Buyback

2009-06-27T07:22:00.000-07:00

According to an article in ST on 24 June 2009, HDB has launched a new

lease Buyback ( LBS) .

1) The scheme is available to low-income Singapore citizens who own

three-room or smaller flats, with an outstanding mortgage loan of

S$5,000 or lower.

2) Applicants must be at least 62 years old.

How it works :

The HDB will buy back the tail-end of the flat lease at market rate,

leaving the household with a remaining 30-year.

Out of the S$10,000 government subsidy given to those on the

scheme; S$5,000 is paid up front as a lump sum.

The other S$5,000, along with money for the lease, is used to buy

a new CPF Life anuity in the home owner's name.

The amont of monthly income that a household receives from the

scheme depends on the market value of the flat, the amount of

remaining lease, and the age and gender of the applicant.

An example of a 62-year old retiree with a two-room, living in his

flat for more than 40 year, will be paid more than S$400 a month

for the rest of his life, in exchange for the tail-end of the 99-year

lease of his flat.

The LBS targets those without the option of living in a rental flat,

downgrading to a smaller flat, sub-letting their entire flat, or relying

on family support.

What is your views on this scheme ?

We welcome your comments here.

Singapore International Water Week Convention 2009

2009-06-24T05:41:00.001-07:00

Singapore’s signature water event – Water Convention 2009 will be held from 22^nd through the 26^th of June. The global movers and the shakers of the water industry will gather in Singapore for the second Singapore Water Week.

Close to 10,000 delegates and trade visitors, from at least 80 countries , are expected at the events to be held at Suntec Singapore International Convention and Exhibition Centre. Despite the global downturn and the H1N1 bug spread, the event has drawn even more delegates as compared to last year of 8,500 delegates.

The Convention will cover four main themes:
1.Water Technology Solutions for Today’s Applications
2.Managing Water Infrastructure
3.Water and Health
4.Planning for Sustainable Water Solutions

Over the coming week, high-level discussions will be held among the conference participants, and water-technology companies, both local and foreign, will showcase their latest innovations.

Changi water-reclaimation plant which is Singapore’s largest is also declared open on 23 Jun 2009, as part of the week’s programme. When completed, it will be one of the largest water-reclaimation facility in the world.

Singapore's "Father of Counselling" Anthony Yeo dies aged 60

2009-06-23T03:21:00.000-07:00

In May, Mr Yeo was diagnosed with Burkitt's lymphoma, cancer of a type of white blood cell that fights off body infection, after he collapsed at home on the evening of May 9.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Anthony Yeo was a Singaporean counsellor, described as Singapore's "father of counselling" for his pioneering role in the profession's development in Singapore.

He was born into a Teochew family in Singapore. He attended Victoria School and graduated from the [University of Singapore] in 1972. He later founded and served as clinical director of the Counselling and Care Centre, Singapore's first counselling centre; he also helped to establish a suicide prevention agency, SOS. CCC trained around a thousand counsellors.

He died on June 20, 2009, of Burkitt's lymphoma, and was survived by his wife Soo Lan and by two adult sons.

Yeo was a regular contributor to the The Straits Times, including as an advice columnist.

Facebook Vanity URL Landrush launch

2009-06-21T09:40:00.000-07:00

Facebook Vanity URL Landrush launched on 12 June 2009

“Landrush" is a term used to define the stampede of registrations when a registry opens to registrations. First Come, First Served.

More than 500,000 registered within the first 15 minutes and additionally more than 3 milillions people registered their Facebook usernames in the first 12 hours after the land rush began. It was an impressive launch with a big number of videos circulating Facebook Vanity URL landrush launch.

Were you up late racing to get your name on Facebook? Did you lose out to someone else?

Came across some interesting usernames such as :

1) http://www.facebook.com/socialmedia

2) http://www.facebook.com/error.404

Isn't these usernames interesting ? Share your comments about the registration and some interesting usernames with us. Welcome your comments.

Govt e-service on your 3G smartphone

2009-06-19T10:10:00.000-07:00

The Smartphones industry is coming soon to offer convenient access to Singapore government services and information.

Some of the e-services that we can expect offering soon such as :

1) To find out how crowded a polyclinic waiting room via direct video link.

2) Booking for sport facilities or arranging appointments with IRAS, the tax man.

3) To pay fines, check weather forecasts, etc

These are som of the e-services which Infocomm Development Authority (IDA) and a Singapore company, Mobile Werkz will be working out.

Look like Smartphones going to dominate the world of mobile phone. Do you own a smartphone ?

So what is a Smartphone ?

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia has the following details :

A smartphone is a mobile phone offering advanced capabilities, often with PC-like functionality.

There is no industry standard definition of a smartphone. For some, a smartphone is a phone that runs complete operating system software providing a standardized interface and platform for application developers.

For others, a smartphone is simply a phone with advanced features like e-mail, Internet and e-book reader capabilities, and/or a built-in full keyboard or external USB keyboard and VGA connector.

In other words, it is a miniature computer that has phone capability.

Growth in demand for advanced mobile devices boasting powerful processors, abundant memory, large screens and open operating systems has outpaced the rest of the mobile phone market for several years.

Examples of Several different smartphones such as

1) iPhone 3G

2) Blackberry 8820

3) Nokia N78,Nokia N81,Nokia N95,Nokia E65 & Nokia N70

4) The Palm Treo 750, a Windows Mobile smartphone released in 2007

and many more...

Do you have something to share ? We welcome your comments.

Singaporeans leading meaningful sliver years graceful society

2009-05-24T04:24:00.000-07:00

Singapore is a city state with a population of 4.5 million people, of which 3.6 million are citizens or permanent residents.

Singapore has the third highest rate of ageing in Asia. Only Japan and the Republic of Korea have higher rates.
Presently 12 Singaporeans is aged 65 or above
By 2030, this ratio will become one out of 5

Studies attribute the trend to low fertility rates since the late 1970s, and healthcare improvements that have extended life expectancy.

An ageing population brings both challenges and opportunities. The next five years provides a window of opportunity to put in place policies and programmes to meet the emerging needs of an ageing population. Looking at it positively, the government hopes to develop Singapore as a thriving business and research centre on ageing. One of the important strategic to focus an an Active Ageing.

To achieve 'Successful Ageing for Singapore', i.e. to ensure that all levels of society - the individual, the family, the community and the nation - are well-prepared for the challenges and opportunities of an ageing Singapore.

To enable Singaporeans to age with dignity and security, as integral members of society, in a vibrant and socially cohesive nation.

Share your views about this silver ageing issues of your country with us.
We welcome your comments.

Singapore MRT Circle Line-Sneak Peek Before Official Opening Next Week

2009-05-23T18:08:00.000-07:00

Extracted this article from Channel News Asia on 24 May 2009 to share the good news of the pre-opening of New Circle Line.

SINGAPORE: About 10,000 residents were treated to free rides yesterday, Saturday, 23 May 2009, on the five new Circle Line Stations. It is part of the open house experience at the new Circle Line Stations. The 24 remaining stations will be progressively operational from next year, 2010, according to the Land Transport Authority (LTA), and the first five stations will still give commuters faster access to regional centres.

Commuters will be able to change trains at Serangoon Interchange for the North—East line, and Bishan Interchange for the North—South line.

I am sure most of us are very excited and look forward to the convenience we will be able to enjoy from the new Circle Line.

Prices of properties around the vicinity also look set to benefit.

In the near—term, analysts said they expect property prices around the first five stations of the circle line to increase by three to five per cent.

Prices are expected to increase even further when the circle line is fully operational.

55,000 commuters are expected to use the first five circle line stations daily.

Share your comments or joy with us here. We welcome your comments here.

Singapore Tourism Board promotes stopover in Spore - US$1

2009-05-19T19:39:00.000-07:00

Stopping in Singapore for US$1 - Fabulous Singapore Stopover package organised by Singpaore Airlines, Changi Airport and the Singapore Tourism Board - promotional hotel rate simply cannot resist. Awaresome deal.

This stopover deal began on April 15 2009, and may be booked until June 15 for travel up to Sept 30, 2009. The six hotels offering US$1 one-night stays are :

1) Peninsula Excelsior

2) Allson Hotel

3) Hotel Royal

4) Hotel Royal@Queens

5) Hotel Re!@Pearl's Hill

6) Paramount Hotel

The US$1 one-night stays include unlimited free use of the SIA Hop-on bus to visit attractions and free entry to places of interest such as Sentosa, The National Orchid Garden and the zoo.

Many visitors from London to Australia, or Australian to Hong Kong, others such as to Holand, have gladly took up the offer to stay. As quoted by some of these tourists, Singpore is a good place to take a break rather than travel for 28 hours straight.

Welcome to Singapore. Anything to share, drop your comments here, most welcome.

DV V502 Digital Camcorder

2009-05-16T09:39:00.000-07:00

This model DV V502 Digital Camcorder was selling at S$99.00 in a newspaper advertisement.

According to the advertisement, the original price was S$299.00

Features such as :

a) 5-in-1 multi function : digital camcorder, camera, voice recorder, PC camera & mass storage.

b) 270 degree swivel-reversible 2.4"TFT display.

c) 1 year warranty.

What do you think of this, a good buy ?

Is this part of the marketing strategies and what are the objectives ?

1) Establishing a relatively low price for a product or service usually to stimulate demand and acquire market share. It is basically penetration pricing.

2) It is also advantages for seller having high volume production when economic of scale is achievable.

3) Using price as a method to build long-term relationship with the best customers.

4) Focusing on giving better deals to your best customers.

There should alot more marketing strategies and how do we apply these strategies to our online internal business is something we are very interested to know.

Do share your comments with us.

Volun-tourism Singapore volunteers serve and see the world

2009-05-05T18:38:00.000-07:00

Lately more and more Singaporeans are signing up to help in community projects overseas and sightsee. It aims to nurture socially responsible citizens to identify and contribute to the needs of communities at home and overseas. It is also an eye-opener to many and exposure to serving others and to conditions outside of the comfort zone of most Singaporeans is invaluable experiences for them.

Organisations such as :

1) National Youth Council - The Youth Expedition Project -since 2000, has sent more than 14,000 people to South-east Asia, India and China to interact with the local communities and tackle their needs in areas such as education, environment and health care. For more info:www.yep.sg

2) The Young Men's Christian Association (YMCA) of Singapore - Its International Service Programmes - to various community service work from building houses to teaching the local children. Lately they have organised a subsidised 12-day trip at $1,000 to Siem Reap in March 2009. This include return airfare, accoummodation at the Boys' Brigade Learning Centre and simple meals. For more info: Call Centre : 65-6586-2331 or email: iternational@gmca.org.sg for more details.

3) Ngee Ann Polytechnic - part of the polytechnic's Community Involvement Programme - in September 2007 - about 17 students took part in a trip to Nias, Indonesia. Each student volunteers paid a subisidised fee of $500 for the 10-day trip. It covered the return airfare, accommodation at the Farmers' Training Centre on the island and meals.

4) Private companies are also arranging volun-tourism trips. TakeMeToAsia, an online travel company ( www.takemetoasia.com or www.takemetovolunteertravel.com ) started launchng such services two years ago. Such trips will cover Asian countries and typically last a few days and cost from a few hundred dollars to a few thousands. depending on the destination. An upcoming trip to Chiangmai costs $650. excluding air tickets.

Opinions for volun-tourism trips differ individually. Some people think volun-tourism is all work and no play. But others beg to differ. For some, such trips give them a great way to get away from the hustle and bustle of the city life.

What is your opinions on this ? Do drop me your comments.

Singapore - What are all your plus points ?

2009-05-02T10:26:00.000-07:00

Glad to do a summary of the few Global rating affirming Singapore creditworthiness.

1) ST Apr 12, 2009 - Doing business ? Singapore is fourth best. Republic goes up four spots in Forbes annual world ranking. Its survey ranked 127 countries according to criteria such as taxes, red tape, investor protection, stock market performance, promotion of free trade and freedom of expression and organisation.

2) ST Apr 23, 2009 - Singapore named best Asian seaport for the 21st time in 23 years, beating Hong Kong and Kang in Malaysia. - It received the honour at the 23rd Assian Freight and Supply Chain Awards (AFSCA) in Hong Kong recently. Winning the award affirms the confidence the maritime community has in Singapore as its port of choice in Asia.

3) ST Apr18, 2009 - Singapore retains AAA rating from Fitch, a Global ratings agency. Singapore's strong external finances, solid public finances, stable political stiuation and flexible government policies are the plus points of the creditworthiness. Singapore's international reserves, including gold, are maintained at a record high of US$174 billion (S$261 billion).

4) ST Apr 8,2009 - Singapore remains Asia's least corrupt country. Perc, The Political and Economic Risk Consultancy made this observation in its latest annual survey of perceptions of corruption in the region. Foreign investors view Singapore's " clean" image as an attibute that gives it a competitive advaantage over most other countries in the region.

About 1,750 loacl and foreign executives in teh region, Australia and United Stated were interviewed face to face, by direct mail and email for this survey.

5) ST Feb 20, 2009 - Singapore is the most wired nation on earth with the household broadband penetration rate hitting 99.9 per cent last December - figure given by IDA, Infocomm Development Authority. Following behind with have South Korea ( 92 per cent ), Hong Kong ( 83.8 per cent ) and Taiwan ( 76.8 per cent ). With high subscriber rates for broadband usage, charges per month are easily less than S$47, previously charge, and with much higher access speed.

Last but not least, according to the Singapore Tourism Board (STB), Singapore has carved out a niche for offering affordable quality education. Students have the advantages of being able to study at some of the world's leading institutions, at a fraction of what it would cost in Britain and the United States, due to lower fees and the comparatively low cost of living.

With all these plus points, would you consider coming to Singapore ?

We look forward to welcome you.

Share with us your comments.

First Suzhou then Guangdong - transformation

2009-05-02T09:10:00.000-07:00

Extracted some data from wikipedia.org gave us a idea of how the suquence of events leading to the development of a modern Suzhou industrial park :

As China's modernization drive gained momentum in the late 1980s, many Chinese delegations visited Singapore, a southeast Asian nation that achieved economic miracle within 30 years of independence. The Chinese visitors were eager to learn modern management methods, while Singapore was also planning Economic Regionalization, which focused on overseas investment.

In 1992, the idea of developing a modern industrial township with Singapore experience was broached. During his tour of southern China that year, China's late paramount leader Deng Xiaoping said: "Singapore enjoys good social order and is well managed. We should tap on their experience, and learn how to manage better than them."

After rounds of discussions and site surveys, both governments decided to join hands in developing a modern industrial park in the east of Suzhou. The China-Singapore Suzhou Industrial Park (CS-SIP) was thus born on Feb. 26, 1994 when Chinese Vice Premier Li Lanqing and Singapore Senior Minister Lee Kuan Yew signed the Agreement on the Joint Development of Suzhou Industrial Park in Shanghai.

Next, China's Guangdong province, with a population of 500 million people, and grew rapidly over the past 30 years is in the process for " second transformation" and economic restructiing. It is aiming for 8.5% growth for this year.

China's top economic planning agency recently released an ambitious 12-year plan to move export-dependent Guangdong 's industries up the value chain and shift the province's focus to high-end manufacturing , high technology, modern services and finance.

Last September, with a business delegation of more than 400, led by Mr WangYang, Guangdong party secretary, arriving in Singapore to boost economic cooperation between the two sides.

Singapore and Guangdong, both sides jointly will study plans to build a "knowledge City" in the southern Chinese province. Knowledge City will be driven by the corporate sector but will enjoy strong support from the Singapore Government

Mr Wang was impressed by Singapore's ability to build up a workforce that is equipped with practical skills. Being among the world's advanced countries, Singapore has done a good job at fusing the Eastern and Western cultures and able to bring out the best in that combination. Singapore SM Goh recent five-day official visit to Guangdong, hopes to understand how Singapore could add value to the province which had modernised and prospered so dramatically since his visit to Guangdong back in 1971.

With the two leaders witnessing the signing of an agreement to establish the Singapore-Guangdong Collaboration Council, which aims to strengthen economic ties. We look forward to more economic gain for the two countries.

Do you have something from your country to share with us ?

We welcome you to drop us your comments.

Want to work at Home

2009-04-26T01:32:00.000-07:00

With advance information technology, working from home is realistic, possible, efficient and convenient. According to statistics, with the world entering the 21st century, more and more people wants to work from home. There are many reasons for it, however, 90% of them, it’s personally reason for doing so.

Reasons such as :

1) Time Control & Flexibility - determine your own working hours.

2) Control your income - you can determine how much you earn. The more effort you put in, the more you stand to earn.

3) Choose to do what you like to do.

4) No long hours travelling

5) More time to take care of the family.

6) No more being boss around, haha, and many more reasons

This dream can be achieved, the key to reaching it is to find a job that allows you to work from home. There is an upward trend during the last 2 years, an increased of 39% from 12.4million in 2006 to 17.2 millions in 2008, a survey by Worldatwork.

So, take baby steps, and I’m sure that you too can start making money working from home.

If working from home is really what you are looking for, Do a search in Google.com eg - Want to work from Home. There are lots of information and ideas from the internet.

Importantly once we are set to work from home, we need to be very focus and discipline. Ultimately it is up to you to work the advantages to benefit yourself. Trust yourself and stay focus!

Bulls and Bears Feb - Early April 2009

2009-04-11T17:10:00.000-07:00

16 February 2009, Monday, Straits Times Index (STI) sliped 1.3% or 22.33 points to 1,683.31 in the face of weak regional sentiment and poor market participation.

Market participation was muted, with volume shrinking to a two-week low of 701.3 m shares - worth S$683.2m. All figures quoted are in S$

Chief losers, were mainly from banking stocks.

DBS - 19 cents down - $8.20
UOB - 28 cents down -$11.08
OCBC - 5 cents down - $4.96
F&N - 12 cents down - $2.78

Expecting fourth-quarter results to be out on next day for OCBC and UOB on Feb 27. Across the board, profit warnings continued to trickle in, giving investors more reason to hold back.

17 February 2009, Tuesday, Straits Times Index (STI) sank 2.55% or 42.78 points to 1,637.92 - its wors fall in one month and its lowest close since late November 2008.

DBS - 17 cents down - $8.03
UOB - 16 cents down - $10.92
OCBC - 6 cents down - $4.90
CapitaLand - 9 cents - $2.65
City Developments - 20 cents down - $5.22
Keppel Land - 7 cents down - $1.36

Most dealers expect more downside to come, due to the persistent bear sentiment.

However, some analysts forecast tht the market could see a rally later in the week if Wall Street reacts positively to a US plan to stem home foreclosures.

5 March 2009, Thursday, the benchment Straits Times Index (STI) lost ground, closing 25.7 points or 1.66% lower at 1,518.64 after investors took profit on blue chips. Of the 30 STI component stocks, only 4 managed to post gains. Trading volume was 1.07 b shares worth $866.3 m Singapore's ecomony may possibly contract as much as 10% this years, as commented in the ST article.

BDS - 15 cents down - $7.04
UOB - 5 cents down - $9.09
OCBC - 13 cents down - $4.12
CapitaLand - 6 cents down - $1.89
City Developments - 24 cents down - $4.27 ( Lowest since August 2003)
SIA - 28 cents down - $9.86 ( Lowest since April 2004)
Singtel - 6 cents down - $2.54

7 March 2009, Saturday, ST articles showed some comparision data on market capitalisation of some Bank shares taking a beating. Periods of comparison between September 2008 and Current and also reflecting the share price of both periods. ALl market cap figures covnerted to US$ at present rate and share price based on Thursday' price.

HSBC - us$189b - us$68.1b ( HK$121.70 : HK$43.50 )
Bank of America - us$142b - us$20.3b ( us$31.14 : us$3.17)
Citigroup - $104b - us$5.6b ( us$18.99 : us$1.02)
UBS - us$60.6b - us$24.1b ( Sft 23.92 : Sfr 9.52 )
RBS - us$54.2b - us$11.7b ( 230 p : 20.8 p )

Singapore 's local banks are regarded as being well-capitalised, though share prices have suffered amid the mauling taken by almost all banks worldwide.

DBS - us$17.5b - us$10.2b ( S$17.90 - S$6.90 ) - 41..7% drop in cap.
UOB - us$18.5b - us$8.7b ( s$18.76 - s$8.82 ) - 52.9 % drop in cap.
OCBC - us$16.2b - us$7.8b ( S$8.00 - S$4.14 ) - 55.3 % drop in cap.

Some banks, such as Lehman Brothers, collapsed under the weight of toxic debts linked to the disastrous US sub-prime mortgage market. Accoding to reports, governments in Europe and the US have decided that the likes of Citi, AIG and RBS are too big to be allowed to fail - as the ripple effects on the wider ecomony would be diabolical.

20 March 2009, Friday, ST articles published Full-year GDP forecast with analysts more bearish on Singapore. With forecast that economic output will shrink by 7 or 8% - it would be Singapore;s poorest performance since the data was first compiled in the mid-1970s, according to the article.

On 20 March 2009, it reported that the US Federal Reserve chairman annouced yesterday that US1.15 trillion (S$1.74 trillion ) would be pumped into the economy, had sent Wall Street and STI with small rise. However, analysts were quick to warn that it may be short-lived, as the economic fundamentals have not improved. Utimately, in the absence of an immediate global economic renaissance, Asian economies will in general remain under pressure and require further fiscal and monetary stimulus.

23 March 2009, Monday, yes there was a bear rally, but too early to hope for any long-term rally as uncertainty rules the day. Just read how it was compared to starting off on a sunny day, but most people have taken to carrying an umbrella in case of a sudden downpour. Was it a cute comparison phrase ? Others put it as this rally is merely the latest in a long series of dead-cat bounces - describing a spike in stock prices after they have fallen to fresh lows - in the past 18 months since the US sub-prime crisis sent global financial markets reeling in pains.

26 March 2009, Thursday, reported an initial dip before gaining some ground in the final hour. A total of 1.27 b shares worth $988.46 m were traded. STI closing at 1,691.68

DBS - adding 4 cents - $8.42
UOB - adding 4 cents - $10.32
OCBC - down 1 cent - $4.87
SIA - down 16 cents - $10.02
SPH - add 6 cents - $2.61

27 March 2009, Friday, STI ignites hope of recovery with 4% rise surging to $1,758.79

DBS - adding 32 cents - $ 8.74
UOB - adding 22 cents - $10.54
OCBC - adding 20 cents - $5.07
Singtel - adding 6 cents - $2.57 ( Morgan Stanley noted the strong Balance Sheet and high cash yields )
CapitaLand - adding 17 cents - $2.37
Keppel Corp - adding 30 cents - $5.39
SPH - adding 8 cents - $2.69

31 March 2009, Tuesday, The key trigger for the nosedive yesterday came with news that the US governement would fund giant automakers General Motors and Chrysler for the next 60 days instead of offering them fresh loans, raising the spectre of bankruptcy. Further fear that the upcoming G20 summit would fail to yield concrete results. With all unfavourable news, sending the STI down 72.52 points or 4.1% to 1,673.14

DBS - down 35 cents - $8.21
UOB - d0wn 58 cents - $9.60
OCBC - down 17 cents - $4.78
Sembawang Marine - down 16 cents - $1.75
Cosco Corp - down 5 cents - $0.79
Keppel Corp - down 31 cents - $4.96
SMRT - adding 1 cent - $1.56

1 April 2009, Wednesday, Market ends first quarter on high note - with STI gained 26.85 points or 1.6% to 1,699.99 Generally market is still sceptical that the upswing could be maintained. Traders attributed the rebound to fund managers dressing up the prices of blue chips in their portfolios before they send out quarterly report cards to clients. Moreover with April Fool's Day just around the corner, it would be foolish to load up a huge position.

DBS - adding 24 cents - $8.45
UOB - adding 12 cents - $9.72
OCBC - adding 6 cents - $4.84

4 April 2009, Saturday, reporting on yesterday performance of STI at highest level since 8 January and hope over G-20 buyoyancy sentiment, sending STI gaining 17.53 points, or 4.3 % higher to level 1,820.87 About 1,84 b shares were traded - worth $1.62 billion.

UOB - adding 20 cents - $10.68
City Developments - adding 28 cents - $5.98
CapitaLand - adding 10 cents - $2.70
SGX - adding 28 cents - $5.80
F&N - down 4 cents - $2.60
Golden Agri-Resources - down half cent - $0.285

Asian markets also continued on their winning ways yesterday. In a positive sign from China, credit seemed to be flowing again there, with reports that new loans for last month probably exceeded 1 trillion yuan (S$220 billion). China also said its manufacturing figures had notched up their first expansion in six months. However, the mood was still cautious with impending unemployment figures due out soon.

6 April 2009, Monday, with the space of four weeks, the STI has gained 20% prompting the question of True Rally or just a technical one. Last week, the benchmark index gained 75.21 points and 4.3%, closing at 1,820.87 There are also signs that the economy could be turning the corner and heading for recovery.

7 April 2009, Tuesday, STI closes at highest level since January 7 - driving index up 1.49% or 27.11 points to 1,847.98 Overall, analysts are mixed in their views regarding the direction of the local market.

DBS - adding 16 cents - $9.18
UOB - adding 26 cents - $10.94
OCBC - adding 19 cents - $5.33
CapitaLand - adding 11 cents - $2.81
City Developments - adding 20 cents - $6.18
SGX - adding 15 cents - $5.95
Sembawang Marine - adding 18 cents - $2.15 ( after news that its unit had secured a rig order contract worth us$247.3 million.

9 April 2009, Thursday, fresh jitters on Wall Street putting brakes to shares rebounds yesterday. STI slipped 18.43 points or 1.02% to 1,783.96 It has surged nearly 150 points or 8.7%, in the five trading days before Tuesday's retreat.

DBS - down 33 cents - $8.50
UOB - down 36 cents - $10.12
OCBC - adding 6 cents - $5.30
CapitaLand - down 7 cents - $2.50
City Developments - down 30 cents - $5.52
Sembawang Marine - down 3 cents - $1.97
Keppel Corp - down 16 cents - $5.30
SPH - adding 3 cents - $2.65
SMRT Corp - adding 5 cents - $1.53

10 April 2009, Friday, Easter eggs all around yesterday when key regional bourses shot up in response to Wall Street's overnight gains. STI up 2.5% or 44.55 points to 1,828.51 The push was provided mainly by funds driven by positive momentum from Japan and Hong Kong, according to the report. Overall, analysts expect caution ahead in the local market as the corporate earnings season starts next week.

DBS - adding 41 cents - $8.91
UOB - adding 38 cents - $10.50
OCBC - adding 16 cents - $5.46
CapitaLand - adding 16 cents - $2.66
City Development - adding 13 cents - $5.65
Semp Corp Marine - adding 18 cents - $2.15
Keppel Corp - adding 20 cents - $5.50 ( news that rig-builder clinched a $518m contract)
SIA - adding 48 cents - $11.40
SGX - adding 17 cents - $5.90
SPH - adding 15 cents - $2.80

Do drop me your comment to share.

Good blood circulation is key to good health and wellness

2009-04-11T14:17:00.000-07:00

According to World Health Organisation, by 2020 it is estimated that approximately 5.9 billion of the world population will be afflicted by potentially serious joint disorders. Which give an average of 1 in five will suffer from joint pain and in Singapore, it will be something like 75% of those aged 60 years and above will show symptoms of osteoarthritis.

The two most common types of chronic joint diseases :

1) Rheumatoid arthritis

2) Osteoarthritis

These joint diseases can affect our daily activities of living like walking, bending and limbing the stairs. Let us take a look at what are the signs and symptoms of these two types of arthritis.

1) Rheumatoid arthritis

Warmth, swelling and pain in small joints of the fingers, wrists and feet.
Affected joints are usually symmetrical (same joint on both sides of the body).
Morning stiffness which can last an hour or more.
Subcutaneous lumps or rheumatoid nodules may be present.
Joint deformities caused by cartilage, tenion and ligament damage.
Fatigue, loss of appetite and low grade fever.

2) Osteoarthritis

Is primarily related to degenerating in the protein makeup and the water content of the cartilage.
Repetitive use of the joints that causes irritates and inflames to cartilage.
Cartilage further degenerate by flaking or forming tiny crevasses.
In worst case, complete loss of cartilage cushion between the joint of bones, leading to pain and limitation of joint mobility.

How can we help to delay the onset of these joint pain ?

Ensure a healthy nutritious and balanced diet.
Do not place to much stress or strain on the joints by avoiding constant repetitive movements.
Keep weight within a healthy range which will lessen the burden on our joints.
Exercise regularly to maintain healthy bones and joints.
Manage your workload effectively, such as doing it at steady pace and not rushing throughout the day will help to avoid overwork the joints.
Alternate light and moderate activities and periodic stretch breaks will also help.

What are the ways to relieve pain ?

Simple hydrotherapy such as spending 15 minutes under a hot shower or in a hot bathtub.
Soaking your joints in alternating hot and cold water, first 10 minutes in warm water before switching to cold water for 1 minute and back to hot water and repeated throughout half an hour.
To alleviate knee pain, wrap the affected area with a few towels before putting a hot pack on it and wrapping it further with a few more towels. Heat from the water helps to relax the muscles near the affected area of you knee. Ensure to check the skin reaction every 15 minutes and if red spots are deteched, stop treatment immediately.
Physiotherapy with customised exercise programms will help to strengthen and improve blood circulation around the mucles and tendons of the affected area.
Doctors may recommend the injection of cortisone, a powerful anti-inflamatory drug to patients suffering from a severely inflamed knee and uncontrolled pain.
Acupuncture, the traditional treatment provides pain relief and improves the function of an osteoarthritis knee.
Wearing guard around the knee. The stronger guard, such as those with bio-ray properties are currently also recommended. Ebene Bio-ray knee guard, invented by Dr Tor Lam Huat, PHD recommended this in an article in Straits Times dated 9 April 2009

20th Birthday to our World Wide Web

2009-03-28T05:36:00.000-07:00

Wow, this year WWW is celebrating the 20th birthday with a rough count of 186.7 million websites. ST Singapore trawling through the websites and have the following for your happy browsing.

1) http://www.kiasuparents.com/kiasu/

This site is a portal for local parents to gather and exchange tips and ideas on bringing up baby.

2) http://www.nymbler.com/

A site dedicated to naming your newborn. Click on a name and you not only find out its meaning, but also a chart showing when the name was most popular in the last century. Baby Name Wizard (http://www.babynamewizard.com/ ) may be easier to find on search engines, but it loses points on originality.

3) http://www.dailypuppy.com/

There may be plenty of pet websites online, but nothing grabs you like the puppy dog

eyes of this one.

4) http://www.foodnetwork.com/

A site where you can watch full episodes of vrious cooking shows.

5) http://www.epicurious.com/

Whether you are scrambling for a cake recipe or need to decide on what wine to take to a dinner party, this site will have what you need. No lack of recipes - over 100,000 for your selection. A tresure trove of information on food.

6) http://www.tastespotting.com/

With more than 700 pages of pictures of delicious food that stimulate your salivary glands. The site is a compilation of recipes from the Web and each picture is a link to the website or blog where the recipe resides. You can submit your food site or blog, make sure with inviting imae of the dish.

The editorial team behind Tastespotting will review the submissions and post those that have the most eye-catching pictures and the most useful links.

7) http://www.sparkpeople.com/

Spark People is a weight-lose website for those who need moral support. The site has a community of 5.5 millions member and it encourages you to shed kilograms by dieting and exercises.

8) http://zenhabits.net/

The site is updated daily with features cover topics on finance, happiness, family and parenting. An extract from the blog “There is no greater sin than desire, No greater curse than discontent, No greater misfortune than wanting something for oneself. Therefore he who knows that enough is enough will always have enough.” - Lao Tzu - great sharing.

9) http://failblog.org/

Fail blog relies on users putting up occassionally embarrassing, silly or co promising pictures or videos for a good laugh. Fail blog will entertain, especially if you have had a bad day.

10) http://www.fmylife.com/

While sites like Post Secret ( http://www.postsecret.blogspot.com/ ) have people baring their soul and confessing their innermost secrets anonymously, this is more of an instant stress therapy.

11) http://www.oddee.com/

A blog with over 1 million readers a month, Oddee features the odd, bizarre and strange things of our world. Be amazed!

12) http://www.evernote.com/about/what_is_en/

Evernote allows you to easily capture information in any environment using whatever device or platform you find most convenient, and makes this information accessible and searchable at any time, from anywhere. Did we mention that it's free?

13) http://www.scanr.com/

It's like having a digital scanner in your pocket ! Scan documents to turn them into digital files you can store, share, and fax. Scanr lets you convert these images into PDF or text files instead o fJPEG format, which storage is a problem and they would be unsearchable.

14) http://www.geni.com/

Geni is a private place for your family to build your family tree. There are. of course, some social networking aspects too.

15) http://www.notcot.org/

The site is a collection of pictures that are not only pretty to look at, but also link to other sites. These pictures and links are contributed by netizens aroung the world, but curated bya team of editors who decide what is good enough to go on the site.

16) http://www.love-lines.com/index.html

This website lets you discover what the rest of the world is feeling through their blogs and internet postings. It takes a while to familiar the navigation.

17) http://www.musicovery.com/

An entertainment website. An online music service that helps you discover songs.

18) http://www.digitalbits.com/

The Digital Bits keeps track of the home-video market, with news and reviews of the latest and upcoming releases from the United States.

19) http://www.kontraband.com/blog/

As the name suggests, this site hosts clips, jokes, pictures and games tht are best viewed when you are alone, but there is nothing illegal or pornographic here.

20) http://www.newsarama.com/

SItes like Comic Book Resources (www.comicbookresources.com) offer something similar, but Newsarama makes everything easier for non-geeks to understand.

21) http://www.televisionwithoutpity.com/index.php

TWOP - commonly known. More than just a review of the latest episode of hit shows. TWOP is a site with updates on what took place in all episodes aired to date.

22) http://digg.com/

You won't find editors at Digg - Digg collates the articles posted by users around the world. Users collectively determine the value of content and rate the worthiness of the article by "Digging " them. Think of Digg as the equivalent of a music countdown show that ranks the top hits bsed on listeners' votes.

23) http://hacknmod.com/

This site teaches you how to take a working product and modify it.

24) http://my.afterdawn.com/

This website offers free software download alternatives, from digital music players to programs that catalogue your DVD collection.

Online Meetings Made Easy & Twitter

2009-03-25T06:54:00.000-07:00

Today 25th Mar 2009 - my first time to logon online meetings with my group's discussion using GoToMeeting, an online meeting programme.

We can use the webnair schedule for free training online for your groups or members, providing better cutomer service to our groups and members. Please take a few moments to check out these new technology and share with us your experience. If chance permits, register and attend one of the Webnairs meeting. I encourange anyone who can attend to try it out. Share with us your experience.

Following are some of the advantages of conducting Webnair conference :

Create and host your own professional Webinars from day one – no experience required
Reach hundreds of people at once – right from your PC or Mac®
Save money with free VoIP and integrated phone conferencing
Includes GoToMeeting® for smaller meetings
Online Webinars and teleseminars - for trading purposes

Another area that I hope to learn more about Twitter.

What is Twitter ? Is a service for friends, family, and co–workers to communicate and stay connected through the exchange of quick, frequent messages. People write short updates, often called "tweets" of 140 characters or fewer. These messages are posted to your profile or your blog, sent to your followers and are searchable on Twitter search.

http://help.twitter.com/portal

Need to find the time to look into this feature and understand more on how about it.

Drop me a line to share with me if the about topics of interest to you.

A checklist of 10 basic skills in Internet Marketing

2009-01-27T06:44:00.000-08:00

Came across this articles from one of the Internet Marketing Guru, Jo Han Mok. The top 10 basic skills one should master, if you're dead serious about being able to set up websites that can really crank out cash.

Getting Started Skill #1: Registering a domain and getting it hosted.

Getting Started Skill #2: Basic Cpanel understanding and administration. (setting up email accounts, checking traffic stats, etc)

Getting Started Skill #3: FTP (By far the most ’scary’ for most newbies possibly cos the term file transfer protocol is a tad initimidating, although once you get it, it’s as simple as drag and drop.)

Getting Started Skill #4: Understanding how autoresponders work and how to set up mailing lists

Getting Started Skill #5: How to create an opt-in form

Getting Started Skill #6: How to create a properly formatted sales letter with proper tabling

Getting Started Skill #7: How to create a payment button/link and thankyou page

Getting Started Skill #8: How to set up a blog using fantastico

Getting Started Skill #9: How to create a PDF

Getting Started Skill #10: How to add video/audio to your webpage

Other basic web graphics editing skills using Adobe Photoshop, FrontPage, Dreamweaver or NVU will enhance your website design further.

For newbie, it might be intimidated by all these skills. However, with the "CAN DO" mindset, after much practice, one should be able to execute the above skills confidently.

"Taking action now" and "not procrastinating " and also to be realistic in your expectation of having big returns are just as important factors needed to be in Internet Marketing business.

What do you think? Feel free to leave your comments.

More About Singapore

2009-01-23T06:29:00.000-08:00

A Global survey has found Singapore to be among the countries where it is cheapest for expatriates to raise their children.

Singapore emerged fourth cheapest, after Spain, India and China, in a survey by HSBC Bank International of 870 expatriate parents across 14 places, ie : Spain, France, Germany, Canada, Singapore, US, Australia, India, China, Belgium, Hong Kong, Netherlands, United Kingdom & UAE.

My next issue on water and sanitation. Singapore is emerging as a compelling example worth emulating by several countries in Asia and other parts of the world.

Thirty years ago, Singapore also experienced the same sort of water problems that many Asian developing countries still face. Not every country can afford to provide 24-hour piped supply in the home. For example, in most cities in India, municipal water supply is still available, on average, for less than four hours a day.

In one to two decades, Asian developing countries are likely to face a crisis in sanitation and wastewater manangement Several cities in Asia are not fully equipped with sewers.

Wastewater treatment is not merely for cleaning up the environment. Treated wastewater can also complement the water supply needs of the population. With the new generation of membranes and affordable technologies.

Singapore has shown that it is now possible to treat wastewater at 25 US cents ( 38 Singapore cents) per cu m. Singapore's reclaimed water, known as Newater, meets 15 per cent of he country' water needs; this is expected to inrease to 30 per cent by 2010.

Hopely, Singapore's effective sanitation, water strategies offer viable growth models and Asia can tap Singapore's water expertise.

Do you have a point a share ?

Singapore to Johore Bahru and to Danga City Mall in five minutes

2009-01-17T21:10:00.000-08:00

How would you like to travel to Johor Baru and to the newest mega mall, Danga City Mall, by train ? KTMB has started from Monday, 5 January 2009 running eight daily trips to and from Singapore to Danga City Mall ( four departing from its Tanjong Pagar station here and four returning). The trip to Danga City Mall is just five minutes from town centre.

Metrojaya department store is its anchor tenant in Danga City Mall, which is a seven-storey shopping centre with 92,900 sq m floor space. With about 500 shop units , you can find bowling arcade, eateries and clothing outlets to satisfy your shopping & leisure quests.

Singaporean shoppers who make regular visits to the city have thus far favoured the City Square mall and shops in the heart of the town. With another option from KTMB, shoppers now just need another 90 minutes, including the time needed to clear immigration checks at the border, to get to Danga City Mall,

This month, promotional tickets will go for S$3 (RM7) for a single trip to the mall and RM3 to return here.

KTMB trains can carry about 200 passengers on each run, but can take up to 1,000 per trip by adding carriages.

According to Johor 's Tourism and Domestic Trade committee during a press conference recently, KTM's aim is to improve transportation between Singapore and Johor. Other areas such as hotels and places of interest like fishing wharfs and Lego-land Malaysia theme park are planned for the area.

With about 10 million travellers entered Malaysia from Singapore between January to September, seven million of them Singaporeans, it is definitely a big market to tap into.

Are Property prices set to fall further in Singapore ?

2009-01-17T16:53:00.000-08:00

All signs point to buyers getting their ways and are also playing a waiting game, believing that sellers will blink first. According to some properties agents, it used to take about two or four weeks to sell an apartment. Now some apartments on the market for more than three months still not taken up.

Presently the private property prices have indeed fallen, some by as much as 25 per cent over the past year. ST Life did a check on 10 condominiums across the island to compare the difference between their highest and last transacted prices. Apartments compared are similiar in size, floor level and direction. The article appeared on Saturday, 17 January 2009.

1) Yishun Emerald, Canberra Drive : Dec 2007 - S$555k down to Oct 2008 at S$406k @ $543 psf and $397 psf resp. for apartment size of 1,023 sq ft - percentage drop : 26%

2) Cairnhill Crest, Cairnhill Circle : July 2007 - S$3,985k down to Oct 2008 at S$2,920k @ $2,300 psf and $1,685 psf resp. for apartment size of 1,733 sq ft - percentage drop : 26%

3) The Bayshore, Bayshore Road : July 2007 - S$819k down to Oct 2008 at S$695k @ 810 psf and $687 psf resp. for apartment size of 1,012 sq ft - percentage drop : 15%

4) Grandeur 8, Ang Mo Kio Central 3 : Aug 2008 - S$899k down to Nov 2008 at S$747k @ $733 psf and $609 psf resp. for apartment size of 1,227 sq ft - percentage drop : 16%

5) Avila Gardens, Flora Road, Loyang : Aug 2007 - S$812k down to May 2008 at S$681k @ $614 psf and $515 psf resp. for apartment size of 1,324 sq ft - percentage drop : 16%

6) The Sea View, Amber Road : Nov 2007 - S$2,368k down to Nov 2008 at S$2,249k @ $1,438 psf and $1,366 psf resp. for apartment size of 1,647 sq ft - percentage drop : 5%

7) Newton Suites, Newton Road : Feb 2008 - S$2,4143k down to Dec 2008 at S$1,809k @ $1,950 psf and $1,462 psf resp. for apartment size of 1,238 sq ft - percentage drop : 25%

8) The Centris, Jurong West Central 3 : Jan 2007 - S$635k down to Dec 2008 at S$564k @ $596 psf and $530 psf resp. for apartment size of 1,066 sq ft - percentage drop : 11%

9) The Raintree, Bukit Drive : May 2008 - S$909k down to Oct 2008 at S$839k @ $716 psf and $661 psf resp. for apartment size of 1,279 sq ft - percentage drop : 7%

10) Tanglin Regency, Tanglin Road : Aug 2007 - S$980k down to Nov 2008 at S$930k @ $884 psf and $839 psf resp. for apartment size of 1,109 sq ft - percentage drop : 5%

Analyts are predicting further uncertainty in the economy and home prices may fall another 10 to 20 per cent. On the other hand, it's tougher to secure bank loans now. Banks are more cautious these days. During good times, loan would be approved within 24hours. Currently, it can take as long as two weeks. The loan quantum is also down from 90 per cent to most usually offer 80 per cent. Loan quantum refers to the size of a loan in relation to a property's market valuation. There has been cases where the bank's valuation of an apartment is lower that what a seller is asking for.

Accordingly to industry insiders say loan are generally smaller or harder to secure for the following people :

1) Those on commission-based income or are self-employed, compared to employees on fixed salary.

2) Applicants who are single, compared to married couples with dual income.

3) Those who have just started work.

As the saying goes, CASH IS KING. In times of economic stress & you are in a better cashflow position it is more prudent to consider a smaller loan to ensure that you do not over-extend yourselves and in my opinion, banks are more willing to approve such loans.

Do you have a point to share about the property prices of your country ?
I welcome your comments on my blog.

Paris' Eiffel Tower in Tokyo ?

2009-01-14T06:38:00.000-08:00

No, no, this is Tokyo Tower, which resembles Paris' Eiffel Tower but failed to gain the global recognition of its Parisian twin, standing at 333m-tall with orange and white stripes, was once the world's tallest self-supported steel structure., Tokyo Tower turned 50 in December 2008 and in recent years, it has become harder to spot the tower among the ciyt's growing number of ever more boldly designed skyscrapers. In 2011, it will lose its distinction as the city's tallest structure to a new television tower, the Tokyo Sky Tree which, at 610m, is nearly twice as high.

Nippon Television City, the owner of Tokyo Tower plans to renovate the Tower and hopes that it will survive another 50 years of glory history.

Do drop us a line and share your comments with us.

Baby boomers : 50+ still going strong

2009-01-07T06:13:00.000-08:00

Baby boomers, defined as those born between 1946 and 1964. Singapore has a greying population. By 2030, one in five Singaporeans will be aged 65 and above.

Minister in the Prime Minister's Office Lim Boon Heng, who chairs the ministerial committee on ageing, estimates that there are close to one million baby boomers in Singapore today, which is about 30% of the population and half of the workforce.

In Singapore, those presently at the age of 65 years of age can expect to live another 19 years on average. That is to say, we should plan on the basis that we will live well into our 80s.

"Reinventing retirement" conference on Jan 8 and 9, 2009 looks into the active employment beyond 50 years. The Government consistently encouraging and persuading the people to work beyong retirement age, Some of the key objectives of the conference : defining new age-friendly employment policies, and promoting long-term financial planning. Having the senior citizens to continue to work will contribute to Singapore's economic growth and they are also a big market for the "silver years " industry. This covers products from age-friendly devices and medical aids to travel and personal finance.

Reasons for staying employed beyond retirement age not necessary must be for bread and butter's sake. The new wave comprises the baby boomers who have a lot of purchasing power, much more than the elderly of two decades ago. They are also more educated and attracted to more sophisticated offerings. Staying in employment allowed them to keep active, stay connected, and lead a secure and meaningful lives.

Why is it that China can be so succeeded ?

2008-12-25T01:05:00.000-08:00

16th Dec 2008 - This day, commemorating China's 30-year of reforms, from a once-isolated regime into a global economic power. On a question being asked by the whole world : Why is it that China can be so successful in reform and opening up ?

It started with thirty years ago, Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping made the bold switch from state-planned to market economy. The country's share of the global gross domestic product (GDP) has expanded to 6% from 1% in 1976. Its GDP per capita has also gone up to US$2,461 (S$3,622 ) from US$190 in the pre-reform days.

Key factors : Bold reforms, embracing globalisation, gradual implementation without upsetting stability. China's phenomenal success story lies in these 3 main ingredients. Cautious in implementing change, doing it one step at a time.

Cooperating and learning from the experience of other countries is another crucial factor. "The China-Singapore relationship is a classic example of win-win cooperation " - cited by Madam Zhang Xiaokang, ambassador to Singapore.

Further noted by our Singapore Minister Mentor, Mr Lee Kuan Yew, as reported in ST 17 Dec 2008, that success is not only about having the right people, but also the right system - one that is organised with a clearly defined chain of command. A government which runs throughout the country from the centre of power, from the capital, to the smallest village. With capable, competent people at every ladder to execute those plans, is the secret of China's success, and China got the right people into the right jobs and it's organised.

How would you assess China's current role in the world and your hopes of the future China to

be ? Drop us your comments.

Besieged Bangkok airport shut down

2008-11-27T20:52:00.000-08:00

Thousands of passengers stranded at Bangkok, Suvarnabhumi airport.The airport protests, involving about 8,000 demonstrators, according to police, are part of a campaign by the People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD), a loose alliance of royalists, academics and businessmen, to unseat Somchai, who is expected to return on Wednesday from a summit of Apec leaders in Peru.
Grenade attacks on anti-government protesters have left at least four people injured [EPA] Thai authorities have shut down Bangkok's international airport after a grenade attack injured anti-government protesters occupying the terminal building.

Somchai Wongsawat, the Thai prime minister, Thaksin's brother-in-law,and his cabinet set up
temporary offices at the old airport after the grounds of Government House in central Bangkok
were occupied by protesters in August. Till now, Somchai has rejected calls to step
down as prime minister.
Bangkok was effectively cut off yesterday when its second airport, Don Muang, was closed after
it was stormed by protesters who were also laying siege to the city's main international hub. Don Muang handles only a handful of domestic flights, but it has also served as the prime minister's temporary offices after demonstrators occupied his Government House headquarters compound three months ago.

The blockade of Don Muang was an apparent attempt to stop ministers flying to meet Somchai,
who summoned the cabinet for crisis talks in the northern city of Chiang Mai. The prime
minister's flight was diverted there as he returned from an official trip.
With the closure of Bangkok's Suvarnabhumi airport for a third day, overseas passengers had
little choice but to wait in the hotels provided, hoping for a quick end to the deadlock. The highly organised and well-funded PAD, spearheaded by a business mogul and a former army general, regards the government as a puppet of the former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra,
who was ousted in a September 2006 coup, the 18th since Thailand became a constitutional
monarchy 76 years ago.
Airport officials cancelled all outgoing flights and diverted incoming flights to other
airports on Wednesday, leaving thousands of passengers stranded at Suvarnabhumi airport.
"A battle between the traditional elites who want to return to something like a paternal
democracy and the new middle classes under Thaksin [Shinawatra], the former prime minister,
who really want to open up Thailand and see a global presence for the country." An analysis
And fears are rising that the airport siege will do massive damage to its $15bn tourism
industry still reeling from similar but smaller incidents in August when PAD protesters
occupied the airports at popular beach destinations Krabi and Phuket.

Apec Joint ministerial press conference -2008

2008-11-23T05:50:00.000-08:00

Singapore, Chile and New Zealand started the ball rolling in 2005 while Brunei joined a year later, forming what is known as the P-4

Australia and Peru just announced that they would join the United States in expanding the Trans-Pacific Strategic Economic Partnership in March next year in Singapore . Early in September, the US signalled its intention to join.

The enlargement of P-4 or P-7 was announced on the final day of the meeting of Apec mininsters, providing a big boost to the 21-member grouping to free up trade.

Another changes - the revolving door policy used to fill the job of Apec director will stop in 2010. An executive director will be hired to serve a three-year term. The current Apec chief is Mr Juan Carlos Capunary of Peru

Singapore will assume the chairmanship of Apec next year and Mr Michael Tay ( formerly Singapore ambassador to Russia) will take over as director, effectively becoming the last person to fill the post.

Youtube going live, ARE YOU ready ?

2008-11-19T20:53:00.000-08:00

You Tube, since its inception in 2005 has been a repository for all kinds of Internet videos, from snippets of TV shows to off-beat demonstrations of skills such as cup-stacking to serious campaign ads in the recent U.S. presidential election.
But as other sites have found, Web surfers can be a fickle bunch of fans and keeping them on your site — which is what advertisers pay for — is a daunting task.

You Tube which is owned by search giant Google Inc., has matured from Web start-up and video fad to a site with loyal fans. But as any good TV industry executive will say, it needs to begin producing new and fresh content to keep its audience.

So, on November 22 2008 in San Francisco, it is launching "YouTube Live," a show featuring well-known stars such as rapper Will.i.Am and singer Katy Perry and YouTube sensations like 20-year-old Esmee Denters, who posted video of herself covering popular songs and became a star on the World Wide Web.

Will you be the next like pop star singing into a Webcam, a homemade success story that eventually had some pop stars doing so creating great popularity.
"It's been a crazy story, and I have all that to thank from YouTube," - Do you know who said that ?
YouTube said it intends to hold follow-up events to "YouTube Live," but it gave no details on those plans.

If you have any latest information to share, do let us know, you are always welcome.

Singapore celebrates Deepavali with fantastic light-up

2008-10-30T06:51:00.000-07:00

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

2008-10-18T02:40:00.000-07:00

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

2008-10-13T17:42:00.000-07:00

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

2008-10-11T16:34:00.000-07:00

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.

Singapore students with more financial helps

2008-08-29T16:42:00.000-07:00

The National Council of Social Service (NCSS), which administers The Straits Times School Pocket Money Fund (SPMF)is ready with more help for the needy students.

From Sept 1,2008, primary school pupils will receive S$45 a month, up from S$35.00
The secondary students will get S$80, up from the current S$60.00
Other qualifing criteria will also be tweaked.
The fund will be eligible for students until they complete the secondary school, instead of up to age 17, as was the case previously.

The inflation rate for June 2008, was 7.5% a 26-year high and prices in school canteens have gone up. These are the few factors which prompts the SPMF to target to raise additional fund of about 28% more money to help the over 8,000 primary and secondary school students,coming from lower-income families.

Who qualifies ?
1) Singapore citizens or PR
2) Full-time students in the mainstream primary or secondary school, special,handicapped,or religious school.
3) Living in HDB 4-room flat or smaller.
3) Total income divided by the number of family members is not more than $450 per month.

To apply, call : 1800 8380-100

We can also make donate to the Fund, send a cheque :
1) Name : The Straits Times School Pocket Money Fund

2) Mail it to :
The straits Times School Pocket Fund
Singapore Press Holdings,
1000 Toa Payoh North
Singapore 318994

3) Write your name, IC number and address on the back of the cheque.

100-year Oympic dream comes true

2008-08-23T08:18:00.000-07:00

Is great to know that way back to 1908, which is 100 years ago, an educator in Beijing, name Zhang Boling fired up China's Olympic ambitions with these questions :

When could the mainland send an athlete to compete,and when would it win a gold medal? Most challenging,when would China, then severely weakened by hostile foreign forces and domestic strife, be able to host the Olympics?

08.08.2008 - China fulfilled this century-old dream with a grand spectacular opening of Beijing Olympic Games. The 16-day sports fest mark a bigger turning point in its development.

China has proven to the world that it is no longer the "sick man of East Asia" by beating the United States in the olympic gold medal race. Chinese athletes bagged a total of 51 gold medals, ahead of Second-placed US with 36 golds. As American sports historian Susan Brownell put it,hosting the Games was the Chinese people's "collective redemption for the natikonal suffering of he past century"

The 29th Olympiad was undoubtedly a remarkable success both for China and the international Olympic movement. TV viewership for both opening and closing ceremonies - at four billion - was unprecedented.

Do you have a view to share ? Drop me a line for the sharing.

Beijing opens Olympic 2008 - spectacularly

2008-08-10T06:59:00.000-07:00

With 91,000 people packed into the New National Stadium, Bird Nest, China at last playing its long-sought role as Olympic host, opened the Summer Games. At 8.00pm on 8 August 2008 with 2008 drummers beat out a pulsating rhythm with their hands to start off in spectacular fashion Friday with an extravaganza of fireworks and pageantry dramatizing its ascendance as a global power.

To their eyes, the omens were good. The ceremony began at 8 p.m. on the eighth day of the eighth month of 2008 _ auspicious in a country where eight is the luckiest number.

Scores of world leaders were on hand, and the potential TV audience was 4 billion worldwide for what was certainly the costliest ( estimated $40 billion ) and probably the largest opening ceremony in Olympic history. President Bush,Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and our MM Mr Lee Kuan Yew were among the dignataries who endured heat and humidity to watch China make this bold declaration that it had arrived.

The centerpiece was the parade of athletes, climaxing with the entry of the 639-strong Chinese team. Its flag-bearer was basketball idol Yao Ming, accompanied by 9-year-old schoolboy Lin Hao, a survivor of May's devastating earthquake in Sichuan province.

A record 204 delegations paraded their athletes through the stadium Brunei is the only country did not send in any participant.

The celebration ended with former triple gymnastics gold medalist Li Ning, was hoisted by wires to the top of the stadium, circled the circumference as though he were spacewalking and then touched the torch to a thin pipe, setting off a spiral of flame to ignite the mammoth, scroll-shaped

"It was a breathtaking experience walking into the stadium," said Oganna Nnamani, a volleyball player from Bloomington, Ill. "I am thankful to be part of this moment."

"This is the biggest stage," said LeBron James, who hopes to lead the U.S. basketball team to a gold medal.

Things to know about watermelon and papaya

2008-07-27T08:23:00.000-07:00

Do you know that watermelon is not a fruit ? It is a vegetable and of the same botanical family as cucumbers, pumpkins. It was first harvested in Egypt about 5,000 years ago. Isn't all these facts sound interesting. To know more, this website have it all : www.fabulousfoods.com

This website : www.foodreference.com also provide you information of the 50 varieties of watermelon with different type of colour fresh, some red, yellow etc.

Watermelon is an excellent source of vitamins A,C and B6 and also rich in potassium.
It is practically no fat, extremely low in sodium and contains fibre.

It is 92% water & 8% sugar,is famous as thirst quencher.

Apparently every part of a watermelon is edible, such as the seed. The rinds are often pickled.

According to www.crfg.org/pubs/ff/papaya.html - papaya or paw paw originally from southern Mexican and Central American. It is now grows in all tropical and subtropical countries as the plants need warmth throughout the year.

Papayas are the only natural source of papain, an effective natural digestive aid, which breaks down protein and cleanses the digestive track. This means less food settles into the metabolism and becomes fat.

It is rich in vitamin C, folate and potassium. It is also good sources of fibre, vitamin C, folate and potassium. Visit http://www.health.learninginfo.org/ you will also know that papayas are also good sources of fibre, vitamin A, E and many more.

Foodreference.com also provides info such as how slightly green papaya ripened quickly if we place it in a paper bag.

4 things to know about Guavas

2008-07-13T08:20:00.000-07:00

1 According to www.foodreference.com guavas believed to have originated either in southern Mexico or Brazil and it has been culitvated since about 1000BC and a favourite of the Aztec and Incas.

2 The level of vitamin C in the edible rind of the guava is five times higher than that of an orange, according to www.berrybytes.com

3 This tropical delight is also a good source of fibre (about 70 times more than can be found in an orange) And it contains calcium, potassium and iron. An average-size guava contains 10 times more vitamin A than a lemon, according to www.juicing-for-health.com

4 There are about 150 different varieties of guava. A meidum-size one contains about 25 calories.

7 things to know about the kiwi

2008-07-13T07:57:00.000-07:00

1 Kiwi fruit has been around for over 700 years. Most people tend to associate the kiwi fruit with New Zealand. But the truth is this fruit has its origins in China's Yangtze River valley and was a favourite in the courts of the great Khans.
No wonder they were known as Chinese gooseberries till the 1960s.

2 In the early 1900s, New Zealand missionaries took the seeds home. Later the plants were sent to the United States, Italy, South Africa and Chile.

3 There are more than 400 varieties.

4 The kiwi fruit's black seeds can be crushed to produce kiwi fruit oil, which is very rich in Alfa-linoleic Acid ( an important Omega-3 essential fatty acid), according to kiwi-fruit.info

5 Kiwi fruit is high in the antioxidant vitamin C and is a good source of fibre, vitamin E and potassium. It is fat free, sodium-free and cholesterol-free, says www.foodreference.com

6 Because it contains an enzyme called Actinidin. It can also be used as a natural meat tenderiser. Just cut one in half and rub the fruit over the mea, or peel and mash with a fork then spread it on the surface of the meat and letit stand for 10 to 15 minutes or longer.

7 One cup (about 180g) of the fruit contins 108 calories.

Can foot reflexology diagnose your illness ?

2008-05-26T10:10:00.000-07:00

New wellness centres for senior citizens of Singapore

2008-05-25T01:41:00.000-07:00

Minister in the Prime Minister's Office and active-ageing champion Mr Lim Boon Heng said that in the two-year pilot programmes, community groups will run the six centres.

These six centres, called Seniors Connect Plus, will be located in Kim Seng-Kreta Ayer, Radin Mas, Whampos, Bukit Panjang, ALjunied-Paya Lebar and Bukit Timah. These centres will promote a healthy lifestyle for the elderly.

It is very much like the Wellness programme @ MacPerherson, which is the 3rd of the six one-stop "wellness" centres to be set up in various neighbourhoods. The first two were opened in Jurong Central and Punggol South, and three more will come up in Ulu Pandan, Jalan Besar and Kebun Bahru within the next year. These are more of the "ground up" meaning the facilities are run by elderly volunteers who support and befriend other senior citizens in the constituency. Besides actiivities, they also offer counselling, befriending and medical services.

Each centre is expected to reach out to at least 1,000 senior citizens.
Singapore is greying quickly. In 2005, 291,000 Singaporeans were aged 65 and above; by 2030, the number will triple to nearly a million.

Do you have any comments to share, you are welcome to drop me a line.

Olympic Torch - Count Down 100-day

2008-05-04T06:22:00.000-07:00

ST Index crosses 3,200 for the first time since Jan 08

2008-05-01T09:46:00.001-07:00

The Singapore market index finally closed above 3,200-point mark on 28 April 2008 for the first time since January 08.

Though the STI closed higher at 3,201.63. most investors are on the sidelines ahead of the Fed meeting starting on 29 Apr 08, which investors are hoping for a 0.25 percentage point cut in the US benchmark interest rate. Just for the update, below are some of the counters having some positive outlook :
1) Palm oil - Wilmar Intl - adding 23 cents at $4.88
2) Indofood Agri-Resources - gaining six cents at $2.40
3) Singtel - added five cents at $3.87
4) Indonesian palm producer - First Resources jumped 4.5 cents to $1.04 with a target price of $1.60 as quoted by the analysts.

On the overall picture, analysts seem optimistic about STI's prospects. A DMG technical report said : " We continue to believe that the 3,300 mark is within reach. Any pullbacks in the STI should be limited.

Over at our China counters listed in Singapore, which saw a bull charge last week, were hit by a bout of profit-taking. The Shanghai stock market resulting from last week's cut by Beijing in the stamp duty on stock trades was waning.

Cosco Corp which slipped 17 cents to $3.30 and Yangzijiang, which is in shipbuilding was flat at $1.10. These 2 stocks is part of the 50 China plays of the FTSE ST China Index. The index fell 2.3 % to 493.3 points.

Singapore STI slumps 2.68% amid regional market sell-down

2008-04-20T00:18:00.000-07:00

Global giant General Electric (GE) threw the first punch last Friday, a surprise 6 percent drop on its 1st-quarter earnings, a weak consumer data, a slump in Wall Street apparently sent regional markets into a tailspin day.

That bolt from GE and report showing comsumer sentiment at a 26-year low, did sent Wall Street reeling by more than 250 points on Friday. Consumer spending makes up about 60 percent of the US gross domestic product.

investors in Singapore also sold sharply, sending STI down 2.1 percent at opening and finally ended the day down to 2.68 percent at 3,042.96, its biggest one-day fall in a month.
The lastest check on Friday, 18 April 2008 - STI up 3,124.87

China was not spared with Shanghai Composite Index plunging 5.62 percent
Hong Kong's Hang Seng was down 3.47 percent
Tokyo's Nikkei was 3.05 percent, were not much better.

GE's lst-quarter results provided more of a wake-up call that the US ecomony is not doing well. For the records :
1) Keppel Corp - down 36 cents to $10.14
2) City Developments retreated 62 cents to $11.30
3) Singtel fell 11 cents to $3.97
4) UOB was down 58 cents to $20.20
5) DBS Group Holdings slipped 48 cents to $19.18
6) SGX came under pressure also slumping 35 cents to $7.93

May to July period is traditionally quiet and more vulnerable to swings said a report by NetResearch Asia and recommended to stay sidelined until the second half of July 2008, by which time it should have more clarity in the economic and earnings cycle both in the US and Singapore markets.

World's largest Flyer in Singapore

2008-04-18T22:37:00.000-07:00

Official opening on 15 April 2008 - Singapore Flyer takes you up to 165 metres in the sky. It is a perfect location to enjoy unobstructed views of Singapore skyline and even parts of neighbouring Malaysia.

Operating hours :
Open daily : 8.30 am - 10.30 pm
Free shuttle services are available every 30 minutes between 10.00am - 11.00pm ( except 1.15pm - 1.30pm and 4.15 - 4.30pm). Pick up and drop-off point is located at the bus stop between St. Andrew's Cathedral and The Adelphi ( along Coleman Street).

Admission prices :
Adult : S$29.50 Child : $20.65 ( age3 - 12)
Call 6333 3311, visit www.singaporeflyer.com.sg/st

Do women age faster than men ?

2008-04-16T07:49:00.000-07:00

Compared to men, do women age faster & mature earlier ?
As early as at the age of 36, hormone levels of women start to decline. Upon reaching menopause around the age of 50, hormone levels can have a significant effect on their appearance as they start to age.

What are the effects ?

1) Skin becomes less supple, leading to lines & wrinkles.
2) Breast shrink; fat deposit on the waist and abdoman.
3) Feeling of fatigue and tiredness.
4) Decrease in sexual interest.
5) Common symptoms, such as hot flush, mood swings.

Women have a higher risk of losing bone mass as compared to men.
After the age of 30, women start to lose about 1% of calcium in the body every year. The loss rate increases as they grow older, especially after menopause, reaching as high as 2-3% every year.

In term of maturity, a common saying that most 17-year-old females can function as adults whereas most 17-year-old males are still trading baseball cards and giving each other wedgies after gym class.

Is it the nurturing instincts of women that turn them into more responsible human beings early on in life as quoted by some reports?

Men, on the other hand, tend to have the natural need to be nurtured ?
Is this the beauty part of nature that creates this balance ? In fact, the differences between men and women are what make them a perfect combination.

What is your response on these differences ?

Read the following article by Saneesh Michael

Its not surprising therefore that men often find themselves attracted to women slightly older than they are. There is something enigmatic about mature women that they find irresistible. It is the same with women too; they prefer a slightly older life partner. It is from the feeling that a guy of the similar age may not be as mature as the women is, therefore they go for guys older than them to be equal in emotional status and maturity.

It is best to remember that getting older doesn't actually mean that one has wizened up with the years. There are some women who have the same concept about life as when they were younger. While maturity sometimes comes with age, not all women grasp this. Hence, maturity also is a byproduct of the struggles one has gone through in life and how these were handled either head-on or running in circles.

Experience, after all, is the best teacher, and until you get what you needed to learn, the lessons will keep repeating themselves to the point of driving you up the wall or downhill. Women in general, are better at this because they have the natural tendency to want to fix things as soon as something goes awry. Thus their chances of maturing faster is higher than men. They will also keep at it until everything is as near to perfection as possible. Their obsessive-compulsive tendencies to make everything okay whether at work, at home or anywhere else are something men will find annoying and endearing at the same time.

The supporters of male superiority say that men need more time to be mature enough because they possess a much more complex organism than women. But it is not a scientific fact; in terms of maturity both men and women possess equal physical status, but it is the social situations of the day today life that urges women to be mature faster than men.

Let me hear yours.

Yoga helps older woman stand taller

2008-04-12T17:59:00.000-07:00

After a nine-week yoga programme - elderly woman showed measurable improvements in their walking speed and balance. They gained a centimetre in height on average, Philadephia researchers have reported.

Accordingly to the report, the programme was designed for older people. Study chief Jinsup Song of Temple University, along with colleague and yoga expect designed this programme.

Elderly womaen walked faster, used longer strides and could stand for a longer time on one leg, after going through the programme. THey also felt more confident in their ability to balance while walking and standing.

Do drop me your comment or share your experience with us. Hope to hear from you.

Social Networking Sites is now the in thing.

2008-04-09T06:11:00.000-07:00

Individual end-users are now actively collaborating to create content, share information and form communities using blogs, wikis and social networking sites (SNS). Dubbed web 2.0. the Web is now more social & powerful media.

SNS are slightly less familiar. Unlike search engines (dominated by Google) and video-sharing (by Youtube). Different forms of SNS rule in different regions. It is also human habit that people won't move to a new SNS unless their existing networks of friends also follow.

1)In the US, Facebook and MySpace are the most popular SNS.
2)Friendster rules in Singapore and elsewhere in the region, except Thailand where Hi-5is loved.
3)Orkut dominates the Indian subcontinent.
4) QQ is king in China, mixi in Japan and Cyworld in South Korea.

What is your favourite SNS ? Drop me a line and share with me your view on the latest social media and how it affect you.

Tomatoes : 6 things to know

2008-04-05T10:15:00.000-07:00

1) The tomato is the world's most popular fruit. Yes, botanically,like the brinjal, it's a fruit not a vegetable.

2) Tomatoes are rich in fibre and in vitamins A and C. They are also cholesterol free. An average-size tomato (about 150gm)has only 35 calaries.

3) There are more than 10,000 varieties of tomatoes.

4) New medical research suggests that hycopene - the stuff that makes tomatoes red - may prevent several types of cancer such as lung types of cancer such as lung, prostate, cervical, digestive tract and breast.

5) Cooked tomatoes have higher concentrations of hycopene than non-cooked tomatoes.

6) When you eat tomatoes which are cooked with a bit of olive oil, the nutrient aspects of the tomato are absorbed more effectively.

Push-ups is the ultimate barometer of fitness

2008-03-22T06:37:00.000-07:00

As a symbol of health and wellness, nothing surpasses the simple push-up.
Is great to note that the late actor Jack Palance performing age-defying push-ups during his Oscar acceptance speech in 1992.
I have also stumbled upon a video, Randy Pausch, a Carnegie Mellon professor whose last lecture became an Internet sensation, did push-ups to prove his fitness despite having pancreatic cancer. Is very touching. Should watch this video. http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-5703662523236056247

Doing push-up is a test of whole body, engaging muscle groups in the arms, chest, abdomen, hips and legs. It requires the body to be taut like a plank, with toes and palms on the floor. The act of lifting and lowering one's entire weight is taxing - even for the very fit.

According to research, it noted that push-ups are important for older people too. It provide the strength and muscle memory to reach out and break a fall. Regular exercise enlarges muscle fibres and can stave off the decline by increasing the strength of the muscle you have left.

Based on American national averages, here are some benchmark for your exercise :
1) A 40-year-old woman should be able to do 16 push-ups
2) A man of same age : 27 push-ups
3) By the age of 60 - the numbers drop to 6 for woman
4) For man at 60 - the number is 17

A word of encouragement. If the floor-based push-up is too difficult, start by leaning against a countertop at a 45-degree angle and pressing up and down.

Hope you enjoy watching the video,our picture and this article. Drop me a comment to let me know whether any of these has encouraged you to start working on something.

Bear Stearns sold for US$2 A Share

2008-03-20T08:15:00.000-07:00

How big is the bargain Mr Jamie Dimon, JPMorgan Chase's chief executive office (CEO) got when he snagged Bear Stearns for just US$2 a share ? The answer probably the best in years.

Few things noted in the bargain:
1) US$2 per share compared to a year ago its share sold for US$170
2) The deal includes US central bank to provide a US$30 billion (S$41b) guarantee for Bear Stearns troubled assets.
3) The price included Bear Stearns soaring Madison Avenue HQ, a six-year-old, 45-storey octagonal tower, with underground access to one of NY's busiest subway - worth US$1.5 billion.

With such a good deal, stock market investors delivered their verdict, boosting JPMorgan's stock by US$3.77, or 10/3%, to US$40.31 on Monday,17 March 2008. While the shares of other banks were pummelling north.

Few factors attributing to the success of this deal :
1) Bear Stearns CEO Alan Schwartz was forced to accept the deal due the prospect of bankruptcy and Fed anxious to prevent financial instability from spreading.
2) Mr Dimon has developed a reputation as a turnaround specialist after bouncing back from being outsted from Citigroup a decade ago. The good performance of JPMorgan, which posted a 6% rise in 2007 net profit. More importantly, largely unscarred by the credit crisis ravaging the financial sector.
3) With Bear Stearns acquisition, with added new businesses such as the profitable clearing and prime brokerages businesses, it is expected to add US$1 billion to the future profits, once fully integrated.

Is this not a tremendous bargain for JPMorgan shareholders ?
On the other hand, the shareholders, employees, investors & others of Bear Stearns, are asking and grilling Mr Schwartz, the CEO, how could it being sold for such a price ?

The Last 7 days of Bear Stearns

2008-03-20T07:47:00.000-07:00

VHS Goodbye ? Sony's blu-ray the in?

2008-03-13T08:22:00.000-07:00

Justifiably so. With the world of video-recording moving towards more high-tech formats such as Blu-ray, VHS seem like a dinosaur. Most electronics stores have almost stopped stocking products that use the VHS format.

Another tell-tale sign of the VHS format's decline is the dwinding number of videotapes available or in demand today as newest format overtake them.

Despite all signs pointing towards the inevitable death of VHS, some die-hard fans aren't giving up the fight. If its continued use by younger Singaporeans, it may be too early to place an obituary for it.

FOR THE RECORD, let's go through the past sequence of events & development of the different formats of recording.

SUPER 8mm film
Released in 1965, more popularly enjoyed by bridal couples with wedding videos. Found a following in independent directors such as Sam Raimi of Spider-Man films' fame.

VHS (Video Home System)
Launched in 1976,it won a format war against Sony's Betamax in the 1980s and became the consumer's viewing and recording standard.

LD (LaserDisc)
First available in 1978, it cornered a niche group of American and Japanese collectors but failed to capture major markets share in the format industry. The last two laserdisc titles released in 2000 & 2001.

VCD (Video Compact Disc)
Sony, Phillips, Matshshita and JVC standardised the format in 1993 and became extremely popular in Asia. Though cheaper than its successor, DVD, picture quality pales in contrast. A study in 2004 showed that at least half of all households in China owned a VCD player.

Blu-Ray Disc
First titles available in June 2006. Its name was derived from the blue-violet laser used to read and write the disc. The dual-layer BRD can stored 50GB, or almost six times what a dual-player DVD can.
Now is mainly supported by all major Hollywood studios, the high-definition video-format war with HD DVD ended in January this year.

Nearly 17 times bigger than the Singapore Sports Hub

2008-03-10T06:46:00.000-07:00

Dubai's $5b sports oasis - aim to be world venue. The Sheikh dreams turning the country into a cross between Singapore, Miami Beach and Las Vegas. Building the biggest and best of everything has included making the place a world sport venue.

In late January, the world's richest marathon 2008, was run along Dubai's Gulf shore. Coming this month, March 2008, is the world's richest horse race.

Next year, the world's richest golf tournament will debut, a bookend to the anual Dubai Desert Classic that Tiger Woods won last month. Woods has been a regular in Dubai. He is building the world's first Tiger Woods golf course, in Dubailand. Dubai offers other lures beyond the fact that there no taxes here.

Dubai, which is also home to tennis star Roger Federer now, has white-sand beaches, six new golf courses, a track for Grand Prix races and an indoor ski mountain attached to a shopping mall.

The Sport City covers about 4.6 million square metres, are a 25,000-seat, state-of-art cricket stadium; a 60,000-seat stadium for soccer and rugby; an indoor arena for ice hockey and concerts; a hockey venue; a tennis academy; and a Manchester United soccer school.

Some may be wondering how does Khalid al-Zarooni get such distinguished athletes to take part in Dubai Sports City. The president of DSC replies in perfect American-accented English : "You put the sugar and the ants will come."

Singapore, US in talks on sovereign wealth funds.

2008-03-04T08:37:00.000-08:00

Singapore delegation - Ministry of Finance & US officials - led by Mr Clay Lowery, assistant secretary for international affairs - also met executives from the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, the world's biggest SWF. Its assets of about US$900 billion ( S$1.26 trillion). According to Mr David McCormick, Singapore's and Abu Dhabi's SWFs are some of the most mature, well-known and credible sovereign funds.

The meeting in Abu Dhabi, on Thursday, 22 February 2008, was part of "delicate global negotiations" to draft rules that will oversee the behaviour of SWFs, without discouraging them from investing in the US, Canada and Europe.

What are the concerns, such as transparency,over sovereign wealth funds and its possibility that foreign governments may come to own substantial shares in domestic companies ?

Will sovereign wealth funds rule the world ?
What exactly is Sovereign Wealth Funds ?

European Commission is expected to propose its own set of ground rules. IMF, was not involved in the talks, wants to help the funds reach consensus on issues such as transparency, governance, disclosure and fund organisation.

SOVEREIGN wealth funds, assets held by governments in another country's currency. When a country, by running a current account surplus, accumulates more reserves than it feels it needs for immediate purposes, it can create a sovereign fund to manage those "extra" resources.

Currently, more than 20 countries have these funds, and half a dozen more have expressed an interest in establishing one.

Still, the holdings remain quite concentrated, with the top five funds accounting for about 70 percent of total assets. Over half of these assets are in the hands of countries that export significant amounts of oil and gas. Norway has a large sovereign fund, as do places as disparate as Alaska, Canada, Russia, and Trinidad and Tobago. About one-third of total assets are held by Asian and Pacific countries, including Australia, China, and Singapore.

Asian and Middle Eastern governments are putting piles of cash they've earned from higher oil prices and burgeoning trade supluses into U.S. companies through so-called sovereign wealth funds. The sharp jump in the level of their investing is raising concerns, including whether some investments are made for political considerations, such as access to sensitive technology, rather than for financial returns. Negative publicity ensued after several funds purchased stakes in major U.S. and European banks earlier this year.

These funds are going to have the ability to buy any global company, to create panic in markets if they move too precipitously, even to dwarf the political clout of international financial institutions. They can no longer be ignored.

As foreign government-run funds increasingly invest in U.S. companies through unregulated private-equity or hedge funds, they are attracting a lot more of the very kind of political attention they wish to avoid.

What is curious here is that both comments (and other similar discussions) overlook the fact foreign governments (China, oil states, and so on) already own huge assets in the U.S. and other advanced economies--in the form of short-term government securities. Given their existing holdings, foreign governments already have all the power in the world to create the kind of havoc Summers and Garten worry about. If they want to use their assets for non-economic ends--to pressure governments, to cause economic harm, to exercise political clout--they can in fact do so much more easily by dumping government securities and playing with currency and bond markets. They do not need to buy up shares in individual companies.

The creation of sovereign wealth funds is an attempt to diversify from these low-return investments, not a strategy to increase ownership of U.S. and other assets further. Summers might as well have welcomed this trend by noting that, by his own logic, the global financial system depends on investors and traders acting so as to maximize their economic return.

These funds are mostly the product of accumulated US dollars by China, with its massive trade surplus, and by oil-exporting countries reaping generous profits from oil at $90 plus per barrel.

How big are they? Estimates vary. The 28 nations with Sovereign Wealth Funds (SWFs) have :
in total, assets of $2.1 trillion.
By 2011 or 2012, SWFs could have piled up $7 trillion to $8 trillion
SWF assets could be $3 trillion now and $10 trillion by 2012

The funds' practices vary widely. Norway's fund, for example, makes detailed disclosures of purchases but Abu Dhabi's publishes none. According to reports the Abu Dhabi and Singapore funds are considered significant, given their size, the difference in their sources of capital - Abu Dhabi's comes from oil, Singapore's from export revenues.

In conclusion with suspicion over government-owned investment funds has been rising in recent years as they grow in number and stature, Singapore welcomes this opportunity to be engaged in such meeting.

Choose to be Happy

2008-03-01T04:46:00.000-08:00

Always be happy, always wear a smile. Not because life is full of reasons to smile,but because your smile itself is a reason for many others to smile.
Above is a message received from a friend. It touches me to write down in my blog today.

What makes people happy?
First, having a purpose. Second, having the hope-which means you have something to look forward to . Even if your current circumstances are difficult, if you have hope that your effort will be rewarded and that things will improve, you can find happiness.

Happy people accept themselves as they are, so they have peace of mind.

I remember that 90/10 rule and I try to apply it to what I think about Happiness. Being said, it is our decision as happiness is no accident, it is something we choose.

Just remember that Happy people make a decision to be happy in spite of their problems. Always on the positive mood : concentrate on what you have, not what is missing. Counting on their blessing, take maximum responsibility for their life and not for their mistakes. They don't blame others. Be glad that the cup is 1/2 filled with water rather than 1/2 empty.

Being more flexible at any given circumstances. They tend to determined by their own thoughts and not by outside circumstances.

The philosophy of Being Happy can influence an employee to embrace change rather than resist it. Being happy is infectious. Human Resource (HR) departments can help in cultivating a happy people culture.

However, it sounds fairly simple and practical, there are challenges that employers have to deal with. One challenge commonly faced is "Pushback" from those who don't understand the philosophy or value it.

Those resist changes will tend to say : I'm ok. It is my boss who needs to change. Others may even insist that there is nothing wrong with their attitude.

Many people postpone happiness, such as "I'll be happy when I get a pay rise" or " I will be happy when that stupid secretary is transferred to another department"

Let not the cirumstances determine your Be happy mindset. If you continue to see yourself as successful and keep on producing quality work. Look for good things in life and the people around you, and you will become happier.

Divorce slowly gaining acceptance in India

2008-02-24T07:28:00.000-08:00

In India, marriage is, by and large, socially compulsory. A website created six months ago : www.secondshaadi.com ( "shaadi" being the Hindi word for marriage), already has a data base of 25,000 clients.

Even conventional marriage portals are beginning to see listings from people who want to tie the knot a second time. Once, such a notion would have been anathema in middle-class India.

The society is in a transitional period, gingerly embracing new habits but still deeply traditional in matters of marriage.
Generally, people are OK with divorce. But the attitude towards divorcees is still the same. They are outcasts. They tend to think divorce won't happen if the person is a good person. I think such thinking will slowly change to accept the circumstances and decision of the affected parties.