SINGAPORE: This Saturday, check into a five—star hotel and “sleep naked”... without air—conditioning. Dine by candlelight for discounts. Get free beer. Trek to Mount Faber for a view of the city lights going out. Or check on your Blackberry how the rest of the globe is celebrating Earth Hour, which takes place at 8.30pm in Singapore
Although it’s just the second time Earth Hour is being observed here, businesses and organisations are taking a creative approach to get the public abuzz about saving energy.
Five hotels under Hong Leong Group’s Millennium and Copthorne (M&C) umbrella —including Grand Copthorne Waterfront and M Hotel — are going beyond just switching off their facade lights. Guests and staff are encouraged to do without air conditioning for the night.
“The idea for 'Sleep Naked’ came from the fact that many South—east Asians living in rural areas sleep with little else but a sarong,” said M&C International Limited’s chief operating officer Yim Choong Hing.
“On very hot days, much of the sarong would come off.”
And to save paper, M&C staff are promoting the cause among guests largely by old—fashioned word—of—mouth.
Making Earth Hour “happy hour”, Marriott Hotel’s Crossroads Cafe is giving a free half—pint of beer for every order of a pint, while Peranakan Place’s Alley Bar, Outdoors Cafe and Bar and Acid Bar are offering “green” drinks like apple martinis at S$12 (usual price S$16 to S$18) all night long.
At Wisma Atria, retailers and F&B operators will offer candlelight dinners, star—gazing and acoustic music.
CANDLELIGHT DINNERS, A SPARKLER PARTY
Guests of the InterContinental Hotels Group — the stable includes Crowne Plaza Changi Airport and Holiday Inn Atrium — will have their bills halved at some in—house restaurants during Earth Hour, provided they turn off their room lights.-yahoo!singapore
party out in an enviromentally friendly way, experience the different experience.
Friday, March 27, 2009
Monday, March 16, 2009
IT Show 2009
Monday, March 16, 2009
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SINGAPORE: Despite the economic slump, IT Show 2009 generated a record S$58.5 million, which is S$4.5 million more than last year. Vendors at the show were thrilled that customers came out in full force due to the massive bargains on offer. The exhibition hall was not a place to be if you are claustrophobic. But if good bargains or maybe some eye candy were what you were after, you were probably at Suntec Singapore over the weekend for the massive IT show. It is one of the biggest exhibitions in Singapore with a floor area amounting to half a stadium. But something you would never expect at a technology show happened Saturday night - a technology glitch.
For about an hour, customers were not able to make electronic payments as the lines went down. One vendor reckoned her company lost at least S$30,000 as frustrated customers walked off. But overall, vendors Channel NewsAsia spoke to said they were pleased with the better than expected turnout and remained bullish for upcoming exhibitions as well. General manager of Epson Singapore, Felicia Gan, said: "Given that Singapore is a IT hub across the region - Singaporeans, youngsters are all IT freaks and gadget-savvy - so I think (the buying) will still happen. IT just changes too fast, so people will still buy (new gadgets)." So, whether they were IT freaks or just gadget-savvy, it looked like Singaporeans just could not get enough of tech toys.
While many walked away with bargains, they also had to jostle with the large crowds. Coupled with the heavy rain, this resulted in a massive human jam at the adjoining underground City Link Mall, where many pedestrians tried to take shelter. Callers to the MediaCorp news hotline said it was tough to get in or out of the underground mall. Mall operators closed some entrances to stop more people from entering and put marshals on duty. --CNA
For about an hour, customers were not able to make electronic payments as the lines went down. One vendor reckoned her company lost at least S$30,000 as frustrated customers walked off. But overall, vendors Channel NewsAsia spoke to said they were pleased with the better than expected turnout and remained bullish for upcoming exhibitions as well. General manager of Epson Singapore, Felicia Gan, said: "Given that Singapore is a IT hub across the region - Singaporeans, youngsters are all IT freaks and gadget-savvy - so I think (the buying) will still happen. IT just changes too fast, so people will still buy (new gadgets)." So, whether they were IT freaks or just gadget-savvy, it looked like Singaporeans just could not get enough of tech toys.
While many walked away with bargains, they also had to jostle with the large crowds. Coupled with the heavy rain, this resulted in a massive human jam at the adjoining underground City Link Mall, where many pedestrians tried to take shelter. Callers to the MediaCorp news hotline said it was tough to get in or out of the underground mall. Mall operators closed some entrances to stop more people from entering and put marshals on duty. --CNA
Sunday, March 15, 2009
Gracious Singaporean?
Sunday, March 15, 2009
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SINGAPORE: Talking loudly during a movie, doing nothing to help while a mother struggles to board a bus with her baby and a pram, or walking past someone who has fallen down. These are common complaints that invariably crop up when graciousness is mentioned. Yet, according to a recent survey, nine out of 10 Singaporeans are happy with the level of graciousness here. The findings, however, contrast somewhat with the views of 20 foreigners TODAY spoke to.
Seventeen of them felt that Singaporeans could do with some improvement in being gracious.
Commissioned by the Singapore Kindness Movement (SKM), the survey interviewed 502 Singaporeans face to face. It looked at gracious behaviour in five areas — public places, home, work, school and on the roads.
"I find it annoying that people don’t allow you to exit, before they rush into the train," said Mr Jose Gerardo, 39. The Filipino architect has lived in Singapore for 10 years. We also placed ourselves as the fifth most gracious country after Japan, Australia, Thailand, and the United States, and before the Philippines, China, Malaysia and India.
Image consultant Eunice Tan, a Singaporean, was not surprised. "We've definitely improved over the last five years. I’d say it's because of government campaigns and (the fact) that Singaporeans are more well-travelled," the 36-year-old said. "When they see overseas that others are more gracious, they put (what they see) into practice when they come back.
" Writer and critic Kirpal Singh was less complimentary. "Where road manners are concerned, we clearly don't have any degree of graciousness," said Dr Singh, 60. "Drivers cut lanes, and when you want to overtake, they speed up." Singaporeans, too, don't really go out of their way to help. "If you ask someone overseas how to get to a museum, they will not only tell you how to go there, they will tell you about other museums. They are more willing to engage with you," he said. Marketing manager Marina Poturica, an Australian who has been living in Singapore for five years agreed. "Compared to Australians, Singaporeans seem less friendly. I'd go to a bar and no one would really come up and talk to me," said the 32-year-old. "My other grouse is that service staff don't engage much with their customers. It's always a hmm' or 'yup'."
But American Michael Podolinsky, 54, who has been here for 20 years, disagreed. "When I go to someone's home here, they would walk me to the lift and all the way to the taxi. Americans don't do that," said the motivational coach.
The 'chope-ing' practice also came in for scrutiny, but the majority of respondents said it is unimportant to how gracious we are. National University of Singapore sociologist Paulin Straughan felt the same way. "It's a pragmatic reaction when you have a short period of time. The kind of food we eat is served piping hot in a bowl rather than a takeaway. It makes more sense to secure a spot first, rather than to be carrying a hot bowl with no place to sit," said Dr Straughan. --TODAY
So what is your take on our level of graciousness in the society?
Seventeen of them felt that Singaporeans could do with some improvement in being gracious.
Commissioned by the Singapore Kindness Movement (SKM), the survey interviewed 502 Singaporeans face to face. It looked at gracious behaviour in five areas — public places, home, work, school and on the roads.
"I find it annoying that people don’t allow you to exit, before they rush into the train," said Mr Jose Gerardo, 39. The Filipino architect has lived in Singapore for 10 years. We also placed ourselves as the fifth most gracious country after Japan, Australia, Thailand, and the United States, and before the Philippines, China, Malaysia and India.
Image consultant Eunice Tan, a Singaporean, was not surprised. "We've definitely improved over the last five years. I’d say it's because of government campaigns and (the fact) that Singaporeans are more well-travelled," the 36-year-old said. "When they see overseas that others are more gracious, they put (what they see) into practice when they come back.
" Writer and critic Kirpal Singh was less complimentary. "Where road manners are concerned, we clearly don't have any degree of graciousness," said Dr Singh, 60. "Drivers cut lanes, and when you want to overtake, they speed up." Singaporeans, too, don't really go out of their way to help. "If you ask someone overseas how to get to a museum, they will not only tell you how to go there, they will tell you about other museums. They are more willing to engage with you," he said. Marketing manager Marina Poturica, an Australian who has been living in Singapore for five years agreed. "Compared to Australians, Singaporeans seem less friendly. I'd go to a bar and no one would really come up and talk to me," said the 32-year-old. "My other grouse is that service staff don't engage much with their customers. It's always a hmm' or 'yup'."
But American Michael Podolinsky, 54, who has been here for 20 years, disagreed. "When I go to someone's home here, they would walk me to the lift and all the way to the taxi. Americans don't do that," said the motivational coach.
The 'chope-ing' practice also came in for scrutiny, but the majority of respondents said it is unimportant to how gracious we are. National University of Singapore sociologist Paulin Straughan felt the same way. "It's a pragmatic reaction when you have a short period of time. The kind of food we eat is served piping hot in a bowl rather than a takeaway. It makes more sense to secure a spot first, rather than to be carrying a hot bowl with no place to sit," said Dr Straughan. --TODAY
So what is your take on our level of graciousness in the society?
Saturday, March 14, 2009
We Need Babies!
Saturday, March 14, 2009
2
A report released on the Department of Statistics website showed 39,935 babies were born in 2008, up marginally from the previous year.
It is the highest number of births since 2002, when there were 40,760 babies born, but remains well short of the number needed for population levels to remain stable without measures such as increased immigration. Singapore needs a fertility rate of 2.1 babies per woman so that the population can replace itself naturally, the government has said.
The government has implemented several measures, including financial incentives, to encourage married Singaporeans to have more babies but these have failed to make a significant impact.
Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong last year unveiled plans worth more than S$700 million that include the extension of government—paid maternity leave.
To avert a serious population shortage, the government has set its sights on luring more immigrants to the affluent city—state.
Singapore had a population of 4.84 million in 2008, including about one million foreigners who work in the country and their families. -contents from yahoo!Singapore
Despite the many incentives and privileges the government is issuing to the people, i feel that none of the measures seem to encourage the birthrate to hit the optimal level for the nation. From paying lesser taxes to providing paid maternity leave, and even the introduction of maternity leave for dads in 2008, the government is still unable to hit the necessary 60k-babies a-year target.
Well this question has been around for the last decade, one that is very prominent in most advanced countries such as Japan and Korea due to factors such as increasing level of education and more time spent of working. As the dependency ratio of the country rises due to the high growth in the aging population and low birthrate, every individual has to shoulder more burden from the growing dependency of the economy and society.
Singaporeans, lets WORK HARD.
It is the highest number of births since 2002, when there were 40,760 babies born, but remains well short of the number needed for population levels to remain stable without measures such as increased immigration. Singapore needs a fertility rate of 2.1 babies per woman so that the population can replace itself naturally, the government has said.
The government has implemented several measures, including financial incentives, to encourage married Singaporeans to have more babies but these have failed to make a significant impact.
Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong last year unveiled plans worth more than S$700 million that include the extension of government—paid maternity leave.
To avert a serious population shortage, the government has set its sights on luring more immigrants to the affluent city—state.
Singapore had a population of 4.84 million in 2008, including about one million foreigners who work in the country and their families. -contents from yahoo!Singapore
Despite the many incentives and privileges the government is issuing to the people, i feel that none of the measures seem to encourage the birthrate to hit the optimal level for the nation. From paying lesser taxes to providing paid maternity leave, and even the introduction of maternity leave for dads in 2008, the government is still unable to hit the necessary 60k-babies a-year target.
Well this question has been around for the last decade, one that is very prominent in most advanced countries such as Japan and Korea due to factors such as increasing level of education and more time spent of working. As the dependency ratio of the country rises due to the high growth in the aging population and low birthrate, every individual has to shoulder more burden from the growing dependency of the economy and society.
Singaporeans, lets WORK HARD.
Friday, March 13, 2009
Welcome Message
Friday, March 13, 2009
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Welcome to Singaporewalk, the blog where you can find everyday news, weekly reviews about major events that happened in Singapore in the week and views from the writers and netizens.
www.singaporewalk.blogspot.com/ evolves from singaporewalk.wordpress.com/, aiming to provide readers a new look and wider information about happenings in the island city.
www.singaporewalk.blogspot.com/ evolves from singaporewalk.wordpress.com/, aiming to provide readers a new look and wider information about happenings in the island city.
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