Make My Day

Martyr’s Day Myanmar 19 Jul 2015

Eidul-Fitar Philippines 19 Jul 2015

Union of Lao Woman Day Laos 20 Jul 2015

Asamha Bucha Day Thailand 30 Jul 2015

Buddhist Lent Day Thailand 31 Jul 2015

Queen's Birthday Thailand 12 Aug 2015

National Independence Day Indonesia 17 Aug 2015

Ninoy Aquino Day Philippines 21 Aug 2015

National Heroes Day Philippines 30 Aug 2015

Independence Day Vietnam 2 Sep 2015

Malaysia Day Malaysia 16 Sep 2015

Constitution Day Cambodia 24 Sep 2015

Eid al-Adha Philippines 24 Sep 2015

Mid Autumn Festival Taiwan 28 Sep 2015

National Day Taiwan 9 Oct 2015

Pchum Ben Day Cambodia 11-13 Oct 2015

Islamic New Year Indonesia 14 Oct 2015

Death Anniversary of King Norodom Cambodia 15 Oct 2015

Awal Muharram Malaysia 15 Oct 2015

Amun Jadid Philippines 15 Oct 2015

Chulalongkorn Memorial Day Thailand 23 Oct 2015

Paris Peace Accord Cambodia 23 Oct 2015

King Norodom Sihamoni Coronation Day Cambodia 29 Oct 2015

All Saints Day Philippines 1 Nov 2015

All Souls Day Philippines 2 Nov 2015

Independence Day Cambodia 9 Nov 2015

Dipawali Day Myanmar 10 Nov 2015

Water Festival Cambodia 24-26 Nov 2015

Bonifacio Day Philippines 30 Nov 2015

Lao National Day Laos 2 Dec 2015

King’s Birthday Thailand 5-7 Dec 2015

National Day Myanmar 6 Dec 2015

Human Rights Day Cambodia 10 Dec 2015

Constitution Day Thailand 10 Dec 2015

Maulid un-Nabi Philippines 24 Dec 2015

Rizal Day Philippines 30 Dec 2015

Have A Nice Day

Prophet Muhammad birthday 3 Jan 2015

Maulid un-Nabi Philippines 3 Jan 2015

Independent Day Myanmar 4 Jan 2015

Victory on Genocide Day Cambodia 7 Jan 2015

Meak Bochea Cambodia  3 Feb 2015

Union Day Myanmar 12 Feb 2015

People Power Day Philippines 25 Feb 2015

Peace Memorial Day Taiwan 27 Feb 2015

Peasant’s Day Myanmar 2 Mar 2015

Full Moon Day Myanmar 4 Mar 2015

Makha Bucha Day Thailand 4 Mar 2015

Women’s Rights Day Cambodia 8 Mar 2015

International Woman Day Laos 8 Mar 2015

Day of Silence Indonesia 21 Mar 2015

Maundy Thurday Philippines 2 Apr 2015

Holy Saturday Philippines 4 Apr 2015

Chakri memorial Day Thailand 6 Apr 2015

Day of Valor Philippines 9 Apr 2015

New Year Holiday Myanmar 12-21 Apr 2015

Water Festival Day Myanmar 13-16 Apr 2015

Songkran Festival Thailand 13-15 Apr 2015

Lao New Year Laos 14-16 Apr 2015

Khmer New Year Cambodia 14-16 Apr 2015

Hung King Temple Festival Vietnam 28 Apr 2015

Liberation Day Vietnam 30 Apr 2015

Full Moon Day Myanmar 2 May 2015

Visak Bochea Day Cambodia 2 May 2015

Coronation Day Thailand 5 May 2015

Royal Ploughing Ceremony Cambodia 6 May 2015

Vesak Day Indonesia 14 May 2015

Ascension of The Prophet Indonesai 16 May 2015

Lailatul Isra wal Mi'raj Philippines 16 May 2015

Children’s Rights Day Cambodia 1 Jun 2015

Visakha Bucha Day Thailand 1 Jun 2015

Ascension Day Indonesia 2 Jun 2015

Yang di-Pertuan Agong’s Birthday Malaysia 6 Jun 2015

Independence Day Philippines 12 Jun 2015

Queen Mother Norodom Monineath’s Birthday Cambodian 18 Jun 2015

Dragon Boat Festival Taiwan 19 Jun 2015

TO BE CONTINUED...

Dawson Renewal

Skyville is finally at the top and expected to be ready for the new owners in 6 months time.

SkyTerrace is now at the finishing touch stage and the keys should be given out after CNY.

Meantime the Commonwealth Towers condominium has started construction.

Nokia @Microsoft

Microsoft acquired the mobile phone manufacturer Nokia in September 2013 for US$7.2 billion.

With this acquisition, Microsoft controls all modes of Nokia phones production.

Microsoft manufacture its phones in their own factories located in Brazil, China, Mexico and Vietnam.

In early 2014, Microsoft unveiled plans to produce lower-priced handsets.

And out came the Nokia 105.

No internet, no camera, no nothing. As basic as it can get. S$35 for a phone.

Time Warner

Time Inc was founded in 1922 in New York.

It is one of the largest companies in the world with a stable of 96 magazines.

 

Time Warner was formed in 1990 through the merger of Time Inc and Warner Communications.

Time Warner reported revenue for 2012 of US$28.7 billion.

In 2012 Time Inc bring the Chinese trademark owner of Fortune Times to the Singapore court for infringment. The mark, Fortune Times had been chosen in bad faith to confuse customers into thinking there was a connection between the entities, so say Time Inc.

Fortune Times is a Chinese business financial magazine, published its first issue in Singapore in March 2004.

However, the principal assistant registrar of trademarks ruled that Time Inc’s application had failed on all grounds.

The registrar held that although all three marks were used for similar goods and Fortune Times had marginal conceptual similarities with FORTUNE magazine, the competing marks were “more dissimilar than similar when observed in their totality”.

The registrar also noted that while the memorable components of the TIME and FORTUNE marks are the words themselves, Fortune Times’ mark is distinguished by four large Chinese characters positioned to the left of the words “FORTUNE TIMES”.

Time Inc was ordered to pay costs to Mr Li San Zhong, the founder of Fortune Times.

The Vanishing Cobblers

Cobblers are getting in age.

A common sight 20 years ago, they are now a disappearing trade.

No trendy Y gen would be seen dead doing such unglamorous work.

making good Nikes too

A daily feature at block 78 Redhill Lane - repair shoes that are still good to be thrown away. 

At a fraction of the price of a new pair.

Watt Disney

Mickey and Minnie Mouse were created by Walt Disney in 1928.

Goofy came in 1932, followed by Donald Duck in 1934.

These cartoon characters are a timeless classic that transcends generations.

And coming soon to Singapore.

Trees Health

The National Parks Board maintains and inspects trees along major roads every 12 months.

For trees that have internal defects and are storm-vulnerable, they are removed and suitable species are planted to offset the temporary loss of greenery.

 The instruments used to assess the internal condition of trees are the Tomograph and the Resistograph.

 Let's Make Singapore Our Garden. That's the NParks vision

Giant Plant

The Canna Musaefolia.

The Musaefolia is a massive plant which can grow to 8 feet tall.

Rarely flowers, the flowers produced are small ompared to the giant leaves.

Medicine for Peace

It's Singapore National Day, 9 August 2014.

Multi-cultural events are held all over the country each year, to remind the population to respect and understand the various races and cultures.

In view of the numerous conflicts around the globe, peace between the faiths should be preserved.

Meantime, the celebration of the country 49th year of independence goes on as planned.

Sands Resort Casino with the Laser Display

-courtesy of Justin Ng Photo-

Divine Nostradamus

Paul the Octopus predicted the results of 2010 world cup football matches. He made several accurate predictions which brought him worldwide attention. He died 26 October 2010.

Shaheen the Dubai-based camel has also been predicting the winners of the 2014 World Cup.

Nelly the female elephant at a wildlife park in Germany is predicting the results for the 2014 World Cup as well.

Big Head, a 25 year old turtle in Salvador, correctly predicted Brazil would beat Croatia in the opening game of the World Cup.

Sarge and Oscar, macaws at The Gincase farm in Cumbria, England are also stepping forward to give their predictions.

Microsoft's intelligent personal assistant software, Cortana has been receiving attention after it correctly predicted winners of the World Cup.

Baidu, the biggest search engine in China, has joined the World Cup prediction fever.

Google’s Cloud Platform has been predicting the winners of the World Cup since the round of 16.

World Cup Tools

An innovative tool in the 1994 World Cup in the United States was the appearance of the injury buggy.

And BBC descibed it as adding a slightly comedic air to a colourful World Cup.

The first man to be driven off the pitch in such a buggy was Romania's Hagi.

Golf cart turned field ambulance have not reappeared at any subsequent World Cups.

The good old 4 man stretcher bearers are here to stay. OLE !

The World Cup

The World Cup. Its effects on the economic output of countries worldwide is real. Rate of work absence is the single biggest problem during the World Cup. And the gambling created by the office pools during the games.

 

The World Cup this year uses a new invention. The Vanishing Spray.

 

The spray has been used for several years in South and North America's domestic leagues but this is the first time it has been used in the World Cup.

Argentinian journalist and businessman Pablo Silva developed the spray called "9:15 Fairplay," a reference to the free-kick distance requirement.

The spray is a mixture of butane, isobutane and propane gas, a foaming agent, water; and chemicals. When it leaves the can, the gas depressurizes and expands, creating small, water-covered droplets on the field. The butane mixture later evaporates, leaving only water and surfactant residue behind.

It's Summer

Flowers blooming everywhere.

The Heliconia Hirsuta Chumaniana.

Heliconias are native mostly to South America.

They belong to the Heliconiaceae family, which has more than 200 species.

Also blooming beautifully are the Heliconia Amercian Dwarfs.

American Dwarf have orange, black tipped flowers

SkyTerrace BTO

Sky Terrace has peaked.

The terraces joining the blocks are linked.

 The cranes are being dismantled.

The lucky new residents are eagerly waiting for the keys.

The Ixora Bloom

Ixora is a genus in the Rubiaceae family and flowers in the summer.

There are 500 types of Ixora. Commonly found on parks pavement is the Ixora Javanica.

 

 

Ixora is native to the tropical areas throughout the world, more common in tropical Asia.

The Amaryllis

Amaryllis and Hippeastrum plants are related and come from the tropics and sub-tropic, have large stalks and trumpet-shaped flowers. They are a genus in the amaryllidaceae family which comprises almost 100 species.

Hymenocallis

The Hymenocallis species has scented, crisp white flowers: with long spidery petals. Hymenocallis come from Central and South America.

The bulbs are now in bloom along Singapore roads.

And yes, as a reminder from Shivani, the architecture of Dubai Burj Khalifa features a triple-lobed footprint, an abstraction of the Hymenocallis flower.

Oldies but Goodies

Matured, aged but still the classic performers.

As General Macarthur said, old soldiers never die, they just fade away.

And riding into the sunset...

After the Rain

During the dought at the beginning of 2014.

The dried leafless trees.

The straw-brown drought-stressed grass.

After two months of dry rainless days.

The trees bloom. The grass turn a lush green.

The Trumpet Tree, scientific name Tabebuia Rosea, bloom gloriously making up for lost time.

This tree is known for its impressive flowering display, where the entire tree is spectacularly covered in blossoms.

This takes place in April and August, usually after a dry spell.

Exhaust In The Sky

The contrail from the jet plane occurs above 8,000 metre.

Some contrails stop and start. This is due to the plane flying into a layer of low humidity.

In view of the downing of Malaysia Airline MH17 which was cruising at 9,000 metre, attention has been directed to the BUK Missile System which can hit aircrafts flying at over 15,000 metre.

The system cannot tell the difference between civilian and military aircrafts. As the MH17 disaster proves, the weapon in the hands of "thuggish militants" should send chills down the spine of air travellers.