Singapore celebrating 50th year of independence

13.03.2015

That Singapore is a survivor is corroborated by the fact, that even the drama of her independence happened twofold! For the first time, when released from the bondage of British colonisation in 1959. For the second, after an involuntary merger with the Federation of Malaysia was terminated following a phase of political and racial unrest. Singapore finally gained her well-deserved sovereignty in 1965.

To commemorate the 50th anniversary of her reinstalled freedom, the city throws a gargantuan party lasting the entire year. Considering, that a state is made up of its people, it seems a logical consequence for Singapore to share her Golden Jubilee with her truly diverse ethnic community by inviting them to help plan and organise a series of festivities. After all it was their concerted efforts that made Singapore’s skyrocketing ascent possible. The official body guiding procedures and founded especially for that purpose, is the Singapore50 (SG50) Steering Committee. It comprises representatives from public, private and people sectors. Bearing in mind the multi-cultural denizenship Singapore’s fabric is woven from, an exciting array of vibrant events is sure to rain down on locals and visitors alike. A small choice of what is on the agenda is laid out below. The full range is here: www.Singapore50.sg

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A view on nightly San Fransisco from Cavallo Point Lodge.

Cavallo Point Lodge: a resort-turned army post near San Francisco

11.03.2015

If you’re going to San Francisco, be sure to bear in mind the wide variety of accommodation options it offers. But if you’re going to San Francisco for a stunning view of the city itself, you may want to choose a place on the opposite side of the bay. Here is one in Sausalito that would fulfil this concrete wish of yours – and perhaps satisfy a number of other visions stressed-out business travellers or leisurely vacationers might maintain.

There was no Golden Gate Bridge yet, when the U.S. Army acquired the site of Horseshoe Cove at the mouth of San Francisco Bay in 1866 to establish a strategic military base. Much later, 24 Colonial Revival buildings – erected between 1901 and 1915 – embraced the 10-acre parade ground of the camp named Fort Baker. When the Golden Gate National Parks were founded in 1972 and Fort Baker was no longer needed by the military, it was designated to be taken under the wings of the National Park Service, a transaction officially concluded in 2002. The post has been listed in the National Register of Historic Places since 1973.

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A Fiaker carriage in Vienna: as typical of the city as its many coffee houses.

Austria: The science of coffee-brewing in Vienna

9.03.2015

Coffee is not just an invigorating brew but rather a scientific field of expertise worth being explored. Barista Schools popping up the world over bear witness to the cognition that a cup of coffee is not something to be prepared in one’s stride. It is a challenge which has to be given care and devotion at least as deep as is granted to the meticulously performed Asian Tea Ceremony.

Here in Vienna, each type of coffee is honoured with its individual cryptical name. The least one can do for a treasure accidentally left by the Ottomans after their siege of Vienna in 1683. Apart from war and devastation, they had brought along with them a culinary novelty: Viennese citizens discovered a number of bags filled with precious coffee beans in an abandoned Turkish camp after the battle was over. Jerzy Franciszek Kulczycki, a Polish-Lithuanian nobleman, had taken hold of the bags and opened Vienna’s first coffeehouse in the same year. www.wien.info/en/shopping-wining-dining/coffeehouses/in-the-old-city

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TED Talk. Maz Jobrani: A Saudi, an Indian and an Iranian walk into a Qatari bar …

9.03.2015

How are delicate issues best addressed? By means of a sound sense of humour perhaps? Comedian Maz Jobrani – born in Iran and raised in California – finds exactly the right tonality during his truly entertaining talk delivered in Doha, Qatar. As this video vividly corroborates, he succeeds in hitting exactly the right nerve the right way – judging from the jolly mood the local audience has obviously been transferred into. Maz is a founding member of the Axis of Evil Comedy Tour premiered in 2007. Covering the US and Middle Eastern countries, 27 sold out shows in Dubai, Beirut, Cairo, Kuwait and Amman spoke for themselves. “Browner and Friendlier” is his second solo comedy show.

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Flotsam: When life is in a shambles.

TED Talk. Monica Lewinsky: The price of shame

23.02.2015

In her early twenties, she made the mistake of falling in love with her boss almost three decades her senior. When the public got wind of the affair, Monica Lewinsky was hurtled through the epicentre of a merciless international media maelstrom exerted by print, radio and TV and furthermore became one of the first victims of online public shaming. „In 1998, I was Patient Zero of losing a personal reputation on a global scale almost instantaneously… Public humiliation was excruciating, life became unbearable.“

In her talk, Monica speaks about our „culture of humiliation“. That cyber-bullying leads to cruelty to others, and that online it is amplified and remains accessible forever. „They anonymously stab you with their words. The more shame, the more clicks. The more clicks, the more advertising dollars.“ Other victims have been humiliated to death.

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