Asian Hotel Brands Make the Journey to Europe - An Excerpt

Raffles Hotel Singapore - Photo credit : Oxymanus

Asian Hotel Brands Make the Journey to Europe

By SONIA KOLESNIKOV-JESSOP
Published: January 22, 2010

SINGAPORE — International hotel brands are stepping up their investments in the Asia-Pacific region because of its outsized growth prospects. So it would seem almost counterintuitive for luxury hospitality brands based in Asia to be opening hotels in Europe, where growth is slowing.

Yet over the coming months, several well-known Asian brands, including Raffles Hotels and Resorts, Shangri-La Hotels and Resorts, and Meritus Hotels and Resorts, will open their first European properties.
The focus so far of most luxury Asian brands seems to be France, where the biggest-spending tourists are Chinese, according to an industry survey released this week. This summer, the five-star Royal Monceau in Paris is set to reopen as a Raffles property after a refurbishment that took 20 months and cost 100 million euros ($141 million).

The first European Shangri-La Hotel will open near the Trocadero, in what was once the palace of Prince Roland Bonaparte, Napoleon Bonaparte’s grandnephew. In 2012, Peninsula Paris will open in the 1908 building that currently houses the Centre International de Conférences.

Shangri-La also has projects in Vienna, London and Moscow, while Meritus is working on its first European foray in Frankfurt. Banyan Tree Hotels and Resorts and Six Senses Resorts and Spas are heading to the Mediterranean, focusing in on the Greek coastlines. Banyan Tree will open Angsana Corfu in 2011 and Angsana Santorini in 2012. Six Senses is planning to open a Soneva resort, its superhigh-end brand, on the island of Milos in 2012.

With more Asian tourists, especially Chinese, traveling to Europe, Asian brands, which have a reputation for high-end service in their own backyard, are hoping to capitalize on their name recognition. And they are also hoping the European outposts will become “feeder” outlets for their hotels in Asia.
Like all tourism-related companies, the Asian chains have lost revenue during the economic downturn. In 2008, Banyan Tree Holdings had sales of 427.9 million Singapore dollars ($305 million), nearly double that of 2004, attesting to its rapid expansion. In the third quarter of last year, however, the Singapore company’s revenue fell 14 percent from a year earlier. But its operating profit increased 70 percent, reflecting strong performance in hotel management and investment.
Mandarin Oriental operates 25 hotels, including 12 in Asia, 8 in the Americas, and 5 in Europe and North Africa. It has 16 more under development. In November the chain issued an interim management statement saying that weak demand from both the corporate and leisure segments continued to put pressure on occupancy levels and average room rates in all regions. But conditions in Europe were better than in Asia and the Americas, it noted.

Ho Kwon Ping, executive chairman of Banyan Tree Holdings, said the projects that were about to open would have been decided on as long as three years ago, at the height of a tourism boom — “when everybody was toppish about Europe,” he said. “What you’re seeing now is the outgrowth to that.”

Mr. Ho said he believed Asian brands’ decisions to move into Europe reflected the confluence of two things: “First, European developers are looking toward the Asian market, and also an Asian kind of hospitality, to distinguish themselves from the European brands. Second, Asian brands themselves are looking toward extending to other parts of the world, partly to satisfy the demand from Asian tourists traveling more and more toward other parts of the world.”

Economic indicators suggest that European markets are unlikely to recover as quickly as Asian markets. Worldwide international tourist arrivals fell 4 percent last year amid the severe global economic crisis, and Europe was hit harder, according to the United Nations World Tourism Organization. European arrivals declined 6 percent on an annual basis, compared with a 2 percent decline in the Asia-Pacific region and a 5 percent slide in the Americas.

Hotrec, a trade association of hotels, restaurants and cafes in the European Union, recently said that hospitality business trends across Europe were still very worrying and that a recovery was currently not in sight in many European member states.
“Occupancy rates of hotels in all major cities in Europe went down between January and August, compared to the same period of 2008,” Marguerite Sequaris, the chief executive of Hotrec, wrote in an e-mail message, adding that the rates for major destinations such as London, Paris and Rome fell by less than five percentage points but that the overall picture was showing a more severe decline.
“Most participants to the general assembly reported calamitous business trends in their respective countries,” she added, “and most consider that the recovery is not in sight yet, as 2010 will probably be on the same level as 2009.”

Tourist arrivals in Spain, one of Europe’s top tourist destinations, fell 8.7 percent last year on an annual basis, according to a recent report on the sector by the Spanish secretary of state for tourism, Joan Mesquida. According to Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union, the latest figures available for some of the European countries, for September and October, still show a decline in occupancy rates.


But Asian brands are pushing ahead with global expansion plans.
“This is part of the group’s growth strategy to extend our presence to key cities and sought-after resort destinations where there is demand for luxury travel and dining experiences,” said John Johnston, president of Raffles Hotels and Resorts.
Milton Pedraza, chief executive of the Luxury Institute, a research company in New York, said that Asian brands’ reputation among wealthy Europeans for providing top facilities and highly rated customer experiences gave the brands fairly high chances of success.

“Mandarin Oriental has already proven its viability in competitive markets such as London,” he said. “As long as they stick to a few major cities or locations in Europe, the Asian brands have low risk of becoming too ubiquitous.”
George Morgan-Grenville, group managing director of Abercrombie & Kent, a high-end travel agent and tour operator based in Britain, said he believed that Asian brands would be “warmly welcomed” in Europe in part because they were “built around an intrinsic service culture.”
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“What Asian brands seem to grasp more profoundly than their Western counterparts is a more holistic approach to a guest’s stay, from remembering names to dealing with the smallest detail,” Mr. Morgan-Grenville said.
“Of course, when brands migrate West, the danger is they face some tough competition from established hotel brands who already know how to operate effectively under Western economic conditions,” he added. “But the fact remains that, culturally, the Asian brands have been quick to grasp consumer needs in the 21st century.”

Online sites win journalism firsts at Pulitzers - An Excerpt

Online sites win journalism firsts at Pulitzers
Edith Honan and Ellen Wulfhorst
NEW YORK, Mon Apr 12, 2010 5:36pm EDT


NEW YORK (Reuters) - ProPublica, in an historic first for online journalism, won a coveted Pulitzer Prize on Monday for investigative reporting about controversial deaths at a New Orleans medical center following Hurricane Katrina.


The chronicle of decisions by doctors caring for patients stranded by the flood, written by Sheri Fink of ProPublica in collaboration with The New York Times Magazine, marked the first time an online service won a top journalism award given annually by the Pulitzer Prize Board at Columbia University.

The nonprofit ProPublica is considered by some to be a new model for journalism as struggling for-profit outlets have fewer resources to put toward investigative reporting. The Times magazine published the Hurricane Katrina piece.

"This is something we're going to see more of in the years ahead as there's more and more collaboration of news entities when it comes to enterprise journalism," Sig Gissler, administrator of the prizes, said in announcing the winners.

In another online first, www.sfgate.com, the website of the San Francisco Chronicle, won for editorial cartooning. The award for the animated cartoons by Mark Fiore marked the first time an Internet-based entry won in that category.

A second Pulitzer for investigative reporting went to Barbara Laker and Wendy Ruderman of the Philadelphia Daily News for their expose of a rogue police narcotics squad.

"WATCHDOG JOURNALISM"

Reporter Michael Moss and New York Times staff won in the explanatory reporting category for writing about contaminated hamburger and food safety issues. Reporter Matt Richtel and Times staff won the national reporting award for writing about the hazards of using cell phones and computers while driving.

"The watchdog function of journalism is heavily underscored," Gissler said. "Watchdog journalism is still a vibrant force.

"It's been a tough time for newspapers the last few years," he added. "But amid the gloomy talk, the winners and the finalists are encouraging examples of the high quality of journalism across the nation."

In the public service category, the Bristol, Virginia Herald Courier won for writing about the "murky mismanagement" of natural gas royalties owed to landowners, the board said.

The Washington Post won four prizes. The newspaper's Anthony Shadid, now with The New York Times, won for international reporting for his articles from Iraq, and Gene Weingarten won in feature writing for a story about parents who accidentally kill their children by forgetting them in cars.

The Post's columnist Kathleen Parker won in the commentary category and dance writer Sarah Kaufman won for criticism.

Tod Robberson, Colleen McCain Nelson and William McKenzie of The Dallas Morning News won in editorial writing for their work exploring social and economic disparities in the city.

The prize for breaking news photography went to Mary Chind of The Des Moines Register for a picture of a rescuer trying to save a woman trapped in water. The prize for feature photography went to Craig Walker of The Denver Post for his portrait of a teenager joining the U.S. Army.

Among the prizes for letters, drama and music, "Tinkers," a debut novel by Paul Harding, won for fiction. In drama, the winner was "Next to Normal," music by Tom Kitt, book and lyrics by Brian Yorkey, a rock musical about mental illness in a suburban family.

Country music's Hank Williams won a posthumous special citation. The board said his "poignant and simple songs ... played a pivotal role in transforming country music into a major force." Williams died on January 1, 1953.

__________________________________________________

Factbox: Pulitzer Prize winners for 2010
Mon Apr 12, 2010 4:53pm EDT

(Reuters) - The following is a list of 2010 Pulitzer Prize winners, awarded annually by the Pulitzer Prize Board at Columbia University for outstanding works of journalism, letters, drama and music:

Awards for Journalism

* Public Service - Bristol (VA) Herald Courier for the work of Daniel Gilbert detailing the murky mismanagement of natural-gas royalties owed to thousands of land owners in southwest Virginia, spurring action by lawmakers.

* Breaking News Reporting - Staff of The Seattle Times for coverage of the fatal shooting of four police officers in a coffee house and the subsequent 40-hour manhunt.

* Investigative Reporting - Sheri Fink of ProPublica with The New York Times Magazine for telling of the urgent life-and-death decisions made in a hospital when exhausted doctors were cut off by Hurricane Katrina. Barbara Laker and Wendy Ruderman of the Philadelphia Daily News for exposing a rogue police narcotics squad resulting in an FBI probe and the review of hundreds of cases tainted by the scandal.

* Explanatory Reporting - Michael Moss and staff of The New York Times for reporting on contaminated hamburger and other food safety issues that spotlighted defects in federal regulation and led to improved practices.

* Local Reporting - Raquel Rutledge of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel for reports on fraud and abuse in a child-care program for low-wage parents that fleeced taxpayers and imperiled kids, resulting in a crackdown on providers.

* National Reporting - Matt Richtel and New York Times staff for revealing the hazardous use of cell phones and other devices while driving, stimulating efforts to curb distracted driving.

* International Reporting - Anthony Shadid of The Washington Post for his series on Iraq as the United States departs and its people and leaders struggle to deal with the legacy of war and to shape the nation's future.

* Feature Writing - Gene Weingarten of The Washington Post for his story about parents, from varying walks of life, who accidentally kill their children by forgetting them in cars.

* Commentary - Kathleen Parker of The Washington Post for columns on an array of political and moral issues.

* Criticism - Sarah Kaufman of The Washington Post for her dance criticism.

* Editorial Writing - Tod Robberson, Colleen McCain Nelson and William McKenzie of The Dallas Morning News for editorials about the stark divide between the wealthy and the poor in Dallas.

* Editorial Cartooning - Mark Fiore, self syndicated, appearing on SFGate.com, for his animated cartoons which had biting wit, extensive research and distilled complex issues.

* Breaking News Photography - Mary Chind of The Des Moines Register for her photograph of the moment when a rescuer dangling in a makeshift harness tried to save a woman trapped in the foaming water beneath a dam.

* Feature Photography - Craig F. Walker of The Denver Post for his portrait of a teenager joining the U.S. Army at the height of insurgent violence in Iraq.

Letters, Drama and Music

* Fiction - Tinkers by Paul Harding (Bellevue Literary Press), a debut novel in which a New England father and son transcend their imprisoning lives and offer new ways of perceiving the world and mortality.

* Drama - Next to Normal, music by Tom Kitt, book and lyrics by Brian Yorkey, a rock musical about mental illness in a suburban family.

* History - Lords of Finance: The Bankers Who Broke the World by Liaquat Ahamed (The Penguin Press), about how four bankers played crucial roles triggering the Great Depression of the 1930s and ultimately transformed the United States into the world's financial leader.

* Biography - The First Tycoon: The Epic Life of Cornelius Vanderbilt by T.J. Stiles (Alfred A. Knopf), about the self-made titan who revolutionized transportation, amassed vast wealth and shaped the economic world in ways still felt today.

* Poetry - Versed by Rae Armantrout (Wesleyan University Press), a book striking for its wit and linguistic inventiveness, with poems that are often little thought-bombs detonating in the mind long after the first reading.

* General Nonfiction - The Dead Hand: The Untold Story of the Cold War Arms Race and Its Dangerous Legacy by David E. Hoffman (Doubleday), about the doomsday competition between two superpowers and how such weapons still imperil humankind.

* Music - Violin Concerto by Jennifer Higdon (Lawdon Press), which premiered on February 6, 2009, in Indianapolis, which combines flowing lyricism with dazzling virtuosity.

* Special Citations: Hank Williams for his poignant and simple songs which expressed universal feelings and played a pivotal role in transforming country music into a major force in America.

________________________________________________________


The prize was established by Joseph Pulitzer, journalist and newspaper publisher, who founded the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, and bought the New York World. Pulitzer left money to Columbia University upon his death in 1911. A portion of his bequest was used to found the university's journalism school in 1912. The first Pulitzer Prizes were awarded June 4, 1917; they are now announced each April. Recipients are chosen by an independent board.

Prizes are awarded yearly in twenty-one categories. In twenty of these, each winner receives a certificate and a US$10,000 cash award.[2] The winner in the public service category of the journalism competition is awarded a gold medal, which always goes to a newspaper, although an individual may be named in the citation.

The Way I Work: Jason Fried of 37Signals - An Excerpt

The Way I Work: Jason Fried of 37Signals

Jason Fried hates lame meetings, tech companies that don't generate revenue, and companies that treat their employees like children. A peek inside his typical workday.
As told to Liz Welch | Nov 1, 2009

You could sum up Jason Fried's philosophy as "less is more." Except that he hates that expression, because, he says, it still "implies that more is better." Fried prefers "less is less." It's a core principle of 37Signals, the Chicago-based company he launched in 1999 with Ernest Kim and Carlos Segura. The company started as a Web design firm. Then, in 2003, Fried hired David Heinemeier Hansson, a Danish programmer, to write software to keep the company's design projects organized. Soon, clients began requesting the program, and by 2005, software development eclipsed design in both revenue and focus. Today, 37Signals, which is run by Fried and Hansson, has a staff of 16 and more than three million customers who use the company's Web-based applications, such as Basecamp and Campfire, to collaborate and manage projects. Jeff Bezos, founder of Amazon, is the company's only investor. Fried, 35, isn't afraid to do things differently or to express his opinions. He condemns traditional corporate office culture, with its 40-hour workweeks and constant meetings, and shoots down many of his customers' suggestions. And he's not opposed to a little goofing off in the afternoon.

I don't use an alarm clock. Lately, I've been naturally waking up at 6:38 every morning. I used to wake up at 7:31 every morning, which is actually when I was born. So that was kind of creepy.

I try not to grab my phone and check e-mails first thing. I used to do that, and it's just not good for you. Instead, I'll go and brew some tea and try and relax a little bit. But the computer's always kind of pulling me toward it, so I end up looking at e-mail sooner than I'd like to.

I love tea. I drink green tea and white tea mostly. I play with different varieties depending on my mood. These days, I'm really into matcha, which is a powdered tea. You add hot water and use a bamboo whisk to make a frothy liquid. You actually consume the tea leaves. I get it online, because there's better selection, and I'm lazy.

For breakfast, I usually eat a couple of maple-infused Van's waffles and a handful of pistachios. Unless it's really cold -- then I have oatmeal. Three mornings a week, I go to the gym for an hour. I've been going to a trainer for two years. Otherwise, I think I'd blow it off.

Then sometimes I head in to the office. I might work from home for a week and then get bored of that, so I will spend the next week at the office. I live about two miles from my office. I drive there most of the time. I should bike more, but I saw someone on a bike get hit two years ago, and it really freaked me out. I figure I'm better off driving.

I usually get to work between 10 a.m. and 11 a.m. Of the 16 people at the company, eight of us live here in Chicago. Employees come to the office if and when they feel like it, or else they work from home. I don't believe in the 40-hour workweek, so we cut all that BS about being somewhere for a certain number of hours. I have no idea how many hours my employees work -- I just know they get the work done.

I spend most of my day writing. I write everything on our website. Communicating clearly is my top priority. Web writing is terrible, and corporate sites are the worst. You don't know what they do, who they are, or what they stand for. I spend a lot of time taking a sentence and reworking it until it's perfect. I love the editing process.

Our blog has more than 100,000 readers, but I don't post every day. I write when I have something specific to say. I recently wrote a scathing piece on the tech media. It really bothers me that the definition of success has changed from profits to followers, friends, and feed count. This crap doesn't mean anything. Kids are coming out of school thinking, I want to start the next YouTube or Facebook. If a restaurant served more food than everybody else but lost money on every diner, would it be successful? No. But on the Internet, for some reason, if you have more users than everyone else, you're successful. No, you're not.

I spend another good portion of my day thinking about how to make things less complicated. In the software world, the first, second, and third versions of any product are really pretty good, because everyone can use them. Then companies start adding more and more stuff to keep their existing customers happy. But you end up dying with your customer base, because the software is too complicated for a newcomer. We keep our products simple. I'd rather have people grow out of our products, as long as more people are growing into them.

I used to handle all the customer service e-mails, but now we have two people dedicated to that. I still get involved, and so does my partner, David [Heinemeier Hansson], if something has escalated and the standard operating procedure doesn't apply. If anyone ever writes us with a complaint, our stance is it's our fault -- for not being clear enough or not making something work the way it should. I'm constantly keeping an eye on the problems that keep arising, and then we address them. But I don't keep a list of all the complaints, because that's too time-consuming. We also get thousands of suggestions. The default answer is always no. A lot of companies lie and say, "Sure, we'll do that." We never make promises that we can't keep, so we say, "We'll keep that in mind." Some customers don't like that.

We first designed Basecamp for our own needs, to help better organize our projects. That's our philosophy: Build what we like, and other people will like it, too. Ta-Da was built to make simple to-do lists. Backpack is a digital version of a filing cabinet. We created Writeboard when we were collaborating on Getting Real, our first self-published business book, to track all of the back-and-forth drafts and keep us from going insane. Even though there are better products out there, I still use Writeboard, because it's dead simple. In fact, we just wrote our second book, Rework, using that program.

These books are our cookbooks. I look to chefs for inspiration. Mario Batali is a great chef who invites a camera into his kitchen and shares his recipes. It's a great business model. In the business world, people are proprietary -- they're afraid to share. Rework is our recipe for doing business.
We rarely have meetings. I hate them. They're a huge waste of time, and they're costly. It's not one hour; it's 10, because you pulled 10 people away from their real work. Plus, they chop your day into small bits, so you have only 20 minutes of free time here or 45 minutes there. Creative people need unstructured time to get in the zone. You can't do that in 20 minutes.

Instead, we use Campfire, our group chat tool. We built it when we started getting bigger -- with employees in different cities. We wanted to be able to communicate as a group easily. Campfire is like an all-day voluntary meeting. If I'm busy, I can close the window. And when I'm free, I can check it and chime in. If people have questions for me, they will post them, and I will answer when I can. Very rarely is a question important enough to stop people from doing what they're doing. Everything can wait a couple of hours, unless it is a true emergency. We want to get rid of interruption as much as we possibly can, because that's the real enemy of productivity.

I almost always order in lunch, usually from my favorite Middle Eastern takeout place. I love hummus and tabbouleh. I usually just eat at my desk. We have a catered lunch every Thursday that everyone in the Chicago office is encouraged to attend, because we don't see each other very often. We also plan a company vacation twice a year -- last year, we went to Maine and rural Wisconsin. So all the employees see each other for five days, twice a year. We talk about business; people might spend a few hours each day getting together to work on stuff, but there's also fun free time. When you don't see each other very often, you appreciate the time more when you get together.

After lunch, I get a little lazy between 1 p.m. and 3 p.m. I don't feel that productive, so I'm usually screwing around, which I think is really important. Everyone should read stuff on the Web that's goofy or discover something new. I hate it when businesses treat their employees like children. They block Facebook or YouTube because they want their employees to work eight hours a day. But instead of getting more productivity, you're getting frustration. What's the point? As long as the work gets done, I don't care what people do all day.

I like to read in the middle of the day, to give myself a break. I don't read fiction. I find it a waste of time. There are so many amazing things that are real; I don't need to spend any time on a made-up story. I like to read biographies, especially books about inventors and their inventions. I'm also interested in American history. Around 3 p.m., I like to have another cup of tea as a pick-me-up. The one I'm drinking lately is gyokuro, which has high levels of theanine, a potent amino acid that helps you really focus for a few hours.

Launches are the most hectic times, because so many things will go wrong. But the cool thing about Web-based software is you can update things in real time. If something is broken, we can fix it in three seconds, hopefully. But as we get bigger, small problems become bigger faster. Every move you make now is magnified, especially with launches. An announcement that might upset a few people today will upset a few hundred tomorrow. I spend a lot of time responding to that. I have about 15,000 followers on Twitter -- some are loyal customers, some are people who hate me. I don't know 99 percent of them, but many of them are waiting for an opportunity to say "you suck." Twitter has become an outlet for anger, because the short format is perfect for negativity. It can hurt sometimes. You have to grow some thick skin.

I'm in charge of the finances for the company. We have an accountant who runs the numbers, which David and I look at daily. We built an administrative screen that shows us how many customers signed up, upgraded, downgraded, or canceled a product. I will check these numbers throughout the day: Everything updates in real time. I can also see where the traffic spikes are coming from -- a news story, blog mention, or Google search. That's how I discover where we are being talked about.

We don't have big, long-term plans, because they're scary -- and they're usually wrong. Making massive decisions keeps people up at night -- I don't like to make those. The closer you can get to understanding what that next moment might be, the less worried you are. Most of the decisions we make are in the moment, on the fly, as we go.

I usually leave the office around 6 p.m. I'm a political junkie, and used to watch a bunch of talking-head shows after work. I'm not so much into that anymore. I prefer hanging out in my backyard or with friends. I have a garden, and I like to go out back and just look at my plants. I might weed or prune. I like to get my hands a little dirty after being in front of my computer all day.

I started taking drumming lessons a few years ago, so I sometimes will go play for an hour or so after work. I use drum brushes, so I don't bother my neighbors. I'm planning on buying a set for my country house and really pounding away. I bought a stone farmhouse built in the 1850s. It's in rural Wisconsin. The closest neighbor is half a mile away. I spend almost every weekend out there. I love it. I just bought a tractor. I am really excited about mowing fields. Next year, I want to plant an acre of corn. Or an acre of something, just to see if I can do it.

I enjoy cooking, but I'm single, and I don't like to cook for myself. I go out often, but I don't like fancy dining experiences. I find people putting a napkin on my lap uncomfortable, and don't like worrying about using the wrong fork.
At night, I often get a real productive boost, and I do a couple of hours of work. Usually the more complicated, detailed things that require deep thought. But sometimes, I just wind down by reading or watching TV. I relate to Larry David on Curb Your Enthusiasm. I also watch House, M.D. And sometimes I'll watch American Idol. I love the whole American dream, underdog thing, but I also love the conflict. Simon is brutally honest. And he's always right.

10 Simple Google Search Tricks - An Excerpt

10 Simple Google Search Tricks
By SIMON MACKIE of GigaOm ,Published: April 2, 2010

I’m always amazed that more people don’t know the little tricks you can use to get more out of a simple Google search. Here are 10 of my favorites.
More News From GigaOm

1. Use the “site:” operator to limit searches to a particular site. I use this one all the time, and it’s particularly handy because many site’s built-in search tools don’t return the results you’re looking for (and some sites don’t even have a search feature). If I’m looking for WWD posts about GTD, for example, I could try this search: GTD site:webworkerdaily.com.

2. Use Google as a spelling aid. As Rob Hacker — the WWD reader I profiled last week — pointed out, entering a word into Google is a quick way to see if you have the right spelling. If it’s incorrect, Google will suggest the correct spelling instead. Additionally, if you want to get a definition of a word, you can use the “define:” operator to return definitions from various dictionaries (for example, define: parasympathetic).

3. Use Google as a calculator. Google has a built-in calculator — try entering a calculation like 110 * (654/8 + 3). Yes, your computer also has a calculator, but if you spend most of your day inside a browser, typing your calculation into the browser’s search box is quicker than firing up your calculator app.

4. Find out what time it is anywhere in the world. This one’s really handy if you want to make sure that you’re not phoning someone in the middle of the night. Just search for “time” and then the name of the city. For example, try: time San Francisco

5. Get quick currency conversions. Google can also do currency conversion, for example: 100 pounds in dollars. It only has the more mainstream currencies, though — if you’re trying to see how many Peruvian nuevos soles your dollars might buy, you’ll be out of luck. If you would like to convert minor currencies, be sure to be specific about the country. So, if you want to find out how many nuevos soles your dollars might buy, you could try: 100 dollars in Peruvian nuevos soles.

6. Use the OR operator. This can be useful if you’re looking at researching a topic but you’re not sure which keywords will return the information you need. It can be particularly handy in conjunction with the “site:” operator. For example, you could try this search: GTD OR “getting things done” site:webworkerdaily.com

7. Exclude specific terms with the – operator. You can narrow your searches using this operator. For example, if you’re looking for information about American Idol but don’t want anything about Simon Cowell, you could try: “american idol” -cowell

8. Search for specific document types. Google can search the web for specific types of files using the “filetype:” operator. If you’re looking for PowerPoint files about GTD, for example, you could try: GTD filetype:ppt

9. Search within numerical ranges using the .. operator. Say, for example, you want to look for information about Olympic events that took place in the 1950’s, you could use this search: Olympics 1950..1960

10. Area code lookup. Need to know where a phone number is located? Google will let you know where it is, and show you a map of the area, too. For example: 415

What are your favorite Google search tricks?

Copyright 2010 GigaOm. All Rights Reserved.

Sachin is the Most Influential Indian Sportsman!

Sachin is the Most Influential Indian Sportsman!
Tops Sports Illustrated List

The legendary Sachin Tendulkar has been named as the most influential person in Indian sports by Sports Illustrated magazine. Tendulkar came first in the Power List beating IPL Chairman Lalit Modi and Dr Vijay Mallya.

Tendulkar recently made headlines after he scored an unbeaten 200 against South Africa, becoming the first batsman in the history of One Dayers to do so. "I wanted to play cricket whole-heartedly for the country. I am living my dream and have played with two-three generations. I wanted to be a special member of the team and I have done it," Tendulkar said after topping the list, "It has taken many years for a batsman to get a double-hundred (in ODIs). I am still getting great feedback.

Tendulkar was born on 24 April 1973 in Mumbai. His father, Ramesh Tendulkar, a Marathi novelist, named Tendulkar after his favorite music director, Sachin Dev Burman. During his school days he attended the MRF Pace Foundation to train as a fast bowler, but Australian fast bowler Dennis Lillee, suggested that Tendulkar focus on his batting instead. He has found a meteoric rise ever since and has become the highest run maker in the history of both Test and ODI cricket.

Union Agriculture Minister and President elect ICC Sharad Pawar (4th), Indian skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni (5th), BCCI president Shashank Manohar (6th), tennis ace Sania Mirza (50th on the list), Beijing Olympics gold medallist shooter Abhinav Bindra (41st), Churchill Brothers Team owner Churchill Alemao (48th), Dempo Sports Team owner Shrinivas Dempo (49) also made it to the Sports Illustrated list.

March 9, 2010

Mosque Building Brings Islam Fears to Poland - An Excerpt

A Mosque - Photo credit : Oxymanus

Mosque Building Brings Islam Fears to Poland
By REUTERS
Published: April 1, 2010

Reuters

WARSAW (Reuters) - In a sight familiar in some west European countries but new to Poland, dozens of protesters demonstrated in a Warsaw suburb last weekend against the construction of a mosque.

Plans by Poland's tiny Muslim community to build a place of worship and an Islamic cultural centre face opposition in a sign that concerns about Islam may be spreading eastwards to the staunchly Catholic European Union member.

Between 15,000 and 30,000 Muslims, many of them immigrants from Chechnya, live in Poland -- the biggest ex-communist EU state where more than 90 percent of the 38-million population declare themselves Catholics.

Some 150 people protested at the half-finished building site, a 30-minute drive from the city centre, where the Muslim League, a religious organisation established in Poland in 2004 is building what will be only the country's fifth mosque with government permission.

"Such centres are very often sources of radicalisation," said one protester, who like most of the demonstrators was happy to be filmed but unwilling to give his name.

He brandished a banner depicting minarets as missiles that resembled a stark image used in a Swiss referendum when electors voted last year to ban new minarets.

Others chanted "Let's not repeat Europe's mistakes" and "Blind tolerance kills common sense," and demanded that Muslim countries respect women's rights and religious freedom.

"Look at what's happening in Europe, I don't want my daughter to be forced to wear a burka in the future," a male protester said of the all-covering full-length veil which is the object of fierce debate in France.

A Belgian parliamentary committee voted this week to ban the wearing in public places of the burqa and the niqab, a similar garment in which only a woman's eyes are visible.

"I lived in a town in Poland where there were Catholic churches, a synagogue and a mosque and that was fine. But if I go to Saudi Arabia, I cannot wear my medallion and churches where I could pray are banned," said a woman demonstrator.

CATCH-UP?

Such complaints are frequent in west European countries, which have seen an influx of Muslims in recent decades, making Islam the second faith in many. The Muslim population in Europe is estimated at 15-18 million, roughly one-third in France.

The late-2009 referendum in Switzerland was the starkest instance of a rejection of Islam, but Germany and France also have disputes over the construction of minarets and mosques, or the wearing of Muslim headscarves and veils.

"The problems seen in France, Germany or the Netherlands will come to Poland as it is modernising, catching up with the EU's west and becomes more attractive to migrants from poorer parts of the world," said Professor Zbigniew Mikolejko of the Polish Academy of Sciences.

"We will be getting many poor Muslims from North Caucasus. So these protests highlight a fear about the future, a potential conflict. There is no threat now of course, but it shows people expect this trouble to come," he told Reuters.

Until World War Two, Poland was a multicultural society where Catholics, Jews and Greek Orthodox believers co-existed despite some anti-Semitism.

The majority of Polish Jews, Roma and other ethnic minorities were exterminated under Nazi German occupation.

The survivors sometimes endured oppression under the communist system installed in Poland after the war.

Twenty years after the fall of communism, Poland remains a largely homogeneous country of Catholic Slavs, although more and more foreigners live in the capital and other big cities and there are some areas where minorities are concentrated.

Muslim Tatars have lived in north-eastern areas for centuries and are fully assimilated by now. This, however, is not the case of migrants from the North Caucasus.

"This poor Muslim migration started coming in the 1990s when Russia fought the first war there. Chechens settled in closed communities in areas of Poland dominated by narrow-mindedness and so the first problems started there," Mikolejko said.

"Now middle class entrepreneurs from Muslim countries are also coming," he said, adding that the three groups of Muslims tended to live separately.

Pending the completion of the new complex, there is just one mosque for Warsaw's estimated 10,000 Muslims, and it holds barely 200 people in a converted villa in the city suburbs.

"We think the cultural centre is needed for Poland, both for its Muslim community as well as for non-Muslims," Samir Ismail, head of the Muslim League, told Reuters.

Apart from the mosque, due to have a small minaret, the venue will also feature an art gallery, a library and a restaurant and will host classes for children and religious dialogue meetings, Ismail said.

The organisation has gathered funds from sponsors in Qatar, Saudi Arabia as well as Poland.

"There is no reason to stop the construction," said Ismail, who came to Poland from Kuwait to study in 1986 and works as a paediatrician, has Polish citizenship and a Polish wife with whom he has four children.

FEAR

Poland's powerful Catholic church has not spoken out on the issue, but the clergy is divided between xenophobic conservatism and ecumenical dialogue.

So too are Poles in their attitudes towards Islam.

A PBS DGA telephone survey conducted on March 25 among 500 Poles showed 48 percent opposed construction of a mosque with a minaret in their neighbourhood, while 42 had nothing against it.

"This fear comes from a lack of knowledge. There are countries where the assimilation of Muslims is working fine, like in Austria or Norway," said Agata Skoworn-Nalborczyk, an Islam specialist at the Warsaw University.

"The average citizen knows a Muslim was behind the World Trade Centre attacks but doesn't follow the differences within Islam. Poles have simplistic ideas about Islam as they lack their own experience with Muslims," sociologist Mikolejko said.

But Ismail was more optimistic. When asked if he believed the row over the mosque meant west European concerns with Islam had arrived to Poland, he said:

"Absolutely not. There is no need to feel bad. After this dispute we received calls from
Poland, also from non-Muslims, wanting to send us money to support the construction."


___________________________________________________

Why the West Fears Islam: The Enemy Within

When one examines the West's fear of Islam, and tries to relate it to the reasons usually given -- Muslim fundamentalism, militancy, radicalism, terrorism, totalitarianism -- it is difficult, if not impossible, to justify this fear on the basis of reasons given. One has to believe, however, given all the facts and expertise available to the West, that the fear has to be rational. What is this fear that causes enemies of the Muslim world to play subtly on the theme of the Crusades in order to demonize Islam and Muslims? Let us first examine what it is not, before we draw our conclusion as to the real reason why the West fears Islam.

The fear of Muslim fundamentalism, militancy, radicalism, terrorism, totalitarianism, and the West's discovery of the "rogue states," appeared quite conveniently with the fall of the Berlin Wall, and the disintegration of the Soviet Union. Former Defense Secretary McNamara, in his 1989 testimony before the Senate Budget Committee, said US defense spending could safely be cut in half. It became clear that the US had to either undergo massive shifts in spending, a painful and unwelcome prospect for the defense establishment, or find new justification for continuing high levels of military expenditures. To provide this justification the Pentagon manufactured the threat of "rogue states and nuclear outlaws." The Gulf War was a contrived opportunity to sell this justification to the American people, to protect oil company profits, and to control the flow of oil to Europe and Japan who need it much more than does the US.

The International Institute for Strategic Studies calculates that the $262 billion US defense budget accounts for about 37 percent of global military expenditures. Russia, Japan, and China each will spend about $80 billion, $42 billion, and $7 billion. The six "rogue states" -- Cuba, Iran, Iraq, Libya, Syria, North Korea -- have a combined annual military budget of $15 billion. The US budgets for covert operations (US terrorism?) alone is double this amount. Given the paltry defense expenditures of all the "rogue states" combined, even after correcting for differences in costs, one has to believe that the "rogue states" are no match, militarily, for the West.

And, leaving aside the morality of US covert operations that invite retaliation, Muslim terrorists should not be a major fear. Far more acts of terrorism and violent crime in the US, according to government statistics, are committed by non-Muslims than Muslims. And if Muslims do pose a terrorist threat to the US, one hears little discussion of what it is that the terrorists really want. Perhaps, all they want is for the West to stop interfering in their countries, in ways that we would never tolerate in the US.

Islamic totalitarianism, an oxymoron to anyone with even a rudimentary knowledge of Islam, should not be a Western concern. A Muslim ruler may be totalitarian, but then his rule would not be Islamic. Furthermore, the Western record on supporting totalitarian Muslim regimes -- Iran under the Shah, Iraq before the Gulf War -- and doing business with non-democratic regimes -- China, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia -- speaks for itself.

As for Islamic fundamentalism, Islamic law is based upon the Quran, examples and sayings of the Prophet Muhammad, analogical deduction, consensus among the learned and individual reasoning. Strict interpretation of the Prophet's words leads to the conclusion that all who believe in one God are Muslim, and their faith is Islam; be they Muslim, Christian, Jew, or anyone else. Fundamentalism is defined in terms of Christian thinking. There is no parallel in Islam that stresses the use of reason and logic. Absent a definition, the label Islamic fundamentalism serves only to obscure issues, rather than to resolve them. Meanwhile, the Christian Coalition, and the Zionists and their biblical claim to Palestine appear fundamentalist to many; yet both are courted by US politicians, and not viewed as a threat.

One can go on eliminating Western arguments against Islam and Muslims. Eventually, one has to ask, what then is the source of the West's fear of Islam and Muslims?

The late Marshall G. S. Hodgson, in "Rethinking World History", states: "[Islam's] conscious hopes for a godly world order represent one of the most remarkable undertakings in world history and because its less self-conscious general cultural heritage is laden with human values."

Muslims see the West beset with broken families, violent crime, and drugs. They see a society divided by race, religion, and huge disparities in income. They long for a peaceful life in which they may provide for the basic needs of their families, and enjoy the respect due to all mankind regardless of their race, religion, position, or wealth.

These Muslims see their goals for a more just and compassionate society thwarted by a corrupt Muslim elite whose primary purpose in life appears to be the accumulation of wealth and power, regardless of the cost to their fellow human beings. They see these elite, who govern not by consensus as Islam prescribes, permitting outside powers to exploit their country while they derive few benefits, and find themselves subordinated by Western influences driving them down the troubled road taken by the West. They see few opportunities to earn a living because most opportunities are withheld for the elite and their sycophants. And they see these elite remaining silent when their faith, which is about all they have left, is denigrated in the propaganda which serves to maintain these elite.

The Muslim elite' allies are the defense establishment and the neo-imperialists. Islam's mandate for justice and compassion opposes the primary objective of these neo-imperialists who seek to follow policies outlined in 1948 by "the leading dove and peace prize winner" Mr. George Kennan, for the US Department of State. In his top secret "Policy Planning Study 23", Mr. Kennan stated in part:

". . . we have about 50% of the world's wealth, but only 6.3% of its population . . . Our real task in the coming period is to devise a pattern of relationships which will permit us to maintain this position of disparity . . . To do so, we will have to dispense with all sentimentality . . . We should cease to talk about vague and . . . unreal objectives such as human rights, the raising of living standards, and democratization."

To avoid exposure these neo-imperialists and their allies in the defense establishment, spurred by the enemy within, divert attention by demonizing Islam and Muslims, thereby fanning the fires of bigotry and raising unrealistic fears among the people of the West.

Release Date: January 26, 1996 -- Rev 2

An Excerpt : The Wisdom Fund, P. O. Box 2723, Arlington, VA 22202

Indonesia asks Borobudur visitors to don a sarong - an excerpt

Borobudur - Photo credit : Oxymanus

JAKARTA - Visitors flashing their knees at Indonesia's number-one tourist attraction, the ancient Borobudur temple, will have to wear government-issue sarongs under a new plan to protect the site's dignity.

Officials said tourists wearing shorts and mini-skirts would be politely asked to don a sarong for the duration of their visit to the Buddhist temple in central Java.

"When visitors enter a sacred place, they must show their respect. They shouldn't wear shorts or mini-skirts because it's impolite," temple manager Purnomo Siswo Prasetyo told AFP on Wednesday.

"It's like in Bali -- when tourists visit temples there, they also have to do the same thing," he said, adding that the rules were put in place after locals and visitors complained about the attire of some tourists.

During a month-long trial, tourists will also be required to wear rubber sandals to avoid damaging the temple's intricately carved stonework, he said.

The optimal footwear to ensure as little damage as possible is done to the temple's volcanic stones is made of woven dried pandanus leaves, he said.

Such items were not yet available but they had been ordered from the local community and could soon be added to the list of things inappropriately attired tourists will have to wear.

No fee would be charged for use of the sarongs and sandals during the trial, but Prasetyo said he could not rule out a charge at a later date.

"We hope this will open up job opportunities for surrounding communities and lead to economic growth," he said.

Some 2.5 million tourists visited Borobudur last year. Indonesians pay 15,000 rupiah (US$1.60) to enter the compound while foreigners are charged US$15.

As Islam spread through Java after the 12th century, the "temple mountain" of Borobudur was abandoned and lost to the jungle.

It was "rediscovered" in 1814 by English colonial trader Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles and was restored with the help of UNESCO in the 1970s.

- AFP/ir / CNA - Posted: 03 February 2010 2204 hrs