Rolex

The model number of the half-gold Datejust is 16233 which loosely translated into Chinese would mean "all the way easy long life". This model is much sought after by up-and-coming towkays. The model number of the solid gold Day-Date is 18238 which again loosely translated into Chinese would mean "prosper easily, long life and prosperity". This model is favoured by the arrived towkays. Alfa Romeo can learn a lesson here from Rolex. Imagine calling a car a "164" which means "all the way die" to the Chinese.

For a glimpse of the various models of Rolex watches without looking at a catalogue, just look around in a Chinese restaurant where these towkays yamseng (to wine Chinese style) and dine. Alternatively, take a drive up to our country's only casino (Genting) and hang around the baccarat or roulette tables. Time there seems to be told only by Rolex watches.

Rolex is of course Swiss in origin but I personally think they make watches specially for the Chinese. To start with, the model numbers of the more expensive Rolex watches favoured by the Chinese towkays are not offensive at all. The Chinese are very superstitious about certain numbers, particularly the number 4 which signifies death but they like 8 which connotes prosperity and 3 which is linked to long life.

If there is a kingdom of watches somewhere in the Swiss Alps, would its King be Rolex? I think not because the Europeans are not particularly partial to Rolex. However, if there is a kingdom of watches in Asia (near Hong Kong, Japan or Malaysia), its King will certainly be Rolex. This is because Asians are extremely fond of Rolex watches.

In fact, the Chinese have nicknames for certain models of Rolex watches and this privilege is not extended to other brands. A "Rolex Star" is a half-gold Rolex Datejust. A "Rolex King" refers to a solid gold Rolex, usually the Day-Date or President.

To the Asian towkay ("towkay" means "boss"), to have arrived means a Mercedes-Benz (or occasionally a Bee-Em) and the inevitable Rolex, preferably solid gold or at least half-gold. Every successful or wannabe successful businessman is wearing one - from the contractor to the CEO.

However, Hans Wilsdorf wanted a name that was short and easy to pronounce. He did'nt like the sound of a "Wilsdorf" watch and for reasons best known to himself, he came up with the name "Rolex". Unknown to Hans at that time ( I am sure he had no idea as to the immense appeal of his watches to Asians), this word is actually very difficult for the Asian to pronounce. So therefore in this part of the world, everybody calls a Rolex a "Lolex". This proves that a rose by any other name is just as sweet.

With other brands of fine watches (Patek, Vacheron, Jaeger etc) it is possible to choose a model to suit the wearer's character and style. But not so with Rolex. The minute you put a Rolex on your wrist, you are at once transformed into a rich man by the unique flashiness of a Rolex timepiece. Some kind of instant richness. Very comforting feeling for the Asian towkay.

Out of Asia, do you know that James Bond (Roger Moore) wore a Rolex Submariner in "Live and Let Die"? Or that Sir Edmund Hillary wore a Rolex Explorer when he conquered Everest? So did Sir Malcolm Campbell when he broke the landspeed record in Bluebird. One famous golfer wears it too but I wonder how he can have a good swing with the heavy watch strapped to his wrist.

ways to increse income from google adsense

If webmasters want to monetize their websites, the great way to do it is through Adsense. There are lots of webmasters struggling hard to earn some good money a day through their sites. But then some of the “geniuses” of them are enjoying hundreds of dollars a day from Adsense ads on their websites. What makes these webmasters different from the other kind is that they are different and they think out of the box.
The ones who have been there and done it have quite some useful tips to help those who would want to venture into this field. Some of these tips have boosted quite a lot of earnings in the past and is continuously doing so. Here are some 5 proven ways on how best to improve your Adsense earnings. 1. Concentrating on one format of Adsense ad. The one format that worked well for the majority is the Large Rectangle (336X280). This same format have the tendency to result in higher CTR, or the click-through rates. Why choose this format out of the many you can use? Basically because the ads will look like normal web links, and people, being used to clicking on them, click these types of links. They may or may not know they are clicking on your Adsense but as long as there are clicks, then it will all be for your advantage. 2. Create a custom palette for your ads. Choose a color that will go well with the background of your site. If your site has a white background, try to use white as the color of your ad border and background. The idea to patterning the colors is to make the Adsense look like it is part of the web pages. Again, This will result to more clicks from people visiting your site. 3. Remove the Adsense from the bottom pages of your site and put them at the top. Do not try to hide your Adsense. Put them in the place where people can see them quickly. You will be amazed how the difference between Adsense locations can make when you see your earnings. 4. Maintain links to relevant websites. If you think some sites are better off than the others, put your ads there and try to maintaining and managing them. If there is already lots of Adsense put into that certain site, put yours on top of all of them. That way visitor will see your ads first upon browsing into that site. 5. Try to automate the insertion of your Adsense code into the webpages using SSI (or server side included). Ask your web administrator if your server supports SSI or not. How do you do it? Just save your Adsense code in a text file, save it as “adsense text”, and upload it to the root directory of the web server. Then using SSI, call the code on other pages. This tip is a time saver especially for those who are using automatic page generators to generate pages on their website. These are some of the tips that have worked well for some who want to generate hundreds and even thousands on their websites. It is important to know though that ads are displayed because it fits the interest of the people viewing them. So focusing on a specific topic should be your primary purpose because the displays will be especially targeted on a topic that persons will be viewing already. Note also that there are many other Adsense sharing the same topic as you. It is best to think of making a good ad that will be somewhat different and unique than the ones already done. Every clickthrough that visitors make is a point for you so make every click count by making your Adsense something that people will definitely click on. Tips given by those who have boosted their earnings are just guidelines they want to share with others. If they have somehow worked wonders to some, maybe it can work wonders for you too. Try them out into your ads and see the result it will bring. If others have done it, there is nothing wrong trying it out for yourself.

Google Adsense

One of the easist ways to start generating regular income from your website is to simply ad Google Adsense to your pages.
With Google Adsense ads on your pages whenever someone visits your website and clicks on one of the Google Ads displays - you will get paid.
Although you need lots of traffic beofre you start to earn substantial income from Adsense it will help defray your hosting costs and help balance the costs of using Google Adwords to help promote your website.
WARNING. Please dont fall for the trap of purchasing "Adsense Ready" website packages.
One of the many problems associated with Adsense Ready website packages is that lots of people will end up with identical sites and search engines, in particular Google, do not like duplicate sites which are often dropped from searches altogether.
If people cant find your site you will have little traffic and consequently little chance of making money out of people clicking on your Adsense ads.
Really, the people most likely to make money out of Adsense Ready websites are the merchants promoting them.
Also, you should not be building pages simply to make money out of Adsense. Instead you should look at adding Adsense to pages that already have good content.
You should concentrate on building your pages for your readers, then optimising them for the Seach Engines. That way you are more likely to attract readers who are interested in your content and therefore may be interested in your Adsense ads.
Click on the link below to sign up for your own Adsense account and to learn more about this exciting revenue opportunity.

Hurricane Katrina: Two Years Later

Hurricane Katrina: Two Years Later
August 28, 2007

Today marks the two-year anniversary of New Orleans' levees breaking under the massive influx of flood waters brought on by Hurricane Katrina. The hurricane, followed by Hurricane Rita just weeks later, caused massive devastation to the lives of residents not only in Louisiana, but also in Alabama, Mississippi, and Texas. The two hurricanes also severely impacted the local health systems that needed to respond to their communities.

Over these two years, Direct Relief has committed its efforts to seeing all affected areas in the Gulf make a full recovery, and to ensure that they are prepared should disaster strike once again.

Through our strong ties with statewide health center organizations including the Texas Association of Community Health Centers, the Lone Star Association of Charitable Clinics, the Louisiana Primary Care Association, the Louisiana Free Clinic Association, and the Mississippi Primary Health Care Association, we continue to support the clinics of those states with medical resources. Read a CNN story about one of Direct Relief's partners in New Orleans, the Common Ground Health Clinic, and about the recovery of the health system in general.

All told, we have distributed to them $47 million in aid, including $4.6 million in targeted cash grants to local health care facilities and organizations to help them repair infrastructure, hire additional staff, and serve more patients.

Over the past two years, we have become a licensed nonprofit pharmacy in Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi, Texas, and nine other states so that we can expand our support for medically underserved people not only in the areas affected by the hurricanes, but all over the country.

We were appointed to the Texas Health Commissioner’s “Blue Ribbon Task Force” on emergency response based on our extensive efforts and to help prepare for future emergencies, including the development of a recommended medication list for the first 72 hours of a disaster to reduce the strain on the hospital systems.

This past Sunday in Dallas, Direct Relief was presented a first-ever special award from the National Association of Community Health Centers for our extensive partnership with the frontline health clinics in the Gulf in the aftermath of the hurricanes, which has expanded to include clinics nationwide.

Lastly, Direct Relief has focused on proactive measures of support, including the placement of 16 hurricane pre-positioning modules based on the list developed by the Texas Pharmaceutical Blue Ribbon Task Force, to assist health centers and clinics that are in locations most likely to receive patients in the event of another hurricane.

Since the hurricanes, Direct Relief has absorbed all administrative costs and overhead expenses to ensure that designated contributions are directed entirely to their intended purpose of serving people affected.

Direct Cash Investment for Hurricanes Katrina and Rita Partners

Sample of Job Application Letter

XXX
Address
Tel: xxxxxxxxxxxxx
email: xxxxxxxxxxxxx


Date: xx/xx/xx


PROSPECTIVE EMPLOYER
Address


Dear Sir,


JOB APPLICATION


Referring to the above matter, I wish to apply for a job that leads to a career in xxxxxxxx, in your esteemed company.

I have just graduated with a xxxxxxxx in “date” from “Institution”. My final semester examination results xxxxxxxx.

I have great interest in xxxxxxxx, particularly in xxxxxxxx. I shall be ready to take on any challenging job that xxxxxxxx can offer. My resume is attached for your perusal, and I hope that you will kindly consider my application.

Thank you.



Yours faithfully,


XXX

Swinburne University

Swinburne University of Technology Sarawak Campus is an international branch campus of Swinburne University of Technology, Melbourne, Australia.
Established in 1908, Swinburne has a strong reputation in Australia and overseas as a provider of career orientated education and as a university with a commitment to research.
In a 2005 survey by the Australian Department of Education, Science and Training, Swinburne was ranked No. 4 in Australia for its learning and teaching quality.
The Sarawak campus was set up in Kuching, the capital city of the Malaysian state of Sarawak, in 2000 and operates in partnership with the Sarawak Foundation and the Sarawak Higher Education Foundation. Its establishment is part of a long-term strategy by Swinburne Australia to globalize its operations and to provide its students with international living, working and learning opportunities.
Swinburne Sarawak maintains a strong technology base and important links with industry. It aspires to be a research intensive university and it is developing its research capability with a focus on areas relevant to industry.
The campus is equipped with state-of-the-art facilities and currently conducts research on information security, mechatronics engineering, software engineering, business as well as education and e-learning.
Located just 15 minutes from the city centre and in the vicinity of commercial areas, the 16.5 acre campus offers undergraduate degrees in engineering, business, IT and multimedia. Also offered are postgraduate research programs at PhD and masters levels in these disciplines as well as coursework masters programs in accounting and multimedia.
Other courses include one-year foundation programs in business/IT and engineering/science as well as diploma programs in business and information systems, and electronic engineering which articulate into degrees. A range of English language proficiency programs are also available.
Students have the option of completing their degrees entirely in Kuching or transferring to one of its six campuses in Melbourne to complete them.
These programs, offered at a fraction of the Australian costs, are identical to those offered by Swinburne's home campus in Melbourne and the parchments are awarded by Swinburne Australia.
All degree programs offered by Swinburne Sarawak are recognized by the Malaysian Public Service Department (JPA).
Applied vocational emphasis and direct placements in industry are a feature of many of its undergraduate courses. The focus on practical training is an integral part of the course structure and the university is well known for producing graduates that are employment-ready.
Current student population at Swinburne Sarawak is about 1,300 and this is expected to reach 5,000 by 2010. International students come from 21 countries including Bangladesh, Brunei, China, India, Indonesia, Iran, Myanmar, Saudi Arabia, Sri Lanka and Vietnam.
Swinburne Sarawak is currently undergoing construction to expand the campus. Construction work started in late 2005 and when completed in 2007, the campus will feature a complex of buildings to accommodate new courses and the increasing student population.

SIKHISM

SIKH BELIEFS

- Sikhs believe that there is one God.
- They believe that God is all powerful. The universe exists because God wills it. He made the universe for humans to enjoy.
- God is pure-being – without qualities.
- God is known to the people by the Gurus’ teaching. God is self-enlightened, so He is the enlightener. Humans needs the Gurus to lead the way to truth.
- Human beings come into edistencxe because it is God’s will.
- Birth and rebirth are caused because humans base their lives on desire, the process can be stopped by replacing objects of desire with devotion to God.
- Human beings are unique – within them is a divine spark, they have intellect, they have morality – but they still struggle to meet God.
- Human b eing s seek God but often do not find him.
- The Gurus are for everybody, they are messengers form God, God’s servants and enlighteners.

Ethical Basis of Sikhism
- The highest aim of ethical system of Sikhism is the performance of one’s duties to man and God.
- The teachings of Sikhism have a spiritual dimension that aims at the discovery and perfection of human soul.
- To understand the ethical ideal of Sikhism, one must understand the uniqueness and individuality of man.
- The nature of man can be described as dual, i.e. the higher and the lower; the one tends to lift him up, while the other tends to pull him down.
- The aim of one’s life is to conquer the lower nature by the higher.
- Man is therefore an ethical being having a moral responsibility.
Realism: - Sikhism looks upon the universe as real and recognizes all that is found in it.
- The seemingly destructive forces of Nature, if properly utilized by man, who is endowed with the power to understand and control them, can be transformed into sources of life.
- Ethically speaking, man is good and peaceful and peaceful by nature.
- Sikhism does not encourage monastic renunciation and self-obnegation.
- It aims at a progressive realization of the immense power of human soul.
- The ultimate aim of life is developing a personality with divine qualities which should -ulminate in perfect control of the self.

Sahaj as harmony
- The ethical ideal of Sikhism is to maintain the harmony between religion and life.
- It provides an ethical code of human behaviour which represents a very high yet perfectly attainable ideal.
- In other words, to become a good Sikh is to become a good man.
- It is humanness at its best.
- Morality and religion are intimately connected in the teachings of Guru Nanak.
- According to him, morality constitutes the primary test of a true religion.
- The intrinsic value of a religion is judged not by its metaphysical thoughts but by its ethical principles.
- In Sikhism, morality and religion are to be taken as instruments of creativeness.
- It is only by performing duties according to the moral laws that one can aspire to attain God’s grace & eventual union with Him.
- For Guru Nanak, enlightenment and true spirituality should inspire man to dedicate his life and genius for the service of humanity.
- He emphasized that every enlightened man or woman should cease to live for himself and devote his or her life for the upliftment of humanity.
- Morality is the foundation of Sikh religion.
- According to Guru Nanak, the following are moral virtues:
- Truth
- Implies truthfulness in mind, body and action.
- Practice of truth is more laudable than truth as a principle.
- Truth is higher than all things, but higher than truth is the truthful living.
- “Truth is a remedy of all ills & washes away all sins”.
- One must avoid falsity and remain truthful to others.
- Contentment (Santokh) is having no ambition, envy, greed or jealousy.
- One must abide by the Will of God and, in that state, pleasure or pain makes no difference to him.
- Such a man is above ordinary happiness and misery.
Compassion (Daya) generates feeling to help & serve others.
- Service to mankind is service to God because the spirit of the Infinite resides in every soul.
Charity (Daas) means giving away things without any expectation or reward.
- It is compassion, which generates charitable disposition among men.
- In Sikhism, charity is invariably associated with tranquility, humility and disinterestedness.
- It should not be construed or confused with begging.
- Begging, as a means to earn daily bread, is strictly taboo.
Purity (Shuddhi or Snan) of body and mind.
- Inner purity is more important thanpurity of the body.
Forgiveness (khama) means pardoning an offender out of compassion and love for him.
- Forgiveness generates compassion and compassion encourages the concept of peace, tranquility, humility and cooperation in men, which checks the tendency of men for supremacy over other fellowmen.
Humility (Garibi) – In perfect humility all selfishness disappears and the soul no longer lives for itself.
- Everyone who humbles himself is exalted in spirit.
Tolerance (Sabr) – To accept truth, whatever it is, and no matter where it comes from, even to die for the religious views of others.
Non-Injury (Ahimsa) – According to Guru Nanak, when a man commits a sin, if it does not harm the social balance, we should overlook it.
- Cruelty to all living beings, men and animals, is decried.
Inspired Optimism (Chardi Kala)
- It means that everything should be faced and accepted in cheerful spirit as the Will of God.
- The knowledge of moral virtues expounded by the teachings of Guru Nanak gives an idea of the moral vices.
- According to Guru Nanak moral vices are:
Falsity or lack of truthfulness; taking resort to dishonesty, injustice & unrighteousness; egoism; lack of humility; intolerance; discontent; lack of self-control; affliction of men and animals by thought, word and deed; remaining discontented in mind under the sway of greed, envy or jealously; impurity of mind and body; intolerance of other’s beliefs and practices; falling a prey to the passions and instincts; pessimism; lack of self-dependence.


Social Mores:
- Sikhism aims at an integration of the individual with the life of the community.
- While developing individual morality, social morality, must be developed with connotes that individual must work for the sake of society and if morality is social, the social machinery has to bring about the fullness and quality of life.
- Therefore, an individual must strive for the ideal for social good.
- The standard of value must be welfare of the society
- The motive force of conduct should not only be individual responsibility to God, but also social obligations.
- The difference between individual morality and social morality is:-
-Individual morality is a private matter between the individual and his maker
-Social morality asks individuals to find God in their fellowmen.
- In order to achieve this objective what is required is an ideal society and ideal environments where the individuals should find best opportunities for all-round development of his self on the one hand, and identification of his interest with, and development of the society on the other.
- Human conduct is socially conditioned.
- Man does not live only for himself, but he lives with others and for others
- Therefore, he must have social morals.
- The chief characteristics of social morality, promoted by Sikhisms are:
- Firstly, every individual must be inspired by the belief that he is capable of developing a personality with divine qualities which should culminate in perfect control of the self under the guidance of the teachings of the Gurus.
- Secondly, every individual must strive to integrate his life with the life of the society in which he lives.
- Thirdly, an invididual is not an isolated, separate being.
- He lives physically and mentally in and through an environment.
- The ideal he should strive for is the development of the environment for his own as well as for the social good.
- Lastly, the standard of ethical value must be the welfare of the society and the moral principles must promote the ends of the society at large.
- Right from the beginning, the Gurus of the Sikhs have inculcated ethical principles to promote ocial morals among their adherents.
- Guru Nanak introduced “Satsong” or holy congregation, to promote fellowship, amity and brotherhood among the members of the community.
- He also introduced ‘Langar’ (free kitchen) where the great and the small, the rich and the poor, people drawn from diverse strata of society could partake the same food.
- ‘Langar’ also generated the feeling of equality, simplicity, fellow feeling and service.
- Guru Arjun Dev exhorted all Sikhs to set aside one-tenth of their income, ‘Daswand’, for the Guru, and for the welfare of the less-privileged members of the community.
- Guru Govind Singh propounded a strict moral code for the faithful where he enjoined upon them to protect the unprotected, respect the women and fight corruption and tyranny perpetrated by whomsoever & wheresoever.

Sharing (The principle of Wand Chhakna)
- To share with others who are less fortunate and unable to help themselves is one of the cardinal fundamentals of Sikhism which underlines the ethical rule for rendering self-less service where needed for the good of the society.
Chastity
- Chastity or continence, is emphasized in Sikhism, because in the human body lies the divine presence and as such, the body has to be kept and perfect.
- Those things which harm the body or cause sickness and disease have to be avoided.
- Pre-marital or extra-marital sex is forbidden to a Sikh.
- He should consider females older to him as his mother, equal to him as a sister, and younger than him as a daughter.
- He should never entertain evil thoughts in the company of women.
- Marriage is a sacrament and the purpose is companionship & help on the spiritual, path rather than sexual enjoyment.
- Monogamy is the rule in Sikhism.
- In order to avoid evil thoughts, one should keep away from obscene books, nasty plays and films and sexy music.
- Drinking of alcoholic beverages and wines or the wearing of scanty or flashy dresses together is prohibited for the Sikhs.
- Thus, the ethical objective of Sikhism is not only a holy life for an individual but also an ideal life for the society.
- Sikhism exhorts its adherents to maintain the harmony between religion and life, and develop materially and spiritually, to the advantage of the society.

GLOBAL HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT

Human resource management in international businesses are activities such as human resource strategy, staffing, performance evaluation, management development, compensation, and labour relations. All these activities are inter-dependent, and must be appropriate to the firm’s strategy.

Staffing policy is concerned with selecting employees who have the skills required to perform particular jobs. Staffing policy can be a tool for developing and promoting a corporate culture.


An ethnocentric approach to staffing policy fills all key management positions in an international business with parent-country nationals. The policy is congruent with an international strategy. A drawback is that ethnocentric staffing can result in cultural myopia.

A polycentric staffing policy uses host-country nationals to manage foreign subsidiaries, and parent-country nationals for the key positions at corporate headquarters. This approach can minimize the dangers of cultural myopia, but it can create a gap between home-country and host-country operations. This policy is best suited to a multi-domestic strategy.


A geocentric staffing policy seeks the best people for key jobs throughout the organization, regardless of their nationality. This approach is consistent with building a strong unifying culture and informal management network, and is well suited to both global and transnational strategies. Immigration policies of national governments may limit a firm’s ability to pursue this policy.

A prominent issue in the international staffing literature is expatriate failure, defined as the premature return of an expatriate manager to his home country. The costs of expatriate failure can be substantial.


Expatriate failure can be reduced by selection procedures that screen out inappropriate candidates. The most successful expatriates seem to be those who have high self-esteem and self-confidence, get along with others, are willing to attempt to communicate in a foreign language, and ca empathize with people of other cultures.

Training can lower the probability of expatriate failure. It should include cultural training, practical training, and it should be provided to both the expatriate manager and his spouse.
Management development programs attempt to increase the overall skill levels of managers, through a mix of ongoing management education and rotation of managers through different jobs within the firm to give them varied experiences. Management development is often used as a strategic tool to build a strong unifying culture and informal management network – both of which support transnational and global strategies.

It can be difficult to evaluate performance of expatriate managers objectively because of unintentional bias. A number of steps can be taken to reduce this bias – *cultural bias should be alleviated; *a former expatriate who had served in the same location should be involved in the appraisal; and, *the home-office manager should be consulted in the appraisal.


Country differences in compensation practices raise a difficult question for an international business. Should the firm pay executives in different countries according to the standards in each country or equalize pay on a global basis?

The most common approach to expatriate pay is the balance sheet approach. This approach aims to equalize purchasing power so employees can enjoy the same living standard in their foreign posting that they had at home.


A key in international labour relations is the degree to which organized labour can limit the choices available to an international business. A firm’s ability to pursue a transnational or global strategy can be significantly constrained by the actions of labour unions.

A principal concern of organized labour is that the multinational can counter union bargaining power with threats to move production to another country.


Organized labour has tried to counter the bargaining power of multinationals by forming international labour organizations. In general, these efforts have not been effective.