The holidays of All Saints’ Day and All Souls’ Day were often celebrated with costume parades, wild parties, and licentiousness of all sorts.[7] In the 18th century in the United Kingdom, Halloween was celebrated in rural areas by farmers as a fertility rite, while in cities it had a Carnival-like atmosphere.[7] But as Halloween was transported to the United States by waves of European immigrants,[8] the licentious and rowdy elements of Halloween were domesticated to conform with the emerging Victorian era morality. Halloween was made into a private rather than public holiday, celebrations involving liquor and sensuality de-emphasized, and only children were expected to celebrate the festival.[9]

While wearing costumes at Halloween is recorded in Scotland in 1895, there is little evidence of costumes in England, Ireland, or the United States prior to 1900, however.[3] Early Halloween costumes emphasized the pagan and Gothic nature of Halloween, and were aimed primarily at children. Costumes were also made at home, or using items (such as make-up) which could be purchased and utilized to create a costume. But in the 1930s, A.S. Fishbowl, Ben Cooper, Inc., and other firms began mass-producing Halloween costumes for sale in stores as trick-or-treating became popular in North America.

Halloween costumes are often designed to imitate supernatural and scary beings. Costumes are traditionally those of monsters such as vampires, ghosts,[10] skeletons, witches, and devils, or in more recent years such science fiction-inspired characters as aliens and superheroes. There are also costumes of pop culture figures like presidents, athletes, celebrities, or film and television characters. Another popular trend is for women (and in some cases, men) to use Halloween as an excuse to wear sexy or revealing costumes, showing off more skin than would be socially acceptable otherwise. Young girls also often dress as entirely non-scary characters at Halloween, including princesses, fairies, angels, farm animals and flowers.

Halloween costume parties generally fall on or around October 31, often falling on the Friday or Saturday prior to Halloween.

Gitanjali Group is launching the machine in Mumbai shopping center on an annual Hindu festival called Diwali, on Wednesday this week.

Diwali is a day of traditional celebrations of Hindus. On that day, Hindus used to buy gold and jewelry.

While India until recently was known as an importer and consumer of gold and jewelry in the world.

“This machine is the first in the world and the future will continue to be developed for the purchase of jewelry and gold,” said Sanjeev Agarwal Executive Gitanjali is quoted as saying by AFP on Friday (10/29/2011).

In the ‘ATM machine’, the consumer can choose the 36 jewelry products to the size, design, and different prices. Prices range from jewelry sold 1,000 rupees to 30,000 rupees or about U.S. $ 20 to U.S. $ 600.

Consumers can pay for jewelry purchased with a credit card or debit card. Even the cash payments are also accepted.

Gitanjali Party said, this machine is it worth it to help people who want to buy jewelry on urgent basis while welcoming the day of Diwali.

Gitanjali is known as a company selling jewelry in India. The company plans to deploy these machines in various shopping centers, airports, and temples.

For information, throughout the first half of Indian gold consumption in 2011 reached 540 tons, up 21% from the same period last year.

Flood Impact Economic Prospects Can I Descended Again When Disaster Worsens Flooding Will Continue to Crush Thailand’s GDP

indonesiafinancetoday.com

BANGKOK – Widespread flooding in some areas in Thailand have disrupted the economy of the country. A number of sectors that have been supporting Thailand’s economy, like tourism, agriculture and industry, were disrupted by floods in recent months. These conditions encourage the Bank of Thailand (Bank of Thailand / BoT) pessimistic about the prospects of the domestic economy this year, given the increasingly widespread floods.

Therefore, BoT revises growth forecast gross domestic product (GDP) in 2011. Through its quarterly report on Friday (28/10), BoT cut its GDP forecast to 2.6 percent this year from which issued the original target of 4.1 percent.

“Widespread flooding, now impact not just on agriculture, but also activity in the manufacturing industry. Conditions that would substantially burden the possibility of economic growth in the fourth quarter,” the report BoT.

BoT assistant governor Paiboon Kittisrikangwan even extremely pessimistic about the current condition of Th ailand. According to him, Th ailand GDP projections could be lowered again if flooding in the country worsened. In addition to cut economic growth this year, the BoT also revised its infl ation in 2011 to 3.8 percent, down from the original target of 3.9 percent, while the benchmark rate was maintained at 3.5 percent position.

Flash floods in Thailand worsened due to the high intensity rainfall in the upstream. Besides damaging rice fields, flooding is now starting to reach the capital city of Th ailand, Bangkok. In fact, the second largest airport in Bangkok, Dong Muang, has been submerged. As a result, domestic flights disrupted. The accident has caused the food crisis, disrupting economic activity and create a sluggish domestic consumption.

The worst floods in the past decade has been soaking the thousands of factories that make the activity in the manufacturing industry was paralyzed. As a result, nearly half a million citizens of Thailand for a while does not work.

Japan Bids

Responding to this situation, the Japanese government issued an announcement that permit employees of Japanese companies in Th ailand to work at Sakura. Currently, there are 12 Japanese companies in Thailand who temporarily stop production activities. Th ailand flash floods in disrupt the supply chain has a component of the entire country into another country. The Japanese top leaders could not hide his concern over plight of Thailand.

Because the giant automakers Toyota and Honda also hit by the flooding so the impact on domestic income. The Japanese government worried about the ongoing economic recovery can be sunk back with a flood after the recent yen continues to strengthen.

“The Japanese government will accept the Thai workers who work for Japanese companies and companies also will ensure they return to Thailand when the floods subside,” said Japan’s Chief Cabinet Secretary Osamu Fujimura.

Fujimura added, workers will receive permission to stay in Japan for six months. The decision was reserved for 30 companies from Japan to total workers in the thousands of people. Granting the permit on the basis of the request a number of Japanese companies are now offset a decline in production in Thailand through increased domestic production.

“Damage caused by floods to affect the supply chain creates a serious impact not only for Japan’s economy, but also economic activity in all members of ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations),” Fujimura said. uci/AFP/Rtr/E-10

Growing up in Coriano, some 10km from the Misano World Circuit, Simoncelli spent his youth racing on the Italian east coast and was a frontrunner in the Italian Minimoto Championship from 1996 to 2000 – a competition he won on more than one occasion.

Stepping onto 125cc machinery after his exploits in minibikes Simoncelli was quick to adapt, riding in the Italian National Championship in 2001 and then taking the European 125cc title the following season. It was in 2002 that he made his World Championship debut, riding six rounds of the 125cc campaign before a first full season the next year.

2004 saw the then 17 year-old take his first GP victory – which was also his first podium result and his first start from pole position – when he won at a rain-soaked Jerez on his way to 11th overall in the standings. Simoncelli’s final season in the category in 2005 produced six podiums in total, including another win at Jerez, as he ended the year fifth overall taking further steps forward.

Moving up to the 250cc category for 2006 it took two seasons for Simoncelli to settle in and find his feet, and when he did so it was in stunning style. 2008 did not start in the most encouraging manner as Simoncelli failed to score points in the opening two rounds, but in Round 3 at Estoril he qualified on pole for the first time in 250s and finished the race in second – his first podium in the class. From there, Simoncelli’s season took off in a phenomenal fashion. He took his first 250cc win in his home GP at Mugello, the sixth round of the campaign, and only finished outside the top three on one more occasion on his way to the title. Winning six races and stepping onto the podium a total of 12 times in 2008, Simoncelli was the first Gilera rider to win the 250cc title and became the first man to take the intermediate crown after not scoring points in the first two rounds since Dieter Braun in 1973.

Speculation linked the charismatic new 250cc World Champion with a move up to the MotoGP class but Simoncelli opted to stay and defend his title. He again displayed his fearless riding style as he engaged in a series of great battles, taking the title fight to the final round in Valencia where he eventually lost out to Hiroshi Aoyama. Simoncelli finished the campaign in third, having won six races, and was by now ready to make the step up to the top level.

Pre-season testing for the 2010 campaign was something of a baptism of fire for Simoncelli, who was shaken by a big crash at the second Sepang Test. He was back on the bike for the final Qatar outing however, and then finished his first MotoGP race at the same Losail circuit one month later in 11th place. Simoncelli gained in confidence as his rookie season went on, steadily improving his qualification and race results and ending 2010 with a strong run of notable displays which included fourth in the penultimate round at Estoril, where he was unlucky to miss out on a podium spot.

With a full season’s experience behind him his second year in MotoGP saw Simoncelli get off to a flying start, as he immediately set about converting the promise shown towards the end of 2010 into results in 2011. After a top-five finish in the first round in Qatar, he then crashed out of the Jerez race when leading in only the second race of the campaign. Next time out Simoncelli secured his first second-row start, in Portugal, and a first premier class pole position came shortly after in Catalunya as the excitement surrounding the daring Italian continued to grow.

Another pole followed at Assen but Simoncelli was unable to seal that elusive podium spot that seemed an almost certainty every time he took to the track, something he finally managed at Brno where he took third position in the Czech GP to great acclaim.

Fantastic rides continued to flow as he finished fourth for three races in a row at Misano, Aragón and Motegi, the last of which saw Simoncelli prevail in a toe-to-toe race-long battle with age-old rival Andrea Dovizioso. Just two weeks later at Phillip Island Simoncelli again held off his compatriot in an epic fight to take second place, his best-ever MotoGP result.

Qualifying on the second row for the Malaysian GP Simoncelli was battling with Álvaro Bautista for fourth position in the race when he crashed on lap two, sustaining the injuries which brought to an untimely end a rapidly evolving rider and individual who was hugely admired both on and off the track.

Marco Simoncelli’s World Championship career:

2002: 125cc World Championship – 33rd position on an Aprilia, 6 starts, 3 points

2003: 125cc World Championship – 21st position on an Aprilia, 15 starts, 31 points

2004: 125cc World Championship – 11th position on an Aprilia, 13 starts, 79 points, 1 win

2005: 125cc World Championship – 5th position on an Aprilia, 16 starts, 177 points, 1 win

2006: 250cc World Championship – 10th position on a Gilera, 16 starts, 92 points

2007: 250cc World Championship – 10th position on a Gilera, 17 starts, 97 points

2008: 250cc World Championship – 1st position on a Gilera, 16 starts, 281 points, 6 wins

2009: 250cc World Championship – 3rd position on a Gilera, 15 starts, 231 points, 6 wins

2010: MotoGP World Championship – 8th position on a Honda, 18 starts, 125 points

2011: MotoGP World Championship – 6th position on a Honda, 16 starts, 139 points

The casket arrived at the Assunta church carried by friends and members of the Gresini team, and at 3pm the service commenced. Simoncelli’s Gilera bike, on which he won the 2008 250cc World Championship title, and the Honda RC212V, on which he competed in the MotoGP class were displayed on either side of his casket.

The ceremony was broadcast on a large video screen outside of the church, as well as on an additional large screen installed at the nearby Misano circuit, so that those outside of the church and at the circuit could witness the ceremony. Prior to the service the screens ran footage of the 24 year-old at his charismatic best in the paddock.

Alongside Marco’s father Paolo, mother Rosella, sister Martina and girlfriend Kate, in attendance were current and former fellow riders including Valentino Rossi, Giacomo Agostini, Alex Criville, Simone Corsi, Yuki Takahashi, Raffaele de Rosa, Chaz Davies, Mattia Pasini, Manuel Poggiali, Jorge Lorenzo, Andrea Dovizioso, Randy de Puniet, Loris Capirossi, Toni Elias, Hiroshi Aoyama and Alex de Angelis.

Also present at the services were FIM president Vito Ippolito and CEO of Dorna Sports, Carmelo Ezpeleta, who commented on the services.

“What I experienced this afternoon in Coriano was very moving. After seeing the turnout of citizens, fans and the whole paddock there is no doubt that a great rider and a brilliant person has left us. The outpouring of affection that has been shown demonstrates that he has left his mark.”

“I was impressed by the courage of Marco’s family, and especially the strength of his father, Paolo, who was able to transmit his strength and energy to others.”

“It has been extraordinary to see the MotoGP family come together for Marco Simoncelli. Despite the unfortunate loss, the tribute makes clear the immense affection that people had for him. We will never forget Marco.”

CWHK: Tell us about your specific role within the Time-Warner organization.

Simon Tsui: Time-Warner Hong Kong is a shared-services division within Time-Warner–we support a few of the divisions of Time-Warner in Hong Kong and throughout Asia-Pacific. Turner and Time Inc are our major constituents, we also serve Time-Warner corporate staff in Hong Kong and Warner Brothers here at our Hong Kong offices.

When you look at Asia-Pacific, Hong Kong is a relatively small market. The location and ease of entry/exit on an international level is why we have our headquarters here. Within Time-Warner we’ve got about 600 employees in Hong Kong.

CWHK: So within Time Inc, you have Time Asia…what else?

ST: Time Asia, Fortune Magazine, and the customer service of Time Inc: a separate organization called TW4. They handle fulfillment for other magazines.

CWHK: Time Asia, like our publication, started in an era when print-publishing was king, Fortune Magazine also. What are you doing now that the print landscape is changing?

ST: In the States, a lot of Time-owned magazines like People and Sports Illustrated have iPad-versions. People still crave content, it’s just the medium of delivery has changed.

CWHK: Apart from devices, the local audience seems to crave for content in their local languages.

ST: Yes. One of our new products is CNNgo, which was first launched in English. But now we’ve got simplified Chinese, traditional Chinese, Korean and Japanese. In the media industry we’ve seen a change in terms of viewer-preference. When Turner first came to Asia it was a big export business–CNN, Cartoon Network–we basically transferred the US programs to Asia. Now it’s localized–cartoon-series might have multiple languages that will be selected depending on the locale.

CWHK: But while Netizens prefer localized products, English is still the main means of communication in the business world.

ST: I have to thank my father for helping me learn English. He used to work at an Indian company, and recognized the global importance of English. So when I was young, while all the kids were watching Sunday morning cartoons, I would be with my dad reviewing and practicing English. I think my English ability has helped me greatly in this job. Language helps you build relationships–if you can’t communicate fluently, there’s always going to be some sort of barrier. And I tell my staff this–in our environment, English is very important.

CWHK: So when you came back to Hong Kong after your BA in Canada, what did you do?

ST: I didn’t really know–I would look at the Classified Post and realize I didn’t have the qualifications for these jobs! But I applied anyway and eventually got a job doing pre-sales for an Apple Center. After that I changed jobs a lot, mainly in sales and marketing for software on the Macintosh platform, and eventually was hired by Turner in ’94.

CWHK: What was your job back then?

ST: Systems engineer–back then there were only two people in IT: me and my boss. Every couple of nights the database would become corrupted and I would need to work with someone in the US to fix it, so I was working until 10:30 almost every night. The important thing for me is that I didn’t waste time working those hours, as I got to know people in the company and build trust.

While it’s been a slow process to become department head, it’s been a satisfying one. The company has continually expanded over the years, and I always need something new to keep me interested.

CWHK: You now sit on the Turner board. Is there anything you do to get the business guys interested in IT?

ST: It’s a slow journey. While we may spend time talking about social networking and all that, at the end of the day creating a viable business is what counts. But one of the initiatives we recently started is called “Business Liaison.” If a department is interested, we’ll insert one of our senior staff into their regular operational meetings. The purpose is to understand their everyday problems, and from those conversations, we learn where we can help.

CWHK: Do you see more interest towards business from your team? Do they see the value of understanding business?

ST: We do. We have an annual customer-satisfaction survey and one question is how IT is perceived: do you see us more as a problem solver or equipment-provider, up to a strategic partner.

Our IT team’s slogan is: “business-focused customer partnership,” there’s nothing IT about it. It’s really easy to hire technical professionals, but difficult to hire business people with a technical background, because if their focus is business, they won’t study tech in the first place.

I think the staff sees its importance–the problem I have is building enough traction for them to do something about it. There’s often resistance–IT people are busy, and I often hear them say: “I don’t have time to spend hours learning about what that business does.” My response is that being business-focused doesn’t mean you have to spend hours sitting with the business understanding it. If you show you’re interested in what they do, you become more valuable, and you don’t spend as much time as you think.

For the same reason, I don’t want to outsource our help-desk, because if done properly, our help-desk is a great place to be in touch with our business. Inherently, IT people are introverts–we’re more reactive rather than going out and learning new things. I put a lot of effort to educate my staff on the importance of help-desk and the importance of these touchpoints.

CWHK: I’ve heard others talk about the importance of bridging the IT-business gap. Do you ever get the staff together and try to aggregate what they’ve learned through this process?

ST: Operations has always been resistant to change, so it is one area where we’re trying very hard to achieve a broader mindset.

We use the MBTI (Myers-Briggs Type) personality indicator here and many technical folks are what we call “sensing” types: very detail-oriented, but not as good as seeing the big picture.

So in addition to presenting them a big-picture concept, I try to add something concrete. We encouraged our staff to write down what they’ve accomplished, how they achieved it and we use it to demonstrate how that fits in our list of “IT Values.” Through learning this experience from others, the sensing-type staff has better understanding of how their work fits in a bigger picture. But sometimes when I’m talking with sensing-type people and they’re not quite getting it, I need to rephrase what I’m talking about.

In the past, if you were management, the staff had to listen to you. But now–at least in our company–that’s not true anymore. In management you have to listen more, and act differently with different folks, so actually…the days of management being tyrants are gone.

Fans, friends, members of the public and figures from the world of sport came to the Municipal Theatre in Coriano, close to Riccione in the Italian province of Rimini, to pay their respects to the 24 year-old rider who passed away on Sunday following a crash in the MotoGP race in Malaysia.

A long line of mourners formed early this morning at the chapel, which will remain open until 10pm this evening, and where Simoncelli’s body is resting prior to his funeral on Thursday. Behind the Italian rider’s coffin the Gilera bike, on which he won the 2008 250cc World Championship title, and the Honda RC212V, on which he competed in the MotoGP class, were presented.

Amongst those in attendance were recognised Italian sporting figures such as former basketball player Walter Magnifico and Marco Melandri, a close friend of Marco Simoncelli’s and his team-mate in the Gresini team during the young rider’s debut season in MotoGP in 2010.

The funeral, which will take place tomorrow (Thursday) at 3pm at the Santa Maria Assunta church in Coriano, is expected to be attended by close friends of Simoncelli’s and fellow riders including Valentino Rossi, Andrea Dovizioso, Jorge Lorenzo and Sete Gibernau. To ensure that all those who attend the funeral can follow the ceremony two large screens will be installed outside the church, and a large screen will also be installed at the Misano circuit nearby.

Team sources have ensured that the majority of the team’s members will travel to the Valencian circuit and the customary team box will be assembled, in which the Honda RC212V holding the number 58 will be present in tribute to their rider Marco Simoncelli.

Team owner Fausto Gresini has not yet decided if Hiroshi Aoyama and Moto2 riders Michele Pirro and Yuki Takahashi will take part in the Grand Prix. The team may make an announcement on Wednesday morning or might wait until after the funeral services on Thursday for Marco Simoncelli are held.

In a press release issued Tuesday, the Italian team thanked the countless messages of sympathy received since Sunday with a message that read: “Thanks for the love shown to Marco. The star of “Super Sic” will shine forever in heaven! From Marco’s family and the team, thank you.”

When I read about bald eagles and about the way they live, I
always start thinking about what a businessman can learn from
them in order to become successful and that is what this article
is about.

1. Vision

Bald eagles are birds that can often be found on very high
altitudes. There they soar and with their very sharp eyesight
they have a clear view on the world below them and especially
on the prey they want to catch; fish, that is what they like
most.They can see the milky white spot in the water from a
distance of many miles. In high places they build their nests.
On a rock, on the top of a tree but always on a spot where they
have a good view on the world that surrounds them. And from
their castle they see what is happening around them and that
gives security.

The businessman should also have a clear view on what is
happening in the market. From very far he should recognize his
potential customers and “attack” them at the right moment. At
the same time he should be aware of the dangers that surround
him, anticipate, absorb the environment and be prepared to act
immediately.

2. Knowledge

Bald eagles are confined to their territories. With the seasons
some migrate but you find bald eagles only in a specific habitat
namely forests, mountains and near sea and rivers. You won’t
find them in the desert. In their habitat they know what to do,
where they can find prey and which dangers surround them. By
instinct and by learning they have knowledge about the way they
have to conduct their lives and about how they have to behave
in this habitat. They will never go beyond the limitations of this
frame work. If they do, they die.

This holds a lesson for the businessman. He should know
everything about his business and when I say everything, I mean
everything. He should know all about the products he sells from
beginning to end, every detail should be an open book to him.
He can never be surprised with questions on which he has no
answers. He should know about marketing techniques, the
position and plans of competitors etc., etc. And if he doesn’t
possess this knowledge by nature, he has to learn it.

3. Enough is enough

When Bald Eagles catch prey, they will catch only one fish at a
time. It is not possible for them to catch more. But they know
precisely how to catch this one fish. Their flying skills, their
strong talons and their eyesight are extremely well developed
and fit for the job. Almost every attempt to catch a prey is
successful.

This phenomenom also holds a wise lesson for the businessman.
He has to restrict himself to a number of products he can handle
and products that matches his skills and abilities. To stay in
the animal world: if you are a cow don’t try to jump fences like
a horse. People will only laugh at you. It is better to sell one
product very well than ten without a satisfying result.

4. Courage

Bald eagles mate for life and they are absolutely loyal to each
other. From high altitudes the two birds tumble down in a
dangerous free fall. Mocking the laws of gravity they unite.
Only just above the tree tops they separate and fly wing by wing
to the nest. This spectacular show requires great courage. A
businessman also needs courage to be successful. He has to make
decisions about difficult and uncertain subjects. And he also
needs to know when to stop his free fall. Having courage to make
difficult decisions is not synonymous for being reckless. A
decision that leads to disaster is not a decision, but a wild
guess.

You see….the businessman can learn a great deal from this
majestic bird that embodies not only beauty, strength and
freedom but that possesses also the essential conditions and
abilities to survive.

The beginning businessman as well, who is maybe starting his
business in great uncertainty about the future, can learn from
the bald eagle:

Flying high starts with spreading your wings!