The First TV Soap Opera

The first TV soap opera appeared on American television just after the Second World War. Its name was Faraway Hill and it began on 2nd October 1946. A famous Broadway actress, Flora Campbell, played Karen St. John, a rich New York woman who went to live her relatives in the country after her husband died. She soon met a handsome young farmer, and of course the two immediately fell in love. Unfortunately, the farmer was already engaged to Karen;s cousin, who knew nothing about the relationship. When she found out, things got very very difficult for Karen. the producers of Fareway Hill had very little money - each programme cost only $300 - so they made them as quickly as possible. Because there was no time for the actors to learn their words each week, assistants wrote them on blackboards. Because of this, they often looked into the distance with a strange, romantic expression on their faces as they read their words from the boards on the other side of the studio!

A Hindu Festival - Diwali

The festival of Diwali is one of the most important religious festivals in India. It lasts for five days around the end of October. It is the festival of Laxmi, the Goddess who, in the Hindu religion, brings peace and prosperity.

Preparations for the festival begin several weeks before the festival itself. People clean and decorate their homes, prepare special food and buy new clothes and jewellery to welcome the Goddess into their homes. All over India, people light up their homes with oil lamps and colourful lights.

The celebrations take place on the darkest night of the lunar month, Amavasya. In the evening, fireworks fill the sky to make Diwali a true 'Festival of Light'.

The Secrets of Sleep

Babies do it for up to eighteen hours a day: Mrs Thatcher and Napoleon both said they only needed to do it three or four hours a night. Sleep. No one can live without it. But how much do we really need?

Research by the National Sleep Foundation in Washington says that we all need eight houts' sleep every night. Scientist have found that people who sleep for less than six and a half hours a night are more often ill than people who sleep for eight hours. Going without sleep also increases the chance of serious illness. 'Workaholics' who sleep for less than five hours often die young and so less well at work.

The scientists found that, on average, adults sleep for seven hours a night, with 32% sleeping less than six hours.

It also says that the idea that we need less sleep as we get older is completely untrue. 'People have no idea how important sleep is to their lives'. Dr Thomas Roth, director of the Foundation says 'Good health needs good sleep.'

'But not too much of it,' Says Professor Jim Horne of Loughborough University. 'Sleep is like food and drink,' he believes: 'you would always like to have a little more, but that doesn't mean you need it.' Professor Horne studied a group of people who could spend as many hours as they wanted in bed; after ten hours they didn't find it any easier to get up in the morning. And people who sleep for more than nine hours a night die younger than people who usually sleep for seven or eight!

If you have a cold

A cold is a contagious viral disease which infects the soft lining of the nose. If you have a cold, the most characteristics symptom is a runny nose.

Usually it is a mild condition and unless you are unlucky, recovery takes place within about a week.

It is more common during the cold winter months and affects children and adults of all ages. Most people will catch a cold two or four times a years.

If you have caught a cold you will be contagious from the day before the illness breaks out until one to three days after you feel better. When you cough or sneeze the infection will be spread by airborne droplets. It may also be spread by hand if someone has the virus on their hands and then puts them close to their eyes or hands, That is possibly the most common way of catching a cold.

Provided it clears up within one or two weeks, there is no need to see a doctor.

Advances of Technology

Every year we make new progresses in technology and we think that this makes our lives easier. However, sometimes such advances only make our lives more difficult as we are expected to do more and more in the time available.

Now that transports are faster, we may visit another country and return all within a couple of days, which is very tiring. Travel is no longer something to be enjoyed.

Certainly, travelling long distances doesn't cost as many money as it did in the past. However, this encourages people to travel more frequently, which causes more pollution.

On the other hand, a travel does help people to gain more knowledge of other places and cultures. We can get a lot of information from books, for example, but it will never have the same impact as actually seeing something for ourselves.

The Art of Advertising

1. Advertisements must not portray violence, undue aggressionn, or menacing or horrific elements likely to disturb children.
2. Advertisement should not encourage anti-social behavior or depict children behaving in an anti-social manner, eg vindictiveness and bullying, unless the purpose of the advertisements is to discourage such behavior.
3. Children should not be urged in advertisements to ask their parents to buy particular products for them.
4. Advertisements must be clearly recognisable as such by children and separated from editorials or programmes. If there is any likelihood of advertisements being confused with editorial or programme content, they should be clearly labelled 'advertisment' or identified in an equally clear manner.
5. Advertisements should not suggest to children any feeling of inferiority or lack of social acceptance for not having the advertised product.
6. Advertisement should take into account the level of knowledge, sophistication and maturity if the intended audience. In particular special care should be taken when communicating with younger children who may have a lack of ability to comprehend the purpose of advertising and differentiate between it and non-advertising messages.
7. Advertisements should not depict toy weapons which are realistic (in size, shape and colour) and can be confused with real weapons.
8. Advertisements, except safety messages, should not show product being used in an unsafe or dangerous manner, or which would be unsafe if used by children without proper supervision.

How to measure success?

In the world many people were successful as they took high risk at that moment. They fail; many times but they didn't give up until they were success. Most of the time success is not got easily and people have to work hard for it. Some people believe money and material possessions mean success. I think that's a big mistake.

There are many ways to achieve success. Firstly you must to work hard very hard. Don't be lazy! Especially like students, if you want to go to university, you have to spend more time on study.

Secondly, you must brave. Sometimes you are lucky. But you will have sometimes problems. . Some students have problems and don't know how to do. What a pity! To be the successful businessman you have to take many risks.

Thirdly, you should not give up, this is the most important step. Also you see people who are famous and successful. But do you consider how much time and hard work it took?

How to achieve success you decide, nobody can help you, just yourself. In particular, work hard, brave and don't give up and trust yourself that you will be success.

Why is it called a 'harmburger' when there is no ham in it?

The answer is really quite simple: because they come from Hamburg, in Germany. However, their history is more complicated that that, and the question of who actually invented the first hamburger remains a mystery. Some say it was a group of nomadic people called the Tartars who tenderised their beef by placing it under a horse's saddle, flattening it into a patty. Others believe it was the German immigrants who travelled to the United States during the 19th century, bringing with them their favourite meal called Hamburg Style Beef - a chopped, raw piece of beef. Some argue that Americans placed the first cooked beef potty on a roll at the St Loius World Fair in 1921.

Why do onions make us cry?

It is not the strong smell that makes us cry, but the gas that the onions release when we cut them. When this gas meets the water in our eyes it produces sulphuric acid which irritates our noses and eyes. One good tip, therefore, is to use a sharp knife as this will crush the onion less and reduce the amount of gas released. Another good idea is to cut the root of the onion last or not at all, since this part produces the highest levels of offending gas. Other less logical-sounding suggestions, which many people swear by, include putting the onion in the freezer for twenty minutes beforehand, having a bowl of water or a burning candle alongside while you chop, or putting a piece of bread in your mouth. The less self-conscious among us even keep a pair of swimming goggles handy for onion-chopping.

The meaning of quality

The word 'quality' seems to have different meanings depending on who uses it. Until the 1960s, quality meant the same as excellence: a quality product was simply the best of its kind, and this is what most people still understand by quality. A Longiness is the best watch in the world, like a Rolls Royce is the best car ever. The fact that very few people need, or can afford to buy a Longiness or a Rolls is considered irrelevant. In the business world, however, the word has acquired a new meaning. Quality means consistency, a lack of defect; it is relative to what you set out to achieve. By these standards, Korean and Japanese cars are very good quality because they rarely break down. And McDonald's hamburgers, which are roughly the same all over the world, are examples of high quality food.

Cross Cultural Awareness

It may be true that cultures are becoming more alike under the effect of globalization and mass tourism. However, there often remains a gap between any two given cultures.

What enables for us to bridge this gap is often called cultural awareness. Empathy, i.e. openness of a mind and heart, together with the willingness to the step into someone else;s shoes, is a necessary condition for such an awareness to develop.

However, empathy on its own is not enough. We also need to develop an ability to look at our culture from the outside. This process should make us realise that all the behaviours, beliefs and values that we have always taken for granted may indeed appear strange to someone from another cultural group. In other words, we need to be able to make the strange look familiar, and make the familiar look strange. If we can achieve this, then we can develop what some sociologists call our cross cultural awareness.

Junk Mail

'Junk mail' is the name given to all the sales ads, catalogues, prize offers, etc which find their way into your letterbox without you having requested anything.

While some of that mail gets into everyone's mailbox, a sizeable proportion of it is actually personalized and addressed to certain individuals in particular.

Computerised mailing lists have made it very easy for companies to obtain huge number of names and addresses. When you subscribe to a magazine or buy something from a mail order catalogue, for example, your name is entered unto a computer, and very often automatically added to one or more mailing lists. The mail order firm or other the credit card company in question can then rent their lists to other companies, and that is when your letterbox begins to overflow with unwanted mail.

A number of organization have now been created specifically to help the public deal with unsolicited advertisements.

Charity Fiesta

A charity fiesta was held on last Monday in Puchong by PCC Sdn Bhd. All the sales from this charity will donate to blinder house for charity purpose. The charity starts at 5pm. On the actual day, there were many stalls which sell home made blueberry tart, ice cream, ice kacang, white coffee, satay, chicken rice, dessert, hand made crystal, and etc. All attendances’ are required to register in order to get the door gift. There is also a live band performance, magic show to attract more attention from the public to this event. Beside that, there is a lucky draw session, the top prize is an unit of ipod touch, 2^nd prize is an unit of MP3, 3^rd prize is 8G thumb drive and cash voucher. All attendances were enjoying in the charity especially live band performance and magic show. The company managed to collect RM25,000.00 from the sales in the charity. The company would like to show gratitude to all the attendances as this would not be possible without their generosity and support.

Staff Training

To: All Staff  

From: Pang Hui Ling

Subject: Staff Training

In order to keep our competitive edge, we at PHL's Travel Agency must continue to provide unique travel services and remain totally customer focused.

Our staff training programmes contribute a great deal to making us so dynamic and efficient.

I am very pleased to announce that we will be able to organize another training seminar in the autumn, on one of the following topics:

• developing computer skills
• intermediate French, Spanish or Arabic,
• customer service,
• favourite holiday destinations: their geography and politics.

Please select one topic, and explain in detail the reasons for your choice.

Replies by Thursday please.

                     

Customer Satisfaction

For the second time, the Korona Hotel has been ranked no.1 for customer satisfaction.

"At our hotel, we give our guests more than a high-quality experience, we get them to enjoy the Korona way of life,' says Kurt Ahlberg, the General Manager,' and we pride ourselves on excellent service in a luxurious environment.'

The staff are responsive and service oriented, they obviously enjoy their jobs and want to help the clients. The Korona is committed to meeting the needs of today's international travellers: there is high-speed Internet access throughout the hotel, and there are three spacious meeting rooms, with all the facilities needed for successful business presentations.

In addition, the location of the hotel is ideal: a three-minute drive from the international airport.

Ahlberg gas long understood that busy executives cannot afford to waste time in traffic jams as they try to reach city centre venues. Nor do executives particularly enjoy getting up at dawn to catch an early morning flights.

Brand

In many ways, logos have become a kind of international language. Most people around the word could identify the Shell or Esprit logo: we are united by what companies sell us. Not surprisingly perhaps, an increasing number of people complain ' there is no escape from brands'.

There are several reasons for this. Firstly, big brand tend to squeeze out small, independent business. In addition, their branches tend to spread rapidly and occupy more and more space in our cities.

Another reason is that advertising today is not just about selling products: it is about selling a dream, a message. The point of brand-stretching is that you do not really build brands around products, but around reputation. So, for example, you can go to your Virgin record shop, buy a Virgin cola and get on a Virgin train.

Naturally, such a strategy has its risks. Dissatisfaction with one product can reflect badly on the brand: if Virgin trains are late, people may lose confidence in Virgin banks. Or if you discover that your expensive trainers are made by underpaid teenagers working in conditions in a third world country, you may begin to question the brand that claims to sell you a 'healthy way of life'.

Leadership

Without followers, there would be no leaders. The concept of leadership, and the qualities needed for someone to become a leader, can probably best be understood by studying the relationship between the leader and his or her followers.

Good leaders have empathy - the ability to step into someone else's shoes - because they are good listeners. They are open, always willing to discuss and solve problems.

Team building is one of the top priorities of effective leaders. They work at creating an environment in which each team member, while contributing to the team effort and to the purpose of the organization, is able to improve on their own performance.

Indeed, they are very good at empowering their staff, enabling each of them to become a creative and independent team player. This way, every individual gains the confidence and ability to make the kind of decisions which will help the company achieve its long term goals.

Good leader are also inclusive, they like to involve everyone and they understand the importance of delegating authority.

Finally, they have more than just targets: they have a vision. They can see clearly where they would like the company to be in five or ten years' time and they are able to communicate this to their employees.

Weak Leadership

Poor leadership almost inevitably results in ineffective organizations. These share a number of characteristics.

Firstly, they are weakened by interpersonal conflicts which remain unresolved and are allowed to get worst. Secondly, channels of communication are often blocked, so that information is no adequately shared: everyone has 'secrets' which they reveal only to their closest friends. In addition, there are conflicts of interest between individually members of staff and the organization, which frequently cause huge losses for energy. Finally, staff typically feel powerless, cut off from a decision making process. Consequently, hardly anyone feels motivated for give the best of themselves.

Such a situation can be remedied by a leader which decides to put people first, to focus on team building, an to finding ways of empowering staff.