• 30
  Jun
  2009

• Adventure Travel

  
  Filed Under: Blogging
  Author: Blog Contributor
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Adventure travel is currently tourism’s fastest-growing sector in the tourism industry because more and more people are pushing themselves to the extremes to see how much their mind and body can withstand. US offers varied choice for tourists who are ready to challenge themselves and nature. Adventure tourism is one of the worth while options to muse as summer vacations are here.

Nature has been kind on North America and NA can boast of some of the world’s most beautiful natural beauties like the Grand Canyons, the rough Rockies or the Niagra falls. The US has got some 64 designated national parks. These parks are home to more than 60% of the nation’s endangered species, and represent some of the best remaining habitat for the country’s wildlife heritage. In some National Parks such as the Yellowstone National Park and Yosemite National Park, tourists can explore their way through the territory on foot.

Tourists can enjoy water sports in great lakes in the north and Florida, Miami, Miami Beach and California in US. Local people and tourists can try their hands at canoeing, kayaking, surfing, rowing, yachting, diving, snorkeling and scuba diving. These sports require a bit of gear and can be undertaken with some guidance from the professional trainers and observers. There are approximately 630 local water ski clubs throughout the US. Snorkeling and diving can be undertaken on the reefs of the Florida keys. Surfing is popular on the beaches like Cocoa beach, New Smyrna Beach and last but not the least, the Sebastian inlet.

• 29
  Jun
  2009

• A trip to Neverland Ranch

  
  Filed Under: Blogging
  Author: Blog Contributor
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This week one cannot help but think about Michael Jackson, the king of Pop and the man who danced like he had no bones in his body. Michael Jackson often saw himself as Peter Pan and named his ranch “Neverland”.

Neverland Valley Ranch is a developed property in Santa Barbara County, California. The ranch is located at 5225 Figueroa Mountain Road, about five miles north of unincorporated Los Olivos, and about eight miles north of the town of Santa Ynez. The property covers an area of over 2,800 acres. The area surrounding Neverland previously consisted of working ranches; today, the area is made up of vineyards. The property was purchased from golf course entrepreneur William Bone.

The ranch operated as Jackson’s private amusement park and home when the facility opened in 1988, but is no longer in operation. It contained, among other things, a zoo and a theme park, with a Ferris wheel, merry-go-round, zipper, spider, sea dragon, wave swinger, super slide, dragon wagon kiddie roller coaster, and bumper cars. It is named after Neverland, the fantasy island in the story of Peter Pan, where children never grow up.

On November 11, 2008 Jackson transferred the title to Sycamore Valley Ranch Company LLC, and neighbors reported immediate activity on the property including removal of the amusement rides. The Santa Barbara County Assessor’s Office stated Jackson sold an unknown proportion of his property rights for $35 million. The singer said he no longer considered the ranch a home, feeling the 70 police officers had “violated” it in their searches following allegations of sexual misconduct.

• 26
  Jun
  2009

• Global HR management and Expats

  
  Filed Under: Blogging
  Author: Blog Contributor
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The need for highly qualified multicultural managers is increasing as more and more organizations globalize their operations. This said, the task ahead is pretty challenging. The process starts with HR indentifying suitable candidates for the task. Working away from home can seem rather daunting at first. The role of the expat could be to set up operations in the target country and eventually handover the operations to the locals. All the time ensuring that the organizational culture and ethics are appropriately passed on to the locals along with the growth targets.

During the fixed duration that the expat spends in the foreign country along with his/her family quite a few challenges show up. Listed below is a possible wish list that the expat might have for the Global HR team:

- There is a need to provide support by someone who has been an expat and knows what to expect. Someone who has never been an expat providing support does not understand that what they think is minor is NOT in a foreign country.
- Companies should interview the spouses and if possible let them see the country/city where they will be living. Especially wives that will have to maintain a household and/or raise children.
- HR can help manage expectations and set up a contact which will ease the introduction into the new country. ie someone to show them how to get things done, schools, clubs etc.
- Better information on country requirements such as tax and visas
- Language and cross-cultural training for the entire family, not just the employee
- Prepare expats abroad for their reallocation back to the home country. Keeping them updated on vacancies in the home country or elsewhere if they are interested.

These pointers might help the HR team in effectively helping the organization spread its wings far and wide.

• 25
  Jun
  2009

• Cin, Sina, Zhōngguó, Republic of China, People’s Republic of China

  
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  Author: Blog Contributor
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The first recorded use of the word “China” is dated 1555. It is derived from Cin, a Persian name for China popularized in Europe by Marco Polo. In early usage, “china” as a term for porcelain was spelled differently than the name of the country, the two words being derived from separate Persian words. Both these words are derived from the Sanskrit word for China, Cīnā. China was historically referred to as Sina, Sinae. The official name of China changed with each dynasty. The common name is Zhōngguó.

Zhōngguó came to official use as an abbreviation for the Republic of China (Zhonghua Minguo) after the government’s establishment in 1912. Since the People’s Republic of China, established in 1949, now controls the great majority of the area encompassed within the traditional concept of “China”, the People’s Republic is the political unit most commonly identified with the abbreviated name Zhōngguó.

After its victory in the Chinese Civil War, the Communist Party of China (CCP) led by Mao Zedong gained control of most of Mainland China. On 1 October 1949, they established the People’s Republic of China as a Socialist State headed by a “Democratic Dictatorship” with the CCP as the only legal political party, thus, laying claim as the successor state of the ROC. The central government of the Chinese Nationalist Party led by Chiang Kai-shek was forced to retreat to the island of Taiwan that it had occupied at the end of World War II and moved the ROC government there. Major armed hostilities ceased in 1950 but no peace treaty has been signed.

After the Chinese Civil War, mainland China underwent a series of disruptive socioeconomic movements starting in the late 1950s with the Great Leap Forward and continuing in the 1960s with the Cultural Revolution that left much of its education system and economy in shambles. With the death of its first generation Communist Party leaders such as Mao Zedong and Zhou Enlai, the PRC began implementing a series of political and economic reforms advocated by Deng Xiaoping that eventually formed the foundation for mainland China’s rapid economic development starting in the 1990s.