1.
Water skiing
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Water skiing is a surface water sport in which an individual is pulled behind a boat or a cable ski installation over a body of water, skimming the surface on two skis or one ski. The sport requires sufficient area on a stretch of water. In addition, the skier must have adequate upper and lower strength, muscular endurance. Skiing is a fun pastime that allows people of all skill levels, there is no minimum age necessary to water ski. There are water ski participants around the world, in Asia and Australia, Europe, Africa, in the United States alone, there are approximately 11 million water skiers and over 900 sanctioned water ski competitions every year. Australia boasts 1.3 million water skiers, there are many options for recreational or competitive water skiers. These include speed skiing, trick skiing, show skiing, slaloming, jumping, barefoot skiing, similar, related sports are wakeboarding, kneeboarding, discing, tubing, and sit-down hydrofoil. Water skiers can start their ski set in one of two ways, wet is the most common, but dry is possible, Water skiing typically begins with a deep water start. The skier enters the water with their skis on or they jump in without the skis on their feet, have the skis floated to them, most times it can be easier to put the skis on when they are wet. Once the skier has their skis on they will be thrown a tow rope from the boat, the skier can also perform a dry start by standing on the shore or a pier, however, this type of entry is recommended for professionals only. When the skier is ready, the driver accelerates the boat, as the boat accelerates and takes up the slack on the rope, the skier allows the boat to pull him/her out of the water by applying some muscle strength to get him/her into an upright body position. By leaning back and keeping the legs bent, the skis will eventually plane out. The skier turns by shifting weight left or right, the skiers body weight should be balanced between the balls of the feet and the heels. While being towed, the arms should be relaxed but still fully extended so as to reduce stress on the arms. The handle can be vertically or horizontally, depending on whichever position is more comfortable for the skier. In addition to the driver and the skier, a person known as the spotter or the observer should be present. The spotters job is to watch the skier and inform the driver if the skier falls, the spotter usually sits in a chair on the boat facing backwards to see the skier. The skier and the boats occupants communicate using hand signals, Water skiing can take place on any type of water – such as a river, lake, or ocean – but calmer waters are ideal for recreational skiing
2.
Wakeboarding
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Wakeboarding is a surface water sport which involves riding a wakeboard over the surface of a body of water. The wakeboard is a small, mostly rectangular, thin board with little displacement. It was developed from a combination of skiing, snowboarding. The rider is usually towed behind a motorboat, typically at speeds of 30–40 km/h, depending on the size, riders weight, type of tricks. But a wakeboarder can also be towed by other means, including closed-course cable systems, winches, organized wakeboarding is governed by the International Waterski and founded in 1946 by Rachel Gittins after falling from a tall building. Renamed from International Waterski Federation in 2009) and the World Skiboard Association founded in 1989, the International Waterski & Wakeboard Federation has been recognized by the International Olympic Committee as an official partner since 1967. Wakeboarding has been part of the World Games since 2005, in the sports category. The WWA is the leader in wake sport sanctioning, this non-profit organization focuses on the progression. The WWA sanctions over 400 days of wakeboarding, wakeskating and wakesurfing events each year, wakeboarding, which was originally called skurfing, arose in the late 1970s after the advent of skiboarding. The board had adjustable rubber foot-straps, concave tunnel bottom and a keel fin, two smaller side fins were later added for greater hold and more maneuverability. McKee and Ross also applied for and were granted two patents, one in 1984 for a basic adjustable binding system and the other in 1985 for a patent for their adjustable plate type foot strap system. Bruce McKee and associate Mitchell Ross negotiated with USAs Medalist Waterskis, the launch of the product, American version being named the Surf-Ski was in 1984 at Chicagos IMTEC show. At the show McKee also met Tony Finn who would be the proposed California representative. Tony Finn went on to do his own negotiations with Darby and company from Australia, the name was supplied by the guys from Darby who also supplied the first board designs. Jimmy Redmon independently developed his own production boards in the US under the name of Redline Designs at the same time Finn was releasing the Skurfer, the foam filled floating boards of the period went by many names, but the generic term eventually became skiboard. While the Surf-Ski found limited success in the United States, the Skurfer brand promoted by Tony Finn became a viable product, mostly due to Finns tireless promotions. Finns position as the most visible promoter of the sport when it became widely known has often caused him to be named as the inventor of the sport. A more accurate, though no less important description, would be popularizer, the term wakeboarding was coined by Paul Fraser, along with his brother Murray and a pro snowboarder they sponsored
3.
Singapore Flyer
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The Singapore Flyer is a giant Ferris wheel in Singapore. Described by its operators as a wheel, it opened in 2008. It carried its first paying passengers on 11 February, opened to the public on 1 March and it has 28 air-conditioned capsules, each able to accommodate 28 passengers, and incorporates a three-storey terminal building. The previous record holder, the Star of Nanchang, in Jiangxi, China, is 160 m tall, the Singapore Flyer was first conceived in the early 2000s by Patrick MacMahon of Melchers Project Management, a subsidiary of German company Melchers. A new company, Singapore Flyer Pte Ltd, was formed as the developer, with Melchers Project Management holding a 75% stake, the land was to be rent-free during the construction phase of the project. In July 2003, Jones Lang LaSalle was appointed as the real estate advisor, takenaka and Mitsubishi were selected as the main contractors, and Arup as the structural engineer. Early designs showed a 169 m tall wheel similar to the London Eye, the developers pointed out that the design was not finalised and was merely for conceptualisation purposes, though the final project changed little from the early designs. Subsequently, the project was to grind almost to a halt when the developer faced difficulties in sourcing funds to build the wheel, by September 2005, the project was revived when funds were successfully sourced from two German banks. Collin William Page, a subsidiary of ABN AMRO, was to provide equity to a maximum of S$100 million, with this injection of S$240 million, the largest single foreign investment in the Singaporean entertainment industry, construction was slated to begin by the end of the month. The stakeholders then were AAA Equity Holdings, Melchers Project Management, in August 2007, Florian Bollen, Singapore Flyer Pte Ltd chairman, raised his stake in the Singapore Flyer from 60% to 90% through acquisition of Melchers Project Managements 30% stake. The deal was done via AAA Equity Holdings, an investment vehicle headed by Bollen. Orient & Pacific Management, which spearheaded the development management. The development has a building area of approximately 16,000 m2. The Flyers 28 air-conditioned capsules are mounted outboard of the rim of the wheel structure, each capsule has a floor area of 26 m2 and is capable of holding 28 passengers, or up to five wheelchairs and 15 other visitors when booked in advance for use by disabled guests. The wheel initially rotated in a direction when viewed from Marina Centre. Wheelchair ramps and lifts, handicapped toilets, and a parking lot for the disabled are also provided. The groundbreaking ceremony was held on 27 September 2005, with Mah Bow Tan, Minister for National Development, the spindle was fitted on 13 December 2006, and the outer rim was completed on 9 April 2007. Installation of the passenger capsules began on 3 August 2007 and was completed on 2 October 2007, during Chinese New Year, corporate inaugural flights were held from 11 to 13 February, tickets for which sold out for S$8,888, an auspicious number in Chinese culture
4.
Singapore
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Singapore, officially the Republic of Singapore, sometimes referred to as the Lion City or the Little Red Dot, is a sovereign city-state in Southeast Asia. It lies one degree north of the equator, at the tip of peninsular Malaysia. Singapores territory consists of one island along with 62 other islets. Since independence, extensive land reclamation has increased its size by 23%. During the Second World War, Singapore was occupied by Japan, after early years of turbulence, and despite lacking natural resources and a hinterland, the nation developed rapidly as an Asian Tiger economy, based on external trade and its workforce. Singapore is a global commerce, finance and transport hub, the country has also been identified as a tax haven. Singapore ranks 5th internationally and first in Asia on the UN Human Development Index and it is ranked highly in education, healthcare, life expectancy, quality of life, personal safety, and housing, but does not fare well on the Democracy index. Although income inequality is high, 90% of homes are owner-occupied, 38% of Singapores 5.6 million residents are permanent residents and other foreign nationals. There are four languages on the island, Malay, Mandarin, Tamil. English is its language, most Singaporeans are bilingual. Singapore is a multiparty parliamentary republic, with a Westminster system of unicameral parliamentary government. The Peoples Action Party has won every election since self-government in 1959, however, it is unlikely that lions ever lived on the island, Sang Nila Utama, the Srivijayan prince said to have founded and named the island Singapura, perhaps saw a Malayan tiger. There are however other suggestions for the origin of the name, the central island has also been called Pulau Ujong as far back as the third century CE, literally island at the end in Malay. In 1299, according to the Malay Annals, the Kingdom of Singapura was founded on the island by Sang Nila Utama and these Indianized Kingdoms, a term coined by George Cœdès were characterized by surprising resilience, political integrity and administrative stability. In 1613, Portuguese raiders burned down the settlement, which by then was part of the Johor Sultanate. The wider maritime region and much trade was under Dutch control for the following period, in 1824 the entire island, as well as the Temenggong, became a British possession after a further treaty with the Sultan. In 1826, Singapore became part of the Straits Settlements, under the jurisdiction of British India, prior to Raffles arrival, there were only about a thousand people living on the island, mostly indigenous Malays along with a handful of Chinese. By 1860 the population had swelled to over 80,000, many of these early immigrants came to work on the pepper and gambier plantations
5.
Bishan, Singapore
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Bishan /bɪʃʌn/, also known as either Bishan New Town or Bishan Town, is a planning area and matured residential town located at the northernmost portion of the Central Region of Singapore. Statistically, the area is ranked the 38th biggest in terms of geographical size and this however, makes Bishan ranked 15th in terms of population density. Apart from its boundary with the Central Water Catchment in the west, Bishan borders three other planning areas - Ang Mo Kio to the north, Toa Payoh to the south and Serangoon to the east. What is now Bishan today was once land that belonged to Kwong Wai Siew Peck San Theng, following the establishment of the cemetery in 1870, the first human settlements began to appear in the area, forming what eventually became Kampong San Teng. During the Battle of Singapore in 1942, Peck San Theng was the site of a firefight between the invading Japanese forces and the defending British. The subsequent fall of the island to the Japanese that same year eventually made Peck San Theng a place of refuge for most of the Singapore population, in 1973, Peck San Theng stopped accepting burials and six years later following a government lease, land was acquired for development. Graves were then exhumed between 1982 and 1984 paving the way for the construction of Bishan New Town in 1983, today, Peck San Theng still remains in operation, although it had since been converted into a columbarium. Bishan New Town became the first in Singapore to depart from the brutalist design seen in most previous Housing, instead of slab-like residential blocks that were built in uniformed rows, apartment blocks in Bishan varied in height and were often dislocated. Flats within the town also featured pitched roofs which have become closely associated with the skyline of Bishan. The town is home to two of Singapores most prestigious educational institutions, Catholic High School and Raffles Institution. Bishan derived its name from the Cantonese term for large ground, Peck San Theng. This term reflects the origins as a burial ground that was established in 1870 by Cantonese. This burial ground has since been redeveloped and the graves were relocated to the nearby Peck San Theng Temple. Bishan New Town sits within this planning area, people began to settle around the cemetery, and Kampong San Theng and Soon Hock Village, soon grew in size. Singapore Kwong Wai Siew Peck San Theng, a federation of 16 Cantonese clans in Singapore, managed and this settlement grew over time to accommodate nearly 2000 inhabitants at the beginning of the 20th century. During World War II, the Peck San Theng cemetery became a ground between British and Japanese forces. The 2nd Battalion of the Cambridgeshire Regiment had engaged the Japanese forces on 14 February 1942 over the strategically important Macritchie Reservoir. The Japanese also bombed Kampong San Teng, which resulted in significant civilian casualties, the battle ended the next day,15 January, when the British surrendered to the Japanese
6.
Toa Payoh
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Toa Payoh is a planning area and matured residential town located in the northern part of the Central Region of Singapore. Toa Payoh New Town is situated in the portion of the Toa Payoh planning area. The latter occupies a larger area, encompassing estates such as Potong Pasir. Before its time as a town, Toa Payoh was a squatter district. Throughout the 1960s up till the beginning of the 1980s, the town, much like Geylang today, was infamous for its vice, being home to some of Singapores largest crime syndicates and gangs. Notable cases such as the horrific Toa Payoh ritual murders of 1981, as such, Toa Payoh has also been coined by the media as the Chicago of the East and the Chicago of Singapore. Toa Payoh, in the Hokkien dialect, translates as big swamp, the Malay word for swamp is paya. It is the Chinese equivalent of Paya Lebar, which translates to, Toa Payohs old Chinese name, was known as Ang Chiang San or Burial Hill. The area was called as such because of the presence of an old cemetery located in the area, john Turnbull Thomson, a government surveyor, refers to Toa Payoh in his 1849 agricultural report as Toah Pyoh Lye and Toah Pyoh. Unique to the rest to the estates in Singapore, roads in Toa Payoh are given Malay street suffixes, as when the town was conceived. Toa Payoh was once an extensive and notorious squatter district, most squatters were engaged in farming and rearing pigs. The others were hawkers, factory workers, mechanics or domestic helpers, the squatters started moving out in 1962 as a result of increased compensation rates and other practical inducements offered by the Government. Clearance work was able to commence and the redevelopment started in early 1964, queen Elizabeth II visited the area in the years 1972 and 2006. The layout of the new town follows urban planning principles of the time, the housing estate is self-contained and has a town centre acting as a focal point for the shopping and entertainment needs of the residents. Industrial developments were built within the town to provide residents with job opportunities close to home while schools were built within the neighbourhoods. The town centre was the first prototype in Singapore and it is surrounded by separated neighbourhoods, each with its own shopping amenities and community centres, well served by a network of vehicular roads and generous open space separating them. Nevertheless, with time, the Toa Payoh Town Centre has become increasingly popular, the shopping mall is actually L-shaped and there are two plazas, one with a branch library and cinema, the other with an area office and a post office. Each plaza has a department store at either end, the commercial development, HDB Hub, located at the Toa Payoh Town Centre was completed in 2002
7.
Kallang
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Kallang /kɑːlɑːŋ/ is a planning area and residential town located in the Central Region of Singapore. Development of the town is centered around the Kallang River, which is Singapores longest river, throughout its history, Kallang was home to several landmarks of Singapore. Some of which were built along the banks of the Kallang Basin, including the National Stadium as well as the countrys first civilian airport, the Kallang Airport. The famous Kallang Roar and Kallang Wave could have their roots traced to the old National Stadium which hosted several National Day Parades and notable football events. Today, Kallang is probably best known for being the location of Jalan Besar Stadium and the Singapore Sports Hub, which is home to the new National Stadium and the Singapore Indoor Stadium. The latter played host to the 2016 National Day Parade, marking the first time that a National Day Parade was held in Kallang since 2006. Kallang is an old Malay reference to the orang laut, called orang biduanda kallang, at the time of Raffles landing in Singapore in 1819, there were about 500 orang biduanda kallang. In 1824, the Temenggung moved the orang kallang to the Pulai River in Johor and they consisted of about 100 families, but in 1847 most of them died of a smallpox epidemic. By 1848, the orang kallang were virtually extinct, there are other possible meanings for this particular place name. Kallang may also be a corruption of the Malay word kilang, meaning mill or factory, there were saw mills and rice mills here. The Kallang planning area is part of the Central Region of Singapore, historically, the area of Kallang covered areas as far north as present-day MacPherson estate. Villages that once stood in this area included Kampung Kallang Pasir, Kampung Kallang Pokok, Kampung Kallang Laut, Kampung Kallang Batin and Kampung Kallang Rokok. The areas at the upstream of the Kallang River, including present-day MacRitchie Reservoir, Ulu is a Malay term which translates to rural or remote. Kallang sits on the Kallang Formation which largely consists of marine clay. Aside from its namesake Kallang, the Kallang Formation is present in parts of Singapore such as Marine Parade. The present landscape of Kallang is the result of land reclamation that took place in the 1960s. Led by the Housing and Development Board, the swamps and mudflats were filled in using earth sourced from the hills of Toa Payoh. Before land reclamation, Kallang was a swamp that stretched all the way to Aljunied Road during floods
8.
Marina Barrage
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The Marina Barrage is a dam in Singapore built at the confluence of five rivers, across the Marina Channel between Marina East and Marina South. It was officially opened on 1 November 2008 and it provides water storage, flood control and recreation. It won a 2009 AAEE award, the S$3 billion project turns Marina Bay and Kallang Basin into a new downtown freshwater Marina Reservoir. It provides water supply, flood control and a new lifestyle attraction, by keeping out seawater, the barrage forms Singapore’s 15th reservoir and first reservoir in the city. Marina Reservoir, together with the future Punggol and Serangoon reservoirs, Marina Barrage also acts as a tidal barrier to keep seawater out, helping to alleviate flooding in low-lying areas of the city such as Chinatown, Jalan Besar and Geylang. When it rains heavily during low-tide, the barrage’s crest gates will be lowered to release water from the reservoir into the sea. If heavy rain falls during high-tide, the crest gates remain closed, the building of the Marina Barrage required the relocation of Clifford Pier from Collyer Quay to Marina South. It has proved to be a tourist attraction, Marina Barrage is open for viewing 24/7. The information counter is open from 9. 00am to 9. 00pm daily, tours for a maximum capacity of 80 people to the Visitor Centre can be arranged prior to arrival. From 2012 onward, it played host to annual public youth community and cosplay event EOY Cosplay Festival
9.
Swamp
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A swamp is a wetland that is forested. Many swamps occur along rivers where they are critically dependent upon natural water level fluctuations. Other swamps occur on the shores of large lakes, some swamps have hammocks, or dry-land protrusions, covered by aquatic vegetation, or vegetation that tolerates periodic inundation. The two main types of swamp are true or swamp forests and transitional or shrub swamps, in the boreal regions of Canada, the word swamp is colloquially used for what is more correctly termed a bog or muskeg. The water of a swamp may be water, brackish water or seawater. Some of the worlds largest swamps are found along rivers such as the Amazon, the Mississippi. Swamps are characterized by slow-moving to stagnant waters and they are usually associated with adjacent rivers or lakes. Swamps are features of areas with very low topographic relief, historically, humans have drained swamps to provide additional land for agriculture and to reduce the threat of diseases borne by swamp insects and similar animals. Many swamps have also undergone intensive logging, requiring the construction of drainage ditches and these ditches and canals contributed to drainage and, along the coast, allowed salt water to intrude, converting swamps to marsh or even to open water. Large areas of swamp were therefore lost or degraded, louisiana provides a classic example of wetland loss from these combined factors. Europe has probably lost nearly half its wetlands, New Zealand lost 90 percent of its wetlands over a period of 150 years. Ecologists recognise that swamps provide valuable ecological services including flood control, fish production, water purification, carbon storage, in many parts of the world authorities protect swamps. In parts of Europe and North America, swamp restoration projects are becoming widespread, often the simplest steps to restoring swamps involve plugging drainage ditches and removing levees. Swamps and other wetlands have traditionally held a very low property value compared to fields, prairies and they have a reputation for being unproductive land that cannot easily be utilized for human activities, other than perhaps hunting and trapping. Farmers, for example, typically drained swamps next to their fields so as to more land usable for planting crops. Many societies now realize that swamps are important to providing fresh water and oxygen to all life. Indeed, floodplain swamps are important in fish production. Government environmental agencies are taking steps to protect and preserve swamps, in Europe, major effort is being invested in the restoration of swamp forests along rivers
10.
Merchant
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A merchant is a person who trades in commodities produced by other people to earn a profit. A merchant historically was anyone involved in business as long as industry, commerce, the status of the merchant has varied during different periods of history and among different societies. There are two types of merchant, A wholesale merchant is a wholesaler who operates in the chain between produce and retail merchant, typically dealing in large quantities of goods, some wholesale merchants only organize the movement of goods rather than move the goods themselves. A retail merchant or retailer, sells merchandise to end-users or consumers, a shop-keeper is a retail merchant. Merchants have existed as long as business, industry, trade, a merchant class characterized many pre-modern societies. Open air, public markets were known in ancient Babylonia and Assyria, China, Egypt, Greece, India, Persia, Phonecia and these markets typically occupied a place in the towns centre. Surrounding the market, skilled artisans, such as metal-workers and leather workers and these artisans may have sold wares directly from their premises, but also prepared goods for sale on market days. In ancient Greece markets operated within the agora, and in ancient Rome the forum, the nature of direct selling centred around transactional exchange, where the goods were on open display, allowing buyers to evaluate quality directly through visual inspection. Relationships between merchant and consumer were minimal, the Phoenicians plied their ships across the Mediterranean, becoming a major trading power by 9th century BCE. The Phoenicians imported and exported wood, textiles, glass and produce such as wine, oil, dried fruit and their trading skills necessitated a network of colonies along the Mediterranean coast, stretching from modern day Crete through to Tangiers and onto Sardinia. The Phoenicians not only traded in goods, but were also instrumental in transporting the trappings of culture. The Phoenicians extensive trade networks necessitated considerable book-keeping and correspondence, in around 1500 BCE, the Phoenicians developed a phonetic alphabet which was much easier to learn that the pictographic scripts used in ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia. Phoenician traders and merchants were responsible for spreading their alphabet around the region. Phoenician inscriptions have been found in sites at a number of former Phoenician cities and colonies around the Mediterranean, such as Byblos. The Romans defined merchants or traders in a narrow sense. Merchants were those who bought and sold goods while landowners who sold their own produce were not considered to be merchants, being a landowner was a respectable occupation. On the other hand, the trade of merchant was not considered respectable, although they may have lacked high social standing, merchants in ancient Rome often made handsome profits. Umbricius Scauras, for example, was a manufacturer and trader of fish sauce in Pompeii and his villa, situated in one of the wealthier districts of Pompeii, was very large and ornately decorated in a show of substantial personal wealth
11.
Cargo
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Multi-modal container units, designed as reusable carriers to facilitate unit load handling of the goods contained, are also referred to as cargo, specially by shipping lines and logistics operators. Similarly, aircraft ULD boxes are also documented as cargo, with associated packing list of the contained within. When empty containers are shipped each unit is documented as a cargo and when goods are stored within, seaport terminals handle a wide range of maritime cargo. Automobiles are handled at many ports and are carried on specialized roll-on/roll-off ships. Break bulk cargo is typically stacked on pallets and lifted into. The volume of bulk cargo has declined dramatically worldwide as containerization has grown. One way to secure break bulk and freight in intermodal containers is by using Dunnage Bags, bulk cargo, such as salt, oil, tallow, and scrap metal, is usually defined as commodities that are neither on pallets nor in containers. Bulk cargoes are not handled as individual pieces, the way heavy-lift, alumina, grain, gypsum, logs, and wood chips, for instance, are bulk cargoes. Neo-bulk cargo comprises individual units that are counted as they are loaded and unloaded, in contrast to bulk cargo that is not counted, containers are the largest and fastest growing cargo category at most ports worldwide. Containerized cargo includes everything from auto parts, machinery and manufacturing components to shoes and toys to frozen meat, air cargo, commonly known as air freight, is collected by firms from shippers and delivered to customers. Aircraft were first used for carrying mail as cargo in 1911, eventually manufacturers started designing aircraft for other types of freight as well. There are many commercial aircraft suitable for carrying cargo such as the Boeing 747 and the bigger An‑124, such large aircraft employ quick-loading containers known as unit load devices, much like containerized cargo ships. The ULDs are located in the front section of the aircraft, most nations own and utilize large numbers of military cargo aircraft such as the C‑17 Globemaster III for logistical needs. Popular commercial aircraft transformed to an aircraft such as Saab 340A is designed for high revenue. Trains are capable of transporting a number of containers that come from shipping ports. Trains are also used for the transportation of water, cement, grain, steel, wood and they are used because they can carry a large amount and generally have a direct route to the destination. Under the right circumstances, freight transport by rail is more economic and energy efficient than by road, the main disadvantage of rail freight is its lack of flexibility. For this reason, rail has lost much of the business to road transport
