Blog Entries : Hodge Podge

First Formula 1 Night Race Brings Big Money For Escorts

First formula 1 night race brings big money for escorts

Fast cars and beautiful women. Somehow, they seem to go hand in hand, as proven by this weekend's F1 race in Singapore - the first night race ever to be held for Formula 1. TheStarOnline reports that there's been a surge in demand for escorts for this weekend :

Singapore’s inaugural Formula One Grand Prix race this weekend has revved up demand for ‘social escort’ services from high-flying executives, a newspaper reported yesterday.

High-end social escort agencies say business is up by 20% as a result of the F1 race, with one client reportedly paying S$40,000 (US$28,368) for a six-hour booking, The Straits Times said.

The report goes on to make me green with envy :

Singapore Escort Services, which said it was handling the booking, declined to give more details but said it has already closed five deals compared with two or three on a normal weekend, the report said.

“This is the best weekend this year,” the agency’s owner, Prince Wong, was quoted as saying.

He will pocket more than US$50,000 in escort fees this weekend alone, nearly as much as what he earns in a regular month, the report said.

Ah well, money comes in waves or in this case at about 300++ kmph. Now I know what some of you may me thinking - that there's more to this whole escort service thing but to conclude the report :

According to The Straits Times report, a social escort’s main job is to smile and to entertain the client and his friends in small talk.

It said the agencies made clear that sexual services were not part of the deal.

Prostitution is legal in Singapore, but pimping and soliciting in public are not.

Oh all right. Go on and read between the lines... but what goes on in private pit stops is between the escort and the one who forks out 40K. Besides, it's legal in Singapore. But $40K for a 6-hour assignment? And the race only lasts for and hour and a half.

Just goes to show you that there are lots of ways to make money.


Restaurant Flooded With More Than Customers

restaurant flooded with more than just customers

Quote source : Ananova
Image source : Ananova

The owner of a flooded restaurant in China scrapped plans to close it down - after business picked up.

Diners in Xiangfan are enjoying the novelty of eating their meals in ankle-deep water, reports Xinhua Net.

News of the flooded restaurant spread and the restaurant is now packed with diners while waitresses say they are struggling to keep up with orders.

The owner said he was prepared to temporarily close the restaurant after the heaviest rains for 50 years brought floods to the city. But he had a change of heart when he heard how the eatery's new wet look was bringing in the customers.

"It's very cool. Not only in temperature, but also for a fun new way of having a meal," said one diner.

Very often, things just happen out of the blue and you have to be quick to grab the opportunity. This restaurant owner saw the opportunity flooding in (pun intended) and capitalized on it.

But think about it - doesn't this just give you ideas for a novel business? I can think of a couple already :

- floating restaurant (I know - already done)
- floating diner - where diners sit in sampans or rubber dingys (anchored of course) and the waiters bring your food via sampans too.
- how about a direct copy of this flooded restaurant - where diners sit in a hall with water flowing around their ankles or even waves generated by a wave machine? Would take some investment in pumps and water outlets though.
- or how about a in-the-pool diner where your customers actually sit in swimsuits and dine at tables (bolted down to the floor of course) in 2 feet of water with a backdrop of palm trees and blue skies?

I hear a few chuckles already and some of you are wondering if I've gone mad. I must be honest though and say that in the midst of that flood of ideas, I wondered if it was BAD Feng Shui to sit and eat in the middle of water!

But the one thing I know is that ANY idea can be turned into a money making business if you follow it through. In this crazy world, everyone's game for anything.


One-Billion Dollar Note

Zimbabwes one-billion dollar note

Quote source : Yahoo! News
Image souce : Yahoo! News

Zimbabwe, grappling with a record 2.2 million percent inflation, has introduced a new 100-billion-dollar bank note in a bid to tackle rampant cash shortages, the central bank said Saturday.

The new note will go into circulation on Monday, the bank said in a statement cited by state media, joining about half a dozen new high denomination notes already issued this year.

In January, a 10-million-dollar note was issued, then a 50-million-dollar note in April. In May, notes for 100 million and 250 million dollars were issued, swiftly followed by those for five billion, 25 billion and 50 billion.

The southern African nation, currently gripped by a post-election crisis, has been ravaged by hyperinflation which shot up from 165,000 percent in February to 2.2 million in June.

Independent economists however believe the official inflation figure is grossly understated, estimating it could be running between 10 million and 15 million percent.

Zimbabwe's chronic economic crisis has left at least 80 percent of the population living below the poverty threshold and mass shortages of basic goods in shops.

In Zimbabwe, I'd be a multi-multi-billionaire! I can't imagine going to the store to pay $4,247,189,869 for a banana. That's the approximate currency you'd get for 15 cents (US). And if I were to sell my home based food delivery business, it would be worth approximately $424,718,986,926,274 in Zimbabwe. Whoa... and double WHOA!!!


Win A Cool Sony Video MP3 Walkman Player

Go ahead and take a mini break from work!

Exabytes - a world class web hosting company is organizing a contest in conjunction with Malaysia's 51st Anniversary of its independence. It's a really simple contest - all you have to do it count the number of flags and logos in the picture below and create a simple slogan to win a Sony Walkman Video MP3 Player.

Exabytes Merdeka Hide and Seek Contest

Here's where you can enter the contest. and if you don't mind, I'd like the nifty MP3 player too. Just remember to include my name (Andrew Shim) and email address (andrewshimatyahoodotcom) in the referrer fields.

Best of luck.