Friday, March 18, 2011

AT LEAST SOMEBODY (OR SOMETHING) IS READING A NEWSPAPER THESE DAYS: On the final day of Stephen's visit we MRT'd our way to Orchard Street. Pedestrian traffic was quite light because we were there in mid-morning. But it was good to see the stores and trees and grab breakfast. We strolled by an installation called "Urban People, 2009" (above). The figures are between 2.0 and 2.2 meters in height. The medium is aluminum (or, as the British--correctly, I think--say, al-you-MIN-ee-yum). This is by the Swiss-born Kurt Laurenz Metzler. That metal is his favorite medium. The characters "symbolize everyday life in the city." I didn't just make that up. It's written on the descriptive sign near the sculptures. It looks like that is made in aluminum, too.

AN UNPARALLELED GOOF: In an earlier post, I mentioned the Singapore-wide efforts to strengthen the use of English--pronunciation, word usage, syntax and spelling. A spectacular looking bar just opened nearby called Boulevard Bayfront. It looks great. It's right on Marina Bay. It has an excellent wine list. Maybe we'll stop by. But the facade was marred by the sign (right) that meant to say the place offers an "unparalleled experience."
They dropped the "el" and were left with "unparalled." It looks fine at a quick glance, or through the bottom of a quickly drained wine glass. But it's wrong. Honestly, I don't think many patrons will notice. But spell-check would have caught it.
I wonder if they were thinking of nonpareil or something like that. This is not all that rare. In 2010, the Boston Globe spelled it "paralled" in a headline (right)--while the reporter spelled it correctly in the first paragraph.

ALL ROADS LEAD TO SINGAPORE: Stephen flew back to Texas on a 4:30 p.m. flight. Technically, he overlapped slightly with Susan and Deb Donahue whose flight from Hanoi landed at 3:05 p.m., but they did not see each other at the airport. Shortly after they arrived I ducked out to have a couple (OK, three) beers with Cornell/Fiji friend Dave Doupe and his wife, Beth (right). They catch a Silversea cruise ship in Singapore on Saturday evening for a jaunt to Vietnam and Hong Kong. It was great to see them. That connection was made because Dave posted on Thursday a photograph of the now-iconic three towered casino. A comment or two and a few emails later, and, presto, we are sitting together having a beer under a bridge in Singapore. Love it.

CRANES BOUNCE BACK: After yesterday's downturn (meaning a upward surge in the numbers of UP cranes), today's Singapore Crane Index Limited Economic Indicator reveals that the DOWN cranes are back.

Date: March 18
Time: 8:30 a.m. (Singapore time)
Cranes Up (bad): 5
Cranes Down (good): 22
CRANES MISSING (neutral): 1