Thursday, November 3, 2011 (Singapore)

QUICK, FOLLOW THAT CAB! I apologize for the blurriness of the photo. The cab drove away as I fumbled through my photo app on the iPhone. But the back bumper had an advertisement that I thought was worth capturing. The ad promotes the following web site: WWW.CATCHCHEATINGSPOUSE.SG. The Web address is plastered on the taxi's sides as well. Nothing more needs to be said. The site is self-explanatory. No euphemism needed, I guess.

QUICK, FOLLOW THAT GOLFER! I hate to say it, but it's a too-easy transition from that cab advertising to the fact that golfing great Tiger Woods is making his first visit to Singapore this week.
The photo (at right, distributed by Agence France Presse) shows him atop Marina Bay Sands Casino, with central Singapore city in the background. It was a missed product-placement opportunity for the local favorite Tiger beer.
According to today's Straits Times newspaper, Woods was invited here by the casino. He was reportedly going to hold a clinic at the Laguna National Golf and Country Club for a group of 18 invitees. He then is scheduled to head to Sydney to play in the Australian Open.
Other major golfers will be in Singapore that weekend for the Barclay's Singapore Open, which runs from Nov. 10-13 at the Sentosa Golf Club. The first round will air on Golf Channel next week from 1:30 to 5 a.m. (Eastern US time, I think) Thursday.
At least two players, Graeme McDowell and Lee Westwood, think the Singapore Open could become a Major on the men's pro tour--so the sport can break out beyond its U.K./U.S. playing boundaries in a big way.

COVERING TOPICS GLOBAL AND LOCAL: We had a great dinner at the home of Robin and Monica Tomlin. Joining us were Arnoud De Meyer, Singapore Management University; Kishore Mahbubani, of the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy at the National University of Singapore; Andrea Muller of Principal Global Investors; and Rudy Muller of Adisseo. (Sandy and I had prepared for the dinner by reading Mahbubani's intriguing book The New Asian Hemisphere, right.)
Conversation included our best guesses for the futures of Europe, the United States and China. Rudy and I had a lengthy side conversation about his hometown--Syracuse--and his Nottingham High School (where my son Edward graduated). A little bit of old home week.
The setting and food drew upon Singapore's rich Peranakan heritage, which is captured wonderfully at the city's Peranakan Museum.