Saturday, March 5, 2011

Saturday, March 5, 2011

IT'S NOT NEW ORLEANS, AND IT'S NOT TUESDAY, BUT THAT DOESN'T KEEP SYDNEY FROM HAVING A MARDI GRAS PARADE; Trying to fend of jet lag, Sandy and I staggered around downtown Sydney on the late afternoon of March 5. We came across a bevy/flock/band of angels who gathered at an outdoor plaza before flapping off to the parade site. This is one of the biggest gay-pride events in the world, according to Wikipedia. Officials expected more than 100,000 to 300,000 people to turn out to watch the parade, which is expected to include about 8,500 marchers. At big issue in Australia now is same-sex marriage. That could be a theme for this group of marchers.

A BUSINESS OPPORTUNITY: I may be in Sydney now, but Singapore's on my mind. More specifically, Club Street, which used to be the home for numerous Chinese community clubs (hence, the name). It's very close to Chinatown and is now known for its trendy bars, restaurants and cafes. I came across one that's FOR RENT. It's part of the green building in the photo, which I took on Friday March 4. Think about it. Come on down! I don't know the cost. I have no contact number. I don't know it it's a turn-key operation or a total rebuild. Don't tell Sandy, but what if we stayed here longer than four months. How about a nice American business venture? Wouldn't a Dunkin' Donuts look good right there?

Friday, March 4, 2011

Friday, March 4, 2011

FROM OUR SHARP-EYED "MONEY NEVER SLEEPS" DEPT.: I don't want to make too much of this, but I happened to be walking behind a young professional today who carried a fistful--make that THREE--hand-held devices in ONE HAND at ONE TIME (right). I'm sure it was totally rude and invasive of me to snap the photo. But it was a pretty good shot, you have to admit, from a right hand that was casually dangling at hip level. It seemed quite natural to him. He casually switched them back and forth. None of them rang or buzzed in the time we were walking in the same direction. But, seriously, how many cell phones must someone carry? I totally get having NONE. I understand having one, of course. I can grasp having two, too. (Actually, I have two, come to think of it, but I've never carried them in one hand.) But THREE? (Actually, hmmm, I can envision it. I guess FOUR should be the new THREE. Now, THAT would be worthy of a sneaky photograph.)
Upon further review, maybe they weren't phones or communications devices at all. Maybe it's a hand weight disguised as a brace of phones. He's simply working out. (And think of the weight of the watch, too!)

SOME SINGAPOREANS CAN LOOK IN A MIRROR AND CHUCKLE A BIT: On Thursday, a colleague of Sandy's loaned us a DVD of "I Not Stupid" and we watched it that night. It's certainly low-budget; it's definitely high-interest. It tells a tale of three young chums--who have been relegated to the lowest academic category--and their families--who come from widely different economic categories. It brings the tiger-mum notion to the fore--far away from mere Suzuki lessons. It's a good satire on Singaporean society. It might surprise some that it was widely viewed and accepted here. It hit a nerve to some degree and led to some serious re-thinking of how educational procedures and expectations are managed here--in a highly managed society. In addition to criticising Singapore's education policies and some social attitudes, it takes a mighty swing at the KIASU mentality that some say restricts many in Singapore. Yes, Virginia, there is a sense of humor in Singapore.

NOTE: No Singapore Crane Index Limited Economic Indicator for a March 5 (Singapore time) reading. I will be in Australia for a week, starting today. I might be able to find a capable Crane Spotter, but the prospects are dim right now.

Thursday, March 3, 2011

Thursday, March 3, 2011

HOW TIME FLIES: On the way back from IKEA, a cab driver gave me a glimpse of some of the changes he's seen over the past decades. He remembered when a 20-story building was the tallest one in Singapore. He pointed it out.
I turned quickly and in a knee-jerk reaction took a street-level photo as we whizzed past. (That photo taken today is above.) The building, Rahmat told me, was the Asia Insurance Building. So, I dutifully Googled and Blinged it. The Wikipedia entry bore his tale out. The building was opened in 1955. It was the tallest building at the time not only in Singapore, but also in Southeast Asia.
The driver marveled at the pace of building in the city, "Jokingly, I say Singapore might tip over into the sea." The frenzied building has left this once-formidable 20-story building deep in the shadows. "Now it's just a dwarf," he said with a smile. And now it's called Ascott Raffles Place, a serviced apartment residence. We know someone who lives there--with a dishwasher and daily cleaning but no oven.
As we drove farther along Marina Boulevard, he wheeled toward our building. "This place was formerly the sea," he added. He seemed rueful. Not bad. Not good. Just massive change. On the plus side, of course, it's now a much easier place to pick up a fare.

CRANE UPDATE: Here's the latest Singapore Crane Index Limited Economic Indicator. I don't think anyone has ever done this before, but I have to acknowledge that I might have sort of kind of in a way fudged the numbers for my March 4. I was unable to monitor the crane status at 8:30. The best I could do is 10 a.m. I believe a couple of "ships came in" so to speak, thereby raising the lowered-crane number. Hope that's OK.
Date: March 4
Time: 10:00 a.m. (Singapore time)
Cranes Up (bad): 11
Cranes Down (good): 15
CRANES MISSING (unknown degree of goodness/badness): 2

Wednesday, March 2, 2011

Wednesday, March 2, 2011

FIRED UP FOR THE DRAGON BOAT RACES: Sandy and I took an walk around Marina Bay in the early evening today. As we crossed the Double Helix bridge, a "dragon boat" churned its way through the waters below us.
The co-ed crew are likely part of the Singapore Dragon Boat Association in some way. Maybe they will be part of the Singapore Dragon Boat Festival in July. Not sure what team this might be. Note the fierce jaws at the bow of the boat (see closeup at right). It kind of reminded me of the famous Flying Tigers, or the 1st American Volunteer Group of the Chinese Air Force during World War II. But, I stress, I have no idea who was in that boat.

DOLPHINS MIGHT NOT LIKE IT, BUT THESE SURE COME IN HANDY: Here a lot of coffee places choose not to use those paper-based insulating sleeves that slip over a cup of hot coffee or tea and allow you to walk out of the shop and NOT walk right to the drug story for some burn-care medication. Here the sleeve is replaced by a plastic handle, allowing the drinker to swing the cup like a pail and keep the hand very far away from the potentially hot paper cup surface. I provide here the INACTIVE (left) and ACTIVE (right) versions of this coffee holder. For the sake of full disclosure, I did not get these two items at the same time. The plastic thingy on the left came from a coffee shop at the National University of Singapore. The full cup of coffee came from a shop near Marina Bay. It's not exactly PhotoShopped, but this does not represent 100 percent reality. Maybe the dolphin concern is a bit of a reach, too. These aren't really plastic bags. Just strips of plastic-bag material. Anyway, rest assured there are no lack of coffee shops in Singapore.

THINGS ARE LOOKING UP, NO, MAKE THAT DOWN, FOR THE CRANE INDEX: Here's the latest Singapore Crane Index Limited Economic Indicator. What's all this mean? All I can do is turn to the wit and wisdom of one Bernie Madoff (at right): "It's a proprietary strategy. I can't go into it in great detail." (Quoted in Barron's, May 7, 2001, according to The Telegraph). [Everyone knows he should have used the more simple, more elegant and more tantalizing Blues Explanation: "If you need to ask, you'll never know." (guitarist Big Bill Broonzy (at left), when asked to define the blues.)] Hmmmmm. Investments and the blues can have a lot in common.
Date: March 3
Time: 8:45 a.m. (Singapore time)
Cranes Up (bad): 12
Cranes Down (good): 14
CRANES MISSING (unknown degree of goodness/badness): 2

Tuesday, March 1, 2011

Tuesday, March 1, 2011

LYIN' WITH THE MERLION: The temporary Merlion Hotel, which has been built around the city's iconic Merlion statue at Marina Bay went up for bookings today at 10 a.m. It was sold out--for the period between April 4 and May 5--in a little more than an hour. This is an art installation by Tatzu Nishi, a Japanese artist who has developed this for the Singapore Biennale, organized by the Singapore Art Museum. The statue is enclosed now by the construction project (right) that will create this hotel room (see artist's rendition above). The room rate is $150 a night. We didn't try to call in. Not sure if the statue will be spewing water throughout the night.

BACK AT SCHOOL: I had a very nice conversation today with Gan Moog Chow, head of the Department of Materials Science and engineering at the highly regarded National University of Singapore. He has spent lots of time in both the U.S. and Singapore in his professional life and has one son at UMass Amherst and another who graduated at Lehigh and is heading toward medical school at Temple. Among his very interesting observations was his comment about how Singaporean students are doing in college. "By the time they get here [at NUS] they are battle-weary" from the push to succeed throughout their schooling. That resonates. You'd rather have someone who's battle-tested. There's quite a difference between the two. NUS and Yale are embarking on a collaboration that will bring in a healthy dose of liberal arts to NUS.

RAFFLES VS. KEPPEL: I know the name Raffles has quite a lock on Singapore. It seems to be everywhere.... Metro stop, famous hotel--rightly so. But I've lately been attracted to the name Keppel. Both Thomas Stamford Raffles and Henry "Harry" Keppel were Englishmen who flourished in the 1800s. Raffles basically founded modern-day Singapore; Keppel helped clear the nearby waters of Malay pirates. (The photograph at right shows the admiral in 1894 with the future King Edward VII.) The former is a much more "famous" name. A Google search combining Raffles and Singapore yields 3.46 million hits. Keppel and Singapore yields a measly 781,000. So, while the Raffles name permeates the city, Keppel's name lingers largely along the waterfront.
A harbor, channel, wharf etc. The fine-looking Keppel Club offers golf very close to the water just to the west of the center of the city. The club's site describes the naming this way:
"In the 1830s, the Straits Settlements (Singapore, Malacca and Penang) was a pirates’ haven. By 1832, Singapore had become the busy centre of government for the three areas. It was also at this time that Admiral Keppel came to Singapore. This famous British sailor helped to clear the Straits of pirates. The harbour was thus named after him. Keppel Golf Club, as it was originally known, was founded on November 15, 1904."

We took a photo of what we think is I think is Keppel Bay/Harbour (right) when our World War II tour took us to Labrador Point.
If you're so inclined, you can download his memoirs here.
According to the memoir, the harbor is aptly named for him. Concerned about the difficulty of getting coal at Singapore, he inspected the "new harbour," noted it was very suitable as a coal depot and wrote to the British Admiralty. He heard nothing for seven months, so he sent his analysis to the P. and O. Co. Responding by return mail, that firm took possession of the harbor, which, the memoir states, would have been "worth half a million" to Great Britain.

THINGS ARE LOOKING UP FOR THE CRANE INDEX: Here's the latest Singapore Crane Index Limited Economic Indicator, which seems to be totally ignored by the Financial Times, Wall Street Journal etc.:
Date: March 2
Time: 8:15 a.m. (Singapore time)
Cranes Up (bad): 8
Cranes Down (good): 18
CRANES MISSING (unknown degree of goodness/badness): 2

Monday, February 28, 2011

Monday, February 28, 2011

MONTHLY S.C.I.L.E.I. REPORT: A wildcat subcontractor working out of a branch office in Austin, Texas, has submitted a chart (above) that summarizes the monthly cranial activity in the Tanjong Pagar container terminal.
This terminal sits at the opening of the Keppel Channel, which which leads to Keppel Harbor. Both appear to be named for Admiral Henry Keppel. (So, it appears, is a golf course. Who was this guy? Not sure. I will look into it.)
Anyway, the Singapore Crane Index Limited Economic Indicator will continue its work in March, hoping to guide investors through the hazardous seas of global investments. For those interested in tracking vessels, the APL Xiamenand APL Rotterdam left the terminal on Feb. 28. And nicely lined up in a row at the pier along Tanjong Pagar's Road A most of the day were the NIARA of Singapore, the OOCL ZHOUSHAN of Hong Kong
and the OOCL CHINA of Hong Kong. The last one was nudged into place by the nicely named tugboat, NOBLE JADE.
Here are the eagerly awaited first numbers for March:
Date: March 1
Time: 8:35 a.m. (Singapore time)
Cranes Up (bad): 8
Cranes Down (good): 18
CRANES MISSING (unknown degree of goodness/badness): 2

Sunday, February 27, 2011

Sunday, Feb. 27, 2011


GO EAST YOUNG MAN: Sandy and I visited the just-opened ArtScience Museum at Marina Bay today. The distinctive shape is evident (above). It is characterised as an "open hand" or "lotus blossom." To be avoided at all costs--giving the impression that it looked like a bunch of bananas.
We were very impressed by the three major exhibits. We thought there'd be a bigger crowd for a Sunday afternoon, but that gave us plenty of walking-around space to see the remarkable exhibits, which were opened to the public on 19 February. They are:
Traveling the Silk Road: Ancient Pathway to the Modern World (through 27 March)
Genghis Khan: The Exhibition (through 10 April)
Shipwrecked: Tang Treasures and Monsoon Winds (through 31 July)
One distinctive item was an animal-shaped rhyton (right), which was used for scooping and pouring wine. They were common in West Asia and became popular in China thanks to the Silk Road. The "Shipwrecked" exhibit included some of the objects found on an Arab dhow that was shipwrecked near Indonesia's Belitung Island. Of particular beauty are the many ceramic pieces that survived intact. They were discovered in 1998. The discovery confirmed that there was a robust ocean-going trade route between China and the Persian Gulf in the 800s.
The Genghis Khan exhibit included a live musical performance by four members of the Kahn Bogd ensemble.
The morin khuur, a two-stringed instrument, was particularly versatile in their hands. Also remarkable was the zither-like yatga (shown at right). The voices? Well they were another instrument, with a wide range of sounds. A nice touch. The Khan exhibit also included the mummified remains of a princess (below), a dramatic display that's presented respectfully.



DON'T UNDERESTIMATE THE IMPACT OF THE GOOD OL' USA: I've been pretty superficial in my efforts to spot the indicators influence of USA institutions/businesses/people. (Think Taylor Swift, KFC, Burger King, the NBA, Bill Clinton, Harvard, Borders...OK, scratch Borders.) Anyway it goes deeper than multinationals and superstars. At the AtsScience museum, we stopped at the Sweet Spot coffee station. I did a double-take when I read one of the workers' name tag. I asked her about it. She said her name was, indeed, "from the U.S.A." Her mom picked it because she "liked the sound of it." The name?.... TENNESSY. Yes, inspired by the Volunteer State, with a slight twist in the spelling. I thought it was pretty neat. This has set me searching for an IDAHOE or MAYNE.

A NICE JOB OF PARALLEL PARKING: This morning, the OOCL Qingdao of Hong Kong snuggled into place beneath our shipspotting window. Here, the tug is pushing it into the slot between the 174-meter long SINAR SUMBA of Singapore (top) and the 182-meter-long GALLANT WAVE, also of Singapore. Incidentally, the Gallant Wave left its berth about 5 p.m. on Feb. 27. By the way, here's the latest
Singapore Crane Index Limited Economic Indicator. We have some VERY GOOD numbers for you today:
Date: Feb. 28
Time: 8:38 a.m. (Singapore time)
Cranes Up (bad): 6
Cranes Down (good): 20
CRANES MISSING (unknown degree of goodness/badness): 2