Were you aware there was an International Wine Fair in Singapore the past week? Me neither, and -- without sounding too cynical -- I have to suppose it was just a chance for a couple importers to try making selling what they had into an event. It was just a section of mall common area, with section dividers formed by sufficiently large stacks of wine bottles. Perhaps I've just seen too many Three Stooges shorts but I can't be near great numbers of glass bottles of anything without seeing them all coming down, in a domino-like sequence, exploding and blasting foam over everything.
The centerpiece was a partial dome painted to look like a globe, with a wine bottle above it; flags of various wine-producing nations were jammed in, though with no attempt to make flag locations correspond to nation locations. The flag of the United States was put in India, for example, and that of Greece in Texas.
Wine-producing countries, according to the flags, include: Italy, South Africa, Spain, Argentina, Chile, the United States, Greece, France, Australia, and Canada. It's only the last that I quirk my eyebrow curiously. I had always thought Canada's production of wine was exceeded only by its production of giant robot monster beavers set rampaging through the Dakotas, and also by everything else. My guess is the flag may have been a mistake, since none of the racks of wine available were Canadian. Neither were the wine-related accessories, like bottle openers and cheese. Maybe they just like the flag.
Trivia: The first collection of Pogo comic strips sold approximately 300,000 copies, and went through 16 printings. Source: Pogo Files for Pogophiles, Selby Daley Kelly, Steve Thompson.
Currently Reading: Why Things Break: Understanding the World by the Way It Comes Apart, Mark E Eberhart.