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There are some helpful tips in there how to set up canned responses in Gmail and filters. I created this and use this successfully in my battle against pranksters and idiots.
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Canned Responses in GmailThe chance of something happening once is called happenstance. Twice, coincidence. Three times, it’s deliberate (and actions of an enemy). This was postulated by Ian Fleming in his book ‘Goldfinger’. At least, I think it was that particular book, but I could be wrong. I have the author right though.
Therefore four times must be a conspiracy. Right?
I am speaking of course, of Papa-tricks’ tricks in postponing the Local Government Elections for a 4th time. Yesterday, I predicted it will happen. Unfortunately, not one newspaper revealed who was the Independent Senator who sided with the Government to pass the vote.
In a separate but certainly more confusing issue (to me) I see that UDeCOTT has escaped censure by the Privileges Committee for an ad it printed in the newspapers.
…the advertisement, which had called on Gopeesingh to make the statements he made about the corporation during a House of Representatives sitting on March 4 outside of the Parliament.
Now, time and time again we hear ‘ignorance of the law is no excuse’.
…corporation was "unaware that it may be considered contempt of Parliament to challenge a Member of Parliament to repeat his assertions outside Parliament".
BUT THAT IS WHAT UDeCOTT IS CLAIMING!!! IGNORANCE!!
Ah, but here’s the rub. The Privileges Committee that excused them has a majority of PNM members, including Speaker Barendra Sinanan who is the Chairman. What this really means is that UDeCOTT, as Papa-trick’s Golden Entity (chaired by padner Hart), could and would never have been censured in any way. The outcome was a predictable as tomorrow’s sunrise.
Now, I am simply commenting on the appearance of bias here, eh? I ent even getting involved in whether or not this is legal or not, since I am not an expert. But it reeks of such a high stench, I fraid to breathe.
I always write about my observations that Trinidadians and Tobagonians (Monkey Islanders according to my co-author) have little regard for basic rules, regulations and the law.
It’s enough to frustrate any sane person, because as often pointed out by myself and others, these are the same people who travel abroad and queue for buses, the cinema, etc; pick up their litter, speak politely at the hospitals and doctors’ offices, etc.
If they have to work abroad, they forget ‘Trinidadian’ time, they forget poor customer service, and they behave as the natives do (in the majority).
Now, why am I mentioning this? Well, I’ve been trying to rationalise why on earth this behaviour can’t happen in Trinidad & Tobago. One explanation is the broken window theory. Basically, this says that if you fix the little things, big things won’t develop as much.
This has critics as well as supporters. But today I read an article that seems to support it.
Imagine you park your bike in a bike shed. A sign says: no graffiti. On your return, you find a leaflet stuck to the handlebars. What do you do with it? Chuck it in the street, or bin it elsewhere?
That depends, says Ramsey Raafat from University College London, who describes a set of curious experiments in Holland.
"When the riders or owners returned to their bike, 33% of the people chucked the flyer, littered, broke a norm.
"But when there was a slight manipulation, everything's the same - we have our bike shed, bikes, prominent 'no graffiti' sign - but now there's graffiti in the area, so a norm has been violated. Now interestingly in this situation, a whopping 69% of the riders when they returned chucked the flyer. And so in this instance when one norm's violated - the graffiti violation - there's a massive effect on another norm of littering."
Is that a surprise? We've always known that behaviour is sometimes easily influenced. How else, you might have found occasion to ask, does the nice lad from the nice family next door become a lout in a mob, lurching, swearing, singing offensively down the road? Because his frame of moral reference temporarily stops at those around him. He sees no-one else.
For a final, bizarre illustration of where our immediate social influences may lead us, Ramsey Raafat cites another experiment in group-think.
"Now stealing - if one was to steal, that's a powerful norm violation. We learn at a very early age not to steal. So how do they do this? This is very elegant. They had a post-box and sticking out of it was an envelope with a five-euro note attached. Now in the control condition - no litter and no graffiti - only 13% of people stole, took the envelope.
"However when there was graffiti or litter surrounding the post-box, a whopping 25% or 27% of people stole. That's more than a doubling of norm violation. And, again, it's a powerful effect of how when one norm is broken, we become more likely to break another, or essentially the spreading of disorder."
Indeed, this is not farfetched. We see dotish people (including prisoner transport personnel) breaking the road traffic laws everyday. From ‘breaking’ red lights, driving on the PBR, on the shoulder… you name it, it happens with impunity.
Of course, then there is a major problem with the dunceys… they don’t care to implement the laws so little things can’t get fixed. People litter, spit, pee, etc. Drive like idiots. Steal, commit petty larceny and graduate to bigger criminal enterprises. Once upon a time, the only ‘gangs’ were pan men. Now? No further explanation needed.
Yes indeed, it is only when we suffer the little things that bigger indignities are heaped upon our heads.
SENATE TROUBLE
Independents object to postponement of Local Govt elections
So says the big, bold headlines in the Express this morning. The details that are pertinent are as follows:
Government's proposal to extend the life of Local Government bodies and delay for the fourth consecutive year the holding of Local Government elections, is likely to face serious opposition in the Senate.
Several Independent Senators have said categorically that they are not supporting any further extension of the life of Local Government bodies.
So far, so good. There are ‘several’ who won’t support the further delay.
Government needs the support of at least one Independent Senator to have the measure passed.
I bet they get it. Out of the 9 ‘Independents’ a couple know where their bread is buttered, as I have previously said often enough.
Mark my words, the extension will go through, and the ‘Independent’ voting for will be Michael Annisette, who sits on several State boards, the HMB, UdeCOTT and is a strong supporter of the current regime.
The first photo is a panorama taken from the the car park of the pub where we (the walkers) had lunch. These houses lie directly opposite the car park.
The second photo is a field we encountered during our trek.
This should be interesting. Andrew Zimmern visited T&T and sampled a range of food that was classified as ‘bizarre’. There are six YouTube clips on all this but I’ve chosen to display only clips no. 4 and 5.
Among these bizarre foods eaten by the ‘natives’ are..wait for it.. wrap-roti, doubles, cow-heel soup, callaloo, bake and shark!
It’s amazing… no one seems to have shame any more; a topic I bring up time and time again, but usually apply to Trinidadians and Tobagonians.
Now I see it can apply to the Jackson family:
Fans who took part in an online draw to attend the service were set to find out on Sunday if they had won one of 17,500 tickets avaiable. [sic]
More than 1.6m people signed up for the chance to be at the ceremony being held at the Staples Center in Los Angeles.
Can you imagine having a lottery to your son’s/sibling’s funeral? Even in death, the man is being exploited.
Today I went for a walk in the Clent District, in Worcestershire. These are some of the photos I took. Panoramas to come as soon as I create them.
The above flowers are called foxgloves. The second photo shows a stem taller than I am, and if you look closely, under the coloured flowers some small green remnants of prior blooms.
The above 2 photos show Clent Castle. I took these photos by poking my camera lens through the fence.
I will post more photos soon.
Standardise weighing equipment in police stations? What comes to mind when you read that?
For me, it meant that somewhere, somehow, a sample of evidence was tampered with, and perhaps eaten by rats, and therefore was no longer the same weight as when it was initially weighed.
Now, I gleaned that merely from reading the words in the purple above. Just to see if I am right, I went on to read the article.
The court heard from police officers Roger Nicholas and Andy Tiwarie, that they arrested Ayers at his home at Lance McDougal Trace in Basseterre Village, Moruga, on December 11, 2002.
They told the court they searched a bedroom and a quantity of marijuana was found. The drug was taken to the Moruga Police Station, where it weighed six kilogrammes.
However, at the Forensic Science Centre on December 13, 2002- two days later-the plant material weighed 3.72 kilogrammes. No evidence was led to explain the difference in weight. [Not even that rats ate it!!]
The judge, Anthony Carmona, was either struck by the worst case of political correctness I’ve ever seen, or the worst case of dunceyness from the bench (we’ll leave Shermie out this time; he is in a league of his own).
The judge said this was something he had noticed in other courts as well and believes it may have to do with a lack of standardisation as it relates to equipment and lack of uniformity in their calibration.
Standardisation my arse.
We all know it was a duncey tief the sample to resell on the streets. Carmona should have said instead, “Please police dunceys, stop tiefing de samples; allyuh go make everybody allyuh arrest walk free, jest because allyuh too corrupt and greedy!”
And in case allyuh think I am being unduly harsh on the dunceys, please, just remember:- the evidence had been weighed… and found wanting.
The BBC reports actress Molly Sugden died at age 86. Many Trinidadians will wonder why I am mentioning this.
It will clear the air when readers learn that she was Mrs Slocombe (head of the women’s dept) in the British comedy series Are you being served?, which took place in a fictional department store. The creators Jeremy Lloyd and David Croft also created and penned the other classic ‘Allo ‘Allo.
This comedy series was once a favourite among Trinidadians of my age group or older. British comedies were a fresh breath of air after all of the American sitcoms force fed to us.
By the way, Trinidadians can dispel with the rumour that Gordon Kaye (René Artois of ‘Allo ‘Allo) was killed by lightening. He was injured in a storm when a piece of wood flew through his car’s windshield into his forehead but he had surgery successfully and was able to do a reunion movie after.
Well, well, well! A vote of no confidence is passed on John Jeremie, but he ent movin’.
The numbers of the vote are quite telling in themselves. Only 10% of the registered lawyers attended the meeting and even less voted, leaving 90% who just can’t be bothered with what goes on in the country. I suppose as long as the money keeps rolling in, whether from the fat Government briefs or milking the public, their bread being buttered so to speak, they just don’t care.
The motion had three items, all of which were voted on, separately, and supported by the majority of members.
- Item A "condemned in the strongest manner the reported attempts by the Honourable Senator John Jeremie to improperly and illegally interfere with criminal prosecutions for political purposes".
That was carried by a vote of 121 for / 67 against.
- Item B "condemned in the strongest manner the reported attempts by Jeremie to undermine and threaten the constitutional independence of the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions".
That was carried 127 for / 59 against.
- Item C "that it (the Law Association) has absolutely no confidence in the Honourable Senator John Jeremie as Attorney General and as titular Head of the Bar of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago", was carried by a vote of 106 for / 82 against.
Even among those who voted, the higher numbers who voted for the motions carried, says a lot. John Jeremie, AG has brought his office into disrepute.
Is that enough for him to move on, resign, ride off into the sunset?
No, obviously not.
However, Suren Capildeo said if he were attorney general and this association had made this resolution, he would have resigned immediately "before the deliberations".
"I would have walked," Capildeo said.
"But he (Jeremie) is going to ignore the Law Association and continue to function, a total untenable state of affairs," Capildeo added.
[Desmond] Allum, himself a former attorney general, recalled that the last time the Law Association passed a resolution of no confidence was against then Attorney General Russell Martineau, SC, and he did tender his resignation to then Prime Minister George Chambers, who refused to accept it.
We know, having appointed Jeremie, Pa-trick will never accept his resignation.
Jeremie says that the only way to move him is to ‘silence’ him; I ought to remind of the fate of Selwyn Richardson, who was ‘silenced’ outside his home. Don't tempt fate, JJ.
So what does a vote of no confidence mean, if you can’t get rid of the person in question? It means that people’s perception of him is that he is less than honest, a busybody, interfering, unethical handpicked stooge of the Maximum Leader.
That’s only a perception though; and like a bulldog without teeth, life goes on as the population suck salt to survive.
Today there is a lot to comment on in the news. My late posting is because I have been out for most of the day. Ice Age 3, in 3D is amazing.
First thing I noticed is John Jeremie and the ‘I eh moving’ attitude. Maybe that’s why people go to the john? But it stinks of the attitude of Max and Shermie who were also asked to resign by the population and who ‘ent move’. Another thing I noticed was this statement: "If it means having to knock on doors and to stretch my authority as far as they can possibly be stretched properly under the Constitution, I will do it." That is a worrying statement, reeking of arrogance and a willingness to use any means to justify the ends.
His Highness, in all his arrogance, has refused to apologise for insensitive remarks he made on the murder of a 10 years old girl. More ‘collateral damage’… oh wait, we can’t say that because we don’t know the whole story, as he says.
The judiciary is once again protecting itself from criticism by lambasting one of its own who dared criticise the judicial system… of the CCJ. One of the weirdest scenarios, if only because it is so flecking ludicrous. Shades of Stanley John! I guess all they want these CCJ judges to do is laze around and collect their salaries in $US mind you, drinking pina coladas at the poolside. And of course, once more the man of runny diarrhoea is in the middle: Attorney General John Jeremie said: "[Justice Hayton] has certainly stepped beyond the boundaries of ordinary judicial criticism and in a forum which is not appropriate.”
Of course, the stupid statements come thick and fast today:
“Manning gave a stern warning yesterday to anyone considering turning to a life of crime. He said they should always be on the look out for the police.
He said police officers had taken a more serious approach to apprehending bandits.
"They are moving to minimise the time in arresting these bandits. And the next step is the court where the bandits would be brought to justice," he said.”
I can’t even comment on that nah. It beyond speech or coherent thinking.
I was planning to write more eh, but the heat getting to meh. Is 26°C, and ah feeling like ah want to pass out. Besides, ah done start grinding meh teeth over the shit ah see, so I going see if I could do a Michael Jackson and find a Trini doctor to prescribe some Demerol.
Well, I don’t know if I’m more surprised than most of Jumbie’s readers – to see me posting directly on Jumbie’s blog.
Jumbie invited me and I was indeed hesitant to accept. Well as regular readers of Jumbie’s Watch know, I do give him some real pressshaaah. And we do have our different points of view. I must say he is a better man than me for managing the differences of opinion I throw up. Some people woulda get vex long time and bet orf.
Well what does it mean now? Are Jumbie and I one and the same – masquerading as split personalities? Simply – no! Like duh.
We are not the same person or identity. Besides our differences of style and opinion, there are many similarities – as well, readers will have seen over the last two years.
So what happens now? Well I don’t really know. This is new territory. We’ll have to see how it goes. Jumbie will continue to get presshaaaah as usual. And I guess I’ll have to learn to take some myself. It’ll all make for a very interesting time ahead.
For this first post I wanted to share some music that I found to be very inspirational and soothing.
Click here to get more of Rob Costlow's Music.
