© 2009 - crazy pictures and videos
Well, in my line of work (classified), I need to store data away from the possibility of prying eyes. I mean, if my computer was hacked into, or my laptop stolen such information must never come into the public domain for the clients I deal with.
I used to use PGP. I had to pay for licenses to upgrade. Then I realised that I needed whole disk or volume encryption. PGP wanted to squeeze my stones for £119!! So ah say "Nah! I doh like dee feel o’ dat!". I get onto Google – one of my favourite toys - and within seconds I find TrueCrypt - which is free open source stuff. Immediately I'm like sceptical, thinking dat, "Dis t’ing bong to be full ah bugs". So I hesitatingly and cautiously tried it. Surprise!! Dis thing does what it says on the tin – and exceeded all my expectations.
For those out dey who t’inking, “Boy me eh know bout dem t’ing nah.. I fraid…an’ in any case, me eh have time”- doh worry wid dis. But eef like me yuh know how to read, understand what yuh read, can follow a few instructions and can click a mouse, you can try out dis t’ing. Big warning here – if you decide to install this software, try it’s encryption on an external drive (eg. USB stick or external USB hard drive) and keep a back up of your data just in case. Start off by encrypting a file created by TrueCrypt – which it will then use as a drive. Yeah that sounds weird but that is the easiest and safest way of trying it out. Do not try this stuff on your main hard drive unless you’re absolutely sure your data and operating system are backed up properly elsewhere.
For those who get further. There are some really fancy features.The one I like the most, is the ability to create two encrypted volumes within one space – each with its own password. So this is useful if you dong on Dongkey Rock and you get hands-up and told to decrypt some confidential data. You open the volume with the non-critical data, leaving the second encrypted volume totally invisible and undetectable!! They explain it in their diagram here (click on diagram to go to TrueCrypt for full explanation):
![hidden-volume[1]](http://lh6.ggpht.com/_tTv_lFrEVTM/Sxo7MCWj6cI/AAAAAAAAAlg/-8xefOw9FAE/hidden-volume%5B1%5D%5B8%5D.gif?imgmax=800 "hidden-volume[1]")
For those who become au fait with this software, you can do some amazing things i.e. create two encrypted operating systems (OS) on the same hard-drive, on the same partition, and on the same volume!! One OS is the dummy set up which you show when you get hands-up, the other is the one you normally use. Amazingly anyone trying to hack the hard drive will be unable to see any evidence of two operating systems. Even from the dummy OS the other OS is not visible at all!!
Well I was so impressed with this software that I made a donation of USD $10.00 to the developers!!
I am a bit amazed that McDonald continues to defend her position that this ‘scholarship’ list is not for the public domain.
McDonald also proceed to offer an apology for embarrassment suffered through the publication of details related to recipients of financial support from her ministry to pursue further studies.
As for the apology above, many persons on the list must be breathing a sigh of relief it was published - it seems to be the only way they found out they 'received' money.
McDonald then told the Senate that she could not reveal the names on the list of grant recipients, since it would amount to an unreasonable disclosure of personal information as defined by the FOI.
The secrecy continues though. Looks like Devant and Anand may have to go to court once again. Who knows, when that list is revealed, then persons on it may find out they received a grant too.
I have written a couple of times before on dunceys who fail to show up in court for cases. I thought it remarkable that one duncey stayed away 32 times. I actually thought that would be a record that would be hard to beat.
When it comes to dunceys however, I am being taught that NOTHING is impossible!
The case was called on 163 occasions before the magistrate, but PC Melvin George who laid the charge failed to show on several occasions.
This case refers to 3 men charged with having 11 rounds of ammunition.
Some readers may think I am picking on dunceys when I say I wonder how much PC George was paid to stay away from court. However, it is a fact of life in Trinidad and the duncey service, that to get your case dismissed, you pay the officer a ‘lil change’ to stay away from court.
Unlike other people, I am ready to believe the worst of the dunceys, rather than give them (too much) benefit of doubt. Their record speaks for itself you see.
A year and a half after Government Minister Marlene McDonald refused to reveal to the Parliament information about scholarship awardees, their names have been obtained under the Freedom of Information Act by the Indo-Trinbago Equality Council. And now questions will be raised as to why Ms McDonald refused to give the information which was requested in the Senate Order Paper, why the Ministry did not advertise the availability of these scholarships, and what were the criteria by which persons were deemed eligible.
The scholarships, totalling $46 million of State monies over four years, were given out under the previous holder of the Community Development, Culture and Gender Affairs portfolio, Joan Yuille-Williams.
In response to the revelation, the Culture Ministry hastily issued a press release, which addresses none of the pertinent concerns, save a vague claim that the criteria encompass youth, vulnerability and need. Nor was any explanation given as to why the Culture Ministry was handing out scholarships in the first place, when such disbursements should more properly fall under the Education or Public Administration or even Planning Ministries. Even if one were to argue that individuals pursuing arts courses might be better served under the Culture Ministry, only ten percent of the scholarships were in this area.
Part of Ms McDonald’s reluctance, no doubt, stemmed from the fact that it is all too easy to make this list into a political weapon. Based on a names analysis, for example, less than two per cent of the awardees are Indo-Trinidadian. Yet, given the deliberate secrecy of this process, it is likely that the non-official criteria was not race, but party-i.e. having PNM connections.
In fact, the Culture Ministry in its press release was bold-faced enough to draw attention to a Government Senator and a communications officer in the Prime Minister’s Office as examples of giving back to the country, as though political loyalty and a well-paid job constitute ’selfless’ patriotism. But it may well be significant that, when this controversy started in July last year, not one of the scholarship awardees broke their silence, even though some of them include media persons who were well-placed to air the matter.
Minister McDonald was foolish to have refused to give this information when the question was first posed, and her Ministry’s response now is only worsening the fallout. Not all the spin in the world can justify these awards, even if in the first instance the intentions were good. And this is a lesson which administration after administration has refused to heed-that whatever public relations damage a Government might experience by transparency is minimal compared to the long-term political injury caused by hiding information which, eventually, will out.
Several things to comment on, so let’s get started:
Police Force short by 1,400 officers.
Can you imagine putting 1400 more power-mad, dotish dunceys out on the street? A clear picture eludes me.
Despite Imbert-cile’s assurance that the breathalyser will be implemented (via the necessary supporting regulations), we see this:
No Breath Test Until Carnival
Breathalyser by Carnival
So… once more, Imbert-cile has misled the public.
At a post-Cabinet conference on November 12, 2009 Works Minister Colm Imbert said the ministerial orders that specify the type of devices to be used would be published towards the end of November 2009 or early December 2009.
He also reiterated in the letter that the training of police officers would be fast-tracked or accelerated so breathalyser testing would commence by Christmas 2009.
Independent Senator Prof Ramesh Deosaran said he was surprised it took so long to train officers to use breathalysers and expected the new measure would have taken effect earlier.
As I expected, the dunceys could not learn to use the equipment on time. Something Imbert-cile should have known was likely to happen.
Piggott said that the critical test is the evidentiary test which has to be applied at the police station or another designated place. He noted that this test would be used as evidence in Court, and these people must be trained to a particular level to the satisfaction of the National Security Minister for them to be certified.
Coming to the issue of scholarships granted to individuals – remember that Marlene McDonald, Minister in the Ministry of Culture, sought to hide this in Parliament we asked – the list was recently obtained by ITEC (Devant Maharaj). He had to go to court where the same Freedom of Information Act that Marlene was hiding behind, was used to reveal the data.
What strikes me as odd was that the Ministry of Culture was issuing scholarships, not in culture based studies, but in everything… from CXC and spa management to medicine and law.
This, despite the fact that the PNM proudly announced that education up to tertiary level (and certainly up to CXC and CAPE) was free.
In many cases there were no bind on the recipients to pay back the ‘scholarships’ either financially, or in terms of service to the country. Largesse, it was.
Ah well, just some more of the shite going on as expected.
It seems to me that grief is becoming permanently etched onto the faces of the people of Trinidad and Tobago.
Another person has lost a life, and another family is without a parent. Those tears are real, and present, on more faces daily.
In the meantime, the Government of the day spends money like drain water, fixing friends and family before anyone else.
No one seems to give a damn any more. My voice is like a fart in the wind, blown away as soon as it is expelled.
‘Holy Crap’, as Achmed would say.
I woke up this morning and the temperature is -3°C. I know, I know. The Canadians, and Nordic people reading this blog would say I haven’t seen cold yet. Be that as it may, I think this portends the oncoming winter to be the coldest since I arrived in the UK. Even the grass outside is frosted over.
I did mentioned in an earlier post I would relate my Imax experience. It was not the first time I have been to the Imax cinema, but it was the first time I saw a 3D movie there.
Of course, as you have guessed, the graphics were superb. The skin on the characters in the movie was so realistic, you could the pores, tiny hairs and even the differently coloured veins running under the skin. I think a lot of the details won’t even show up on your TV screen if you watch the movie on DVD.
Watching it on 3D was even better, since there were places you could feel as if you were part of the movie.
I did see the movie Law Abiding Citizen which was excellent, in my opinion. The end was inevitable, but the circumstances of the movie had me wondering what would happen if we all felt the same sense of injustice as Clyde Shelton.
I can’t believe it’s already the 1st of December 2009. It seems like just a few days ago we were in 2008. Time flies, another year older and what do you get?
In the meantime, I am having some fun with this new Wave thing from Google…
