Kind favour from a ghost–and another

Well, well, you know sometimes a small thing happens good that makes you think.

I’m living in a block of flats lately with shared facilities, 150 miles from home. Working again on an ‘assignment’ down in South Wales.

Right – so I put my clothes to wash. They’ve got some good commercial washers and dryers down there. Then I nip back on time to put them in the dryers. The dryers (two) were meant to be finished job in 40 mins. My phone alarm went off for that, but because I was finishing an article for a forum I delayed by 5 minutes.

So when I get to the dryers, which are just 30 seconds walk away, I don’t see my clothes in the dryers. The doors of of both dryers are open – and of course they’re not working. A slight degree of anxiety comes over me. But then I spot just next to the door of one of the dryers is a chair.

On that chair is some clothes neatly folded. On the back of the chair are neatly hung two white shirts. Then I realise in the next few split-seconds that the shirts are mine. And so to are the folded clothes – like my underwear, t-shirt, track-bottoms, and socks in there. I’m pleasantly surprised. Odd though that someone should empty the dryers and do all this and not put clothes back in to dry. In other words I couldn’t have been holding up a queue.

The shirts were so neatly hung, that I now did not need to iron them. Really.

I get back to my room and decide to pack away the soft coloureds. The socks are neatly put together. I just couldn’t believe it!

I don’t know if someone mistook my clothes for their relatives or something.I saw no one around near the laundry room. I was just pleased for the act of kindness. It’s possible someone thought it was their relatives clothes, did the lot, then realised it wasn’t.

The lady who takes care of the rooms here is no ghost of course. She is really hard working. Man, she really scrubs the place and does a thorough job. A few weeks ago she offered to sort out my bedsheets – made up the bed etc. It wasn’t going to be a regular thing. But you know when people are kind to you, you really have to reciprocate. So I’m gonna get her something for Xmas. I’m departing from this area end of November or very early December.

Uniting

Passengers given a special welcome at Heathrow Airport

The date? October 27th, 2010.

The place? Terminal 5, Heathrow Airport.

According to one comment:

For 4 minutes there was no hate, no discrimination, and no fighting.
That... is world peace.

 

At Liverpool Station

Amazing how people can be united. Pity we can’t see it lasting longer and more frequently.

Oh, the irony

Still with the Diwali stupidity, today I observed the report of a safety officer burning to death  when his T-shirt caught fire in a bamboo bursting exercise.

For those of my readers who don’t know what bamboo bursting is, a short YouTube video can be seen here.

His friend, Anup Ramnanan, who was with Gueverro at the time, said it was the first time he has ever seen anything like what happened to Gueverro. "We were bursting bamboo around 7.30 p.m. on Wednesday and everybody was taking turns, when he told one of the younger guys, 'Let me teach you how to burst bamboo old-school.'"

Ramnanan said this was when the bamboo split and set the front of Gueverro's T-shirt alight. "He started running and we couldn't hold him. He ran into a neighbour's bathroom and when he turned on the shower there was no water, so he ran to another overhead tap and this is how he out the fire."

I guess the safety training/education he had didn’t include the stop, drop and roll technique.

Whilst I am sorry for any needless death, I can’t help notice the irony of a safety officer being the victim.

A little caution

This photo, taken last night by my sis with her mobile phone (explains the poor quality) shows the burning house of a former Trini neighbour.

This house was somehow set alight while the family was sleeping, following Diwali night celebrations. Most likely explanation? The family went to bed leaving lit deeyas somewhere upstairs.

It is difficult to work hard all your life to build something for yourself and your family  and in one night lose it all. But to lose it all because you neglected to make sure all flames were out before you went to bed? Isn’t that the height of stupidity?

I suppose the saving grace would be his family was saved when his brother woke them and they sought shelter at the home of a neighbour.

However, it is to the point that a little common sense, and a little health and safety, should occupy some thought.

Amazing New Therapy..

Right – well allyuh know dee Cap does read all kindah t’ing right. So – I happen upon an article in the journal “Complimentary Therapies in Clinical Practice”. Jess hold on wid dee questions in dee back o’ yuh head – puhleese.. I is not a complimentary therapist  or psychologist. I was doing a search on the concept of ‘multifinality’ and accidentally came across dis particular journal paper.

Right – back to whuh as was saying. So in dis journal I come across dis novel therapy dat dey was evaluating. Guess what it called? Guess nah man!

“Prolonged Parent-Child Embrace” Therapy!

The article abstract from Welch et al  on this in Complementary Therapies in Clinical Practice (2006) 12, 3–12, states:

“This pilot study was collected within the course of private practice to assess the progress of children with severe behavioral disorders who were treated effectively with a multiple family therapy prototype, Prolonged Parent–Child Embrace (PPCE) Therapy. Subjects were a consecutive series of 102 patient children aged 4–18 years and their families. Children and their family members were guided for 16h over two consecutive days through intense PPCE Therapy. Families were instructed to continue PPCE Therapy at home for at least 1 year. Scores were compared statistically using t-tests and analysis of variance. For 96 children scores declined on two written measures by approximately 50% between baseline and follow-up (P<0.001). Results showed that PPCE Therapy resulted in significant and prolonged improvements in symptomatic behavior in a majority of children.”

Whuh dat means is dat it works. Errrm.. uhhhh.. am I surprised. How much blasted research do we need to tell people about dee basics of all manner of things related to jes ‘living’, man? Right – well fuh dat ah go gih dee Jumbie some pressshaahhhh. LOL. Mr Jumbie – please note dat dis research shows dat there is a workable alternative to ‘breakin’ a cheil ass’ – you hug the child more often!

Strangely enough though – for adults - if I could invent a therapy for stupidity I might call it: KYAT! – Kick Your Ass Therapy. ROFL.  Ah have a funny feeling, it won’t be very popular. Back to the drawing board!!

Protect us from ourselves

Today is Diwali (as it is spelt here).

Every year, Diwali is celebrated around the world by noise – fireworks etc. Same in Trinidad, despite fireworks being illegal there. Yet, coming up to this time, one can see fireworks blatantly advertised and out on display, with police dunceys passing by in their air conditioned cars, on foot and even buying the illegal products.

Now, aside from the obvious illegality, we have problems with the hazards caused by fireworks, inclusive of scratch bombs etc. Not to mention pets going ‘mad’ from the noise.

Today the Newsday reported on a fire in a school caused by scratch bombs. Two teachers were burnt trying to put out a mattress set alight.

This reminded me of a Diwali in Trinidad a few years ago, where some children were playing with a triangular type scratch bomb. Now this particular type was louder than the typical ‘cigarette’ cylindrical ones. A young boy threw one up in the air, and coming down, it flew past the ear of one of my friends. At a distance of no more than a couple of feet from his ear, it went off. Of course, the noise sent him deaf, and we waited for his hearing to return after a few minutes. Instead we saw blood trickling from his ear. His eardrum was ruptured.

I also remember when a lit ‘starlight’ (sparkler) landed on my mother’s neck after someone threw it up in the air.

Another incident I recall very clearly involved the same cylindrical fireworks. A man scratching them on a match box and setting them off (throwing them up in the air) did not realise his child, a mere 3 or 4 years old, was watching how he used the matches. The child then lit one, unobserved by the father. Instead of throwing it away, the child remained holding it in a closed fist. The resulting explosion blew off most of the flesh from the child’s hand, exposing the bones with shreds of flesh hanging out from the spaces between the bones.

I was working in A & E when that child came in and I recall the horror and anguish of the parents. I also recall thinking to myself that parents don’t think of the consequences of their actions, especially on children, until too late. Now, I am sure that father was truly repentant, but would that have helped the child? Surely not. Too little too late, as the saying goes.

No matter how ‘unfair’ we think laws can be, there is usually some rationale, some mischief it is designed to protect us from. No matter how disciplined we think we are, it seems we need to be protected from ourselves.

Diwali Greetings

Happy Diwali to all those readers who come to this site.

Remote desktop working

Right – some may not know that the Captain is actually a computer wizard! At times I put dee Jumbie in school.  

This is a cool little trick for those who need to work on their home or office-based computers from zillions of miles away. You can do this – work on your desktop from your laptop while you’re on the road – or .. or from a hand-held computer like an Iphone or Ipad.

So your big computer is at home. You’ve got some things on your laptop but you need a few files from the desktop at home. It could be a real problem – you’re 500 miles away. You need to print that one document now – from your portable printer. How are you gonna do that?

You get a nifty piece of software called VNC. It costs only $USD 30.00. Well for the Cap – it is well worth the cost.

VNC is a bit tricky if you’re behind a thing called a NAT firewall on your router. But there is a very easy workaround to forward the ports.

The steps:

1. Set up VNC Server on home desktop computer and get the computer running.
2. Set up VNC viewer on laptop you will be working away from home.
3. Work around any firewall issues.
4. Connect Viewer to Server – and Bob’s yurr uncle!!

It really is that easy.

To see how it works click About VNC.

A little fun

Cadbury Ad

Everybody leave now!!

Well dis story about a PH driver getting shot dead at point blank range may be stale news to many.

Who cares to read bout dem t’ing anymore. Stuff happens – don’t it, dong dey on dee Rock. While others may be t’inking “He mus’ be involve’ in drugs …ah eh believe whuh dey say in dee papers ..dee famaly mus’ say he was clean”. I know dee mentality. It convinces itself dat ‘t’ings eh so bad.. boy life sweet dong ‘ere’ and dat everybody who get shot like dat, ‘involve in some kinda underhand business'. Yuh see dee reality is dat dee country is a stinking mess of a den for violent crime – and dat conclusion is too hard tuh stomach. So – fantasy is a good retreat  - ain’t it?

Well dee odda day Jumbie tellin me’ go dong dey fuh a li’le holiday. Ah figure he was windin meh up nah.. or possibly testing my resolve.

Here’s the news: The Captain still believes that everybody is entitled to his opinion i.e. that ‘everybody’ should leave that godforsaken place – in the interest of their survival. Boat, raft, swimming in dee ocean.. plane .. whatever.. the alternative is to play sitting duck. One day you will get picked orf. I doh play sitting duck.

When relatives dead – push dem in a box and six feet under, or bu’n dey ass (wid me making dusting-my-hands gesture). Ah tell allyuh me eh going and daize it!

Female World Leaders

While browsing the ‘Net, I found this list of female world leaders along with some other interesting titbits.