Enter the ignorant

I think the situation down on the Rock has finally got to both the Captain and me. Lately, neither of us has felt much like examining the situations presented in the news, nor have we felt much inclined to posting our views. It’s like trying to blow into a tornado.

Still, I have that 0.01% hope that things will improve, if not for myself then for the sake of relatives who are there.

I admit though, that some people go to extremes. Like every other person who was glad to see the back of P**rick (he’s still malingering somehow!!) I saw the new PP government as a change. I still do. It takes a while to undo the deeds (or misdeeds) of years of bad administration, and especially so when that administration had laws in place to protect the miscreants and their cronies. Case in point: a reminder that P**rick changed the law to allow Monteil to walk away with a cool $110M from Clico/Home Mortgage Bank.

Maybe I am getting liberal in my old age (Punks considers me an old man for the past 2 years). I see things slightly differently though I have been known to get pissed off a time or two. But I see the new PP as battling on several fronts.

• Foremost, battling against the maladministration of the past regime. To undo corrupt practices which ruffles more than feathers I dare say. To change bad laws that permit said corrupt practices. To plan and implement sound policies which would have medium and long term effect upon the nation, its people, infrastructure, trade etc.
• Battling against the aforementioned with a nearly empty treasury, and many debts being called in now.
• Battling against a population and people who think everything should be solved in a day. Or maybe 6 months at the outset. Said people becoming more venomous daily, but without the benefit of structured thinking or even knowledge of how a government works.
• Battling against censorship in media against any articles/commentaries of support. I know. Whenever I post comments purporting the alternate view to the venom and malicious commentaries I see, I am censored. In every media I write. Whether this censorship is a planned conspiracy or merely frustration of inaction I do not know and will not speculate. Sufficient to say it exists.
• Battling internally with friendly foes who think they deserve a bigger slice of the ‘pie’.

… and the list goes on…

On a more personal note, I have had some bad news from the doctors regarding my health which has deteriorated somewhat over the past year. Many more hospital visits, many more medications, much more of my time invested away from my blog, hobbies etc. Increased frustrations aside, I take things one day at a time, and hope that a resolution is at hand.

This I mention not to garner sympathy but for readers to be aware I have not abandoned the blog, but need the break away from it for myself. Hopefully, readers will not just begin to ignore the opinions expressed.

Thoughts from a man's heart...

Thought 1
When we are born, our mothers get the compliments and the flowers…
When we are married, our brides get the presents and the publicity…
When we die, our widows get the life insurance…
What do women want to be liberated from?

Thought 2
The average man's life consists of:
Twenty years of having his mother ask him where he is going,
Forty years of having his wife ask the same question;
and at the end, the mourners wondering too where the hell he is going.

British Steel

Ah..haahhh haaa…. the Captain has just rediscovered Judas Priest!!! Well amma ecstatic! Yeah – was a thing from my youth – and hey the Cap is still as young inside as back then. The English invented heavy metal, of course – and whaddayah know – Judas Priest originated right in dee Jumbie backyard – Brum dat is!!!

Serious metal

And the Cap even drives in the best of ‘British Steel’.

Their 2005 album…revolution looms.

Yep they’re very different and so am I. Well their message is unusual.. if you can decipher it – it puts you to think. Interestingly, I only now discover so many years later, how much all this kind of stuff has influenced my thinking about life etc etc. [No – ah didn’say all my of my thinking –  Chryyst man - so keep in check dee donkey rock logic, puhleese.]

Oh..uh.. forgot to mention that I’ve downloaded these these YouTube vids in FLV format on to my new Samsung Galaxy S MID – so amma like totally ecstatic!!! [Errh.. MID? Yes that’ll be the new terminology for Mobile Internet Devices – no longer Mobile Phone . Gotta keep dee Jumbie up tuh speed here, yuh know. LOL.]

Dissenting voices–silenced Animal Farm style

There seems to be an about-turn by the Trinidad Express to the PP Government. For the past several days, I have noticed an alarming trend in the comments forum, where any posts that supports of defends the positions or personas in the news articles are deleted by the administrators quick time. How quick? Within minutes.

It occurs to me that dissenting voices, no matter how sensible the opinions, are easily being silenced with the touch of a mouse and keyboard. No matter that the only opinions published are negative, the newspaper disallows anyone engaging in even a moderately intelligent debate.

Take for example this article:

ATTORNEY GENERAL Anand Ramlogan last Tuesday told senior officers of the Police Service that social television programmes such as Ian Alleyne's Crime Watch were solving more crimes than the police.

Ramlogan read the riot act to the 35-plus senior officers gathered at a meeting called by Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar, in her capacity as head of the National Security Council, to discuss new initiatives to deal with the country's spiralling crime situation, including the increase in murders.

He challenged the officers to each formulate five new crime-fighting initiatives.

"We are fed up of the same thing over and over... Come up with something new," the AG told the officers.

The meeting, which took place at the Police Administration Building in Port of Spain, included National Security Minister Brigadier John Sandy, Minister in the Ministry of National Security Subhas Panday, Justice Minister Herbert Volney, Legal Affairs Minister Prakash Ramadhar, Commissioner of Police Dwayne Gibbs, interim director at the Special Anti-Crime Unit of T&T (SAUTT) Col Albert Griffith and Acting Chief of Defence Staff Col Kenrick Maharaj.

• Several senior officers who attended the meeting, which consisted of the police executive and heads of divisions and police sections, said they left despondent, demoralised and were contemplating going on leave and submitting early retirement papers.
• They accused Ramlogan of "crossing the line" and "overstepping his boundaries". Several of the officers said Ramlogan's contribution was distasteful, disrespectful and insulting, saying the AG went overboard when he attacked the performance and authority of the senior police officers.
• One officer said: "Who is he to come and speak to us and the commissioner in that way? What authority does he have as Attorney General to walk in here and criticise our efforts to deal with the crime situations?
• "He is a loose cannon and appears to be the Government's vociferous pit bull. Imagine he said if he had his way, he would have polygraphed each and every one of us at that meeting," another senior cop said.

Commissioner Gibbs also received a tongue-lashing from Ramlogan for what the AG described as Gibbs' inability to bring new crime-fighting ideas to the table.

After Ramlogan's tirade against the inability of the police to arrest the crime situation, Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar reportedly told Gibbs to, "Don't take it personally," since members of the public want to see immediate results.

Contacted on Thursday about what transpired in the meeting, Gibbs said, "That was a private meeting, and I do not wish to discuss it in public."

Minister Ramadhar, the Sunday Express was told, questioned Gibbs regarding the initiative that was in place before his appointment as commissioner and under which T&T saw a significant decrease in homicides and serious crime throughout the country.

Ramadhar was referring to the 90-day crime-reduction initiative implemented by Deputy Commissioner Stephen Williams, who was, at the time, acting as commissioner of police.

During Williams' acting tenure, which ran from August 30 to September 21, after then acting CoP James Philbert was sent home by the Police Service Commission one month before his tenure came to an end, the country had benefitted from a major reduction in crime and criminal activities.

Williams had mandated his executive and heads of various policing divisions to conduct 24-hour exercises and patrols, which resulted in the extension of the normal working hours for police officers. Persad-Bissessar had expressed her satisfaction with the initiatives implemented by Williams and his executive.

At the end of last Tuesday's meeting, Persad-Bissessar told reporters it was agreed that SAUTT and the Defence Force would lend all the necessary support to the Police Service to deal with the crime situation.

She said she was satisfied with some of the short and long-term plans outlined to her by the security chiefs, which included an increase in joint army and police patrols. [Report format slightly modified for this blog]

I posted the following comment:

People are bashing the AG, but for decades the crime situation has been going downhill. Recall that acceptance in the police service was 3 O levels (or a school leaving certificate) way back in the days. People who got into the service then are the ones who rose by seniority and are leading smarter, more educated workforce.

Unfortunately, a combination of ego, attitude and minimal management skills (along with other factors obviously) tend to see the brutish leaders more bereft of ideas than the generally discerning public. Ego gets in the way of acceptance of idea that may work, as seen from dozens of shelved reports and recommendations.

The AG is right to chastise the upper echelons. Did he go overboard? Not in my opinion. For far too long they have had an easy life, corrupt and coasting along. Now they are being challenged to work, and typical Trini attitude, they choose to attack the messenger instead of rising to the challenge. With over 500 deaths per year, and nearly 100,000 SERIOUS crimes in the last 6 or so years, I have no sympathy for them.

Those who threaten to walk should be given their marching papers and shown out to the pasture. After all, they have been grazing on magnanimous public goodwill for far too long.

Within minutes it was removed. 3 times I posted it, 3 times it was removed in less than 2 minutes. Maybe I have to write to the AG for help to uphold my right to freedom of expression?

A rank situation

Enter Nizam Mohammed. No, not the former MP. Nizam was recently appointed Chairman of the Police Service Commission, known popularly as the PSC. I have to admit, renaming the PSC to Duncey Service Commission is not hard, given the example set by the Chairman.

Nizam was involved in an incident with two dunceys yesterday and came out scoring even lower than a duncey. That, in my opinion, takes a special breed of ‘dunceyness’.

The incident between Mohammed and the officers occurred around 12.40 p.m., while Gittens and Batson were directing traffic at the corner of Henry Street and Independence Square in Port of Spain.

Batson and Gittens, who were dressed in police uniform, were directing three lanes of traffic, one of which was proceeding onto Henry Street, heading north, while the other two lanes were proceeding east.

According to a statement given by the officers, a police source said, a black KIA Sportage SUV was proceeding on the centre lane and attempted to turn unto Henry Street.

Gittens, who was in front of the SUV, signaled [sic] to the driver to proceed east, but the driver of the SUV stopped the vehicle and identified himself as Nizam Mohammed, chairman of the Police Service Commission.

According to the statements, Mohammed told the officers he wanted to go up Henry Street because his office was located on Queen Street, but Gittens told Mohammed he had to continue east along Independence Square.

Gittens stated that Mohammed subsequently disobeyed her instructions and drove off onto Henry Street. She and Batson pursued Mohammed's vehicle, on foot, and caught up with it as it got stuck in traffic along the roadway.

Mohammed, the statement read, was ordered to pull his vehicle to the side of the roadway near the Puma Store, and asked to produce his driver's permit and insurance certificate.

Officers said Mohammed handed over his driver's permit and insurance and rolled up his window. Mohammed then made a call on his cell phone and later reportedly told Gittens that "the Commissioner" was on the phone and he wished to speak with her.

In response, officers said Gittens told Mohammed that she could not take the call since she was performing traffic duties.

In keep with the trend down on the Rock of ‘famous’ personalities developing manic minds, Nizam later reported:

“Then a man with a half-empty beer bottle came up and started threatening me and started talking about 'lock him up' and that kind of thing, and that is what forced me to call (Ewatski) for help."

He said, "I was virtually shaken, you know, because when the crowd gathered and were threatening me, they (Gittens and Batson) did absolutely nothing... I had a good taste of police rudeness to members of the public. They endangered my life and I was scared to death,"

From both accounts, two things are clear.

• Nizam failed to obey the instructions of a police officer (in uniform), which supersedes any electronic traffic signals or road signs.
• He then attempted to ‘pull rank’ (like men of ‘manic mind’ are accustomed to doing), and failed miserably at the time. He behaved like he was a HNIC!

The question now remains to be seen whether the rank {pun intended} idea of disciplining the dunceys will work in the aftermath.

Now playing - spit roast

Am rushed for time today. Punks is getting a school award and I want to be there.

One thing to comment on:

Laurence Duprey, who recklessly ran CLICO into the ground, negotiated a deal with the Government (PNM) to bail out the company, is still calling the shots….

Despite an agreement with the Government over the bailout, Duprey sold a subsidiary 3 days after the agreement was signed and for a reported 1/5 of the value of the subsidiary.

CLICO Energy was sold to Proman on February 2, 2009, just three days after the then-PNM government signed a Memorandum of Agreement with Duprey on January 30 to provide an initial $5 billion to rescue CLICO, CLICO Investment Bank and other financially troubled subsidiaries.

Interesting scenario. Duprey orchestrated his own company's troubles, got the Government to bail it out via cash injections, then orchestrates a takeover after the rescue. One wonders what deals went on in the backroom with the PNM crooks, besides Tax-sharer getting out ALL her money before the company collapsed.

In the meantime, the shareholders go after the present Government for even more funds, instead of waiting to collect from the man who shafted them up the nether hole while continuing to live high on the fatted hog.

The poor tax payers: first shafted, now spit roasted.

The Big Bloomers

It seems there is a dire need for big bloomers for ‘larger’ women.

The Big Bloomers Company was set up by mother and daughter Dianne and Laura Mannering earlier this year making underwear up to XXXXXXXXL for 35 stone women.

But they were inundated with calls from obese women around the world claiming they are too small.

So the pair have developed their latest range - which are a staggering XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXL - to fit 45 stone women who have a 8.75ft waistline and a dress size of 74.

Women from New Zealand, France and Australia have already been clamouring for the items, which have been flying off the shelves since going on sale last week.

Now, I am a fan of sexy knickers (or what they cover) just like any other red blooded male, but I have to say, the thought of getting it on with a woman wearing bloomers almost as big as my bed sheet… well, it scares the pants off me!!

Still, money is money, and rising obesity pays it seems.

Do you know about 3D printing?

If you do a quick inventory of what you own, you will find that most of it is mass produced. This is a result of the industrial revolution, during which we gave up the individually crafted object in return for factories, and in the process got extremely rich. The price was the acceptance of uniformity in every aspect of our lives: our pens, our clothes, our cars, even our homes are all mass produced. It is a dominant influence in our lives, and it shapes global capitalism. But now there is a technology coming out of university science labs that could change all this and set in motion a second industrial revolution that may reverse the whole process.

The technology is called a 3D printer. What it does is this: it takes a design from your computer and makes it into a physical object. In other words, you press "print" and out comes a thing; this can be a functioning pen, a pair of glasses, or a hip replacement. This is not science fiction: I have a 3D printer in my lab and it works. At the moment the technology is in its early stages, but already hospitals are using it to make tailor-made implants for patients. Think what might happen if we perfect this technology. Why buy a phone, when you can design and print your own? Why buy a ring when you can express exactly how you feel by making one for your lover, or new cutlery for your mother? The possibilities are literally endless.

But it has political and economic implications too. As soon as our desire for material wealth is no longer linked to mass production, factories may become redundant, and shops too. This technology is currently at the state that computers were in the 1980s. Will science and engineering deliver another industrial revolution by perfecting the 3D printer as it did the computer?

Mark Miodownik is a physicist at King's College London.

Taken from: Ten questions science must answer.

I admit, I didn’t know this was possible and even while reading about it, I keep thinking it is another, more advanced way of creating a prototype – similar to sculpting from a 3D holographic image. It is not quite what entered my mind.