Liam 'in' the pool

Rudyard Lake

Liam at play

Announcing the ISC: International Spamming Commission

Recognising the danger of uncontrolled spam, we are pleased to announce the formation of the International Spamming Commission. Key regulatory measures will definitely include:

• complete protection of certain species of spam; 
• designate specified areas as spam sanctuaries; 
• set limits on the numbers and size of spam;
• prescribe open and closed seasons and areas for spamming;

Being nice guys, we do recognise the need for, and will allow, Aboriginal Subsistence Spamming. They will of course also be spamming for research purposes. (Or should that be... wait for it... porpoises!).

Stay tuned for more developments!

And the inheritances just keep flowing in...

Am I a lucky man or what? This from none other than the Prime Minister of the UK:

OFFICE OF THE PRIME MINISTER
TREASURY AND MINISTER FOR
THE CIVIL SERVICE,LONDON,
UNITED KINGDOM.

Our ref: BRT/1370/IDR
Your ref:...17/07/2010

I Rt Hon David Cameron MP,Prime Minister, First Lord of the Treasury and Minister for the Civil Service British Government wish to inform you of your Inheritance Payment from British Government.Through my investigations and verification process on our Intelligent Monitoring Unit(I.M.U),i discovered that the Funds value(£2,000,000.00)Two Million Great British Pounds is tagged to your name with File #:BRT/1370/033, so this prompted the British Government, order the release of this Funds to you with immediate effect.

Great British Pounds indeed! This one I shall definitely follow up on. And please don't tell anyone else, since I have been warned:

TAKE NOTICE: That you are warned to stop further communications with any other person(s) or office(s) different from the staff of the State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs to avoid hitches in receiving your payment.

Oh Nigeria!

Knocked out of the World Cup, and still churning out the spam-scam e-mails. Here's one I just got:

Hello  ,

I work with Oaks Court Chambers - United Kingdom. I got your contacts through the Office of Public Sector Information and Information Commissioner's Office.

There Is a possibility that you may be related to My late client, whom this Chambers owes a legal obligation. You may or may not be related to my client and If so, I will still workout the modalities of transferring heredity of his fund still under my custody at the finance house in Europe to you as Beneficiary

Could I indeed be in for a windfall? By viewing the headers 'inside' the e-mail, we gain an insight to the apparent route the e-mail has taken from sender to lucky recipient. Headers show details such as:

Received: from oaklawfirm@lawyer.com
    by imo-da03.mx.aol.com  (mail_out_v42.9.) id 3.c2d.7dc33f6f (55731);
    Wed, 7 Jul 2010 11:46:11 -0400 (EDT)
Received: from smtprly-de03.mx.aol.com (smtprly-de03.mx.aol.com

By tracing back the 'received from' IP addresses we can find the origin. However, there's a good online tool that simplifies the process. http://whatismyipaddress.com/trace-email will let you paste headers, and returns the geographic origin of the e-mail, thus:


Source:

The source IP address is 83.229.101.69.

Geo-Location Information
Country Nigeria

Permutations from the so called 'Group of Life'

So this is what it comes down to:

England win, USA win: Both qualify, and biggest winning margin finishes top.

England win, USA draw: England 1st, Slovenia 2nd.

England win, USA lose: England 1st, Slovenia or Algeria 2nd.

England draw, USA win: Slovenia and USA qualify.

England draw, USA draw: USA likely to qualify with Slovenia, having scored more goals than England, unless...

England draw 2-2, USA draw 0-0: means drawing lots.

England draw, USA lose: Slovenia 1st, Algeria 2nd.

England lose, USA win: Slovenia 1st, USA 2nd.

England lose, USA draw: Slovenia 1st, USA 2nd.

England lose, USA lose: Slovenia 1st, Algeria 2nd.

When volcanic ash settles

Feb 11 dome collapse,
photo Montserrat Volcano Observatory

Western Europe's current problem with volcanic ash echoes a recent Caribbean experience - the February dome collapse of the Montserrat volcano, which spewed ash over the eastern Caribbean islands of Dominica, Guadeloupe and even over to Barbados, cancelling flights, and dusting everything with ash.

'it really me'

I recently received what was obviously a 'Nigerian scam' type email; sadly it was a version of the scam which comes from a legitimate but hacked email address ('I was robbed in London, please wire me lots of funds to get home'), and because I've seen it before, I called the person to alert them that the scam was using their email address. So imagine my surprise when the person started an IM chat session with me...

xyz: hi xyz: i send you an email did you get it delphis_ltd: yes! xyz: it really me xyz: will you help me and send the money now xyz: or you dont have up to that amount delphis_ltd: of course delphis_ltd: please, can you send it again right now? xyz: what the email or the name and address to send the money to delphis_ltd: the email xyz: let me tell you hear xyz: am in United Kingdom now xyz: but i need some amount to pay for my hotel bill and ticket fees back home delphis_ltd: i know. i need the email again xyz: when i get to uk i get rob there so i loss my credit card and all my money delphis_ltd: to confirm your IP address delphis_ltd: so i can send the police to you delphis_ltd: but dont worry delphis_ltd: i got your IP from the first e-mail. and the others you've sent delphis_ltd: so i can trace you nicely xyz: for what delphis_ltd: fraud delphis_ltd: how's Denmark? (note: the IP of the email traced back to Denmark) xyz: wat did you mean by fraud delphis_ltd: ;) delphis_ltd: i spoke to mr xyz on the phone yesterday delphis_ltd: but keep talking, please delphis_ltd: because i'm tracing you delphis_ltd: hello?

I must confess the 'it really me' nearly had me convinced. Just another good reason to change your email account password on a regular basis, and make sure the password recovery options are as strong as your password.

Almost Shakespearean

Seen on the instructions for use of a rechargeable flashlight.

"Be not to use a product to damage but cause correctly, burn, do not belong to column of guaranteeing to keep in good repair."

Verily.

My blog tag cloud

The above is an image of my tag cloud of words used in my blog, courtesy of a nice site Wordle.net.

In The Gardens

I realised what Dominica's Botanical Gardens is missing: water. Considering we so often have too much, our Gardens has no water feature, unlike St. Vincent's Botanical Gardens, which to me is one of the highlights.

20 years ago today: Hurricane Hugo

My first experience of a major hurricane was 20 years ago this week: Hurricane Hugo, a massive Category 4 storm which passed over Dominica on the night of 16-17th September 1989. I'd been in Dominica just two and a half years, and lived at that time in a front-row seat to witness a  passing tropical storm: within spitting distance of the sea.

My light-hearted account of that weekend of rum, pool and water can be found here. But a far more descriptive account of the power of that storm from the unique perspective of the hurricane hunter is here,

Pyroclastic flow in Tyres Ghaut, Monserrat

Pyroclastic flow in Tyres Ghaut
Originally uploaded by Montserrat Volcano Observatory

An awesome photo from the Montserrat Volcano Observatory, taken in December 2008. Though there's a suggestion that the volcano may be quieting down, this photo is a stark reminder of how active it was recently. See more at http://www.flickr.com/photos/mvo/

Step it up

I was watching, as I do once in a while,  'How It's Made'. This episode detailed the complex process involved in manufacturing an escalator. Which made me wonder about Dominica's only escalator - the one at Astaphans supermarket. I don't think I ever saw it operating, and if it did it was only for a very short while. As such, it needs to be added to the list of Innovations That Never Made a Mark On Dominica. Right next to traffic lights and water fountains.

Next week's featured white elephant: Dominica's lost elevators.

Surf's up!

Surf's up!
Originally uploaded by Steve_Mc

There's something slightly bizarre to be flying nonchalantly towards a major hurricane. Of course it's almost 350 miles over the horizon, but still, I'm no hurricane hunter, and the plane was heading home to Dominica - and in the direction of Hurricane Bill.

On the ground though there is hard evidence of the proximity of a Category Four storm. I'm not talking about the now standard panic-driven exodus of Ross University students at the airport (god help us if there's ever a real natural disaster here, they'll be the first to flee; Médecins Sans Testicles).

No, real evidence of the massive storm to the north-east was right there as soon as you touched down at Melville Hall - the pounding surf all along the east coast of Dominica. Lots of surf, and coast roads awash with debris. Welcome to the hurricane season!

On the lip of the volcano

On the lip of the volcano
Originally uploaded by Steve_Mc

I recently climbed the La Soufriere volcano in St. Vincent, as part of my informal 'Caribbean volcanoes' series of hikes (see my St Kitts hike).

I have to say: it's impressive. It took about 90 minutes to the top in a gradual climb, initially through rainforest typical of what I'm used to in Dominica. Closer to the top the vegetation clears to become more open, and underfoot it's loose volcanic 'scree'.

And then you're on the lip of the volcano, and a mighty breeze continually hints at the sheer drop on the other side. The view is stunning - the wide crater, the lava dome dead centre, the razor-thin ridge leading off to the south, the steam rising from the side of the dome. All you expect (and hope) of a near-dormant volcano.

Across the crater you can see the trail, and where it goes down, on a rope, into the crater, for the brave only.

We were blessed with generally clear skies and surprisingly, a good mobile signal.

All in all, a highly recommended hike.

Happy Planet Index misplaces Caribbean islands (and is a less happy report because of it)

I'm not Happy. The recently released 'Happy Planet Index' report placed Costa Rica at the top. In previous years, Dominica also placed highly (In a previous report, 2006 I think, we were the 4th happiest place in the world).

So I eagerly downloaded and perused this year's report. Not one mention of Dominica. And in fact, not a mention of other small Caribbean islands. No Barbados, no Antigua, no Greneda. Not even a Caricom or regional grouping that I could find.

Now we're often overlooked because of our size, but we're still a nation state and a UN member (even if we don't always pay our fees on time). But to omit us (and our neighbours) somewhat misses the point. We satisfy all the criteria for a deliriously 'happy' nation (low ecological footprint, high life expectancy, cheap rum, etc.). It's precisely because we're a small nation that we're so Happy.

In fact, if the Dominican Republic is such a Happy country (#2nd place, no less), how come so many of their nationals migrate to Dominica (by whatever means necessary)?

Lime: putting the customer first (but only before 3pm)

The local telecoms company, formerly known as 'Cable and Wireless', recently spent $400 million on a rebranding exercise that 'put the customer at the centre of everything they do'. Only they now close their customer service department an hour early...

"Cocaine fuelled my dasheen habit"

In a court report in today's newspaper, one Alice Esprit of Belles pleaded guilty to possession of cocaine with intent to sell. In her defence, the accused said she only sold the cocaine in order to get money to buy fertilizer to cultivate her 800 dasheen plants. She was fined $1,000 to be paid by September or spend two months in jail.

Back story: Dasheen is the "edible starchy tuberous root of taro plants". World dasheen prices are said to be at an all-time high. Belles dasheen, especially the coveted 'swamp dasheen', is highly prized and sought-after. Belles, a village in central Dominica, is ideal for growing the plant due to its high rainfall and cool temperatures.

'The Finest LIME FRUIT Plantation in the World'

According to the The Graphic newspaper of London, June 5, 1897, the limes produced in Dominica were declared by no less than a Royal Commission to be 'The Best Limes in the World'. And if that accolade wasn't enough, the renowned British Medical Journal declared at the time that 'the North Pole cannot be reached without Lime Juice'. And huskies, presumably.

The article, part of the recently released online British Newspapers collection at the British Library collection, goes on to describe Dominica, and especially its limes, in glowing terms.... The Boiling Lake is 'one of the most wonderful sights in the world'... 'a Lime plantation in full bearing is one of the prettiest sights imaginable...During the Lime harvest the fine ripe fruit is gathered by the native girls and brought into the central factory, where it is quickly deprived of its juice'.

Brithish Newspapers 1800 - 1900

6 months old

boy in a bath
Originally uploaded by Steve_Mc

Liam was six months old yesterday (Friday 12th June). Today he weighed in at 18.3lbs (8.3 Kilos)

Slideflickr

Easily create slideshows of your Flickr photos at Slideflickr.com

The Malfini

I was lucky enough to get this great shot of a Broad-winged Hawk (Buteo platypterus), known locally as the Malfini or Chicken Hawk.

Bin spin!

In an effort to put a positive spin on the bin-gate scandal, the Labour Party are rumoured to be giving away the 2,700 bins that cost the people of Dominica US$100 each. And changing their election symbol...

Bingate

In the tradition of naming any political scandal after Watergate, I'm hereby naming the great 2009 Bin Scandal 'Bin-gate'.

Trevor Johnson is clearly our Woodward and Bernstein.

But who is Tricky Dicky Nixon in our Bingate???

And are there any tapes?

National Bank: where 'pick up' is a valid address

The last time I queued in the National Bank of Dominica to get a bank draft, I asked: can I do this online? Order a bank draft, I meant, not queue. The cashier said 'Of course!' so that's what I did earlier this week. Went online and ordered the draft, being sure of course to check the 'pick up' option for the delivery method.

So I go into the bank to pick up my draft. It can't be found. Did I specify to pick up the draft when I ordered it? 'Of course!', I replied, 'I don't even have the address of the recipient!' They'll call me, they said, when they found it. 'And what about the cash I also ordered online', I asked? More internal phone calls. Seemed it was available to pick up, but the person whom one picked it up from wasn't available. I left the bank empty-handed.

But I did get a phone call from the bank. The draft had been mailed. After telling them to cancel it, I checked my copy of the order for the draft. Not only was 'Pick Up' specified as the delivery method, but the mailing address was filled with 4 rows of 'Pick Up'...

So now I'm going to have to queue a second time for the draft (and cash). National Bank of Dominica, you get 5 out of 10 for your online banking system (changing the error messages from Spanish would help improve that score), and a big fat zero out of 10 for your human 'interface' with the online system.

My Day In Court

I was in the High Court recently, testifying as an expert witness. This is what I learnt.

1) When testifying, always end an answer with "..., my lord". Avoid affecting an accent... 'me lud'.

2) If you're a defendent in a case, don't think leaving Dominica for England will get you off the hook. High Court judgments for damages in Dominica (and presumably other Caribbean islands) can be applied through the UK court system.

3) There are 3 types of damages that can be awarded: punitive, nominal, and compensatory. Together they can be substantial. You might want to come to a settlement (4 figures) rather than lose the case and get slapped with 6-figure damages.

4) As a witness, never leave the court house when you think you've finished testifying, unless you want to have to sprint across Roseau back to the Court... Leave when told. Don't go shopping.

5) If you're going to send a defamatory e-mail, don't send it from your own computer and/or e-mail account.

Backing up your DVD collection

I finally sat down today and tackled an issue that's been bugging me for the longest while: how to make a copy of my DVDs. Of course, here I must emphasise that the process I'm about to describe is purely theoretical, and if I ever employed it, it would be for 'fair use', personal backup copies of my own DVD collection.

So, what is the process?

1. Rip the DVD to your hard disk. This not just saves the files, but removes the copy-protection.
Tool: DVD Decrypter http://www.dvddecrypter.org.uk/

2. Burn the ripped DVD to a blank DVD
This is just copying the files (usually in a folder VIDEO_TS) to a blank DVD.
You can burn it direct using something like ImgBurn http://www.imgburn.com/

However, Dual Layers DVDs (as most movies are) will need to be shrunk first.
Dual Layer DVDs can hold up to 8.5gb; standard blank DVDs are Single Layer, storing just (!) 4.7gb.

DVD Shrink http://www.afterdawn.com/software/video_software/dvd_rippers/dvd_shrink.cfm will shrink your DVD by compressing it, and also allow you to remove items from the original DVD (such as foreign subtitles, and special features) that you might not want.

It can in fact burn the resulting shrunk DVD files straight to the new blank DVD.

And all the mentioned programs are freeware.

For other methods, see http://cybernetnews.com/2007/08/02/cybernotes-how-to-copy-a-dvd-movie/ or http://howto.wired.com/wiki/Copy_a_DVD

There's really no need to panic, but...

...according to a report just out, Dominica is set to trigger a tsunami which may kills 30,000 in Guadeloupe (but no estimate was given of deaths in Dominica itself).

The alarming alarmist study, conducted from the comfort of an armchair somewhere in the UK using Google Earth, reckons 'Devil's Peak' (where?) is set to collapse at any time, triggering a devastating tidal wave "...that would endanger residents and tourists on the island, a French territory." Possibly as soon as 'next week'.

In particular, the sequence of events necessary to threaten poor Guadeloupe would be a magnitude 7 or 8 quake, occurring at the end of a hurricane season. Or Next Week.

Having experienced our last 5.2 quake, I think the last thing we'll be worrying about after a 7 or 8 quake is any inconvenience we may cause poor Guadeloupe.

I don't know which is worse: the armchair scientist painting a Hollywood-style scenario, or the reporter dramatically renaming our mountain 'Devil's Peak' to fit in with the scary scenario. The mountain is actually named after a bird, not a demon.

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601086&sid=aW98jsGUIZWE&refer=latin_america

LIAT-related films

"3.10 to Yuma" was delayed out of Antigua
"Man In A Suitcase" might arrive the next day
"Flight of the Condor"  couldn't take of because of a cow on the runway
"Snakes on a plane" were pissed because they didn't get any in-flight snacks

Mrs Malaprop is alive and well and living in Dominica

Maybe it because we're an agricultural nation, but 'crying fowl' is a popular expression. But my new favourite Malapropism is: 'falling on death ears'...

Service No Longer Required

I cancelled my land-line today. The customer service rep asked me why. I said I thought their multi-million dollar rebranding from C&W to Lime was an utter waste of my money. She said I wasn't the only person to say so. But she still just put 'Service no longer required' in the 'reason for cancelling' part of the form...

If you don't like the new Facebook, fix it!

Sometimes we forget the whole point about using Firefox is that, with extensions, we can customise the surfing experience. The new Facebook 'design' is a good example; you can be sure that if others don't like it there will be an add-on to fix it.

Facebook Purity and Facebook Fixer can both be used to fix design issues with the new Facebook. Both are Greasemonkey scripts, so you'll need to install this first. But you'll be able to:

• hide annoying friends and their pathetic quiz obsessions
• hide the annoying 'Highlights' column

and much more.

Liam @ 3 months

Liam @ 3 months
Originally uploaded by Steve_Mc

Liam weighed in at 16lbs on his 3-month birthday.

When you imitate rather than innovate

It was purely coincidental, I'm sure, but at a time when Twitter is beginning to make serious inroads into the social networking sphere that Facebook had almost bumped MySpace out of, Facebook comes up with a 'redesign' that places more emphasis on the Twitter-like 140-character stream-of-consciousness, down to the twitteresque-image to the left of "what's on your mind?"

I can take it or leave it personally, even think 160 characters is better than Twitter's 140-characters. And one's Friends Feeds is an important part of Facebook, however you present it. But it might take more than copying Twitter to beat Twitter.

Still time for Dominica to beat them to it?

The Maldives have just announced they plan to be the world's first carbon-neutral nation... within a decade. When I first heard this some time ago, I thought Dominica, 'Nature island', Green-globe nation etc etc, should be aiming for this. Well it should be easier for a population of 70,000 versus one of 400,000 to do so? Especially with our own geo-thermal power on the cards within the next few years. One can live in hope.

PhotoSynthing Liam

Overheard in the bank...

It wasn't really overheard, since the patrons were quite vocal about it. And it wasn't exactly the slow service that people were complaining about, it was that the bank wasn't showing the cricket on their TVs!

Port Elizabeth, Bequia

Port Elizabeth, Bequia
Originally uploaded by Steve_Mc

I spent a few hours in Bequia recently. To get there, one takes the Bequia Express from Kingstown (EC$35 return, trip time 1 hour).

Respect the Morne Prosper carrot!

Overheard near a street vendor in Roseau:

"You think I don't know a Morne Prosper carrot when I see one?".

I would have loved to have heard the entire conversation!

Complex tasks

Customer Service anecdote #23

I'm after a good wall map of the Caribbean, so I head to the island's leading stationery shop. I look for maps but fear I'm out of luck, until the big Caribbean map on the wall screams at me "This is just what you want!"

I find an assistant, three in fact, because multiple assistants flock together.

"I'd like the map, how much is it?"
A debate ensues amongst them. It's more like an reverse-auction, because the price comes down from $60 to $30 but stabilises at $35.
"Great, I'll take one please".
"We don't have any".

Tell Me Why, #7

Why is it that (at least here) people like to write the number, then put the numeral in brackets after. For instance, I might write in this post that "It took just two (2) hours to get my car fixed today". But I wouldn't, because what would be the point?

I understand the rule that small numbers are spelled out, while large numbers should be expressed in figures. But why on earth do both? Hedging one's grammatical bets? I heard once it was about catering for those unfortunate not to be able to read - at least they'd be able to see the numbers. Great, that's really helpful for the illiterate. To know how exactly many, but not of what.

So if you see posters around town, defaced, with the numeral scratched out but the number word left intact, you might know who's responsible...

Random thoughts 301 & 302

I was watching Dr Who recently; the episode was set 2,000 years in the future. So imagine my surprise to see the aliens hiding out in bog-standard 20th century shipping containers. Perhaps it was a statement on the near perfect design of a container, but I don't think so.

Another pet peeve: how every film that involves a sword fight or indeed any kind of blade uses the same sound effect - that long metallic 'shhhhhck' of deadly steel being drawn out of a sheath. A special mention must be given to the otherwise good film 'Jumpers', in which Samuel L Jackson gently unfolds a cloth to reveal a knife - accompanied of course by the inevitable long metallic 'shhhhhck' of deadly steel...

Update: Great video on the topic here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yzbfuI0PMdA

e-Government in action

(...or should that be inaction?) I thought maybe the government website might have information on what's needed to register a birth, so I searched their website. All I found was How do I register Small Vessels?

Well, he is small and he does have a Call Sign, but I'm not sure if this is how I want him to start off in life...

UPDATE: it actually takes nothing more than filling in a form, showing ID, and paying $5!

Mobile Broadband is here!

Following the recent launch of Digicel's EDGE service, I've been looking forward to trying out the service. Originally a PC card was how EDGE would be used on say a laptop, but they now supply the elegant Sony Ericsson Mobile Broadband modem.

Installation is really simple. The device is USB, and requires a SIM card (with of course a data subscription). The software does allow you to set up a forwarding phone number, otherwise a caller gets a busy tone if your using the SIM in your modem. Note that the software defaults to ask for your card's PIN number, which is a good security feature (but can be turned off).

Connecting is quick; you do of course have to specify connection details. Performance is dependent on coverage - if signal is poor you'll get dial-up type connectivity, but overall I had a good experience with it. It also supports various networks: HSDPA, EDGE, UMTS, GPRS.

What's great about the concept is that it offers you an extra level of connectivity on the road (or even at home). Sure there are often several wi-fi hot-spots you can tap into at an airport for example, but you also have to be mindful of security considerations. And there are still places DSL hasn't reached yet, and for those areas this option is ideal. Or if you simply want to ditch your Cable & Wireless land line & DSL.

It would also be especially useful when roaming overseas - you should for instance be able to buy a SIM card with mobile broadband from a provider such as 3 in the UK.

I also liked how the modem will work on a Mac as well as a PC, and that the device can also be used as a USB drive.

Marks out of 10: 8

Sony Ericsson Mobile Broadband USB modem MD300: EC$399 from Digicel Dominica.

Liam

Liam
Originally uploaded by Steve_Mc

I'm happy to announce the arrival of baby Liam at 9:57am on Boxing Day (St Stephen's Day!), a healthy 7lbs.Both he and Mum are doing fine.

Check out his photos on Flickr.

Season's Greetings!

Happy Christmas to all!

Customer Care

If an e-mail to Customer Care at LIME (cuscare@cwdom.dm) bounces back as 'account is full (quota exceeded)', what does this tell us???

The black is back

Dominica beach
Originally uploaded by Steve_Mc

I was thrilled to find that the beautiful black-sand beach at Bout Sab near La Plaine is back. The last time I was there it was all pebbles and rocks. I guess we have Hurricane Omar to thank for this!

Getting the message out

Later this month, I'm going to want to broadcast a simple message to friends via all my social networking websites, and it's going to have to be from my phone to boot. So this is how it'll be done.

I'll MMS an e-mail from my phone to my account at HelloTxt.com. This site allows me to update multiple social network sites by sending just one message. I can either enter it on the site, or via an SMS or MMS message sent to the site.

So from one simple text message I can update my status on my Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, Tumblr, Plurk pages (and to many others such as MySpace, Bebo, Hi5 if I used them too).

Dr. Who vs Sensey costume: what scared you as a child?

I was talking with a friend about being scared as a child - hiding-behind-the-sofa or under-the-bed scared. What did it for me was Dr Who - Daleks especially freaked me out (until someone pointed out you could easily escape them by going up stairs).

For my friend here in Dominica it was Mas costumes, and the way scary Sensey-costumed men would just appear in the village around Carnival time. The best - and even I agree it's is a bizarre and spine-chilling image - was 'The Man Who Wore a Termite Nest on his Head While Playing an Accordion'. Apparently, villagers would hear his eerie dirge long before they saw him, which only added to the fear factor.

We're waiting, LIAT

No, not for luggage, but for them to reduce their fuel surcharge. Their Oct 15th announcement at http://www.liatairline.com/news/fuel_surcharge.html announces a $2.50 reduction, since fuel prices 'have stabilised at around US$100 a barrel'... Funny how slow people can be to change their price to the consumer in a downward direction (and I'm thinking of DOMLEC too).

Weather update

At 3:03PM on November 18 it's Sunny, 28.4°C, 40% humidity, and we've had 0mm of rain in the last 24h

$400 million lemon: LIME

'We asked you what you wanted...' said the press release from LIME, aka Cable & Wireless; I'm not sure how many people said 'spend $400 million rebranding'. Nevertheless, that's what we got, and the new company was launched here with a bizarre stage-show at Creole in the Park which many will remember simply for being badly lit. Oh, and for the free maracas given out (note to self, write a post soon about modern Cargo Cults).

Thing is, several years ago they rebranded to Telecommunications of Dominica (ToD), then had to un-rebranded after admitting none knew ToD and that C&W was a globally recognised brand. Well at least lots of people know what a lime is.

Already there are alternate meanings for LIME - Lousy Internet, Mediocre Everythingelse is one. But maybe LIMP is better:: Landline, Internet, Mobile, Profits

Cultural Gala

Cultural Gala
Originally uploaded by Steve_Mc

Held in the Botanical Gardens again. More photos

Flying the flag

"Newham Council commemorated the national day of Dominica on Monday (November 3) by flying the countrys national flag.

Mayor Sir Robin Wales and Deputy Mayor Councillor Christine Bowden joined Agnes Adonis, the Dominica Acting High Commissioner, fellow councillors and residents on the steps of the Town Hall in East Ham to mark the 30th anniversary of the nations independence.

It is the fifth year that Newham Council has raised the flag of Dominica alongside the Union Flag and the borough flag. It was the first local authority to do so.

Sir Robin said: We are proud that in Newham we have so many communities that live, work and play together. Our Dominican residents are proud of their nation and their flag and we are proud of them and their contribution to life in the borough.

During the celebration Dominica flags were waved by children from St Antonys School in Forest Gate and the national anthem was played. There were refreshments served in the Town Hall."

Full article

The George W Bush Presidential Library

As his time comes (too slowly) to an end, we are pleased to reveal the new George W Bush Presidential Library building. He said "it's great, it'll hold all my comics"...

Bouncing back

Getting back to normal
Originally uploaded by Steve_Mc

It's been only a weekend since Hurricane Omar side-swiped us, but some of the most badly affected places are already bouncing back.

The road from Soufriere to Scott's head was so damaged it was impassable, but by yesterday it was open again. Better still for the people of Scott's Head, electricity was also restored!

Lenny vs Omar

 

Two views of the road south to Scott's Head. Left - post Hurricane Lenny, 1999. Right, during Hurricane Omar 2008 (thanks Neg!).

Hurricane Omar passes

Roseau Bayfront looking south
Originally uploaded by Steve_Mc

Catching many by surprise, Hurricane Omar passed by, and like Lenny in 1999, side-swiped our west coast.

More photos: http://www.flickr.com/photos/dominica_steve/sets/72157608099422817/

Omar and Lenny

Hurricen Omar's west to east track reminds me of Hurricane Lenny in 1999 - the first to travel in that direction within the Caribbean. This view is of the main Scott's Head to Soufriere road just after Lenny.

Welcome to the first week of September

The peak of the Hurricane Season is the last week in August and the first week of September. A quick look at today's NHC Atlantic overview shows Gustav, Hanna (who can neither make up her mind what she is or where she's going), newly formed Ike (head north young man!) and 99L which may yet turn into Josephine...

The Rivers

The River
Originally uploaded by Steve_Mc

It's the rivers that set Dominica apart. When I fly over somewhere like Antigua I feel rather sorry for them: all those beaches but no cool mountain rivers to plunge into when things get too hot.

There are parts of Dominica I define by a relative lack of rivers - like that 'barren' drive between Loubiere and Soufriere. Even the drish West Coast around Salisbury - so often left black by bush fires in the dry season - is punctuated by some delicious rivers like the Macoucherie.

So when the weather is hot like now I can just look at a photo like this one and feel cooler.

Dealing with traffic police, Dominica-style

I walked past a group of police officers stopping every other vehicle near the Mahaut bus stop this morning. Many of course were bus drivers, who didn't take kindly to being stopped. The prize however went to HA107. When asked to pull over, he gesticulated. When the policewoman stood in front of his bus he slowed, but gesticulated more and waved his driving license. When she stood back, he drove off. She seemed nonplussed.

I must try that.

RIP Cluedo

RIP Cluedo: Hasbro have given it a makeover.

"Clue(do) now takes place in a mansion with a spa and a home theater where the rich and famous have gathered for some sort of in-crowd shindig. Military man Colonel Mustard is now Jack Mustard, a former footballer. The studious Professor Victor Plum is now a video game designer and dot.com millionaire. And the cook, Mrs. White, has departed in favor of child star Diana White.

Plus, the lead pipe has disappeared, replaced by a trophy. And the revolver is now a pistol."

Read more...

Favourite Fruit #1: Pawpaw

Papaya gets my vote as the King of Fruits. Not only is it delicious when ripe, but it's got to be one of the easiest seeds to grow.  The only drawback is that your pawpaw tree might be male, in which case it flowers but doesn't bear fruit. (Editor's note: wouldn't that make it the Queen of Fruits?)

And did you know 100g gives you 103% of your recommended Vitamin C requirement?

More on papaya on Wikipedia.

Pesky wabbits

This weekend saw the annual Rabbit Festival in Cochrane. One of the highlights are the Rabbit Races. I was hoping to get some good odds on a rank outsider but alas, there was only one race and I missed it.

It wasn't, apparently, a race in the normal sense. It seems rabbits are not racing animals (no? ah, that's the hare), so the 'race' involved the rabbit jockey holding his animal and moving according to squares drawn out of a hat (no reports of a rabbit appearing out of the hat).

Anyway, it was still a fine afternoon (if you weren't stuck in the traffic jam). And rabbits make better dishes than dashers...

Photo: top - winner. Bottom - loser.

Four Seasons

The four seasons of Dominica are:

Hurricane Season
Wet Season
Dry Season
Mango Season

Little disturbance, big storm

I had been thinking of blogging about the singular lack of any electric storms this year so far. Until yesterday. A night of distant thunder turned into a morning of violent thunder and lightning, and some really heavy rain. One strike hit close and left the village without power for 15 hours. And it wasn't even a tropical disturbance!

'Don't panic, it's a Pandemic!'

Seen in a Roseau (Chinese) store - the Pandemic Water Heater.

Comes with Legionnaires Disease pre-installed?

Photo to follow ;)

DiveFest canoe race

DiveFest canoe race day.
Originally uploaded by Steve_Mc

Another fun DiveFest Carib Canoe Race.

Evening Market

I always thought going to the Roseau market was about getting up at an ungodly hour, on a day (Saturday) that one should be getting up at a definitely godly hour.

But recently I've discovered that, on Friday at least, the Roseau Market never sleeps. If you go around 8pm or later you'll find people have already set up their stalls, breadfruit are a-roasting, vegetable are fresh, and that staple of any visit to the market (whatever the time), the jelly coconut, is readily available.

Here's some weather!

t


This actually turned into Tropical Storm Dolly on the 20th July!

Dominica gets greener!

Last week's Budget had great news for those interested in alternative energy:

"Consistent with Government’s commitment to encouraging the use of alternative forms of energy, with immediate effect all duties on equipment to be used in the self-generation of energy from renewable sources will be removed."

Sepp Blatter is a w**ker

The more I think about Sepp Blatter's comments that Ronaldo is an example of 'modern slavery', the angrier I get. Since when does a slave earn 100,000 quid a week? And have his own agent?

Lets not forget the extensive allegations of corruption against Mr. Blatter. The only thing medaeval about the whole affair is Mr Blatter himself. Tell him directly via the FIFA website.

Gearing up for Dive Fest

This Friday sees the launch of the 2008 DiveFest. You can find out more here or check the official DiveFest blog here. The big question is: will I be in a Canoe Race team? Tis too soon to say!

"Orange, Julia?"

"Orange, Julia?"
Originally uploaded by Steve_Mc

I've seen this butterfly before, but this time I made a concerted effort to find out what it was. One useful site as a last resort is WhatsThatBug.com

Best Firefox add-ons

My favourite Firefox 3 add-ons:

1. dragdropupload
No more browsing for files such as attachments - just drag into the form!

2. FoxyTunes
Control your music software (like iTunes) from Firefox. Cool 'Now Playing' Signatures feature too.

3. Web Developer
A must for a Webbie.

4. Back to Top
A Top (or Bottom) of page button for Firefox.

5. ColourfulTabs
Enhance your tabbed browsing with cute colours.

6. AdBlock Plus
Ditch the tired 'You are the 1,000,000,000 visitor' banner ads.

Good luck getting Firefox 3 today!

Firefox made today a 'everyone download Firefox 3 and help us set a new world record in downloads'. So it was no surprise that their website was so overloaded with traffic it crashed. I'm glad I got did my download a couple of days ago!

More on the whaling issue

"Every year the Japanese hunt and kill 1,200 whales and it defends its position at the IWC. With an increasing number of countries, including many in Latin America, Asia and Africa, opposing the unjustified killing of whales, Japan is outnumbered. So, it set out to recruit small countries to join the IWC as supporters in exchange for giving them fisheries facilities.

Over time, these mostly refrigerated storage units, have become white elephants. They sit on the shores underutilised, and not serving the fishing community which lacks the capacity to catch the amount of fish necessary to fill them. They may have served a purpose at the time of their establishment when the governments of these small states pointed to them as indicators of investment in their small and less well-off fishing communities. Today, it is clear the fishing communities would have done better if investment had been made in improving their capacity to fish with bigger boats and more modern technology by giving grants or very low interest loans.

Many of the countries that Japan recruited to bolster its position in the IWC cannot afford to join other international organisations that are of importance to them or send delegations to meetings. Yet, they have somehow managed both to meet the cost of membership of the IWC and to send vociferous delegations to its meetings."

Read more...

Help Fix Facebook

Remember the old days of the Net when Dominica wasn't listed in many drop-down country lists? I had to send many irate emails to webmasters.

In using Facebook for our Dominica page, about the only City/Town allowed is Roseau. This of course is simply Not Good Enough. For example, I'm trying to add event info for the Cochrane (Pesky) Wabbit Festival. But no, it's not being held in Cockrane, Alabama.

So I urge everyone to go to http://www.facebook.com/help/contact.php?show_form=region_request to request Facebook add our major towns and villages!

So far, I've added:

Cochrane
Scott's Head
Soufriere

A define 'No' to commercial whaling

A couple of days I blogged that Dominica will be abstaining at the forthcoming IWC vote - a major shift in position after years of supporting Japan. A quote from Prime Minister of Dominica, Roosevelt Skerrit, is even more emphatic:

“In common with most of our Caribbean neighbors, Dominica remains strongly in favor of the sustainable use of marine resources,” said Roosevelt Skerrit, Prime Minister of Dominica. “Our stringent environmental practices and philosophies have earned us the label, ‘The Nature Island’ and, upon careful review and deliberation of the issue, it has been determined that voting for an overturn of the existing worldwide ban on commercial whaling would be inconsistent with the standards and principles of sustainability that we so fervently advocate.”


----------------
Listening to: XTC - Seagulls Screaming Kiss Her, Kiss Her
via FoxyTunes

Deadly fat

I was shocked to read just how deadly hydrogenated vegetable oil (also known as trans-fat) is. No more for me!

Dominica says a definite 'maybe not!' to whaling!

Great news: our Prime Minister today announced that Dominica will abstain at the annual IWC vote on the resumption of commercial whaling.

This follows 10 years of siding with the Japanese on the issue. Many people have questioned the official Government position that Dominica has for so long taken on whaling; our whale watching industry has a huge potential with one of the best success rates in the region, and it's also been hard to square the whaling stance with our desire to be seen as a leading eco-tourism destination.

It'd be nicer to have a more definite 'no' on the issue but for now abstaining is a huge step in the right direction.

castle bruce beach

castle bruce beach
Originally uploaded by Steve_Mc

And they say we don't have any beaches...!

Sensible Units!

Here's a relatively useful but fun site: http://www.sensibleunits.com/

It takes a quantity with a scientific unit and turns it into several quantities with sensible units, like elephants, buses and Great Walls of China.

Scam alert: Forum on Human & Community Development

I received another scam/spam for a dubious conference:

International NGOs’ Forum on Human and Community Development Financing.
August 4-9, 2008: Seattle, Washington, United States.
August 11-16, 2008: Birmingham, United Kingdom.

How do I know? Tracing the send of the e-mail, it was sent from Togo, West Africa! It appears to be sent from the fully legit cantercorporation.com

Flickr tip

Here's a tip for Flickr users: adding date-taken-calendar/ to the end of your photostream shows a cool month calendar of photos taken that month! Try this...

Banana fights

There's been lots in the news recently about the ongoing spat between various banana organisations here. It seems that the long-standing official body the D/a Banana Producers (DPBL) and the Fair Trade farmers organisation have been at loggerheads for ages.

Thing is, Fair Trade would seem to be the way to go, more even than organic. (In fact, this article debunks the myth that organic is good for you, and for the environment.) UK Fair Trade bananas have gone from sales of £7.8 million in 2000 to £150 million in 2007; we have to embrace it and stop the infighting.

And as a footnote, this article highlights another 'banana war' going on - between UK supermarkets.

See also fairtrade.org.uk

Fighting spam... again

Recently I discovered to my horror that tons of spam had been sent 'from' my address. I knew this because my in-box had 1,500 bounced back messages. The trouble with this kind of spam is that it's impossible to report since bounce backs don't have the headers of the original spam. I did trace the hosting company of the link seen in the SPAM e-mail, and that after I sent off an irate e-mail to the China-based hosting complaint the spam did slow down. More to do with the 'natural' cycle of spam than my e-mail I think.

Normally any spam I get I report: I view the message source, copy, and paste into my Spamcop.net account. I knew there must be a plug-in to automate this, and there was. I started with the Habu add-on, but have since gone with the KnujOn.com plug-in from secondwheel.

In fact, the easiest way to report spam to Spamcop is simply to forward the mail to the unique e-mail you get when you sign up!

fantasy league champ

fantasy league champ
Originally uploaded by Steve_Mc

After a grueling 9-month campaign, I win Channel 4 Fantasy Football League.... again!

Final stats:

Overall points total
Steve 501
Simon 496
Liz 478
Wendy 466
Harry 445
RJ 390
Andrew 312
Dan 307
Tony 296

Best 3 months
Steve 214
Wendy 213
Simon 204
Liz 195
Harry 190

Months Won
2 Steve, Simon, Liz
1 Harry, Wendy, RJ