Our stadium

New stadium
Originally uploaded by Steve_Mc

The new sports stadium was opened last night. I stood on the Morne and looked on from a distance at the start of the ceremony. With the wind blowing inland, I could hear it as if I was there.

The best part was the playing of the national anthem. Anthems are made for playing to crowds in national stadiums. It wasn't quite 'God Save The Queen' at Wembley - polite clapping at the end rather than 100,000 roars - but it's a good tune and stirring words. Words are important in anthems - Spain, please note!

Was I too harsh...?

Steve McCabe: hi
senior_advocate_nig5555: I am Chief Santos Ajala [ SENIOR ADVOCATE OF NIGERIA ]
Steve McCabe: lol
Steve McCabe: i bet you are
senior_advocate_nig5555: HOW R U ?
Steve McCabe: happy that you've made random contact
senior_advocate_nig5555: WHAT ?
Steve McCabe: i'm happy. you're giving me millions of dollars, right?
senior_advocate_nig5555: PLS WHAT R U TALKING ABOUT ?
Steve McCabe: doing business with you
Steve McCabe: can we?
Steve McCabe: please?
Steve McCabe: i have an inheritance i need to share

Lilapsophobia

Lilapsophobia - it has rather a nice ring to it. Lil-apso-phobia. Or Li-laps-o...

It's what many of us develop between June-November every year. One sign is an almost compulsive viewing of satellite images of the Atlantic & Caribbean (I've got a Widget that cycles through half-a-dozen different ones - IR, Visible, Atlantic Analysis - every 60 seconds).

It also involves compulsive hoarding: squirreling away gallons of water, batteries & candles. I also maintain a rigid spare trash bags policy.

Sufferers speak in tongues: ranting about latitude, shear, millibars, waves, categories... and often incant people's names (David, Andrew, Dean...).

And they are always the first to speak about their Depressions.

And if there wasn't a worrisome 'cyclonic circulation center near 19n36w to 13n42w to
8n47w' out there that I need to investigate throughly, I'd tell you more about this phobia!

Pointe Michel School cultural group

Pointe Michel School cultural group
Originally uploaded by Steve_Mc

A couple of years on, and I again chance upon a cultural group at Scott's Head and get a couple of great photos!

Dominica's independence celebration (Oct-Nov) is one of my fave times of year, especially when the planets align and you get national costume at a national park! More photos here

Stop wasting time...

(taken from wired magazine)

The Procrastinator's Clock

The Procrastinator's Clock (for Windows/Mac/web) is guaranteed to be up to 15 minutes fast. However, it also speeds up and slows down in an unpredictable manner so you can’t be sure how fast it really is. Furthermore, the clock is guaranteed to not be slow, assuming your computer clock is sync’d with NTP; many computers running Windows and Mac OS X with persistent Internet connections already are. So what will motivate you to be on time if you use this clock? FEAR, UNCERTAINTY and DOUBT! Use of this clock shows that, although your friends have created a separate timetable just to accommodate your legacy of tardiness, you really care about being on time. By assuming that the clock might actually be telling the correct time, you'll hopefully assume that that afternoon meeting is sooner than you thought and get back to work. Hopefully.

Fingerprinting

I noticed a flyer for a kiddie's party/event - possibly part of Police Week - where one highlight was children's fingerprinting. Elsewhere in the world, it would probably create a civil liberties outrage. Here, it may signal that this innovative new technology is being adapted in Dominica. The last time I looked at official crime-related statistics, there were zero crimes solved using fingerprint evidence.... But maybe it was just a typo for 'fingerpainting'!

Wimax down the line?

C&W's near-monopoly on Internet may not be forever here. Digicel - at least in Jamaica - are partnering with Wimax to bring wireless broadband.... more soon

Ad-free surfing

As a web developer, I know the value of advertising for web sites... but surfing without the ads is just delightful. I'm using the Firefox extension AdBlock Plus (it's free, of course) and being able to read an article without having to maneuver around the adverts is wonderful.

Lies, damn lies, and Wikipedia

I often turn to Wikipedia when starting research because, well, because it comes up high in a Google search so often.

But if the Wikipedia entry on Dominica is anything to go by, it needs to be taken with something of a grain of salt (note that I began with 'starting research').

Interestingly, the most wildly inaccurate section was Demographics. Perhaps because it was based on a non-existent 2003 census. And this section couldn't be edited.

I did get a laugh though at the Language section, because it stated the cocoy dialect was based on Creole and London Cockney. Laugh? I nearly ran up the apples and pairs to the old trouble an strife.

Do what, leave it out, knock it on the 'ead, mate.

Shame on the Marriott

A quick 'shame on you' to the Marriott chain of hotels who charge $11 for a day's worth Internet access while charging up to $225 a night for a room. I don't mind an 'EasyJet' low-cost, pay for add-ons approach, but to charge that for a room -get this - also charge for a support call when the service is down - is shameful.

I shoulda stayed at Antigua airport - choice of 4 FREE wireless networks!

A Kittitian volcano hike

Mt Liamuiga is St Kitts tallest mountain at 3,792ft, and a 'potentially active' stratovolcano with a very well defined crater that contains a lake which varies in size according to the season.

I went with Royston of Roystontours.com, who picked me up from the hotel and did a couple of side trips to viewpoints of the island en route.

The hike starts from the north of the island, so it's about an hour's drive from Basseterre. We drove up a track to about 1,000 ft, and started the hike from there.

It's a well defined track that just goes up for 75 mins - quite steep but no real clambering. If I was to compare with a Dominica hike, it's like Morne Anglais (without the part when you go down-hill before the part where you go uphill to the summit).

The vegetation is almost identical to Dominica's rainforest, a little less lush. We heard but didn't see some of St Kitts' famous monkeys.

At the top, there's a rock formation called The Devil's Tooth. Clamber partway up and there are some great views north towards the island Saba.

It is possible to climb down into the crater, or up to the pointy peak. We sat on the rim of the crater (at 2,861ft), ate the subways that Royton had kindly provided, took a breather, then descended - it took just an hour going down.

Al in all, a good half-day work-out on a beautiful Kittitian mountain!

See also http://www.peakware.com/peaks.html?pk=2174

"A burst of convection"

The National Hurricane Centre called it just 'a burst of convection' but that 'blob' on the satellite images gave us a night of torrential rain and a tremendous, violent thunderstorm that's still going on....

Felix goes from 1 -5 in record time

Just reading how Hurricane Felix has set a record for the fastest intensification of a storm.

"Hurricane Felix put on an incredibly ferocious burst of intensification last night, winding up into a small but potentially catastrophic Category 5 hurricane. Felix now holds the record for shortest time for an Atlantic storm to intensify to Category 5 strength. Felix required just 51 hours to reach Category 5 strength after it started as a tropical depression. That is a truly remarkable intensification rate, considering most tropical cyclones take 3-5 days to organize into a Category 1 hurricane. The tracking coordinates for Felix show that it has spent more of its life at Category 5 strength than any other classification."

How it happened

Just for posterity, here's how Hurricane Dean came and went.

Sunday 12th August: Tropical Depression 4 forms at 12N and 31W and though it's way out in the Atlantic, it is forecast to slowly strengthen and head in our direction. I do my first panic buying.

Monday 13th - Wednesday 15th: TD4 becomes Tropical Storm Dean. Given it's westerly speed (a quick 20MPH) I work out it'll pass over us Friday morning. The forecast path has it a little south of us, but it will be a hurricane by the time it reaches us.

Thursday 16th: We're now in a Hurricane Warning and people are sent home from work from the afternoon onwards. It's announced the power will be cut at midnight, and water will go from around 10pm. Otherwise, it's a normal morning in town.

Friday 17th: By 6am the winds & rain wake me. I debate staying in bed, but decide to give the house a once-over. I am freaked out to look out of the front window and see the big nutmeg trees all toppled over. I decide its time to get serious so I dress fully including raincoat, and make sure my essentials bag (camera, change of clothes, passport etc) is very close at hand.

I turn my small radio on to listen to local radio; the Roseau river is flooding, but specific facts are otherwise hard to come by.

Noted the huge drop in pressure whenever I dared open the front door to venture out.

Amazingly, the land lines are all working, but the cell service is 'Emergency Only'. I wonder how that will help.

6pm: It finally stops raining enough to think about venturing out to see what's going on in the neighbourhood. Branches down all over the road. Meet guys with chainsaws going to clear trees. See a high-tension power line down across the road a little up the hill; it could be some time before we get electricity back. Word is there are landslides below the village.

Saturday 18th: Grey, overcast, but generally dry. I take my first drive out of the village. Pass some small landslides that have been cleared. The breadfruit trees along the road are decimated. Stunned to see evidence of how high the Roseau river had been. The 7-11 shows bare sports on the shelves where the Crix and muesli had been. Town otherwise calm, electricity has been restored at least in the Roseau area.

In the garden, most of the fruits - avocados, grapefruit - have been blown off the trees.

Tuesday: Water comes back on. A proper shower, even if cold, is a treat!

Wednesday evening: the power is back! Astounded to turn on the TV and find Marpin bright & clear! I celebrate with a cold can of Guinness.

Final stats:
Sadly, two people died on Friday
Max winds in Roseau: 78MPH
My rain gauge overfilled, so it was 120mm+
Damage: $EC90 million.

Many thanks for all the support!

Returning to normal

yellow warbler
Originally uploaded by Steve_Mc

A week after Dean, I see the first Broad-winged Hawk since the storm. The smallest of birds - the hummingbirds, the Yellow Warbler - and the larger ones - heron, flycatcher, ani - were all back in evidence soon after the storm had passed. But the magnificent Hawk took it's time.

Actually, it was seeing a postman on Monday this week that I knew we were back to normal here ;)

Hurricane Tips

A week after Dean. The season is not yet at its peak. My limited internet access this last week has always started by looking at the Atlantic satellite image every day.

A friend has some good tips for handling a storm here.

I'd add:

1) If you've got a generator, make sure it's working
2) Unplug and bag all your computer equipment/electricals, and put somewhere safe - ideally off the floor but under a desk/table
3) Save & store all the water you can, esp. drinking water.
4) make sure the generator is working
5) charge all your rechargeable batteries, inc. your cell phone. The electricity is always shut off just before the storm, and you can count on it not coming back for a couple of days. Even as of today there are still areas without.


We were lucky to have had a full five days warning of Dean's arrival.

Storm chaser loves Dominica!

I feel honoured that a professional hurricane chaser came to Dominica... and loved it!

Dean +5

3pm - cell service restored.

7pm - electricity finally came back on.

10pm - a can of cold Draught Guinness was had.

Unsung Heros of Dean

A big two thumbs up (fuck it, how about 4 thumbs up!) to some of the unsung heroes of Hurricane Dean's passage through Dominica - all the guys with chain saws who got out there the same day to start the process of clearing up. I was walking through the village on Saturday evening and met one guy with a bunch of kids following him down the road, like a scene from the Pied Piper of Hamlyn.

Dean +4

Ah the bliss - water was turned back on yesterday. Still no power though.

After extensive analysis, here's my list of Top Fruit Trees That'll Weather A Hurricane:
Mango - sturdy as hell
Grapefruit - just loses all it's fruit
Avaocado - ditto

Top Fruit Trees That Fall Over
Breadfruit - it's the gangly basketball player on stilts of the lot, top heavy too!
Nutmeg - sadly, a featherweight
And if banana was a tree, it would be number one. Fortunately, in 12 weeks or so, they'll be back.