Liam on Creole in the Park

Liam says there wasn't enough mud.

Liam in his new outfit

Liam with his Granddad

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.