At its finest – human stupidity

Take a good look at the car in the photo*. No, no… look closer. Still closer. You see it yet? You missed it, didn’t you?

Look at how that car is smashed to pieces. A whole big chunk of hardened steel – the engine – in the front is literally smashed in, pushed with such force that it crushed the two front seats into nothing.

What’s my point? Well, can you think that the manufacturers of this car, in their safety tests, imagined this type of damage? Or that it was reproduced in their tests at all? I seriously doubt it. I can imagine the manufacturers (Mitsubishi) watching a photo like this and wondering how in all Heavens did the driver manage to do such damage?

It’s speeding and stupidity, nothing else. Well, the former arises from the latter, I suppose, so it all boils down to human stupidity in one of its finer moments. As harsh as it may seem, I feel no sympathy for the driver of the car – he took himself out in spectacular fashion, a Darwin Award winner. He’ll be a footnote in history inside of a month. To the other victims, I extend my condolences.

It comes back to what I always say about the Rock. The citizens exemplify human stupidity on so many levels, I can’t even begin to describe. And it’s always the innocent who pay the price, sad to say.

* (courtesy Nigel Stewart, sourced from the Express)

When jackasses sing…

all I hear is ‘hee haw’.

This is the case with ‘Brother’ Harrypersad Maharaj, head of the Inter-Religious Organisation (IRO). In saying that he (and the IRO) condones marriages of girls from ages 12 (Muslim faith) and 14 (Hindu faith), he comes across as a paedophile... which is itself both surprising and not surprising, because like a good Catholic priest takes a vow of celibacy, so has ‘Brother’ Harry, being a member of the Raja Yoga faith.

He is not alone. Sat Maharaj of the Sanatan Dharam Maha Sabha (SDMS) has also given the green light, under the enlightened wisdom of the ages where ‘evidence’ of arranged child marriages ‘worked’ as there were no divorces, despite husbands beating their underage wives like lathi* beat rice. I suppose sometimes they even used said lathis. Incidents of paedophilia are not unknown, in fact are quite rampant in the Caribbean and Trinidad and Tobago in particular.

Others have adequately dealt with the braying jackasses, but I wish to offer another view.

As activist and women’s rights champion Verna St Rose-greaves quite rightly pointed out, Trinidad and Tobago is signatory to several International Treaties including the Convention for the Rights of the Child and the Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination Against Women. These directly contradict the laws of TnT on child marriages.

There are those who will argue that local law (statute) trumps treaties. Nothing is further from the truth. The moment TnT became a signatory to these treaties, that meant that the country agreed to update its domestic laws to meet the requirements of the treaties. In other words, Trinidad and Tobago placed itself in the position of having to take positive steps to meet the requirements and honour the rights of women and children.

Failure to do so can be challenged in court, by any one of those child brides. And I shudder to think of the compensation avalanche to follow.

The evidence of the ‘Coo’

Yesterday, there was a daring prison break in Port of Spain. When the gates were opened to let a prison transport van through, some men ‘in Muslim garb’ ran through with weapons and a grenade (allegedly the one in the photo to the left) and three prisoners absconded in a vehicle which later crashed in the vicinity of Port of Spain General Hospital (PoSGH).

The three prisoners Hassan Atwell, Allan “Scanny” Martin and Christopher “Monster” Selby then ran into the hospital forcing staff to flee and others to lock themselves in.

This video was taken by a bystander from outside the hospital grounds. You can clearly hear a barrage of shots.

Election prediction

Unbelievable

I’m a bit astounded this morning. I know when there is wrong doing, from captain to cook – or in this case, CJ to Judicial Support Officer (JSO) – cover their arses.

In case you still haven’t gotten it, I’m referring to the situation where attorney Mark Seepersad found a box of files in his office which he shared with Gerald Ramdeen – he of the copy and paste prisoner injury cases fame.

It seems Judicial Support Officer (JSO) Ms Asha Harripaul left a box of confidential files belonging to the Registrar of the Supreme Court with Mr Ramdeen… which she does not deny.

Harripaul said: “I then took the box and asked Mr Gerald Ramdeen if he would keep the box at his office for me until I get a desk so I could put the stuff back.”

I’ve never, ever heard that it was normal or okay for an attorney to keep confidential files belonging to a Court at his private office. Any sane or honest attorney would immediate point out the unethical nature of this and refuse outright. Oddly, and I personally find this to be the more suspicious bit:

The documents found contained letters and copies of Notices of appeals with respect to two matters that were heard and determined by Justice Peter Rajkumar, correspondences and Notices in relation to Civil Appeals and correspondences in relation to the status of notes of evidence.

Other court documents found included prisoner litigation letters. All of these were lodged in the personal office of the Registrar.

Given that Gerald Ramdeen was involved in several cases where he sued the state on behalf of prisoners, and in all of said cases the statement of injuries were identical, I find it more than a little suspect that he has in his possession said files from the Supreme Court. What are the prisoner litigation letters, and judge’s notes doing in his possession? Are they related to his cases, or to the investigation currently on-going (supposedly) into the copy and paste cases? Were they tampered with? There is no way to know, is there?

I wonder if Ivor Archie will think it is okay for client files from his office to appear in the home of… let’s say Anand Ranmlogan, while Ramlogan is suing the State on behalf of those same or similar clients? Do you see the idiocy Archie is perpetrating on the public?

Of course, Ramdeen merely states he “knows nothing about documents belonging to judges” and the matter is dropped. Me, I have some serious doubts, given the number of suspicious and possibly illegal situations he has found himself in. Is this a merely a ‘conspiracy theory’ of mine? Of course not. In T&T, the corrupt nature of people is the norm rather than the exception, so I can fully believe this.

Ms Asha Harripaul now conveniently has left the judicial service. The situation is not explained satisfactorily but the matter is now closed. The public is expected to swallow a toad without choking. And life goes on…

What I have….

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Does it really need an explanation?

Revisiting Grief

Dana Seetahal is dead, slaughtered like a cow at an abattoir, and a whole country is in shock. But why?

Is it because the killers were so ‘bold’ as to kill a ‘big name’ Senior Counsel, a hereto ‘untouchable’, out-of-bounds lawyer, a member of the judicial system? Because she was famous in a small Rock floating in the ocean?

But killing Dana Seetahal is not as big a deal as everyone thinks it is. It’s ‘just’ another slip down the sliding pathway to anarchy. A thumbing of the nose at the ineffectual police service, the Government, the country at large, and yes, the rule of law.

I’ve not commented on this for the self-same  reason I am now visiting this topic. I was marvelling at the short-sightedness of the ‘authorities’ and indeed, the entire country.

Murder most foul has been happening in all its gruesome forms there for ages. From beheadings to stabbings, to shootings… Dana Seetahal was killed almost mercifully. Perhaps it is a blessing in disguise for her family, and indeed her that those bullets took her life almost instantly, with minimal suffering.

Contrast this to the Ramsahai cousins who were tied with barb wire and burned alive while locked in the trunk of a car. Or Neeshad Ali who was killed by someone sawing away at his neck until his throat, including his trachea and blood vessels, were cut all the way through – it takes a special kind of disturbed animal to bring that level of butchery into play.

I said before:

I admit, emotionally and mentally, I am not up to it. It’s like the Wild West gone wild again. The murders are cruel, nauseatingly so, and without rhyme or reason. The mental imagery brought in by the utter savagery is traumatising.

Grief though, we’ve seen before. Here, here, here … and we will continue to see scenes like these, because as I’ve said before, and will continue to say:

This is what you the people of the country, have chosen to live with…

I gone.

What the hell?

What the hell is that on the PM’s face? Was she ‘advised’ to paste it on?

Believe it or not?

The photos above are of Anna Kurkurina, a Ukrainian bodybuilder. Anna is a woman, with a body many men can be envious of.

A telling poll

Birmingham, England

 

 

Recently, Birmingham had its annual ‘Food Fair’ held in the city centre. Aside from the ‘usual’ foods of the world, (Caribbean means Jamaican by the way), there were some ‘novelty’ items like these burgers… hmm, curried goat burger, anyone?

 

 

 

 

 

Or how about ostrich burgers?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ukrainian woman, who speaks Russian, Ukrainian and English, drinking a Puerto Rican coconut served up by a Jamaican, in Birmingham, England… someone say ‘Cosmopolitan’?

 

 

 

 

On the other hand, The new Library of Birmingham - opening next week - is believed to be Europe's largest public library… is really ugly. One of the ugliest buildings I’ve ever seen.

 

 

That’s all, folks.

Of Enid Blyton

On my recent jaunt in Scotland, I remembered Enid Blyton. Many children grew up reading her fantasy tales of fairies, pixies, and other ‘magic folk’ but also her tales of English countryside and rural descriptions. On my visit to the Scottish highlands, I came across heather, gorse and an actual stile, all of which are mentioned in her stories but which I had never actually identified before.

Here are the photos, 3 of heather, one of gorse, and 2 of the stile:

 

Sugar

I'm sitting in Stratford upon Avon having breakfast.  I'm inside a small café. Outside,  less than 3 feet away,  and plainly viewable through the window in front of me is a family of four kids (boys) aged between 4 to 8 years. They are accompanied by grandparents and mother. 

As soon as they sat down, the mother put the kids at a table away from her and then gave each child about  3 to 4 sugar packs. The kind you find in cafés to sweeten your tea or coffee.

The kids are eating this sugar raw.  One is even eating the paper it is wrapped in. The grandmother is also unwrapping large lollipops.

State of the State

213 murders in 213 days.

Scotland tallest freestanding structure to be destroyed

Scotland’s tallest free standing structure, the Inverkip power station’s tower, will be demolished tomorrow (28th July 2013) using explosives.

The chimney, at 236 m (778 feet) contains contains more than 1.4 million bricks and 20,000 tonnes of concrete,  and is the third tallest free-standing structure in the UK.

Although built in 1970, due to the soaring price of oil in the 1970s the station was never commercially operated - except in 1984 and 1985, as a result of coal shortages.

I was lucky enough to view it recently, while it existed. The height of the chimney is awesome.

Loch Awe in early morning

A panorama of a small bay off Loch Awe from Scotland. Compiled from several photos, the finished panorama is a modest 17.5 MB in size.

World watch out–London is rocketing!

I predict it now – London is going to be even ‘hotter’ for business and standards of living, in about 5 to 10 years time.

The video below was made from some clips and photos I took when I was working in ‘the city’ a couple weeks ago. It was the peak of Summer – and a heatwave – just about the best time to see a big city come alive!

It’s so hard to recognised London these days, thinking about what it looked and felt like just 10 years ago.

High-dynamic-range imaging

This view of the bridge over the River Clyde in the city of Glasgow was taken about 7 PM, while I was walking to a Chinese restaurant called Jimmy Chungs, for dinner.

To get the details of the sky, I switched my Samsung Galaxy Note 2 (N7100) camera to HDR mode. Oddly enough, even though at 7 pm there is still bright sunshine, the dark contrast effect is because I was pointing the camera against the sun…

This is the same scene without the HDR mode.

“HDR methods provide higher dynamic range from the imaging process. Non-HDR cameras take pictures at one exposure level with a limited contrast range. This results in the loss of detail in bright or dark areas of a picture, depending on whether the camera had a low or high exposure setting. HDR compensates for this loss of detail by taking multiple pictures at different exposure levels and intelligently stitching them together to produce a picture that is representative in both dark and bright areas.”

Enjoy.

Some things about Scotland you may not know

The photo above is a panorama of the Scottish highlands, and lies on the way to Ben Lomond. It shows Loch Tulla in the valley. The Bridge of Orchy is under repairs.

The above shows a panorama of Loch Lomond at sunset. Loch Lomond is the largest body of fresh water in the UK, holding more volume than all the rivers and lakes of England and Wales combined… or so the guides said.

This photo shows the beginning of Loch Lomond, at Balloch. To the right rear of the building is a children’s play park and entrance to the hiking/cycling trails. The boat in the middle background is the Maid of the Loch, a paddle steamer that is currently being restored. Her ‘twin’ is the oldest steamer in active service, named after lawyer and writer Sir Walter Scott.

Loch Lomond is also known from a famous song, the chorus of which is very recognisable:

O ye'll tak' the high road, and Ah'll tak' the low (road)

And Ah'll be in Scotlan' afore ye

Fir me an' my true love will ne'er meet again

On the bonnie, bonnie banks o' Loch Lomon'

Wemyss Bay in early sunrise.

It was only when I visited Scotland that I began to see the rich (and I do mean RICH) history of the Scottish people. Listed below are some famous Scots and their accomplishments:

1. James Young                       Inventor of Paraffin (kerosene)
2. James Young Simpson      Pioneer of Anaesthesia
3. Robert Liston                       Pioneering surgeon noted for speed in surgical procedures
4. George Forbes                   Scientist and inventor of carbon brushes for electrical motors (still used today)
5. Sir Walter Scott                   Lawyer and writer
6. David Hume                         Historian, writer and noted philosopher
7. Robert Burns                        Poet
8. John Logie Baird                 Inventor of television
9. John Boyd Dunlop               Inventor (independently) of the modern rubber tyre
10. Robert W Thompson           Inventor (independently) of the modern rubber tyre

A more complete but still partial list of famous Scots can be found here.

Scotland Photos

Had a recent trip to Scotland and thought I’d share some photos.