Skip to main content

Charles Babbage



Mark Zuckerberg, Bill Gates, Steve Jobs and a British mathematician named Charles Babbage are all responsible for how we communicate today. Who is that Babbage guy? Unheard of in modern history but as important to the wild world of the digital age as any of the other crazies. Good thing he stayed with the 'B' and did not move onto the 'C'. Without a computer and all the info one can access at a click we would be hard-pressed to communicate with each other. Who remembers 'Air Mail' letters rather than by 'Sea Mail'? I must admit its still quite a thrill to open your mailbox and pull envelopes out, but only to find bills and more bills, bank statements and dumb flyers. My life partner received a number of glossy Financial Reports, posted from Canada, the other day and we looked at each other, why? What a waste, from a Canadian company!
Anyways in case, you were not in tune with what exactly happened in our myopic world in the past, today in history Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier by being the first African American to play at a major league professional baseball game. If we have African Americans is it then we have Caucasian Americans? Somehow the network news is never about a 'Caucasian American' but always about an African or Latin or god forbid a Native American but never ever about a 'Caucasian'. Hey, why worry!
Also today in history old Abe Lincoln died as a result of an assassination, (strange how many Presidents have been killed in the line of duty in the free world) and of course the biggest deal in history the sinking of the good ship Titanic.

In the quiet valley of Moka, Maraval we had heavy rain today which was a blessing, delaying the dry season bushfires once again. Yesterday, running across the lawn was a baby iguana, brilliant green, scampering up one of the bushes in the yard. We only hope our new addition, Bonnie from Williamsville, does not find out what is going on in the yard and revert to wolf-like carnivore mode.

Our PMOTT, when in Opposition used the phrase 'Playing smart with foolishness'. I thought what a line, I had wished I had actually coined that phrase. Poor guy, I think this has come back to haunt him. Maybe he never thought for a minute he would have been surrounded by people who have actually made this saying a reality. What has happened? Every single Ministry under this PMOTT is in a shambles. Education, Finance, Energy, Security, Works, AG, Tourism, Sport, Housing and how many Ministries have nothing to show after 2 1/2 yrs in office. There is zero plan, no vision, nothing to look forward to.

My favorite topic is, of course, the ferry service between the islands. The only reason the current Minister of Ferries, who strangely enough is not the Minister of Ferries, makes the statement that Tobago requires three ferries, is because he has no idea how many vessels would be operating at any one time. If he had his way we would have five vessels, in case one or two breaks down.
Officialdom somehow finds its way into everything, including the reestablishment of a ferry service that was decimated by stupid decision making by none other than the PMOTT. The people of the Rock have suffered throughout the debacle of 'Red and Ready' nonsense when it comes to the ferry service being fed a diet of Ministerial and Cabinet gross incompetence. There is no other way to describe it. Having a pastor bless the ferry, a welcoming party, and the usual political shenanigans make no difference to the people who have lost their proverbial shirt to the incompetence of this 'playing smart with foolishness' government.

Its Sunday night and tomorrow we will be dealing with school traffic why I may ask, but this is the reality of the Rock. It's weird that we accept things without question, maybe that is our saving grace and yet our single biggest downfall.

People of the Rock, don't forget that Jackie Robinson changed the professional baseball league forever, a human rights issue. Colin Robinson, no relation, is attempting to do the same on the Rock!

Good Sunday night to you all, imagine a productive week, and good luck!




Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

'apology' expression of regret at having caused trouble for someone

Today Trinidad and Tobago was on fire. The discussions on the 'apology,' discussions on the status of the Parliament, everybody is now a certified meteorological expert reporting rainy season rain, people were out and about being very assertive about things that many of them did not really understand. Heat in the place! The statements being made, which caused the 'apology' to then be made, were being said, I think, without really understanding who we are as a people. This is 2017 and we still are having trouble in coming to grips with many social and historic issues that strangely enough are being discussed every day in many places and yet it is only a problem depending on who makes the statement. Let me say that the statement that was made was, even though to many factual, however it rubbed people the wrong way. This is where I have a problem. You read columns written by certain persons that under no circumstances will offend any sector of the society. That same posi
2 comments
Read more

'the bongo night'

She looks at me and says ' you know what night it is?'. I immediately think of 'the bongo night' and she says 'it's Sunday that means popcorn'. So much for 'bongo'. Love the tropics, it is dark by 6.30 and will be light by 6.00am. This is good for ones being, the daylight and nighttime are more or less equal, good balance. We attended a showing of yet another brilliant artist, Abigail Hadeed, whose work spans decades. Her photography is exceptional and her current show ' the Weight of Water' at the 'Y' is something not to be missed. We are a truly talented people, only 1.3m of us yet we can produce world-class works of art. This is why we are very special, very special indeed. I see the great country of America is having their 'midterm' election.  Why should this be of any import for a small island like ourselves? Well for starters I think there is an equivalent Trini population living in the good ole USA. Depending on h
Post a Comment
Read more

'aghhhhhhhh'

This week has me feeling so down about the rock and what really is our future. I have always considered myself to be Mr. Optimistic. Things would be bad, sometimes downright terrible with little or no hope and I would be there battling it out. The hard part is our present and future position is all man made [excuse the gender] and it seems that no matter what we do, how we vote, who we put our trust in, it somehow ends up bad. In 1956, the hope was there, a mass appeal, in 1986 it returned and was destroyed by 1990, in 2010 432,026 electors voted for the Peoples Partnership, in excess of 60% of the population. By 2015 a lot of the love disappeared and we found ourselves in a position of no-where once again. I use these years because the popular vote was there, the majority voted overwhelmingly for the winning party. Even though the winner in 1956 did not win by any semblance of a majority, over 80% of the electorate cast their vote. It is interesting to note that in 1956 the PPPG
1 comment
Read more