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

Peace and quiet

When you hear the words 'perfect' or 'the best' it makes you feel like a million dollars. Human nature is weird, a simple compliment can turn a whole story into a week of joy! And, yes, I am speaking about the Sunday night popcorn! Apparently, tonight was exceptional. I hope the rest of the week translates into 'perfect'. The horrible news of the deaths of two cyclists over the weekend came as a real shock. We both know a number of people who cycle for good weekend sport and to hear of Joe Brown being killed in an accident was truly heart-rending. When we heard of the accident we started to think of all the people we know who cycle and just hoped it might be somebody we did not know. Is this how it works, you hope that it's not someone you know, what about all the people who actually know the person? Truly a sad day! RIP Joe and Joanna! The issue of cycling and motorists is one that every country I am sure goes through. Is it that the main roads are for...
Post a Comment
Read more

Keith Noel RIP

Today will always be remembered, as it is the anniversary of the last time I saw my good friend Keith Noel. On this day in 2005 at around 8.00pm, we told Keith goodbye after we had a lime at a local bar, the following day was Corpus Christi, a public holiday. The next morning at around 4.00am I received a phone call informing me of Keith's murder. My life changed, our lives changed as my life partner and I became heavily involved in trying to make a meaningful change as to how we lived here on the Rock. Our children were involved, our eldest son was Keith's good friend as were many co-workers and friends of Keith Noel. Keith's murder was classed as no. 136 on the police files. During our awareness and petition campaign, we were called names by many people who obviously disagreed with what we were doing. I guess the success of the movement, then called the Keith Noel 136 Cmt, created quite a concern amongst those who should have been concerned. Keith would have been 55 ye...
Post a Comment
Read more

'Teacher Lucy'

May Day is significant both as a spring festival in the northern climes and of course as the International Labor Day. The latter was started in the 19th century by the communists and socialists and strangely enough in commemoration of an event in Chicago. May 1st on the Rock is just that May 1st. Within recent times a couple trade unions have recognized the day but our big labor celebration is on another day. On the Rock, you get to celebrate Labor Day twice and get paid for it. The dreaded SEA examine is happening this week and if you somehow forgot one is reminded by the number of photo-ops taken by persons of import. These persons visit schools hand out 'SEA packs' (consisting of pens, pencils and other trinkets), call for all God's best wishes on the poor children and to me scare the hell out of these kids who are about to sit an exam that will mark them forever. The SEA is as bad as it gets and to further stress the kids is simply not something that should ...
Post a Comment
Read more