HAHAHA!

Barack Obama's amazingly consistent smile from Eric Spiegelman on Vimeo.

LOL, Barack Obama is a robot. But seriously, see if you can spot our very own David Thompson in the mix.

Pardon my paranoia

right, so I've always tended to be hesitant in believing what I see on tv, but I've stumbled onto this rabbit hole via a friend's facebook posting this morning and, true or not, it raises a very important issue, that of propaganda that we the masses are being fed by news agencies. It's a video that was apparently leaked to joe public sometime last month. (dont quote me on that)
Just a quick browse over this Charles Jaco's website gives me the impression that this guy's only too happy to fabricate embellish a story for a little exposure.

Recent years have seen me advocating the benefits of never taking a story at face value by going out there and always finding out for yourself. I think that the 'on location' footage above more than reinforces that necessity.
Even more disturbing about the questions that the video raises are indications in this website that seem to suggest PSYOPS involvement and pentagon 'influence' in media broadcasts at that time. It's all the makings of a riveting novel methinks.

ALL HAIL!! the might of the british empire!!

Just think, they ruled 1/4 of the world at one point.

Oh!,'Guide of the First of September Great Revolution of the Socialist People's Libyan Arab Jamahiriya', You so craazay!!

photo: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8272081.stm

Jesus, that's a long honorific.

yep Quaddaffi's in action, again. That's why we love you so at the house of T

................notes on living your life

Before i start this post I need to set a few things straight. It stems from a post I read over on knife tricks, which in turn was written as a review of V.S. Naipaul's A bend in the river that happens to highlight relevant points.

That'll do nicely.........

Congratulations are in order for local phenomenon Ryan Braithwaite Braffit (this is bajanisms after all).
Now I'm not normally one to get emotionally entwined with the hoo-ha associated with these types of celebrations, but, I will make an exception this time because of the 'obeah' effect that his performance had on a few notable bajans.

For instance we have C.O.W Williams who was overheard saying, "Man, ryan tek all of the pain out of my heart that the West Indies cricket team gimme."

I second that sentiment C.O.W....... wholeheartedly.

The icing on the cake for me, though, came when another popular local businessman, Ralph "Bruggadung" Johnson nearly broke down on camera with joy (?) at welcoming his fellow bajan home.(see below).



All in all, it was a welcome home entirely commensurate with the performance that he put down in Germany. I also thought he did quite well, given that he stepped off an 8-hour flight only to be whisked off on a 6-hour motorcade and presentation culminating in being forced to sit and listen to the likes of the rt. hon. David Thompson yammering for almost an entire hour.

I do have one question for 'Bruggadung' though, where the f@ck is "Bee-jing"?

THE END OF THE WORLD IS UPON US!!!!!

Ok, so maybe it's not the world you were thinking about, but still, it is pretty big news to most of us in construction.

I remember in the not too distant past a young lad was attracted by the bright lights of Dubai and the tales that his friends spun of streets lined with gold (well, maybe not the streets, but the ironmongery at least) and he would salivate anytime someone merely mentioned the term 'Burj', but then, wonder of wonders! opportunity knocked for our young QS and he went for a week, and what a miserable week it was!, strip-searched in customs as though he were a common criminal, and forced to learn what it means to be a non-arab in an arab's world. and let me tell ya' brother, it sucks!

Sure every analyst within the industry today says in the news "Oh! Well we've always known Dubai's development was going to be unsustainable", puh-leeze, didn't stop you from singing along at the top of your lungs when the music was still playing. I specifically remember the O'Dolan guy in a special on the beeb (or channel 4) ranting about how he and 2 other investors jumped in on the deal, bought a few islands and were poised to make a killing. poor fella.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying I would've done any better had I been in their shoes, but God knows I'm certainly glad it's not me and the only thing that's left after the bloodbath is a collection of 'buy-to-let-ers" with more white elephants than you can shake a stick at, and nothing but "woe is me" in their mouths.

Not to mention one less surveyor at risk of developing a stress-induced aneurysm.

Monkey see, monkey do.

found a video this morning that showcases a few other parallels between man and primate.

These little bastards are the same variety that can be found most mornings at my house, tormenting the dogs, stealing fruit, pelting me and the neighbours as well as generally causing a fracas. Anyone that's actually ever sat and watched monkeys will agree that after about 5 minutes it starts to look like a little man in a suit with a funny gait.

That being said, watching this video could almost be any of the local weekend parties, and if i could, I'd tag myself, as well as a few others I can think of that are guilty of such behaviour.

They eat dolphin in Barbados......... don't they?

Today's post has been inspired by a friend of mine that traveled quite some distance to visit our beautiful island ;-) and after she was taken out to sample *ahem* our fine local cuisine, she said something that made me laugh a bit, it was along the lines of;

"what?! you eat dolphin, and you give us all that hassle?!"

Now, all my life growing up, I've been groomed into the automatic response to that statement by saying, "No, not flipper....the ugly one, yeah, mahi-mahi" (Some local restaurants have taken it one step further by ever so thoughtfully reproducing a small photo of said mahi-mahi next to the menu listing.) but it wasn't until she said that, that it really made me think about how you never seem to notice and/or appreciate some things until they are pointed out by someone completely new to the experience.

That in itself, has helped me to discover a new passion for preserving and passing on all aspects of barbadian culture that seemed to have been lost on a majority of those in my generation. And if nobody else teams up and makes the effort, then we lose the sense of who we are as an autonomous people.

5 8 things I've learned since I started this blog

here's a little shortlist of a few new things I've discovered about myself;

1. I have completion issues
2. I'm a bit of a grammar nazi, which is strange, seeing as how my blog is liberally sprinkled with instances Of Random CapitaLisation as well as incorrect usages of apostrophes.
   
3. Anthony winkler, I'm not. My writing needs ALOT more work.
4. I'm passive aggressive (that's the bajan in me)
   
5. I'm still finding my style
6. My critical analysis 'skillz' need work
7. I use way too many parentheses
8. I've got 'completion issues'
   

This week's Bajanism - Manjack

Pronunciation: \ˈman-ˈjak\

Function: noun

Etymology: Caribbean

Definition:

1: glance pitch, a form of bitumen-rich asphalt found in theScotland District of Barbados and in Vistabella, Trinidad

-thankyou Wikiworldorder

bah!

God knows how often I've wished this would work.

8 monkeys

Put eight monkeys in a room. In the middle of the room is a ladder, leading to a bunch of bananas hanging from a hook on the ceiling.

Each time a monkey tries to climb the ladder, all the monkeys are sprayed with ice water, which, obviously irritates them. Soon enough, whenever a monkey attempts to climb the ladder, all of the other monkeys, not wanting to be sprayed, set upon him and beat him senseless. Soon thereafter, none of the eight monkeys ever attempts to climb the ladder.

One of the original monkeys is then removed, and a new monkey is put in the room. Seeing the bananas and the ladder, he wonders to himself, "...why the hell are none of the other monkeys going for those bananas?". But undaunted, he immediately begins to climb the ladder.

All the other monkeys fall upon him and beat the bejesus out of him. He has no idea why this is, but, he's not going to take the chance and re-attempt to climb the ladder.

A second original monkey is removed and replaced. The newcomer again attempts to climb the ladder, but all the other monkeys hammer the crap out of him.

This extends to include the previous new monkey, who, grateful that he's not on the receiving end this time, participates in the beating because all the other monkeys are doing it. However, he has no idea why he's attacking the new monkey.

One by one, all the original monkeys are replaced. Eight new monkeys are now in the room. None of them have ever been sprayed by ice water. None of them attempt to climb the ladder. All of them will enthusiastically beat up any new monkey who tries, without having any idea why.

This is a popular floating internet story that kind of puts policies (be they the ones set out within an office or legislative) into perspective.