Plain Talk from Skratchy

WHAT IS MARRIAGE???

2009-01-13T12:28:00.001-04:00

1. Marriage is not a word.
It's a sentence (a life sentence).

2. Marriage is love. Love is blind. Therefore marriage is an institution for the blind.

3. Marriage is an institution in which a man loses his Bachelor's Degree and the woman gets her masters.

4. Marriage is a three-ring circus:
engagement ring, wedding ring and suffering.

5. Married life is full of excitement and frustration: In the first year of marriage, the man speaks and the woman listens. In the second year, the woman speaks and the man listens.In the third year, they both speak and the NEIGHBOUR listens.

6. Getting married is very much like going to a restaurant with friends.You order what you want, and when you see what the other person has, you wish you had ordered that instead.

7. There was this man who muttered a few words in the church and found himself married. A year later he muttered something in his sleep and found himself divorced.

8. A happy marriage is a matter of giving and taking; the husband gives and the wife takes.

9. Son: How much does it cost to get married, Dad? Father: I don't know son, I'm still paying for it.

10. Son: Is it true Dad? I heard that in ancient China, a man doesn't know his wife until he marries her. Father: That happens everywhere, son, EVERYWHERE!

11. Love is one long sweet dream, and marriage is the alarm clock.

12. They say that when a man holds a woman's hand before marriage, it is love; after marriage it is self-defense.

13. When a newly married man looks happy, we know why. But when a 10-year married man looks happy, we wonder why.

14. There was this lover who said that he would go through hell for her. They got married, and now he is going through HELL.

16. When a man steals your wife, there is no better revenge than to let him keep her.

17. Eighty percent of married men cheat in America, the rest cheat in Europe.

18. After marriage, husband and wife become two sides of a coin. They just can't face each other, but they still stay together.

19. Marriage is man and a woman become one. The trouble starts when they try to decide which one.

20. Before marriage, a man yearns for the woman he loves. After the marriage the "Y" becomes silent.

21. I married Miss right; I just didn't know her first name was Always.

22. It's not true that married men live longer than single men, it only seems longer.

23. Losing a wife can be hard. In my case, it was almost impossible.

24. A man was complaining to a friend: I HAD IT ALL-MONEY, A BEAUTIFUL HOUSE, THE LOVE OF A BEAUTIFUL WOMAN, THEN POW! IT WAS ALL GONE. WHAT HAPPENED, asked his friend. He says MY WIFE FOUND OUT.

25. WIFE: Let's go out and have some fun tonight. HUSBAND: OK, but if you get home before I do, leave the hallway
lighs on.

26. At a cocktail party, one woman said to another: AREN'T YOU WEARING YOUR RING ON THE WRONG FINGER? The other replied, YES, I, AM. I MARRIED THE WRONG MAN.

27. Man is incomplete until he gets married, then he is finished.

28. It doesn't matter how often a married man changes his job, he still ends up with the same boss.

29. A man inserted an ad in the paper - WIFE WANTED. The next day he received a hundred of letters and they all said the same thing - YOU CAN HAVE MINE.

30. When a man opens the door of his car for his wife, you can be sure of one thing - either the car is new or the wife is.

Psychology of Caribbean people

2008-06-07T19:48:00.002-04:00

A ship sank in high seas and the following people got
stranded on a beautiful deserted island in the middle
of nowhere:

a) 2 Jamaican men and 1 Jamaican woman
b) 2 Trinidadian men and 1 Trinidadian woman
c) 2 Guyanese men and 1 Guyanese woman
d) 2 Bajan men and 1 Bajan woman
e) 2 Antiguan men and 1 Antiguan woman
f) 2 Chinese men and 1 Chinese woman
g) 2 Indian men and 1 Indian woman

One month later, on various parts of the island, the
following was observed:

* One Jamaican man killed the other Jamaican man for
the Jamaican woman.

* One Trinidadian man kidnapped the Trinidadian woman
and asked the other Trinidadian man for the ransom.

* The two Guyanese men have a strict weekly schedule of
when they alternate with the Guyanese woman.

* The two Bajan men are sleeping together, and the
Bajan woman is cooking & cleaning for them.

* The two Antiguan men took a long look at the endless
ocean and a long look at the Antiguan woman, and they
started swimming.

* The two Chinese men are talking to all the other men
on the Island trying to sell them the Chinese woman.

* The 2 Indian men are still waiting for someone to
introduce them to the Indian woman.

I got this as a foward on email...LOL

The 4 stages of trini love

2008-03-17T00:39:00.001-04:00

from sevral emails..

Ah yes the universal truth, LOVE. Everybody falls in love sometime, everybody needs somebody sometime (I know someone famous sang that, I just can't remember who). All of us have been in LOVE at one point. Love, Amor, Amour, Liebe, Amore, call it what you want, it happens. But nobody could fall in Love like a Trini. We have stages of love and yuh boy goin to elaborate the schematics of this ting call love:

STAGE 1 - BAZODEE - Pronounced (Bah-Zoh-Deeeeeeeeee)

The boy meets the girl and buterflies fill his stomach. Every touch is electric, every glance is dramatic, he lingers on her every word. The sun reflecting off the morning dew reminds him of the way her eyes twinkle when the moonlight catches them. The time away seems like an eternity and when he sees her nothing else matters. He calls everyday and brings flowers on every date, he even writes her name on the back of his work pass so she will always be close to his heart.

STAGE 2 - Tutoulbay - Pronounced (Tut-ool-bay)

The girl's boss complains that she takes to many personal calls on the company phone, so the boy buys her a cell phone and pays the bill too. He doesnt want her tainted and ogled by the miscreants on the Maxi-Taxi so he decides to drop her to work and pick her up every day. This poses a dilema beacause she works further than him. No Problem. He picks her up at home and gives her the car, so she drops him to work and keeps the car for the day. His friends dont exist anymore because she said that they are too crass and he drinks too much during the week. He takes her shopping and holds the bags, he even sits on the benches in the middle of the mall while she has her Mani/ Pedi/ Hair day. Oh yes AMORE!!

STAGE 3 - Tabanca - Pronounced (Tah-Bank-Ahhhhhhhh)

So one day while she's shopping in Pennywise and he is sitting outside in the car waiting, he notices that she left her phone (which he bought and still pays bills for) by the hand brakes. Curiousity wins, he picks it up, 'New Message'.... yuh boy cyah help it, he read the message. 'Yesterday was great. Same time tommorow. Your body is HOTT'.....But what de Muddah #@$%??? Who de fokk texting my woman so? Cigarette light up one time. The vein on the forehead start to bulge. Leg shaking like dat. She returns from Pennyise and tries to hand him his Credit Card. 'Who de fokk is Andre, where he see you yesterday and how de fokk he know yuh body hot??' she reels for a second...'Oh Andre.....am he is my trainer...at the gym and he was commenting on my progress, you know i go to the gym to look good for you baby'.....yuh hear lie!!!....

So yuh boy calm dong, or so she thinks. Ah fellah called Cudjoe (for you Trinis that don't know, Cudjoe is a Private Detective Agency, yes we have dat in Trinidad). Cudjoe follow she for a week and reports to Mr. Loverman. 'Sir she has been going to the gym, TO PICK UP ANDRE, and then they proceded to Econo Guest House (before Jo Sing Pasta in Kelly.... I Think LOL) they spent 2 hours and then she came to pick you up.'

WHAT DE MUDDAH #@$%!!!!! As she reach is cuss...'Yuh fokkin hoe, gimme meh damn phone!', PASHAW (Trinidadian Onomatapia for the sound of something breaking) the phone hit the ground. 'Ah goh kill yuh Muddah #@%$, after all i do for you, dat is how u go repay me???.' 'But honey..' she attempts to speak. 'Doh fokkin honey me, i know bout you and Andre and fokkin Econo Guest house'.........she breaks down in tears 'You were smothering me, i found comfort in Andre's arms, I need space'....'Space??' he fires back 'Is Muddah #@$% space yuh want?? Yuh is a fokkin astronaut??'....she begins to cry uncontollably.

Meanwhile the Rapid Response 999 vehicle noticed the comotion, one time they done assume he ress a cut ass on she. Of course she cyah stop cryin so she can't confirm or deny the allegation( conveniently). Is jail in he ass!!!

STAGE 4 - Foofooloomps - Pronounced (Fou-Fou-Loumps)

After a good cut ass from the police followed the next morning by sincere apologies for the 'misunderstanding'. He sits at home, calls in sick for work for two weeks. Radio is stuck on 97 (Love Hurts by Nazereth is playing). The man doh answer no calls. He stop shaving and bathing, only on a have to must to basis. He tried calling her 4,345,876 times everyday to say he sorry and he want to make back up. She mother change the home number. Das it!!!

He pick up the SHARP CD player and he gone. There he stands baring his soul playing 'Baby Come Back - Vanessa Hudgens'. The window cracks, his heart leaps, a shadow appears....it's Andre and he is informed that a restraining order was taken out and the police are on the way. Not wanting the same royal treatment from the cops, he exits stage left. He was last seen on Curepe Junction drinking a bottle of Bay Rum singing 'Baby Come Back.......

Nazi Swastika or Ancient Symbol?

2007-06-06T11:39:00.000-04:00

By Chirag Badlani

During a religious holiday of mine, my mother and I went to the store, Staples, to make color copies of a few Gods to give to our temple. On one of the pictures, there was a very religious Hindu symbol, resembling a Nazi swastika, yet the arms faced the opposite direction.

When we went on line to pay for the copies, the people behind us, not noticing the differentiation between the two signs, starting talking to each other, saying that my mother and I were Nazis. Quite appalled, my mother turned around and calmly explained to them that it was not a Nazi symbol, that the symbol first belonged to many different cultures before the Nazis adopted it. She explained the religious meaning and the people behind us said they were sorry and stated, "Oh, I never knew that."

I have realized that many people, not only in this country, but in the entire world, do not know about the meaning of the swastika and that it was not only the symbol of Nazi Germany.

The swastika is an equilateral cross with arms bent at right angles, all in the same direction, usually the right, or clockwise. The swastika is a symbol of prosperity and good fortune and is widely dispersed in both the ancient and modern world. It originally represented the revolving sun, fire, or life. The word swastika is derived from the Sanskrit swastika which means, "conducive to well- being". The swastika was widely utilized in ancient Mesopotamian coinage as well as appearing in early Christian and Byzantium art, where it was known as the gammadion cross. The swastika also appeared in South and Central America, widely used in Mayan art during that time period.

In North America, the swastika was a symbol used by the Navajos. The swastika still continues today to be an extensively used sign in Buddhism, Jainism, and Hinduism. In Buddhism, a swastika represents resignation. In Jainism, it delineates their seventh saint, and the four arms are also used to remind the worshiper of the four possible places of rebirth; the animal or plant world, in Hell, on Earth, or in the spirit world. To Hindus, the swastika with the arms bent to the left is called the sathio or sauvastika, which symbolizes night, magic, purity, and the destructive goddess Kali. In both Hinduism and Jainism, the swastika or sathio is used to mark the opening pages or their account books, thresholds, doors, and offerings.

The swastika was a symbol for the Aryan people, a name which, in Sanskrit means "noble". The Aryans were a group of people who settled in Iran and Northern India. They believed themselves to be a pure race, superior to the other surrounding cultures. When the Germans looked for a symbol, they looked for a symbol which represented the purity which they believed they contained. The Nazis regarded themselves as "Aryans" and tried to steal the accomplishments of these pre-historic people.

In Nazi Germany, the swastika with its arms turned clockwise became the national symbol. In 1910, a poet and nationalist Guido von List suggested that the swastika as a symbol for all anti-Semitic organizations. When the National Socialist Party was formed in 1919, it adopted the ancient symbol, the swastika, giving it the worst meaning possible, destroying the good symbolism which the swastika had held for thousands of years prior.

In 1935, the black swastika on a white circle with a crimson background became the national symbol of Germany. The major difference between the Nazi swastika and the ancient symbol of many different cultures, is that the Nazi swastika is at a slant, while the ancient swastika is rested flat.

Today, whenever the ancient symbol is used, it is automatically assumed by most people that it is a Nazi symbol and that the people who use it are Nazis. When the Nazis took the ancient symbol, they erased the good meaning of the swastika, the symbol of purity and of life. The racist people of today further degrade the meaning of the ancient symbol by spray painting the swastika on people houses, cars, and even schools.

In my eighth grade World of Difference class, we watched a video about a high school art student who painted the swastika and displayed it in his school's art gallery. We then had a debate on whether the painting should come down or not. Because most people are ignorant to the fact that the swastika was not only a Nazi symbol, symbolizing death and destruction, the class decided to take the painting down and in actuality, the boy was forced to take it down. This is a prime example of how the world delineates the swastika as a bad symbol, and how the Nazis destroyed the meaning of the symbol by adopting it as their own.

The swastika symbolizes so much more than what the Nazis planned. The swastika existed as a symbol of good fortune thousands of years before the Nazis even existed. The symbol is to many cultures an important one, representing their history and beliefs. The Nazis, by taking the swastika, annihilated the significance of the ancient symbol. Today, the swastika is to most people a symbol of evil, a symbol of demise, and a symbol of ruination. It is extremely depressing to find that although the swastika is a symbol of life, and symbol of joy, it has been made a symbol of evil, something the people of the ancient world never intended it to be.

23 Islands of Trinidad and Tobago

2007-06-05T12:37:00.000-04:00

Trinidad and Tobago is an archipelagic republic in the southern Caribbean which consists of 23 distinct islands. The following is a list of these islands.

Major islands
Trinidad
Tobago

Bocas Islands
The Bocas Islands lie between Trinidad and Venezuela, in the Bocas del Dragón (Dragons' Mouth). Locally they are referred to as "Down the Islands".

Chacachacare
Monos
Huevos
Gaspar Grande (Gasparee)
Gasparillo (Little Gasparee or Centipede Island)

Five Islands
The Five Islands are a group of actually six small islands lying west of Port of Spain in the Gulf of Paria. Also known as Las Cotorras.

Caledonia Island
Craig Island (Craig and Caledonia are joined by a narrow reef)
Lenagan Island
Nelson Island
Pelican Island
Rock Island

San Diego Islands
Sometimes referred to simply as the Diego Islands, these two islets lie between the Bocas Islands and the Five Islands.

Cronstadt (Kronstadt)
Carrera (a prison island)

Others in the Gulf of Paria
Farallon (Flat Rock), in San Fernando Harbour
Soldado Rock

North Coast of Trinidad
Saut d'Eau

Off Tobago
Little Tobago (Bird of Paradise Island)
St. Giles Island
Goat Island
Sisters' Rock

Cystoscopy

2007-06-04T12:38:00.000-04:00

A cystoscopy uses a device which is inserted into the urethra via the opening at the end of the penis. It allows the doctor to visually examine the complete length of the urethra plus the bladder for polyps, strictures, abnormal growths and other problems.

Dookeran on CJ debacle: 'Time for political justice'

2007-03-12T21:06:00.000-04:00

Time For Political Justice

The creeping threat to the fundamental principle of the separation of powers between the Executive and the Judiciary has now galloped into an all out and complete abuse of power and process by the Government of the day. This is the view of Congress of the People leader Winston Dookeran.

He further went on to state that this abuse of power and process by the State will remain the legacy of this PNM Administration and its leader Prime Minister Patrick Manning. This country now has a challenge to rebuild the fundamental institutions of the Judiciary and the Government so as to restore the integrity of the Executive and confidence in the judicial process.

According to Mr. Dookeran his years of experience in Government has allowed him to understand quite clearly that there is always a degree of tension between the Government, the Judiciary and the Legislature. This is because it is the role of the Judiciary and the Legislature to keep the Government in check and is the hallmark of a true and properly functioning democracy.

In Trinidad and Tobago this is not the case as the Government has on numerous occasions overstepped the bounds of the separation of powers. Having been embarrassed in the courts too many times to mention it is clear that the Government has embarked on a campaign to hound and harass the highest judicial officer in the land. Such actions have clearly disregarded the basic principles of our democracy and the country is now on a fast track to loss of confidence in the system of Government we cherish with Prime Minister Patrick Manning leading the charge.

According to Mr. Dookeran the person most culpable in this entire affair is Prime Minister Patrick Manning. The Prime Minister has engaged both the Chief Justice and the DPP in a manner that is clearly outside his power and authority. It worth reminding the population that no one is above the law – not even Patrick Manning. This is not the first time he has acted in such a manner and his public rebuke by the Attorney General and the DPP for similar actions is without precedent for a sitting Prime Minister. If the course of natural justice is being denied then it is time to bring about political justice.

Mr. Dookeran goes on further to state that in light of the prime Minister own statement in Parliament yesterday there is a growing body of evidence to suggest that the Prime Minister was engaged either directly or otherwise in meddling with , the prosecution and the investigative arms of the state.

He views the actions of the Prime Minister as serious enough to warrant a motion of no confidence against the Prime Minister unless there is a clear and coherent explanation as to the circumstances surrounding the collapse of the case against Chief Justice Sat Sharma. Further he is calling on the Judicial Services Commission to launch a thorough investigation into the conduct of the Chief Magistrate Sherman McNicolls.

Further Mr. Dookeran noted that since the criminal proceedings have now ceased and that there is currently no proceeding against the Chief Justice he should be able to resume his office and call for his immediate reinstatement.

Zen’s Insensitivity

2007-01-23T20:23:00.000-04:00

I would like to use the following incident to highlight what happens when people are insensitive to each other. I am a 32 year old struggling business man. A while ago I was diagnosed with cancer and had to under go two major surgeries and several months of Chemo Therapy. This has left me in remission, but with damaged nerves in my hands and more so my feet. This means that my feet feel a bit numb and wearing shoes is very uncomfortable and difficult so I wear sandals most of the time (even at work).

As a result of my prognosis I try to enjoy life as much as possible. I have explained my situation to several places that would not normally allow persons with sandals to enter. The folks at 51 degrees, for example are accommodating.

Last Saturday, however, a friend of mine asked if I wanted to go to Club Zen and I accepted. I called one of the Managers there, a guy named Vince Charles (I had gotten his card some time ago). After I explained my situation to him he said that it would not be a problem so I decided to go to the club.

When I got there I waited about forty five minutes in the line. When I got at the ticket booth, the girl took my ticket and pointed out that I was wearing sandals, she then turned to a woman who was obviously overseeing the door and told her. The woman started to speak very loudly at me telling me that I can’t get in. When I tried to explain to her that I called ahead and spoke to Mr. Charles she just continued to say I can’t get in. I told her that she did not need to speak in that manner while I was walking down the step, she turned to me and ask me in which manner I was referring. I told her in the stupid manner (as I was upset by then) she replied that the only stupid thing was me trying to get in there. I found out that the woman who was shouting was named Lydia and the she runs the place. While outside I called Mr. Charles, who came out and apologized to me and said that “she is the boss” and that he could do nothing. I left for home.

To the management of Club Zen, is this any way to treat people? Even if I was not to be let in, it could have been handled more discreetly and not in a way to cause me embarrassment due to my illness. I urge anyone with a disability to be aware of people like the management of Club Zen.

Wey yuh come from

2007-01-07T22:28:00.000-04:00

In my first post for 2007..this is a light note. Happy new year to all.

Firstly, Trinbago people does claim dey is unified and one, buh we still like to identify we as from different quarters of de country.... Hence:

Yuh know you from South:

1)When yuh does "pull-bull" as a hobby.
2)When yuh tink Pt.Fortin is de capital of crime.
3)When other sectors of de country cyah understand yuh when yuh speaking.
4)When yuh feel yuh is a pretty boy or yuh know yuh is a skettle.
5)When yuh Friday evening lime is eatin' oyster and hittin' a strip pub.
6)When yuh does still walk around in ah buss-up jockey shorts and rubber slippers on ah Sunday afternoon stroll.
7)When yuh main objective is to tackle any gyul under 16 or fella over 30.
8)When yuh didn't have to pass Common Entrance to be ah genius....
9)When yuh tink Gulf City is de most happening place...
10)When yuh know Johnny Soong is ah asshole!

Yuh know yuh from North-West:

1)When yuh does date yuh best-friend ex-woman or he sister.
2)When dah same gyul does check for yuh fadder.
3)When yuh does talk with ah accent.
4)When you say skettle, yuh does mean yuh girlfriend and/or sister.
5)When yuh feel dat yuh more advanced dan de rest ah we.
6)When every two words out yuh mouth is MUDDACUN*
7)When yuh have no sexual preference.
8)When yuh does watch MTV 24 hrs a day.
9)When yuh feel yuh is a true Bob Marley fan an' ting but yuh doh go to Matsimela and Spectrum concerts'cause dat not "your kinda crowd."
10)When yuh never get blank from Coconuts or Base.

Yuh know yuh from Central:

1)When yuh feel doubles is part of a staple diet.
2)When yuh have a Chris Garcia poster.
3)When yuh still feel dat sugarcane is TnT's main source of income.
4)When yuh last name either ends< with -Singh or start with Ram-.
5)When yuh iz ah die-hard UNC supporter.
6)When yuh does always carry ah cutlass in yuh car.
7)When yuh idea of liming is Mastana Bahar on a Saturday.
8)When yuh have a hammock in every room of yuh house.
9)When yuh always smelling o' rum.
10)When yuh still claiming dat Lara originally from Couva.

Yuh know yuh from the East-West corridor area:

1)When yuh tink de best doubles from Curepe juction.
2)When yuh feel dat Trincity Mall is de 'boss' place to be.
3)When yuh always smiling.
4)When yuh tell every girl or boy yuh meet dat you is ah born-again virgin.
5)When yuh does lime in Chameleon every week.
6)When 110km/hr is de slowest speed yuh could drive.
7)When yuh does breeze up de bus-route ILLEGALLY to get home.
8)When yuh claim yuh date all de Sunday Punch girls.
9)When yuh push drugs at least once.
10)When yuh claim dat you is ah born alcoholic.

We cyah fuhget 'Bago now! Yuh know yuh from Tobago and NOT Trinidad:

1)When yuh overweight,built,tall and dark-genetically.
2)When yuh does still say "Doodoo darling...."
3)When yuh aunt name is Miss Jean.
4)When yuh does take soap and shampoo to the beach.
5)When yuh tink KFC have de best chicken still.
6)When yuh could say "Hello, I have ah big dick" in German.
7)When yuh does eat yam and eddoes for breakfast.
8)When yuh first choice in primary school was Signal Hill.
9)When yuh know a woman called Simona personally.
10)When yuh idea of taking a trip is hopping de Panorama over to de sister isle.

No Industrial Estate in Chatham

2007-01-07T22:24:00.000-04:00

In the Christmas address, the Prime Minister announced that the plans for an industrial estate in the Cedros Peninsula at Chatham had been cancelled. Not just no smelter, but no industrial estate at all for Chatham.

The Prime Minister went on to announce that Aluminum Industry will instead be established at an at this point non existent 'offshore industrial island' further north on the island.
This announcement comes on the heels of a lawsuit filed against the government early in the week demanding an immediate halt to the industrial development of the Chatham area. This week, the Trinidad government also announced that there was 'no gas available' to sell to Jamaica for the expansion of Alcoa's Jamalco Aluminum refinery there.

Of course, everybody in the Peninsula is very happy about the unexpected news. We are hoping there will be confirmation from the EMA later this week that all applications for an industrial estate, port and the aluminum smelter indeed have been withdrawn.
People are cautiously optimistic and there are many questions: Will Alcoa be out of the picture? Will there really be an 'offshore industrial island' so close to Trinidad's second largest city? What will happen to the third aluminum smelter that was recently announced? Do we need all this in writing to believe it?

In the meantime, it seems like the unique rainforests and the people of the Cedros Peninsula are safe for now and it is now time to concentrate on the Cedros Development Plan to establish the kind of development we all want to see here. You can find the link to the Cedros Development Plan here:
http://www.therepublicofcedros.org/cedrosplan.html

www.NoSmelterTNT.com

2006-10-25T15:29:00.000-04:00

THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT...This affects all of us.....it will only take a few minutes to cut and paste this release to forward it to a newspaper in your area. (Yes, I mean you guy who do not live in Trinidad) Be part of the solution.

This is the press release from www.nosmelterTNT.com

Press Release One - August 2006

Press Release For Immediate Release

Alcoa facing growing concerns over proposed Trinidad Smelter

US Aluminum Giant Alcoa is facing massive criticism over a proposed 340,000 metric ton smelter plant in Cap De Ville in the Southwestern part of the Caribbean Island of Trinidad. The country of Trinidad is one of the most densely populated places on earth with 593 persons per sq. mile and the Island already suffers from very high in pollution levels due to ongoing industrialization.

The 2005 Yale/Columbia Environmental Sustainability Index (ESI) showed Trinidad and Tobago as having the worst percentage of negative land impacts of 146 countries, yet Trinidad's government is continuing on a path toward massive industrialization of the Southwestern part of this Caribbean Island. Southwest Trinidad has so far been spared from heavy industrialization and is the part of the Island that has the longest and widest stretches of beaches on the Island.

The Cedros peninsula, now earmarked for the 1.5 billion dollar Alcoa smelter project also features pristine rainforests and wetlands and is one of the larger sources of drinking water on the Island. Actually, the site of the proposed Alcoa smelter is right on top of a major aquifer.

The proposed smelter plant, one of the largest in the world is scheduled to be located within a mile or less of the towns of Cap-de-Ville and Point Fortin, home to over 15,000 residents. The residents of the until now sleepy and peaceful peninsula are uniting and organizing protests on a regional and international level.

The Trinidad government seems determined to let Alcoa go ahead with their project at all cost and the hastily put together Environmental Clearance Applications and Environmental Impact Assessments for the project have sparked massive opposition from the local residents. The map of the proposed Alcoa site shows that the properties of over 200 residents may be taken over by the State for this venture displacing residents that are very unwilling to move.

The Alcoa smelter project has been shrouded in secrecy and while signings of major business agreements are usually publicized in the local newspapers complete with photo opportunities, the signing of the agreement for the 1.5 billion dollar Alcoa smelter, publicised by Alcoa worldwide, was done quietly and the local press was not even invited.

The citizens group Cedros Peninsula United managed to obtain a copy of Alcoa's application of Environmental Clearance which was jointly signed by Alcoa and the government's Energy Corporation which Alcoa also tried to keep secret and found it full of omissions, inaccuracies and outright false statements. A new application has just recently been filed by Alcoa which contains similar omissions, inaccuracies and misleading information.

"We are very worried about a company that promises us an 'environmentally friendly' smelter, yet is already lying about things like waste and pollution before the smelter is even built. How can we trust them," warns the citizens group. The local press totally ignored the findings in Alcoa's environmental clearance application but had no problem accepting three page ads by Alcoa promoting their smelter project.

The residents of Trinidad's Southwestern Peninsula have called for a public debate on the Alcoa smelter project but their calls have been completely ignored. As mentioned in a recent Sun-Sentinel article, there are serious concerns over the availability of Natural Gas reserves for this mega project. Even members of Trinidad's Parliament were left in the dark when inquiring about the state of gas reserves in the country. To this date, Alcoa has also not answered any questions regarding the disposal of the tons of hazardous waste the facility will produce. On an Island that small, environmental impact is a major concern.

Alcoa's record in Trinidad is already spotty. Alcoa operates a trans-shipment facility in the northern part of the Island in Carenage and have been under fire from citizens there for many years. A 1989 air-monitoring report by Cariri, commissioned by a Carenage citizens group, showed Alcoa exceeded US emissions standards for residential areas at three monitoring sites in Carenage on each of the five days of monitoring.

To make matters worse, the Trinidad government has also recently signed an agreement for a second aluminum smelter, not more than 8 miles away from the planned Alcoa smelter. The land for this 2,000 acre estate has already been cleared and hundreds of residents have been or will be displaced by this project. Two aluminum smelters in one of the smallest countries in the World. It's a recipe for disaster and the citizens of Trinidad are fighting a serious battle, not just with Alcoa but their own government that supports and sponsors Alcoas plans, modeled on Iceland's energy master plan which has also sparked major controversy, protests and law suits. The citizens of the Trinidad's Cedros Peninsula are hoping that once the facts of this project are made known to the world community, Alcoa may be swayed to look elsewhere to build their smelter.

Detailed Information on Alcoa's Trinidad Smelter project can be found on the world wide web at www.nosmeltertnt.com

Homemade Cigarettes

2006-10-13T11:58:00.000-04:00

After posting the information on homemade rum this was the next logical step.

Ingredients.
Newspaper (Section on Politics)
Toilet Paper
Spinach
Dried Mint
Dried Oregano
Tea Bags
Lighter or Matches

Step One: Prepare Your "Tobacco."

Cigarettes, or at least the idea of smoking crap out of a rolled up bit of paper or leaves, have been around for thousands of years. Unlike other inmate-inspired projects, like making pruno, rolling homemade cigarettes is uncomplicated, provided you understand the basic steps, which are the same whether you're rolling a Spinach Cig or a Menthol Knock-Off.

Start with the most basic, tried-and-true homemade smoke -- the spinach cigarette. But before you can stop, drop, and roll that salad up, the spinach needs to be dried out.

1. Buy one pound of spinach and a newspaper you've never read before, preferably something with a lot of names, numbers and places in it.
2. Cover an article you can't comprehend with some leafy green spinach and
3. feel good about combining two things that you don't enjoy -- spinach and reading the business page -- in one activity designed to mimic something you do enjoy, which is smoking.
4. Wait three days for your spinach to learn all about how Trinidad's push for a smelter will be the best thing for our coutry, so that you can learn it too, when you smoke the spinach.

By the time your spinach understands the economics of currency revaluation, it should be completely dry. This will take your spinach about four days. Once dried, it is completely possible to scrunch the spinach between your fingertips, but those of you with a penant for using kitchen tools should note the following directions.

1. Take the dried spinach, which will look exactly like weed and
2. throw it into that cute little blender/chop chop combo that is in your kitchen and you hardely ever use.
3. You will now have utterly useless, ground up, dried spinach. Wee. Dried mint , Dried Oregano or tea from tea bags can be added at this point to add a different taste.

ROLL Your Paper

Many prefer to use toilet paper, which is easy to obtain, easy to roll and extremely quick burning. Try to find a nice double- or triple-ply, if you can, and avoid using quilted or ribbed papers, which may be harder for newcomers to roll. While using toilet paper is the simplest method, the end result is also the least desirable, looking like some cigarillo/tampon hybrid that's hard to take a big pull off of. So if you can afford bamboo paper then that can be used.

1. Start by putting a small-to-medium sized amount of dried spinach on the toilet paper, then carefully
2. fold the left side of the paper over,
3. followed by the right side of the paper. Next,
4. fold up the bottom, creating a little "pouch" for the dried spinach, which
5. you can then roll up -- taking care not to rip the paper like a useless clod -- into
6. a finished toilet paper-based smoke.

Know how to make babash?

2006-10-13T11:32:00.000-04:00

Yeast, (brown) sugar, molasses and water are mixed in a large 45 gallon oil drum and allowed to ferment. This may take between 5 to 15 days, according to the amount of sugar. During fermentation, the process is monitored by both the smell and the taste of the bubbles given off by the fermentation process. As the process nears completion, the mixture begins to clear and a sediment forms towards the bottom. The clear liquid is then decanted into another drum.

This second drum is the one to which heat is applied, and out of which comes the bent 'goose neck' pipe which leads to the 'running pipe', which in turn leads to a coil immersed in a third drum filled with cold, stream water. It is in the coil that the vapour from the boiling water (the product of the fermentation) cools, and drips out into a container.

Three distinct 'grades' of rum will drip into this container. The purest is that which is taken out first, and as such the strongest. It is always mixed with the weaker rums. The next strongest rum after which follows the weakest.

The surest way of gauging the strength of the final product is a version of the original meaning of 'proof' - by throwing a small amount of the rum into the fire. If it burns, its OK; if it 'outs' the fire, it's not rum.

The three grades of rum will be mixed and bottled. This is the finished product.

PLEASE NOTE THIS INFORMATION IS FOR INFORMATIONAL PURPOSES ONLY. I do not support or promote breaking the law!!!!

Email about the budget

2006-10-13T11:15:00.000-04:00

----Original Message Follows----

Has anyone seen the budget?

The ANTI VICE BUDGET (Insert angelic voices clip and the face of Patrick Manning here)

Well anyone who likes to have any fun what so ever better take a look. Good ole' Uncle Patrick has raised the price of imported beer and alcohol by 30%, local grog and smokes by 15%.

Oh and no more lotto cause that is just destroying families, and no more Play Whe either cause that is devil ting.

So, all you Absolute, Dewars and Johnny Black drinkers and More Vino regulars, damn I'm in all those groups, time to switch to Puncheon or weed.

In fact I may have to start selling drugs to afford my liming and drinking habit.

On the bright side though, he did raise pensioners allowance by $100TT. Wow, $100 TT They must be shitting in their Depends with excitement now they can afford to by an extra pack of tomatoes a month. But don't let me get started on the price of tomatoes; we'll leave that for another day.

Let's hope none of these old people don't drink or smoke cause then they would be fucked like the rest of us.

To alleviate the traffic gridlock the Gov't have come up with a brilliant plan: Watertaxis.

No I did not stutter. I said Watertaxis. Where are we Venice?

The proposed route; Point Fortin to Carenage, with stops along the way.
Where are these stops? Caroni swamp? Movietowne? Fyzabad? What I want to know is, what colour will the stripe on the side of the boat be? Don't get me wrong though, I'm glad for both of those people that work in Carenage and live in Point Fortin, they have the right to public transport just like the rest of us.

But by far the best one is the consideration of Flexi-Time for Public Sector Workers. WHAT?!?!

I thought all they had was flexi-time. 'Cause whenever I go into a G'ovt office there ain't a soul in the place. So they must be off flexing somewhere.

Let's recap shall we:
*Drinkers - Fucked
*Smokers - Fucked
*Lotto, Play Whe players - Fucked
*Casino and Lotto operators - you guessed it, Fucked *Old People - A little less fucked *Old people who drink and smoke - Proper Fucked *Water taxi company getting the contract - Laughing *Government official who proposed the watertaxi plan and is getting a fat kick back so he can still smoke and drink - Laughing at us *Manning - Happy that he has done his part to curb the moral degradation rampant in this country; but fucked cause when he wakes up he's still Patrick Manning.

*Red blooded fun loving Trini's - we don't really care anymore because we've been getting fucked for a while now.

This email would have been so funny if it weren't so true. Lucky thing we have all that petroleum here.

Raffie's Rant (the middle East Conflict)

2006-07-24T16:35:00.000-04:00

The following is posted on behalf of my friend Raffie.

My thoughts on the situation in my father's home country.
The basic version: it blows ass

The Raffie cynical version: might is right in this world my friends. Israel is the mighty so they can do what and as they please and the US is mightier and they support Israel so that compounds it.

The advanced version: the fact that the exercise is pointless and never going to achieve the (politically) stated objectives is moot, to start with.

So Israel says it want s to protect its borders by neutralizing Hezbollah right? My first premise is then what they should be doing is destroying Tehran (Iran) and Damascus(Syria) and not obliterating a defenseless country....not that Lebanon is exactly defenseless....it has 75000 ground troops, some helicopter gun ships, a few armored vehicles....but now Hezbollah is a real army more or less...populated by LEBANESE....yeah I said Lebanese, there may be a few Palestinians Syrians, and Iranians etc but essentially it is a militant Shiite Lebanese group that formed in the after math of the PLO leaving Lebanon in the 1982, the last time Israel went on an all out offensive inside Lebanon. Like then, all this current action will achieve is to push more Lebanese to hating Israel and thus give Syria and Iran more stupid asses to do their front work for them. Ironic how vicious the cycle actually is.

Which goes to my second premise, Syria and Iran can achieve their objective of attacking Israel without direct danger to them by using groups such as Hezbollah and Hamas. Israel can fool their population by saying they are defending them by then attacking these nicely set-up puppets (Hezbollah and Hamas).

Who benefits? Well Israel can remain a military state, the USA can continue to defend their support of Israel against “terrorists” and Syria and Iran continue to be heroes to the Islamic world.

Who suffers? In all of this it is Lebanon and the Lebanese people being punished by their own hate of Israel, no matter how justified, the stupidity of Hezbollah for not seeing that Syria and Iran are using them, the malice of Syria and Iran for using them and the cowardice of Israel for not attacking the true source of their worries...Syria and Iran. All that remains is to realize that the true powerbrokers in all of this remains the USA who actually have the power to fix all of this but then again that does not fit their current foreign policies.

And the average American voter/citizen/ accomplice by association had the nerve on 09/12/01 to ask “Why did they attack us? What did we do them?” Maybe it was “What we did not do for them?” to be asked.

Comment please.

Terrorist Zizou?

2006-07-10T18:15:00.000-04:00

With France and Italy level in extra time of Sunday's World Cup final, Zinedine Zidane head-butted Marco Materazzi in the chest and was sent off. France went on to lose on penalty kicks.

"The Italians did everything they could do to provoke Zidane," France defender William Gallas said. Seconds before, Materazzi had wrapped his arm around Zidane just as a French attack on goal passed harmlessly by. The two exchanged words as they walked back up the field, well behind the play. Then, without warning, Zidane spun around, lowered his head and rammed Materazzi, knocking him to the ground.

The Paris-based anti-racism advocacy group SOS-Racism issued a statement Monday quoting "several very well informed sources from the world of football" as saying Materazzi called Zidane a "dirty terrorist." It demanded that FIFA investigate and take any appropriate action.

Materazzi, meanwhile, was quoted as denying the terrorist comment. "It is absolutely not true, I didn't call him a terrorist, I don't know anything about that," the Italian news agency ANSA quoted Materazzi as saying when he arrived with his team at an Italian military airfield. "What happened is what all the world saw live on TV," the Italian player said, referring to the head-butting.

Zidane's agent, Alain Migliaccio, was quoted by the BBC as saying the France captain told him the Italian "said something very serious to him, but he wouldn't tell me what.”. Whatever it was, it was enough to infuriate Zidane. Zidane's red card was anything but unusual. He was sent off 14 times in his career at the club and international level.

At the 1998 World Cup, he stomped on a Saudi Arabian opponent. Sitting out a two-match ban, he came back to score two goals against Brazil in the final. Five years ago with Juventus, he head-butted an opponent in a Champions League match against Hamburger SV after being tackled from behind.

"This morning, Zinedine, what do we tell our children, and all those for whom you were the living role model for all times?" French sports daily L'Equipe wrote. Zidane, whose parents emigrated to France from Algeria, became a proud symbol of a multicultural France and is adored in Algeria.

In the mountains where Zidane's parents grew up, Atmanne Chelouah carried off a life-size cardboard cutout of the player at "Cafe Zizou" after the red card. "We are very disappointed," Chelouah said. "He should have kept his cool."

But lashing out is nothing new to Zidane, who grew up playing on concrete in an impoverished immigrant neighborhood of Marseille, where fouls and insults are met with instant retribution. "You can take the man out of the rough neighborhood, but you can't take the rough neighborhood out of the man," striker Thierry Henry said Sunday.

According to the dictionary:

a terrorist is somebody who uses violence or the threat of violence, especially bombing, kidnapping, and assassination, to intimidate

a head-butt means to hit somebody a deliberate hard blow with the forehead or the top of the head.

Leave your comments.

2006-06-19T15:35:00.000-04:00

Lions could never defeat the Warriors fairly...

When Crouch scored the decisive goal against Trinidad and Tobago he was pulling the defence players hair very rudely. Nobody saw it ...or did they and just ignored it? Oh well. just the English being the english I suppose.

Is Trini Posse going to make amends?

2006-05-29T16:20:00.000-04:00

May 28 2006 saw a history making event in Port-of-Spain. It was the last time cricket fans would see the ‘prince of Port-of –Spain’, Brian Lara perform in the faster paced version of the wonderful game, the ODI, in Trinidad. Fans, both local and foreign paid four hundred and fifty dollars to attend the match. I am sure that a lot of the fans are like me, in that I paid the high price to see Lara in his final Stand in ODI on local ground.

It was not to be however. When I got to the oval I was denied entry into the Trini Posse stand despite holding a valid ticket. It was not until after hours of waiting outside the oval in the hot sun (not even being provided the score) were we allowed to enter, in a very slow manner, with not even an apology. They treated the patrons as if they were doing a favor by letting us in! Needless to say it was too late to see Brian Lara’s efforts.

Trinidadians who travel or live abroad for any period of time always return and complain that the service dealt out to customers in Trinidad is horrible. How many times have we heard “only in ‘this’ country” or “this would never happen in the states”? We can not let this continue. In this case the perpetrators make a lot of money every time there is a sporting event in the oval. I call upon the WICB, the TTCB, the QPCC, the ICC and indeed the Government of Trinidad and Tobago to step in on behalf of the fans. We are being mistreated and robbed by a group of individuals who has no consideration for anything except their profit margin.

My only hope is that this will not be allowed to continue and that the authorities would take the necessary action against the offenders. I look forward to some sort of restitution or a least a public apology (because we all know that they will not refund a cent to the victims).

My level of hell

2006-05-11T15:57:00.000-04:00

The Dante's Inferno Test has banished you to the Second Level of Hell!
Here is how you matched up against all the levels:

Level	Score
Purgatory (Repenting Believers)	Low
Level 1 - Limbo (Virtuous Non-Believers)	Very Low
Level 2 (Lustful)	Very High
Level 3 (Gluttonous)	High
Level 4 (Prodigal and Avaricious)	Moderate
Level 5 (Wrathful and Gloomy)	Moderate
Level 6 - The City of Dis (Heretics)	Very Low
Level 7 (Violent)	Moderate
Level 8- the Malebolge (Fraudulent, Malicious, Panderers)	Very High
Level 9 - Cocytus (Treacherous)	Moderate

Take the Dante's" Inferno Test

More info on Sean Luke

2006-04-12T15:20:00.000-04:00

The following is an email I just recieved. Do you guys believe this, can this be real?? It could explain the reason for the close casket at the funeral. What do you guys think? Leave your comments...

The email:

Plz don't read if you get upset easily

Good day to you all.
You all may remember me as the person, who started the day of solidarity for Sean Luke on Friday 31st March, 2006. Well I am to be the bearer of bad news once more. I have recently come into the possession of the real facts concerning young Sean Luke’s agonising murder. These facts were given to me by a very reliable source. I was hoping that the news wasn't true, then so many others who knew about it confirmed it for me, and even someone who visited the family of Sean Luke was in tears, and she confirmed my fears also.

I was contemplating long and hard, whether to release these details or not, seeing as the media and the police had covered up and sugar coated the majority of it. Yes, what you know of the death of Sean Luke is the kiddie version, a watered down façade. What Sean really went through during the final moments of his life is something that has stopped me from sleeping, it has consumed me with anger, hate and sadness. I want all of you to know the facts, so you can wake up to the truth, and know what horrors this defenceless six year old boy went through before he finally gave up.

What was portrayed in the media?

Little Sean Luke was stripped naked, raped, buggered, and killed via a cane stalk being inserted into his anus and forced repeatedly up his body, destroying his intestines, then his other organs while finally stopping at his throat.He died from internal bleeding.

What the media didn’t publicise?

All of Sean Luke’s ten fingers were broken, and then some of his fingers were cut off.
All of his toes were broken also.
His eye was partially torn off (i.e. the eyeball was removed from the socket partially).
His nose was cut off.
His penis was cut off.
His testicles were crushed (possibly by a blunt object or by the boys themselves, I am speculating as to how).
A cane stalk was not used to penetrate his body, but rather a bamboo stalk. This would do even more damage as bamboo is harder and can be sharper, which would account for the violent shredding of his organs and his throat.

Now that I know all of these facts, I am unsure what to think. I don’t even know what sort of creatures could even dream up this sort of torture. What eats me up inside is knowing that two teenage boys dreamt it up, and did it to a six year old child. What did Sean Luke do to deserve such a horrendous fate? Why did this have to happen?

These are questions I cannot answer. I hope now that you all are as shocked and appalled and as sick as I am now that you know the truth.

Thank you all for reading this.
This has been your wake up call,
Valmiki Frankstan-Paul.

Is Christianity changing???

2006-04-10T13:58:00.000-04:00

Christianity is one of the big religions in the world today, but is it changing? The book The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail (retitled Holy Blood, Holy Grail in the United States) is a controversial book by authors Michael Baigent, Richard Leigh, and Henry Lincoln, which was first published in 1982 by Jonathan Cape in London. The book followed on from a BBC TV documentary, and was followed by a sequel, The Messianic Legacy, in 1987. It was reissued in an illustrated hardcover version in 2005.

In summary, the authors argue that there is a possibility that Jesus might have been married to Mary Magdalene, and that their possible child or children emigrated to what is now southern France. Once there, they established what became the Merovingian dynasty, which is championed today by a secret society called the Priory of Sion.

The response from mainstream historians and academics, however, was all but universally negative. Critics argued that the bulk of the claims, mysteries and conspiracies presented as fact, were concocted by the authors, thus making Holy Blood a work of pseudo history.

The book The Dead Sea Scrolls Deception is anti-Catholic, proposing the existence of a conspiracy organised by the Vatican. The book claims that several key scrolls of the Dead Sea scrolls were deliberately kept under wraps for decades to suppress unwelcome theories about the history of early Christianity. One theory in particular to be suppressed was the speculation, first proposed by Robert Eisenman, that Paul of Tarsus had deliberately fabricated the more supernatural aspects of the life of Jesus, perhaps in order to undermine the anti-Roman messianic cults in the region.

Incase you have never heard about The Dead Sea Scrolls. The scrolls and scroll fragments recovered in the Qumran environs represent a voluminous body of Jewish documents, a veritable "library", dating from the third century B.C.E. to 68 C.E. Unquestionably, the "library," which is the greatest manuscript find of the twentieth century, demonstrates the rich literary activity of Second Temple Period Jewry and sheds insight into centuries pivotal to both Judaism and Christianity. The library contains some books or works in a large number of copies, yet others are represented only fragmentarily by mere scraps of parchment. There are tens of thousands of scroll fragments. The number of different compositions represented is almost one thousand, and they are written in three different languages: Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek.

The most resent information to hit the mainstream would be the release of The Gospel of Judas. One of the most significant biblical finds of the last century—a lost gospel that could challenge what is believed about the story of Judas and his betrayal of Jesus. The National Geographic Society released yesterday the first modern translation of the ancient Gospel of Judas, which depicts the most reviled villain in Christian history as a devoted follower who was simply doing Jesus's bidding when he betrayed him.

The Jesus Myth is a theory usually associated with a skeptical position on the historicity of Jesus, which claims that Jesus did not exist as an historical figure, but was, instead, an abstract, symbolic, and metaphorical allusion to a higher knowledge. The heart of the debate is as old as Christianity itself; even some early Christians who subscribed to a docetic Christology rejected the notion of a corporeal Jesus, though they still accepted his divinity. The theory, based in part on the lack of extant contemporaneous documents or other historically reliable evidence about his life, has not currently found widespread acceptance among Bible scholars and historians, though in more recent times, few scholars have supported it, such as Hyam Maccoby and John Shelby Spong.

These were just a few of the latest things to be revealed….What do you believe???

Please comment….

We wore black. What next...?

2006-04-05T18:07:00.000-04:00

I just got this on email so here it is....

I woke this morning to see that a colleague had changed their MSN Messenger display name to, "We wore black yesterday. What are we supposed to do today?" It got me to thinking about how quickly we as Trinibagonians are to jump on a bandwagon and make much ado of an issue, only to see things fizzle slowly away because nobody ever bothered to help us figure out how to drill it down to a personal level, or how to turn grief and disdain into personal action.

Surely, the murder of Sean Luke is one of the most tragic events of our recent history. All the same, we responded to the call and showed solidarity with the family of the young man. We wore black. We drove with our headlights on all day. Some of us even went to the funeral and
extended our sympathies, or maybe we just went to see what we could see for ourselves. Many of us marched the streets of Port of Spain with the Keith Noel 136 Committee. We placarded. We sang. We begged the Governement to do something about the crime situation. And at the end of the day, what difference does it really make if on a personal level we sit back and do nothing else?

People would ask the question, "what in heavens name can I do? I'm just one Trini hoping to keep myself and my family safe day by day..." And so after all the lacouray, because we have no answers and no desire to find any, we return to the safety of our barricaded homes, hoping against hope that the madness will come to an end all on its own, or that the security forces will do something, or that the bandits will eventually run out of fellow bandits to kill. We sit in the relative safety of our living rooms and offices and talk about how much is not being done. We read the papers and lament that the Police didn't have the intelligence information to prevent the latest murder or kidnapping or whatever bad news the media decides to sensationalise as their lead story on that day. We're quick to berate everyone's efforts at anything, and we always have big ideas about what someone else can or should be doing. It's about time we stopped bumping our gums and that we all got up and did something ourselves.

What can you do, you ask? I'm not suggesting that we all go up into Laventille and Marabella and do mediation with the gangs and social work with the poor. Nor am I saying that we put ourselves in peril to stop that purse snatcher that will run past us on Charlotte Street, even though if enough of us tried to get him, there's no way that he could get away.

There's three things, very simple things that each of us can do. If we all try together and we're consistent, we'll surely make a difference.

1. STOP DOING ONE THING THAT'S NOT GOOD

Have you ever taken a chance and run down the shoulder on the highway, or made an illegal drive down the bus route? What about that sweetie paper or gum wrapper that you absently toss into the drain? Or the stray dog that you kicked? Or the driver that you cursed because he was more hurry than you and almost ran you over? What about the fact that there's that
co-worker that you don't say "Good morning" or "Good evening" to because you just don't like their head? What about the child that you shouted at today because you just didn't have patience with them anymore? We each have one illegal or mindless or foolish thing that we can stop doing, no matter how small. There's always one negative thing that, if we think about it hard enough, we can discipline ourselves to consistently avoid. And don't pretend that there's not even one little thing. None of us are perfect.

2. START DOING ONE THING THAT'S GOOD

Having stopped doing something that's not good, fill the void with something that's good. It will take nothing for you buy a ten-dollar box of chinese food one day in the month for that sleeping vagrant that you stepped over on your way down Frederick Street. It takes nothing out of
you to smile and pleasantly say "hello" or "excuse me" when you walk into a store before you launch into, "allyuh have...?" Stop your car, and let the little old lady trying to cross the road cross. Put the 37-cents change that you got that you're going to lose anyway in the FEEL or Salvation Army or TTSPCA or whatever donation tin next to the cash register. Just like the bad thing, it doesn't have to be some huge press-worthy effort. Do something, anything, because it's just nice to be nice.

3. SPREAD THE WORD

Now that you've stopped doing something dumb and you've started doing something nice, look for company. You don't have to start a political movement or a committee or an organisation. You just need to find one other person to spread the message of goodwill to, and get them to do
what you're doing too. What good will all this do, you ask? Imagine what would happen if even one quarter of our million and a half citizens stopped dropping sweetie paper and doubles paper and styrofoam cups in the road. Can you see already how much cleaner the streets and
highways would be? Imagine how smoothly traffic would flow if we just showed some patience
and didn't sit in the intersection when our light was going from yellow to red. Imagine how much more pleasant a trip to town would be if just one stranger with whom our two eyes made four smiled and muttered, "have a nice day." The vagrant wouldn't have to tear up the garbage looking for food if just 21 people each paid for one meal on one day a week. If a charity had just 100 donation tins on store counters all over Trinidad and ten miscellaneous people deposited $1.00 each week day in each tin, they charity will have collected at received $20,000 in a month toward their efforts. And imagine how well it would work if each one of us encouraged one
other one of us to follow through. We all wore black off of a text message that we forwarded to all our friends, didn't we? Don't think that your little bit does nothing. A little bit goes a long
way if there are lots of little bits together. So remember:

1. Stop doing one bad thing
2. Start doing one good thing consistently
3. Spread the word

Together, we can make a world of difference.