Archive for January, 2007
Tuesday, January 30th, 2007
Foxit Reader
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| Foxit Reader |
My first tech tep for today is about a PDF reader called Foxit Reader. If Internet Explorer is your Granny’s browser, then Adobe Reader is your Grandpa’s PDF reader. Foxit Reader is a “free” PDF reader produced by the Foxit Software Company.
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| Foxit Reader’s Many Features |
I should say that I find this very useful because I depend a lot on PDFs everyday. One of my biggest problems with Adobe Reader is the inability for me to set my own bookmarks and the inability to mark up the text in any fashion. Being a lit student and having to use and examine a lot of eBooks in PDF, I find Foxit Reader valuable. If I’m reading an eBook using Adobe Reader, how am I supposed to remember where I stopped? Searching for an alternative led me to Foxit Reader.
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| Foxit Reader’s Highlighting Tool |
Foxit reader lets the reader/user perform a number of tricks not possible with Adobe Reader. With Foxit I can highlight, underline, and strikeout text. It even includes a typewriter tool and a caret annotation tool. Each of these tools allows you to attach a note to the annotation made which can be quickly viewed by double-clicking on the annotation. If you are a lit student and you use a lot of PDFs like I do, this is a great tool. (By the way, the dull yellow colour of the background is my choice; it makes reading a little easier on the eyes.)
Unfortunately there is no way to bookmark my pages but I work around this by putting notes both at the top of the document and the point where I left off. The note at the top is where I’ll type in the page number.
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| Foxit Note |
However (yes there is a however), since the free version is considered an “evaluation” copy of Foxit Reader, if you save the PDF with the annotations made, there will be a permanent notice at the top of each annotated page with that says “Edited by Foxit Reader…”. Even if you remove the annotation, the note stays. So consider this when deciding between Foxit and Adobe Reader. An easy way to avoid marking up your PDFs is to make a duplicate of the file in use and store it before making any annotations.
You can download Foxit Reader here.
PDF reDirect
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| PDF reDirect Screenshot |
Since we’re on the topic of PDFs, my second and last tech tip is for a programme called PDF reDirect that can turn most any document into a PDF. All you do is “print” the document from the file menu choosing PDF reDirect as your printer and presto, instant PDF. That could be opened even in Adobe Reader. This helps a lot if you are a Project Gutenberg junkie like I am and you hate to read from notepad and HTML files.
You can download PDF reDirect here.
I hope I have made your lives even a little easier.
Posted in Tech Tip | 9 Comments »
Friday, January 26th, 2007
I regret to announce that two nights ago, the Trinidad and Tobago Police Service died. Their death was not for lack of amenities. It died when its last remaining scraps of dignity were traded for the machetes of the Tonton Macoute and the pistols of the SS. Its death was caused invariably by its very own irrelevance. I’m sure much more tragic ways to die, but sadder ones don’t exist.
It used to be a noble force that actually aided the citizens. Now it has been overrun by a gang of bullies. What is this police service that we have?
How is it that we have a Police Service that is comprised and headed by complete cowards - cowards in bullies’ clothing? Have you ever met a bully? Bullies are notorious for seeking and preying on the weak. Externally they exude toughness, but inside they are frightened children. They will never attack the strong or the powerful but seek draw their strength from taking it from others. For years citizens have spoken out against police brutality and I have to say that this is what police brutality grows up to be.
I have never seen anything more cowardly than what our police service, the Trinidad and Tobago Police service did on Wednesday night.
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| Commissioner Trevor Paul |
Yesterday was National Shutdown day. Prior to this IBN owner Inshan Ishmael passed around flyers to draw attention to the action. The day before the planned action our of a Commissioner comes on the television to say that anyone preventing another person from moving freely will be dealt with according to the law(or some other out-of-timing, out-of-the-blue statement like that). Just as a point of order, who said anything about preventing anyone from doing anything? If Mr. Trevor Paul had read the flyer instead of depending on word of mouth (he can read right?) he would have seen that this was a peaceful stay-at-home protest. There was nothing in the flyer or e-mail to suggest otherwise. I guess though that those desirous of media attention and those who love the show of authority and force will do what they will. You can see the flyer on Taran Rampersad’s blog here.
Last night like a gang of kidnappers, the Gestapo and the Tonton Macoute all rolled into one, four carloads of plainclothes officer descend on Inshan Ishmael’s house to apprehend him. They swooped down on his house and from the sidewalk where he’s standing, they bundle him into the car and whisk him away without ever announcing they were police officers.
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| The Schutzstaffel |
The lawyers had a hard time getting any information as to why Mr. Ishmael was detained. Some officers were saying that Inshan was going to be charged in accordance with the anti-terrorism act. What terrorism you ask? When you find out let me know. Eventually Mr. Ishmael was strip searched and then charged with (get this) not putting the name of the printer on his flyers. He was subsequently released.
Where do the police in Trinidad suddenly get this abundance of manpower and vehicles they can’t seem to allocate when a gunman is kicking down your door? Pauline Lumfai called the Couva Police Station to say her son Sean Luke was missing. Did they even send one car to help her look?
How is it in this country you can’t get an officer to come to your house if you’re in mortal danger yet they easily locate five carloads of officers to go arrest the negligent flyer man?
There is something very obscene about that. The bullying exhibited by the TTPS is even more glaring when one juxtaposes how soft a target Mr. Ishmael is with how enthusiastically the police pursued him. Is that the focus of the Police Service to go after sitting ducks? To spend the most amount of resources on Trinidad’s least wanted?
A man speaks out against crime and the government and has his IBN show pulled by Columbus over “questionable content” (by the way this is the same cable company that sells us what Sprangalang calls “the slack channel” and the same company that steals HBO, Cinemax and Showtime). He is arrested for no putting the name of the publisher on his flyer. How can we not think this is political victimization taking form?
The obvious question is why aren’t the killer, rapists, bombers and drug dealers sought with the same gusto that Mr. Paul used on Mr. Ishmael? When you consider that this is the same man who has taken such bold, authoritative stands against protesters, the Chief Justice and babies, his modus operandi is no mystery.
How in the world can Trevor Paul and the TTPS remain relevant in light of all of this? I find it hard to believe. I have no regret in saying I think he should resign at once; if not for his irrelevance then for his cowardice.
Posted in Crime, Justice, Politics | 21 Comments »
Wednesday, January 24th, 2007
This is the flyer bmob was referring to in my chat box to the right. It’s for the National Shutdown days for Trinidad and Tobago that IBN’s Inshan Ishmael is pushing for to protest thr growing crime situation. The days are January 25th and 26th. I hear people saying we won’t even have current on those days even though I’m sure T&TEC workers qualify under “essential services” as described in the flyer. Read On:
THIS IS THE BIG ONE !
TAKE A FEW DAYS OFF FOR YOUR COUNTRY’S SAKE !
ON JANUARY 25TH AND 26TH THIS COUNTRY BEGINS THE PROCESS OF HEALING ITSELF. NO SCHOOL, NO WORK ( DOES NOT APPLY TO ESSENTIAL SERVICES) NOT ONE FINGER MUST BE LIFTED EXCEPT TO SAY, WE WILL NOT TOLERATE THIS NONSENSE ANYMORE. IT’S NOW OR NEVER ! IF YOU ARE WHITE, CHINESE, INDIAN, AFRICAN, PNM, UNC, CONGRESS, MND, DNA, HINDU, MUSLIM,CHRISTIAN, IT DOES NOT MATTER.
SUPPORT THE NATIONAL SHUTDOWN ON JANUARY 25TH AND 26TH ALSO BE PART OF THE ASSEMBLY OF VOICES AT ARANGUEZ SAVANNAH ON JANUARY 27TH 1PM.
YOU MUST BE PRESENT! YOUR ABSENCE WILL TELL THE GOVERNMENT THAT WE DO NOT HAVE A PROBLEM !
IF YOU ARE NOT AFFECTED BY CRIME ( BOY YOU MUST BE REAL LUCKY !)
THEN HOW ABOUT THE STATE OF THE HEALTH SECTOR, OUR UTILITIES.
WHATEVER PROBLEMS YOU HAVE COME OUT IN YOUR NUMBERS…
IT’S NOW TIME TO SHUT DOWN OR SHUT UP !
WEAR WHITE OR RED !
HEADLIGHTS ON FOR THESE DAYS !
PLEASE FORWARD TO ALL !
CALL INSHAN - 684-4762 FOR FURTHER DETAILS.
THIS EVENT IS NOT AFFILIATED WITH ANY POLITICAL OR RELIGIOUS GROUP
So no work, no school. allyuh foreigners, I’m sorry but this one is for locals only, lol. But make sure and tell yuh nennen.
Posted in Crime | 10 Comments »
Tuesday, January 23rd, 2007
By no stretch of the imagination am I a tech savvy person. If I were I would have created my own website without having to rely on blogger for a template. That having been said, I do manage to get by with lots of trial and error. And I guess because of that and my never-ending pursuit of good freeware and other bits of software that make life easier, I’ve found a lot of good stuff online that I like to use and I wanted to share with you.
So If I can keep this going, every Tuesday I want to share with you something I find valuable.
My first tip to you would be to get yourself a real browser. Honestly, why are so many of you using Internet Explorer? It’s not that I wanted to leave IE, but after using Firefox, I just couldn’t go back. Once you use it, you’ll realize how stagnant IE is also.
Microsoft Internet Explorer, whether it be 6.0 or 7.0, is dead. It’s your granny’s browser (no disrespect to your granny). Trust me on this one, if there is one bit of sound advice I can give you, it’s to download Mozilla Firefox 2.0 (Yes, you 1.5ers, 2.0 is available). You Internet Explorers, have no idea how much you’re missing. Do you know Firefox even spell checks for you while you type in form fields including e-mail and blog posts and comments?
By far the greatest thing about Firefox is that it allows individual coders to develop extensions for its browser. Which means, if you have talent and an idea, you too can develop a useful add-on. It also allows coders to develop theme so you can get your browser they way you like it. Most extensions are really tiny and take seconds to download. Themes are larger but rarely do they cross the 5mb threshold.
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| Gmail Manager Screenshot |
I think my favourite extension (and the one I use the most) is the Gmail Manager, which allows me to see whenever I get new mail to my Gmail account and also delivers the subject line and a snippet of the mail. Definitely get that. No more opening up the page to an empty inbox. You can set it to how often it checks for new mail and you can even set it to play a sound when new mail comes in. My currount audio clip is from the movie “Napoleon Dynamite” Where Napoleon shouts out, “Tina, come get some Ham”. But I digress.
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| Internote Screenshot |
Another great extension is Internote that allows you to put virtual Post-it® notes on web pages you frequent. Even when you close the page the note stays there until you move it. In the options you can change the size and colour of the notes as well as the fonts. I use it a lot to remember things I need to remember to do on my site. It helps a lot also as reference notes.
So there they are my two tips for today (the Firefox one was a gift).
Posted in Tech Tip | 9 Comments »
Tuesday, January 23rd, 2007
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| Kieron Pollard |
I know that my mostly female readership won’t care much for this post because it’s sports, which is funny since the post on David Beckham got over 20 comments. But it’s ok, I’ll talk about it anyway. I promise it’ll be short and sweet.
Adrian Barath and Kieron Pollard (pronounced Kyron) are a couple of names that you’re going to be hearing about on the cricket scene for some time to come.
Pollard has already been selected for the West Indies 30 man training squad from which a team will be picked for the Cricket World Cup. He’s been picked quite likely on the strength of his recent performances in the Carib Beer Series. He’s already scored 321 runs in four innings in this series including 126 which included a 126 with 11 fours and 6 sixes.
Oh, and he’s only 19.
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| Adrian Barath |
Adrian Barath is also a teenager at 16 years and yet has scored 131 to complete the youngest ever first class century in the West Indies. 16 years old I say. he’s been knocking at the door of that century for a few innings now but finaly made it come true on Monday Well at that age he probably isn’t ready for the senior WI team and definitely not ready for the Cricket World Cup, but be on the look out for him quite soon.
On a side note, how is there a Blind Cricket Association? How exactly does that work?
Photos from the Trinidad Guardian.
Posted in Cricket, Sports | 6 Comments »
Thursday, January 18th, 2007
And when I say “hot” I don’t mean it in the sense of it being attractive, even though I think it is. I mean it in the underworld street-slang sense where “hot” means stolen.
What I’m trying to say is that I stole the idea for my header from another website. I like it a lot but I’m not sure how long I’m going to keep it since my conscience may start bothering me before too long. We’ll just have to see.
Posted in Miscellaneous | 22 Comments »
Tuesday, January 16th, 2007
Choc’late Allen
There is little I can say about Choc’late Allen that hasn’t been said by someone smarter and more eloquent than I.
The first time I heard her talk my jaw dropped. I had never before heard a child speak so articulately or confidently. What dey feeding that chile? I think I found out that she was home schooled. Which may explain a thing or two. At 13 my conversation was to the effect of “ummmm, yeah, eh heh, yeah daiz de man”. In fact if you read over this blog, you’ll find that my speech hasn’t changed much in over a decade and a half.
I’m going to resist the temptation to make puns out of her name like the other newspapers, but I’m just going to say I wish there were more Choh’lates in the world (I promise that is not an attempt at a pun).
Faith Williams
Nowadays we’ve become used to people meeting untimely deaths. And because we know the killers just don’t care, we don’t expect anything more from them. But what should we say when 3 year old Faith Williams dies after undergoing a routine hernia surgery because as it turns out the “health professionals” used faulty equipment? The machine wasn’t calibrated properly and so Faith Williams received 17 to 18 per cent more anesthesia than was supposed to be administered. No one bothered to check, no one bothered to calibrate it so she’s dead.
Well if the health professionals are so careless about our lives, far less for anyone else.
Piarco Airport Sentencing
When I first returned to Trinidad a friend tried to win me over to the UNC. One of his methods was to say, “Well we all know dey line dey pockets, but ent we still get airport?” I of course couldn’t believe what I was hearing. I was trying to figure out how someone could be so unpatriotic in order to support a political party. Within weeks of being here I realized it was a sentiment that had been expressed time and time again.
For the record I’m a patriot. I don’t care who you are or what you’ve done in the past. If you tief, you should be thrown in jail. Don’t try to smooth it over by saying “well at least we get schools, at least we get airport”.
I just can’t wait for more charges to be laid in connection to a certain non-existing hospital in Scarborough. (Sorry law, I know I promised to blog about this, but for now I think the moment is gone. When it pops up again, hopefully I will get a chance then.)
Cornell Glen
Well it’s no secret, by boy Cornell got fired. Whether or not that has to do with the arrival of the new Fresh Prince of L.A., I have no idea.
What has me laughing is the interview he gave on CNC 3 last night. When asked about where he was going to play now that he’s out of a job he replied (and I’m paraphrasing), “Well I want to play in a foreign club for sure. If I have to play down here (scoffs and laughs at the same time then pauses) I guess I’ll play with one of the top teams like Joe Public or San Juan Jablotech. “
But what de jail is this? Who is he? Now I know the boy has some mad skill eh, but who is he to say who he will play for? Son, you have to be offered a job in order to play eh. I know yuh good, but you just can’t dictate who you’ll play for. Remember, you’re not all that fit at present.
Having said that, I wish him a speedy recovery, because I think he’s one of the better players (and one of my favourites) on the National Squad. I hope that he gets a big contract somewhere.
Posted in Football, Infrastructure | 6 Comments »
Friday, January 12th, 2007
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| Basdeo Panday |
It’s become increasingly difficult to take Basdeo Panday and his cronies seriously. Not too long ago he was going on and on about how good it was that Dookeran had left. He and his cronies used every insult in the book to hurl at Dooks, saying how the party was better now without him. Warner said how he should take his “jahaji bundle and go, bhaio aur baino.” Kamla added “who want to go can go”. They even told the man that he won’t even retain his own seat. So after all this, after all the relief they felt at having unloaded Dookeran comes the plea for the Opposition parties to unite. Say What? I can’t understand why they’ll want him back.
You ever had a pardner who used to real bad talk a gyul saying how she foot smelly, she forehead big, she teeth spacey and how she eh no good? Next thing yuh know, pardner tracking she hard, hard? Hmmm….
Panday says this new call comes “since the UNC is of the view that the PNM could only be beaten on a unified front.” Read: “We overestimated our support. There’s no way we can win without Dookeran.”
Quick, think of an animal that rhymes with “rake”.
Bas is a joke that’s been told too many times to be funny. Does no one else see that? Do the cronies not see that? At least Bas should try to have a backbone. At the very least he should stick to his word. How do you trust a man like that? How does anyone vote for a man like that?
Well thanks goodness Dooks said he was not interested. If he was I’d no longer support him.
Manohar Ramsaran by far had the funniest comment on the issue which was to the effect of, “Being in the UNC requires dedication. I’m not as dedicated as Mr. Panday is to get up early every morning to go to court.” Funny.
Posted in COP, Politics, UNC | 12 Comments »
Thursday, January 11th, 2007
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| David Beckham |
David Beckham is going to America. His time with Real Madrid is over and now he’ll play in the MLS. This wasn’t entirely unexpected, because aging greats (even Pelé himself) have chosen to end their careers in the United States. Not long ago Ronaldo has hinted that he wanted to end his career in the MLS. What knocks me off my feet is the size of the contract. Los Angeles is going to pay Becks $250 million over the course of 5 years. That’s a million dollars a week. Do you feel poor?
Now I know that I don’t normally blog about non-Trini issues here on this blog,and I know I’ve been in a slumber this week but this woke me up. I guess it’s kind of a Trini issue anyway with T&T’s Cornell Glen soon to receive the teammate of his life.
A million dollars a week for 5 years……wow. I’m sorry it’s hard to get past that.
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| Cornell Glen |
Is the US ready for Beks and Posh? I know Becks and Posh have been itching for the bright lights of Hollywood for a long time.
I keep wondering how good a player will he be when there’s not much at stake. His place in the English line up is probably gone forever. There is very little chance of him being signed to another team when he’s 36 years old and his contract with the Galaxy is up so why try to give his best? What’s the incentive to play half as good as he did with Real Madrid and Man U?
Surely a lot of children will take a new interest in football now with David Beckham’s fat paycheck and all, and surely the Galaxy’s attendance will skyrocket by about 500 percent and surely the’ll sell a lot of David Beckham kits, but will it be worth it to the Galaxy?
Posted in Football, Sports | 22 Comments »
Monday, January 8th, 2007
I told you all a while back that I was one of three Trinidadians that didn’t own a cell phone. Well that changed about two weeks ago when my uncle decided to send me his old phone because he got a better one. Only yesterday did I find out that what I had was actually a “MeToo” phone”. What’s a MeToo phone? Follow the telephone conversation I had with my 14 year old cousin.
Caris: I thought you told me you didn’t have a phone?
Me: I didn’t, but Uncle Eric sent me his old phone a few weeks ago, so I guess I own one now.
Caris: What kind is it?
Me: A Nokia
Caris: What model number?
Me: Ummmm, it says here it’s an 11….
Caris: 10? An 1110?
Me: Yeah, that’s it.
Caris: Waaaaaay. You have a real MeToo phone boy.
Me: A what sorry?
Caris: A MeToo Phone.
Me: What’s a MeToo Phone?
Caris: Daiz a phone everybody does have. When you tell somebody you have a Nokia 1110, they does say, “Me Too”.
Geez. Just the other day I was rebelling against the cell phone culture and today, I’m a cell phone owner at the bottom of the food chain - the uncoolest of the uncool. Now I need to go get myself a better phone.
Posted in Humour, Personal Story | 32 Comments »
