Might, yet again, is always right.....

How long could I resist about talking about a topic that I have great 'passion' for........my bully neighbours to the North.
On my mind is Blackwater, the private American security company that killed at least 20 innocent Iraqi civilians. The Iraq government has asked for them to be expelled, and also wants to lay criminal charges against those responsible. But guess what? America will not allow the Goverment of the country who alledgely were democratically elected to govern their own country.
For example:

"The Iraqi government has no authority over private security firms contracted by the U.S. government, according to a July report from the Congressional Research Service."

and this:

"The incident prompted the Iraqi government to call for Blackwater's expulsion from the country and sparked anger among Iraqis"

And the invasion was done to benefit Iraqis? Give me a break!!!!!

I pray that I am alive to see the days of retribution.
rsp

Giving thanks to the Supreme Being

Hurricane Dean was the second major hurricane that was headed straight for Jamaica (Ivan in 2004 was the other one) since I have been living here.
Let me tell you, I come from Guyana where we have no natural disasters and whenever a hurricane is due this way, I really question why the *$*$%*%*$*$%$ did I leave Guyana :-).
Just giving thanks to God for sparing Jamaica a direct hit yet again.
God, I give you all my thanks.
rsp

Ashamed to admit it.....

But as liberal as I am in most areas, I am very conservative with my views on crime. I hate to admit that I do agree on some issues with those on the Fox Network et. al. I am old school..... an eye for an eye, if a man rapes (and I not speaking about 'she say he rape her', I am speaking about rape when there is physical evidence, dna etc) cut his penis off, kind of guy. I rarely believe in prisoner reform and 'rehabilitation'. Their victims usually do not get that second chance.......
Case in point, Jah Cure.
Jah Cure is a dancehall singer who was tried and convicted of rape here in Jamaica under, quite frankly, conditions that if I was arranging his sentencing he would never again see the light of day outside a prison walls. During this 'incarceration', he has been allowed to record and release songs etc. Anyway he was recently released and I will continue to boycott his songs, even separate and apart from finding his vocal tone and vocal stylings annoying and irritating, unless he was to donate at least 50% of his income to his rape victims.
A talented criminal is still a criminal and they should have kept him in jail for the rest of his life as far as I am concerned.
rsp

It isn't even close.....

Ok, had my first real exposure to Microsoft's Vista.......It to me is not even close how much better an OS is OSX to this piece of crap. I think XP was making some headways, but Vista really!!!
First of all things are completely not in the old place they used to be. I have never used a Macintosh or Linux computer, and I have been using Macs for almost 20 years, where I could not figure my way around the new OS in under two minutes without opening a book. I have no idea what Redmond was thinking by this complete re-arranging of stuff in Vista. Not to mention in this half an hour not only could I not get to configure a Wireless Secure connection that wasn't broadcasting its SSID (God forbid you decide to make your network a little more secure), but even trying to right click disable the wireless connection or enable it caused a complete OS crash.....Goes to show that the unfortunately we live in a world where quantity (that is the market share) over quality still rules.
By the way, Apple's Security Ad about the annoying security prompts of Vista was not only humourous but completely correct. What a pain in the ass it is.
rsp

My other profession

I was trained as a scientist, Geophysics to be precise, and I have a company that in a nutshell provides 'support services to any company that utlilises technology'. Whether it is research, training, strategic planning, support etc, in theory the company is set up to offer all of these services. If we don't have someone inhouse who can do it, we have associates throughout the world who will have expertise in the technology required by our client.
Unfortunately in Jamaica all that has turned out so far to mean is IT support for Microsoft Systems.
Let me come right out and say it, I think Microsoft is excellent at marketing and world dominance but nothing else. I think they make very crappy products (except for my optical mouse) that is usually full of bugs but is so common place especially in Jamaica, I have to end up supporting it. For me troubleshooting on Windows platform is a nightmare, you can do the same thing twice and get different results. My first OS was unix and my second was the macintosh OS. Now with OS X I get the best of both worlds, however not many people in Jamaica use anything other than Microsoft software. My blood pressure and stress level go up everytime I get a call "something is wrong". I really wish I didn't need the money and could say to all. I do not provide ANY services for Microsoft software, truly a stressful part of my life.

Why the name Sound Sculptist

I think it was Clint Eastwood who said it "A man must know his strengths and his limitations", ok I think what he actually said in the movie was a Man must know his limitations but you get the gist :-)
I play keyboards, bass and guitars.... I will never be a virtuoso of any, I dont' even think I am a great/exceptional musician on any of these instruments. I probably could have been on keyboards and bass but I hate to practice. However what I think is that I am very competent on each but blessed with a fantastic imagination, and born a dreamer. What this has allowed me to do is hopefully use the instruments that I do play or have access to musicians who play and craft them all together to hopefully make a masterpiece or a great work of art. I think my imagination allows me to 'hear' stuff in my head that many if not most would not......and allows me to be very good in arranging and producing. Like a sculptor who would take mud or clay and uses his/her imagination to create a work of art. My goal is the same, to take elements of sound: music instruments, special effects etc and weave it all into a work of art, hopefully!!!!!! Sometimes *I* think I have succeeded, sometimes not!!!! :-)
rsp

A little about me

I was born in Guyana to parents who were/are very staunch 'One Caribbean' Advocates. Even my 'other' father who raised me is a staunch West Indian and that has clearly shaped who I am today. I am a regionalist with no apologies. This is one of the two reason why I do not understand why Marcus Garvey ever became a national hero of Jamaica. If he had his way, as far as I understand his policies, we would all be back in Africa and there would be no West Indies as we know it today. And Jamaica made him a national hero for these views? (We are called West Indian, by the way, only because good old Chris, 'the discoverer', couldn't tell east from west :-))I think the West Indies is the greatest place on earth, and will defend its existance to my death. I firmly believe that as we 'used' to do in cricket;  when we are one we are the greatest in the world.

I also have very very strong views on the bullies that are to the North of us, yes the ones who are the only country to have ever in the history of mankind used weapons of mass destruction to kill people. I think one of the common threads in all my beliefs is that I do not believe the minority should dictate what is right for the majority. It explains why I am so passionate about abuse of children, America's consistent foreign policies, abuse of women etc.....
My mother was a feminist and raised me to be independent as a man and also to understand and appreciate that a woman can and deserves to be all that she can be. I am not a traditional west indian man where some of us still think it is the woman's place to look after the kids, or even if she works that she must come home and cook. Who comes home first should cook. I have no problems working under a woman as my boss, however I do have a problem where some women want the best of both worlds. That is, they can achieve anything professionally yet still expect a man to always open the door for them and other 18th century 'gentlemanlike behaviour'. For me you either take it all or none, no picking and choosing it is the 21st century we both are equal in all respects.

Despite me being afforded the chance of getting one of the best educational opportunities the world has to offer, my heart was never in academics or industry. Very early in my life I discovered the power of music on the human psyche. It can excite you, calm you, encourage you, anger you, upset you etc.... For me I am obsessed with creating music. It is my second greatest passion. I want to do it till the day I die. I can't even imagine reaching a point in my life when I want to retire from doing music professionally. Most times it doesn't feel like work. I think everyone should get to work in his or her passion. It makes your quality of life so much better even if you do not get the financial rewards.

My greatest passion however are my two children. I never knew how much my mother loved me until my first child was born. I can't ever describe the immediate change in my life my first born brought, to someone who isn't a loving, dedicated, 'my children are my everything' parent. I am truly blessed that both of my kids are beautiful inside and out and certainly I think that this is God's greatest gift to me. I think this is my greatest responsibility and quite frankly my main reason for being.

Hopefully the above paragraphs will help you understand better who I am.