The first thing I thought to do as I felt my desk and chair start shaking, albeit gently, about 40 minutes ago, was to post to Twitter: “Earthquake here in Trinidad!” Within two minutes I had a response from the intrepid iange, asking: “what’s the value of the quake, don’t see any seismic senors which have picked on it yet.”

I told iange I’d check the UWI Seimsic Research Centre’s web site but then got sidetracked by e-mail. Within another few minutes, however, iange was back with the info: “appears to be a quake measuring 5.4 Magnitude according to GEOFON’s sensors” and “GEOFON has revised reading to 5.2 Magnitude , off the coast of Venezuela“, plus links to the sites shown in the images above and below.

This is one of the many reasons we use Twitter.

Update (6:07 PM): The UWI Seismic Research Centre has posted a report.

Technorati Tags: earthquake, twitter, social media

Apologies for boring you again with the TSTT saga, but I feel it is important to document these things in public.

Someone hinted to a relative of mine recently that I had failed to express sufficient gratitude on this blog to TSTT, my internet service providers. I believe (or hope) the comment was tongue-in-cheek, as I think I have offered gratitude where gratitude was due. In an earlier post, for instance, I mentioned Dustin, the tech support person who handled my ADSL installation. I also wrote that Broadband Marketing manager Francisca Jordan responded promptly and clearly to my email. I commended Dustin because he offered excellent service, i.e. he was highly responsive throughout the process and delivered on his promises.

I feel absolutely no need, on the other hand, to feel “grateful” for the actual fast-tracking of my ADSL installation, as I first applied for the service way back in October 2007, then was told at various points by various TSTT personnel that:

• - the service was not yet available in my area (understandable)
• - the service would be installed in within six weeks from early November
• - the service wouldn’t be available until the end of December
• - they couldn’t say when the service would be available
• - ADSL service had been activated on my line since early October, though nobody could tell me why it wasn’t actually working
• - it was sunny in Bangalore (okay, that one’s a joke)

The installation finally took place on January 23, 2008, apparently in response to the letter I sent to TSTT and also posted on this blog. (I have since learned that my original ADSL application had been screwed up on the TSTT end of things. Since the installation, I have also received three phone calls from other tech support personnel responding to outdated service requests I’d made in early January.)

But the crux of my argument with TSTT, as you may recall, was not ADSL: it was the fact that they’ve continued billing me (and other TSTT Wireless Broadband users) at the original rate for Wireless Broadband Service that has deteriorated in some cases to speeds lower than dial-up.

Ms. Jordan told me that she had passed my letter on to her Executive Vice President. To date, however, nobody has responded further to the matter. I should also say here that I do not consider the fast-tracking of my ADSL installation an appropriate response.

If or when I receive a response, however, you’ll be the first to know. And at least I’m no longer the only blogger TSTT has to worry about.

Technorati Tags: tstt, consumer rights, customer service, trinidad, caribbean, telecommunications

I now have ADSL service. Passed by the computer a few minutes ago and noticed the DSL light on the modem was on, so I rubbed my eyes to make sure I wasn’t dreaming, fired up the control panel and voilà — we were in business. And people tell me my smattering of geek skills count for nothing.

The battle’s still not over, though, as the service seems to be 256Kbps. The level of service I ordered was 2-megabit. A luta continua.

But at least now I doesn’t take me hours to send an e-mail.

(And kudos to Dustin of TSTT, who’s been completely responsive throughout the entire process).

I still haven’t received a direct response from TSTT on the matter raised in the letter I sent day before yesterday. I’m wondering, however, if I’m meant accept the sudden fast-tracking of my application for ADSL service (pending since October) as a response of sorts.

I’m still waiting for the service to actually be activated, though. I was assured yesterday that a technician would visit this morning, and I received a text message today just before 9am saying that things were in the works (at least they’ve realised that I appreciate being kept in the loop).

It’s 1219pm, however, and a technician is yet to darken my doorstep. I figure they’re probably drawing lots to see who gets assigned to visit the customer from hell. Which messes up my day completely, as I should already have been out of the house attending to various things, including having the computer I’m writing this post on serviced.

Flow Digital, where are you?

Technorati Tags: tstt, trinidad, trinidad+tobago, caribbean, telecommunications, consumer rights

No response as yet to my letter about my plan to pro-rate my TSTT Wireless Broadband bill. I suspect I won’t be getting one.

My service at home is worse than ever: it still takes minutes for web pages to load, when they load at all, and since a big part of my job has to do with looking at web pages, productivity around here has pretty much ground to a halt. The irony of the situation is that as a result of the delays, I’ve had no time as yet to devote to part two of my campaign, nor to harass the people at Blink why my October 2007 order for service remains unfulfilled over three months later.

I’m leaving home now in order to find better internet access. The fact that somebody living ten minutes outside the capital city of the wealthiest nation in the English-speaking Caribbean should have so few alternatives for internet access is inexcusable. I’m beginning to entertain paranoid thoughts, like that this may be deliberate. Maybe The Secret Blog of Patrick Manning wasn’t satire after all?

Those who follow me on Twitter or have spoken to me on the telephone during work hours in the past few weeks know only too well about my internet woes. I’ve been like a stuck record, complaining non-stop about the abysmal service I’ve been receiving since last November as a TSTT Wireless Broadband customer, the number of hours I’ve lost waiting for browser pages to load, how some days I have drive into town just to be able to send an e-mail, and so on and so forth. I’ve begun to bore even myself.

Today, however, I finally managed to carve out a few minutes among the looming deadlines and the other havoc the failure of my internet connection has wreaked on my schedule to write a letter to somebody I know at TSTT (which, for those who don’t know, is this energy-rich nation’s principal telecommunications services provider, not some two-bit ISP).

The letter contains a few semi-deliberate inaccuracies: I’m actually co-managing editor of Global Voices; and the part about having colleagues in remote parts of Africa with better internet access than I has not been scientifically proven — which does not mean it may not be true:

Thus begins the campaign.

Over at Rising Voices, the outreach arm of Global Voices, David Sasaki has just announced the latest round of Rising Voices grant recipients. Among them is the Rising Voices project’s first Caribbean grantee: “Diary of an Inmate”, a Jamaica-based project which will attempt to counter the veneration of badboys and gang leaders by training prison inmates to blog and podcast. The project’s founder, Kevin Wallen, who has been doing exemplary work among inmates in Jamaica’s penal institutions through an organisation called (Students Expressing Truth), outlined the project as follows:

Through blogging, inmates will be able to tell their stories. They will be able to paint a realistic picture of life behind bars and the consequences of crime. Currently, Jamaica’s music and media idolize the ‘badman’ or ’shotta’ and portray as role models those who have been incarcerated. Many of our youths now think that prison is a ‘cool’ place to be, until they themselves are faced with the harsh truth. The Diary of an Inmate blog will allow all Jamaicans to learn about the realities of Jamaica’s overcrowded prison system with the hope that this will counteract the false ideas implanted by the media.

Congrats to Kevin and the “Diary of an Inmate” project. I look forward to seeing the results of this interesting experiment. And to the rest of you potential Caribbean applicants: what are you waiting on?

Technorati Tags: jamaica, global voices, outreach, prison, blogging, caribbean

From today’s edition of the New York Times:

In an unusual ruling on Friday at the World Trade Organization, the Caribbean nation of Antigua won the right to violate copyright protections on goods like films and music from the United States — an award worth up to $21 million — as part of a dispute between the countries over online gambling. . . .

Yet the ruling is significant in that it grants a rare form of compensation: the right of one country, in this case Antigua, to violate intellectual property laws of another — the United States — by allowing it to distribute copies of American music, movie and software products.

Pretty damn incredible. I’ve always maintained that software piracy is most usefully viewed as an (albeit involuntary) investment by the metropolis in developing world innovation and creativity. Let’s keep an eye on this one.

Technorati Tags: antigua, caribbean, piracy

Back in November I attempted to buy a One Laptop per Child (OLPC) computer under the Give One Get One programme, which allows buyers to purchase two units, one of which is donated to a child in either Afghanistan, Cambodia, Haiti, Mongolia or Rwanda. The offer, however, was limited to US and Canadian buyers and even though I was paying through my PayPal account (which is connected to a US bank account) the system seemed to detect that my shipping address was that of my freight forwarder in Miami and refused to let the transaction go through (the US Apple Store does likewise, though most other merchants realise my money’s as good as the other person’s). Needless to say, the incident didn’t inspire warm feelings about the OLPC project’s sales policies. While there may well have been practical reasons to limit participation in the programme to the US and Canada, I find the idea philosophically distasteful and steeped in on-behalfism. Why shouldn’t a Trinidadian be able to donate a laptop to a child in Mongolia or Haiti?

Today, however, I learned that there may be a few OLPCs entering the region after all. An organisation in Dominica called the Dominica Academy of Arts and Sciences (DAAS), reports Caribbean Net News, has embarked on a project to purchase a minimum of 100 units, and is accepting donations via its web site. From the look of the site, I’d wager that the DAAS is an NGO, which is interesting in light of this entry relating to Caribbean participation in the OLPC programme on the OLPC wiki.

The Give One Get One programme, incidentally, has been extended until December 31, though it’s still open only to the US and Canada. Which also means that the pressing problem of what to give my godson for Christmas remains unsolved. Bah humbug.

Technorati Tags: olpc, caribbean, one laptop per child, dominica

Yesterday I put together an article for Global Voices on the international blogosphere’s reaction to the Apple iPhone — check it out here.

Since returning from India my sleep patterns have begun to look a bit more like the average person’s. Yesterday evening, however, I took a dose of anti-histamines (explanation below) which knocked me flat by 8:30pm. Hence the reason I’m up again at 2am to receive the latest prod from Vernon. (I also received an e-mail this week from P W Fenton saying, “Caribbean Free Radio makes me look absolutely prolific”. I know, folks. Believe me when I say I’m trying).

RIP, Uncle Ellis:

One of my late father’s wishes was that his musician friends play at his funeral. Which they did, bless their hearts — parang instrumentals and popular songs and calypsoes. The funeral of Ellis Chow Lin On, which took place yesterday, was practically a concert, with Chris “Tambu” Herbert, David Rudder, Shurwayne Winchester (who lost a devoted manager in Ellis’ passing), Roger George, Natalie Yorke, Carl Jacobs, Pelham Goddard, Carl “Beaver” Henderson and others giving “Uncle” Ellis the musical send-off he more than deserved.

It occurred to me today that I’d known Uncle Ellis for almost 20 years, mainly in his capacity as the father of my good friend Sharon, and uncle of Tony. Most people will probably remember him as one of the founders of the seminal band Charlie’s Roots, but Tony, in a loving tribute to his uncle (and mentor), also recalled his involvement with KH Records, a key player in the development of soca music in the 1970s. Writing in the Guardian on Monday, Debbie Jacob was spot on when she said that “in the cut-throat business of calypso defined by backbiting and cynicism, Ellis remained optimistic and kind. He always managed to smile. He was one of those old-time storytellers, a Chinese griot. . . .” Ellis Chow Lin On was really the loveliest of people.

Stung!: Engaging in a bit of praedial larceny (i.e. picking fruit from a tree at the side of the road) in the countryside over the weekend, I was stung by a wasp. A bit of Googling has since revealed that the best thing to have done in the circumstances would be to have instantly applied a bit of the juice of the purloined fruit (citrus) to the sting. This would have neutralised the poison, which hand sanitizer gel (the only thing vaguely medicinal I had on hand) apparently does not.

Two days later, my ear (site of the sting) is still red, swollen and slightly painful to the touch, and my scalp and the area just below my jaw are numb. I’ve discerned no effect on my behaviour except a slight bad mood, but I still don’t relish the idea of walking around with a head full of wasp venom. (This, by the way, is the reason I took the anti-histamines.) So if I suddenly stop blogging (even more), you’ll know it’s either because I’m dead or too busy stinging baddies in the guise of a wasp-powered superhero.

iPhone bet sets friend back $30:

The only reason I’m joining the chorus about Apple’s newly-announced iPhone is because I foolishly volunteered to put together a piece on international reactions to the thing for Global Voices, and because a friend of mine says he has a $30 bet on that I’m going to acquire one as soon as they become available in this neck of the woods.

I’m a bit surprised that this friend doesn’t know me better than that. In addition to not being a great fan of technological convergence in the gadget realm, all I really demand of a mobile phone is that it be able to make and receive calls (my ownership of two fairly feature-rich units notwithstanding). Which is not to say that I deny the importance of cell phones with kick-ass features to people in communities with limited access to computers and the internet, or the value of SMS as an easy and inexpensive means of disseminating information. (Incidentally, my compatriot Taran Rampersad is predicting that 2007 may be the year of the mobile phone — and he may just be right).

Nor am I denying that the iPhone is so beautiful it makes you want to weep, and has some features that are completely and totally to die for.

Thing is, I don’t need an iPhone. So unless somebody offers me one as a gift, I won’t be owning one any time soon. Besides, the damn thing costs US$500: know how many Kiva.org entrepreneurs I could finance with that kind of cash?? Nikipedia says he’s getting one, however, so I could always play with his.

Stolen MacBook: This one’s a long shot, and mainly directed at local readers. A friend of mine had her 15″ PowerBook stolen from her car over the weekend. The serial number is SW85160Y3RG4. If it happens to cross your path, please give me a shout.

It’s 4am. Back to bed for this delinquent podcaster.

Those of you who read the captions on my Flickr photos may be aware of the deal I struck recently with my nephew Alix: he allows a photo of himself to be used in the public service videos I produced recently for UNICEF; I buy him a 1G RAM module for his Mac Mini.

Well, the RAM was delivered yesterday, and I — as tech support scapegoat go-to gal for all my family members and friends living at the Black Hole within a 20km radius — was naturally the one to install it.

Practically all of the instruction guides on the web insist that a putty knife (and in at least one case, two putty knives) is essential to the Mac Mini-dismantling process. This is because practically all of these instruction guides are written by men — who have no clue that a icing spatula (straight version) works just as well!

The trick is to insert the blade of the spatula into the non-existent space between the Mini’s metal outer casing and plastic back cover, then grasp it a few inches from the top (to keep it rigid) before prying the cover up — an exercise, I should warn you, that involves some rather alarming cracking and popping oops-there-goes-my warranty-grade sound effects. (This may explain why Apple does not publish instructions on its own web site and why they’re absent from the Mac Mini manual as well. The warranty remains effective, however, unless the case shows signs of severe mistreatment).

If there’s a down side to using an icing spatula instead of a putty knife, it’s that you might attempt to apply a layer of frosting to your Mac Mini after you complete the upgrade. But then again, which is easier to remove: frosting or putty?

First the Zune, now this waste of bandwidth. Sigh.

Ever heard the term “core competency,” Microsoft?

- In today’s Trinidad Express, BC Pires talks with artist Steve Ouditt about the festivals of Divali and Eid-Ul-Fitr in the Trinidadian context.

- Guadeloupean saxophonist Jacques Schwarz-Bart’s MySpace page. His latest album, Soné Ka-La, gorgeously synthesises Guadeloupean gwoka and all that jazz (full-length music samples are available at MySpace).

And while we’re on the subject of great saxophonists, the New York Times yesterday runs a moving article about Sonny Rollins — who’s now 76 — as he comes to terms with the death of his wife and (reluctantly) embraces technolological change.

- My photos from last night’s Divali dinner at Omi and Lalo’s are up on Flickr. They’re a bit on the dark side, and again, will be more appreciated by those who know the people in them. But I do deconstruct a dinner plate.

- And here’s one from the tech files: last night, in my quest for a method of cheating the upload date on a few of my photos so they wouldn’t appear at the top of my Flickr photostream, I came across h4ppierphotos, which worked like a dream.