The Hand I Fan With

It has happened on many websites, blogs and discussion forums that I've been on. People seem to eventually say the same things, maybe with different words, but you have read it somewhere else, written it yourself or had a conversation with someone about it. I have asked myself whether as you read and share with people if you are not taking on their ideas; if the originality of thought and ideas are not severely compromised by these interactions? I guess it is the same for song writers and other creative people as well. Access to other people's work is so easy with the internet which bombards us with videos, lyric etc and various technologies that allow unrestricted sampling and recreations. How does one ensure that others work is inspiration and not the template from which one develops his/her work? How does one create space to be or remain unique and their authentic self? Today I listened to Pink's splendid rendition of her song Dear Mr. President and I thought well she is...

SUB-$100 LAPTOP DESIGN UNVEILED Nicholas Negroponte, chairman and founder of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Media Labs, has been outlining designs for a sub-$100 PC. The laptop will be tough and foldable in different ways, with a hand crank for when there is no power supply. Professor Negroponte came up with the idea for a cheap computer for all after visiting a Cambodian village.His non-profit One Laptop Per Child group plans to have up to 15 million machines in production within a year. A prototype of the machine should be ready in November at the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) in Tunisia. Children in Brazil, China, Egypt, Thailand, and South Africa will be among the first to get the under-$100 (£57) computer, said Professor Negroponte at the Emerging Technologies conference at MIT. The following year, Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney plans to start buying them for all 500,000 middle and high school pupils in the state. Professor Negroponte predicts t...

As it always seems, there is someone in the western world who does not have to preoccupy himself with the mundane, like feeding a family and paying the mortgage and is therefore free to do something exhilarating and out of this world. This time it is lucky Alex, an American with his camera crew, who is attempting to go around the world for free. The adventure is basically the three member crew traveling to as many countries, especially the unbeaten paths, without paying much money. Modern internet technology through video clips and a website has made it possible for them to share almost instantaneously with the rest of the world their adventures. They also broadcast their adventures weekly, on the Early Show of ABC, the US television network. So far the trip which started in New York City has gone through, South Carolina, Florida, Puerto Rico, USVIs, BVIs and now he is in Dominica. The last four or five videos relate to Dominica. So take a peak, enjoy your lovely home and maybe you ...

I was the first American citizen to be elected to Congress in spite of the double drawbacks of being female and having skin darkened by melanin. When you put it that way, it sounds like a foolish reason for fame. In a just and free society it would be foolish. I want history to remember me not just as the first black woman to be elected to Congress, not as the first black woman to have made a bid for the presidency of the United States, but as a black woman who lived in the 20th century and dared to be herself. Tremendous amounts of talent are lost to our society just because that talent wears a skirt. At present, our country needs women's idealism and determination, perhaps more in politics than anywhere else. Service is the rent we pay for the privilege of living on this earth. You don't make progress by standing on the sidelines, whimpering and complaining. You make progress by implementing ideas. Racism is so universal in this country, so widespread and deepseated, that it...

“The future belongs to those who prepare for it today.” "My alma mater was books, a good library... I could spend the rest of my life reading, just satisfying my curiosity." "If you're not ready to die for it, put the word 'freedom' out of your vocabulary." "There is no better than adversity. Every defeat, every heartbreak, every loss, contains its own seed, its own lesson on how to improve your performance next time."

HaHa! Well I have been laughing to myself every time I remember this incident which happened almost first thing in my workday today. I am in my office and the secretary calls to say that one of the construction workers on the project outside my office building, wants to see me. Now I parked my van sort of unusual, so I thought it was about that he must want to see me. So I let him in. I am at this time preparing for my regular Monday morning staff meeting and would not have allowed interruptions ordinarily. But I thought just a few minutes and I would deal with this. In walks one of the workers not in usual construction work clothes but street clothes. I recognize him because every morning I come to work he makes it a point to say hi. He will walk closer to where I park just to make sure he tells me good morning. So now I am curious to know what he wants. I see it is not my vehicle that is the concern...I am wondering maybe he has come to seek assistance under the project I manag...

I have been tres busy with a new job, planning a village reunion and renewal and maintaining a website for that effort. So I have had Zero time to do much else. Plus the new job relocated me to another Caribbean island and Internet access at home has taken four months to get going. So it has been a no go for here . I had even forgotten my password and had to get a new one. Well I think at the end of March I should have some time to put down some of my thoughts on things I find interesting. But I will be popping in to just make a short update like this one before that. Well I eh even know if anybody still comes here to read but this was always more about me being forced to put my thoughts out there in an organized fashion and giving myself some much needed writing practice. Selah

On June 2, 3006 UNAIDS report for the Caribbean revealed that AIDS-related illnesses are the leading cause of death for people ages 15 to 44 in the Caribbean, accounting for 27,000 deaths in 2005, . Further although Bahamas, Barbados, the Dominican Republic and Haiti showed they had "dented the progress of HIV" that region still remained seconds only to Africa as it regards infection rates. More alarming data from the UNAIDS reports show that at the end of 2005 approximately 330,000 HIV-positive people were living in the Caribbean. Particularly, -22,000 of whom were children -51% of people living with HIV/AIDS in the region are women - an estimated 37,000 new HIV cases were reported in the Caribbean in 2005 -12% of reported HIV cases in the Caribbean result from homosexual and unprotected sex. -in region only 25% of people needing antiretroviral drugs was receiving them - In Trinidad and Tobago, females ages 15 to 19 were six times as likely to be HIV-positive than their ...