Out Here On A Limb!

The Great Renaming: A Humorous Yet Thought-Provoking Musing on Animal Anatomy and Evolution 

Ladies and gentlemen, hold onto your hats—or your fins, wings, and webbed fingers, as the case may be—because I am here to challenge the very foundations of zoological nomenclature with the audacity of a squirrel challenging gravity during a leap of faith. It's time we reexamine what we *think* we know about our animal kin. Let me present to you a thesis that is as witty as it is scientifically provocative: Animals are mislabeled, misunderstood, and dare I say, misrepresented in the great book of life.  

All the data presented here is based on my own HANDS ON experience!

The Case Against "Four-Footedness"  

Let’s take a moment and truly consider the so-called "four-footed" animals. Cats and dogs—pardon, *puss and dawg*—are among the most egregious victims of this anatomical propaganda. Anyone who has spent years sketching their skeletal frames (as I have, with the fervour of a Renaissance anatomist) will tell you: the front "legs" of these creatures are not legs at all, but rather arms. Yes, arms! The bone structure is nearly identical to the human arm—humerus, radius, ulna, and let’s not even get started on the wrist-like carpus.  

And those paws? They’re hands in disguise, my friends. Hands! Observe a cat batting at a toy or a dog digging a hole with surgical precision, and tell me that isn’t a form of manual dexterity. If these creatures are walking on all fours, they are, in fact, walking on their hands. Ponder that the next time you see a Labrador sauntering down the street with regal nonchalance.  

Kangaroos are fascinating creatures, particularly when you examine their front limbs, which resemble human arms in both structure and function. These "arms" are equipped with powerful pectoral muscles that enable them to deliver impressive punches during their unique form of boxing. When kangaroos engage in this sparring behavior, their muscular build and the ability to extend their limbs showcase a remarkable similarity to human upper-body mechanics. The kangaroo’s forelimbs are not just for balance or support; they are adept at striking, allowing these marsupials to assert dominance and communicate through physical displays. This anthropomorphic quality in their anatomy highlights the evolutionary adaptations that allow kangaroos to thrive in their environment while also captivating our imagination with their human-like strength and agility. Don't you think it is something to think about or consider?

Birds Do Not Have Wings—They Have Hands That Fly  

Now, let us turn to the aviators of the animal kingdom: birds. The so-called "wing" is nothing more than a glorified hand wearing a particularly fashionable feathered cape. Anatomically speaking, the avian wing comprises the same basic structure as your own arm—shoulder, elbow, wrist, and fingers. Yes, fingers! Those feathers are just the avant-garde extensions of what evolutionarily amounts to jazz hands.  

Bats, of course, have taken this concept to its logical extreme. Their "wings" are merely webbed fingers stretched to improbable lengths, like something out of a Tim Burton sketchbook. They don’t flap wings; they high-five the air.  

The Aquatic Ape Theory: Humans, Seals, and the Ghosts of Our Webbed Ancestors  

Now that we’ve established the hand-walking, hand-flying reality of terrestrial and aerial creatures, let’s dive—literally—into the aquatic realm. There’s a theory, whispered among the more rebellious anthropologists, that humans are not merely distant cousins of the chimpanzee but rather the offspring of an aquatic ape. Think about it: humans are oddly suited for water. We have subcutaneous fat (blubber, if you will) much like seals and whales, and our babies, when submerged, instinctively hold their breath and perform a rudimentary doggy paddle. Could it be that we are the web-fingered descendants of some long-forgotten coastal ape that decided to take a swim and never stopped?  

Seals, of course, are the obvious sea-dog analog. Their skeletal structure screams "canine cousin," and their vocalizations—those charming *arfs*—are but a watery echo of their terrestrial counterparts. Meanwhile, the walrus, with its saber-toothed maw, could very well be the aquatic equivalent of a prehistoric lion forced to adapt to icy oceans.  

Whales, Wolves, and Porpoise-Pigs  

And what of the great leviathans of the sea? Whales are often said to have evolved from wolf-like ancestors, and dolphins, in ancient times, bore the name "porpoise," a term derived from the Latin *porcus piscis*, meaning "pig fish." While I admit I have yet to personally compare dolphin and pig bones in the manner of a Victorian naturalist, the linguistic and behavioral parallels are uncanny.  

Dolphins are social, intelligent, and occasionally mischievous—traits they share with pigs. Perhaps they are the aquatic swine of yore, frolicking in the waves instead of rooting in the dirt.

Lobsters, Scorpions, and the Arthropod Ancestry  

Finally, let us consider the crustaceans and their terrestrial doppelgängers. Is a lobster not but a scorpion in a diving suit? And what of the crab, with its spider-like gait and penchant for scuttling sideways? Shrimp and roaches, too, seem to share a common lineage, their exoskeletal forms suggesting a family reunion that spans both land and sea.  

A Call to Action (and Renaming)  

Time for a New Nomenclature

So, my fellow thinkers, artists, and amateur anatomists, I propose that we abandon outdated labels like "four-footed" and "winged" in favor of terms that reflect the reality of these creatures’ anatomy and evolution. Let us celebrate the hand-walking, hand-flying, web-fingered wonders of our world. And while we’re at it, let’s give some thought to the connections that bind us all—from the scuttling lobster to the soaring bird, from the barking dog to the blubbery seal.  

After all, in the grand tapestry of life, we are all but variations on a theme, our bones echoing the same ancient melodies, our forms shaped by the whims of evolution. And if that’s not worth a hearty *arf* or a jubilant high-five, I don’t know what is.  

References:  

- Darwin, C. (1859). *On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection.* (Also, a great read if you like long sentences and Victorian drama.)  

- Shubin, N. (2008). *Your Inner Fish.* (Or, why your hand is also a fish fin.)  

- Ancient sailors who mistook dolphins for pigs and seals for sea-dogs. (Unpublished anecdotes but undeniably compelling.)  

And with that, I leave you to ponder the marvels of the natural world, one humorous bone structure at a time.

Religion’s Impact on a young Jamaican Psyche

“There is a cult of ignorance in the United States, and there has always been. The strain of anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that 'my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge.”

― Issac Asimov

This week I think it reasonable to open my article with a quote from a Sci-Fi writer as we are living in some really sci-fi times, with bizarre cults and a fracturing society. I want to examine how religion affects the minds of Jamaican youth and how it impacted mine. Here is my story…

 At age 10, I became an atheist. Today as it pertains to God I am agnostic leaning to atheist, as a Rastafari, my faith is hinged on pan africanism, afrofuturism and a spirituality more akin to archaeology and anthropology of everything African... From ancient gods to ancestors. However, how did I become this person, how did a 10 year old in Norwood, Montego Bay become an atheist or an agnostic?

Well I attended many churches. First one I mainly remember well is Holy Trinity out by Westgate, where my beloved Grand Ma was a devout member. I remember my terrifying christening there... a ritual that I resisted since it wasn't my own volition. I remember the Father well, a well mannered enough man but that church bored me to tears and was steeped in Montego Bay's social politics. Or so it seemed to me as a young one. Then when I began attending Mt. Alvernia Prep Catholicism was introduced to me but my domestic set up was anti Catholic to a degree and very wary of homosexuality and catomite altered altar boys, and from my young perspective seeing their church attire and sometimes smoking priests gave even the young me the impression this place was at once too liberal in some regard and yet wound up in chants and ritual, and was just as boring in sound and song as Anglican.

My mother dabbled in the world of Pentecostal church with one Pastor Nigel who was killed in a house robbery at Bogue. She would eventually settle at Hillview Baptist church where many a community youth I were familiar with went and so I felt comfortable there and the service wasn't that boring... and by the time I was in grade 3, I had watched The Robe and Jesus of Nazareth so many times that I one day became so stupefied by Jesus' sacrifice and peaceful way that I to my chagrin then said to my mother that I wanted to be " A fighter for Jesus". An incident my cousin Camara Brown and brother Dax Pessoa never fail to remind me about or gimmicks me about and oh how I cringe hearing the tale repeated. My family was elated, especially my mother. And like a well brainwashed soldier, high on Jesus hopped up an reinforced by Peter Parker Spider-man and his motto of great power brings great responsibility, Star Trek and Data's and Spock's brands of stoicism and utilitarian logic "the good of the many outweighs the good of the few".

Imagine the melee of ideas like these in the mind of a black child that believed his mother sang young gifted and black to him, whose grandma was in the UNIA... Imagine the mind molded in a Christian yet pan African household... I was charged up... a young black superhero... young gifted and black... I was the X-Men, Malcolm X-Men School for gifted... “Mi start get up early go church walk by mi self, go Sunday school, stay for big church, trying to get more moral more good a try understand God’s will... What did he want me to do etc? Granted hormones had become a problem, I went to church religiously and imbibed the message though as an early puberty child, I was lusting after the young girls in tight dresses, plus maybe some of my mother’s friends in all their church dress plumpness and pulchritude.

 

Beyond that I was good and ready to be a saint… I really did consider being a pastor… eeek! Oh I prayed to have wisdom like Solomon after al my mother wanted my middle name to be Nestor god of wisdom and my father wanted it to be the wise nesta Marley, I prayed like Samuel to be chosen, to ask for wisdom and granted health and length of days… “yep be a wise 'gallis' like Solomon and not to be gal clown like Samson.” Oh how silly I was. But I took spiritual matters and science very seriously from the day I was born. These meant everything to me, them and Africa… so they had to collide.

As in the back of my mind was marinating a debate that had happened one Sunday on the verandah, my father and uncles were debating God. My uncle Hugh Thompson a devout atheist was at it against my uncle David Brown a very religious man, they had asked my father to weigh in and I remembered his words well, "If Zeus and such are Greek and Norse and Roman mythology, then our religion might just be Jewish mythology" and forever that moment it dawned on my that I simply assumed Christians were right. But that didn't cause my divorce psychologically from church.

It came one Sunday when my Sunday school teacher were giving a Sunday school lesson on revelations, it was my common entrance year, but what in the sermon caused the great divorce and moment of cognitive dissonance is when she informed be Jews get a second chance on Judgement day but gentile which we all were would be judged and if not found worthy would be tossed in hell fire... how could even God be sort of racist and biased and if he didn't rather me or black people it can't work and I wanted no more part in it and maybe it was Jewish mythology and not my story or mythos. I would years later find out Pessoa is a Jewish last name but little comfort anyway. And so I wrestled with it inside. And when I mentioned it to friends they all looked scared or told me not to think so much. When I told my mother it became a family crisis for all of high school. I was recommended to speak with this person or that parson... only for all my questions to come up unanswered but everyone wanted me to just accept without irrefutable proof or sound logic and science that God is real... I was no longer the good son but now spaced out, a possible high school weed head even though I never knew what a spliff was, I was wayward etc.. I was a victim of fads, they said I was easily swayed.

The tribulations of not walking in religious norm followed me to the UWI, where in my first semester a big argument with Ms. Kitty after she attacked me as the devil worshiper (I wonder if she remembers that!), whilst I was reasoning with someone else on Atheism. She and that debate led a portion of people to dub me as devil boy... ironic that at home in my community I was called Jesus… but I was persecuted over my opinion and belief. So when I say I understand the rigors of being ostracized by Christians and Christianity to be ridiculed and persecuted despite all my logic and scientific methodology, my critical thinking.... I understand how a religion can put enmity in family, the familiar and the familial.

So let us not heap scorn and condemnation in the Pathway congregation... Who controls your mind... is it Mark Zuckerberg, Rachel Maddow, Jewish myth writers who goads yours mind and prompts your ideas who coaxed you and cajoled your brain? Did the influence of external thought and ideas from outside u ever make u take stance and divides from friends and family?

About the author: Yannick Nesta Pessoa B.A. is Jamaica’s first blogger, a Social Advocate, Community Activist and Philosopher. Follow on Twitter & Instagram @yahnyk. Follow on Youtube @ and Reply to yannickpessoa@gmail.com

Who I Am!

“De pain and the fight, the hate and the lies… Pain and heartbreak, supm inna it weh mi love, all a mi life experiences build me up as thug.”
Alkaline (Juggernaut)

When the valley couldn't hold me, they throw me in the river, Thinking I would drown, but man, ah, good swimmer, whoa, When the river didn't drown me, they throw me in the fire, But the fire just cool, I could never burn, oh
Major Lazer (Believer)

As iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another.
Proverbs 27:17 (Bible)

My journey to me starts in 1919… why because it is where my mind has a definitive anchor in history. That is the day Dorothy M. Thompson was born, my mother’s mother, I would spend 33 years of my life imbibing her life and that of her children and grandchildren. When I say imbibe her life experiences, imagine what it was like for me as a child in a pitch black room at nights with your granny’s voice recanting her life experiences, in the pitch black when you can’t see your own hand so you feel disconnected from your body. The black room become your own mindscape and that voice and those experiences become stitched in and meld with your own, when it is as though that voice inhabits your psyche now till this present moment… then my life can seem at times to start 1919… in the midst of history and milestones.

Understand I was with Dorothy in Rock River Clarendon, when she went to vestry, when John took her to the UNIA, when she ate Milly mango in Diamond, when she met her husband Allan Thompson, when they came to Montego Bay, from Gravel Lane to Tate Street… when she met Howard Cooke, when she became the PNP matriarch, when she worked at WoolWorth, till she got her tuck shop up at Cornwall Regional Hospital, when she became the pillar of the community in Paradise Acres. Through all her pains and heartbreak, joys and suffering… what I didn’t glean in the dark room I would live to see in action myself.

I am my parents… I am my father, when you see me being an entrepreneur… no matter how I may fail or flounder, it is an instinct that comes from having imbibed his life and am still imbibing it. Everytime, I draw I am my father, for the gift came from him, and everytime my daughter or her classmates, or children in the community look at things I draw or paint, when they look at me as some hero, it's because my father drew me out of a thousand school projects and was my hero. And even though I haven’t become a millionaire just yet, every dollar earned from that talent, is what he gave me in a manner of speaking. Plus so much more. For I was with him when he grew up in Four Paths in Clarendon, catching water in the early mornings before dawn, with his brother. I was with him going to Glenmuir, I was with him when he came to Montego Bay, when he met my mother, when he wooed her, when he married her, when he sold insurance, when he became an entrepreneur, when he made his life and forged his own path.

I am my mother… who I inherited social activism from. I am her quiet nature, I am her silent strength… the fortitude it takes to go through long suffering and go the distance. Yannick is a hebrew name that means, the grace of God, and if there is any grace in me I am sure it came through her. She taught me children and family over career… not through speech but her choices and actions, and I have seen much value in it. When I write poetry it is the amalgamation of my parents… their love affair with the English language, her social sensitivities and keen sense of emotional observation, his concubines… a green websters dictionary with a tree on it, Reader’s Digest, Time Magazine and National Geographic.

I am my community which manage to teach me in the 80’s that it takes a village to raise a child. For it was as simple as this, “all wah mi do and don’t do, dem tell mi granny.” So now I will forever fight to return the community to that type of communal love. For I am also the community’s victims of that lost love… I am Gully, I am Delano, I am Little Dread, I am Goosey, I am Sticky Bean, I am Baboo, I am Warface, I am Marley, I am Andrew Bailey, I am Joab, I am Zuggy, I am Jooky, I am Stumpy, I am Sweaty, I am Stubba, I am Goodfy Jeffrey, I am Umpa, I am Jigs, I am Wiz/Alkaline, I am Delly, I am Kerris, I am Shorty, I am Hulk, I am Jevaughn James, I am Danny, I am Warrick, I am so many more fallen soldiers. I am the best of my community, I am E. T. Webster, I am Tappa, I am Jimmy Cliff, I am Cecil Donaldson, I am the Youth, I am the Senior Citizen, I am the community heroes like Venise and Tash… I am I-crus, I am the elder, the mechanic, the shoe repair man, the upholster, the shopkeeper, the selector, the Juta Driver, the artisan, the labourer, the mason, the carpenter.

I am my teachers, I am Mr. Mcpherson, I am Co-Hall, I am Ms. Gordon, I am Ms. Nelson, I am Mr. Barnes at Cornwall, I am Mr. Miller, Rev. Myers, Mr. Maddans, Mr. Haughton, Mr. Taylor, Mr. Clarke, Ms Daze/Wilson and Reverton Bailey. I am Aggrey Brown, I am Roxanne Burton, I am Earl McKenzie, I am Tunde Bewaji, I am Dr. Bamikole, I am Jalaani Niaah...

I am more than a slim natty in a 5’11 frame. I am Pan Africanism, I am Rastafari, I am Socialism, I am African Spirituality, I am Afrofuturism, I am tomorrow, I am that which makes you uncomfortable, I am science, I am arts, I am metaphysics, I am human, I am supernatural, I am God, I am man, I am community, I am football, I am basketball, I am cricket, I am mistakes, I am failures, I am success, I am unstoppable, I am unbreakable, I am indomitable and my name is Yannick Nesta Pessoa.

MY THEORY ON PNP'S MUST WIN!

A Fairly Bio-Historical Thesis and Simple Treatise!

Watch yah... JLP nah no chance... if dem show we suppm we deh yah fi MATCH it... imagine.. halfwaytree look so an mi an fi mi entourage nuh di deh... wah u a seh...

I will never pretend seh PNP perfect but a dem mi go ever vote fah and a dem mi go try guide and cuss till dem get it write... mi wi write a million letter to the editor and advice suggest and cuss, but watch yah mi nuh inna nutten wid JLP... who dis rasta... yow a wah u a seh. Busta weh seh iron fist... man... mi Granny born 1919... mi sleep in a bed with her, say mi times table and lissen story as she walk me down the streets of history. I've read a million books, divining the pages of history... all mi si dat mek sense to mi in the long march forward... mi granny get build and educated by UNIA and Garvey, Garvey = self reliance PPP etc...

Manley co-opt that political energy, but still under pnp self reliance and such concepts persist... hence... mi Granny when garvey get shub back press fwd wid PNP and mi see michael manley meet him, mi end up sight Rasta, Rasta and JLP a nuh fren, by the time mi did reach sociology at A level... all when mi teach a laaf an bun mi out mi pick SOCIALISM and COMMUNISM, concepts native to Africa by the way!

All when teacher a SHUB globalization inna the 90's push NEO LIBERALISM, I man resist and bun dat. My Mother was a social worker inna the 70's under Manley era and my Mother went to university UWI when Manley brought forward free education...

Hence mi a di result of sensible PNP policy and courtesies, mi direct result of the scope and reach and testimony of Garvey... so mi live this and mi read through the pages of history and see where books bear witness to this truth an concur wah mi DNA a seh from 1919 through to the 70's...

Till mi manifest in flesh and grow in a house weh Marcia Griffiths and Bob Andy "Young Gifted and Black" play every day, weh mi a listen Bob Marley to Bob Dylan... mi get fi know of Nyerere... mi Mother a Christian mi nuh know of no bigger socialist than Jesus.... charity, equality....

Dem SHUB globalization and neo-liberalism pon mi all the way into UWI mona... an even then man resist, till mi live fi see 2007, GLOBALIZATION collapse, neo liberalism was too liberal and liberated economic monsters to wreak havoc.. mi get fi meet sensible thinkers weh a put up resistance too know seh neo liberalism is neo colonialism.... hence and therefore I KNOW THIS... JLP nuh mek it... try kill RASTA a Coral Gardens a conflict mi have DNA linked inas mi have a cousin that was the philosophical under pinning of nuff a di ideology in the Mobay rasta movements and conflict at the time and then let us not forget "Back To"...

With every fiber of my being I know the way forward for this country MUST be through anything, any vehicle or vector that can carry the ideas of Rasta/GARVEY to Jamaica, right now PNP a the major vehicle to do that, I also hope all independents thinkers rise too and do dem ting fi shake up the status quo... Astor Black and Haile Mikael... it is in those veins of ideas of Garvey and Rasta that any hope or sensible ideas for indigenous and the mass of Jamaican people ever come from... simple!

JLP has an image that seems to represents... NEO-liberalism, CIA(go watch youtube), the 80's Drugs and Cocaine, ONE DON, Tivoli which can never be a model to replicate across Jamaica, Daryl Vaz and him poko poko face screaming at me as minister of info and a bad mi up thru television... rumours that Jim Brown shot Bob Marley for you know who... the image that JLP is an elite of ruling brown people and descendants of the plantocracy cannot be easily shaken out of the Jamaican consciousness.. the only positive image mi can think of for JLP is Chris Tufton... and they seem to forever pigeon hole him... I wish Portia would give him a call.

So I just a chant for REPUBLIC, REPARATION, REFORM (Land, Political & Electoral), CCJ, OPEN SOURCE!!! That Jamaica need now fi mek some major leaps forward!

Top 6 Jamaican Television Series

As I continue my foray into the current blogging trend of publishing and posting all kinds of lists of wonderful Jamaican gems etc. After months of inactivity a day with two posts. WOOOOOO! Say hurray! I did a list of Jamaican movies a few years back and now I noticed you've got quite a few on the market... but I haven't noticed any blogs that touch on Jamaican Television series... So being the nuff person I am, I have to try and see if I can do it first, and maybe set a trend, and see people's lists with stuff I missed or forgot. But here is my list of TOP 6 Jamaican TV series:

Oliver at Large:
In the 80's when I entered the world... Oliver truly was LARGE... to me he was Jamaica's first larger than life celebrity! Oliver Samuels uncovered fame on the Jamaica Broadcasting Corporation's television series Oliver At Large, created by producer Calvin Butler and playwright Aston Cooke. In this series, Samuels played his alter ego Olivius Adams, aka Oliver. The series featured sketches from Oliver's exploits, often with his sidekick, Maffi. Several spin-off theatre pieces have been created for the Oliver character, including Large Abroad, Oliver's Posse (1999), Oliver and Pinocchio (2001), and Oliver and the Genie (2002).


Lime Tree Lane:
This JA Sitcom as it were, introduced me to a nuanced inspection of Jamaican community life... especially at time I couldn't do road so intensel. Lime Tree Lane was an original comedy series which aired on JBC (later @televisionjam) in 1988 until 1997 was Jamaican TV’s first soap opera. Are you too young to remember the series? Here’s a clip!


Titus in Town:
This great situation comedy to me was hilarious and a direct result of the successes of Oliver at Large. The 1980s Jamaica Broadcasting Corporation television series Titus in Town saw local actor Glen Campbell rise to spectacular heights in the world of Caribbean acting and theatre.

Claffy:
Another situation comedy spinoff - Claffy better known as MAFFIE in Oliver-at-Large was Oliver Samuel's foil and side kick for years and as is the trend in Television, he goes on to try his hand at his own series and so CLAFFY was born!

Ity & Fancy Cat:
This is currently the hottest comedy act in the Caribbean! Revolutionary & relevant in its substance, pioneering & playful in form as well as style... This bit of modern art is high in entertainment value. A Half our Comedy Skit akin to In Living Colour and Saturday Night Live, Ity and Fancy Cat that will “mek u laaf till u wata come a yuh eye".


Royal Palm Estate / The Blackburns:
This was the show that during my high school years introduced me to ideas of what high society Jamaica maybe like, and I never could break the cognitive link between Sonny T, and the real life Tommy T, Sonny Tavares and Tom Tavares, Tivoli, and even that Damian Marley song, "Things just ain't the same for gangsters." Royal Palm Estate  was broadcast 1994 from CVM TV in Jamaica and around the Caribbean. After 15 years, the producer has shifted the story-line to address the concerns of the younger Blackburn family in an evolving society. “The Blackburns” looks at the social dynamics of a family that exists in large part due to the legacy of the patriarch, the plantocracy, the remnants of slavery – Ted Blackburn and the plantation state.

Open Source and the City!

  
What is Open Source? 

Open-source software (OSS) is computer software with its source code made available with a license in which the copyright holder supplies the rights to study, change and distribute the software to anyone and for any reason or function. Open-source software is very oftentimes developed in a public, collaborative manner. Open-source software is the most striking example of open-source development and often compared to (technically defined) user-generated content or (legally defined) open-content movements.

A report by the Standish Group (from 2008) states that adoption of open-source software models has resulted in savings of about $60 billion per year to consumers.

In production and development, open source as a development model promotes a universal access via a free license to a product's design or blueprint, and universal redistribution of that design or blueprint, including subsequent improvements to it by anyone. Researchers view open source as a specific case of the greater pattern of Open Collaboration, "any system of innovation or production that relies on goal-oriented yet loosely coordinated participants, who interact to create a product (or service) of economic value, which they make available to contributors and non-contributors alike".

The open-source model is based on a more decentralized model of production, in contrast with more centralized models of development such as those typically used in commercial software companies.

A main principle of open-source software development is peer production by collaboration, with the end-product, source code, "blueprints", and documentation available at no cost to the public. The open source movement in software began as a response to the limitations of closed proprietary code, and it is now spreading across different fields. This model is also used for the development of open-source-appropriate technologies, solar photovoltaic technology and open-source drug discovery.

There is an accelerating interest in and use of Open-Source Software worldwide. Local governments are changing. Forward-thinking municipalities are embracing technology to make our cities better for everyone. Innovative government staff are sharing resources, best practices, and collaborating on common problems. Jamaica an its municipalities need to provide a broad range of resources, programs and services to support and advance civic innovation. Open Source Software becomes the leading information technology day by day and there are open source alternatives to most of the commercial softwares...

I use Linux Mint 17! So why can't the government do it?

So why is Government in general, and the St. James municipality in particular not looking into Open Source? It's time that Jamaican government IT policy goes as far as expressing a formal preference to use open source!

How can you apply the concepts of open source to a living, breathing city?

An open source city is a blend of open culture, open government policies, and economic development.

Five characteristics of an open source city

1. Fostering a culture of citizen participation
2. Having an effective open government policy
3. Having an effective open data initiative
4. Promoting open source user groups and conferences
5. Being a hub for innovation and open source businesses

Citizen participation: Probably one of the most difficult components of an open source city is to foster a culture of citizen participation. Having citizen champions around certain causes can really help boost citizen participation and engagement.

Open government policy and open data: Policy is another key component of an open source city. 

User groups and conferences: Participation comes in another form with user groups and conferences—like-minded people gathering around their passions. Hosting these conferences and supporting user groups will boost your open source city credibility.

Economic development: Finally, having an economic development strategy that includes open source companies can help foster innovation and create jobs. More and more cities are also seeing the advantages of having an open data policy tied to their startup community. Cities that can combine their open data policy with their economic development strategy can give a real boost to startups and other businesses. Being a hub for open source companies and a catalyst for open source startups can have a positive impact on the city's bottom line. More importantly, this feeds back in to culture and participation.
 
Municipalities and Open Source

As a Linux User I keep myself abreast by reading Linux Format! I found this interesting article in the April 2014

 edition.

Munich’s switch to open-source software has been successfully completed, with the vast majority of the public administration’s users now running its own version of Linux, city officials said Thursday.
In one of the premier open-source software deployments in Europe, the city migrated from Windows NT to LiMux, its own Linux distribution. LiMux incorporates a fully open-source desktop infrastructure. The city also decided to use the Open Document Format (ODF) as a standard, instead of proprietary options.
Ten years after the decision to switch, the LiMux project will now go into regular operation, the Munich City council said in a document published on its website.
As of November last year, the city saved more than €11.7 million (US$16.1 million) because of the switch. 

READ MORE AT: PCworld article "Switch to open source successfully completed in the city of Munich

Why should other cities do this?

Other cities should do this for many reasons such as:

• Proving to its citizen-bosses that it is doing its job and working hard in response to their needs.
• Opening up data and processes because, you never know, those citizen-bosses may be able to do something cool with it or make great suggestions.
• Opening up gives citizens a sense of ownership and welcome.  They are more likely to be engaged and satisfied if they feel ownership and pride in that ownership.

Benefits of Open Source to Montego Bay

Community Participation – Taking it to the streets

• Citizen-led communities
• Connection between youth-development programs and open government community
• Connection entrepreneurial community and open government community
• Importance of broadband access for any of this to be useful

I believe in the critical role of open-source software to create the applications and infrastructure necessary to support electronic medical records and other government-funded technology projects. Open-source software has already resulted in dramatic cost reductions in many technology areas.

Open-source software brings transparency to software development. There are no “black boxes” in open-source software and therefore no need to guess what is going on “behind the scenes.” Ultimately, this means a better product for everyone, because there is visibility at every level of the application, from the user interface to the data implementation. Furthermore, open-source software provides for platform independence, which makes quick deployments that benefit our citizens much easier and realistic.

The open-source industry is changing the world of software development in many of the ways many politicians have promised to change Jamaican politics. The values of open source are hope, change, and openness. I sincerely hope that Montego Bay and the St. James Parish Council if not the entire Jamaican government, will make the use of open-source software a key component of every new technology initiative it is apart of.

The open source characteristics of collaboration, transparency, and participation are shaping municipalities world wide as we brand our city as a city for the creative classes we must also give it the open source city brand. 

It's time that Jamaican government's IT policy goes as far as expressing a formal preference to use open source!

WATCH THESE VIDEOS TO GET UPTO SPEED ON LINUX AND OPEN SOURCE!!!

Reflections on Summer, Youth and Community

I-sah, summer draws to a close and there is much to reflect upon for the summer that is 2013! It's been hectic and I am certainly a different man. U-nah-mean so much in my meditations now. Firstly, I spent an immense and intense amount of time with Keekee in Paradise... our relationship is on another level right now... I feel a tighter bond. She all make me proud since this past week, when friends come to link mi fi mek a small check on a (problematic CQ61 HP Compaq) laptop headed to the pawn shop at City Centre, anyway... out comes Keekee out the house into the garage... "I'M YOUNGGG, GIFTED AAAND BLACK!" Mi breddrin dem look in amazement then pop up and seh "Coulda only fi yuh pickney Rasta!" But sitting a 3 year old while you have signs to paint, brochures to design, t-shirt fi design, your own newspaper to try and start, your blogs to write, articles, drawings to finish, paintings to be finish, Artistes biography, PR for Artistes/Breddrin, moeny to try make, bills to pay, Cashpot fi study and try ketch... It can be heavy and cumbersome sometimes, when every 15 minutes, Daddy I'm hungry, Daddy I want juice, Daddy tie this for me please, Daddy I want to go to the bathroom (All when she a do this by herself now), Daddy can I get a paper, Daddy can help me draw this, Daddy I want to go to the shop, Daddy I want to go by Jayla. YOW! More time mi feel mi brain go sprain... but a so it go. Daddy love you.

My Grrrl Boss: Ms. Young Gifted & Black!

Then there is the added task of trying to be a good son, assist Mommy with her burdens, as they are many, do the little I can, drop the goods to the hospital etc. That wobbled some here in the summer owing to all the constant things, things, things happening.

For one their is the Youth Club as well. AH BWOY! A real story and saga, and partially the inspiration for this article... for other than the intense Keekee hours, alot of the other hours were spent throwing mental and physical powers to the Youth Club and general community matters. And can you imagine after all that effort, in the Youth Club, it went up in flames I-YAH! Jah know! You can read the Observers small take on the matter at this link: Paradise Fire! Youth Club went in the Blaze!

Just to attend is a great effort on my part to, sit, stay, pay attention. But I did... eventually now I operate as PRO. But to imagine... the Kid's Treat today and stuff gone up in flames, free food, free slippers, second hand text books etc etc etc. And granted the media says fire of unknown origin, I suspect arson.

Anyway how all this ties with summer and youth, is because between having to be constantly around my 3 yr old daughter, and her 5 and 10 year old cousins, who host tea parties and stage shows ("Paradise Sumfest" with a painted sign included) outside my un-closed door and interacting with the communities tweens and teenie boppers and teenager cockroaches more than normal, with back-to-school here and ll this youth energy, it gave me a chance to remember a lot of my youth and mildly relive and remember what those youthful days of girls boys and summer adventure and the hassle and havoc and turmoil that, that social period and various stages and cycles of development are like... Do you remember what they were like?

We live in an age today, where President Obama Nobel Peace Prize winner will trumpet his second officil war, Libya being the first, now we see the trumped up charges with no UN proof for a Syrian War. Yes come September Obama and World War 3 will be in the backdrop of the children and the youths lives and TVs. Occupy this and that and 99%ers will probably be protesting. And just like when I came into to Earth, a war was in full swing on JBC... I would grow up in the ending years of the cold war and would hear Mikhail Gorbachov and Yitzak Rabin and Yessar Arafat, Gaddafi etc... constantly in the back drop of my life.

But what about the foreground... do you remember those Calvin and Hobbes-esque summers of immortality, infinite energy and endless hours. The more well endowed among us will remember there first cars, some the first job, or even the first summer job, most will remember that first kiss! Don't! Nuff a unnu must remember when it seemed like the whole world was exploding with new ideas and you were searching and reaching out for new experiences, wanting to see and know this world. Seeing through new eyes. Youth, Puberty, Adolescence, Growth, Change. It's a bitter sweet journey and beautiful sight.

But this article has to be continued as Keekee's pressing need to watch TEAM UMIZUMI (did I spell that right) oh well... youth.... gwaan listen this Avicii till when next I write

P.S. Youth(Dax) Happy B-day! To days of summer and youth, cricket and basketball!

List of 16 Popular Trinidadian Movies

1. Bim (1974)


2. Caribbean Fox, The (1970)


3. Crossing Over (1989)


4. Diamonds from the Bantus (2002)


5. Flight of the Ibis (1996)


6. Girl from India (1982)


7. Innocent Adultery (1994)


8. Ivan the Terrible (2004)


9. Loss of Innocence, A (2006)


10. Men of Gray (1990)


11. Mystic Masseur, The (2001)


12. Obeah (1987)


13. Panman, The (1997)


14. Right and the Wrong, The (1970)


15. SistaGod (2006)


16. What My Mother Told Me (1995)

Yahnyk TV: Tickle Puss vs the Labourite

Old man Tickle Puss, is on a tirade about the debates, the "chiney man" aka Dr. Horace Chang, plus lots of anti JLP rhetoric aimed at the store patron a JLP advocate... all at Lime Tree Lane-esque, Paradise Acres (Norwood's peaceful sister), Montego Bay, Jamaica.

Starring: Ashton "Tickle Puss" Beckford as Tickle Puss
Directed & Produce by Yannick Nesta Pessoa of Rastar Studios
Camera Man: Yannick Nesta Pessoa

In defense of Munga... Debating RASTA and Jah Cure returns

Rastas blast Munga's 'Gangsta Ras' image

A group of Rastafarians who feel that dancehall artiste Munga's promotion of himself as "the Gangsta Ras" with attendant image, is a perversion of the integrity of Rastafari, say they intend to pursue the use of intellectual property protocols to protect and preserve the culture and symbols from misuse.

JAMAICA OBSERVER the official article


Really and truly I find this line of argument distasteful. Rasta a cuss and a quarrel and washing the proverbial dirty linens in public. For someime I have seen this sort of thing brewing, it was bound to happen. Especially with a agenerational baton pass at hand, even in the Rasta community we see a generational ideological battle, with what maybe called or what I call the Rasta IDEOLOGUES, you know them, the brand of excessively, overly intellectual Rastas, the ones that continue to invent and re-invent terms like socio-politico-econo-enviro-psycho (yuh know the type that continue to invent So-Sci terms) that are the 'blackest," most vegan/vegetarian, most conscious, most holy, sexless, most fire burning, most overly intellectual... that seem to think they make up a grand council of Rastafari, that seem to me, a sort of ras-neo-nicaea council. When did one group become the guardians and gatekeepers of Rasta, who chose them? Are they elect of the King? Are they fit to be a council or governing body, are they objective? Are they the vanguard? Do they represent a particular house or one house? Do they represent the young or the old? Are they for this generation or just the last?

For a long time though, these issues have been on the back burner simmering and now are seemingly close to the forefront. These are volatile times, with lots of social upheaval and change. Not only is society changing but the so are the concerns and issues of the people as does society contend with the rise of rampant homosexuality, blatant sexuality, guns, violence, crime, poverty, health, governance, self reliance, so too must Rastafari. However I don't think the answer lies in the suspicious auspices, vague authority and grand decrees of a central organization, that seemingly hasn't substantiated their authority. Does this group represent just the ideologues or does it represent or is it representatiive of every Rasta, the ones inna bush, the ones inna country, the ones most people despise the carnal kind in Negril, the ones with guns waiting on revolution, the binghi house, david house, the coptics, the bobos, etc? I doubt.

It seems odd to me that Rasta, a system of commune, community and common goals and such, would begin to speak of intellectual property, copyright and ownership, a very western notion, an idea that pins and hinges the globalisation process together, that furthers the imperialist agenda. No one has copyrights, or ownership of Rasta. Did this group invent Rasta, muchless to claim ownership? And are we to stay stagnant? No Rasta will evolve, does evolve and has evolved and will not remain what confined to anyone individuals ideas or and one group.

On the matter of Gangster Ras. Weren't Coptic Rastas one of the most armed and militant sets. Has Rasta always and only held the peaceful image, haven't we been revolutionaries at times, warlike... long before the advent of MUNGA? The petty argument and debate needs to stop.

It is these same petulant pedantic, me/we own Rasta Ideologue vibes that have certain Rastas under LUTAN FYAH skin just because him seh "Big up Bounty caah him buss artist, and Rasta need fi do more fi buss the yutes caah a dem a carry the fire" You can believe big man like Luciano and Capleton BEX ova dat. A pickney vibes that. Caah he is a Ras he can't make any critique of Rasta. And it wasn't them he was refering to literally or individually. BBwoy that look like backra master business, tryiung to cow down yutes and tell we in essence "hush your mouth nigga." By the way nuh Capleton buss Munga, where is his defens... is he defending Munga any.. haven't heard, but then again, a this man seh "we nuh trust dem, even if we buss dem"

ANY WAY BIG UP IYAH-CURE... dem free up the boss since week and MoBAY happy. I wonder if I can get an interview. Then again mi might nuh have a life if enuff Rasta read this...

OLD MAN TET: On the PNP

For all those who want to change course, here is why die hearted PNP fans won't be changing course...

The Maddening Season...

Welcome to the Maddening Season... X-Mas... eXecute-the-Masses...

This year is the year I watched the world go mad and I watched the people of Paradise unravel as the economy plummets... hearts break and minds shatter... aaah I am but the Lion in Daniel's den...

Here are a few poems I wrote in X-mases past...

CHRIST'S MAS

I had a dream where Jesus turned in his grave,
Christmas consumes the souls he came to save,
Money is master while many are slave,
Forgetting the cross and all he gave,
Gideon signs on the road of the future we pave,
Vanity is what we crave.

The cock crows thrice on Christmas eve,
Many celebrate not knowing what they believe,
Happy with the pitiful bonus they receive,
Merchants peddle using fat red saints to deceive,
All the while forgetting how the King shall grieve.

Yannick Nesta Pessoa...

ahhhmm the other poems aren't X-mas poems, just poems written during that season...

THE WANDERING JEW


I wash the dried salt and saliva from face,
I hope the scent of sin will wash away too,
I look out the window and see the world by night,
Pastel designed in mellow moods and tragedies,
And stars singing of memories in melodies and malodies,
I search the sky for a north star,
And wonder...
if the stories are true,
Is there really a wondering Jew?



ODE TO IDLE THINKERS

For all those...
Who stare out the window,
Beyond the mountain and beyond the tree,
This poem connects all those...
Who think like me.

Holding on to all those,
Though...
Shackled by people and their alleged reality,
Still manage...
To look pass the ocean and far into the sea.



___________________________________
WELL THAZ IT FOR POEMS FOR NOW...

lyrics - the freshman

The Grand '07 has begun...

the first song on my 2007 playlist is Khriz Y Angel's Ven Bailalo (Trace TV introduced me to this song)

lyrics - ven bailalo

The Never Ending Battle: 2007 & Beyond (My article for the Mirror: A new year look)


“You must abolish your slavery yourselves. Do not depend for its abolition upon god or a superman. Remember that it is not enough that a people are numerically in the majority. They must be always watchful, strong and self-respecting to attain and maintain success. We must shape our course ourselves and by ourselves.”
~ David Bowie

“I'm not a prophet or a stone aged man, just a mortal with potential of a superman. I'm living on.”
~ BenDon

Superman: Listen, what do you hear?
Lois Lane: I don't hear anything.
Superman: I hear everything. You wrote that the world doesn't need a savior, but everyday I hear people crying for one.
~Supeman Returns: The Movie


Bam bam bam bloiy bloiy bloiy chk chk thoom thoom pieee pieee blam blam bookam bookam bakkam… no amount of onomatopoeia could convey to you the grand gun orchestra that played in Norwood, Gulf, Glendevon, Canterbury, Albion and Gulley to commence the new year. Literally the year in St. James started with a BANG! At the stroke of midnight December 31, 2006 or the morn of January 1, 2007, I was at the yellow night owl’s outpost in Paradise, Glen Skeng’s shop, only to see the whole Paradise pull to halt, and I watched as multitude of people stopped what they were doing to come outside and listen to a barrage of 1001 bullets in what seemed like Gangsters sing their own anthem. I watched people listen and listened as well to gunshots on rapid from 12pm/am to 12:30am, I counted somewhere into the region of near 500 rounds, and can only imagine what I missed. “Mi never tell unnu last week she gun man a go toast to their most high profile year, unnu see it deh now?!? Mi a prophet!” The year has begun, the garrison has spoken.

Well as I told you this year is the year things change, well see! More icons have gone with Neville Willoboughy, Charles Hyatt and Saddam. Looks like I can be a prophet for real, or maybe just a Futurologist as they call the art of prediction and forecasting these days. As I write this article the national body count is already at the unlucky number 13, and as coincidence number 13 is police, who have also been some of the first to go this year. “Anywhich way” for the new year 2007, Jamaica is officially a badman place. The air is thick with a humid kind of tension, but otherwise I have some homework for you, I’d like you all to go listen to the Mavado and Busy Signal song, “Badman Place.” I’d like you to listen to the arrangement of the song, with the ominous violin in the background, it sounds like one of those climactic high strung tense sort of movie arrangements, and the lyrics… “Hell bruk loooooooose again, gun a go riiiiise, anyway, anywaaaaaaaaay, INNA badman place, place, fools get kick inna face, weed pon board while challis a blaze, yuh nuh see it inna hand, it insure inna waist, no time fi trace, Guinness we a beat, Redbull a chase, inna the place violate, get erase we nuh quarrel, inna bwoy head lead (led) a rest… inna badman place real McCoy and gangsta, police ask question, nuh get no answer, inna night, inna day, Mr. 9 (9mm), Mr. K (SK or AK), Mr. Smith and Wesson a we sponsor… shot brush off yuh face like napkins, thugs dem ready fi go rise the Gatling(s)… see and nuh see it, tings weh talk yuh cyaaan repeat or yuh get delete…” For real, that’s the Jamaican national anthem as of this year, Jamaica in no uncertain terms, is Badman Place.

So on to the matter of New Year’s resolutions. Well for all those who can’t manage the crime, I advise that you run away, very, very far away or as the new politically correct term for it in the dancehall is “tek weh yuh self.” I can’t make any resolutions on crime when no one else is making any thing more than mouth talk and yet no serious political commitment or will and no signs of real genuine or sustained effort on the part of the business sector and just general apathy and no serious activism on the part of individuals and communities. But if you still have an ear for some suggestions then they are as follows: First resolution and solution needs to be commitment to youth and employment. Most of us have failed to notice the demographic explosion we are facing, the population of Montego Bay is expanding, through birth rates and the movement of people, yet nothing has been done to address where these generation next children and teenagers will be gainfully employed, much less outfitting them with real life skills to make them an effective and labour force. Hence the response is that they have opted for careers in crime which affects us very negatively. The second resolution ought to be social investment on the part of government and the business sector. The city needs to see incentives and initiatives that encourage people to work, not just a feeble minimum wage but initiatives like profit sharing, businesses need to let employees feel apart of the system and yield benefit from the business excelling, because at the end of the day, no matter who owns the business there is no work or progress without the worker. The local government can also offer citizen awards and such that acknowledge citizen who excel in sports, academics, politics, journalism, etc. And to stem the brain drain the local government needs to pay for overachieving students that seek tertiary education and then bind them to commit at least five years of service to the city or parish in fields that can offer sustainable development.

What I would really see follow up from these suggestions is research, think tanks, public forum, dialogue, letters to editors, parish council public sessions, town meetings, civic pride, private/business sector investments, citizen activism, more radio and spy tv public announcements from the council on what is happening to address all this hell hole in which we have found ourselves.

Now sometime ago I wrote of secret wars: wars with our skin, wars on poverty, economic wars, gender wars or war of the sexes, religious wars, and shade/color wars in Jamaica and MoBay, to be very blunt and honest, this year I see those wars intensifying and am reminded of a claim Superman professes (Yes, I read comics), the claim is that he fights a “Never Ending Battle,” well ladies and gentlemen, this is what life and existence in Jamaica has become a Never Ending Battle, yup 365 days of it, so I suggest everyone take up the role and mantle of Superman and start fighting in this never ending battle or face the real possibility that you will be swept aside, in these battles, by bullets and ballots. Just before year end I was parading Paradise and Downtown in my brother’s Superman T-Shirt for about a week. So if you spot the Ras in the Superman shirt, know that the battle is raging in you neck of the woods.

Yannick Nesta Pessoa
yannickpessoa@yahoo.com

POWDER: A Maddening World, the maddening crowd...

MY ALBUM OF MULTIMEDIA SOCIAL COMMENTARY

Yow nuff gimmix being made of Dancehalls current plight brought to you in fun, facetiousness and completely biased ratings "fi di Killa."

MY REGULAR ALBUM OF ART and such!!!

Yah this now is my line of art taken from my imaginary world and soon to be (at this rate probably when I'm 50) Novel called BayCity: Scions of Tomorrow...

SOME FOTOZ OF THE CITY, SEA, FAMILY, FRIENDS & FOOLS

Yah fi those who know and love MoBay and ME (yah rite) you can check out these pics in the link above...

My Letter to The Editor - Trinidad Express: CSME

Bring ordinary folk into CSME foldTuesday
October 24th 2006

I am a concerned Jamaican. I am concerned that with the advent of the Caribbean Single Market Economy (CSME) the governments of the Caribbean have failed to plan our way forward, glossing over the details and intricacies that the merger of Caribbean will bring. This initiative is the only way forward for the region but, we must examine its social ramifications. The governments have only examined the CSME and Caricom in terms of economies and broad macro policies that don't exactly reach to the average Joe, and don't exactly have clear manifestations in everyday life and reality.

This has occurred mostly because of the lack of media attention and government initiatives to stimulate awareness in the broader cross-section of society. Such an awareness can generate ideas for opportunities in business and education, opportunities for individuals to explore and generate ideas beyond those that propagate the myth that USA is the land of opportunity and the only option for feasible living and generation of wealth.

Integration can only become sustainable if individuals see benefit to it; it can only function if we capture the imagination of individuals whom the society and government rely on to keep the wheels turning - John Public.

Most members of the public know very little, if any, about the societies, the mores, the norms, the values, ideas and cultures we are about to meld and mesh with.

We are more exposed to North American media than we are to Caribbean media; we need regional newspapers that come out regularly and frequently, we need TV (beyond the efforts of HYPETV and Tempo) to carry messages and ideas from around the Caribbean to us, to expose us to the variations in terms of language, ideology and ethos. We need to see more of our Caribbean neighbours in order to awaken us to the new possibilities, cultures and opportunities that lie before us. We need to also explore Caribbean radio, a vector that can ignite or further ignite the musical interactions occurring across the region. We also need further interaction in sports, not just cricket and football.

Governments need to set up cultural exchange programmes for everyday people, not diplomats and such - exchange programmes like sending students, both rural and urban, prep and primary, to other islands to experience schooling there. Children are the future, and if we are to have a joint Caribbean future, we ought to start with the children.

The need to energise the social dimensions of Caribbean integration must come soon or we may fail economically, because at the end of the day an economy, for all the maths and models, can't exist without the human factor.

Yannick Nesta Pessoa
via email

TRINIDAD EXPRESS

Current mood: busy
Category: Music

Tanya Stephens VS Lil'kim

Thief or Loan ?

Lil Kim faces again the court ! After her stay in prison where she was imprisoned for perjury. Here she is again facing justice as the rapper is accused of stealing a song of Tanya Stephens.

Indeed, Durty, extract of Naked Truth would be a copy of Tanya Stephens track "Mi and Mi God" released in 1997.

The lawyer of the former convict declared that it was not a thief as the song was modified. The lawyer also added that it would be something usual in the hip hop industry.

Tanya Stephens demanded the entire passed and future royalties that were gained from the exploitation of the song Durty.

TAKEN FROM TRACE TV now my fave Magazine and TV station since they now offer TraceTv on Cable in Mobay...