2013-07-23

The most heralded baby since, who knows when

It is a bit laughable how the birth of one little baby is such a well-publicised event that's drawn fanatics from all over the globe.

It's the sort of mass media madness that we usually only see for disasters and celebrity weddings/funerals.

To me, the hype over someone who someday will likely inherit the title of "His Royal Majesty" is enough to make me want to be a Republican (not to be confused with the US political party).

With all due respect to any family celebrating the birth of their newborn, there are more critical issues facing the everyday man and woman worthy of far more discussion and debate.

Mind you, I chuckled a bit when I read a suggestion that the new 'prince' could be given the name Joffrey.

2013-07-10

Another lame scam attempt

One example of a Phishing scam
It's amusing (to me, anyway), to see such lame scams pretending to originate from a local bank. The e-mail address of the sender isn't even from the same domain, the text of the message is pure garbage,... it would be hilarious if I didn't know that at least one or two folks around here would get tricked.

Please, people, do not fall for these kinds of scams. The warning signs are everywhere. Look up the term "phishing" to find out more about how to recognize the scams, and be aware of the dangers involved. One example is provided by Scamwatch.

2013-07-09

State of the Blogosphere 2013

Oh, dear. Unfortunately, it's not been great for Bermuda blog owners in recent times. I chalk it up to general burnout, for the most part. Despite a new political party in power, controversial issues rampant on the island (gay rights? Let's rock!) and continued problems such as unemployment and race relations ever-present, we're down to no more than three regularly-active blogs* in Bermuda (this discounts wholly-personal blogs, which aren't covered here).

One could say that the corporate world has won; Bernews and the Royal Gazette don't suffer from a lack of article commentary, and from what I gather, the Facebook groups that discuss issues remain at least somewhat popular in terms of quantity of subscribers/members.

The political parties here seem content to operate their online ventures in a vacuum-of-sorts; the OBA remains isolated to Facebook while the PLP blog continues to operate as a propoganda machine instead of a conveyor of information and suggestions.

However, there's still a place for independent bloggers, I think. As long as popular blogs like Catch-A-Fire remain thriving and relevant (and I see no reason to believe that won't be the case over the next year or two), local blogs still have the opportunity to thrive and become a point of reference for Bermudians in general. We may just have to re-invent, expand and innovate. No, that doesn't mean I'm giving away $1,000 for the next blog comment, in order to get more traffic.

Archived SotBs:
* (Catch-A-Fire, Vexed and Breezeblog)

Buy local, West Indies edition

From Caribbean News Network UK:
"Indian apparel company TK Sports has been confirmed as the exclusive supplier of team apparel for the Caribbean Premier League"
Not shocking, but perhaps disappointing the folks couldn't try and get a local supplier a decent gig instead?

2013-07-04

Damn cellphone-using drivers

While on the bus this afternoon, saw a woman, cellphone glued to ear and chatting along, drove her car right into traffic near the Fire Station, forcing the bus to stop suddenly. Up to now, she has no freaking clue how close she came to getting herself run over by a far larger vehicle.

If you happen to come across this, lady driver of white hatchback 20111, you need to change your dangerous habit immediately.

I guess Bermuda and the authorities here still have a long way to go with regard to changing their driving cultures. Because for what it's worth, we saw a woman near Trimingham Hill roundabout do a similar thing, this time texting on her Blackberry (keeping it out of sight? Nice try, lady).

Stop the freaking madness, Bermuda.

2013-07-02

Dirty Bermudians

In the "You know what really grinds my gears" edition...

Picture this. Bus shelter. Well shaded. Trash cans in plain view. Yet we find empty plastic bottles, containers and used napkins scattered underneath and wedged into the bench and the general area.

I don't care about Bermuda's so-called reputation for cleanliness. We have a bunch of filthy-ass folks living here who just don't give a crap. And it's disgusting.