I read, with great interest, that the Bermuda Sailing Program is in danger of discontinuing its service to the island’s youth. I find this to be one of the greatest affronts to the future of our population. We can spend millions of dollars on football and cricket but not on sailing? That is just ridiculous.

Millions of dollars for football and cricket? For what! What have our teams proven they can do? Meanwhile, our successful sports are thrown to the carrion birds. Everyone is happy to have the tourism coming from the tallships this year but we don’t want to spend any money to teach our children how to work a boat? Really?

Excuse me if I find the taste in my mouth a little bitter. Of all the sports on this island that needs support, sailing should be at the top of the list. It costs money, not just for the instructors, but also for the boats, the sails, the rigging, the crash boats and the running of them. Yes, other sports cost money but not anywhere near the amount that is required by sailing. I’m pretty sure that I could go down and get a football and figure out a way to play with a makeshift set of goals. In fact, I’m sure of it since I’ve done it on numerous occasions just as every young person more than likely has done in their lifetimes.

I say, that this government is truly showing that it is not interested in making sure that underprivileged children have the ability to participate in the same sports that children from more affluent families are able to afford. How is a single parent working two jobs at minimum wage supposed to tell their child that they won’t be going out on the water anymore because the PLP government has decided that it’s not worth the money? How is this parent, with a child that has a passion for the wind and the waves, supposed to look this child in the eye and apologize for something totally out of their control?

I was fortunate enough to be a part of the sailing tradition in Bermuda. I was even fortunate enough to participate in two ISAF world championships in 1998 and 1999. It wasn’t that long ago that the World Youth Sailing Championships was hosted by Bermuda in the Great Sound. I was too young to participate in that regatta but I do remember the excitement that I felt at the time. Why would we deny our future children the ability to have the opportunity to participate in these events?

Now, I can understand that sailing is perceived to be a “white sport” but so is golf. I think we can all agree that Tiger Woods is one of the greatest golfers to have ever lived. Perhaps we have sailing’s equivalent living on this island right now. But how will we ever know if the child doesn’t have a sailing program to participate in order to find out about their gift?

I find it incredibly short sighted for this government to cut funding to a sailing program to a populace surrounded by pristine waters and excellent sailing conditions year round. What daft mind figured out that our biggest playground wasn’t worth the investment?

I don’t know if you knew this but I’ve been operating at home with my Wacom tablet in the mothballs for quite some time now. It’s actually been rather difficult for me for a while, now. I remember when I made the decision to sell my old 9×12 tablet to Uncle Elvis. I needed the money at the time. Eventually, I replaced it with a wide screen style tablet since I replaced my monitor(CRT) with a new one(LCD) In any case, I got a new PC eventually and I chose to buy one with Linux installed on it. Of course, my Adobe software and my tablet never worked quite right so I actually totally missed working with Adobe CS3. This isn’t a big deal except that I didn’t use any other Adobe product in that time either.

For brevity’s sake, I learned quite a lot about how to use Linux and have become much more competent as a well rounded computer tech. I’ve enjoyed my time with the OS and really like using it. My problems with it are very few and far between. I miss my games. Yes, there are games for Linux and such but it’s troublesome and they rarely work natively. One of the few places that I’ve found that actually produce Linux games is www.playgreenhouse.com, which is run by the Penny-Arcade guys. I urge you to please use these guys to obtain your games if they are available through their distribution site.

On top of missing my games, I really missed things like running “Windows Only” software natively. There was always a work around or replacement. However, sometimes the replacement wound up being a lot better than the product that was in the main stream. For instance, I love Songbird. I think it’s the bee’s knees. I suggest you take a look at it. It is essentially an iTunes replacement that runs on not only OSX and Windows but also on Linux. It’s based on Mozilla Firefox and has a load of plugins for it.

Finally, I missed my tablet. I could make it work but the pressure sensitivity, which is very important, didn’t work for me. So, it was basically useless. This has been a major problem for me since after I decided to leave Linux, I went with the new Windows 7 beta. I managed to get it ahead of the release date and was loving it. I could install my games and run my Adobe applications and it looked fantastic. I think the look and feel of Windows 7 is quite possibly the best MS OS that we have every seen. When it comes out, I highly suggest that you try to upgrade to it if you are not entirely reliant on some software that can only run on XP or something to that extent.

But enough about all of this past stuff. I’m now running Windows Vista SP2 (beta.) So, I get my Wacom tablet working. I get my Adobe software working natively with no need for emulators. I’ve got my games working with very few issues. (iFluid didn’t work with SP2.) For the most part, I’m happy with it. I’ll be happier when all of this works for Windows 7 and I can upgrade to it, since I like it much more, though. The only thing that made me switch back was not having my tablet.

Why does this matter to you? Well, it just means that I’ll be doing a lot more artwork in the coming future. And this time I mean it. I haven’t done any artwork in ages and now that I have my tablet back I feel the need to revisit old projects. Also, there’s a couple of new projects that I’ve wanted to jump into recently. When I finish my entries, I’ll post them here for viewing as well as the judging location. I hope that you come back to see what I produce and let me know your thoughts.

There is a fascinating tid bit that was thrown onto the end of an article regarding Senator Dunkley’s views on the “tourism spin.”

Also on the motion to adjourn Government Senator Walton Brown complained about people objecting to the Sally Bassett statue.

He said she was a national hero who had stood up to oppression just as Nelson Mandela was seen as a hero worldwide for his efforts against apartheid in South Africa.

Seriously? Ok, we’re going to compare a person who, after leading a rebellion against a racist government, became the first black president of his homeland to a person who attempted murder. Really? We’re going to call this person a national hero on the same level as Nelson Mandela? I’m sorry if I find that a bit hard to swallow.

Sally Bassett was not a hero. She was not leading a revolution. She did inspire people or there would be a great deal more to the story where we would hear about how all of the slaves the day after her burning tried to poison their masters. This is not the case to my knowledge.

I’m curious as to exactly what she did to earn such a title as “national hero.” If attempting to murder people who you don’t agree with is the criteria then where do I sign up? I find the current government is trying to suppress my rights as a white person. Should I attempt to kill Ewart Brown? It’s probably not the best idea but then again I haven’t been pushed hard enough to take such a drastic action.

Let’s try to keep things in perspective, here. Sally Bassett is not a hero of any sort. Nelson Mandela is. At no point should a comparison be made.

For a bit of light hearted humor, here is Chad Vader re-enacting the nominees for best picture.

There’s an interesting letter to the editor in The Royal Gazette today. It can be read online here.

I’ve copied it below in case you don’t feel like visiting their site.

Rolfe, know your Zulu

February 12, 2009

Dear Sir,

I read with amusement today the comments of government appointed race agitator Rolfe Commissiong regarding his thoughts on the Governor’s remarks and the specific reference to the Blood River Monument.

Rolfe’s view was that such a reference was insensitive on the basis the monument commemorates a battle in which 10,000 Zulus were defeated by Dutch settlers and, in Rolfe’s view, “effectively ended that (the Zulu) Nation”.

Time for a fact check, Rolfe. At the Battle of Blood River, 10,000 Zulus attacked Dutch settlors numbering 470. This attack was repulsed and the Zulu army suffered 3,000 casualties. They were not, however “effectively ended as a nation”.

If a result of the Battle of Blood River in 1838 was an end of the Zulu Nation, then perhaps Rolfe could explain how it is the case that, on January 22, 1879, Zulu impi numbering 20,000 fighting for King Cetshwayo, annihilated a British force under Lord Chelmsford at the foot of Isandlwana in Zululand. British casualties on the day were in excess of 1,300. For the modern British army to be defeated by an army armed only with assegais and cowhide shields at the height of the power and might of Victorian Britain was, and remains, an astonishing accomplishment. This victory is still celebrated today.

However, even after the battle for the royal kraal at Ulundi, the capital of Zululand in July the same year, when King Cetshwayo was captured by Chelmsford and the military might of the Zulu army was broken, the power and influence of the Zulu continued. They remain the single most dominant tribe in the region and, today, the president of the ANC is Jacob Zuma, a Zulu.

For someone who holds his African descent in such high regard I would have expected Rolfe to know more about it.

GREGORY W. BROWN

Isle of Man

I had done a bit of informal research when I had read the article about Rolf Commissiong’s comments regarding the Governor’s speech from a few days ago. The interesting information that I found was that a Zulu chief had killed a trekker leader Piet Retief. Now, if this had happened in a battle then perhaps it wouldn’t be as notable, however, this happened when Dingane kaSenzangakhona invited Piet Retief to his village. When he arrived with his men, they were asked to leave their weapons at the gates. The Zulus then killed the men. They had also attacked several trekker encampments killing an estimated 500 men, women and children, including some black servants.

This resulted in asking Andries Pretorius to leave the cape colonies to lead a relief group to help the people in the area. The rest of the story goes that the Zulus tried to attack the caravan but they were repelled and took an estimated 3,000 casualties due to some well made decisions on the part of Andries Pretorius.

Of course, this did not end the fighting with the Zulus as there were other battles that came afterward as noted in the quote above.

So, what’s the point of all this? Mostly that Rolf Commissiong is either a bit ignorant or has selective memory. The Blood River Monument does not commemorate the destruction of the Zulu Nation. It commemorates a small group of people overcoming a much larger military force.

What I’d really like to say is that when trying to make a quote, it’s best to try to actually speak with a bit more research when trying to make a point. Otherwise, people with access to information will come back and discredit you. Of course, this seems to be a constant lesson that Rolf Commissiong has yet to learn since he seems to have made his entire career as a government consultant on half-truths.