Archive for February, 2008
Do you always think about your rights when you write? Well, I mean especially when you write for publications. Whatever you put down on paper in your own words belongs to you. It is your copyright. Not only when you are writing, but also, and more importantly, when you are about to sign a contract. Very often the joy of a fresh writing position drives you crazy, especially if it’s your first contract. You just head for the signature line and there you are, you give your consent without even giving a thought to what’s in there that you are agreeing to.
Yes, a contract is an agreement; once you sign it you are bound to it. And when you realise it may be too late. You find yourself with all your rights on your writing lost or you end up at the courts. And you know what it means: shear wastage of months or even years of your time and energy.
Pay heed to every word. Sometimes the most important part of the contract may be written in small characters which make it difficult to go through attentively. You have the tendency to skip the never ending terms and conditions. That’s the worst mistake you make.
It can never be over-emphasized. Have the patience to read every word. It may take some time, but it’s important. It’s even more important when you write on the net. More often than not you land up on people you have never seen, never heard of and you may not know how credible they are. They may be stealing your rights with a contract.
In his article “Don’t Sign Away Your Rights” writer Jonathan Bailey from The Blog Herald hints us on what we should watch out for. He calls our attention to words like “Exclusive, Sub-licensable/Transferable, Perpetual/Irrevocable, Moral Rights (Outside US), Non-Compete Clause” making their way in the contract agreement. Those are the words that will tie your hands to the publisher.
Jonathan Bailey tells us also about what we can do in compromise if we are not comfortable with anything in a contract. Even what we don’t sign may put us in awkward posture. “Be Careful of What You Don’t Sign”, he warns us.
So the next time you have a contract in hand do pay attention. Make sure you understand every clause of the terms and conditions. What rights you offer and what you keep for yourself is as important as what is vital for your survival as a writer and what you can do away with without much worries.
Alfa King MemoriesFrom exercise to good dieting there are a number of factors that impact on our cardiovascular health. Medical specialists and dieticians are better placed to explain how these are important and the steps you need to follow to achieve better health.
For instance they’ll tell you green leafy vegetables are better than cooked food. But for the common people that we are, the reasoning behind this is not always clear to us. Things complicate even more when we are told “Eat vegetables, and don’t spit if you want to achieve better cardiovascular health”. Does that make sense?
Funny and awkward as it may seem, researchers have indeed found that eating vegetables and not spitting afterwards is linked with improved cardiovascular health. They’ve carried out tests with positive results. Are you still with me? Let’s see how.
Vegetables contain nitrate which is concentrated in our saliva after eating. The nitrate is not the “good stuff” we’ll be talking about. Don’t jiggle already. Nitrate is biologically inactive. The “good stuff” is nitrite (“i” not “a”) which results by the action of bacteria in our mouths (yeah, the bacteria that stink our mouths) on the nitrate. Our saliva is thus enriched in nitrite. When we swallow it the nitrite is absorbed in our bloodstream, thus reducing our blood pressure and improving our vascular well-being.
Want to know more? Why not read “Eat Your Vegetables and Don’t Spit” at Dr. Richard N. Fogoros’s Heart Disease Blog which deals with a variety of heart health related issues.
You may also wish to refer to the following links:
To your health.
Significant weather changes have been occurring since I came here. The first week and the first day I took over my duty there was a cyclone threat; this week another storm crossed the region. Fortunately they didn’t hit the island. But they did bring some rain at least.
Ivan was the first storm to target Rodrigues. It was formed in the waters around St Brandon and moved south-eastwards as from Thursday 7. Storm warnings were issued the next day and were maintained until the Sunday morning when Ivan started moving away.
As it approached it weakened a bit and decelerated to a point of quasi-stationary around 400 kilometers to the north of our small island before making a movement with a northerly component. It made a loop and then took a general westerly direction towards the north of Mauritius and hit Madagascar during the last weekend. We were spared.
Meanwhile the other storm Hondo, which was formed around Diego Garcia well before Ivan, also took a south easterly movement but this time it was moving away from us. It didn’t represent any threat. It weakened as it reached latitude 20 well below that of Rodrigues. During the last weekend what remained of Hondo started moving westwards directly heading towards us. It passed at its nearest point yesterday night and blessed us with significant amount of rain; the highest amount recorded being about 66 millimeters over 24 hours. The wind blew at an average speed of about 35 kilometers per hour to reach a peak of 77 kilometers per hour today.
Curiously the two storms followed an unusual pattern. Storms in this region are known to move in a direction varying between south and west. Ivan and Hondo’s movement were atypical. A rare anticyclone of about 1025 hectoPascals seemed to push these systems to the north east and south east until it passed away. Then the low pressure systems took their normal course again, which is why they remained constant threats to the mascarenes islands until Ivan passed over Madagascar causing severe damages. While the remains of Hondo are still influencing weather here and in Mauritius, improvements are expected by tomorrow.
That’s nature’s caprices, anyway.
Hey folks, here am I again. Oh, it’s been a while. Are you still around? Well. Sit back and relax as I write from Rodrigues some 600 kilometres to the east of my homeland. I’ll bring you to the “Hill in the Sea”, as it has been named in the text book Geomorphological Analysis of Mauritius. It’s from here that I’ll be blogging for the next six months.
OK. I arrived by a domestic flight on Monday 4 in the afternoon; and still getting settled. The wobbling of the tropical storm “Ivan” about 400 kilometres in the north created some inconvenience. It is now moving away westwards, although winds of 30 to 40 kilometres per hour are blowing from the east gusting at 70. This is the result of the combined influence of Ivan and an anticyclone to the south.
I got my personal effects and foodstuff (via maritime service) on Tuesday 12, when I enjoyed my first home-made food in the evening; lentils, preserved fish and fried potatoes, all with rice. I’m not a perfect cook; but solo cooking is not much of an issue. I had fresh lemon juice, pressed right from the fruit, as soft drink (beer you said? No thanks, not my thing) and local jack fruit as dessert. I expect my car on Friday with the arrival of the next boat.
Of volcanic origin Rodrigues offers a splendid view on the sea from its steep hilly lands. The highest point is about 400 metres above sea level and the land area is about 100 kilometre-square. Some 40 000 people live in this smallest Mascarenes Island where they grow maize, onions and other agricultural products; they rear cattle (not so much for the milk as for the meat), goats, poultry and pigs in open grounds; and they rely a lot on fishing for their living.
It’s not my first stay though. I was here five years ago and have been coming on mission often since 1976 when I first stopped over while proceeding to Agalega by boat. It’s not the same. The main road from Sir Gaetan Duval airport (brand new facility inaugurated few months ago) at Plaine Corail in the south to the seaport and capital Port Mathurin to the north has been improved to a great extent. Buildings have mushroomed in the capital and there’s every sign of growing business and commercial boost up.
I was reminiscing with one of the front office staff of Escales Vacances, a small hotel at Fond La Digue in the periphery of Port Mathurin where I stayed for four days before I was allocated my official quarters. The pace of infrastructural and socio-economic development seems phenomenal. From motor cycles to the ever-increasing four wheelers more adapted to the hilly and curvy terrain, I saw a number of brand new motor cars, strange in an island where people walk through long, narrow, bushy, hilly, rocky, soily and at times muddy paths to reach their homes on the hill tops or deep down the valleys.
From what I experienced on Friday last I can tell you it’s not a pleasure when the sun is on top of your head, literally roasting you. I walked 204 steps up (yes, I counted them patiently) and 204 down hill three times, in the morning, at mid-day and in the evening from hotel to office and back. But it’s a good physical exercise for those who want to drop some weight. I have resolved to throw at least 4 kilos by July (fat overgrowth in tummy) so I make it a point to do it as a daily chore when I set out footing for another 3 kilometres. En route there’s couple of 50 extra steps up and down. Is it a perfect test for a healthy heart?
Public transport (buses and taxis) is available the whole day; previously they closed at mid-day and the island stood still in the afternoon.
Way back people were excessively courteous and friendly; they used to greet everybody on the way. I’m not so sure whether this mannerism prevails nowadays. Things are changing and the situation may be different with the ever growing trading community. You could avail of du miel (honey – best from eucalyptus tree) and piments confits (preserved small – hot- chilly) free; today if you don’t pay heed you may end up buying these commodities (sometimes adulterated) at exorbitant prices. Market stalls have grown all along the main road in Port Mathurin.
Gone are the days when you could leave your doors open any time of the day or night, care free. With precarious employment opportunities and improper control of delinquency matters can worsen. I have no intention to scare the prospective visitor. Rodrigues is a beautiful island. It is safe, much safer than mainland. You can still wander around without being troubled, unlike mainland which is becoming very insecure. The relief of the island offers magnificent panoramic views for nature lovers. The economic activity is based mainly on agriculture, animal husbandry, fisheries and lately tourism. I love the relatively stress free environment, far from the hurly-burly of the mainland life.
Rodrigues is an integral part of the Republic of Mauritius. It is often referred to as the 10th district. But it operates in a different manner. It might appear a bit complicated for the novice, but this small island is under the Ministry for Rodrigues which is at present under the umbrella of the Prime Minister’s Office.
Budgetary allocations are made from Mauritius and administered locally by the Rodrigues Regional Assembly headed by a Chief Commissioner. While districts and towns in mainland Mauritius have regional or municipal councils, this island has a unique system of government, quasi-autonomous, with its own executive, and commissioners who seem to have some sort of ministerial status.
Well, that was a glimpse of my first 10 days’ stay here. Exceptionally long post (sshhh… to cover my long absence…).
Cheers from Rodrigues.
I may be off for a week or so. Reason: I’m proceeding to Rodrigues on a tour of duty as from tomorrow. I hope to get back to you after I get settled down, which might take about a week. We’ll take up from there. So bear with me.
In the meantime take a peek at the following:
How to do your own PR: Four steps to strengthening your writing ‘brand’
Spinning Plates: How to Succeed With Multiple Projects
Do You Have The Audacity to Succeed?
Have a nice time. See you. Cheers!
One thing life always teaches us: people are never satisfied with whatever decision you take, still less when it is not in their favor. Tell them there’s a cyclone threat and they start grumbling. Tell them there’s no cyclone warning and they start getting frustrated, especially when it’s in the morning and they have to rush for work. The private sector shouts “shear incompetence, we’ve lost millions”. They believe a class III warning was not warranted yesterday morning. That reminds me of the adage: “we are always wise after the event.”
Workers, business people, school children and the population in general woke up yesterday morning with a class III warning in force on the island. They were all set for a day off awaiting the passage of the dreaded storm during the day. Weather was expected to deteriorate substantially. The weather services boss in a radio intervention at around 8.00 am confirmed the threat and warned the population to remain alert. 40 minutes later he issued a no-warning bulletin.
This meant getting ready for work forthwith. Everybody was taken aback, and somewhat frustrated. The roads remained jammed for long and nearly a half-day’s work was lost. The private sector was not happy at all and claimed having sustained heavy losses due to late opening of their business and the high level of absenteeism. Offices operated with reduced staffing.
Were the meteorological services wrong in their judgment? That’s the question everybody is asking, although the explanation from the weather station is simple. The tropical storm Gula has been plying in the region of St Brandon since the beginning of the week. It had intensified into a tropical cyclone on Wednesday when it was moving a general southerly direction at about 10 to 12 kilometers per hour. A class I warning was issued at 10.00 am so that the population could start preliminary precautions. At 4.00 pm with its continued southerly movement a class II was put in force which meant the threat was increasing. School children went to bed with a holiday the next day in mind. They were reassured when at 4.00 am on Thursday a class III warning was issued. This implies completion of all precautions and added alertness. No school, no work, no business.
The no-warning signal at 8.40 am created some confusion and rush among those who had to report to their work and business as is the case with the lifting of all warnings after the passage of a cyclone. Criticisms came from all quarters and voices were heard on the private radios. Some went to the extent of qualifying the local weather services as incompetent for having, according to them, wrongly assessed and handled the situation.
But the meteorological services boss explained that he had no other option at that particular time and moment when he was in presence of various satellite imageries from no less reputable weather sources like the UK Met Office, Meteo
The prime objective of the meteorological services is to “save life and property”, said the meteorological services boss in the 7.30 pm TV news yesterday? He said having acted conscientiously and decided on the no-warning when it was confirmed subsequently by weather observations and other satellite pictures that Gula did no longer represent any threat to our country. It had considerably disorganized and weakened. Cyclonic winds were no longer expected around its centre with a small diameter of 30 to 40 kilometers. What else could he have done? Scientific evidences speak for themselves.
The caprices of the nature have long been subject to discussions. No two scientists can always agree on one particular course of action in a given circumstance. The person on the hot seat is the one who’s got the utmost and ultimate responsibility to ensure the accuracy of his judgment and to provide plausible explanation to the laymen that the rest of us are. How competent are we to qualify others of incompetence in a field we have no competence?
The Mauritius Meteorological Services boss has stood up to his level and assumed the overall and sole responsibility of his decisions, far from any perceived political interference, and reassured the population of his experience and professionalism in handling situations like this one. How many of us would have wished to be on his seat at that moment?
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