Did You Know: Robert Guppy -  the man who named the world famous fish he discovered in T&T

 Robert Lechmere Guppy had no formal scientific training but his meticulous approach to research, coupled with his love of invertebrate palaeontology[1] and geology, allowed him to publish many papers of professional quality. His best known contribution to science was the popularisation of the Guppy fish that bears his name.
Before Guppy, W.C.H. Peters originally discovered this species and catalogued it in Berlin, where it was overlooked. It was Guppy, however, who sent specimens to London, making the fish known to the English-speaking world.

Robert John Lechmere Guppy was born on 15th August, 1836 in London, England. A prodigy from the beginning, he practically taught himself to read at the age of three. As a young man, Guppy wanted to explore the world as a scientist but his uncle wanted him to manage his family’s estate in England.
At the age of 18, he entered Oxford University but on receiving letters from his uncle begging him to return home, he ran off to Tasmania. He was shipwrecked on the coast of New Zealand in 1856, where he remained among the indigenous Māori people who had rescued him. During that time, he explored the island, mapping the area and collecting specimens. After two years, he joined his parents and brother who had migrated to Trinidad.

Although his family lived in San Fernando, Guppy’s job in the government service compelled him to stay in Port-of-Spain. Eventually, his zeal for education led him to being appointed to help organise the education system as the island’s first Superintendent of Schools.

His earliest published scientific papers can be dated back to 1863, when he conducted geological surveys of Trinidad. Guppy collected samples, made notes and wrote papers in Trinidad and presented his findings in England, North America and in the proceedings of The Trinidad Scientific Association.
His 1963 paper of Trinidad fossil foraminifera[2] was one of the earliest such publications in the Western Hemisphere. This, and his subsequent papers on Trinidad’s fossil foraminifera were the standard references for the later 20th century micropalaentological[3] studies which established the value of this group of fossils for dating and correlating petroleum deposits in Trinidad.

During his surveys, he noticed a fish, which was called the “millions fish” at the time, but would later be named the “guppy’”. Intrigued by the small creature, he sent samples in 1866 to the curator of the British Museum, the legendary ichthyologist[4], Dr Albert Carl Ludwig Gotthilf Guenther. In that same year, Guppy and his brother, Francis founded the Trinidad Almanack - a reference book that was eventually taken over by the government as the official yearbook.
Guppy was also the founder of the Victoria Institute (now renamed the National Museum) in Port-of-Spain at the time of Queen Victoria's Golden Jubilee in 1887, and he served as the Institute’s president for years.

Guppy continued publishing up until his last years. He produced over 30 papers in his lifetime and his scientific work was so in demand that A reprint of the more inaccessible palaeontological writings of Robert John Lechmere Guppy was published in the Bulletins of American Palaeontology after his death on 5th August, 1916.

“I grew up in Trinidad and Tobago during a time when everyone treated each other like Family. When you always had to speak properly when you were with your parents or adults but could "leh go" with your friends. If someone got you angry, you would tell them "how yuh mudda make yuh" with a variety of cuss words. If your mom found out, she made you wash your mouth with soap. Blue soap, sunlight or carbolic.

If you can't take "fatigue", don't start. Everyone had a nickname. The Chinese boy was "chin"; the African boy was "blacks"; the Indian boy was "lal", the fat kid was "fat boy", the skinny boy was "bones". We went outside to play; we got dirty.

We used to bathe in the rain, sometimes by the standpipe. I am yet to find anything as satisfying as a cup of creole chocolate or hot porridge on a rainy day.

We went to the river or springs on a hot day. Our fast food was corned beef and rice; sometimes, even hot rice and butter. We ate breadfruit, dasheen, yam, eddoes, cassava, boil corn, roast corn. From the bakery we ate belly full, currants roll, coconut drops, milk cake, pan bread, bun, butter bread and hops bread.

We loved bread and condensed milk or hot bread and butter; sometimes red butter. We sucked paradise plum, brittle, kazer ball, dinner mint. We ate bene balls, tollum, chataigne, sugar cake, tamarind ball, tamarind stew, red mango, mango chow, plum chow.

We got dirty and we didn't eat fast food....we ate cooked food. We got ice cream from the ice cream man or if mum was in a good mood and had the money, we had homemade ice cream on Sunday. The best was when barberdeen was in season. When mum made cake, we licked the bowl clean. Cassava pone or bread pudding was a treat. Redifusion had two channels.

To this day I remember "Portia faces life." We listened to auntie Kay on a Sunday. In later years, if you had a tv, you saw auntie Hazel on twelve and under, you watched Mastana Bahar and an Indian movie on a Sunday afternoon and watched Scouting for Talent on Tuesdays. Panorama was time to be quiet.

We loved snow cone on a hot day, preferably with guava syrup and condensed milk. We climbed trees, picked mangoes, Chennette, pommerac, plum, pommecythere; whatever was in season. We suck and ate cane with our bare teeth.

We played Simon Says, Red Rover, Mother May I, 1,2,3 Red Light, Hide & Seek, Jacks, Marbles, Tag, Hopscotch, Cars, Checkers, cricket, moral, rounders, pan cup, football; we raced against each other in the street and even played jockey in the canal with a piece of stick.

A tennis ball and a good piece of wood was enough to start a cricket game, and if somebody window break, game done. The only time we stayed indoors was when we were sick or as a punishment. If you were sick,b it was not uncommon to get a "bush bath" with some "buccano leaf" and whatever bush mum thought would make you better. Castor oil or sena pods during vacation was the worse.

The boys flew kites that we had made ourselves; sometimes we made a mad bull and hope it wasn't so big that it took you flying. We made zwill with flour and grounded glass; put razor blades in your kite tail and when you battle, who lost, saw their kites "hi-yo". The first one to reach the kite is the new owner.

We drove carts we had made from wood with old bearings for wheels. An old bike wheel with the spokes removed was a toy. Who never tried to get "laglee" from the breadfruit tree to try to catch a semp?

There was no bottled water, we drank from the pipe. We walked to the corner store and rode our bikes (if we had one) for hours without a cellphone. We weren't AFRAID OF ANYTHING.

If someone had a fight, that's what it was...a fist fight. Kids didn't have guns when I grew up. The street lights were your curfew. School was mandatory. Police used to take you to your school when they find you on the road during school hours.

We watched our mouths around our elders because we knew if you DISRESPECTED any grown up you were gonna get it with whatever was close and get a second one when your parents found out...!!!

Re-post if you're proud that you came from a close knit community and will never forget where you came from!

life in TnT as I knew it..

Did You Know: The History of Hops Bread 
Brothers, Horatio and John Alfred Rapsey, left England to seek their fortunes. By 1845, the two were in Port of Spain, operating a tailor’s shop from a building on Edward St. where John Alfred died in 1853 from yellow fever.
Horatio left tailoring and opened a bakery at 62 Queen St, Port of Spain, later moving to 9 Frederick St. He married an English lady who bore him three sons. John Alfred (born in the same year his namesake uncle died-1853) inherited the bakery after his father, Horatio Snr. died in 1892.
 John Alfred is credited with adopting an old technique he observed among the French Creole kitchens of Trinidad. This involved leavening a dough roll with an extract of the male hop flower which gave it an unusual crust and size. Originally, the loaves were baked wrapped in green banana leaves and then baked. Often, the finished bread would be delivered with dried banana leaf still stuck to it.
Thus hops bread began to be commercially baked around 1893 and with each loaf being sold at a penny apiece (day-old loaves being sold in front the bakery for halfpenny). Because of the price, hops bread was originally known as ‘penny loaves’ and was affordable to most.
 Rapsey is also credited with either inventing or popularizing the ‘biscuit-cake’. A biscuit soaked in milk and then sprinkled with sugar thus producing another Trini classic known as "milk cake".
 In 1893, he also added a soft-drink factory to the business. Unsurprisingly, Rapsey became rich and in 1901 bought the entire Aranguez estate for $18,000 where he continued sugar cultivation, but also raised excellent cattle and produced excellent cheese and milk which were sold from the bakery and was also delivered to consumers packed in ice in a horsedrawn van and later, one of the earliest motor-trucks in the island.
John Alfred purchased the old home of the Zurcher family, Blarney, near to Maraval which was a magnificent house he renamed Ellerslie. John Alfred died in 1912 but his widow and children continued to run Aranguez estate, with emphasis on housing development rather than agriculture. The bakery was also closed in 1928.
Today, the Rapseys still maintain an interest in Aranguez estate, although most of the lands have now been sold or leased. On Mrs. M.A. Rapsey’s death in 1943 the grand house was demolished and the lands developed into what is now known as “Ellerslie Park” which was originally called ‘Champs Elysées’ – the Elysian Fields, and not “Ellerslie”.

Did You Know: How Balandra got its name?
"Balandra got its name in 1797 just after the British general Sir Ralph Abercromby seized Trinidad from Spain. Following the conquest Abercromby sent his captain of the Royal Engineers, Frederick Mallet, to sail around the island and find out as much as he could about it. There was the need to inform the British Secretary of State for the Colonies what sort of island he had captured, because the British had had little knowledge of Trinidad. The only reason they had attacked it was because the French republicans had been striking at the British in the Windward Islands and fleeing to sanctuary in Trinidad.
This infuriated the British because Spain was neutral in that war. It led to flagrant British transgressions, forcing Spain to declare hostilities. When they did, General Sir Ralph Abercromby, Chief of the British Expeditionary Forces, pounced on Trinidad and took it.
It was therefore important to the British to know what Trinidad was like and what resources it contained, if only for the fact that when the war ended Britain would have to decide whether it would keep Trinidad or return it to Spain.
Abercromby had asked Captain Mallet to draw a map of Trinidad putting in such things as what the various settlements were called and what crops were grown there, and knowing that Trinidad was recently settled by Caribbean French planters under a Spanish Cédula, he wished to know what was the population, how much granted land was there, and granted to whom.
Mallet set out going round by the north coast and he landed at every settlement he spotted. He was so meticulous that his map shows, by anchor symbols, every landing he makes, and he gives the description of every crop, takes a census of the people, and shows every block denoting land granted to the settlers, and with the names of the settlers inscribed on the map.
Maybe it was curiosity which made him slip into a deeply-indented, lush and scenic cove, nearly half-way down on the east coast, and he met a Spanish garrison there, a garrison that may not even have known that the war had ended. He asked the Spanish soldiers what was the place called and they did not know.
They said they were there simply to protect the coast. But Mallet saw some huge boats in the bay and the soldiers told him the boats came there to bring provisions from the capital, Puerto España, since there were no roads to the east coast. They were large boats and Mallet asked what type of boats were they. The answer was Balandra.
To name the place Mallet wrote on that spot on his map: “Balandra.”

A reddit user by the name of u/seymourbuttsandtits is posting UNVERIFIED spoilers in this subreddit. They claim to have seen the final cut of the movie. Here are what I compile from their comments so y'all don't have to read through the comments.

THESE BULLET POINTS ARE PULLED FROM THEIR COMMENTS. NEWER UPDATES ARE AT THE END. These comments were first shared on April 16 (night time, EST)

The order of the comments are random and not based on the order it happened in the movies.I DO NOT KNOW IF THIS LEAK IS TRUE, I personally don't like some parts lol.

Tony dies for real at the end. His is the only death aside from Thanos and Thanos' army. Apparently he wore the Gauntlet and flipped the bird to Thanos lol. Tony gets a really good goodbye scene. Cap tries to basically take his place but the gauntlet won’t respond to him. Tony himself glows orange almost like he was the embodiment of the Soul Stone, but there’s no exposition on this or anything.

Nat died, but then was brought back the big battle when Cap destroyed the Soul Stone. This is also when everyone who was snapped away comes back.

Cap lives, but goes back to stay in the past after saying "I'll be there when you need me." to Fury.

Bucky gives him a big goodbye, then jokes "can I get the suit" and Cap says "I'm not done with it yet"

Bucky stays in the present because he gets a job offer

Thor lives. Still God of Thunder. Endgame sets up a potential Thor 4 with Thor, Valkyrie, and Rocket discussing the building of New Asgard.

Cap heard Bucky's voice which made him think about reviving the dusted ones.

Movie starts with "this is not a test"

Katherine Langford plays Tony's daughter but only in a dream.

Tony says to Pepper in their reunion: "Think we can still make our 8:30?"

Hela was mentioned by name, did not appear.

Stan Lee cameo is in a car show from the 1970s, told by Scott Lang, in Luis' style.

The first time Hulk shows up, Thanos has just been killed on Titan II so he finally comes out but they’re on Earth and Tony is like “really dude?”

It's heavily implied that Pepper is pregnant.

Captain Marvel is absent for most of it. Shows up in the beginning to answer the distress call, they kill Thanos, she leaves to help other planets rebuild. Doesn’t show back up til the final battle where she wrecks shit.

Hulk does not lose an arm. There’s a comment about how he should but he’s got regenerative properties in his tissue.

Past Cap vs Present Cap. Past Cap thinks Present Cap is Loki.

In the battle of New York there is a really funny scene where you’ve seen the two Caps fighting but they make it to Loki and he basically says “I’m not doing this...” and present Cap uses the opportunity to knock out past Cap and Loki says “Thank you”

Loki is also featured in a dream like sequence Thor has.

Thor gets a pep talk from his mother.

Carol and Valkyrie team up to take down one of Thanos ships and have a semi “that could have been flirting” moment.

According to u/Brontcrab24 who talked to OP, OP said credit scene is a tribute to everyone who made the MCU what it is today.

I'll update this comment as the OP updates lmao

UPDATES:

Apparently Cap goes back in time to dance with Peggy (lol)

Most memorable line in OP's opinion is "He was Iron Man"

The film supposedly ends with Carol flying off to hide the remaining stones throughout the galaxy.

Cap's shield broke because he destroyed the Soul Stone. Someone asked OP how does Cap know to destroy the Soul Stone to bring the dusted ones back and OP replied with "He heard Bucky through it"

No explanation for Carol's new suit and haircut. Just a timeskip.

Final battle takes place on Vomir. Vormir is weird, it’s not bound by time. Basically Thanos dictates that’s where the battle be.When Thanos figures out what they are doing, it’s weird it’s like he figures it out and prevents his own death from earlier in the film by coming back in time. Thanos [in the final battle] is the Thanos that did the snap and realizes what’s up, but it’s also a Thanos that would have been killed in like two days

Nick Fury and Carol reunite. No mention of Goose.

OP said this in a now-deleted comment: "Ok I really didn’t want to answer this because I thought it was amazing and didn’t want it being spoiled. There aren’t postcredit scenes like normal, there is a montage of the last 10 years of Marvel studios and everyone who made it possible to be what it is today. It’s pretty special."

credit to u/SaturdaySmile “I sent the user a PM a few questions and he just responded to two. I asked which of the female leads had the biggest role, Black Widow or Nebula, he said Nebula. The other question he responded was about if the Russos get Captain Marvel right and he said her role was kind of small but she stands out in her scenes and she does fight Thanos and fucks him up but she's not the one who kills him in the first act, Thor is the one who delivers the final blow.” OP said this is a lie. OP did not send this PM.

My personal thought: I'm not a fan of the "Cap goes back in time" ending at all while Bucky stays in the present (thinking about it makes me angry and I can't even start to explain). The rest of the plot is plausible. The OP seemed to be genuine and polite in their answers, handled critics rather well, and provided some very specific details and quotes when asked. I guess we'll all see in a week!



YAY, MORE UPDATES FROM THE OP IN THE COMMENTS OF THIS VERY THREAD (welcome OP to this thread on April 17, afternoon, EST, thanks for sharing yada yada I don't believe stuff you said but I'll entertain):

Hulk himself is maturing and realizes his physique with Banner's brain would be unstoppable. So instead of fighting over the wheel, they become Co pilots.

When you guys actually see how they handle the Cap thing I think you'll change your mind. He's not ruining everyone's life, he's closing a time loop. Look there are a few things I really don't want to spoil because no one is even guessing them and there needs to be some crazy woah moments so I won't go into detail but Peggy straight up tells him to come home. It's one of the most touching, mind-blowing moments in the entire MCU. Kind of interesting you never saw her husband, right? Man you guys are coming close to ruining the most emotional part of the movie. Are you sure this is how you want to learn this?

Nebula is in the climactic final war.

Trump supporters portrayed as the stupidest, most gullible people on earth in merciless column

despite the seemingly never-ending controversies that have bedeviled the Trump administration, Republican voters continue to support the President at high levels.

According to a Gallup poll, Trump’s approval rating among Republicans is at 90 percent.

On Friday, Washington Post columnist Eugene Robinson wondered why, noting that Trump has failed to deliver on most of his campaign promises.

“I’ve got the perfect slogan for President Trump’s reelection campaign,” Robinson writes. “Promises Made, Promises Not Kept, But I’m Betting My Voters Are Too Stupid to Notice.”

Robinson lays out all the promises Trump has broken, chief among them his pledge to build a wall that Mexico would pay for.

“Trump promised to build a wall along the 2,000-mile southern border, with the cost of the “big, beautiful” barrier to be borne by Mexico,” Robinson writes.


“Result: Not a single mile of Trump’s wall has been built.”

But that’s not the President’s only failure. There’s also the global economy.

“Trump promised to reverse trade policies that he said allowed the rest of the world to play Americans for suckers,” Robinson writes. “Result: The Commerce Department announced Wednesday that the overall U.S. trade deficit in goods last year soared to an all-time high of $891 billion. The deficit with China, Trump’s principal target — the amount by which the value of imported goods exceeded the value of exported goods — reached a record $419 billion.”

Trump has also not lived up to promises on North Korean de-nuclearization, a revamp of the Affordable Care Act, infrastructure, and his promise to “drain the swamp” in Washington.

“Result: Perhaps the most corrupt administration in U.S. history, riddled with nepotism and teeming with swamp creatures.”

Given all of that policy failure, Robinson concludes that Trump must be banking on the stupidity of his followers to get re-elected.

“He apparently believes his loyal supporters are the dumbest, most gullible people on earth. We shall see if he’s right.”

 Siparia, Trinidad and Tobago
Back in Times

PAYING HOMAGE TO SIPAREE- KAI -MAI on HOLY THURSDAY
- Credit Angelo Bissessarsingh.

Beginning in the 1870s, thousands of pilgrims would flock to the tiny village in the forest to pay homage to the Divine Shepherdess. To the first peoples, the Warao of the Orinoco Delta, she was a mixture of indigenous religion and Catholicism, while to the Catholics, she was a tangible representation of a saintly messenger. To the many Hindus who also added colour to the Siparia Fete, she was Siparee Mai, the Mother of Siparia. Possibly, the small, dark statue, with its wig of real human hair, appealed aesthetically to the Indian indentured labourers who worshipped her in their own way. This was not always welcomed by the parishioners, who attempted to lock out the Hindu element, but were forced into tolerance when the IndoTrinis devotees threatened to burn down the church.

Back in the 1850s, Siparia was a sleepy little village lost in the high woods with a population of a few dozen people of mixed Amerindian and African descent. There were no public buildings since it fell under the administration of the Ward of Oropouche which had its seat at St Mary’s Village, in the County of St Patrick. In a humble tapia church, however, was a little wooden statue placed there, for the purpose of devotion. This statue may have come to the town as early as 1808. By the 1870s, the Feast of La Divina Pastora was already attracting thousands from across the island as a French priest, Father Armand Masse noted in 1875:

“At Siparia there is a virgin of great renown in the whole of Trinidad. She is called La Divina Pastora. When they were obliged to leave Siparia, to save this statue from profanation, the Spaniard hid her in the nearby forest where she was found later. She was taken back to the village and placed in a shrine, and then the church. Like all Spanish Virgins, that of Siparia was dressed in bridal attire. Remarkable graces were obtained by the intercession of Our Lady of Siparia.”

Among the devotees were Warao, people from the Orinoco Delta and hundreds of Indian indentured labourers who identified with the little brown image and called her Siparee-ke-mai. Father Masse recorded the hodgepodge of humanity in his memoir:

“All along the way yesterday, on the eve of the feast, I met pilgrims of all colours going towards the sanctuary. They were counted in thousands…The road is very difficult and extremely uneven. Among the vehicles which try to come to Siparia, several broke down on the road. One cab tumbled into a ditch; many horses took flight and refused to go further. All eventually arrived at Siparia though. Some Waraoons dressed in nothing are at the door of the church. A band of coolies arrives. They sing all night long. At dawn they go to bathe and then come to the chapel. They have brought two cocks which they will offer to the virgin (they call her Siparee maie). To make this offering they go to the foot of the altar with the cock and saying their prayers in a loud voice with arms extended, they go to the back of the church, untie the cock and set it free in the church. The old sacristan captures the cock which the cure will soon eat.”

The road described by Abbe Masse is none other than the Siparia Old Road which wends its way towards Oropouche, through Avocat Village. The presbytery was an elaborate spired wooden edifice which stood opposite the church. It was constructed in 1850, and demolished in the 1960s. In this period, the church itself was nothing more than a simple wooden structure. It is believed that people of East Indian descent began making pilgrimages to Siparia in search of this dark Madonna’s healing power in the late 19th century, soon after their arrival in Trinidad.

There was no grotto for housing the image of the saint, instead a contemporary of Abbe Masse describes the statue as having been placed on a large mound of dirt, and adorned with flowers. There is no river near Siparia, so the pilgrims would have washed in one of the several wells in the area which were opened by Abbe Masse. One at Well Road still exhibits its original paving.

Abbe Masse describes a later episode of the feast as such:

“The road from Oropouche to Siparia was full of coolies. The savannah of the church, the huts, the church, and the village were full. Without precautions being taken they would have set the church on fire with the numerous candles they were lighting. The lamps, though there were huge numbers of them, were not sufficient; the oil spilled all over the floorboards. They were disputing among themselves, jostling to obtain the oil , which was burning in front of the virgin.

“The coolies have a noisy devotion. They pray at the top of their voices but then they are distracted. When they prostrate themselves with their forehead on the floor, it seems sometimes they will split their skulls, so hard do they hit their heads against the planks.”

Holy Thursday is still known by some older people as the “Coolie Fete” .Every year, on Holy Thursday, the image is taken from its shrine in the parish church and exposed to public devotion in the presbytery, after which she is clad in ornate garments and jewelry by specially appointed ladies of the parish , to whom service is a sacred duty.

First Photo : Original Painting by Rudolph BissessarsinghThe old Siparia presbytery which stood for almost a century before it was demolished in the 1960s.
2nd Photo: La Divina Pastora - Patron Saint of Siparia
3rd Photo : Vintage Photo 1950s - Hindu woman with her son taking his first hair cut.

I grew up in Trinidad and Tobago during a time when everyone treated each other like Family. When you always had to speak properly when you were with your parents or adults but could "leh go" with your friends. If someone got you angry, you would tell them "how yuh mudda make yuh" with a variety of cuss words. If your mom found out, she made you wash your mouth with soap. Blue soap, sunlight or carbolic. If you can't take "fatigue", don't start. Everyone had a nickname. The Chinese boy was "chin"; the African boy was "blacks"; the Indian boy was "lal", the fat kid was "fat boy", the skinny boy was "bones". We went outside to play; we got dirty. We used to bathe in the rain, sometimes by the standpipe. I am yet to find anything as satisfying as a cup of creole chocolate or hot porridge on a rainy day. We went to the river or springs on a hot day. Our fast food was corned beef and rice; sometimes, even hot rice and butter. We ate breadfruit, dasheen, yam, eddoes, cassava, boil corn, roast corn. From the bakery we ate belly full, currants roll, coconut drops, milk cake, pan bread, bun, butter bread and hops bread. We loved bread and condensed milk or hot bread and butter; sometimes red butter. We sucked paradise plum, brittle, kazer ball, dinner mint. We ate bene balls, tollum, chataigne, sugar cake, tamarind ball, tamarind stew, red mango, mango chow, plum chow. We got dirty and we didn't eat fast food....we ate cooked food. We got ice cream from the ice cream man or if mum was in a good mood and had the money, we had homemade ice cream on Sunday. The best was when barberdeen was in season. When mum made cake, we licked the bowl clean. Cassava pone or bread pudding was a treat. Redifusion had two channels. To this day I remember "Portia faces life." We listened to auntie Kay on a Sunday. In later years, if you had a tv, you saw auntie Hazel on twelve and under, you watched Mastana Bahar and an Indian movie on a Sunday afternoon and watched Scouting for Talent on Tuesdays. Panorama was time to be quiet. We loved snow cone on a hot day, preferably with guava syrup and condensed milk. We climbed trees, picked mangoes, Chennette, pommerac, plum, pommecythere; whatever was in season. We suck and ate cane with our bare teeth. We played Simon Says, Red Rover, Mother May I, 1,2,3 Red Light, Hide & Seek, Jacks, Marbles, Tag, Hopscotch, Cars, Checkers, cricket, moral, rounders, pan cup, football; we raced against each other in the street and even played jockey in the canal with a piece of stick. A tennis ball and a good piece of wood was enough to start a cricket game, and if somebody window break, game done. The only time we stayed indoors was when we were sick or as a punishment. If you were sick, it was not uncommon to get a "bush bath" with some "buccano leaf" and whatever bush mum thought would make you better. Castor oil or sena pods during vacation was the worse. The boys flew kites that we had made ourselves; sometimes we made a mad bull and hope it wasn't so big that it took you flying. We made zwill with flour and grounded glass; put razor blades in your kite tail and when you battle, who lost, saw their kites "hi-yo". The first one to reach the kite is the new owner. We drove carts we had made from wood with old bearings for wheels. An old bike wheel with the spokes removed was a toy. Who never tried to get "laglee" from the breadfruit tree to try to catch a semp? There was no bottled water, we drank from the pipe. We walked to the corner store and rode our bikes (if we had one) for hours without a cellphone. We weren't AFRAID OF ANYTHING. If someone had a fight, that's what it was...a fist fight. Kids didn't have guns when I grew up. The street lights were your curfew. School was mandatory. Police used to take you to your school when they find you on the road during school hours. We watched our mouths around our elders because we knew if you DISRESPECTED any grown up you were gonna get it with whatever was close and get a second one when your parents found out...!!!

Here is quick abbreviated summary & first impression of the NEW for 2019 Koito bi-LED 2.0. It is a *fan-less* version and ever so slightly more compact. It may be difficult to see in the photos but the 2.0 has a slightly different beam pattern. For the US version they have shifted the peak intensity right over the 75 meter test point (roughly 12-15% more intensity). What does that mean? Well, you will see farther at that angle than the previous version. They really have that peak dialed in right up against the cutoff edge. I’m talking maybe around half a degree under. And while far distance vision has improved, the center vertical test point at 50 meters has gone *down* in intensity. This is a bit of a bummer as I would have liked for Koito to at least mirror the same performance at this test point as the previous version. None the less there is still plenty of intensity at centerline.

Width is still good for this LED projector with no apparent loss on the edges.

The lens appears to have a somewhat odd shape. It is not a perfect semi-sphere. At certain angles when the light hits the lens (to my eyes) the top portion looks as if its indented slightly. It's hard to describe. I don’t believe this be stylistic in nature so I’m assuming it's an optical characteristic. It is also shorter in its peak than the previous version.

High beam shape is nearly the same as previous version while being slightly different. I have not yet measured intensity for the 2.0.

The Nichia LED chip *appears* to be the same on the outside but I believe this to be a more robust version. I say this because after powering the 2.0 for about 10 minutes the heatsink body is very hot to the touch. Enough that you probably won’t be able to hold it in your hands for very long. The 2.0 runs at about 23W while the previous version was about 26W. I have not yet used my thermal imager over the chips but I can’t see that Koito designed the 2.0 to be easily overheated (especially in a controlled environment). So the new chip must be much more tolerant to heat. And this was so that they could do away with the active cooling which more automotive lighting manufacturers are moving away from. Less mechanical parts to fail.

Is the Koito bi-LED 2.0 better than its predecessor? That all depends on your perspective.

More thorough testing to come in the future!

One of us still has our picture taped up on the dash
One of us took that one from Mexico, threw it in the trash
One of us don't even notice when the radio plays that song
One of us breaks down and has to pull over whenever it comes on
Nah there ain't no in between, when it comes to her and me
One of us moved on, one of us got stuck
One of us is drinkin' just for fun, one of us drinkin' to get drunk
One of us sleeps good, and one of us hates to face the night
Just depends if you're talkin' about her world or mine
There's a number on a phone that one of us erased
There's a "late-night can we try again?" call one of us wants to make
'Cause one of us can't even think about bein' in another's arms
And there's a car in the drive that stayed all night, where one of us used to park
One of us moved on, one of us got stuck
One of us is drinkin' just for fun, one of us drinkin' to get drunk
One of us sleeps good, and one of us hates to face the night
Just depends if you're talkin' about her world or mine
For a while we had forever in our hands
That's why one of us can't understand
How one of us moved on, one of us got stuck
One of us is drinkin' just for fun, one of us drinkin' to get drunk
One of us sleeps good, one of us hates to face the night
Just depends if you're talkin' about her world or mine
Yeah that's the difference between her world or mine

Trip Down Memory Lane.
Vintage Postcard of a Woman cutting cane on a Caroni Estate. We salute those women who worked hard toiling in the canefields to ensure a better quality of life for their families.

My body moves
Goes where I will
But though I try my heart stays still
It never moves
Just won't be led