Bits and pieces.

Today from the Fuso Szulc we are catching up on current issues.

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Bits and pieces #1.

There is very good news concerning Gorba the dog.


Within a few weeks Gorba is going to leave the rancho and the dubious care of his master Alfredo.
It has been arranged Gorba is going to live at the rancho of good friend Don Rafael and his son Eric Ojeda Salgado near the town of La Paz.
At this rancho are no goats.
As Gorba has developed this obsession of biting to death any goat he can come close to, he is currently chained because at Rancho Punta Boca del Salado a large herd of goats is kept roaming the land during the day.
Gorba is a very useful dog when a ranchero on a horse wants to go out in nature to round up cows and drive them back to the corrals of the rancho.
Gorba has the intelligence and the training to be helpful and enjoys doing it.
This he can do plentiful at the new rancho and on top of that, he can live freely there without a chain.
Isn’t that nice?

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Bits and pieces #2.
Yesterday hundreds of thousands of people were demonstrating all over the USA against the war in Iraq.
Also at Punta Boca del Salado there was a very small demonstration.
What could be heard here was the slogan yelled by the protester:

“Don’t sign !" Don’t sign!”.

This is referring to the fact that for more than a year the USA Government is pressing the Iraqi Government to sign the “Oil and Gas Bill”.
If they do it will be legally regulated how to divide the oil profits between the different Iraqi ethnic groups.
But most important, and this is why the US-Government is pushing so hard, is that this “Oil and Gas Bill” would end more than three decades of Iraq's nationalized oil industry.
It would give 10-year exploration and development rights to foreign oil companies — at least those willing to start drilling in a country where hundreds of contractors have been killed and pipelines are regularly blow up.
Once the exploration deals expire, the companies can negotiate to produce the oil for another 20 years in partnership with the state-owned Iraq National Oil Company.
Foreign oil companies would then pay the government 12.5% royalties of the oil's value, and be able to export the rest of whatever oil they find — potentially massive amounts at enormous profits.
This explains why the US-army is currently building military basis in Iraq intended to be kept and occupied for at least another 30 years.
Protection is needed for the American oil companies to make their windfall profits in the future.
Meanwhile many US-citizens still believe it is all about fighting terrorism that their billions of tax dollars are used for.

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Bits and pieces #3.
Recently we have been seeing Villa Las Dunas compared to Rancho Punta Boca del Salado.
Going deeper into the comparison makes sense because the situation is very exemplary for many situations worldwide.
The criterion for the Gonzales family, many years ago, to decide to settle at their specific location and start a rancho was the presence of water.
Somehow they found out that in the dry river bed at Punta Boca del Salado was water.
They dug a water well and this gives still plenty of water.
It made living at that location possible and doing cattle ranching.
Creating an income, hence surviving and possibly prospering.
This is a logical way of doing.

The criterion of building Villa Las Dunas at its specific location was the view.
This is basically a very wrong primary criterion to build somewhere a house.
Because more essential criterions are not considered and they come back later as problems.
Of course the people deciding to build Villa Las Dunas were aware of bypassing essential criterions.
But they are imagining they can solve the problems with money.
This is because the location and the house, contrary to the Gonzales family, does not need to bring in money to live.
The money for the extremely high operating costs of Villa Las Dunas comes from somewhere else.
From the Silicone Valley or another large urban area in the USA.
But this circumventing of the local aspects by simply pumping in money has a devastating effect on the environment.
It is a 19th century mentality and therefore retarded.

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Bits and pieces #4

Many fervent and loyal blog readers will remember how the Fuso Szulc had, from the beginning, problems with the water pump.



Most recently, in La Paz, Hector the mechanic, relocated the water pump.
It is now underneath the water tank very close to the exit of the water.
However, the disturbing news is that the problem the Fuso Szulc was having with the water supply persists.

Frequently, when a faucet is opened, there is no water.
The pump is not pumping.
When the switch on the SeeLevel Tank monitor is changed a few times from the on to the off position and back, suddenly the pump seems to wake up, starts to pump and water comes from the faucet.

All the connections of the plumbing have been checked to see if maybe air gets into the system between the pump and the faucets.
There are no leaks and everything seems fine.

Several e-mails have been send to the service desk of Shurflo water pumps to ask if they have an idea what is the problem here.
However, the service of Shurflo consists in not replying at all.

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Bits and pieces #5.
In two days is the birthday of Grace Barnett Wing.
Something to celebrate.
Many fervent and loyal blog readers will ask: " Who is Grace Barnett Wing".
She is better known as Grace Slick and was a singer/composer/musician in the bands called “The Jefferson Airplane” and “Jefferson Starship”.


The extraordinary music these bands made can never be forgotten and this is partly because of her contribution.

Grace Slick was born in Chicago on October 30, 1939 and besides her being a fantastic musician, she played another important role.
Like Janis Joplin, Grace Slick's uncompromising persona and powerful voice helped to open up new modes of expression for female performers.
Giving a new legitimacy to the role of the female lead singer in the male-dominated world of rock music.
She became a role model for women to stand up, to be expressive, to be self assured and accomplishing.

No wonder Grace Slick was politically active as well and strongly opposing the war in Vietnam.
She is from an era in which musicians were not compromising and not only going for the money, as most contemporary musicians do these days.
She demonstrated that besides singing and being a public figure, one must take responsibility for the situation in society and let a strong voice hear.
This example is followed these days by people like Bonnie Rait and Bono from U2.

Grace Slick, a great American woman.

Singing in 1969:

Look what’s happening out in the streets
Got a revolution got to revolution
Hey I’m dancing down the streets
Got a revolution got to revolution
Isn’t it amazing all the people I meet
Got a revolution got to revolution
One generation got old
One generation got soul
This generation got no destination to hold
Pick up the cry
Hey now its time for you and me
Got a revolution got to revolution
Come on now were marching to the sea
Got a revolution got to revolution
Who will take it from you?
We will and who are we
We are volunteers of America

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To learn more about the "Oil and Gas Bill" threatening to become law in Iraq, click on:
http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1576593,00.html

To learn more about Grace Slick, click on:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grace_Slick







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