Friday, October 31, 2008

A dog on the moon

This week there is this one thought that pushes itself dominantly into the consciousness many times every day.
It is not a thought that is desired or wanted; hence it is like a dominatrix in a dungeon.

Under compulsion currently to have the thought snake into the awareness, the fervent and loyal blog readers may definitely like to know what issue for Christ’s sake is brought up constantly.

It is this: the idea to make a dog walk with a lower drag of gravity.
This is achieved by putting a net around his body with cables going up to a balloon filled with helium.
The net lifts the dog up and this as much as if the animal was walking on the moon.
He will be able to run at tremendous speed and make high jumps.

This is the thought that comes to mind all the time.

We may wonder why this fabulous idea has never been done before.
Not necessarily with dogs only.
Because it could be applied to human beings also.
A parachute filled with a balloon containing helium lifting up slightly the person.
Making a Neil Armstrong of the man.
Or an Amelia Earhart of the woman.

It is OK to have neurotic events happening in the brains.
As long as they deal with solutions for dogs concerning gravity.

But nevertheless we may wonder why this is happening.
These days the book “The cancer ward” by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn is read.
A story in a hospital for cancer patients.
This is why a new thought has come to mind explaining that this invention of having dogs walk like if they were on the moon is the result of a tumour in the brains.
A cancerous growth pushing against a lobe in the brains where original and unique thoughts are produced.

So now the thought of the floating dogs pops up followed by the thought that a tumour is at work.
This is a scaring situation.
Because the idea that a tumour is possibly growing and pushing is no good.
It has to be countered with the new thought that this is an imagination coming from reading a book.

Most fervent and loyal blog readers are able to imagine that this dramatic situation results in a train of thoughts ending any man in an asylum.
The dog in a net with a balloon, a tumour pushing a lobe and labelling anything coming to mind as corrupt.
Call the men in white coats!

We often believe that the mind we have is there to think.
In specific cases this is true.
Like playing a chess game.
But in most other cases it is not true.
The mind tends to want to control.
To lead us into trouble.

The thing to do is to learn not to think.
This is, to allow the mind its way without paying too much attention to it.
And when ideas pop up, the thing is to perform the idea.
To simply do it and the mind has no more reason to bring it back up.

So, today a net will be made around the body of Rocky the dog and a garbage bag will serve as his balloon.
Only thing is, where to find helium?





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Thursday, October 30, 2008

Turmoil making clowns

These days often Mohammed Saeed al-Sahhaf comes to mind.
He was in 2003 during the invasion by the American troops of Iraq the Minister of Information.
He is better known as Baghdad Bob.

Many people will always remember his limitless optimism.
On April 7, 2003, Mohammed Saeed al-Sahhaf claimed that there were no American troops in Baghdad.
Saying that the Americans were committing suicide by the hundreds at the city's gates.
At that time, American tanks were patrolling the streets only a few hundred yards from the location where the press conference was held. Baghad Bob's last public appearance as Information Minister was on April 8, 2003, when he said that the Americans "are going to surrender or be burned in their tanks. They will surrender, it is they who will surrender".

These days Mohammed Saeed al-Sahhaf is remembered triggered by John McCain.
He is making similar statements as Baghdad Bob.
So ridiculous, ludicrous and out of proportion that it becomes amusing.
Being far behind in the polls and claiming:
"We've got them exactly where we want them".
A clown in turmoil.

Meanwhile Barack Obama uses humour to counter all the McCain’s accusations coming his way.
The style he is using is very effective.
"He'll soon be calling me a secret Communist for sharing my toys in Kindergarten”.
It’s to use humour to make the opponent ridiculous and that is now an easy job.

Although questioned by American authorities, Mohammed Saeed al-Sahhaf was released, and there has been no suggestion of charging or detaining him for his role in the Saddam Hussein government.
He is now living in the United Arab Emirates with his family.

John McCain will retreat to his ranch in Arizona after he has lost the elections next week.
Demoralized, discouraged and dumped by his own Republican Party.
Not so Sarah Palin.
She’ll be around.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++

To learn more about Mohammed Saeed al-Sahhaf , click on:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muhammad_Saeed_al-Sahhaf







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Wednesday, October 29, 2008

To be fundamental

Once in a while it happens.
That the Datastorm Satellite System slows down to a snail pace.
Download speeds reach not higher than 0,5 KB per second.

Some things become time consuming like receiving e-mails with attachments, sending pictures and visiting websites.
It can take over 5 minutes for a website to appear on the screen.

What becomes completely impossible is to use SKYPE, the VOIP telephone system.
Nor is it possible to watch TV from websites.

Hence, most activities on the computer are eliminated for the time being.
And it is not known how long this slow working Datastorm Satellite System will stay in this snail mode.

Many fervent and loyal blog readers will remember how some weeks ago the Datastorm Satellite System refused to work at all.
Without informing, the company Datastorm Satellite System had changed the settings.
Only by calling installer Paul Angerami the problem could be solved.

Many people are waiting for the day when a new, less problematic and more sophisticated satellite system will hit the market.
To avoid a situation like there is currently here in the Fuso Szulc that the opening of the website for the project “How we love” is being delayed because of the slow working satellite connection.

There is another side to this situation though.
When turning the head away from the computer screen, from the window of the Fuso Szulc the glittering of the sun on the Sea of Cortez is seen.
A view of the beach and the pelicans flying by.
On the other side the peaceful settlement of the Mexican rancho where live goes on as it did for the last 100 years.

So what is there actually not to be content about?

It takes now almost two hours to drive from the rancho to the town of San Jose del Cabo.
Gumaro has been telling how in his younger days they would go to town by horse.
To get supplies would take two days.

In the fascinating book “The fatal shore” by Robert Hughes, about the history of Australia, we can read how people would sail back to England for meetings to return with the conclusions 6 months later.
Meanwhile everything was on hold waiting for the decision.

In those days of slow travelling they lived anyway; they were eating, breathing, loving and working.
Just like they do today.

Fundamentally nothing has changed and we should be as happy today as we were before.
Unless we make ourselves depended of the modern technical introductions in our lives.

Hence, the Datastorm Satellite System is switched off and a long walk on the beautiful beach and a swim in the sea is made.
To be fundamental.

++++++++++++++++++++++

To learn more about the fascinating book “The fatal shore” by Robert Hughes, click on:
http://www.amazon.com/Fatal-Shore-Epic-Australias-Founding/dp/0394753666





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Tuesday, October 28, 2008

The first Mohican

James Fenimore Cooper was expelled from Yale College.
Nevertheless, he became a famous author.
Probably his best known book is titled “The last of the Mohicans” which he wrote in 1824.
A peculiar story about Indians, white settlers, drifters, trappers, English and French soldiers and women fainting constantly.
Written in an old form of English.
Like:
"When I found that the home path of the Hurons run north”, he said, “it did not need the judgement of many long years to tell that they would follow the valleys, and keep atween the waters of the Hudson and the Horican, until they might strike the springs of the Canada streams, which would lead them into the heart of the country of the Frenchers.
Yet here are we, within a short range of the Sacroon, and not a sign of a trail have we crossed!
Human natur’ is weak, and it is possible we may not have taken the proper scent.”

Those poor Indians at the time.
How skilled in English they had to get to understand what these white people were saying!

In James Fenimore Cooper’s book the last Mohican dies, killed by another Indian while trying to liberate an abducted white woman.
There is a funeral and at his grave the father of the white woman says:
“Tell them, that the Being we all worship, under different names, will be mindful of their charity; and that the time shall not be distant when we may assemble around his throne without distinction of sex, or rank, or color”.
Remarkable words to put in a book in 1824.
And of significance even today.

This year the state of California legalised gay marriage.
The second state doing so.
However, there is strong opposition.
Conservative opponents in California have arranged a referendum that takes place together with the Presidential elections.
“Proposition 8”.
If passed, the proposition would "change the California Constitution to eliminate the right of same-sex couples to marry in California."
A new section would be added stating "only marriage between a man and a woman is valid or recognized in California."

This means that the California voters cannot only appoint an Afro-American as the first US president, but also legalise for once and for all gay marriage.
Assembling around the throne without distinction of sex, or rank, or colour.

This is together with the companies Apple and Google.
Both are financing the opponents of “Proposition 8”.
Saying that each individual must have the freedom to marry who one wants.

More and more the USA is becoming like Europe.
Where gay marriage is a fundamental right for some time.
And where political leaders are found not in line with traditions.

James Fenimore Cooper watches us from the eternal hunting grounds and must be satisfied.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++

To learn more about James Fenimore Cooper, click on:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Fenimore_Cooper

To learn more about Proposition 8, click on:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California_Proposition_8_(2008)




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Monday, October 27, 2008

Russia calling

It may be surprising to many fervent and loyal blog readers but anybody can make a phone call to the Fuso Szulc.

It is a phone number in the USA that works through SKYPE.
When on line, the computer switched on, the Datastorm Internet System active and the program SKYPE opened, the phone rings in the Fuso Szulc and soon a conversation takes place.

If the Fuso Szulc is not stand-by for phone calls, there is an answering machine that takes messages of the callers.

Yesterday the phone was ringing.
It was the webhosting company “IX Webhosting”.
They had already tried to call four times leaving messages each opportunity.
Asking to call back.
Leaving an 800 number.
However, an 800 number in the USA cannot be called from abroad.

Why was “IX Webhosting” calling?
They are the company taking care of all the websites and e-mail originating from the Fuso Szulc.
An excellent company with unsurpassed service.

“IX Webhosting” wanted to talk about the newly opened website of the photo project “How we love”.
What was that website about?
Obviously, the word “love” in the title made “IX Webhosting” think that the website possibly had to do with the porno business.
And maybe their policy is to not get involved in that kind of activities.

So, for the first time it had to be explained what the photo project “How we love” was about.
To a woman who had a strong Russian-like accent.
Obviously working in a call centre in Minsk, Belarus or in Vilnius, Lithuania.
Very polite, friendly and efficient.

The explanation of the project “How we love” was accepted and soon the website will open.




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Sunday, October 26, 2008

A girl and website found

Dark outside.
The Sea of Cortez quietly rolling its waves on the beach.
Peacefully preparing a beautiful vegetarian dinner.
Soft music from XM-radio’s Audiovision.
A harmonious situation.

A car approaching.
Able to negotiate the soft sand of the dry riverbed.
Two lights in the black night.

The car stops near the Fuso Szulc.
A smaller moving light approaching.
Obviously somebody with a torch.

It was Gumaro.
Accompanied by his youngest son Ismaël.
And Gumaro's son in law Charro who is a policeman in La Rivera.

They were in a light panic.
Manuela, the 11-year-old daughter of Jose Manuel, the oldest son of Gumaro, was missing.
They had no idea where she was.
Jose Manuel had been on the rancho that afternoon and had left his kids with the grandparents.
But eventually Gumaro and his wife Lucretia realized, when it was already late and dark, that Manuela was not there.
Had she wandered off the rancho on her own?
Unable to find her way back?

The only way to find out what was the matter was to call Jose Manuel, now back in La Ribera, on his mobile phone.
Only problem: it is not possible to call from the rancho.
There is no telephone and no signal for mobile phones.

But as has happened often before, the Fuso Szulc is equipped with a Datastorm Satellite System and with SKYPE.
The VOIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) system to call through a website.
Of course available to the Gonzales.

Hence, Jose Manuel was called but this didn’t work well.
So, Bertha, Gumaro’s youngest sister and also living in La Ribera, was called on her landline phone.
That connection was perfect and Bertha went to see Jose Manuel to see if his daughter Manuela was there.
Five minutes later Gumaro called again and Manuela had been found.
Gracias a Dios, they said.

Meanwhile the next step has been made to perform the project “How we love”.
An important step.
To get a domain name with the title of the project in order to be able to open a website.

These days it is not easy to get a domain name.
Most are already taken.
Like howwelove.com
Used by a couple involved in family counselling and relationship therapies.
Milan and Kay Yerkovich.
He is an ordained pastor with a master's degree in biblical studies and has been helping couples and families build healthier relationships for more than twenty-five years.
Kay Yerkovich is a licensed marriage and family therapist with a master's degree in counselling.
She has been helping couples and families with attachment theory tools in her professional counselling for more than thirteen years.
The Yerkoviches have been married thirty-three years and are the parents of four adult children.
So they must know something about how we love.

But they have howwelove.com
Even howwelove.org and howwelove.net are also taken and not available.
Magically though howwelove.us was available and immediately taken.
The “us” stands usually for the United States.
But in combination with “howwelove” it gets the different meaning of “we”.
So, the step to get a website address has been very successful.
How we love wants to be told.



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Saturday, October 25, 2008

How we love

A flashing revelation yesterday: now is the time to start the new photo project.

For the last four years the work has been on the photo project “The most beautiful people in the world”.
In March 2008 the last country was visited for this photo-project.
India.
The status of “The most beautiful people in the world” now is that after the withdrawal and cancellation by the French publisher something is cooking in the Netherlands.
This is now a matter of waiting if it will find momentum.

The idea for the new photo project was born some time ago.
And now it feels is the moment to actively start working on it.
To initiate it and bring it out into the open.

The photo project is called:

“How we love”

People worldwide will be asked to give an answer to a question.
The question:
“How do you love?”

Like with the photo project “The most beautiful people in the world”, this time once more it is not precised beforehand what exactly is meant by “ to love “.
Who, where, how, what, when, why.
It is completely open for the respondents to decide.
This guarantees a wide range of possible answers making the result the most fascinating.

Right now the consideration is not to repeat the approach as was made with “The most beautiful people in the world”.
For that project national teams were created in each of the ten countries.
And in each country announcements were published in newspapers.
People could respond by sending a letter or e-mail with pictures.
Next, the serious respondents were visited and documented in their homes.
This is in fact a very complicated organisational and logistic way of working.
And very expensive as well.
And it has as a disadvantage that only people in ten countries could participate.

This time the idea is to perform the project exclusively on the Internet.
People may visit the website of the photo project “How we love”.
There they are introduced to the photo project.
In case they have an answer to the question “How do you love?” they can send the reply by e-mail.
Their response will be published on that same website.

This is the initial approach of performing the new photo project “How we love”.

But it must be seen as an entity that has no fixed forms.
That is not dogmatic in the way it is being performed.
It is supposed to become a thing of us all.
With a high input of other people.
Creating all together a result that opens our eyes even wider.
To see and feel love.





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Friday, October 24, 2008

Eating a penis


Imagine you innocently surf the web and find accidentally a site called “The Cannibal Café”.
Where it says:

"Looking for a well-built 18 to 30-year-old to be slaughtered and then consumed".


What a nonsense and lunacy, right?

A German called Armin Meiwes published this message on a site.


A 46-year-old computer technician from the German city of Essen.
The meaning of the name of his town is in English “to eat” but it is not known this has inspired Armin Meiwes.

Any sane person would of course never respond to such a demand.
Who wants to be butchered and eaten?
But surprisingly enough, many people responded and offered to be slaughtered and eaten.
But all of them backed out when it was the moment of death.
Except a fellow named Bernd Jürgen Brandes.


A guy with a rich fantasy that he already had practiced by being involved in cross-dressing.

The two men got together in Meiwes’ home and videotaped how he amputated the penis of Bernd Jürgen Brandes.
Which was not an easy job as Brandes had insisted that Meiwes would bite it off.
That didn’t work so Meiwes used a knife.

The next thing these two men tried to do was to eat the freshly cut off penis.
Even Brandes tried but found his own uncooked penis too tough and chewy.
Meiwes then sautéed the penis in a pan with salt, pepper, and garlic, but by then it was too burned to be consumed.
That must have been disappointing.

Meiwes read a Star Trek book for three hours whilst his voluntary victim was bleeding to death in the bath.
Meiwes apparently gave him large quantities of alcohol and painkillers: 30 sleeping pills and a bottle of schnapps.
Finally, Meiwes kissed him once and killed Brandes in a room that he had built in his house for this purpose: “The Slaughter Room”. After stabbing Brandes to death in the throat, he hung the body on a meat hook and tore hunks of flesh from it.
He even tried to grind the bones to use as flour.
The whole scene was recorded on a two-hour videotape.
Meiwes ate the body over the next 10 months, storing body parts in his freezer under pizza boxes and consuming up to 20 kg of the flesh.

Meiwes was arrested in December 2002, after a man in Innsbruck phoned the police after seeing new advertisements on the Internet from Meiwes looking for victims and showing details about the killing.
Investigators searched his home and found body parts and the videotaped killing.

Originally Meiwes was convicted to 8 years in prison.
That was changed in 2005 into life in prison.
Meiwes didn’t agree because the victim voluntarily participated in the crime.
He appealed but this week the highest German court has spoken: Meiwes must stay all his life in prison.

We must realize that this cannibalism happened because of the Internet.
Nowadays people with different fantasies easily find persons sharing theirs.
Making the fantasies more real and concrete.
Coming very close to the step of actually meeting and performing the fantasy.
There are plenty of chat rooms on the Internet where cannibals or pseudo-cannibals meet.
And besides cannibalism many more websites devoted to extreme forms of human behaviour.

Check out for example the website:
http://www.vagevuur.com/
Where you can see the most extreme things people do for their pleasure.

We are getting deeper and deeper into an economic crisis.
But much worse is that some of us are also sinking into moral drift sand.
Believing that it is OK to be a cannibal.
That you can post anything on the Internet.
No more boundaries and total freedom even when entering territory of perversion.

Before Internet out of the ordinary behaviour was harmonized by the society in which a person was integrated.
There were people to talk to.
To help.
To assist.
To correct.
To punish.

But now we live with a second society.
The first is the real one.
And the second is on the Internet.
Where anything goes.
Often wrong.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

To learn more about Armin Meiwes, click on:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Armin_Meiwes

To see an excellent documentary about Armin Meiwes, click on:
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=1299254578438715427








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Thursday, October 23, 2008

Enough of politics and dogs.

The decision has been made not to follow the election campaigns of John McCain and Sarah Palin anymore.
Nor the campaign of Barack Obama.

The reason is that it has been enough.
To avoid to get sick and tired of it.
To be drawn too deep into their negativity, nastiness, hate and dishonesty.

Quietly the day after the elections will be awaited now.
And until then the Fuso Szulc remains clean of American electoral politics.

This morning was an incredible sunrise.


Witnessed while taking care of Rocky and Gante.
The two new dogs of Alfredo.

To the annoyance of the whole Gonzales family Alfredo has fallen back in his old habits.
He got himself two new dogs.


Young and energetic ones.


But then he leaves his rancho to spend time with his girl friend in her house.
He ties up one dog to the same tree as Gorba was.
Leaving them without enough water and food.

The result is a constant barking and crying of the tied up dog.
Day and night.
Destroying the peace and serenity of the location.

The only solution is to keep the dogs near the Fuso Szulc.
To feed them.
To take care they always have fresh water.
And to walk them daily.

Also Gumaro and Lucretia Gonzales are pissed off with Alfredo and the way he keeps dogs.
They can’t sleep at night as well.
And especially Lucretia is angry and upset because also these two dogs got into the habit chasing chicken.
To kill them.

Once Alfredo comes back, the dogs return to him.
It is no more fun to have somebody else’s dogs to take care of.
It is history that is repeated as fervent and loyal blog readers understand when they remember Gorba.

Hopefully Alfredo leaves his love nest soon.
To have no more dogs.
And no more politicians.






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Wednesday, October 22, 2008

Sincere humanity

Although in a dry riverbed in Mexico, the American elections are closely followed listening to the BBC and Fox radio and seeing CNN television.

It is a pretty amazing event that might be of historic relevance.

Less than two weeks before the elections still 7 % of the American electorate is undecided.
It is difficult to understand how come that a person by now still doesn’t know who to vote.
What have they not been hearing?

Encouraging is that early voting has started and that thousands and thousands of people jumped on the occasion.
This is democracy in full swing.
People deeply involved in the political process and highly concerned about their country and how it will be governed.

But amazing to learn that people had to wait over three hours in line to vote.
Because not enough polling stations were open and because of failing voting machines.
These things happen sometimes in developing countries but obviously also in the most sophisticated society in the world.

And this is happening besides the voter registration fraud.
Conveniently called by Sarah Palin, voter fraud.
(Palin who is by now hated.)
This voter registration fraud is the result of the capitalist system.
The people having to do the voter registration were paid 8 Dollars an hour.
For this they were supposed to go out and look for people who wanted to register.
Several employees of Acorn simply stayed home and copied the phone book.
In no way this will influence the elections.
It is just another example of greed.
But it is used by the McCain-Palin garbage machine to slander the Democrats and most particularly Barack Obama.

Meanwhile the rest of the world has made up its mind who should be the next President of the USA.
A Gallup poll of 70 countries conducted from May through September has found widespread international support for Democratic candidate Barack Obama.
Around the world, respondents favoured Obama 4 to 1 over John McCain.
While in the USA, according to the Rasmussen Report, Obama is ahead by just four points, leading McCain 50 per cent to 46 per cent.
Gallup had Mr. Obama ahead 52 per cent to 41 per cent.

The news was also that the Grandmother of Barack Obama is seriously ill.
That he is flying to Hawaï to spend two days with her.
This lady has been raising the Presidential candidate and he has stated that she had been giving up everything to secure him a better future.
To interrupt the Presidential’ campaign is therefore a sign of high-class respect.
And a demonstration of sincere humanity.
We may wonder how many of the 7 % undecided American voters will get impressed by the significance of the Grandmother’s visit.







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Tuesday, October 21, 2008

How art is made

About 200 metres (218 yards) away from the Fuso Szulc in the dry riverbed at Punta Boca del Salado, Baja California, Mexico, a long and big tree was discovered.

Ended up there because of a heavy storm after a long life of making leaves and CO2.

Close to the Fuso Szulc a manmade forest is created and obviously the discovered tree was a candidate to join the band.

However, the tree was real big and really heavy.
Therefore, a challenge.

The tree was moved towards the forest using a long pole.
Wriggling it under the tree and lifting the pole to make the huge log roll a few centimetres (inches).
Little by little the tree was moved to the proper location in the forest.
That took two days of every moment available for these kinds of activities.

Once in place, a deep hole was dug and the next major undertaking was to lift the tree up into a vertical position.
A job too big for one man.
Therefore an interesting challenge.

Of course, some of the strong men at the Rancho Punta Boca del Salado could have been asked to come over and help raise the heavy tree.
But then the whole point of the exercise would be missed.
The challenge was to be inventive and to experience it as a personal process of learning.

Raising the tree took three days of every moment available for these kinds of activities.
A few times it was managed to get the tree in an angle of 45º.
But it would fall sideways and the process had to be started all over again.
And each time it was asked, what had been learned to adjust the procedure.

Yesterday was the big day.
The huge and heavy tree got into place and is now fully erect and a proud member of the Fuso Szulc forest.
















Now, an alert and concerned loyal and fervent blog reader may ask what sense this all makes.
Is there nothing better to do than playing around with dead trees making a so called forest?

Exactly.
It makes no sense.
Not too much anyway.

Unless we notice that many insects find a home in the erected trees.
That lures all kinds of birds to come and lunch on them.

Unless we notice that a group of trees breaks the emptiness of the vast dry riverbed.
It feels like being protected, shaded and guarded.
Notice also that the forest is located in between the Fuso Szulc and the signs of civilization like cars and trucks driving by on the dirt road.

Besides the forest there is also a huge pile of stones made.
Another activity of which a sane man will wonder what sense that makes.



To be an artist photographer is to have a job nobody was asking for.
Pictures are made by the own initiative.
There are no requests or assignments and often there are no buyers for the products made.
It means that the question what sense it makes often comes to mind.
And an adequate answer must be found and formulated in order to find motivation and energy to produce more and continue.

Hence, it is a good idea for an artist to be busy part of the day doing activities like creating a forest that seems not to make sense.
It makes it normal and accepted to do something senseless.
The mind doesn’t wonder about it so much anymore.
The impulses can be followed more directly without the rational mind getting in the way.
And that is how art is made.






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Monday, October 20, 2008

Rising sun and unemployment

This morning it was gorgeous again.
A temperature of 24º C (75º F).
A cloudless sky.
The sea like a mirror.
The sun rising beautifully.

In a moment of reflection it was realized how fortunate it all is.
And how happy the feeling is.

Later, checking the news, the results became known of a survey.
The AP-Yahoo News poll, conducted by Knowledge Networks, has repeatedly interviewed a group of about 2,000 Americans since last November in an effort to get a person-by-person view of how the USA is reacting to the presidential campaign and the events affecting it.
The share of Americans who believe the USA is moving in the right direction has plunged in just a few weeks, from 28 percent in September to 15 percent in October.
At the same time there is a drop in those surveyed who say they are happy about the way things are going in their own lives.
Now 59 percent say they are personally happy, compared with 70 percent last month.

That is an astonishing amount.
41 % of the Americans are not happy.

This in a country that sees itself as the shiny example for the rest of the world.
That wants to export and implement their political, social, religious and economic system worldwide.

Why are over 125 millions of people in the USA unhappy, one may ask?
It is the fear to fall into poverty.
One-third of the people surveyed are worried about losing their jobs.
50 % fret they will be unable to keep up with mortgage and credit card payments.
And 7 in 10 are anxious that their stocks and retirement investments are losing value.
Also, there is widespread distress about being able to afford unexpected medical expenses and children's college expenses, and having to postpone retirement because their savings have eroded, the survey found.

It is clear that what creates the unhappiness is fear.
Many people have become afraid for the near future.
And not only in the USA.

The ILO, the international Labour Organization said today that the number of unemployed persons worldwide can reach 210 millions in the year 2009.

Hence, it is understandable that people get nervous, afraid, fearful and deeply worried.
Especially when living in a country like the USA where only 3 % still believes that their President is doing a good job, according to the same AP-Yahoo poll.
Where healthcare has become unaffordable if not rich.
Where social security is not a social responsibility.

How to relate a beautiful morning in Baja California and consequently feeling happy to the millions of worrying and fearing fellow human beings elsewhere?
To be phlegmatic towards the economic crises and excited about the sunrise.
One is temporary.
The other for always.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++

To learn more about the recent AP-Yahoo News poll, click on:
http://apnews.myway.com//article/20081020/D93U727O0.html

To learn more about the predictions of the ILO, the International Labour Organization, click on:
http://www.ilo.org/global/lang--en/index.htm






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Sunday, October 19, 2008

Ending on a plate as a steak

Many members of the Gonzales family have arrived to spend the weekend together and have a good time.
This includes catching some cows and tying them up in a corral.
To kill and butcher them one by one later.

Hence the peaceful dry riverbed is resonating with the whining sounds of the cows bitterly complaining their confinement.
And expressing what they probably know what is going to happen to them: ending on a plate as a steak.

The day and night whining of the cows is so painful and disturbing that even the dogs ran away and found refuge under the Fuso Szulc where they have been spending the night.



An alert inhabitant of the dry riverbed in Baja California, Mexico unavoidably has to think of the elections in the USA when hearing the cows complaining about their lost freedom and approaching death.
The cows sound like John McCain and Sarah Palin.

Knowing they have lost the elections, they have changed their strategy.
Most of their time speaking in public is spent to make people afraid of Barack Obama.
Additionally, with automatic phone calls and advertisements Obama is accused in the worst ways possible.
Painting Barack Obama as a possible terrorist, Muslim, black, a liar, a cheater and a lunatic.

John McCain and Sarah Palin have no more convincing political arguments to assure a majority of the American people of them being the right choice.
So, the strategy is to make the electorate so afraid of what looks like the winning opponent that the people are strongly suggested to change their mind who to vote.
To make them vote for the scaremongers to stop the candidate the people were made afraid of.

It is a deplorable strategy.
Any man and any woman with pride, honour, courage and determination in life would never devaluate to such a low level of operating.

The good news is that Barack Obama is continuing to get more and more people behind him.
Indicating that too many American people are fortunately too smart to fall for McCain’s vicious strategy.





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Saturday, October 18, 2008

Ring him

Hello,

I'm the webmaster of http://www.pe$$op.com
I wanted to know if by any chance you would be interested in doing an unbiased review of our site http://www.pe&&op.com on your blog http://michelszulckrzyzanowski.blogspot.com/

If you agree you can choose between receiving a product sample or receiving a payment.

If you choose the product sample instead of the payment the sample is yours to keep and you don’t need to send it back.

The product sample that you can get is Pe**op - a penis enhancer and you can see it there: http://www.pe%%op.com

If you are interested please click here to receive your sample or your money:


This is an e-mail recently received and it demonstrates under what tremendous pressures a blogwriter comes sometimes.
To use the popularity of the blog to promote products to the innocent fervent and loyal blog readers.

But all the fervent and loyal blog readers know that this blog is not commercial.
The mentioning of any product or company here is always without hidden interests.
Even the amount of readers is of no concern.
So that opinion can be expressed freely and honestly.

In the case of the above proposition to make propaganda for Pe@@op, there were interesting but scaring details.
Please read the following agreement:
You agree that in exchange of the sample received you will write a review about the aforementioned product.
The review should contains no less than 300 words.
The content must be unique and original.
The review should contains no less than 3 outgoing links to either the home page or internal pages of the aforementioned site.
The links must contain the anchor text we will provide you.
You are allowed to use the images from the aforementioned site but not textual content.
The review should be published within 5 days of receipt of the sample.


The product Pe!!op is a metal ring that needs to be wrestled around the head of a penis.
Because here at the Rancho Punta Boca del Salado, Baja California, Mexico of the Gonzales family not easily volunteers for the experiment can be found, the dreadful consequence would be that the usual innocent blogwriter has to be the terrible victim.

That, accompanied by apologies offered to the fervent and loyal blog readers, is a price too high to pay.
To apply this ring on the proud member of the body just to be able to report how enhanced it became is truly a bridge too far.

Hence, it is considered to use one of the dogs of the Rancho.
To feed him some cookies and then gently lay him on his back.
To quickly slid the ring.
Well, what is wrong with that?
Rocky might like it!






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Friday, October 17, 2008

This explains it all

“The observations and encounters of a devotee of solitude and silence are at once less distinct and more penetrating than those of the sociable man; his thoughts are weightier, stranger, and never without a twinge of sadness.
Images and perceptions which might otherwise be easily dispelled by a glance, a laugh, an exchange of comments, concern him unduly, they sink into mute depths, take on significance, become experiences, adventures, emotions.
The fruit of solitude is originality, something daringly and disconcertingly beautiful, the poetic creation.
But the fruit of solitude can also be the perverse, the disproportionate, the absurd and the forbidden".


From the story “Death in Venice” by Thomas Mann written in Germany in 1912.







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Thursday, October 16, 2008

Landing landmarks

Just a few fervent and loyal blog readers may believe that on this blog only flim-flam is fabricated.
That they are bamboozled into la-la land.
Shanghaied into Shangri-La for irrelevant revelations.

The truth though is that a hard working, concerned and devoted photographer has only as a side activity publishing a text daily.
It is in this perspective that one must read the blog.

One of the landmarks from that perspective out of which this blog rolls out is a publication recently in the New Yorker Magazine.

They say this about the blog author:


MICHEL SZULC-KRZYZANOWSKI
The twenty photographic sequences in this show were made between 1977 and 1982 while the artist was living in Baja California, which may account for their combination of conceptual smarts and trippy wit. Composed of between two and seven photographs, each piece finds Szulc-Krzyzanowski on the beach, playing with our perceptions. With the sea, the sand, and the sky as his serene back-drop, he levitates a stick, eclipses his shadow with his open palms, and shrinks a sand dollar. There’s nothing particularly rigorous or revelatory here, but the work is entertaining, ingratiating, and not without flashes of magic. Through Oct. 18.


Another recent landmark to keep in mind reading this blog is the fact that recently the Daum Museum of Contemporary Art in Sedalia, Missouri, USA has acquired for their collection the work of the person responsible for this blog.

And in between the landmarks every day the effort is made to come up with a new posting that is hopefully interesting, surprising and revealing.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++



To see the story in the New Yorker Magazine, click on:

http://www.newyorker.com/arts/events/art/2008/10/20/081020goar_GOAT_art?currentPage=4

To learn more about the Daum Museum for Contemporary Art in Missouri, click on:
http://www.daummuseum.org/






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Wednesday, October 15, 2008

Talk normal, please

Fervent and loyal blog readers may have been in a home for the elderly.
And may have observed how the nurses deal with the older persons.
They often talk to them as if they were children.
“How did we sleep last night?”

"Granny doesn’t want to finish her plate today?”

“Grandpa needs to do pee-pee maybe?”


It seems it is thought that the elder persons suffer of infantility and must therefore talked to as if they were tots.
Men and women with a whole life behind them approached with baby-language.

We now must turn our attention to Ms. Becca Levy, a scientist from Yale University.
She researched 660 persons of over 50 years old.
Ms. Becca Levy found out that to treat older people as if they were children results in them having stress.
This stress is so bad that it makes them die 7,5 years earlier than older people that are not treated like children.
This is very remarkable.
It is for many people just common sense not to infantilize older persons.
Hence, it is a strange twist in the mind to turn communication into diaper simplicity when talking to an older person.
Often observed also when it concerns physically challenged persons.

It makes sense to write the conclusion of the research of Ms. Becca Levy on a big panel and put this in every home of the elderly.
To give them the opportunity to enjoy life almost 8 more years.

Now that Ms. Becca Levy has finished her research about the elderly, she is offered the idea to do a similar research among children.

For years now, when this permanent pilgrim meets children, he doesn’t talk to them in a childish way.
A language and intonation is used like when speaking to adults.
Of course complicated words are avoided but principally the conversation is similar as to any person.
When children notice you take time for them and that you take them serious, they are not surprised the adult talks to them in a normal way.
They immediately adapt and say things that make very much sense.

This approach will not have influence on their life span.
But it is believed it is having a positive influence on the development of their brains.
And on their self-esteem.

So, let’s agree to talk to all of us normally.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++


To learn more about the research of Ms. Becca Levy, click on:
http://publichealth.yale.edu/faculty/levy.html






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Tuesday, October 14, 2008

Missing a son

When Gumaro was met for the first time he was 31 years old.
During 29 years his life has been seen passing by.

Now Gumaro is 60 years old and he is entering a new stage in his life.

He has been working hard all his life.
To have a family living in prosperity.
This he achieved and all his children are now adults and settled.

This has put pressure to perform and deliver to the sidelines.
He therefore is approaching his life in a different way.

Gumaro is now enjoying his life.
Without many obligations and less responsibilities he is discovering the beauty of his existence.

So, on a Sunday morning he takes his favourite horse for training to the beach.
He has erected a pole and makes the horse run in circles.
After which he touches and caresses the horse to calm it down and make it more familiar with him.

He calls the horse “Prieto”.
The same name as Gumaro’s son.
Who he tragically lost.





















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Monday, October 13, 2008

A talented young woman

On the rancho of the Gonzales family the nucleus is formed by Gumaro and Lucretia.
They are at this settlement most of their lives.
Of their children, only 23-year-old Ismaël is still living with them.

But nevertheless, the rancho is a beehive of people coming and going.
Some come just for a few hours.
Some stay for weeks and months.

Yesterday we met grandson Edgar.
The 12 year old troubled boy who is now in a situation where he peacefully can find himself and a way to deal positively with his life.

Today we come to know Dulce.
She is a 16-year-old girl from La Paz who lives now with the Gonzales family at Rancho Punta Boca del Salado.


Dulce is assisting Lucretia in all of the household work.
Cooking, cleaning, laundry.
And contrary to lazy Edgar, Dulce is a very hard working young woman.
In fact, she has a tremendous amount of energy.
This shows when she is working.
She is not a girl who needs to be told what to do.
She sees what needs to be done and jumps at every opportunity.

Her enormous energy has gotten her into trouble though and this is why she is at the rancho of the Gonzales.
Because this energy of Dulce is also physical and sexual.
She is extremely sensual and seductive.


One year and four months ago she had a baby.
Dulce became pregnant when she was fourteen.


Dulce has fantastic potential but living in the prude and sexually frustrated Mexican society she has not been in a context of proper sex education.
Where young boys and girls are taught that sex is OK as long as precautions are taken to avoid venereal diseases and pregnancy.

Dulce’s baby will come to the rancho also.
As well as her father who will work as a rancho hand: milking the cows every morning and repairing corrals.

When the driver of the Fuso Szulc stays at the rancho of the Gonzales family, he gives classes of mathematics and English when there are children and young people around.
Edgar is one of those students and he wants nothing more than that again classes are offered.
They have therefore started and each morning he gets a long list of mathematical problems.
Like:
234
841 +
_____

27 x
_____

595 +
_____


Yesterday Dulce noticed this was going on and she took the paper with the mathematical problem.
Within a few minutes she gave it back and said:

29.620

To uttermost amazement she had managed to give the correct reply to the mathematical problem by doing the calculations in her head.
She has a definite talent for mathematics.



So now Dulce has joined the classes and solves mathematical problems so complicated that her professor needs an electronic calculator to check if her answers are correct.





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Sunday, October 12, 2008

Back on track

At the rancho of the Gonzales family at Punta Boca del Salado, Baja California, Mexico it is never that a fixed amount of people live there.
There is of course the nucleus of Gumaro and Lucretia Gonzales.
Gumaro, now 60 years old, has been living on this rancho all his life.
With Lucretia he has four children and there are ten grand kids.

At this time, Edgar is also living at the rancho.
He is the son of daughter Norma and 12 years old.

Edgar has recently been taken out of school and is now working on the rancho.
Doing simple jobs mostly assisting his grandmother Lucretia in the kitchen.

Edgar is a troubled boy having issues.
He was the first child of his mother Norma but she meanwhile has a new husband.
His father is not seeing him and over the years he became like a left over.
The family sees this very clearly and they fear that at his current age he might eventually turn to drugs and crime from making the wrong friends and becoming even more unruly.

At the rancho he is under the supervision of Lucretia and Gumaro: his grand parents.
But he calls his grandmother “Mama”: somehow they have a very close relationship.
Often you can see Edgar hugging her although she occasionally yells at him when he is lazy again.
Because what he loves most is laying in a comfortable chair and watch cartoons on TV.



The intention is to keep Edgar at the rancho now.
Where he can fight out his evolution from puberty to adolescence.

And the plan is to teach him eventually how to drive a truck.
So he can find a destiny in delivering water from the well of the rancho to the houses in the neighbourhood with the big water truck of the Gonzales now operated by the son Ismaël.



There is a tremendous beauty to see how a boy who easily could go astray and on the wrong path, is finding a more balanced way in life nevertheless.

Tomorrow we will meet sixteen-year-old Dulce now also living at the rancho.








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Saturday, October 11, 2008

Two birthday cakes

At around 4 o’clock in the still dark morning deep sleep was interrupted by heavy rainfall.
Immediate action was required to close the roof vents and sliding windows.
The hurricane had come.



The Fuso Szulc in the dry river bed next to the rancho of the Gonzales family at Punta Boca del Salado, Baja California, Mexico might not have been in the best place.
Heavy rain fall can change a dry river bed in a flowing stream hauling everything towards the Sea of Cortez forever.

What to do?
Drive the Fuso Szulc to higher grounds?

The night before the rainfall started, the map and information of the National Hurricane Centre was studied.
The conclusion was that the distance was too far from the eye of the hurricane to have serious trouble.

And indeed, 5 minutes later the rain stopped.

As of then, it was just strong winds, sunshine and sometimes rain.


Nothing too serious.
Elsewhere in Baja California, it might have been different.



Due to the strong winds the satellite disk of the Datastorm System could not be erected.
It might have gotten damaged by the gusts.
This meant that we were all on our own.
Without the link to the outside world and its information we didn’t know what was going on beyond the dry river bed.

So we could focus fully on the celebration of Gumaro’s birthday who turned 60.











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Friday, October 10, 2008

Enough is enough

The National Hurricane Centre, that also reports internationally, let’s us know this morning:


A HURRICANE WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT FOR THE WEST COAST OF BAJA
CALIFORNIA FROM PUERTO SAN ANDRESITO TO AGUA BLANCA. PREPARATIONS
TO PROTECT LIFE AND PROPERTY SHOULD BE RUSHED TO COMPLETION.


In order to protect life and property, the Fuso Szulc, the location “Estero del Tomate” at the Pacific coast of Baja California, Mexico, was evacuated yesterday.
Saturday morning hurricane Norbert is expected to make landfall.




So far so good.

For the moment refuge is found in the city of La Paz.
Soon after arriving and a swim in the pool, also there a tremendous thunderstorm broke with heavy rainfall.
Changing the streets into rivers.

Today the journey will continue to the east coast of Baja California.
To reach the rancho of the long time friends, the Gonzales family.
Tomorrow is Gumaro’s birthday.

It may be expected that the effects of hurricane Norbert will be not too bad at the east coast.
There will be wind and rain but that will only remind of the life before in Amsterdam, the Netherlands.

But how safe this location will be in the near future has a question mark.
Because hurricane Odile is on her way.



Enough is enough though.
No matter what, the Fuso Szulc is not going to go out of the way of any hurricane this year anymore.
Together with the Gonzales family the hurricane Odile will be welcomed.




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Thursday, October 9, 2008

Why build dams in your river?

This early morning nothing indicates that soon hell will break loose.
The osprey is sitting on his tree waiting for Miguel del Barco to get in touch with him.
And the Fuso Szulc is surrounded by hundreds of dragonflies.
This is because it is rather warm and a wind is blowing from the east.
The sky is blue with only some vague white clouds.

But tomorrow the dark clouds should come, followed by wind and rain.
Intensifying to hurricane conditions.

To play it on the safe side, “Estero del Tomate” will be evacuated today, following the serious advices of several fervent and loyal blog readers.


As life wants it, meanwhile another tropical storm is on its way...





This is the second time “Estero del Tomate” has to be abandoned within a month.
Some weeks ago the insects made it impossible to be here.
And it all started when on July 6 it turned out that the traditional location to live and work, the so beloved “El Triple” at the Pacific Ocean in Baja California, Mexico, had become unavailable.
After having been there frequently since 1979.

The immediate result of this situation is to have dreams of the house once owned in Amsterdam, the Netherlands.

Being somewhere is now not the own decision anymore.
“El Triple” has been taken away by a project developer to turn it into a resort.
“Estero del Tomate” first applied the flies and now “Norbert”, the hurricane.
It gives a feeling of being on the run.
Of not being able to really be somewhere.

This is why the dreams come up about the house in Amsterdam.
Where a life was lived of being integrated in a society: of being with a wife, of having three cats, a normal car, of having a regular social life with friends, of getting jobs.
All very fixed and sure things.

It is quite obvious when living as a permanent pilgrim that times are not always easy.
To see then dreams come that show the past in an unbalanced way.
For example, the dream suggests how wonderful it was to own a beautiful and large house in Amsterdam.
What a good feeling it was to have a home, a wife, cats and friends.
How comfortable it was to live in that house.
How great it was to have a place to go back to.

But after waking up rather emotional and disturbed because of the dream, things were better to be put in perspective.
It was raining a lot in Amsterdam.
A house needs frequently attention because of things breaking down or needing maintenance.
A lot of money needs to be made to be able to continue to afford to have a large and comfortable house in the city centre.
In fact, the house and the life lived there resulted in being deeply depressed.
It felt like being in the coffin on the way to the cemetery.
A truth not represented in the dream.

The thing to do is not to leave “Estero del Tomate” like a dog kicked away from the spot where he was peacefully resting.
Life is not to suffer when not necessary.

Hence, a hurricane is coming: so what?
This is how the river flows.
Why build a dam???




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Wednesday, October 8, 2008

Heaven hovers

At 9.35 h. this morning the osprey was not even sitting on the tree in front of the Fuso Szulc.
There had been an ultra light hope that maybe miraculously some sign would come from Miguel del Barco.
The Jesuit priest who has build a church in San Javier, Baja California, Mexico 300 years ago.
He was asked to intervene in the course of the hurricane Norbert, category 2 now, approaching “Estero del Tomate”.
To push the heavy storm into another direction.
He was asked to communicate through the osprey to avoid for him to have to come down from heaven.
But no osprey this morning.
Meanwhile, the hurricane Norbert continues to come this way.
Hence, the conclusion must be that heaven doesn’t exist.
Or that up there they don’t bother about our problems.
And this might be true.
Aren’t we all on our own?
Look at the economic crises!

Of course a miracle might happen.
That magically the hurricane changes course, but the chances are becoming really slim.
According to the National Hurricane Centre it will turn east towards “Estero del Tomate” for sure.



The issue is now to focus on smart planning.
Obviously an evacuation has to take place.
The Fuso Szulc must get out of here.
In time, por favor.

Because the winds and its gusts of over a 185 km per hour (115 mph) might push the Fuso Szulc over.
And the heavy rainfall will wash away the dirt roads and tracks making it impossible to leave the area for weeks.

When to leave?
According to the National Hurricane Centre, the hurricane will hit land in the night of Friday upon Saturday.


So, how about leaving Friday morning?




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Tuesday, October 7, 2008

Private correspondence

HURRICANE NORBERT ADVISORY NUMBER 15
NWS TPC/NATIONAL HURRICANE CENTER MIAMI FL EP152008
800 AM PDT TUE OCT 07 2008

...NORBERT STRENGTHENS A LITTLE AS IT CONTINUES
WEST-NORTHWESTWARD...

AT 800 AM PDT...1500Z...THE CENTER OF HURRICANE NORBERT WAS LOCATED
NEAR LATITUDE 15.3 NORTH...LONGITUDE 107.1 WEST OR ABOUT 555 MILES
...895 KM...SOUTH-SOUTHEAST OF THE SOUTHERN TIP OF BAJA CALIFORNIA.

NORBERT IS MOVING TOWARD THE WEST-NORTHWEST NEAR 8 MPH...13 KM/HR...
AND THIS GENERAL MOTION IS EXPECTED TO CONTINUE TODAY AND WEDNESDAY.

MAXIMUM SUSTAINED WINDS HAVE INCREASED TO NEAR 80 MPH...130
KM/HR...WITH HIGHER GUSTS. NORBERT IS A CATEGORY ONE HURRICANE
ON THE SAFFIR-SIMPSON HURRICANE SCALE. SOME ADDITIONAL
STRENGTHENING IS FORECAST DURING THE NEXT DAY OR TWO.

HURRICANE FORCE WINDS EXTEND OUTWARD UP TO 15 MILES...30 KM...FROM
THE CENTER...AND TROPICAL STORM FORCE WINDS EXTEND OUTWARD UP TO 85
MILES...140 KM.




Dear Miguel del Barco,

I am writing you supposing that up there in heaven where you are, you have Internet and receive e-mails.
You may remember me: recently I was in San Javier where you have build that beautiful church.
I admire you deeply for accomplishing that project and this is how you became an inspiration and a motivating force.

Now I am at a location next to the Pacific Ocean and hurricane Norbert is coming this way.
It is a serious one, getting stronger and stronger and it will force me to leave this place.
Now, why would you up there in heaven be concerned about some hurricane on Earth?
The truth is that I got this idea to combine your impressive will power with mine and force the hurricane to change course.
To disappear to the west into the ocean so nobody has trouble on the land.
Hence, you are deeply involved.
Maybe I should have asked you beforehand, but it is too late now.

The problem at this moment in time is that I announced publicly we are both involved in this bending of the course of the hurricane.
It is on the Internet and now hundreds of people are eagerly waiting if we manage.
Sorry for going public and rising expectations about us: call it youthful recklessness.

Today the report from the National Hurricane Centre is that the hurricane is coming straight ahead to my location.
Miguel del Barco, until now, our combined will-forces have unfortunately not been very effective, right?

You do realize, Padre del Barco, that our reputations are at stake here?
Of course, if the hurricane comes this way anyway I can present the audience, who are closely watching, some twisted excuse.
That you and I decided that nature must have its way, or something like that.
We can get away with it.
But to continue to be truly respected it is better we do something about this damned hurricane.

Could you be so kind to re-consider?
In any case, wouldn’t it be fun to break the monotony in heaven and get involved in this spectacular project?

I understand you cannot reply with an e-mail as we must suppose there are no computers, electricity and providers in heaven.
But as you know, each morning for hours there is this osprey sitting on the specially erected tree in front of the Fuso Szulc.
You can use him to send a message.
The bird shrieks frequently so let’s say that if he shrieks tomorrow morning at 9.35 h. it is you.
Two shrieks means we’ll manage to push the hurricane away.
Your word!
Three shrieks means it is even beyond your powers.
But that will be very disappointing…

Thank you very much for your fantastic involvement and if this works, we can maybe do some more projects together?

Greetings from earth,

Miguel (!)







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