Necessity is the Mother of Invention, or Third World Realitiies

I have awarded Grace an Honorary Doctorate in Philippine Engineering.  She can figure out how to make anything work with rubber bands, a paper clip, a twist tie, or a 25 centavo coin.  She used 2 coins to wedge the shower hose onto the water inlet of the washing machine so we don't stand there and hold it.

There is no adaptor available to connect the two different sized connectors.  There just aren't big stores like Home Depot where you can get an adaptor for the adaptor for the adaptor.  This is pretty typical of life throughout the Philippines.  You realize this is a Third World country, despite the modern high rise buildings as you see all the vulcanizing shops repairing the bald and endlessly recapped tires.

OSHA would have nightmares. Scaffolding on major construction projects is sometimes made of bamboo poles lashed together. Other times, it looks like a rope ladder.  I saw one man, lifting a panel larger than himself,  into place while balancing on one scaffolding pipe. No safety harness, and 3 stories up.  Watching them build the new condo cluster behind ours has been an education.  They still hoist everything up using rope and pulley, even though there is a big crane built into the center of the building.  I guess it is reserved for the REALLY heavy stuff.

I've talked about the shoddy cement block construction before, and now I have an explanation.  Apparently mortar has a time limit once you mix it, and if you take a break for lunch and then try to make it workable again by adding water, it doesn't have the right consistency, does not dry correctly, and does not have any strength.  Grace's uncle Burt says this is the main reason concrete block work is so poor.  He also told me that the blocks themselves are poorly made and crumble around the edges during shipment and handling, so the workers use whatever pieces they have, piece them together any way they can, and don't worry about it because everything will be coated with cement anyway in the finishing stage of construction.  When done, the buildings look great, but they are rotten to the core, and I'd hate to be in or near one if we ever have a major earthquake.

Plumbing is poor quality with galvanized pipe the usual water supply line.  That makes repairs difficult because it corrodes so quickly.  Our condo is not that old, but the fittings for the water supply to the toilets are already solid rust.

The electric utility workers here don't have bucket trucks. They prop a ladder up against a pole and climb up.  They seem to have no fear.  Of course if they want to keep their job, they had better just shut up and make do because there are at least a hundred, if not a thousand others willing to take their job.

Government services are also interesting here. When we filed my application for Permanent Resident Status, we were told that as part of our application we had to supply our own legal size folder.  I thought we would have trouble finding one because Immigration is in an out of the way corner, close to the old city. Not to worry, Mini Stop to the rescue. I was afraid our white folder would not meet government standards, but as soon as I paid my fees, they happily took it, and then I saw that all the other folders on the desk must have come from Mini Stop too.  With all the budget problems at all levels of government in the U.S., there may come a time when you will have to supply your own folders too.  I've often said that it seems people are determined to turn the U.S. into a Third World country.  I don't think those people have ever BEEN to a Third World country, or they would realize that it isn't much fun unless you have a good source of income that isn't dependent on the financial stability of a country that could go bankrupt.

With two wars wasting billions of dollars a month, the U.S. could find itself going begging to the world bank for a bailout just like Ireland and Greece if something isn't done to stop the financial bleeding.  Remember, Russia lost their effort to invade Afghanistan because they went broke, and Russian communism fell because of that bankruptcy.  I fought in a war that had no purpose other than to use up war stuff and make defense contractors rich, so I have a better perspective on this than people who are brainwashed into believing patriotism requires blind, unquestioning obedience.  Americans have a DUTY to speak up when our government is not doing what is in the best interests of the PEOPLE of the United States!  We have a responsibility to hold our representatives accountable and not allow policies that are ruining the country to continue.  I feel a great deal of regret that President Obama has been convinced that the wars George W. Bush used as a smoke screen to hide his incompetence and hidden agenda to restrict Americans' Constitutional Rights, are necessary.  I hoped he would have the courage to lead us on a new path toward being the good guy in world affairs and true Liberty and Justice for ALL in the U.S.

Now, the majority party in the House of Representatives thinks they have Carte Blanche to turn back the clock to the bad old days when no one but WHITE males had any rights at all, and they are hijacking religious beliefs to justify their actions.  Even then, if you were Jewish or your family immigrated from certain countries, there were rigid limits on where you could live or play golf.  Reactionary thinking is always a sign of people who have NO original ideas to offer and trade on fear and a misremembered past that wasn't as nice as they think it was.  Even as a white male, when I visited places where there were segregated facilities, I felt a sense of oppression and wrongness.  I was a pretty ignorant kid from the midwest, but even then, I knew it was wrong to treat other people that way.  Some of the proposed legislation in the House of Representatives seems intended to turn back the clock and treat women like they have no right to make their own choices or control their own lives.  Just because someone has power because they are an elected official and just because their party happens to have a temporary majority does not mean they have a mandate to take away the rights of OVER HALF the population in their misguided attempt to bring back the good old days.  Please let your representatives know you object to this assault on women and will not tolerate this gross misuse of power.