This Dispatch was originally distributed 21 December 2012.
Feliz natal meus amigos,
Soon after we married we stayed at the Norseman (W.A.) caravan park. It was during the nickel-boom and the Vietnam War was raging.
The main topic of conversation amongst older caravan dwellers wasn’t the nickel-boom nor the Vietnam War, but the numerous medical interventions they had experienced.
Operating theatre took precedence over War theatre.
Back then that perennial adage: “There but for the grace of God go I” didn’t occur to us. We thought we had eternal youth. We considered the caravan dwellers to be a bunch of boring old farts.
From Martín Fierro (a 19th.Century classic Argentine poem):
El tiempo: ……
No tuvo nunca principio
ni jamas acabará,
porque el tiempo es una rueda,
y rueda es eternidá.
Time:
Never had a beginning
Nor will it ever end,
because time is a wheel
and wheel is eternity.
And the seasons they go ’round and ’round
And the painted ponies go up and down
We’re captive on the carousel of time
We can’t return, we can only look behind
From where we came
And go round and ’round and ’round
In the circle game
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6FcgPLCtYwM Joni Mitchell 1966
Trust in me, baby, give me time, gimme time, um gimme time.
I heard somebody say, oh, “The older the grape,
Sweeter the wine, sweeter the wine.”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IXwQU1vNOqA Janis Joplin
Eternal time has come full circle. I have just undergone a ‘procedure’ at St. Andrews Hospital in Adelaide. Turns out I didn’t have eternal youth. I am now one of those boring old farts.
I shall refrain from elaborating on my Hospital ‘adventure’, instead I will tell you a few things about Oil Exploration.
Before drilling an expensive exploration well, they do an ultra-sound of the area of interest. This is known as a seismic survey. Signals are fed into the ground. The earth’s innards have an effect on the signals, and the reflections and refractions are recorded and converted into images. Rock layers and structures are revealed in which bladder shaped accumulations of hydrocarbons may occur. If these accumulations are overlain by non-permeable rocks (known as ‘cap rocks’), the upward and outward flow of these hydrocarbons is prevented. This could be called ‘retention’. Pressure builds up, and when such accumulations are drilled into, a drill stem test is performed. A catheter like drill pipe string is inserted into the well . By rotating the drill pipe, an inflatable packer is blown into a balloon shape which isolates the heavy column of drilling mud from the bladder shaped accumulation, which is then allowed to flow. Flow rates , volume, pressure, temperature etc. are continuously monitored until a steady regular controlled flow is achieved. If warranted the well is converted into a production well. If a worthwhile flow is not achieved, the well is plugged and abandoned. These ‘dry’ wells are known as ‘dusters’. Possibly the genesis of the phrase “he bit the dust”.
Production wells will as they age have reduced flows. For example perforations may get blocked by swelling clays, and the well may require a ‘procedure’ known as a ‘work-over’ to re-stimulate free flow.
If you are now going to call me a boring old fart, please don’t do it overtly, and least of all on Facebook. Obrigado!
Whilst in Adelaide I had the luxury of having access to a daily newspaper. Amongst other things there were the ten pages devoted to the Duchess of Cambridge’s morning sickness and its implications. The raging civil war in Syria scored a few paragraphs in the same paper.
Just as people google their own names or spend hours on that narcissistic virtual field: livro de rosto
So I scoured the pages for anything pertaining to the Northern Territory. Apart from the tragic murder of the daughter of a well known Alice Springs identity, I couldn’t find a thing. Northern Territory terra nullius.
But then I stumbled across it- an article in the Australian (Dec. 6th. 2012) leading off with:
“ An ambitious scheme giving welfare recipients matched savings if they can save $500 has failed spectacularly in its first two years, with only 20 people receiving money….”
The ‘Matched Savings Payment Scheme’(‘MSPS’) is part of a $53 million investment in savings programs.
Jenny Macklin (my favourite) responded to criticism of these schemes (on the basis that they are failing to achieve their purpose) with: “I know how important learning these skills is to helping ensure families are bringing up children healthy and strong”
A statement of great social and political import:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C-GFqhCq2HA Janis Joplin (again por que não)
Jenny Macklin is the undisputed Australian champion exponent of the non-sequitur.
I find it hard to fathom, indeed I’m flummoxed as to why the Warlpiri haven’t seized on the MSPS en masse. Take the lady who owes the Fines Recovery Unit over $2,000 for having had her children unrestrained in an unregistered ( unregistrable ) vehicle. All she need do is save $500 of non-Income Managed money whilst showing a pattern of saving over a minimum 13 week period and attend a money management course and the Government will match it with $500 of Income Managed money. Hey presto, she will have enough to pay almost half her fine!
She will then have been taught how to manage her non-existent money and be sure to bring up her children healthy and strong as she does her bit to Close the Gap and she and her children move forward into Stronger Futures!
The future’s so bright I gotta wear shades…..
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gpR4qt8joxc
Help!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3t8MeE8Ik4Y
So here is Jenny Macklin and her department offering this truly scintillating scheme the ‘Matched Savings Payment Scheme’. A veritable helping hand.
The four tops ‘Reach out I’ll be there’ 1967 (the year we stayed at the Norseman caravan park)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2EaflX0MWRo
I really don’t get it. No one at Yuendumu has reached out and claimed the $500 prize.
What’s the matter with these Warlpiri people?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lJLEXgkddPQ
Ah shaddapa you face!
Vejo vocês no próximo ano
Francisco