Once more I had to see the extremes of humans cruelty towards animals, seems estrange but every time that I turn on the TV and scroll down the list of programs, there is always one that talks about, criminal killing, poaching, hunting, etc. Our society seems to be numb already to all of these programs, because as far as I know nobody is doing anything. I just wanted to take the opportunity to post the letter that I wrote to the editor of National Geographic Magazine about the indiscriminate killing of elephants in Africa, this was an English assignment only, but I did actually send the letter to them, and I hope that the editor picks mine and my letter gets publish, if not I am sure that lots of people believe that these criminal activities are wrong, and they must be stop. Here is my letter:
Thank you for writing about the importance and direct effects of indiscriminate animal killing. Illegal poaching has become the biggest threat to a variety of animal species. I personally consider myself to be an animal lover, and after reading your article, I found myself in a situation where I don’t understand the human nature anymore. There is so many animal protection organizations around the world, that are constantly warning people about the terrible consequences of illegal poaching and specially the serious risk of extinction on most of the affected animals. Elephants have been chased for many years because of their tusks, and it is sad to see that many of these magnificent animals get killed just for few dollars. The constant and almost criminal hunts for these animals, are not only putting them on the path of extinction, but also are affecting the whole ecosystem that lives and survives around them. How many more articles need to be written, or how many more of these animals need to die, in order for governments, organizations, and more importantly people to realize that if nothing is done to stop this criminal activity, not only these beautiful animals will disappear, but also many other species too. Maybe then, humans will stop their constant and infinite race towards eliminating every single animal species over the face of the world; perhaps then people will realize how much damage we had made to our planet. I just hope that it won be too late. Thank you for speaking up for them.
Sunday, October 19, 2008
Prop 202....Homeowners
With all of these propositions requesting (Begging) for votes, who has time to actually read (15 pages each) and actually know what they are voting for, well I decided to write about prop 202 Homeowners bill of rights, here is “The good & The ugly” about this proposition, and the key points hope it helps.
I had been in the real estate market working as a Realtor, and investor for over 5 years, so I can see the issue from both sides of the coin. Right now the law states that builder are required to only give homeowners up to one year in warranties for any construction defects on new houses, the new law will require builders to provide a 10 year warranty. I purchased a new home on 2006, and as a homeowner I was able to experience the “ugly” about dealing with builders. Houses usually start to break down on the second or third year, however in my case the house I bought started to give trouble on the last six months of the first year, getting the house fix by the builders subcontractors was just a nightmare, not only because of the tons of paperwork, but also the “things” that were not covered by the insurance, and off course the hourly fee of plumbers and carpenters, that if the fix takes longer that what they had estimated will have to came up from your already poor pocket. The previous law also stated that arbitration should be used before going to court, in order to settle disputes with builders, the new law states that litigation should be the way to settle thing now. In this subject, I will speak as a Realtor that actually had to experience one of his customers getting “bust” by the builder’s lawyers. The scenario was that the buyer bought new house, and on the month 12 after the purchase, a huge crack on the ceiling appeared, when buyer contacted the insurance, they denied the claim stating that the coverage was over, my client decided to take them to court ( big mistake) hired a lawyer, and proceeded with the lawsuit, the day of the trial, I was able to see my client and his brave lawyer, and in the other side, no kidding six lawyers that were defending the homebuilder, well to make the story short, my client lost, and on top of him dealing with a crack on the ceiling he end up paying the court costs for the homebuilder. Big lesson!
I had been in the real estate market working as a Realtor, and investor for over 5 years, so I can see the issue from both sides of the coin. Right now the law states that builder are required to only give homeowners up to one year in warranties for any construction defects on new houses, the new law will require builders to provide a 10 year warranty. I purchased a new home on 2006, and as a homeowner I was able to experience the “ugly” about dealing with builders. Houses usually start to break down on the second or third year, however in my case the house I bought started to give trouble on the last six months of the first year, getting the house fix by the builders subcontractors was just a nightmare, not only because of the tons of paperwork, but also the “things” that were not covered by the insurance, and off course the hourly fee of plumbers and carpenters, that if the fix takes longer that what they had estimated will have to came up from your already poor pocket. The previous law also stated that arbitration should be used before going to court, in order to settle disputes with builders, the new law states that litigation should be the way to settle thing now. In this subject, I will speak as a Realtor that actually had to experience one of his customers getting “bust” by the builder’s lawyers. The scenario was that the buyer bought new house, and on the month 12 after the purchase, a huge crack on the ceiling appeared, when buyer contacted the insurance, they denied the claim stating that the coverage was over, my client decided to take them to court ( big mistake) hired a lawyer, and proceeded with the lawsuit, the day of the trial, I was able to see my client and his brave lawyer, and in the other side, no kidding six lawyers that were defending the homebuilder, well to make the story short, my client lost, and on top of him dealing with a crack on the ceiling he end up paying the court costs for the homebuilder. Big lesson!
Doing HW while sharing a story...
Few days ago I had the oportunity to read an amazing article about "dengue fever" made by a reporter from CNN that was doing an investigation in South America. some years ago I lost a family member due to this Virus, preventing and being ready sometimes makes all difference;
Oct 12th 1990, I was about 16 years old, and at that time I was living in Bolivia. I clearly remember that date until today, because it was the Columbus Day celebration in my country. My family had planned a trip for this holiday, since there was no school, and my parents got the week off. Our destination was a place called Yungas (La Paz- Bolivia) we had some family there, and also the place is well known for being a tropical paradise; as we drove towards our destination thousands of trees and green vegetation gave us a warm welcome. The temperature was hot, and the air humid, but the place was just spectacular; as we stopped and got off the car, we started noticing a lot of mosquitoes, and they were just getting all over us, local people told us that they were harmless, and not to worry about them; little did we know about what was going to happen after few days. As the days passed by, mosquitoes were a thing of every day, and our relatives living on that place did not seem to care about them, they will just ignore them, as if they were not there, even dough I could see the mosquitoes having a feast on their arms. On the fourth day in the village, we decided to go hiking since it was the last day of our vacation, and we got deep into the jungle, what a surprise!, more and bigger mosquitoes were thriving in there, we decided to continue, and the place was just gorgeous, the only drawback was that all these mosquitoes were just eating us alive. Later on that day we made our return to the village, since we needed to rest for the trip back to the city. Few days had passed since we returned, and Henry one of my brothers, suddenly started to have nausea, and started vomiting, it did not seem serious at the beginning, but later on that day, he started to feel even worse, now fever was part of his symptoms, and he just kept vomiting, we decided to take him to the hospital, and as we drove towards the hospital, Mario my uncle called us to let us know that he was also on his way from the village because Marta his daughter had the same symptoms like my brother. We arrived to the hospital and the doctors immediately seemed to know what was going on, Henry was just pale, and he had a severe rash on his legs, the doctors asked us if we had gone to the tropics, and immediately took blood samples to simply confirm their worst fears, Henry had contracted “Dengue” after a brief explanation from the doctor about what it is, and what could happen, we just looked at each other and the nightmare begun. We were in shock, and as we sat down my uncle arrived, his daughter had the same symptoms, and later on was also diagnosed with “Dengue fever”. The nightmare lasted for over two months. There were so many things that we could have done in order to prevent that, but lack of information, and little or no knowledge about these types of diseases, and what transmits them were a major factor that contributed to this problem. Dengue can kill, People should be aware at all times , especially if going out of the country, being prepared could make the difference.As with my family case Henry had a level 3, and he was able to recover in the hospital, and took him about a month, but unfortunately Marta had a level 4, “Dengue hemorrhagic” little or nothing the doctors were able to do to save her, she died few days after contracting the disease, her body could not resist the extreme pain that this disease causes, the agony lasted five days, were bleeding and constant shocks took away all the energy that she had.
Oct 12th 1990, I was about 16 years old, and at that time I was living in Bolivia. I clearly remember that date until today, because it was the Columbus Day celebration in my country. My family had planned a trip for this holiday, since there was no school, and my parents got the week off. Our destination was a place called Yungas (La Paz- Bolivia) we had some family there, and also the place is well known for being a tropical paradise; as we drove towards our destination thousands of trees and green vegetation gave us a warm welcome. The temperature was hot, and the air humid, but the place was just spectacular; as we stopped and got off the car, we started noticing a lot of mosquitoes, and they were just getting all over us, local people told us that they were harmless, and not to worry about them; little did we know about what was going to happen after few days. As the days passed by, mosquitoes were a thing of every day, and our relatives living on that place did not seem to care about them, they will just ignore them, as if they were not there, even dough I could see the mosquitoes having a feast on their arms. On the fourth day in the village, we decided to go hiking since it was the last day of our vacation, and we got deep into the jungle, what a surprise!, more and bigger mosquitoes were thriving in there, we decided to continue, and the place was just gorgeous, the only drawback was that all these mosquitoes were just eating us alive. Later on that day we made our return to the village, since we needed to rest for the trip back to the city. Few days had passed since we returned, and Henry one of my brothers, suddenly started to have nausea, and started vomiting, it did not seem serious at the beginning, but later on that day, he started to feel even worse, now fever was part of his symptoms, and he just kept vomiting, we decided to take him to the hospital, and as we drove towards the hospital, Mario my uncle called us to let us know that he was also on his way from the village because Marta his daughter had the same symptoms like my brother. We arrived to the hospital and the doctors immediately seemed to know what was going on, Henry was just pale, and he had a severe rash on his legs, the doctors asked us if we had gone to the tropics, and immediately took blood samples to simply confirm their worst fears, Henry had contracted “Dengue” after a brief explanation from the doctor about what it is, and what could happen, we just looked at each other and the nightmare begun. We were in shock, and as we sat down my uncle arrived, his daughter had the same symptoms, and later on was also diagnosed with “Dengue fever”. The nightmare lasted for over two months. There were so many things that we could have done in order to prevent that, but lack of information, and little or no knowledge about these types of diseases, and what transmits them were a major factor that contributed to this problem. Dengue can kill, People should be aware at all times , especially if going out of the country, being prepared could make the difference.As with my family case Henry had a level 3, and he was able to recover in the hospital, and took him about a month, but unfortunately Marta had a level 4, “Dengue hemorrhagic” little or nothing the doctors were able to do to save her, she died few days after contracting the disease, her body could not resist the extreme pain that this disease causes, the agony lasted five days, were bleeding and constant shocks took away all the energy that she had.
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