Ecuador, Guns, Corea, Climate

[Mike]

Ecuador has a decent following on expat blog.

Imagine choosing the climate you want by climbing a mountain.  And for seasons one only has to go up or down.

The president, Raphael Corea is a trained economist; a Marxist, and a strong supporter of Chavez.

[http://www.expat-blog.com/forum/viewtopic.php?pid=101951#p101951

The author is not me:

I'm an 100% pro-gun, many years in USPSC, so I'll cover this for those who're interested.
Until recently it was real easy: you choose a gun in the store, leave them some deposit, then go to an Army Base to the permits department. There you pass a written psycho test (a word about the test: real easy with 300 stupid multiple choice questions... The catch - there is a question in the middle which has no reasonable answer to choose, you go the a man/woman in charge and report the question, they will pass you right there.) If you are a citizen - your permit is ready in 30-60 min, if you are a resident, the next step is to pass an interview with a commanding officer and that's it. Everything is Spanish of course... You return to the store and pick up your gun which you can concealed-carry anywhere in Ecuador. it is easy to associate yourself with one of the shooting clubs: military, police etc. Santa Barbara (a military base and a shooting club)for example let me use their range for free. In Quito they have a Pichincha Open (provincial) every month - pretty big competition with 5-7 stages and 50-60 people participating.
The cost of guns and ammo is a downside... First, there are only 9mm. You probably can find 40 or 45, but then you'll have a problem finding ammo. A box of 50 9mm FMJ 115 or 124gr South American brand - $25.00... Santa Barbara being an ammunition factory sells me for $0.30 a round. New: Taurus - $1,000 - $1,200. CZ - $1,600. Glock - $2,200 if you find any.
Recently the government suspended all the permits until further notice and prohibited carrying. Anyone with a recent or expired permit can keep at home though. Rumors are that an army will transfer the gun control to the police. As of august 2009 - we keep them home...
Last edited by sh0man (2009-08-23 02:07:32)

[offdalip]

Ecuador has recently become an expat hangout, mostly b/c of Costa Rica and Panama having become overpriced.

[offdalip]

The snow-covered peaks of Chacaltaya Mountain tower over the Bolivian capital, La Paz, rising 17,800 feet above sea level. The Chacaltaya glacier is more than 18,000 years old, and its meltwater is an important resource for the inhabitants of La Paz. In the last 20 years, however, the glacier has shrunk 80 percent in volume. With temperatures expected to continue to rise, the glacier could eventually disappear completely.

I suspect they will soon lose their drinking water. The prez of Bolivia has been sounding kinda deranged lately

[Mike]

Is that to say that, 'slightly more than 18,000 years ago the Chacaltaya glacier did not exist?' that, 'there was a warm spell slightly more than 18,000 years ago?'

[offdalip]

weren't we in the middle of an Ice Age 15,000-20,000 years ago?

maybe it was formed in the last ice age?

[Mike]

http://www.geocraft.com/WVFossils/last_400k_yrs.html



If this chart is right, the water sequestered as ice in the Chacaltaya glacier is probably more like 120,000 years old. 

Note that, according to the chart, our world is naturally colder than now; an ice-age world.  At the site is a chart of CO2.  It tells me that man has increased the CO2 in the atmosphere.  But it is still within normal ranges for the world's history.  Also, there is no evidence that CO2 causes warmer climate.  If anything, CO2 concentrations are probably a by product of warmer temperatures, not a cause.

[offdalip]

one thing for sure:

when they say carbon offset/ cap and trade; what they really mean is they need to find another excuse as to why they want to tax you more.

nature has natural cycles, glacier national park, killimanjaro glacier, tibet glacier, chacaltaya glacier obviously all come and go with these cycles.

tho' with tibet it can leave the chinese a wee bit on the thirsty side