Venezuela Falling Behind

Christopher Frank writes "Seems Venezuela's lack of power has finally caught up with them! MSNBC has the story: 'If you thought Venezuela's political crisis seemed to be dragging for an impossibly long time -- you were right. In a bizarre mass-malfunction, Venezuela's clocks are ticking too slowly due to a power shortage weakening the electric current nationwide. By the end of each day, the sluggish time pieces still have another 150 seconds to tick before they catch up to midnight.'"

Comments

Selective reporting

[Anonymous Coward]

There are many dozen contries with much more severe problems than Venezuela. Wonder why only Venezuela makes constantly in the headlines?

Yup, that's right, Venezuela has oil and others don't. Thus our wonderful "independent" media doesn't care about other problems.

Re:I know far less than I should.

[Wyatt Earp]

If you think the American media has been silent, then you need to listen a little closer.

Do a 90 day search for Venezuela crisis in New York Times and you get 1102 hits.

It's mentioned in almost every financial article there is about the price of oil and oil production.

Typing "Venezuela crisis" in Google news brings up recent articles in...
Washington Times
Boston Globe
Austin American Statesman
Miami Herald
South Bend Tribune
Forbes
Troy Daily News
BusinessWeek
Daily Oklahoman
Corpus Christi Caller Times

They mention it here in Portland on the local news everytime they do a piece about the rising gas prices.

If you have missed the coverage, it's not because the US media is ignoring it.

Ever notice...

[Pettifogger]

Ever notice that your alarm clock, microwave, stereo clock, etc. is never very accurate? The voltage and frequency do vary depending upon the load on the grid, the generation facility, usage in your home, and so on. Of course, major variations will screw things up and US voltage is pretty consistent, but it's the little variations that throw your bedside alarm off a few minutes every so often. Though slightly off topic, If you want accuracy, get a good (36,000+ vph) mechanical wristwatch, or even better, one of the old Bulova Accutrons. If you're not familiar with the Accutron, run a Google or eBay search for them; they were a HUGE hit with the geek crowd back in the Sixties. They were used as timing devices in the Apollo program and in satellites, too.

Thinking about it?

[Anonymous Coward]

If you thought Venezuela's political crisis...

Did anyone actually think about Venezuela's political crisis? Does anyone actually know where to find Venezuela on a map?

Re:I've found the source of your problem

[blurfus]

but if you are "two minutes late ... and everybody else is too" (including the pilot) There still is NO problem

get it?

It's not just you bein late and everybody else being on time as *that* would be a problem for you...

It's the fact that everybody is late that makes it not soo bad (over there anyways)

cheers

Re:I know far less than I should.

[Lemmy Caution]

As you know, Venezuela's overall standard of living has been on steady decline since the mid-80's. That decline has continued under Chavez in toto, but he has spread the consequences of that decline upstream. If your family got hit that bad, though, then it may be because it's higher up the slope than you thought it was (did you go to college? Then you aren't in that 80% which was under the poverty line.) I wouldn't say that Venezuela is in better shape overall than it used to be, just that the misery is being spread around a bit. What is needed is an end to "curse of oil," with the effects that it has on currency in international markets, how it discourages other industries from developing, and is too easy to simply be taken out of country without leaving much behind.

My family is Peruvian, so I know plenty about hyperinflation and unemployment and what it's like: and how it hits the middle class. Peru has the same problem: a history of reliance on the export of raw materials for its economic backbone, and the consequent failure to create a strong, broad economic foundation in other sectors.

Re:*What*...

[mcbevin]

Amusing. While your general point is correct, I would have to disagree with a few things you say there.

'This does NOT matter'

So endless rants on DMCA, Microsoft's evils, the latest tech toy matter more than issues like war and the exploitation of the third world? Maybe this stuff doesn't belong on slashdot, but that it doesn't matter????

'If i wanted to read about the failure of modern civilization to provide resources for its citisens, i'd read stuff at CNN/BBC/Local papers.'

I think if you read the stuff at CNN, local papers etc you won't really be getting much of the story. Want to read why Latin America really is screwed up? Why the CIA overthrew so many democratic governments there (thus explaining why the idea that it tried to otherthrow the Venezuelan govt. is at least plausible), or (just as an example) why the US waged covert war on Nicaragua and still refuses to honour the World Court ruling adjudging it to owe Nicaragua $17 billion in damages, and instead sucks the life out of Nicaragua by strangling it with debt payments. Or a real discussion regarding the war on Iraq. Try finding that on US media etc with their 'selective amnesia'. I do admit however that BBC, which you also mention is better (not being corporate owned always helps).

Forgotten History

Hold on a second! (pardon the pun)

[SystematicPsycho]

Do most of the people in Venezuela plug their clocks into power sockets? Hello? Does that make much sense? Most clocks run on batteries. I think the article attempts to mislead.

Another great piece of pathetic journalism, causing the not so intelligent people in the world to have a conversation about something that doesn't and wondering when they'll find another great story from MSNBC.

Re:I know far less than I should.

[csguy314]

He's been "undemocratic" as far as the sector of the population that has been benefitting from the oil boom is concerned, but even many of them realize that they are reaping what they have sown.

What's more, the US gov't praised his overthrow for a day, only to be embarassed by his return. What kind of gov't praises the overthrow of a democratically elected leader?

Same gov't that overthrew Chile's Allende, Iraq's Kassem, Iran's Mossadegh...

Oh...

Re:I know far less than I should.

[vsync64]

As you know, Venezuela's overall standard of living has been on steady decline since the mid-80's. That decline has continued under Chavez in toto, but he has spread the consequences of that decline upstream. If your family got hit that bad, though, then it may be because it's higher up the slope than you thought it was (did you go to college? Then you aren't in that 80% which was under the poverty line.)

Wow, you manage to blend begging the question and an ad hominem attack into a single cruel classist insult.

1. Hugo Chavez is a great leader.
2. The only people being hurt by his policies are the rich, who deserve it.
3. Your family is being hurt, therefore your family is rich.
4. Your family deserves what Hugo Chavez does to them, proving that Hugo Chavez is a great leader.

I don't know enough about the Venezuela situation to be any kind of an expert on it, but my inclination is to be mistrustful of Chavez, simply because the only people defending him are whining leftists. "It's okay, the only ones who don't like him are rich people."

And has anyone noticed that if poor people ("poor" like those $100K/yr longshoremen) go on strike, it means they're striking a blow for freedom against the vile oppressors, but if rich people go on sttrike, it means they are the vile oppressors?

Re:Geek and politics don�t mix

[Anonymous Coward]

I wonder if your mastery in Spanish orthography and grammar is better than his English.