Incredibly upsetting: For Many Poor Students, Leap to College Ends in a Hard Fall, a piece published yesterday by Jason DeParle in the New York Times, gives a glimpse into the lives of three Latinas who attempt college and don't make it.

Six Infuriating Morals to the Story:

1. Guys are the best way to sabotage your education, especially if they cheat on you, propose to you, break up with you, avoid college, get back together with you. But, hey, at least you're not alone!

2. Read the fine print of your financial aid package or else a school like Emory will find ways to saddle you with tens of thousands of undischargeable education debt. And then they'll wash their hands of it, "Hey, we were following standard procedure!"

3. Check your school email. Frequently.

4. Talking to professors and advisors when and even before things go badly is necessary. We're not mean, even if we seem gruff and when we say things that sound really hard, sometimes it's because we're upset for you.

5. Having a hard time? Non-traditional student? (Working class, minority, first generation college, veteran?) There's no structure that explicitly teaches you the hidden rules and hidden curriculum.

6. Why try? You'll still end up working retail for $8 an hour.

Catastro Hidrocarburos/Oil & Gas in Paraguay Map

This map, found at the Paraguayan Vice-Ministry of Mines and Energy (Viceministério de minas y energía) is dated November 30, 2012 and contains a listing of the Oil and Gas concessions granted various firms throughout the country, as well as noting critical "basins" (cuencas) where petroleum and natural gas reserves might be found.

Because the print is quite small, I'll list them out. Numbers 5 and 19 (President Energy and Crescent Global Oil in the Pirity Basin) have been getting lots of press recently.

Concessions Granted ("concesiones por ley"):
1    Primo Cano Martinez
2    Amerisur (Bloque San Pedro)
3    Amerisur (Bloque Curupayty)
4    Bohemia (Bloque Alto Parana - Canindeyu)
5    President Energy Paraguay S.A.
      Pirity Hidrocarburos
17  Aurora Petroleos
18  Boreal Petroleos
19  President Energy Paraguay S.A.
      Crescent Global Oil Paraguay S.A.

Concessions In Process ("concesiones por trámite"):
6    Riviera S.A.
7    Hidrocarburos Chaco S.A.
11  MB Energia S.A.
13  C.P.P. S.A.
20  Land Oil/Crescent Oil Paraguay (Bloque Alto Parana)

Contracts Under Revision ("contratos en revisión")
21  Paraguay Gas & Energy S.A. (Bloque Norte)

Permits To Be Determined ("permisos por resolución")
8    YPF S.A.
9    AET Paraguay S.A. (Bloque Alto Parana)
10  Kilwer S.A.
12  Petropar S.A.
14  Amerisur R. PLC (Bloque Coronillo)
15  Amerisur R. PLC (Bloque Espartillar)
16  Amerisur R. PLC (Bloque Las Palmas)
17  Quincy Energy S.A.

A few notes of interest:

• US-based Quincy Energy seems to have merged with Energy Metals Corporation of Canada, which then merged with Canadian/South African Uranium One in 2007. I wonder what this means for the undetermined permit in #17.

• YPF (#8), Kilwer (#10) are Argentine firms; Riviera S.A. (#6) has links with Grupo Cifel, which is Russian in origin.