Merlot's Ship Arrives-- Perhaps a New Beging

"Why do you test for humans?" he asked.
"To set you free."
"Free?"
"Once men turned their thinking over to machines in hope that this would set them free. But that only permitted other men with machines to enslave them."
"Thou shalt not make a machine in the likeness of a man's mind," Paul quoted.
--"Right out of the Butlerian Jihad and the Orange Catholic Bible," she said.

-- Frank Herbert, Dune


Greetings Voignier and kind readers;

Today is a milestone, a most glorious time. It's safe to say that we are indeed fortunate today, as an acceptance from our far flung friend in South Africa came before us. Our counter-offer of financing has been met with agreement by our benefactor. And thus, we are happy to report that the second leg of our journey to extraordinary wealth and influence has begun.

Earlier today, we received a communication from Fernando of Johannesburg. He invited us to South Africa, and offered a details plain to provide us with the funding we shall need to secure 20 retail stores for out boxed wine outlets. So as you can see, I don't think it's a case of a fool on his folly, or us counting our chickens before they hatch for us to host a tasting here at the Boat Basin to celebrate our extraordinary success with our friends in South Africa. I shall be tapping a box of Merlot at 10pm, and all are invited, to honor the author, Frank Herbert, for his vision.

The time will soon be long past when our critics will term us modern-day "Don Quixotes of the boxed wine trade," who "tilt at wine boxes" as a certain very drunk, jug wine executive stated less than 6 months ago at a storied New York strip club standing just off the stage, in a rather large group of wine importers who gathered to witness a bovine stripper do something not very redeeming with hard boiled eggs, yogurt and a brass pole. This group mocked Merlot. And we have waited with baited breath for the time for the proverbial worm to turn, if you will.

And now, is seems that is has. As if riding on the back of some creature dreamed up by Frank Herbert, returning to lay the old guard to waste, we are closer than ever to getting funded to make our boxed wine dreams a real.

For those interested in the finer points of our deal, note that Frenando elaborated on his original good and timely proposal as follows:


Date: Mon, 24 Oct 2005 03:08:03 -0700 (PDT)
From: Fernando Ayanua
Subject: Re: you offer

Dear Marlot,

I thank you very much for your response to my proposal and the interest you have shown to help me and do the transaction with me. I understood all you have said, and I want to give you more details and some arrangements, that I am making here to conclude the transaction. .

My reason of contacting you is that I want you to be my foreign partner / funds manager and help me in the transfer of my funds out of South Africa and invest it in projects that will be profitable to the both of us in your country, though the funds were initially meant for the purchase of arms, but we have since decided to use it for a more profitable venture and this is why we want to make a joint venture with you.

Your participation in the transaction will be in two ways or parts, in the first part, you will help me in the transfer of the money out of South Africa to your country, and secondly, you will suggest investments/ projects in your country where part of the money will be invested and manage by you. In the transfer part, you will be required to open an account in your country that will receive the transfer from here, it can be personal account or company account provided it is safe to receive the total amount, but if you already have an account then we can use it.

In the investments/ projects part of the transaction, I would like you to give me details of the investments / projects that you can make available where part of the money will be invested including the present wine business that you are operating. On my own, I have interest in real estate business, buying of private and commercial properties, so I would like you to give me more ideas on the kind of investments that you can provide for the funds.

I am already having discussions with some bank officers here who have agreed to help us in the transfer process. From the discussions with the bankers, you will be required to come down to South Africa to open a non-resident account in your names with one of the commercial bank here. The money will be deposited first in this non-residence account, before it will be transferred to your account in your country. So you are required to come here as soon as possible for the transfer process, and the process will last three bank working days to be completed, and I will then travel back with you to begin the investments part of the proposal. You should not be worry about the transfer of the funds, though it is a very large amount, but the bankers will take care of all the transfers process and procedures. The transfer will be a bank-to-bank transaction after me and you have concluded the initial arrangements.

I want you to make your travel arrangements to arrive in Johannesburg –South Africa.

I am making a draft agreement between you and me. The agreement will indicate what amount will be due to you for your assistance and as funds manager. It will also indicate what amount will be used for the investments and what amount will be kept for me. I will send it when it is completed in a few days.

Please be very free to call me directly at any time if there is any issue that you do not understand, and I will explain to you. Please I want you to know that I will never do anything that will put you into problems for trying to help or will I do anything that will make me to lose my money, because my life and future depends on this funds. Please I also need total trust and confidentiality from you, for my own security and that of the funds.

I await for your call and your reply soon.

Best regards

Fernando.