Bonnie

Could this be the one? http://www.zdatamatics.com/about-me.html If so, she's located in Mumbai.

Beautifully written, Al. Thank you for sharing.

Love the changes! Much less busy and much less complicated.

Eight of us in a Tuesday lunch group returrned to Il Barolo yesterday. Everyone loved their meal, which ranged from Spaghetti and Meatballs Siciliana, to Mexican fare, to a hamburger. The service, too, was delightful. It's a favorite place now.

This doesn't surprise me as they probably are from David and made a quick return to David. I would guess that is the reason that areas south of Boquete are so attractive to criminals, both violent and non-violent.

I didn't mean to suggest that the man was being untruthful, only that he probably was mistaken. There are many snakes here that resemble the fer de lance. (My gardener considers most any snake of similar colors to be a fer de lance and is quick to decapitate them with his machete. I've made some progress in educating him, but not a lot, I'm afraid.)

I recently became aware of the following article by Eric Jackson on his Panama English News site. I am posting it here not to provoke a conflagration or to disparage particular persons but because it is a historically based, provocative perspective on how certain types of expatriates have affected and potentially could affect this country. OPINION - Eric JacksonColonization: a touchy subject that Panama should not just ignoreIn collaboration with some Panamanian law firms, “offshore asset protection” outfits and real estate salespeople, plus another American named Daniel Daves, Wiles has prompted a migration to Boquete of Americans who believe in these primitive sorts of hatreds and are prepared to evade the immigration, labor and weapons laws of the Republic of Panama. Quotations by Rick Wiles, graphic by The Advocate. October 20, 2015 (The Panama News) By Eric Jackson Take the Wayback Machine to Panama City in 1856, when the California Gold Rush was still underway, the Dred Scott case was percolating in the American courts toward the next year’s decision that would do so much to provoke a bloody civil war, and this gringo named Jack Oliver thought it appropriate to steal from an Afro-Panamanian fruit vendor, and to introduce a gun into the argument when the vendor objected. Dozens of people, mostly Americans, were killed and the first of several US military invasions of Panama ensued. Fast forward to 2014. This gringo named Sage Million was one of the “sovereign citizens” who colonized the El Volcan area. The sovereign citizens have many variations on a rap that began with a white supremacist group that calls itself the Posse Comitatus (not to be confused with a US law of that name). That routine originally went that because the rebellious states of the old Confederacy were obliged to adopt state constitutions that ratified the 13th, 14th and 15th Amendments to the US Constitution as a prerequisite for readmission to the Union, those amendments and all US constitutional changes that came thereafter, and the very existence of the federal government. and the things that it does and has done, are illegitimate, null and void. Consider that the 13th Amendment abolished slavery to know how reactionary that is. Consider that the 14th Amendment provides among other things that every person born in the United States is a US citizen to know how reactionary Donald Trump is. But there are other strains of sovereign citizens who say that it wasn’t until the 17th Amendment in 1913, which provides for direct election of US senators, or the 1934 Gold Reserve Act, that the national government became “unconstitutional.” In any case, the sovereign citizen rap is that by the time that Hawaii became a state in 1959 everything that the US federal government did was illegitimate. That being so, Mr. Million figured, Hawaiian statehood and Hawaii’s state laws are illegitimate, ESPECIALLY the one giving rise to the warrant for his arrest for allegedly having sexual relations with a 10-year-old girl. He also considered himself so personally sovereign that Panamanian and Costa Rican borders didn’t apply to him. In the course of an illegal border crossing Panama’s SENAFRONT arrested him and the US embassy notified Panama of the state warrant for his arrest. Just one short-eye perv who’s a bit crazier than most? Well, that too, but Sage Million had both open and silent supporters in the gringo community here. That’s scary, because some modern-day Jack Oliver who considers that young cholas have no rights that a white gringo is bound to respect could rather quickly inflame the deadliest of passions. A mob enraged about something like that may not inquire about what sort of American they would be attacking, especially if the ultra-right element of the gringo community shoves its way in front of the TV cameras and represents itself as the voice of all Americans here. So is it just a matter for amusement when dozens of American families heed a call by Rick Wiles and Daniel Daves to drop everything in the USA and head to Panama, and then they start to show up in Boquete? Consider that they are not just urging senior citizens to come retire here. Many of the people who have come to Boquete due to the urging of Wiles and Daves are working age Americans who are not millionaires and won’t qualify for pensionado, investor or special professional visas. They are coming here intending to violate Panamanian labor and immigration laws. And what about the advice that Daves gives his followers about protecting themselves? He not only says that every “Christian” of his variety ought to be packing a gun, he’s advising people to get portable anti-aircraft weapons to shoot down drones. Panama is conflicted about gun policies at the moment, and perhaps our Security Minister Rodolfo Aguilera is so far off the deep end as to like the idea of foreigners who are illegally here carrying surface-to-air weapons around. Were the National Police interested in a military coup, that sort of thinking around the cabinet table would be a readily available excuse. But although I think that Aguilera gets his information from Hollywood fiction to an extent unacceptable in a Panamanian government minister, I don’t think he’s for gringo fanatics going around Panama armed with weapons of war. But hey — just because Panamanian law provides that preaching ethnic, political, racial or religious hatred is a deportable offense if a foreigner does it, our gay, lesbian and transgendered citizens are “fair game” here. In Panama it’s “legal” to hate queers. Plus, one of the questions that is not looked into during this country’s immigration procedures is whether the applicant suffers from paranoid delusions. Set aside all of the creepy xenophobia that comes from legislator Zulay Rodríguez’s mouth — but all resident gringos should be aware of the threat that it represents in the presence of American extremists in Panama. And for those of us who are citizens, whether or not duals like me, there is a duty to Panama’s sovereignty — not only from hostile nations but also from individuals who consider themselves to be sovereign powers superior to the Panamanian people and to the flawed republic that happens to be the only one we have. Balance those things against the universal human right to believe in whatever stupid thing that you want to believe. It’s not the first occasion for Panama to balance such considerations. But I think that if Wiles or Daves are found in this country, they should be arrested for illicit association to violate a number of Panamanian laws, and that all of their followers who have come here or seek to come here should be carefully examined on an individual basis. Panama really needs a better defined and more consistent policy about these sorts of colonizations.

Lynnie, when you highlight text it comes across as gray and is almost unreadable.

The problem with having a forum comprised largely of newcomers is that they are still in the "honeymoon phase" of living abroad. Without the injection of some history and reality by the veterans, many discussions become meaningless and misleading.

Thanks, Bud. Those are very good reasons for posting News Boquete items. I hadn't thought of them. I'll look into blocking specified members if I ever feel the need to do so. So far, no one has been THAT aggravating--just annoying.

Personally, I value the exchange of local information element, i.e., experiences and recommendations re goods and services from other community members. This is the information that is not searchable. Discussion of current local and national issues also gets my vote. I get my "event" information via News Boquete and don't understand why it is repeated here, but I can just skip it. I can appreciate humor being injected into discussions, but I get a little annoyed when folks post humor just for the sake of humor. To my mind, this kind of thing, as well as favorite videos and photographs, belongs between friends, not on a forum (particularly because everyone's sense of humor and taste isn't the same). And I become very annoyed at those who use the forum as a chat room. Chats, too, are personal in nature and have no place on a community wide forum. In my view, events, humor, chats, etc. clutter up the site, making it time consuming to get through. It's not possible to ignore all of this because sometimes you can't tell from the posted topic what it's about. Just my two cents, since you asked.

My reply related to the Palm Pit Viper. The fer de lance is just the opposite. They prefer the lowlands. The upper limit of where you are likely to find the fer de lance is 4000 feet altitude. They are seldom encountered in the mountains surrounding Boquete but a are common in Alto Boquete. I also have to say that I believe the man in David was most probably mistaken about what kind of snake he encountered. I've never heard or read of anyone stomping a fer de lance to death. They're simply too fast.

And, unfortunately: Geographic rangeFound in the mountains of Costa Rica and Panama. Also found in the cloud forests of the Cordillera Central and the Cordillera de Talamanca at 1,150-2,400 m altitude. The type locality given is "Vulcan von Barbo" (Volcán Barba, Costa Rica).[1] According to Campbell and Lamar (2004), this species prefers medium to high elevations from 1,150 to over 3,000 m, and is found from the Cordillera Tilarán and Cordillera Central in the southeastern Alajuela province in Costa Rica, southeast through the Cordillera de Talamanca to Chiriquí province in Panama. It occurs on both the Atlantic and Pacific slopes. [Wikipedia]

In reply to Marcelyn's question, and adding to Brundageba's answer, my research and experience (that I learned at the La Selva Biological Station in Costa Rica) reveals that the most important things are to get to the hospital ASAP, keep the patient calm insofar as possible, and minimize movement, keeping any affected extremity at body level. The DO NOTs, which are as important if not more important, are as follows: NO aspirin or other pain relievers. NO food or drink, especially not alcohol.NO tourniquets. This cuts blood flow completely and may result in loss of the affected limb. In worst case scenarios, thoroughly constricting tourniquets have been applied to bitten limbs, completely shutting off blood flow to the area. By the time the victim has finally reached appropriate medical facilities their limb had to be amputated. DO NOT try to suck the venom out of the wound or cut into the bite with a knife. Such measures have not been proven useful and may cause further injury DO NOT apply a cold compress or ice on the bite. Research has shown this to be potentially harmful. DO NOT raise the wound above the heart. Raising it can cause venom to travel into the body. Holding it down, can increase swelling. DO NOT use electric shock or a stun gun on the bite area. DO NOT wash the snake bite area - Australian recommendations for snake bite treatment strongly recommend againstcleaning the wound. Traces of venom left on the skin/bandages from the strike can be used in combination with a snake bite identification kit to identify the species of snake. This speeds determination of which anti-venom to administer in the emergency room. DO NOT try and capture the snake. If it's safe you can try to take a photo with a camera or with your phone. This is the best way in aiding snake identification. A snake can bite for up to an hour after it is killed due to reflex action.Outdated Snake Bite First Aid Treatments Old style snake bite kit that should NOT be used in snake bite first aid. The following snake bite first aid treatments have all been recommended at one time or another but are now considered to be ineffective or outright dangerous. Many cases in which such snake bite first aid treatments appear to work are in fact the result of dry bites (snake bites where no venom is released). Application of a tourniquet to the bitten limb is generally not recommended. Untrained tourniquet use is dangerous, since reducing or cutting off circulation can lead to gangrene, which can be fatal or result in amputation of the limb. The use of a compression bandage is generally as effective, and much safer.Cutting open the bitten area, an action often taken prior to suction, is not recommended since it causes further damage and increases the risk of infection.Sucking out venom either by mouth or with a pump, does not work and may harm the affected area directly. Suctioning by mouth presents a risk of further poisoning to the person doing the procedure through the mouth's mucous tissues. The release of bacteria from the person's mouth into the victim's wound can lead to infection at the wound site.Immersion in warm water or sour milk, followed by the application of snake-stones (also known as la Pierre Noire), which are believed to draw off the poison in much the way a sponge soaks up water.Application of potassium permanganate formerly known as permanganate of potash or Condy's crystals [or Guber's snake bite potion?].

Doug, when we built our house we purchased two 100 lb cylinders from Tropigas. When one runs out of gas, we switch to the other and call Tropigas to come replace the empty one with a full one. It has worked well. Call Yesika at 6638-5304 (lovely woman, but only speaks Spanish).

Dav, you forgot absolute ignorance of the English language on the part of the Ning administrators. Bob's writing skills, based on the above message to Jaime, appear to be as bad as Ambreen's.

What calendar are the two of you referring to?

I was prepared to post a response to Uncle Doug's inquiry about propane tanks. But that particular posts appears to be lacking a "Reply" button.

I'll say it again: pretty soon the site will be little more than a chat room and a repository for bad information. Most of ning's valuable contributors have either been banned or have left on their accord.

Thanks, Bill and Bud. Great idea!

There is no place to safely relocate a fer de lance. They are aggressive and deadly throughout the country, particularly to people who are far from medical care, as so much of the population is. I'm all for letting non-poisonous snakes and even some poisonous but non-aggressive snakes live in peace, but not the fer de lance.

Is that Cheech or Chong?

I'm asking whether content is "uploaded" to the Roku or IPTV box, whether from the router or the computer. [I always understood that uploading pertained solely to outgoing streams (and downloading to incoming), but your discussions led me to believe that I was misunderstanding this.]

Stupid question here: Since IPTV is available only through its own box, and USTVNow is available only through a box like Roku, doesn't content have to be upstreamed to those boxes from your computer?

A friend sent me this article today about the trials and tribulations of expatriation. I thought perhaps we all could benefit from reading it. http://www.thecultureblend.com/?p=2473