Twin Wolf Technology Group

The risk is minimal.   Digital encryption certificates serve two functions.   One is to encrypt the data flowing between you and the website.   This will continue to take place even after the certificate has expired.   The second function is to insure the website you are connecting to is actually who they represent themselves to be.   In other words, just because a website says they are Union Fenosa, you have no way of knowing if it is really them or someone impersonating them.   Before a digital certificate is issued or renewed, the certificate authority does some level of checking to insure it belongs to the business it represents.

The only real danger in an expired certificate is that it is possible that someone else is misrepresenting or impersonating that website.   If the certificate was recently expired, there is almost no risk at all.   If the certificate expired a year or more ago, I would be a little bit cautious.   

Since the encryption between your computer and the website continues to work on an expired certificate, you are not at risk but the overall process is somewhat undermined.

That is a long explanation for - it is OK to continue to use but I would be uneasy if the certificate expired more than a year ago.   Certificates are generally issued and renewed on an annual basis.

Agreed.  After making my statement about using both services - one to backup the other - a statement like this makes me wonder if AAC would treat me differently since I belong to this forum.   Like everyone else, I judge an organization by the public statements they make.  This one makes me very uncomfortable despite my previous statements of support.  

I must be missing something...   or maybe it is just my way of looking at it.   Is there a reason that you can not use both services?  

When I first came to Panama I quickly learned that everything needed a backup plan.   Right now I have multiple ways to get the Internet if one way is down.   I have multiple cell phones with different carriers in case one service is not working.   I have both Union Fenosa and a generator.   I have two sources of water to the house.   I have two tanks of gas.   So why not have both of these services in case one fails?   Either service could fail for reasons that are outside of their control.  I believe both are attempting to provide excellent service despite the changes both are going through..

I can have RD for $80 ($6.66/month) or I could have BOTH for $100 ($8.33/month) - the extra $1.66 a month seems like a small price for extra security given it is Panama and there always seems to be a glitch in every service.

Just my own personal thoughts on the subject

Fran, do you know who owns that site?

I read it and here are my thoughts.   First, I am not sure Bob is his real name but that is really unimportant at this point in time.   You only get one chance to introduce yourself and your way of doing business to the community.   I am never comfortable with a secretive person or company but that is just me.  On the other hand, what is important is the fact that he is publicly admitting to some of his errors.   I always respect a person that does that because it is not easy and it shows some character.  I will give the man points for that.

I suspect that he has decided to moderate by committee because he is finding that each moderator has their own idea of how to run things.   It will be interesting to see how that goes.  I am always doubtful of doing things by committee but I know that is my own personal bias.   I wonder if Ogla and Ambreen were occasionally knocking heads.

What I was disappointed to see was there was no apology nor invitation to return for the members that were banned.   Based on that, I am not sure if he fully gets it yet.   I think he gets the fact that you need varying opinions and they will be passionate at times.   I think he gets that his "lets all be nice and everyone is happy" mentality does not promote discussion or interest.   But in my personal opinion there is still a portion of the entire picture he is missing.   Long standing members, community leaders and people with vast experience have been banned.   Those are your resources.   Those are the hardest things to bring together and once you have shown them the door, they have no reason to return. That is also one of the strengths of Chiriqui Life.   I did not see anything to indicate he understands or wants to change that part of the past.  He is too focused on getting the moderator function correct to see the value of what has been lost. 

For me, it is merely something to watch evolve.    I see other things on the horizon, both here in Chiriqui Life and in my own projects.

Actually, this might be easier and you will not have to search for the specific KB patches.   If you download the file I have attached here, it is a utility that will turn off the Windows 10 upgrade notifications.   It will also allow you to delete the hidden Windows 10 files that have been downloaded to your computer, waiting for you to upgrade.   Run the program, it is self-explanatory.   If you have problems, let me know and I will assist you.   This works on Windows 7 and Windows 8, 8.1

win10.exe

Dottie, I would be happy to take a look at it remotely as I offer this type of service to my clients.   It might be a bit more hidden than the basic virus or malware scan is finding.   If you are interested, please visit my webpage (yes there is a CAPTCHA at the bottom of the page).

http://www.twinwolf.com.pa/home/remote-support/

You can also private message me here.

Kudos to Dottie for getting the title renamed and simply saying "I see your point... sorry".    It is so refreshing to be able to have a discussion with different points of view without the bitterness and attacks.    Virtual pat on the back and gold star Dottie.    I like this place. 

I have to agree.  While I admit to watching Ning devolve from nicey nice to all out flame wars, I do not think running Ning down serves any useful purpose.   I believe most of us here are here in part because Ning no longer offers the community resource and forum it once was.

I say lets do better and try not to drag this forum down to that level.  Afterall, we are the architects of a new forum and it can be so much more if we look ahead rather than behind.

While I can not help you with digitizing the tapes, I would encourage you to save them in a digital format that is easily transferable.   DVD and CD are going the way of the dinosaur in the tech world.   I believe it would be a waste if you only put them in that format.   Keep them in digital format and have multiple copies in various backups.   That is the best strategy currently.

I can confirm that Jim and Judi are Cloudless

Ahh Brundageba you capture my thoughts exactly.   It is these types of post, from Wry and from the community I enjoy so much.   My personal universe is so large and I must remind myself to not make it smaller.   A lifetime hardly seems long enough to explore and enjoy it all.

There are gold nuggets out there - I had one such driver when I lived in Panama City.   He was a tiny man and drove a Crown Victoria (huge car).   He called it his FBI car.   Never in a hurry and everyone seem to get out of his way.   I always laughed because I think if you were on the outside looking into the car, you would probably only see his hands on the giant steering wheel and the very top of his head.   He was a real treat.

It appears to have become the Olga show and she is using world news to generate views rather than focusing on Boquete.   They really should change the name of the site.  It has little to do with Boquete.  If I suddenly want a PHD dissertation on Climate Change or want to rant about Gun Control and US News, then I will tune in to Ning.  None of that interest me, but to each their own.  I feel bad for those people that come looking for information knowing the answers are here and all they are getting is deafening silence on Ning.   It is all part of the change.

LOL - Yes JoJo, it looks like their super sweet sundae attitude is melting and making a mess again.   I am guessing Ambreen is no longer watching the site like she was or at least has been told to let Olga run the show.   It will be interesting to see how far down this road they go.

The fine for speeding used to be $50 but recently all of the fines were increased.   I will have to look it up but I thought it increased to $100 or $150 now.

I too have two Internet service providers - both MobilNet and Planet Telecom.   As of the last month, MobilNet has become very unstable and my neighbors are experiencing the same thing.   I had heard that CableOnda was in the process of purchasing MobilNet when I went into the their office to complain about the service problems.   I believe that some of the issues being experienced are due to everything being switched over.   MobliNet explained that they are currently unable to start new service due to the change and many issues were related to this as well.

I will be anxious to see what the service is like after the switch over is complete.   I will also be eager to see if the pricing structure of either the new CableOnda wireless service or their competitor, Planet Telecom changes.  Prices for wireless service are extremely high compared to cable with Planet Telecom being slightly higher than MobilNet at this time.

The following 6 profiles have been identified and are in reserve for your eclectic personalities:

BarflyAwry
CockeyeAwry (often in partners with BarflyAwry)
SlyAwry (ever lurking)
RabbiAwry (for use on the Sabath) 
NecktieAwry (very formal)
ByeByeAwry (just in case)

Please send $9.95 Balboas to "Just Me" and we will begin setting up your profiles.

Yes, this is a little disappointing.   On the other hand, any one of us can quote Don Ray's blog and do our part to get the word out.  After all, a community board like this is suppose to be everyone helping out and sharing information - not just waiting for one person to do it all.   

I can understand the point that as he posts on more and more sites, he must go back and keep them all up-to-date with changes.   Add to the mix if someone other than himself edits his posts (for whatever reason), now the task of making sure all the various posts are uniform and correct becomes enormous.   It is probably best he posts on his blog and then just uses links to it on various sites.

I also understand Bud seeing an error and wanting to correct it.   I do not see either man as being "wrong".

I think JoJo had it exactly right:  Two obviously alpha males had a set-to. So what, happens all the time. No reason to take sides. Let's move on

It must be difficult to keep track of all 137 people listed in that document and be sure that you are not a member of any group they are associated with.   To be safe you should drop your PriceSmart membership because one of them maybe a member of that group too!  No telling where they could be...   In the meantime, the rest of us live in the real world and use the tools and services available to settle disagreements and disputes.  

Take WryAwry up on his offer before that Mariana Trench of bitterness swallows you up.     Caso Cerrado - NEXT!!

A favorite stop in Panama City is always Riba Smith for all those wonderful things not available in most grocery stores.  Today I stopped into the Riba Smith store in MultiPlaza (Panama City).  For those who are not familiar with MultiPlaza, it is one of several large shopping complexes with too many stores to count and endless parking available.

Parking, like driving in the city, is always a challenge however the large shopping complexes seem to have plenty at long as you are willing to walk a bit.   In the not too distant past, MultiPlaza introduced a system to collect a parking fee.   You get the first hour free and then a fee is charged for any additional time.

After my shopping, I enjoyed a coffee and Cinnabon (another wonderful treat of coming to the city).   Wandering back to my car I remembered that you must first find one of the parking pay machines and get your ticket validated.   Plenty of newbies get all the way to the exit gate only to find they must return to the shopping center and get their ticket validated.

As I fumbled with my coffee and packages, I managed to stuff the parking ticket into the machine.   Expecting the time to be free, I was surprised to see the machine wanting 2 cents.   REALLY?  Not outrageous but certainly an annoyance.   Of course as I search my pockets for those every present copper coins, I have none.   Here they want my 2 cents worth and I would rather give them a piece of my mind.   Ever calm, I set down my packages, coffee and dig around to find some small coin so as not to get $19.98 cents in change by using the $20 dollar bill in my pocket.   The line behind me continues to grow with impatient patrons.

After completing my transaction I began thinking of about the absurdity of the entire experience.   Examining my receipt, I see that I was over the 1 hour free time by just one minute!   Shaking my head at how even more absurd the entire thing was, I get in the car and prepare to exit the lot.   Unfortunately, the line of cars exiting the lot was more than a dozen cars deep because the exit gate and machine were not working correctly.   As 10-15 minutes ticked by every so slowly you could see all of the drivers getting more and more impatient, waiting for a workman to come lift the gate and let the cars exit.

Held hostage at the exit and remembering the days of free parking... I realize there is no such thing as free parking any more.   Keep those pennies handy, you are going to need them.

For those interested in Linux, be sure to check out Linux Mint.   http://linuxmint.com/   It is aimed at beginners and it works exceptionally well on older machines.   I have been using it for the last few years and am quite happy with it.   Linux is a little bit on the geek side but it can be configured to look like a Mac or like Windows, so there is very little of a learning curve once it is installed and configured.   I run some of my older Windows programs on Linux since it has the ability to emulate a Windows environment.   

So it is true, the sky is falling!   Thanks Keith

Dottie - as far as I know you are unable to delete and recreate a Gmail account.   Each Gmail address is completely independent of any others you might have.   You are probably better off just creating yet another one and forgetting about the new one you tried to create.   It is a never ending circle as you are experiencing. 

I drove this yesterday - I always try to drive it on a Sunday.  There is less traffic and virtually no construction working compared to the weekdays.   When I first heard about this project, I thought I would never see it done in my lifetime.   Now, I am amazed at the progress every time I make this trip.   I made the trip in 7 hours, stopping once in Santiago for lunch.  

Wry you have not gone Awry.   You are right on the mark.   I search for words to describe the character of Don Ray and they all fall short - Generous, Charitable, Invaluable, Noble ... and the list goes on.   Mr. Williams your continuing devotion, time and effort to this community is truly a give to all  Expats and Chiricanos.   I second WryAwry's expression of gratitude and join his voice in chorus.

I for one am indebted to you as you usher Marion and Deborah along the path to wellness.

Dan Porter