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Subject: Message for U.S. Citizens: Outreach Trip to David, Chiriqui -- December 9, 2015 Date: Mon, 23 Nov 2015 16:07:39 +0000 From: Panama-ACS@state.gov Reply-To: Panama-ACS@state.gov The American Citizen Services (ACS) Unit at the U.S. Embassy in Panama would like to inform U.S. citizens in Western Panama that we will be visiting David, Chiriqui on Wednesday, December 9, 2015 to provide consular services to U.S. citizens. We will be at the Hotel Ciudad de David in David, Chiriqui from 10:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. on Wednesday, December 9, 2015. We will offer the following services: - Applications for U.S. passports (these services will be processed in Panama) - Passport Renewal (adults and minors) - Adding Pages to Passports (requires surrendering passport) - Lost or Stolen Passports - Notarizations - Abandonment of Lawful Permanent Resident Status (please bring from I-407 and Permanent Resident Card) - Voting Registration (Please print and complete the form at: https://registertovote.org/index.html IMPORTANT NOTICE 1. Please bring legible photocopies of all documents to be submitted. 2. Please bring the exact cash amount to pay for the service. 3. Please bring completed forms. Please access the following link for information on fees, and forms you need to download, complete and bring: http://panama.usembassy.gov/service.html A representative from the Federal Benefits Unit (FBU) will be offering the following services: - Medicare enrollment/cancellation (copy of current passport or cedula will be required) - Application for SS replacement cards (copy of current US Passport) - Application for new SS card for children under age 12 (copy of US Passport for one of the parents, the child’s copia integra and passport) - Change of address/residence (copy of current passport or cedula will be required) - General inquiries A representative from our Regional Security Office will be on hand to answer security questions. Please note: No visa services will be provided. Services will be provided on first come - first serve basis. Thank you for your assistance. We look forward to seeing you. Sincerely, American Citizen Services U.S. Embassy Panama

JudyS, This question has already been answered. Please refer to paragraph three (just below the numbered listing) in the following Q&A:

If you wish to provide more than a "vote" on this change, then please post your comments here by replying to this topic.

JudyS, Thanks for bringing this to my attention. That topic escaped my view previously. The referenced topic has been relocated to the miscellaneous forum at the very bottom of the classified ads category. I get complaints when topics are in the wrong forum. In fact, I get many complaints. And that is the reason topics get moved to the most appropriate forum. The long term value of a website like this is dependent upon not only the breadth and the depth and the quality of the content therein, but also the structure of that content. If something cannot be located with only a reasonable amount of effort, then its value is problematic, bordering on valueless. I also get complaints about the somewhat frequent movement of topics. This is a no-win situation, but as stated in other replies to inquires along this line, what we do here as administrators is a balancing act -- trying to keep topic integrity intact versus confusing members with moved topics. We as administrators prefer to believe that topics being posted in a less appropriate forum is simply a case of not being familiar with the structure of this website and/or the organization of the various categories and forums. And then there is also the splitting of topics when someone goes off-topic. Going a bit technical here, your terminology in your original posting ("...stand-alone topic...") is part of what caused me to be confused. There is no such thing as a stand-alone topic. I scanned around the website but could not easily locate anything related to your request, and so you saw my reply. I had no idea that you were talking about a particular topic within a forum. For the general information and edification of all members, this website is structured in a hierarchical schema. Channels are the highest level of the hierarchy. The channels in this website are the various tabs that you see when you click on the "Browse" button at the very top of the window. Within the bulletin board forums, which are just one "channel" in this website, are the categories, which can only contain sub-categories and/or forums. Those sub-categories can themselves contain more sub-sub-categories and/or forums, Etc., etc., ad infinitum. Only forums may contain postings; categories may not contain postings. The first posting in a forum is called the topic, and subsequent postings are called replies. Thus, for the bulletin board forums, the hierarchy is first the channel, then the category, then the forum, etc., and the category/forum structure can be repeated. We currently only go down three levels in that hierarchy. Thanks for your continued use and support of CL. P.S., when a topic is moved, we typically notify the originator and insert a redirect link from the old forum to the new forum.

Hil, You now have the distinct honor of being CL's preeminent personal blogger. Consistent postings, good topics, well written, and many times thought-provoking. Thanks for your work here.

What are you referring to?

Registered members can "vote" on whether they like a posting by someone. The "vote" can be either positive (they like it, and colored green) or negative (they don't like it, and colored red). The criterion used by a member in deciding his/her vote is his/her own choice. Reputation voting is not required, but available if desired. The net sum of all reputation votes for each member is reflected in their profile. Members cannot see who provided their reputation, only what the net arithmetic value is. Each reputation vote counts +1 or -1. Please see http://www.chiriqui.life/topic/505-what-is-a-reputation-via-notifications/ for additional information about reputation.

Subject: Message for U.S. Citizens: Elimination of Visa Page Inserts for U.S. Passports Date: Wed, 18 Nov 2015 18:29:06 +0000 From: Panama-ACS@state.gov Reply-To: Panama-ACS@state.gov After December 31, 2015, no more extra visa pages will be added to U.S. passports. Instead, 52-page passport books will be issued at no extra cost to U.S. citizens applying from outside the United States. This policy aims to lessen the burden that may be placed on frequent travelers who need more pages and those customers who may need to update residence permits or foreign entry/exit visas to comply with foreign country immigration practices. The determination to eliminate the visa page insert service was made to enhance the security of the passport and to abide by international passport standards. The fee for first-time passport applicants is $135; for passport renewals, $110. Renew your passport early to make sure you have enough blank pages for visas stamps from other countries. Some require two blank pages for entry and exit. For more information on entry, exit, and foreign visa requirements, visit travel.state.gov. We strongly recommend that U.S. citizens traveling to or residing in Panama enroll in the Department of State’s Smart Traveler Enrollment Program (STEP) at www.Travel.State.Gov. STEP enrollment gives you the latest security updates, and makes it easier for the U.S. embassy or nearest U.S. consulate to contact you in an emergency. If you don’t have Internet access, enroll directly with the nearest U.S. embassy or consulate. If you are a U.S. citizen in need of urgent assistance, the emergency number for the U.S. Embassy/Consulate is 317-5000.

See item number 4 in the special rules for classified ads:

Bonnie, You definitely are not lowering the discussion quality. You have a valid question, and this is a good place for it. We appreciate your use of CL and hope you get answers that work for you.

Twin Wolf, Glad to see this post. It is okay to take us to task, especially in the manner which you do it. Several have been less kind, but that is okay as well. Such is life. We hope someday to be the premiere information resource and social networking site for the Chiriqui Province -- for its residents, it's businesses, it's wanna-be residents, and its wanna-be businesses. For the record, we are not trying to recruit or entice anyone to move to Chiriqui, but rather provide a responsive source of quality information, advice, and accounts of real world experiences, etc. We are working on our rankings with the search engine behemoths (the so-called SEO techie stuff, etc.), improving our metadata, etc., so as to attract more interest and get more visibility. It just takes time to do things the right way. And while we would like to see more members, more content, more good stuff, etc., our mindset and operating style is that quality is preferred over quantity. It takes time to build anything well. Starting something with a good foundation will result in the community supporting that something, and all will prosper. There were two foundational bedrocks that we set in granite during the planning phase for CL. They were/are: set clear and crisp guidelines and rules in writing - right up front, and enforce them in a compassionate manner given the situational context, and operate with transparency, in the purest definition of that word. We believe that we are fulfilling our commitment to those two foundational bedrocks. Some can (some already have!) disagreed, and that is okay with us. Referring to number 1 above, if anyone wishes to review (comment on?) the guidelines and rules, click on Governance Documents. Any comments or feedback would have to be in the form of private message, an email to support@chiriqui.life or a posting in a forum that permits member topics or replies, such as Problems, Feedback and Suggestions. On the subject of the moving of postings, we try to balance each instance with the pros and cons. It truly is a balancing act on our part. Recall our two foundational bedrocks discussed above. We do get complaints (many of them) from members about postings going off-topic. That is why there is a rule about staying on topic. We recommend people who need to diverge to start a new topic, not go off-topic. There is no limit to the number of topics in this website, nor per member. In those cases where a topic is either moved, or portions of a topic are split apart, we always notify the originator, and place a redirect link (where appropriate) in the old forum, and in many instances post an explanation as part of the topic. To date, a lot of content has been relocated. We would prefer not having to do so, but the future value of the information on this website dictates a rather clinical and consistent approach to forum/topic integrity. To date, no content has been arbitrarily deleted; some content has been removed at the request of the originator, such as cases, for instance, of accidental double postings and deciding to use a different channel (channels are the forums, the blogs, the albums in the galleries, etc.). From a personal perspective, we would like to see less bantering about the "old site", but we understand it is interesting for some of the members, and so it continues as they wish, but just in the appropriate forum.

There were 15 replies in this topic that have been split off because they went off-topic. Those replies are now to be found at: Please keep all replies on-topic. This thread is about completion of the Ruta Sur.

The preceding postings were split out of a thread in the topical forums that discusses the completion of the Ruta Sur. The reason for splitting these replies out is that they went off-topic -- interesting to some, but definitely off-topic.

I'm guessing that the problem did not occur prior to our recent software upgrade. Can I ask that you clear you browser cache because that has worked with other similar reports. Let me know if you do clear cache and the results. In any case, I've added this to my list.

Thanks for this information. Those reading this might be interested to know that a side effect of all of the data going from your computer to Microsoft can substantially slow down your computer. And if you share your bandwidth with someone else in your home (e.g., a WiFi access point, etc.) then all users will have less bandwidth for their activities as well.

We do not set the rules for any other website. We are only responsible for Chiriqui.Life. Please refer to our Terms and Rules, specifically Rule #9.

Hil, Fantastic. Your "re-work" of this blog posting looks much better than the original. Thanks for the effort. I'm confident others will also appreciate your contributions here.

Glad that we were able to help.

That would be up to the people scheduling those events. Hans Lebuser recently joined CL, and so you might send him a private message requesting calendarizing the BJBF activities. Hans' display name is "Ollie74". If assistance is needed, we are here to help.

Will take this under advisement. Does she come with your recommendation? Our current 'think' is that she may not meet any of our minimum qualifications!

Sincerest thanks to all for the good wishes and compliments on our nascent voyage together. This is a work in progress.

Judy, If you scroll further down while in the notification settings area, you will see additional options. To my way of thinking, waaaaaay too many options, but that is a different conversation. There are three general "groupings" of the notification settings. The last option in the General group (the second or middle group) is about reputation notifications. Turn both of the options OFF, and then be sure to Save those settings by clicking on the button at the bottom of the options list. By "both of the options" I refer to the two columns: notification list and the email notification buttons. Let us know how that works for you. P.S., I did read the book by Terry Cole-Whitaker that you refer to, but it was several decades ago.