Uncle Doug

It seems odd to me that Houston would be selected for a fuel only stop. A west coast city would shorten the overall flight time, I think.

I will be curious to see what the airfare to Houston only will be.

This is a remarkable turn of events, and quite baffling to me If he was such a flight risk last June that a shock arrest was performed prior to the announcement of the extradition ruling, it's hard to see what has changed. I really don't think he can or will flee, but this is pretty dang strange.

There were several reports on Facebook of a large wildfire north of the Caldera road checkpoint today. For reasons far above my level of science competence, flames generate massive amounts of positive ions which severely interfere with electrical power lines and can cause complete power failures. Was that the cause today? I have no idea, but it may be a possibility.

I bought a BJBF tile at Tuesday Market a couple of weeks ago. The table was inside by the serving counter.

That's 77 liters of booze for each person in the country. Stay thirsty, my friend.

#34 and #34* don't seem all that different.

Since Prado will be replaced by an interim President, I'm inferring that a there will be a vote by somebody (Assembly or perhaps other judges of the Supreme Court) to ratify a formal replacement. I guess we'll have to stay tuned to see what happens. Clearly, something big is going on behind the scenes. Prado was having too much fun in his role to just relinquish it suddenly. And since he did that, why didn't he resign entirely? I don't know enough about the politics of the judiciary here in Panama to have a very informed opinion, but this certainly seems to be long overdue.

Thanks, guys. It's right there in plain sight, but I have never driven directly by it.

Where is this infamous Chinese Steak House? Is it the steakhouse next to McDonalds on the PanAm highway?

The title of this post would make a great book title. Instead it's an endless rerun of a show we've seen way too many times.

I've seen projected attendance figures ranging between 300,000 and 4 million visitors. Even 300,000 will pose huge issues for Panama. Is this really a good idea? This event, especially if attendance is high, is going to paralyze Panama City for a week. That is going to have a negative impact on the economy of Panama as people simply won't be able to get around the city. And it's not like these visitors will be bringing a bunch of tourist dollars with them. Backpack pilgrims are on a tight budget. Panama is going to spend a lot of money on security, and undoubtedly there will be an additional burden on the health care system during that period. I'm not sure, but it also looks to me like these events may overlap somewhat with Boquete's Flower and Coffee festival and it might hurt attendance here due to logistical problems, if nothing else. I don't have any objection to the event itself, of course. And I don't want to come across as a nattering nabob of negativism (thank you, Spiro Agnew), but it seems to me that Panama is going to spend and lose a significant amount of money hosting this event in exchange for some news stories mentioning the location. Am I wrong?

If a fractured rib is the worst of it, he's a lucky man.

A year or so ago I accidentally got onto the toll way at Albrook. It's not that hard to do if you're unfamiliar with the roads. I don't have a Panapass, but there is no way to turn around. I stopped at the toll plaza and an officer instructed me to pull over to the shoulder. He ran my license, and eventually wrote $10 on a scrap of paper and handed it to me and then walked to passenger side window, presumably blocking the view of any cameras. To be clear, he didn't actually ask for a bribe. However, I did pull $10 out of my wallet, and he took it and pointed to the next exit and waved goodbye. You be the judge. Maybe it was just a "spot fine."

I'm not sure this proposal goes so far as allowing a trial en absentia. But it will prevent the charges from being dropped merely because the defendant decides to become a fugitive.

And that doesn't count the number of tickets that didn't get written because of bribes...

That's a great video. I finally visited Las Olas for the first time a few weeks ago. It's a great day trip.

I got carried away there. A 6.6 quake is nine times stronger than a 5.7, not 90 times stronger.

If the implication is that all this trash is attributable to foreign visitors, that is nonsense. Panama is in great need of an anti-litter campaign for its own citizens and I can't understand why they have not done so years ago. Secondly, if this is a popular beach and this type of garbage is a continuing problem, why not put some trash barrels there? And some signs telling beach-goers to leave no trash on the beach? It's not necessary to wait until there is 18 tons of loose litter on the beach before doing something about the problem.

I really question the IGC data. The USGS pegs the initial quake at 5.7 and I believe a 6.6 magnitude would be 90 times stronger than that. Since there are no reports of damage that I have seen, I think that 5.7 is far more likely, especially since this was a shallow quake (10 km) which tends to be more destructive.

I always sign my letters: Your Excellency, Uncle Doug

I have an Android phone, so this may be irrelevant. But when the internet is down and I am at home and want to access it using phone data, I have to turn the WiFi off on my phone. If I don’t, the phone still is locked onto my home WiFi and it won't use data. Your home WiFi is still generating a signal even though the internet is down.

A suspension of the operating license is going to mark the end of Nature Air. Without any revenue to pay employees or even maintain the aircraft, they are finished unless the license is quickly restored. Given the length of time it takes to conclude a crash investigation, that seems unlikely. Additionally, there will be civil liability issues. If the company deliberately compromised safety in order to save costs, I would hope criminal charges are filed.

I appreciate the intent, but it's going too far to automatically bar a company with a foreign conviction. Those should be evaluated on a case by case basis. The conviction might be a shakedown by a corrupt foreign country. Panama shouldn't outsource its own sovereign decisions to the whims of foreign countries