Uncle Doug

Call me cynical, but I don't see how this isn't really a giant fundraiser for the Vatican at the expense of Panama.  Maybe they chipped in a lot of money toward the expenses, but I haven't seen any mention of that in the talk of the costs of this event.

Like my son says... "Pictures, or it didn't happen!"

That does look pretty much cat-proof!

I have no idea why they removed the traffic light at the intersection of Calle F and the Pan Am highway.  That made a bad situation worse, and I can't come up with even an implausible reason to remove it.  It was the way I went to the airport, and now I don't know a better way than just winging it.

Failed state is gross exaggeration. Libya is a failed state. Yemen is.   Venezuela is closer, but even it isn't a failed state.

Panama is not living up to its potential.  That I firmly believe.

You can also make the argument that as these operations become more efficient, they can  undercut the competition with lower prices.

So, we have a completion date of late November and a completion date of March of next year.   I think I am probably safe in assuming that this won't be done anytime BEFORE March of next year.

Well, there goes the protection.  

Wow, bad decision. 100% the fault of the raft company.  They are paid to be the experts.

I haven't seen any reports and doubt there is very much. Despite how long that sucker lasted, it was only a 4.7 on the Richter scale according to the USGS. It certainly alarmed me and I ran for the door, but it never really threatened to topple anything at my place 

Do you know that they aren't attempting to do that?

I'm a very patient person and I fully understand that any project can run into unexpected problems. However, the incompetence and utter lack of planning here is beyond any possible defense.

They had better include a prison expansion bill along with this.

That would be a pretty good reason to quit working.

It's still the main road for now. You can get to the Terpel at the bottom of the hill, and then it becomes an offroad adventure. The river road will become the only way at some point.

Well, I suppose that's good news, but it isn't entirely satisfying . Is the detour merely postponed? Will they do anything to mitigate the inconvenience, including the obvious---paving the detour first?

Its position this afternoon is near the Nicaraguan border, but still offshore Costa Rica.  It's going to be far more of a problem for the countries to the northwest of us, but it sure has made for an ugly day here.

Like Bonnie, I use the SmartDNS proxy and have zero complaints.  It works great for Netflix, Amazon, and even NFL Gamepass.

The outage was really widespread last night and included David according to at least one report.  Everybody seemed to get restored around 2 this morning, except for Volcancito.  It's frustrating, but, hey, it lowers the monthly electric bill.

Haha.  The jerk deserved that.

I think the problem is that the government is in charge.  Where are the problems in the US health system?  In the government-run veterans hospitals.  It's not that governments are evil and stupid (although some are).  It's that the incentives and competitions which reward excellence in the private sector are not present in a government agency.

Yikes!

The solution is to encourage Panamanian producers to become more efficient and competitive.  Tariffs are a tax on consumers, and they help protect inefficient producers and keep them that way.

Holy Moley, how long ago was that??  That's terrible!!