Uncle Doug

It is a lovely home.  Does this mean you are planning to leave Boquete?

I use Cable Onda for Internet channels and have been pixalated and frequently knocked off for the past few days. Most of the time I am registering a strong signal, but something is definitely fluctuating.

It seems to me that Dry Season may have ended sometime last week. We are now getting rains that form and move from David toward the Intercontinental Divide above Alto Quiel.

It sure looks like the rains must have hit the path pretty hard.

1 hour ago, TwoSailors said:

Uncle Doug,

What stock market exchanges are open on the weekends?

 

 

 

 

 

 

I don't really know.  But Dow futures trade long before the stock market opens Monday morning. Those are trading somewhere. 

But look what happened Friday evening after hours:  https://www.marketwatch.com/investing/stock/aqb

That's more than a 10% increase over the NASDAQ closing bell price.

The stock price of Aquabounty soared more than 10% in after hours trading this weekend. 

Ending the Copa flights to  Venezuela is a pretty big deal.

It's just my guess, but I suspect that there has been a net outflow of gringos from Chiriqui in the past 12 months, largely due to the end of "perpetual tourism".  And, although construction material costs have skyrocketed in recent years, I'm not sure a gringo influx is to blame. Think of the mountain of concrete and steel going into Federal Mall in David.

The Summit of the Americas to be held in Lima, Peru next week will be a big deal. Venezuela will be an important topic.

But if the US really wants to do something decisive, it would ban the import of Venezuelan crude oil. That would not be painless to the US. Citgo refineries on the Gulf Coast are machined to refine the heavy crude oil that Venezuela produces. A ban would shut them down and cost American jobs. It would also spike gasoline prices.

It would likely trigger the collapse in Venezuela which is needed for political reform, and which isn't a complete certainty today given some continued support for Venezuela from China and Russia. Citgo is effectively owned 50% by Venezuela and is the primary source of Dollars for the country. Cut off Venezuelan crude to Citgo refineries and gas stations and Maduro’s government will collapse. There are no other refineries that can use their oil easily. 

Venezuela's currency is already essentially worthless. Without dollars coming in, Maduro doesn't eat.

It is unfortunate that the only hope now for Venezuela is a complete implosion. The humanitarian disaster won't end until President Maduro is dragged from the palace by a mob.

That sounds pretty ominous.

This is absurd. Corcione has fled the country and is the target of an Interpol Red Alert, and Varela is just now going to analyze steps to follow for removal?  I think Varela is more interested in world travel than running a government.

The discussion of proposed Ley No.539 which will create a national Hemocentro (Blood Bank network).

Well, let's get the proposed law passed!

We have moved into a world where technology has stripped alway our traditional expectations of privacy. In the industrialized countries,  CCTV cameras are everywhere. Your license plate is routinely photographed and time stamped. Do you use Google location history? Even if you're not using your cellphone  your location can be fairly precisely triangulated from cell towers.

Technology exist to see what room in your house you are located with your doors and windows closed. As someone located outside  the USA, every text  phone call, internet posting of yours is captured by the NSA.

As mentioned before, if you have brought in the Amazon Alexis or Google Home listening devices into your home, youve effectively bugged your house.

On top of this, you gleefully joined Facebook,  Twitter, Instgram, and shared your thoughts, your politics,  your friends, and even your enemies. You announce your trips and actual locations.  Even when you plan to return.

Add the ever-increasing skills of hackers and criminal elements and it's hard to say if you have any privacy left. It's not the government powers of George Orwell 's 1984. It's everyone, including yourself.

42 minutes ago, Bonnie said:

If a user withdraws or is bounced from Chiriqui Life, do his or posts remain or do they too disappear?

 

 I think Franagain's posts display. 

The amount of private and even embarrassing things people share on Facebook simply blows my mind. You can be sure that law enforcement, potential employers, and predators all love digging through the information you were dumb enough to share to the entire world for the rest of your life.

Add to that the growing craze of putting Alexa and Google home in your house so that all your conversations are monitored.

Even here, read twice before posting.  The internet is going to last for a very long time.

I am going to have to find another source of Fresh Step kitty litter now that Pricesmart dropped it.  I did find a small box of it at Melo, but it was priced really high and it was their last one.

41 minutes ago, Keith Woolford said:

So.. what's the new name?

 

Salvadores de Animales.

It's nonsensical and it costs lives. What possible reason can be offered for disqualifying someone from donating blood simply because of a trip to Houston months ago? That's a bigger risk than visiting the Darien??  Really?

The combination of poor diet and no taboo against incest is probably the main reason we don't see very many elderly Ngobe.  It's very self-destructive. 

I've never been a fan of Indian reservations in the US or the Comarcas here. Establishing permanent primitive pockets of poverty helps nobody. A culture change is needed.

Wow, that was some seriously bad driving!

I am AB+, so I called Charlotte this morning to see if I could donate for Keith. She wasn't kidding about Regional being strict with the rules for blood donors. I was in the US within the past six months which disqualifies me. No exceptions. The laboratory will check.

Also, she mentioned that the maximum age for women donors has been lowered to age 60. It's still age 65 for men.

This is ridiculous. 

It is past time for Panama to establish a blood bank. This is not Niger or Chad. What is wrong with the leaders of this country??

Boondoggle. Touring the world on a government expense account. 

No benefit to Panama, but I'm sure it's more fun than addressing domestic issues. 

What the heck is the difference between shrimp and "organic shrimp"?

There may be no worse thing  than being born as an indigenous female. Lower than dogs on the social ladder, they are just meat for any man in the vicinity. When I look them in the eyes, there never is any joy. I'm not sure I've ever seen a smile.

The little boys do laugh.