Give a Hoot
Amidst all the hype and hoopla about cleaning up the Bay of Panama and
building new sewer systems, the most important factor never seems to be
addressed. That factor is the very nasty national habit of using the
whole world as a garbage container. Drive down any street without a lot
of houses on it and you will likely discover an impromptu garbage dump.
Look at any of the beaches in the Panama City area and see thousands of
plastic containers and other garbage which was tossed into some stream
and carried to the bay. Notice the endless trail of beer cans, paper
and other trash along both sides of any well-traveled road. How do we
deal with a population which is either ignorant or uncaring of the
consequences of rampant littering?
Those of us old enough to remember the 50s have the answer to that
question. we saw it happen. Panama reminds me very much of Texas in the
50s and 60s, and if Texas could be cleaned up, there is hope for Panama.
You begin by educating the children, starting with pre-kindergarten.
You flood the TV and radio waves with public service, anti-littering
messages. Lastly, you pass and most importantly enforce, tough
anti-littering laws. Once you get the people on board, they can force
the government to provide such basic sanitary services as picking up
the garbage on a regular basis, and enforcing anti-pollution laws. It
certainly won't be easy, but if Panama is to ever become the retirement
and tourist mecca which it could be, cleaning it up and keeping it
clean has to be number one priority.
I own a website (panamagreen.org) that I am considering activating as a
blog or wiki site with user participation, with the possible eventual
forming of a society to help promote a clean Panama. I would appreciate
hearing from readers who would be interested in participating.
About the Newsletter
A reader wrote to complain about my frequent mentions of computer
related topics and made several suggestions as to how I could make my
newsletter more informative and useful. One complaint was that I talk
too much about the negatives of living here. I appreciate all such
feedback and do pay attention to constructive criticism. But....
You knew a but was coming didn't you? I can't afford to produce a
travel guide or tourist information handbook for free. While I always do write
about places where Nora and I go, we can't go to out of the way places
looking for bargains for tourists. We can't afford to dine at every
restaurant in town so we can recommend the best and warn folks about
the worst. This newsletter is, and always has been, about things that
happen in our daily lives. I try to include the good, the bad, and the
ugly.
If you read my early newsletters you know that I was aghast at some of
the misinformation being put out by many websites two years ago, and
which continues today. One of my original goals was to arm newcomers
with the truth, and I can't do that if I restrict myself to feel-good
puff pieces. So please, bear with me when I talk about annoyances and
inconveniences, and computers. I write about computers because I spend
most of my time using one, and it's a subject I know a lot about.
Computer Stuff
I've just changed from SUSE Linux to Ubuntu, and what I've seen so far
looks good. The issues I had the last time I tried Ubuntu seem to be
resolved, and the only serious complaint I have so far is that I can't
figure out how to change the &*^$) ^$&@** double-click to
single-click in the default Gnome UI. The double-click method of
starting a program has to be the single biggest time-waster in the
history of computing. I have seen many older users spend literally
minutes attempting to start a program by double-clicking, but because
their coordination was a bit off they mostly ended up moving the icon
around the desktop. If there truly is a special place in hell for Bill
Gates, I hope it's sitting in front of a Windows computer trying to
start a program by double clicking an icon with his violently shaking
hand.
There is a lot of complaining about MS Windows Vista. People say it's
sluggish, drivers are bad or unavailable, lots of software won't work
with it, and it takes a more powerful computer to run it than XP does.
It's being called Windows ME II. Complaints have got so bad that Dell
is once again offering Windows XP as an option on some computers.
Last week, a friend brought his 1.1 Ghz desktop with XP and a brand
spanking new Toshiba laptop with Vista over for me to take a look at.
The desktop had a few minor spyware infestations and a registry
problem, all of which I cleaned up in a few minutes, but the laptop was
so sluggish it was almost unusable. It took me almost 20 minutes just
to verify that the wireless interface was working. Every change seemed
to take forever. I admit that I didn't have a lot of time to give Vista
a real workout, but unless you buy a fast computer with a lot of RAM
(at least 1 GB and 2 would be better) my advice is to NOT buy a Vista
powered computer.
Updates to Website
There's a new site on the 'Links' page with lots of photos and information about Panama. Click on 'Cathy and John Visit Panama'.