Most ads are interactive -- click on them to visit the folks who make The Panama News possible

letters

Cheers, jeers, queries, memories, requests and suggestions

Trinidadians living in Panama

I was born in Trinidad and now living in the US. I'm planning on buying a house in Panama and retiring there. I would like to hear from Trinidadians or people from Barbados who is living in Panama. My email address is logwizard4@yahoo.com.

Stephen G. Goddard

Fort Gordon, Georgia

Cayuco race

I enjoy reading your newspaper. I was born and raised on the Pacific Side, spent 20 years on the isthmus, and recently returned for a visit after 33 years. I had a great time and met one of my sister's former classmates, Pablo Prieto, for the first time. He took me out to lunch and I spent several pleasant hours with him. Turns out he is one of the driving forces behind the cayuco races. I found this picture of him as a participant, probably the 1967 race, taken from the Parakeet, the BHS school newspaper. I took the insert in January when I visited. I completed the race

in 1962 and 1963. Quite an experience.

Keep up the good work, the truth makes a difference.

Bill Fall

BHS 65

Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned...

I received this news release:

PANAMA OMBUDSMAN DOMESTIC VIOLENCE

Near a banner that says "Defend law 38 of domestic violence," women protest against the new human-rights head Ombudsman outside the Panamanian Congress building in Panama City, Panama, Monday, April 3, 2006. Dozens of rights activists protested the swearing-in of Liborio Garcia, the new head of Panama's federal human rights office, saying he shouldn't have got the post because of a 2004 domestic violence complaint against him.

My question is --- anyone can file a complaint --- even against a journalist for whatever reason, but was this man convicted by a court of Law for "the charge" of Domestic Violence?

And what do you think is the reason for Vivian Torrijos (wife of the president) getting involved in this "rebellion?"

If there is one thing that I have learned in life, it's "Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned...."

Hermano Lobo, Art

Editor's note: I think that First Lady Vivian Fernández de Torrijos, like many other women (and plenty of the men, too) in the PRD and its junior coalition partner the Partido Popular, takes domestic violence as a serious issue. People are concerned about old allegations that did not result in a conviction, by Mr. García's recent statements about domestic violence being a private matter or both of these things. Even though Panama is one of those unusual countries with a male majority --- due mainly to women marrying foreigners and emigrating --- it's still a fatal political mistake to alienate female voters.

Olivia "Wita" Fallas

Hi, my name is Mauro Ordoñez, a grandson of Olivia Fallas. I would like to thank you in the name of our family for your nice article. Its reminds us of old times that never come back. We really missed our mom and grandmother. With tears in my eyes, let me remember this great woman. Nobody can fill her place in that town. Colon will never be the same without this elderly barber. I still remember all the newspapers, and she always had a Panama News at Frank Barbershop, its funny but many people call us like

"Mrs. Frank's son"¨or "Mrs. Frank's grandson. Another fact is that her real name was Ambrocine. Then her name was changed to Olivia. Thanks Mr. Jackson and The Panama News for these beautiful words. Let me remind and notice to all who didn't know my beloved grandmother --- I love you Wita.

Maurito Ordoñez

Editor's note: This is one example of why we maintain, although not as well as we should, this website's archives. See http://www.thepanamanews.com/pn/v_08/issue_22/community_01.html and http://www.thepanamanews.com/pn/v_09/issue_12/frontpage.html for the stories to which Mr. Ordoñez refers. And he's right, Olivia Fallas was a pillar of Colon society and her barbershop a community institution whose value far exceeded its monetary worth as a business. I miss her and all the people who used to gather at Barberia Frank.

Stay the course

Hello my friend ,just a brief note to thank you for such a valued and informative publication. For those of us not presently there, this is a much treasured resource to stay informed about events back there --- again this is just to let you know,its not in vain and you have affected many events with the quality of your writing --- MAY THE GRAND ARCHITECT OF THE UNIVERSE GUIDE YOU IN YOUR TASK.

Al

The prospect for tidal power generation in Central America

The West Coast of Latin America, Central America and North America is both an earthquake as well as a volcanic zone. Despite the presence of these natural hazards, potential exists whereby electric power may be generated from ocean tides at several locations in this region. There have been numerous proposals to install ocean tidal power conversion technology at several sites along the Alaskan coast as well as along the coast of British Columbia, Canada. As demand for electric power increases in these regions, ocean tidal power generation technology would likely begin to appear.

Central America has several relatively small bays and gulfs where tidal power conversion technology may installed. The list would include:

- Gulf of Nicoya and Golfo Dulce on the coast of Costa Rica;

- Gulf of Fonseca on the coast of Honduras; and

- Gulf of Chiriqui and Gulf of San Miguel on the coast of Panama.

At first glance, the Central American tidal power sites appear to be too small to be worthwhile to for any future development. However, new and evolving technological developments that are occuring in fields that are related to engineering may offer the opportunity to develope a powerful tidal power conversion installation in Central America.

During the 19th century, a British engineer named Isambard Kingdom Brunel pioneered a method to construct a tunnel under the Thames River that flows through London. Over the decades since, tunnel boring has evolved from being dependent on manual physical labout to becoming more highly mechanized and progressively more automated. The advances in modern tunnel building technology can also be used to develop tidal power conversion on the Gulf of Panama that is renowned for extended high tides that occasionally exceed 20 feet and last for up to 20 hours. On the eastern side of this gulf is the Gulf of San Miguel, where a north-south geological fault line is suspected to passing beneath its entrance.

Calidonia Bay is located on Panama's North Coast and the tidal record shows this bay to in a virtual perpetual state of low tide with tidal peaks reaching a height of 9 inches. The extended high tide in the Gulf of San Miguel rises to an average 8.7 feet height and reaches a daily maximum of over 14 feet. It occasionally reaches a peak height of 20 feet. An overland distance of 33 miles separates the innermost points of Calidonia Bay and the Gulf of San Miguel. Channels may be excavated inland for up to 4 miles from each bay and toward the other so as to reduce the innermost overland distance between them to 25 miles.

At a future time, a tunnel of 50 feet in width and 75-feet in height (arched roof) could be built under the land between the proposed inlet channels of Calidonia Bay and the Gulf of San Miguel. The arched tunnel roof would be below (low-tide) sea level. The average height difference between the tides in the two bays is 8 feet. According the Bernoulli relationship (velocity = square root of (2 x gravity x height)), this difference in height would yield a water flow velocity in the tunnel of 22.698 feet/second in the tunnel with a cross section of 3480 square feet.

The power potential calculated from the flow speed, water density and tunnel area (0.5 x density x area x velocity*3) would yield a maximum potential of 1740 megawatts. If the power conversion could be achieved at an efficiency of 81%, the tidal power output would be 1400 Mw. Surface friction losses were neglected due to a low friction factor. The hydraulic radius for the tunnel is 228.5 ft and its wall roughness factor of 0.01 yields a low friction factor in the tunnel of f = 0.01/228.5 = 0.0000437.

Economic viability over the long term will determine if and when a tunnel-based tidal power generation station is built in Panama. Tunnel building technology is likely to evolve and improve to make tunnel building more cost competitive in the future. The tunnel approach offers an alternative to tidal power generation at a few locations around the world where the tidal bays may be small, where entrances to bays may be very deep or very wide. The entrance to the Gulf of Panama has a depth of over 600 ft and is some 120 miles in width. The Gulf of San Miguel is shallow and has an extended high tide and a very brief low tide.

A tunnel built between Calidonia Bay and the Gulf of San Miguel could bypass that region's geological fault line. The environmental impact of the tunnel would be little different to that of the Suez Canal when it was first opened. The canal enabled some species of oceanic life to swim between the Red Sea and Mediterranean Sea and over the years that followed, the marine ecology remained unchanged. A tidal tunnel built across Panama that connects the Caribbean Sea to the Pacific Ocean would be unlikely to affect marine ecology in the Caribbean Sea.

The future development of tidal power in Panama would require technology could store large amounts of energy. One option to store energy in Panama would be to use the Panama Canal. There is scope to pump water in the canal to higher elevations if the energy to do so became available. A tidal power station in Panama would provide the power needed to pump water to higher elevations. During low tide in the Gulf of San Miguel, water that would be in storage at higher elevations in the canal system may be allowed to pass through hydroelectric installations and generate electric power for the Panamanian market.

The tidal power station in Panama may be built with several tunnels enough water may be available in the Gulf of San Miguel during high tide to support the operation of up to 5 tunnels generating up to 7000 Mw of electric power. Some of the power may be exported into neighboring countries like Costa Rica, Colombia, Nicaragua, El Salvador, Honduras and Guatamala. These countries have high elevations where water storage tanks may be built and into which water to be pumped from lower elevations when the tide is high at the Gulf of San Miguel. A tidal power station built in Panama would be able to support much future economic development in Central America.

The technology that can generate electric power from the differences in tidal heights that occur across an isthmus is presently being developed on a small scale at small islands. This technology has potential for future development and will be able to contribute to serving the future energy needs of many nations. An ocean tidal power conversion system using a tunnel in Panama could become a cost-effective method of generating electricity from renewable sources in the future.

Harry Valentine

Energy researcher

Afghani prisoners In Guantanamo

I don't suppose anything that we might say or do matters but I wonder if I might inquire as to why these folks have been forced to retire to that particular concentration camp where they are yet being held without charge or trial of any kind after all these years?

David Oltmann

Brockville, Ontario

Canada

133 organizations sign letter to US Congress

opposing elimination of key census survey

On April 4 133 national, state and local organizations sent a letter to Congress opposing the elimination of the Survey of Income and Program Participation (SIPP). Represented on the letter are health, housing, religious and anti-poverty organizations including the Children’s Defense Fund, Families USA, AFSCME, and American Association of People with Disabilities.

President Bush’s FY07 budget would eliminate the Census Bureau survey, which provides in-depth data on the effects of programs such as Medicaid, Social Security, Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) and unemployment insurance.

“This is another short-sighted budget cut that will inhibit the government’s ability to make well-informed decisions about Social Security, Medicaid and other critical programs,” said Andrew Imparato, President and CEO, American Association of People with Disabilities.

The letter states: “As advocates for family well-being, we are alarmed that the President's FY2007 budget calls for the elimination of the Census Bureau's Survey of Income and Program Participation (SIPP). Elimination of the SIPP would make it more difficult for researchers to assess the economic and social situation of the country's families and the impact of state and national policies. The lack of accurate information will inevitably have negative consequences for low-income families and children.”

The letter was circulated by the Center for Economic and Policy Research. Last month, CEPR circulated a similar letter that was signed by 432 social science researchers, including Brookings Institution fellow Ron Haskins and Nobel Laureate economists George Akerlof and Lawrence Klein.

Launched in 1984, the SIPP is a multi-panel, nationally representative dataset created by the US Census. It was designed to measure economic well-being, including program participation, with in-depth questions on wealth and assets, debt, childcare usage, work schedules, disabilities, medical expenses, detailed educational attainment information, and detailed information on fertility. The survey tracks individuals for two to four years, with the most recent surveys tracking over 90,000 individuals.

To read the letter and signatories, see http://ceprdata.org/savesipp/orgletter-name.pdf. For signatories listed by state see http://ceprdata.org/savesipp/orgletter-state.pdf.

The Center for Economic and Policy Research is an independent, nonpartisan think tank that was established to promote democratic debate on the most important economic and social issues that affect people's lives. CEPR's Advisory Board of Economists includes Nobel Laureate economists Robert Solow and Joseph Stiglitz, and Richard Freeman, Professor of Economics at Harvard University. Visit the CEPR homepage at http://www.cepr.net.

Center for Economic Policy Research

Eric Jackson = Niggah Lover?????? LOL

Editor's note: The racist letter that was published here was not only vile, but it was a hoax in that it was written in someone else's name. By getting hoodwinked I became a party to defaming this person, which I very much regret.