Source: About.com
Royal Caribbean to Offer Southern Caribbean Itineraries from Colón, Panama
For the first time, Royal Caribbean will have a homeport at the mouth of the Panama Canal, in Colon. Royal Caribbean has announced 17 sailings from December 2008 through April 2009 aboard Enchantment of the Seas. The seven-night voyages will visit ports-of-call in Colombia and the Dutch Antilles, including Cartagena and Santa Marta, Colombia; Aruba; Bonaire and Curacao.
Travelers also can choose from two eight-night repositioning voyages aboard Enchantment sailing on November 29, 2008 and April 5, 2009. In addition to visiting Santa Marta and Cartagena, Colombia, guests will enjoy two more days in the Caribbean Sea and a call at Puerto Limon, Costa Rica, as the ship cruises to and from Colón and Fort Lauderdale, Florida.
Friday, August 10, 2007
Thursday, August 9, 2007
Puppies and Kitty's, 1st Day of School - Pictures
Just uploaded a new picture gallery: Puppies and Kitty's, 1st Day of School - Pictures
Basically we got this Siberian Husky puppy and it thinks its a Kitten. Either that or our Kittens think its a Kitten, not 100% sure on this one.
Also, some shots of day 1 of school.
Basically we got this Siberian Husky puppy and it thinks its a Kitten. Either that or our Kittens think its a Kitten, not 100% sure on this one.
Also, some shots of day 1 of school.
Wednesday, August 8, 2007
Update On Petaquilla Minerals
After a recent shareholder update regarding additional drill holes and confirmation of estimated reserves of 1.2milion ounces, Petequilla has seen some decent action the last few days.
A picture of some drill samples from 2006
Tuesday, August 7, 2007
Reeltime.com In The New York Times
Just a little plug for the company I launched back in '04, it made the front page of the business section in the New York Times: Reeltime.com NY Times article
Nothing to Watch on TV? Streaming Video Appeals to Niche Audiences
Published: August 6, 2007
Peter Yates for The New York Times
Barry Henthorn, co-founder of ReelTime, which is staking its future on streaming video.
Buffering ... buffering ... buffering.
Seeing these words blinking at the bottom of the postage-stamp-size screen during a download of jerky video defines the annoying experience of entertainment on a computer monitor.
However, the potential of new streaming video services — fast, full screen and in sharp resolution — is unleashing a torrent of movies and television shows, much of it aimed at narrowly defined audiences that can’t find niche programming even on cable systems with 500 or more channels.
The Independent Film Channel is streaming 22 short films called “Trapped in the Closet” by the R&B recording artist R. Kelly. The Jewish Television Network, a nonprofit television production and distribution company, is streaming music videos by Jewish performers, cooking shows and Israeli news programs. The network is also planning to stream religious services during the High Holy Days in September, the sort of broadcast that would be hard to find on mainstream television.
“There is extreme interest in streaming because it simplifies the process of getting video to the consumer,” said Ross Rubin, the director of industry analysis for the NPD Group, a market analysis company.
Streaming video, unlike downloads, never resides on a viewer’s computer. It usually cannot be replayed as a downloaded file can be, which is another reason that content creators like it.
The growing use and popularity of streaming among consumers are closely tied to the increasing popularity of broadband Internet connections in homes. The Pew Internet & American Life Project estimated that 47 percent of American households have broadband connections that make streaming possible because it transmits data faster.
“The greater adoption of broadband in the United States is really raising the ante for all kinds of content from premium Hollywood offerings to pet videos,” said Mr. Rubin, who noted that NBC and ABC have begun streaming their prime-time programming to online viewers.
This year, the DVD rental company Netflix began to take advantage of click-and-view streaming of full-length films and television episodes with a subscription service. “Push a tab ‘Watch Now’ and more than 3,000 television episodes and movies come up in 30 seconds or less,” said Steve Swasey, a Netflix spokesman. “There’s no downloading.”
Streaming high-quality video to computers and television screens is the “first step to getting what people want to see on any screen they want, from laptops to cellphones to wide-screen televisions,” Mr. Swasey said. “Netflix’s goal is to get movies delivered instantly to all those different screens.”
Companies like ReelTime, Joost, Limelight Networks and Brightcove are staking their futures on streaming video.
“We’re point, click and watch — instantly,” said Barry Henthorn, the chief executive and co-founder of ReelTime. “We never stop and never buffer.”
ReelTime, based in Seattle, digitally distributes thousands of movies and television shows to customers who either rent titles for 99 cents each or subscribe to the service for $4.99 a month to $19.99 for six months.
While ReelTime content can easily be watched on desktop and notebook computers, Mr. Henthorn urges customers to connect the computer to the television’s larger screen for viewing because, he said, “the quality is that good.”
Mr. Henthorn said ReelTime’s streaming technology depends on a peer-to-peer network. Some of the content comes straight from ReelTime, but to speed the delivery other portions of it are pulled from subscribers’ computers that have previously downloaded the content. The more users who download the ReelTime player and view its content, the faster and better content streams to and from all users.
“Right now all kinds of things are being shoved, rather inefficiently, over the Internet,” Mr. Henthorn said. “Once people can watch full-screen video anytime anywhere, the tolerance for four-inch screens will go away.”
Streaming has been a boon to media companies catering to a narrowly defined audience.
FEARnet, for example, has a passion for the horror genre. It began streaming video last Halloween as the “the first multiplatform horror network,” with programming that can be viewed online, on demand and on mobile devices, said its president, Diane Robina. The service, free to registered users, whom they call “victims,” makes its money from banner advertisements that appear on the Web site. The site uses advanced streaming technologies to deliver full-length horror films like “The Hunger,” a 1983 tale of elegant vampires.
FEARnet, a joint venture of Comcast, Sony Pictures Entertainment and Lionsgate, also produces and streams original content. The site is showing a film called “Devil’s Trade,” about teenagers and a cursed tree in New Jersey. It was originally a six-episode series, shot digitally for the Internet.
The Jewish Television Network had produced programming like “The Jewish Americans,” a six-hour documentary that is scheduled to air on Public Broadcasting Service stations in January. Jay Sanderson, the company’s chief executive, said he had never considered online distribution of its programming because of the low quality of the video. That changed this year when he saw the improvement.
“We waited until we got to a point where the technology would not hurt our content,” Mr. Sanderson said. He said much of his network’s existing programming involves 30-minute pieces.
But for the Internet, he said he is cutting them into three- to five-minute segments. “We’re going to do some really long programs in the fall,” he said.
Nothing to Watch on TV? Streaming Video Appeals to Niche Audiences
Published: August 6, 2007
Peter Yates for The New York Times
Barry Henthorn, co-founder of ReelTime, which is staking its future on streaming video.
Buffering ... buffering ... buffering.
Seeing these words blinking at the bottom of the postage-stamp-size screen during a download of jerky video defines the annoying experience of entertainment on a computer monitor.
However, the potential of new streaming video services — fast, full screen and in sharp resolution — is unleashing a torrent of movies and television shows, much of it aimed at narrowly defined audiences that can’t find niche programming even on cable systems with 500 or more channels.
The Independent Film Channel is streaming 22 short films called “Trapped in the Closet” by the R&B recording artist R. Kelly. The Jewish Television Network, a nonprofit television production and distribution company, is streaming music videos by Jewish performers, cooking shows and Israeli news programs. The network is also planning to stream religious services during the High Holy Days in September, the sort of broadcast that would be hard to find on mainstream television.
“There is extreme interest in streaming because it simplifies the process of getting video to the consumer,” said Ross Rubin, the director of industry analysis for the NPD Group, a market analysis company.
Streaming video, unlike downloads, never resides on a viewer’s computer. It usually cannot be replayed as a downloaded file can be, which is another reason that content creators like it.
The growing use and popularity of streaming among consumers are closely tied to the increasing popularity of broadband Internet connections in homes. The Pew Internet & American Life Project estimated that 47 percent of American households have broadband connections that make streaming possible because it transmits data faster.
“The greater adoption of broadband in the United States is really raising the ante for all kinds of content from premium Hollywood offerings to pet videos,” said Mr. Rubin, who noted that NBC and ABC have begun streaming their prime-time programming to online viewers.
This year, the DVD rental company Netflix began to take advantage of click-and-view streaming of full-length films and television episodes with a subscription service. “Push a tab ‘Watch Now’ and more than 3,000 television episodes and movies come up in 30 seconds or less,” said Steve Swasey, a Netflix spokesman. “There’s no downloading.”
Streaming high-quality video to computers and television screens is the “first step to getting what people want to see on any screen they want, from laptops to cellphones to wide-screen televisions,” Mr. Swasey said. “Netflix’s goal is to get movies delivered instantly to all those different screens.”
Companies like ReelTime, Joost, Limelight Networks and Brightcove are staking their futures on streaming video.
“We’re point, click and watch — instantly,” said Barry Henthorn, the chief executive and co-founder of ReelTime. “We never stop and never buffer.”
ReelTime, based in Seattle, digitally distributes thousands of movies and television shows to customers who either rent titles for 99 cents each or subscribe to the service for $4.99 a month to $19.99 for six months.
While ReelTime content can easily be watched on desktop and notebook computers, Mr. Henthorn urges customers to connect the computer to the television’s larger screen for viewing because, he said, “the quality is that good.”
Mr. Henthorn said ReelTime’s streaming technology depends on a peer-to-peer network. Some of the content comes straight from ReelTime, but to speed the delivery other portions of it are pulled from subscribers’ computers that have previously downloaded the content. The more users who download the ReelTime player and view its content, the faster and better content streams to and from all users.
“Right now all kinds of things are being shoved, rather inefficiently, over the Internet,” Mr. Henthorn said. “Once people can watch full-screen video anytime anywhere, the tolerance for four-inch screens will go away.”
Streaming has been a boon to media companies catering to a narrowly defined audience.
FEARnet, for example, has a passion for the horror genre. It began streaming video last Halloween as the “the first multiplatform horror network,” with programming that can be viewed online, on demand and on mobile devices, said its president, Diane Robina. The service, free to registered users, whom they call “victims,” makes its money from banner advertisements that appear on the Web site. The site uses advanced streaming technologies to deliver full-length horror films like “The Hunger,” a 1983 tale of elegant vampires.
FEARnet, a joint venture of Comcast, Sony Pictures Entertainment and Lionsgate, also produces and streams original content. The site is showing a film called “Devil’s Trade,” about teenagers and a cursed tree in New Jersey. It was originally a six-episode series, shot digitally for the Internet.
The Jewish Television Network had produced programming like “The Jewish Americans,” a six-hour documentary that is scheduled to air on Public Broadcasting Service stations in January. Jay Sanderson, the company’s chief executive, said he had never considered online distribution of its programming because of the low quality of the video. That changed this year when he saw the improvement.
“We waited until we got to a point where the technology would not hurt our content,” Mr. Sanderson said. He said much of his network’s existing programming involves 30-minute pieces.
But for the Internet, he said he is cutting them into three- to five-minute segments. “We’re going to do some really long programs in the fall,” he said.
Monday, August 6, 2007
Interesting Counterpoint
This article from the Dallas News implies that the boom in Panama is all but over. I happen to agree that the condo market has been fueled by speculators and may not meet the expectations of city dvelopers here.
What this author fails to point out though, is that folks who are coming to retire here are not doing so in the city, they are buying in the country. Surveys and real stats of people who have made the move are proving it: The countryside is where retirees who actually intend to reside here are buying, not the speculators who are buying in the city.
********************************
Promoters: The party's in Panama
But U.S. boomers may never fill condos arising in superheated spree
08:26 AM CDT on Tuesday, July 31, 2007
PANAMA CITY, Panama – Cement prices have doubled, and it's hard to get a truck to come to your building site. The situation is similar for steel, glass, bricks and all the guts of a high-rise condominium.
The real estate business is having a party in Panama.
As of last week, 380 tower projects were under way or announced, representing more than 40,000 condos and apartments. A year ago, it was 11,000 units.
The builders say Americans looking for the urban high life in retirement will snap up these buildings in a new Miami that's half the price of the real Miami.
"The BABY BOOMERS, simply put," wrote Roger Khafif, builder of the Trump Ocean Club in the Punta Pacifica shoreline neighborhood, in an e-mail about his target buyers. "Without them, Panama's real estate boom would bust."
Retirement properties have been considerably cheaper here than in Florida, and the climate is as good or better. The local currency is the U.S. dollar. Although Medicare doesn't reach Americans abroad, health care is much less expensive here than in the United States.
But speculators are the ones who've put down deposits on 70 percent to 90 percent of these units, said Paul McBride, chief executive of Prima Panama developers. There's no beach on the bay, which is where the 1 million residents of this city pour their sewage. A seven-year, $300 million cleanup is under way.
It's hard to find evidence that white-haired North Americans from Florida, California, New York, Texas and Canada are mounting an invasion of retirees, and you can almost hear the air escaping from this bubble.
The Ice Tower, a 104-story dream of blue and silver, has melted. Two other towers of 96 and 54 floors are not going to get off the ground, either. There are mutterings about whether some developers were simply looking for interest-free loans from the people putting down condo deposits. A Panamanian legislator is proposing a law that would require developers to pay 6 percent interest on refunded deposits.
Mr. Khafif's Trump Ocean Club, a venture with New York developer Donald Trump, is starting to rise. The skyscraper shaped like a sail, he hopes, will be completed in October 2010 with 500 condos and 500 hotel suites with a market value of $404 million.
"Of course, we can build a 90- or 104-floor building in Panama," Mr. Khafif wrote. "Almost anything can be done if the price is right!! And that was precisely the problem. Plain and simple, the developers sold toooooo cheap."
A builder needs to sell condos during the construction phase at prices high enough to cover inflation in materials and other construction costs, Mr. Khafif argued. "We ... launched our modest 66-floor building at three times the market value," he wrote, and thus expects no problems.
There are real estate booms like this in a dozen Chinese cities and in the Persian Gulf emirate of Dubai. Dallas had its condo boom misadventure in the 1980s and has only now come back to the skyscraper.
The Dallas bust was part of a real estate debacle across much of the Southwest that killed off the savings and loan as a part of the American financial landscape. Great wealth vanished, prices collapsed, people went to jail.
If Panama's bubble bursts, bodies might be floating in the bay. Whenever the discussion turns to where all the money comes from, people look over Panama's shoulder and see Colombia, where cocaine has built fortunes looking to be laundered.
Such whisperings have not stopped other investors from coming. Condos priced at a total of $5.7 billion are on the market in a nation with a $16.5 billion economy. The expansion of the Panama Canal, hopes for big energy investments and happy days in the banking industry all point to rapid economic growth.
In the first five months of this year, Panamanian banks reported profits of $444.1 million, up 19.4 percent from the same period in 2006. The banks say credit is expanding 15 percent a month.
Mr. McBride of Prima Panama said the average Panama City condo is selling for more than the average single-family home in the United States. This doesn't hurt the luxury market so much, but it may make a difference for North Americans hoping to stretch their nest eggs by retiring abroad.
"Two or three years ago, the price of a luxury condo was $120 a square foot. Now it's $250 to $300 a square foot," Mr. McBride said.
It sounds like the party's coming to an end.
What this author fails to point out though, is that folks who are coming to retire here are not doing so in the city, they are buying in the country. Surveys and real stats of people who have made the move are proving it: The countryside is where retirees who actually intend to reside here are buying, not the speculators who are buying in the city.
********************************
Promoters: The party's in Panama
But U.S. boomers may never fill condos arising in superheated spree
08:26 AM CDT on Tuesday, July 31, 2007
PANAMA CITY, Panama – Cement prices have doubled, and it's hard to get a truck to come to your building site. The situation is similar for steel, glass, bricks and all the guts of a high-rise condominium.
The real estate business is having a party in Panama.
As of last week, 380 tower projects were under way or announced, representing more than 40,000 condos and apartments. A year ago, it was 11,000 units.
The builders say Americans looking for the urban high life in retirement will snap up these buildings in a new Miami that's half the price of the real Miami.
"The BABY BOOMERS, simply put," wrote Roger Khafif, builder of the Trump Ocean Club in the Punta Pacifica shoreline neighborhood, in an e-mail about his target buyers. "Without them, Panama's real estate boom would bust."
Retirement properties have been considerably cheaper here than in Florida, and the climate is as good or better. The local currency is the U.S. dollar. Although Medicare doesn't reach Americans abroad, health care is much less expensive here than in the United States.
But speculators are the ones who've put down deposits on 70 percent to 90 percent of these units, said Paul McBride, chief executive of Prima Panama developers. There's no beach on the bay, which is where the 1 million residents of this city pour their sewage. A seven-year, $300 million cleanup is under way.
It's hard to find evidence that white-haired North Americans from Florida, California, New York, Texas and Canada are mounting an invasion of retirees, and you can almost hear the air escaping from this bubble.
The Ice Tower, a 104-story dream of blue and silver, has melted. Two other towers of 96 and 54 floors are not going to get off the ground, either. There are mutterings about whether some developers were simply looking for interest-free loans from the people putting down condo deposits. A Panamanian legislator is proposing a law that would require developers to pay 6 percent interest on refunded deposits.
Mr. Khafif's Trump Ocean Club, a venture with New York developer Donald Trump, is starting to rise. The skyscraper shaped like a sail, he hopes, will be completed in October 2010 with 500 condos and 500 hotel suites with a market value of $404 million.
"Of course, we can build a 90- or 104-floor building in Panama," Mr. Khafif wrote. "Almost anything can be done if the price is right!! And that was precisely the problem. Plain and simple, the developers sold toooooo cheap."
A builder needs to sell condos during the construction phase at prices high enough to cover inflation in materials and other construction costs, Mr. Khafif argued. "We ... launched our modest 66-floor building at three times the market value," he wrote, and thus expects no problems.
There are real estate booms like this in a dozen Chinese cities and in the Persian Gulf emirate of Dubai. Dallas had its condo boom misadventure in the 1980s and has only now come back to the skyscraper.
The Dallas bust was part of a real estate debacle across much of the Southwest that killed off the savings and loan as a part of the American financial landscape. Great wealth vanished, prices collapsed, people went to jail.
If Panama's bubble bursts, bodies might be floating in the bay. Whenever the discussion turns to where all the money comes from, people look over Panama's shoulder and see Colombia, where cocaine has built fortunes looking to be laundered.
Such whisperings have not stopped other investors from coming. Condos priced at a total of $5.7 billion are on the market in a nation with a $16.5 billion economy. The expansion of the Panama Canal, hopes for big energy investments and happy days in the banking industry all point to rapid economic growth.
In the first five months of this year, Panamanian banks reported profits of $444.1 million, up 19.4 percent from the same period in 2006. The banks say credit is expanding 15 percent a month.
Mr. McBride of Prima Panama said the average Panama City condo is selling for more than the average single-family home in the United States. This doesn't hurt the luxury market so much, but it may make a difference for North Americans hoping to stretch their nest eggs by retiring abroad.
"Two or three years ago, the price of a luxury condo was $120 a square foot. Now it's $250 to $300 a square foot," Mr. McBride said.
It sounds like the party's coming to an end.
Developers Are Evil
The Devil’s Work
International Living Postcards--Saturday Edition
http://www.internationalliving.com
Saturday, Aug. 4, 2007
Dear International Living Reader,
Real estate developers are evil people. They turn a profit at the expense of destroying the environment. They create blight on the landscape of naturally beautiful places. And they exploit the local people.
So accused one attendee at the Agora Wealth Conference in Vancouver last week. After my presentation, out in the hall, he walked over to me while I was speaking with a friend at the conference to promote his current property development in Central America. The attendee came at us with guns blazing, insisting that a place (anyplace…but, in this case, the particular stretch of coast in the particular country where my friend is developing a residential community for expats) should be left in its natural state so he could enjoy it.
“Oh, have you been to this country?” my friend asked.
“No,” replied the attendee.
“But you have plans to visit?”
“No.”
The guy just felt, it seemed, that, although he’d never been to the place and had no plans ever to go there, it should be left alone so that should he ever, someday, decide to visit, he could enjoy it in its “natural state.”
“In fact,” my developer friend explained, “most land being developed along the coasts of Central America hasn’t been ‘natural landscapes’ for hundreds of years. It has been farms and ranches…banana plantations and watermelon farms…cow pastures and shrimp farms. Many of the ranches have been abandoned. Developing the land actually improves the landscape in many cases.
“We’re not talking about clear-cutting primary-growth forest to make way for factories,” my friend continued. “Most coastal developments in Central America are environmentally conscience private communities. In many cases, the ‘developed’ land boasts more trees, for example, than the land did when it was used for farming. And instead of covering the land with fertilizer, we’re putting in eco-friendly septic systems.”
My friend went on:
“Furthermore, property development brings investment, employment, and opportunity to otherwise typically poor and under-developed regions of these countries. We’re not raping and pillaging or exploiting and taking advantage of uneducated campesinos…we’re creating jobs for them. Typically in these areas, campesinos either try to eke out livings farming their own small parcels or have to leave home and travel to the nearest city or, even, in some cases, to another country altogether to find work. Property developments offer employment in their own backyards, which allows them to stay with their families.”
People from more developed nations often arrive in Third World countries and impose their First-World expectations on what they find. Yes, some people in these places are truly poor--that is, they don’t have enough to eat each day. But, mostly, they’re “poor” according to our ideas of rich. In fact, most of the people living in the countrysides of Central America aren’t starving. They have electricity, water, TVs…
Then, along come the devil developers, creating jobs and income, increasing local expectations. Now, in addition to TVs, the local population, earning good and regular money working for the Big Bad Gringo, can afford bicycles for transportation, new clothes and toys for their kids, uniforms so they’re children can attend school, new appliances for their wives...
Property development is part of the natural progression of civilization. Unless the world population starts to decrease (which is unlikely), the market for new homes is going to continue to increase along with it
New homes…new jobs…
The devil’s work.
Lief Simon
For International Living
International Living Postcards--Saturday Edition
http://www.internationalliving.com
Saturday, Aug. 4, 2007
Dear International Living Reader,
Real estate developers are evil people. They turn a profit at the expense of destroying the environment. They create blight on the landscape of naturally beautiful places. And they exploit the local people.
So accused one attendee at the Agora Wealth Conference in Vancouver last week. After my presentation, out in the hall, he walked over to me while I was speaking with a friend at the conference to promote his current property development in Central America. The attendee came at us with guns blazing, insisting that a place (anyplace…but, in this case, the particular stretch of coast in the particular country where my friend is developing a residential community for expats) should be left in its natural state so he could enjoy it.
“Oh, have you been to this country?” my friend asked.
“No,” replied the attendee.
“But you have plans to visit?”
“No.”
The guy just felt, it seemed, that, although he’d never been to the place and had no plans ever to go there, it should be left alone so that should he ever, someday, decide to visit, he could enjoy it in its “natural state.”
“In fact,” my developer friend explained, “most land being developed along the coasts of Central America hasn’t been ‘natural landscapes’ for hundreds of years. It has been farms and ranches…banana plantations and watermelon farms…cow pastures and shrimp farms. Many of the ranches have been abandoned. Developing the land actually improves the landscape in many cases.
“We’re not talking about clear-cutting primary-growth forest to make way for factories,” my friend continued. “Most coastal developments in Central America are environmentally conscience private communities. In many cases, the ‘developed’ land boasts more trees, for example, than the land did when it was used for farming. And instead of covering the land with fertilizer, we’re putting in eco-friendly septic systems.”
My friend went on:
“Furthermore, property development brings investment, employment, and opportunity to otherwise typically poor and under-developed regions of these countries. We’re not raping and pillaging or exploiting and taking advantage of uneducated campesinos…we’re creating jobs for them. Typically in these areas, campesinos either try to eke out livings farming their own small parcels or have to leave home and travel to the nearest city or, even, in some cases, to another country altogether to find work. Property developments offer employment in their own backyards, which allows them to stay with their families.”
People from more developed nations often arrive in Third World countries and impose their First-World expectations on what they find. Yes, some people in these places are truly poor--that is, they don’t have enough to eat each day. But, mostly, they’re “poor” according to our ideas of rich. In fact, most of the people living in the countrysides of Central America aren’t starving. They have electricity, water, TVs…
Then, along come the devil developers, creating jobs and income, increasing local expectations. Now, in addition to TVs, the local population, earning good and regular money working for the Big Bad Gringo, can afford bicycles for transportation, new clothes and toys for their kids, uniforms so they’re children can attend school, new appliances for their wives...
Property development is part of the natural progression of civilization. Unless the world population starts to decrease (which is unlikely), the market for new homes is going to continue to increase along with it
New homes…new jobs…
The devil’s work.
Lief Simon
For International Living
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