jarango

A Week of Firsts

We’re celebrating some interesting “firsts” this week! For one thing, the Internet turned 35. I’m sure that many of us wouldn’t recognize it as such if we were to board a time machine back to those formative years; before the networking effect kicked in it was just a couple of large remote computers connected to each other.

Another, more locally relevant, first: on Monday I had the privilege of attending the launch of Panama’s first Internet2 link. This event marked the completion of a multi-year project led by Panama’s Science and Technology Secretariat (SENACYT) with the participation of our major universities and the private sector. Hopefully this will usher in better ties with educational and research institutions abroad.

And yet another—and unrelated—first: today is the inauguration of Panama’s new president. Presidential terms in Panama last for 5 years, and presidents cannot be reelected. Although I spent most of the past 5 years living abroad, I know from friends, family, colleagues, customers, and anyone willing to discuss the subject, that the outgoing administration has been disastrous—in every sense of the word.

Most people I’ve asked about the new administration seem to be cautiously optimistic. I’m hoping there’s reason for optimism: so many things have been so badly mismanaged for the past 5 years and the fixes are fairly obvious (and urgent). Unfortunately, there is only so much that can be done here; our economy is extremely dependent on the US’s. Obviously, we are all very concerned with the upcoming elections there.

As it tends to happen here, the new president gave the day off to celebrate his inauguration—not the most encouraging way to start work for an administration that needs to work their butts off to help us out of the mess their predecessors left us in.

September 1, 2004 | Archived in Random Notes, Technology