links for 2006-10-31
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Does language improve the usability of things?
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I’m so sorry I missed this…
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Turns the Treo into a GPS navigation system (a la Neverlost).
Archive | October, 2006
Goodbye Movable Type
Today I switched jarango.com over to WordPress. This site had been using Movable Type since 2002; in those days I’d been happy enough with MT to make a donation to Ben and Mena Trott (before they became Six Apart). When MT became a commercial product, I stuck with it out of loyalty to the platform. However, I’ve never been happy with the way MT handles comments. Also, while having the site rendered as static files had been a plus at the beginning, site growth had made refreshes very slow at this point.
The last straw came last weekend. After having spent considerable time upgrading to the most recent version of MT—in hopes of re-enabling site comments—and liveblogging the Panama Canal Expansion referendum, I found out that the Typekey authentication was now not accepting comments on the site at all. I’m fed up with MT at this point, and not willing to put any more time into it.
So now, WordPress. The move has been relatively painless; Dreamhost makes installation absurdly easy. However, there may be breakage in the site content… if you find anything screwed up, please let me know. (I know the archives aren’t working well with Firefox… gonna fix this over the weekend, when I don’t have a deluge of emails to answer. Fixed!) The site’s theme is adapted from one Jorge Yau and I developed for BootStudio’s Spanish-language blog (this means only one codebase to maintain).
Downside: I now run the risk of fiddling away countless hours playing with WordPress’ myriad plugins.
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Some thoughts on the Panama Canal expansion project
I’m very proud of my country tonight. Once again, we have proven capable of taking a major national decision via democratic vote, peacefully and in a very organized manner.
I’ve always thought the phrase “Panama Canal” is a bit of a misnomer. It was US capital, know-how, engineering, equipment, and leadership that built the Canal. (Perhaps a more fitting name would be “The US Canal through Panama”.) As a matter of fact, Panama owes its independence to the fact that Colombia (of which Panama was a province) was hesitant to allow the Americans to build the Canal.
However, the generation of Panamanians that preceded my own fought to have the US turn over the Canal to Panama, and in 1977 the Torrijos-Carter treaties set in motion the transference of the Canal to Panamanian control. The official transference happened on December 31, 1999, at which time Panama took over control and operation of the waterway.
The Canal expansion project will bring many benefits—primarily social and economic—to Panama. However, perhaps the most important benefit is that this project will give us the opportunity to mature as a country. The expansion is a huge undertaking, and its effect will have an important impact on world trade. A large spotlight will be shone over the next few years on Panama; we can now prove to the world that we are capable of such an undertaking in an organized, transparent (a concern, given our government’s track record at undertaking large-scale, cash-rich projects such as this one) and efficient manner.
And, done correctly, the project will give us the opportunity to make this truly Panama’s Canal: cared for and improved by a Panamanian administration.
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Referendum on the Expansion of the Panama Canal
Panamanians have been voting today on whether or not to expand the Panama Canal. This would be the first such expansion in the Canal’s history, and would allow larger ships to go through the waterway.
Voting has been very peaceful and efficient. Most people I saw in polling centers this morning seemed to be supporting the expansion. However, turnout seems to be very low thus far. Perhaps the expansion of the Canal is an issue that doesn’t interest most of the population; while the Canal is one of Panama’s primary resources, I suspect many people find it a somewhat abstract problem. (40% of the population here lives in poverty… voting on a US$ 5.25 billion project may be a bit of a stretch.)
In any case, I’ll be blogging today from the Atlapa Convention Center, where the unofficial (and later, official) results will be announced. So barring any issues that may call me away from my blogging post (or any wireless access issues), I plan to post the results here, live.
4:00 PM – Voting is now supposed to be closed. We are waiting for the magistrates to occupy their posts.
4:12 PM – The National Anthem is playing. The magistrates are on stage.
4:19 PM – Magistrate Valdés is announcing that the unofficial results announcement system will be opened at 4:30 PM. Results will be announced as polling centers are tallied. The magistrate is saying that voting seems to be light.
4:29 PM – Magistrate Valdés: the system is about to be opened. We are waiting to see what the first polling center to be tallied will be.
4:31 PM – First results are in. “Yes” is ahead. Voting is light, so results will be tallied faster.
4:37 PM – “Yes” is ahead everywhere, except for Colón province. This is interesting; Colón is one of the terminal points of the Panama Canal. Colón is also the province with the highest turnout yet.
4:42 PM – “Yes” is now ahead everywhere, although in some provinces it’s close (Colón and the Ngobe Buglé territory).
4:52 PM – 5% of the votes have been tallied thus far. “Yes” is ahead, 80.14% to 19.86%.
4:58 PM – Turnout nationwide is less than 40% thus far. Magistrate Valdés mentioned when tallying started that the last referendum held in Panama (1998) had a voter turnout rate of over 60%. However, the issue being voted on at that time was much more politically charged (altering the Constitution to allow the then president to run for reelection).
5:03 PM – 10% of the votes have now been tallied. “Yes” is ahead, 79.59% to 20.45%
5:38 PM – 32% of votes have been tallied. Data has been pretty consistent for some time now: 80% “Yes”, 20% “No”, with 40% voter turnout.
6:05 PM – 51% of votes have been tallied. Data is now 79% “Yes”, 21% “No”. The trend now seems irreversible.
6:15 PM – Magistrates are back on stage. Seems like they’re about to make an announcement.
6:25 PM – Magistrate Valdés is on the phone with President Torrijos. The election is called unofficially: the Panama Canal will be expanded. The magistrate is now doing a post-mortem: data from this year’s referendum has been tallied much faster than in the 1998 referendum. This may be in part because of the fact that turnout is lower, but I suspect that major improvements in Panama’s telecommunications infrastructure may have had an important effect.
This wraps up my coverage of the 2006 referendum.
