STRI weekly seminar program:

Tuesday seminar June 18th, 2013 at the Earl S. Tupper Conference Center
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Announcing the STRI Tuesday afternoon seminar for June 18th, 2013 at 4:00 pm in the Earl S. Tupper auditorium:

Speaker: Thorsten Wiegand and Adreas Huth, Helmholtz Center for Environmental Research

Title: Towards a unified spatial theory of biodiversity

Abstract:  To understand the relative importance of processes and factors that govern the composition and dynamics of species-rich communities we use an approach that differs radically from previous attempts in adopting a spatially explicit perspective towards a Unified Spatial Theory of Biodiversity. We capitalize the tremendous amount of information on spatial patterns buried in fully mapped plots of tropical forests by integrating recent theory on statistical inference for stochastic simulation models with spatial point pattern analysis. We present an introduction into the project, a brief summary of major achievements and one case study for a spatial point pattern analysis.

Upcoming seminars: 

June 25:  Bernard Roitberg, Simon Fraser University

Title to be announced

July 2:  Mark Guiltinan, Penn State University

Exploring the Genome of Theobroma cacao:  Functional Analysis of Key Regulators of the Plant Immune System

July 9:  Sunshine Van Bael, Tulane University & STRI

Leaf traits and host plant-fungal endophyte associations in a tropical forest

Coronado ExPat gatherings

 Coronado ExPat social:
Playacommunity Happy Hour at La Teca

Playacommunity will not be doing a Mixer in June or July, instead, we would like to invite the community to join us at a weekly Happy Hour at La Teca. From 5pm - 8pm there will be 2 for 1 drinks (the white or red sangria is amazing), and a 5 tapas $15 menu. Finally, we will have PRIZE drawings EVERY TUESDAY. The prizes are courtesy of La Teca, and they will be better than the usual bottle of wine we give away. Hope you will join us at La Teca this coming Tuesday and every Tuesday through July.

Korean traditional and classical music at the Balboa Theatro, June 18th.

From ThePanamaNews.com:




ARIRANG RHAPSODY
Korean traditional and classical music
and Korean B-Boy break dancing

June 18 at the Teatro Balboa
sponsored by the Korean Embassy and the Korea Foundation
free tickets from the Korean Embassy
Calle 50, Torre Global Bank, Piso 30, Oficina 02
which is open from 9:00 a.m. until 5:00 p.m

Suspects in beach area home and restaurant robberies arrested

From ThePanamaNews.com:

Suspects in beach area home and restaurant robberies arrested
by Eric Jackson

According to reports by Rob Brown and others, at least four arrests have been made of suspected members of the gang that has staged about a dozen home and restaurant invasion robberies and several more warrants are pending. The police believe that one of those in detention is the gang's leader.

The arrests and renewed community clamor followed the second robbery of the Rancho los Toros hotel and restaurant, in a somewhat isolated part of San Carlos district's El Nance corregimiento. Several of the victims of the second robbery were Boquete residents and they called the hotline of that community's anti-crime group, Alto al Crimen. The group put the private detective who works with them, Martín Ferrara, on the case.

In the first robbery one of the maleantes used a stolen iPhone to take photographs, which were automatically uploaded online. That fact was quickly disclosed to police, but for whatever reason they did not succeed in following that lead. Ferrara did, leading to the arrest in Panama City of the picture taker. That wannabe photographer maleante reportedly turned over and gave information identifying other members of the gang.

Brown, a Canadian resident of Santa Clara, reactivated his Neighbours Helping Neighbours (NHN) organization after the second robbery and established a reward fund to which a number of real estate developers, business owners and residents have contributed. In coordination with the Boquete group and a neighborhood watch organization in Gorgona NHN held a June 6 meeting at Rancho los Toros. A number of police and government officials attended that gathering, at which the arrests and outstanding warrants were announced.

Presuming that the right people were arrested and that the gang members still at large will also be put out of action, this ends a violent rampage that had many beach area residents living in fear. Most probably this gang had nothing to do with the abduction and murder of Coronado resident El Moynan, which appears to be related to the organized criminal rackets. There are also other gangs with different methods of operation that have staged many unarmed burglaries in the area and remain active and at large. It is part of an overall national crime wave that the government minimizes but public opinion polls indicate follows only the cost of living among Panamanians' top concerns.

Masquerade Ball in Panama City June 21, 2013

Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute weekly seminar informacion

Tuesday seminar June 4th, 2013 at the Earl S. Tupper Conference Center

Announcing the STRI Tuesday afternoon seminar for June 4th, 2013 at 4:00 pm in the Earl S. Tupper auditorium:  

Speaker: Adam Berrey, University of Pittsburgh

Title: Organization and Growth among early complex societies in Central Pacific Panama (250 BC – AD 1520)

Upcoming seminars:  

June 11:  Ryan Chisholm, National University of Singapore

Title to be announced

June 18:  Eduardo Velazquez

Title to be announced

June 25:  Mark Guiltinan, Penn State University

Title to be announced

GeoParadise: Ngöbe Tribe Community Project

GeoParadise: Ngöbe Indigenous Community Project.

Using money raised at Tribal Gathering 2013. We are financing and helping in the construction of a foot-path for the children and their school in the Ngöbe Community Rio Oeste Arriba, Bocas Del Toro, Panama. Thanks to Oreba, who held workshops on cultivation and uses of organic cacoa at Tribal Gathering 2013 for organizing this project. We will post more pictures when the work is complete. http://www.facebook.com/Orebachocolate?fref=ts http://www.geoparadise.org/events/tribal-gathering