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San
José, Costa Rica, Monday, Jan. 13, 2014, Vol. 14, No. 8
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 Ministerio de Gobernación,
Policía y Seguridad
Pública
This is like one of those clown
cars in the circus where performers keep getting out. In this case, it
was beer and alcohol that police confiscated near Golfito.Rice protected for another year from forces of free market By
the A.M. Costa Rica staff
The government has waffled again on freeing the price of rice. The minister de Agricultura y Ganadería and the minister of Economía, Industria y Comercio announced Friday that they had delayed the decree that would cause rice to be subject to market conditions. The rice producers had promised protests in several parts of the country today. The original decree would have ended price controls on the food staple March 1. The government already agreed to delay this for six months. Now the proposed date is March 1, 2015. Mayi Antillón Guerrero, the economics minister, has shown a strong free market tendency during her tenure. Officials note that higher prices for the growers means higher prices for consumer. Rice growers and their Corporación Arrocera Nacional are not happy with the removal of price controls because Costa Rican rice has been more expensive than foreign imports. The original decree noted that the Ministerio de Economía, Industria y Comercio sought help from the Instituto de Investigaciones en Ciencias Económicas at the Universidad de Costa Rica. The institute report said that consumers have paid higher prices due to the government support and that there is no economic or social argument to justify the current system. In addition, the report said, the price control has not resulted in an increase in productivity by rice farmers because the level of cultivation has declined over the last 20 years. Rice growers said that the removal of the price controls would jeopardize the basic food supply of Costa Ricans. Johnny Araya, the presidential candidate for the Partido Liberación Nacional, has said that Ms. Antillón, Gloria Abrahams, minister of Agricultura y Gandería, and Anabel González, the minister of Comercio Exterior, would have no role in his government. Rice growers also were peeved at imports into the southern zone. They sought trade restrictions. However, President Laura Chinchilla was reported to have denied this request, which would come up against various trade treaties. The growers also are seeking a reduction in the premium for crop insurance for policies issued by the Instituto Nacional de Seguros. Government officials said they would come up with a revised proposal this week. Country expresses sympathies for death of Ariel Sharon By
the A.M. Costa Rica staff
and wire service reports The country has expressed its deepest sympathies for the death of former Israeli prime minister Ariel Sharon. The sentiment was contained in a statement released by the Ministerio de Relaciones Exteriores y Culto. Sharon died Saturday at the age of 85. He had spent the past eight years in a coma following a stroke. The funeral service today at the country's parliament will be followed by a private funeral at Sharon's ranch in the Negev desert in southern Israel. Sunday, thousands of Israelis filed past the coffin of the former prime minister as he lay in state at the Knesset, Israel's parliament. Our reader's opinion
Government makes livingdifficult for expats here Dear A.M. Costa Rica: Re Government shortsightedness. I am sorry but I must agree with Bob Stone. I have a house here. But I am only here for six months at a time. Yes it is just great. But for anybody who would sell their house and move to Costa Rica must be crazy. I don't know why people say it is cheap to live here. Prices just keep going up and up. If you want to live here, you need money because for just about everything it is the same price as Canada or the U.S. And more. I have heard more and more from real estate agents this year telling me people do not want to buy, only rent because the government makes it so hard and complicated. In Canada I don't think I have talked to my lawyer for 10 years. I have been here for two months. I have called my lawyer about 10 times for one thing or another. More to the point: If the government doesn't make it easier, they will wake up one day and say where have all the people gone, and then it will be too late. This 90-day visa is crazy. You must leave the country. I own property here. I have money invested here. I would not try to become a resident here because it is far too complicated. Even my lawyer said don't do it. I have two friends here who have applied, and now they tell me it's too expensive. So where people think it is so great and easy to live here, they need to think again. Maybe I should start up a seminar for people who want to think about buying and living here because I think I could talk anybody out of it in five minutes. I feel very sorry for the every day people here who get paid so little for so much work. And pay U.S. prices. I don't know how they do it. And I am afraid to say I tell everybody the law is just not on your side, so don't get into trouble. I have just sent that article to a friend of mine in Canada. His reply hit the point exactly. He left here because he could not cope any more. The government needs to realize they don't have gold, oil, diamonds, minerals or manufacturing, only tourists and people who buy houses and keep these small coastal towns alive. We hire gardeners, pool people, cleaning ladies, and spend our money in the restaurants and bars and local shops. Without us and the tourists I don't know where Costa Rica would be. I have five friends here who want to sell and just leave. They are happy to take a loss on their property. I don't need to sell, but I have put my house up for sale as well. It is just too much hard work to be here. David Fullman
Carrillo
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| What we published this week: | Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday | Friday | Earlier |
| The contents of this page and this Web site are copyrighted by A.M. Costa Rica.com Ltda. 2014 and may not be reproduced anywhere without permission. Abstracts and fair use are permitted. Check HERE for details | ||||||
A.M. Costa Rica Third News Page |
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| San José, Costa Rica, Monday, Jan. 13, 2014, Vol. 14, No. 8 | |
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This is a Brazilian wandering spider (Phoneutria nigriventer), a Costa Rican resident that is considered the most poisonous spider in the world. The adult spider body can be up to two inches long with a leg span of five inches. Mr. Beedle did not see the spider so if it was one of these it probably was a smaller juvenile. |
 Wikimedia Commons photo
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| Not every encounter with nature is a
pleasant experience |
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By
Ken Beedle*
Special to A.M. Costa Rica Only God has a tally of how many spiders make their home in Costa Rica. All are poisonous to one degree or another. My first experience was with a black widow (or so they thought) on a photo shoot in a coffee field in Cachi. More interested in the photo than where I was going, I backed into her. Realizing that I had been bitten, I finished the photos I needed and drove to Cartago for anti-venom. The bite area was swollen and turning color. The injection did its magic, but the skin through the area of the bite and the course of the venom eventually turned black, peeled away then came back healthy. On Saturday, Dec. 21, we were preparing to leave for our home near the Playa Naranjo ferry. I was working next to our small koi pond in Cartago. This area is a protected area between the house and the rancho, about four square meters. The electrical pump is near a plant. The spider was either on a plant or next to the electrical outlet. I never saw the thing but immediately felt it. Initially it was not painful. When I looked with my reading glasses the magnified lenses could not see it. I felt it though. The first finger began swelling, but I felt no pain. It increased in size 15 percent, then the hand began to swell as well. That I did not say anything at first was my first mistake. I thought a good cleaning and hydrogen peroxide would make it go away. The right hand increased in size, shape and the pain. From mid-arm to finger tips it felt like some someone was stabbing me needles. My wife, Silvia, took me to emergency at Hospital Max Peralta in Cartago. After one buttock shot plus a week supply of steroids four times per day from the pharmacy, we were on our way in two and a half hours. I was amazed. I thought that would take care of it. I underestimated this critter. This was day one… Before leaving, we had a birthday party to attend. With the pain building like a nuclear fusion, I was becoming a caged, nasty animal with long fangs, red eyes and crazed disposition, but we had a family party that was a MUST ATTEND. It was a wonderful tribute to a man’s 70th, but I was not having a good time. The pain, rather than subsiding, was increasing. Neither the finger nor the hand could be touched. If someone so much as brushed it with a dress fabric, the contact sent me into pain spasms that lasted longer than a minute. About 5:30, I asked if we could go, but Silvia wanted to stay a little longer. At 6 p.m., the mariachis had not arrived nor had the cake been cut. To leave would have been rude. It was a great party with family and friends. Tylenol 3 with codeine was not making a dent. One week later, the pain was intense and occasionally extreme when I bumped it. The finger could not be touched. At times, sharp shooting pains would almost freeze hand movement. From the first to second joints were as red as Rudolph’s nose. |
The first joint was bent like a
fishing hook and could not be straightened. I religiously took my
pills but nothing was working. Silvia had a planned family
meeting in Condovac, so I would be on my own while my wife joined her
sisters. On Sunday Jan. 5, after 15 days, I had experienced enough pain from the spider that I drove 26 kilometers to Jicaral for treatment at the clinic. It was a pleasant, modern facility with no waiting line. The first joint was still radish red and badly swollen. When the nurse took hold of it, I literally jumped out my seat. The nurse was very pleasant as she told me to sit and returned with a needle and syringe. As if I did not understand Spanish, she said this will hurt. She could have been speaking Chinese. I knew what was coming. I started singing when she put the needle into the finger. First, “Feliz Navidad” then “We wish you a Merry Christmas”. She was laughing, squeezing my finger while I was seeing a gusher of blood arching into a bowl. I sang louder. When it was over they gave me a soaking solution to drain the poison and pills. Just what I wanted, more pills. She told me to soak it 15 minutes every six hours. I soaked it 20 for good measure. I could feel the solution working. It drew like a leech but, at first, I did not know from where. Three days later, the first digit that the spider tried to destroy, was still there but undergoing change. It has been 20 days since it sank its fangs in me and other than the nurse opening the wound to drain the accumulated blood, nothing much had happened. Yesterday, after using the draining solution, a hole had opened. Blood and puss began to ooze from the bite area. The reason, I suppose, that the pain has been intense is the movement has covered a distance of ¾ inch. The body was pushing the poison across the finger from right to left and out the hole. What caught me by surprise was that I could see the stream of poison when I wiped the wound because it was black like a two millimeter hair. It was very obvious. Following the opening there was an immediate reduction of pressure/pain. On the fifth day (19 days after the bite), the hole continues to leak fluid. It appears that a second hole may open by the cuticle and fingernail. When I apply pressure the bone between the first and second joint crack like they were broken. Cartilage damage? The finger is still bent and twisted from straight to right about two degrees then left again. The swelling and redness has receded some. I will never again go without gloves in the Cartago gardens. Here, on the Nicoya peninsula, we have scorpions like house pets. I discovered a one-foot snake skin this morning next to our car. With spiders everywhere, when working in obvious areas where it is possible they exist, the best advice is to wear gloves. I forgot and learned the hard way that even a domesticated home is a nesting ground for an unwanted critter. * Mr. Beedle is a Cartago resident |
| Early morning sweep nets a host of sharp
objects and one gun |
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By
the A.M. Costa Rica staff
Police officers delivered wake-up calls to residents of 38 city hotels starting at 4 a.m. Sunday. They confiscated knives, other sharp objects and even one pistol. The Fuerza Pública officers said they were targeting those places where potential street robbers hole up. This is a typical police operation that has reduced the number of robberies on the city streets. In all 10 persons were detained, including two in Alajuelita where they were caught in the act of robbing a pedestrian, said the security ministry. Some of the confiscated items were found on individuals who were encountered on the streets. Police began their efforts in the center of the capital at midnight and eventually checked 1,035 persons, 90 vehicles, 25 motorcycles as well as the hotels. Some of the hotels really are long-term rooming houses that are clustered in some of the more crime-ridden parts of the city. |
 Ministerio de Gobernación,
Policía y Seguridad Pública
Crooks have a lot of sharp
objects to obtain compliance from victims, but some of these were
carried for self-protection. |
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| You need to see Costa Rican tourism information HERE! |
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| What we published this week: | Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday | Friday | Earlier |
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| A.M. Costa Rica's Fourth News page | |||||
| San José, Costa Rica, Monday, Jan. 13, 2014, Vol. 14, No. 8 | |||||
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| Experiment results seem to show that caffeine enhances
memory retention |
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By
the Johns Hopkins University news service
Whether it's a mug full of fresh-brewed coffee, a cup of hot tea, or a can of soda, consuming caffeine is the energy boost of choice for millions who want to wake up or stay up. Now, researchers at the Johns Hopkins University have found another use for the popular stimulant: memory enhancer. Michael Yassa, an assistant professor of psychological and brain sciences at Johns Hopkins, and his team of scientists found that caffeine has a positive effect on long-term memory. Their research, published by the journal Nature Neuroscience, shows that caffeine enhances certain memories at least up to 24 hours after it is consumed. "We've always known that caffeine has cognitive-enhancing effects, but its particular effects on strengthening memories and making them resistant to forgetting has never been examined in detail in humans," said Yassa, senior author of the paper. "We report for the first time a specific effect of caffeine on reducing forgetting over 24 hours." The Johns Hopkins researchers conducted a double-blind trial in which participants who did not regularly eat or drink caffeinated products received either a placebo or a 200-milligram caffeine tablet five minutes after studying a series of images. Salivary samples were taken from the participants before they took the tablets to measure their caffeine levels. Samples were taken again one, three, and 24 hours afterwards. The next day, both groups were tested on their ability to recognize images from the previous day's study session. On the test, some of the visuals were the same as those from the day before, some were new additions, and some were similar but not the same. More members of the caffeine group were able to correctly identify the new images as similar to previously viewed images rather than erroneously citing them as the same. |
The brain's ability to recognize
the difference between two similar but
not identical items, called pattern separation, reflects a deeper level
of memory retention, the researchers said. "If we used a standard recognition memory task without these tricky similar items, we would have found no effect of caffeine," Yassa said. "However, using these items requires the brain to make a more difficult discrimination — what we call pattern separation, which seems to be the process that is enhanced by caffeine in our case." The memory center in the human brain is the hippocampus, a seahorse-shaped area in the medial temporal lobe of the brain. The hippocampus is the switchbox for all short- and long-term memories. Most research done on memory — the effects of concussions in athletes, of war-related head injuries, and of dementia in the aging population — focuses on this area of the brain. Until now, caffeine's effects on long-term memory had not been examined in detail. Of the few studies done, the general consensus was that caffeine has little or no effect on long-term memory retention. The research is different from prior experiments because the subjects took the caffeine tablets only after they had viewed and attempted to memorize the images. "Almost all prior studies administered caffeine before the study session, so if there is an enhancement, it's not clear if it's due to caffeine's effects on attention, vigilance, focus, or other factors," Yassa said. "By administering caffeine after the experiment, we rule out all of these effects and make sure that if there is an enhancement, it's due to memory and nothing else." According to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, 90 percent of people worldwide consume caffeine in one form or another. In the United States, 80 percent of adults consume caffeine every day. The average adult has an intake of about 200 milligrams — the same amount used in the Yassa study — or roughly one cup of strong coffee per day. |
Here's reasonable medical care
Costa Rica's world class medical specialists are at your command. Get the top care for much less than U.S. prices. It is really a great way to spend a vacation. See our list of recommended professionals HERE!amcr-prom
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| What we published this week: | Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday | Friday | Earlier |
| The contents of this page and this Web site are copyrighted by A.M. Costa Rica.com Ltda. 2014 and may not be reproduced anywhere without permission. Abstracts and fair use are permitted. Check HERE for details | ||||||
| A.M. Costa Rica's Fifth news page |
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| San José, Costa Rica, Monday, Jan. 13, 2014, Vol. 14, No. 8 | |||||
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 Pennsylvania State University/Tim
Dawson/Flickr
An Agathis tree on the Kitekite
Falls track in the Waitakere Ranges Regional Park, Auckland, New
Zealand.Patagonia evergreen flourished
before continents separated By
the Pennsylvania State University news service
Today in Australia they call it Kauri, in Asia they call it Dammar, and in South America it does not exist at all unless planted there. However, 52 million years ago the giant coniferous evergreen tree known to botanists as Agathis thrived in the Patagonian region of Argentina, according to an international team of paleobotanists who have found numerous fossilized remains there. "These spectacular fossils reveal that Agathis is old and had a huge range that no one knew about -- from Australia to South America across Antarctica," said Peter Wilf, professor of geosciences at the Pennsylvania State University Agathis trees currently grow thousands of miles from Argentina, ranging from Sumatra to New Zealand. They often prefer mountain rain forests, where it is wet and warm year-round. They can grow as tall as 200 feet, but are usually between 130 and 150 feet at maturity. Economically, they are prized and heavily cut for their soft, workable wood. In the past, the Agathis resin, known as manila copal, was exploited for linoleum and varnishes, but synthetics replaced most of that use. The researchers report in the current issue of American Journal of Botany that "Agathis was a dominant, keystone element of the Patagonian Eocene floras, alongside numerous other plant taxa that still associate with it in Australasia and Southeast Asia." "There is a fossil record of Agathis in Australia and New Zealand, where it still lives," said Wilf. "However, Agathis fossils have never been found anywhere else until now, and they have never been as complete as these." Wilf and his colleagues work at two sites in Patagonia, Argentina: Laguna del Hunco, which dates to the early Eocene at about 52.2 million years ago, and Río Pichileufú, dating to about 47.7 million years ago. "These sites were discovered in the 1920s and 1930s, but the remoteness of the locations and the hardness of the rock are why they hadn't been investigated in detail before we started in 1999," said Wilf. "Now, with modern amenities -- satellite phones for example -- and especially the presence of our partner institution, the Egidio Feruglio Museum, in the same region as the dig sites, recovering these fossils becomes much easier." Agathis grew in Patagonia when South America was part of the remainder of the southern supercontinent of Gondwana, comprised of South America, Antarctica and Australia. Much earlier, India, Madagascar, New Zealand and Africa separated and moved north, but around the time of these fossils, South America was just beginning to part from Antarctica, which was not ice covered at the time. "Agathis probably existed in all three areas, Australia, Antarctica and South America, at that time," said Wilf. "Climate change in Antarctica, the cold and ice, killed them there, and a change to seasonal dryness in southern South America put an end to them in Patagonia." Subsequently, the trees, which are wind dispersed, moved away from the cooling south, and some left northward-moving Australia for southeast Asia, where they thrive except for human interference, but they no longer grow in cold, often dry, Patagonia. Wilf's team recovered not only leaves, but also numerous branches, pollen cones, seed cones and even a winged seed still attached to the cone. The various species of Agathis are usually identified by their pollen cones, so this is the first time that a fossil Agathis could be directly compared to trees growing today. "We also went to Borneo and studied the most similar living relative of the fossil Agathis, a threatened species there," said Wilf. "We collected DNA samples to better understand the fossil-modern relationship." According to the researchers, the Argentinian fossil Agathis clearly belongs to the same natural group as those living today up to almost 10,000 miles away in the tropical West Pacific. "Agathis is a very dramatic example of survival via huge range shifts, from the far south to the tropics, in response to climate change and land movement over millions of years," said Wilf. Pope announces his selections for more inclusive hierarchy By
the A.M. Costa Rica news services
Pope Francis has made his first appointment of cardinals to advise him in leading the world's one billion Roman Catholics. The pope used his weekly Sunday blessing at the Vatican to announce his selection of 19 cardinals, 16 of whom are eligible to vote for the next leader of the church. Some observers think his selections reflect a desire to make the church's top advisory body more representative of nations beyond Europe and North America. The choices include Leopoldo Jose Brenes Solorzano, Archbishop of Managua, Nicaragua Thousands of Roman Catholics greeted Pope Francis on Sunday, as he appeared at the window of the Apostolic Palace to announce his choices for the new cardinals of the church. "I will name 16 new cardinals who, belonging to 12 different nations from each part of the world, represent the deep ecclesial relationship between the Church of Rome and the other churches scattered around the world," said Francis during the announcement. The 16 cardinals the pope referred to are all under the age of 80, making them eligible to enter a conclave of 122 men who can elect a future pope. He appointed another three cardinals older than 80 to honorary positions. The appointments are Francis' first since he assumed the leadership of the church last March. Philip Pullella, the Vatican correspondent for the Reuters news agency, said it is significant that only four of the new cardinal electors come from inside the Vatican bureaucracy. “This is not surprising because Francis has said that he doesn't want a church made up of career diplomats or career priests or career cardinals, that the church is around the world. So most of these are actually working archbishops who run big dioceses,” said Pullella. Six of the new electors are Europeans, four from Italy, one from Britain and one from Germany. A seventh elector is a Canadian. Europeans and North Americans have long made up more than half of the electors, who sit in a body called the College of Cardinals. Some observers think that is why Pope Francis also chose nine electors from other parts of the world, five from South and Central America, two from Africa, and two from Asia. The nine additional electors include nationals of Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Haiti and Nicaragua, as well as citizens of Burkina Faso, Ivory Coast, South Korea and the Philippines. Vatican correspondent Andrea Gagliarducci of The Catholic News Agency said the pope, who is from Argentina, wants to make the church more universal. "Pope Francis, in creating these new cardinals, is making a College of Cardinals which is . . . more oriented to the peripheries of the church, because he thinks that from the peripheries you can see the church better and so he wants something like that," said Gagliarducci. The new cardinals will be formally installed at a Vatican ceremony on February 22. Cardinal
nominations
By
the A.M. Costa Rica wire services
Here are the nominations by Pope Francis: Vatican * Pietro Parolin, titular archbishop of Acquapendente, secretary of state * Lorenzo Baldisseri, Titular archbishop of Diocleziana, secretary general of the Synod of Bishops * Gerhard Ludwig Mueller, archbishop-bishop emeritus of Regensburg, Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith * Beniamino Stella, titular archbishop of Midila, prefect of the Congregation for the Clergy Europe * Vincent Nichols, archbishop of Westminster, United Kingdom * Loris Francesco Capovilla, titular archbishop of Mesembria, Bulgaria. * Fernando Sebastian Aguilar, C.M.F., archbishop emeritus of Pamplona, Spain. * Gualtiero Bassetti, archbishop of Perugia-Citta della Pieve, Italy Latin America * Leopoldo Jose Brenes Solorzano, archbishop of Managua, Nicaragua * Orani Joao Tempesta, O.Cist., archbishop of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil * Mario Aurelio Poli, archbishop of Buenos Aires, Argentina * Ricardo Ezzati Andrello, S.D.B., archbishop of Santiago del Chile, Chile North America and Caribbean * Gerald Cyprien Lacroix, archbishop of Quebec, Canada * Chibly Langlois, bishop of Les Cayes, Haiti * Kelvin Edward Felix, archbishop emeritus of Castries, Saint Lucia. Africa * Jean-Pierre Kutwa, archbishop of Abidjan, Ivory Coast * Philippe Nakellentuba Ouedraogo, archbishop of Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso Asia * Andrew Yeom Soo Jung, archbishop of Seoul, South Korea * Orlando B. Quevedo, O.M.I., archbishop of Cotabato, Philippines Unemployment benefits focus of Washington discussions By
the A.M. Costa Rica news services
Whether to restart jobless checks for America’s long-term unemployed will remain the focus of Senate debate this week. Benefits for more than a million people expired in December, coinciding with a dramatic slowing of U.S. job creation. Unemployment stands at 6.7 percent with more than a million people no longer receiving unemployment compensation. Protracted aid for the unemployed is counter-productive, according to Sen, John Cornyn, a Republican. “We need to help people not maintain their dependency on a government program in perpetuity, but to liberate them from that dependency, to help them regain their self-respect and sense of dignity by finding work and providing for themselves and their families,” said Cornyn. But jobs remain scarce and many Americans still need assistance, said Sen. Edward Markey, a Democrat. “People who are offered a job will take a job. The jobs are not there. It is not the fault of these families. It is not the fault of these job-seekers. We should not be punishing them,” said Markey. Democrats initially proposed an emergency three-month extension of jobless benefits. Republicans demanded federal spending cuts to off-set the costs. Sen. Jeff Sessions, another Republican, said benefits cannot be extended on borrowed funds. “The unemployment bill before us today makes no attempt whatsoever to find spending reductions in other areas of this monstrosity of a government, but borrows every penny of it,” said Sessions. Senate Democrats responded with a plan that does not increase the deficit, but extends jobless benefits for nearly a year. Republicans sought to amend the bill, and complained when majority Democrats blocked them. Minority Leader Mitch McConnell called for greater compromise. “If Democrats truly want to get anything done this year, they are going to have to learn how to work with us,” said McConnell. Sen. Jack Reed, a Democrat, says Republicans are wasting precious time while Americans suffer economic hardship. “Every week, 70,000 more lose their support. We are going to see this number grow and grow and grow while we talk and talk and talk,” said Reed. The bill needs the backing of at least five Republicans to advance to a final vote. Late last week, Majority Leader Harry Reid promised debate on some amendments, but accused Republicans of a double-standard on jobless benefits. “George W. Bush extended emergency unemployment benefits five times, he noted, and no Republican objected. The bill would need to pass the Senate and the Republican-led House to become law. IBM embraces cloud computer with $1 billion investment By
the A.M. Costa Rica news services
U.S.-based computer giant IBM says it plans to invest more than $1 billion into a group focused on research and development of cloud-based cognitive applications and services for business. The new Watson Group will be headquartered in New York City's technology hub, near East Village, with more than 2,000 professionals who will design, develop and support the spread of the so-called cognitive computing technology. The new technology is based on artificial intelligence, the combination of powerful computers and software that can analyze information and give answers to complex problems, such as medical diagnoses or financial transactions. IBM says Watson understands the context, asks questions, has reason and uses algorithms to help customers make decisions. It made headlines in February, 2011 when it beat humans on the popular American television quiz show "Jeopardy." IBM's experts will also identify markets for cognitive computing, such as health and financial services, retail, travel and telecommunications. The new system will also be available via the Internet to outside developers with business plans based on cloud computing. Work with its current commercial customers has not generated substantial income for IBM's Watson Group. The new plan and investment, however, indicate the company's belief that cognitive computing technology has a bright and profitable future. Private industry entering the realm of space flights By
the A.M. Costa Rica news services
Once the purview of cash-rich governments, launching rockets into space has become increasingly commonplace as demand for communications satellites and space-based imaging services grow. Today, space is a $200 billion a year industry, an example of how partnerships between government and the private sector are helping to lower costs — and in the process expand understanding of the world. As the year begins the business of space looks bright — booming, in fact — for U.S.-based Orbital Sciences Corp., which launched its Antares rocket Thursday to deliver the first of eight cargo shipments to the International Space Station. Orbital Sciences is just one of two American firms hired by NASA to deliver supplies to the manned space research outpost orbiting 400 kilometers above earth. Commercial rocket pioneer Arianespace, which launched its first satellite three decades ago, says 2014 has all the makings of a record year. Clayton Mowry, who heads the U.S. arm of the private European space consortium, describes the growth as virtually exponential. “Last year we launched eight times, and we’re looking to actually break our record of 10 launches this year," said Mowry. "We’re hoping, right now, our planning is to conduct 13 launches this year." Mowry says the increased frequency of rocket launches is driven in part by rising demand for space-based technologies, from ultra-high definition broadcasts to satellite broadband. And yet, despite the need for more commercial satellites, the end of NASA’s space shuttle program in 2011 has had a dampening effect in the space community. Janice Starzyk at International Launch Services chairs educational initiatives at the Washington Space Business Roundtable. “The shuttle program shutting down was a huge, huge set of layoffs in the industry," said Starzyk. But even as NASA scales back, other countries are rushing to fill the void. In December, China became the third country to land a spacecraft on the moon, while India launched its first communications satellite earlier this month. In Denmark, a pair of space enthusiasts are trying to prove space flight can be affordable. Using open source designs and public donations, Kristian Von Bengtson, co-founder of Copenhagen Suborbitals, hopes to fulfill a childhood dream of launching a homemade rocket 100 kilometers into space. "Everybody believes that space flight, manned space flight, can only be done with billions of dollars and it has to be government financed," said Von Bengtson. "I hope we can show that you can do it on a shoestring budget. You can pretty much do it yourself." Von Bengtson's goal is to launch a manned rocket into space by 2020. But according to Starzyk, Space Business Roundtable's goal in 2014 is to encourage more students to consider careers in space. "Actually, it's a major problem in most countries of getting young people interested in studying engineering, specifically aerospace engineering," she said. Starzyk says as demand for rocket launches grow, so will demand for fresh talent. Participation in the organization's space academy program has soared over the last three years, proving once again that when it comes to space, the sky is the limit. Los Angeles brewery typical of more localized craft beer By the A.M. Costa Rica news services
The national trend toward buying local has expanded beyond fruits and vegetables and meat to the beverage portion of the meal. Many American beer lovers are turning to small local breweries that produce distinctive brews known as craft beers. A commuter train rumbles by, just meters from Golden Road Brewing, a brewery and pub in an industrial section of Los Angeles. It was founded two years ago in buildings that once housed a railway switching depot. Inside, the owners and brewers hold a weekly tasting meeting. Co-owner Meg Gill says this week's gathering is important. “This is our first taste of a lot of the barrel-aged beers that we’ve been working anywhere from six months to two years on," said Ms. Gill. Each brew has a distinctive balance of flavors. Co-owner Tony Yanow varies the mix of malt and hops for every type of beer, sometimes flavoring the brews with coffee or citrus. It's a multistage process that starts with mashing grain, and straining and boiling the resulting liquid, as Yanow points out over huge German-made vats. “Basically, you've taken a liquid from here, and the liquid has almost no solid in it at all," said Yanow. Then the brewers add yeast, and the mixture begins to ferment. Yanow says craft beers are a small part of the market, but demand is growing. “It's in a total boom phase, and the number of different types of beers, the number of beer bars, the number of people that drink beer, it just seems to be expanding in every direction," he said. He says that as beer drinkers develop their palates, beer makers are coming up with new products. People are really pushing the boundaries right now and finding new and interesting ways to experiment with beer and push the limits of what beer actually is, " said Yanow. At Golden Road Brewing, there are seasonal beers and brews that promote causes, like environmental cleanup on the Santa Monica Bay. Yanow says that making craft beers is an art and science, and is about connecting with the local community. Hundreds of small, independent craft breweries in the United States are trying to meet the demand for traditional beers and ales with a touch of something different. |
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| San José, Costa Rica, Monday, Jan. 13, 2014, Vol. 14, No. 8 | |||||||||
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Yankee star says
he'll appeal season suspension in court By
the A.M. Costa Rica wire services
A U.S. arbitrator has ruled that Major League Baseball star Alex Rodriguez has been suspended for the entire 2014 season and playoffs for alleged use of performance-enhancing drugs. The arbitrator Saturday upheld about 75 percent of the 211-game suspension handed down by Major League Baseball in August of last year. Rodriguez appealed that suspension and continued to play for his team, the New York Yankees, while the appeal was being considered. Saturday, the 38-year-old Rodriguez vowed to appeal the 2014 ban to a U.S. federal court. The suspension will cost him $25 million. The sport's highest-paid player said he has never used performance-enhancing substances as alleged by Major League Baseball. Rodriguez admitted that early in his career he used performance-enhancing drugs. He has hit 654 home runs, 108 short of all-time leader Barry Bonds, who was also suspected of using steroids. In its decision last year, the league suspended Rodriguez and 12 other players for their links to a now-closed U.S.-based clinic that allegedly supplied them with banned substances. The other 12 suspended all agreed to 50-game suspensions that began immediately. The North American professional baseball season is 162 games. Rodman says he's sorry for not helping missionary By
the A.M. Costa Rica wire services
Former U.S. basketball star Dennis Rodman and a squad of retired NBA players have arrived in Beijing after a trip to North Korea to play an exhibition game last Wednesday for the birthday of leader Kim Jong Un. Rodman told reporters at the Beijing airport on Monday that he was sorry he could not do anything to help free imprisoned American missionary Kenneth Bae. Bae was sentenced by the North to 15 years of hard labor on a conviction of trying to overthrow the government. Rodman and the team visited the isolated and impoverished country as part of a so-called basketball diplomacy trip that has been widely criticized in the U.S. He has defended his trip as an effort to open the door to North Korea. The former NBA All-Star has said it is not his job to bring up politics with the North Korean leader, who he has referred to as a good guy and a friend for life. State Department and White House officials have stressed that Rodman's trip was unhelpful and not sanctioned by the U.S. |
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| From Page 7: New owner makes few changes at Bar Poás By
Michael Krumholtz
of the A.M. Costa Rica staff Pictures from nearly a decade’s worth of old friends and recycled stories adorn the walls at Bar Poás. Even after Larry Wharton bought the expat bar from founder Harry Hart, he decided to honor its
Hart, who has retired to La Fortuna, still drops by about once a week to check in and see some old friends around town. And everyday he can be seen between the tilted picture frames covering the bar, always looking over one of San José’s expat watering holes. |
