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A.M. Costa Rica's Second news page |
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José, Costa Rica, Monday, Feb. 2, 2015, Vol. 15, No. 22
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By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
The Banco Central's decision to let the U.S. dollar float against the colon has generated plenty of uncertainty. Olivier Castro, president of the Banco Central, dropped the bombshell, and the Asociación Bancaria Costarricense quickly said in a statement that the route the Banco Central was taking is the correct one and that the central bank would avoid speculative movements. What other steps the central bank will take remains to be seen exactly what the central bank will do. The banking association characterized letting the dollar float was a first step in stemming inflation. The Banco Central prohibited in the middle of last year individuals and companies from bidding on dollars at the daily money market. They restricted that type of transaction just to banks. Last March the dollar was 571 against the colon and the Central bank was pouring in millions to keep it from getting higher. The bank said then that it dropped $19 million in the money market defending the colon. The bank reported in early December that its dollar reserves have been depleted by some $120 million. However, in a statement released over the weekend, the central bank said it had dollar reserves of $7.3 billion. The central bank statement also contended that the dollar was floating already because since Dec.12, 2013, the bank has not had to intervene to keep the dollar within the limits that have been established. However, it said it reserved the right to intervene in the money exchange market to prevent what it called violent fluctuations. The starting rate for today is 530 colons to sell dollars and 542 to buy them. However, these numbers were established before the central bank announcement Saturday. Extortion schemes may be proliferating By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
There is a troubling new development in the proliferation of extortion schemes. There have been several reported to law enforcement and there have been some arrests, including four persons detained last week. However, there is the possibility that some crooks have followed through on their threats and killed a victim. A businessman died in Tibás Saturday afternoon when a gunman on a motorcycle pulled up and shot him six times in the head. The man had been getting repeated threats, and it will be up to judicial investigators to see if the threats qualified as extortion. Last week two older men, who had just received an inheritance, began to get threatening calls and text messages. The callers promised to inflict injury unless they received 10 million colons, said the Judicial Investigating Organization. That's a bit less than $18,000. The two men contacted judicial agents. That resulted in the arrest of four men Tuesday in Paso Ancho. The killing Saturday in Tibás resulted in the death of a 56-year-old man with the last name of Jiménez. The location was the Cinco Esquinas section where the man operated a business. Crime lab
honored with new stamp
By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
The judicial medical examiners and colleagues will get their own postage stamp Monday. Correos de Costa Rica plans to honor the Organismo Médico Forense on its 50th anniversary. This is the national crime lab associated with the Judicial Investigating Organization. Although the agency, based in San Joaquín de Flores, Heredia, is best known for the autopsies that are conducted there. There also is a full range of other scientific crime-solving techniques. The stamp went into circulation Friday, and a small ceremony will be held at the crime lab today. Inspectors catch faulty fire alarm system By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
The nations regulatory agency reported Friday that a routine inspection discovered faults in the fire protection system at the Gas Tomza liquid petroleum firm in Cartago. The agency, the Autoridad Reguladora de Servicios Públicos, said that the discovery was Thursday. A fire agency technician traced the problem to the electrical panels that operate the system, said the regulating agency. Leaks and fires would not be detected, said the agency. The company puts liquid petroleum gas into marketable containers at the plant. Autoridad Reguladora said it alerted the Ministerio de Ambiente y Energía. which contains the Dirección General de Transporte y Comercialización de Combustibles. The gas firm faces a possible fine because of the outage, said the Autoridad Reguladora.
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A.M. Costa Rica Third News Page |
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| San José, Costa Rica, Monday, Feb. 2, 2015, Vol. 15, No. 22 | |
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| U.S. poll shows big gap between scientists' and public's
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By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
A new U.S. opinion poll shows wide differences in what scientists think and what the general public thinks. Some of these issues currently are being discussed in Costa Rica. For example, the poll, conducted by Pew Research Center, shows that 37 percent of the public believes that genetically modified foods are safe, compared to 88 percent of scientists, a 51-point gap. The scientists involved are members of the prestigious American Association for the Advancement of Science, which cooperated with the survey. The Costa Rican legislature is considering a bill that would make a ban on growing genetically modified crops nationwide. Environmental activists are pushing the measure that already has been passed by many municipal councils. The ban has drawn support from some professors at the Universidad de Costa Rica. One testified at a committee hearing. The survey also showed that 28 percent of the public believes that food grown with pesticides is safe, while 68 percent of the scientists do, a 40-point gap. An overwhelming percentage of scientists, 98 percent, reported that they believe, as Pew put it, "humans and other living things have evolved over time." But just 65 percent of the public believes this, which basically is another way of defining evolution. Evolution has not been an issue in Costa Rica, but an incredible handful of Republican U.S. presidential candidates express doubts about what today is established scientific fact. U.S. news sites report that former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee, Sam Brownback and Colorado politician Tom Tancredo, all candidates, said they do not believe in evolution. Michele Bachmann, a candidate in 2012, said that intelligent design should be taught in public schools, said the news reports. She said that reasonable doubt exists on both sides. Intelligent design really is creationism, the idea that God created the world and humans as reported in the biblical Book of Genesis. The term has been used since the U.S. Supreme Court has outlawed teaching creationism in U.S. schools. Rick Santorum, who nearly was the Republican presidential |
 A.M. Costa Rica graphic
Genetics figures in more
than one political issue.candidate in 2012, is a firm believer in intelligent design. In 2001 as a U.S. senator, he proposed a bill that would have required the teaching of intelligent design in U.S. public schools. John Boehner, now the powerful speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, also is a proponent of intelligent design. The Pew study also reveals that 50 percent of the public believes climate change is due to human activity, compared to 87 percent of the scientists, a 37-percentage point gap, according to a summary from Pew. Lee Rainie, a co-author of the report and Pew Research Center director of Internet, science and technology research, said in release that "Science issues are increasingly civic issues. They are at the center of what defines culture and society and how people live their lives." |
| An A.M. Costa Rica
editorial Constitutional court seems to stray into legislating in key opinions |
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| Some expats
are surprised that the constitutional court could find the corporate
tax law unconstitutional yet still encourage collection through the end
of this year. This is just another example of the magistrates in the Corte Suprema de Justicia legislating. The court also found that a constitutional prohibition against appointing clergy as government ministers does not include individuals who are not Catholic. Expats need to remember that magistrates are political appointees. When the court was deciding the fate of Melvin Jiménez, the minister of the Presidencia, the central government was considering the national budget, which includes money for the judiciary. Judicial activism goes back much further than that. Óscar Arias Sánchez received the right for a second term, thanks to a favorable judicial opinion. The 2003 ruling by the Sala IV was the second attempt to overturn the 1969 constitutional prohibition. Basically the court found the constitution to be unconstitutional in much the same way it did to allow Jiménez, a Lutheran bishop, to keep his government job. But the court went further in the Arias case. Out of thin air it ruled that presidents must wait four years before seeking re-election. |
The activism
continues with the decision that the annual tax on
mercantile companies is not constitutional. The legislature, the court
found, failed to publish significant changes to the measure before it
was passed. That is an allegation that can be checked easily, a slam-dunk in other words. There was no reason for the Sala IV magistrates to wait nearly a year before announcing the decision. Suspicious minds might think that the magistrates did so in order to give the government a slug of money even if the law was unconstitutional. The decision said operators of corporations must pay the tax, nearly $400 for active corporations, for 2015. And there was no suggestion that the government should give back the money collected with an unconstitutional tax. Some lawyers were quick to challenge that position in another appeal. The finance ministry noted that 95 percent of the money collected from the tax goes to the security ministry to improve law enforcement, as if that justified an unconstitutional tax. Expats might find refreshing a constitutional court that decides legal issues based on jurisprudence instead of the political winds. |
| You need to see Costa Rican tourism information HERE! |
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2015 and may
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| A.M. Costa Rica's Fourth News page | |||||
| San José, Costa Rica, Monday, Feb. 2, 2015, Vol. 15, No. 22 | |||||
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| Super Bowl for Patriots hinged on last second intercepted
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By the A.M. Costa Rica wire services
The biggest annual sporting event in the United States, the National Football League championship known as the Super Bowl, took place Sunday evening at University of Phoenix Stadium in the southwestern state of Arizona. The New England Patriots were crowned Super Bowl champions after defeating the Seattle Seahawks 28-24 to capture their first National Football League title in 10 years. The victory put New England alongside five other teams with at least four Super Bowl wins while Tom Brady joined Hall of Famers Terry Bradshaw and childhood idol Joe Montana as the only quarterbacks with four championship rings. Brady fired four touchdowns, including two in a frantic fourth quarter, to give him a record 13 Super Bowl touchdown passes. “Wasn't the way we drew it up,” Brady said about the 10-point fourth-quarter deficit. “Certainly throwing a couple picks didn't help. Lot of mental toughness and our team showed it all year.” Seattle had a chance to steal a dramatic win after a circus catch by Jermaine Kearse put the Seahawks deep in Patriots territory. But a Russell Wilson pass was intercepted at the goal line by Malcolm Butler with 20 seconds to play to seal the victory. “I just had a vision that I was going to make a big play, and it came true, and I'm just blessed,” said Butler, who was also covering Kearse when he made the spectacular circus catch. “I can't explain it right now… It all comes down to preparation. I just made a guess and made a play.” Down by 10 points midway through the fourth quarter, Brady cemented his legacy as one of the NFL's all-time greats, engineering two long scoring drives capped by touchdown passes to Danny Amendola and Julian Edelman to retake the lead. The buildup to the Super Bowl had been dominated by a controversy over deflated footballs used by the Patriots in a |
blowout win
over the Indianapolis Colts in the AFC title game that
earned them a trip to Arizona and a whiff of scandal hung over
University of Phoenix Stadium as the NFL investigation into the matter
continued. The game represented a last chance for the NFL to put a scandal scarred season behind it and the Patriots and Seahawks did their part, providing an afternoon of edge-of-the-seat drama. “Every year if you're privileged to get to this game, hard things happen,” said Patriots owner Robert Kraft. “I'm so proud of Brady and Belichick for handling things the way they did. “I love them. And all our Patriots fans should feel very good.” Belichick is Bill Belichick. Oddsmakers had New England as a slight favorite to beat the Seahawks before the game. The Super Bowl has become a spectacle in the United States. Last year's game was the most-watched television event in U.S. history, with an average viewership of 112.2 million. Most Americans watched the game in bars and restaurants and at traditional Super Bowl parties in homes across the nation. Millions of others watched the game outside of the U.S., with Canada and Mexico traditionally having the strongest viewerships. The official cost for tickets this year ranged from $800 to $1,900, but they were nearly impossible to get at those prices. Ticket brokers were charging several thousand dollars per ticket in the hours before kickoff. Just as popular as the game are the television commercials, with sponsors presenting their most creative advertisements in hopes of boosting reputations and sales by reaching the huge audience. The cost of a 30-second ad this year was $4.5 million, with some companies buying several minutes of air time. The halftime show is another major feature of the Super Bowl, with this year's entertainment provided by pop star Katy Perry. |
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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2015 and may
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A.M. Costa Rica's Fifth
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| San José, Costa Rica, Monday, Feb. 2, 2015, Vol. 15, No. 22 | |||||||
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| Obama is ready to submit new budget to Congress By the A.M. Costa Rica wire services
Monday President Barack Obama unveils his blueprint for future U.S. government spending, a proposed $4 trillion federal budget for 2016. The weighty document constitutes an opening bid in a lengthy debate about America’s finances that will expose sharp divides between a Democratic president and a Republican-controlled Congress. First, some good news: the federal deficit has fallen by more than 50 percent in recent years. America’s improved finances allow for a renewed focus on domestic needs that have gone unmet in recent years, according to President Obama. “First, middle-class economics means helping working families feel more secure in a world of constant change. That means helping folks afford childcare, college, health care, a home, retirement, and my budget will address each of these issues, lowering the taxes of working families and putting thousands of dollars back into their pockets each year,” said Obama. The president’s budget is expected to cancel automatic, across-the-board spending cuts that have impacted everything from U.S. military preparedness to the response to health crises like ebola. But the fiscal outlook is not all rosy. Any deficit, no matter how small, causes the accumulated $18 trillion national debt to rise further, a fact pointed out by Republican lawmakers, who say Obama’s budget is “dead on arrival.” Sen. John Cornyn is among those troubled with the country’s rising debt. “I am concerned that the budget will be loaded with more taxes, more spending and more debt. And that certainly is not a sustainable path forward for the country. We are still spending money we do not have,” said Cornyn. Congressional committees will craft spending proposals that reflect Republican priorities: constraining domestic spending while providing tax incentives to further spur economic activity. But their professed concern about fiscal imbalances ignores recent history, when deficits and debt exploded under Republican rule, according to Sen. Bernie Sanders, an Independent. “I am delighted that some of my Republican friends have expressed great concern about our deficit and our national debt. I would ask them where they were several years ago when we went to war in Iraq and forgot to pay for that war,” said Sanders. The U.S. Constitution gives Congress the power of the purse: to pass laws on taxes and spending. But the president can sign or veto budget bills, meaning that an agreement between the two branches of government will have to be hammered out if the U.S. government is to remain open beyond September, when the current budget expires. Kerry meets counterparts to discuss trade, terrorism By the A.M. Costa Rica wire services
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry has met in Boston, Massachusetts, with his counterparts from Canada and México for talks that covered subjects that included trade cooperation and the fight against extremism. Kerry, Mexican Foreign Secretary Jose Antonio Meade and Canadian Foreign Minister John Baird met Friday and Saturday. Kerry said they discussed efforts currently underway to defeat violent extremism and the battle against Islamic State. He said the three countries were working together to build a safe, sustainable and prosperous Western Hemisphere and that they shared a commitment to democratic values and human rights. They discussed their countries' shared responsibility for a clean-energy future and the Trans-Pacific Partnership, which Kerry said would connect one-third of global trade. Kerry also noted that every day the United States does more than $3 billion in trade with its North American partners. The three men also discussed Cuba. Kerry said Cuba would participate in the Summit of the Americas in April and that he looked forward to working with México and Canada to advance human rights in the Communist nation. Partial Cuban thaw seen undermining democracy By the A.M. Costa Rica wire services
The recent U.S. decision to restore diplomatic ties between the United States and Cuba after more than 50 years has interested parties debating whether it will lead to an enhancement or regression of democracy on the Communist island nation. A mix of politicians and analysts in the U.S., some South Florida exiles and key members of Cuba’s dissident community have all pointed to China and Southeast Asia as an area where democracy has retracted in the face of détente with America. “We’ve seen what happens in these transitions, China, Vietnam and Burma, These are corrupt Communist dictatorships that are highly repressive. In fact they’ve gone backwards,” Mike Gonzalez of the Heritage Foundation said. “China initiated a reform process 30 years ago,” he said. “It has perfected the model for economic opening while keeping the Communist party in power.” That skepticism is shared by Republican Party leaders and a number of lawmakers of Cuban descent, including Sen. Marco Rubio, who earlier this month downplayed the idea that increased trade would lead to political openness in Cuba. But those who support the diplomatic embrace reject this argument. “Cuba rests in a very different part of the world than China or Vietnam. We’re in a democratic hemisphere, and Cuba is next door to one of the largest, most successful, powerful democracies in the world – the United States,” said the Brookings Institution’s Ted Piccone. “This policy change will allow other regional neighbors to join us in supporting democratic change in Cuba,” he said. “That’s the hemispheric standard.” A national Pew Research poll, conducted Jan. 7 to 11, showed that while 63 percent of Americans approved of U.S. President Barack Obama’s decision last month to re-establish ties, only about one-third thought a thaw in relations would lead to greater democracy in Cuba. In fact, detractors worry that while the U.S. is prepared to compromise in the name of diplomacy, the Cuban government is cynically seeking a new benefactor it will not hesitate to eventually discard. “The Castros want U.S. money to maintain power. I believe the minute Russia and Venezuela can help Cuba again, they will turn their backs on the United States,” said Jorge Lima of the Libre Initiative, a conservative group based in Washington. “President Obama has said many things regarding new relations with Cuba, and many changes have been made. The Castros have made no changes, the people still have no liberty,” Lima said. Still, given the reality of U.S. politics, some developments will come faster than others, experts say. A bipartisan group of U.S. senators introduced a bill Thursday to permanently lift all restrictions on American travel to Cuba. But ending Washington’s 54-year-old trade embargo against Cuba is not likely to happen in a Republican-controlled U.S. Congress. “It will be a gradual process,” said Carl Meacham of the Center for Strategic and International Studies. “Isolation is exactly what dictators want. In the long run, this change will create a desire among the Cuban people for commerce, technology and liberty.” In fact, the embargo not only isolated the U.S. from the Cuban people, but from other Latin American neighbors as well, according to Piccone. “What we’ve tried over the last 50 years is very punitive. The Castro regime has it used against us. The whole world has condemned this embargo,” he said. But the few dissidents in Cuba brave enough to speak out are unified in saying they feel betrayed by Obama, according to Gonzalez. “It’s not just Cuban-Americans and members of Congress who are against this quite shameful decision,” he said. Inquest into death of spy makes Russians nervous By the A.M. Costa Rica wire services
With relations between Russia and the West spiraling to new lows over Ukraine, bilateral ties between London and Moscow themselves are becoming more strained as the inquest into the murder of a former Russian spy gets underway. A judge this week began hearings into the death of Alexander Litvinenko, who died in 2006 after ingesting polonium 210, a highly radioactive isotope. British investigators have accused two Russians of poisoning Litvinenko’s tea at a London restaurant. The two men, one of whom is now a member of Russia’s parliament, have repeatedly denied involvement. Moscow has refused British requests to extradite them, citing constitutional restrictions. Litvinenko had fled to Britain in 2000 after making sensational accusations about terrorist bombings in Russia. On his deathbed, he accused Russian President Vladimir Putin of ordering his assassination. Ben Emmerson, a lawyer for the Litvinenko family, told the panel earlier this week that Litvinenko’s death was an act of terrorism. “It is and was an act of nuclear terrorism on the streets of a major city, which put the lives of numerous other members of the public at risk,” he said. “The startling truth which will be revealed by the evidence in this inquiry is that a significant part of Russian organized crime is organized directly from the offices of the Kremlin,” he said. The British government originally rejected holding an inquiry, partly on the ground that it could damage relations with Russia. The inquiry will take evidence for eight weeks, and observers expect more damaging accusations to emerge against the Russian government. Litvinenko’s widow, Marina, said Russia’s actions in Ukraine demonstrate Moscow’s willingness to order her husband’s murder. Also this week, Royal Air Force fighter jets intercepted two Russian long-range bombers, known as Tu-95 Bear bombers, close to British airspace, prompting authorities to summon Moscow’s ambassador to complain. Similar Russian flights have become more frequent, not only near Britain but also near American airspace and that of other North American Treaty Organization allies since the conflict erupted in Ukraine last year. Elizabeth Quintana, an analyst with the Royal United Services Institute, said the Russian aircraft normally skirt Britain's far northern airspace. This time, the flight path was different, she said. “They were right down on the south coast over the Channel between the UK and France. Also, they were flying without their transponders on. There was particular concern because that means they would have crossed very heavy trans-Atlantic traffic,” she said. She said Moscow could have directed its bombers toward Britain in response to the Litvinenko inquiry. Both the West and Russia, she said, “are probing each other’s defenses, testing how quickly they react, seeing if there are any weaknesses. And also signaling to each other, signaling discontent.” Spaniards march in Madrid to back anti-austerity party By the A.M. Costa Rica wire services
Tens of thousands of people marched Saturday through the streets of Madrid in the biggest show of support yet for new anti-austerity party Podemos, which has been drawing comparisons to Greece's new ruling party, Syriza. The crowds chanted, "Yes, we can!" as they converged on the central Puerta del Sol square. Many waved Greek flags and signs reading, "The change is now." Podemos, which means "we can," emerged just a year ago but is already poised to shake up the country's traditional two-party system. In May, it produced a major shock by winning five seats in elections for the European Parliament. Opinion polls show it could take the top spot in Spain's general election later this year. Led by a political science professor, Pablo Iglesias, 36, Podemos aims to emulate Syriza's success in the Greek elections this past Sunday. Both Spain and Greece have suffered devastating economic crises, resulting in massive unemployment and public spending cuts. Numerous political corruption scandals have only furthered public anger. Spaniards frustrated with corruption and the political elite have flocked to Podemos and its message of change. Critics of the party, meanwhile, have accused it of supporting left-wing governments in Latin America, including in Venezuela. Venezuelan general says he is facing harassment By the A.M. Costa Rica wire services
A prominent Venezuelan opposition figure and retired general, Antonio Rivero, has resurfaced after nearly a year in hiding, appearing at the United Nations in New York. “I have come to ask for protection,” Rivero told a reporter Celia Mendoza. Rivero said he called on the U.N. to stop what he described as harassment by the Venezuelan government, not just against him but against political prisoners and the entire Venezuelan population. Rivero has been on the run since early last year, when Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro ordered his arrest for allegedly inciting anti-government protests last February that resulted in more than 40 deaths. The government accused the opposition of trying to stage a coup. Rivero had previously been accused of helping trigger the violence that followed Maduro's disputed April 2013 election. Rivero said the Venezuelan government's accusations and reasons for detaining him were not justified and represented a violation of his rights. He said his family has also been subject to constant harassment. Rivero was once a close ally of the late Venezuelan leader Hugo Chávez, serving as the government's emergency management director until 2008. But in 2010, he retired from the military over concerns about a growing Cuban influence in the armed forces. New book on teen brain shows adolescent different By the A.M. Costa Rica wire services
Neuroscientist Frances Jensen has been studying the human brain for almost all of her career. But even she wasn't ready for the challenge of two teenage sons. Her challenge: try to find out why smart and responsible teenagers also act impulsively and engage in high-risk behaviors. So, she did what any scientist would do: She studied a decade's worth of brain research. Her findings dispel some myths and also provide a bit of help for parents, teachers and other adults trying to understand. When they reach puberty, their bodies change and teens look like adults. The assumption is their brain also is like an adult brain. Not true, Ms. Jensen said. "The brain is the last organ in the body to mature. It takes into mid-20s for it to complete.” The chemistry and structure of the teenaged brain is only about 80 percent of its final form. In her new book, "The Teenage Brain: A Neuroscientist’s Survival Guide to Raising Adolescents and Young Adults," Ms. Jensen outlines the strengths and weaknesses of the brain at this stage of development. She said the way their brain is wired makes teens better learners than adults. “It’s coming down from a high on learning that happens in childhood, something we call synaptic plasticity, which means that the synapses, where your brain cells talk to each other, are how you learn," said Jensen. "So you build bigger synapses when you learn something. "The proteins and the chemicals involved in building synapses for learning are at very, very high levels in the child, and a little bit less in adolescents and then come down to sort of adult levels, which is why a child can learn two, three languages flawlessly and a teenager is pretty good, not quite as good as a child, but better than an adult in terms of the rate at which they can learn and absorb information.” The paradox is that while teens have an enhanced ability to learn, the connections among different areas of the brain are still developing. “Your brain cells send out processes so that your brain areas can talk to each other. This process requires signals to go through the brain. These processes need insulation," said Ms. Jensen. "And the insulation we have is a fatty natural substance called myelin. It takes two-and-a-half decades to finish the job. They are working from the back of your brain to the front. And what do you think the last place to connect up fully to have these processes completed for fast transmission is? The front of your brain. And what’s in the front of your brain? The frontal lobes,” she said. The frontal lobes of the brain are responsible for insight, judgment, impulse control and empathy, things a teenager has a hard time putting together. “So we have a very active brain, on one hand, able to learn, but it’s being driven by a driver who doesn’t really have full access to the brakes yet,” she said. Ms. Jensen says that things like drugs and alcohol can have a much more serious impact on the teen brain than the adult brain. “Your IQ can change up or down between 13 and 17. We don’t quite know what specifically can make an IQ go up or down, but one thing that we know does make IQs go down is certainly exposure to certain drugs, for instance chronic pot smoking. The more you smoke, the lower your IQ will be between that time window." So while most people tend to think that teenagers are so resilient, neuroscientist Ms. Jensen said they are and they aren’t. “There are certain things that can affect them long term,” she explained. “The same amount of experiences like stress or alcohol or pot, an adult may sail through it for the same exposure, but a teenager will bear a long-term problem based on that.” A recent study reveals a short-term problem for teens: multi-tasking. That sensory overload can hinder their ability to recall words. “In this study," Ms. Jensen reported, "the ones who were given all sorts of distractions as they were trying to learn a task, they still did worse than the kids that were given the same learning experience without distraction. So teenagers can think, 'Oh, I can learn and do that all at the same time.’ No, it’s still an issue for their brain. There is a limit.” There is also a gender difference in brain development. Ms. Jensen said the part of the brain that processes information expands during childhood and then begins to thin, peaking in girls at around 12 to 14 years old and in boys about two years later. She compares a 13, 14 or 15 year-old-girl and a 13, 14 or 15 year-old boy. “Of course there are individual exceptions, but we can say in general, the girls are probably more planners, able to sort of navigate through complex sort of scheduling and things, whereas planning isn’t a boy’s big strength at this point of their life.” And while sleep is important for learning and memory, teens, both boys and girls, often don't get enough. When they stay up late at night and wake up late in the morning, parents may think it’s just because teens are lazy. That is another myth, Ms. Jensen says. They are just being teens. “Their biological clocks are absolutely programmed to be 2 to 3 hours later for the sleep start time and wake time than adults." Adults get a surge of melatonin, the hormone produced by the brain that helps make you sleepy, around 8:30. It typically doesn't hit teens until closer to 11 p.m. “So they’re not ready to go to sleep yet until midnight," Ms. Jensen pointed out. "Likewise they have to go through the whole 8 to 9 hours of sleep in order to have a healthy brain." Waking up at 6 in the morning to get ready for school is like an adult getting up at 3 a.m. "It’s probably not the optimal time for their brains to be put in a learning environment," she said. All the new information about the teen brain can help adults do a better job as teachers and parents. “Stay connected and also be a little bit more patient,” Ms. Jensen advises adults. “This is the first generation in which we’ve known very much about the unique aspects of the adolescent brain, the strengths and weaknesses. Also, it’s during these teenage years that mental illnesses can first strike: bi-polar, depression or schizophrenia. We see these things coming at 18, 19, 20 or early 20s. That’s another reason to stay connected and know how to look for the warning signs.” Ms.. Jensen also encourages parents to share such information with their kids. “In teenage years, they’re trying to learn who they are, to figure out their identity They have a natural interest in anything about themselves that can be told, so when you start telling them about the biology of their maturation state, you’d be surprised how quite interested in it they are.” |
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contents of
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2015 and may
not be reproduced anywhere without permission. Abstracts and fair use are permitted. Check HERE for details |
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| San José, Costa Rica, Monday, Feb. 2, 2015, Vol. 15, No. 22 | |||||||||
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Food |
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Danger is
lurking in your garden soil
There you are, out in your yard, gardening away. You just planted a shrub and grab your shovel to head to a new location where you intend to plant the sister shrub. Life is good. You push the shovel into the dirt
Bad idea. Although we hear little about it in the States, tetanus is a serious, disease with a 30 percent mortality rate. In addition to that classic rusty nail, tetanus can be contracted through animal bites and burns or unsterile needles. The bacterium that causes tetanus is found in dirt, dust, and animal feces. It attacks the nerves causing severe spasms that can paralyze the lungs. It is also totally preventable. So, when did you have your last tetanus shot? All gardeners need one, especially here. A lot of people think that the vaccination they had as a child protects them forever, but it doesn’t. I don’t usually include long quotes in this column, but here is one from www.medicinenet.com: “If it has been more than 10 years since your last tetanus booster, contact your doctor to bring your immunizations up to date. A booster vaccination is also recommended if you sustain a deep, contaminated wound and more than five years have passed since the last dose, since protective antibody levels may fall after five years in some people. You should also receive a series of three tetanus immunizations if you did not receive the childhood vaccine.” Need more convincing? Try http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/diseases/submenus/sub_tetanus.htm, www.mayoclinic.org, or the World Health Organization. Okay, I don’t like shots any more than you do, but my tetanus vaccination is up-to-date. Is yours?
If you would like to suggest a topic for this column, simply send a letter to the editor. And, for more garden tips, visit https://www.facebook.com/pages/Arenal-Gardeners/ |
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| From Page 7: U.S. earmarks $1 billion for Central America By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
Trade to the United States from Central America and the Dominican Republic has increased 66.7 percent since 2005 and now totals $30.1 billion, the U.S. government reported Friday. The countries involved are those that are parties to the Central American Free Trade Treaty. The statistic came from an announcement that the United States plans to provide more than $400 million to promote trade facilitation, promote transport and customs/border integration, promote more efficient and sustainable energy, reduce poverty, enhance workforce development, facilitate business development and help small businesses create jobs, link Central American and North American markets, and strengthen Central American regional institutions. The United States said it will continue to support technical assistance to encourage electricity market integration, renewable energy development, power sector solvency, and resource planning to improve Central American citizens’ access to clean, affordable, and reliable electricity. These efforts will help attract private investment in clean energy infrastructure and boost overall economic competitiveness. The money is part of some $1 billion that the U.S. executive branch has put in the proposed 2016 fiscal year budget to contribute to the evolution of an economically-integrated Central America that is fully democratic, provides greater economic opportunities to its people, promotes more accountable, transparent, and effective public institutions, and ensures the safety of its citizens, according to a White House announcement. Nearly $250 million is allocated to strengthen institutions and enable governments to more effectively address the social, economic, political, and security problems they face, the White House said. A focus is to help Central American countries improve revenue collection and public sector fiscal management, increase the role and impact of civil society on governance, strengthen the efficiency, accountability, and independence of judicial institutions, reinforce democratic institutions, and target corruption. Many of the programs are designed to help Guatemala, El Salvador, and Honduras. |
