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A.M. Costa Rica's Second news page |
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Costa
Rican soccer
chief
among those detained By the A.M. Costa Rica news services
and the A.M. Costa Rica staff Swiss police have detained at least 10 soccer federation officials and associates today on corruption charges that originated in the United States. Among those held is Costa Rica soccer federation president Eduardo Li, according to The New York Times. U.S. officials said the indictment includes corruption charges against more than 10 individuals and is the result of a multi-year investigation. The federation is the Fédération Internationale de Football Association, soccer's international governing body. Li was elected to the federation executive committee in March The New York Times said that charges include include racketeering, wire fraud and a money laundering conspiracy. The federation is holding its annual meeting in the Baur au Lac Hotel in Zurich. The meeting was expected to re-elect Sepp Blatter, 79, to a fifth term as president. Blatter has visited Costa Rica. The U.S. Justice Department was expected to publicly announce the arrests later today. U.S. law enforcement officials said the indictment includes corruption charges against more than 10 federation officials and is the result of a multi-year investigation. Switzerland's Federal Office of Justice said six officials were arrested Wednesday pending extradition to the United States. "The U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of New York is investigating these individuals on suspicion of the acceptance of bribes and kickbacks between the early 1990s and the present day," the federal office said in a statement. It said the allegations include more than $100 million in payments from representatives of sports media companies in order to get "media, marketing and sponsorship rights in connection with soccer tournaments in Latin America." Blatter is not among those being charged. The charges are the latest allegations of corruption involving the federation under Blatter's leadership. The bidding contests for both the 2018 and 2022 World Cup tournaments prompted an investigation by the group's ethics committee, which concluded in November there were only limited ethics breaches and not sufficient evidence of bribery. Russia will host the 2018 World Cup and Qatar the 2022 event. The federation's Web site stresses its commitment to ethics, including a confidential system to report wrongdoing and what it calls a zero tolerance policy for corruption of all kinds. It further says that officials undergo integrity checks to ensure they are properly screened before given responsibility. Senate finally OKs new ambassador By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
Costa Rica will soon have a U.S. ambassador. S. Fitzgerald Haney was confirmed Saturday by a voice vote in the U.S. Senate, according to Washington sources. The U.S. Senate Web site confirmed the confirmation. Haney is a New Jersey businessman and has Latin American experience. He speaks Spanish, Portuguese, Hebrew and conversational French. He also is unusual mixture of race, religion and culture. Haney, who is married to a rabbi, has served on a number of non-profit and community boards such as the Foundation of Jewish Culture: Ayecha, a resource organization for Jews of color and as an appointed member of the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Council, said the U.S. Embassy here at the time of his appointment. He was educated at a Jesuit university. He appeared before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee twice. His appointment was last July, but Senate politics intervened and he and a list of other appointments by President Barack Obama were in limbo for months. Like all recent ambassadors, Haney and his wife, Andrea Dobrick Haney, are heavy contributors to political causes, in this case Democratic. The couple has four children, who are expected to travel to Costa Rica. Haney has been a principal and director of business development and client service at Pzena Investment Management, in New York City, a position he has held since 2007. On its Web site, the firm said it has a diverse, global client base of respected and sophisticated institutional investors, high net worth individuals and select third-party distributed mutual funds for which it acts as sub-investment adviser. Haney's last appearance before the Senate Foreign Relations committee was March 10. In a departure from the usual canned statement, Haney praised his mother, Sandra Haney: "As a young widow with two young children, she left home and family to provide my brother and me with the best education and opportunities she could. Working during the day and going to school at night, she showed us, by her example, that the United States is truly the land of opportunity for those who work hard on a level playing field. She did not have it easy as a single African-American woman raising two children alone in the 1970s, but she never gave up, and she knew her sacrifices would allow her children to have a better life." He said that his highest priorities would include helping Costa Rican officials fight crime and to promote Central American integration. "As outlined in the Strategy for U.S. Engagement in Central America, the region will not prosper without better regional cooperation on trade, infrastructure development, strengthened democratic institutions, energy integration, and investment," he said. "Greater integration has long been an aspiration in Central America, but effective mechanisms for achieving that goal have remained elusive." He also said he would work to create stronger linkages between the American chambers of commerce in Central America, so that the private sector is fully incorporated into the process of seeking solutions to the region's development challenges. In both his appearances he said that U.S. expats in Costa Rica totaled 100,000 and "if confirmed, their safety and well-being will be my top priority." Security employee abducted, killed By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
A 43-year-old security ministry employee is presumed to have been abducted Monday night from Calle La Quesera in San Miguel de Naranjo. About six hours later the suspected abductee was found dead alongside the Autopista Bernardo Soto. The Ministerio de Seguridad Pública identified the dead man as Melsin Gerardo Carrillo Argüello. The man worked as a radio operator for the ministry and had 22 years of service there. He had been beaten before he was killed, said agents. Robbery was not a motive. Investigators said they found a bag nearby that contained 337,000 colons, about $640. Agents had been on the case since 11 p.m. Monday when a 911 caller reported the abduction. A passerby found the body about 5:30 a.m. When is smuggling really trafficking? By the A.M. Costa Rica wire services
For years, oppressed Rohingya from Myanmar and impoverished Bangladeshis risked perilous sea journeys on rickety wooden boats in search of a better future. Many headed for Malaysia. In recent weeks, clandestine transit routes through Thailand have been shut down, and thousands of people who chose an alternate route by boat have been stranded on the seas. Following international pressure, Indonesia and Malaysia have offered them temporary shelter. The plight of the Muslim Rohingya and Bangladeshis became front page news. And the story has stayed there with the discovery of mass graves in jungle camps on both sides of the Thai-Malay border. Many news reports, officials and analysts have interchangeably used the terms trafficked and smuggled when referring to the boat people. However, there are critical distinctions between the two. To put it simply: smuggling involves transporting people who go willingly across borders by irregular or illegal means. Trafficking involves deceiving or exploiting those being transported and is frequently associated with human slavery. “Both are forms of illegal migration and should be a criminal offense in all states as defined by relevant domestic legislation,” said David Hammond, a British barrister who is the founder of Human Rights at Sea. Most countries and international organizations reference the language in the supplements of the Convention Against Transnational Organized Crime, known as the Palermo protocols on trafficking (which entered into force in 2003) and smuggling (2004), for their definitions. “In incidents of both trafficking and smuggling the human rights of those subject to either regime may well be ignored as they themselves are subjected to abuse, exploitation and in the current context, abandonment at sea,” said Hammond. So are the Bangladeshis and Rohingya being smuggled or trafficked? That distinction is debated among diplomats, officials of international agencies and rights groups. It “certainly started out as a smuggling route,” according to Jeffrey Labovitz, the chief of mission in Thailand for the International Organization for Migration. “One hundred sixty thousand people have left since 2012. And these people have sat at dinner tables and over teas and coffee with community members and thought about how they can do this journey and how they can get enough money to pay.” But immigration organization officials, those at other U.N. agencies and activists have also documented stories of abductions and young women sold as child brides. “That is slavery and trafficking,” Labovitz said. Minors are not considered to have free will, so ostensibly they can also be considered victims of trafficking. “So there's a mixture in these different groups,” said Labovitz. “It is a situation in which human beings are being regarded as property,” said Fortify Rights executive director Matthew Smith. “They're being tortured and coerced into raising money to buy their own freedom. And that's a deeply exploitative situation – preying on the desperation of asylum seekers.” “They're put into these terrible situations where they are extorted and they're tortured and they're held in captivity and starved to death,” said Labovitz. “Now murder, rape, extortion – those are all terrible, terrible crimes – and some of these cases it's probably trafficking, too. It certainly initially starts off as smuggling.” While some officials see trafficking in the backdrop to a vast smuggling operation, many activists portray the network as being run by traffickers. “We are not suggesting that every single person who has crossed the Bay of Bengal would meet the elements of human trafficking,” said rights activist Smith, speaking from the Oslo Freedom Forum. “But these are human trafficking syndicates that are bringing people from point A to point B. And the terms of consent change once the Rohingya or Bangladeshis board the boats.” The countries along the network have generally turned a blind eye to the trafficking aspect and allegations their officials -- in the military, police and at the local government level -- have been involved. It is a particularly sensitive matter in Thailand, where a military junta runs the kingdom, which last year was placed by the U.S. State Department on its lowest Tier 3 level in its Trafficking in Persons annual report. When people are smuggled they are regarded as illegal migrants. If they have been trafficked they are considered victims of trafficking. That triggers a different body of rights under domestic and international laws.
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| What we published this week: | Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday | Friday | Earlier |
| The contents of this Web site are
copyrighted by Consultantes Ro Colorado S.A 2015 and may not be
reproduced anywhere without permission. Abstracts and fair use are permitted. Check HERE for details |
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A.M. Costa Rica Third News Page |
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| San José, Costa Rica, Wednesday, May 27, 2015, Vol. 15, No. 103 | |
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| Nation's bridges are not safe, budget agency says after
review |
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By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
The budget watchdog agency came out with a scary report about the country's bridges Tuesday. The agency, the Contraloría General de la República, said that the findings of a study do not permit the current administration to guarantee the security of users of the highway system. The report specifically addressed bridges, which the agency said were deteriorating despite money set aside to fix them. The Contraloría speculated on the economic and human impact of a bridge collapse. It said the situation was urgent. The national road agency has failed to take action and only spent 19.66 percent of the budget allocated for bridge repair, said the Contraloría. The road agency,the Consejo Nacional de Vialidad is part of |
 Contraloría
General de la República photo
This is not very photogenic, but
corrosion is obvious on the underpinnings of a bridge over the
Río Barranca.the Ministerio de Obras Públicas y Transportes. The report also said that the road agency does not have a complete inventory of the nation's bridges. |
| Caribbean coast returning to normal after typical May storms |
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By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
The latest bout with bad weather appears to be going away. The Instituto Meteorológico Nacional said that rain was likely to continue on the Caribbean coast and in the northern zone overnight but that the country would pull out of the influence of a low pressure area today. Also predicted are a reduction in the winds that have swept the central and south Pacific, and this means the likelihood of thunderstorms. |
The national
emergency commission reported that a shelter housing
35 persons in the community of Goshen in the canton of Matina closed
Tuesday because those staying there have returned to their homes. The committee also reported that rivers were not flowing out of their banks. There were no incidents reported Tuesday, the commission said. Engineers are checking the roads and bridges for any damage. |
| Livestock situation in Guanacaste characterized as critical |
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By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
Lawmakers heard Tuesday a report that cows were dying in Guanacaste due to the lack of water and pasture. Sergio Somarribas Vallejos, a representative of cattle ranchers, met with lawmakers and complained that when the government issued an emergency decree of the drought those in the industry expected immediate help. |
He submitted
a letter signed by 26 producers. The government issued the emergency decree in September. Many ranchers have moved their stock from the area, Others have sold off much of their heard. Some say that what is needed are new wells drilled as part of the decree. |
| 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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copyrighted by Consultantes Río Colorado S.A. 2015 and may not
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| San José, Costa Rica, Wednesday, May 27, 2015, Vol. 15, No. 103 | |||||
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| Four years at sea document the impact of plankton on world |
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By the A.M. Costa Rica wire services
Tiny ocean creatures collectively called plankton are mostly thought of as food for whales and other large marine animals. But a four-year global study has discovered, among other things, that plankton are a major source of oxygen on our planet. Plankton are animals, algae, bacteria and other microscopic organisms invisible to the eye. They inhabit the upper layers of the world’s oceans, seas and freshwater. In a project called Tara Oceans, led by the French nonprofit organization Tara Expeditions, 200 scientists from 45 countries took turns researching plankton aboard a two-mast schooner. Setting sail in September 2009, the ship, Tara, visited 210 sites, where scientists collected 35,000 samples, researching the lives, genetic makeup and movement of the tiny creatures. Chris Bowler, Tara Oceans' scientific coordinator, said the researchers discovered that plankton are responsible for much of the well-being of the planet. The creatures are "generating the oxygen we breathe, removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and generally maintaining this Earth in a state that is habitable for us human beings,” he said. Bowler said that close to half of the oxygen that we breathe comes from diatoms, tiny, photosynthesizing algae that inhabit the sunlit layer of all water bodies. “That basically means every fifth time that you breathe, you're breathing oxygen which we can directly trace back to diatoms," he said. "So they're sort of as important as a tropical rain forest in terms of their global contribution.” Expedition executive director Romain Troublé said the study clearly showed that the ocean is the Earth’s climate machine. |
 Tara Expeditions
photo
This is the schooner that
traveled for four years.“We believe that the ocean is also the main driver of the climate change, the main mitigator in the way that the ocean and the life in the ocean is storing carbon dioxide, storing heat," he said. "And this machinery works because the ocean is in good health.” Different groups of scientists studied different things. For instance, one group cataloged over 40 million previously unknown plankton genes. Another found that most of the plankton interactions were parasitic. The collected data will be used to determine which of the organisms are most adaptable to changing water conditions. Results of the first studies were published in the May edition of the online scientific journal Science, which said that many analyses would follow. |
Here's reasonable medical care
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| What we published this week: | Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday | Friday | Earlier |
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contents of this Web site are copyrighted by Consultantes Río
Colorado
S.A. 2015 and may not be reproduced anywhere without permission. Abstracts and fair use are permitted. Check HERE for details |
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A.M. Costa Rica's Fifth
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| U.S. Appeals Court decides to let immigration case go on By the A.M. Costa Rica wire services
A U.S. federal appeals court Tuesday rejected the Justice Department's request to lift a temporary hold on President Barack Obama's executive actions aimed at keeping up to 5 million immigrants living illegally in the United States from being deported. A three-judge panel of the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans ruled 2-1 in favor of 26 states, led by Texas. The judges ruled that a lawsuit by the states against the federal government should be allowed to play out. Obama announced the executive actions in November, saying inaction by Congress on immigration reform had forced him to change some rules on his own. One of his orders, to expand a program that protects young immigrants from deportation if they were brought to the U.S. illegally as children, was to take effect Feb. 18. The other major part, extending deportation protection to parents of U.S. citizens and permanent residents who have been living in the country for a number of years, was to begin a week ago. The 26 state attorneys general sued the federal government, arguing that Obama had overstepped his authority. A federal judge in Texas ruled in favor of the states and temporarily blocked the president's plans in February. The Obama administration then appealed, arguing that the U.S. Constitution bars states from intruding into what administration officials called the uniquely federal domain of immigration enforcement. It was this argument that the federal appellate court rejected Tuesday. It was unclear whether the Justice Department would appeal the latest ruling to a higher court. Cleveland agrees to changes in police supervision, training By the A.M. Costa Rica wire services
The U.S. city of Cleveland has agreed to overhaul its police department under a settlement with the U.S. Justice Department that addresses a pattern of abuses detailed in a report last year. The settlement, announced Tuesday at a news conference in Cleveland, is aimed at providing a road map for the city's police to change their practices, including minimizing racial bias and excessive force and creating better relations with communities. The settlement, which is contained in a 105-page consent decree that requires the approval of a U.S. District Court judge, calls for Cleveland's police department to be tracked by an independent court-appointed monitor. U.S. Attorney Steven Dettelbach said the decree is far more than talk and builds on what is good for the department and aims to improve policing where it has fallen short. The announcement comes three days after a judge acquitted a Cleveland police officer of manslaughter charges for fatally shooting an unarmed black couple after a lengthy chase in 2012. Cleveland has already paid each of the families of the victims, Timothy Russell and Melissa Williams, $1.5 million to settle wrongful death lawsuits The case was the latest in the U.S. in which police officers have been accused of using excessive force in street incidents, killing unarmed black suspects. Under the Cleveland settlement, the city must implement new policies requiring that any use of force is proper and lawful, that officers receive state-of-the-art training in the use of force and its lawful limits, and that all uses of police force are properly and fully reported and reviewed. Cleveland must also create a community police commission that works with enhanced neighborhood policing committees to provide meaningful input into police matters. There will also be an overhaul of machinery for investigating misconduct allegations, a modernization of police, and new training in avoiding racial stereotyping and dealing with the mentally ill. Currently, authorities are investigating two high-profile cases in Cleveland involving the deaths of black people at the hands of police. Twelve-year-old Tamir Rice was playing with a replica gun when he was shot by Cleveland police responding to an emergency call about a man with a gun. He died a day after the shooting. Prosecutors are also investigating the death of Tanisha Anderson, who died while handcuffed in police custody last year. The medical examiner ruled her death a homicide, citing her physical restraint by police as well as her mental illness and a heart condition. Texas and Oklahoma face major flooding conditions By the A.M. Costa Rica wire services
Large areas of Texas and Oklahoma are struggling to recover from flooding brought on by heavy rains that swept over the southern plains Monday and into Tuesday morning. Some of the most heavily traveled roads to the north and south of downtown Houston turned into rivers of dark, muddy water during the torrential downpours. Dozens of automobiles and trucks were abandoned along some highways, and water flowed into the ground floors of houses and some business buildings in low-lying areas. With more rain expected, Houston Mayor Annise Parker said city workers would be going into affected areas as soon as possible to see what could be done. “Those areas that are under water would be the ones that we are most concerned about, but public works will be out as soon as it is safe to do so to inspect overpasses and bridges,” Mayor Parker said. The mayor said that while more rain is expected through this week, forecasters do not expect anything nearly as big as Monday’s storm. While critical roadways were cut off by the floodwaters, Mayor Parker noted that most parts of the city came through the big storm well. “Much of Houston was unaffected by last night’s torrential rains or today’s flooding, and the bayous have begun to recede," she said. "We have to remember that we are the point of a really big funnel that kind of extends up into central Texas, and a lot of water flows through Houston. It is still a dangerous situation along the bayous. They are full of water, and the water is moving very rapidly.” One thing that helped authorities respond quickly to this storm is a sophisticated early warning system designed in 1997 by a Rice University civil engineering professor, Phil Bedient. “It has run really well over the years, but this was a real challenge because of the size of the event,” he said. Bedient said the Flood Alert System 3 uses radar, hydrological modeling and data from a variety of sources to give an 80 to 90 percent accurate prediction of rainfall in the area around the Texas Medical Center, where some hospitals were flooded during hurricanes in past years. Bedient said the massive storm system that rolled over central and east Texas on Monday and Tuesday put the system to a real test. “This system that came through yesterday and also the system that hit central Texas as well, in Wimberley and San Marcos, these systems were kind of linked together and they created just enormous intensities of rainfall," he said. "You know, we had a river over there that rose 30 feet in less than one hour, which is just unheard of.” Bedient said the warning system is now being used by police and emergency response agencies, but that he would like to see devices in each emergency vehicle. The system is updated every five minutes and can be accessed from any computer with an Internet connection. He said well-informed citizens are able to protect themselves from flood-related tragedies. “All they needed in some of these river systems was one or two hours for people to get to high ground so that they don’t get killed or they don’t lose their vehicles," Bedient said. Reporter's secret Iranian trial draws multiple condemnations By the A.M. Costa Rica wire services
The United States is pressing Iran for more information about Jason Rezaian, a Washington Post reporter who went on trial Tuesday on charges including espionage. The State Department, human rights advocates and Rezaian’s family have expressed concerns about Iran’s lack of transparency in the case. Rezaian’s brother, Ali, said the family has had little contact with him since the arrest. Ali Rezaian said that his brother’s lawyer was present for Tuesday’s court proceeding in Tehran, but that his mother and sister-in-law were shut out of the courtroom. "They sat outside hoping to see Jason, but they couldn’t go inside. They could not see him. They stayed there for five or six hours,” said Rezaian. Iranian authorities arrested and detained Jason Rezaian in July. He holds dual U.S.-Iranian citizenship, but Iran does not recognize other nationalities for its citizens. His wife, also a journalist, also was arrested, along with a third person. The state-run Islamic Republic News Agency said Rezaian and two other unnamed suspects were brought to the closed trial. Iran’s Mehr news agency said Rezaian faces charges of espionage, propaganda against the country and collaborating with hostile powers. It said he rejected some of the charges while in court Tuesday and maintained that his activities as a journalist were legal. Mehr also said the court read a letter that Rezaian wrote to Barack Obama’s transition team in 2008, before Obama became president. In the letter, Rezaian offers to help with efforts to improve relations between the two countries. Ali Rezaian said his brother is eager to tell his side of the story. “Jason has always said he was committed to having a vigorous defense, to tell people that he is innocent and make sure that people know that the charges are baseless,” said Rezaian. The Iranian government is not upholding its pledge for a just trial with due process, said Jason Stern of the Committee to Protect Journalists. “It is very telling that they are not willing to let the press freely cover the trial,” said Stern. “They are not letting independent observers enter the trial. They have not let The Washington Post observe it. And that really goes to say that — what are they hiding, exactly?” Stern said that since 2009, Iran has ranked among the top countries for detaining journalists. He said approximately 30 journalists are currently detained in Iran. “You have this mass imprisonment of journalists and other dissidents at the same time trying to re-engage with the world,” he said. At the State Department, spokesman Jeff Rathke said the U.S. government is also calling for Rezaian’s trial to be open but maintains he never should have been put on trial in the first place. Film festival highlights struggle of minority cultures By the A.M. Costa Rica wire services
A recent Los Angeles film festival that ran from May 22 to 25 highlighted the plight of people caught between two cultures. The Garifuna International Film Festival was created by a Garifuna woman from Central America, Freda Sideroff, who wants the world to know more about her culture. The films focus on peoples like the Garifuna, Central Americans of combined African, Carib and Arawak descent. They live mainly in Belize, Guatemala, Nicaragua, and mainland Honduras and the island of Roatán. There also are populations in major U.S. cities. Filmmaker and actor Ruben Reyes is Garifuna and co-produced the movie "Garifuna in Peril." “We come to the United State and other countries, then our children want to be American. But when we teach them the importance of being Garifuna, then they start to show interest in the language,” said Reyes. A story from the Pine Ridge reservation of Lakota people, called "The Holy Man: The USA vs Douglas White," looks at a spiritual leader accused of a crime and imprisoned. The filmmakers found flaws in the case and had it reopened, against a backdrop of neglect and poverty and a rich culture. The film was made by husband and wife team Simon Joseph and Jennifer Jessum, and narrated by actor Martin Sheen. “It is kind of a small story that takes on some bigger issues,” said Jessum. Dancer Olu Yemisi documents her dance troupe with roots in Latin, Caribbean and American jazz in the film "Rhythm and Body Language." “This film actually follows some years of us actually performing in different venues,” said Ms. Yemisi. A Cantonese-language film, "Red Passage," looks at a different kind of culture clash in 1970s Hong Kong when a few leftist schools in the British colony promoted radical ideas then current in mainland China during the Cultural Revolution. The story is based on the childhood of filmmaker Ho Yi. “When this boy got into this kind of school, he suffers and feels lonely and feels confused,” explained Yi. Festival founder and organizer Sideroff said some films focus on culture conflict and others on loss of language. “The aborigines, the Hawaiians with their language, and we have the Welsh,” said Ms. Sideroff, listing languages in danger of dying out. She says they are languages and cultures worth preserving. Television ads take a beating when viewer has tablet screen By The Ohio State University news staff
Watching television while using a second screen, like a smartphone or tablet, means that some of the most expensive marketing messages aimed at the viewer are missing their mark, new research suggests While the trend of second screen use has become pervasive, this is the first study to show that viewers have trouble recalling brands they see or hear on television if they’re using such devices. “Viewers don’t even remember that your brand was there on TV because they were busy posting on Facebook or Twitter or reading email,” said Jonathan Jensen, who led the study as a doctoral student in sport management in the Department of Human Sciences at The Ohio State University. “This should provide a measure of pause to brand marketers who are spending a lot of money to get their products integrated into live sporting events and other TV shows.” The study was recently published in the Journal of Consumer Marketing. The problem posed by second screens is a big one for brands. A new report by the firm Accenture found that 87 percent of consumers use a second screen while watching TV. This new research examined whether viewers could recognize and recall brand names that announcers mentioned during a college football game broadcast. This wasn’t about advertisements. It was about brand integration or the promotion of products during the actual broadcast, achieved via sponsorships of events. For example, in this study, the Allstate logo was featured on nets behind the goal posts when field goals were kicked. Allstate was also mentioned as a sponsor by the announcers during the game. “With DVR penetration approaching 50 percent of households, there’s no guarantee anymore that people are watching commercials. But marketers thought that if they could get their brands mentioned and shown during the broadcast they would have a foolproof way to reach consumers,” Jensen said. “But now with so many people using second screens, even brand integration is not foolproof.” The study involved two related experiments. In both, young participants (average age of about 20) watched a six-minute segment consisting of clips from two real college football games broadcast on ESPN. The clip included promotion of three brands, Allstate, Capital One and Russell Athletic. The participants in the study were not told beforehand that the study was marketing related or that they would have to recall brands seen or heard during the broadcast. The first experiment included 98 people aged 18 to 24. The participants were exposed to the college football broadcast in one of three ways. Some had a traditional viewing experience in which they experienced both the audio and the visual of the broadcast. The visual-only group had no audio, such as a fan might experience watching on a computer at the office or on a public television in a loud bar. The audio-only group didn’t see the visual, approximating a distracted viewing experience, such as listening to the broadcast while reading or writing on another device. When asked after the six-minute broadcast whether they could recognize and recall any of the brands present in the clip, those who had the full audiovisual experience did best. The audio-only and visual-only groups did significantly worse, remembering fewer than two brands. The second experiment included 189 people between the ages of 18 and 24 who participated in the same setup as the first experiment except that half the people in each condition were using a second screen. These second-screen participants were asked to send at least four texts during the six-minute broadcast using their own mobile phone and reporting on elements in the clip that they found relevant to them. The results were striking, especially for those who watched a traditional broadcast with both audio and visual. In that case, those who were not engaged with a second screen were able to recall an average of 2.43 of the three brands without any hints. But those who had the second screen could recall only 1.62 brands. |
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contents of this Web site are copyrighted by Consultantes Río
Colorado
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| A.M. Costa Rica's sixth news page |
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Chicken from
Hell dino a top discovery
By the A.M. Costa Rica wire services
The Top 10 Species list is compiled annually by the International Institute for Species Exploration. It calls attention to discoveries that are made even as species are going extinct faster than they are identified. From among the 18,000 new species named last year, a committee of taxonomists chose the ones that made the 2015 list. They include a bird-like dinosaur, dubbed the chicken from Hell, that was 3.5 meters from beak to tail and weighed as much as 300 kilograms, a spider that lives in the Moroccan desert and can use its gymnastic talents to cartwheel out of danger, a 23-centimeter-long walking stick common in Vietnam and a colorful sea slug from the Japanese islands that is the missing link between slugs that feed on colonies of tiny stinging jellies and those specializing on corals. Scientists believe 10 million species still await discovery, five times the number that are already known to science. Institute founding director Quentin Wheeler said the Top 10 Species list is "a reminder of the wonders awaiting us.” Galapagos volcano threatens pink iguanas By the A.M. Costa Rica wire services
Officials at Ecuador's Galapagos Islands national park say a volcano atop one of the islands has erupted, potentially threatening a unique species of iguanas. The nearly 1.8 kilometer-high Wolf volcano is located on Isabela Island, home to a rich variety of plants and animals typical of the archipelago that helped inspire Charles Darwin's theory of evolution. A statement posted on Twitter by the national park said that while no human populations are threatened by the eruption, the island is home to the only population of pink iguanas in the world. Ecuador's government was not immediately available for comment on potential harm to the island's ecosystem. Park officials say the Wolf volcano had been inactive for 33 years. In April, unusual activity also was reported at the Sierra volcano on the same Isabela island, the archipelago's biggest, where yellow iguanas and giant turtles also live. The eruption in Ecuador comes on the heels of eruptions in Chile, another South American country located on the so-called Pacific Rim of Fire. |
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| From Page 7: Government acts against bank bonuses By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
The government announced a directive Tuesday that almost certainly will results in legal action. The thrust of the directive was to reduce the incentives earned by employees at public banks. The directive separates the schedule of incentives from employment contracts and reduced the special bonuses paid to bank executives. The directive also is supposed to exclude what it called individuals and groups with conflicts of interest in designing and supervising the bonus schemes. The directive said that the banks should institute the new rules within two months. The minister of the Presidencia, Sergio Alfaro, said that the administration was once again showing its commitment to austerity. News stories in the Spanish press have outlined some of the lucrative bonuses received by state bank employees. However, employees in Costa Rica generally are protected from losing any benefits arbitrarily. |
