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A.M. Costa Rica's Second news page |
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San
José, Costa Rica, Thursday, Oct. 16, 2014, Vol. 14, No. 205
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Our reader's opinion
Ceviche done the correct wayDear A.M. Costa Rica: Sorry, I must take exception to the reporting on ceviche in today's A.M. Costa Rica edition. Having pleased many a crowd, including professional chefs, with ceviche made from the freshest fish imaginable caught the same day or previous day from my own boat in Mexican or Southern California waters, I know authentic ceviche. The correct spelling of the name of this dish is ceviche. In Spanish, though, the V is pronounced as a B sounds in English. This dish is popular throughout the Mediterranean area and resembles another marinated fish dish called escabèche, a French word indicating the origins of the dish is most likely European, not Peruvian, though it may have reached the New World through Perú via conquistadores. Limes and fish probably were happily married long before America was discovered. Most importantly, though, one must prepare authentic ceviche (or escabèche) using the juice of limes, never lemons. This fact is obfuscated by the semantic confusion that fails to separate lemons from limes in Spanish. The lime available here is the limón mesina, the same green-inside lime found in the U.S. Perfect! Lemons are typically far too acidic and will carry the chemical cooking of the fish much too far, producing a result that tastes too lemony and acidic, and possibly toughening the fish. If you would not serve tequila with lemon, neither should false cebiche made with lemon ever reach your table. Limes have much more flavor and far less acid than lemons. This makes them entirely non-interchangeable in a culinary sense. Another critical fine point -- the fruit juice does not baste the fish. The fish is immersed (marinated) in the juice. A simple basting (surface wetting) of the fish will fail to chemically cook it through. Once the thinly sliced fish is submerged in lime juice, it must be placed under refrigeration until all the fish goes opaque through and through. Otherwise, you'll be serving a very sour kind of sushi. Use of sour oranges, often passed off as lemons or limes here in Costa Rica, would be disastrous, completely overpowering the subtle fresh fish flavor, which the best ceviche preserves and features. Those sour oranges are good for little other than lemonade. I can't resist suggesting a Mediterranean escabèche variation's ingredients: FRESH fish, any species, thinly sliced (not diced.) Copious juice of green-inside limes. Enough to submerge the cut fish and other ingredients. Thin sliced fresh purple opal basil leaves Fresh oregano Thin sliced purple onion Finely diced garlic Fresh, finely-ground black pepper Dash of sea salt Whole small black olives Key point: Do not allow anything metallic to contact the lime juice. Combine ingredients in proportions you like in a glass or crockery bowl. I like lots of basil and more garlic than many folks prefer. Assure the fish is entirely submerged. Store overnight in the fridge. For the adventurous, one or two drops of juice from habanero pepper may be added. Stop short of making the dish hot. You only want the Scotch Bonnet's flavor, not the intense heat. Drain and serve wet the nest day but not swimming. Perfect appetizer with traditional martinis. Or add fresh-baked bread and call it a meal. Enjoy! Joseph Riden
Grecia, Alajuela
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A.M. Costa Rica Third News Page |
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| San José, Costa Rica, Thursday, Oct. 16, 2014, Vol. 14, No. 205 | |
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| Was he really saying that Casa Presidencial harbors gunmen
for hire? |
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By
the A.M. Costa Rica staff
Saying bad things about presidents is a long-running national sport in the United States, but elected officials here have thinner skin. That is why President Luis Guillermo Solís dashed off a letter to legislator Ottón Solís demanding a public apology. The legislator has referred to three close associates of the president as sicarios on a television interview show. Sicario means hit man or hired gun in Spanish. So far no one has called Casa Presidencial seeking to do away with a wayward spouse, but Solís seems to prefer to take the word literally. This is the latest episode in the Solís-Solís soap opera where the two men with identical names and from the same political party seem to be becoming political enemies. Ottón Solís also heads the legislative finance committee, and he has been ripping holes in the executive branch's 2015 budget. |
The head of the
Partido Liberación Nacional delegation in the
legislature, Antonio Alvarez Desanti, suggested in a statement that a
president cannot govern with such a sensitive skin. He no doubt
remembers how Laura Chinchilla, a member of his party, quickly became a
laughing stock during her administration. In fact, Ms. Chinchilla brought an unsuccessful slander case against a critic. Ottón Solís was referring to Melvin Jiménez, minister of the Presidencia; Mariano Figueres, the director of the Dirección de Inteligencia y Seguridad Nacional, and Víctor Morales, a lawmaker. Late Wednesday President Solís issued a statement saying that he was not gong to talk about the situation in public any more. However, he did not rule out some other action. If any legal action is contemplated, it would seem that the three presidential associates would have to initiate it. That were the ones called sicarios. However, as a sitting legislator, Solís has immunity from criminal action. |
| Agronomists seeking modern update of country's rules on
agrochemicals |
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By
the A.M. Costa Rica staff
The agronomy colegio asked the government Wednesday to loosen the knot that ties farmers to 15-year-old agrochemical rules. The organization, the Colegio de Ingenieros Agrónomos, asked the minister of agriculture to solve a problem that it said has paralyzed the registration of new chemicals. The organization, speaking via the president, Eugenio Porras Vargas, said that there is new technology that farmers here cannot use because the chemicals are not registered for use. He said that March 6, 2013, with much hoopla a bill was introduced that would reform the agrochemical regulations. Now, a year and nine months later, nothing has happened, he said. |
Costa Rican
farmers, particularly the monoculture operations of banana
and pineapples, have been criticized for excessive use of pesticides
and fungicides. Porras said that obsolete chemicals not only reduce the
competitivity of farmers but also put in jeopardy humans and
sustainability in the fields. Some rural towns have unwelcome
concentrations of pesticides in the drinking water. An increase in the production of food is within reach of Costa Rican farmers if the agrochemical registry were made modern and efficient, he said. He called upon the Ministerio de Agricultura y Ganadería to work with the Ministerio de Salud and the Ministerio del Ambiente to create a guide that interprets the existing regulations. Presumably the interpretations would be looser. |
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| A.M. Costa Rica's Fourth News page | |||||
| San José, Costa Rica, Thursday, Oct. 16, 2014, Vol. 14, No. 205 | |||||
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| Ancient and modern crocodiles filled very similar niches,
study shows |
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By
the University of Edinburgh news staff
Crocodiles which lived millions of years ago developed in similar ways to modern species, University of Edinburgh research has shown. Fresh research into a group of prehistoric crocs known as Machimosaurus reveals key details of how and where they lived. Researchers have determined key aspects of the crocodiles’ evolution. Each species adapted features that enabled them to live and hunt in a range of habitats, just like modern-day crocodiles. They varied in body length, body skeleton, skull and lower jaw shape, and in their teeth. The ancient croc group includes a nine-meter long saltwater species, which was adapted for living in open seas, and fed on marine turtles. By contrast, its closest relatives lived in coastal choppy environments. |
The prehistoric
crocs’ development mirrors those of today’s crocodiles.
Modern saltwater varieties are far bigger and suited to larger
territories compared with their smaller cousins, which live closer to
shore or in fresh water. A team of researchers, led by the University of Edinburgh, examined fossil specimens from museums around Europe. From detailed analysis, they were able to determine key elements of the animals’ anatomy and lifestyle, and concluded that not all were of the same species. Until now scientist were unsure whether more than one species of Machimosaurus existed. However, findings show that there were at least three distinct species, one of which has been fully identified for the first time. The study is published in the Royal Society Open Science journal. |
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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A.M. Costa Rica's Fifth
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| San José, Costa Rica, Thursday, Oct. 16, 2014, Vol. 14, No. 205 | |||||||
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| New ebola case prompts Obama to call a meeting By
the A.M. Costa Rica wire services
President Barack Obama says the risk of a widespread ebola outbreak in the United States is very, very low, if all the proper protections are taken. Speaking at a cabinet meeting on ebola Wednesday, Obama called for an emergency federal medical team to be immediately deployed to any hospital where an ebola case is diagnosed to ensure that those preventative steps are taken. "If we do these protocols properly . . . the likelihood of widespread ebola outbreaks in this country are very, very low," he said. He stressed the need for a more robust global response to ebola and more aid to the three countries that are at the epicenter of the outbreak -- Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone. Earlier, the U.N. Security Council issued a statement saying the world has failed to adequately respond to West Africa's ebola crisis. The bodies 15 members called ebola a threat to world peace and security, and urged all U.N. members to dramatically expand providing resources to fight the disease. Obama canceled his travel plans Wednesday for the emergency cabinet meeting after news that the second U.S. health worker infected with the ebola virus took a flight within the United States a day before developing symptoms. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said the health care worker, a nurse, Amber Vinson, 29, took a Frontier Airlines flight from Cleveland, Ohio, to Dallas-Fort Worth, Texas, airport Monday. Officials said Ms. Vinson took the flight just one day before she reported developing symptoms of infection, U.S. and airline officials said. Centers for Disease Control Director Tom Frieden said Wednesday that a person being monitored for ebola will not be allowed to travel on a commercial flight. The nurse should not have been allowed to travel on a commercial airplane, he said. "The CDC guidance outlines the need for what is called controlled movement. That can include a charter plane and car, but does not include public transport. We will from this moment forward ensure that no other individual who is being monitored for exposure undergoes travel in any way other than controlled movement," said Frieden. Centers for Disease Control officials have said there is very low risk to any of the passengers who were on the flight, as Ebola spreads by direct contact with infected body fluids, like vomit or blood, and not through the air, like flu. Despite the low risk, the agency and the airline say they are reaching out to all 132 passengers who were aboard. Crew members said the health care worker did not show any symptoms on the flight. Ms. Vinson contracted the virus at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital while treating Thomas Eric Duncan, the Liberian national who became the first person in the United States to die of the virus last week. Ms. Vinson's news comes just days after another nurse from the same hospital, 26-year-old Nina Pham, became the first person infected by Ebola in the United States while caring for Duncan during much of his 11 days in the hospital. Duncan died on Oct. 8. The Centers for Disease Control also said Ms. Vinson is being moved to Emory University Hospital in Atlanta, Georgia, on Wednesday for treatment. Emory is one of the country's hospitals that is equipped to handle ebola patients. Two American missionaries infected with ebola were successfully treated at Emory in August after being flown from Liberia in isolation bubbles. “Health officials have interviewed the latest patient to quickly identify any contacts or potential exposures, and those people will be monitored,” the Texas Department of State Health Services said Wednesday. Ms. Vinson's apartment, where she lived alone with no pets, is being decontaminated. Meanwhile, the head of a national nurses union, RoseAnn DeMoro, said she had reports saying the hospital in Dallas lacked the proper protocols to deal with an ebola patient. Ms. DeMoro said a group of nurses from the hospital contacted her with complaints that Duncan's case had not been handled safely. The union said the nurses, who would not give their names for fear of retribution, complained that Duncan was not isolated for several hours once admitted to the hospital, that hazardous waste was allowed to accumulate inside the building, and that there was no mandated training for hospital workers on how to handle infected patients. The nurses' union said these complaints were conveyed to the Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta. There was no immediate comment from the Centers for Disease Control , but officials have said they are committed to the safety of health care workers. Frieden said he has been hearing loud and clear from health care workers that they are worried about ebola and do not feel prepared to take care of a patient with the disease. Frieden said the Centers for Disease Control team currently on the ground in Dallas is making sure those caring for Ms. Pham do so safely and effectively. He said putting a more robust infection control team in place when the first patient was diagnosed in Dallas might have prevented her from getting infected. At least 75 other health care workers who might have come into contact with Duncan are being monitored for fever or other symptoms. Another 48 people exposed to Duncan before he was hospitalized have passed the period of greatest risk, and Frieden said they are now unlikely to develop Ebola. Still, Frieden issues an ominous warning. "We are planning for the possibility of additional cases in the next couple days." At the same time, Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia Mathews Burwell expressed confidence that the virus will be contained "We know how to stop this. We have seen this disease since it was first discovered in the 1970's, and we have seen it stopped. We do know what protocols to use and how they work,” said the secretary. U.S. hospitals unprepared, nurses tell national union By
the A.M. Costa Rica wire services
The largest union representing nurses across the United States, National Nurses United, says a survey of its members shows most U.S. hospitals are not adequately prepared to deal with ebola. The diagnosis of a second nurse with ebola at a Dallas hospital has energized nurses nationwide to demand action. In a conference call with 7,000 member nurses, National Nurses United Executive Director RoseAnn DeMoro read a letter the organization sent to President Barack Obama, asking him to invoke his executive authority to make hospitals nationwide ready for ebola. “Not one more nurse, not one more patient, not one more health care worker should be put at risk due to the lack of health care facility preparedness. The United States should be setting the example on how to contain and eradicate the ebola virus,” said Ms. DeMoro. According to a survey of members conducted by the union, 85 percent of American hospitals have not provided staff with adequate training on how to deal with ebola, and 40 percent lack simple safety devices like masks to protect the eyes of nurses working with ebola patients. During the call-in session, Yadira Cabrera, a nurse in El Paso, Texas, said hospitals have engaged in more talk about preparedness than concrete action. “Hospitals may say they are ready, but my experience is that they are not. What we have seen, for example, is that we received training of approximately 10 minutes regarding ebola and not given an interactive type of training, which is what we have demanded,” said Ms. Cabrera. She said handing someone a pamphlet and referring them to a Web site is not good enough to prepare nurses to deal with the deadly virus. Nurses from around the country told similar stories, saying that many hospitals are not ready to deal with contaminated bed sheets, clothing and other items that could spread the disease throughout the hospital and beyond. A caller from New York City said only one large hospital there is fully prepared to handle an ebola case, and that nurses in many smaller hospitals would be at risk if an ebola patient were to arrive. The nurses objected to statements by officials from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control suggesting that the infected nurses in Dallas had breached protocol. They say there was no protocol to breach, and they provided examples of actions taken by hospital officials that put both health care workers and patients at risk. Among other things, they said the protective gowns and masks were inadequate, that rules on such things as the wearing of protective shields over shoes changed from one day to the next, that the ebola-infected patient was kept in an emergency room area with other patients and staff for hours before being put in isolation, and that bodily fluid samples from the patient were sent through the hospital’s pneumatic tube system, potentially contaminating it.  Voice of America photo
Atheists gather for the Sunday
assemblyAtheist group
resembles
typical community church By the A.M. Costa Rica wire services Atheists, by definition, do not believe in God. So they should have no need of a church. But two years ago, a pair of British stand-up comedians, Sanderson Jones and Pippa Evans, decided to create one. Their Sunday Assembly movement, something like church, they say, but without God, has grown from a single congregation in London to dozens of congregations around the world. The Assembly in Nashville, Tennessee, meets once a month. A recent gathering, on a warm Sunday morning in a downtown park, had the look and feel of church. There were songs, all Beatles tunes on this day, special readings, a message, even an offering at the end of the service. Original Nashville Assembly member Landry Butler says that is intentional: church provides a great model for building a sense of community. “That has a powerful way of bringing people together for the common good and focusing that energy. So we wanted to use that as a model. Because it’s something that people are familiar with.” And church is especially familiar in this region. Religious participation rates in Tennessee are some of the highest in the nation. So Butler says he’s always surprised at how many believers show up for the atheist service. “They go back to their regular church the other Sundays of the month, and then they come and hang with us when they can. And that’s been a good way of sort of bridging those two communities.” That gap between believers and atheists has always been tense and sometimes hostile, but Butler says the Assembly isn’t interested in conflict. “There are a lot of atheists out there who like to beat up on religious people, and we’re not about that. We want to be all inclusive.” A good example of that inclusiveness plays out regularly at a local homeless shelter. Volunteers from the Sunday Assembly routinely help serve meals at Room-in-the-Inn, a Christian ministry that serves Nashville’s homeless. The group prepares the food, serves it, and interacts with the men and women who show up for a hot meal. Elvis Wilson says one of the Sunday Assembly’s core values is help often. “As an atheist, I want people to know that I care and that we have moral values," he explained. "We live in the now. We want to make sure that people are treated with respect and well taken care of.” The Sunday Assembly movement has experienced phenomenal growth. At the end of September, more than 30 new assemblies met on a single Sunday. Founders Jones and Evans are now in the process of crowd-funding a Web site that they hope will tie the global movement together. Venezuela likely to win U.N. Security Council seat By
the A.M. Costa Rica wire services
The U.N. General Assembly will elect five new members to the Security Council today, each for a two-year term. The outcome is mostly pre-determined before the ballots are cast. Regional groups decide which country to put up as their candidate, eliminating competition. This year, the African Group has chosen Angola, the Latin American and Caribbean States have picked Venezuela, and Asia and the Pacific Islanders have put forward Malaysia. As long as these three candidates earn two-thirds of the voting countries’ ballots, they will join the council on Jan. 1. The only question mark over the outcome is in the group known as Western Europe and Other. WEOG, as it is known, is not a strictly regional group, as it includes far-flung members such as Britain, Canada, Australia and Israel. In that bloc, Turkey, Spain and New Zealand are contesting two available Council seats. The winners will replace outgoing members Argentina, Australia, Luxembourg, South Korea and Rwanda. Carne Ross, executive editor of Independent Diplomat and a past member of Britain’s U.N. delegation, said getting elected to the U.N.’s most powerful body is very much about a country’s individual relations with other states, and whether a candidate can get them to commit their vote. “This election is often seen, rather simplistically, as a kind of beauty contest for the popularity of particular countries. But actually under the surface, a lot of how it is determined is a lot to do with vote swapping between countries - you vote for me on this and I’ll vote for your judge on the ICJ [International Court of Justice] or other international bodies -- there is a lot of that going on,” said Ross. Ross observes that once on the Security Council, states usually keep their own national interests in mind when negotiating and casting votes. “I hope it’s different. The council really works when diplomats think carefully about the needs of the situation on the ground, and don’t follow their ideological prejudices,” said Ross. Of the 10 non-permanent Council members, Ross said, although he knows it sounds cynical, his experience has showed him it is difficult to make a real difference. “Because the reality is there are five countries that matter in the Security Council, and not one of them is elected. It is the Permanent Five. They decide what goes in and out of the council, what decisions it makes about more or less everything,” said Ross. Whichever five countries succeed in their quest for Security Council seats, there will be no shortage of problems awaiting their attention. The council oversees matters of international peace and security, and has been grappling with an unprecedented number of crises recently in Africa, the Middle East, Ukraine and the global response to the ebola virus. New council members will join the permanent five members - China, France, Russia, Britain and the United States - and five other non-permanent members - Chad, Chile, Jordan, Lithuania and Nigeria. |
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| A.M. Costa Rica's sixth news page |
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The
body in Barranca was not yet cold
By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
The Irish saying is "May you be in Heaven before the Devil knows you're dead." The Costa Rica version is "Don't tell anyone you're dead." That is one reason why the Costa Rican media usually do not publish obituaries, at least until after the funeral. Empty homes while the family members are at the funeral prove to be easy pickings for burglars. That was proven true in an unusual way Tuesday in Barranca, Puntarenas. Fuerza Pública officers detained an 18 year old who is being accused of breaking into a home shortly after the occupant was gunned down in the street. Investigators do not believe the thief was the gunman. The victim of the shooting was identified by the last name of Garcia. He died about 400 meters from his home in the Urbanización Juanito Mora in Barranca. He was additionally identified as an ex-convict. The theft suspect, identified by the last name of Gómez, came into police hands in the patio of a neighboring house. A hole had been chopped into the security wall at the rear of the ex-convict's home. Old aduana scam still works well By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
People still are falling for the old aduana scam. Judicial agents in Heredia detained a man Wednesday morning. They
The fraudster or fraudsters used the name Víctor Urrutia, judicial agents said. Those who fell for the scheme were invited to meet someone at a designated place. When they arrived and then balked at paying money without seeing the merchandise, a fraudster would pull a gun and take their money. Those who blindly paid the money and then showed up at the aduana warehouse found out they had been scammed. The paperwork was fake, as was the name Víctor Urrutia This is a scam that probably is as old as the customs agency. |
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From Page 7: Solar Decathlon
graphic
This is the Tropika house
built by the Costa Rican studentsBuilding
competition team to be honored
By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
Those university students who constructed a house for the Solar Decathlon Europe 2014 in Versailles, France, did not come home empty-handed. The project was designed by the public as the favorite house. The students at Tecnológico de Costa Rica had constructed the solar home here, dismantled it and built it again in Europe. They will be honored this morning at the Cartago campus. The goal was to design and build a sustainable dwelling. In all, 35 students and 20 professors from a number of disciplines were involved in the job. The European event hosted 20 projects from around the world. |
