Costa Rica’s Presidenta Laura Chinchilla has long been a fan of natural gas due to its low carbon emissions, so it came as no shock when she signed a decree this week declaring importation of the fuel “in the public interest.”
She said that the fuel would be an “transition” measure until the country develops alternative fuels. No doubt she has her eye on the 2021 deadline for the country to become carbon neutral.
Earlier in her term, Chinchilla appeared weakening in the government resolve to prohibit petroleum drilling when she declared she might allow drilling for natural gas because it burns cleaner.
A barrel of crude oil currently costs about $95, sometimes spiking to more than $100. The equivalent of natural gas costs about $25. The conversion to natural gas on a meaningful scale could be a boon to the country’s balance of payments.
Minister of the Environment Rene Castro made the announcement during the inauguration of a new $23 million refueling system at Juan Santamaria International Airport Monday.
The new refueling facility can refuel 11 planes simultaneously. Castro said that in another year, he expects to sell about $172 million in jet fuel and gasoline.
The new facility is located a Base Two, far from the passenger concourses. The old facility was located there but have to be closed to allow expansion of passenger services. But the new one is also safer for the public.
Commentary: But the massive import of natural gas, which could come within six months, should be accompanied by a conversion of buses and other road transport to the new fuel. One overwhelming source of pollution here are cars and buses.
How this might be encouraged is the problem because private bus companies may well resist converting.
We can’t resist this: They may think that there’s no fuel like an old fuel… (Sorry about that!)
On November 20, the 2012 Latin American Democratic Development Index found that Costa Rica had the strongest level of democratic development in the region.
In this study, led by Pilotat and the Konrad Adenauer Foundation, Costa Rica replaced Chile as the top track record-holder in the region. Indicators such as increased economic prosperity and political efficiency were used to arrive at such conclusions.
The report was released in the midst of a scandal in Costa Rica that saw lawmakers vote for the removal of Judge Fernando Cruz from the Sala Constitucional (Constitutional Court) or Sala IV as it is often referred to.
On November 15 2012 was the first time that a Sala IV justice was prevented from serving a second 8-year term. The renewal was automatic in the absence of a vote by legislators by October 15, 2012.
Costa Rica’s legisladores (legislators) who voted – one month after the due date – against Cruz’s second term in office included members of the Partido de Liberación Nacional (PNL), the Partido Unidad Social Cristiana (PUSC), the Movimiento Libertario (ML) and two other parties.
As a result, this created tensions among the legislative, judicial and executive branches of government. The latter resulting from allegations of impropriety by the Ministro de la Presidencia, Ricardo Benavides.
On November 19, the President of Costa Rica’s Corte Supremo (Supreme Court), Luis Paulino Mora, gave a speech in defense of Fernando Cruz. It was delivered before a room filled with Court employees dressed in black as a sign of protest against the legislature’s vote.
Mora argued the vote impinged upon the judiciary’s independence and democracy itself.
Among Cruz’s defenders, some argued this vote was aimed at removing a left-leaning judge from Sala IV, as he had angered libertarians with his decisions. This included presidenta Laura Chinchilla.
Among those that voted against him used the results of a recent poll that said seven in ten Costa Ricans were dissatisfied with its performance.
As a sign of protest, on November 20, legislator Luis Fishman and PUSC presidential candidate in the 2010 elections, resigned as leader of his party, saying he disagreed with the position taken by other PUSC members.
On November 21, the president of the Legislative Assembly, Victor Emilio Granados, called for an anulment of the vote, arguig that Cruz had been re-elected by default in October .
However, 26 legislators that had voted against a second term for Cruz subsequently signed an appeal that left Granados’ resolution without effect, fueling talk about an ‘institutional crisis’ within the Assembly.
On November 23, Cruz’ supporters marched the few blocks from the Judicial Court to the Legislative Assembly. in downtown San José, as a sign of protest.
On Monday, November 26, Cruz showed up for work as usual to complete his duties for the coming eight years. Unless there is a vote by the assembly to negate his mandate.
Fundación Tierra de Animales is having a drive on Saturday 8 December 2012 and needs your help. The Foundation needs donations of dog and cat food, litter box for cats, blankets, beds for animals, shamppo and just about anything you can donate to help a dog or cat in need.
Cash donations are also accepted!
The collection centre will be at: Plaza Victoria in Heredia (50 mts north of the main entrance of the Universidad Nacional -UNA) starting at 9am to 3pm.
Come out to help!
For more go to the Foundation’s Facebook page or their website.
Donations can be made to the following bank accounts:
BANCO NACIONAL DE COSTA RICA:
Cuenta en Colones: 200-01-045-020973-2
Cuenta Cliente para sinpe: 15104520010209736
Cuenta en Dólares: 200-02-045-002662-5
Cuenta Cliente para sinpe: 15104520020026623
Donaciones Internacionales: Código Swift: BNCRCRSJ
BANCO DE COSTA RICA:
Cuenta en Colones: 001-1275943-0
Cuenta Cliente para sinpe: 15202001127594306
Cuenta en Dólares: 001-1275944-9
Cuenta Cliente para sinpe: 15202001127594499
Donaciones Internacionales: Código Swift: BCRICRSJ
Ambas cuentas a nombre de FUNDACIÓN TIERRA DE ANIMALES COSTA RICA. Cédula Jurídica: 3-006-638076.
PayPal users:
+ send donation to mara979@hotmail.com
Wire Transfers:
FUNDACIÓN TIERRA DE ANIMALES COSTA RICA. Cédula Jurídica: 3-006-638076.
Banco Nacional de Costa Rica
Código Swift: BNCRCRSJ
Direccion: Avenida 1 y 3, Calle 2 y 4, San Jose, Costa Rica.
Cuenta 200-02-045-002662-5.
Costa Rica’s firefighters (Bomberos) are holding their first ever race – Carrera Bomberos 2012 – on Saturday 8 December 2012.
The race starts at 7:30am.
The objective of the tace is to promote a culture of prevention in the framework of celebrating “Semana del Bombero 2012” (Firefighter Week 2012).
The race starts and finishes at the Academia Nacional de Bomberos (National Fire Academy) in Desamparados. The run is 8.5 kilometres and cost to participate is ¢7.000 colones per person.
The price of admission includes insurance in case of accidents, a t-shirt, a medal, water to keep hydrated, a snack and prize with first place winner taking home ¢50.000, second place ¢30.000 and third place ¢25.000.
The categories are: junior (up to 19 years of age), adult (20 to 35), veteran (36 and up) and special (those in wheelchairs).
Tickets can be purchased at the Runners stores in Desamparados, Heredia, Pavas and Curridabat. If you do not live close or can get to a Runners you can write to info@bomberos.go.cr for more info.
Maintaining active social networks, pursuing leisure activities, avoiding smoking — these things tended to prolong life.
I recently came across two candidates for the fountain of youth. The first came in the form of a longtime patient of mine, an early adopter who makes it a practice to stay on the forefront of medicine so he gains an edge. At 60 years old, the successful entrepreneur confessed he was taking something to stave off the effects of aging — an enzyme called telomerase.
The second involves an article I read recently in The New York Times Magazine, about a Greek island where people just forget to die — Ikaria, the place is called. Men there reach the age of 90 at four times the rate of American men. Ikarians in general, the magazine reported, lived eight to 10 years longer and suffered a quarter the rate of dementia. The cause? No single magic bullet. Instead, it’s lifestyle stuff. They get plenty of sleep. They stay active, avoid saturated fats and maintain active social lives.
So which is better? Lifestyle or chemical supplement? First, let’s examine the chemical option. Telomerase is an enzyme that protects the tip of the chromosome, which is called the telomere. The telomere gets shorter each time the cell divides.
Eventually, the telomere becomes so short the cell can’t divide, and the cell dies. Writ large, the process may play some sort of a causal factor in our bodies’ aging — we may age because the telomere shortens.
So could the reverse also be true? Could we stave off aging by preventing the telomere from shortening? And if telomerase prevents the telomere from shortening, could we stave off aging by ingesting the protective enzyme, telomerase?
Data remains inconclusive about the enzyme’s effect on humans. But the telomerase hype increased last year after the journal Nature published a fascinating study about the enzyme’s effect on genetically engineered mice.
In the study, researchers bred mice that, in normal conditions, didn’t create telomerase. The mice grew to adulthood without the enzyme. Then, for a month, the team provided the mice with a trigger chemical that allowed the mice to create telomerase.
Without the telomerase, the researchers discovered that the mice tend to age prematurely. They contracted osteoporosis or diabetes, and they tended to die earlier than normal mice. Then, during their month with telomerase, things turned around.
Sterile animals became fertile again. Prematurely aged internal organs returned to health. Telomerase also reversed aging’s effects in the mouse’s brains.
So would this stuff work in humans? Telomerase hasn’t been conclusively proven to help humans. But anyone who Googles “telomerase supplements” is apt to find dozens of reports that it does. The problem? It’s risky. Taking telomerase may pose serious risks to people who have cancerous tumour cells. The enzyme appears to encourage tumour growth. The danger here is that a person who has cancer, but doesn’t know it, may take telomerase and cause the cancer to grow and spread.
Besides, the evidence suggests that modifying the way you live is more effective at prolonging life than taking an unproven supplement. The British Medical Journal published a study earlier this fall that followed about 1,800 people over the age of 75 from the Swedish town of Kungsholmen. Maintaining active social networks, pursuing leisure activities, avoiding smoking — these things tended to prolong life. “The estimated effects were large,” a BMJ editorial noted. “Participation in leisure activities categorized as ‘productive,’ ‘social’ or ‘physical’ predicted 0.9-1.4 additional years of survival.” What struck me was the way the BMJ study’s findings replicated what researchers found on the Greek island of Ikaria — and in other areas of the globe where higher-than-normal percentages of people live past 90, such as Okinawa, Japan and Nicoya in Costa Rica.
Those same lifestyle factors may be increasing the body’s telomerase levels anyway. That was the gist of a 2008 study conducted by Dr. Dean Ornish and published in 2008 in Lancet Oncology. It was a small pilot study of just 30 men that established that some key lifestyle factors — such as decreasing stress and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol levels — could increase telomerase levels.
Lifestyle or chemical? Maybe at some point we’ll determine telomerase is a fountain of youth — but to my mind, we’re much better off pursuing things we’re certain that work, just like the Ikarians.
Dr. James Aw is the medical director of the Medcan Clinic, a leading private health clinic in Toronto.
It’s important to understand the difference between club and nightclub in Costa Rica.
Many a visitor will ask for the best night club only to be pointed in the direction of a strip club. In Costa Rica a nightclub or “night” is always a strip club, a “club” is everything else, ie. a disco, a bar where there is music and dancing, even a swingers club.
Important to always be specific in what you are looking for. Always ask!
From chilled out bars on the beach to clubs featuring world class DJs in San José, Costa Rica offers up a huge variety of nightlife activity.
When to Go Out Most people go out on Fridays and Saturdays, but there are exceptions when the club or bar hosts a discount night, or especially popular, a ladies night. Costa Ricans love to party!
For example, Monday nights in San Jose, Cuartel de la Boca del Monte is a hot spot. Ladies nights are always guaranteed to be popular because ladies get in for free and are treated to free drinks. Monday night at Casino Fiesta in Alajuela and Wednesday night at the Backyard Bar in Playa Hermosa are always packed with party-goers.
Times vary. Some bars and clubs offer discounted drinks and entrance fees for showing up before 9pm, but the crowd usually doesn’t come out in full until 10 or 11. Closing time varies a lot, too. Some places close around midnight while others stay open until 2am, 4am, or very rarely until dawn.
What to Wear
In Costa Rica, the climate of the city you are in and the type of bar or club you are going to will dictate your nightly attire.
In the hot and humid coastal towns, you will see tourists relaxing at the beach bars in flip flops, tank tops, and shorts, or even bathing suits from their day on the beach.
In San Jose and most of the Central Valley, it gets a lot colder at night, so you will want to put on more clothes. Plus the atmosphere of the bar and clubs are more sophisticated, lending to more formal attire than flip flops and bathing suits.
To fit in with the locals in any town, you will want to dress a lot sharper with a nice top or dress, nice jeans or skirt, and shoes or high heels.
Some clubs require a dress code: usually no hats, no shorts, no tank tops (for men), no pants with holes, and/or no tennis shoes. This is mainly in San Jose where you will find the majority of the upscale bars and clubs.
Social Dynamics
Costa Ricans mainly go out with groups of friends. The exception is ladies night when a large majority of people go out on their own. The other exception is when Ticos go out with their families to Fiestas Patronales.
Fiestas Patronales
Fiestas Patronales are festival-like celebrations of a particular town’s Saint Day.
Costa Ricans dress in their cowboy best and go to these festivals with their families where they enjoy a tope (horse parade) during the day, and toros (Costa Rica’s bull-friendly version of bull fighting), delicious food, games, rides, and a variety of lively Latino music and dancing during the night.
Club vs. Nightclub
It’s important to understand the difference between club and nightclub in Costa Rica. Club = dance club, Nightclub = strip club.
When I first moved to Costa Rica, I would ask about the good nightclubs in town and get a good hearty laugh from the locals. It’s easy for Costa Ricans to assume a girl is mixing up the lingo as there are no male strip clubs in Costa Rica, and a girl seeking to go to a nightclub usually only goes with her boyfriend, so there is no need to ask around.
However, a male tourist asking where the best nightclub is will be immediately pointed towards the strip club, no questions asked. This could complicate your night if you are innocently trying to find a regular dance club.
Dancing
Everyone dances! You are welcome on the dance floor to try and learn the steps of salsa or merengue, but if you want to show up prepared, take some dance lessons while you are in town.
Types of music commonly heard in Costa Rican bars and clubs are house, hip hop, reggaeton, salsa, merengue, cumbia, and popular rock music from the 80′s and 90′s.
Karaoke is also wildly popular. In all towns, you can find fun karaoke bars with amateurs or make your way to San Jose to find serious karaoke clubs with professional singers belting out the English and Spanish hits.
It is socially acceptable for guys and girls to ask each other to dance, and it is okay to dance close together. Costa Ricans are very upfront with their intentions and there is no playing hard to get.
Costa Rica inaugurated the country’s first large-scale solar energy plant in Central America, built with a US10 million Japanese donation.
Presidenta Laura Chinchilla and the head of the state power and telecom, the Instituto Costarricense de Electricidad (ICE), Teofilo de la Torre, inaugurated the Miravalles solar park in Bagaces, a small town in the northwestern province of Guanacaste.
“Today we not only took another step in terms of increasing installed capacity to continue generating more electricity and meet our economy’s demands, but we also confirmed that our growth will continue to rely on renewable energy generation,” Chinchilla said at the inauguration ceremony Thursday.
The solar park, which also received US$1.5 million in funding from ICE, covers a 2.7-hectare (6.7-acre) area and will generate 1.2 gigawatt-hours per year, enough to power 600 households.
The plant is equipped with 4,300 235-watt solar panels, 10 power conditioners, a transformer and a control room, ICE said.
The institute also operates another much smaller solar energy facility in San Jose that has just 15 panels and is used to generate electricity for some ICE offices. EFE
The Costa Rica banana industry has regained its exports in recent years. Today the country’s fruit reaches 35 nations, mainly the United States and the European Union.
This commercial success is reinforced by the scientific field work in the banana plantations made by the Research Center of the National Banana Corporation, CORBANA in La Rita of Guápiles. New techniques in the planting and production of bananas are being studied at this center, in addition to innovative treatments
to combat pests affecting plantations (biological control).
The Research Center provides information, consulting and scientific field applications to improve the quality of banana production to producers so they can be more competitive in the international market.
With over 30 years of operation, the CORBANA Research Center has won a good reputation worldwide as one of the best in Latin America. A treatment that is well known is against the Black Sigatoka (fungus that attacks the banana leaves) work in health and soil quality, biological control and training for producers.
Costa Rica is a pioneer and world-renowned for its environmental and social commitment to improve production in harmony with the environment and quality of life of workers and their families. CORBANA states that you can keep these
specific commitments and be competitive in the international market, despite lower production standards of other producing countries.
“If possible, we should try to do and keep putting effort into environment and social aspects, for that we must focus on high productivities and internal critical areas. We must differentiate our product with Geographical Indication “Bananas from Costa Rica,” said Jorge Sauma Aguilar, CORBANA CEO.
In recent years, the banana industry has positioned itself as a successful model in the commercial, scientific and social aspects. This translates into direct employment for 40,000 people and indirectly for another 100,000.
You have decided that you will remain in Costa Rica for quite some time, possibly even deciding to live here. It’s time to get your Costa Rican Drivers License.
Driving without a valid drivers license in Costa Rica will cost you ¢280.000 colones (US$565 at the current exchange rate) and six (6) points, which will be added to your Costa Rican license if and when you actually get one.
Foreigners in Costa Rica can drive with their “license from home” for a maximum of 90 days FROM THE DAY OF ENTRY INTO THE COUNTRY. After that, you must have a Costa Rica drivers license or risk the fine.
Important to note that the new Ley de Transito (traffic law) that went into effect on October 26, 2012 prohibits any foreigner from leaving Costa Rica if they have unpaid traffic fines. The law required traffic officials to report the unpaid fines to the immigration service, that is required to detain you on leaving the country by land, air or sea.
Also, on October 26, 2012 the new requirement to obtain a Costa Rica drivers license is LEGAL RESIDENCY.
For the first time license, a foreigner has to apply to the Consejo de Seguridad Vial (COSEVI) for a license with the following documents:
1. the drivers license from home (it must be current, an expired license will not do)
2. your passport indicating the entry stamp (it must be less than 90 days0
3. the medical certificate which is obtained from any doctor, but best from the doctors operating near and around the driver licensing centres. The medical check is a cursory one for genera health and eyesight and a blood test.
4. pay the fee at the local bank. The COSEVI does not accept payments directly.
5. your cedula (a new requirement as of October 26, 2012)
6. arm yourself with lots and lots of patience
7. a smile for the cameras
Note that if you are using your “from home license” there is no requirement for the written exam and driving test.
Renewing your Costa Rica drivers license is basically all the steps from 1 to 7 except for 5, the cedula.
For renewal you only need a valid identification and the passport will do. This is important for foreigners with a Costa Rica drivers license and who are not yet residents. The residency requirement is only applied on the first issue. See MOPT Licencias.
Rick and Lorraine have been coming to Costa Rica for the last ten years. Like good tourists they fueled the country’s top industry, tourism. And like many Canadian tourists, they fell in love with paradise.
Since their first arrival in Costa Rica, the couple made numerous visits, each time staying longer and longer. In 2007 their plans for the future to make Costa Rica home included the purchase of a lot in Guanacaste.
Last month their fulfilled their dream of living in paradise, making the final move to their adopted home, Costa Rica. In the process the couple applied for residency. Last weekend the visited the car show in Heredia and bought.
Having crossed off a number of items on their to do list, while in San José and with new wheels to sport, it was time for visit to the drivers licensing office in La Uruca.
Armed with the knowledge that a foreigner who had a valid driver’s license from his or her own country could obtain one in Costa Rica without the need to take a written exam or a driving test, the couple set out to the La Uruca drivers license centre for the required few hours it takes for the process. But in the end it would be all worth it, one more step closer to full integration to their new life in paradise.
Based on all the information published on getting a drivers license in Costa Rica, where even foreigners as tourists could obtain one, they were in for a BIG surprise: the laws had changed, REQUIRED NOW IS LEGAL RESIDENCY!
Typically, the process was simple, the drivers license from their home country, their passport indicating the entry stamp to verify that the application was within the 90 days visitor period, the medical exam and the fee.
That is the what Rick and Lorraine had envisioned their chore for their morning. But, it didn’t go that way. The couple quickly learned that they were missing one very vital document, a cedula. The new traffic law that went into effect on October 26, 2012, now requires every foreigner – be it from the United States, Canada, Europe and Nicarauga just to name a few, requires legal residency. And the residency application is not valid.
This was confirmed by Consejo de Seguridad Vial (COSEVI) officials and a post on the MOPT website.
The legal residency requirement is no big deal for Rick and Lorraine and the thousands of others making or planning the move to paradise. The problem is in the timing, as it takes a year or more to obtain legal residency, but the traffic law allows only 90 days to driver on a visitor’s visa.
This unintended consequence of new the legislation leaves an entire class of foreigners, who in their zeal to become legal residents, abide by the laws of the country, are no being forced to either drive illegally (beyond their 90 days) or leave the country, thus becoming “perpetual” tourists, a condition the Dirección General de Migración y Extranjería (immigration service) has been attempting to eradicate.
In practical terms, if the foreigners wants to continue to drive legal he or she is faced with the burden of added costs of living, leaving the country every 90 days and an interruption to their life in paradise.
If one chooses not to do the travel thing, the exposure is a fine of ¢280.000 colones (US$565 dollars) and six (6) points on a yet ungotten license. For each occurrence.
In addition, the new traffic law also imposes a restriction on a foreigner leaving the country if they have unpaid traffic fines. The Ley de Tránsito requires the COSEVI to report to the immigration service any foreigner who has unpaid traffic tickets and the immigration to deny exit, either by air, land or sea.
Imagine getting to the airport, checking into your flight, paying the $28 exit tax, ready to board and the pulled off the flight by immigration officials and for having outstanding traffic fines. And if on a Friday afternoon, the wait is until Monday for the COSEVI to process the payment and Tuesday at the earliest for immigration to be notified?
The legal status requirement was included in Article 91 b)iii, which states: Acreditar su permanencia legal en el país, al amparo de la legislación migratoria vigente. For a link to the legislation go to Traffic Law Costa Rica.
This is no doubt a serious problem for many like Rick and Lorriane making or considering a move to paradise.
Harder to believe is that the requirement that was not discussed in public during the more than two years the new legislation was under study by legislatures. And until a few like Rick and Lorraine made their way to the drivers licensing office and then contacted the media was this known to the general public.
One COSEVI official who spoke to QCOSTARICA anonymously confirmed that licensing officials were aware of the requirement for months but it wasn’t until the beginning of this month, two weeks after the enactment of the law, that they received a directive to enforce the regulation.
What we are left with, as Rick and Lorraine are painfully living it, is that foreigners who do not have residency – a residency application in process is not good enough – cannot obtain a Costa Rica drivers license.
Although impossible to know how many will be affected and how, it certainly is to be in the thousands. And how many may just say ‘to hell with it’ and pass over Costa Rica?
One can understand the need for law and order. However, there has to be some common sense in the process. Either allow a residency in “tramite” (in the process) or shorten the residency process to at least less than 90 days.
Anything short of either becomes idiomatic of an unprofitable action motivated by greed. Greed by a government that is pulling at all the strings and overturning all the rocks to generate revenue.
Talking with Rick, he has not yet become disillusioned with paradise. He and Lorraine are not bailing out just yet. But, it has generated doubts in their minds about their choice of Costa Rica.
Admit it. You’ve done it. You’ve been driving down the street (and yes, the autopista as well) when your phone, blackberry, or whatever you use to call and text with goes off. You immediately grab it, even though you are driving in traffic and really shouldn’t.
It’s a dangerous and terrible habit Costa Rican drivers have developed.
It is beyond dispute that texting and driving is very dangerous. Even more dangerous that drinking and driving or talking on a mobile (cellular) phone.
Texting while driving’ is the act of composing, sending, reading text messages, email, or making other similar use of the web on a mobile phone while operating a motor vehicle.
Texting while driving leads to increased distraction behind the wheel. Although talking on a cellular phone while operating a vehicle is considered dangerous, the threat increased as Short Message Service (SMS) or texting, became popular.
[poll id=”3″]
Texting has become a social norm fairly quickly since the year 2000, as most cell phone plans include a text messaging package. The popularity of smartphones, which allow people to communicate in even more ways, increases the likelihood of usage. It cannot be contested that text messaging and other forms of text communication on mobile phones offer a level of convenience that cannot be matched.
The dilemma is at what point do we chose safety over convenience. Many studies have linked texting while driving to the cause of life-threatening accidents due to driver distraction. The International Telecommunication Union states that “texting, making calls, and other interaction with in-vehicle information and communication systems while driving is a serious source of driver distraction and increases the risk of traffic accidents”.
Simply, when writing and sending a text or reading a text received… while driving means having to take your eyes off the road, even if for a split second, enough time to unleash a catastrophic series of tragic and fatal events.
While having a conversation on a cell phone while driving is totally visible to a traffic cop, reading or writing a text message is not. And for mobile conversations there are hands free devices, though one could argue that the conversation is a distraction, it allows the driver to keep both hands on the wheel and eyes on the road.
Texting, however, means one hand has to be occupied and at least one eye has to be on the device while the other on the road. And unless you possess some super human ability, how do you split your vision?
There are no statistics and research available for Costa Rica, thus we have to rely on research done in other countries, like the United States and the United Kingdom.
A 2010 experiment with Car and Driver magazine editor Eddie Alterman that took place at a deserted air strip showed that texting while driving had a greater impact on safety than driving drunk. While legally drunk, Alterman’s stopping distance from 70 mph increased by 4 feet; by contrast, reading an e-mail added 36 feet, and sending a text added 70 feet. While celebrities such as Oprah Winfrey have campaigned against texting while driving, there are reports that the message has not been getting through to teenagers.
In the UK in 2009, Gwent Police worked with filmmaker Peter Watkins-Hughes and production company Zipline Creative to create the graphic short film “Cow”, as part of a campaign to stop texting while driving. The film earned honors in the Advertising Age’s weekly Creativity Top 5 videos[9] and became an overnight worldwide internet hit after being shown on the American news program The Today Show.
A simulation study at the Monash University Accident Research Centre provided strong evidence that retrieving and, in particular, sending text messages has a detrimental effect on a number of safety-critical driving measures. Specifically, negative effects were seen in detecting and responding correctly to road signs, detecting hazards, time spent with eyes off the road, and (only for sending text messages) lateral position. Mean speed, speed variability, lateral position when receiving text messages, and following distance showed no difference.[11] A separate, yet unreleased simulation study at the University of Utah found a sixfold increase in distraction-related accidents when texting.
The AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety has released polling data that show that 87% of people consider texting and e-mailing while driving a “very serious” safety threat, almost equivalent to the 90% of those polled who consider drunk driving a threat. Despite the acknowledgement of the dangers of texting behind the wheel, about half of drivers 16 to 24 say they have texted while driving, compared with 22 percent of drivers 35 to 44.
The 2008 Will Smith movie Seven Pounds deals with Smith’s character committing suicide in order to donate his organs to help save the lives of seven people to make up for the seven people he killed in a car accident because he was receiving a text message while he was driving. Texting while driving attracted interest in the media after several highly publicized car crashes were caused by texting drivers, including a May 2009 incident involving a Boston trolley car driver who crashed while texting his girlfriend.
Several studies have attempted to compare the dangers of texting while driving with driving under the influence. One such study was conducted by Car and Driver magazine in June 2009.
The study, carried out at the Oscoda-Wurtsmith Airport in Oscoda, Michigan, used two drivers in real cars and measured reaction times to the onset of light on the windshield. The study compared the reaction times and distances of the subjects while reading a text message, replying to the text message, and impaired. The study showed that at 35 mph, reading a text message decreased the reaction time the most, 0.12 and 0.87 seconds. Impaired driving at the same speed resulted in an increase of 0.01 and 0.07 seconds. In terms of stopping distances these times were estimated to mean:
Unimpaired: .54 seconds to brake
Legally drunk: add 4 feet
Reading e-mail: add 36 feet
Sending a text: add 70 feet
Besides Costa Rica, a number of countries ban all cell phone use while driving (talking and texting): Canada, All provinces and the Northwest Territories have banned both talking on hand-held phones and texting while driving; Germany, where any use of a mobile phone is forbidden as long as the vehicle’s engine is running; United Kingdom, any use of a hand-held mobile phone or similar device whilst driving, or supervising a learner driver, is illegal.
In the United States texting while driving has been outlawed or is soon to be outlawed for all drivers in the following states: Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Louisiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, North Dakota, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada. New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, Wisconsin, and Wyoming. The state of Texas prohibits school bus drivers from texting while transporting a child under 17. The states of Indiana, Kansas, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, Texas and West Virginia have laws restricting those who are underage and/or with learner’s permits from texting while driving. Laws enacted in Kentucky in 2010, Indiana in 2011 and Ohio in 2012 banned texting for all drivers, as well as cell phone usage by all drivers under 18. The latter feature is unusual in that holders of unrestricted licenses are subject to the ban; most states that have banned cell phone usage by young drivers apply their laws only to holders of restricted or graduated licenses.
In Florida, a proposed bill known as “Heather’s Law” would ban all cell phone use while driving. The law was inspired by the death of Heather Hurd, who was killed in an accident allegedly caused by a truck driver who crashed into 10 cars when he was sending a text message behind the wheel. On January 26, 2010, the US Department of Transportation announced a federal ban on texting while driving by truckers and bus drivers.
In Costa Rica using a cellular phone (INCLUDES TEXTING) while driving can cost you ¢280.000 colones (US$565 dollars) and six (6) points. AND IT INCLUDES TEXTING.
Article 126 of the Ley de Tránsito prohibits all drivers from using mobile phones and any other medium or communication system, unless your hands are not used, are used headphones or similar instruments. Exempted from this prohibition are emergency service providers, in the exercise of functions, unless accompanied by another person who can take care of the communications. It also prohibits driving doing activities other than those demand proper driving.
[highlight color=”eg. yellow, black”]ARTÍCULO 126.- Uso de teléfonos celulares o distractores Se prohíbe a todos los conductores utilizar teléfonos móviles y cualquier otro medio o sistema de comunicación, salvo que no se empleen las manos, se utilicen auriculares o instrumentos similares. Quedan exentos de esta prohibición, las autoridades y los prestatarios de servicios de emergencia que, en el ejercicio de las funciones, deban realizar sus comunicaciones, salvo que estén acompañados de otra persona que pueda hacerse cargo de estos instrumentos. Asimismo, se prohíbe conducir realizando actividades distintas de las que demanda la debida conducción de vehículos.[/highlight]
In reality however, Tránsitos (Costa Rica’s traffic cops) have an eye only on drivers with a cellular phone to their ear, ignoring if the driver texting, even if visibly doing so. This is not to say that the Tránsitos are ignoring the law. According to a Tránsito who agreed to speak to the Q on strict anonymity, most Tránsitos look the other way on anything (with respect to a cell phone) unless the cell phone propped up to the ear.
Using technology to address the problem
In 2009 it was reported that some companies, including iZUP, ZoomSafer, Aegis Mobility, and cellcontrol by obdEdge employ systems that place restrictions on cell phone usage based on the phone’s GPS signal, data from the car itself or from nearby cellphone towers. The use of telematics to detect drunk driving and texting while driving has been proposed. A US patent application combining this technology with a usage based insurance product was open for public comment on peer to patent. The insurance product would not ban texting while driving, but would charge drivers who text and drive a higher premium.
AT&T in the US has introduced the “take the plege” program committed to putting an end to texting and driving. AT&T provides an App, that when enabled and the vehicle is moving 25 mph, automatically sends a customizable auto-reply message to incoming texts. (Data and text messaging charges may apply for download and app usage says AT&T ‘s website.)
AT&T has also developed the “Texting and Driving: It Can Wait” Simulator — to show first hand the dangers of texting behind the wheel — in a safe way. Sync your smartphone and try the simulator now.
Unfortunately the app is available only for AT&T subscribers and only for Android and BlackBerry smartphones. A spokeswoman said the company is working on an iPhone app, but no release date is scheduled. Sprint, Verizon and T-Mobile make similar apps, although they are not all free.
If you feel it is essential to get and respond to text messages while driving, consider using a service that will read your text messages to you and allow you to respond by talking.
If you have an iPhone 4 or 3, or a BlackBerry, you can download the DriveSafe.ly app, which provides a similar service. iPhone users can simpley ask Siri to read the text to you. Unfortunately Siri, available on the iPhone5 or 4S is not available in Costa Rica.
There are also apps to help parents of teen drivers, who are more likely to text and drive than any other age group. If you are the parent of a teenage driver, consider downloading the DriveScribe app, available in Google Play and Apple’s App Store, to your child’s smartphone.
The free app uses a jamming function to block all texts and calls when it is switched to “driver mode.” It also keeps drivers apprised of speed limits and upcoming stop signs, and will even tell a driver to slow down if the car is moving too fast. Paranoid parents can even get text or email alerts when the app detects the vehicle is going faster than the speed limit.
As an incentive for teens to activate the app — rather than being told by their parents — the app developer created a scoring system in which drivers are awarded points and gift cards for safe driving.
An app called OneProtect provides even more control for parents. Once the app is installed on a teen’s phone the parent can turn the app on remotely, making it impossible for a teen to turn the app off without the parents finding out.
But keep in mind that it’s not just kids who are texting and driving — the AT&T survey found that 41% of teens say they’ve seen their parents text and drive too.
So, look into these apps and decide which is right for you. And in the meantime, throw your phone in the glove compartment while you’re in the car and lock it if you need to. The first step to breaking the texting-while-driving addiction starts with you.
Editor’s note: the apps mentioned in this report were not tested in Costa Rica.
Criticism of bans
One argument against banning texting while driving is that it is safe and helpful under some circumstances. For example, a driver in a traffic jam might safely, and usefully, send a text message rescheduling an appointment.
Another argument can be made against the wording of the texting bans. Instead of banning the act of writing or reading that distracts a person from driving, such as reading a book, writing notes on a piece of paper or writing text using a keyboard of a phone, the laws mostly ban the act of sending text messages and do not say anything about how the messages were created. Using voice recognition technology, text messages can be created with eyes and hands free, and without ever engaging in the act of reading or writing.
A sign in West University Place, Texas (Greater Houston) advising drivers that they are not allowed to text
Be Part of the Solution! Share your ‘texting & driving’ related story with TxtResponsibly.org and help raise awareness of the dangers of texting while driving. Your story may be selected for the ‘Be a part of the solution’ awareness campaign. Campaign posters will be made available at free for download and distribution. In addition, selected stories will be given a dedicated page under the Share Your Story section at TxtResponsibly.org. Help bring focus to the dangers of texting and driving by sharing your story today.
In Closing
A texting driver is 23 times more likely to get into a crash than a non-texting driver.
People feel pressure to remain in constant contact, even when behind the wheel. What drivers do not realize are the dangers posed when they take their eyes off the road and their hands off the wheel, and focus on activities other than driving.
The average text takes a driver’s eyes off the road for nearly five seconds. When traveling at 55mph, that’s enough time to cover the length of a football field.
The message being conveyed is that texting while driving isn’t multitasking, it’s essentially driving blind.
Researchers studied parakeets that live in constantly changing flocks in Costa Rican forests
The birds use mimicry to initiate ‘conversations’ on the joining and merging of flocks, they say
It is often said that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. But in the parrot world, it may be a way of striking up a conversation.
Scientists believe that parakeets found in the Costa Rican forests mimic each other to begin ‘discussions’ about creating new flocks and who will be boss.
The theory comes from a study of orange-fronted parakeets that live in constantly changing flocks.
University of Copenhagen researchers showed that the birds, which are green with orange foreheads, are more likely to respond to a call that sounds like their own.
They also reply more quickly.
This suggests that mimicry is used to initiate ‘conversations’, the journal PLoS ONE reports.
In the wild, these may be negotiations on the joining and merging of flocks.
Males may also use the process to establish the pecking order of the new flock, with the willing mimic perhaps more likely to be sub-ordinate.
Researcher Thorsten Balsby said: ‘It might mean a negotiation on dominance and who is going to lead the fused flock.’
Dr Balsby believes that some other species of parrot use mimicry for a similar purpose.
However, parrot owners should take note.
The researcher says that as pet birds are usually taught the sounds they mimic, any speech cannot be taken as an attempt to initiate conversation with their owner.
And while orange-fronted parakeets excel at mimicking members of their own species, they are poor at replicating the human voice.
The Act abolishing the army in the former barracks Bellavista.
Each December first Costa Rica celebrates one of the most significant events in its history, one of the most important milestones of civilian life in search of peace and democracy: the abolition of the army as a permanent institution.
The Act abolishing the army in the former barracks Bellavista.
The army until 1948 continued to maintain its presence in the organization of the state as an institution with legal and financial resources that always represented a burden on the national budget.
[one_fourth last=”no”]”The military victories themselves are worth little. What we build from them is what matters “ José Figueres Ferrer, January 1949
[/one_fourth]
It was on December 1, 1948, that General Figueres, victorious in the civil war of that year, disbanded the army in Costa Rica. In an emotional ceremony at what is now the National Museum, it was witnessed by students, members of the diplomatic and national personalities, President of the Governing Board, José Figueres Ferrer, with a blow of a sledge hammer knocked down a few stones of the Bellavista Barracks.
The act symbolized the end of a military era in Costa Rica and began another in which security and education would be government priorities.
In 1949 the abolition of the army was incorporated into the 1949 constitution. This allowed to use the budgets allocated to the army for the development of mainly educational programs.
Dissolution of the National Army.
In “Acta No 178”, dated October 31, 1949, appears the constitutional article abolishing the army as a permanent institution and created civil police, for safeguarding public order.
Weeks earlier, on October 31, 1929, Decree No. 749, the Foundation Board of the Second Republic, transferred the Bellavista Headquarters, where today stands National Museum, to the University of Costa Rica.
In 1986, President Oscar Arias Sánchez declared December 1st the Día de la Abolición del Ejército (Military Abolition Day).
Without a military, Costa Rica has not been a perfect paradise on earth, but it has avoided invading or being invaded by other countries. It has avoided military coups and civil wars.
Currently a criminal band is stealing or buying the properties they hire someone else to steal, pretending to be the legitimate owners. Only this year, by the end of the month of October, we learned of 10 cases, which give us an average of one per month.
Fake passport
The Nosara American Project was conceived in the early 70ss by a group of entrepreneurs and their collaborators. From the original estates, an endless number of properties were segregated, which have been object of repeated sales and re-sales. The aforementioned has caused these lands to be highly sought and well appraised, not only by investors and expatriates, but by unscrupulous people who purchase them illegally to be immediately sold (fortunately they are a small group, a minority that have their time borrowed, as these cases are well documented in the hands of the Administration of Justice).
The global economic crisis seems to exacerbate the number of crimes, and real estate frauds are no exception. As lawyers we have noticed the increase because we have been linked to real estate traffic for more than ten years. For example, between the years 2005 and 2006, I had three cases of property theft. Up to this date our office is actively involved in 16 criminal cases.
I must say that the different types of frauds with which I have had to deal come in all kinds of colors and flavors. The way of committing the crime varies according to the skills, sophistication and resources of the scam artist; in this article the intention is not to mention all of them because the list is long, but only a few of the most common ones. The main targets of the scam artists are the lots that have not been built on; in fact there is no registry of stolen lots with houses.
Different ways of committing crimes that were performed with properties at the American Project
Illegal Change of the Board of Directors (Fraud with Legal Books)
A group of criminals illegally obtains a duplicate of the legal books of a company that owns a land. With this action and after having obtained the legal books of the company that have the overall appearance of being unique, the criminals start introducing false information in these, indicating who the owners of all the shares are, and with that, they proceed to perform a protocolization of the assembly where they managed to make the change of the Board of Directors and to grant a power of attorney to another person.
Thus, the person who was appointed as proxy of the company will subsequently go before a Notary Public to grant the sale, leaving its rightful owners with no land.
Impersonation
In a particular case, four persons identified themselves with a false passport in the name of the legal representative of the company, and they appeared before four different notaries, leading each of them to an error, in order to proceed with the sale of three of the properties, and to grant a mortgage in the amount of $50,000 against the other property. These counterfeited passports were so convincing that they were even used to cash a check at a national bank. To date, the true owner was stripped of the properties, in addition to the falsification of the owner’s identification document.
Real passport
Resurrect deceased persons
Unfortunately, in our country there are notaries that agree to be used for these cases, in which they attest to the appearance of persons that have died in a country abroad; therefore, the National Register is unable to verify it, registering the purchases for unscrupulous persons.
Moreover, there are also cases in which people that are not in the national territory allegedly “appear” before notaries to sell their properties. But it is clearly demonstrated through the records of migrations of the National Migration Directorate that they did not enter the country for the date of execution of the deed. Currently, we have three cases known by the Prosecutor’s Office.
Falsehood with non-existent people
Usually, the criminals have a person in their group who knows the area very well and use the person to carry out the “search” of properties that have not been visited, maintained or serviced. Once that information is verified, the deed of sale is made with the help of a notary public, who is an integrant of this network of criminals.
Use of False Documents and Deception to Judicial Authorities
Another way of illegally appropriating a land is through the preparation of false documents such as promissory notes or bills of exchange, among others, raising the possibility of a legal charge against the owner of the property, and therefore, possible foreclosure.
The myth of publicity registration and registered broker service
Some persons (including lawyers, unfortunately) use registration publicity as the only way to comply with due diligence. The truth is that it is one step, but not the only one. Legal safety for a real estate transaction based only on the information of the Register is a myth.
It is important to bear in mind that many relevant details do not reach the surface of an effective and responsible due diligence, based on the information of the Public Register only, such as false signatures, precariousness, rights of heirs, powers badly made, unregistered leases, overlaps or double titles, among others. Buyers should hire the services of topographers and registered brokers or inspect in situ the land of interest and should not leave the responsibility only to the lawyer.
Time to recover the property
The time it takes the illegally stripped owner to recover the property varies according to the circumstances, but experience indicates that a legal proceeding can last from two to eight years, depending on the complexity of the case. Often due to loss of patience, the stripped owner reaches a settlement in exchange for the return of the land. Unfortunately, this decision to stop pursuing the scam artist promotes impunity.
By Javier F. Chaverri Ross, with the collaboration of
Melissa Ramos Ross and Johnnathan Elizondo Reyes, Voice of Nosara
NYIT architecture students traveled to Nosara during July and August to start construction of a much needed recycling center project they designed for the community. Now they need your help to come back in January to finish it.
One year ago I initiated sLAB Costa Rica, a design-build initiative at the School of Architecture and Design at the New York Institute of Technology (NYIT) that is lead by my studio, Holler Architecture. Together with a group of very dedicated NYIT architecture students I designed the much needed Nosara Recycling and Education Center. This past rainy season the project made a huge step toward reality.
NYIT architecture students traveled to Nosara during July and August to start construction of a much needed recycling center project they designed for the community. Now they need your help to come back in January to finish it.
Funded in part through a fundraising campaign on Kickstarter over 30 NYIT architecture students traveled to Costa Rica during July and August and volunteered on the construction site of this important community project.
During these past months, in collaboration with the Waste and Recycling Association, architect Lucca Spendlingwimmer of Salagnac Arquitectors, and many more generous volunteers in Nosara, we were able to set up the construction site, complete the site grading, concrete foundations and concrete block walls, and even built the first wooden roof truss.
However, the project is far from completed, and much work remains to be done before the building is ready to help with the local waste management problem.
Local workers continue to build the project right now, but without help from the student volunteers, the pace of construction slowed considerably. In order not to loose momentum the students have set up a second Kickstarter campaign to raise $9,000 by December 13. Funds will enable the students to return to Nosara in January to again volunteer on the construction site, and to partially fund a documentary film about the project by German filmmaker Ayana de Vos.
The Bailey bridges are all dismantled on the General Cañas Highway and all is right with the world. After five months, the giant crater that opened up in July and had to be bridged by temporary portable structures is finally fixed.
The bridges were dismantled last Thursday night and the 12-centimeter-thick covering of asphalt laid on over the weekend, finally ending the traffic snarls made worse when an 84-ton mobile crane collapsed one of the Bailey bridges able to sustain only 40 tons.
The bumbling of CONAVI, the road designers, has put to the test the legendary patience of the Costa Rican people. In late June, when the heavy rains washed out a huge crater in the road, long-suffering motorists had to find a new Alajuela and Heredia route to and from San Jose.
The Bailey bridges were brought in to span the gap and things settled down to a sort of abnormal normality. Then, the crane tried to go over one of the sadly overloaded bridges, which collapsed. Since then traffic has been a nightmare for commuters.
CONAVI officials, after they had finished blaming nature for inundating them and the inadequate culvert under the road, predicted that work would take until the end of the year to fix things. Then the crane came along and work was sped up feverishly.
Fortunately, the crane incident occurred after the larger $3 million culvert was finished. After that it was a matter of bringing in 2,500 cubic meters of fill dirt to put over the new culvert and to add the cap of asphalt, while President Laura Chinchilla drummed her fingernails impatiently on her desk.
Update: Conavi reports that repairs on the infamous platina bridge over the Virilla River will take ten months to repair. The good news is that for the first nine of those months, the work will be on the structure under the bridge and motorists will not even be aware of that.
Commentary: We will hope that this is the last we have to report on the giant cavern under the General Canas Highway for a decade or so. But there’s no doubt that Ticos — especially road builders — don’t react well to being rushed, which the mobile crane forced on them.
From Seminario Universidad, a weekly publication of the Universidad de Costa Rica (University of Costa Rica). It was founded in September 1970. Since 1995 has an online version. Articles have great social content.
Following are some of the political humour published by the Seminario on its Facebook page.
The long wait for surgical services at La Anexion Hospital in Nicoya will soon end. The two operating rooms will be ready on November 26th, when they have approval from the Ministry of Healthy.
This was confirmed by Juan Jose Li Kam, director of the medical center, who indicated that the work done to the structures included reparing the ventilation ducts, which are necessary for the air conditioning to function.
And it’s the work on the ventilation that has been delaying the reopening of the operating rooms, along with the incorporation of three special 6000 BTU air conditioning units.
Li Kam explained that the equipment was brought from the old Heredia San Vicente de Paul Hospital, and they were repaired and adapted to the necessary requirements of the operating rooms.
In June of this year, the Ministry of Health had closed the operating rooms for their poor sanitary and structural conditions and because the air conditioners didn’t cool the rooms enough.
Li Kam said that the work was done by the institution’s maintenance department and cost 10 million colones ($20,000).
Furthermore, Li Kam referred to the delays in payments for the professional services of hospital officials and mentioned that they expect to receive an amount of 152 million colones ($304,000) at the end of November, which corresponds to the payment of September salaries.
In December, they will pay salaries that corresponded to October and in January they will catch up on paying November and December’s respective salaries.
Meanwhile, Anner Angulo, regional director of health services, explained that the medical center has implemented measures to contain expenses, such as relocating personnel, limiting overtime and medical guards (weekend rotations of specialists onsite), as well as implementing availability of doctors.
“Those medical disciplines that aren’t productive will be relocated,” said Angulo. Among these are urology, cardiology and other specialties. Li Kam assured that these measures will be applied for what remains of this year and the beginning of next year.
One of the projects that most excites the officials and patients of La Anexion Hospital is the construction of a medical tower that would increase the quantity and quality of medical services.
Li Kam commented that the process is underway, as bidding for the work contract is open and on November 28th they will have a field visit of those interested in winning the contract for the construction work.
Li Kam explained that the cost of the work is around 35 million colones ($70,000), which includes the construction of the five-story hospital tower, medical equipment and reinforcing the current medical service modules.
Although it’s still premature to set a specific date for beginning the construction, Li Kam is optimistic that the work will be underway by the end of next year.
A 5-person team representing KFC Costa Rica won Yum! Brands’ annual competition in Latin America and the Caribbean called “Team Challenge.”
A total of 39 franchise operators representing 920 KFC restaurants in 37 different countries were able to participate in the initial competition. The following franchisees, whose restaurants fulfilled a series of pre-determined requirements and tests, made it to the finals: Honduras, Puerto Rico, Jamaica, Ecuador and Costa Rica.
After a 5-hour competition held in Guatemala, where a series of functions and standards were evaluated, the Costa Rican team out-performed all others to finish first and improve upon its second-place finish last year.
The competition evaluated many procedures, including food preparation on signature products such as Original Recipe Chicken, the famous Original Recipe sandwich, french fries and coleslaw, as well as every aspect related to customer service, such as service steps and service time.
“Personal presentation, food safety measures, and all procedures aimed at providing every customer with a 100-percent satisfying experience also were evaluated,” added Juan Carlos Rodríguez, KFC brand manager.
In this year’s competition, KFC Costa Rica was designated as the best KFC market in the region. The team also received the award for having the best KFC team member in the area of customer service. The team from Costa Rica was from the KFC restaurant located on Paseo Colón in San Jose.
If you’re contemplating building a new home next year, prepare yourself to pay higher taxes than before, reports the national newspaper La Nacion.
But you’ll have to pay higher construction costs on which the taxes are predicated, say officials. The paper reported that you’ll pay 29.7% to 41% more in taxes next year than this year.
In the case of a home with the outside wall of concrete block termed a VCO1 type, the building cost of 145,000 colones per square meter this year will be 190,000 colones in 2013, a 31% hike, say tax officials.
Carlos Vargas of the tax collection department says this should give some idea of taxes if you own an older home — just deduct the years of depreciation after it was completed.
But Alonso Arroyo, a tax lawyer with the BLP Abogados law firm feels strongly that the government is nicking the home owner. He says construction costs have not increased as much as the officials figure.
Arroyo says that if you take the last two years into account, that would mean that construction costs have doubled in the two years since 2010, he says. That just isn’t the case, he says.
But Vargas counters that in the past, costs for taxation purposes were calculated every two or three years. That means that the 2010 figure Arroyo cites was calculated in 2007.
If the government insists, it could affect the construction industry as new home builders cut back their plans or even cancel them. It also seems likely that some suits in the constitutional court may result, somewhat akin to those that followed the traffic law of 2010.
Police say they nabbed two ringleaders capable of forging nearly anything: driver’s licenses, permits to carry guns, residency identification cards, (cedulas de residencia) for foreigners, even Riteve auto inspection certification papers.
Friday cops raided a San Sebastian apartment equipped with all the machinery necessary to document falsification. And the easy stuff, like those cited above, would only cost 45,000 colones, 65,000 tops.
The cops were acting on tips and the investigation took only about a month and a half, quick work for OIJ. Also arrested were some Nicaraguan illegals in the country, who were clients of the forgers.
When detectives raided the laboratory, they found an unexpected bonus — several clients were awaiting for their falsified papers to be finished. Police say that some of the clients were bus drivers.
But arrested pair are not the only ring to be arrested this year, reported La Nacion. In September, police raided a ring specializing in counterfeiting those new 5,000, 10,000 and 10,000 colon bills issued this year.
Last May, cops grabbed three gavilanes who were selling false passports, work permits and residency cedulas. (gavilanes is the slang term for folks who lurk around government agencies and offer to speed up or cut through red tape, often scam artists who take the money and don’t help at all.
Affairs can have terrible consequences on families and place strain on friendships, but they also have causes that many people do not foresee. Cheating is a lot of work, it takes time and resources away from the important things someone should be focusing on, one of them being their career.
Just how can someone’s cheating on on the internet cause negative consequences?
Professor Gene Tsudik likens cyberspace to an elephant – it never forgets. And this, he says, can have dire implications down the track.
Professor Tsudik, a computer sciences specialist from the University of California, was one of the speakers at a UNSW panel discussion in Sydney, Australia on Monday, which explored the concept of privacy in the realm of social networking.
According to Professor Tsudik, education about the possible consequences of publishing private information via social networking needs to start young.
“Information that’s posted about you on social media (like Facebook and Twitter) is more sensitive in the long run,” he said. “If someone posts a photo of you drunk now it may not have any impact, but in five, 10 or 20 years time it could.”
Discussion organizer, Professor Sanjay Jha from UNSW’s School of Computer Science, said as soon as something is posted online “you lose control of information”. “Is expecting privacy in social networks akin to expecting privacy on a clothing optional beach?,” he said.
The Telltale Signs Your Spouse is a Facebook Cheat
There has been much discussion among fans and critics of Facebook regarding what technically classifies as ‘cheating’ when it comes to the social network, so we’ll avoid treading that ground again here. Instead, let’s avoid definitions of cheating and look at the signs that a spouse could well be cheating (however you define it) using Facebook as a tool (or weapon, depending on how you look at it).
It goes without saying that just because you recognize one or more of the following telltale signs in your partner, that doesn’t mean that they’re definitely cheating on you. There could be any number of explanations. However, if you do see any of the following signs, it might be worth having a conversation about your concerns and avoid seeing your relationship go down as another victim of Facebook cheating. So without further ado, let’s get started.
Sign #1: They have multiple accounts, or log out frequently
Sign #2: They’re reluctant to let you see their screen when using Facebook
Sign #3: Their profile page has little to no activity
Sign #4: They use Facebook far more than the average person, or from multiple devices
Don’t forget: there could always be a reasonable explanation, even if your spouse exhibits every single one of these signs, so don’t be afraid to bring it up with them. As always, communication is vital in any relationship, so if you’re worried about your spouse being a Facebook cheat – ask them about it.
All this could be very worrisome in Costa Ricas due to the high percentage of the population using the internet and smartphones.
Recent polls indicate that almost half of all Costa Ricans have an internet connection and 98% of the population uses a cell phone, with almost one third (29%) a smartphone, which by its nature connects to the internet by WiFi and/or mobile cellular.
In Costa Rica, the use the social network Facebook is so part of modern day that it is simply known as “Face”. Did you see me on Face? What is your Face? are questions overheard in everyday conversations.
The danger in using the internet and/or a smartphone to have an affair is that though with it comes more opportunity to cheat but more opportunity to get caught.
Social networking is engaged in by people across all age groups these days and puts us in touch with more people than was previously possible. In many ways, with email, calls, social media and the likes, our lives increasingly seem to revolve around as well as being contained within these small hand-held devices.
However, for this very reason, it is particularly important to protect the information.
The use of internet to have an affair has sprouted a number of site dedicated to helping people cheat. One such sit is Ashleymadison.com with their tag line “Life is short. Have an affair”. Ashley Madison is perhaps the most famous name in infidelity and married dating.
Is an internet relationship Cheating? “I don’t really see it as cheating,” could be one rational. “It’s not physical. I’ll probably never meet the person, but the erotic atmosphere adds a spice to my life”, write some on blogs on the subject. Posts include statemens like, “t’s just harmless, sexy flirting brought to another level. No one is getting hurt”.
Given that once something is posted on a social website, forum or simply a text message on a smartphone is never forgotten, the best advice is maybe to better to go back to the old ways of committing adultery, cell phone and internet free.
Just by deleting a file on a computer does not mean it is gone. To completely and permanently erase a data from a computer’s hard drive means purchasing (and usually expensive) professional programs. Deleting a file on Facebook or even un-publishing or deleting an account does not mean the information no longer exists.
Once information is posted, either on a social network, a file on a local computer or a simple text message on a smartphone (or regular phone) the information goes viral, a marketing buzzword, yes, but nonetheless it is called viral because of the similarity in which actual viruses are spread. Generally one person will show the object in question to his or her contact, who will then in turn show it to their contacts, and so on. This can refer to emails, videos, pictures or anything else that gains popularity rapidly through word of mouth.
Before using the internet or your cell phone to cheat, best to think it thrice, keeping in mind that it is best “not to write anything when you can talk, never talk when you can nod, never nod when you can wink”
Building awareness of the risks is essential – the earlier the better!
Some new Windows Phone 8 users are reporting a power bug has hit two companies’ flagship phones for the system — the Nokia Lumia 920 and the 8X by HTC.
According to service forum reports on Windows Phone Central, some users’ phones have been turning off at random and are showing poor battery life. Some Nokia Lumia 920 users are also reporting their screens have been freezing.
Those experiencing problems have seen the reboots range from multiple times per day to one every few days. The phones aren’t warm, which indicates they aren’t overheating, and people have had some success uninstalling some of the apps that come with the phones. Others have decided to wait for updates.
Not all users are experiencing problems. I, personally haven’t experienced the bugs with tests of the Nokia 920 or the 8X. Both phones have operated normally and have had enough battery to get through a normal day’s use.
Microsoft launched its first line of new Windows Phones on Nov. 9 and more models — the Nokia Lumia 822, 820, and 810 Samsung ATIV S and HTC 8S — are on their way. The new operating system is an important one for Microsoft, which is trying to compete with Apple and Google in the smartphone software market.
The company has had trouble gaining a significant chunk of the market with its previous smartphone system, Windows Phone 7, but is making a big advertising push to get users to catch on to its newest offering.
Did you know that Phasmids (stick insects) in Florida remain attached for five months after copulation and sex in rabbits lasts less than a minute?
This and more can be discovered at the exibition “Bêtes de Sexe” (“Sexy Beasts”), the sexual habits of the animal kingdom exibition, drawing on 100 objects from the collection, in Paris.
The exibition uncovers the diversity of methods exploited in seduction and reproduction in nature. The exhibition contains frank information and imagery about sex.
Sexy beasts, seduction in the animal world from October 23, 2012 to August 25, 2013 at the Palais de la Découverte de París,invites the public to discover in a playful and quirky way the diversity of seduction methods and reproduction in the animal and plant world.
In the animal kingdom it is up to the males to seduce females. So, according to scientists, is why the bodies of males are usually more colourful.
The aim of it all is reproduction. To achieve this, akes of many species are willing to physically fight. Some have powerful weapons, like the horns of the deer. The loser can lose everything, even their lives.
After having sex, some animals want to ensure that they will be the only ones to copulate. The sea urchin sperm, for example, forms a natural cover the female’s vagina to prevent other males to get too close to her. So, is more likely to have babies.
During intercourse, the muscles of the red fox, for example, constricts and immobilizes the male penis for more than an hour. Therefore, both get stuck and waiting.
Homosexuality has been observed in some 450 species of the animal world. Baboons, for example, mate often, without regard to age or sex of playmates. Scientists think that sexual activity has a calming effect on the company that has a very low level of aggression.
There are practices in animals that can surprise us and some are even penalized in our society, such as forced sex. The striped snake strangles to force females to copulate.
Few animals are monogamous. And often, if they are, is because they don’t have the opportunity to cheat on their partner, for example, because they live far from the other specimens of their kind. This is the case of most birds.
Gift giving is common among animals, often it is food. And among human beings too. Some studies claim that men and women seek partners with resources. If so, we seem more animals more than we would like to think.
The exhibition, which was elaborated by the searchers and the conservators of the Natural History Museum in London, is as amusing as it is well documented. It includes a large number of videos, about a hundred stuffed animal specimens and several short films produced by Isabella Rossellini on the strategies set up by animals in order to breed.
There are many surprises along the course, which deciphers the relationship between sex, evolution and the unexpected adaptations animals have found to achieve their aims.
Only 5% of adults living in Costa Rica do not currentty have a cellular phone. This according to a poll by Demoscopia commissioned by the Viceministerio de Telecomunicaciones last August.
Nokia is the preferred brand of celluar phone in Costa Rica.
The study shows that 98% use mobile communication (could be borrowing one) and some 5% have two cellular lines or more.
While the provinces of San José, Alajuela, Heredia and Limón maintain avergaves in excess of 93%, in Puntarenas the average is 87%, while in Guanacaste 87.9$, according to results published by Demoscopia.
The objective of the poll was to analyze the market condition following the opening of the cellular market last December.
The results indicate an increase of mobile use, with cellular phone use increasing from 82% to 95%, while mobile internet went from 33% to 50%.
Showing a decrease was the use of “prepaid” services, dropping to 59% from 72% a few months ago. In contrast, “postpaid” or subscription services – customers signing up for a monthly billing – increased from 27.5% to 41%.
The study also revealed that 34% or 1/3 of all users still continue with GSM cell phones – the older technology. Part of the reason is the price and part that many are still using their original cell phones, being a GSM.
Noted was that 29% of all users had a smartphones – phones that can run apps and are interent capable as to conventional phones that are mainly used for making and receiving calls with limited internet.
An interesting fact revealed by the poll was that less are inclined to switch operators as compared to the end of last year with the introduction of Claro and Movistar to the market.
Number portability, or the lack of, is a factor in switching. The majority of Kolbi (ICE) users have numbers dating back to years, some over a decade, and are unwilling to give up their number if they switch to another operator. The number portability is an issue being discussed at Telecommunicaciones and may be a reality in the coming year, that may prompt a change in attitude.
For now, only 5% responded that are considering a change of operator, as compared to 20% last December.
The poll also asked their cellular phone of preference. Nokia, the a Finnish multinational and the world’s leading mobile phone supplier, was the cell phone of preference in Costa Rica with 56% of respondents using one, while runners up were Samsung at 12% and Sony Mobile at 11%.
The Apple iPhone and Motorla phones hold each a 4% position, the others almost 10%.
Starr was able to travel in Costa Rica between her dental visits and went to several places, including Mount Arenal, one of the world’s most active volcanoes.
I am not a “dissatisfied” American. Sure, I complain about things like everyone else, but I have never had a desire to move out of the country. The freedom and principles of the U.S. are a treasure, but living there has gotten very hard since losing my job in the recession.
Starr was able to travel in Costa Rica between her dental visits and went to several places, including Mount Arenal, one of the world’s most active volcanoes.
So imagine my surprise to find that while a Social Security income will give you a subsistence level of living in the U.S.—it will practically give you a luxury lifestyle in Costa Rica…
After losing my job, I needed some expensive dental care—over $2,000 worth—and began to look for an alternative. I researched “medical tourism”… and was shocked to see how much less it would cost in Costa Rica. My experience with the dental care was excellent. The doctors had been trained in the U.S. and spoke fluent English. The offices were modern with state-of-the-art equipment. The X-ray technology was newer than what my dentist in Ohio uses!
And I was blown away by the beauty of the country. What a gem it is, located right in the heart of Central America. Never have I seen so much diversity. I was able to travel between my dental visits, so I went to several places.
First was Mount Arenal, one of the world’s most active volcanoes.
It was set amid glorious rain forest vegetation, the likes of which I had never seen in person. Tropical flowers and myriad species of birds dominated the landscape. I felt like I had found the Garden of Eden.
From there I traveled to Tamarindo beach, just two hours away. This pristine area, surrounded by National Parks, stretches for over three kilometers along the north Pacific coast. Volcanic rocks rise from the water offshore to create a haven for water sports—so I went snorkeling for the first time! The water was warm and clear and I had a view of the colorful barberfish swimming in schools. I even saw starfish nestled among the rocks.
For me, both the rain forest around Arenal and the beaches of Tamarindo were visions of paradise. One was jungle; one was sand and surf. And I could not choose a favorite… But the beauty of Costa Rica is you don’t have to—they are within a couple hours of each other!
The whole trip really changed my perspective about how I want to live. To afford to reside in such a paradise, on the income I have right now, was a revelation. Here I had been struggling with how to make it to retirement since I lost my job with benefits, and a whole new world of possibilities was opened up to me.
I think the hardest thing would be to decide where in Costa Rica to re-locate and call my home base. But everywhere is so accessible. You can drive from one side (on the Pacific Ocean) to the other (on the Caribbean Sea)—and in between are the mountains, rain forests, cloud canopies and more.
There is something for everyone in Costa Rica and now I can’t stop thinking about it. I’m sure I’ll be visiting again soon to explore more possibilities. I want to decide if it is a retirement haven that I can take advantage of right now rather than wait for traditional retirement age in the U.S.
It’s not just a matter of price, although that is very important. The quality of life is such a main feature of the culture that they even have a name for it… Pura Vida—the “Pure Life”.
Costa Rica’s attorney general has warned that with the decline of Mexico’s powerful cartels, Central American gangs could rise and take control of criminal operations in the region – an extreme but not implausible scenario.
In a recent interview with El Universal, Costa Rican Attorney General Jorge Chavarria warned that Central America’s criminal groups could grow stronger and supplant their Mexican counterparts in the region if the Mexican cartels lose power
Mexican groups currently use Central American gangs to launder money, infiltrate local police, and traffic drugs. With the crackdown on Mexican cartels, the role of Central American gangs could increase.”
“At the moment, the dominant groups are clearly Mexican. But if we look 10 years ahead, what will happen if in Mexico, the fight [against crime] has a positive effect from the point of view of the Mexican state?” Chavarria said. “That is how we have to look at it in order to see how we can avoid the consolidation of Central American organizations that could replace the Mexicans.
The main candidates to step into the role of Mexican cartels are gangs in the “Northern Triangle” of Guatemala, El Salvador, and Honduras. El Universal highlighted the Salvadoran Texis Cartel and Guatemalan groups the Mendozas and the Charros as among the most powerful.
Chavarria said that no Costa Rican cartels have been detected so far, but that authorities must work to pre-empt their emergence, adding, “What is very risky for us is that someone starts to develop a leadership and establish a Central American organization in the face of a vacuum [in criminal structures] as [could happen] in Mexico and Colombia.”
The decline of Mexican cartels may already be underway. Last month, US Assistant Secretary of State William Brownfield announced that Mexico’s larger drug trafficking organizations were “on the verge of collapse,” thanks to sustained pressure on their operations in the region. The majority of Mexico’s large gangs, from the Beltran Leyva Organization and Gulf Cartel to the Juarez and Tijuana Cartels are now shadows of their former selves, as analyst Alejandro Hope has set out.
Brownfield acknowledged that the crackdown on Mexico’s groups means a greater risk for Central America and the Caribbean.
As El Universal points out, Mexican groups such as the Sinaloa Cartel and Zetas currently use Central American gangs as operatives to launder money, infiltrate local police and traffic drugs. If these roles reversed, Central American cartels would have to increase their presence in Mexico. This would be more difficult than it was for Mexicans to move south, as the Mexican state has far stronger institutions that the Northern Triangle. Mexican groups were able to take advantage of largely ungoverned spaces in the isthmus — such as the north Guatemalan province of Peten — to conduct their operations.
If Central American gangs increase their stake in the trade, they could also bypass Mexico as a transit point and traffic drugs through the Caribbean, a favored route in the 1980s. Both US officials and Caribbean leaders have suggested that the shift back to Caribbean routes may already be happening thanks to sustained pressure on drug trafficking through Central America. If drugs arrived in the United States by sea, Central American traffickers would be able to increasingly cut Mexican cartels out of the supply chain.
As Chavarria noted, these scenarios are not likely to take place in the immediate future. While Mexican monolithic criminal groups may be disintegrating, any shift of power south will take time. However, Central America’s gangs, having spent years as subordinates to the Mexicans, could be well positioned to rise and take control of organized crime in the region.
Edward Fox is a writer for Insight – Organized Crime in the Americas, which provides research, analysis, and investigation of the criminal world throughout the region.
Noble Peace Prize winner and two time president of Costa Rica, Oscar Arias, 72, is tying the knot today, at a private ceremony in Rohromoser. He is marrying Suzanne Fischel, 49, who has been his girlfriend for the last three years.
Photo via La Nacion
This is the second marriage for both.
Oscar’s first wife, Margarita Peñosn, served as first lady during Oscar’s first term in office in the 1980’s. Oscar and Margarita had two childre, Oscar Felipe and Sylvia. That marriage ended in divorce in 1996.
Suzanne’s first husband to well known television news anchor Ignazio Santos. That marriage ending in divorce in 2008. They had two children.
Suzanne Fischel is a lawyer, graduating from the Universidad de Costa Rica and admitted to the Bar in 1987. She is currently senior associate at the law firm Pacecho Coto in Santa Ana.
The ceremony is said to be “a thing of close friends” rumoured to be around 60 persons. In fact, very little in the way of news has been coming out of Arias, other than following the ceremony there will be a dinner held in Aria’s spacious backyard where there is a swimming pool.
According to La Nacion’s interview with Suzanne, the couple will be staying at home after the wedding. “Oscar has to travel in th early part of December, that is why were putting off the honeymoon”, said the bride.
Welcome to the Hotel Transylvania, Dracula’s lavish five-stake resort, where monsters and their families can live it up, free to be the monsters they are without humans to bother them.
On one special weekend, Dracula has invited some of the world’s most famous monsters – Frankenstein and his wife, the Mummy, the Invisible Man, a family of werewolves, and more – to celebrate his daughter Mavis’ 118th birthday. For Drac, catering to all of these legendary monsters is no problem – but his world could come crashing down when a human stumbles on the hotel for the first time and takes a shine to Mavis.
The film features the voices of Adam Sandler, Selena Gomez, Andy Samberg, Kevin James, Fran Drescher, Jon Lovitz, Cee Lo Green, Steve Buscemi, Molly Shannon and David Spade.
The film, released in the U.S. was on September 28, 2012, was met with mixed critical reception, while the general population received it very favorably. Despite mixed reviews, Hotel Transylvania set a new record for the highest-grossing September opening weekend, earning a total of $271 million on a budget of $85 million.
“Up Yours” was the message by former Exdefensora de los Habitantes (Ombudsman) Lisbeth Quesada to the ministro de Seguridad Publica, Mario Zamora.
The former defender of the people made the profane gesture in front of the live television cameras during the noon broadcast of the protest by Telenoticias.
The protest on Thursday was to denounce the deteriorating financial situation at the the Social Security Fund – the Caja Costarricense del Seguro Social (CCSS or Caka0 – and the violent confrontation between police and protestors a week earlier, when a peaceful protest turned violent, when the nation saw images of its police striking at protestors.
“Tell minister Zamora, who used to work for me at the Defensioria, that he does not run this protest”, Quesada told the viewing audience.
During Thursday’s protest the Fuerza Pública decided to use only female police officers.
The former defender said that the problems of the Caja has been ongoing for many years and part of the financial crisis is attributed to the politicians.
Finally, Quesada said she is indignant of the impunity in Costa Rica.
On the social networks like Facebook and Twitter the former Ombudsman’s gesture generated a variety of reactions.
The use of only female police officers was a tactical decision by the police force to avoid a repeat of the violent confrontations during last week’s protest.
She said that the fuel would be an “transition” measure until the country develops alternative fuels. No doubt she has her eye on the 2021 deadline for the country to become carbon neutral.
