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Second news page |
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| Costa Rica Expertise Ltd http://crexpertise.com E-mail info@crexpertise.com Tel:506-256-8585 Fax:506-256-7575 |
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Our readers' opinions
Another reader thinks Mrs. Bush was incorrect Dear A.M. Costa Rica: Too bad Joe Furlong (19 May) is tired of criticism of Bush, who by the way is probably the worst U.S. president ever. It is laughable (and insulting for the receiving country) to see his wife sent on important official missions such as the inauguration of President Arias. Mrs. Bush is not a government official nor is she noted for either an analytical mind or intelligent remarks. Perhaps she wasn't briefed properly before speaking. As Mr. Gesler (18 May) speculated, more likely she was just exhibiting the Bush administration's amazing disregard of history. As Mr. Gesler correctly noted, President Arias did not bring peace to already peaceful Costa Rica, rather the ferment he helped stop was in neighbors to the north, internal wars that furthermore were to a large part instigated by illegal U.S. attacks and interference. No one expected Mrs Bush to admit to any ugly truths, however for decency's sake, what little she did say should have been accurate. Then again maybe we should all get a life, like Joe says. Less and less people believe or care about anything this U.S. administration has to say, including the people of Latin America. R. Martin
Quepos/Toronto Comment on Bush-bashing generates this response Dear A.M. Costa Rica: Joe Furlong from Florida said: "I am getting so sick of reading the monotonous, trite, Bush-bashing diatribes of these people who have nothing to do but write in with meaningless criticisms of the U.S. government." I did not love Clinton, but you people never did quit bashing. Cr*p like "Character counts" - Clinton "killed" 18 marines in Somalia, trying to feed Somalis. Got smart, got out. Bush (I refer to "MISSION ACCOMPLISHED BUSH", not the "cut and run when you almost have him Bush" - Mission Bush has killed Sooo many marines (I've lost track)- AFTER MISSION ACCOMPLISHED. And you people bashed Clinton till bash was all there was. Clinton was a bad husband - but MISSION ACCOMPLISHED has wrecked an economy that Clinton made good (It is too late to say Clinton's fault, Mission Accomplished has nearly run out his second term) Don't like Bush Bashing? Have a son in Iraq? What honor in killing American soldiers AFTER Mission Accomplished. That creep was going to use film of that in re-election commercials, truly that was the plan — but he cut and ran — NO FILM! Chicken. Why the Democrats didn't rub his face in it I will never know, but then again I don't vote for them either. The U.S.A. has turned into a country of bashers. You started it, suck on it. Charlie Merritt
San Isidro de Alajuela. Now it is Bush's turn Dear A.M. Costa Rica: In regard to Mr. Furlong's letter on May 19 about tired of Bush bashing. I had to live with eight years of Clinton bashing and now it's Bush's turn. If Bush could perform a better job as president, maybe he wouldn't get bashed and have a lower approval rate than President Clinton ever had. Walter Bibb
San Pedro Another sighting of UFO Dear A.M. Costa Rica: We saw the UFO too, but we were on the road coming from Escazú to Santa Ana around 3 in the afternoon. A business partner from New York City saw it and called it to our attention. The first time we have ever seen anything like that. I thought it was the reflection off an airplane, but then a real airplane flew by for reference. Nope not an airplane. Then it just disappeared. Really neat. Thanks for publishing the pictures. Dan Chaput
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on our real estate page HERE! |
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Third news page |
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| San José,
Costa Rica, Monday, May 22, 2006, Vol. 6, No. 100 |
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| Small service at wife's home planned for Pat Dunn |
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By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
Pat Dunn opened up his new bar in Manta, Ecuador, in December 2003. He said at the time that he wanted to move his assets to that country because he felt it was open and friendly to business the way Costa Rica was when he first came here 25 years ago. He met his death at the hands of robbers Thursday morning in Ecuador after having avoided such a fatal confrontation while running a number of nightspots in Costa Rica. Dunn, 68, whose death was reported in a later version of A.M. Costa Rica Friday, will be returned this week from Ecuador, and his wife and daughter plan a small ceremony at their home adjacent to Posada Amón, the business they own in Barrio Amón in north San José. They are not sure when the body will be returned. Although he no longer had a role in management, Dunn is frequently identified with the Dunn Inn, a 1920s mansion on Avenida 11 at calle 5 that was converted into a hotel in 1989. More recently he was the operator of Tentaciones night club on Avenida 1 and the operator of the New York Bar and Lucky's Piano Bar on the pedestrian boulevard in the downtown. He had operated the Bar Nashville in San José. Nearly everyone who has had a few drinks in downtown San José met Dunn because he liked talking to people. He was not judgmental and shared his time with tourists, expats and others with less savory occupations. "People come to Costa Rica because they are looking for someone, or someone is looking for them," he used to say, according to an acquaintance who dropped a note to this newspaper over the weekend. |
The robbers Thursday were believed after an estimated $1,500 that Dunn kept for operating capital at the bar. He lived at the establishment which is on the Malecón, the principal walkway at the Pacific port town. The cost of bringing Dunn home was unexpected for his daughter and wife, Elvia Jahara Jarquin Tellez. His daughter said the family was having trouble getting together the cost of a casket, some $3,000 and the estimated airline charge of about $2,000. They have been in contact with the Costa Rican Embassy there because Dunn, who came from Texas, had Costa Rican citizenship at the time of his death. They said that friend who wanted to help them meet these expenses could donate to a Banco de Costa Rica account 937-0010388-8 that is in the name of his wife. |
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| The Devil keeps some pretty good records |
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| El que le hace un
favor al Diablo con llevarselo le paga. “He who does the Devil a favor will find himself rewarded with hell.” Today’s dicho is about the way we treat our fellow human beings. It works on many levels, but at the bottom of it I believe it mostly has to do with one’s conscience. Let’s take cheating, for one example: I have a very close and dear friend who relates the story of how his father’s father unscrupulously connived to swindle his own son in their business dealings. It was the 1930s. The Great Depression was on, and money was extremely scarce. Yet the older man stole income that rightly belonged to his son, thus making life immeasurably harder for the son and his struggling family. The grandfather, however, being unable to escape his religious belief in the existence of Hell, grew increasingly more terrified of death as old age overtook him. For his own faith assured the old man of the reward his treachery had prepared for him in the afterlife. It is important to be fair in our dealings with other people if we are going to expect fairness in return. When workers come to repair something in the house, it is wise to negotiate a fair price for their labors. If we seek to bamboozle a repairman out of his just pay for constructing a new roof — let us say — then we shouldn’t be surprised when shoddy workmanship contributes to its collapse during the next earthquake. In this way it might be said that one may obtain the rewards of stinginess in this life without having to wait for the next. An acquaintance of mine is always buying things from unsavory types whom he encounters in the streets. He calls these disreputable vendors his “friends,” and he’s always bragging about how he got this or that top-of-the-line item for a fraction of its retail cost. I asked him once if it didn’t bother him |
A few months ago, while my acquaintance and his family where
vacationing on a Guanacaste beach, some of those “friends” broke into
his house. They carted off everything they could carry out the front
door including his wife’s jewelry, the stereo, television, microwave
and computer, all items he’d bought on the street. |
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Fourth news page |
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| San José,
Costa Rica, Monday, May 22, 2006, Vol. 6, No. 100 |
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| Researchers show that spin confounds goalkeepers |
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Special to A.M. Costa Rica
Professional goalkeepers fail to stop free kicks because of shortcomings in their visual system, according to new research by Cathy Craig and colleagues, from Queen’s University Belfast, Northern Ireland. The projected trajectory of a ball following a curved flight path is more difficult to judge because the human visual system is not sensitive enough to gauge a change of direction at speed, mid-flight, said the report. The research is published in Springer-Verlag’s journal Naturwissenschaften. Free kicks are now important goal-scoring opportunities, with specialist free kick takers often choosing to make the ball spin in order to curve the ball into the goal. Because of the size of the goal net, goal keepers need to anticipate the direction of the ball before they take action. Cathy Craig and her team looked at whether the lateral deflection of a ball’s trajectory, caused by sidespin, affects professional footballers’ perception of where the ball is heading. A player usually gets a free kick when an opponent illegally interfers with his progress. Eleven professional footballers (attackers, mid-fielders and defenders) and nine goalkeepers from AC Milan, Olympique de Marseille, Bayer Leverkusen and Schalke 04 were asked to judge whether a range of |
simulated free kicks
would end up in the goal or not, using a virtual reality system. The viewpoint was fixed in the centre of the goal. When there was no spin, balls arriving directly opposite the goal were consistently judged to be entering the goal. When the ball was spinning clockwise, the resulting trajectories — from the point of view of the goalkeeper — unfolded on the right-hand side of the no-spin trajectory, resulting in a goal only if the kicker shot from left of the central position in front of the goal. For conditions where the ball was spinning counter-clockwise, the balls landed in the goal only when they were kicked from the right-hand side of the no-spin trajectory. There was no difference between the judgments of the field players and goalkeepers. Players appear to be using current ball heading direction to make their judgements about whether the free kick will end up in the goal or not, rather than accurately predicting the effects of lateral acceleration on the ball’s trajectory. Reseracher Craig and colleagues conclude that these “perceptual effects find their origin in inherent limitations of the human visual system in anticipating the arrival point of an object subjected to an additional accelerative influence….The depth of experience of our participants does not seem to be able to compensate for these shortcomings in visual perception.” |
| Venezuela considering purchase of Russian jet aircraft |
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By the A.M. Costa Rica wire services
Venezuelan officials say they are considering buying fighter jets from Russia, days after Washington banned arms sales to the South American nation. In an interview with Russian media Friday, Venezuelan Ambassador to Russia Alexis Navarro Rojas said Caracas may purchase Russian Su-35s to replace its fleet of American F-16s. Negotiations are expected to begin in the coming weeks. |
If completed, the deal
would be the latest in a string of Venezuelan
military purchases from Moscow. Caracas recently bought 100,000 Kalashnikov rifles from Russia, and already has received several Russian-made helicopters. Washington last week banned arms sales to Venezuela because of its alleged intelligence links to Iran and Cuba. Caracas responded, saying it would consider selling its U.S.-made F-16s to other countries, including Iran. Citing sales agreements, U.S. officials said Washington would not allow such a resale. |
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