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A.M. Costa Rica
Your daily English-language news source Monday through Friday |
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| A.M. Costa Rica's Second news page | |||||||||
| San José, Costa Rica, Tuesday, Aug. 21, 2012, Vol. 12, No. 166 | |||||||||
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Derek Walcott, Quince Duncan
to be honorees at book fair By
the A.M. Costa Rica staff
Nobel Prize winner Derek Walcott and Costa Rican writer Quince Duncan will present and participate in sessions that analyze their literature during the Feria Internacional del Libro en Costa Rica 2012 at the Antigua Aduana. Between Aug. 27 and 29, the literacy festival will offer conferences, speeches, and cultural events that seek to discuss and offer a tribute to Afro-Caribbean literature. The intent is to recognize the African contribution to the social, economic and cultural development of Costa Rica. Walcott, a native of Saint Lucia, won a Nobel Prize in literature in 1992 for his poetic works. He gained fame from his epic poem “Omeros” that depicts characters, language and stories from his home. Another popular work is his collection of poetry called “White Egrets.” International moderators will oversee the program, "An analysis on the literature of Derek Walcott," Monday at 1: 45 p.m and a meeting with Walcott at 4 p.m. Carol Britton, representative of the 14th festival of flowers of the African Diaspora, said Walcott is one of the most important writers of the Caribbean. Quince Duncan is a Costa Rican Afro-Caribbean writer in the Spanish language. His novels and short stories, mostly about Limón living, have won the Premio Nacional de Literatura and Premio Editorial Costa Rica awards. The seminar "Retrospective of the work of Quince Duncan as a writer" will be Aug. 29 at 3 p.m. The literary festival will be held through Sept. 2 at Antigua Aduana. It opens with a festival of children, where Costa Rican students from various regions are invited to come to the facility at 9 a.m. The location is now called the Centro para las Artes y Tecnología La Aduana. Later that same day, the fair will officially open to the public at 6 p.m. Feria Internacional del Libro en Costa Rica 2012 will have more than 46 national and international exhibitors. The exhibitors come from places such as Guatemala, Mexico, El Salvador, Peru, Spain, Nicaragua and the Caribbean. "Our desire to contribute to the strengthening of the book fair of Costa Rica has also been translated in the outreach work we've done with the Cámara Costarricense del Libro,” said Manuel Obregón, minister of Cultura y Juventud. Besides the exhibitors, the Festival Flowers of the African Diaspora will host a program with more than 150 activities for different audiences who visit the fair. Activities range from children's entertainment to workshops for professionals in different areas and a symposium on Afro-Caribbean literature. It will also feature book presentations, a cooking contest, activities to promote reading, creative writing, exhibitions and various cultural and musical activities. The book fair will remain open to the public until Sept. 2, from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m., On Sept. 2 it will close at 6 p.m. General admission is 1,000 colons. Our reader's opinion
Mercantile capitalismpredicted for the U.S. Dear A.M. Costa Rica: When most expats realize that the U.S. elections have boiled down to a farce between a singular oligarchy (regardless of the staged two-party system) and a different approach is taken to make real change in the U.S., the country will become a mercantile capitalist state (copy of the Third Reich) where only businesses that are too big to fail are given financial assistance by government. Socialism for the rich and infamous. The stage is set for anarchy and the declaration of martial law. Romney is a loser. The only chance the Tea Potty had was with Ron Paul, and he was pressured out by the neo-cons who want endless war, and the continuation of an absolute corrupt Federal Reserve C-130’s are on the first stage of preparedness. The U.S., in direct violation of the Constitution, will use federal troops to harass and intimidate or even kill U.S. citizens despite “posse comitatas.” There is no respect for the rule of law by this government of rogues. See Department of Justice comments in the most recent National Defense Authorization Act case lost by government attorneys who say “We have no intention of obeying the court order!” Milt
Farrow
Titusville, Florida
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| What we published this week: | Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday | Friday | Earlier |
| The contents of this page and this Web site are copyrighted by Consultantes Río Colorado 2012 and may not be reproduced anywhere without permission. Abstracts and fair use are permitted. Check HERE for details | ||||||
A.M. Costa Rica Third News Page |
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| San José, Costa Rica, Tuesday, Aug. 21, 2012, Vol. 12, No. 166 | |
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Jo Stuart |
 A.M. Costa Rica/Aaron Knapp
Katherine Hernández
Juárez negotiates a test in a simulated building and then shows
off her accomlishment. |
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| Expats' weapons course teaches defense as
a state of mind |
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By
Kayla Pearson
of the A.M. Costa Rica staff Your hands sweat, heart races and mind goes in circles of what-if scenarios as you hold one of the world’s powerful weapons, a handgun. Slowly you pull the trigger backwards, close your eyes and hope the bullet finds the target as a loud boom explodes around you. To an inexperienced gun handler all these emotions are common. Atenas resident Paul Furlong works to counteract this and teach his students how to properly react in stressful situations. He presents a three-day course called Shoot Right Pistolcraft. One part of the course is “thinking tactically as a life’s habit, not something fashionable you wear for certain occasions. To be a pistolero is to be awake, alive to the realities as well as the beauty people miss as they trudge through their days on earth. Victims waiting for selection,” Furlong read during his concluding speech. Another is a “culmination of the above, plus the spice of surprise when, instead of begging for your life, you attack aggressively and ruthlessly with cool, controlled anger and
Since then, he has offered lessons to Costa Ricans and expats with the promise to make his graduates dangerous to anyone who intends to do harm, said Furlong. “The course isn’t based on by the hour. It is how much you can get into a person that sticks,” he said. During the class, Furlong teaches about the weapon and mental readiness that accompanies owning a gun. “We create a mental set condition in which you will make certain decisions that are premade so when the elephant walks in the room, you are already ready,” he said. “Mostly it’s an awareness you carry about you, somewhat like someone who is a second or third degree black belt. They carry this awareness of quiet confidence that allows bad guys to smell it, know it is there and leave them alone.” Each day, the student gets time to practice at the range. Each time the practice gets more complex. On the last day, the student goes through a series of scenarios to test their reaction, skill and speed. By the end of the class, most students burn through 150 rounds of ammunition, said Furlong. At the shooting range, the course resembles a SWAT battleground field with a table of the weapons and ammunition and a field of obstacles. The training ground is set up with screens that serve as walls with paper and several metal targets on the other side. Furlong describes the metal plates as toys for shooters because they make a ringing sound when hit. One even falls backwards when struck. Furlong's scenario is that these people are intruders in a house. At the words, “He’s got a gun,” student of the day, Katherine Hernández Juárez maneuvers skillfully to take down her attackers. Ms. Hernández is taking the class at the request of her Canadian husband. She has found joy in her three-day adventure. “I didn’t want to, but my husband said it was important, and I’m glad I did it.” said Ms. Hernández . “This class taught me how to defend myself. He really shows you how to have confidence in the gun.” Furlong praised Ms. Hernández, a real estate broker, as an excellent student, “She’s doing very well. I’m almost running out of things to teach her,” he said. He has such success stories for most of his students. He uses lessons he’s learned along the way to guide his teachings. “My mentor Jeff Cooper taught thousands of people. He always said, 'My students always survive. They make mistakes, but they always survive.'” When it comes to shooting, Furlong teaches in a way that stops the aggressor with the minimum amount of damage. The handguns are shot in a way that creates a wound and not death, he said. “We don’t shoot to kill. We shoot to stop someone from attacking,” Furlong said. “One of the things I tell my students is if you want to kill someone, please use a Buick. We have a lot of trouble with press already,” he joked. One of the things practiced in the scenarios is speed. It is ideal to shoot a person within an eight-inch radius in the chest. When attacked, it is best to stop the fight as soon as possible, he said. This means that the knowledge of knowing how to shoot should not be taken lightly. “There is a karma stamp on every bullet and every weapon you own,” said Furlong. “If one of the bullets finds a person that doesn’t deserve it, shame on you. It makes one have to be careful about where he shoots.” The same can be said for someone who leaves a gun in a place that is easily accessible to others, he said. Costa Rica does have a self-defense law which allows one to defend themselves and others. In Furlong's case, he didn’t |
 A.M. Costa Rica/Aaron Knapp
Paul Furlong is pleased by the
battered traget backing.have any problems with the courts for shooting to protect his neighbor. “If the paperwork is in order and the gun is legal, they are really going to investigate,” he said. Another thing Furlong teaches is situational awareness through color conditioning. He then continues the lesson as game where a person earns points for being observant in their surroundings. For instance, in the street they may earn 10 points for seeing a transit cop but lose 20 points if they don’t. Over time it becomes habit, he said. “You learn to join in and participate in the world, so you aren’t going to be surprised. This habit, along with your shooting schools should always be practiced, he said. Both his wife and daughter also know how to shoot, and they go over drills in the house, moving through rooms, checking for danger and covering each other’s back. Also, graduates have the option of coming together at the shooting range for club meetings. Here they are able to practice skills with Furlong. The shooting range is called Poligono La Garita and is located in La Garita de Alajuela. Enrique Rodriguez, a former top policeman, opened it in the 1960s as a place to shoot large caliber guns. “Now we have a lot of neighbors,” said Rodriguez. Rodriquez served five years in a U.S. airborne unit. He opens the range to the public, but only if reservations are made in advance. However the owner is careful about not letting just anyone on the premise to shoot. “The main thing is safety, so I select the people,” he said. The range has four different levels of instruction. They are basic, defensive, technical and some competition. Furlong's teaching career goes back to the 1970s, when he lived in the United Sates. He spent two years in the Navy, but got out because he wanted to continue working with motorcycles. He also has a motorcycle touring business where he takes people across Central America by bike. Over the course of time, he has had close to 100 weaponry students. “I picked up an old sport and started teaching people. I think people want it. They recognize the need.” He doesn’t describe himself as an excellent shot. However, for him the activity is not a sport but a defense mechanism. “It’s something I don’t do practically well. I’m an average shooter, but there’s a certain point where gamesmanship gets left behind. In the grand shape of the world, Furlong said he believes that an armed society is a polite society. He said he believes that when people are left to their own devices, they usually do what is right. “When you become a good shooter, it make you more polite. It keeps you out of places of trouble.” “Those people who are passing moral judgment expect you to defend them when the time comes,” he said. In the case of recent United States shootings, Furlong believes that if others were allowed guns, it would have saved victims. “In the movie theater, all it would have taken was one guy with a gun to stop him,” said Furlong in relation to the June 20 shooting in a Colorado movie theater. Educating people to use guns, is a way to keep things safe, he said. “The thing that scares me, is all the people with guns who don’t know how to use them.” In the Costa Rican gun law, someone must be a citizen or a permanent resident to own a gun and be at least 18 years old. The gun owner is allowed to have between a .22-caliber and .45-caliber handgun, or up to a 12 gauge shotgun. The gun can be either semiautomatic or a revolver. Automatic guns are illegal. According to Rodríguez, the concealed weapons test has three parts, and can be taken at the La Garita range. Participants must pass an interview with a psychologist, a written test from the police, and a shooting test. The written test asks questions about the gun and the gun law and is in Spanish. English speakers have the option of bringing an official translator. In the practical test, persons are given 10 rounds and they have to hit a 9.5- by 11-inch paper target at least seven shots with a .22-caliber handgun. More information on Furlong and his class is available HERE! |
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| Lawmakers
pass bill capping agricultural land assessment By
the A.M. Costa Rica staff
Lawmakers took the initial step Monday to cap the assessed value of agricultural land. Some 49 legislative deputies voted to pass a bill in the first round of voting that holds increases in the value of land used for agriculture to 20 percent. The bill also orders the Ministerio de Agricultura y Ganadería to do a census of agricultural lands within three years and the Ministerio de Hacienda to establish values for types of agricultural land within four years. Farmers had been protesting and conducted a march to the legislature for fear that they would face soaring property taxes from the local municipalities. The bill was not received well in all quarters because some of the largest tracts of agricultural land are owned by multinational corporations who grow bananas and pineapples. The bill needs one more favorable vote before it is sent to Casa Presidencial. |
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| You need to see Costa Rican tourism information HERE! |
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| What we published this week: | Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday | Friday | Earlier |
| The contents of this page and this Web site are copyrighted by Consultantes Río Colorado 2012 and may not be reproduced anywhere without permission. Abstracts and fair use are permitted. Check HERE for details | ||||||
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| A.M. Costa Rica's Fourth News page | |||||
| San José, Costa Rica, Tuesday, Aug. 21, 2012, Vol. 12, No. 166 | |||||
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Jo
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 Sherry
Heinl's
'Frog Crossing' |
 Joan
Hall's
'Maasai Dreams' |
 Estilita
Grimaldo's
'Roman Carnival' |
| Chairs turned into art are centerpiece of
Women's Club auction |
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By
the A.M. Costa Rica staff
The Costa Rica Women's Club calls it chairs for charity. Some 55 artists from the Costa Rican and expat communities created stunning works of art from ordinary chairs and some tables. The 60 chairs and other items will be auctioned off at the club's Night at the Museum & Sensational Chair Auction Sept. 1, a Saturday, in the national gallery of the Museo de los Niños in north San José. The auction also features airline tickets, hotel accommodations, dinner packages and other premiums. Music for the event will be provided by Editus, the country's top group and a winner of a Grammy three times. There also |
will be complimentary bocas
and wine supplied by restaurants and distributors who support the
group, the club said. A preview of the chairs can be seen HERE! The evening is a fundraiser for the Women's Club's educational activities, which include scholarships. Tickets are available at 15,000 colons by calling 8916-9525, 2268-0975, or by visiting www.wccr.org The Women’s Club of Costa Rica is a philanthropic organization supporting education, primarily through scholarships and development of school libraries for children in Costa Rica. Founded in 1940, it is one of the oldest, continuously operating service organizations in Costa Rica. The club’s English-speaking membership boasts over 300 women of all ages from all over the world, drawn together by the motto of Friendship through Service, the club said. |
Now there are four bailey bridges installed on the General Cañas highway, and the zone is restricted for speed. More work was to have been done Monday night to put lines on the eastbound lane that was opened quickly at 6 a.m. Monday. Underneath, workmen try to solve the problem of the expanding crater. |
 Consejo National de Vialidad photo
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| No major delays reported at scene of
ever-growing crater |
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By
the A.M. Costa Rica staff
There were no major delays Monday as traffic passed over yet another set of bailey bridges installed on the General Cañas highway. Speed there in the eastbound lanes has been reduced to 40 kph as it has been in the westbound lanes where the first set of bailey bridges have been carrying traffic. Meanwhile, under the old and new bridges, workmen are trying to keep the washout from growing more. That washout is what created the necessity for the bridges. Traffic was a disaster over the weekend because the eastbound lanes were closed, and a detour was setup through Heredia. But motorists claimed the routes were not well marked, and some ended up far from where they had planned. The new set of bridges are 36 meters long or about 118 feet. They were installed in what the Consejo Nacional de Vialidad said was record time. The alternative would have been a traffic disaster of major proportions. As it was, the eastbound lanes reopened to traffic at 5 a.m. Monday. Some 90,000 vehicles pass through the highway each day. Officials were going to close off the lanes again late Monday |
 Consejo Nacional de Vialidad photo
Workmen spray a gypsum
mixture onto the sidewalls of thecavern under the General Cañas highway so the washout will not become wider. night to paint more markings on the pavement. This work was left undone so the spans could be opened for rush hour Monday morning. |
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| The contents of this page and this Web site are copyrighted by Consultantes Río Colorado 2012 and may not be reproduced anywhere without permission. Abstracts and fair use are permitted. Check HERE for details | ||||||
| A.M.
Costa Rica's Fifth news page |
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| San José, Costa Rica, Tuesday, Aug. 21, 2012, Vol. 12, No. 166 | |||||||||
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| Experts
seeking to revive long dead Indian languages By
the A.M. Costa Rica wire services
Latin is considered a dead language because it has ceased to evolve, but millions of people study it in school. That's because Latin pops up in medicine and law and is the root of many words in Spanish, Portuguese, French, Romanian and English. So there's dead, like Latin dead, and really dead — completely obliterated, never to be spoken again, like hundreds of the early languages of the Americas. Or written, either, because almost none of them was written in the first place. The tribes that spoke them disappeared entirely or adopted their region's dominant English or French. So elders stopped speaking their language and handing it down to the young. But there's work afoot to revive many of these dead languages, and not just for sheer academic pleasure. Revitalizing old tongues is a matter of pride. Witness the success of reclaiming Hebrew — once used only for prayer and study — as the national language of Israel. It’s now spoken every day by millions of people. That certainly can’t be said for Latin, outside of churches, anywhere in the world. Rediscovering lost languages can be useful, as when scholars were able to reconstruct enough of the long-dead Virginia Algonquian language that the native characters could speak it credibly in a 2005 movie called "The New World." But reviving an old, dead language is tough work, especially with no scrolls, no storybooks, no grammar lists — no written language at all — to go by. When it comes to Amerindian tongues, experts must rely on the crude notes of European settlers, who took a stab at writing down a few words as they heard them spoken, then spelled the words as they pleased. According to expert linguists, more than 500 of the estimated 800 Amerindian languages are dying since only a few elders speak them. Or those tongues are dead and gone. This is not just an American problem. The Smithsonian Institution's senior linguist, Ives Goddard, estimates that without a concerted effort to save them and teach them to the young half the world's 6,000 surviving languages will be extinct within this century. Or mortuus, as they say in Latin.  Map from Diana Myad's Web site shows her location at midday Monday. Long-distance swimmer hopes to reach Florida today By
the A.M. Costa Rica wire services
Veteran long-distance swimmer Diana Nyad has pushed ahead after a night of rough waters, in her attempt to become the first person to swim the 166 kilometers between Cuba and Florida without a shark cage. That's about 103 miles. A post on her Web site Monday said she already had traveled nearly a third of the journey. It said Ms. Nyad was swimming strong at a pace of 50 strokes per minute in beautiful weather. Sunday night, Ms. Nyad and her crew were caught in a squall that had winds reaching 26 kph, about 16 mph. Ms. Nyad hopes to complete her journey through the treacherous waters today, one day before she turns 63. She began the swim from Havana Saturday. She is using a special device that pulses a mild electrical current to help keep sharks at bay. A video on Ms. Nyad's Web site Sunday showed her on a break joking with the crew, singing a verse from the Beatles' tune “No Reply” and asking about the son of a crew member. She attempted the same swimming feat last year, but was forced to abandon her trip after painful jelly fish stings. Australian Susan Maroney successfully made the swim in 1997, but she used a shark cage. Apple breaks record as most valuable firm By
the A.M. Costa Rica wire services
Apple broke a record Monday becoming the most valuable public company in history. Shares of Apple stock surged more than 2 percent, pushing the company's value to more than $623 billion. This surpasses the previous record set by Microsoft in 1999. Financial analysts say the jump in Apple stock was sparked by next month's expected launch of a new version of the iPhone. The late Steve Jobs co-founded Apple with Steve Wozniak in 1976, pioneering the mass-produced personal computer. |
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| What we published this week: | Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday | Friday | Earlier |
| The contents of this page and this Web site are copyrighted by Consultantes Río Colorado 2012 and may not be reproduced anywhere without permission. Abstracts and fair use are permitted. Check HERE for details | ||||||
| A.M.
Costa
Rica's sixth news page |
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| San José, Costa Rica, Tuesday, Aug. 21, 2012, Vol. 12, No. 166 | ||||||||||
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Latin America news |
U.S. citizen in Guanacaste
held for Stateside charge By
the A.M. Costa Rica staff
A 37-year-old U.S. citizen has been detained by immigration and judicial agents because he is wanted in the United States to face a charge of selling drugs via the Internet, said the Judicial Investigation Organization. Agents caught up with the man in Playas del Coco Sunday night. Local representatives of the International Police Agency and members of the Policía de Migración were involved in the arrest. Agents said that the man, who was not named immediately, entered the country for the first time April 9, 2009, from Nicaragua. However, when he was arrested the man did not have a passport or any paperwork showing that he was a legal resident. He was transferred to the immigration holding cells in Hatillo. Highway workers find three automatic rifles By
the A.M. Costa Rica staff
Highway employees working around a bridge in Belén uncovered a stash of three rifles Monday. They were hidden under a bridge and protected by a plastic bag. The weapons included an M-14, and AK-47 and a Galil, an Israeli-manufactured rifle. Also discovered was ammunition. The Fuerza Pública said that the weapons were capable of automatic firing. Such weapons are illegal in Costa Rica., although they are traditional weaponry of drug gangs. Eight youngsters prevail at robotics championships By
the A.M. Costa Rica staff
Eight youngsters will represent the country in the world robotics competition. They were selected Saturday night after building and competing with their robots in a program supervised by the Ministerio de Ciencia y Tecnología. The youngest winner is 8 years old and the oldest is 19, the ministry said. The winners were selected in age groups. The eight will go to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, in November. More than 240 youngsters participated in the preliminaries and finals of the event. Unhappy motorist faces vehicular injury count By
the A.M. Costa Rica staff
A Russian national whose vehicle injured a woman has been jailed for three months preventative detention. He is Alexander Rumarshuck Bakelman. Friday the man became involved in an argument at a La Sabana supermarket and then he drove off in his car only to hit a woman pedestrian, said an expat at the scene. The man was detained after a police chase. |
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