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The U.S. National Science Foundation charters the ship for payment.

[quote=”Scott”]So if you all agree that corporations do indeed only have one mandate; profit, it would therefore be safe for you to assume that the owners of the JOIDES Resolution ship, Transocean which is “the world’s largest offshore drilling contractor, provides the most versatile fleet of mobile offshore drilling units to help customers find and develop oil and natural gas reserves” and DSND Shipping, AS “an underwater contracting business that specializes in the development of underwater installations and oil well maintenance” also have that same mandate but, on this particularly unique occasion they are simply lending their 143M long ship for these experiments and are they expecting absolutely nothing in return, would that be correct?[/quote]

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The entire process of deciding what to drill for, where and when in terms of scientific questions to be answered is so open and exhaustive in DSDP that it would be hard to sneak a hidden oil industry agenda in the drilling operations in the more than 3 decades of this program´s success. Lifting the published reports of DSDP scientific findings would give Arnold Schwarzenegger a hernia. In fact, most of the locations and questions that guided DSDP drilling operations have been in areas that are deliberately not likely oil bearing formations. NSF PR people are not keen on even small oil discharges. Who cares? Ask the Japanese about subduction zones in their Northeast.

[quote=”pharg”][quote=”sprite”]That some good science and information resulted from such drilling projects is ancillary to the greater harm done to the environment by the avaricious pursuit of oil. [/quote]

The many geological scientists that I know would be amazed and astounded to learn that people think their research is part of an avaricious pursuit of oil.

and…….
[quote=”scott”] on this particularly unique occasion they are simply lending their 143M long ship for these experiments and are they expecting absolutely nothing in return, would that be correct? [/quote]

no and yes. NO, this is not a ‘particularly unique occasion’; this is cruise #335 and, though I cannot give the exact number, I believe less than 5% were conducted anywhere near potential petroleum deposits, going back to the early 70s. Over 90% dealt with understanding ocean sediments and plate tectonics And NO, Transocean is not ‘lending their ship’. The operation and scheduling is entirely driven by NSF’s response to science ideas and proposals. And finally, YES, the scientists are expecting nothing in return, except contributing to the global knowledge base, getting some publications, and perhaps even tenure. Been there, done that.
PEH[/quote]

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Scott: I hear you about why large energy companies do what they do. In the late 1990s the venerable Heinz Foundation for Science and the Environment courted ENRON because they were so “environmentally forward thinking and responsible”. The National Science Foundation funded JOIDES has industrial participation because everybody (read big business) benefits from increased knowledge about how the Earth works. Information is shared openly from this project. Oil Companies then do their own additional higher resolution scientific surveys to find what they are looking for and it is highly proprietary. The irony of ironies and joke of all jokes is that if the academic scientists are allegedly part of some secret cabal to benefit oil companies, then they are so disorganized and prone to anarchy and internecine fist fights that they would screw it up and it would be on the front page of the New York Times. The anaolgy with genetic research is that the industrial DNA mongers have a legitimate interest in helping to fund better basic understanding of how genetic processes work before they zero in on their dirty, profit driven deeds. The bottom line is that Costa Rica has its own tectonic plate (Cocos) that will continue to do mischief with the earth´s surface in Central America and Ticos might want to know and understand that.

[quote=”Scott”]So if you all agree that corporations do indeed only have one mandate; profit, it would therefore be safe for you to assume that the owners of the JOIDES Resolution ship, Transocean which is “the world’s largest offshore drilling contractor, provides the most versatile fleet of mobile offshore drilling units to help customers find and develop oil and natural gas reserves” and DSND Shipping, AS “an underwater contracting business that specializes in the development of underwater installations and oil well maintenance” also have that same mandate but, on this particularly unique occasion they are simply lending their 143M long ship for these experiments and are they expecting absolutely nothing in return, would that be correct?[/quote]

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Scott, you are a very smart and good guy who is right almost all of the time. But Pharg is right on target here. Well done Pharg! I was the first strategic planner for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in the U.S. I saw things that would make your hair curl (Do Scots have curly hair by nature?) about what goes on in the science side of the U.S. government. Of all of the big science adventures of the U.S. Government, the Deepsea Drilling Project (various aka´s along the way)is by far one the most successful and exemplary models of how to do big science (big budgets, many participants) that the entire global scientific community can learn from. We should salute this, not denigrate it. Despite BP´s well deserved bad PR of late, it has some of the smartest marine geologists in the world on its payroll. A small footnote in Costa Rica marine science history is warranted. Dick Fleming, coauthor of the first and most famous textbook on oceanography (“The Oceans”, Prentice Scott, 1942) did his research on the chemistry of the seabed in the Gulf of Nicoya while aboard the U.S. Navy collier (coal ship) Hannibal during the early 1930s. I am sure that somebody will ask what was the U.S.S. Hannibal doing in the Gulf of Nicoya during the 1930s, but I am am glad that Dick Fleming was there. Peace. DC Bob

[quote=”pharg”]After I read this:
https://www.welovecostarica.com/public/3043.cfm
I couldn’t pass without comment. The overall projects and cruises conducted by the DSDP {deep sea drilling project; started in the early 1970s] and it successors, now characterized by the cruises of the JOIDES Resolution, have done more for our understanding of the geological nature of the planet than any other multinational project in history. To IMPLY that because Transocean may have had a significant role in funding the Joides Resolution, they might therefore be directing the research goals of these cruises is not only paranoid, but wrong, wrong, wrong. These cruises and the research conducted on them is a result of many requests and proposals made by scientists to the National Science Foundation, the organization co-ordinating both participants and locations for drilling. Further, to IMPLY that, because there is a line in NSF’s charter that national security research “…to secure the national defense…” is under the NSF umbrella, therefore there is something sinister going on, is likewise P&WWW. Of course NSF does not have Costa Rican national security as a goal – it is after all a USA organization, not a Tico one – for that there is CONICIT. That quote was part of the NSF charter from the initial setup by Congress in the 1950s, in the height of the cold war.
Scott’s quotes are selectively picked from here: http://joidesresolution.org/node/49
which also has considerable other information about the program and its goals, as well as an invitation to visit the ship while it is in port. If one took the time to examine the locations of where the JR is drilling, it would be pretty obvious that in the last 20 years, almost never is there a chance that any petroleum deposits could be hidden where the cores are collected (and of course, cruise 335 is just another example).
Cruise 335, which Scott is suspicious of, has a good chance of providing very useful information on the causes, frequencies, and severity of earthquakes in the Pacific, west of Costa Rica, and has a top team of international scientists as part of the research party. Details are here: http://joidesresolution.org/node/1745

A blog about the previous cruise, just ended in Puntarenas, is here: http://joidesresolution.org/blog

General information on the Joides Resolution is here:
http://joidesresolution.org/node/4

As with other NSF-funded projects, the results are in the public domain; the only exception of which I am aware is the two secret DSDP cruises several decades ago to recover a sunken Soviet nuclear submarine in the deep Pacific. Unfortunately these implications about the Joides Reslution fuel the suspicions of the general public about ANY scientific research, simply because of a lack of understanding.
Partial fault lies with scientists: better communication with the public in easier to understand language would go a long way in avoiding this sort of misguided implication.
PEH[/quote]

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Pricesmart in Escazu recently got a shipment of very nice all stainless steel table top gas grills. They are larger than the the type shown in the Santa Ana supplier´s website and cost about 80,000 colones. New, empty gas cylinders are about 20,000 at Pricesmart.
DC Bob

[quote=”bstckmn”]The table top stainless steel models work really well (I have a U.S. model with a different trademark). When you find the model that you like, the best deal that I have found for the purchase of a propane cylinder or a refill is at Distributadora de Gases Herrera S.A. at the foot of the hill on the old Escazu-Santa Ana road (contiguo a Ceviches del Rey)in Santa Ana. New tanks are half the price of EPA and they accept credit cards. Refills are 8,000 colones.
DC Bob

[quote=”Scott”][ http://www.attrezzocr.com/ ] in Santa Ana has some awesome smokers and barbecues…

See their products at: [ http://www.attrezzocr.com/productos/index.php?option=subcategorias&cat=16 ]

See the gas grills at: [ http://www.attrezzocr.com/productos/index.php?option=categorias&cid=27 ]

My girlfriend bought this baby Weber a while back and it’s terrific [ http://www.attrezzocr.com/productos/index.php?option=detalle&pid=57 ]

One of their guys comes to visit once in a while to clean my BBQ so I like them …

Scott[/quote][/quote]

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Thanks David

[quote=”DavidCMurray”]Bob, check with your local ferreterias. They will surely know of a local window fabricator who can do this job. If they cannot help, stop into any local architect’s office and ask.

Many or most windows here are custom-made of aluminum. They are readily available with screens that are held in place by “L”-shaped plastic attachments. None of what you are looking for is foreign or difficult.[/quote]

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The table top stainless steel models work really well (I have a U.S. model with a different trademark). When you find the model that you like, the best deal that I have found for the purchase of a propane cylinder or a refill is at Distributadora de Gases Herrera S.A. at the foot of the hill on the old Escazu-Santa Ana road (contiguo a Ceviches del Rey)in Santa Ana. New tanks are half the price of EPA and they accept credit cards. Refills are 8,000 colones.
DC Bob

[quote=”Scott”][ http://www.attrezzocr.com/ ] in Santa Ana has some awesome smokers and barbecues…

See their products at: [ http://www.attrezzocr.com/productos/index.php?option=subcategorias&cat=16 ]

See the gas grills at: [ http://www.attrezzocr.com/productos/index.php?option=categorias&cid=27 ]

My girlfriend bought this baby Weber a while back and it’s terrific [ http://www.attrezzocr.com/productos/index.php?option=detalle&pid=57 ]

One of their guys comes to visit once in a while to clean my BBQ so I like them …

Scott[/quote]

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Whoever said “life is never simple” was the astute one. Now I need to worry about procuring plastic propholactic tarps for the vulnerable banana blossoms! Abstinence seems out of the question…thanks anyway, David!

[quote=”pharg”]Maybe there’s an eharmony.com or chemistry.com for fruit trees. Just be careful. In Costa Rica, prostitution is legal but pimping is not. Who knows what the risks might be in pimping a tree . . .[/quote]

So here’s a tie between bananas, prostitution, and was very astute.inevitable STDs. Australian banana plantations have been pretty much destroyed by a fungus disease called ‘Tropical Race Four’ thst kills the trees. Nearly all of the world’s exported bananas [including Tico-nanas] are the ‘Cavendish’ variety, which is particularly susceptible to TR-4. It’s only a matter of time before TR-4 joins the mix of banana diseases in C.R. As I understand it, scientists are trying to produce a genetically modified Cavendish that will resist TR-4 :twisted:[/quote]

I should have added that Cavendish bananas are sterile, which is why they don’t develop resistance to TR-4. http://en.citizendium.org/wiki/Banana
[DISCLAIMER: I am not a Bananascientist, though I may play one on TV][/quote]

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Thanks for the encouragement, David. Until I started this thread on the forum, I was naively prepared to do whatever it takes to advance local fruit action here. Now I am not so sure. Translating hopeful thoughts into practical action has always been difficult for me. Just how does one attract bats to pollinate an expectant banana plant? Even starting a dialogue with local authorities about fruit dating and the pimping laws will implode my Spanish skills with consequences I do not want to contemplate. Although you do raise another a good point. I should look into date trees because my Moroccan couscous recipes call for that expensive staple. Fruitless in Escazu Bob

[quote=”DavidCMurray”]So if I’ve got this right, Bob, what you’re trying to do is to find a date for a tree? Well, that’s a new one on me! Have you considered looking online?

Maybe there’s an eharmony.com or chemistry.com for fruit trees. Just be careful. In Costa Rica, prostitution is legal but pimping is not. Who knows what the risks might be in pimping a tree . . .[/quote]

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Thanks so much for the detailed information about the biology of banana and papaya plants. It is obviously much more complicated than even I imagined, and I have come away with a new found reverence for vendors at the feria. They must really know what they are doing! Your tutorial also unlocked some of life´s mysteries that were long time riddles for me. For example, to discover that the banana is actually an herb explains the hidden meaning of Donovan´s late 1960s hit song “Electrical Banana”. It will take me some time to digest the new knowledge you provided and I will consult with my neighbors who share an interest in my husbandry of the shared fruit adventure across the street. At this point, I am not sure what to do next. I am a little embarrassed to be seen bending over the Banana branches of the existing herb towers so the upper female blossoms can mix it up with their lower male counterparts. As for the papaya plants (one is more than 7 feet tall), they seem to have been started from the casual seed dispersal method you describe. They have have these collars of what look like budding papaya fruits pods but they don´t develop completely and fall to the ground. Maybe the plant needs more time. I will wait and see. It seems that I was captured too quickly by the American business management consulting firms´ mantra to “harvest the low hanging fruit” first. Humbled Husband Bob
P.S. The CATIE website link is great. I will follow up. Thanks.

[quote=”costaricafinca”]I am sorry for your loss…
Bananas are the worlds largest herb and produce an inflorescence which contains many bracts, but their main or upright stem is actually a pseudostem that grows 6 to 7.6 metres in lengh. The female flowers (which can develop into fruit) appear in rows further up the stem from the rows of male flowers, so there are both sexes on each plant, plus some that are sterile, but the plant is not one or the other.
EPA were carrying some ‘dwarf’ species which means a shorter plant, not tiny bananas, when it bears it’s fruit, which is nice. Remember, it will only produce one hand in it’s lifetime, but hopefully some new family members will be around by then.
Some Papaya plants bear only short-stalked female flowers, or bisexual (perfect) flowers also on short stalks, while others may bear only male flowers. Some plants may have both male and female flowers, so there should be no actual sex of the plant but the flower that turns into a fruit…or not. 🙄 but you can’t tell which is which’ until the appear … and if your smart.
Papaya plants prefer not to be transplanted, even when quite small. Best to buy the species you like from the local [i]feria,[/i] then scrape the seeds out and place a dozen or so in different spots where you want them to grow…although I found the ones that didn’t actually plant, that’s to say the ones that you dropped while eating a slice, grow best. Once they have sprouted, ‘weed’ out the small plants and keep 2-3 until a bit bigger, and leave the strongest healthiest ones and watch them grow….and hopefully the bats/insects/birds that pollinate both the banana and papaya are present.
You could also check out [url=http://www.catie.ac.cr/magazin_ENG.asp?CodIdioma=ENG]CATIE[/url] where they really know about bananas.[/quote]

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Thanks, Scott. I thought it looked familiar. It might be fun for WLCR members to post local food or shopping “finds” like this from time to time. As my contribution, I offer Mr. Fish in the small shopping center at the intersection of the road that tunnnels under the pista on the way to EPA in Escazu San Rafael (just down the road west from Hipermas). Really, this tip came from my neighbor Ulf who has very high standards for fish mongers.

[quote=”Scott”]From ScotiaBank in Escazu, drive straight up the hill past AutoMercado until you are forced to veer right.

Follow the road straight for about 200M – go past ‘The Pub’ and the La Casona de Laly restaurant is on your right hand side.

Parking’s not always easy but you’ll certainly find good Tico food at great prices. The last time I was there I ordered the tongue which was tasty…

Scott[/quote]

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This is helpful, but I still don’t fully understand my choices. First, I thought that I have read in the forum that a person must already have residency status before ARCR will allow membership. Is that true? If so, can a nonmember of ARCR obtain the favorable caja premium opportunity? Although 3 years of temporary residency status allows a person to convert to permanent status, is it required that a person convert after three years? In other words, can a temporary pensionado remain in that status for an indefinite period after three years? What are the typical costs for residency services by a CR lawyer who specializes in that work? Thanks. DC Bob

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How does the temporary pensionado status relate to the 13% caja tax? Does this status eliminate the 90 day visa limit? How long does it normally take to obtain approval? Although I own a townhouse in Escazu, I am not yet certain that the benefits of eventual permanent pensionado status outweigh the costs. Thanks. DC Bob

[quote=”costaricafinca”]You could have confused what I and other have mentioned many times, in that we recommend you live here for an extended time [b]before[/b][i][/i] applying for residency, solely to make sure that Costa Rica is the right choice for [b]you.[/b][/quote]

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[quote=”DavidCMurray”][quote=”bstckmn”]Can David say the same thing about the “colonoscopista”?[/quote]

In a world that has become way too serious, it is nice to see that good humor is alive and well in Costa Rica.

Hmmm . . . I’m not sure just what you’re asking but I’ll try to guess.

A [i]colonoscopia[/i] isn’t an ultrasound procedure, so no, I didn’t have the same cutsie ultrasound tech who took care of Scott. My procedures were attended by a male anesthesiologist and a male gastroenterologist. Neither was my type.

Nor did my colonoscopies cost c43,000. They were in the range of $600US for everything, front door to back.

Does that answer your question?

Oh! And, like Scott, I am also not pregnant.[/quote]

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Can David say the same thing about the “colonoscopista”?

[quote=”Scott”]I had an ultrasound done last week at Hospital CIMA – 43,000 colones which is about US$83 and a rather delicious lady “ultrasonidista” ??

Scott Oliver – Founder
WeLoveCostaRica.com

PS. I am not pregnant![/quote]

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