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[quote=”creative”]If my memory is still intact, 40 years ago President John F. Kennedy visited Costa Rica and inaugurated the Hospital de Ninos. The Volcan Irazu erupted with much damage caused by ashes and deaths due to rivers overflowing killing many of those living in Cartago. I have been praying that this will not be the case this week. [/quote]
Tomorrow is also the 113th anniversary of the major earthquake that destroyed Cartago and eventually led to the transfer of central government to San Jose.
The quake was fascinatingly described, also in a 1910 small book, in English and Spanish. The book can be downloaded here: http://archive.org/details/cartagoearthquak00fern
or, in unsuccessful in downloading, I can send as a PDF (4.6MB).
Hopefully those naughty BlackHawk heli vibes won’t set off another quake 🙄[quote=”Scott”]
As a father myself, I simply can not imagine the pain he is dealing with and hope that you will join me in wishing him the best and send your loving energy to help him through this long and difficult period….The intensity of this type of pain can be understood only by those who have gone through the loss of their child – as I did when my son of 28 was killed in similar circumstances. One does not anticipate outliving one’s children. I can truly sympathize.
[quote=”beansandbooks”] A goodly number of our congress folks probably cannot read less than 14 or 16 point type anyway [/quote]
…..or refuse to read at all?
Mark Twain was right on many levels:
“Suppose you were an idiot. And suppose you were a member of Congress. But I repeat myself.”
and:
“There is no distinctly American criminal class – except Congress”
[quote=”waggoner41″]There is no licensing for real estate agents or brokers in Costa Rica.
Anyone can start selling real estate and a license is not required.[/quote]
Yes, and despite its nonexistence, [u]MLS Costa Rica[/u] on Google gets 15.9 million hits (most, of course, have nothing to do with either C.R. or MLS – but I haven’t checked them all 😉
[quote=”VictoriaLST”]Gee, guys. You suppose a GMO coffee might resist rust??? HAHAHAHA![/quote]
The ‘how’ and ‘why’ of genetic modification of coffee is discussed here:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3437269/
I suspect this is more genetics than most will follow (or want to), but rust (CLR) and references to progress are discussed in section 10.3. As is pointed out, regardless of benefits to consumers & growers, the biggest problem will be consumer acceptance and approval (sect. 11).
PEHIt’s not the meat, it’s the end justifying the means.
Maravilla wrote:
“…you ARE your stuff, your identity is tied to your stuff, and your stuff tells the rest of the world who you really are. when you strip away all the extraneous stuff you are left with you and it is up to you to figure out who you really are without all the things you previously used to define yourself.”This desirable sort of introspection is hard to achieve when has all one’s “stuff” in the absence of externally forced necessity.
PEH“Suppose you were an idiot. Then suppose you were a member of Congress…but I repeat myself” [Mark Twain]
Regardless of how one feels about GMOs, or the motives of Monsanto, it remains that our global agriculture consists mostly of genetically modified organisms [primarily, selective breeding over time spans of centuries]. We all ourselves, with a certain amount of Neanderthal genes in our chromosomes, are GMOs. At present we are able to accomplish the same level of GM effect in plants and animals, in decades or much less.
In qcostarica.com, Nevio Bonillo, specialist in genetic improvement from the National Institute of Agricultural Technology Transfer Innovation (INTA), assured that there is a lot of misinformation and ignorance about GMOs and that the effects of these organisms have even been “demonized.” The article, which also takes into account the reservations Tico farmers, is at:To me, this anti-GMO vitriol is in part nutri-conviction with a dose of the antiscience attitude that is so common amongst otherwise intelligent Homo sapiens/Homo neandertal hybrids. – “don’t trust what you don’t understand”. I freely admit succumbing to this affliction with regard to Monsanto, but not in the case of GMOs.
PEH[quote=”rowanf”]How cool! On IMDB it says [url=http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2756412/]AE: Apocalypse Earth[/url] and has it due out at the end of May. I’ll definitely look for it.[/quote]
This turkey ounds like a marriage of Avatar and The Time Machine presided over by Teri (John Travolta in Battlefield Earth.
The leads are a model making her acting debut, Richard Grieco (whose claim to fame is a mediocre 80’s tv show) and Adrian Paul (whose claim to fame is a mediocre early 90’s tv show), I don’t have high hopes for the quality.
This reminds me of the scene in Jurassic Park where Wayne Knight (“Newman” from Seinfeld) is sitting on a palm-lined beach reminiscent of Manuel Antonio, identified as San Jose. DUH!
I think I’ll skip this one.
[quote=”waggoner41″]Absolutely great video.
Thank you CRB[/quote]
This is a great video. I spent a lot of time picking out landmarks, even though barrio tin roofs all look the same. You can even pick out the flying rats [pigeons] in the Teatro plaza. Nostalgia rules:wink:
PEH[quote=”costaricafinca”]Tom, many things have changed since you set up your account. Not so easy, anymore.[/quote]
Well That’s FOR SURE:!::!:
When I was a visiting professor at Universidad Nacional in 1980 I bought a CD in colones [with dollars} when I went back to the U.S. Due to exchange rate fluctuations, my CD lost 90% of its value [converting colones back to dollars]. But that’s beside the point. Now, because of changes in La Ley, my account doesn’t even exist. Pura Vida.
PEH[quote=”DavidCMurray”]
Because we are in a position of superior power over another, as in the relationship between a hunter and prey, we have the power to disregard the other’s feelings, as might a rapist vis a vis his victim, but it does not mean that the prey/victim has no feelings.
[/quote]Funny how a simple query about the consumption of horesmeat in CR has devolved into metaphysical “discussion” (rants?)
.:lol::lol::lol:
Reminds me of a comment by actress Kathy Bates in the remake of the movie “The Day the Earth Stood Still”: ‘History has lessons to teach us about first encounters between civilizations. As a rule the less advanced civilization is either exterminated or enslaved.’ Just substitute “other animals” for “civilizations” and there you have it.
PEH[quote=”DavidCMurray”]
I guess I’m not seeing a real world difference between the practical value of holding scarce commodities and holding money. Either one only has the value someone else imputes to it.
[/quote]
This discussion reminds me of the original “Americans” (I prefer “[b]O[/b]riginal [i]I[/i]nhabitants”) and wampum. As Bernard Bailyn points out, this is a centuries-old economic system based on a bunch of shell beads with holes in them. Lots of OIs died for arranged shell beads with holesTheir value comes from the difficulty of preparation. We base our economy of shiny minerals (gold, silver, diamonds) that currently have an agreed upon value unrelated to their metallic worth or sparkle.
The [b]OI[/b] Ticos undoubtedly had a similar system.
PEH[quote=”maravilla”]define sentient??? do you think they don’t feel pain, or fear, or suffering, or [/quote]
As with many other words, the meaning is in the eye [mind] of the beholder. Dictionary meanings of ‘sentient’ involve one or more of:
-responsive to sensory impressions
-awareness of something
-sensitive in perception or feeling.
It comes from the Latin ‘sentire’, to perceiveBy these definitions, an amoeba is sentient, because it will sense and move away from unpleasant temperature, or frantically move by chemically sensing the presence of a predator.
What maravilla & David are mentioning is beyond sentient, and more like thinking and/or ability to predict imminent actions, beyond or after perception. A cat can anticipate playfulness and a pig [being much more intelligent than cats] can understand that its future is rather limited.
But, hey, this is straying far beyond horsemeat lasagna.
PEH[quote=”Scott”]So is this idea working successfully in Costa Rica now without significant pollution?
[/quote]
Scott-
I don’t know how the Arenal project is going; the people mentioned in the article could answer that. My limited experience with aquaculture is with marine systems, mostly fish & shrimp, and the problems are centered around nutrient pollution from uneaten food & fecal material, introduction of foreign parasites, and potential problems of escaping genetically modified non-natives into local populations. So many questions, so few answers.
PEH:?:
