Stuart's Brasil

vida redimensionada

2011-11-12T09:19:00.000-08:00

Campanha Coleta Seletiva de Lixo.

Brasil.Gov

A partir do dia 20 de junho de 2011, o Ministério do Meio Ambiente, em parceria com o Ministério do Desenvolvimento Social e Combate à Fome, inicia uma campanha nacional para conscientizar a população brasileira sobre o valor do lixo, como separá-lo adequadamente para gerar renda e emprego e de que maneira podemos utilizá-lo para preservar nossos recursos naturais.

Com a mensagem “Separe o lixo e acerte na lata”, a primeira etapa da campanha traz peças publicitárias que têm como personagem principal o lixo e tudo o que ele ainda pode oferecer: desde adubo e energia - para o caso dos resíduos úmidos -, até madeira sintética e tecido - através da reciclagem de garrafas pets e embalagens longa vida.

Para ser um participante ativo desta empreitada, é preciso saber como separar corretamente o lixo seco do lixo úmido. Isso facilita o trabalho dos catadores de lixo reciclável, que conseguem recolher maior quantidade de material reaproveitado e aumentar a renda com a venda dos resíduos.

Material reciclável

O lixo úmido (ou orgânico) é composto por restos de alimentos, cascas e ossos, pó de café e de chá, galhos e podas. Separados e reciclados, pode servir de adubo na produção agrícola ou como insumo para gerar energia.

O lixo seco, por sua vez, é todo o resíduo feito de papel (como caixas longa vida), vidro (potes de maionese), metal (latas de alumínio) e plástico (garrafas PET). Se limpos e separados corretamente, podem gerar emprego, renda e poupar recursos naturais. Com garrafas PET, por exemplo, é possível produzir madeira sintética ou um novo plástico.

Separe o lixo, acerte na lata Campanha ensina como separar e como aproveitar corretamente o lixo

Campanha Coleta Seletiva de Lixo

DESAFIO: Preparar a sociedade para uma mudança de comportamento em relação à Coleta Seletiva do Lixo, ressaltando os benefícios ambientais, sociais e econômicos do reaproveitamento dos resíduos sólidos para o país.

SOLUÇÃO: A campanha publicitária priorizou uma abordagem mobilizadora, de utilidade pública e de educação ambiental, no sentido de esclarecer à população sobre a importância do reaproveitamento dos resíduos sólidos e ensinar a correta separação do lixo úmido e seco. Com uma linha criativa simples, lúdica e didática, a campanha contempla 3 filmes de 30 segundos para TV, 4 anúncios para revistas, 1 spot de rádio, banners para internet, além de disponibilizar outras peças para utilização de parceiros. O conceito publicitário enfoca o tema de forma descontraída - Separe o Lixo e Acerte na Lata.

Compre produtos ambientalmente corretos

O eco-design considera os impactos ambientais em todos os estágios do desenvolvimento do produto, como planejamento, produção, embalagem, distribuição e descarte. Evite comprar produtos descartáveis. Prefira os duráveis e resistentes ou que permitam o aumento da vida útil por meio de recargas e refis, como cartuchos de impressão, pilhas e baterias recarregáveis. Reutilizar é muito importante. Prestigie também os produtos feitos com material reciclado. Apoiar empresas que investem em reciclagem é uma atitude de consumo consciente.

Exerça sua cidadania

Procure saber o que as autoridades de sua cidade acham da questão do lixo. Eles devem garantir um tratamento adequado aos resíduos e a implementação da coleta seletiva. Apoie propostas viáveis para solucionar o problema. Por seu lado, não suje a cidade, não jogue lixo nas ruas e recuse folhetos de propaganda.

Separe corretamente o lixo para reciclagem

O consumidor só participa do primeiro passo da reciclagem, que é a separação do lixo. A forma mais simples é isolar o lixo seco do molhado.
Lixo seco: embalagens, papéis, revistas e jornais. Lixo úmido ou orgânico: restos de alimentos e folhas.

Economize papel

Procure usar os dois lados do papel, produto que exige grande quantidade de água e de energia para ser produzido. Antes de imprimir um documento, revise-o com cuidado. Reutilize envelopes, mas dê preferência ao e-mail. Separe e recicle todo o papel utilizado.

Doe seus bens em vez de jogar fora

Em vez de descartar roupas, livros, móveis, brinquedos e outros, doe estes itens para entidades beneficentes, brechós e sebos ou para conhecidos

Use sacolas retornáveis
Se não for usar sacolas plásticas como saco de lixo, leve sua própria sacola ao fazer as compras. Se não for possível, procure encher bem os saquinhos.

Use os dois lados de uma folha de papel

Quem economiza papel está colaborando com o meio ambiente, pois evita a produção de resíduos e a derrubada de árvores. Além disso, vai também economizar água já que para se produzir um quilo de papel são necessários 540 litros de água.

Saco é um saco

Sacolas plásticas são consumidas aos bilhões em todo o mundo -- só no Brasil são cerca de 12 bilhões por ano. Elas são produzidas a partir do petróleo ou gás natural, dois tipos de recursos não-renováveis. Depois de extraído, o petróleo passa pelo refino, que emite poluentes.

Após transportar as compras de supermercado, a maior parte das sacolas é reutilizada como saco de lixo. No entanto, se rasgam ou são desnecessárias, elas mesmas viram lixo, mas demoram cerca de cinco séculos para se degradar. Isso quando não são jogadas no chão e entopem bueiros, agarram-se a fios de alta tensão ou acabam em rios e oceanos, causando poluição e enchentes, tornando-se focos de doenças e matando os animais que os ingerem.

Por causa disso, Ministério do Meio Ambiente lançou, em junho de 2009, a campanha Saco é um saco: para a cidade, para o planeta, para o futuro e para você, que busca chamar a atenção do cidadão brasileiro para o enorme impacto ambiental de usar sacos plásticos.

Para ficar por dentro das novidades relativas ao consumo sustentável de sacolas plásticas, seminários, políticas públicas e ações do Brasil e de outros países do mundo acesse o blog
Dicas sobre como reduzir o consumo de sacolas plásticas e os prejuízos que o uso excessivo desse tipo de material traz para o meio ambiente estão disponíveis no site Saco e um Saco

menos resíduos é uma forma de manter o ambiente claro e saudável, menos resíduos na rua economiza tempo e dinheiro para o prefeitura para fazer outras coisas para melhor o ambiente, também é necessário chamar a atenção nos desejos cidades ficamos mais limpas e queremos de prefeitos para fazer mais para ajudar, posso quando eles tem menos a ver que eles pode sentir-se inclinado a ajudar

Jaua after rain

2011-10-26T14:22:00.000-07:00

The sea is a ruler on its own, what the mayor of Camaçari will not do or is taking a long time to do, the sea does in a couple of nights.
This road is in front of the beach near my house, I have to pass this landslide to get to and from my house. This happened first some 5 years ago and the then mayor started work to repair the damaged sea wall and reinstate areas that the sea had taken away, but after a short period of work he sent in lorries of stone and had them tipped against the road and over the beach, presumably to brake the power of the waves, as we know from history that is not a wise thing to do.
It seems to me that he should have moved the sea wall away from the sea and reinstated it, the road would then have to be sited along the line of the front gardens of the houses, but as there is a disputed area of 30 mts from high tide for building any wall for a house or garden, I would reckon that all the houses are illegally using common land for their gardens, the 30 mts is meant to be patrimonial land or beach, thus it would be correct in all respects to re-site the road and give more distance for the high tide.
The beach bars are still functioning up to a point but this last battering as removed at least three more today and will be more likely to worry the others and make them think about moving soon, a small amount of carefully placed bars can be nice and good for tourists, but the beach gad become full of get rich quick bars that no longer cleaned up at night and had installed their own badly made toilets, there as always been a ban on these bars but the mayor as just left them to continue and spread along the beach, every one knew that they had installed toilets and yet the mayor had never bothered to police them, it is now the patrimonial that is insisting on their removal and thankfully the sea is helping . I hope that by next year the beach will have cleaned up and given back a long beach of clean sand, the bar lovers will move on to some other location and the locals will feel more inclined to re-use the beach for recreation and exercise, most of us have stopped using the beach because of the bars and their clients spreading down to the water and also the large amount of litter they leave, pop bottles, plastic cups and plates, bottle tops and plastic bags, along with cut coconuts.
The mayor as also not made provision for rubbish, leaving just a few bins on the edge of the pavement along the beach, so the wind spreads the rubbish and the dogs open and spread any sacks that have food inside, he has now put several large bins for plastic, metal,glass and paper at the entrance to Jaua, about 15 minutes walk from my house and only really suitable for those that may drive past them, they do not help with the household rubbish that is daily left in the streets for the rubbish lorry to collect by hand.
I am hoping for a lot but have the hope that the beach will become a voting point and will get some restoration before the voting next year, fingers crossed......after all I have waited some years to see the bars removed and perhaps the whole thing of tourism and World Cup fever may make the difference..

Change the title and direction

2011-03-13T04:05:00.000-07:00

I know that in reality I should be writing in Portuguese but I cannot say that I have a grasp on the language sufficient to avoid critiscm, also I am not sure the amount of people that are fluent enough to read it, so I will stick to English for this post although it is far more content for Brazilians and less for the other countries that may read the Blog. in it
Carnavl came and went, another display of pop music and not one glimpse of religion in it, perhaps voodoo would be nearest the mark. I can see the governments desire to attract tourist money but feel that a change in the title would be appropriate and also a change in the dates, make the music festival a regular date and one that allows for tourists and hotels etc to get to grips with travel arrangements, leave Carnaval and Easter for those that believe in it and for whom it has spiritual meaning. Even the church was asking the festival to be clear of the church doors !!!!! and that is not just to stop the population urinating on the steps .
From personal experience life revolves around necessities of health, self sustenance for daily existence and not with excessive production for individual wealth in the form of money to be exchanged for unnecessary goods. The growing of food and the daily deeds for self preservation is by any standard some what consuming and tiring but has the secret of exercise and environmental awareness wrapped in the hours of work, also there is a closeness to creativity when a people use their hands and minds and even more so if it is work on a neighborly scale, creation for the group and not only for the individual.
If the increase in pollution is to be stopped and reversed, look at the amount of rubbish that was left on the beaches of Jaua day after day during the week of Carnaval and most of it went into the sea, it might be necessary to consider what the future can hold for cities and how can the world population continue to grow in such a concentrated way.
Is it possible now to concider the redistribution of population, it is a reverse of the natural human cycle but perhaps a time has come for the process diminishing the flow of population to centers of industry and creating micro centers for the city dwellers and those living in the interior. A trend to self sustenance for the city dweller as well as the country farmer, move to deminish mass transport and revitalize local produce.
Can we consider a future of more radical reductions in the production of excess as well as a reduction in pollution and the re-manipulation of materials to diminish the severity of pollution due to excess production of none basic human needs, all for the gain by the selected few, simply the move to gain money to exchange for polluting articles and not for essentials such as food, is creating an imbalance in desires and consequently a change in social needs, attitudes and mutual rights.
I find it more and more difficult to live here in Brazil with the constant sight and experience of lack of respect for the environment and each other, the attitude to human rights and in particular the belief in the need to have ones personal rights at the top of all values, similar to the North American constitution, leaves Brazil with guns and drugs on the street and the only means of recrimination is by telephone denunciation, for the world of consumerism is now becoming king and all wishes to have a part of it this false wealth with few wishing to place their neighbors rights equal to theirs.
I was always made to open doors for others before I entered, not something to do with female or male rights but a courtisy for others and this makes for an awareness of all things in nature, put plants and animals before your personal needs and you can see their value to your life, that way you will not kill what may well be of advantage to you and your health or the health of your family.
I cannot see how Brazil will fair well during the coming World cup and the following Olympic games, the world will see the lack of infrastructure, the amount of pollution and the crime rate that becomes even more violent as the economy increases the number of people with visible wealth and wealth that is easily stolen, the wealth in education and health is one that the government are robbing on a daily basis but the population do not seem to see or accept this as criminal....... perhaps they all see that they would like to be in the same position as their polititions, it is certainly noticalbe that there is growing trend to have a government job, it pays in excess and gives you a pension whilst avoiding any self responsibilty for your actions......
the situation here in Brazil is much in common with China, two countries that have watched the economies of others grow and now see that they are in the line of succession but do not have the experience of many centuries of pollution and its consequences. Brazil needs to leap to a stage well more advanced than it is at the moment to avoid catastrophic problems for the future.

Xmas 2011

2010-12-10T06:14:00.000-08:00

photo W.Massari
photo Zhoider
I guess that luck saw Graça and I leaving Saint Puy with the first signs of snow falling near Toulouse airport. After arriving back to the warmth of this part of Brazil I have had several emails from friends showing me the state of the European roads and in particular those in the UK. It is a long time since I not only lived in the UK but experienced very cold conditions and prolonged periods of snow, often it meant that I could not even get the land Rover out because of the ice on the roads let alone the drifts of snow. It would seem realistic to assume that this a normal cycle rather than abnormal Global activity, but then again whats normal, a reactivity of the world plates that have reactivated several volcanoes, may well be the answer. Here in Bahia it would seem that little changes, but there are signs that the rain fall is slightly more intense but not often, different to the South of Brazil, where São Paulo and Rio get constant rain, Bahia in general is a dry state, water that is and not beer or cachaça, in the interior of Bahia there has been a constant area of drought, the hope being that the government will one day give attention to the North and act to supply large areas with drinking water and water for small scale agriculture, here government incentives are large scale projects and not much in the way of artisan projects.
It seems that the move to rid the beaches of the bars may well get to Jaua next year, it as been hinted that this will happen and I see that Arembepe (http://www.aquinapraia.com.br/arembepe/)is now getting a grassed and part covered praça at its entrance off the Estrada do Coco,Arembepe is certainly the most famous tourist point from the region, thanks to the remaining hippie village of the 60's and 70's decades. The word Arembepe comes from the native language Tupi-Guarani and it means “ “something that involves” us or enchant ourselves. About 150 years ago Arembepe was founded. In the beginning it was a big coconut farm. As years passed, it was changed, little by little, into an old fish village.In the 30's and 40's, the fishermen went out to the sea from several points of the coast of Camaçari, as Jaua beach and they used the area of Arembepe where the Hippie Village is situated as a lighthouse to help them to come back to coast, because of the high coconut trees. That way the first storage huts for fishing was asserted by material were created and, little by little, it became a village. As said “Manu”, a hippie of the 70's decade.
I have long held the opinion that investment similar to Arembepe would change Jaua and bring back a much better class of casual tourist, it is clear that the lack of foreign tourist in Jaua is the reason for the Prefeitura not investing time and money in returning Jaua to a more eco friendly resort, cleaning up the beach is just a starting point, the whole of the infra structure needs up dating and the whole of the road and pavement along the beach needs to be re constructed with areas to sit as well as walk. A move to limit the access of cars from parking along the sea front would also limit the amount of pollution, this includes noise as well as the general beer cans and coke bottles that are now left by the weekend tourist.
The whole of the North East does seem to be heading for some form of recognition by the politicians, but how that may be transfered into actual solutions to the Norths problems is anyones guess.
The site of the snow in Europe does make me feel that it is well worth the effort to stay the Summer in Brazil and then the Summer in France, i am no longer used to the cold, it gets deep into the bones of my legs when i am in Europe during the Winter months, attractive as the white landscape may be in the photos I am not tempted to swap Xmas in Brazil for one in Europe, the warmth is too tempting. I have even now met a French couple, in France, a small Medieval village near St Puy, that coincidentally spend six months here in Bahia and the rest of the year in France, small world indeed, for this couple adore Brazil and have been coming back for the last 40 years. So its possibly time for a lot of you out there to think about one trip to Brazil, do not take too much notice of the world news items that get to the TV sets, there is a lot of peace in Brazil and a lot of beautiful countryside to feast on, with the 2014 World Cup and then the Olympics in 2016, it is hoped that the government will make an effort to improve road travel in Brazil and the internal air travel, both are lacking investment.
St Puy must be very quiet over the Xmas period, with nearly all the English folk taking to see their families in the UK, on the contrary, Salvador is just starting this weekend to get the Xmas buzzzz, many folks going to the various islands for a more ethnic time of it and others traveling to the interior to see family and friends, mind you I am not one for Xmas and tend to let it slide by as much as I can.

Barracas

2010-09-01T10:09:00.000-07:00

As an add on to the last post, the Prefeitura in Salvador has used the patromonial national, www.ibama.gov.br/leiambiental/home.htm, has the excuse to remove the more than 350 barracas from the beaches of Salvador and now Lauro de Freitas, I believe there are plans to now remove those along the coast line of Camaçari, which will include Jaua. This would mean the beaches getting back something of their natural state and the litter from the barracas(beach bars) would almost disappear over night, although the plans I am told are for next year, after Carmival and the Summer festivals, and well after the present October elections for the President of the republic, state Governadors , Senadors and ministers Federal, the elections for the Prefeituras having already taken place and never on the same ticket has the state elections.
I am very much looking forward to a beach without the barracas, it will not only clean up the beach area but will also get rid of a lot of heavy weekend drinking and load music, the general public I feel will change to a better climate and the process I trust will also lead to the Prefeitura investing in a reformation of the road and walk ways, this surely must lead to a return of house owners to Jaua and its beaches, there are a huge number of people that have houses here but now stay away because of the general scruffiness of the barracas and the type of people that frequent them. It may be that the government has decided to press for the ambiental law to be used to remove the barracas for the 2014 World Cup and its clear tourist implications, along with the following 2016 Olympic games here in Brazil, but for what ever reason it will be a blessing and can only lead to a better life style for those that live here on the coast of Brazil.

Change of Weather and scene

2010-06-21T10:34:00.000-07:00

It does seem that the World as got smaller, the rain here is also falling in France and Scotland so they are due flooding in the way that we have had to expect over the last 5 years or so. At the moment the change as been for sunshine and very little rain but the high winds have proved too much for some of the beach bars and a large area of the beach has dropped onto the road, as yet to be removed, by the council, if they ever do get around to it. I am told that we are due a great deal of investment by the Camaçari council and that this will be in the next two years. So if that is true I may well get to see our small town become a worthy tourist attraction, it has the basis for it but as yet no investment, the only investment has been private owners building more houses and rather overloading the very limited infra structure that exists in Jaua. I have sold my Fusca to the builder and have yet to see my money but i hope that this a temporary memory lapse on his part and that he will come good at some time this week, especially good if he does since I hav another monthly payment to make to cover my rather large tax bill that accompanied me registering my house as two houses, it seems unfair that I get the bill before gaining any profit from a possible sale of both, and this is what I now need to do to get rid of the tax and give me some money to continue my new quest in France. My girl friend as almost completed her two year course in Ouro Preto and will be returning to Salvador, this course seems to have taken her on a journey from none artist to artisan and from a public service worker to a self employed restorer of art, so the finishing of the course is the start of a life that could be very different. She will certainly start it with a change since she will be going with me to France and experiencing my life style for the first time in our time together. Yesterday i arranged to meet Butch, a new Australian friend that is now living here in Jaua, to see the inside of his house and for us to watch the Brazilian match on the TV, my TV is a bit difficult to watch if there is a ball to pick out, it is some what frosty and with hardly any definition, whilst the bar near Butch has a Sky satellite connection and some cold beers to help. I arrived to find Butch and his brother in law already getting into the spirit and a having acquired a table close to the TV in the bar. It is the first time that I have been in Brazil for June, I did have one year when I had to spend the first couple of days of June here in Brazil, it was for me to get my visa stamped and approved and make the arrangements for the ID and CPF cards, but that was about ten years ago and since then I have always been in Europe trying to earn a crust to pay for my lifestyle. So it is the World Cup and the festival of São João ( John the Baptist) all together this year, as well as the experience of Baiano winter and a lot of rain. It must be said that the open bar and the participation of the other drinkers led to a more exciting experience, it was like being at the match and getting all the different reactions and comments moment by moment, the constant whine of the horns was not noticeable with the whistles and shouts of the other supporters around me, it was good to b able to exchange comments and opinions with Butch and his brother in law, Val. I must do this for the other matches.
Quadrilha Junina da Festa do São Pedro de Belém (Paraíba)

em poucas dias

2010-05-31T11:12:00.000-07:00

Bem poucos dias, em e eu acho que meu corpo é apenas recuperar as picadas que eu recebi do maribonda, ainda dorido e mais durante a noite, o calor e os mosquitos parecem desempenhar nas áreas já inchado de pele, mas é melhor ea rigidez dos músculos como foi. Eu ainda estou esperando por mais alguns materiais a serem entregues, o telhado é uma recuperação, mas não terminou o apartamento ainda está a receber o mesmo tratamento. Antes de partir para França, eu tinha disse sobre o lixo que tem vindo a recolher em todo o lugar, agora mais afastadas ou ido com as marés como o mar limpa, onde os humanos não fazem. O aspecto geral de Jauá é um pouco triste, sempre o caso quando tinhas poucas pessoas e pouco sol, o inverno aqui é a falta de festa, tanto quanto qualquer outra coisa.
Sam me enviou este lembrete de nossa promessa pré França para tentar fazer algo para reduzir a quantidade de lixo que é descartado nas praias durante o verão e carnaval. O Brasil possui muitas coisas, mas o problema do lixo que mantém a si mesmo, mesmo o turista raramente vê a extensão do problema, a falta de higiene e falta de motivação por meio da educação são duas as causas do problema, mas assim é a economia que está em expansão fazer da reciclagem um divertimento caro e já não vai ajudar os pobres. Este artigo faz algumas brasiliano o problema, o desejo de desfrutar a si mesmo, mas de uma maneira que outros abusos e para o ambiente.

Dez dias após o carnaval, resolvi mergulhar com dois amigos na área do Farol da Barra para confirmar a notícia de que havia uma quantidade absurda de lixo espalhada pelo fundo do mar naquela área.

Mesmo com a água um pouco suja por causa das chuvas do dia anterior, logo identificamos o local. Na verdade o lixo não estava espalhado, mas concentrado em um canal provavelmente em razão do movimento das marés. Uma cena lamentável! Eram pelo menos mil e quinhentas latinhas metálicas e garrafas plásticas.

Da superfície o visual parecia com as imagens áreas que vemos dos blocos de carnaval durante a festa momesca. Só que ao invés de estarem pulando, dançando e se beijando ao som frenético e ensurdecedor dos trios elétricos, os foliões do fundo do mar estavam rolando de um lado para o outro numa mórbida coreografia, empurrados silenciosamente pelo balanço do mar, sem dança, sem alegria, sem vida e sem poesia.

Assustados, decidimos não retirar o material naquele dia na esperança de tentar sensibilizar algum veículo de comunicação para fazer uma matéria com imagens subaquáticas. A intenção era compartilhar aquela agressão carnavalesca com nossa população e os donos da folia.

Fizemos contato com pelo menos três emissoras e todas pediram que enviássemos e-mails com fotos, o que fizemos imediatamente. Aguardamos respostas por dois dias e como não tivemos qualquer retorno, optamos por retirar o lixão de lá para evitar maiores danos.

A bem da verdade estávamos super desconfortáveis com nossas consciências por termos testemunhado aquela cena e deixado para resolver o problema dias após. Mas tínhamos que tentar a matéria para que a ação não se resumisse somente à coleta do material.

Tínhamos em mente que a repercussão sensibilizaria os empresários e artistas do carnaval, os órgão públicos, a imprensa, as empresas financiadoras e nossa gente. A tentativa foi boa, mas não rolou…

Fomos então, no terceiro dia após o primeiro mergulho, retirar o material. Antes, porém, fiz questão de chamar um amigo que tem uma caixa estanque para filmarmos a ação e guardarmos o documentário visando trabalhos futuros e até mesmo a matéria que queríamos na TV.

Sem cilindro de ar e contando apenas com duas pranchas de SUP (Stand Up Paddle) e alguns sacos grandes, éramos quatro mergulhadores ousados retirando do fundo do mar tudo o que podíamos naquela tarde.

Pouco antes de o sol se pôr conseguimos finalmente colocar todo o lixo na calçada.
Muitos curiosos, inclusive turistas, olhavam intrigados a nossa atitude e a todo o instante nos questionavam sobre a origem daquele resíduo. A resposta estava na ponta da língua: Carnaval!

Vou logo informando aos amigos leitores que não sou contra o carnaval, muito pelo contrário, sou fã por diversos motivos, mas acho que a realidade da festa não guarda a menor relação com as belíssimas cenas, as informações rasgadas de elogios e a excessiva euforia amplamente divulgada pela mídia.
Sei que o comprometimento com os patrocinadores e aquela velha guerrinha de vaidades contra os carnavais de outros estados como Pernambuco e Rio de Janeiro, acabam conspirando para isso. Mas vejo aí um modelo cansado, super dimensionado, sem inovações socialmente positivas e remando na direção oposta ao desenvolvimento sustentável da nossa cidade.
Aquele lixo submarino é um pequeno sinal deste retrocesso. Pior, patrocinado solidariamente pelos grandes empresários, artistas e principalmente pelo poder público que tem o dever de melhorar nossa segurança, nossa saúde e educação.

Aproveito o embalo para incluir indignação semelhante sobre os eventos realizados na praia do Porto da Barra durante o verão.
O “Música no Porto” e o “Espicha Verão” não tem trazido nada de bom para nossa cidade, além da oportunidade de vermos ótimos artistas de perto e de graça. De resto, o lixo, o mau cheiro, a degradação ambiental, o xixi pelas ruas, a impressionante quantidade de ambulantes amontoados por todos os espaços públicos e a agressão aos patrimônios históricos, são um grande “pé na bunda” do turista de qualidade.

É o mesmo que olhar para uma bela maçã com a casca brilhante e aspecto suculento, porém, apodrecida por dentro…
Naquele final de tarde acabamos contemplando um por do sol diferente. O monte de lixo empilhado na calçada do Farol da Barra virou atração. E como Deus é grande, fomos brindados com a presença de valorosos catadores de rua para finalizar a limpeza.

Desta ação, além das ótimas imagens documentadas em vídeo, resta rezar para que os donos do carnaval, dos eventos no Porto da Barra e nossos queridos foliões se toquem que algo tem que mudar.

O fundo do mar não merece aquele bloco reluzente e, ao contrário do asfalto, o oceano costuma revidar violentamente as agressões sofridas.
Não tem alegria alguma no fundo da folia!

Galeria de fotos
Slideshow
Fotos: Francisco Pedro / Projeto Lixo Marinho - Global Garbage Brasil
Fotos do Espicha Verão: Manuela Cavadas e Luciano da Matta / Agência A Tarde

Samantha Nery Grimaldi

Bióloga

http://www.atualidadesbio.blogspot.com/

Return to Latin life

2010-05-27T08:30:00.000-07:00

Well this must be for Betty, I have been ticked off about getting so far and no further with this blog, but I suppose it is one thing starting a project and another to find reasons for continuing writing. I have in all honesty had problems with my eyesight, a few minutes of writing will give me some pain in my right eye that lasts for a couple of days, the same can be true with driving the car with the windows open. Still I feel that I might try to access another attitude to the Blog and try to program myself a little bit better than I have done.
Well Betty I never quite arranged everything before I left St Puy, but what I have done is a good base for my return and the next time will certainly get things moving and I am sure that I will form the base for a new start to my work in France, including the finalizing of my work registration and the social security number along with the acquisition of a Serif number, all which will allow me to organize work legally and with advertizing, this with the work on my little house will set me in the community and give folks a local workshop for new furniture and the repairs of any antiques they may have. Leaving France and my friends there is not a comfortable feeling, sadness at the loss of their conversation and their kindness and the feeling of belonging to the community in a way that Brazil never does.
I had to run the risk of volcano dust on my return to Brazil, the flight was first from toulouse to Amsterdam, that had been closed the day before my flight and so had Edinburgh, so it was only when I arrived at Toulouse that I had an idea that I would indeed fly that day, the same was true for the flight to Edinburgh from Amsterdam, but the later flights on the Saturday had already been cleared by the change in the wind direction and thus giving clear skies for me to fly to Paris and then São paulo and on to Salvador.
Well I arrived in Salvador on the Saturday night and Sam picked me up, had a chat to him about the state of play in Jaua and what news there was for the last three months, a useful exchange to make sure that I could keep up with the local gossip and not put my foot into anything. When I arrived back at my flat it was near mid night, there was slight drizzle but it was a warm breeze, Sam parked outside the gate and I tried to find where I had slung my keys, a bit f a puzzle since I had changed my mind about at the last minute of where I would put them before leaving Michaels house, I had been woken by him at 3.50 in the morning and I was due to leave by taxi at 4.00, so a bit of a rush and no time to think carefully about what I was doing.
I discovered the keys and we enetered the apartment, to find that the several weeks of severe rain had left my place soaking wet and the ceiling still dripping with water from the last days rain. Sam left and I opened all the windows and doors to see the condition of everything and try to get rid some of the smell of the damp and mold that now covered almost everything in the apartment. Having mopped the worst of the water and tried to get the bed sorted with some sheets i managed to get the computer working from one phone line and sent some emails to tell folks that I had arrived safely, then I decided it was too late to do any more and had a shower and went to bed. Missing some hours of sleep and a change of time by 5 hours, meant that I woke very early and realised that the time away had also meant that there had been a loss of power in the apartment, thus all the contents of the fridge and freezer were spoilt, the freezer was by far the worst since it was stocked almost entirely with fish and prawns , meant to by for quick food when I returned. The smell at cleaning this and the rest of the apartment was enough to put me off any hunger for the whole of Sunday, so when I went out in the late afternoon for a drink at Pandoras bar, and then was met by a friend who asked if I would like to go to Butchs party, it seemed a good idea. Butch I had met for just a couple of minutes at the front of Pandoras bar, a few weeks before I flew to Europe, so in fact I did not and still do not know him well. The party was a bit of fun in watching the local social circle, very much a show of your social position by spending money on a party but not a time for good conversation, as well as the fact that Butch is newly married, new to Brazil and the main bulk of folks where from Salvador.
Monday was the day for seriously trying to clean the fridge and some of the apartment and then the reinstatement of the battery for the car, which gratefully started and is still running OK, put air into the tyres of the Fusca and the Gol and then went to the large supermarket in Lauro de Freitas and bought cleaning gear and food for myself, on my return I met my gardner and chatted over the problems that had arisen over the three months, including one water pump not working and again several fruit trees dying, this is every time I am away. I was planning on meeting up with Miriam at some point that day but as it happened she passed by in her car and stopped to chat. The main point of the conversation was to organize some one quickly to strip the roof coverings of both the house and the flat and get a new water tight covering on before any more rain could leave me back at day one. Miriam was with Joy and suggested I return to her house for some coffee and a snack, which was very welcome and quickly accepted, I locked up and jumped in the car, my second day was still with out much in the way of food, a cheese roll and a banana had been the days food up till then, so the fact that it was a hamburger did not stop me eating it.
Yesterday I waited in for the workers to arrive, they had 7.00 in the morning, to do the roof, to strip it and re site the timbers much higher and also take out a section of the up stand to allow for the covering to over shoot and no longer use an internal gutter, it was 10.07 when they arrived and I then had to wait till 13.45 to get away to Salvador in order to return my new mobile phone to the Nokia repair centre. I had also noticed that my IPVA and the licence tax was due for the car and decided I would pay both at the same time, however the Nokia assistance had for my convenience, the notice on the door told me this, moved to another location in Salvador, and as I am not very sure of any where in the city I had to try and find the location of the new shop, I am still not the wiser since the computer now is so slow I cannot log on to Hotmail or find a number of internet sites. I stopped at the airport and paid my car tax before returning to Jaua, collecting a large bottle of freshwater on route. Two friends have recently split up and by coincidence or not I met one of them when I returned and then recieved a phone call from the other asking to meet me for a drink at Pandoras , late last night, a bit of a sandwich feeling as I try to keep clear of any comments that one makes about the other and what one feels about the other.
My television as finally dried out enough to start functioning, not well but at least it gives me some company at the moment, for the last three weeks I have enjoyed good company and nice conversation, so I am back to a solitary existence and a very slow internet connection.
Last nights bar conversation was much to do with the latest killings in the area, a policeman had been shot near Jaua, he in fact was giving a radio interview whilst still in his car with his wife, seems strange that one with his experiebce should park, remaining motionless and chatting on the mobile phone, in an area that is by any standard some what isolated, the result was that the live braodcast was cut short by three assailants how shot him, now the tv is full of the news of his death and the locals are worried about their security, crazy place at the best oif times but over the top when there is little prompting.

Today i have the complete workforce, as per usual they say two weeks and then try to do the lot in one, leaving me in the end with not all the work being finished satisfactorily, it is a story that always reprats itself since no one has the pride in their work or the ability to finish a good job, they are only interested in how quick they can get the money in their pockets. Still it will hopefully resolve the damp problem and I can in the future leave the house and apartment knowing that it will at least be dry inside when I return, the fine details will have ti be accepted as not defined. Having cleared some of the capinsanta, a plant that is excellent for tea, from aroud the gate and spotted a good collection of maracuja, passion fruit, under the foliage, i also spotted that Cupim had returned to the corner of the servants quarters, so I had bought some venom to kill them off. This was a different sort to the one I have used before and is applied by brush to the timbers, so I entered the front of the flat and moved the folding chair to get access to the corner of the roof, an open tiled roof, and as I reached up and placed the brush full of venom onto the small colony of termites, I became aware of a scene a bit like Star Wars, I was not wearing my glasses but could see a mass of flying insects, it was a hive of small wasps that had stuck themselves to the underside of the sink, I backed off quickly but could feel the stings in my arms, feet and hands, thankfully just in those places, it has left my fingers a bit numb and some sharp pain at the point of the stings in my legs, feet and arms but not much more, a lesson to be more careful when entering a place that as been empty for some time, here as in France there are snakes and bees, both can bite rather quickly and without warning.
I am now starting to settle in to the Brazillian lifestyle and get back to conversation in Portuguese, also my self catering and just a few weeks now to the World Cup......

2010-04-17T12:34:00.000-07:00

You can be fairly certain of one thing, if you are honest in your life then life it will be honest with you, there are always good reasons for assuming that you should lie, but avoid the simple benefits in short term and see that in the long run you are the master of your destiny and that is best to build on good virtue and not lies. Clarity helps ones self and not just in your dealings with others, to see clearly is to judge clearly. Dreams can help overcome adversity but can also obscure reality, do try to always see truth before you see opportunity, not always the same thing and having results that can be very different. When you want something badly you may well allow for obscurity and never want for the reality, yet the essence of your dreams is to obtain what is correct for your psychological balance , if you try to obtain something different it may well haunt you for many years and never give happiness. Pleasure is not always a state of contentment but can have attitudes set into it that counteract what seems correct, often there are hidden agendas to our smile, we do not have to obey the reason but it may help to have some knowledge of their history. When another does injustice it may not be done with full knowledge, but that may still have the authority of the person, they simply allow behavior to disguise their actions and continue to believe that they have no moral come back, as is stated in all is fair in love and war.
I have always tried to live by the principle that it is better to lose my face or money than my moral attitudes, take the slap across my face and know that I have not lost anything by not responding in a manner similar.I have no religion, have no expectations of life or death, I do not expect reward although I like to receive respect for my being here and being a friend. Your life is not to be one that is alone but it is not dependent on any one person for its welfare or happiness, in being respectful you are respected, but not by everyone, be content with those that respect the most and to them give equal respect, for me this is the base to build a life and have happiness. I am as truly happy with my lot as I think I could be, often puzzled by what others do and by what I do, but at the the dawn of a new morning I am comforted by the fact that I will not have done bad too any one the day before.
today has been a very warm and sunny day in the Gers and I have listened to the insects and birds during the moments when my machines have fell silent, to you I wish the same, Spring is such a blissful time.
Simple pleasure is in my small carving done for a friend...

Francofileness needs language skills

2010-03-30T01:56:00.000-07:00

Well I have been off beat for some 6 months or so, the situation with my vision has had a fair effect on me, it as ben quite difficult to get any focus that did not leave me feeling some what queasy, and the general run of life in Brazil as also left me some how not prone to writing about it, the news on the TV often seems to consist of the latest body, usually mutilated, that had been left by the road side or dumped on some even more waste than waste ground, the daily life in Jau has become some what monotonous of late although there are a few exceptions to this, but I feel that they would involve people that I know and I cannot see how I can tell their stories in my blog, but they do some how show the side of life that is very selfish and insular.
On a general theme I have now got another English person living in Jaua and one Australian, also a charming couple from Italy, the English chap was complaining about rubbish on the beach, a sad fact that I have mentioned several times before, his house, like my previous one, butts direct to the beach and for that reason he can see the litter being dropped as well as the after effects. I had told him that i have tried to write letters to the news papers and the TV stations, but have never received a reply to say that they would even get back to me with a response.
Well we decided to have a go at motivating the local representative to see if he could start up an action group and get the local firms and bus companies to take small hand bills and to then try to get a campaign that would go along the beach at weekends to challenge the litter.
I have had to leave Brazil after our first meeting and i am not so sure that anything will be done while I am away, most people say things and do not wish to use their time to get the ball rolling suficiently to get the ideal momentum. I was rather hoping to see if Unilever would act in setting up a recycling plant near to Jaua , one that could take in several of the small towns and therefore create jobs as well as clear the streets and beach of rubbish, this I felt would give incentive to a campaign and attract the larger local businesses, like Ford and the Millenium company. A form of advertised beach theatre could be put on over the weekends when there is a local influx of tourists which I thought could have the actors gathering children to collect rubbish along the beach so as to show the locals that their children have an interest in the environment even if they do not, this could be accompanied by the setting up of message banners, much like the Buddha flags in Tibet, along the length of the beach at weekends and for the beach bars to have T shirts with anti litter messages so that the message was taken direct to the table when serving beers and yet not necessarily verbal in your face as it were.

Still thats for the return along with me trying to see if I can get my house in Brazil sold and some cash liberated for my French project.
Here I am, in Courties just on the edge of Saint Puy, it was cold when I arrived several weeks ago but has had days of beautiful sunshine, some of it quite hot, although today as I sit at the table and look out at the garden, it is raining and windy, I am reluctant to think about going out, where has yesterday had a temperature of at least 17 degrees and was very sunny.
The house at Rue da Chateau is now mine, I signed the final documents the other day and picked up the key, now I am measuring and wondering how on Earth I can fit what I need into such a tiny space, worse because there is so little head room inside, 2.1 mts to the underside of the joists and 20 cms less for the large beams that hold these. The roof is new but put up in a manner that is some what strange to say the least, I think the roofers could not be bothered to cut the old timbers and get rid of them so have worked around them to create what I am sure is strong enough construction but not a classic roof and not one that can be opened up for visual inspection. I have had my foot through the loft floor on two occasions so that rules out using the existing boards in the loft and the ones in the downstairs are sitting on horrible beams, so that needs to come up as well.

The loft was a sad find, it is good that it is new but not in the way it as been done, so i will i think leave it as it is and replace the loft floor with newer timbers. I had so hoped to remove the upstairs ceiling and have the roof timbers visible, only putting a mezzanine on top of the new to be constructed bathroom, it would have given a sense of space and open the construction up, as well as giving me a small paint studio under the eaves....sadly not now.
The gable wall is also of a construction that amazes, it is a partition wall that is not tied to the front or back walls, made from 4 cms clay block which is only partly fired, thus not weather proof, and at the eaves under the roof, the roofers have knocked down a large section thus opening the loft to the elements.

I am now entering the stage of finding what regs I need and who to apply to and what I can do about the fact that my flimsy wall seems to be by all accounts a party wall. Also I have been negotiating for work, this seems sensible if I am here and needing money to do my project, I have been pleasantly surprised by how much work may be available and that for the restauration work that I do, I may well have very few rivals. I will need to now get registered for work here in France, a Siren number is what i am told, it will act as a registration for life and gives an idea to otehrs of what type of work I will undertake and where I am based.

Tigre ano

2010-02-06T13:46:00.001-08:00

Along with the trio eletrico I have another celebration this year, now starts the Chinese new year, the 14 February, and this year falls to the Tiger, the Chinese sign is my birth sign so I hope that will give me some bonus points this year...
2010 is the Year of the Tiger,
which is also known by its formal name of Geng Yin.
My sign is within the Tiger descending the mountain, which thankfully is meant to be a good omen, I suppose it may mean that I have experienced the climb, dealt with problems and descending with more knowledge and serenity, who knows. any one with the right knowledge please leave a comment to help me get the most out of this year.

Carnaval trio- eletrico

2010-02-06T13:07:00.000-08:00

This site gives a good explanation of the changes that have made the carnaval now a completely comercial affair, almost without samba and certainly without any good dance music. It happens that the move to electric music on board a car and then a lorry, coincides with the month of my birth, so it is interesting to see how people seem to expect the Carnaval to be all electric and all advertising, either self promotion of the main pop bands or that of beer companies, both of which have made their names on the back of the changes in the traditional
Carnaval.
http://www.guitarra-baiana.com/history/1950s-the-first-trio-eletrico.html
Here is the article taken direct from the site.

On January 29th 1951, a Monday before carnival [1], Dodô and Osmar had a key experience while witnessing a parade of the famous brass band Clube Carnvalesco Misto Vassourinhas, who performed in Salvador on their way from Recife to Rio de Janeiro. The Vassourinhas were specialized in Frevo music, an up-tempo marching band style from Pernambuco that had become popular all over Brazil since the 1930s. The performance of the Vassourinhas in Salvador was an important and much anticipated event, amply covered by newspapers, welcomed by the authorities and supported by sponsors and radio stations.

"[...] Almost the entire city went to see the parade on Avenida Sête. [...] I was there in the crowd, jumping and dancing behind them and next to them. It was pretty crazy, everybody was dancing. [...] It was then when i said to Dodô: Dodô, lets go out and play this kind of music. I already knew some of the songs. Compositions by Nelson Ferreira and Capiba, Frevo Rasgado", that kind of thing. The main theme is still played today, you know the one [sings the tune "Vassourinhas"]. This was when we set up the "Fobica", using a Ford '29."
O. Macêdo, 1995 apud PAULAFREITAS (2005)

The ensuing events are of great importance in the history of Bahian Carnival: Osmar's retired Ford '29, used to haul metal parts for his workshop, was transformed into a moving stage, in order to enable Dodô and Osmar to perform brass band Frevo tunes with their exotic pau elétricos during the upcoming festivities. Equipped with a 2 kW generator, decorated with carnivalesque motives and speakers mounted on front and rear, the musical Ford, nicknamed Fobica ("road hog"), entered the scene around 4 pm on Carnival Sunday, prime time. Backed by 6 percussionists and Osmars' father in law Armando Mereiles Costa dressed as a Hula dancer, it entered Rua Chile street at the height of Castro Alves square, mingling with the official parade (the car corso).

"..we messed up the corso, for we were followed by a compact crowd of people, jumping around and having fun like you'd never seen it in Bahia, [...] It was very exciting. More than 200 meters of people following the Fobica [...] When we were almost past Castro Alves Square, I asked Olegário Muriçoca, the driver, to halt for a while since the square offered more space. We asked him various times, but he just wouldn't stop. Already mad, me and Dodô started yelling at him, upon which he replied that clutch and breaks had broken a while ago and that the car had he motor turned off . It was being pushed forward by the crowd."
O. Macêdo, 1978 apud GÓES (1982)

This was the first time that popular carnival, usually restricted to backstreets and surburbs, had succesfully taken over the space of the offical celebrations which, although public, remained reserved for the activities of the Bahian elites. In hindsight, the parade of the Vassourinhas orchestra had served as a full dress rehearsal for the triumphant ride of the Fobica a few days later, including the enthusiatic reception of Frevo music by the entire city, the particular tunes, and the crowd that spontaneously followed the music around in a jumping dancing style. The episode had left everyone with their jaws down - including Dodô and Osmar - and marked the birth of both of a new musical genre (Frevo do Trio aka Frevo Novo aka Frevo Baiano) and a new form of celebrating carnival in Bahia, soon to be known as Trio Elétrico.

In the following year, Dodô and Osmar replaced their Fobica with a Chrysler Fargo pick up truck and added a third electric instrument to their set up: a triolim or tenor guitar, played by their friend Temístocles Aragão. Consequently, their name changed from Dupla Elétrica to Trio Elétrico. In the next year, they were back on a lorry featuring 8 speakers, flourescent lights and generators, sponsored by the local soft drink producer Fratelli Vita [2]. By the mid 1950s, when other bands had copied the concept, the term Trio Elétrico became generic.

"... a Bahian industrial by the name of Miguel Vita noticed that the Trio Elétrico had great advertising potential. [...] From thereon, the thing started growing, and other Trios appeared on pick up trucks, with lights and speakers everywhere. These people all played instruments that Dodô had built for them, since you couldn't buy them anywhere as you can today. There were at least 3 other bands then: "5 Irmãos", "Ipiranga", and "Conjunto Âtlas" [...] People would start to say 'Here comes the Trio Elétrico' when they saw these blinking vehicles playing frevo music. Eventually, the term would refer not just to our band, but to all these bands ...." O. MACÊDO 1978 apud GÓES (1982)

The years to come brought a landslide of vans, buses and trucks transformed into moving band stands, with an ever increasing sophistication in size, sound and decoration. Today, 60 years later, the old Ford'29 of the first Trio Elétrico evolved into the brontosaur sized road trains Bahian carnival has become so famous for: Mobile concert halls carrying 200 db (!) amplification on all four sides, a 25 piece band plus dancers stomping away on their roofs, very large crowds of people partying all around them and scientific articles published on the long term effects of exposure to their sound. The Pau Elétrico/Guitarra Baiana can take credit for having been among the principal raisons-de-être of these machines - which are still referred to as Trios.

When Dodô and Osmar withdrew from performing in 1960, the tradition was
firmly established and continued to grow in in the hands of other trios, most notably the Trio Tapajós, organized by Orlando Campos
since the second half of the 1950s.

Return to the Cold

2010-02-03T13:19:00.000-08:00

I have not written for some time and amfeeling guilty because of it, it has partly been caused by change in perspective, with the result of my catarct operation leaving me with one eye set at 0.75 and the other at -3.4, this left eye ie also messed up with glaucoma and a rather large floater that seems to prefer to float in the middle of my eye and never rest at the side or bottom, although i am told that this is possibly a good thing since it may damage the retina if it was to continually scrape along it. I was given advice to have two sets of spectacles, one for long and one for reading, which i duly bought, but it has not given me good or comfortable vision, rather it seems worse since the images that the eyes are now sending to my brain are of a different size and the lens are leaving me with a distance problem. The spectacles for close reading are almost set at 30cms exact and that does not allow me to move my head or the reading matter, as well as having the two eyes looking at different sized text, so any close work is better done without lens, this means that I am totally out of focus on the left side and not in true focus with the left eye since its new lens is for a distance of 3 metres and more. I hope that i will now buy another pair of spectacles that are varifocal and set for reading and up to 4 metres distance, this is the general range that I need for all my work and daily life, I can change the spectacles for driving and use the other for the odd close up.
There have been many things that I have seen and read that have occurred to me to be causes for verbalizing but with the vision problem and a few others that have needed attention, I have not felt the urge to sit at the computer and write. Also so many things in Brazil at the moment are covered by tragedy and problems due to global warming, that i feel that it would seem like I am writing a missery and complaints blog and not an informative and chatty one.
The other reaso around Christmas time, for my lack of internet use, was a virus attack that seemed to be set by one of my readers to stop me writing more blog pages, only kidding but i had a personal email that contained a virus and it stopped me getting internet connections, ended up with me taking everything off the computer and restarting from scratch. It is fine but you do lose a lot of detailed information and some small details that affect you for a time.
I have lost some small programme details that I had down loaded but not got backed up, and anther thing was the anti virus software had all my quick link details and the favourites, all lost.
I do a back up every week but that does not get everything saved.
Another friend in Brazil, as recently got a virus attack and I for one have been removing his emails without opening them, thus I have no idea how he has caught that virus but it is still sending out emails from his email address, which is the worst of it since an email from a strange address is far more likely to leave you apprehensive about opening it, but from a friend you are almost opening it before you read the introduction description, and I find that if you open an email and then move it to a file, the next email on the list will open automatically, so make sure you delete emails before hand if you do this as well as me.
I will try to move myself to write some thing a bit more educational and interesting, it may well be soon as I am leaving for Scotland at the end of the month and then back to France, hopefully I will be back in St Puy on the 14 March 2010, soon.
I had thought i would go straight to France but when I enquired at the British consul in Rio de Janeiro as to sending my passport for renewal, they replied that they no longer do that, they do not make renewals or new passports now, evidently since September 2009, and that now I would be required to send my passport to Washington DC in the United States of America. If I am not mistaken that is not my country of origin or the one where I live, so why should the consulate in the States want to do my passport , why not send everything back to Britain? so i am going to return early to Scotland to get a renewed passport , it will allow me to see friends, go to the dentist, possibly get a medical check up ( if I am allowed that) and buy some new spectacles for work and blogging.
It is good to know that I will be soon back in France, friends,good food and back to my machines, although the idea of returning to cold weather is worrying, I do not like the cold, my time in Brazil as put me off the idea of freezing, just the beer needs to have that. I will also be seeing my new house, or rather my very old house, that I have just bought in St Puy, I am not sure what the word is for a St. Puyian, but I am glad to be one, such a friend place and such beautiful countryside. I am slightly worried after my landlady in St. Puy, Nadine, told me that she would let me have the same room as before but make sure that it had a heater in it because of the cold weather, here I only cover the mattress with a thin cotton sheet and not myself, even I sleep with out any clothes since it is near 21 to 25 centigrade at night here. Still all for a good cause and I will have to toughen up to last the three months there, also my French as not progressed so I will be criticised for having not learnt any more before returning.....

Live to Jukebox

2009-12-23T08:04:00.000-08:00

I am for certain not the most tuneful of my generation, guess that my hearing as never been adapted for music or languages. My father and mother could play the violin and piano respectively since it was expected that you played an instrument as part of your ability to entertain others, yet surprisingly both my parents would not help their children to play an instrument, my eldest probably learnt more from my father since they had time to get to know each other again after the second world war had finished, and my other brother seemed to be my mothers favourite and got away with learning to play the guitar in the house. My other brother and I did not manage to learn much at home, I learnt a little at the house of my grand parents, just enough to play the piano from sheet music but not enough to learn any pieces by heart. As children it seemed that music was always made from spoons, washboards or made up guitars. Very little radio and almost no television, music in the parlour was only played when there were visitors or my parents were on their own. I can remember buying records and then having to ask for them to be played on the radiogram, it was in my teens that my mother took me to the street market to find and buy a second hand turntable for my record collection.
I had a slightly different attitude to music than my brothers, I loved the wailing black music, Blues was my ideal and with that it took me into Soul and Reggae along with John Mayall's music which then took me into folk and Bob Dylan and the Yardbirds, Van Morrison and Eric Clapton, Rolling Stones and Traffic, Joan Beaz and Incredible String Band, Roxy Music and T.Rex, Winter Brothers and John Lennon.......etc
I am sure that this trend to make music was the same in Brazil, in the past it would be the collonial link, the way that those could remember their family roots, whether it be African or Portuguese, German or Spanish, Hollandes or Italian, the folk music played at home or in the street was a direct throw back to their roots and here in Brazil that is not such a long history. Carnaval again was much like this until the late 1950's but has now disappeared into a mass market of CD's and the band wagon pop group supporting their music sales, Samba is almost history, kept alive for tourists and brought out only once a year. It is best to go into the interior of Brazil to find these traditions on a more weekly basis, there is more need for the community to get together frequently and the desire for local groups to play and dance is still active as it is in Europe.
I have just been reminded of skiffle groups of my eldest brothers time and the college bands that always played to a fairly full house, in Exeter, Devon it was common in all the pubs to have some form of local band or musicians playing, as it was when I first went to Scotland, in fact I do remember that most pubs in London supported the piano player in preference to any music box, but that died out during the first two years that I was living in London and the jukebox was their replacement. There are a few hardy fellows that keep a few pubs in Edinburgh as music venues, either folk or jazz, and they are indeed welcome places for the student as nuch as the older listener. I have no real experience of this in Brazil and would not know if there is any such culture here, I would think that it is not their idea of a good nights music and unless the volume can be turned up it would not appeal to many.

early birds

2009-12-10T03:31:00.000-08:00

I was into the garden early to get some watering done before the heat really made it impossible, but clearly not early enough to have seen my first Caju in perfect condition. I found this first home grown Caju on the grass below the tree but the birds had got there first, still it will go with some apples into the liquidizer for some suco later on today.

My friends-if you where here

2009-12-09T11:00:00.000-08:00

I have mentioned this bar before but had no photos, now that Vitor, the owner, has been kind enough to supply me with photos and info I would like to recommend it, you could always stay with me and we could go together.

Thinking of Xmas, those of us who work with wood, and by that I really mean those of us that have been at the planting, the growing, the cutting, the dimensioning, the drying and then the forming of furniture and the restoration of antiques were wood has been used, know the historic value of it.
For all it has supplied a filter for the atmosphere, a fuel, a support, a house, a boat, tools for agriculture, ideas for gravity and for me a long productive career making furniture. The longitivity of trees is a symbol of security and family, shown to have more than 5,000 years life span for one variety alone, believed that possibly three or four more varieties live similar age if not in an area deforestation, these trees were planted well before Christ and possibly at the time of the Pyramids,thus spanning the whole of known history and still recording in their rings the climate history.

Pere Noel

2009-12-06T14:35:00.000-08:00

Unique and delightful Christmas traditions are followed in France. The centre of attraction in all homes is the Nativity scene or crèche that is decorated with cute little clay figures called 'Santons' or 'Little Saints'. These colourful little saints are a special and age old feature of Christmas in France and are prepared all round the year by skilled craftsmen in the south of France. Popular Santons include shepherds, Magi, Holy Family besides local characters and dignitaries.

In France, Christmas Tree is not so popular but it is symbolic presence can be felt in the Christmas Cake. The traditional French Christmas Cake is prepared in the shape of Yule log and is called the buche de Nol, meaning "Christmas Log". This cake is a special feature of the Le rveillon - a grand feast of the season celebrated after midnight mass on Christmas Eve.

On the eve of Christmas, French children leave their shoes or wooden clogs called sabots by the fireplace so that their favorite Christ Child or Pere Noel could fill it with gifts. Children believe that Pere Noel travels with his stern disciplinarian companion Pre Fouettard, who tells Pere Noel about the behavior of each child in the past year. In some parts of France Pere Noel brings gifts for children on St. Nicholas Eve (December 6) and visits again on Christmas. In other places it is le petit Jesus who brings the gifts. Adults usually wait until New Year's Day to exchange gifts.

Latin Xmas.
Throughout South America Christmas is celebrated in a deeply religious way. The main focus of the season throughout the continent is the presepio ("the manger"). Often a whole room is devoted to the presepio display, complete with landscape and tiny figures made to scale. Though the central feature is the manger at Bethlehem, elaborate scenes will include hills full of shepherds gazing upon the heavenly host, the Wise Men crossing the desert on their camels, water mills, grottos, electric trains, and even sailing boats on the sea.

Brazil
Father Christmas is called Papai Noel. Many Christmas customs are similar to USA or UK. For those who have enough money, a special Christmas meal will be chicken, turkey, ham, rice, salad, pork, fresh and dried fruits, often with beer. Poorer people will just have chicken and rice.

Chile
As in most Latin American nations, Chile's Christmas celebrations centre on the church and the family. The nation's Catholics observe the novena, nine days of prayer and fasting before Christmas.

The chimneys on the homes are quite small in this warm climate, therefore Viejo Pascuero, the Santa Clause can climbs through the window with his gifts. Christmas Eve dinner is eaten very late, most often after Midnight Mass or Misa del Gallo, and consists of turkey and an array of salads, seafood, and olives, accompanied by the local wine, for which Chile is well known. Deserts always include Pan de Pascua, a sweet Christmas bread, along with fruit, cake and cookies.

Argentina
People go to the church with family, then come back to a family gathering. At midnight after eating they toast, then the adults' dance while younger people go out to see the fireworks. After this they go to sleep, but before opening the presents under the Christmas tree. That day is very special for because they are Christian and celebrate Jesus' birth on the 24th of December.

For the dinner it is pork, turkey, and a great variety of other foods. Then the table is covered with sweet things, cider, beer, and juice for consuming while waiting for the time of the toast. After the toast all the family chat, others play.

Venezuela
In Venezuela on December 16th families bring out their pesebres (cribs) which are specially designed depiction of the nativity scene. It is a custom to attend at one of nine carol services is observed by most Venezuelans. Firecrackers explode and bells ring to call worshippers from bed in the pre-dawn hours. Families attend a mass on this night and then return home to a huge and fancy dinner.
On January 6th when the children awaken they will discover that the straw that they had left beside their bed the night before has gone and in its place are gifts the children know that the Magi and their camels have been and when they go to look in the mirror if they have a black smudge on their cheek they know that Balthasar, King of the Ethiopians has kissed them whilst they slept.

http://www.christmas-day.org/christmas-story.html

In the garden today

2009-12-06T07:32:00.000-08:00

I have been making sure that the garden is well watered, the sun as been very strong for the last few weeks and I know that as soon as the house is occupied I will no longer be in the garden, it will be left to Antonio, my occasional gardener, to water the plants on a nearly daily basis. The cashew tree that I planted as a seed, is finally fruiting, a little late in the season but at least I can see see lots of fruit developing, and I will ask Antonio to pick some fruit for me to taste.

Here are some photos of the garden this morning, I have lost some plants during the time I was away in Europe but the rest are recovering well and it should be nice and green for the visitors, they will even have some limão to pick but no bananas this time, another problem with going away during a time of growth, the plants need a lot of water to get the foliage that the fruit needs, and I find that it is also best to water over the plants as the bananas, and indeed the coconut tree, are a bit like ferns in the way that they collect water, funnelling it into the centre of the leaves. I have mentioned to Antonio that the banana needs at least 10 leaves per plant to give good fruit and this is done by good watering and cutting out a lot of the root sprouts that the banana naturally sends up.

o panetone

2009-11-30T08:10:00.000-08:00

foto Globo..
Penso que é tempo para abrir uma prisão apenas para os criminosos políticos.
o que panetone, mentiras, mentiroso e mais mentiras, esses políticos não têm nenhum respeito para o público ou para a sua posição trabalho pública, para mim é o mesmo que os padres da Igreja Católica abusar jovens rapazes. Abuse muito serio.
Esta falta de respeito que existe em grande parte da população brasileira, tem de ser abordado dentro do setor público para que o público em geral a apreciar o que há um bom futuro para o Brasil e não continuar a pensar de hoje e não amanhã. Despertar para o fato de que leva muitos anos para criar um serviço de boa saúde, leva muitos anos para criar uma boa infra estrutura de estradas e comboios, é preciso que haja economia ter um futuro melhor, um carro novo improvável não melhorar da vida , sua vida tanto como um melhor sistema de transporte, um novo celular não dará uma vida melhor, e esses políticos apenas desperdiçar o dinheiro que eles roubem do público. Cuidado quando vota e escolha políticas seu bem...

O avanço do gado

2009-11-28T03:22:00.000-08:00

O avanço do gado sobre a floresta amazônica - 80% das áreas desmatadas na região são usadas para pastos. Eu mencionei isso antes e estou lembrado novamente por este programa de manhãs Ecologia na TV Globo, que a principal causa de desmatamento é o desejo crescente mais carne de bovino, de todos os presente área do desmatamento na Amazônia, região cerca de 80 % é usado para a criação de gado, principalmente para as vendas de exportação. O que eu não tinha realizado é que gado fará com que o desmatamento sem homem cortando as árvores, o processo de gado andar e compactar o solo vai reduzir a capacidade para absorver a absorção de chuva e mineral no solo, também esta compactamente encoraja a introdução de cupins e eles, com a secagem das terras, por sua vez causa desmatamento natural.

I have mentioned this before and am reminded again by this mornings programme Ecologia on Globo TV, that the prime cause for deforestation is the growing desire for more beef, of all the present area of deforestation in the Amazon region about 80 % is used for rearing cattle, mainly for export sales. What I had not realised is that cattle will cause deforestation without man cutting any trees, the process of cattle walking and compacting the soil will reduce the capacity for absorbing rain and mineral absorption into the soil, this compacting also encourages the introduction of termites and they, with the drying of the land, will in turn cause the natural deforestation.

Aqui parte de artigo no internet

PHILIP M. FEARNSIDE
Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas da Amazônia (INPA), Caixa Postal 478, Manaus, 69083-000, Amazonas, Brasil.
e-mail: pmfearn@inpa.gov.br
http://www.unifap.br/ppgbio/doc/16_Fearnside.pdf

Brazil’s Amazon forest remained largely intact until the “modern” era of deforestation began with the
inauguration of the Transamazon Highway in 1970. Amazonian deforestation rates have trended
upward since 1991, with clearing proceeding at a variable but always rapid pace. Although Amazonian
forests are cut for various reasons, cattle ranching predominates. The large and medium-sized ranches
account for about 70% of clearing activity. Profit from beef cattle is only one of the income sources that
make deforestation profitable. Forest degradation results from logging, ground fires (facilitated by
logging), and the effects of fragmentation and edge formation. Degradation contributes to forest loss.
The impacts of deforestation include loss of biodiversity, reduced water cycling (and rainfall), and
contributions to global warming. Strategies to slow deforestation include repression through licensing
procedures, monitoring, and fines. The severity of penalties for deforestation needs to be sufficient to
deter illegal clearing but not so great as to be unenforceable. Policy reform is also needed to address
root causes of deforestation, including the role of clearing in establishing land claims.

RESUMO
A floresta amazônica brasileira permaneceu completamente intacta até o início da era
“moderna” do desmatamento, com a inauguração da rodovia Transamazônica, em 1970.
Os índices de desmatamento na Amazônia vêm aumentando desde 1991 com o processo de
desmatamento num ritmo variável, mas rápido. Embora a floresta amazônica seja desmatada
por inúmeras razões, a criação de gado ainda é a causa predominante. As fazendas de médio
e grande porte são responsáveis por cerca de 70% das atividades de desmatamento. O comércio
da carne bovina é apenas uma das fontes de renda que faz com que o desmatamento seja
lucrativo. A degradação da floresta resulta do corte seletivo, dos incêndios (facilitados pelo
corte seletivo) e dos efeitos da fragmentação e da formação de borda. A degradação contribui
para a perda da floresta. Os impactos do desmatamento incluem a perda de biodiversidade,
a redução da ciclagem da água (e da precipitação) e contribuições para o aquecimento global.
As estratégias para desacelerar o desmatamento incluem a repressão através de procedimentos
de licenciamento, monitoramento e multas. O rigor das penalidades deve ser suficiente
para impedir os desmatamentos ilegais, mas não tão grande que as impeçam de ser executadas.
Uma reforma política também é necessária para discutir as causas primordiais do desmatamento,
incluindo o papel do desmatamento no estabelecimento da posse da terra.

INTRODUÇÃO
A ocupação intensa da Amazônia começou no início da
década de 1970. Embora áreas extensas ainda permaneçam
intactas, a taxa de perda da floresta é dramática,
em especial no “arco do desmatamento”, ao longo
das bordas sul e leste. A perda da biodiversidade e os
impactos climáticos são as maiores preocupações. A
vastidão das florestas remanescentes significa que os
impactos potenciais do desmatamento de forma continuada
são muito mais importantes que os já severos
impactos que ocorreram até hoje.
O combate ao desmatamento no Brasil é uma prioridade
para o governo e para as organizações internacionais.
O monitoramento e a repressão são, atualmente,
as estratégias principais. Uma fiscalização efetiva e
a arrecadação de multas daqueles que não possuem
autorização do Ibama, contudo, devem ser acompanhadas
pela compreensão necessária dos aspectos sociais,
econômicos e políticos para se tratar o problema por
meio de mudanças na política.
A EXTENSÃO E O ÍNDICE DE DESMATAMENTO
Em 2003, a área de floresta desmatada na Amazônia
brasileira alcançou 648,5 x 103km2 (16,2% dos 4 x
106km2 da floresta original da Amazônia Legal, que é
de 5 x 106km2), incluindo, aproximadamente, 100 x
103km2 de desmatamento “antigo” (pré-1970) no Pará
e no Maranhão (Figura 1; INPE, 2004). O índice atual e
a extensão cumulativa do desmatamento abrangem
áreas enormes. A extensão original da floresta amazônica
brasileira era, aproximadamente, equivalente
à área da Europa Oriental. O índice é freqüentemente
discutido no Brasil em termos de “Bélgicas” já que a
perda anual equivale à área desse país (30,5 x 103km2),
enquanto que a soma cumulativa é comparada à França
(547,0 x 103km2). A presença européia, por quase
cinco séculos, antes de 1970, desmatou uma área ligeiramente
maior que Portugal. Os valores atuais do
desmatamento podem ser obtidos na website do INPE
(http://www.inpe.br). As explicações oficiais, assim
como os motivos pelos quais os índices do desmatamento
flutuam (decretos influenciando os incentivos
e programas para fiscalização e arrecadação de multas),
no entanto, são provavelmente incorretos, como
explico aqui. Além disso, uma variedade de questões
técnicas sobre as próprias estatísticas permanece em
aberto (Fearnside & Barbosa, 2004).

CAUSAS DO DESMATAMENTO
Na Amazônia brasileira, o peso relativo dos pequenos
fazendeiros versus grandes latifundiários altera-se continuamente
devido às pressões econômicas e demográficas.
Os grandes latifundiários são mais sensíveis às
mudanças econômicas, tais como as taxas de juros e
outros investimentos, subsídios governamentais para
o crédito agrícola, índice de inflação e preço da terra.
Os incentivos fiscais foram um forte condutor do desmatamento
nas décadas de 1970 e 1980 (Mahar, 1979).
Embora um decreto em 1991 tenha suspendido novos
incentivos, os antigos continuam, ao contrário da impressão
sustentada por afirmações de autoridades do
governo de que tudo acabou. Outros incentivos, como
o crédito subsidiado pelo governo com taxas bem abaixo
da inflação, tornaram-se muito mais escassos depois
de 1984.
Antes do Plano Real, em 1994, a hiperinflação dominou
a economia do Brasil durante décadas. A terra era
muito valorizada e os preços atingiam níveis mais altos
do que poderiam ser justificados como um insumo para
a produção agropecuária. a retirada das florestas possibilitava
reivindicações pela terra e o desmatamento
para a formação de pastagens era o mais barato e mais
efetivo nesse sentido, embora seja questionável até
onde essa atividade era usada como especulação de
terra (Hecht et al., 1988; Farninow, 1998; Fearnside,
1987, 2002b). A especulação de terra foi importante
até por volta de 1987, quando houve um aumento subseqüente
do lucro da pastagem a partir da produção de
carne bovina (Mattos & Uhl, 1994; Margulis, 2003).
A recessão econômica brasileira é a melhor explicação
para a queda nos índices do desmatamento de 1987
até 1991. Os fazendeiros não tinham capacidade de
expandir suas áreas desmatadas tão rapidamente e o
governo não tinha recursos para a construção de rodovias
e para projetos de assentamento. O impacto das
medidas de repressão (p. ex., patrulhamento com
helicópteros, confisco de motoserras, multas) foi, provavelmente,
menor. A mudança política sobre os incentivos
fiscais também foi ineficaz. O decreto suspendendo
os incentivos (nº 153) começou a vigorar em 25 de
junho de 1991 – subseqüente à maior queda observada
no desmatamento (Figura 1). Mesmo naquele último
ano (1991), o efeito teria sido mínimo, porque o
mês de agosto foi a data média das imagens do satélite
Landsat para o conjunto de dados de 1991. Em seu
ponto mais baixo, em 1991, muitos fazendeiros foram
impossibilitados de usar seus recursos para investir em
desmatamento porque o então presidente, Fernando

Banco Mundial dá financiamento a gado na Amazônia

da Folha de S. Paulo

Está aprovado. O Conselho de Diretores da IFC (Corporação Financeira Internacional, na sigla inglesa), o braço do Banco Mundial (Bird) que financia a iniciativa privada, decidiu ontem emprestar US$ 90 milhões para o Grupo Bertin, a segunda maior empresa de carnes do mercado brasileiro.

O dinheiro será usado para um grande projeto de expansão do conglomerado, que tem capital 100% nacional. Parte desses recursos vão ser aplicados na Amazônia (Pará, Rondônia e Mato Grosso), o que está preocupando os ambientalistas.

"Essa aprovação diminui ainda mais a credibilidade da IFC, que já está bastante erodida", disse Roberto Smeraldi, diretor da Amigos da Terra Amazônia Brasileira. "É mais um problema para o banco, que terá de mostrar que as suas ações não causam dano ao ambiente."
http://www1.folha.uol.com.br/folha/ciencia/ult306u16101.shtml

Um relatório divulgado nesta segunda-feira pela ONG ambientalista Greenpeace acusa o governo brasileiro de financiar indiretamente a destruição da Amazônia por meio de recursos destinados à criação de gado em áreas desmatadas ilegalmente.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/portuguese/noticias/2009/06/090601_greenpeace_gado_amazonia_rw.shtml
http://www.greenpeace.org/brasil/amazonia/gado/gado-na-amaz-nia

Price of Petrol

2009-11-25T14:10:00.000-08:00

I have just been reminded of a conversation that I had with a friend about a year or so ago, it was at the time of a huge oil price surge and limiting of supplies in Europe. The Brazilian news channel SBT was mentioning the extraction of oil from Brazilian wells, and this as reminded me of what my friend said during our chat, that 'oil is too valuable to waste on vehicles of any sort. The reality is that the world of humans is now almost totally reliant on plastics and the basic component for manufacture of plastic is oil. This reliance will no doubt lead to a more enviromentally friendly vehical, although I am not sure how the jet aircraft will be superceeded and the desire for travel abroad be made some what more an unnessasary diversion for those that can afford the cost. Here are some remarks from the Institute for the Analysis of Global Security:
"China’s ability to provide for its own needs is limited by the fact that its proven oil reserves are small in relation to its consumption. At current production rates they are likely to last for less than two decades. Though during the 1970s and 1980s China was a net oil exporter, it became a net oil importer in 1993 and is growingly dependent on foreign oil. China currently imports 32% of its oil and is expected to double its need for imported oil between now and 2010. A report by the International Energy Agency predicted that by 2030, Chinese oil imports will equal imports by the U.S. today."
"China's expectation of growing future dependence on oil imports has brought it to acquire interests in exploration and production in places like Kazakhstan, Russia, Venezuela, Sudan, West Africa, Iran, Saudi Arabia and Canada. But despite its efforts to diversify its sources, China has become increasingly dependent on Middle East oil. Today, 58% of China's oil imports come from the region. By 2015, the share of Middle East oil will stand on 70%. Though historically China has had no long-standing strategic interests in the Middle East, its relationship with the region from where most of its oil comes is becoming increasingly important."
"A key driver in China's relations with terrorist-sponsoring governments is its dependence on foreign oil to fuel its economic development. This dependency is expected to increase over the coming decade."
"In the Western Hemisphere China concluded oil and gas deals with Argentina, Brazil, Peru, and Ecuador. But its main country of interest is Venezuela, U.S.' fourth largest oil supplier. A series of oil agreements signed in early 2005 allow Chinese companies to explore for oil and gas and set up refineries in Venezuela. Chinese state-owned oil companies have also begun seeking ambitious oil deals in Canada, the top petroleum supplier to the U.S. China’s continued penetration into the Western Hemisphere could have profound economic and political implications for the U.S. Considering the fact that both U.S.’ and Mexico’s domestic crude production are falling, the U.S. cannot afford to lose chunks of the crude produced by the two countries that together supply a third of its oil imports. With less oil available to the American market the U.S. will be forced to seek this oil elsewhere, primarily in the Middle East, hence becoming more dependnet on this tumultuous region."

O dia para o Negro-Consciência Negra 2009

2009-11-21T02:44:00.000-08:00

Talvez seja o desejo do Brasil para ver sempre o lado brilhante da vida por mascarando a que existe nas sombras, não para pedir também grande parte o presente, mas muito ver no passado.

Esta semana como interposto nos pensamentos de Negros no Brasil, as atitudes e os sucessos estão a ser valorizados, mas por trás disso reside outra cultura e de um processo retrógrado. Não sou eu com qualquer forma de discriminação, nascido em Birmingham, Inglaterra e portanto, usado para culturas de África, Carabinas, Índia e Ásia do tempo de 1950's tardia, ainda vejo discriminação por mim no Brasil todo. É bom ter avaliações dos tempos coloniais, como seria a apreciar o regime militar no Brasil, todos os anteriores vezes têm seus períodos de boas e ruim, é tão difícil de apreciar um desejo da parte de muitos brasileiros de Afro re criar uma imagem de sucesso de uma base de escravatura, este continua desejo de manter a imagem da África como um Estado de mãe é para mim um elemento mal compreendido os problemas do dia de hoje, lembrando um dos últimos americano e a continuação de problemas.
Eu podem associá-lo para o restauração de crenças Nazi na Alemanha, um desejo de re criar os gloriosos passados de uma nação copiando alguns elementos é certo trazer em conflito. Em muitos aspectos, que isto é materializado na natureza da família e sua quebra até, aqui no Brasil a parte da mulher é vista quase como o do escravo negro e ela vê sua luta que a do passado colonial escravo , é mais aparente na Comunidade Afro brasileira devido a aceitação contínua de preto como um baixo grau de trabalhador, um lembrete de continuação do passado e ainda ainda não resolvido. Enquanto continuar a ver a maioria da riqueza em mãos dos brancos no Brasil e o poder do Governo e a lei também nas mãos de brancas, há pouca chance de uma mudança para melhor educação e melhores cuidados de saúde, é do interesse dos ricos para permitir que os Afro brasileiros continuar a pensar de si próprios como pobres e os únicos com um plano de fundo do escravo, isso é porque é que, para um não como este processo continuado de amor com herança africana, vejo ele como as pirâmides, para mostrar o valor do seu passado, mas não a re criar, para lá também o uso de escravos da África central trouxe poder para alguns indivíduos corruptos

Novos remédios genéricos

2009-11-19T16:31:00.000-08:00

Os altos preços dos remédios fazem com que muitas pessoas passem por dificuldades sentindo dores ou permanecendo doentes, por não poderem comprar os devidos medicamentos.
Mas ainda bem que tiveram a feliz idéia de instituir no país a produção de medicamentos genéricos, pois o Brasil é um dos poucos países do mundo que utiliza essa prática. O remédio genérico é mais barato porque os fabricantes não cobrem os efeitos colaterais, mas eles possuem a mesma qualidade de um remédio “não genérico”.
Quando um remédio “original” está no período de proteção da patente ele não pode ter sua fórmula genérica, mas quando a tal patente cai os laboratórios já começam suas pesquisas para produção dos mesmos. Foi o que aconteceu em setembro de 2009 alguns remédios perderam suas patentes e para o bem do bolso do consumidor, agora será mais acessível comprar alguns medicamentos que são bem caros em suas formulas originais.
Tais remedos que estão sendo produzidos e começaram a ser comercializados até o final de 2009 serão o colírio “Xalatan”, outros que ficarão livre da patente são o “Elidel” para doenças de pele e também o “Aloxi”, que é muito usado em tratamentos de câncer. A partir do ano de 2010 outro remédio também ganhará sua versão genérica será a vez do “Zyprexa” esse para transtornos emocionais e em 2011 o famoso “Viagra” para impotência sexual. Mas os laboratórios lutam para conseguir que os remédios genéricos possam ser comercializados antes das datas previstas. Por fim um remédio que também teve fim a sua patente é o “Líptor”, tal medicamento é usado no tratamento de colesterol, além de ser o mais vendido em todo mundo, os novos preços poderão ser reduzidos em 35%ou até mais, bom para os consumidores que precisam dos remédios e poderão ter acesso a eles por valores mais em conta.

http://www.guiadicas.com

esteticamente agradável genitais

2009-11-11T10:31:00.000-08:00

figos uma lembrança de filme 'mulheres em amar'
Em uma artigo hoje, de BBC UK questão de senso no cirurgia intima. Eu conhece muito mulheres e náo pensai uma fase quando eu achar de mulher ficou conhecimento do prazer visual de seus genitais deixe sozinhos querer agradar um homem suficientemente para sob ir cirurgia para alterar a aparência deles. Vejo muita razão para alterar outras partes do corpo mas muito pouco para genitais

As mulheres são submetidos a cirurgia para criar genitália perfeita no meio de uma "chocante" falta de informação sobre os riscos potenciais do procedimento, diz um relatório.

Investigação publicada no jornal britânico de obstetrícia e ginecologia também questiona a própria noção de esteticamente agradável genitais.

As operações para melhorar a aparência dos órgãos sexuais por motivos psicológicos e físicos estão a aumentar.

Mas cirurgiões disseram que o relatório mais jogado os riscos de um procedimento estabelecido.

Pesquisadores da University College Londres revista todos os estudos existentes sobre labial cirurgia - o que geralmente envolve a redução da quantidade de tecido que sobressair dos lábios que cobrem a vagina. Eles descobriram que tinha havido pouco trabalho para documentar os efeitos de lado mais longo prazo.

Labioplastimia, como é conhecido, custa cerca de 3.000 libras privada e é oferecido por uma variedade de razões: algumas mulheres se queixam que vestida de roupa apertada ou Equitação uma bicicleta é desconfortável, enquanto outros dizer são envergonhados na frente de um parceiro sexual.
Mas, ginecologista consultor Sarah Creighton e psicólogo Lih-Mei Liao desafiado a ética da cirurgia de mulheres para o endereço foi de tais inseguranças, sugerindo a oferecer anúncios para uma "homogeneizada, pre-pubescent genital aparência" que criou essas inquietações em primeiro lugar.

Também sugeriram que qualquer dor aparentemente causada por sobressair também pode ter uma raiz psicológica - notando que a genitália masculina sobressair muito mais sem causar grande desconforto.

Aconselhamento e apoio, portanto, poderiam ser uma alternativa preferível a cirurgia, eles defendem.

Excisão o número de mulheres em vias de labioplastimia nacional é desconhecido, como a maioria das operações é realizada de forma privada, mas no ano passado procedimentos sobre o NHS ( saúde nacional Grã Bretanha) aumentaram 70 % no ano anterior, para 1,118.

Em estudos que datam de 1950, examinada por investigadores, a insatisfação com a forma como a vagina parecia foi a principal razão para cirurgia, com pacientes também a falar da baixa auto-estima e dificuldades sexuais.
Mas, em vez de curar problemas sexuais, Dr. Creighton sugeriu cirurgia pode exacerbá-los por prejudicar o fornecimento de Nervo para a área, prejudicar a sensibilidade sexual e satisfação.

Ela também sugere que as mulheres que são submetidos a este procedimento podem ter problemas semelhantes no parto como aqueles que sofreram mutilações genitais femininas, em que partes da vagina espiritualismo são removidos.

Ele é agora bem documentado que as mulheres que tenham sido submetidos a tal Circuncisão são mais suscetíveis de experiência significativa rasgões e sangramento após a mão-de-obra e até mesmo a morte de seus bebês, problemas que estão ultrapassadas pela entrega caesarean .

"Cirurgia labial precisa ser rigorosamente avaliadas no futuro e mais longo prazo," disse o Dr. Creighton.

"Além disso, a investigação de qualidade é necessário para melhorar a nossa compreensão dos motivas psicológicos por trás da decisão das mulheres a sacrificar sexualmente sensível tecido que contribui para experiências eróticos, para uma certa aparência genital, que costumava ser uma obrigação apenas para alguns modelos de modo."

Pacientes 'Aterrorizarem'
Douglas McGeorge, passado o Presidente da a associação britânica de cirurgiões plástica estética, rejeitou a comparação com a excisão, alegando que era uma operação relativamente menor com algumas complicações possíveis.

"Eles já passou um pouco a parte superior. Essencialmente este é apenas sobre Removendo um pouco de polpa solta, deixando para trás um labia elegante aparência com o mínimo de cicatriz. O procedimento não interfere com a função sexual.

"As mulheres querem isso por uma série de razões - algumas encontrar desconforto andar de bicicleta por exemplo, mas para a maioria é estético, que é verdade.

"Revistas de garoto"são olhou por namoradas e torná-los a pensar mais sobre a aparência. Vivemos tempos em que estamos muito mais abertas sobre nossos corpos - e alterando-lhes - e labioplastia é simplesmente uma parte do presente."

Angélica Kavouni, um cirurgião cosmético que exerce a labioplastia, disse foi um erro "aterrorizar pacientes" com sugestões de conseqüências a longo prazo.

"Este é um procedimento que temos vindo a fazer desde a década de 1970. Qualquer operação executada riscos faz mal, mas quando isso seja feito corretamente não há muito poucos problemas.

"Vi mulheres que enviei fora porque não acho que eles têm um problema, mas para as mulheres com hipertrofia grave - quando o tecido é escuro e trava para baixo - não há uma maneira simples de lidar com ele. O respostas que recebo é de fato muito positivo".

BJOG editor Prof. Philip STEER disse o estudo "sublinha a necessidade de investigação multidisciplinar investigar a gama de fatores que afetam a função sexual e o bem-estar das mulheres.

"Informações fiáveis sobre riscos e benefícios da cirurgia labial, bem como abordagens alternativas, são vitais para assegurar a escolha informada para as mulheres".
http://www.baaps.org.uk/content/view/60/60/
http://www.urogyn.org/aestheticvaginal.html
http://labiaplasty.blogspot.com/
http://www.altermd.com/female_genital_surgery.htm
http://www.mamashealth.com/plastic/vag.asp

Churrasco

2009-11-11T05:27:00.000-08:00

o autor Luiz Fernando Almeida Caixeiro, compilou (em um livro) diversas receitas especiais para churrasco (cliquem aqui, para fazer o download do livro ou http://www.pampaecerrado.com.br/livro_churrasco.pdf).
Tem mais 80 recites no livro com fotos para explicar bem todas momentos de preparativo. Aqui uma para ver...

Costela de Novilho Precoce ao Molho de Vinho

A proposta desta seção (e também da “Corte do Mes”) sempre foi familiarizar os leitores com os procedimentos básicos no manuseio da carne, como cortá-la aproveitando todas as possibilidades e especialidades de cada peça e como tratá-la antes dos temperos e do fogo. A partir desta edição, o “Corte do Mes” e o “Passo-a-passo” passarão a compor uma única matéria, montada e demonstrada pelo Sidney Maluf, mostrando mais do que simplesmente os cortes. Vamos mostrar também o resultado, numa receita que, com certeza, vai provocar o seu apetite. Começamos com uma maneira simples e muito prática de preparar uma costela de novilho precoce, aproveitando toda sua riqueza de textura e sabor. Essa peça, costela de novilho precoce, pode ser encontrada em casas especializadas já cortada e pronta para uso. É só seguir os passos do tempero e do cozimento. Mãos à obra, que o resultado é surpreendente.

Ingredientes

1 costela de novilho precoce pesando entre 7,5kg e 8kg
1 litro de vinho branco seco
Sal grosso

A peça inteira da alcatra mede em média 80 centímetros e contém cinco tipos de cortes bem distintos em seu interior. As mais conhecidas e festejadas são a picanha, que virou sinônimo de churrasco, e a maminha, macia, suculenta (não para bifes) e ideal para assados e carne de panela. Retirando-as do alcatra, sobra o miolo da alcatra, de onde se obtêm mais três cortes importantes. O mais nobre é o tender-steak, que pesa em média 150 gramas (que pena) e existe apenas um por peça de alcatra. Sua retirada é estratégica, pois sem isso não se chega aos dois cortes do miolo do alcatra: baby-beefe e o olho, carnes de sabor acentuado, que devem ser cortadas em bifes grossos (largura de dois dedos) antes de ir à grelha. Neste Passo a Passo você vai aprender a separar os cinco cortes do alcatra, o que vai fazer você ganhar ainda mais consideração entre os amigos de churrasco e ainda economizar um bom dinheiro, já que se estes cortes fossem comprados separados o custo seria bem mais elevado. Um quilo do tender-steak, por exemplo, custa mais de R$ 30,00. Você também vai acompanhar passo a passo o preparo do baby beefe e do olho do alcatra. Os outros três cortes têm receitas nas páginas seguintes.

Modo de preparar

1º Limpe completamente a costela deixando a peça pronta para a receita.
2º Usando uma faca bem afiada, retire com muito cuidado o matambre (tecido gorduroso que fica entre a pele e a gordura). Se ele não for retirado, vai impedir o correto cozimento da peça e a carne poderá ficar dura. Aproveite o matambre para usar numa receita recheada.

3º Sem aprofundar muito o corte da faca, faça alguns talhos transversais na gordura. Na medida em que a carne for assando, esses cortes se abrem e facilitam o derretimento da gordura.

4º É hora de colocar o vinho branco espalhando bem com a mão para que toda a peça seja envolvida.

5º Distribua uma porção generosa de sal grosso sobre o lado da gordura.

6º Envolva toda a peça com seis voltas de papel celofane próprio para churrasco.

7º Separadas a picanha e a maminha, limpe com todo o cuidado o miolo da alcatra, retirando todos os nervos e o resto do sebo. Isso é muito importante para se chegar aos três cortes restantes. Caso queira uma carne mais magra, tire também a gordura;

8º Agora é a hora de separar o tender-steak, que fica na parte superior da alcatra e é reconhecido por sua cor vermelha mais escura em relação ao resto do miolo. Ele também é preso por uma membrana que se pode sentir com as mãos. Sem retirar o tender-steak não se chega aos outros dois cortes;

9º Depois desse tempo, retire com cuidado o papel celofane e leve a peça de volta à grelha por mais 45 minutos ainda com a parte do osso voltada para baixo. Vire e deixe mais 15 minutos sobre o braseiro só para dourar.

Obs: Esta costela também pode ser preparada no forno, que deve estar com a temperatura alta (entre 180º e 200º). Deixe assando por 15 minutos e, depois, baixe a temperatura para 150º. Então, asse por mais quatro horas.

Para vocês terem das receitas maravilhosas, dêem uma olhada no índice:

1. BABY BEEF

2. Bife de Tira

3. Costela de Novilho Precoce ao Molho de Vinho

4. Steak de Miolo de Acém

5. Acém Fatiado

6. Alcatra Grelhada com Molho de Vinho Tinto

7. Alcatra Recheada

8. Bife de Chorizo à Martin Fierro

9. Boi no Rolete

10. Bom Bom de Alcatra com Alho

11. Capa de Filé

12. Carne de Sol

13. Carpaccio de Filé Mignon

14. Churrasco com Tempero Injetado

15. Contra Filé Borboleta no Espeto

16. Cupim Recheado com Provolone

17. Espeto de Carne Moída com Bacon

18. Espetos Mistos

19. Fígado Inteiro no Espeto

20. Filé Mignon Aperitivo

21. Fraldinha (Vazio)

22. Lombo de Porco

23. Lombo de Porco Assado na Cerveja

24. Maçã do Peito à Max

25. Medalhão de Filet

26. Medalhão de Mignon

27. Medalhões à Moda da Casa do Churrasqueiro

28. Medalhões de Picanha no Espeto

29. Músculo com Bacon

30. Pão de Alho

31. Peito de Peru com Bacon

32. Pernil com Coca-Cola

33. Picanha com Bacon

34. Picanha de Forno

35. Picanha de Porco no Espeto

36. Picanha Delícia Receita da Capa

37. Picanha Dona Felicidade

38. Picanha Fatiada

39. Picanha Fatiada com

40. Picanha Grelhada com Molho Chimichurri

41. Picanha na Parrilha

42. Picanha no Avesso Recheada

43. Picanha no Sal Grosso

44. Picanha Nobre

45. Picanha Recheada com Bacon

46. Picanha Rubaiyat

47. Picanha Suína com Champignons

48. Rocambole de Carne Moída

49. Galeto Atropelado

50. Galeto Desossado

51. Anéis de Cebola

52. Batatas à Provençal

53. Batatas Condimentadas

54. Bolinho de Bacalhau

55. Bolinho de Frango Crocante

56. Camarão à Paulista com Palmito Especial

57. Carne de Sol com Farofa e Mandioca

58. Cebolas Recheadas

59. Charuto de Presunto

60. Coração de Frango na Cerveja

61. Drummets e Tulipas com Limão e Mel

62. Lagosta do Chef

63. Rã à Doré

64. Rã à Milanesa

65. Rolinhos Primavera

66. Salsicha Aperitivo Temperada

67. Molho Boracéia de Nescafé

68. Molho Branco Picante

69. Molho de Beterraba

70. Molho de Menta

71. Molho de Mostarda

72. Maionese de Ovos de Codorna

73. Mini Brócolis com Alho Pipoca

74. Rocambole de Palmito

75. Salada de Moyashi com Presunto

76. Salada Picadinha de Repolho

77. Tomate Cereja com Mozzarela de Búfala

78. Bolo Mesclado

79. Pavê de Abacaxi e Côco

80. Pavê de Chocolate

81. Torta Tropical

Não preciso beber muito para gostar de churrasco, mas tipo Brasileiro para beber e dormir depois.....

Long distance purchases

2009-11-05T14:07:00.000-08:00

I guess I knew that having seen a nice small property, within my price range and in the village that I liked, it would have its snags. One thing was that I saw and viewed the house in the morning of the same day that I had to leave for Scotland, I had seen another house before hand and certainly the small one had appeal, not just the price, but I really never thought that it would be possible for me to buy since I was leaving and would not return for several months.
After returning to Scotland, I had my eye operation and was some what house bound for two weeks, during this time the house in France stayed on my mind and seemed to be such a good idea that I started to think about making an offer, encouraged by friends wanting me to make some effort to stay nearer to Britain, at least for some of the year, and also encouraged by my three months of work in France.
When I returned to Brazil I decided I would at least try to buy the property and if I failed I would look at more houses on my return to France. I wrote to friends in France and the mayor of the local village to get information on the house and a derelict neighbouring house. The result was my offer and an acceptance of it, so I am now in the process of buying a house in another country at a distance, long at that, and also in another language to my own and the country that I am presently living in.
A few days ago I received the request for a deposit and to sign a first contract, the preliminary emails to France had all been in French and it was only after my offer had been accepted that I had the Notaire write to me in English. However, the contract is in French and now having fully understood the details I am required to sign and return the document, all OK and fairly straight forward, except that the signature needs to be verified and witnessed, and here I have come up with a slight problem. It was not totally a surprise to me to find that the system in Brazil requires me to have a certified translation of the document for them to certify my signature on the document, even though it is not to be used in Brazil and not for any Brazilian use.
I had contacted my Brazilian solicitor, last night, by email and arranged to meet him today in Salvador.
I had planned to go by omnibus as its cheaper than the petrol for the car and less fraught in the parking, but the painter waited until late last night to tell me that he needed more paint, so i decided I would drive to Salvador. Like most cities, Salvador is fairly congested early in the morning and it requires extra time to get into the centre and park. I arrived in time and before my solicitor, was given a newspaper to read and offered water to drink, and after some time my solicitor rang the office to say that he was 30 minutes late and for me to wait, after some time he rang again to tell me to see one of his colleagues to settle my problem with the document. It was quickly apparent that I was not going to be able to have a solicitor verify the signature and that I would need to go to a Cartorio to have this certified and stamped.
The office of my solicitor happens to be close to a Cartorio so I walked there, only to find that the office did not open before mid day so i then decided to go to another which was close to the beach in Salvador and on the route back to Jauá. I arrived there and found a parking space and quickly rushed in to mark a time to 'abrir a firma' and authenticate my signature, passed the queue on the staircase, normal here, only to spot on the door a notice saying that this agency does not 'abrir a firma'......so I returned to the first Cartorio and waited to get a number for the queue, but wasthen told that this agency also did not do this work and I would have to go to another.
I was now feeling that the painter would be waiting on paint so I decided to return home and get the paint on the way back.
I stopped off at the stockist and bought the list of things that the painter wanted, having loaded the car I asked one of the assistants if there was a Cartorio close by, he replied that there was and gave me instructions to find it. I arrived there and parked, on entering the building I was struck by the lack of queue or any body, on asking I was told that the agency did not function over lunch break, but it would be prudent for me to ask some in one of the other departments to see if they could help.
This I did and waited for another person to attend me, this lady directed me to another department and there I was told that I could not get the document authenticated because it was in French, I assured them that I only wanted the signature verified and not the document, they assured me that it was not possible without an authenticated translation of the document for them to be able to authenticate my signing of the original. So I am now going to return to Salvador and visit the French consulate there, I have written to the consulate but not received a reply, that is why I decided on my solicitor's help in this matter.
I remember when I was getting my permanent visa I had to have the marriage certificate translated by an approved translator and it took ages as well as being expensive, so I am hoping that the consulate can resolve this without more trips to Salvador.
5th November. Friday
hi Jane I have managed to find the French consul and get him to authenticate the documents, cost R$48, so cannot be bad at that, mind you what a job to find him, the internet has all incorrect information and since no one had replied to the emails I had sent I decided just to go to the address on the internet. I am not very sure of Salvador, it as a road system second to non, very difficult to work out where you are and what direction you are pointing in, I suppose I must get a compass. As it happened i actually drove in without making a mistake and parked, walked to where the consul should be and then asked folk in the area, but no one knows anything, I eventually asked a key cutter who was just outside the building were the consulate should have been and he said it had been there for more than 20 years but no more. I asked inside and they agreed that the consul had moved but to somewhere in the Barra. This is vague by any standards but I decided to try and find him in any case, so I back tracked and again manage with luck to find the area without a mistake and parked. Remembering a time when Graca and I had eaten crepes in a French bar with an art gallery and language school, so I went there. By luck it was the right place and the consul had just that minute arrived. Well he ushered me in and sorted the document very quickly, he says that he has lived here for 35 years and every year he gets one months holiday and returns to France. We chatted a short while and he told me that he also has a friend that has had a bad time married to a Brazilian lady, but he has children by her as well.

Fast Track Devastation

2009-11-05T08:55:00.000-08:00

Last weekend my friends collected me and took me to a small bar on the edge of a mangrove river, it is just a few kilometres up the road from where I live but almost a light year away from the attitudes in Jauá. The modern Brazilian is sold on cheap thrills and long term payment for them. Credit is growing along with the amount of rubbish that is dumped at the side of the road, it as become some one else's problem, it was always left to the poor to collect the rubbish for recycling, now they want to have more rubbish of a better quality, so the general rubbish is still left on the road.
As we drove to the bar I commented that this road was once just coco nut trees, bamboo, shrubs and mangrove, now it is largely built up or in the process of being built on. It is always the case, the world over, that there is a road built, then petrol stations, then builders merchants and finally houses for the workers. In an article on MSN about a BBC team filming the building of the trans-Amazonian BR-319 it is apparent that this will go the same way.
After the first houses go in the road will gradual fill in along its length, then the housing will move interior away from the road. At the moment it is the raising of cattle in huge reserves that is main cause for deforestation, followed by soya farming, the cutting of wood for timber use is minimal and can easily be sustainable, I presume the government have the intention of helping the commercial exploitation of Brazil by supporting the building of grand highways.

Frustrations

2009-10-27T12:00:00.000-07:00

Here is a photo from the Telegraph UK and shows the lack of horror on these young faces, the title given was 'body trolley'.
There are so many small frustrations at the moment, ranging from the lack of information fed back to me by the Notaire in France, the misdirection of where I should have gone to sort out the last piece in my long attempt to get the house and apartment separated for sale, the still ongoing court cases that are so close to me getting my money refunded but still they seem just out of reach, the next door neighbours semi wild dogs that are ferrel bound in the road outside to copulate for most of the day and with lack of any romance, the TV never seems to give a good picture when I would like to whatch it, the struggle to get any contact with my optician to arrange an appointment to get my eye pressures tested and along with that the new lens have given me eye sight between one metre and infinity and the reading glasses only are good at a set thirty centimetres distance, so I have a distance without good focus and unfortunately that is the distance that I am most needing for general work and painting.
Now I am sure that I do not understand the fine points of why any one wants to take drugs in order to end up robbing and killing. I have some small knowledge of drugs in that my ex girlfriend at school, when I was sixteen years old, had a desire to fit in with some friends who where much older and whom took drugs. To keep as close to her as I wished I also started to take some drugs, but for me the loss of control was not good and I found that the negative effect on her behaviour was too much for me. Her friend was also an invalid and I am sure that this fed is sense of resentment and the desire to opt out, I did feel that he was wishing to thumb his nose at the society he felt did not give enough to him, my ex started a similar path but also tried several times to commit suicide, it was after two of these attempts that I gave up on the relationship, much to my parents and teachers relief, especially as I was in the middle of exams and was not spending time at home or studying, for me my ex was my passion but for her the drug circle was the centre of her life.
Now on the television in Brazil it is overwhelming the amount of sadness and distress that drugs are causing, it is bad enough with alcolhol but even there it is hard to think of a person killing or robbing another to get another beer. I cannot see how it is possible for the public and the government here to just accept this situation, for they certainly do. The highlighted police raids and shootings are for me a consequence of work on both sides, these are jobs for the police and the drug dealers and not a desire to eliminate the problem. It would be unthinkable in Europe to go into an area of population and start shooting at will without removing civilians first, it would also be unthinkable to not have surveillance sufficient to monitor all the city if this was your major problem. London as more cameras than almost any city I know and if it wished the police can view most streets at almost a 24 hour cycle.
The ever growing divide of parental responsibility and the general apathy of the public to any violence must all contribute to the growing drugs problem, it is so easy for dealers to intimidate, move freely and bribe authorities. For me a serious approach from the government would indeed help as it would with hunger and deforestation.
The next door neighbours are invaders of the house, it is not theirs but they have taken over it some two years ago, I guess there is a problem with the original deeds and that is why the owners cannot get the swatters out. This large family may well not let their daughters out onto the street, as some families do, but they do not feel the need to have their animals castrated, so there is an ever growing number of cats and dogs as well as a growing collection of ferrel dogs that are attracted to the house by the other dogs, for me there is a parallel with Brazilian life. The bureaucracy and its desire to keep everything floating in air for as long as possible, since it does not have the staff or time to resolve the current back log, which is why it is impossible to bet a direct and correct answer over house documents or to resolve a court case quickly, is also to my mind part of the problem that allows for drugs to be a major industry. The other day a small factory was discovered producing cocaine, the amount seized was nearly ten tons, this is one small outlet, and yesterday, in Bahia there was a chap arrested for an infringement but found to have a huge amount of drugs on him as well as armour, the one gun that he had was an army sized piece, and similar to the one that must have been uesd in Rio de Janeiro last week, to bring down the police helicopter. These people do not value any thing or any one, how on Earth they have been reared by a mother and father and ended up with this attitude I am at a loss to see. The latest television reports have mentioned the mayor and justice of the peace of a town, being arrested for drug taking, this is middle class cocaine use, for what ! surely it is so much better to help others than to slide into this personal gutter, especially when you have funds that allow for good food and entertainment.
I am not sure if the past is an example to follow but it is certain that the fuure needs to be looked at with very different objectives. If the lack of work is the problem then this should be the priority of the government, it is not good enough to help the rich get richer on the basis of annual turnover, when the poor see very little returning to them, it can not be good to feel that when you are poor you will not get medical treatment or good education, these things need to be addressed far more swiftly than they are at present, even worse if if you are in a country that boosts that it as everything that anyone needs and more.
The other irritant is the amount of times my keyboard does not put up a capital "I"....
Notice how carefully the drugs are packed, this quantity and type of drug is daily seized by police in Brazil. Again a photo from the Telegraph.UK

French Living and Property

2009-10-10T06:02:00.000-07:00

As I now have more than just a fleeting interest in France, I have been scouting for photos of building types and also for information about building regulations. In doing so I came across this site which apart from its interest to those wanting to live in France, it is of good interest to a wider public. I have put their index of information sheets, it may not go direct to the site by clicking on my list but you can get an idea of the spread and use the link below to get there.

http://www.totalfrance.com/index.html

Animals
* Caring For Dogs In France

Building
* Construction/Renovation Process In France (Regulations, Insurances, Permissions, Experts and Taxes)
* Drainage
* Fosse Septiques - New Installations and maintenance
* Planning for a Septic Tank Installation
* Septic Tanks 1 - Regulations, Workings, Installation, Maintenance
* Septic Tanks 2 - Explaining Performance of a Septic Tank

Business
* From farming to a horse livery business
* Making a living in France

Computers and Internet
* Enjoy life in France with the right technology
* The Facts - Broadband
* The Facts – Dial-Up
* What are the alternatives if Broadband Speed is Essential, but the Service is not Available?

Currency Exchange
* Automate your regular overseas payments saving yourself time and money
* Currency dealers - ten good reasons to use one
* Euro Currency Buyers FAQ
* Euro currency exchange on French property
* Euro Currency Update - September 09
* How to stay financially ahead of the game in France
* Latest Currency Report - 29th September 2009
* Living in France?
* Making regular international payments?
* Making the most of your Sterling in France
* Moving back to the UK?
* What’s going on with sterling and the euro?

Education
* French Education - Never Too Young To Learn !
* Primary Education In France

Employment

Food
* TF CUISINE - Christmas Cakes, Pies & Desserts
* TF CUISINE - Christmas Chocolates & Truffles
* TF Cuisine - Comforting winter puddings
* TF Cuisine - Warming Winter Soups
* TF Cuisine - Warming Winter Stews

French Life
* Downshifting - The Six Step Solution.
* Rain Water Collection for Economy, Efficiency & Ecology

French Regions
* A Taste of the Limousin - Living in Bellac
* A WELL KEPT SECRET - Charente-Limousine
* La Vendee
* Roussillon - where the Pyrenees meet the Mediterranean
* The Auvergne - A Haven For Outdoor Sports Enthusiasts

Gardening
* Bedding schemes
* Kevin's Garden Diary Part 1 - Jan & Feb
* Kevin's Garden Diary Part 2 - Spring
* Kevin's Garden Diary Part 3 - Summer
* Kevin's Garden Diary Part 4 - Autumn
* Kevin's Gardening Step-by-Step Guide: Single and Double Digging
* Pruning Ornamental Shrubs
* Trees - Some Background Information
* Weeds
* Winter Flowers

Health
* Choosing a complementary health insurer - what to consider
* Exclusive Healthcare National Helpline
* French Healthcare System - A Basic Guide
* Healthcare in France - FAQ
* If you need glasses take a look at this...
* Planning for Accidents in France
* Recent changes to the French health system
* Welfare survival tips to help you through hard times

Legal
* A Precis of French Succession Law
* Buying French Newbuild Property
* French Social Security Contributions, Q&A
* Inheritance Issues and Taxation
* Legal Issues: The Buying Procedure
* Selling a French Property - Contractual Issues
* Taxation of French Buy to Lets
* What is the process that will need to be followed to deal with a French probate?
* Why do probates in France take so long and what can be done to speed them up?

Money
* Banking Vocabulary & How to Write a French Cheque
* FINANCING YOUR DREAM HOME IN FRANCE
* How do the recent changes in the Inheritance/Gift Tax law affect me?
* New France-UK Double Taxation Treaty signed – Could it affect you?
* Tax and Estate Planning with Assurance Vie
* The French Mortgage Process

Motoring
* Decisions, decisions - RHD cars in France
* How To Register a British Caravan In France
* Registering your UK Vehicle in France

Property
* A Guide To Choosing An Agent/Immobilier
* A warning about buying land in France, or how I nearly lost 80,000€
* Buying A Property In The Department Of Creuse, Central France
* Choosing a dream property - Don't be Rushed!
* House Sitting Part 1 - Information For Owners
* House Sitting Part 2 - Information For Aspiring Sitters
* Learn to Love Your Agent Immo!
* Long-Term Lets - Information for Owners
* Long-Term Lets - Information For Tenants
* Never Too Late! How Father Buys a Flat in Bergerac, SW France, Only Days Before His 81st Birthday
* Property buying tips for France in general and Languedoc-Roussillon in particular: The 30 most important things you need to know
* Steps To Buying French Property
* Steve's Homebuyer's Check List
* The buying process
* The buying process: How to buy property for sale in Languedoc Roussillon – ten steps to French property buying heaven.
* The financial issues surrounding house sales in France

Renovation
* 3 - Phase Electricity Supplies
* Central Heating - How big a radiator do I need?
* DOWN TO EARTH – SAFELY
* Electric Water Heating
* French Electrical Systems
* Planning Permission Requirements For Renovation
* Smoke Alarms
* SOLAR ENERGY
* The Answer My Friends ... Wind Turbines
* Timber Infestation in Buildings
* To Renovate In France ... Or Not?

Scams and Cons
* Beware 'Wire Transfer' or Certified Cheque' purchase offers
* Beware! Property Renters, Item Sellers & the Nigerian Scammers

Shopping

Sport and Leisure
* 'Winterising' Your Pool
* The Law & Safety for your Swimming Pool

Tax and Financial Advice
* Are you liable to inheritance tax in Britain or France?
* How a Financial Adviser in France can help
* How can you fight against the effects of inflation?
* Is your French home subject to Capital Gains Tax?
* Pensions & Tax - facts and some advice for British ex-pats
* Savings options when living in France

Telecommunications
* French Telephone Lines
* The Facts - Line Rental Installation and Faults
* The Facts - Telephone Call Traffic and How to Save Money
* The Facts – Low Cost Calls from the UK to France

Translation
* Not getting lost in translation...
* Sworn Translating and Interpreting - Who Does it & What Do They Do?

Transport

TV and Satellite
* Obtaining UK and French Television in France - Part 1
* Obtaining UK and French Television in France - Part 2
* UK Telecom launches UK TV service for free!

Poeira mais Global

2009-10-09T04:13:00.000-07:00

Acho que você sabe tudo sobre isso, aqui está o link da NASA. Lembre-se, não sei quem pensa que eles têm o direito de falhar alguma coisa para a lua por aquilo que já razão, o Governo americano, causando poeira mais global e não a limpeza depois....Tendo encontrado água que construção próxima, o que na Lua, o que isso pode resolver, por um penso que é melhor resolver os problemas aqui na terra antes da mistura de coisas no espaço exterior. É uma coisa para manter um olho aberto para os perigos que podem existir fora nossa atmosfera, mas realmente confusão com os mundos fora é a minha mente perigosa.
Claramente se tinha um emprego remunerado como cientista pode bem quero explorar mais áreas de trabalho para garantir meu emprego permanente, mas certamente há boas razões para manter a este mundo e não fora neste momento na nossa existência
Lua travando sondas marco importante completo (PA) – há 9 horas WASHINGTON — sonda de LUA da NASA tem separado em duas partes como previsto, um marco importante em direção a uma sexta-feira de manhã, canhões dupla travamento na superfície lunar.

A sonda menor com cinco câmeras e quatro outros instrumentos científicos é agora a reboque um casco de foguete vazio 2.2-ton.

O casco será como em lua primeiro de sexta-feira de manhã enquanto o teste menor medidas destroços que grande casco será acionado. Em seguida, a sonda de menor, chamada LCROSS (EL-Cruz), que é curto para observação de Cratera Lunar e satélites de sensoriamento, alcance a lua quatro minutos mais tarde.

Câmeras em todo o mundo e no espaço examinaremos a sujidade lunar expulsado e procurar alguma forma de água nela.
NASA's LCROSS mission: http://www.nasa.gov/lcross
http://www.panoramas.dk/moon/mission-apollo.html

This is such a nice Blog. get cooking

2009-10-08T07:02:00.000-07:00

http://onehungrychef.blogspot.com/

I have just come across this blog and sent it to three of my friends, all keen cooks. It was really because Merrell, my friends daughter, was working for Gordon Ramsay at Claridges, she had started there to learn and wishes to work on her own catering business. This blog reminds me of her time in a Ramsey kitchen and the strain that all of them worked under. Like all commercial enterprises there are not always good times for all and some of the workers get a rough deal, largely covered by their desire to learn and be appreciated by the head chef. Merrell has left Claridges and is now starting up on her own in Scotland, difficult times for starting a new business.

A falta de Preocupação

2009-10-08T04:34:00.000-07:00

As notícias de televisão local hoje mais uma vez demonstrou a falta de preocupação por mães na Bahia de cuidar de seus filhos, uma criança de dois anos de idade foi arrebatou com cachaça e, em seguida, violada, ela morreu no hospital da intoxicação e falta de oxigênio para o cérebro. A mãe diria não como aconteceu e o pai disse que viveu em outro lugar.
A falta de preocupação de ambos, foi mais do que evidente, é tão freqüente ver Baianas, preferindo a beber e tomar medicamentos, em vez de usar seu tempo e dinheiro para trazer os filhos de uma forma que irá beneficiar de tudo para o futuro. Problemas sociais são sempre um sinal de desinteresse, há exemplos de todo o mundo foram que facilmente pode ser ativada em torno, aqui, no interior do Brasil, durante muitos anos, foi uma existência mais pacífica, mas agora que a economia como começou a crescer os problemas têm movido de cidade para o espaço rural. Drogas e violência estão agora sendo comuns em pequenas cidades, possivelmente ainda é o problema do álcool que começa a maioria desses problemas. Uma pequena cidade no interior tinha sido vítima muita violência e mortes, principalmente após a meia-noite às primeiras horas da manhã. Quando a prefeitura organizada para fechar as barras em 23,00 e colocar mais polícia na rua para garantir a não beber após esta hora, o montante da violência e mortes diminuíram em mais de 83 %. O montante de violência doméstica também diminuíram 73 %, e agora há mais desejo da mulher existe para reunir e dar suporte uns aos outros. Parece que auto-estima é baixa, os homens tende a mostrar violência quando sua estima é baixa e as mulheres tendo vários relacionamentos e muitas crianças por vários homens, muitas vezes levando a falta de preocupação para seus descendentes e os homens se tornando abusar sexuais de suas próprias e outras crianças. É também nota que muitas meninas de adolescente estão vendendo seus corpos para obter dinheiro para drogas mas também para a compra de celulares e roupas novas, não são precisam de alimentos como eles geralmente retornam para sua casa ou para amigos para obter alimentos.

Educate without Moral

2009-10-07T11:24:00.000-07:00

Today's excursion to Camacari was another reminder of the bureaucracy here in Brazil and the lack of manners the educated can have, perhaps its only Bahia. I may well have told the story of my ex and her family, the struggle I had when I eventually found that that had more or less bankrupt me and eventually having got the pack of them and their friends, out of the house, the boy friend of my ex's sister went to the Justice of trabalho and concocted a story of me employing him and then sacking him.
This is a chap with a known history of violence that had had my help in getting him out of prison, at that time I thought him innocent of a crime of double killing and assisted with the costs of a solicitor. I had still at that time, my work in Scotland and was only in Brazil for short periods, having married my ex in 2000 I had left her with my confidence to manage the house and help her family if necessary, although I had done this the previous year by creating a bar for their self employment with an apartment above, in the location were they had lived for some years.
Well the long an short of it was that I have learnt that it is difficult to find a good solicitor and an honest one, I think I have had at least six in Brazil and it as only been in the last couple of years that I discovered my present solicitor, who by any ones reckoning is a first class solicitor and honest, it shows that if you keep trying there is a chance at discovery.
It is with my present solicitor that I have been able to counter the claim from the boy friend and also take the first solicitor that I engaged in Brazil, to court, and win the case. I am sure that this is not easy, it has in fact taken me seven years of trying and still I am awaiting the recovery of the money that was paid to him in 2002, the trabalhista case was started in 2004, but went to the wrong court in Salvador, the fault of the opposition's solicitor, who is acting on a no win no fee basis ( thus the story line from his client is like a Grimm's fairy tale, that even the judge had remarked that if a person had worked for these hours and without a break it would be close to slavery) and the case was then re called in 2006 at the justice in Camacari, were it is at the moment.
It had actually been finalised in my absence at one point two years ago, I had no idea of this until the Xmas brought a different sort of card for me, it was one that said I had lost my case and also inherited a failure to attend a justices demand. I had to counter the judge's decision and to that end I was required to pay a deposit of R$5.000,00 of which R$200 I would lose automatically to pay for the court's time. I have fought this part of the case and won, so the decision of the justice is void and the case will now restart, yes I said restart, such is the justice in Brazil.
It was to the end of my getting the deposit returned that I today travelled into Camacari, I was early and waited, there were two other gentlemen opposite me that had been there before I arrived. We waited for the next 12 minutes for the office to open and for us to submit our various causes, during this time several solicitors and officials arrived and tried the locked door, they too hung around but very close to the door, so when it opened it was clear that they were not prepared to show manners and politeness to those that had waited longer, such is education and a moneyed up bringing, I am sure that the politicians would behave the same way.
I remember when Graca and I had waited all day for a flight from Belo Horizonte, the weather was bad and the flights became a list of cancellations, but we decided to wait rather than risk the following day being the same scenario. It was worth the wait, late in the afternoon the weather improved and a flight managed to land, to our luck it was designated to our flight for departure to Salvador. On boarding there was another delay for some late arriver's, and a passenger with his wife and child occupied seats in front and to the opposite side of us, behind them a man in his early 30's. The stewards had mentioned that the reason they were waiting was that because of severe rain and so many flights getting cancelled they wished to put passengers from four other flights onto ours. The airline asked the couple if they could give the childs seat to another pregnant passenger, they refused, they were offered refunds and extra money for the seat, they still refused. Behind them the man in his 30's stood up and demanded that we take off immediately, the stewards talked to them all but these middle class folk had decided that their rights were being infringed. It became clear from their comments that this group were solicitors and politicians, not at all interested in the poor families and other mothers stranded at the airport, but keen on using their money to have space for themselves. It fell to some other passengers to decide to take the recompense that the airline was offering, including taxis and hotels, for them to fly the following day and give up seats to help the other travellers.
The lady solicitor today who jumped the queue by about six people, had no sense of shame anout it, she clearly feels that she has got position and this goes above others, I for my part think that these jobs ( solicitor, clerks in the council, judges, politicians, doctors etc.) are for public service and although they may well deserve good wages and respect, they do not become anything more than citizens like all of us in urban communities are. It never actually gains anything in the long run, like those that jump queues in traffic, the gain in time often ends with an accident, like those that spend ages chatting before leaving in their car and then try to go as fast as possible on the road.

Orgulho nas pessoas do Brasil

2009-10-03T04:40:00.000-07:00

Jumping for joy: Brazilians celebrate in Copenhagen's Town Hall Square after the IOC announced that Rio de Janeiro will host the 2016 Olympics Photo: GETTY IMAGES

Lula pode e deve ser fortemente criticada para o Estado da educação, cuidado de saúde e má infra estrutura. Ele tem sido em posição de tanto tempo para tudo isso continua a ser um problema sem qualquer sinal de que cada vez melhor. Como pode o país quebrar livre da armadilha da pobreza se nenhuma das opções acima for resolvida bastante. No entanto é ao seu crédito que vemos-lhe que verdadeiramente querem seu país para vencer a concorrência olímpica, mostrando orgulho nas pessoas do Brasil é algo que é bom vê-se em um Presidente e o mesmo não poderia ser dito para o Obahma do Presidente americano, que pareciam desejar deixar Copenhaga neste momento ele tinha chegado. Penso que é uma lição para o Presidente americano a entender que ele precisa ser um primeiro americano e um estadista em segundo lugar, esta parece ser um problema comum com os políticos, eles vêem o trabalho como algo separado para os seus países desejos e necessidades de povo, também é evidente na capacidade de Lula para falar para o homem comum e andar pelas ruas sem medidas de segurança enorme, ele não se torne mais aceites como político, mas certamente mais fiáveis como pessoa e mais aceitável devido a ela. Se um político pode ser afastados, mas ainda ganhar confiança e fazer juízos corretos, em seguida, todos o ser, mas penso que é difícil fazer essas coisas, se você estiver acima do público e protegido dos seus problemas diários.
Espero que o mundial em 2014 e, agora, as Olimpíadas de 2016, irá gerar mudança para melhor emprego e alguns mais atenção para a infra estrutura do Brasil para ser melhorada e para que o Governo tem os olhos do mundo colocados em seus êxitos e fracassos.
Brasil é muito meritórios das Olimpíadas e irá mostrar ao mundo uma boa jogos, feliz e com carinho para todos, papel em 2014.

28 De Setembro percebe 250 anos da história da Camacari

2009-09-28T14:18:00.000-07:00

Caro prefeito, tenho escrito antes e entregue minha direto de carta ao seu secretário, estou escrevendo esta carta pelas mesmas razões. Estou, como muitos que vivem em Jauá, em causa pela falta de interesse demonstrado no Estado de praias e a parede do mar, especialmente a parte que é o mais distante da área de compras. A praia como foi deixado com pedras enormes que criar uma barreira para o público a descer à praia e também ocupam cerca de seis metros da praia própria. Os caminhos de pé acima da praia estão em condições muito má e não há uma falta de remoção de lixo os lados da estrada. Muitas coqueiros belas foram removidos ou tenham caído em ventos fortes, não a ser substituído. Há um problema constante com a falta de água potável para as casas em Jauá, apesar da promessa do Embasa para corrigir isso estabelecendo uma nova linha de tubo há três anos. Deve ser um embaraço para de escritório de Prefeito que essa cidade turístico atraente e bem utilizados e praia devem ser tão maus tratado. Há também uma falta de policiamento, especialmente agora que Jauá como um aumento no tamanho, ele deve ser esperado, pelo menos, alguns mais presença policial a finais de semana e feriados, a dois polícia funcionários não é suficiente. Por favor não permitem que a cidade se deteriorar e não mais uma área de recreio para a família e para aqueles que sempre desfrutaram seu Verão da aqui.

Era of New World Wines

2009-09-26T04:08:00.000-07:00

One thing about living in Bahia is the lack of good drink and the little variety of food to go with it. I am not much of a beer drinker, never have really gone in for sampling a beverage by the pint, it is strange that pubs in Britain have not caught on to the idea of putting beers into more elegant glasses and serving in half pint measures so that one can sample and taste without being comatose after the third glass. After all how can you taste the beer if you are expected to open your mouth wide and fill it every time. Think of the drink as wine, would you get the same experience with wine in a pint glass?
My recent stay in France as rekindled my love of wines, nurishing and balancing a meal, mind you it is said the same of beer but you need to think what food can battle against the taste of the hop. It is with bewilderment that I see that in Brazil there is a huge production of wine and yet never hear anyone in Europe mention that they have ever tasted a Brazilian wine, this is almost true in Bahia where there is production of grapes but a poor production of wine, and what wine I have tasted in Bahia is of low class.
Almost all the production of good wine in Brazil is in the South, where the climate is more European and the culture is also more European. Depending who you read it would be the Spanish, Portuguese or Italians that developed traditions here in Brazil, certainly from a historic point of view it would be the Portuguese and Spanish, but I believe that their attempts to form a base for wine production was not long lasting. Another important figure is Thomas Messiter, an Englishman, who was the first in Brazil to grow grapes from the famous vine "vitis labrusca" in 1814. The vine adapted to the unfavourable climate much more easily than other European varieties.
The arrival of the first European immigrants in the south of Brazil was therefore, an important point in the history of Brazilian wine production. In 1860, the Portuguese started growing wine in Santa Catarina, which is near Sao Bento do Sul, Campo Alegre and Florianpolis. The French were probably the first who thought of using the wine commercially after 1865. However, Italians with their tradition and wine growing experience reaching back more than two thousand years, were the ones who ensured the importance of wine growing after 1875. They brought their own varieties and new commercial programmes., it is now being helped by European legislation and a lot of European companies.

Rio Grande do Sul, which produces about 92 % of all wine, can be proud of its producers who introduced wines of such quality that they aroused interest even abroad.
No doubt, there are a lot of complications when they have to overcome such problems as the weather unsuitable for the specific cultivation but the states and the producers expend considerable effort to introduce further improvements.To achieve international recognition, Brazil joined the "Office International de la Vigne e du Vin" in March 1995. The country expects it will be able to benefit from the scientific and technical support of this organization and that it will gain guarantees for its export. Moreover, Brazil will introduce the European method of indication of origin. Another important factor to further increase wine quality is Brazil's effort to obtain more investments.
Brazil grows all fine wine varieties. White wines: Riesling Italico, Malvasia, Sauvignon, Semillon, Chardonnay, Gewurtztraminer, Pinot Bianco and Moscato. Red wines: Merlot, Cabernet, Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Gamay, Syrah, Tannat, Pinot Noir, and also Nebbiolo and Barbera.

Legislation

The regulations for viticulture have not yet been fully defined; for example, there is no compulsory deadline for harvesting. However, as every wine in the world, Brazilian wines comply with certain compulsory labelling regulations. The law stipulates the following identification marks:

The wine producer's and the bottler's name

The region and winery address

Name, fineness, classification, type and origin of the product

Agricultural area and the registration number of the product

The INDUSTRIA BRASILEIRA sign

Net volume

Actual alcoholic strength by volume

All used additives or their code and class

It is forbidden to put a false geographical indication on the label. The most common type of wine, the slightly sweetened "vinho de mesa" (table wine), must be indicated "suave" or "doce" (dry or sweet), printed on the label. Sparkling wines must be indicated with the method of production (gaseificado - aerated). This word must be printed in letters sized min. 50 % of the biggest word and must be in the same colour as the other information.

Explanatory Notes

Comum - wine produced from hybrids and American vine

Seco - wine containing less than 5 g/l of sugar

Leve - wine containing 1 to 10 g/l of sugar

Meio doce - wine containing 5 to 20 g/l of sugar

Doce ou Suave - wine containing more than 20 g/l of sugar

Varietal - wine produced from min. 60 % of the grape variety stated on the label

Vinho de mesa - wine containing 10 to 13 % of alcohol

Vinho fino

sites of interest
http://www.brazilian-wines.com/inshop/scripts/set.asp?lang=english&viewtype=catalogue&level=13&DiscardFilters=1

http://www.winesfrombrazil.com.br/regioesprodutoras.php

http://www.vinography.com/archives/2007/09/the_best_of_brazilian_wine_my.html

http://www.vinesmart.com/?gclid=CJHajLebj50CFYZM5QodnBT57w

http://www.wine-searcher.com/merchants/brazil

Early Technology touchs Masonic heights at Bonhams, London

2009-09-23T16:26:00.000-07:00

Lot No: 164^W

A very rare full size replica of the Bayeux Tapestry photographed by Joseph Cundall 1874

Joseph Cundall's full size photographic panorama of the Bayeux Tapestry, with its linen backing, hand coloured by students from the School of Art, London (now the Royal College of Art). This is the largest photographic panorama made in the nineteenth century, just over 226 feet in length. It is probably still the largest photographic panorama ever made. Just six copies were made and published by the Arundel Society in 1874 using the Woodbury process, and offered for sale at the massive price of £216.00 each. It is mounted on its original oak Arts and Crafts stands, 55in (140cm) high

Estimate: £5,000 - 8,000

I will not bore you too much today with the ins and outs of employing local labour, or the closing of the windows and doors, slightly eralier than normal, to stop too many mosquitos entering and the spray around my feet of some toxic kind, all to try and get a few minutes to write a new posting for you. Not so easy as well because I still have not got my vision sorted, still if i make a load of spelling mistakes i will try to clear them with the spell check.
I am sure that any one having read a reasonable amount of my blog will be aware of my association with Michael Bennett-Levy, we have worked together for many years and i have watched is collective habit grow at great speed. he has an amzing knack of consuming information and being able to then put it all together to track a history of a particular piece of early technology. i n his collection there are no great retrictions brought to bare by taste or excelence of manufacture, he sees the skill of the inventor as that of the ideas person and not the subsequent manufacturing of an item, thus a simple battered typewriter can be an element of joy to his eyes, especially if it is the earliest that he has held in his hands, it is fairly sure to be the earliest any one has knowingly touched as a type writer if he has had to look up in old catalogues and sales records to make sure that what he has just bought is in fact a type writer.
At the end of the month bonhams will be putting up the vast majority of Michaels stock, it may be called a collection but Michael will always tell anyone entering his house that all is for sale, so i reckon it is all stock, now being sold for Michael to restart another chapter in his career which will be started in France. Michael's sale will hold most spell bound, the depth of its quality and the spread of its fields, ranging from the Clive Sinclair watch, computer and C5 to the great Scottish poet, Robert Burn's, Masonic Apron

Poet Robert Burns' masonic apron that he received when he joined the Royal Arch Chapter in 1787 is to be sold - and could fetch an astonishing 25,000 pounds.
The lamb skin apron is exceptionally rare in itself, but its association with the great Scots poet makes it hugely valuable.
Burns became a mason in 1781 and was appointed Companion of the Holy Royal Arch at St Ebbe's Lodge, Eyemouth, Scotland six years later.
He was allowed in for free to this particular order of fremasonry because of his poetic genius and an extract from the minutes of the chapter, Land O' Cakes N0. 15, states:
"At a general encampment held this day the following brethren were made Royal Arch Masons, viz Robert Burns from the Lodge of St James, Tarbolton, Ayrshire..."
The apron is decorated with masonic symbols including two columns, a chequered pavement, square and compass, three candles, a sun and a moon.
It is framed in a wooden case and an inscription reads: "Robert Burns. Masonic Apron. 1787."
Current owner Michael Bennett-Levy recalls the apron hanging in his grandmother's flat but now it could be snapped up by collectors anywhere around the world.
He said: "Throughout my life the apron hung in my grandmother's flat and, after her death, in my parent’s home.
"When I inherited it some years ago I did some research, but could not associate it with any of the Scottish lodges to which Robert Burns belonged.
"I did nothing further until February this year when I decided to have it X-rayed.
"The X-ray photos showed clearly the top of an archway under the apron flap and a London Freemason instantly identified it as an 18th century Royal Arch apron."
Jon Baddeley, from Bonhams, who is selling it, said: "Bonhams is delighted to be offering this rare masonic artefact once owned by the Scottish cultural icon, Robert Burns.
"It has remained in the same family since the 1830s and has been to Australia with the family and returned to Britain in the early 1900s.
"It is a very rare piece of masonic memorabilia in its own right, but its association with Burns makes it more important.
"Having been consigned from north of the border, I am confident it will returning to Scotland again after the auction."
Th apron has been passed down the generations of Bennett-Levy's family and has long been a treasured heirloom.
Initially the apron belonged to Michael's great, great grandfather Sir Benjamin Benjamin (Mayor of Melbourne and Senior Mason).
He later passed it on to his son-in law Bernhard Sinauer, who had the valuable piece framed whilst living in Brisbane, Australia.
The item was then repatriated to England following the Australian Masonic schism of the early 1900s and passed down to Bennett-Levy’s grandfather Esmond Sinauer, his daughter Valerie and then finally Bennett-Levy himself.
Burns first joined the Freemasons when he was inducted as an Apprentice at the St David Lodge, Tarbolton, in 1781.
By 1784 he was Deputy Master and, on moving to Edinburgh in 1786, joined the St John, then Cannongate Lodges, Kilwinny.
Two other aprons have been identified as belonging to Burns, but neither was a Royal Arch apron.

The sale takes place on September 30. I understand that the New York Times will be publishing an article about Michael this coming Saturday.

The FT.com article on michael was published on the 18 September and is on the web at
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/dead1d32-a3e1-11de-9fed-00144feabdc0.html

The link direct to the sale items is
http://www.bonhams.com/cgi-bin/public.sh/pubweb/publicSite.r?sContinent=EUR&screen=Catalogue&iSaleNo=17616

cataract operation

2009-08-28T08:20:00.000-07:00

I suppose that it is difficult to get any average response to an eye condition and all of us view the world differently, i have finally made it through the making of the windows and shutters for the house in france and managed to work with my vision very much impaired, it has been an odd experience but not all that worrying. When some years ago I heard of my Mother and eldest brother, having to have cataract operations I assumed the operation was to scrape the lens and there by remove the offending opaque part of the lens, leaving a clear but thinner lens. Long before that I guess I would have imagined that Monet was almost blind, lacking sight, because of his cataracts. The real answer is that the lens is not like that, the lens is a clear sack that envelopes a protein lens, the protein with time will become harder and lose its transparency, we are all living longer and that is the first real reason for the cataract to form, degradation of the protein with time. It has been described as the white of an egg that is gradually warmed and begins to turn from transparent to white as well as hardening.
I had suffered a degree of problems with my eye and this culminated last summer in a detached retina. The operation meant that my eye had to be cut open and the retina reattached, with great skill my surgeon did the operation and in so much the operation was a success. I have however, since that date had my eyesight gradually change and deteriorate, it has been slower than my surgeon thought, he told me within two months of the operation that I had the signs of a cataract developing and that was normal as the eye reacted to the surgery. I have gradually upped my specs from -3.0 to -8.5 and then realised that I needed to see the surgeon about an operation, I did this on my return to Edinburgh during may this year and we decided on a date three weeks before I was due back to Brazil. It was then that I decided to look up the operation on the internet, still un aware of what was to be done, everyone uses the phrases like scraping the lens, when in fact the lens is removed and an artificial one is put in its place.
The process is simple but not without great skill from the surgeon, the eye is first treated to several drops of dilating fluid, spaced out over several hours, then in the theatre I was given injections of local anaesthetic into both eyelids and three injections into the eye itself, not that comfortable and much like the soreness that you would get from the dentist injecting into the top gum of your mouth.
The process is to cut a small hole into the front of the sac that holds the lens, this is done by inserting a thin rod of a lazer and the surgeon burns a hole with it, for my part there was no discomfort , I watched as the lazer formed a circle of grey, then an ultra sound rod is inserted through the same tiny cut, about 2 mm round, this is used to mash the old lens into a fluid which is then withdrawn through a tube and is much like a vacuum cleaning around the inside of the clear sack, a faint wobbly image is the next sign that the surgeon had slipped in the new lens. This is a soft lens that is some how fold into a tiny tube and injected into the empty lens sack, once inside the lens unfolds to fill the cavity. It is then followed by the surgeon injecting an anti biotic into the same pocket and the operation is finished, I do not know the time taken but would think that the time in theatre was not much more than 20 minutes, I had arrieved at the hospital at 15.00, went to surgery just after 17.00 and was back in the waiting area having tea and sandwiches by 18.00, then collected at 18.30.
I am now on some drops into the eye for the next week and careful not to get any infection, my eye was not ready to see the world when i left the hospital, it was ready to acknowledge light but not much more, the next morning I found i could get some vision and I am at the moment finding a daily improvement in clarity and focus. Colours are my most immediate response to the operation, all are so much more vivid and good contrast, for I had found that before it I was looking with a blurred, misty and pale vision. I am very short sighted in my left eye and have glaucoma as well, so at the moment I am not able to wear my specs since the new lens is almost perfect vision setting and I had a -8.5 sight before in that eye, so I will have to wait for the right eye to become stable before I can go to the optician again and get a new prescription to suite both eyes as they are now. My surgeon is going to take a look at the left eye this comming monday, I feel that i would like to have a corrective lens put into that eye to leave me with balanced vision and no need to wear specs other than for reading, this may depend on whether my surgeon feels that there is good enough reasons to do the operation, I think there are but realise that any operation as its risks and possible side effects, i would be silly to risk a new detached retina or worsen the already bad glaucoma in the left eye, but the positive effect of having both eyes with good lens and no specs seems a great prospect...... see how I go....I had the operation on Tuesday evening and it is Friday afternoon now........

The Independents view of the Gers.2001

2009-07-26T07:16:00.000-07:00

Two nights ago,Nadine and I had dinner guests of the owners of the Chateau de Monluc , here in St Puy, the madame Lassus, her son and grand daughter. Nadine had been to La Rochele to visit her parents and there bought a large quantity of oysters and small clams, so she had invited Noel and his daughter Matilda, for dinner of oysters and salad of tomatoes from her small vegatable garden. Noel's father had died just recently and his mother was invited to come to this very humble abode. Madame de Monluc is a very young looking 79 year old, elegant and very attractive, quiet French voice and equally gentile when speaking English to me. She told me of her time when younger, in Yorkshire, England, and how the local paper, I presume the Yorkshire Post, had written a nice and informed article about her late husband. He evidently did a lot to modernise the wine industry here in the Gers and certainly has produced good wines, possibly more noticeably good with he sparkling wines. here is the Independents article from 2001, it is very much the same now and only the prices will need to be reviewed.Chateau Monluc: Tastings of Floc, Methode traditionale (champagne), Pousse Rapiere, rose and red wines. Guided tours of the cellars and chateau. Located in St Puy, Gers.
Tel: 05 62 28 94 00 Fax: 05 62 28 55 70

The Gers: All for one and down the hatch

The Gers region of France is justly proud of its favourite son, D?Artagnan, and its equally famous Armagnac. Jane Knight goes in search of both the man and the drink

The look of incredulity on Madame de Castelbajac's face when I confided that I thought D'Artagnan was just a fictional character had to be seen to be believed. She didn't actually throw up her hands in horror but she left me in no doubt that, while D'Artagnan may well have been immortalised as the naive young hero of Alexander Dumas's novel The Three Musketeers, any Gascon worth their foie gras knows he was born and brought up in the Gers. I had just insulted the region's most revered personality.

This little corner of south-west France is peppered liberally with musketeer references, from its food and drink to statues and street names. So it is no surprise that the latest movie version of Dumas's swashbuckling tale was partly filmed here in the heart of Gascony at the Château de Caumont at Cazaux Saves, which is owned by the Castelbajac family. For a week, the château on the easterly edge of the Gers some 25 miles from Toulouse resounded to the sound of cantering horses as D'Artagnan was resurrected once again in The Musketeer.

I moved on quickly from my faux pas. Meanwhile, Madame de Castelbajac was telling me how, when film-makers created a huge fire for one scene, she was scared that the beautiful 16th-century building, which is open to the public, would burn down. A fire had already ravaged one part of the three-sided château in 1640.

I set off armed with a copy of Dumas's epic novel to the other side of the Gers to discover more about their local hero. It takes less than two hours to cross this gently rolling land full of sunflowers and vines. Ducks outnumber people by more than 20 to one and British cars are in a blessed minority. The further west you go, the proliferation of signs advertising foie gras for sale become interspersed with billboards for Armagnac.

Gascony's most famous hero was born Charles de Batz de Castelmore in about 1611, close to the village of Lupiac. At his childhood home, the Château de Castelmore, a prominent "private property" sign is hung up outside the slumbering, shuttered manor. But driving into Lupiac, I found the D'Artagnan Centre, an incredibly informative little museum which helped me to fill in the blanks about the musketeer's real life.

One of eight children born into minor nobility, Charles followed the tradition of the younger sons by leaving his homeland to seek his fortune as a soldier in Paris, eventually joining the Musketeers, an elitist regiment of guards armed with muskets. The period was characterised by plots and wars, and D'Artagnan – who took his name from his mother's family – soon distinguished himself as captain lieutenant. He was so well regarded that the French king and the dauphin were godfathers to his two sons. After he was killed in 1673 during the siege of Maestricht in Flanders, the king held a special service in his own chapel.

It's a pretty exciting story. But obviously it wasn't good enough for Dumas, who based his novels on D'Artagnan's memoirs. Dumas didn't exactly feel constrained by the facts. He claimed history was only the nail on which he hung his stories, and he had no qualms in taking D'Artagnan to Paris 15 years early to become a hero under Louis XIII and Cardinal Richelieu rather than under Louis XIV and Cardinal Mazarin.

As for his romantic side, the little we do know is that D'Artagnan's wife left him because he preferred court and battlefield to house and home. If local knowledge is to be believed, he quite liked Armagnac too. Along with other Gascon soldiers, D'Artagnan is widely credited with making the drink popular in Parisian society. I didn't need much more of an incentive than that. I hurried off to investigate this charming little aside.

With about a thousand Armagnac producers in the area, it wasn't difficult to find one. Most are concentrated around Eauze and the town of Condom. Just a few kilometres south of Condom, the Château de Cassaigne has the advantage of being both an Armagnac producer and an interesting historic building. It was a bishop's residence in medieval times, and the château's pièce de résistance is the 16th-century kitchen with its peculiar stone ceiling. This is the place to learn about the liquor rather than the boring and unenlightening Museum of Armagnac in Condom.

Armagnac differs from cognac in that it involves a single rather than a double distillation and its production is limited by royal charter to a certain region. The still was brought to France by the Moors, who used it for scientific rather than alcoholic purposes, and the first mention of Armagnac can be traced back to the 13th century, when it was used by apothecaries for its disinfectant properties. As well as Armagnac itself, there are a host of liquors based on the brandy and a number of different fruits soaked in it. "There's a bit of a crisis in the after-dinner drinks market," confided manager Thierry Roques, adding that today's younger generation doesn't have time to sit after a meal and mull over the good things of life. "All the producers are trying to develop pre-dinner drinks."

Appropriately in D'Artagnan land, I discovered Pousse Rapier ("'sword thruster"), an Armagnac and orange liquor added to sparkling wine, which is particular to the Château Monluc in nearby St-Puy. It's far cheaper to buy Pousse Rapier at Château Monluc than in the region's gift shops, and besides, the château is worth a visit both for the magnificent view from its hilltop perch and its 15th-century stone floor with sunken reservoir.

At the Domain de Laguille near Eauze, Colette and Guy Vignoli make Glengers, an Armagnac with an interestingly complex malt whisky perfume. Glengers also has a somewhat tenuous musketeer connection. The story goes that in 1724, the then musketeer captain Nicolas de Terlon came back from Quebec where he was serving. Together with Aramis and Porthos, he created a drink in memory of their dead friend, D'Artagnan, by mixing Armagnac with maple syrup, which Terlon had brought from Canada.

Head north from the Domain de Laguille and you'll find Larressingle, a tiny and unspoilt medieval fortified village. It takes about five minutes to walk round the village after crossing the stone drawbridge over a dry moat. The rest of the time you can enjoy a mellow moment by admiring the church from the crêperie opposite and munching crêpes flambéed in (you guessed it) Armagnac. And you can't really visit the Château de Cassaigne without stopping off at the impressive Cistercian Abbey of Flaran on the way.

Don't even think of going to the Gers if you're on a diet. And if you don't like duck, you'll be hard pushed to avoid the oodles of foie gras and confit, the leg of the force-fed duck fried in its own fat.

But it's difficult not to think about Armagnac here. I found Armagnac munchies all over the place – in Condom, opposite the cathedral, there's a delightful little shop that makes Armagnac chocolates and Armagnac ice cream is a must-have at Auch. Both cities are worth a visit for more than their culinary lures: their narrow cobbled streets, medieval buildings and stunning cathedrals make for a pleasant afternoon's wandering. Auch's cathedral has a magnificent Renaissance façade and some of the best stained-glass windows in France. Just behind it is a statue of D'Artagnan. He stands proudly, his hand on his sword. Pity he isn't holding a flask of Armagnac as well.

The facts

Getting there

Jane Knight flew with Air France (0845 0845 111, www.airfrance. co.uk) from Heathrow to Toulouse. Prices start at £78 plus tax.

Being there

Termes d'Armagnac: Domaine de Labarthe chambres d'hôtes (0033 5 62 69 24 97) where you'll get a friendly welcome, well-decorated rooms with china ducks everywhere and a view of the tower at Termes d'Armagnac plus some of the best food in the region for £28 for two.

Condom: Hotel de Trois Lys (0033 5 62 28 33 33) in an old townhouse where a room for two costs £59. A delicious three-course evening meal can be had for £9.

Eating there

Le Florida at Castera-Verduzan (0033 562 681322) is widely considered to have one of the best menus in the Gers, with set meals from £13.80. Le Florida and other top chefs in the district have grouped themselves into an association called the Circle of Musketeers.

Further information

France Information Line (09068 244 123 at 60p a minute; www.france guide.com).

sun shines and the grapes ripen, butterflies and bees pass each other, whilst the swallows swoop past my decanted red wine

2009-07-23T10:26:00.000-07:00

I guess the best is still to come, i arrived with very little idea of what might be install and have been balled over by the daily nouveau. it is rich in social values, it makes you feel special and the weather is great, a true experience and I will value this for many years. I have slightly fallen foul of the cat, but I reckon by tomorrow she will have reconsidered our friendship and realised that the thorn that I have just removed from her nose, was removed for best motives , and her meal will be the better for its removal.
I finally decided to do the electrics for the workshop, having waited for Michael to get a better price it seems best for me to do it at cost and get on with the making of Michaels windows. So yesterday and today I have been running the band saw and the planer, cutting and preparing oak for the windows at the Bergerie.
George has been in every day to cut the grass and bushes in the area that will one day be a garden, and today he took me into Condom in his car, to buy a small electric grinder, the trip was memorable in that I will avoid him taking me to anywhere in the future, he simply does not look at the road when driving, I could feel my feet reaching for a none obtainable break, on many occasions, but is chatter was good, as the Irish say, the crack was good, and I am still alive.
St Puy is incredible, it is like a film set, a novella, a soap opera, everyone knows every one, but not as well as the other person, and all the gossip is therefore the better for the knowledge of who knows who, and the general rivalry is evident in the conversations of all of the people living here. George is possibly the worst for maligning folks, but everyone feels they know best and are keen to give their penny's worth.
Nadine, Tristan and Ingrid have gone to Paris, Tristan and Ingrid live there, Nadine will return today or tomorrow, so it will get me back to trying some French, the other two speak English and rathjer prefered to speak it than hear my poor recital of their beautiful language. I have surprised myself in coping, I can hardly speak the language and the need to buy machines and tools does not help my confidence, still it is good to have a go and I am now better than I was. By the way any spelling errors are largely due to my declining eyesight, I am now having difficulty, I have spent ages today grinding a cutter that should have taken a few minutes.

Bastile night

2009-07-14T15:18:00.000-07:00

I had sent my friend a quick email with photos but no explaination, so here is my reply which covers a fairly typical day here in France
Ok, I will try to explain. last night we went to the centre of St Puy, still have not taken photos, to have a drink with the English lady, Pamela, who is helping run the small brocante and tea room, met her and her English friends, had a drink of Poussee rapiere, the local fiz and armangnac mix, then on to Roland's house, next to the Chateau, for dinner of canard, poulet and the gâteau Nadine made from the mirabelle at the Bergerie. Then to the fire works in St Puy and some Champagne with George and Denise, Tristan and Nadine, as well as other French couples at the local bar, Chez nous, one of the ladies ticked me off for being too advanced when I had massaged another ladies calf muscles after she had developed cramp, whilst and after, dancing with me.... The evening finished for us at about 01.30 in the morning because we needed to be up early, 06.00, to load up for the the outside market at La Romieu. I spent some time on the computer before sleeping at about 02.00 in the morning, then up at 06.30 for a wash and breakfast. Loaded all that we neede into the car and some bits into the van when we realised i would not fit into the car. Off to La Romieu at about 08.00, when we arrived we set up on the corner of a round about...see photos, and at first had little customers, it was the night after the Bastile celebrations and it was threatening to rain, but after a while there became a steady flow of French ladies buying the cotton voils at 1 euro a square metre, the paris price is 29 euros a metre, i also helped my friends nigel and Wendy, set up there stall when they arrieved at 9.40 , having slept in.....then i wandered around the stalls to see what was available and spotted white china for Nadine to buy for her future bed and breakfast enterprise. I also took photos as I walked around, see photos.

The church or Abbey has cloisters that can be seen behind the closed gates, so hence the photos. I spent my time chatting to Tristan and Nadine and their customers as well as seeing what Nigel and Wendy ehere up to. Had lunch of coffee and croissant, then a sausage roll and later more coffee. Just before we decided to call it a day at 14.30, an English couple livened up the day for all, by trying the take their new Citreon across the edge of the traffic island, the lady driver managed to get the car stuck on the stone curb and her invalided husband then had to reverse it , with the sound of crunched steel and the signs of hydraulic fluid left on the road !!!!!! shorthly after this two attractive ladies came past and looked at the fabrics, Tristan remarked to me that they seemed to be talking together in Portuguese, so i asked them in French if they where from Portugal, they replied no, they came from Brazil, one of the ladies was living in the next town, Lectoure, and presumably is married to a French man, although she came from Belem in Brazil, and in fact finds it too quiet here in France,the other lady is from Sáo Paulo, single, and presumably staying with her friend in Lectoure...

We packed our stuff at lightening speed and zoomed back to Nadine's house, where now she is making the food for this evenings soire of English and French couples, all in the aid of french language lessons, there will be 14 coming....I had quickly loaded the photos onto the computer and sent you a selection, then I had some tea and an hours drawing in the garden, my first sketch of Nadines house, made in water clour pencils and washed over with my wetted finger. Nadine has just asked to turn the large omelete, I have done that and taken a quick photo of the very same grande crepe, which I will now load and send to you....

by the way the other photos showed the stream down the lane were Nadine caught the fresh water crayfish, they were cooked last night, fried in butter with a dash of armangnac, and taken to Rolands for part of the starter. Tonight i am sure will be a boozy...every one is arriving now so I will send this ..
Hi Campbell, the French lessons are finished for the night and large quantaties of champagne and red wine have been drunk. here is the photo of Nadine and her omelete. I have been asked to make doors by two couples that have been to the lesson here tonight ......Stuart

amazing France

2009-07-11T14:26:00.000-07:00

I have been lost in this rural idyll, St Puy, I cannot even start to retell how a small village in France can have captured so much of past with every sign of still moving with a modern world. I am staying with Nadine, a stylish Parisian who as decided to make an almost new start in the Gers. Her dream is to make her house into a bed and breakfast, with the granery being a small restuarant and craft shop. With jhave been having slightly heated discussions about the change of use and the change in life style, all in an atmosphere of rural antiquarian, french life seems to have no changes yet the rural village is different. Here in St Puy there is a large community of British, all getting away from what they think others have done to their country, yet putting some chnge on the french life style that has so attracted them here in the first place. Even a caring French lady, having lived in Paris and bought her rural retreat, cannot help but affect the balance of such a small place, it is thrown into the internet world by its incomers, the mayor now as put in an internet cafe, without the cafe, so that the village has its own cyber link, although I am not sure that it is necessary for this, Iam quite certain that all the inhabitants have their own link to the internet.
Since arriving I have been to so many events, whether it was horse riding or traditional Gascoyne dancing, that i am left wandering why Brazil is meant to have some much in the way of feastivals, here there are as many if not more, I beleive there is to be a large feastival for the harvest before Bastile day, and that does not account for all the local fairs and music events, all seem to be free, just need to pay for wine and food. Hopefully I can get to speak some better French before I leave at the end of August, I am struggling with the language at the moment, it reminds me of my first few years in Brazil, trying to learn a language when you need to know technical terms first, is not easy, but still iteresting and well worth the effort.I have now got my workshop almost kitted out and am still trying to organise some electricity for the machines so i can get started on this newly revamped career as furniture maker and restorer. it seems promissing, i have had already, several work offers and have found openings for contacts, very easy, all are eager to pass on your card and build a rapid client base. The snag is that in truth I live in Brazil, and although I am now starting this new venture, i am having to consider how to create the best of both worlds, not as easy as it might seem,if i give up on Brazil I may never return there and that would be a great loss, but the opportunities for a fresh start to restoration and furniture making, are so much better here in France, how I am going to get a balance I do not know. Still here is a new chapter and i will keep it as a feature of this blog.

Scotland

2009-05-12T14:55:00.000-07:00

Well back to Scotland and everyone telling me that the weather had been perfect before I arrived, every year its the same. I cannot beleive in glbal warming when scotland is perishingly cold, and this is Summer. I and the Swallows are very perplexed, I am here to help Michael get his September auction, at Bonhams, in London, ready. I can only really say that I am doing my small bit to help, I have been here since the 3rd May and seem to now be without work. Michael has organised two lorries to take stuff to London, he has such a strange blend of early technology, it can range from early fishing gear, or telescopes, to early calculators and typewriters, satelite navigation and computors to Arab spheres, bakerlite electric hot water bottles to glass electric generators. So we are ploughing our way through the dust and trying to get some order into his auction, it is remarkable that we have sent away more than 65 Tv sets, dating from the first that where made, tothose that where made around the early 1970's, large screen and whatch sized, around about a dozen early typewriters and a few controls for early aeroplane cockpits, including the reinforced glass for a Spitfire.
I am due to go to France in June and set up the new workshop in St Puy, just before I return to Brazil, I have an appoitment with my surgeon for anothert operation to my right eye, the previous operation has left me with a cataract and this will be removed before my return to Brazil. Unexpectedly i am told that the new lens, artificial, will bring my eyesight back to what it was before I wore spectacles, so that means another new pair of glasses, the third in 5 months.

Food from Light

2009-04-30T12:31:00.000-07:00

Do not get the idea from this short article, that I have no sympathy for those that have caught the latest flu virus or those that have died from it, I do notice the lack of direct comparisons to other virus's and how many people die annually from the commun flu virus. I for one have suffered the similar symptoms that occur when you contract Dengue, it is not comfortable and for some ( far more than the swine virus) it is fatal. In the UK it is always thought to be prudent to cover your mouth when coughing or sneezing, not something that is common world wide, and certainly not common in Brazil. I do not know any Brazilians who carry a handkerchief or try to acquire a paper napkin to use when about to sneeze or cough, yet they are prepared to now demand a surgical mask.
The cases of Dengue sufferers as actually increased with the advent of more public propaganda to help deminish the annual out breaks, it does seem as though the more information you give the less respect it receives, or the more the world seems to want to give up on personal responsibility for their deeds.
Graca has twice mentioned a friend of hers in relation to the idea of perpetual existence, life without eating food or drink, for me an impossible conception and defies the reality of how we are constructed by evolution, and evolutions dependence on our need to eat and drink. There are those that relate stories of people living without taking any food or water, or those that do not eat but also drink almost no liquid. In much the same vain is the idea that you can lose the forests and still allow the Earth to continue to sustain human life.
Perhaps the idea that the Brazilian government have, for not taking far more seriously the threat that is being continued in the forests of Brazil, by not intervening in a way that would clearly end any intrusive and threatening deforrestation, is that if you allow natural selection you will get equilibrium, or they may feel that the rich are immune to swine virus and climate change, who knows what moves people to take up politics and then decide to concentrate on how much you can increase your annual earnings rather than resolve the deforestation of the rain forest.
Here is a snippet from the BBC site, and although I have difficulty in believing the facts that are given here, it is worth realising how important the forrests are to the world health, and how easily a flu virus can attract attention whilst this more serious threat is always given scepticism.
"The fact that tropical forests continue to go up in flames, contributing seven billion tonnes of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere annually (more than all the world's cars, ships and planes), suggests that my Amazonian "Z" may not exist". The Z in question refers to "the El Dorado that (I) and many others have been searching for: an economic argument to convince governments that the standing rainforest could be worth more alive than dead".

Morte do Presidente

2009-04-14T16:38:00.000-07:00

John Wilkes Booth (10 de Maio de 1838 – 26 de Abril de 1865) assassinado Abraham Lincoln, o Presidente XVI do Estados Unidos, no teatro da Ford em Washington em 14 de Abril de 1865. Lincoln morreu no dia seguinte de uma única bala ferida à cabeça, tornar-se o primeiro Presidente americano para ser assassinado.
Booth foi um ator de fase profissional bem-sucedida de Maryland e um membro da família Booth proeminente dos atores. Ele foi também um simpatizar confederativo, que manifestaram veemente insatisfação com a derrota do Sul na proposta a guerra civil e da Lincoln para estender os direitos de voto para escravos liberadas.

Booth e um grupo de co-conspiras liderado por ele planejou matar Abraham Lincoln, Vice Presidente Andrew Johnson e Secretário de Estado William Seward numa tentativa desesperada para ajudar a causa da Confederação cambalearam. Embora o exército da Virgínia Norte Robert E. Lee tinha entregue quatro dias antes, Booth sentiu que a guerra não foi ainda mais porque exército Confederativos geral Joseph Johnston foi ainda luta contra a União General Sherman. Os conspirares, apenas Booth foi bem sucedido na realização de sua parte da parcela.

Após o tiro, Booth fugiu pelo cavalo para Maryland Sul, eventualmente, para uma exploração na Virgínia Norte rural, onde ele foi rastreado e morto por soldados União duas semanas mais tarde. Vários das outros conspirares foram tentou e enforcados pouco depois.
É interessante ver a recompensa de bloco de madeira aviso, o bloco de madeira foi amplamente utilizado nos Estados Unidos, não apenas para anúncios políticos mas também diários pequenos, os documentos de notícias e uma vasta gama de advertisng properganda. Embora fosse um processo de impressão simples e bastante em bruto, tinha também dentro de sua simplicidade, uma grande parte da história e poder de verdade visual, longo sendo usados por chap livros e informações gerais.

Latin American Politics

2009-04-14T15:48:00.000-07:00

I was interested in seeing some of the current key words that have brought people to my blog, and noticed that there was one Google search that had entered 'Stuart blog jaua', when I entered the same words into Google, I clearly found my blogs, but also this rather interesting blog on the current politics in South America.
Stuart Munckton Los Angeles Times Venezuela's Revolution: Giving Power to the ..... Agriculture Minister Elías Jaua said "We are under pressure to increase ...
http://weblogs.elearning.ubc.ca/leftturns/

Honest Waistline

2009-04-13T12:54:00.000-07:00

I do realise that I am always treading on thin ice, when I start talking about people being over weight, and yet, like drinking in excess, or driving after drinking, or indeed, smoking, it seems to be allowed because we have all done it ! So it may be that we all can stop as well as start a habit, for it may well be thought of as a kind of compulsion that is created by the substance, some form of natural drug, it is true that fat cells around the waistline are not passive lumps of lard but are highly active, pumping out proteins and hormones. While in small doses these are necessary, in excess then can cause damage to insulin use, also raising blood pressure and increasing cholesterol in the bloodstream.
The number of people with Type 2 diabetes has increased significantly in recent years and now tops 1.8m. It is caused by insulin resistance, which can be triggered by excess weight around the abdomen. Insulin produced in the pancreas stops working properly in overweight and obese people and the fatter someone becomes, the more resistant to insulin they become.
"Waist measurements can predict the risks of Type 2 diabetes and heart disease more accurately than weight. "Men with waists of more than 40ins and women with waist measurements of more than 35ins are at an incredibly high risk of Type 2 diabetes and heart disease.......Thicker waistlines may double to quadruple these risks, compared to those with slimmer waistlines. Even a lower waist of 37ins in men and 32ins in women may significantly raise the risk of either of these diseases, if not both."
Women with waists over 35ins and 40in-waists on men are classed as high risk. And it is these measurements rather than overall weight which experts believe are the best predictor of future health problems. Larger waists - a beer gut or apple shape - are traditionally assumed to develop on men, whereas women are thought to carry weight on the thighs - known as pear shaped. A tape measure could be a better guide to future health risks than bathroom scales, and certainly anyone can carry the tape measure with them...
Studies have shown that protein may be your best ally in obtaining a youthful waistline. A study of 100 women in Australia discovered that women who ate low calorie diets rich in protein from red meat and dairy lost more weight than following low calorie plans with little meat and more carbohydrates.

Diets and exercise

here is an idea of a comfortable diet and exercises that are esay to do...

1. Eat egg whites, wheat toast and yogurt for breakfast. One

piece of fruit (a pear, a small apple, a half a banana or a small

banana). Tall glass of cold water. Drinking cold water burns 70

calories a day. If you have to have coffee, okay but use 1%

milk instead of cream and artificial sweetener, if you must have

a sweet taste.

2. 10:30 AM Snack. You should eat an apple or pear, plus 3

walnut halves. The fruits help to add fiber and the walnuts

help to clear your arteries and improve heart health, also Brazil nuts are incredibly good for you, helping to slow down the effects of glaucoma.

3. Lunch. A Huge green salad, tomatoes, cucumbers, vinaigrette

dressing, plus skinless chicken, turkey or fish. Substitute a

turkey sandwich, lettuce tomatoes on wheat if you wish. I

recommend vinaigrette dressing made of balsamic vinegar and

a spoon of olive oil for one important reason. Studies have

shown that vinegar cuts your cravings for sweets. And olive oil

helps to slow your digestion, making you feel fuller quicker.

Drink a glass of cold water or sugar free lemonade.

4. 3:30 PM Snack. Apple or pear, plus 3 walnut halves or better still, Brazil nuts.

5. Dinner. Fish and a huge amount of steamed ( or sauteed in a

little olive oil spray) vegetables, made up of greens, broccoli.

Again, a salad also. Big glass of cold water.

For exercise. The simple exercises that you can do either in a

gym or at home work best.

1. Squats. Do 3 sets of 8 to start with. When that's

comfortable, do 3 sets of 12.

2. Push-ups. Aim for 15 full military style if you've never done

any. Build up to 25.

3. For cardio, walk at least 45 minutes to 1 hour each day. If

that's too comfortable, try speeding up.

4. Dance. No matter your age, dancing is one of the best cardio

workouts. If you're young, try hip-hop. I did hip-hop classes

for fun this past summer, and believe me, it's a strenuous

work-out. Try modern, jazz, or free-style. There's a reason

dancers have such amazing bodies!

A simple way to reduce blood pressure without risks, is with your normal diet of food,

Bananas and other foods high in potassium, act as anti - salt in your blood. In the body the potassium salt and not act as partners dance forever linked in a complicated Fred Astaire - Rogers Ginger Fox trot. When a partner is moving, the other partner shall be moving backwards;
What foods are rich in potassium?
Here's a list for reference:

Apples, Apricots, Artichokes, Asparagus
Bananas, Brazil Nuts, Brown Rice, Broccoli, Beans
Cantaloupe,
Figs, Fish
Honeydew,
Kiwi,
Legumes, Lima beans,
Milk,
Oranges, Orange Juice, Onions
Peaches, Potatoes,
Prunes, Papayas, Parsley, Pumpkin
Raisins, Roasted Peanuts
Spinach, Squash, Strawberries, Sweet Potatoes
Tomatoes
Turkey
Vegetable Juices,
Wheat Bread, White Rice, Winter Squash,
Yogurt
Symptoms of deficiency of potassium in the diet include diarrhea

Healthier foods..fat burning... click for link

On a lighter note, a team, including scientists from the Unilever company, have identified a class of nerve fibres in the skin which specifically send pleasure messages.And people had to be stroked at a certain speed - 4-5cm per second - to activate the pleasure sensation. They say the study, published in Nature Neuroscience, could help understand how touch sustains human relationships. Neuropathy, where the peripheral nervous system is damaged, can be very painful and sometimes the messaging system goes wrong leading to people feeling, pain even when there is no cause. Researchers involved in this work were looking to understand the opposite sensation - pleasure.

They then tested how people responded to having their forearm skin stroked at a range of different speeds, identifing, "C-tactile" nerve fibres as those stimulated when people said a touch had been pleasant. If the stroke was faster or slower than the optimum speed, the touch was not pleasurable and the nerve fibres were not activated. Scientists also discovered that the C-tactile nerve fibres are only present on hairy skin, and are not found on the hand. The speed at which people found arm-stroking pleasurable was the same as that which a mother uses to comfort a baby, or couples use to show affection, "this could be Mother Nature's way of ensuring that mixed messages are not sent to the brain when it is in use as a functional tool". "Our primary impulse as humans is procreation, but there are some mechanisms in place that are associated with behaviour and reward which are there to ensure relationships continue."

Budismo no Escócia

2009-04-07T16:10:00.000-07:00

Bem antes de St. Ninian recuado para sua caverna na praia de Whithorn para meditar c400 BC ou Columba fundada seu Mosteiro de Iona em 563 AD, Escócia tinha conta com centros religiosos de significado como assistido pelos círculos de pedras de Arran a Órcades. Caminho antes de St. Ninian recuou para sua Cave para meditar sobre c400 de Whithorn Beach BC ou Columba fundou seu Monastery em Iona, em 563 BC, um Escócia tinha impulsionou centros religiosos de significante como testemunhado por círculos de pedra Arran de Órcades. Hoje ele ainda é um ímã para aqueles que procuram silencioso e contemplação. Hoje ainda é um pólo de atração para como pessoas buscam calma e contemplação.

Círculo de pedra, Ilhas Ocidentais oculto jóias que sabe que religião fiéis os círculos de pedras e pedras permanente seguidos cinco milénios há mas parece mais provável que era astronômicos na natureza após as estações e os ciclos da terra em relação do sol e Lua. Revista quem sabe o que um Religião adoradores em círculos de pedra e de pé pedras seguidas cinco milênios atrás, mas parece mais do provável foi astronômico na natureza seguintes como estações e so circlos da terra em relação ao sol ea lua. Escócia certamente teria oferecido uma grande lanterna de ceu em para observar planetas. E ainda faz.

Mesquitas e sinagogas são agora tão familiarizados como o kirks (ingrjas) das muitas confissões cristãs e para uma intrépida viajante há raras atrações para eis, como o templo Buddhist tibetano em Samye Ling aninhado na fronteira colinas. Na década de 1950, um líder da ordem Kagyu do Budismo tibetano, Dr. Akong Tulku Rinpoche, fundou um mosteiro nas margens do Rio Rio Esk, nomeado após um que ele tinha deixado no seu próprio país. O Dalai Lama próprio visitou Escócia no início deste ano e, bem como endereçamento e ensino ajuntamentos enormes em Glasgow e Edimburgo fez sua própria peregrinação a Abadia de Dunfermline como ele tem um vivo interesse em visitar locais de peregrinação antiga.
Desde sua fundação em 1967 Samye Ling cresceu em um centro florescente de retiro espiritual, culto e ensino; um Templo de estilo tibetano foi construído e mais recentemente, em 1992, a Comunidade comprada a Ilha de Santa off a Ilha de Arran e construiu um centro para a paz mundial e a saúde. As suas portas abriu em Maio de 2003 e o Centro oferece cursos de meditação e uma oportunidade de participar na vida da Comunidade. A Ilha foi sagrada para os cristãos do Celtic e novo lema da Ilha "paz interior leva a paz mundial" seria certamente greve uma corda com o hermits e anchorites de uma era passada. Embora o século XXI retreaters não escapar o barulhar em cavernas e sobre pilares inacessíveis, o alojamento é ainda simples e o Centro foi concebido ecologicamente com água sendo aquecida por painéis solares e esgotos sendo processadas pelo Estado-da-arte palhetas camas.

Não é outro centro de retiro de budistas que também oferece cursos de meditação no Dhanakosa em Trossachs perto de Callander. Ele é interessante observar que avaliações recentes sugerem que há entre dez e cem mil budistas Ocidental na Grã-Bretanha hoje, de três para cinco milhões na América e budistas de 400 milhões em todo o mundo. No Prefácio do Dalai Lama « O despertar do Ocidente 'ele comentários que' nesta fase da sua história Budismo é mais de uma religião Asiático. » Certamente Escócia tem três das mais belas jóias budista do Ocidente.

Retiros

Findhorn
Findhorn, situados nas costas do Firth Moray, foi estabelecido como um refúgio espiritual para o peregrino holístico, naturesa desde o início dos anos sessenta e é provavelmente mais bem conhecido para o tamanho da sua produção de jardim de mercado e os jardins milagrosa que têm ressurgiu on the dunas de areia da Península Findhorn extraordinário. O programa de experiência é um crescimento pessoal de semana-longo popular e curso de terapia de autoconsciência e participantes provêm de todo o mundo. Findhorn também executa um centro de retiro espiritual em Ilha minúsculos do Erraid desactivar a ponta Sul Oeste do Ross da une.

Iona
Iona é a pequena ilha de Hebridean desactivar a maior ilha de une onde são Columba fundada um mosteiro celta em 563 AD. Foi muito influente no seu próprio tempo e da idade média era o site de uma Abadia Beneditina que ainda representa hoje. A ilha é imbuída com um sentido profundo da paz e é o terreno enterramento dos Reis celtas antigos (um da última, sendo a muito maligned Macbeth) e também a muito amado dirigente do Partido Trabalhista John Smith. A Comunidade de Iona foi fundada em 1938 by the George MacLeod reverend e executa três centros residenciais em Iona e Mull e pessoas a oportunidade de compartilhar da vida de uma Comunidade espiritual.

Pluscarden
Um dos mais bonitos retiros cristãos é o medieval Beneditina Abadia de Pluscarden, não longe de Elgin. Os visitantes podem vagar no jardim murado ou sobre as encostas florestadas circundantes entre os sete serviços diários realizados na Capela. As mulheres estão alojadas em um novo edifício, enquanto homens dormir na Abadia de si. Os hóspedes comem em refectory com os monges e são convidados a contribuir para o trabalho e fazer doações para o alojamento.

Mosteiro de Cisterican A Nunraw
Nunraw, perto de Garvald no Leste Lothian é definido nas marchas laminagem de the Hills Lammermuir e oferece tranquilidade e restauração spirtual a seus visitantes. Os irmãos farm para uma vida e assistir massas das 3 h às 19.00 mas hóspedes têm total liberdade para envolver a qualquer nível escolhem. São Bento viu mantendo um hospidade como parte integrante da missão monastic e Nunraw prevê: "um hospital para doentes almas; um terreno de formação para aquelas fortes; um paraíso refrescante para aqueles cansados e fatigados uma rocha de salvação para aquelas desesperada; e uma inspiração para aqueles zeloso"

NewBold
A Comunidade em NewBold House perto de Forres, é um rebento de Findhorn e é dedicada ao crescimento pessoal e a transformação. A Comunidade não praticar qualquer uma religião, mas bastante engloba uma conexão espiritual com toda a. Os hóspedes são convidados a viver e trabalhar juntamente com a Comunidade, a relaxar e recarregar as baterias espirituais e/ou participar de oficinas de trainamento executados por formadores pessoais.

Tapetes de serragem: Tradição de Ouro Preto

2009-04-05T16:11:00.000-07:00

Minha noiva estar parte de grupo alunas de FAOP vai ser decorando da ruas no Ouro Preto e ontem foi para ver procissão, ela me envio esta email...
"Voltei 23:00hs porque acompanhei a procissão toda, ela saiu do Pilar subiu os morros todos e foi parar na igreja de Antonio Dias. É emocionante!!!! Qdo Jesus sai da Igreja do lado de fora tem uma banda de música tocando e os "soldados romanos", esperando por Jesus... aí começa a procissão... Qdo terminar a Semana Santa, vou escrever no meu blog todos os passos desde o primeiro dia até o último.
Hoje as 18:00hs vai ter a procissão do encontro, ou seja, Nossa Senhora, mãe de Jesus sai de uma igreja e vai até a pça. Tiradentes encontrar com Jesus. Chamam a procissão do encontro... dizem que é muito bonita. Desde ontem que os sinos não param de tocarem..."

A Fundação de Arte de Ouro Preto (Faop) coordena o trabalho dos tapetes, desde o projeto até a confecção. A comunidade se junta aos artistas da FAOP e ainda a turistas brasileiros e estrangeiros. Eu ficar

Todo ano a história se repete: na noite do Sábado de Aleluia e na madrugada do Domingo de Páscoa, as ruas de Ouro Preto se transformam. A população une-se para confeccionar os tapetes que enfeitarão o trecho da cidade por onde passará a procissão da Ressurreição. Este ano, a procissão sairá da Matriz de Nossa Senhora da Conceição e percorrerá cerca de três quilômetros e meio até a igreja de Nossa Senhora do Rosário dos Pretos.

Todo o trabalho de confecção dos tapetes é artesanal. Para isso são usado ciprestes, farinha de trigo, pó de café, palha de arroz, couro, cal e serragem. A serragem é preparada com quase um ano de antecedência. É separada por textura e tingida de diversas cores.

Bandas de música e grupos de seresta passam a madrugada percorrendo as ruas da cidade para incentivar os moradores que trabalham nos tapetes.

Rivalidade histórica

A tradição de enfeitar as ruas de Ouro Preto com tapetes de serragem é antiga. Em 1733, a Igreja de Nossa Senhora do Pilar foi oficializada pelo Reino de Portugal. O Santíssimo, que representa o Corpo de Cristo, teve de ser transportado da Igreja de Nossa Senhora do Rosário dos Pretos para a recém inaugurada Matriz de Nossa Senhora do Pilar. “Os negros do Rosário quiseram fazer uma festa muito bonita, durante o Triunfo Eucarístico. Então, eles enfeitaram toda a cidade com tapetes. Depois dessa festa, ninguém mais se lembrou deles”, conta Márcia Valadares.
A confecção dos tapetes só recomeçou em 1963, quando Nossa Senhora do Pilar foi escolhida a Padroeira de Ouro Preto. Todas as ruas da cidade foram enfeitadas, numa grande festa. A Partir daí, os tapetes passaram a compor o cenário da cidade no Domingo de Páscoa e no dia do Triunfo Eucarístico.

A cada ano a cidade fica diferente na Páscoa. É que as duas igrejas matrizes da cidade se revezam na preparação da Quaresma e da Páscoa. Um ano a festa é preparada pela Matriz de Nossa Senhora do Pilar, no outro ano fica por conta da Matriz de Nossa Senhora da Conceição. E cada paróquia tenta fazer melhor do que a outra.

Essa rivalidade entre as duas paróquias vem da época da colonização da cidade. Foram fundadas duas vilas: Vila Rica e Antônio Dias, que brigavam pela maior produção de ouro e pela preferência da Coroa Portuguesa. Depois, Vila Rica se tornou Ouro Preto e anexou Antônio Dias. Mas a rivalidade continuou, principalmente durante a Semana Santa. No ano em que tudo fica a cargo da paróquia de Nossa Senhora da Conceição, no bairro Antônio Dias, o percurso da procissão é maior, cerca de três quilômetros e meio, contra apenas dois da paróquia de Nossa Senhora do Pilar.

Além de um percurso diferente, as procissões são diferentes. Cada matriz tenta inovar na representação das figuras bíblicas integrantes da procissão, ou acrescentar algo novo à programação.

Ritos da Quaresma e Semana Santa

Via Sacra

Durante a Quaresma, os fiéis relembram os 14 passos do sofrimento e da paixão de Cristo. Organizados em procissão, os participantes da Via Sacra percorrem um caminho e param a cada quadro sobre a Paixão, meditam e rezam. As orações são modificadas a cada ano, para que seja lembrado o tema da Campanha da Fraternidade.

Passos da Via Sacra

I – Jesus é condenado à morte

II – Jesus recebe a cruz

III – Jesus cai pela primeira vez

IV – Jesus se encontra com sua mãe

V – O cirineu ajuda Jesus a carregar a cruz

VI – Verônica enxuga o rosto de Jesus

VII – Jesus cai pela segunda vez

VIII – Jesus consola as mulheres de Jerusalém

IX – Jesus cai pela terceira vez

X – Jesus é despojado de suas roupas

XI – Jesus é pregado na cruz

XII – Jesus morre na cruz

XIII – Jesus é descido da cruz

XIV – Jesus é colocado no sepulcro

Setenário das Dores

Seguindo o relato bíblico, Maria, mãe de Jesus, sofreu calada durante sete ocasiões da vida de seu filho. Em Ouro Preto, esse sofrimento é relembrado durante o Setenário das Dores. A imagem de Nossa Senhora das Dores está com sete punhais encravados no peito. A cada dia do Setenário, um dos punhais é retirado e os fiéis refletem sobre a dor que o punhal está representando.

As sete dores de Maria

1 – Profecia de Simeão na apresentação de Jesus no Templo

2 – Fuga para o Egito

3 – Perda do menino Jesus em Jerusalém

4 – Encontro com Jesus no Calvário

5 – Maria aos pés da Cruz

6 – Descida do corpo de Jesus da cruz

7 – Enterro de Jesus

Setenário das Dores: de 28 de março a 3 de abril, às 19h, na Igreja de Nossa Senhora das Dores

Domingo de Ramos

A comunidade, com ramos nas mãos, recebe as bênçãos do celebrante, no domingo anterior ao Domingo de Páscoa. A celebração recorda a entrada triunfal de Jesus em Jerusalém, dias antes de sua morte.

Domingo de Ramos: dia 5 de abril, às 8h, na Igreja de São Francisco de Assis

Domingo do Encontro

No Domingo do Encontro, duas procissões saem de áreas diferentes da cidade e se encontram na Praça Tiradentes. A imagem de Nosso Senhor dos Passos sai em procissão da Matriz de Nossa Senhora da Conceição para se encontrar com a imagem de Nossa Senhora das Dores, vinda da Igreja das Mercês da Misericórdia (Mercês de cima). A procissão simboliza o encontro de Maria com seu filho carregando a cruz, a caminho do calvário.

Domingo do Encontro: Dia 5 de abril. Às 16h, missa no Santuário de Nossa Senhora da Conceição, seguida de procissão da imagem de Nosso Senhor dos Passos até a Praça Tiradentes. Às 17, missa na Igreja de Nossa Senhora das Mercês e Misericórdia, seguida de procissão da imagem de Nossa Senhora das Dores até a Praça Tiradentes. Após a Cerimônia do Encontro, procissão date a Matriz de Nossa Senhora do Pilar.

Tríduo Pascal

São os três dias que antecedem ao Domingo de Páscoa: quinta e sexta-feira Santas e Sábado de Aleluia

Bênção dos Santos Óleos

É na Quinta-Feira Santa que acontece a Bênção dos Santos Óleos. São eles: Óleo do Crisma, Óleo Batismal e Óleo da Unção dos Enfermos.

Transladação do Santíssimo Sacramento

A noite de quinta para a Sexta-Feira Santa é um momento de adoração. Os fiéis lembram da noite que Jesus passou em vigília no Jardim das Oliveiras, antes de ser preso. O Santíssimo Sacramento, que representa Jesus Cristo, é retirado da Igreja e levado em procissão para a sala onde será feita a adoração.

Trasladação do Santíssimo Sacramento: Dia 9 de abril, às 16h, no Santuário de Nossa Senhora da Conceição.

Lava Pés

Na noite da última ceia com seus apóstolos, Jesus, num gesto de humildade, lavou os pés de seus companheiros. A cena se repete na noite da Quinta-Feira Santa, quando o celebrante lava os pés de pessoas da comunidade, caracterizadas como apóstolos. Este ano, aproveitando o tema da Campanha da Fraternidade, os apóstolos serão pessoas idosas da cidade.

Lava Pés: dia 09 de abril, às 20h, na Igreja de São Francisco de Assis.

Sermão das Sete Palavras

Reflexão em forma de palestra das sete últimas palavras de Jesus durante seu martírio

Sete palavras:

1 – “Pai, perdoa-lhes, porque eles não sabem o que fazem”

2 – “Em verdade, te digo, ainda hoje estarás comigo no paraíso”

3 – “Mulher, eis aí o teu filho. Filho, eis aí tua mãe”

4 – “Meu Deus, meu Deus, porque me abandonaste”

5 – “Tenho sede”

6 – “Tudo está consumado”

7 – “Pai, em tuas mãos entrego meu espírito”

Sermão das Sete Palavras: dia 10 de abril, às 15h, no Santuário de Nossa Senhora da Conceição.

Descendimento da Cruz / Procissão do Enterro

Na Sexta-Feira da Paixão, único dia do ano em que não são celebradas missas, os ouropretanos preparam uma cerimônia que lembra a morte de Jesus. No adro da Igreja de São Francisco de Assis, a imagem de Nosso Senhor dos Passos é retirada da cruz, e os fiéis saem em procissão pelas ruas da cidade. A matraca, com seu som fúnebre, abre a procissão. Em seguida vêm as irmandades e pessoas representando figuras bíblicas.

Descendimento da Cruz e Procissão do Enterro: Dia 10 de abril, às 20h, na Igreja de São Francisco de Assis.

Vigília Pascal (Bênção do Fogo Novo, Círio e Água Batismal, Renovação das Promessas do Batismo, Liturgia Eucarística)

Na Vigília Pascal, os fiéis aguardam a notícia da Ressurreição de Cristo. Na celebração acontece a bênção do fogo e do Círio Pascal, canta-se o Exultet, música de proclamação sobre “o Cristo que vence a morte”, e é abençoada a água batismal, renovando as promessas do Batismo.

Vigília Pascal: dia 11 de abril, às 19h, no Santuário de Nossa Senhora da Conceição

Procissão da Ressurreição

A procissão celebra a ressurreição de Jesus. Em Ouro Preto, um diferencial marca a festa: a cidade é enfeitada por tapetes confeccionados com serragem e outros materiais.

Procissão da Ressurreição: dia 12 de abril, às 9h, saindo do Santuário de Nossa Senhora da Conceição em direção à Igreja de Nossa Senhora do Rosário.

Tower Bridge's Steam Power

2009-04-01T09:50:00.000-07:00

When Iwas living in London, during the 1970's, the East India's docks, Albert Docks and St Katherines, had just closed; the main port for London had been moved east to the mouth of the Thames and the large docklands area was a vacant lot.
I and many other small trades, moved into the docks and paid rent to the Port of London Authorities, the once famous Wapping police station and the Highway, with its 21 or more pubs, were now idle and without custom. The signs of the past greatness were still there, but it was a sad looking area and not even thieves saw value in staying, there was the odd petty thief, arms covered with watches and pockets full of antique rings, and it was not advisable to leave a radio visible in your car as that would be offered to the locals of the next pub along the Highway. Yet, with the Old Royal Mint at the end of the Highway, and the that facing the Tower of London, with its road running direct to Tower Bridge, on the South bank stood grand warehouses, still giving off the perfume of spices and teas from the orient; the power of the colonial empire was still visible, and some how Tower Bridge as the feeling of an entrance gate, when its draw bridge is lifted, it echoes the gate for the white castle tower on the other side, an evocative symbol, truly a not accidental feature in the architects mind.

When, in the 19th century, it became obvious that another bridge was needed across the River Thames (at the location of Tower Bridge) ship owners were incensed. How would their ships be able to reach the docks which lined the river from London Bridge down? A new bridge would ruin their business.
An Act of Parliament gave the dimensions for the bridge. It should have a central opening span 200 ft. wide and 135 ft. above Trinity high water and of 29 ft. when closed.
During the seven years it took to reach a decision fifty designs were submitted. They included a Duplex Bridge (from above it looked like a pair of wide-bridged spectacles) and three high level bridges. Many of them did not provide sufficient clearance for the tall ships.

It was Sir Horace Jones, the City of London Architect, who came up with the idea of a bascule-operated bridge. Even so, it wasn't immediately accepted. He enlisted the help of John Wolfe-Barry (youngest son of Sir Charles Barry, the architect of the Houses of Parliament) and in October 1884 tried again.
It took nineteen days of discussions before "Mr. Jones' flaps and wings" were granted Royal Assent and Parliament instructed the Corporation of London to build the bridge within four years - it took longer. nine years.

The new crossing point for the Thames river, London, conceived and built during the 1870s, 80s and 90s, Tower Bridge, encapsulates the struggle between the artist architect and his engineer, between a concern for history (the new bridge had to sit happily beside the ancient Tower of London) and the application of modern building technology. Tower Bridge is - in a very idiosyncratic way - a happy marriage of these potentially conflicting concerns, and perfectly encapsulates the topsy-turvy artistic tastes and values of late Victorian Britain. This movable bridge of the double-leaf bascule (drawbridge or sea-saw as the french word original implies) type that spans the River Thames between the Greater London boroughs of Tower Hamlets and Southwark. It is a distinct landmark that aesthetically complements the Tower of London, which it adjoins, built with the then Gothic style in prominence, and with vast amount of cast and forged steel, again the Victorian trade mark, and with the use of steam locomotion and power, also a Victorian symbol of progress and invention.

The bridge is at present undergoing restoration and repainting, 115 years after its opening by the then, Prince and Princess of Wales.

The opening on 30th June 1894 was spectacular with the Prince and Princess of Wales. Also in attendance were the Lord Mayor of London and the City Sheriffs with an escort of Life Guards.
The royal carried crossed and re-crossed the bridge to christen it. Eventually it came to a halt by a specially erected Royal Pavilion where the Prince of Wales (on behalf of Queen Victoria) opened the bridge. This was done by turning a specially designed silver cup mounted on a pedestal and linked to the hydraulic equipment. And he declared Tower Bridge open.
The bridge was completed in 1894 and provides an opening 250 feet (76 metres) wide. Its twin towers rise 200 feet (61 metres) above the Thames. Between the towers stretch a pair of glass-covered walkways that are popular among tourists. The walkways were originally designed to allow pedestrians to cross even while the bridge was raised, but they became hangouts for prostitutes and thieves and so were closed from 1909 to 1982.
The Tower Bridge centre road spans were operated by hydraulic pumps driven by steam until 1976, when electric motors were put into operation; the steam power system is still kept (in good repair) as a tourist display. Because of the reduction in shipping at the London Docklands, however, the leaves are now seldom raised.

The engine uses two cylinders and pistons, the steam enters the first high pressure cylinder, driving one pump and then leaves to enter the second low pressure cylinder driving a second pump. The whole boiler was kept under pressure 24 hours a day and night, producing a constant 80 lbs per square inch of pressure and a capacity of 300 horse power per engine. The engines also use six accumulators, to access as much power as possible for the driving of the two arms of the bridge.

These 100 tons accumulators where designed to store power when the bridge was not in use, the engines lifted great vertical shafts, inside the twin towers, and then these weighted shafts would be released for the bridge to be opened, providing the engines with a constant 100 tons of weight to balance the arms and allow the bridge to be opened by a set of eight lifting engines at a very fast, yet even rate.

Tower Bridge is the only moveable bridge on the River Thames, and is funded by an ancient trust - Bridge House Estates - which had been set up to manage London Bridge in the 11th Century. The trust keeps the bridge toll-free for road and river traffic, and is managed by the Corporation of London, who own and manage it. It is insured by Lloyd's of London on the shipping register as a ship, and for the first 23 years of its life, all staff were ex-sailors and servicemen.

The Tower of London, an imposing fortress was built around the White Tower (the massive keep at its heart) by William " the Conqueror" - the name White Tower dates from the thirteenth century, when Henry III, ordered the exterior to be whitewashed. Successive monarchs enlarged its defences and added more buildings. In its long history, the Tower of London has been a fortress, palace and prison, royal treasury and the kingdom's main arsenal. In 1100 the White Tower was host to the first of many hundreds of prisoners.

The evidence for the use of the Tower as a prison is plentiful, many of the towers have inscriptions carved by former inmates. Persons beheaded inside the Tower for treason include the following William Hastings, 1st Baron Hastings (1483), Anne Boleyn (1536), Margaret Pole, Countess of Salisbury (1541), Catherine Howard (1542), Jane Boleyn, Viscountess Rochford (1542), Lady Jane Grey (1554) and Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex (1601). Not surprisingly, the Tower of London has many "ghosts" and the reputation of being the place most frequently haunted in London

State prisoners were usually admitted through Traitors' Gate in St. Stephens Tower and executions took place on Tower Hill and inside the Tower on Tower Green. All the victims executed on Tower Green were buried nearby in the Chapel of St. Peter ad Vincula - consecrated during the reign of Henry I, burned down in 1512, re-built in 1520 and restored in 1876.

Although it is no longer occupied by the Royal Family, the Tower officially remains a royal residence and as such, maintains a permanent Guard. Two sentries are maintained during the hours that the Tower is open with one stationed outside the Jewel House and one outside the Queen's House.

Henry VIII was the last monarch to use the Tower as a royal residence but monarchs continued to go in procession from the Tower to Westminster for their coronation. This tradition continued until 1661 after the coronation of Charles II.

The tower is manned by the Yeomen Warders (known as Beefeaters), who act as tour guides, provide security and are something of a tourist attraction in their own right. Every evening, the warders participate in the Ceremony of the Keys, as the Tower is secured for the night.

The Tower is located at the eastern boundary of the City of London financial district, adjacent to the River Thames and Tower Bridge.

Letter to a friend

2009-03-29T07:42:00.000-07:00

I have just sent a reminder to a friend in Scotland, I am always asked to keep in touch, and this I try to do with friends and family, not always getting a response from folks but still hoping that they are well, if all but occupied with work, the never ending cry from those in Europe, cannot stop, have to work to pay the bills.
Here I am writing to a friend in Edinburgh, she works for the Royal Botanic Gardens in Edinburgh, and therefore has an interest in what I have written. Having sent the letter I thought that the general theme is of interest to all, the climate change is being seen as that, here in Brazil, and there is now a degree of concern. For the the farming industry is moving and the crops are changing, the areas of high rain fall are creating as much a problem as the areas without rainfall. The possible plan for new canals to be built to distribute water to the North of Brazil, may well be needed to create drains for the South; if Sáo Paulo is to be taken as an example, the city needs some flood protection and dry culverts to drain the rain fall, that at present, flooding large areas of the city, on a daily basis.
It is amazing how the government can let the infra-structure of a country go to ruin and still expect the country to continue on a path, to good economic growth; forget the world financial crisis, Brazil creates its own crisis on a daily basis.
Today's letter.....
Hi Susie, I guess all my friends in the UK and family, are up to their necks in work, have not heard a dicky bird from anyone for ages. talking of birds! here are some photos of an owl that has been in the garden for the last few weeks, I think it is called a Buraqueira Coruja, or a burrowing owl, the most common, if common is the word, of the species that would be in Bahia. It does not seem to mind being in the daylight, or near houses and people, I guess that it eats insects and very small rodents, it seems to be spending time in the plants that I have in the centre of the garden. When I first arrived here, the garden had been left for many years, the trees were enormous and had families of monkeys, there were eagles and vultures, lots of insects and therefore bird and animal life, but also many mosquitos. It is rare nao, not just with my cutting down the trees, but with the general build up of houses here, to see any of the wildlife that I used to see. The swarms of locust and abundance of dragonfly have also gone, as well as the different kinds of fish that you would see being caught here in the sea and the river that passes at the back of the house. This river is now so slow that it is over grown with plants, and is for all purposes a lake that is almost still water. There have been, and probably still are, enormous snakes in the lake, a few years ago a TV naturalist, who has a programme of the wildlife of South America, was almost killed by a snake that he caught a few miles north of here in the same river, he got hold of a python to show the camera, and the dear thing was bigger than he had thought, it wrapped its body around his head and arms whilst he was up to his chest in the river, the camera man continued to film him, but he was sufficiently strong enough to release the snakes grip on his wind pipe and then on his neck, but he was a bit shaken at the end of it......!!!!! I still have the humming birds in the garden, but again, very few, and do not see the fire-flies or glow worms, that I once saw, the climate in Brazil is definitely changing, the South and interior has been getting a huge amount of rainfall, a lot of serious flooding, whilst parts of the North have had little rain for a few years, places not getting rain for 10 months or so, when you see the TV news , it is like parts of the African interior, dead cattle and folks desperately trying to make do with a few grains of rice and beans, with almost no water, or having to walk miles to find some source for water.
I think this side of Brazil is lost to the foreigner, the lush valleys and tropical Amazon, cascading waterfalls and abundance of wildlife, is the normal view of life here in paradise.
Hope that all is well, and you are not all suffering from lack of sunshine.......Scotland can be so miserable if it is cold and raining for more than a month or two........ Stuart

29th March and 460 years of time

2009-03-28T06:02:00.000-07:00

1474 Prince João of Portugal (1455-1495), who became King João II in 1481,
assumes responsibility for naval exploration.
1500 Pedro Álvares Cabral (d. 1520?) discovers Brazil.
1502 Beginning of economic cycle based on the exploration of brazilwood (used for dyes).
1549 Tomé de Sousa (1501-1573), first governor general of Bahia, arrives.
City of Salvador becomes headquarters of Governo Geral (General Government).

The European and African histories of Brazil began in Bahia, which continues to honor both of these heritages that have mingled with the indigenous Native American cultures. The state capital, Salvador, was Brazil's first capital city and the center of colonial life from the 16th through the 18th centuries.

Forte de Nossa Senhora de Monte Serrat

This fort belongs to the Army and is considered the most beautiful military construction from the Brazilian colonial period. Its construction started in 1583, on a strategic positioning area on the highest spot of the peninsula, facing the port.

Concluded in 1742, without changing its original plan, remains until today with a house of command and nine cannons. Its history brings back to us the historical moments of the heroic resistance to the Dutch in 1624 and in 1638.

Since 1993, it has sheltered the Armaria Museum, which contains civil and military armament. From this fort visitors have a beautiful view of Todos os Santos Bay entrance, from where you can see Salvador in one side and Itaparica Island on the other side.

Forte de Santa Maria

This fortress, which belongs to Brazilian Navy, was raised after the Dutch invasion, in 1624, when the Portuguese governors built two fortresses in the small cove of Porto da Barra in order to cross fire and avoid new landings.

This fortress was concluded in the XVIII century and has kept an image of Our Lady for many years. Its heptagonal Italian-type shape has not been modified along the years.

Forte de Santo Antônio Além do Carmo

It was constructed in the second half of the XVII century to resist to the Dutch during the invasion of 1638. It used to be a prison for important people of the national political life from the XVIII century.

The fort has suffered many changes since the XIX century. Although it has never participated on a war, it has always occupied a strategic place in defense.

Forte de Santo Antônio da Barra

This fort, which belongs to Brazilian Navy, is located in the north entrance of Todos os Santos Bay. The construction was initiated in 1536, and had, originally, the shape of a tower with ten sides.

Enlarged and repaired between 1583 and 1587, it suffered changes between 1602 and 1702. It is considered the first fortress raised in Brazil and shelters the Nautical Museum, which contains maps, navigation equipments, and maquettes of old Portuguese and Spanish ships and findings of the ship Galeão Sacramento, which has sunk in the entrance of Todos os Santos Bay.

Forte de São Diogo

It was constructed in the middle of a hill called Morro de Santo Antônio, at the right side of Porto da Barra beach, in the end of the XVI century. The construction was enlarged and transformed into a fort in order to avoid the invasions through the only existing safety port in the entrance of Todos os Santos Bay.

This port used to be a target to the ones who intended to attack the city by the South. It was concluded in 1722, and on the top of the entrance there is the emblem of Imperial Brazil.

It was built with an irregular Italian-type plan, and has two floors. It suffered several changes in its original shape along the years. Besides being a historical attraction, this fort is an important center of leisure for both inhabitants and visitors.

Forte de São Pedro

It was constructed in a place chosen by the Dutch in 1624 for building a fortress, between 1646 and 1723. It used to occupy a strategic place in the defense city’s southwestern limits and its main goal was to avoid the invaders’ access from Porto da Barra to Salvador.

It was conceived in a square shape, which represented a progress for that time. In this fort, the Brazilian military offered resistance to Portuguese colonial government, for the first time, in 1822, which resulted in the beginning of the war for Brazilian Independence.

Forte do Barbalho

Formerly known as Fort N. S. do Monte Carmelo or Monte do Carmo, this construction is located at the far northern side of the city, an area it was designed to protect along with Fort Santo Antonio do Além Carmo. Its construction dates back to 1638, when Luiz Barbalho Bezerra orders the construction of new trenches in this area against new Dutch invasion attempts. Throughout the centuries the fort housed the public jail and the S.Lázaro Lazaretto infirmaries. Shaped as a quadrangular polygon, the fort is built in stonemasonry and has a circular turret and three fortifications at the sides guarded by watch posts. This design was initially influenced by the Italians and later by the French fortifications. Its original conception had quarters only in the plain area and a guard corps superposed by the commander’s quarters. The tribune-shaped gates are most likely a consequence of the changes it underwent in the 19th century.

Forte Santo Alberto

This fort belongs to the Army and is located on Jequitaia Avenue, in the Lower City.

It is known as Forte da Lagartixa (Lizard’s Fort), because one of its cannons – on which there was a picture of a lizard – shot in July 2nd, 1822 for announcing that Portuguese troops were leaving the place, and that Bahia had got its Independence. Its construction was initiated in the second half of the XVI century, around the old São Tiago Tower. Archeological findings of the tower were recently discovered and can be seen by visitors.

Concluded in 1610, Fort Santo Alberto , as well as Fort Santo Antônio Além do Carmo , used to integrate a system of defense for protecting against attacks from the land, in the north side of the city. Dutch soldiers occupied the fort during the invasions of 1624 and 1638.

Forte São Marcelo

Constructed between 1650 and 1728, the Fort of Marcelo is one of the curious monuments of Salvador. The construction arose on a sand bar which already exists next to anchorage of the old port of the capital of Bahia. With the fear of a possible invasion from the Dutch and ,ccording to the historical records, only after the construction of the port at Salvador, was considered safe for maritime transport.

The Fort was erected with monumental sandstone below the water line, and with triangular shaped masonry and irregular stone above, to a height of 15 metres. In 1812, the work was completed with the construction of a ring that surrounds the Central Fort. The Fort of Marcelo is the only circular one of the Americas, and was given the touching nickname ' the navel of Bahia’, by the writer Jorge Amado.

Olhos tão brilhante da Coruja

2009-03-27T09:59:00.000-07:00

há poucos dias, perguntei meu Jardineiro a convocar um homem subir as de coceiras e fazer um limpeza geral, também para tirar enorme de coco que eram demasiado elevado para mim chegar. Agora tenho mais luz no jardim e muitos coco verde para beber. Tinha não notei qualquer vida da ave das fora normal no jardim, até a folhagem tinha sido cortada, mas no dia seguinte, embora molho as ervas e plantas, que perturbado grande pássaro, que levou-me bastante por surpresa, relegada em catus e palmeiras pequenas que estão no centro do jardim.
Quando procurando cerca as plantas que era ainda mais impressionado com o fato de esta ter sido uma Coruja, mãos uma coruja jovens, pernas longas, bom olhos aberto e brilhante, e como pegar um susto pela minha presença como fui pelo seu. Nós olho uns aos outros e andou cerca as plantas vê-lo melhor, ele mudou ligeiramente, mas por andar, e, em seguida, quando cheguei muito próximo, ele voou até à cima de parede na jardim, tendo um olhar para trás-me e rotativas sua cabeça, como apenas Corujas parecem ser capaz de fazer.
Tive águias e abutres no jardim, mas esta é a primeira vez tenho visto uma coruja aqui, estou não observadores de aves, para que não têm idéia que variedade este é, analisaram apenas em outro situa no internet, e talvez seja o buraqueira de Coruja, mas não sei. Vou tentar e obter algumas fotografias para que possa fazer uma pintura dele no jardim. Aqui estão algumas fotos que tomei et hora de almoço, mas deve ver se, pode aproximar ligeiramente lhe e obter fotos mais detalhadas. Ele gostei ficei no plantas no jardim.

Nota atarde para o Dia da Mãe

2009-03-23T15:48:00.000-07:00

Mães ...... Quando seu pai morre e você apoiar a sua mãe, torna-se há uma mudança na relação de infância, esta mudança não facilmente é vista ou apreciada, mas quando sua mãe morre, existe um amiga que tinha há toda a sua vida, uma pessoa que constantemente pensado de vocé cada dia da sua vida. Nem sempre uma relação fácil e não um que aprovado de tudo o que você fizeram ou podem ter feito, mas sem reclamação e sempre com esperança, ela seria existe quando os outros tenham deixado. As mães têm seu dia marcado, mas temos sempre a marca de nossas mães conosco. abençoá-los.