Stories about Portuguese from April, 2008
Brazil: Homicide counter on the streets
Recife is the first city in Brazil and in the world to have a homicide counter installed on the streets. Since January 1st only, there have been 1,511 deaths in the city, 11 of them today. “Now, the public can monitor our blog's data not only on the Internet but...
Brazil: WordPress attorney blogs about the blocking
Marcel Leonardi [pt], the Brazilian attorney who is representing WordPress in the case of a possible ban on the platform in the country, blogs: “In the motion filled by the Automattic Inc. [on Monday], among other pieces of information, it has been highlighted the tremendous damage that the blanket ban...
Brazil: Orkut vs Facebook
Raquel Recuero [pt] has a long post explaining why Brazilians love Orkut so much that they have paid no attention whatsoever to facebook – at least so far.
Mozambique: On unemployment and the government responsibility
Basilio Muhate [pt] expatiates on the high unemployment rates in Mozambique and the role government play in it. “Bureaucracy also causes many problems in the labor market, mainly because of decisions that are not consistent with reality and real economy, where public spending (government spending) is often determined by political...
East Timor: On the shortage of rice
Ângela Carrascalão [pt] describes how rice entered East Timor via Indonesia, substituting native corn, and the problem the country now faces in times of food shortage: “When it was no longer part of the current diet of the East Timorese people, the population almost ceased to grow corn, and the...
Angola: The voting weapon
Cazimar [pt] echoes the news that the Chinese An Yue Jiang ship was allowed to dock in Luanda only to unload merchandise destined for Angola. The blogger asks Angolan president José Eduardo dos Santos why he wants weaponry and call people to react: “Be careful with this delivery of weapons....
Brazil: Blog gives away tickets to attend to PangeaDay
Victor Vasques [pt] is giving away five pairs of tickets to the PangeaDay event in Rio de Janeiro to readers of Com Limão (With Lemon) blog. Contestants only need to send a video or catchphrase about “I want to attend to Pangea Day” via email and the five best chosen...
Lusosphera: Remembering the Carnation Revolution
On April 25 1974, 34 years today, Portugal's 40-year fascist dictatorship, the longest in the history of Western Europe, came to an end with the Carnation Revolution, which also brought independence for the remaining colonies in Africa and Asia. Today Portuguese speaking bloggers from all over the world comment and celebrate.
Lost Brazilian ballooning priest carried into the blogosphere
This time the story is rather sad, but the blogosphere is exploding with humorous takes on the tragedy of a Brazilian Roman Catholic priest who is missing after drifting out to sea while trying to set a record for a flight using helium-filled party balloons.
Angola: Remember April 25
Many Angolan blogs, such as Kitanda [pt], bring today videos, articles and posts about the anniversary of the 1974 Carnation Revolution, the military-led coup d'état that changed the Portuguese regime from an authoritarian dictatorship to a democracy and brought independence to overseas territories.
Brazil: Against the slave farms
Luiz Carlos Azenha, from Vi o Mundo [“I saw the world”, in Portuguese], blogs for the approval of the Congress Bill that changes the Brazilian Constitution to allow for the confiscation of private rural lands where the use of slave work is discovered. Azenha says “It's necessary to confiscate the...
Brasil: Alternative (poetic) justice
Hernani Dimantas, from comunix.org [Pt], cheers [Pt] the decision made by a criminal judge in southern Brazil, to exchange the normal penalty to be applied on 3 young Brazilians, accused of commiting internet crimes, by a curious alternative penance: read and review 2 classical Brazilian literature works each trimester. Hernani...
Brazil: Making a child murder into a media show
A child dies under mysterious circumstances. Her father and stepmother are the prime suspects chosen by the media and general public since the beginning, but the official investigations are still under way. Is it fair to lead 160 million people to believe someone is guilty of killing his own daughter before the final official pronunciation on the matter? What is around, and behind, the full time reality-show coverage made by the Brazilian media in cases like this? The Brazilian blogosphere talks.
Brazil: Improving the police by the inside
The Blog da Segurança Pública [“Public Security Blog”, in Portuguese], from Brasília, lists 10 possible and affordable improvements[Pt] that would make Brasília policemen's lives better, thus improving their performance at their work too. The blog reports successful experiences made by the police of other Brazilian states.
Brazil: On the food crises
Matheus Pacini makes available in Portuguese [pt] a translation of The silent tsunami, from The Economist, to support his post about the food crisis.
New Oil in Brazil Unleashes a Gusher of Media Controversies
Twisted information about the discovery of what may possibly be the third largest oil field in the world turned into a hot issue on the Brazilian blogosphere this week. The trigger was a comment from the head of Brazil's National Petroleum Agency [ANP], Haroldo Lima, mentioning that the recently found Carioca [or Sugar Loaf] field in Brazil’s offshore Santos Basin could potentially contain reserves of up to 33 billion barrels of oil and gas.
Brazil: Debating race
Alex Castro [pt] is generating an interesting debate in his series of posts about race, a matter that he considers of utmost importance in Brazil. “Each human being is, above all, who they think they are and who they are perceived as being.”
East Timor: Ramos Horta is back home in the anniversary of massacre in Dili
Ângela Carrascalão [pt] is pondering about justice: “The day that Ramos Horta returned to his country coincides with the 9th anniversary of the massacre in Dili. In my brother Manuel's home, dozens of refugees, who had sought shelter there, were murdered. Among them my nephew Manelito. […] I do not...
Angola: A glossary of Angolan terms
Casa de Luanda [Luanda House, pt] has been compiling a glossary of Angolan expressions. “Check out the A to D, E to L and M to Z. sections. As soon as new suggestions from our readers come up, the list will be updated”.
Brazil, USA: Sex, Crime and the Vatican
Antônio Mello, from blogdomello[Pt], blogs about “Sex, Crime and the Vatican” — a BBC documentary (parts 1, 2, 3 and 4)[En, subtitles in Pt] about children sexual abuse by catholic priests and the shelter provided by the Vatican to the accused ecclesiastics — and a Vatican internal document named Crimen...
Angola: On freedom of expression and globalisation
Kianda [pt] thinks that “the fact that someone was born in one country should not revoke their right to think, criticize, vote or even run for elections [in another country]… we are in the globalisation era, in a world with fewer and fewer boundaries and we should all have the...