Sunday, June 30, 2013

O Trofeu Cara De Pau Do Ano Ja Tem Dono


- Blogueiro que pede umas viagens de presente a importadores fala mal de politicos e da corrupcao no pais.

- Critico gastronomico que ganha estadia em spas e hoteis e disfarcadamente transforma aquilo em artigo, fala mal de politicos e da corrupcao no pais.

- Sommelier de restaurante que so recomenda vinho de quem lhe paga rolha por fora, fala mal de politicos e da corrupcao no pais.

- Sommelier de restaurante que so recomenda vinho de quem lhe paga uma viagem para Disney, Miami (lugares com vinhos famosos), fala mal de politicos e da corrupcao no pais.

- Comprador de redes de varejo ou atacado que so compra produto de quem molha a mao dele, fala mal de politicos e da corrupcao no pais.

- Dono do  posto da esquina que batiza gasolina com alcool, fala mal de politicos e da corrupcao no pais.

- A lista nao tem fim....

O grande vencedor do trofeu cara de pau ate aqui nesse ano se chama VOCE, brasileiro. Voce he o grande colaborador para a formacao do lixo moral reinante no Brasil. E ainda fala que corrupcao sao os outros. 


Triste. 

Saturday, June 29, 2013

Ah Vai Dormir!!

Em ingles, mas vale seu tempo.

Cheating Ourselves of Sleep

Christopher Silas Neal
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Think you do just fine on five or six hours of shut-eye? Chances are, you are among the many millions who unwittingly shortchange themselves on sleep.
Research shows that most people require seven or eight hours of sleep to function optimally. Failing to get enough sleep night after night can compromise your health and may even shorten your life. From infancy to old age, the effects of inadequate sleep can profoundly affect memory, learning, creativity, productivity and emotional stability, as well as your physical health.
According to sleep specialists at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine and Western Psychiatric Institute and Clinic, among others, a number of bodily systems are negatively affected by inadequate sleep: the heart, lungs and kidneys; appetite, metabolism and weight control; immune function and disease resistance; sensitivity to pain; reaction time; mood; and brain function.
Poor sleep is also a risk factor for depression and substance abuse, especially among people with post-traumatic stress disorder, according to Anne Germain, associate professor of psychiatry at the University of Pittsburgh. People with PTSD tend to relive their trauma when they try to sleep, which keeps their brains in a heightened state of alertness.
Dr. Germain is studying what happens in the brains of sleeping veterans with PTSD in hopes of developing more effective treatments for them and for people with lesser degrees of stress that interfere with a good night’s sleep.
The elderly are especially vulnerable. Timothy H. Monk, who directs the Human Chronobiology Research Program at Western Psychiatric, heads a five-year federally funded study of circadian rhythms, sleep strength, stress reactivity, brain function and genetics among the elderly. “The circadian signal isn’t as strong as people get older,” he said.
He is finding that many are helped by standard behavioral treatments for insomnia, like maintaining a regular sleep schedule, avoiding late-in-day naps and caffeine, and reducing distractions from light, noise and pets.
It should come as no surprise that myriad bodily systems can be harmed by chronically shortened nights. “Sleep affects almost every tissue in our bodies,” said Dr. Michael J. Twery, a sleep specialist at the National Institutes of Health.
Several studies have linked insufficient sleep to weight gain. Not only do night owls with shortchanged sleep have more time to eat, drink and snack, but levels of the hormone leptin, which tells the brain enough food has been consumed, are lower in the sleep-deprived while levels of ghrelin, which stimulates appetite, are higher.
In addition, metabolism slows when one’s circadian rhythm and sleep are disrupted; if not counteracted by increased exercise or reduced caloric intake, this slowdown could add up to 10 extra pounds in a year.
The body’s ability to process glucose is also adversely affected, which may ultimately result in Type 2 diabetes. In one study, healthy young men prevented from sleeping more than four hours a night for six nights in a row ended up with insulin and blood sugar levels like those of people deemed prediabetic. The risks of cardiovascular diseases and stroke are higher in people who sleep less than six hours a night. Even a single night of inadequate sleep can cause daylong elevations in blood pressure in people with hypertension. Inadequate sleep is also associated with calcification of coronary arteries and raised levels of inflammatory factors linked to heart disease. (In terms of cardiovascular disease, sleeping too much may also be risky. Higher rates of heart disease have been found among women who sleep more than nine hours nightly.)
The risk of cancer may also be elevated in people who fail to get enough sleep. A Japanese study of nearly 24,000 women ages 40 to 79 found that those who slept less than six hours a night were more likely to develop breast cancer than women who slept longer. The increased risk may result from diminished secretion of the sleep hormone melatonin. Among participants in the Nurses Health Study, Eva S. Schernhammer of Harvard Medical School found a link between low melatonin levels and an increased risk of breast cancer.
A study of 1,240 people by researchers at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland found an increased risk of potentially cancerous colorectal polyps in those who slept fewer than six hours nightly.
Children can also experience hormonal disruptions from inadequate sleep. Growth hormone is released during deep sleep; it not only stimulates growth in children, but also boosts muscle mass and repairs damaged cells and tissues in both children and adults.
Dr. Vatsal G. Thakkar, a psychiatrist affiliated with New York University, recently described evidence associating inadequate sleep with anerroneous diagnosis of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder in children. In one study, 28 percent of children with sleep problems had symptoms of the disorder, but not the disorder.
During sleep, the body produces cytokines, cellular hormones that help fight infections. Thus, short sleepers may be more susceptible to everyday infections like colds and flu. In a study of 153 healthy men and women, Sheldon Cohen and colleagues at Carnegie Mellon University found thatthose who slept less than seven hours a night were three times as likely to develop cold symptoms when exposed to a cold-causing virus than were people who slept eight or more hours.
Some of the most insidious effects of too little sleep involve mental processes like learning, memory, judgment and problem-solving. During sleep, new learning and memory pathways become encoded in the brain, and adequate sleep is necessary for those pathways to work optimally. People who are well rested are better able to learn a task and more likely to remember what they learned. The cognitive decline that so often accompanies aging may in part result from chronically poor sleep.
With insufficient sleep, thinking slows, it is harder to focus and pay attention, and people are more likely to make poor decisions and take undue risks. As you might guess, these effects can be disastrous when operating a motor vehicle or dangerous machine.
In driving tests, sleep-deprived people perform as if drunk, and no amount of caffeine or cold air can negate the ill effects.
At your next health checkup, tell your doctor how long and how well you sleep. Be honest: Sleep duration and quality can be as important to your health as your blood pressure and cholesterol level.
This is the first of two columns on inadequate sleep

Dialogo Do Mes

Que perola.

Eu: "Que porcaria fazer uma importacao agora com o euro perto de R$ 3.00"

Importador de vinho: "Nossa, o euro ja esta em R$ 3.00?"

Ja pensou que temos gente assim que trabalha com importacao e nao sabe a quantas estao as moedas? 

Thursday, June 27, 2013

Voce Foi Chifrado Pela Mulher? Esta Depressivo? Pensa Na Morte O Tempo Todo? Gosta De Cafe?

Os seus problemas acabaram. Agora pode tomar um cafe enquanto fala (ops, conversa) sobre a morte.

Como que nao sabia disso antes? Que perola...e ja existem varios desses ha anos.



http://www.deathcafe.com/


Dollar E Euro Sobem. Que Delicia Pagar Mais

Facam as contas: Sujeito fez importacoes com dollar e euro a 1.8 e 2.4 respectivamente. Teve um trabalho dos infernos para vender os vinhos (nem todos foram vendidos, ao contrario), cortou as margens, topou qualquer coisa... ficou sem estoque e agora que chega a hora de repor estoque, sai bem  mais dinheiro do bolso. Dollar a 2.22 e euro a 2.95. Adeus ao pouco (se algum) lucro do estoque antigo.

E voces ainda querem abrir importadora de vinhos porque acham que o vinho que custa EUR 5.00 "pode" ser vendido a R$ 90.00?? 

Enquanto isso minha caixa esta lotada de empresas anunciando subidas de precos. 

Grandes Viagens - Hrvatska

Croacia. 
Curto e fino:

  • Estradas maravilhosas tanto na paisagem quanto no nivel do asfalto. Ha pedagios do tipo 'paga o tanto que percorre'. 
  • Comida sempre fresca, mediterranea, saudavel, barata.
  • Vinhos locais (brancos e tintos) agradaveis. Prefira os brancos e pegue os tintos somente por curiosidade. Fuja de vinhos que dominam os supermercados e lojas.
  • Barganha de passeio
  • Gasolina barata (em relacao aos 'vizinhos' italianos). Encher o tanque la he uma delicia.
  • Museus de guerra lindos, mas muito tristes.
  • Pais que ja teve muita tecnologia avancada (para a epoca), mas se perdeu apos tantos problemas, guerras e confusoes.
  • Incentivo muito pequeno aos empresarios. 
  • Burocracia extrema, politica confusa. Dezenas de partidos politicos.
  • Nova geracao bem alta e bonita. Velha geracao mostra na cara os resultados da guerra. Triste.
  • Dubrovinik: Possivelmente uma das cidades mais belas e interessantes culturalmente que voce possa visitar na sua vida.
Um pais de contrastes. Um lugar onde a nova geracao tem educacao das melhores, mas nao podem colocar em pratica o que estudam e aprendem. Governo joga contra a livre iniciativa de empresarios dando a eles muito papel, muita burocracia, muitos impostos e pouco apoio.

Familias que foram separadas por conta de guerra horrivel que so vimos pela televisao. E agora infelizmente entrarao no Euro. mais um pais que pode virar um resort de alemaes e holandeses somente.....


Wednesday, June 26, 2013

Eurocrise: O Bicho Ja Pegou No Mediterraneo

5000 municipios espanhois ja possuem edificios e casas a venda com preco inferior ao custo da construcao.

Em algumas comunidades os precos ja cairam mais de 50% (Toledo lidera a queda).








Tuesday, June 25, 2013

Grandes Viagens - Slovenia

Tive o grande prazer de passear pelo interior da Slovenia chegando ate a capital. Pais pequeno se comparado as dimensoes continentais brasileiras, mas me chamaram muito a atencao como tudo estava limpo, as estradas fantasticas, o povo muito cordial (ate na simpatica capital Ljubljana) e muita coisa com historia para ser visto.

No pouco que fiquei la deu para perceber que estao num buraco chamado euro, tambem. Diferentemente da europa mediterranea ou da tecnologica Deutschland, ali nao tem muito o que fazer a nao ser rezar, jogar limao para tras, sei la.

Destaque para um museu que conta a historia do pais no castelo que fica no ponto mais alto da cidade, bem no centro. O castelo tem nome de castelo. Nao tem como errar. Pegue o funicular se nao for macho para subir ate la no pe 2.

Em dois dias pode-se ver a capital toda. E compensa dar uma chegada ate a parte do litoral para um relax. 

Durante mais uma viagem longa a negocios eu vou colocando um pouco do que vi na regiao para o blog nao ficar totalmente sem assistencia.


Saturday, June 22, 2013

Voce Eh Bem Sucedido? Mesmo? Leitura De Sabado

The New York Times


June 14, 2013

A Call for a Movement to Redefine the Successful Life

EVERY day, news releases and books cross my desk that promise success in all sorts of areas — getting a job, getting a better job, managing your employees, managing your boss, managing your relationships.
Some are interesting, some are ridiculous and many are repetitive takes on the same theme. But recently, I came across two items that, separately, talked about an issue I’ve tackled before in one of my columns — questioning what we actually mean by success.
That column, which appeared almost a year ago to the day, discussed how we shouldn’t always aim for the extraordinary, but celebrate the ordinary. It was one of my most popular articles ever.
So I was intrigued when I was told that a conference was being held on the very issue of redefining success. And, separately, that American Express had recently released a study showing that Americans were thinking of success in different ways than in the past.
“The Third Metric: Redefining Success Beyond Money & Power” was the conference presented last week by Mika Brzezinski, host of MSNBC’s “Morning Joe,” and Arianna Huffington, editor in chief of the Huffington Post, at Ms. Huffington’s new apartment in TriBeCa (some 200 people squeezed into her living room).
Panels, covering topics ranging from “Managing a Frenetic Life” to “Wellness and the Bottom Line,” featured a number of prominent people, among them the actress Candice Bergen and Valerie Jarrett, a senior adviser to President Obama.
The message, one that Ms. Huffington is promoting in her publication and in speeches, is particularly aimed at women. “The way we define success isn’t working,” Ms. Huffington said at the conference. “More, bigger, better — we can’t do that anymore.”
The concepts seem a little fuzzy at times, but the overarching thesis is that it is time to rethink the common wisdom of how to achieve success: sleep four hours a night, work 20 hours a day, see your family rarely and never admit the need for downtime.
That system is wearing us down, Ms. Huffington said. In her commencement speech this year at Smith College, she told students, “If we don’t redefine success, the personal price we pay will get higher and higher. And as the data shows, the price is even higher for women than for men. Already women in stressful jobs have a nearly 40 percent increased risk of heart disease and a 60 percent greater risk for diabetes.
“Right now, America’s workplace culture is practically fueled by stress, sleep deprivation and burnout,” she said.
The answer? To create a movement that embraces the idea that physical and spiritual wellness — from meditation to exercise to good nutrition — are integral to, not separate from, a successful life.
She cited as one example the two nap rooms available for Huffington Post employees, which employees were at first afraid to use because they feared it looked as if they were shirking their duties. Now they are always booked.
Another answer: To build workplaces where empathy and kindness are rewarded, in the somewhat corny terminology of the speakers, where a go-giver is as desirable as a go-getter.
It all sounds wonderful, of course, but how does this fit into our society? Many people are working harder for less money, are concerned less about spiritual wholeness than basic health care, and find it hard to carve out time for a short coffee break, let alone a nap.
“This is well-intentioned and important,” Senator Claire McCaskill, Democrat of Missouri, said to me after she spoke at the conference, while acknowledging that “it’s luxurious to have the ability to rethink time in your life.”
It is easy to dismiss these ideas as the privileges available only to those who no longer have to worry about money or power. But perhaps a better reaction would be to find a way to incorporate them into public policy and to ensure that such ideas find their way from the bosses to the workers.
“The whole issue of overwork cuts across class,” said Ellen Galinsky, president of the nonprofit Families and Work Institute. “We consistently find that one out of three employees feel overwhelmed by everything they have to do at work.”
The institute’s latest National Study of the Changing Workforce conducted in 2008 — phone interviews of more than 3,000 Americans — found that the No. 1 correlation between better health, such as less frequent minor health problems and fewer signs of depression, was economic security.
The next are “work-life fit” and “autonomy” or more control over your work environment.
Ms. Galinsky and Ms. Huffington agreed that the phrase work/life balance should have been retired long ago.
“For decades, I’ve hated the term work/life balance,” Ms. Galinsky said. “It implies a scale where one thing takes away from the other. A good life can enhance your job and vice versa.” A work/life fit, she said, doesn’t keep work on one side of the equation and life on the other, but weaves them together.
Some examples are schedule flexibility and co-workers and supervisors who are supportive and responsive to personal and family business.
Ms. Galinsky said her institute had drawn up a list of six criteria for an effective workplace, with effective being defined as having employees who are highly engaged, satisfied and planning to remain with their organization.
These criteria are: challenging and learning on the job, autonomy, work-life fit, support from a supervisor, a work climate of respect and trust and, of course, economic security.
“There is no one magic bullet,” she said. “We have six ingredients and none are stand-alone. It’s not just about flexibility — flexibility and a horrible boss don’t make a wonderful life.”
The idea that people are eager to find — or define — success outside the normal parameters is backed up by a study done for American Express.
The top ways people define a successful life, according to the study: Being in good health, finding time for the important things in life, having a good marriage/relationship and knowing how to spend money well.
The Futures Company, which assisted in the American Express study, also issues the annual U.S. Yankelovich Monitor, a report that has been conducted since 1971 that assesses Americans’ attitudes, lifestyles and values.
According to the Monitor report, many fewer people see owning an expensive car as a sign of success, while being satisfied and in control of your life have grown over the years.
“It doesn’t mean that material success is unimportant,” said Peter J. Rose, senior vice president of the Futures Company. Rather, intangibles, like a good marriage and being able to take a day off when desired have grown in importance when defining success.
The Third Metric conference and the American Express study demonstrate a trend — or maybe the hope of a trend — that we can reinterpret success beyond the traditional signposts of wealth and concrete achievement.
As Ms. Galinsky said, it’s a good philosophy and goal to aim for, but the real question will be, “How do we make the ideas applicable to everyone in the work force, not just to those who are already very successful?”


Friday, June 21, 2013

Musica De Sexta-Feira

Tirei a Madonna da lista por conta dos ultimos eventos.... fica para semana que vem.

Sempre fico impressionado como Beatles deixaram de cantar yeah yeah yeah e em 2, 3 anos ja faziam por musicas muito complexas e maduras.





Dialogo Da Semana

"Aqui na Italia nos vivemos como as pessoas pensam que os brasileiros vivem no Brasil".

Estas sao as palavras de alguem que vai com a familia e amigos de bicicleta para a praia todo fim de semana (35km de distancia), para Croacia as vezes de bici tambem, que faz snow cross-country no inverno, desce montanhas esquiando, caza tartufo, pesca, visita amigos a miude, e viaja o mundo. 

E voce que trabalha 15 horas por dia para ter um (....pensando) algum lixo de carro, para morrer com 65 anos apos ser mandado embora do emprego que julgava a melhor coisa (e unica) do mundo.

Como dizem no sertao do Brasil, somos mirins.





Wednesday, June 19, 2013

Medalhas!! Medalhas!! Medalhas!! Medalhas!! Medalhas!! Nao Seja Um Enotrouxa

Se ha algumas coisas tontas no mundo do vinho, as medalhas que sao distribuidas em concursos sao as campeas.

Essa vai para os leitores mais iniciantes e sem muito tempo para pensar nisso: Ha zilhoes de concursos onde sao distribuidas medalhas a vinhos com muita fartura.

E ai chegam vendedores (desde a vinicola ate a ponta final --loja) dizendo que o vinho xxx ganhou medalha de ouro em Paris, Bruxelas, Los Angeles, Cardeal, Elias Fausto, Warta, Gurupi, Mendoza, Quero-querolandia, Vladivostok...

Grande tonteria. Por que? Porque nesses concursos trilhoes de vinhos podem ser contemplados com a mesma medalha. Nao falo de um sistema onde somente os  1,2 3 colocados ganham medalha, mas sim de 500 medalhistas de ouro, prata, bronze.

Entao faca um favor a voce mesmo; nao compre vinho na base dos pontos ou de medalhas. Aprenda um pouco sobre as regioes produtoras, safras, produtores. De quebra vai economizar um $, ganhar mais cultura, e quem sabe, saude.

Tuesday, June 18, 2013

Pensamentos {Mais ou Menos} Aleatorios. Sobre Os Protestos

81% dos participantes do protesto ontem em SP- das Kapital, ficaram sabendo da agenda do dia via facebook (acho que datafolha saiu-se com essa, nao me lembro a fonte).

Talvez tenhamos motivos para celebrar (finalmente as ovelhinhas estao acordando um pouco) e outros para pensar (kcta, as pessoas usam rede social como fonte de informacoes). 

Ao menos estao se mexendo ao inves de ficarem protestando via e-mail ou blogs inuteis (como este).

Grandes Vinhos, Pequenos Precos

Pensa em um vinho que tem todos os atributos que o brasileiro enofilo iniciante ou ate no meio do caminho gosta; cor purpura, aromas agradaveis e frescos, corpo de medio para pesado, boa persistencia, facil de harmonizar com varias comidas ou bom de bebida sozinho. E para terminar custa baratinho.

Ai quando voce ve que esse vinho vende pouquissimo percebe que ha algo de errado no mundo do vinho no Brasil. Alguem nao esta sabendo promover e/ou vender e/ou oferecer esse vinho, pois se o cliente leva esse nao tem erro, vai ficar contente e vai ter recompra.

Me refiro ao muito bom cabernet franc 2010 da chilena Montgras. Alguns clientes chegaram a perguntar se era vinho europeu. A importadora desse vinho tem um diamante nas maos, mas nao esta sabendo que fazer com ele. Da a vinicola para mim, vai??

Encontravel facilmente em supers da vida. Talvez ai esteja o erro. A tapir que compra vinho em supermercado vai nos santas da vida e despreza esses. Supongo yo.

Belissima compra por ~ R$ 50.00. Um dos melhores que ja encarei por esse preco.


Monday, June 17, 2013

Lembrando Das Coisas Boas: Salvaguardas

Nem tudo acaba mal nesse pais. Lembra quando comecaram com aquela coisa imbecil de salvaguardas?

Gracas a sua raiva, indignacao, protesto (bem civilizado, como deveria ser sempre), reclamacao, argumentacao, etc etc, que aquela materia organica descartavel de ideia nao foi aplicada no pais do atraso. 

Entao ficamos assim, de tempos em tempos vamos lembrar que as vezes o minimo do bom senso consegue algumas vitorias.

Ufa.



Saturday, June 15, 2013

Leitura De Sabado: Argentina E A Carne....

Realmente ja nao sao mais os mesmos. Hoje leitura de sabado com leitura, nao video.

Argentina Falls From Its Throne as King of Beef

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BUENOS AIRES — A thick slab of grass-fed sirloin dripping in its own juices: so many Argentines consider such a feast a birthright to be enjoyed regularly that one president in the 1990s quipped to an American magazine, “Tell your readers, ‘Don’t come to my country if they’re vegetarian.’ ”
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Source: Chamber of Industry and Commerce for Meat and Meat Products of Argentina

But tastes change, even here.
Beef consumption in this red-meat colossus has decreased so much over the decades that the nation recently fell from its perch as the world’s top per capita consumer of beef, a title Argentine ranchers are fighting to regain from their tiny neighbor, Uruguay. In another jolt, a study warned that pizzeriascould soon outnumber steakhouses in this city.
As if that were not enough to rattle the national psyche, Argentina slipped into 11th place, behind countries like New Zealand and Mexico, in the global ranking of beef exporters this year, prompting solemn reactions like one in a major newspaper that declared it “the end of a reign.”
“We live, at this moment, immersed in shame,” the writer Diego Vecino said in a recent 4,000-plus-word magazine article that explored declining beef consumption. “In the last few years, our Argentine national identity has been roughed up as never before,” he lamented, in a slightly tongue-in-cheek fashion. “The ritual of the barbecue persists, but in many cases under the kitsch glow of a retro experience.”
It is hard to overstate beef’s centrality to the Argentine way of life for more than a century. Novels and poems extol the art of cattle ranching on the vast pampas, long a touchstone of national pride. Cafes in this city bulge with diners feasting on steaks washed down with glasses of malbec. At lunchtime, it is still possible to see construction crews preparing slabs of beef on makeshift grills, the smoky smell of this ritual permeating their work sites.
Argentines ate about 129 pounds of beef a person last year, far surpassing Americans, who mustered a mere 57.5 pounds by comparison. But Argentina’s current level is a pale shadow of its peak: 222 pounds of beef for every man, woman and child, achieved in 1956.
Reasons vary for these doldrums. Beef prices have surged with inflation, but cattlemen contend that government price controls aimed at preventing domestic beef consumption from falling further have wreaked havoc by making it costly to maintain large herds. Others, eying China’s rising demand for grains over the last decade, say it is simply more profitable to farm soybeans than to raise cattle.
“We are witnessing a historic decline in our beef industry,” said Ernesto Ambrosetti, chief economist of the Argentine Rural Society, the country’s largest farming association. “Now our smaller neighbors, Paraguay and Uruguay, have passed us” in the export rankings.
Government officials contend that their policies to lift beef consumption, including export restraints and price controls intended to make the meat more affordable, are turning the tide. Indeed, domestic consumption has recovered slightly from a record low in 2011.
But while Argentina has experienced swings in beef consumption in the past, some see the latest drops as evidence of a broader paradigm shift: many Argentines are simply opting for a more varied diet.
The shift — reflected in a rising demand for foods like poultry, pasta and pizza; a greater awareness of the health risks associated with eating beef; and even the emergence of an insurgent vegetarian dining scene in Buenos Aires — does not sit well with some Argentines.
“Beef consumption is threatened by modern trends of healthy eating, mainly the exaltation of what’s natural and ecological, stimulating vegetable consumption,” the Argentine Beef Promotion Institute warned in a 2006 report, warily acknowledging a “new age culture and the appearance of cooking fads incorporating other products.”
For some Argentines who were raised in a society so focused on beef, the adjustment was long overdue. “I almost don’t eat meat now,” said Susana Carfagna, a 61-year-old retiree, as she walked out of a butcher shop with some ground chicken as an alternative to beef burgers. “It’s not healthy. I have high cholesterol and need a more balanced diet.”
At Buenos Aires Verde, a vegetarian restaurant with a pastel orange and lime green color scheme, diners can choose from options like patties made from yamani rice and adzuki beans, or cannelloni made with dehydrated fruit and flax seeds.
“Argentines are demanding a change,” Mauro Massimino, 33, a vegetarian who owns the restaurant, said as his predominantly svelte clientele ate their meals. “Around five years ago, vegetarianism started to gain traction here, and the growth since has been incredible.”
The growth of vegetarian restaurants in Argentina’s capital has unfolded at a time of big change — some say upheaval — in the countryside. As recently as 2007, Argentina had about 55.6 million head of cattle, according to the United States Department of Agriculture. That number fell to 48.1 million in 2011, before recovering somewhat this year to an estimated 51.2 million. (That is still more cows than people, given the country’s population of more than 40 million.)
As Argentina’s economy over the past decade recovered from a collapse in 2001, beef prices in the country surged. Struggling with the broader increase in inflation, the authorities in 2006 announced a temporary ban on beef exports in an effort to expand the domestic supply and bring down prices for Argentine consumers.
Since then, the government has limited beef exports and imposed price controls, moves that ranchers claim are eroding profitability. As losses mounted, a wave of slaughterhouse shutdowns left thousands of people jobless in recent years. Many cattle ranchers have shifted into soybean farming, with the grain exported largely to China where it is used as animal feed.
The government has tried to curb the impact of rising beef prices and diminished supply through a program called “Meat for Everyone,” offering more than a dozen popular cuts of beef at low prices to consumers in the Buenos Aires metro area.
But officials have also promoted other types of animal protein, reflecting the nation’s dependence on agribusiness. “It is much more gratifying to eat some grilled pork than to take Viagra,” President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner said in 2010, joking about what she described as the meat’s libido-enhancing qualities while announcing subsidies for the pork industry.
For many Argentines, how much beef they eat comes down to another factor: price. In the last three years, coveted cuts of cuadril (rump steaks) have jumped in price almost 90 percent, to about $5.80 a pound, said Juan Pagano, a butcher in the neighborhood of Colegiales.
“It’s unbelievable how the prices have shot up,” said Eduardo González, 48, who cleans industrial water tanks for a living. Buying a relatively cheap and tough cut of beef one recent evening at a supermarket, he said he could no longer afford sirloin.
“But I still try to eat beef four times a week; if I did not, I would die!” he said, with a chuckle. “It is fundamental.”
Indeed, many Argentines are not taking the decline of their beef industry lying down.
Claudia Valenti, a nutritionist for the municipality of Buenos Aires, said people should eat beef, preferably lean cuts, every day.
“We are not herbivores,” Ms. Valenti said.
“Human beings never were, apart from at the very beginning of time.”
Jonathan Gilbert contributed reporting.

Friday, June 14, 2013

Frase Da Semana

Brasil ya tiene sus indignados

El inesperado movimiento de protesta de los jóvenes nace a tientas, con los políticos asustados y las fuerzas del orden muy dispuestas a reprimirlo.



Isso (a indignacao, o basta, o chega, o ja deu) esta com cheiro que vai dar bons frutos. Dessa vez isso aqui esta com jeito que vira um pais, e nao um lugar onde cada um esta por si e os governos contra todos.


Momento Solene: Tocando Violino De Herr Mozart!

http://www.npr.org/blogs/deceptivecadence/2013/06/14/190975113/playing-mozart-on-mozarts-violin

Incrivel. A estoria esta em ingles....mas a musica nao precisa de traducao.


Musica De Sexta-Feira

Para quem conhece bem os EEUU essa trilha sonora se encaixa bem melhor...

Vao no link. Vale um otimo vinho.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dItLkd0siwI

Thursday, June 13, 2013

Grandes Vinhos, Pequenos Precos

As vezes me deparo com alguns vinhos que me lembram que ainda ha vinho de verdade sendo feito no mundo. Um vinho feito ate com pisa de humanos mesmo, literalmente falando. Safra 2003, sem madeira nenhuma. E ainda bem vivo.

Paguei ridiculos R$ 30.00 pelo colheita e R$ 50.00 pelo 'reserva'. Grande surpresa. Ja havia ouvido falar e algumas pessoas ao meu redor ja os conheciam. Mas ainda assim fiquei surpreso. Rotulo pobre, humilde. Coisa de pequeno produtor.

Fiquei sabendo que o produtor ja quebrou ha tempos. Portanto se vir alguns desses vinhos por ai, pode pega-los sem medo. Da uma procura na internet.

Quinta do Farfao 2003. Douro PO, puro de origem.

Como continuar a tomar vulgares [como os da America do Sul] quando se tem acesso a vinhos feitos de verdade?

Consulte um vendedor dos bons, que nao seja um empurrador de rotulos. Pesquise, estude, so um pouco. E compre coisa boa.





Pensamentos Aleatorios

Poderia ser ''conversas aleatorias'' tambem.

Eu: "Vendas de carros novos cairam para niveis quase catastroficos na Europa mediterranea nos ultimos 4 anos".

Amigo que ja nasceu otimista, vive ne Europa, tem 20 empresas la e esta bem demais na vida (tem saude, $ e he feliz) :"Que bom para os mecanicos de carros".


Ohhhhh snap!!!!

Aprendeu? Eu tambem, mais uma vez.

Wednesday, June 12, 2013

Perguntar Nao Ofende

Enquanto isso...http://www.estadao.com.br/noticias/impresso,fogo-bombas-e-depredacao-no-maior-protesto-contra-tarifa,1041335,0.htm

Eu estava a poucas quadras dessa coisa toda ontem. Estranhamente os carros da PM Choque passavam e interrompiam minha reuniao por 2 segundos somente. Acho que ja estamos nos acostumando com isso. Agora faltam os homem bombas suicidas para alegrar de vez a cidade.

Mas a pergunta que nao deve ofender he a seguinte: Por que nao fazem protestos, queimam tudo, jogam pedras pelas causas de corrupcao, roubalheira publica, pessimos servicos de saude, educacao, transporte, ou pelas milhares de licitacoes fraudulentas que ocorrem a cada instante, pelas greves de agencias de saude que deixam milhares de pessoas com cancer sem remedio (lembra-se disso?), etc etc?

Voce tem ideia do porque nao fazem protestos contra tudo isso acima? Nem eu.

Pergunta inspirada 100% em  um comentario que o Jabor fez hoje na CBN. 

Sem post for a while sobre vinho ou cerveja porque o excesso de lavoro nao me deixa mais ter tempo para coisa alguma. Perdoes.




Saturday, June 8, 2013

Porque Cafe Faz Bem Para Nosotros.

Fantastico.

This Is Your Brain on Coffee

Illustration by Ben Wiseman
This column appears in the June 9 issue of The New York Times Magazine.
For hundreds of years, coffee has been one of the two or three most popular beverages on earth. But it’s only recently that scientists are figuring out that the drink has notable health benefits. In one large-scale epidemiological study from last year, researchers primarily at the National Cancer
Institute parsed health information from more than 400,000 volunteers, ages 50 to 71, who were free of major diseases at the study’s start in 1995. By 2008, more than 50,000 of the participants had died. But men who reported drinking two or three cups of coffee a day were 10 percent less likely to have died than those who didn’t drink coffee, while women drinking the same amount had 13 percent less risk of dying during the study. It’s not clear exactly what coffee had to do with their longevity, but the correlation is striking.
Other recent studies have linked moderate coffee drinking — the equivalent of three or four 5-ounce cups of coffee a day or a single venti-size Starbucks — with more specific advantages: a reduction in the risk of developing Type 2 diabetes, basal cell carcinoma (the most common skin cancer), prostate canceroral cancer and breast cancer recurrence.
Perhaps most consequential, animal experiments show that caffeine may reshape the biochemical environment inside our brains in ways that could stave off dementia. In a 2012 experiment at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, mice were briefly starved of oxygen, causing them to lose the ability to form memories. Half of the mice received a dose of caffeine that was the equivalent of several cups of coffee. After they were reoxygenated, the caffeinated mice regained their ability to form new memories 33 percent faster than the uncaffeinated. Close examination of the animals’ brain tissue showed that the caffeine disrupted the action of adenosine, a substance inside cells that usually provides energy, but can become destructive if it leaks out when the cells are injured or under stress. The escaped adenosine can jump-start a biochemical cascade leading to inflammation, which can disrupt the function of neurons, and potentially contribute to neurodegeneration or, in other words, dementia.
In a 2012 study of humans, researchers from the University of South Florida and the University of Miami tested the blood levels of caffeine in older adults with mild cognitive impairment, or the first glimmer of serious forgetfulness, a common precursor of Alzheimer’s disease, and then re-evaluated them two to four years later. Participants with little or no caffeine circulating in their bloodstreams were far more likely to have progressed to full-blown Alzheimer’s than those whose blood indicated they’d had about three cups’ worth of caffeine.
There’s still much to be learned about the effects of coffee. “We don’t know whether blocking the action of adenosine is sufficient” to prevent or lessen the effects of dementia, says Dr. Gregory G. Freund, a professor of pathology at the University of Illinois who led the 2012 study of mice. It is also unclear whether caffeine by itself provides the benefits associated with coffee drinking or if coffee contains other valuable ingredients. In a2011 study by the same researchers at the University of South Florida, for instance, mice genetically bred to develop Alzheimer’s and then given caffeine alone did not fare as well on memory tests as those provided with actual coffee. Nor is there any evidence that mixing caffeine with large amounts of sugar, as in energy drinks, is healthful. But a cup or three of coffee “has been popular for a long, long time,” Dr. Freund says, “and there’s probably good reasons for that.”

Musica De Sexta-Feira (no Sabado)

Deu vontade de assistir ao history channel?


Leitura De Sabado: Nao Esta Na Hora De Dar Um Basta Nisso?

Com video. E nos vimos tudo isso acontecendo.

http://www.economist.com/blogs/americasview/2013/06/brazils-disappointing-economy


Friday, June 7, 2013

Voce Gosta De Cafe? Entao Leia Isso

Sou testemunha de uma das maiores invencoes para quem gosta de bom cafe. Um aparato tao simples, tao ridiculo de facil de se projetar que o cara deveria faturar muito dinheiro. E esta.

Aeropress. A solucao para TODOS os problemas para se fazer um otimo cafe. Voce so precisa de um cafe de boa qualidade, o resto esse aparato faz para voce.

Nao vou inserir links ou any crap aqui, mas de um google em aeropress coffee e divirta-se.

Paguei $ 25.00 plus shipping in the USA, mas vale cada cent.

Aposentei minhas maquinas, exceto pela minha querida bialetti Brikka, QUANDO acho o cafe correto para ela.

Thursday, June 6, 2013

Perguntar Ofende: O Que Importa E O Futebol

A tal selecao brasileira de "futebol" (propriedade privada) cai no tal ranking da FIFA (idem) e ha uma comocao nos telejornais.

O produtividade do pais Brasil despenca (isso he GRAVE) e vira rodape de jornal.

Voce nao acha que algo de errado nas prioridades desse pais? Eu tambem.

As pessoas nao sao idiotas ao darem mais atencao ao primeiro assunto que ao segundo? Tambem acho.

Sergio Buarque de Hollanda. Se houvesse um ceu gostaria de bater um papo com esse sabio senhor.



Tuesday, June 4, 2013

Estudo vê indícios de que vinho francês tem 'origem italiana'

Oba, adoro uma maquina do tempo. Da BBC Brasil de ontem. Otima leitura!!

O processo de fabricação dos tradicionais vinhos franceses – considerados os melhores do mundo – tem raízes italianas, sugere um novo estudo.
A revelação, que coloca em xeque a origem de um principais símbolos de orgulho nacional da França, além de alimentar ainda mais a rixa histórica que o país tem com a vizinha Itália, foi publicada na revista científica americanaProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Após testes feitos em laboratório, os pesquisadores encontraram vestígios de vinho em ânforas (vasos antigos) que teriam sido importadas dos etruscos, povo que habitou a região onde atualmente se situa a Itália, cerca de 500 a.C.A descoberta baseou-se na análise dos primeiros objetos dos quais se tem notícia usados para produzir a bebida em território francês.
Uma prensa para vinhos localizada na mesma região da França onde foram feitas as descobertas revelou que a bebida conquistou rapidamente o paladar dos franceses e propiciou o surgimento de uma indústria local que conquistaria rapidamente o mundo.
O estudo também verificou que o vinho continha um tipo de resina à base de plantas e pinheiros, o que, segundo os pesquisadores, pode ter ajudado a conservá-lo durante o transporte.
Vinhos franceses / AP
Estudo foi conduzido por pesquisadores americanos e baseou-se na análise de ânforas

Mistério

Os primórdios da fabricação de vinho são cercados de mistério, principalmente porque a bebida deixa poucos marcadores químicos - espécie de ‘pegadas’ - que ajudam cientistas a refazer sua história.
Os primeiros exemplos de vinificação conhecidos – como é chamada a transformação da uva em vinho – remetem a regiões onde hoje se localizam o Irã, a Geórgia e a Armênia.
A partir dessas localidades, a fabricação de vinho moderna teria se espalhado lentamente em direção ao Ocidente até chegar à Europa.
As pesquisas foram conduzidas pelo americano Patrick McGovern, do Museu da Universidade da Pensilvânia, nos Estados Unidos, e sua equipe.
Em 2004, ele já havia conduzido experimentos que sugeriam que o vinho à base de arroz tenha se desenvolvido na China ao mesmo tempo em que a bebida começou a ser fabricada no Oriente Médio.
Mesmo assim, detalhes de como o vinho transpôs as fronteiras do Oriente Médio, incluindo para a França, permaneciam pouco claros.
Nesse novo estudo, McGovern e sua equipe tentaram reconstruir parte dessa história.
"É possível que o vinho tenha chegado à França pelo extremo norte do continente, através da Alemanha, pela Romênia", disse ele à BBC News.
"Porém, nossas descobertas fornecem um conjunto definitivo de provas de que a bebida entrou no país pela Itália", acrescentou McGovern.

Análise

As constatações de McGovern e sua equipe vieram após a análise de ânforas encontradas na França, vasos antigos usados pelos gregos para carregar líquidos e sólidos no casco dos barcos.
Os etruscos, uma civilização pré-romana que habitava o atual território da Itália, teriam incorporado a cultura dos vinhos dos fenícios – que espalharam o consumo da bebida pelo Mediterrâneo desde a Idade do Ferro - que usavam, por sua vez, ânforas com fins similares.
Sabe-se que o povo etrusco comercializava mercadorias com o sul da França nessas ânforas – mas ainda não está claro se eles carregavam vinho ou outras mercadorias dentro delas.
A equipe liderada por McGovern focou suas pesquisas na cidade costeira de Lattara, próxima à cidade de Lattes, no sul de Montpellier, onde a importação das ânforas só terminou por volta do período 525-475 a.C.
Eles usaram uma ferramenta analítica de alta precisão, chamada cromatografia, gasosa acoplada à espectrometria de massa, que lista as moléculas absorvidas pela cerâmica das ânforas.
Os resultados mostraram que havia indícios de vinho nela, assim como uma resina à base de pinheiro e componentes herbais.
Mas o que surpreendeu os cientistas foi a descoberta de uma prensa de vinhos, onde as uvas eram colocadas para serem masseradas e seu líquido, retirado.
"Em uma cidade cercada de muralhas como essa, é atípico achar uma prensa de vinhos de um período tão antigo", disse McGovern. "A descoberta de uma prova química na prensa foi uma surpresa".
A descoberta segue um padrão já visto em outros lugares – de que o vinho foi introduzido por um agente externo, mas que a cultural local tratou de buscar cultivar as uvas à sua própria maneira, criando as bases da indústria nacional.
"Dali, a vinificação espalhou-se pelo Rio Reno, videiras foram transplantadas, cruzadas com tipos de uvas mais selvagens e toda a sorte de cultivo se desenvolveu, ganhando o mundo", afirmou McGovern.
"Grande parte do vinho que conhecemos hoje veio dos vinhedos franceses, que derivam do cultivo dos etruscos", explicou. "Ainda há várias lacunas a serem preenchidas, mas estou entusiasmado com os nossas primeiras descobertas."