The law saves lives in the traffic.

    This report was published in Época magazine at 29th November 2010, and was written by Celso Masson, Alberto Cairo and Marco Vergotti. This is a summary and the title is above.

    The world day in memory of the victims of traffic, celebrated in the 21th november brought the launch forward of the decade of actions for the safety on vias criated by UNO(United Nations Organization).
    The target is to reduce the alarming world death rates caused by accidents on roads and on streets.
    The deaths in the traffic, were in 2004, the 9º cause of total of the deaths in the world, in 2030 could be the 5º cause in the ranking.
    In Brazil, the harden of laws since 1997,when was created the Brazilian traffic code, have shown positive results.
    Below, list of  the top ten countries with the deadliest traffic(deaths in the traffic by 100.000 vehicles).

    1º  Cambodia  1000,7                         6º  Mexico   68,1
    2º  Kenya   288,1                                7º  Brazil   67,3
    3º  Egypt   285,9                                 8º  China   61,6
    4º  India   145,4                                  9º  Vietnam   55,8
    5º  Russia   86,1                                 10º  Turkey   34,8

    Comparing national average of deaths with the numbers of deaths in each state, we can see that only four states and the DF stays below of the national average, the safest states are: 1º SP, 2º RS, 3º RJ, 4º SC. And two are around the national average: 5º MG, 6º PR. All the other states are above the national average and the top four states with the deadliest traffic are: 1º MA, 2º PI, 3º AL, 4º PA.
     In the same report, we can see that the percentagem of deaths in relation to total, shows that pedestrian 24,2% and motorcyclist 23,4% are almost half of the deads in the Brazilian traffic.

  

The Brazilian model.

      This report was published in the Economist.com at Nov,18th 2010 and was written by Schumpeter, this is a summary, the title is above.

      Brazil needs to be more innovative to fulfil its promise of being the ¨country of the future¨.
      Stand on the observation deck in Embraer`s final-assembly hangar in São José dos Campos and you can see the case for globalisation laid out below you. Five finished aircraft bear the insignia of airlines from across the world.
      Embraer turned itself around by spotting a market niche in medium-sized jets and by inventing new business models. It pioneered ¨reverse outsourcing¨,doing work of design and assembly itself and contracting out the making of parts to rich-world companies such as General Eletric.
      Embraer is a prime exhibit in a debate that is convulsing Brazilian business, about the country`s capacity to innovate. Brazil`s economy is expected to grow more than 7% this year. The country boast some of the World`s largest companies: Vale is the biggest producer of iron ore, AB Inbev is the biggest brewer and Marcopolo is a big producer of bus.
      But throw  the world ¨innovation¨ and businessmen become more philosophical. Brazil spends a paltry 1.1% of its GDP on R&D compared with 1.4% in China and 3.3% in Japan. Last year Brazil fell 18 places in Insead`s annual innovation index, from 50th to 68th. Worse still, its ratio of basic-product to manufactured-product exports was the highest since 1978. These figures confront Brazilians with a troubling question. Can their country become an innovator in its own right, or is its recent growth is little more than a by-product of China`s appetite for commodities?
     Optimists have more than just Embraer on their side. Natura Cosméticos is emerging as a giant by dint of clever marketing. Natura is also a master of what might be dubbed ¨lean innovation¨. About 40% of its revenues come from products introduced in the past two years. But the company has only 150 R&D staff compared with L`Oréal`s 2,800. Its trick is to form partnership with universities.
    Some of Brazil`s commodity giants have also managed to add brain to muscle. Petrobras is a leader in deep-sea oil production. Most Brazilian cars can run on a mixture of ethanol and petrol, thanks in part to the flex-fuel engine, developed in the country.
  Yet Brazil suffers from two blocks to growth: red tape and gaping inequality.Brazil comes 152nd in the World Bank`s ¨Doing Business¨ rankings for the ease of paying taxes(it took the hyphotetical medium-sized company 2,600 hours a year to comply with the tax code) and 128nd on the ease of starting a business.
   Brazilian companies are also doing far less than their rivals in India and China to master the art o producing goods for the masses. Clever ideas and products aimed at the poor abound in the country. But most of these innovators are foreign. Brazil`s own champions are applying much less ingenuity to producing goods for the local market than for the global one.

Vol. Teac. XI - Enem - part VI

      I would like to clarify that I said wrong, I got confused with the federal agencies, where I really solved my problem of Enem`s password,  is the Federal  Public  Defender  Offices ( .DPU.GOV.BR), an institution essential to the function of the state court, charged with the legal advice, the defense of the individual and collective rights of the needy in all levels and the promotion of the human rights, before the judicial power of the federal government.        source: wikipedia.

      It is not only in Brazil that higher education has been much more demanded, this is a world trend. The university attendance is growing everywhere and the government must to provide also this education.

      According to an OECD report published at Sep. 9th 2008, nearly all the countries researched have seen entry rates increased, and the extra cash needed for this increase, has come from a variety of sources. Some countries such as Britain, charge tuition fees, while nordic countries levy high taxes, USA has a large pot of private financing. To set a example, below the increase in some countries in approximate numbers.

                        UNIVERSITY ENTRY RATE % OF SCHOOL LEAVERS.

                                     2000                       2006

       Australia                     58%                       81%      
       Slovakia                38%                    65%
     South Korea               44%                      63%    
          USA                  43%                    66%
         Ireland                    32%                     42%
       Italy                     39%                      55%
         Turkey                    21%                     30%

Volun. Teacher XI - Enem - part V

    I would like to inform that during service at federal public ministry, I finally saw my grades, got a new password and did my inscription in the SISU. Fortunately I got my place in the public university, by the way, if you want further information about public ministry to learn more about this important government agency, access: .MPU.GOV.BR or .MP.MG.GOV.BR.

    I think INEP should prepare more this year, because, if the trend to keep, there will be more than 5 millions of inscriptions and this is a good news, each year more students and older persons are becoming students again and seeing a real possibility to enter in the university with the SISU or the PROUNI.

    We can only to hope that the supply of places grows steadily to keep up the demand, this time, for example, around 3,1 millions did the exam and only around 90.000 places in the SISU and 123.000 in the PROUNI were supplied. This is not just a supply and demand issue, Brazil needs urgently more qualified labor, to set a example, I did a little summary and translated a report published in the BBC Brasil, it was written by Fabrícia Peixoto in 08/06/2010. The title is, " For economists, the country can not take growth so fast." The expansion of the Brazilian economy in a Chinese pace in the first quarter, it is not sustainable, says economists listened by BBC Brasil. For them, the country can not take a so accelerated growth like China, specially due lacks in infrastructure and skilled labour. If this growth to keep, we will have infrastructure blackouts or be, collapse in the economy, in moments of strong growth, the economists usually remember that every country has a limit of expansion, the called trend growth, in the brazilian case, economists put this limit at 4% to 5% a year.

Volunt. Teacher XI - Enem IV

    Once more, Enem is causing headache to who did it, like myself, I do not know how, neither why, but I am not able to see my grades and consequently to do the inscription in the Sisu. My former password, which I did my inscription to do the tests, I still remembered it, does not work, neither the new one, which was sent by msn, it is always the same message, ¨invalid password¨.
    Today, 19/01, I went in the public federal ministry, because I do not see other solution, I have tried in many places, since I do not have a PC at home, I have called MEC more than twenty times, and always the same answer that everybody are busy or simply the call do not complete.
    I am studying online in a private university right now, but I would like to finish the course in a public university in the presencial way, so I hope that my problem and that all persons having some kind of trouble with this exam can have time and opportunity to solve all of  them, in order to do the enrollment where they want to study.  We deserve more respect, after all, we are paying for this system of evaluation, and if they think, it is were necessary, charge more in order to improve it, it is worth, because, the students have been spending time and money studying for this exam, sometimes years of study and expenditure.

Vol. Teacher X - Difference Between American and English Spelling

     As I told before, one of the reasons of this blog is to be more one source of reading in English for Brazilians. In this post I would like to show something that is not often commented in English classes, but is, I think interesting to know. So, let`s give a little English class for my readers.

      English is spoken throughout the world, and, while most of the words used in British English will be the same as those used in American English, there are some words which are different in each country and having the same meaning. Some words, the difference is only one or two letters, others change the entire word, below there are, first the minimal difference and then the second example.

           Portuguese                     American                         British

             Porto                              Harbor                       Harbour
           Honra                               Honor                         Honour
         Empenho                           Endeavor                      Endevour

        Apartamento                   Apartment                           Flat
            Aviao                           Airplane                         Aeroplane
           Calças                           Pants                                Trousers
   Caminhao de lixo              Garbage truck                 Dustbin lorry
           Carona                          Ride                                 Lift
    Chave de porca                  Wrench                          Spanner
  Centro(de uma cidade)       Downtown                         Centre                
        Currículo                       Resume                        Curriculum Vitae
  Diretor(de escola)              Principal                            Headmaster
   Estacionamento              Parking  lot                         Car park
      Flanela                        Washcloth                             Flannel
       Fila                              Line                                     Queue
    Fio elétrico                     Cord                                    Flex
     Fogão                            Stove                                  Cooker
     Futebol                        Soccer                               Football
   Lata de lixo                  Garbage can                         Dustbin
   Ligar `a cobrar             Call colect                      Reverse the charges
      Metrô                         Subway                              Underground
   Milho                          Corn                                    Maize
   Outono                       Fall                                       Autumm
   Pára-brisa                    Windshield                           Windscreen
  Passagem ida/volta        Round trip ticket                    Return ticket
    Sobremesa                     Dessert                                Pudding
Tábua(madeira cortada)       Lumber                              Timber
    Telefone celular             Cell phone                         Mobile phone

Volunt. Teacher IX - This Blog - part II

    When appeared, blogs were seen only as online daily, a space where the persons could tell their everyday stories and to share experiences and ideas. With the popularization of the internet and more efficiency of search mecanisms such as goggle, blogs are having now another dimension, greater importance.

    Reports can be built by any person, after research in many trustful sources, if the writer had knowledge of English, those sources are outnumbered, multiplied several times, by the way, one of the reasons that I write this blog in English is due the fact of this language has become very important, because of many reasons such as: globalization, growth of tourism, the internet, etc and this way, we Brazilians have more chance to pratice our reading and consequently to improve our spelling.

    I began to study this language when I was a teenager, but only in the last ten years this study has become more serious, in fact, this year I will graduate in languages(Portuguese and English).

    There are many sites of countries` statistics, if you want to know the world better or if you want to know how Brazil is placed, I think you could access some such as: .worldbank.org ; .nationmaster.com ; .visionofhumanity.org ; .worldometers.info ; infoplease.com ; etc.

     There are also many statistics and reports produced by important and trustful organizations such as: .un.org ; .oecd.org ;  .weforum.org ; etc.

     If you want to comment some information with me or about this blog, you can send a email to: yourtch@hotmail.com , to know what readers are thinking is important and if you knows another blog written by Brazilians in English, you could tell me, I would appreciate.