If you drink don’t drive

The Federal Traffic Police announced this Monday that 296 drivers were arrested and 369 were fined in the first ten days of validity of the new law, which provides that those who have ingested alcohol, even in small quantities, and is catch driving will lose the driver’s license and pay a fine of $ 955.

“Despite the tightening of legislation, which is the fact that many of the drivers have not been conscious that alcohol and direction definitely do not match,” said the director of the Federal Traffic Police, Helio Cardoso Derenne.

Minas Gerais, which has the biggest road in the country, was the state with more prisons, 34 in total. In Rio Grande do Sul, the officers arrested 29 drivers. The Mato Grosso do Sul was the third placed, with 17 arrests, followed by Pernambuco, with 14, and Parana, with 13.

What is your position on the new law? The rules are too harsh or the rigidity that is necessary for accidents and excesses are avoided?

National drink of Brazil

Caipirinha (pronounced [KIE-PUR-REEN-YAH]) is made with cachaça, sugar and lime. Cachaça is Brazil’s most common distilled alcoholic beverage. Cachaça is made from sugarcane alcohol, obtained from the fermentation of sugarcane juice which is afterwards distilled.

The word

The word “caipirinha” is the diminutive version of the word “caipira”, which refers to someone from the countryside, being an almost exact equivalent of the American English hillbilly. The word may be used as either a masculine or a feminine noun, but when referring to this drink it is only feminine (usage of diminutives is conspicuous in Brazil). However, a Brazilian hardly ever thinks of a “country person” when ordering a “Caipirinha”. In the mind of a Brazilian, the word “Caipirinha” is mostly associated with the drink itself.

Popularity

Caipirinha is enjoyed in restaurants, bars, and many households throughout the country. Once almost unknown outside Brazil, the drink has become more popular and more widely available in recent years, in large part due to the rising availability of first-rate brands of cachaça outside Brazil. The International Bartender Association has designated it as one of their Official Cocktails and has labeled it one of the 50 greatest drinks of all time

Preparation

» 1 small lime
» 1 1/2 tsp sugar
» 1 1/2 oz cachaca

Cut the top and bottom off the lime, then cut lengthwise in quarters and place in an old fashioned glass, skin side down. Add sugar and, using a pestle, crush lime and muddle until sugar is dissolved. FIll the glass nearly to the top with crushed ice, pour in the cachaca and sitr.

DRINK WITH MODERATION. IF YOU DRINK DON’T DRIVE.

Entrecard contest

In the beginning of June I released a contest to giveaway 10,000 Entrecard credits to the blog which drives more traffic to my blog. Until now less then 20 people post an article about it and their chances are pretty huge to win the big prize. If you didn’t write about it yet hurry up the time is running!

Alexa traffic

Beside so many big bloggers talk bad stuff about Alexa that they are not accurate enought I like it. Since I released the Entrecard contest my Alexa traffic skyrocket.

Google position

If you search for “what about brazil“, the name of this blog, the results will show it in second place. I have no idea why Google algorithm does that. The name of the site is the name of the search you’re looking for and even though the name doesn’t show in the first place.

I good example of Google search show inaccurate results are when you look for “john chow dot com”, for some reason Google punished John Chow and push his blog away from the first page.

Technorati authority

Believe it or not my technorati authority jump from 12 to 108 in only one month. I believe that happened because more people found my contest interesting and linked to it. Thanks for the people who linked to my blog.

Comments on the blog

In my opinion if a blog has many comments means that the people who reads it found it interesting to leave a comment on it. I’m glad that some people spent time on my blog and left comments. Thanks everybody.

Advertisement

I’m really thinking of remove all the advertisement I have in my blog. First because it’s not bring me money nor traffic and second because I could use the space to show something interesting like pictures of Brazil or so.

Recently I read so many articles about people who decide to remove the ads from the blog and the readers like it better.

Who is helping the world?

Oxfam, a nongovernmental organization dedicated to combating poverty in the world, believes the Brazilian ethanol is the most favorable biofuel in the world in terms of emissions of polluting gases and cost.

The report says that the replacement of traditional fuels by biofuels has led more than 30 million people to poverty and are not helping to combat climate change.

According to the document, the so-called “green policies” of developed countries are contributing to the increase in prices of food - which reaches more poor people.

The text cites as the World Bank, which estimates that the price of food rose 83% in the last three years.

The author of the report, Robert Bailey, criticized the subsidies and tax incentives “generous” granted by rich countries to support its own production of biofuel, including targets and rapidly increasing taxes on imports, which “has been used to protect interests of its farmers “.

“Rich countries spend up to $ 15 billion last year to support its own biofuels at the same time as they prevent the entry of Brazilian ethanol, which is cheaper and is much less harmful to global food security and the environment , “He said.

“This is the same amount that Oxfam says it is necessary to help the poor cope with the crisis of food.”

The report by Oxfam says: “While the production of Brazilian ethanol is far from perfect and present various social problems and environmental sustainability, this is the most favorable biofuel in the world in terms of cost and balance of greenhouse gases”.

The document includes a comparison with the biofuel from corn produced in the United States, saying that their production is highly dependent on fossil fuels, representing “one of the worst” balance between greenhouse gases and use of energy.

The report asks the European Union (EU) to cancel the goal of ensuring that 10% of transport on the block to use biofuels by 2020. Oxfam estimates that the EU target can increase carbon emissions 70 times by 2020 because of the change in the use of land.

There is expectation that another report - the expected “Gallagher report,” a reference to Ed Gallagher, an academic at the head of the Agency for Renewable Fuels of Great Britain - to be released later this week, leading to a review of the goals of Great Britain - Britain and the European Union on the use of fuels derived from plants.

The British government introduced a percentage of 2.5% of biofuels for transport in April last.

Oxfam calls for caution

For developing countries, Oxfam recommends caution in the conduct of its programs to produce biofuels, because although they are “an alternative source of sustainable energy for the poor in marginalised areas, the potential economic costs, social and environmental can be high” .

These countries should plan its programs for long-term, avoiding ambitious targets and analyse the impact of biofuels in society.
Oxfam also provides recommendations for companies and investors. The NGO in its report suggests that they should make sure that none of biofuel project takes place without first obtaining the consent of local communities, and should promote access to energy in remote areas.

40 million people with internet access

Brazil last month registered record number of 41,565 million people with Internet access, overcoming the barrier of 40 million Internet users for the first time, according to research done by IBOPE / NetRatings.

The company, which measures the Brazilian Internet since September 2000, also informed that the number of Internet users with access to the web at home also was the largest ever recorded, reaching 35.5 million people.

According to the study coordinator and manager of the company’s analysis of search, Alexandre Magalhaes, the accelerated growth of the market for computers in Brazil and progress in public policies regarding access to the network are the main factors behind this continuous expansion of the Internet in Brazil.

“These figures reflect positive … And the public policy of opening points of Internet access in schools … beyond the avalanche of facilities to purchase new computers … because of competition among manufacturers of computer,” said a released to the press release.

Last month, 23.1 million people surfed on the web at least once in their homes, number 29% higher than in May 2007.

The Brazilian internet user surfed for 23 hours and 48 minutes on average last month ahead of most developed countries like Japan and the United States.