quinta-feira, setembro 11, 2008

Globalização

Aí está, there it is, daar het zijn. Acrescentei os links Myself in English e Myself in Dutch para este blog poder ser apreciado, numa forma desmedidamente mal traduzida, em mais duas línguas...

Muito agradecido Anita!!!

A torre de Bedum

Como se não bastasse o nome duvidoso dessa terra bedungosa, Bedum tem então a tal torre mais torta do mundo, de que falava no outro dia. Fui lá no outro dia, eis a prova...



Mais uma prova que os holandeses desconhecem o fio de prumo...

quarta-feira, setembro 10, 2008

Avanço cientifico, ou catástrofe à espera de acontecer?

In the news:

Scientists have switched on the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), the device they hope will unravel some of the remaining mysteries of the universe.
At 9.30 am local time (8.30 am British Summer Time), 300 feet below the Franco-Swiss border near Geneva, the most powerful particle accelerator ever built became fully operational.
The team was holding its breath in the countdown to the switch-on after a series of technical hitches, including problems with the cooling system.
Will the Large Hadron Collider cause the end of the world?
The £5 billion machine has been described as a 17-mile racetrack around which two streams of protons - building blocks of matter - run in opposite directions before smashing into one another. Reaching 99.99 per cent of the speed of light, each beam will pack as much energy as a Eurostar train travelling at 90 mph.
The flashes from the collisions may help scientists reproduce the conditions that existed during the first moments after the Big Bang at the birth of the universe.
Physicists hope to learn more about the origins of mass, gravity and mysterious dark matter. But concerns have been voiced - in particular by the German chemist Professor Otto Rossler - that black holes created by the LHC will grow uncontrollably and “eat the planet from the inside”.
These claims have been dismissed by leading scientists, including Prof Stephen Hawking of Cambridge University who said that the LHC is “feeble compared with what goes on in the universe. If a disaster was going to happen, it would have happened already.”
The switch-on saw the first stream of subatomic particles - known as Hadrons - circulating in the tunnel. The first collisions are expected in around 30 days.


E o pior é que se o mundo for sugado por um buraco negro vai ser um crime perfeito, todas as provas terão desaparecido para outra dimensão!!

quinta-feira, setembro 04, 2008

Toda a verdade

In the news:

The Tower of Pisa is being challenged by a lesser-known 12th-century building as Europe's most precariously propped leaning tower. The rival is in the northern Dutch town of Bedum.Retired geometrician Jacob van Dijk said measurements this week on Bedum's 36-metre church tower of Walfridus revealed it is now leaning more than its Italian rival. Actually the Tower of Pisa was lifted a bit, during restoration work intended in part, to keep it from toppling over.At a height of 55.86 meters, Pisa's tower leans about 4 metres, while Bedum's tower leans 2.61 metres on its height of 35.7 metres. Van Dijk argues, if both towers were the same height, Bedum's would have a greater tilt, of 6 metres.Jacob Van Dijk,Former chief geoeter,said,"In 1993 the restoration of Pisa tower's foundation has started. It took 15 years to finish it and it cost 28 millions euros. In Italy they are happy with the result, but here in Bedum we are even more happy, because now the tower of Pisa is leaning less than the tower of Bedum."The issue seems more argumentative that substantial. However while tourists may continue to flock to Pisa, the leaning tower of Bedum has found its place on the map.

Vergonhoso, vergonhoso! Até porque já passei em Bedum e não vi a torre!!! Arghh