A Portuguese Love

We live the oddest days. For a normal person that lives by the rules, it’s difficult to make sense of some behaviors. When I was young and attending high school boys had fist fights in the space outside. Some would watch and do nothing; the old ones may try to put an end to the fight. I remember broken noses and bleeding on the cement floor. Boys will always engage in fights. Girls also had their share of grievances and acts of vengeance. But it was another game. Violence has a number of complex factors that contribute to it. Violence at an early age is choking. What kind of human beings are we raising? The education of children and young people is demanding. Many face hard living conditions. But my grandmother lived through the War times and she and the community where she lived endured hardship, yet, she never told me about significant tales of violence in her neighborhood. Parents delegate their responsibility in school but a school cannot substitute for the role of parents. The ...

I know that you already have a calendar for this year. But if you have been reading my posts on Secondhand smoke and enjoyed the little Smoke Monsters I have a freebie for you. Each month's page of this calendar has one cute and colorful Smoke Monster. Your kids will love it. It will be an easy and fun WORLD NO TOBACCO DAY activity for you and your kid! Here's how to do it! 1º Go to my SCRIBD page to download the 7 pages PDF file. 2º Print the file in your office printer using a good size A4 paper. 3º Cut it with X acto knife and ruler using the printed guides. 4º Use a CD jewel box as a stand-flip. 5º Keep all the sheets inside the CD box. 6º Avoid secondhand smoke exposure all year! Freebie Calendar 2011 This activity was included in The Crafty Crow blog and on One Pretty Thing blog too. But I can't link to this one now, don't know what's the problem with it, both are interesting blogs for you to follow too if you enjoy DIY projects. The first is D...

Look for more here ! Just two more days till World No Tobacco Day! Are you going to participate in any activity next May 31? Are you planning to quit smoking next Tuesday? If you smoke, has your veterinary ever told you that when you light up a cigarette you can be putting your pet’s health at risk? Well, it’s true. Whether your pet is a cat, a dog, a rabbit, or a bird your loved animal will be affected too. Pets will suffer the distress of life-threatening cancer or chronic breathing difficulties just as persons do. Surprised? I was. But I wrote the story after watching Davi's reaction to secondhand smoke. Davis is my sister's shar-pei dog. It seemed very uncomfortable with it. So here's the story on pets and secondhand smoke. Not a pretty one. Dogs can develop nasal and lung cancer and experience breathing and cardiac problems. Dogs are especially prone to secondhand smoke’s respiratory effects. Dogs can experience allergic reactions to secondhand smoke. How can you...

Quit smoking please dry erase whiteboard by noboringwhite Check out other Quit Dry Erase Boards at zazzle.com WORLD NO TOBACCO DAY, MAY 31 Are you celebrating it? Smoke inhaled by smokers contains many dangerous chemicals. Secondhand smoke contains many of that same chemicals. It contains higher concentrations of many of the toxins found in cigarette smoke! The USA National Toxicology Program estimates that at least 250 chemicals in secondhand smoke are known to be toxic or carcinogenic! Secondhand smoke has been designated as a known human carcinogen (cancer-causing agent) by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the National Toxicology Program, the International Agency for Research on Cancer, and an occupational carcinogen by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health. Why? It contains more than 50 cancer-causing chemicals! When nonsmokers are exposed to secondhand smoke, they inhale many of the same cancer-causing chemicals that smokers inhale...

Look for more here ! The answer is simple: just avoid exposure whenever possible. The only way to fully protect yourself and your family from the dangers of secondhand smoke is through 100% smoke-free environments. Separating smokers from nonsmokers, cleaning the air, and ventilating buildings cannot completely eliminate secondhand smoke exposure. Here are a couple of rules to protect yourself and your loved ones: - make your home and vehicles smoke-free; - do not allow family, friends, or visitors to smoke inside your house or car; - ask people not to smoke around you and your children; - make sure that your children’s daycare center or school is smoke-free; - choose restaurants and other businesses that are smoke-free; - Share your knowledge on secondhand smoke; If you smoke, ok, you have the right to do it. But keep in mind that it may endanger other person health. Try to think of it when you are smoking. What if you live with a smoker who is not interested in quitting? ...

Quit smoking please throw pillows by noboringwhite Look at more Quit Pillows at zazzle The smoke released from the burning end of a cigarette pipe, cigar, bidi, or kretek or that seeps from the mouthpiece of one of these products is called mainstream smoke. Sidestream smoke is the one exhaled by the smoker. Secondhand smoke it’s a mixture of both. And it’s dangerous for several reasons. It contains many of the same chemicals that are present in the smoke inhaled by smokers. At least 250 chemicals in secondhand smoke are known to be toxic or carcinogenic (cancer-causing). People’s exposure to secondhand smoke happens in homes, workplaces, vehicles, and in public areas such as restaurants, bars, bowling alleys, and casinos. In many countries, smoking in public areas it’s prohibited. Smoke-free rules in homes and vehicles substantially reduce secondhand smoke exposure among children and nonsmoking adults but do not totally eliminate their exposure. Harmful residues from se...

Today's afternoon. Splendid weather. Fantastic sea. Lot's of surfers. No fishermen. Top less girls. Lazy couples. Happy children. Seagulls standing. = Lovely beach!

Quit smoking please square wall clock by noboringwhite See another Wall Clock All my life I was aware that many of the poisons in cigarette smoke are absorbed into the bloodstream. After birth, the baby can still get the poisons through the mother’s breast milk. I was sensitive to that maybe because I am a woman and also because I have seen lots of campaigns carrying this message. So when my smoker female friends got pregnant I always tried to convince them to stop smoking as many seemed not to care that these chemicals pass from the mother into the baby’s blood. It’s too risky as the baby may be born underweight, premature, or dead. It increases the risk of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS or 'cot death') and the mother also faces a higher risk of having a miscarriage or complications during birth. It makes her feel more breathless and have less energy. Babies of mothers who smoke are more likely to die in the first year of life. If they survive, they have a gr...

Video   Gomo , Feeling Alive Some like it, others don't. If we have a mother tongue, why should we go and sing in a language that is not ours? So that our songs have more acceptance abroad? It's just a market strategy? But if we think about it for a second we'll see the most successful Portuguese singers abroad - like Mariza - sing in Portuguese, not in English. I have no CDs of Portuguese artists singing in English. I do not think they are better or worse than their foreign counterparts. I don't like it that much. I am also very picky when buying songs in Portuguese. But I have my favorites. The Portuguese are so used to consuming songs in English that no one seemed surprised when the Portuguese Football Federation chose a song by Black Eyed Peas - I gotta feeling - for the anthem National Football Team in the World Cup in South Africa...!!

I quit smoking funny cartoon collection of sticker Less than 10 days to World No Tobacco Day, May 31! So bear with me, here's another post on smoking & kids. There are persons, professionals, who are in a special position that grants them the privilege to act and to speak and be heard because they have authority. This is true for parents whether smokers or non-smokers and siblings, for teachers, doctors, and medical personnel, especially pediatricians and obstetricians, social and youth workers, and caregivers. But anyone can try to prevent children from smoking. Let’s see how prevention strategies work. A prevention program, an action you promote in school or anywhere, or whatever you do, a mere friendly conversation, a letter or email that you write to a child, must be able to influence the attitude, the belief of that child. You can begin by emphasizing the benefits of not smoking and the disadvantages of smoking. Provide information on short-term smoking effects because ch...

Beethoven Rocks Speaker by 785tees More Beethoven Speakers It has been a while since my last product showcase. This one is special. Zazzle has a new product: MUSIC SPEAKERS! The world's first customizable speaker is now on Zazzle! Perfect for travel, parties, or just a day at the beach, ultra-portable and ultra-fun for everyone.This is an awesome gadget that makes your music look as good as it sounds! These are some of my favorite designs! Take a look! Old TV by robby1982 Colorful Love, Love, Love, Love, Love, Love, Love by kchippie See more Love Speakers Monsters: Vector Art Doodle Speaker by Aquavel View similar little speakers for the ipod Musical Vintage Peacock Art Nouveau Eiffel Tower by samack Browse Eiffel tower Speakers hip hop deejay artsy bliss vector illustration by speak_ers Buy travel speakers at Zazzle. X Ray Speaker by 785tees View more X Speakers Keyboard Piano Fantasy Doodle by UTeezSF Red Vibe Flowe...

A viagem Anthony (Orlando Costa) spends the day in the tavern. Mary (Margarida Carpinteiro) spends hours knitting and watching television. But one day Anthony suffers a sudden heart attack which he survives. That will make him question his life around and return the love for the woman with whom he lived for years but scarcely know. Without thinking twice he gets both savings to rent a convertible to go on holiday with his wife. Only Antonio forgets the map. And from there, things start to go wrong to the point where the couple finds himself lost in the woods at night not knowing where to go ... Section Cinéfondation is known for discovering and disseminating new talents of international cinema from schools and universities around the world. The Cinéfondation jury, headed by Michel Gondry, will announce the three Cinéfondation prizes on May 20. Of nearly 1,600 submitted entries originating from 360 film schools, the short film A Viagem - The trip written and directed by Simão Cayat...

Quit smoking please backpack by noboringwhite Shop for another Drawstring backpack online at Zazzle Science has studied and provided several models to understand children smoking behavior. If we want to do something to prevent kids from smoking we must have some idea of how it works. Explaining human behavior isn’t easy as it depends on many factors. One model has identified four to five stages until the child becomes a dependent smoker. There are social and psychological risks that are critical to the child’s smoking behavior. The first stage is called Preparation. In this stage, a child forms positive attitudes and beliefs about smoking. When a child grows up she will look up to what the mother and father, sister, or brother do at home. They are her closest model. We learn by example from others. If they smoke it’s easier for the child to assume that's a natural habit. But some kids whose parents do not smoke will start smoking just the same. Maybe they're curious. O...

Just clicked on a banner on my blog and got this! Cute! Banner removed.

The last Zazzle Newsletter included a link to Keywords & tag information and that gave me the idea to write a post. Google likes a webpage for several reasons and one is the number of popular keywords that a page contains. I first started to pay attention to this when I started using Google Adsense in some of my blogs. You’ll need it too if you want to get potential traffic to your site or blog. Good keyword choice, good content and an updated regular blog are just what you need to get good search engine traffic. Research good keywords and use them in your content and you´ll get better results. Gather keywords related to your business or blog topic in a list and use it when posting. You can even use these ideas to create blog posts when you run out of imagination. Keywords you want are the words and phrases people search for when they visit a search engine. So think about those people you want to get attention from and use their words not yours when you do this exercise. How to ...

All about it, at FC PORTO site, here . FC Porto won Europa League 2010/2011 final by beating SC Braga (1-0), in Dublin, yesterday, Wednesday. André Villas-Boas, FC Porto trainer who is 33 years old, became the youngest technician to lift the European Cup. He’s also the youngster Portuguese league trainer and when he arrived at FC Porto this year some disbelieved his talent to take the team to victory. He’s a former pupil of José Mourinho, who trained FC Porto in the past with tremendous success before heading to other European football teams like Chelsea or Inter Milan. André is now our “The Special two” after getting a second UEFA Europa League Cup – the first was in Seville, 2003, beating Celtic of Scotland - to this team and leading FC Porto to victory. Congrats to my blue and white favorite team ever and to SC Braga also!

Quit smoking please coaster by noboringwhite Create your own custom beverage coasters World No Tobacco Day is upon us. Have you seen my Quit smoking page over Zazzle? Are you going to do anything to celebrate it on 31 May? According to my research children start to smoke at the age of 12-15. Four cigarettes a day are enough to lead adults to addiction to nicotine but children only need two cigarettes a day for four to six weeks to find themselves hooked. Girls are addicted to nicotine faster than boys. The earlier one starts smoking the easier it is to become dependent. Smoking tobacco also increases the risk of dependence on other substances. But what is the biggest risk that a child or youngster faces immediately when smoking? It’s to become dependent on it for life.  Source: Bases científicas para a prevenção do consumo de tabaco na escola, José Precioso and Manuel Macedo, Instituto de Educação e Psicologia, Universidade do Minho, Braga, Portugal

Before the Carnation Revolution, 25 April 1974, to say that Portugal was the country of the “3 F’s” - fado, football, and Fátima (religion) was a common thing to say. The combination of these three elements would be enough to keep the Portuguese happy. I really can’t say. I was too young then. But, well, I have already posted about fado and Fátima. So I guess a post on football is missing! I had the perfect excuse to bring the match into this Portuguese blog corner today. Not sure if I’ll be happier afterward, though! 2010/2011 UEFA Europa League Final is tomorrow in Dublin, Ireland. It will be a unique final with two Portuguese football teams on the field. FC Porto eliminated Villarreal 7-4 and will meet Braga in the Europa League final. Dublin will host the first-ever all-Portuguese European final. The Portuguese champions FC Porto are favored in the final, having already beaten Braga twice this season. I am not a football enthusiast anymore but I watched many FC Porto’s games. Thi...

Yesterday thousands of pilgrims gathered in Fátima to celebrate May 13th apparitions. And a solar halo, a halo that formed around the sun, was visible yesterday at the Shrine of Fátima at the precise moment a film about the bonds of John Paul II to the Cova da Iria was shown. A bright ring centered on the sun and caused by the refraction of light by ice crystals suspended in the atmosphere. It provoked expressions of religious fervor, with many speaking of an action of God. Many of the present wept and recorded the phenomenon on the phone.  I am not a person of faith but I respect other people's beliefs. And I can get the symbolism of such an event and its coincidence was perfect even if science can clearly explain it. Every year I see pilgrims crossing my country on foot to pay respect to the Virgin. Some go there to thank a grace they received, others to ask for a miracle. Devotion to Nossa Senhora de Fátima is very strong. People from many nationalities gather at Fátima t...

My father and I. At this time he was a pipe smoker. It's May. Indulge me on this one. World No Tobacco Day is May 31. Let me make some campaigns against secondhand smoke. I do not smoke. But I smoked once. I smoked when I was attending high school and just for a short period. I was 15 years old and stupid. I wasn’t thinking straight. I was just imitating some of my closest friends’ habits. I wasn’t even that curious about it. My father was a smoker. He smoked since he was a teenager. Smoking behavior was familiar to me. I grew up watching my father doing it. So I guess I didn’t consider it to be a really bad habit. He smoked at home and burned curtains and bed covers lots of times upsetting my mom. He smoked both cigarettes and pipe. I remember that I loved the smell of fresh tobacco he used in the pipe. On the way to the beach each Sunday morning he smoked in the car too. He drove us, me, my sister and my mother, lots of times many places and always kept smoking. Tobacco p...

The Portuguese coast is more than 1000 kilometers long. I love to go to the beach. I like everything about it. Also, I prefer to eat fish to meet and can't resist seafood! Sea animals are fantastic and one of my best childhood memories is of going to the beach and looking for small fish, octopuses, and crabs, in nested pools on the rocks. I think that's very important to test how to deal with accidents that cause coastal pollution. Mock combat pollution in the aquatic environment took place on May 4th, in Figueira da Foz, the city where I live now, involving various resources from the Navy and local authorities, and volunteers. The scenario: by night the merchant ship "Mondego" crashed in the port of Figueira da Foz and for the next four hours, 500 cubic meters of fuel was dispersed by the sea and reached the river and adjacent beaches. Then the operation followed with actions on land and at sea aimed at containment and removal of hydrocarbons – this was simulated ...

Video As some of my blog visitors might know my country, Portugal, is going through pretty rough times. This year's street protests were the biggest ever to take place. 400,000 people took to the streets and many strikes occur just before the downfall of Sócrates's socialist government. Then the IMF arrived in Portugal to negotiate the terms of the rescue, the bailout. The "troika" are the International Monetary Fund (IMF), European Central Bank (ECB), and European Commission (EC). Negotiations took place about the conditions that Portugal has to obey in order to receive financial aid. If you think that things are going to get better for Portuguese people you are not aware of what this bailout means. The IMF help depends on accepting austerity measures that will deepen the crisis further. I believe that living standards will fall and unemployment will get higher. So most of us are not happy about IMF presence, but Portugal had no choice because at one point ban...