30 abril 2011

Media: Diccionario de madrileñismos
(lainformacion.com) Malamadre, panchito, gallinejas, butragueño… Todas estas palabras son madrileñismos. Quizás algunas se usen en otros lugares de España, pero lo cierto es que son propias de esta tierra y ahora aparecen recogidas en el ‘Diccionario de madrileñismos. Voces patrimoniales y populares de la Comunidad de Madrid’ (Ediciones La Librería).

Su autor es Manuel Alvar, catedrático de Lengua Española de la Facultad de Filología de la Universidad Complutense de Madrid, y ha realizado una extensa y complicada labor de compilación de términos que le ha llevado años.

De meatilas a ensalada de San Isidro El libro cuenta con 10.150 registros, lo que supone unos 6.300 artículos de diccionario. Sorprende el significado de algunas palabras. Entre ellas: aleluya (persona fea y sin gracia) y gilipollas (referido a madrileño), aunque hay muchas más. Indica la sinonimia que tienen las palabras en Madrid y señala los lugares de los que hay constancia de su empleo. Las palabras y acepciones no aparecen en el ‘Diccionario de la lengua española’ de la Real Academia Española, salvo las que consigna como originarias o propias de Madrid.

Manuel Alvar ha señalado este viernes en su presentación que el diccionario recoge vocablos de habla castiza y achulapada como trompitos (garbanzos del cocido), meatilas (persona que acostumbra tomar infusiones) o gadafi (pincho moruno); palabras del uso popular como cudilla (ardilla), coreano (de Madrid) y butragueño (y buitre, de ‘Buitrago’); y también del ámbito urbano y exclusivas del ámbito rural.

De la misma manera contiene las pertenecientes a épocas pasadas como caloña (calumnia) o julián y maripepa (tipos tradicionales madrileños); y las voces que sirven para nombrar los alimentos y las comidas tradicionales como las migas chanas (plato de postre que se hace con migas de leche) o la ensalada de San Isidro (ensalada que se comía en la Pradera durante la fiesta de San Isidro).

¿Cómo se ha elaborado? El proceso de creación se realizó llevando a cabo una minuciosa selección de términos de monografías y estudios lingüísticos, léxicos y etnográficos de la Comunidad de Madrid (unos 160 en total). Después se completó con los obtenidos de diversas revistas de dialectología y etnografía y con los folletos de información turística y programas de fiestas de los pueblos de los diferentes pueblos.

También el boca a boca ha sido clave para la creación de este diccionario. Y de hecho se realizó un buen número de encuestas con carácter léxico en numerosos pueblos de la Comunidad.

El vicedirector de la Real Academia Española, José Antonio Pascual, ha calificado esta obra de verdadero “tesoro” y ha dicho “que para quien quiera estudiar la migración de las palabras este texto es muy importante”.

Ha recalcado que “detrás de un libro aparentemente tan aburrido no se encuentra una novela, sino distintas novelas que nos pueden servir a cada uno de nosotros en función de nuestros intereses”.

Por su parte, Carlos Berzosa, el actual rector de la Universidad Complutense (que ha promovido la creación de este libro), ha destacado el papel de la investigación de la lengua porque “la investigación es también aumentar el conocimiento de nuestro pasado”.

28 abril 2011

Tugas vão à disco - Ana Belén y Joaquin Sabina - A la Sombra de un León

Eu hoje não tenho tempo para grandes textos, e estes senhores merecem, mas achei que Madrid precisava lembrar-se da sua alma e da sua poesia e esquecer as coisas mais rasteiras que há por esses campos ;-)




Llegó
con su espada de madera
y zapatos de payaso
a comerse la ciudad

Compró
suerte en Doña Manolita
y al pasar por la Cibeles
quiso sacarla a bailar un vals
como dos enamorados
y dormirse acurrucados
a la sombra de un león

"¿Qué tal?
estoy sola y sin marido
gracias por haber venido
a abrigarme el corazón."

Ayer
a la hora de la cena
descubrieron que faltaba
el enfermo 16

Tal vez
disfrazado de enfermero
se escapó de Ciempozuelos
con su capirote de papel.
A su estatua preferida
un anillo de pedida
le robó en El Corte Inglés

Con él
en el dedo al día siguiente
vi a la novia del agente
que lo vino a detener

Cayó
como un pájaro del árbol
cuando sus labios de mármol
le obligaron a soltar

Quedó
un taxista que pasaba
mudo al ver cómo empezaba
la Cibeles a llorar
y chocó contra el Banco Central.
Media: Siete museos, gratis para los viajeros del suburbano
(ADN.es) ¿Entrar al museo con el billete del suburbano? En mayo, sí. Los usuarios de Metro de Madrid podrán disfrutar gratis durante todo el mes de siete exposiciones en la capital con sólo presentar el tique del viaje. 

Además de recorrer La Ruta de los Museos, los usuarios del metro también podrán obtener el pasaporte de la ciencia. Los requisitos: cinco visitas a museos y cinco respuestas. Los 200 primeros en presentarlo en Cosmocaixa -hasta el 6 de junio recibirán un bonoplanetario para visitar Cosmocaixa gratis todo el año. Y entre los que hayan respondido correctamente se sortearán diez kits de libros científicos. 

Cada muestra tendrá unos días específicos para visitarla. Cosmocaixa, en el puente de mayo (aunque luego se podrá volver con el pasaporte sellado en otros museos); el fin de semana del 7y 8, el Museo Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnología; el de San Isidro (15y16), el Museo Nacional de Antropología; el Geominero los días 22 y 23; y el último fin de semana (28 y 29), el Museo del Ferrocarril. Todos los lunes se podrá visitar el Jardín Botánico y los viernes, el Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales. El año pasado participaron más de 6.000 personas en el concurso y algunos museos aumentaron sus visitas hasta un 200%.

24 abril 2011

11 motivos para irse de festivales este verano
Aqui!

21 abril 2011

Vitória com marca tuga!


Tugas vão à disco - Camarón de la Isla - La Leyenda del Tiempo
Em tempo de Semana Santa, pus-me a pensar em procissões, saetas, fandangos, bulerias, flamenco e, claro, Camarón. Que não é muito disco, mas está nas origens da musica espanhola actual.

José Monge Cruz, mais conhecido como Camarón de la Isla, ou simplesmente Camarón, nasceu em 1950 em Cádiz. Começou a cantar com 8 anos nas tabernas e paragens de transportes públicos para ganhar dinheiro. Em 1968 conheceu Paco de Lucia em Madrid e juntos gravaram 9 álbuns entre 1969 y 1977. Quando Paco de Lucia começou a sua carreira a solo, Camarón juntou-se com Tomatito. O primeiro disco sem Paco de Lucia foi La Leyenda del Tiempo. Este disco é considerado um marco do flamenco, distinguindo-se pela sua aproximação ao rock e ao jazz, incluindo a adaptação de poemas de Federico Garcia Lorca.
Camarón faleceu em 1992 em Badalona, vítima de cancro de pulmão. A sua morte causou uma grande comoção social traduzida no lema "Camarón vive". O seu féretro foi envolvido na bandeira cigana.




El sueño va sobre el tiempo

flotando como un velero

nadie puede abrir semillas

en el corazon del sueño.

El tiempo va sobre el sueño

hundido hasta los cabellos.

Ayer y mañana comen

oscuras flores de duelo.

El sueño va sobre el tiempo

Sobre la misma columna

abrazados sueño y tiempo

cruza el gemido del niño

la lengua rota del viejo.

El sueño va sobre el tiempo

Y si el sueño finge muros

en la llanura del tiempo

el tiempo le hace creer

que nace en aquel momento.

El sueño va sobre el tiempo

19 abril 2011

Plaza Mayor, 1879
 
Sim, é o mesmo local onde todos já disfrutámos de uma tarde de esplanada ou do típico bocadillo de calamares, só que há mais de 130 anos atrás!
A Plaza Mayor de Madrid manteve este aspecto até meados do século passado,   quando estava composta por jardins e tinha transito automóvel.

17 abril 2011

La noche de los libros
As malas já estão prontas para a Semana Santa, mas há que fazer planos para a volta! No próximo dia 27 de Abril realiza-se em toda a Comunidad de Madrid a 6ª edição de La Noche de los Libros, como comemoração do Dia Mundial do Livro.
Nesta noite, várias livrarías, bibliotecas e outras instituições estarão de portas abertas até à 1h00, e estão programadas diversas actividades com mais de 450 escritores e artistas nacionais e extrangeiros.

O programa completo pode ser consultado aqui.

14 abril 2011

Tugas vão à disco - Siniestro Total - Bailaré sobre tu tumba

Não se preocupem, não fui possuída por nenhuma disposição assassina esta semana, mas passei um fim de semana muito divertido em Salamanca e esta canção fazia parte da banda sonora.
Siniestro Total é um grupo de punk-rock galego, formado em Vigo em 1981 e que ainda anda por aí... O seu estilo musical caracteriza-se por uma estética punk, com canções de letras mais ou menos destrambelhadas, dependendo da época, sendo algumas muito simpáticas (como a presente).
Os títulos dos seus álbuns e canções caracterizam-se pela originalidade de alguns (por exemplo: "Menos mal que nos queda Portugal" que deve ser interpretado do ponto de vista galego) e pela bruteza de outros: "Matar jipis en la Cies", "Me pica un huevo" e outros piores...
Esta canção foi lançada em 1985 fazendo parte do seu quarto álbum que tem o mesmo nome. Este ano foi usada pela Fox para anunciar a série "Bones".



Te mataré con mis zapatos de claqué
te asfixiaré con mi malla de ballet
te ahorcaré con mi smoking
y morirás mientras se ríe el disc-jockey.
y bailaré sobre tu tumba
(ua churugüei ua churuguá)

Te degollaré con un disco afilado
de los Rolling Stones, o de los Shadows
te tragarás la colección de cassettes
de las Shan-Gri-Las o de las Ronettes.

Y bailaré sobre tu tumba
(Ua churuguéi ua churuguá)

Te clavaré mi guitarra
te aplastaré con mi piano
te degollaré con mis platillos
te trepanaré con mi órgano Hammond.

Y bailaré sobre tu tumba
(ua churuguéi ua churuguá)


11 abril 2011

Portugal's bail-out
(The Economist) What a difference a year of crisis can make. When Greece was in trouble this time last year, the European Union wavered for months about whether and how to bail it out. Now with Portugal the resistance has been on the other side. José Sócrates, the Socialist prime minister, tried to avoid asking for rescue until the last possible moment before going under. The European Commission, on the other hand, said his request would be processed “in the swiftest possible manner.”

Some European finance ministers expressed relief. Germany's Wolfgang Schäuble called the move a “sensible and necessary step”. Others criticised Portugal for unnecessary delay. "They should have requested aid much earlier. They have placed themselves and Europe in a very difficult situation,” grumbled Sweden's Anders Borg.

One minister who will not be pleased is Finland's Jirki Katainen, leader of the centre-right National Coalition party, who hopes to become the next prime minister following this month's general election. Anti-EU sentiment in Finland has been fanned by the crisis and repeated bail-outs, boosting the far-right True Finns party.

The EU will insist that Portugal submit to a tough adjustment programme, perhaps tougher than the austerity measures that the EU approved but the Portuguese parliament rejected last month, bringing down Mr Sócrates's minority government.

The matter will be discussed at the informal meeting of finance ministers outside Budapest tonight and tomorrow. They may order a mission by experts to negotiate the terms of any rescue, which would them have to be approved by them.

This third bail-out, after that of Greece and Ireland, has caused little surprise. But a political cloud hangs over the negotiations. Does Mr Sócrates's minority government have the authority to negotiate the adjustment measures with the EU and the IMF (detested by many in Portugal after the adjustment programmes it endured in the 1970s and 1980s) before elections in June? And if he is replaced, will his successor come back to Brussels demanding to renegotiate the deal, as Enda Kenny, the new Irish prime minister, has attempted to do?

For now, the commission is sticking to a rather formal line that it will negotiate with the authorities of the day. But it points out that the main centre-right opposition party (called the Social Democrats) supports the request for a bail-out. Nevertheless, the question is whether, in the heat of an electoral campaign in which each will try to blame the other for the country's woes, either Mr Sócrates or his opponent, Pedro Passos Coelho, will be able to agree on precisely how the squeeze should be applied.

Another politician who has a stake in events in Portugal: the president of the European Commission, José Manuel Barroso, a former Portuguese prime minister. His relations with Angela Merkel, the German chancellor, have been testy. She did not appreciate his public pressure for a bail-out duiring the Greek crisis. More recently she has suspected him of being too soft on Portugal. It is not just governments and Brussels-watchers who will be scrutinising Mr Barroso. Now that his native country is in an election campaign, Portugal's political class will inevitably wonder whether his actions somehow favour Mr Sócrates or Mr Coelho (Mr Barroso's political stable-mate).

Long before Portuguese voters pass judgement on all this, the most closely watched verdict will be that of the bond markets. Investors seem to be pleased that the economic uncertainty is ending. But will they get twitchy if the negotiations with Portugal drag on? Will they test the robustness of Spanish government debt? The mood in the euro zone's most troubled economies will not be improved by the European Central Bank's decision earlier today to raise interest rates by 25 basis points. Aware of the criticism, the ECB president, Jean-Claude Trichet, said the rise was not necessarily “the first in a series of interest rate increases”. In other words, the trouble in Portugal and elsewhere may stay his hand for a while.

07 abril 2011

Tugas vão à disco - Los Rodriguez - Mucho Mejor

E repito Los Rodriguez. Porque finalmente hace calor, celebremos a Primavera com uma canção mesmo a propósito.
Esta canção de Los Rodriguez foi lançada em 1996 já no final de carreira da banda. É um dos temas inéditos da compilação Hasta Luego. Este disco foi o mais vendido da sua carreira e foi lançado antes da que seria a última gira do grupo.




Hace calor, hace calor,
yo estaba esperando que cantes mi canción,
y que abras esa botella, y brindemos por ella
y hagamos el amor en el balcón.

Mi corazón, mi corazón
es un músculo sano pero necesita acción.
Dame paz y dame guerra, y un dulce colocón
y yo te entregaré lo mejor.

Ah, haa ha, ah, haa ha,
Dulce como el vino, salada como el mar,
princesa y vagabunda, garganta profunda,
sálvame de esta soledad.

Hace calor, hace calor,
yo estaba esperando que cantes mi canción,
y que abras esa botella, y brindemos por ella
y hagamos el amor en el balcón.

Mi corazón, mi corazón
es un músculo sano pero necesita acción.
Dame paz y dame guerra, y un dulce colocón
y yo te entregaré lo mejor.

Ah, haa ha, ah, haa ha,
Dulce como el vino, salada como el mar,
princesa y vagabunda, garganta profunda,
sálvame de esta soledad.

Hace calor, hace calor,
ella tiene la receta para estar mucho mejor.
Sin truco, sin prisa, me entrega su sonrisa
como una sacerdotisa del amor.

Luna de miel, luna de papel,
luna llena, piel canela, dame noches de placer.
A veces estoy mal, a veces estoy bien,
te daré mi corazón para que juegues con él.

Ah, ha ha, ah, haa ha,
Podrían acusarme, ella es menor de edad.
Iremos a un hotel, iremos a cenar,
pero nunca iremos juntos al altar.

06 abril 2011

04 abril 2011

Media: Espanha - número de residentes portugueses caiu em 2010
(Ionline) O número de residentes portugueses em Espanha caiu 1,3 por cento em 2010, face ao ano anterior, com cerca de 140.700 registados nos municípios do país, segundo dados do Instituto Nacional de Estatística (INE) espanhol.

De acordo com dados do Padrão Municipal, divulgados pelo INE, os portugueses representam cerca de 2,5 por cento da comunidade estrangeira, sendo a 11.ª maior.
A maior comunidade estrangeira é a da Roménia, com 864 mil pessoas, que representam 15,1 por cento de todos os estrangeiros no país, um total de 5,73 milhões. Os dados do Padrão Municipal reúnem todos os registos dos cidadãos residentes em Espanha, neste caso até 01 de janeiro de 2011.

Apesar de serem usados como forma de medir a população espanhola, podem não refletir a realidade dos habitantes do país porque, em muitos casos, residentes que saem do país ou mudam de município não atualizam os seus registos municipais. Assim, por exemplo, e no caso da comunidade portuguesa, importa referir que este é o primeiro ano em que se regista uma descida no número de residentes portugueses, apesar do número de trabalhadores portugueses ter descido significativamente nos últimos anos.

Dados do Ministério do Trabalho espanhol indicam, por exemplo, que no final de 2010 havia registados como trabalhadores em Espanha cerca de 51.800 portugueses. Uma descida de cerca de 40 por cento no número de trabalhadores desde 2007. Em termos comparativos, entre final de 2010 e final de 2007 o Padrão Municipal dá conta de um aumento que refere ter havido um aumento de 4.529 portugueses. Os dados hoje revelados pelo INE referem que, em termos globais, a população residente em Espanha aumentou 0,3 por cento em 2010, para 47.150.819 pessoas. O número de estrangeiros manteve-se globalmente quase idêntico, tendo uma descida de 1,75 por cento no número de estrangeiros não-comunitários sido compensada por um aumento no número de cidadãos da UE a residir em Espanha.

Os estrangeiros são hoje 12,2 por cento dos residentes em Espanha, segundo o Padrão Municipal.
ASP. Lusa/Fim

02 abril 2011

Eduardo Souto de Moura vence o Pritzker 2011
"During the past three decades, Portuguese architect Eduardo Souta de Moura has produced a body of work that is of our time but also carries echoes of architectural traditions. His oeuvre is convincing proof of modern idiom’s expressive potential and adaptability to distinct local situations. Always mindful of context, understood in the broadest sense, and grounded in place, time, and function, Souto de Moura’s architecture reinforces a sense of history while expanding the range of contemporary expression."

A Nation of Dropouts Shakes Europe

(The Wall Street Journal) Isabel Fernandes, a cheery 22-year-old with a constellation of stars tattooed around her right eye, isn't sure how many times she repeated fifth grade. Two, she says with a laugh. Or maybe three. She redid seventh grade as well. She quit school with an eighth-grade education at age 20.

Ms. Fernandes lives in a poor suburb near the airport. She doesn't work. Employers, she says, "are asking for higher education." Even cleaning jobs are hard to find. Protesters in Porto, Portugal, on March 12 called for relief from the nation's economic distress, which is made worse by poor education.

Portugal is the poorest country in Western Europe. It is also the least educated, and that has emerged as a painful liability in its gathering economic crisis. Wednesday night, the economic crisis became a political crisis. Portugal's parliament rejected Prime Minister José Sócrates's plan for spending cuts and tax increases. Mr. Sócrates handed in his resignation. He will hang on as a caretaker until a new government is formed.

Without the budget cuts, Portugal is almost certain to need an international bailout. It will run out of money this year without fresh cash, and markets are charging punitive rates for borrowing. Two firms downgraded Portugal's credit rating Thursday.

Its dire situation thrust a possible Portuguese rescue onto the agenda of European Union leaders who gathered in Brussels Thursday for a previously scheduled meeting, where they were agreeing on a new bailout fund. Portugal would be the third country in the euro zone to require a bailout, after Greece and Ireland.

Portugal is the poorest and least educated country in Western Europe. With a debt crisis bearing down, it must make massive reforms to fix its economy, and education is at the top of the list. WSJ's Charles Forelle reports from Lisbon.

The state of Portuguese education says a lot about why a rescue is likely to be needed, and why one would be costly and difficult. Put simply, Portugal must generate enough long-term economic growth to pay off its large debts. An unskilled work force makes that hard.

Cheap rote labor that once sustained Portugal's textile industry has vanished to Asia. The former Eastern Bloc countries that joined the European Union en masse in 2004 offer lower wages and workers with more schooling. They have sucked skilled jobs away.

Just 28% of the Portuguese population between 25 and 64 has completed high school. The figure is 85% in Germany, 91% in the Czech Republic and 89% in the U.S.

"I don't see how it is going to grow without educating its work force," says Pedro Carneiro, an economist at University College London who left Portugal to do his postgraduate studies in the U.S.

The education woes in Portugal show the extent of Europe's challenge as it tries to right itself amid the sovereign-debt crisis.

Rapid and painful budget-cutting, which is being enforced across the Continent, is the first step. But the second is far harder and will take far longer. The 17 countries linked via the euro have vastly differing levels of economic performance. Unless the gulf is narrowed, the pressures that caused the weaker among them to pile up huge volumes of debt, and have trouble repaying it, will doubtless re-emerge.

Better schooling in Portugal won't come quickly. Sharp cuts in its education spending make the task harder. And even if there are improvements, reaping their benefits could take years.

Greece and Ireland, the two EU countries that got bailouts, reached the brink relatively rapidly: Greece came undone after revelations it had grossly underestimated the government's parlous fiscal state; Ireland self-immolated in an orgy of property speculation.

Portugal's crisis, by contrast, has come to a boil slowly. For a decade, Portugal's growth trailed the euro-zone average. Traditional industries like cork harvesting and shoe stitching couldn't energize the entire country. The tech boom of the mid-2000s largely passed Portugal by.

The Portuguese spent nonetheless. The economy—government and private sector together—has run cumulative deficits with the rest of the world of more than €130 billion over the past decade. The state hasn't had a balanced budget, let alone a surplus, for more than 30 years.

The result is a pile of debt. The government's debt, some of which is held domestically, will approach 90% of gross domestic product this year. The entire economy, including both the public and private sectors, owes foreigners an amount equal to more than two years' of economic output.

Before his failure this week, Prime Minister Sócrates had pushed some budget cuts through parliament under pressure from other euro-zone countries. But in an interview before Wednesday's political crisis, Mr. Sócrates made clear that investment in education was a priority, despite the costs. Appeasing financial markets was important, he said, but the country shouldn't "lose the strategy and vision."

There is substantial evidence from elsewhere that education confers broad economic benefits. Ireland was one of the EU's poorest countries a generation ago. But it threw EU subsidy money into technical education and remade itself as a destination for high-tech labor, made doubly attractive by low corporate taxes. Ireland is now, even after a brutal banking crisis, among the richest nations in Europe.

"They had an educated-enough work force that they could move into a technology industry, and they rose out of nowhere," says Eric Hanushek, a Stanford University professor.

Prof. Hanushek and a professor from the University of Munich have linked GDP growth with population-wide performance on standardized tests. They calculate that Portugal's long-term rate of economic growth would be 1.5 percentage points higher if the country had the same test scores as super-educated Finland.

Education long was an afterthought here. "The southern countries like Portugal and Spain and the south of France and Italy, we have always had some problems related with education," says António Nóvoa, a historian who is rector of the University of Lisbon. "That's been like that since the 16th century."

The repressive dictatorship that ruled Portugal from 1926 to 1974 had the idea "that people should not have ambition to be something different than what they were," Mr. Nóvoa says. The result was widespread illiteracy and little formal schooling; just three years were compulsory. Huge leaps have been made since the 1970s, he says, but "it is not easy to change a history of five centuries."

Portugal has just begun phasing in 12 years of required schooling; now, Portuguese can leave school after ninth grade. Many do. The government says it is racing ahead with reforms. Mr. Sócrates points to an initiative that gives students laptops and to a far-reaching project to rebuild dilapidated schoolhouses. Results last year show students improving on standardized tests.

But it is a long road. "We have accumulated years and years of ignorant people," says Belmiro de Azevedo, a billionaire industrialist.

He described the system as calcified. The central administration wields tight control. Curricula are simultaneously undemanding and rigid. Dropout rates are high. Schools struggle to accommodate an influx of immigrants from Portugal's former colonies in Africa, such as Angola and Guinea-Bissau.

A push to evaluate teachers triggered searing strikes and demonstrations in 2008, souring relations between powerful teachers' unions and the government. The political life of education ministers is measured in months: since the dictatorship ended in 1974, there have been 27.

To the system's critics, a fight that has developed over quasi-private schools is emblematic of what's wrong. With budgets tight, the government has imposed deep cuts on schools that are at the margin of the state's control—no matter that some are among the best.

The highway north of Lisbon rises gently out of the Tagus River's estuary and cuts through valleys of pine and scrub and fields stained yellow by sweet clover. About 30 miles up, in the municipality of Torres Vedras, the population is spread thinly in tiny towns that dot roads meandering toward the ocean. In one town, A Dos Cunhados, the local school isn't run or owned by the government. It is managed by the Catholic Church, in an arrangement that dates to the end of the dictatorship, when the new Portuguese state found it didn't have enough facilities.

At the school, Externato de Penafirme, as at 90 others with what are called "association contracts," the state pays a management fee to a private entity, which broadly follows the state curriculum but hires its own teachers. The deputy principal, Carlos Silva, once taught chemistry in the public school system. He was shuffled through four schools in four years. Frustrated, he quit and enrolled in a seminary. Afterward, as a priest, he asked his bishop about returning to the classroom, and was assigned to Externato de Penafirme.

Instead of being given teachers off a master list, Father Silva and other administrators of these quasi-private schools select their own. They adjust the curriculum, adding, for instance, more religious instruction. They set up teams of teachers responsible for students and try to rope back those prone to dropping out. "We make an enormous effort to take them all to the end," says a school administrator, José Mendes. Penafirme's test scores put it in the top 15% of secondary schools nationwide. It is the best in Torres Vedras.

To their advocates, the privately run schools inject a needed dose of new thinking. "We have to keep a diversified system," says Eduardo Marçal Grilo, a former education minister. If there's a public and a private school in the same place, he says, "let's see what is the best, and if the best is private, the state can close the public and support the private."

But in November, the priests of Penafirme got a shock. Facing money problems—the government's education budget is declining 11% this year—the education ministry said it would cut the sum it pays association-contract schools to €80,000 per class, from €114,000 on average. Father Silva says it spends €85,000 per class on salary and benefits alone.

To the current education minister, Isabel Alçada, directing scarce funds to private entities like Penafirme while regular public schools have grave needs "is not just." What was once a program meant to fill gaps has turned into "competition," she complains, in which private operators set up bus routes to lure students.

Faced with the cuts, students and parents organized. In December, 4,000 people held hands in a big ring around the Penafirme campus. The pictures hit television. A Facebook group sprang up. In January, students walked out of dozens of the privately run schools for three days. To dramatize a claim the cuts would mean the death of their schools, students and parents from 55 schools ferried mock coffins to Lisbon and put them on the median strip outside Ms. Alçada's ministry.

Last month, the education ministry eased somewhat, agreeing to restore part of the lost funding for this semester. Paulo Gonçalves, a Hewlett-Packard Co. corporate salesman who is president of the Penafirme parents' association, says the détente was a victory, but more money is needed to keep quality high enough to prepare students for college. "If you earn a degree in Portugal, you earn more or less double those who don't," he says. "This is what I teach my kids."

It's particularly true with unemployment over 11%. "With the crisis, we have to go to university," says Sophie Alves, a Penafirme senior who plans to study occupational therapy in college. With only a high-school diploma, "you can do nothing, just serve tables."

With even less than that, prospects are bleaker still. Ms. Fernandes, the 22-year-old with an eighth-grade education, comes often to a school in Apelacão, where a tiny nonprofit called Project Leadership tries to coax young people back to class or help them get jobs.

Serafim Gomes, also 22, was there on a recent afternoon. He left school in eighth grade with the dream of becoming a professional soccer player. It didn't pan out. Now he occasionally waits tables and hopes for better employment.

Marco Monteiro, who is 16, was recently kicked out of his regular school. Bad behavior, he says. He hoped to go back—"I don't have enough school to find work," he says—and then maybe get a job in the mall. Project Leadership's director, António Embaló, complimented him on his mechanical skills. Might he consider college, perhaps studying engineering? "It's never crossed my mind," Mr. Monteiro says. "I don't know anyone who went."

01 abril 2011

Dia das Mentiras vs dia dos Inocentes 
O equivalente espanhol ao português Dia das Mentiras é o Día de los Santos Inocentes. Em quanto o dia das Mentiras acontece a 1 de Abril (hoje!!!), o dia dos Inocentes decorre a 28 de Dezembro.

Em ambas as datas é costume contar mentiras, ou inocentadas. No México, Espanha, Chile e em outros países hispânicos os meios de comunicação costumam fazer brincadeiras ou exageram o conteúdo da notícia. Algumas notícias são tão sérias que facilmente enganam o leitor desprevenido.

O que difere é a origem desta "celebração". Em Portugal, Estados Unidos, Reino Unido, Alemanha, Japão e Brasil, o 1 de Abril conhece-e como April's Fools ou Dia das Mentiras, não tendo conotações religiosas.

Pelo contrário, o Dia dos Inocentes de 28 de Dezembro regista o episódio bíblico do massacre das crianças menores de dois anos, ordenado pelo Rei Herodes com o objectivo de eliminar o recém-nascido Jesus da Nazaré.

Depois de uma pessoas perceber a origem do dia dos Inocentes já nem dá vontade de "celebrar" nada, não acham? O nossos hermanos têm por vezes estes humores especialmente negros.
Media: Portugal 'sells' Ronaldo to Spain in €160m deal on national debt
(The Independent) Weighed down by debt, and reeling from the latest downgrading of their country's credit status, Portugal's finance ministry has secured the co-operation of football's highest-paid player in an audacious bid to draw the nation back from the brink of economic collapse.

In a move which some observers claimed "will lead to the destruction of the World Cup", Cristiano Ronaldo has agreed to "act like a patriot" and be sold to neighbouring Spain for €160m.

Last week, Prime Minister José Sócrates resigned after his government's latest austerity package was rejected by parliament. His move followed the downgrading of his country's credit rating to the category above "junk". While Ronaldo's fee, though double the current record (paid by Real Madrid to Manchester United for Ronaldo's club affiliation in 2009) barely dents the €12bn Portugal owes, Mr Socrates, now caretaker premier, believes that the international bond markets will take it as a symbol of Portugal's determination to tackle the crisis, and respond accordingly.

Although no footballer has ever previously been "transferred" between countries, there is extensive precedent for changing nationality, especially in Spain. Two of the greats, Alfredo di Stéfano and Ferenc Puskás, played for the Spanish national team after representing other countries and then taking Spanish citizenship. Di Stéfano – who is still involved at Real Madrid and is thought to have influenced Ronaldo's decision – had played for Argentina and Colombia. Puskás even played in the 1954 World Cup final for Hungary but went into exile after the crushing of the 1956 revolution. As recently as Spain's 2008 European Championship triumph, Marcos Senna, Brazilian by birth and parentage, was a key player.

Senna, however, had not played for Brazil. Since Puskás' day, Fifa, the world governing body, has tightened its rules. Once a player has played a competitive international for one country – at any age group – he cannot switch allegiance unless he had dual nationality at the time, and was educated in the second country. Mikael Arteta, Everton's Spanish midfielder, abandoned an attempt to play for England because he had played competitively for Spain under-21s. But Fifa's secretive executive committee is expected to meet today, in extraordinary session, to adapt its statutes to permit such moves in circumstances where both governments agree.

"It's insane," said a spokesman for the Bruges-based Keep Football Pure organisation. "Those idiot administrators have not thought it through, as usual. There's now nothing to stop Qatar buying a World XI. It'll destroy the World Cup, it will turn it into another Champions League – only worse."

Opinion is divided in Portugal. While many see Ronaldo's agreement to the move as the "ultimate patriotic gesture" others regard the transfer as a "surrender". Paolo Fril, professor of political economics at Lisbon University, told The Independent: "We were ruled by a Spanish king for 60 years [1580-1640] and had to go to war to win back our independence. This is not about Spain saving us –they are restoring the Iberian Union by the back door."

There are doubts in Spain, too. The issue is not naturalising Ronaldo, but whether he is needed. Spain are the current world and European champions, with a style of play that relies more on passing than the soloist skills for which Ronaldo is known. "If we are going to buy foreigners we should buy Lionel Messi [Barcelona's Argentinian star]," said one fan.

But if Ronaldo is unappreciated in Spain, his skills may be in demand elsewhere. Late last night, reports suggested that David Cameron was preparing a counter-offer, of £200m, to persuade Ronaldo to play for England. "The Premier League is where Ronaldo became a star," said the Prime Minister, "so it is only right and proper he should play for England." He added that Vince Cable had proposed a "Ferrari tax" to pay for it, though Ronaldo himself would be given exemption.