Note to self: When faced with a similar situation, let the iPhone 5 go.
It wasn’t until [Matt] Henderson discovered a story about his own app on Gizmodo Brazil that he realized why he had created such a hit within the country. No, it wasn’t because he had made a great app that appealed to the sensibilities of the Brazilian people. Rather, it turns out the name Henderson chose for the app is actually a slang term for “butt crack” in Portuguese.
While Henderson may have been slightly disappointed that his app gained popularity from people looking for butts rather than people looking for the useful tool he created, he has decided to embrace the app’s current name.
Sometimes, a name just works.
[The group] demonstrates … a great deal of innovation in the stage set up, visual effects and pyrotechnics, which makes all the difference in the unique identity of the band.A description on the Facebook profile for the band Gurizada Fandangueira • Discussing the pyrotechnics that the Brazillian country-pop band was known for. The band had set off pyrotechnics on the stage of the Kiss nightclub in Santa Maria on Saturday night, leading to the deadly fire that killed 231 people. Members of the band, along with owners of the club, were being questioned about the incident, the deadliest incident of its kind in the country in nearly 50 years and one that has a TON in common with an incident that happened in the United States nearly a decade ago — The Station nightclub fire, involving the band Great White, also involved the usage of pyrotechnics in a closed space which lit the ceiling’s acoustic insulation, and the blockage of an exit that followed.
For sure, he was killed because of his work as a reporter. Over his at least 17 years at the newspaper, he made a long list of enemies, many of whom I imagine would love to see him dead. But he denounced so many people and so much corruption that it is impossible to say who was behind his murder.O Estado do Maranhao state affairs editor Silvia Moscoso • Discussing the death of Decio Sa, one of his co-workers at the Brazilian newspaper. The political reporter was killed Monday night, gunned down while eating dinner. Brazil is a particularly dangerous part of the world for journalists — four journalists have been killed just this year alone, along with 21 since 1992.
» “I’ve never seen a spill this small with this size of reaction.” That’s what Ali Moshiri, the Chevron executive in charge of the company’s Latin American operations, said in reaction to the November spill, which took place on the Frade oil field. Brazil, which has toughened up its regulatory standards partly because of environmental disasters like the 2010 oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, did not take those comments kindly; a court on Friday took away the passports of the 17 employees, as the country plans to file criminal charges against the employees of Chevron and Transocean. (A new leak on the Frade was found Friday, too.) You get the feeling that the U.S. didn’t try enough after hearing what Brazil just did.
All I want is work, and Brazil, thank God, has jobs for us.Haitian-born Wesley Saint-Fleur • Discussing how, in the wake of 2010’s Haitian earthquake, he and his family moved to Brazil, a quickly-growing part of the world where he’s found it easy to get a job. Not everyone has been so lucky, however: Nearly 4,000 people have moved from Haiti to Brazil since the devastating earthquake in 2010, and many of them have found things just as bad in Brazil. While Brazil’s economic growth has slowed recently, unemployment is still extremely low and the biggest beneficiaries have been those working low-income jobs, where salaries have grown sevenfold in recent years. Even Americans are heading down there for jobs. source (via • follow)
jcoleknowsbest says: BULLSHIT!!!!!!!!!!! Brasil’s official position on the favelas/slums only changed with the World Cup and the Olympics.. Before then police never went in the favelas.. And even in that there is no real effort to actually help the people come out of poverty.. When I was in Rio Janeiro back in June, they were building huge screens along the highway from the airport. One of the taxi drivers was telling me that they were building them to hide the poor from the world cup/olympics visitors. This is crazy seeing as Rio has about 600 favelas.. They should mention that this war on the poor folks has claimed many lives….MANY LIVES… At least 23 people die per month by police violence.. This is a war against the poor.. They disguise it as a war against drugs but Like the United States it would be interesting to hear from the “Drug Lords” where they get their guns and drugs….. SMH!
» SFB says: A worthwhile counterpoint to our Brazil post. — Ernie @ SFB
(Source: shortformblog)
An attempt to clean up a big problem: Tanks rolled through Rio’s Rocinha neighborhood early Sunday morning, in an effort to show some authority in the region, which is a hotbed for the country’s drug trade. “We’re taking back this territory for the 100,000 citizens of Rocinha, people who have needed peace,” said Sergio Cabral, the governor of the Rio de Janeiro state. But there’s also a bigger goal happening — officials want to clean up the region ahead of two major events heading to the city in the next few years — 2014’s World Cup and 2016’s Olympics. Roughly a third of the city’s six million residents live in slums — of which Rocinha is the largest one. (Photo by Silvia Izquierdo/AP) source
It looks really funny until you realize the context: Rio de Janeiro’s carnival-building section of town, Samba City, just had a huge fire where lots of stuff got destroyed. Costumes, giant props: They were almost all destroyed. (Nobody was hurt, though.) “We are heartbroken,” said League of Samba Schools president Jorge Castanheria. “Everything was practically ready for the carnival.” It happened so close to the event, which draws hundreds of thousands of people each year, that they may not be able to get everything ready in time. source
Rio de Janeiro police, soldiers raid lawless drug haven: The Olympics may not be headed to Brazil until 2016, but they’re getting ready now by fighting against powerful drug gangs (who have been fighting back). With tanks! source