Traditional or “New family”?
 Traditional or “New family”? 
by Mayumi Shima
Do you know if your family is traditional or if it represents the “new family”? First of all, let's understand the meaning of these two expressions. The traditional family is consisted of parents and their children, or parents, brothers and sisters of the same family, and sometimes grandparents or other relatives as well. However, nowadays, the constitution of the family has changed a lot. More than 50% of the Brazilian families is not classified as a traditional one, where there are a father, a mother and children from the same marriage. These families are called the “new families” and sometimes the family picture needs labels with names and explanations for us to understand who is who because the man who looks like a father could be a stepfather, or even the young girl who looks like a daughter could be a wife.
The last survey by the “Brazilian Statistics and Geography Institute” (IBGE) published data that demonstrates changes in the definition of the traditional family. It also introduced of the concept of “new family”: more than 47% of the families are consisted of wife and husband without children; or one parent and children, where a father or a mother is not present; or even a person who lives alone; or still grandparents that take care to grandchildren, etc… According to Maria Rita D’Angelo Seixas, from the University of São Paulo, two recent factors caused these alterations. Firstly, the divorce law, approved in Brazil, in1977, allows husbands and wives to get married again and form new families as many times as they wish. Secondly, the contraceptive pill allows women to have sexual freedom and prevents her from becoming pregnant if she has sex.
In the “new family”, parents and children have opportunity to talk about family relationships, and the responsibilities are shared between parents. The new Civil Laws were adapted according to the changes in behavior and constitution of the families in the society. For example, all children (adopted children, natural ones, or children from the different marriages…) have equal inheritance rights, and nowadays parents have equal rights to take care to children. The parent who has the best financial and psychological conditions will be chosen to raise the children. Let's have a look at this real example of the “new family”: Since he was eleven months old, Kim C.C. has had two houses. Nowadays he is a twelve-year-old boy, and since his parent divorced, he has lived four days with his mother and 3 days with his father. This fact was not acceptable some years ago, but today it is normal, and Kim is a happy teenager who says that he likes to live this way. His big problem is when he forgets something in the father's or mother’s house, or when he does not know where he forgot it.
Other data shows there have been changes in the traditional family as well, such as the decrease of 12% in the number of official marriages, the increase by three times in the divorce rates, the increase by 90% in the number of non-official marriages, the increase by 64% in the number of people who live alone, the increase by 39% in the number of parents who do not have children, and the increase by 53% in the number of women who raise children alone. Another real example of this “new family” is the story of the Brun family: A second marriage was not expected to Roberto and Lucineide Brun. He is a sixty-year-old widower who has a daughter and a son. Lucineide is a divorced woman who has two daughters and a son. She always thought that it would be very difficult to get married again because of her three children. However, Roberto and Lucineide met years ago and decided to get remarried. In the beginning, each family lived in their own house, but today, they decided to live all together in a big house with six rooms. Roberto’s oldest daughter said that it was difficult to familiarize with the stepmother in the beginning, but now they are a true family.
The “new family” is a real fact and it is increasing every day. Have you already thought about this or about whether your family is traditional or “new”? The most important thing, in my point of view, is to have a good and happy relationship within the family, be it traditional or “new”. To promote harmonious life without discrimination or preconceptions, the Civil Laws have to be continuously adapted to the new reality.
 Escrito por Aurea às 06h49 PM
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A refreshing discovery - part 1
 A refreshing discovery
By Bia Mauro
A hundred years before the refrigerator was created, Brazil already had the frozen cream. Before telling the history of this marvelous discovery, it's important to explain something to my readers.... The specialists divide the frozen cream in sherbet (sorbet) and ice-cream. The first one is made with sugar syrup and juice or fruit pulp, wine, liqueur or sugar cane beverage. The other has a more complex recipe, including milk products and eggs.
Let's start our trip through the past....
In 1812, D. Diogo de Souza, the governor of the Captainship of São Pedro (which nowadays is the state of Rio Grande do Sul), took advantage of a strong frost to make an experiment, leaving it in a recipient with citric-fruits juice. When the mixture became crystallized, he ate it with pleasure.
The sorbet popularization, however, only took place in Brazil twenty years after that in Rio de Janeiro... On August 6th, 1834, Rio received the Madagascar ship, commanded by William Hammett, coming from the USA. He declared to the customhouse that he was transporting 217 tons of ice. On the following 23rd, a newspaper published an advertisement where there were being offered different qualities of sorbets in two stores in Rio de Janeiro.
Before continuing the story, dear readers, it is important to say that, during the winter, Americans used to pick up ice from the Potomac River and from the lakes near Boston. They would cut it in big blocks and used these blocks to transport fresh foods. It became a lucrative activity only because they started to send the blocks to the countries in the Southern Hemisphere, which were then facing summertime. The ice blocks were involved in sawdust to be transported, and they used to last four or five months.
The most important American who exported ice was Frederic Tudor, named the Ice King. He was very rich and his family wished he would graduate from Harvard, but when he was 13 years old, he left his studies and went to visit Cuba, where he couldn't find a fresh drink. Right after he returned to the USA, he started to export ice. He later developed an ice cutter machine, so the blocks could be better pilled up and could last longer.
Escrito por Aurea às 06h11 PM
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A refreshing discovery - part 2
A refreshing discovery - part 2
By Bia Mauro
Continuing the story... the Madagascar shipment debarked in Rio de Janeiro and the announcement of the sorbet caused astonishment on population. In the beginning, they were suspicious that the frozen cream would burn their mouths.
The novelty didn't take a long time to conquer the population of Rio de Janeiro. They made queues in front of the sweet shops that offered “pitanga”, orange, banana, pineapple, mango, coconut, “carambola” and chocolate sorbets, for 200 réis each.
Still in the 19th Century, the Italian called Giuseppe Grondona asked the permission of the authorities to make a machine to be able to produce the frozen cream, but he made a big mistake by telling them about the sensual taste of the sorbet. The authorities considered his request immoral and unconstitutional, so they did not allow his output.
Let me write, my readers, one more curiosity... When Brazil was governed by Diogo Antônio Feijó, the future Emperor D. Pedro II, then an 11-year-old boy, asked for permission to taste the sorbet. After this fact, he became a fan of the specialty, and “pitanga” became his favorite flavor.
Moreover, we must say that ice-cream was created before the refrigerator invention. It was invented by the Chinese 3.000 years ago. They prepared ice-cream with snow. The Persians used this technique and passed it away to the Arabics, who transferred it to the Europeans in the 8th Century. The Greek and Romans were already used to making sorbet with fruits and honey.
The industrialization of ice cream started in the 19th Century, in Baltimore, in the USA. A milk businessman called Fussell didn't get to sell all the milk he stocked, so he converted it into ice-cream (literally ice in cream).
In 1904, another improvisation originated the waffle cone. An ice-cream man, in St. Louis, had his plates stock tired out and, in order not to lose his clients, he offered his ice-cream in the waffles that his neighbor businessman used to sell.
 In my opinion, my readers, what is important in all I wrote in this is that this fresh discovery is used until today, and we can taste it in the most different flavors, which are continuously invented every day because of the competition among the ice-cream stores.
This is all for now. See you next month with one more unnecessary, but interesting, cultural note!!!!
Escrito por Aurea às 06h10 PM
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Have you seen it before?
 Have you seen it before?
by Eleutério Ramos Gonçalves
Everybody has a friend or a relative who matches to this description: “Men or Women, over forties, intelligent, good looking, with good social position, single or divorced and always looking for someone to have a relationship.”
Our society intends to be modern, but among them there is always someone asking: “What is wrong with him (or her)?”, “She (or he) is so nice, but…”
That is the reason why the movie “Something’s gotta give” (Alguém tem que ceder) has made all this success. Diane Keaton and Jack Nicholson perform the couple who proves that, sometimes, loneliness is just a matter of an unexpected encounter.
Erica Barry is a well-succeeded and a bit neurotic play-writer and Harry Sanborn is an executive of a black music label record and a bachelor that believes that there is not even one interesting woman over thirties. He is going out with Erica's daughter and they get to know each other at her house at the Hamptons. Then, he has a heart attack and, even though she is not very happy with the situation, Erica accepts to look after him until he recovers. The differences between them are huge, but destiny shows in some little details all the surprises that are about to come.
Things start to become more interesting when Harry's doctor (Keanu Reeves) falls in love with Erica, and the two men soon find themselves competing with each other over her.
It's a light and sweet romantic comedy, which makes us believe that we should never give up trying to find true love.
You can’t miss it! After all, Erica and Harry can be just around the corner.
Escrito por Aurea às 06h08 PM
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Sailor Tale
Sailor Tale
by Alfredo Pereira de Carvalho
Last week, I was watching an episode of “The Color of War”, a series presented by the History Channel, and my attention was caught by one of the cases presented, which I will try to tell you here.
The guy whose letter was mentioned was part of the crew of an aircraft carrier. The carrier was a small one, and was originally a cargo ship that was converted into an aircraft carrier. Since it was launched some years before the war, it had a name of a civilian ship.
Then, Washington bureaucrats decided that, since it was now a warship, she had to be named like one, so they renamed her.
One of the crewmen was an old sailor, who was not the most pleasant man on the world, but his experience was respected. When he was told about the decision, he screamed: “Those S.O.B.’s in Washington don’t know you cannot change the name of a ship? It brings bad luck! We are doomed!” (to be precise, he used many more four-letter words).
A few months after being renamed, this ship took part in a battle. During that battle, the ship was hit by a kamikaze plane and sank.
The old sailor was right after all!!!
Escrito por Aurea às 05h57 PM
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Master And Commander - The Far Side Of The World
"Master And Commander - The Far Side Of The World"
By Carlos Henrique do Nascimento
Based on the story of the ship "Surprise", "Master And Commander - The Far Side of The World" is a one-hundred-million-dollar production from 20th Century FOX. The most important character, captain Jack Aubrey, is performed by Russell Crowell.
The story takes place in the nineteenth century. In that period the Royal Navy dominated the seas and made England the most powerful country in the World. The trade and exchange of goods were the basis of his power. Other countries like France tried to take part in this trade with pirate actions and even with missions sponsored by other European governments. During the film, the "Surprise" had the mission to attack a French ship sent by France to rob the British ships in the Southern Seas.
The scenes start in the Brazilian Coast, cross Cape Horn with its violent waves, and reach the Galapagos Islands. The scenes are amazing, and the sound effects are magnificent. The battles were filmed with great realism; in fact, in some moments you can feel in the middle of the action.
An important episode of the movie occurred when Captain Aubrey adverted his second man in command that he should be harder in keeping hierarchy aboard. A sailor had an attitude that the captain interpreted as an offense to the officer. As a punishment, the sailor received several lashes. All these passages reinforced Captain Aubrey's concepts and ideals of duty.
As a film based in history, the plot brings us not only leisure, but also lessons and knowledge. Many scenes presented the hard life the sailors had during that period. The food was poor, the medication was underdeveloped, and hygiene was precarious.
"Master And Commander" is a highly recommended film. Its director, Peter Weir, was very fortunate to select this story, to what he gave precision in details. Russell Crowell acted as a great Captain Aubrey, and we should not forget that he went on a diet to be as fat as the Captain, who was a one-hundred-kilogram man. Watch the movie! You won't regret it!!! 
Escrito por Aurea às 05h47 PM
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