Painting Exhibition...

Inácio Lemos, will show " the world" his talent, for the first time.

Painting became a hobby some years ago.

The result of his passion, "Traços a Cores",will be on exhibition in Fundação Jorge Antunes, in Vizela, from the 9th February 2008 onwards.
See more on Fundação Jorge Antunes

Impressing...

Impressive view of New York.

From the top of the Empire State Building.

I'll see it for myself...in March.

Why we love...

(...)"There's the sublime feeling of relief and reward when that interest is returned. There are the flowers you buy and the poetry you write and the impulsive trip you make to the other side of the world just so you can spend 48 hours in the presence of a lover who's far away"(...).

"They live for love, die for love, kill for love. It can be stronger than the drive to stay alive."

in Time ( by Jeffrey Kluger)

Heath Ledger

A great actor was lost for cinema.

He was found dead in his apartment, in Manhattan, New York, USA

Heath Ledger was born the 4th April 1979, in Perth Australia ( read a short biography)

Why learn languages?...

Language learning is something that everyone can do - and do it throughout their lifetime - you're never too old or too young to learn a language!
In many countries it is quite normal for most people to be able to use three languages. In the European Union, such people are well placed to take full advantage of European citizenship and of the single market. They are better able to move between countries for educational, professional or other reasons. Their linguistic skills are attractive to employers.
The European Commission wants everybody in the Union to share these benefits. In its 1995 White Paper “Teaching and Learning: towards the learning society”, it set the objective of all EU citizens being proficient in three European languages: their mother tongue plus two more.
Your reasons for learning
This is an important question: why do you want to learn? And what do you want to learn?
If you have a clear reason for learning a language, you will be more motivated to succeed.
Maybe you want to be able to understand local people when you go on holiday abroad, or maybe your job brings you in contact with people from other countries, or maybe you just want to be able to make friends with people from other backgrounds than your own. These are all good reasons for learning a foreign language! But don't forget that there are plenty of other reasons too:
More and more companies are investing in staff training in foreign languages, or are looking to recruit people with language skills. It needn't just be the top level staff who learn - shop floor workers can also be involved. Language learning can improve your career prospects.
Learning a language can increase your self-confidence and help you speak more clearly - so it can help you express yourself better in your own language as well.
Speaking someone else's language helps you to understand that person's culture and their outlook on life: the more people who do this, the more we can break down the barriers that divide people.
Whatever your situation, if you are aware of your reasons for learning a language and you remind yourself of them during your studies you will be more focused on your objectives and be able to keep up your learning momentum.

How to learn foreign languages.

Somewhere...

Somewhere...

the sun shines ...

brings hope for a new and a better beginning...

Somewhere, far from here...

where I would like to be.

Multilingualism...

The term multilingualism can refer to an occurrence regarding an individual speaker who uses two or more languages, a community of speakers where two or more languages are used, or between speakers of different languages.

A multilingual person, in the broadest definition, is anyone who can communicate in more than one language, be it active (through speaking and writing) or passive (through listening and reading). A generic term for multilingual persons is polyglot.

Multilingual speakers have acquired and maintained at least one language during childhood, the so-called first language. First languages (sometimes also referred to as mother tongue) are acquired without formal education, by mechanisms heavily disputed. Children acquiring two first languages since birth are called simultaneous bilinguals. Even in the case of simultaneous bilinguals one language usually dominates over the other. This kind of bilingualism is most likely to occur when a child is raised by bilingual parents in a predominantly monolingual environment. It can also occur when the parents are monolingual but have raised their child or children in two different countries.

Potential multilingual speakers
People with a strong interest in a foreign language.
People who find it necessary to acquire a second language for practical purposes such as business, information gathering (Internet, mainly English) or entertainment (foreign language films, books or computer games).
Language immersion children.
Immigrants and their descendants. Although the heritage language may be lost after one or two generations particularly if the replacing language has greater prestige.
Children of expatriates. However, language loss in younger children may be rapid when removed from a language community.
Residents in border areas between two countries of mixed languages where each language is seen of equal prestige. Yet, in areas where one language is more prestigious than the other, speakers of the less prestigious language may acquire the dominant language. In time, however, the different language communities may likely become one, as one language becomes extinct in that area.
Children whose parents each speak a different language, in multilingual communities. In unilingual communities, when parents maintain a different-parent/different-language household, younger children may appear to be multilingual, however, entering school will overwhelm the child with pressure to conform to the dominant community language. Younger siblings in these households will almost always be unilingual. On the other hand, in unilingual communities, where parents have different native languages, multilingualism in the child may be achieved when both parents maintain a one-language (not the community language) household.
Children in language-rich communities where neither language is seen as more prestigious than the other and where interaction between people occurs in different languages on a frequent basis.
Children who have one or more parents who have learned a second language, either formally (in classes) or by living in the country. The parent chooses to speak only this second language to the child.

in Wikipédia

Equality...?

Boys and girls...
different sexes, different attitudes and behaviours...
Differences are not so sharp any more or easily defined.
Read the following article in Newsweek

Addiction...

When your parents were young, people could buy cigarettes and smoke pretty much anywhere — even in hospitals! Ads for cigarettes were all over the place. Today we're more aware about how bad smoking is for our health. Smoking is restricted or banned in almost all public places and cigarette companies are no longer allowed to advertise on TV, radio, and in many magazines.

Almost everyone knows that smoking causes cancer, emphysema, and heart disease; that it can shorten your life by 10 years or more; and that the habit can cost a smoker thousands of dollars a year. So how come people are still lighting up? The answer, in a word, is addiction.

Once you start, it's hard to stop. Smoking is a hard habit to break because tobacco contains nicotine, which is highly addictive. Like heroin or other addictive drugs, the body and mind quickly become so used to the nicotine in cigarettes that a person needs to have it just to feel normal. People start smoking for a variety of different reasons. Some think it looks cool. Others start because their family members or friends smoke. Statistics show that about 9 out of 10 tobacco users start before they're 18 years old. Most adults who started smoking in their teens never expected to become addicted. That's why people say it's just so much easier to not start smoking at all.
The consequences of smoking may seem very far off, but long-term health problems aren't the only hazard of smoking. Nicotine and the other toxins in cigarettes, cigars, and pipes can affect a person's body quickly, which means that teen smokers experience many of these problems:

Bad skin. Because smoking restricts blood vessels, it can prevent oxygen and nutrients from getting to the skin — which is why smokers often appear pale and unhealthy. An Italian study also linked smoking to an increased risk of getting a type of skin rash called psoriasis.

Bad breath. Cigarettes leave smokers with a condition called halitosis, or persistent bad breath.

Bad-smelling clothes and hair. The smell of stale smoke tends to linger — not just on people's clothing, but on their hair, furniture, and cars. And it's often hard to get the smell of smoke out.

Reduced athletic performance. People who smoke usually can't compete with nonsmoking peers because the physical effects of smoking (like rapid heartbeat, decreased circulation, and shortness of breath) impair sports performance.

Greater risk of injury and slower healing time. Smoking affects the body's ability to produce collagen, so common sports injuries, such as damage to tendons and ligaments, will heal more slowly in smokers than nonsmokers.

Increased risk of illness. Studies show that smokers get more colds, flu, bronchitis, and pneumonia than nonsmokers. And people with certain health conditions, like asthma, become more sick if they smoke (and often if they're just around people who smoke). Because teens who smoke as a way to manage weight often light up instead of eating, their bodies lack the nutrients they need to grow, develop, and fight off illness properly.

Ban on Smoking...

Smoking is from the 1st January 2008 forbidden in most public places in Portugal.

Schools are amongst those places. Smoking is no more allowed, anywhere, not even in the open spaces.

I believe that this is probably a good measure to educate teenagers against the addiction on cigarettes. Smoking has been socially accepted for many generations and teenagers often smoke to feel older, to imitate their "role models".

I hope that this legislation discourages young people from smoking offering them the possibility to have a better health.

Cheers to 2008...

Happy New Year...

A New Year has replaced the old one, there are always the same rituals...Champagne, laugther, kissing and cheers to all. There are wishes and vows made but the most important is that the New Year offers us peace, a better understanding of differences, respect and tolerance and love to all the Mankind.

Happy 2008