It’s all about speculation… pure speculation…

Posted on by nuno

I remember when oil prices climbed up like crazy last year…
I remember when a barril of oil reached 78USD during mid-2006…
I remember reading about the causes for the climb…
I remember reading several times that one of the responsible causes was the cold weather in the US (it’s true it’s widely used for heating), but…
The cold weather in the US today is the most severe one in decades…

The price of oil has been tumbling since the beginning of the year, despite the cold weather in the US and in Europe. It tumbled 15% already!! In case you didn’t notice we are only on the 4th week of the year!

Something doesn’t make sense here… They always have an explanation, but do you believe them?

Joost

Posted on by nuno

Ladies and Gentleman, from the Skype visionaries, Joost…

What is Joost™?

“Joost™ is a new way of watching TV on the internet, which uses new and established technologies to provide the best of both the internet and TV worlds. We’re in the process of making it as TV-like as we can, with programmes, channels and adverts. You can also see some things that we think will enhance the TV experience: searching for programmes and channels, for example, as well as social features like chat. There are many more new features to come!”

It looks like there is no MacOSX version yet, they expect it to be available in the next few months. I guess we have no choice but to wait.

I love the idea and the concept, actually I’ve thought about this concept sometime ago, but I guess they came up with the idea even before Skype was born. They were just waiting for the right combination of factors – widespread broadband and powerful computers in particular.

Combustivel

Posted on by nuno

Segundo a página da GALP:

“A Galp Energia prossegue a sua política de fazer traduzir no mercado as oscilações dos índices internacionais, garantido, nomeadamente, que movimentos de reduções das cotações são reflectidos tão rapidamente quanto possível nos preços no consumidor.”

O petróleo já desceu cerca de 15% desde o início do ano. Vou esperar anciosamente pela redução de 15 centimos no preço do gasóleo! Ah! what a joke!

Another surprise

Posted on by nuno

Last weekend, I went with my girlfriend and some friends to a nice and trendy restaurant in Lisbon – Zocco. The food was nice, the service was excellent and the price reasonable (30EUR per person). We had some martinis, the main course, desert, coffee, wine and some other drinks at the end.

Although the restaurant was nice, the surprise was the wine we tried. Quinta dos Aciprestes, 2004, from Douro.

This wine causes a real explosion of ripe fruit flavours in the palate, showing at the end the excellent structure and perfect balance. Its price is something around 5 EUR but it tastes like a 10-15EUR wine. Definitively give it a try.

Lisbon Skyscrapers

Posted on by nuno

I always loved skyscrapers and I would love Lisbon to have a skyscrapers area some day. I think skyscrapers give that future look to a city, but I only like them when they are all together in a certain area, not spread around the city.
Although compared to some skyscrapers around the world the Skyscrapers projects for Lisbon are really tiny, some of them look really interesting.

You can see a list of proposals here and a list of rejected projects here.
Continue reading →

Titulos diferentes, mesma notícia…

Posted on by nuno

… cores partidárias diferentes …
Certamente que tal facto acontece há muito tempo, mas cada vez é mais difícil ler apenas os títulos das notícias, isto simplesmente porque é uma perca de tempo.
Principalmente em notícias económicas e políticas é cada vez mais frequente ler títulos contraditórios ou opostos, para a mesma notícia, em diferentes jornais.
Aqui fica um exemplo de hoje:

Presumindo que apenas lemos um jornal, ao lermos um título ou o outro, no primeiro ficamos com uma percepção de optimismo em relação à nossa economia, mas no segundo deparamos com uma realidade mais pessimista, em que a economia está fora de controlo e os nossos políticos não sabem bem o que andam a fazer…

Não vale a pena mencionar que a fonte do primeiro título promoveu hoje um debate televisivo, em que parece que segundo Manuel Macedo o convite à oposição foi esquecido.

Black Toilet Paper

Posted on by nuno

This is hilarious.

Renova, a Portuguese brand for Tissues/Toilet Paper/etc, came up with the idea of Black Toilet Paper. I guess Renova wrote about it in some blogs and it’s becoming quite popular, specially in the US. A lot of trendy places in NYC are adopting it already.

Check out this video.

I’ve read the following comment on a forum:

I’ve tried the stuff – was in Portugal a little while ago visiting an old business partner of mine and needed to go… and while sitting there doing what I was doing a caught myself actually staring at it. It’s a funky idea, but ah, well… it is softer than anything we have here in the US. I was so impressed I bought a bunch and brought it home and am now thinking of exposing it to the rest America…

Sustainable Disco

Posted on by nuno

You can read everything here.

Rotterdam introduces the first ‘Sustainable Dance Club’.

(…)

Producing and consuming in a responsible manner are no longer reserved for a small group. Enviu – innovators in sustainability – and Döll – studio for the art of building – have developed the Sustainable Dance Club together. An attractive way of clubbing combined with a low impact on the environment. Soon you can generate energy while dancing and flush the toilet with rainwater. The color of the walls changes as a reaction to the heat without any energy use and you can drink a biological beer at the water basin on the ‘relax roof’. These are just a few examples of what the Sustainable Dance Club can entail.

Faleceu Alpinista Português na descida do Shisha Pangma

Posted on by nuno

Esta noite ficou marcada pela morte do alpinista português Bruno Carvalho, durante a descida do Shisha Pangma, o mais baixo dos 14 “8,000m”, no Tibete.
Bruno Carvalho

Eu não era chegado ao Bruno, mas conhecia-o
do Rocodromo da Econauta, onde pratiquei escalada quase durante dois anos. O Bruno era um simpatico e sempre bem disposto monitor, e foi o monitor com quem mais me relacionei.

O Bruno era um dos cinco expedicionários portugueses ao Shisha Pangma. Era a primeira expedição únicamente portuguesa a um “8,000”, liderada por João Garcia, o experiente alpinista português que acabou de fazer o seu oitavo “8,000”, de 14 existentes.
Ao que parece o acidente decorreu durante a descida depois de ter atingido o cume com 8,013m, e foi originado por uma queda.

Mais informações da expedição podem ser vistas no blog da expedição.

Aos familiares os meus pêsames, e sem dúvida que se perdeu um grande alpinista português.

Wine tasting

Posted on by nuno

Last night, some friends and I had a wine tasting session at home.

I bought 2 bottles from Douro, 1 from Alentejo, some spicy cheese, ewe cheese, creamy cheese from “Serra da Estrela”, bloodpudding, chorizo and I also made a caprice salad for everyone.

The wine choices were:

All of the three wines were really good and I would recommend all of them, but the big surprise was Crasto. Made from “Tinta Roriz”, “Tinta Barroca”, “Touriga Franca” and “Touriga Nacional” grapes, this wine while still very young, has complex tannins and a balanced acidity. I’m sure it will be a potential “honey from the gods” in a few years.

Cortes de Cima has always produced really good wine and it has never disappointed me. I have been familiar with wines from Cortes de Cima such as “Chaminé” and “Cortes de Cima” for some years. It was the first time that I tried this Syrah which is well structured, with complex tannins and good acidity. On a whim yesterday I decided to buy the top wine from the selection – Incognito 2003 – which I plan to keep in my cellar for the next 2 or 3 years.

Evel was a shot in the dark. I had heard good reviews about it and therefore decided to purchase it. Powerful body and flavour are interlaced with the boldly structured acidity and excellent tannin resulting in an elegant and perfectly balanced red wine.