dalillama.com

Rio de Janeiro’s governor, Sérgio Cabral, on the legalization of abortion in Brazil, where abortion is illegal except in cases of rape/incest and physical health, and the crime rate of Rio:

The question on abortion has everything to do with crime.[...] It’s got everything to do with violence. Take the fertility rate in Lagoa Rodrigo de Freitas, Tijuca, Méier e Copacabana [upper class neighborhoods]–it’s like Sweden. Then take the fertility rate in Rocinha [a slum]. It’s like Zambia, Gabon. That’s a factory for criminals. The state can’t handle it. There’s no chance in the public [health] system for these girls to stop their pregnancies. That’s just nuts.

To add insult to injury, he quotes Freakonomics as the source of his newfound belief in utilitarian abortion. Make that the second instance of “famous political last words” uttered by a politician when talking about Freakonomics. Who can forget William Bennett’s remarks on the subject:

…it’s true that if you wanted to reduce crime, you could — if that were your sole purpose, you could abort every black baby in this country, and your crime rate would go down. That would be an impossible, ridiculous, and morally reprehensible thing to do, but your crime rate would go down. So these far-out, these far-reaching, extensive extrapolations are, I think, tricky.

Bennett got his when he went on the Daily Show. Diogo Mainardi, it seems, is taking a crack at Cabral.

(via G1)

Ah, institutional commercials can be so fun when it’s the right institution. Nice to see a self-deprecating use of Take my Breath Away, especially with the Brazilian-accented rendition by MRS Logística’s resident tenor.

The GE Aviation one is good too. The drum kit bit just made me crack up.

JUST because this guy manages to properly quote On the Waterfront and A Kestrel for a Knave in the same song.

FAA is now recommending Wikipedia as a source for information for pilots flying abroad.

Lovely.

(via FAA)

Here’s a hybrid of Quite Interesting with Whiskey Tango Foxtrot:

Remember Andy Samberg’s duet with Justin Timberlake called “Dick in a Box”? All the rage on YouTube and all, right?

Well, apparently the song won the Emmy for Outstanding Music and Lyrics for 2007.

That’s right. Dick in a Box. Emmy. Same sentence.

I can’t imagine anyone’s happier than Andy Samberg, who will now be able to introduce himself as an Emmy-award winning songwriter… for Dick in a Box.

Brazilian defense minister (and former Supreme court justice) Nelson Jobim, during an inspection of an army outpost in the Amazon.

Jungle backdrop…. check!

Ranger cap………. check!

Cuban cigar……… check!

Now, all Jobim needs is a few billion dollars to re-equip the army and he’s all set to become the Brazilian Fidel Castro. It won’t be easy.

On the bright side, if he can’t get the money, Halloween’s just around the corner. He’s already got the costume, and we know nothing’s scarier than getting a Brazilian army paycheck at the end of the month–every month.

Oh, and the answer’s no: he’s not missing a beard. He is very much capable of rocking out on the moustache alone:

(via Josias)

An icon of Brazilian culture, Paulo Autran, passed away yesterday at the age of 85.

For someone who has watched as many movies as I have, it’s somewhat surprising that I’ve watched only four or five plays in my life. Two of those had Paulo Autran in it: Paul Osborn’s On Borrowed Time and Jeff Baron’s Visiting Mr. Green. Autran was the top “cultural” actor in Brazil–a rare bird in a country marred by superficial soap operas on TV and farse plays in the theaters.

Paulo Autran died after a year-long battle with lung cancer and emphysema, during which time he also acted and directed his 90th stage play: Molière’s L’Avare (The Miser).

Lesson #1: When labor accuses of you of causing union members to commit suicide, your labor relations may be less friendly than you expect.

Letter from the Alied Pilots Association to Gerard Arpey:

Enjoy your blood money and your union-busting meeting. We’ll see you in court, in the newspapers, and on the picket line.

I have to say: not having the same revenue sharing minimums for labor and management is pretty shameful. When you’re already having flight attendant round-tables just to figure out many slices of lime they need to carry for each flight (as one of them told me), fairness aside, you can’t risk pissing off the bus drivers.

(via Star-Telegram)

Are you a busy, self-employed go-getter? Do you admire the sales “cover story” used by Jack Lemmon’s character in Glengarry Glen Ross? Do you feel unprofessional when calling someone from your home office due to the dead silence? If so, then Thriving Office is the CD for you!

Thriving Office is a soundtrack of typical busy office sounds. I can definitely see a couple of people I’ve worked for/with buying this and using it while calling people. In any case, the asininity of who would buy this product is only matched by that of who would be impressed by hearing it on the other end. A simple formulation sinks the whole premise of this product:

1) Thriving Office claims it helps to establish “credibility” by providing the noise of an “established company”
2) That noise is typically heard at a company when a low-level, cubicle-dwelling person is on the phone, a person of typically lower-credibility
3) An executive, or a person of higher-credibility, would typically have his own office, and thus be isolated from said noise.

Thus:

If someone wants to impart higher-credibility during a call, then you might as well start the call saying you’re a “Vice-President”, and saving the $12.95 the CD costs to buy a an executive tie-clip for when you actually meet your client. Or don’t say anything at all. The noise only implies that you’re not high enough in the company to have your own office.