10 ms·

My country never fails to embarrass me. Brazil is the world leader in saying that it's going to do something awesome and completely forgetting about doing some

by cfontes 13y ago

My country never fails to embarrass me. Brazil is the world leader in saying that it's going to do something awesome and completely forgetting about doing something in order to make that happen. Nothing is going to happen. Example: In order to have a seat in one of the trips to the international space station, Brazil should develop and build some of the windows of it. We didn't and not because we don't know how, it was because of politics. In order to make it appear that we didn't fail to the population, the president bought a X million dollars flight ticket to a random guy that today earns money by giving speeches about how dreams come true with hard work and that you can become an astronaut just like him. The biggest part of the population thinks we earned it by doing something useful for the mission. I can go on and on about this events if you need more. http://www.nytimes.com/2006/04/08/world/americas/08rio.html?_r=0 http://www.nytimes.com/2006/04/08/world/americas/08rio.html?... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brazilian_Space_Agency#International_Space_Station http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brazilian_Space_Agency#Internat... p.s: look the schedules for the 2014 World Cup and 2016 Olympics and you have a second example.

feuteston 13y ago
+1
juusto 13y ago
Oh I know your type... My countrymen never fail to embarrass me. Brazil the world leader in creating the nag-a-lot-people. </irony>
- cfontes 13y ago
  I am just coming to a conclusion based on past facts, call that whatever you like.
harrytuttle 13y ago
Thanks for telling the truth :) As a UK resident, we're knee deep in this sort of crap as well.
- gadders 13y ago
  Such as?
- Toenex 13y ago
  As UK resident what worries me about H2 is that it isn't just hot air.
  - harrytuttle 13y ago
    HS2?
    - w_t_payne 13y ago
      Second high speed rail link from London to various parts of Northern England. Instigated by previous (Labour) government, who later admitted that they had basically pulled the thing from their bum as a Keynsian reflationary boondoggle with zero economic justification for the investment. Inexplicably, the current government, rather than using the fiasco as an excuse to jump up and down and laugh at Labour's contemptible attitude towards the public purse, have decided to treat the whole affair as if it were a deadly serious well-thought-through major public works investment, and are defending it with rottweiler-like tenacity as if it were their very own dearly beloved pet project. Baffling. Anyway, I guess it will get built successfully in the end, as these things tend to ... although it's main use will probably be to hasten the journey of refugees from the economic wastelands of the North to the only place in the UK with actual jobs on offer. I.e. London. (Where they will all sleep at night is beyond me, however -- as the usual NIMBYs are doing a great job of preventing the development of what we actually need -- large volumes of high density housing for London-based workers).
      - Toenex 13y ago
        A fine summary although I'd argue that what the Government needs to do is encourage growth outside of London (it's really not that bad up here and I was born and raised in London). This is a small country we should be able to distribute ourselves a little better. It's not that I'm against H2 because I don't think we need good infrastructure links between the North and South, it's just that I don't see that reducing an already 2 hour Manchester to London commute by 30 minutes is worth the money (already estimated at around £20 billion). I'd like to see a counter proposal describing what you could with that kind of money invested in the current network. My concern is that if H2 goes ahead, we will see each Government that comes to power pointing to it as the solution to all rail problems and taking little interest in the rest of the network.
rbanffy 13y ago
> Nothing is going to happen. I'm a bit more pessimistic than that. They'll spend a ton of money buying (because we can't build -or even design - it ourselves) before we withdraw and declare success. > and not because we don't know how, it was because of politics. Politics contaminate our universities and research centers so deeply that it masks any selection for actual competence. I seriously doubt we could develop a window. Putting someone on the tourist track was the only way a Brazilian could fly. The tab was about US$ 20 million. For all that it's possible to know, the AEB repeatedly attempted the incredibly stupid idea of launching satellites into LEO using solid-rocket fuel engines. Naturally, all attempts failed, but that didn't stop them from trying until they got 21 people killed on a launch pad explosion. Some conspiracy theorists say it was sabotage, but I don't think such a design warrants the effort - physics alone can take care of it.
- cfontes 13y ago
  Couldn't agree more.
- guspe 13y ago
  >Politics contaminate our universities and research centers so deeply that it masks any selection for actual competence. This is a serious claim backed by no evidence whatsoever. It's an idea that permeates brazilian academia, it's understandable to some extent, but fails to accomplish anything other than undermining ongoing researches.
  - scardine 13y ago
    C'mon, the Latin America's biggest and most populous nation remains a long way behind the OECD average and in most cases lags behind most of its Latin American neighbors. Research in Brazil is a joke, as anything else related to education. Privately funded research is almost non-existent and public universities have typically a 2:1 relation between staff and students - all of them are pretty inefficient. Private universities are expensive scams.
    - guspe 13y ago
hannibal5 13y ago
They could make this one work if they use laws that force Google, Microsoft, etc. to build their datacenters in Brazil. I think it's would be good idea in general. If you provide significant infrastructure services from distant countries, you must move servers close.
- nl 13y ago
  How's that going to work in practice? When new a startup (eg, Instagram) comes along now it isn't allowed to serve the Brazilian market? I suspect that Brazil will suffer more than it gains.
  - rapind 13y ago
    I'm not sure about that. Let's assume that the startup offers a service the Brazilian populace are keen for. In that case it may be worth it for the startup to invest in Brazilian data centers. If they can't afford it, or simply don't see an opportunity in that market, then it may instead be an opportunity for a local company to do something similar employing locals to get it done. This happens all the time, but usually because of internationalization woes instead of the location of data hosting. You could even argue that there's hidden value here in helping to maintain cultural diversity by not using U.S. services for everything you do online and increasing the demand for local educated talent.
    - jlgaddis 13y ago
      > Let's assume that the startup offers a service the Brazilian populace are keen for. In that case it may be worth it for the startup to invest in Brazilian data centers. I don't think that scales very well.
  - scardine 13y ago
    I'm Brazilian. This is one of the least entrepreneurship friendly places in the world. Everything we don't need is more crazy taxes and regulations...
- robryan 13y ago
oscargrouch 13y ago
You are embarassed? as a Brazillian citizen im proud! Brazil was the only country until now that took the correct mesures and stood against this the time to be embarassed now its for them, not for us.. they do it wrong, we are doing right! whats wrong about what we are doing now? what are you saying about the astronaut, etc,etc.. has nothing to do to what is happening and the news right now.. and whatever its wrong with my country has to do with pessimistic and living in the past joes like you.. dont like something? try to make it better.. the time to expect for the other to do it for you its over.. we are grown ups now! grow up with it!

by cfontes 13y ago

feuteston 13y ago

juusto 13y ago

Oh I know your type... My countrymen never fail to embarrass me. Brazil the world leader in creating the nag-a-lot-people. </irony>

cfontes 13y ago
I am just coming to a conclusion based on past facts, call that whatever you like.

harrytuttle 13y ago

Thanks for telling the truth :) As a UK resident, we're knee deep in this sort of crap as well.

gadders 13y ago
Such as?
Toenex 13y ago
As UK resident what worries me about H2 is that it isn't just hot air.
- harrytuttle 13y ago
  HS2?
  - w_t_payne 13y ago
    Second high speed rail link from London to various parts of Northern England. Instigated by previous (Labour) government, who later admitted that they had basically pulled the thing from their bum as a Keynsian reflationary boondoggle with zero economic justification for the investment. Inexplicably, the current government, rather than using the fiasco as an excuse to jump up and down and laugh at Labour's contemptible attitude towards the public purse, have decided to treat the whole affair as if it were a deadly serious well-thought-through major public works investment, and are defending it with rottweiler-like tenacity as if it were their very own dearly beloved pet project. Baffling. Anyway, I guess it will get built successfully in the end, as these things tend to ... although it's main use will probably be to hasten the journey of refugees from the economic wastelands of the North to the only place in the UK with actual jobs on offer. I.e. London. (Where they will all sleep at night is beyond me, however -- as the usual NIMBYs are doing a great job of preventing the development of what we actually need -- large volumes of high density housing for London-based workers).
    - Toenex 13y ago
      A fine summary although I'd argue that what the Government needs to do is encourage growth outside of London (it's really not that bad up here and I was born and raised in London). This is a small country we should be able to distribute ourselves a little better. It's not that I'm against H2 because I don't think we need good infrastructure links between the North and South, it's just that I don't see that reducing an already 2 hour Manchester to London commute by 30 minutes is worth the money (already estimated at around £20 billion). I'd like to see a counter proposal describing what you could with that kind of money invested in the current network. My concern is that if H2 goes ahead, we will see each Government that comes to power pointing to it as the solution to all rail problems and taking little interest in the rest of the network.

rbanffy 13y ago

> Nothing is going to happen. I'm a bit more pessimistic than that. They'll spend a ton of money buying (because we can't build -or even design - it ourselves) before we withdraw and declare success. > and not because we don't know how, it was because of politics. Politics contaminate our universities and research centers so deeply that it masks any selection for actual competence. I seriously doubt we could develop a window. Putting someone on the tourist track was the only way a Brazilian could fly. The tab was about US$ 20 million. For all that it's possible to know, the AEB repeatedly attempted the incredibly stupid idea of launching satellites into LEO using solid-rocket fuel engines. Naturally, all attempts failed, but that didn't stop them from trying until they got 21 people killed on a launch pad explosion. Some conspiracy theorists say it was sabotage, but I don't think such a design warrants the effort - physics alone can take care of it.

cfontes 13y ago
Couldn't agree more.
guspe 13y ago
>Politics contaminate our universities and research centers so deeply that it masks any selection for actual competence. This is a serious claim backed by no evidence whatsoever. It's an idea that permeates brazilian academia, it's understandable to some extent, but fails to accomplish anything other than undermining ongoing researches.
- scardine 13y ago
  C'mon, the Latin America's biggest and most populous nation remains a long way behind the OECD average and in most cases lags behind most of its Latin American neighbors. Research in Brazil is a joke, as anything else related to education. Privately funded research is almost non-existent and public universities have typically a 2:1 relation between staff and students - all of them are pretty inefficient. Private universities are expensive scams.
  - guspe 13y ago

hannibal5 13y ago

They could make this one work if they use laws that force Google, Microsoft, etc. to build their datacenters in Brazil. I think it's would be good idea in general. If you provide significant infrastructure services from distant countries, you must move servers close.

nl 13y ago
How's that going to work in practice? When new a startup (eg, Instagram) comes along now it isn't allowed to serve the Brazilian market? I suspect that Brazil will suffer more than it gains.
- rapind 13y ago
  I'm not sure about that. Let's assume that the startup offers a service the Brazilian populace are keen for. In that case it may be worth it for the startup to invest in Brazilian data centers. If they can't afford it, or simply don't see an opportunity in that market, then it may instead be an opportunity for a local company to do something similar employing locals to get it done. This happens all the time, but usually because of internationalization woes instead of the location of data hosting. You could even argue that there's hidden value here in helping to maintain cultural diversity by not using U.S. services for everything you do online and increasing the demand for local educated talent.
  - jlgaddis 13y ago
    > Let's assume that the startup offers a service the Brazilian populace are keen for. In that case it may be worth it for the startup to invest in Brazilian data centers. I don't think that scales very well.
- scardine 13y ago
  I'm Brazilian. This is one of the least entrepreneurship friendly places in the world. Everything we don't need is more crazy taxes and regulations...
robryan 13y ago

oscargrouch 13y ago

You are embarassed? as a Brazillian citizen im proud! Brazil was the only country until now that took the correct mesures and stood against this the time to be embarassed now its for them, not for us.. they do it wrong, we are doing right! whats wrong about what we are doing now? what are you saying about the astronaut, etc,etc.. has nothing to do to what is happening and the news right now.. and whatever its wrong with my country has to do with pessimistic and living in the past joes like you.. dont like something? try to make it better.. the time to expect for the other to do it for you its over.. we are grown ups now! grow up with it!