Pigeons fly cell phones into Brazilian prison

Pigeons fly cell phones into Brazilian prison

Yes, you're reading right. Brazilian prisoners are a smart lot, perhaps even more ingenious than their American counter parts.
The following article was translated from the web site http://oglobo.globo.com/sp/mat/2009/04/01/policia-de-sp-investiga-quem-treinou-pombos-correio-para-levar-celular-presidios-755083621.asp
and is an example of the creativity of the people of Brazil.
The Portuguese text is in blue, and the English text appears immediately below.

Polícia de SP investiga quem treinou pombos-correio para levar celular a presídios
São Paulo Police investigate who trained homing pegions to carry cell phones into a military prison.
Publicada em 01/04/2009 às 07h01m
Published on the 1st Of April 2009 at 7:01 am
Fabiano Nunes, Diário de S.Paulo
By Fabiano Nunes, the São Paulo Diary
SÃO PAULO - A Polícia Civil de Sorocaba, a 99 quilômetros de São Paulo, vai investigar quem treinou pombos para levar objetos aos presos da Penitenciária Dr. Danilo Pinheiro, no bairro Jardim Paraná. Na semana passada, duas aves foram capturadas no local carregando partes desmontadas de um celular e um carregador de bateria. A polícia acha que pode ter sido os próprios presos, que treinaram pombos comuns.
SÃO PAULO - The Civil Police of Sorcaba, 99 kilometers from São Paulo, are going to investigate who trained pigeons to carry objects to prisoners of the Dr. Danilo Pinheiro penitentiary, in the sub-urb of Jardim Paraná. Last week, two birds were captured in the locale carrying disassembled parts of a cell phone and a battery charger. The Police think that it could be the prisoners themselves that trained common pigeons.

- Vamos rastrear as ligações para identificar quem fez isso - disse o delegado Celso Soramiglio, do 1 DP de Sorocaba, onde o caso foi registrado.
"We will follow the links to identify who did that," said Senior Police Officer Celso Soramiglio, of 1 DP of Sorocaba, where the event occurred.

Os pombos-correio não viajam para qualquer endereço. Eles sempre seguem o mesmo caminho aprendido: vão do local onde nasceram até onde foram treinados.
The homing pigeons don't just go any where. They always follow the same path that they are taught: they go from the locale that they are release to where they were trained.
(Article continues below.....)

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- Os pombos comuns podem até fazer um serviço de pombo-correio, mas eles vão percorrer uma pequena distância, entre três e quatro quilômetros - explica José Manoel Quintal, criador de pombos-correio.
"The common pigeons can also provide the same service as a homing pigeon, but they will cover a shorter distance, between three and four kilometers," explains José Quintal, a breeder of homing pigeons.

Por isso, a polícia desconfia que os presos usaram pombos que fazem ninhos dentro do presídio para ensiná-los a transportar cargas.
Thus the Police suspect that the prisoners used pigeons that make their nests within the prison grounds to train to transport packages.

- Alguém pode ter saído com a pomba de dentro do presídio e depois colocado o celular para que ela retornasse - afirmou o delegado.
"Someone my have left with a pigeon from inside the prison grounds and afterwards tied a cell phone to it for it to return with," confirmed the senior Police Officer.

O primeiro pombo foi localizado por um agente penitenciário, no dia 25. Ele viu a ave cair em uma residência, na Rua Manoel Monteiro, atrás do presídio. Nela, estava amarrado um saquinho preto com peças de um celular desmontado.
The first pigeon was noticed by an agent of the penitentiary on the 25th(of March of 2009). He saw the bird fall into a residence on Manoel Monteiro Road, behind the prison. To it had been tied a small black bag with pieces of an unassembled cell phone.

- Estava assistindo televisão e dois agentes penitenciários pediram para recolher uma pomba que estava no quintal da minha casa - surpreendeu-se a dona-de-casa, de 31 anos, que não quis se identificar. Segundo ela, os agentes pensavam que o pombo estava sendo usado para transportar drogas.
"I was watching television when two agents of the penitentiary asked to pick up a pigeon that was in the backyard of my house,"surprising the house wife of 31 years who did not want to be identified. According to her, the agents thought that the pigeon was being used to carry drugs.

- Depois viram que dentro do saquinho havia peças de um celular. O pombo não conseguia mais voar por causa do peso - contou.
"They later saw that inside the bag there were parts of a cell phone. The pigeon was unable to fly further because of the weight of the bag," she narrated.

No dia seguinte, outro pombo foi localizado sobrevoando a região. Os agentes, então, fizeram uma armadilha com alimento e conseguiram capturá-lo. A ave transportava um carregador de bateria. As peças foram encaminhadas para perícia no Instituto de Criminalística (IC) de Sorocaba.
The following day, another dove was noticed flying in the region. The agents then set up a trap with food and were able to capture it. The bird was carrying a battery charger. The parts were then taken for reporting purposes to the Institute of Criminal Methods studies of Sorocaba.

Esta não é a primeira vez que um caso desses é registrado nas penitenciárias de São Paulo. Em junho do ano passado, uma mulher foi flagrada com dois pombos dentro de uma caixa, ao sair da Penitenciária de Marília, a 444 quilômetros da capital. As aves carregavam sacos amarrados nas penas, que serviriam para transportar drogas e peças de celular.
This is not the first time that a case of this type has been registered at the penitentiaries of São Paulo. In June last year, on leaving Marília Penitentiary, 444 kilometers from the capital, a woman was caught red handed with two pigeons inside a box.

O criador de pombos-correio acredita que os presos podem ter criado os pombos comuns para fazer esse papel. O pombo-correio sempre volta para seu ninho de origem ou onde ele foi criado desde filhote.
The breeder of homing pigeons believes that the prisoners could have bred common pigeons to do this work. A homing pigeon always returns to its nest of origin or to where it has been bred since being a chick.

Ele explica que uma ave comum pode até fazer o serviço de pombo-correio, mas está muito distante da eficiência e qualidade da que foi treinada.
He explains that the common bird could do the same thing as a homing pigeon, but is no where near as efficient nor is the work as good in quality as one which has been trained.

Quintal conta que "Um pombo-correio pode voar até mil quilômetros em um dia, numa velocidade de 100 km/h", diz o criador. Durante competições ele chegou a enviar um pombo-correio de Brasília (DF) até São Paulo. "Em linha reta dá uma distância de 890 quilômetros. O pombo-correio saiu de lá às 6h e chegou em São Paulo por volta das 18h30", disse o criador, que tem 100 pombos no quintal de sua casa, na Vila Madalena, Zona Oeste de São Paulo. Segundo o criador, seus pombos são usados para entregar bilhetes para namorados. "A maioria é usada para competição", diz.
Quintal says that, "A homing pigeon can fly even 1000 kilometers in a day, at a velocity of 100 kilometers per hours". In competitions he has sent homing pigeons from Brasilia(in the Federal District) up to São Paulo. "In a straight line it's a distance of about 890 kilometers. The homing pigeon left there at 6:00am and arrived in São Paulo at around 6:30pm," says the breeder, who has 100 pigeons in the backyard of his house, in Vila Madalena, the South East Zone of São Paulo. According to the breeder, his pigeons are used to deliver love notes to people dating."Most are used for competition," he says.

Os pombos-correio surgiram de cruzamentos entre raças belgas e inglesas, na segunda metade do século 19, segundo a Federação Paulista de Columbofilia. No início, os pombos era usados para transportar mensagens de natureza militar, administrativa ou comercial.
Homing pigeons came about as the result of breeding Belgian and English breeds in the second half of the 19th century, according to Federação Paulista of Columbofília. In the beginning, the doves were used to transport messages for military, administrative or commercial purposes.

(End of translation)
You can reach me at translate_brazilian_portuguese_to_english@hotmail.com.

Wal-Mart In Brazil

Wal-Mart In Brazil

Yes, you're reading right. Wal-Mart does have a presence in Brazil. In this article, taken from the April 1st 2009 edition of Economia, at the site http://www.diariodepernambuco.com.br/2009/04/01/economia4_0.asp, we see some of Wal-Mart's expansion plans in Brazil.

For the sake of those who are new to this series of blogs, an introduction to the purpose of these series of blogs is given in small print below. If you are a returning visitor, you can skip the small print below and jump to the main article.

Introduction-The American way of life in Brazil
Other than the world's fascination with Brazilian soccer players, Brazil is assumed to by most people to be an underdeveloped 3rd world country. In truth Brazil is South America's largest economy, having advanced industries, and is now considered an emerging economy rivaling China, India and Russia. Not only that, the Brazilian lifestyle has been, unbeknown to most people, a typical western, if not American, in flavor, as we will see.

Brazilians love watching imported television shows and movies translated to their official language, Brazilian Portuguese. Imported television shows have had a significant influence on Brazilian culture. The influence of American TV in Brazil has resulted in Brazilians participating in culture that is considered predominantly American. For example, Brazilian children now participate in Haloween on the same day it is held in the USA. Brazilians also love their Internet. For example, Orkut, a social networking website initially targeting the American audience, now derives over 70% of its traffic from Brazil. All major search engines and social networking groups, including Google, Yahoo, MSN, Youtube, Myspace and Facebook have a presence in Brazil. Instead of using dot com, a sites in Brazil often use a dot com dot br configuration, for example www.google.com.br. Often, instead of using www as a prefix, sites in Brazil will use br, for example, br.myspace.com rather than www.myspace.com.

In these series of blogs, we will try to bring out the Americanisms of life in Brazil. We will translate articles touching the everyday lives of Brazilians and see the similarities to their American counterparts and the common problems they share: buying a car, buying a house, choosing a good school, getting loans for education(get student loan), having to get a bank student loan consolidation, buying life insurance(get cheap life assurance quote online, just like Americans), get auto insurance online, dealing with remortgage problems such as shopping for good rates, getting loans to refinance the home(refinance a home equity loan), difficulties in acknowledging mesothelioma(Brazil is one of the world's largest producers of absestos, and acknowledging that a miner is a potential mesothelioma patient is opposed actively by many trade unions), etc. In short, these series of blogs will try to bring out the American way of life in Brazil that that is not documented well by the main stream media.

The Portuguese text is printed in blue, and the English translation of a phrase appears directly below.

Varejo: Wal-Mart investirá R$ 1,6 bilhão no país
Retail: Wal-Mart will invest R$ 1.6 billion in the country

A crise financeira internacional não afetou, pelo menos até agora, o setor varejista. É o que garante o presidente do Wal-Mart Brasil, Hector Nuñes. "Este ano investiremos R$ 1,6 bilhão no país, sendo R$ 450 milhões no Nordeste. Os investimentos no Brasil independem da crise global. Nossa estada no Brasil é de longo prazo", afirma Nuñes. Segundo ele, a empresa manterá o planejamento feito em agosto de 2008, antes do estouro da crise mundial.
The international financial crisis has not affected, at least until now, the retail sector. It is what the president of Wal-Mart in Brazil, Hector Nuñes, is saying. "This year we will invest R$ 1.6 billion in the country, of which 450 million will be invested in the North East. The investment in Brazil is independent of the global crisis. Our presence in Brazil is long term," Nuñes declared. According to him, the company will stick to the plans in made in August 2008, before the onset of the world crisis.

"A crise não chegou ao nosso setor e também não chegou ao Brasil. O que existe é um período de turbulência e incertezas, mas, comparando com outros países, o Brasil está muito melhor e ainda vai crescer este ano. Me mostre um país emergente ou não que vai crescer este ano?", questionou o presidente do grupo no país.
"The crisis did not affect our sector, nor did it hit Brazil. What there is is a period of turbulence and uncertainty, but, compared to other countries, Brazil's retail sector is much better off and will even grow this year. "

Para ele, o crescimento do PIB esperado para 2009, entre 1,5% e 2%, já aconteceu em outras épocas e o país não estava em crise. "Trabalhamos com um modelo de preços baixos, que favorece a atuação em tempos de turbulência", diz.
For him, the growth of the GDP expected for 2009, between 1.5% and 2% has already happened in the past and the country is not in crisis. "We will work with the model of low prices, that propulsion of business in times of turbulence favors."

Segundo Hector Nuñes, o Wal-Martfaturou US$ 400 bilhões nos Estados Unidos em 2008, 6% a mais que no ano anterior, enquanto no Brasil o crescimento foi de 13,1%, para um faturamento de R$ 17 bilhões. A rede opera com as marcas Bompreço, Hiper Bompreço, Sam's Club, Todo Dia e Maxxi e planeja abrir 90 novas lojas este ano, 30 delas na região nordestina.
According to Hector Nuñes, Wal-Mart raked in U$ 400 billion in the United States in 2008, 6% more that the year before, while in Brazil the growth was 13.1%, for a turnover of R$17 billion. The chain operates under the brand names Bompreço, Hiper Bompreço, Sam's Club, Tod Dia and Maxxi, and plans to open 90 new stores this year, 30 of them in the North East region.

Uma destas deve ser instalada na Região Metropolitana do Recife (RMR), nos próximos três meses, com a bandeira Todo Dia, ou Maxxi, seguindo o modelo já implantado em Rio Doce, Olinda, de Centro da Comunidade (local onde são disponibilizados serviços de emissão de documentos, lan house, clínica médica, banco popular, entre outros).
One of these is likely to be put up in the Metropolitan Region of Recife(RMR) in the next three months, with the brand of either Todo Dia or Maxxi, as per the business model of Centre of the Community, already implemented in Rio Doce, Olinda ( a place where services such as obtaining documents, Internet Cafés, Medical clinics, popular banks, along with other services are offered.)

"Não podemos ainda falar sobre o local da nova loja, por questões de autorizações. O que podemos adiantar é que serão mais dois Centros da Comunidade, um no Recife e outro em Salvador", explica o superintendente Regional Rafael Vasquez.
"We cannot say anything about the location of the new store, for the reason of requiring authorization. What we can offer to say is that there will be two more Centers of the Community, one in Recife and the other in Salvador," explained the regional supritendent Rafael Vasquez.

Desde que adquiriu o Bompreço, há cinco anos, a rede incorporou algumas práticas adotadas na região. Entre elas, a adoção de uma marca popular, com preços mais baixos, inspirada no antigo Balaio - transformado em TodoDia, e que agora deve ser expandida para outros estados. O Wal-Mart também está levando o programa de fidelidade Bomclube para o Sul e o Sudeste. No Nordeste, o programa tem dois milhões de sócios e no Sul, já são 300 mil. No Brasil, a rede Wal-Mart tem 345 lojas e emprega 75 mil pessoas, em 18 estados. Na região Nordeste são 138 lojas (42 em Pernambuco) e 25 mil funcionários.
Since it acquired Bompreço five years ago, the chain has incorporated some of the practices adopted in the region. Among them is the adoption of a popular brand, with significantly lower prices, manifested in the previous Balaio - now renamed TodoDia, and that now are likely to be implemented in other states. Wal-Mart is also taking the Bomclube loyalty program to the South and the South East. In the North East, the program has two million members and in the south there are already 300 thousand. In Brazil, the Wal-Mart chain has 345 stores and employs 75 thousand people, in 18 states,. In the North East Region, there are 138 stores(42 in Pernambuco) and 25 thousand employees.

You can reach me at translate_brazilian_portuguese_to_english@hotmail.com

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