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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(....continuation of article)
- 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.

Computer Manufacture In Brazil-IBM

Computer Manufacture In Brazil-IBM



America is associated with the computer age. Computer technology is what has set apart the current world generation from previous generations-the ability to use thinking machines, not only industrially-to improve efficiency, but as a tool in medical sciences to perform things such as better diagnostic imaging, x-rays, etc. As a result, we now have record numbers of people living longer, well into their nineties and even more than that.


If one name is more synonymous with computer technology than any other, it is probably IBM. Founded in 1896, it has since expanded its initial base from making business machines to participating in the development of the most sophisticated electronic chips required for complex algorithm processing such as required in the Medical Sciences and military warfare. Most of this research and development has been carried out primarily in the United States.


One fact that is not well known is that the very first IBM manufacturing plant built outside the United States was built in Brazil in 1939. As a matter of fact, IBM has had a business presence in Brazil since 1917. In this article, we will translate a posting by the Museum of Computing And Information Technology in Brazil, MCI, as part of the History of Computing and Computer Manufacture in Brazil. The original article is found at http://www.mci.org.br/fabricante/ibm.html.


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, sites in Brazil often use a dot com dot br configuration, for example http://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 http://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 article below illustrates that Brazil, far from being an underdeveloped 3rd world country as portrayed in mainstream media, was the first country outside the United States of America to host one of the behemoths of the computer industry, IBM.
The Portuguese text is printed in blue, and the English translation of a phrase appears directly below.

Museu da Computação e Informática - MCI
www.mci.org.br
The Museum of Computing and Information Technology- MCI
www.mci.org.br

No final do século XIX, nos Estados Unidos. o estatístico Herman Hollerith idealizou uma solução eficiente para o censo de 1890.
At the end of the 19th Century, in the United States, the statistician Herman Hollerith idealized an efficient solution for the census of 1890.

Hollerith concebeu diversas máquinas elétricas para a soma e contagem de dados, oa quais eram representados sob a forma de perfurações adequadamente distribuídas em fita de papel.
Hollerith came up with several electric machines for the purpose of adding and counting data, the machines which were fed with data represented by perforations adequately distributed on paper tape.

Com esse processo, os resultados do censo de 1890 ficou pronto em três anos, economizando vários anos de trabalho.
With this process, the results of the census of 1890 were ready within three years, saving several years of work.


Hollerith patenteou suas inovações logo depois de haver terminado o censo norte-americano e fundou em 1896 a precursora da IBM, a Tabulating Machine Company e introduziu inovações em sua descoberta.
Hollerith patented his inventions soon after having completed the North American census and founded in 1896 the predecessor to IBM, The Tabulating Machine Company, and introduced innovations with his discovery.

Assim, a fita de papel foi substituída por cartões, que viriam a ser o elemento básico das máquinas IBM de processamento de dados durante muitos anos.
In these innovations, the paper tape was substituted for cards, that would come to be the basic element of IBM machines for the processing of data for several years.

Já em 1911, duas outras companhias, a Internacional Time Recording Co., de registradores mecânicos de tempo, e a Computing Scale Co. de instrumentos de aferição de peso, uniram-se a ela, assim, a TMC passou a se chamar Computing Tabulating Recording Company, na qual, em 1914, ingressou Thomas J. Watson. Em fevereiro de 1924 a CTR mudou seu nome para Internacional Business Machines Corporation.
Then in 1911, two other companies, the International Time Recording Company, that built mechanical time registers, and the Computing Scale Company, that built weight inspection instruments, amalgamated with it. As such TMC came to be known as the Computing Tabulating Recording Company, which Thomas J. Watson joined in 1914.

A IBM surgiu no Brasil em 1917, sob a denominação de Computing Tabulating Recording Company, através de um contrato de prestação de serviços com a então Diretoria de Estatística Comercial.
IBM first had a presence in Brazil in 1917, through the Computing Tabulating Recording Company, as a result of a contract for repayment of services rendered with the then Board of Commercial Statistics.

Em 1924 a empresa foi autorizada a operar no Brasil por decreto assinado pelo então presidente Arthur Bernardes.
In 1924 the business was authorized to operate in Brazil by decree signed by then President Arthur Bernardes.

E, em 1931, a Companhia iniciava a montagem e depois a fabricação de relógios industriais, para três anos mais tarde introduzir a comercialização das então revolucionárias máquinas alfabéticas de processamento de dados.
And in 1931, the company started an assembly plant and then a factory for industrial gauges, and three years later introducing the commercialization of the then revolutionary alphabetic data processing machines.

A partir de 1935, passaram a ser fabricados aqui os cartões para perfuração.
From 1935, the perforation cards started to be manufactured here (in Brazil.)

Em 1939 Thomas Watson veio especialmente ao Brasil para inaugurar a primeira fábrica da IBM fora dos Estados Unidos, localizada em Benfica/RJ.
In 1939 Thomas Watson came to Brazil especially to inaugurate the first IBM factory outside of the United States, located in Benfica, Rio de Janeiro.

Esta fábrica foi de vital importância para o mercado brasileiro de processamento de dados, produzindo grande variedade de máquinas de registro unitário, as predecessoras dos computadores, e abrindo caminho para o ingresso de novas tecnologias.
This factory was of vital importance to the Brazilian data processing sector, producing a great variety of unit register machines, the predecessors to computers, and opening the way for the ushering in of new technologies.

Essa evolução veio permitir que, em 1961, a Fábrica de Benfica iniciasse a montagem de computadores da linha 1401.
This evolution came to permit that in 1961 the Benefica Factory started an assembly plant for the 1401 series of computers.

No início da dé de 60 a Companhia já estava registrada como IBM do Brasil - Indústria, Máquinas e Serviços Ltda. Em 1972, as atividades de fabricação foram largamente expandidas. Entrava em operação a Fábrica Sumaré, em São Paulo.
At the beginning of the 1960's the company was already registered as IBM of Brazil - Industry, Machines and Services limited. In 1972, the factory activities were broadly expanded by the Sumaré factory starting operations in São Paulo.

(End of translation)

In the next blog, will add a little humor and list various several computer industry companies, attempting to rename them from their names in English to possible Portuguese equivalent names.

You can contact me at translate_brazilian_portuguese_to_english@hotmail.com,.

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