Peixaria

In ancient days one of the most devastating weapons of destruction was the Greek Fire. It was so because of its ability to burn even on water and it was used mainly by the Eastern Roman Empire. Its formula continues to elude the scientists till today.

This comes to mind due to the tragic events happened last week on Greece with over 600000 (250000 hectares ) acres burned land . Over 60 greeks were killed and the first estimates point to 1,3 billion euros in losses, almost 1/3 of the portuguese GNP (PIB).

One story catched the eye on this, like a homeric tragedy, of a mother trying to save her four children and being caught by the fast, relentless fire. She was found clutching to one their sons , as if her body/death could/should prevent at least him from dying. Some regions were almost completely destroyed and its inhabitants were left without nothing, no future perspective.

It is, like always, suspected that these fires were done by arsonists for real state purposes. The world’s forest felt a severe blow this week and the question should be put: when are the arson crimes going to betreated as equivalent to blood crimes?

When you burn a forest, you are putting lives in danger, destroying civil property and in an ultimate view contributing with both CO2 and tree death to the greenhouse effect . It should be one of the primary concerns of most governments to increase fines and jail sentences, promote volunteer scouting parties and better education about the forest. The society should unite itself to make events like those of last week become scarcer. The solution should not be ,as many do. to buy more planes and to increase the fire brigades.

The alamo

Last week events showed what many analysts had predicted: there are too many uninformed investors is the stock market. This is a very dangerous state of affairs because it means that at the first bad news this bunch will start to sell and will drag the stock prices down with their fears.

I started to notice this after the beginning of the year when I went to the barber shop and he started giving me a lesson on how much he had gained by investing in the latest OPV (IPO) from Galp. I innocently asked if he had any plans to retain the stock and gain a long term profit from it but he dismissed that chance and said that he wanted to gain as much as he could in the short term and buy other soaring stock from BCP.

There is nothing wrong with wanting to gain money from stocks but most people forget the taxes cut and neglect to study the reason for the stock rise. At the first bad news of the american economy they start to sell, many even without knowing why.

This is because the price of money is today very low and many stock markets are ,because of that, overpriced. Beware of dot.com and small on the rise companies as when this bubble blows off those will be the first to plunge.

I believe the BCE (Central European Bank) is right to increase the price of money, and should continue to do so untill it reaches at least 5% . That may cool the market growth, but better that than a diveinto the abyss. Or next time the billions of dollars put into the market by the several banks might not be enough.

El Alamo

I always loved shoes. I remember since I was very little, that while other kids wanted to be firemen or policemen my dream was to be a librarian or a shoe store owner. The touch of a fine leather shoe and the smell always gave me a sensation of comfort and well being. I liked to see how a shoe bent at the weight of feet and regained its initial form once the pressure vanished. The sole had to be very good to allow a person to walk without feeling she was walking , likeshe was walking bearfoot.

Yes. if it was to be something the shoe store was one of the dreams possible. And the arrangement of the shoe with the clothes the person was wearing would be of most importance.Many people think it is only about the color, but they are wrong.To wear a sports shoe with a jeans it is a n absurd , at least in my view.

All this to speak about these awful sandals. To a shoe lover the sandal is a despicable item. It is like watching a woman well dressed and seeing a woman half naked . The illusion is gone and the spectacle is at plain sight , stripping all of the pleasure we might have guessing what is hidden behing the curtains. And sometimes the show is so dreadfulthat people don’t even realize their look.

The alamo