Discover 9 curiosities about Ireland!

1. The Ukrainian sailor Iván Beshoff founded the famous “fish and chips shop” in Dublin in 1922. Now this restaurant is the most famous in Dublin.

4. Ten Irish people have been awarded* with the Nobel prize: Williams Butler Yeats (literature), George Bernard Shaw (literature), Samuel Beckett (literature), Seamus Heaney (literature), Sean McBride (Peace), Mairead Corrigan and Betty Williams (peace), John Hume and David Trimble (peace), Ernest Thomas Sinton Walton (physics).

5. Samuel Beckett wrote the shortest play of the world. It takes 30 seconds.

6. The harp you can see in passports and in the Republic of Ireland stamps is an Harp of the XIV century, and it is kept in the Trinity College of Dublin. It is also known as the Brian Boru Harp.

9. The Shannon river has a long history, but it was drawn* for the first time by the cartographer Ptolomeo, in 330 BC.

And u? Do u know any curiosity about ireland...send to us...

*Dicionario:
diaspora= deslocamento, migracao, movimento migratorio
awarded= premiado
drawn= desenhado

Enquanto alguns dizem que a Irlanda esta mergulhada em uma crise financeira, outros dizem que ela esta nadando em dinheiro. Confira essa reportagem do jornal 'The Irish Times'.

Ireland 'second richest in EU'

Crowds enjoy the music at the main stage at this year's Oxegen festival. Photograph: The Irish Times

While Ireland’s unemployment rate was the sixth highest in the European Union last year, its population remains the second richest of the 27 member states, according to a new report.

The Measuring Ireland’s Progress 2009 report, published by the Central Statistics Office today, says the productivity of Irish workers is about one third higher than the EU average, measured by gross domestic product per person employed.

“As Irish employees work longer hours, the productivity per hour worked is relatively lower, but still about 4 per cent above the EU average,” it said.

Ireland’s employment rate fell below the EU average, and its unemployment rate was the sixth highest rate in the EU last year.

The report notes that GDP fell sharply for the second year in a row last year.

The value of GDP fell by 11.3 per cent in 2009. The public balance deficit, at 14.3 per cent of GDP, was the highest of any EU member state.

Government debt increased to nearly two-thirds of GDP, having been only a quarter two years before, according to the report.

Despite this, Ireland still had the second highest GDP per capita in the EU 27 at 31 per cent above the EU average.

While inflation fell in 2009 – the only other EU states with price falls were Portugal and Spain – Irish prices “remain high by EU standards”.

The report also reveals Ireland’s population increased at the fastest rate in the EU between 2000 and 2009

It rose by 17.7 per cent to 4.46 million in the period 2000 to 2009, the highest rate of increase in the EU.

The rate of natural increase was 10.5 per 1,000 in 2008 compared with an EU 27 average of only 1.2.

Life expectancy at birth in Ireland is 76.8 years for men and 81.6 years for women, figures described as “reasonably close to the EU average”.

The State also had the highest proportion of young people in the EU and the lowest proportion of old people.

Ireland has the lowest divorce rate and the highest fertility rate in the EU.

An average of €3,299 per person was spent on non-capital public expenditure on healthcare in Ireland in 2008, an increase of nearly 62 per cent on the 1999 level.

But total expenditure on health is lower than the EU 27 average.

On housing, the report says the number of homes built peaked at almost 90,000 in 2006 “before collapsing to about 26,400 in 2009, the level that prevailed before the mid-1990s”.

The average value of a new housing loan in Ireland rose from €92,000 in 1999 to €270,000 in 2008.

font: The Irish Times

You are in Brazil, looking for a nice place to dance, drink and dance, but than you realize that Brazil is not just samba. In the corner you find a nice club with bossa nova, and in the next street a place playing samba and in the next night club is an Axe Music Night. And them you get lost cus you dont know where you should go. At the first time a not-brazilian person think the axe-funk-pagode-etc are all the same music. But you are wrong, gringo. And us, from sambaboys, gonna try to make you figure the difference between those music style's. Check this out.

AXE MUSIC

Axé music is a popular music genre originating in Salvador, Brazil approximately in 1986, fusing different Afro-Caribbean genres, such as marcha, reagge. It also includes influences of Afro-Brazilian music such as frevo, forro and carixada. The word "axé" comes from a youruba religious greeting used in the candomble and umbanda religions that means "soul", "light", "spirit" or "good vibration".

The root of axé is in guitarra baiana, a 1950s guitar style that used eletric guitars to play the frevo from Pernambuco. This genre was purely instrumental, and remained so until the 1970s, when Morais Moreira (of the band Novos Baianos) went solo.
Axe music is a very happy and energetic music and when carnaval comes you listen this genre of music at every corner in Brazil.
check a AXE MUSIC VIDEO-CLIPE

FUNK

Funk Carioca (english: Rio Funk ), favela funk and, elsewhere in the world, baile funk, is a type of dance music from Rio de Janeiro, derived from Miami-Bass^. "Baile funk", in Brazil, refers not to the music, but to the actual parties in which the music is played. Although originated in Rio, funk carioca has become increasingly popular amongst all classes in other parts of Brazil. In the whole country, funk carioca is most often simply known as funk, although it is very different musically from what funk means in most other places.

Most of funk music have a sexual connotation and is a very energetic kind of music made for dance all the time. The most famous funk music is called 'Rap das Armas' from Cidinho and Doca, that music was widely played in all night clubs around the world because the movie 'The elite squad'.

Check this out

PAGODE

Do you work selling newspaper and you think your job sucks? Are you a kitchen porter, works in a pub and think it is hard job????? Well, you should think twice.

Nas proximas semanas SAMBABOYS vai divulgar alguns 'trampos', na nossa visao, è claro, mais barra pesada que qualquer um tem aqui em Dublin, ao nao ser que voce trabalhe em um destes empregos.

We've all wondered about what weird jobs are out there, but now you can find out exactly what some people actually make a living at and just how weird occupations can get. The following jobs are in no particular order and not listed in terms of weirdness; that decision will be left up to you.

1. Odor Tester

This one is pretty odd, but some chemist has to make sure that all of those deodorants and anti-perspirants are operating properly to keep their users free of funk

2. Hair Boiler

This lucky soul gets to boil various kinds of animal hair until it curls for later use. We know that burning hair smells terrible; try to imagine catching the aroma of hair boil soup all day, no thanks.

3. Waste Station/Water Treatment Worker

Maybe more dirty than weird, but anytime someone has to deal with other peoples crap (literally) I think you can classify it as a weird job. Let us just take a minute to think about the things that go down our toilets and have a moment of silence for these brave men and women.

4. Citrus Fruit Dyer

Have you ever passed by the lemons at the supermarket and though to yourself, damn that's some good looking citrus! Well it might be because there commercial farmers out there who dye the fruit a more vibrant color to hide the ripeness of the fruit.

5. Crocodile Wrangler

Many of us are privy to this unusual occupation due to the late, great Steve Irwin, but no matter how accustomed we become to handling animals it will always be a little out there. A nice mix of danger and excitement for what many would consider low pay.

6. Fortune Cookie Writer

Yes, we've all wondered who the heck writes those fortunes in English! Finishing a take-out Chinese meal isn't only full of MSG, but those delightfully witty pieces of advice that people are so quick to heed.

7. Pet Detective

Another one we might have missed if it weren't for a film or television show. Ace Ventura, pet detective, displayed just how important this job is, especially when Dan Marino is in trouble! Personally I would've gone with a missing ad in the paper, but these folks are sure to find that furry member of the family.

8. Cheese Sprayer

Don't worry; I am not talking about someone spraying chemicals on your cheese. This person is actually in charge of spraying either cheese or butter on popcorn. Yet another job that most people might have guessed was done by a machine, but how else would you engineer that perfect, hand crafted cheese coating on every kernel?

9. IMAX Screen Cleaner

If you've ever seen an IMAX screen, these things are huge! But someone has to make sure that bad boy is crystal clear so we can travel through the Grand Canyon or explore the human body via a gigantic screen in a circular room.

10. Chimney Sweeper

Here is another job which could be more on the dirty side. The unfortunate person partaking in this age old profession is sure to be covered in soot and ash by the end of the day. It a fact that around the turn of the twentieth century people use to use young children to chimney sweep because they were small enough to fit inside the tiny chimneys some structures used.

What`s the craic?
I always heard about irish fellows going to brazil and they always ask about my city, so I decided to write a little about my charming city. The next wolrd cup will be in brazil and my city is already getting better to host all the football fans.

Belo Horizonte is already warming up to be one of the hosts of 2014 World Cup. On May 31st of 2009, the city was officially confirmed by FIFA as one of the twelve cities in Brazil that will receive matches of the World Cup. Now Belo Horizonte rushes to start the work to develop the city to suit FIFA strict requirements.

Among the infrastructural modernization of Mineirão Stadium, are foreseen the expansion of spectators capacity to 69,950 seated people, the lowering of the football field in 3,5 meters, the creation of 10,000 parking spots, the additional covering on all chairs and two high technology screens located above the main tribunes.

Are also foreseen an increase of the number of Belo Horizonte hotels and the accomplishment of crucial infrastructure projects. For the World Cup, it is expected a reinforcement in the public health and security, among other structural interventions and improvements that will guarantee the maximum comfort for travellers in Belo Horizonte.

By doing all these improvements, Belo Horizonte expects to be appointed as the host of the World Cup opening, racing against São Paulo and Brasília. The final match and closure is expected to be held in Rio de Janeiro, as homage to the 1950 World Cup final historic match against Uruguay. The other selected destinations are Cuiabá, Curitiba, Fortaleza, Manaus, Natal, Porto Alegre, Recife and Salvador.

For updated information, please visit http://www.fifa.com/worldcup/brazil2014/

More information about Belo Horizonte click here