Alsace et Bastille

Alsace & Bastille - Conseil en Stratégie. Paris, Estoril
-Consultancy in Real Estate, Celebrity aviation, railway business, Consultancy in Export Strategy; E-mail: vitorpissarro.alsacebastille@Yahoo.fr or to Twitter adress Vitor Pissarro @VitorPissarro

quinta-feira, 28 de março de 2013

It's much better to buy property in Cascais than in Paris. Check the prices


Immobilier à Paris : comparez les prix sur votre plan de métro

M-P.R | Publié le 28.03.2013, 12h23 | Mise à jour : 13h52
Le site immobilier Meilleursagents.com a mis en ligne un comparatif des prix du mètre carré à Paris et en banlieue parisienne reposant sur le plan du métro parisien.

Le site immobilier Meilleursagents.com a mis en ligne un comparatif des prix du mètre carré à Paris et en banlieue parisienne reposant sur le plan du métro parisien. | Meilleursagents.com / Google Maps / DR

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C'est bien connu, les Parisiens se servent des stations de  comme points cardinaux pour se repérer. Ils ne se donnent pas rendez-vous dans une rue donnée, mais à la sortie d'une bouche souterraine. Il en va de même lorsqu'ils cherchent à se loger : l'appartement de leurs rêves sera celui qui sera le plus proche de telle ou telle sortie... tout en rentrant dans leur budget. 


Pour les aider à faire leur choix, le site immobilier Meilleursagents.com a mis en ligne un comparatif des prix de l' à  et en région parisienne qui évalue le prix moyen du mètre carré autour de chaque station. Il suffit de cliquer sur un point du plan pour savoir s'il fait meilleur acheter du côté de Marcadet-Poissoniers sur la 4 et la 12 (6 306 euros) ou à Oberkampf sur la 5 et la 9 (8 212 euros).

Un rayon de 300 à 500 mètres
A Paris, le calcul prend en compte les immeubles qui se trouvent dans un rayon de 300 mètres par rapport à la sortie, tandis qu'en banlieue, où les stations sont plus espacées, le rayon est de 500 mètres. Sur la carte actuelle, les prix, affichés en net vendeur (hors frais d'agence et de notaire), correspondent aux estimations datant du 1er mars 2013. Ils seront remis à jour tous les mois par Meilleursagents.com.


Crédits : Meilleursagents.com
Sans surprise, on découvre que la station la plus chère est Invalides, sur la 8 et la 13, autour de laquelle le prix moyen du mètre carré est de 14 221 euros. La moins chère est Saint-Denis université, sur la 13, avec des appartements à 2996 euros le mètre carré en moyenne. Entre les deux, il y a Ourcq (6 271 euros), Porte de Charenton sur la 8 (7 298 euros), où Faidherbe-Chaligny, sur la 8 (7 818 euros).

De quoi se rendre compte que les prix restent exhorbitants dans la capitale, où le prix moyen du mètre carré est de 8 265 euros, contre 2 638 euros à Marseille, 3 170 euros à Lyon ou 2 268 euros à Strasbourg. La capitale et ses alentours ont néanmoins vu ses prix baisser en février, selon le dernier baromètre de Meilleursagents.com : - 0,8%  à Paris, - 1,9% dans les Hauts-de-Seine, - 0,1% dans le Val-de-Marne. Seule les prix en Seine-Saint-Denis avait grimpé : + 2,1%.
LeParisien.fr
 

quarta-feira, 27 de março de 2013

O banco BES deve corrigir este erro !


Será que não há  ninguém que diga ao BES, que Cascais e Sintra não são cidades! Fazem publicidade na radio e na imprensa e não se apercebem do erro?



O BES RUN CHALLENG3: três cidades portuguesas, três corridas de 10 km!

Lisboa é a terceira cidade a acolher o CHALLENG3, no dia 8 de Junho de 2013, pelas 17h00, na Praça D. Pedro IV (Rossio). Corrida esta que integra a Corrida de Santo António!

O prémio final será a possibilidade de participar na Maratona de Nova Iorque 2013. Prémio este que será entregue a três mulheres e três homens que participaram nas três corridas (deCascaisSintra e Lisboa).

As inscrições serão limitadas a 3.000 participantes.

Os participantes terão direito ao Kit do Atleta, sendo que os mesmo deverão ser levantados no dia 7 ou 8 de Junho.

Cascais é o máximo!


A Vila de Cascais, em 2012 alcançou um novo recorde ao registar 1,137 milhões de dormidas, mais 3% que no período homólogo, não obstante os principais mercados da operação – Portugal e Espanha, apresentarem decréscimos substanciais, 17% e 15%, respectivamente.
Cascais-3A boa performance de Cascais deve-se, em larga medida, a um leque cada vez mais abrangente de mercados que procuram o destino, e a elevados acréscimos na procura por parte do mercado alemão (+21%), Escandinávia (+25%), Bélgica (+16%), França (+14%), Holanda e EUA (+13%) e Irlanda (+11%), sendo ainda de referir que este conjunto tem um peso superior a 50% do total de dormidas no destino.
A estada média ultrapassou os três dias. Um aumento em contraciclo com os restantes destinos turísticos, que se deve a uma política consistente de revitalização da promoção local. Esta política traduz-se na oferta de um produto mais consolidado e atrativo.
Carlos Carreiras, presidente da Câmara Municipal de Cascais, explica a estratégia que tem alimentado a boa performance turística da região, A nossa estratégia está assente em dois eixos: o de longo prazo e o de curto prazo. No longo prazo, o que fizemos foi reabilitar o nosso património edificado, proteger o património ambiental, dotar o concelho de todos os equipamentos essenciais e de boas redes de infra-estruturas. Com isto trabalhámos tanto para a atracção turística como para a melhoria da qualidade de vida dos cascalenses. Quanto ao curto prazo, apostámos em força nos grandes eventos internacionais e no reforço das marcas tradicionais Cascais e Estoril e na promoção de novos produtos associados às marcas Carcavelos e Guincho.
Há ainda a registar a consolidação e reforço dos indicadores de consumo ao nível do preço médio, bem como do RevPAR (revenue per available room).

terça-feira, 26 de março de 2013

Baudelaire, "L'étranger"




(Em São Vicente de Fora...)

"Qui aimes-tu le mieux, homme énigmatique, dis? ton père, ta mère, ta soeur ou ton frère?
- Je n'ai ni père, ni mère, ni soeur, ni frère.
- Tes amis?
- Vous vous servez là d'une parole dont le sens m'est resté jusqu'à ce jour inconnu.
- Ta patrie?
- J'ignore sous quelle latitude elle est située.
- La beauté?
- Je l'aimerais volontiers, déesse et immortelle.
- L'or?
- Je le hais comme vous haïssez Dieu.
- Eh! qu'aimes-tu donc, extraordinaire étranger?
- J'aime les nuages... les nuages qui passent... là-bas... là-bas... les merveilleux nuages!"

(Baudelaire, "L'étranger")

Doing the homework....


Portugal’s Minister of Economy Promotes Residential Tourism in the UKPublished on 21 Mar, 2013 by  / 

Portugal’s Minister of Economy Promotes Residential Tourism in the UK
Alvaro Santos Pereira.jpg
Álvaro Santos Pereira, Portugal’s minister of economy, visited London on February 25 as a part of the government’s latest attempt to promote Portugal’s vacation homes. The new strategy puts exclusive emphasis on the so-called residential tourism in the country's best resorts.
State secretary for tourism Adolfo Mequita Nunes accompanied the minister during the two-day trip to London. Apart from talking to local officials, the minister visited the Portuguese embassy in the United Kingdom.
Portugal’s government adopted a new strategy that aims to increase the number of vacation property sales in the country. A marketing campaign is a part of the new strategy. The campaign is worth approximately 828,000 euro that will be spent on a promotional road show starting from the UK.
“Residential Tourism is a strategic tourist product for Portugal, with an across-the-board impact on national economy and employment – especially at a regional and local level – which will also contribute towards abating seasonality in tourism,” Álvaro Santos Pereira said during his visit to London.
The Portuguese minister met the British minister of state for trade and investment Stephen Green. Álvaro Santos Pereira also participated in the Official Monetary and Financial Institutions Forum. He discussed the new Portuguese program for economic dynamism.
On February 26, Álvaro Santos Pereira attended a seminar on the partnership between British and Portuguese companies. The Portuguese minister participated as a seminar speaker at the event organized by the UK trade and investment British agency. More than 150 representatives of British companies attended the seminar.
The Portuguese delegation included representatives of 15 major companies that operate in the health, energy and education sectors.
According to the Portuguese Chamber of Commerce, Europeans are still interested in buying a second home abroad, despite of the financial crisis that affected severely several EU countries in 2012. A clear trend is noticeable – buyers show interest in well-developed travel destination that have a history and a good reputation.
The Portuguese Chamber of Commerce report concludes that second home markets like France, Italy, Portugal, the US and Spain will continue being popular among vacation property buyers in 2013.
The Portuguese strategy targets the UK because the number of British residential tourists is increasing steadily. British consider the purchase of a vacation home to be a good investment, much better than the purchase of precious metals or savings and stocks. The number of searches for vacation houses increased in November 2011 and is expected to keep on growing steadily.
Some interesting figures are provided to back up the findings of the report. From 2006 to 2010, the number of British families that purchased a vacation home in another country increased by 50,000. Spain and Portugal remain two of the vacation home buyers’ most favorite destinations. Other popular countries for the purchase of vacation property include France, the US, Canada, Cyprus, Italy and the Caribbean countries. Most of the residential tourists look for destinations that are located close to the beach and that show the local cultural and culinary heritage.
Of all the vacation home owners in Portugal, 50 percent plan to let their properties in an attempt to generate passive income. One third of the vacation property owners plan to sell their houses. A fifth consider a move to their Portuguese vacation homes upon retirement. Vacation properties in Algarve rank among the most popular ones for the UK residential tourists because of the beautiful nature and the well-developed tourism infrastructure.
Portugal is a solid competitor on the vacation real estate market because of the beautiful nature and the quality of the construction works. Despite the fact that Portugal has registered a decrease in property sales, the figures are starting to go up again. Mainly lifestyle and retirement buyers are interested in Portuguese vacation houses because of the country’s safety and the factors connected to a high quality of life. Additionally, the local real estate market proved to be more stable than the ones of competing neighboring countries. Despite a recent decrease in the price of property, certain Portuguese regions and vacation spots are continuously seeing an increase in vacation home prices.
The Algarve region is one of the best performers in Portugal. It excels in the niche of luxury real estate. Algarve interests buyers that understand the valuation potential of the property. According to the Worldwide Property Group, Portugal is re-emerging as a popular option on the global real estate market, especially in terms of its popular vacation spots.

PortugalProperty.com - Portugal's largest and most trusted real estate agency - Offices throughout Portugal

segunda-feira, 25 de março de 2013

The New York Times loved to stay in Cascais. Read the review


Hotel Review: Pousada de Cascais in Cascais, Portugal

Seth Sherwood
The hotel and its walled grounds offer a fortress of solitude.
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Seth Sherwood
A standard room, with patio.
Rooms start at 150 euros (about $190 at $1.26 to the euro).
Basics
Situated along the waterfront in an upscale seaside suburb of Lisbon, this Renaissance-era citadel served successively over the centuries as a fortification against pirates, a royal residence, a presidential palace and a military base before being reborn in early 2012 as a sprawling, stylish hotel. The martial and aristocratic trappings have been replaced by an attitude-free 126-room hotel with a bevy of restaurants, a spa and other amenities.
Location
Edging the ocean, the hotel and its walled grounds feel like a fortress of solitude. But central Cascais, a palm-fringed beachfront resort town with echoes of Cannes or Antibes, is just outside the gates. One nearby highlight is the Casa das Historias, a museum devoted to the works of Paula Rego, perhaps Portugal’s most famous contemporary painter. Another is the town’s charming core of boutique-lined streets and lively, restaurant-ringed squares. It’s a 10-minute walk to the train station, for the 30-minute trip into central Lisbon.
The Room
My room, a standard double booked for 200 euros, was mainly white, uncluttered and angular, with a few subdued colors — beige headboard, blond wood floors — for an overall Scandinavian-minimalist feel. The lone burst of color came from two red leather L-shaped chairs. The room was flooded with natural light from a wall of glass doors (which led to a pleasant tiny patio) and employed floor lamps that cast diffuse, warm glows.
Plenty of discreetly deployed gizmos ensured functionality, including an electronic safe, flat-screen television, minibar (mainly juice and beer) and gooseneck reading lamps sprouting from the headboard of the comfortable king-size bed. Alas, there was no iPod station or clock, and Wi-Fi was a hefty 20 euros a day.
The Bathroom
A blue ceiling light cast a cool glow over the immaculate space, whose abundance of white and rectangular forms suggested a postmodern igloo: rectangular white floor tiles, rectangular white wall panels, long rectangular white sink (piled with Laura Kayal toiletries) and rectangular white tub (with rainmaker shower head and hand-held sprayer). Only the (white) toilet and (white) bidet sported a few curves. You can cover your own in the soft terry cloth robes. Can you guess their color?
Amenities
The hotel wisely exploits Cascais’s greatest resources — sea and sun — with its glass-walled and skylit indoor pool and adjacent outdoor sun deck. Both offer views of the town’s marina beyond the crenelated battlements. A spa offers treatments like hot stone massages (55 euros an hour) and facials (85 euros for 75 minutes) while a very small, sun-flooded gym packs in high-tech goodies like a treadmill, cross-trainer and weight system by Technogym. Like a 21st-century great hall, the lobby bar is a soaring space with many tightly packed, low, rectangular couches and chairs and a high wall decorated entirely with swooping black ceramic birds. Even sleeker, the bar-restaurant next to the pool serves up sea views and a seafood-heavy menu (including grilled bacalhau) to guests in S-shaped Verner Panton chairs.
Outside the hotel building, the grounds are also peppered with venerable historical edifices now housing contemporary cafes, art galleries and clothing boutiques. The marquee attraction is the hip and refined Taberna da Praça restaurant, a stone tunnel-like space that specializes in modern takes on Portuguese home cooking and comfort food (like very rich scrambled eggs with farinheira sausage).
Bottom Line
The former military base has scored an impressive victory in its new civilian role. With its seaside perch, comfortable, contemporary rooms, abundant restaurants and proximity to the beaches and cultural venues of the surrounding town, Pousada de Cascais makes a stylish base or a worthy splurge for those on a budget. If you don’t need to be in the core of Lisbon, this new hotel ranks highly indeed.
Pousada de Cascais-Cidadela Historic Hotel, Avenida Dom Carlos I, Cascais, Portugal; (351-21) 040-1712.

quinta-feira, 21 de março de 2013

8 Reasons to Go to Portugal Now


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8 Reasons to Go to Portugal Now

Posted by Anja Mutic on March 11, 2013 at 11:15:33 AM EDT
Posted in Trip Ideas Tagged: PortugalPortoLisbon
The recession and rising unemployment may be grabbing the headlines in Portugal but, for visitors, there is much to lift the spirits. A wave of recent openings around the country present a great set of reasons to visit Portugal now. We've handpicked the cream of the crop: from the fresh urban delights of Lisbon to rural retreats in the country's south and the north.
lisbon-terreiro.jpg
Let's start in Lisbon, the country's capital. In mid-2012, the city's main square, Terreiro do Paço, was unveiled in all its restored glory. This grand riverfront square now has a brand-new cultural center alongside a string of restaurants, bars and shops. Highlights include the Beer Museum, which explains the A-Z of the brewing cycle (tastings included) and the Lisbon Story Center, a high-tech interactive exhibit that in 60 minutes portrays the dramatic history of Lisbon throughout centuries, including the 1755 earthquake that nearly flattened the city.
Lisbon's multicultural tapestry gets a nod with the "fusion market" atMartim Moniz square, which lies at the heart of Mouraria, the city's melting pot that lay long neglected and run-down. That changed in summer 2012 with the opening of an intercultural market. The square now features food kiosks that serve dishes from around the world, from Angola to Goa, as well as live music shows and cultural performances.
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A spate of new hotels perked up Lisbon's lodging scene, too. The standout is Lisboa Carmo Hotel, a 45-room boutique hideaway on leafy Largo do Carmo square in the chic Chiado district. The highlight: its great blend of classic and mod, and a distinct sense of place—you never forget you're in Lisbon. The long-time favorite, Heritage Av Liberdade Hotel, never gets old; this intimate pied-a-terre hidden behind the blue façade of a restored 18th-century building on elegant Avenida da Liberdade touts original ironwork shutters and stunner vistas from the rooms.
alentejo-portugal.jpg
Other corners of Portugal offer reasons aplenty to venture beyond the country's capital. Head east to the agricultural province of Alentejo and, 68 miles from Lisbon, you'll find Villa Extramuros, a five-room countryside newcomer sporting five minimalist rooms in a bleached-white villa with a sun-lit inner patio and an infinity-edge pool among olive groves. Spend a few days taking in the intimate world of high design with a low-key vibe, and then explore the neighboring World Heritage Site town of Évora, take in tastings at nearby wine estates, sail on Lake Alqueva, and roam the medieval village of Arraiolos.
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In the country's southwest lies Portugal's newest hiking path, Rota Vicentina, now in its final stages of completion. The route traces the wild and preserved coastline between the city of Santiago do Cacém in the north and the Cape of St Vincent in the south. The Vicentine trail totals more than 200 miles, following a route used by shepherds and fishermen to journey the southwest coast of Alentejo and the western Algarve. Visitors can now follow in their footsteps, choosing a hike along the Historical Way, through cork forests, farmlands, and heather fields, or the Fisherman's Trail, along the rugged coastline dotted with dramatic limestone cliffs. The entire Rota Vicentina takes in over 30 inns and lodges, a clutch of restaurants serving local specialties, and a number of activities and attractions that hikers can experience along the way. All are grouped under Casas Brancas, a non-profit sustainable tourism association with strong links to local communities.
FazendaNovaRooms-10.jpg
Eastern Algarve offers another new reason to visit Portugal's south: the fall 2012 opening of Fazenda Nova, a gorgeous country inn near the historic coastal town of Tavira. The interiors are decked out with flea market finds scoured on the owners' travels, while the ten suites have Balinese wooden beds, polished concrete bathrooms with rain-drencher showers, and private terraces. The artfully landscaped surroundings feature orchards, herb gardens, a maze of paths, and a swimming pool. Base yourself here and go antiquing in nearby towns and villages, hitting the local flea markets in Fuseta (first Sunday of every month), Quelfes (fourth Sunday), Faro (second Saturday), and Tavira (first & last Saturday).
With the south under your belt, follow your star up north: the newCooking & Nature Emotional Hotel, a whimsical inn in rural Alvados valley, within Serras de Aire e Candeeiros Natural Park. Food, fun, and nature are the inspiration behind this concept hotel among olive groves, forests, and farmlands. Each of the 12 rooms calls on a different fantasy: from an African safari to channeling Marie Antoinette with classic chandeliers and rose pinks. The highlight is the option to cook your own dinner: the staff will do the prep and the dishes; you cook up the feast using mostly ingredients from the hotel's gardens or the village. Outdoorsy types can do guided walks, bike, or horseback rides, and tours of nearby caves.
ponte-de-lima.jpg
Finally, explore the far northern reaches of Portugal from the new base,Carmo's Boutique Hotel just outside the historic town of Ponte de Lima in the Minho region. Inside the two-wing structure clad in concrete and glass hides a casual and cozy retreat with an eclectic homespun décor, 15 rooms with canopied beds, a stellar restaurant, and a basement spa. But the main appeal lies in the attractions surrounding the hotel, from scenic walks or bike rides along the riverside path to exploring the trifecta of northern cities, all within a 90-minute radius: the cultural center of Guimarães, the ancient Braga, and Porto, Portugal's "other capital".
Good to Know: Trips to Portugal are an easy jaunt from Newark onTAP Portugal, the national carrier which has daily direct flights to Lisbon and three weekly to Porto in summer months; during the winter season, there are five weekly nonstop flights to Lisbon and twice a week to Porto. TAP Portugal also flies directly from Miami to Lisbon five times weekly in summer months and three times per week during winter.
Check out more from Anja on her website Ever the Nomad.
Photo credits: Terreiro do Paco via Shutterstock; Lisboa Carmo Hotel courtesy of Lisboa Carmo Hotel; Alentejo via Shutterstock; Rota Vicentina courtesy of Flickr/Claudio Franco; Fazenda Nova courtesy of Fazenda Nova; Ponte de Lima Medieval Bridge via Shutterstock
More by Fodor's Contributor

Uma boa ideia para um passeio com os miúdos!

quarta-feira, 20 de março de 2013

Spring is here ! Lovely weather in Cascais

World press presentation of the new Renault ZOE, in Cascais- Lisbon





Renault Zoé is TechVehi approved !

13 March 2013

The highly anticipated Renault Zoé initially promised for the end of 2012, will land in showrooms in March and its first commercial "simply revolutionary" is running at full capacity on the French TV.


Renault_Zoé_Lisbon (14).jpg

So should you fall for its mug adorable looks and attractive price - from € 20.700 before grants?
We had already discovered all the technologies it features during the innovation days, especially its smart braking and heat pump to name them only... It is now time to get our hands on one!


Design

His final lines are known since the 2012 Geneva Auto Show! Measuring a little more than 4m in length, it comfortably accommodates 5 people and can easily find places (distance indicators and reverse camera also help you in this task) while offering a trunk thanks to a battery placed in the floor.

Interior, comfort and connectivity on board

High-tech and clean, we like the ergonomics of the steering wheel (adjustable in height and depth), as well as the driving position. The seats contribute greatly to the comfort.
Air ionizer and aroma diffuser help to relax, which works quite well with the help of Portuguese background.

R-Link is intuitive and fast as a tablet.
Featuring the TomTom Live technology, you can download various applications depending on your needs, also note the "Text to speech" function that can read your news or mail.
Via your Smartphone and a dedicated application, you can also monitor battery level remotely.

Renault_Zoé_Lisbon (31).jpg

Driving Eco2 - autonomy - and Eco Mode

If you manage to be and stay wise – in the ECO mode - you can quickly achieve good grades at the Driving Eco2 - on the coast road from Lisbon to Cascais, a (half) fast way limited to 70kph and littered with traffic lights we got 99 out of 100, with an average consumption of 12.3kWh/100km which would allow the car a range of almost 180km with its 22kWh battery.
In Eco Mode the maximum speed is limited to 80kph but a strong push on the accelerator will exit this mode.
If you don’t manage to remain gentle with the throttle, the electric motor’s power (88hp and 220nm) lower your range to 130km in real life conditions.

Handling and driveability

At low speed the acceleration is impressive but seems less vigorous recovery at higher speeds.
Soundproofing: rolling and drivetrain noises are well managed, even the artificial noise “ZE Voice” available from 1 to 30kph to warn pedestrians remains discreet.
Braking and one downside.. it will require some adjustments from the driver, in use, the pedal seems slightly spongy and the transition between the electric motor braking and mechanical braking is a little too direct.
Weight distribution: the battery is placed in a center-rear position and provides good handling with almost no body roll, helped by a good ESC as evidenced by the Euro NCAP.
Renault_Zoé_Lisbon (31).jpg

Zoé drives and behaves like a normal car but without noise, vibrations or smell, the only shadow on the picture is the recharging: the new chameleon charger adapts to various powers from 3kW to 43kW but requires a WallBox (specific Renault charger) minimum!

Balance

In 43kW charging to 80% only lasts 30 minutes and thanks to the feedbacks, the charging plug is now secured, impossible to detach it without the keys of the car!
Renault_Zoé_Lisbon (1).jpg

Its distinctive design is instantly recognizable and that’s better because when you’re driving an electric car you want it to be seen...
The Renault Zoé is the best price / performance ratio at the moment so we wish it a great career full of WALLBOX. It has a real potential to democratize the electric car whose development (in sales) is still quiet ... Until now at a similar price you could only have much less achieved or comfortable electric cars.



quarta-feira, 13 de março de 2013

A video about Portugal ! ( Mourinho, surf the big wave at Nazaré, Paula Rego, Marisa....)


A nova campanha da AICEP (Agência para o Investimento e Comércio Externo) de promoção de Portugal no estrangeiro foi apresentada esta tarde no Centro Cultural de Belém (CCB), em Lisboa.
O vídeo de cinco minutos e meio, produzido com o apoio da RTP, apresenta a um investidor indeciso as razões pelas quais deve optar por Portugal.

O filme mostra um país de “sol”, “abençoado pela natureza”, repleto de “cidades cheias de história” e de lugares “para descobrir”, pontuado por imagens de  Lisboa, Porto, Algarve, mas também da Nazaré, com a campanha da AICEP a cavalgar na onda gigante de notabilidade formada pelo surfista norte-americano Garret McNamara. 

Sem surpresa, Mourinho e Ronaldo surgem entre os rostos do “talento” que fala português, ao lado de muitos outros, como Souto Moura, Saramago, Paula Rego ou Mariza.

O vídeo apresenta no final um país onde se fala uma língua global, mas também reformista – designadamente  no mercado laboral e na justiça, áreas onde Portugal tradicionalmente pontua mal nas comparações internacionais – surgindo nesse contexto imagens do ministro das Finanças, Vítor Gaspar,  e do primeiro-ministro, Pedro Passos Coelho.

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segunda-feira, 11 de março de 2013

quinta-feira, 7 de março de 2013

Are you an optimist? If so, congratulations


The Benefits of Optimism Are Real

Share578 48
A positive outlook is the most important predictor of resilience. It's not just Hollywood magic.
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20th Century Fox
One of the most memorable scenes of the Oscar-nominated film Silver Linings Playbook revolves around Ernest Hemingway's A Farewell to Arms, a novel that does not end well, to put it mildly.
Patrizio Solitano Jr. (Bradley Cooper) has come home after an eight-month stint being treated for bipolar disorder at a psychiatric hospital, where he was sentenced to go after he nearly beat his wife's lover to death. Home from the hospital, living under his parents' charge, Pat has lost his wife, his job, and his house. But he tries to put the pieces of his life back together. He exercises, maintains an upbeat lifestyle, and tries to better his mind by reading through the novels that his estranged wife Nikki, a high school English teacher, assigns her students. 
Pat takes up a personal motto, excelsior -- Latin for "ever upward." He tells his state-appointed therapist, "I hate my illness and I want to control it. This is what I believe to be true: You have to do everything you can and if you stay positive you have a shot at a silver lining."
For many years, psychologists, following Freud, thought that people simply needed to express their anger and anxiety -- blow off some steam -- to be happier. But this is wrong.
Which is why the Hemingway novel, which is part of Nikki's syllabus, is such a buzz kill. When he gets to the last pages, and discovers that it ends grimly with death, he slams the book shut, throws it through a glass window of his parents' house, and storms into their room in the middle of the night, saying:

This whole time you're rooting for this Hemingway guy to survive the war and to be with the woman that he loves, Catherine Barkley... And he does, he does, he survives the war after getting blown up. He survives it and he escapes to Switzerland with Catherine. You think he ends it there? No! She dies, dad! I mean, the world's hard enough as it is, guys. Can't someone say, hey let's be positive? Let's have a good ending to the story?

Another best picture nominee, Life of Pi, employs a similar device. Pi finds himself aboard a lifeboat with a ferocious Bengal tiger in the aftermath of a shipwreck that has his entire family. Lost at sea in the Pacific Ocean for 227 days -- starved, desperate, and forced into a game of survival with the tiger -- Pi pushes forward, even though he, like Pat, has lost everything. Pi says, "You might think I lost all hope at that point. I did. And as a result I perked up and felt much better."
Pi's resilience is incredible once you realize what happens on board the lifeboat and how Pi copes with the tragedy that he witnesses and endures. There's more to the story than the boy and the tiger. Though what really happened is terrible, Pi chooses to tell a different story. His parallels what really happened, but is beautiful not bleak, transcendent not nihilistic.
"Which story do you prefer?" he asks at the end.

***

This questions turns out to matter a great deal if you are trying to figure out who grows after trauma and who gets swallowed up by it, a question that each movie addresses and that psychologists have been grappling with for years. Think back to the last time you experienced a loss, setback, or hardship. Did you respond by venting, ruminating, and dwelling on the disappointment, or did you look for a faint flash of meaning through all of the darkness -- a silver lining of some sort? How quickly did you bounce back -- how resilient are you?
The New Yorker's Richard Brody criticized Silver Linings Playbook for its sentimentality and "faith-based view of mental illness and, overall, of emotional redemption." The New York Times' A.O. Scott made a similar, if predictable, criticism of Life of Pi: "The novelist and the older Pi are eager...to repress the darker implications of the story, as if the presence of cruelty and senseless death might be too much for anyone to handle...Insisting on the benevolence of the universe in the way that Life of Pi does can feel more like a result of delusion or deceit than of earnest devotion."
But these criticisms miss the point. First, they fail to understand why these two strange and idiosyncratic movies, both based on novels, resonated with so many millions of people. Their themes of resilience speak to each of us -- and there is a reason for that. The key insight of each movie is, whether their creators realized it or not, grounded in a growing body of scientific research, which Brody and Scott overlook.
Positive emotions can, the researchers concluded, undo the effects of a stressful negative experience.
Far from being delusional or faith-based, having a positive outlook in difficult circumstances is not only an important predictor of resilience -- how quickly people recover from adversity -- but it is the most important predictor of it. People who are resilient tend to be more positive and optimistic compared to less-resilient folks; they are better able to regulate their emotions; and they are able to maintain their optimism through the most trying circumstances.
This is what Dr. Dennis Charney, the dean of Mount Sinai School of Medicine, found when he examined approximately 750 Vietnam war veterans who were held as prisoners of war for six to eight years. Tortured and kept in solitary confinement, these 750 men were remarkably resilient. Unlike many fellow veterans, they did not develop depression or posttraumatic stress disorder after their release, even though they endured extreme stress. What was their secret? After extensive interviews and tests, Charney found ten characteristics that set them apart. The top one was optimism. The second was altruism. Humor and having a meaning in life -- or something to live for -- were also important.
For many years, psychologists, following Freud, thought that people simply needed to express their anger and anxiety -- blow off some steam -- to be happier. But this is wrong. Researchers, for example, asked people who were mildly-to-moderately depressed to dwell on their depression for eight minutes. The researchers found that such ruminating caused the depressed people to become significantly more depressed and for a longer period of time than people who simply distracted themselves thinking about something else. Senseless suffering -- suffering that lacks a silver lining -- viciously leads to more depression.
Counter-intuitively, another study found that facing down adversity by venting -- hitting a punching bag or being vengeful toward someone who makes you angry -- actually leads to people feeling far worse, not better. Actually, doing nothing at all in response to anger was more effective than expressing the anger in these destructive ways.
Even more effective than doing nothing is channeling your depression toward a productive, positive goal, as Pat and Pi do. James Pennebaker, a psychological researcher at the University of Texas in Austin, has found that people who find meaning in adversity are ultimately healthier in the long run than those who do not. In a study, he asked people to write about the darkest, most traumatic experience of their lives for four days in a row for a period of 15 minutes each day.
Analyzing their writing, Pennebaker noticed that the people who benefited most from the exercise were trying to derive meaning from the trauma. They were probing into the causes and consequences of the adversity and, as a result, eventually grew wiser about it. A year later, their medical records showed that the meaning-makers went to the doctor and hospital fewer times than people in the control condition, who wrote about a non-traumatic event. People who used the exercise to vent, by contrast, received no health benefits. Interestingly, when Pennebaker had other research subjects express their emotions through song or dance, the health benefits did not appear. There was something unique and special about the stories people told themselves. Those stories helped people find a silver lining in their adversity.

***
Barbara Fredrickson, a psychological researcher at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, has looked more closely at the relationship between being positive and resilience. Her research shows how important one is for the other.
Silver-Linings-Playbook-1984905.jpgThe Weinstein Company
For starters, having a positive mood makes people more resilient physically. In one study, research subjects were outfitted with a device that measured their heart activity. After their baseline heart activity was recorded, they were presented with a stressful task: Each was asked to quickly prepare and deliver a speech on why he or she is a good friend. They were told that the speech would be videotaped and evaluated.
Heart rates rapidly increased. Arteries constricted. Blood pressure shot up.
Then, participants were shown a short video clip that either evoked negative emotions (like sadness), positive emotions (like happiness), or a neutral condition of no emotions. The participants were also told that if they were shown a video clip "by chance" that they were off the hook: They did not have to give the speech after all. That meant that their anxiety would start to subside as the video clips started.
Here was the interesting finding: The heart activity of the participants who viewed the positive clips returned to normal much quicker than their peers who were shown the negative or neutral clips. Positive emotions can, the researchers concluded, undo the effects of a stressful negative experience. The researchers found that the most resilient people were also more positive in day-to-day life.

It turns out that resilient people are good at transforming negative feelings into positive ones. For instance, one of the major findings of Fredrickson's studies was that resilient people took a different attitude toward the speech task than non-resilient people. They viewed the task as a challenge and opportunity for growth rather than as a threat. In other words, they found the silver lining.
With that in mind, the researchers wondered if they could inject some positivity into the non-resilient people to make them more resilient. They primed both types of people to approach the task either positive or negatively. The researchers told some people to see the task as a threat and they told others to see it as a challenge. What they found is good news for resilient and non-resilient people alike.
Resilient people who saw the task as a challenge did fine, as predicted. So did, interestingly, resilient people who were told to view the task as a threat. Resilient people, no matter how they approached the task, had the same cardiovascular recovery rate.
The people who benefitted from the priming were non-resilient people. Those who were told to approach the task as an opportunity rather than a threat suddenly started looking like high resilient people in their cardiovascular measures. They bounced back quicker than they otherwise would have.
Resilient people are good at bouncing back because they are emotionally complex. In each of Fredrickson's studies, resilient people experience the same level of frustration and anxiety as the less resilient participants. Their physiological and emotional spikes were equally high. This is important. It reveals that resilient people are not Pollyannas, deluding themselves with positivity. They just let go of the negativity, worry less, and shift their attention to the positive more quickly.
Resilient people also respond to adversity by appealing to a wider range of emotions. In another study, for instance, participants were asked to write short essays about the most important problem that they were facing in their lives. While resilient people reported the same amount of anxiety as less resilient people in the essays, they also revealed more happiness, interest, and eagerness toward the problem. For resilient people, high levels of positive emotions exist side-by-side with negative emotions. Think of how Pi responds to his seemingly hopeless situation aboard the boat: "I tell you, if you were in such dire straits as I was, you too would elevate your thoughts. The lower you are, the higher your mind will want to soar."
When your mind starts soaring, you notice more and more positive things. This unleashes an upward spiral of positive emotions that opens people up to new ways of thinking and seeing the world -- to new ways forward. This is yet another reason why positive people are resilient. They see opportunities that negative people don't. Negativity, for adaptive reasons, puts you in defense mode, narrows your field of vision, and shuts you off to new possibilities since they're seen as risks.
This calls to mind one of the best scenes from Silver Linings Playbook, in which a bad situation nearly consumes Pat. He is at a diner with Tiffany (Jennifer Lawrence), when he hears "Ma Cherie Amour" playing in his head  -- the song that was playing when he found his estranged wife naked in the shower with another man -- and has a traumatic flashback.
Tiffany helps him work past the episode: "You gonna go your whole life scared of that song? It's just a song. Don't make it a monster... There's no song playing. There's no song. Breathe, count backwards from ten. That's it." He recovers and their interaction sets the stage for the rest of the movie.
Like Life of PiSilver Linings Playbook is about how we can tame our inner demons with hope and a positive outlook on life. By finding meaning and love in terrible circumstances, as Pi and Pat do, they overcome their suffering and, in the process, reveal how uplifting silver linings can be.