Maio, 1 2008
Quinta-feira

Quanto é que o meu vizinho ganha ?
"Italians were surprised, and in some cases outraged, on Wednesday to discover their income levels were available for public viewing on an Internet site.
As part of a crack-down on tax evasion, the outgoing centre-left government made public every citizen's declared taxable income on the state's tax website, a decision attacked by consumer groups and some politicians.
Later on Wednesday the Italian Treasury suspended the website after it received a formal complaint from Italy's privacy watchdog."

Na prática, e como o Corriere della Sera disse, é uma maneira prática de com um click saber quanto o nosso vizinho declarou de rendimentos. :-)

Sinceramente tenho mixed feelings acerca disto. Se por um lado isto é usado como justificação para o combate à evasão fiscal, por outro não vejo como possa ser. Quem o combate é o governo e o próprio já tem acesso a esta informação. Torna-la pública teria que propósito ? A denúncia por parte dos cidadãos ?

Se me falassem em levantamento do sigilo bancário, aí sim vejo lógica. Agora que interesse tenho eu, para além da mera curiosidade, em saber quanto o vizinho de baixo ganha por ano ? E já não falo em termos de privacidade... ainda ia descobrir os biscates que ele fazia ali na Via Norte. Ah espera, isso não se declara. :->

via Reuters

1 Maio 2008 - 18:08   3 Comentário(s)

London for four

So I was back to the Kingdom this weekend with her and friends.
The last time I was there I was "stationed" at St Francis College in Letchworth... some 15 years ago.

Making a long story short... here are some highlights.

Ryanair. The food (payed for) sucks, they were always late and they make you walk on the tarmac (I wonder if they do the same on rainy days). I guess you get what you payed for.
In the first day, we moved from the hotel we were suposed to stay in to a better one in the heart of Piccadilly. I'm not forgetting the "Can we first see the rooms ?" line any time sooner. ;-) Basically the first one was falling apart "victorian style" (as we were told by the clerk), the second one was nice and in the heart of Piccadilly, along side Trocadero.
Regarding food, we made some bad choices in the beginning. Nice food the following days, mostly Italian. We met a portuguese waitress and all... the downside of course were the price tags. £100 a dinner for four every day kind of sucks.
Sure, I went to the Apple Store. I would kill myself if I wouldn't. :) Beautifull building. They know how to build stores as they do computers. Loved Hamleys also.
Had my first Starbucks, a 'macchiato' or something, not bad. Too bad they don't sell those mugs, only some collectable ones. Regarding everyday coffees... believe me, I had worst expressos here in Portugal, but not with that price tag. :(
Nice 'hop on, hop off' bus tour. London Bridge (saw it open which is a rare event I was told), Tower of London ("you can't see the Bloody Tower because of those bloody trees") :-D , the City, Big Ben ("fortunately the guy wasn't named Richard"), House of Lords, Westminster (expensive and with a lot burried people), Trafalgar Square and the National Gallery (it's free), Buckingham (the change of the guard is over rated), London Eye (which malfunctioned), Madame Trousseau (what a joke), Hide (lots of squirrels) and Green Park, etc etc. We saw it all.
The tube... yup, it's old and everything, but the time we wait for the train is near zero compared to ours. Great service, we abused it alot. Oh, and they even refunded our Oyster card.

Must upload some photos to Flickr as soon I get an USB cable for the camera (it's at the parents home).

The title, to be fair, should have been "London for four... and a half"

1 Maio 2008 - 16:16   10 Comentário(s)

iGoogle com temas portugueses
Se há uma coisa que não se pode dizer é que o Google Portugal não se está a mexer.
Depois de lançar a versão em Português de Portugal (is there another ?) do Gmail, lançou agora temas/themes para o iGoogle com imagens de conhecidos Portugueses.



A saber... António Gamito, João Garcia, Fátima Lopes, Vanessa Fernandes.

Ah, e até têm anúncios a correr para os promover.

1 Maio 2008 - 12:59   Sem Comentário(s)