Swedcham

240’2022 (2022-08-28) – Sunday

Posted on by What did you learn in School today ?

Today, I learned about:

I recently moved 650 km (400 miles) from the state of Paraná to the state of São Paulo, making this the first post from my new location in São Carlos. And it also means that I am now sufficiently close to the city of São Paulo to go there, meet old friends and experience exciting things on a regular basis.

And since there is no time to get wasted, I just came back home from such a trip to São Paulo over the last, extended weekend, and do I have interesting things to report:

Brazilian winter sports

With its warm, mostly tropical climate, Brazil is of course not the most natural place to practice what many people call winter sports, which typically use snow or ice as the setting. But that does not mean that Brazilians are abstaining themselves from winter sports. Between Saturday 246’2022 (2022-09-03) and Saturday 253’2022 (2022-09-10) the Brazilian Open will be held in alpine skiing and snowboard. But the lack of sufficient amount of snow in Brazil makes it necessary to organize it in Corralco, Chile. The responsibility for the event lies with CBDN (Confederação Brasileira de Desportos na Neve), i.e. the Brazilian Confederation for Sports on Snow. More about CBDN and their activities can be found in reference #1 below.

Furthermore, there is also CBDG (Confederação Brasileira de Desportos no Gelo), i.e. the Brazilian Confederation for Sports on Ice, reference #2 below. Last Thursday, on 237’22 (2022-08-25), I had the pleasure of meeting with the Presidents of CBDG, Matheus Figueiredo, and CBDN, Anders Pettersson, in the CBDG headquarters in Brazil, the so called Arena Ice. Besides an iceskating rink for figure skating and 3×3 ice hockey, the arena hosts three official sized ice sheets for curling, sometimes thought of as chess on ice. If you do not know what curling is, then I suggest you take a look at my earlier posts in the matter, such as 83’2018 (2018-03-24), 124’2018 (2018-05-24), and 91’2019 (2019-04-01) .

The following photo gives you a view of the curling ice sheets, and furthermore, below are also two more photos taken during my visit to Arena Ice:

This photo shows the three ice sheets of official size that are available in Brazilian Ice Sport´s stadium Arena Ice. Photo taken by Anders Pettersson on 237’22 (2022-08-25).
In the photo to the left, from left to right, we see the two gentlemen who are the official leaders of winter sport in Brazil, Matheus Figueiredo, president of the Brazilian Confederation for Sports on Ice (CBDG), and Anders Pettersson, president of the Brazilian Confederation for Sports on Snow (CDBN), discussing over a delicious cup of Brazilian coffee in Arena Ice´s cafeteria. In the photo to the right, Matheus and I, posing while taking very much care to not fall on the slippery ice on the curling sheet. Both photos taken on 237’2022 (2022-08-25) in Arena Ice, São Paulo, SP, Brazil.

Swedcham Friday Fika

Then on Friday, 238’22 (2022-08-26), I went to the Swedish-Brazilian Chamber of Commerce (Swedcham) to assist an interview in the series that they call Friday Fika, in which the executive director of Swedcham, Jonas Lindström, has held many interesting interviews with people of various trades. It used to be exclusively online, but since the Covid pandemic is showing strong signs to decay, before this event they had already experienced the first interview IRL, combined with online transmisson for those who for some reason could not go there in person. Reference #3 gives all the details, with links to the various events, hosted on Youtube.

The interviewee this time was Christopher Podgorski, CEO of Scania Latin America, a business leader known for his way of leading and incentivating people to work together in order to reach the business goals. In reference #4 is a direct link to the interview.

Below are some photos I took of the event:

A photo of the event where Christopher Podgorski, CEO of Scania Latin America, to the left, is interviewed by Jonas Lindström, Executive Director of Swedcham Brazil.
Two photos from behind the stage: The left one showing the light atmosphere during the event, with the public enjoying both the interview and the delicious snacks. The right photo shows the last minute setup that had to be made in order to put the video feed online. Manoel Alberto and his daughter Gabriele Los Angeles were able to help Jonas with that task.

In my next post I hope to be able to show you the pictures taken in Ouro Preto during my visit there in May 2022.

That’s what I learned in school today!

Ref.:

1: CBDN

2: CBDG

3: Friday Fika

4: Friday Fika with Christopher Podgorski

*: What did you learn in school today ?

2017-10-15 (Summertime)

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Today, I learned that:

On the Southern hemisphere, we are moving on towards the brightest season of the year. One of the signs of that is the adoption of daylight saving time, a.k.a. summer time, when the clock advances one hour instantaneously. However, the Brazilian government continues to make that happen at midnight, moving ahead to 01:00. Although this might not be a big obstacle right now, when moving back to standard time in February, 2018, it will occur once more at midnight, jumping back to 23:00. I think that the European model, where the change occurs at a time when much less people are active, involving 02:00 and 03:00, is much better, and its also does not involve two different dates. References #1 and 2 remembers that wonderful time of the year, seen through the hands and voice of George Gershwin and Janis Joplin.

And for the following people, in jail because of corruption, summer time may be some sort of relief:

Relief

Cartoon from Folha de S. Paulo today:
“-We managed to reduce your stay! -How much? -One hour. Summer time is about to start.”

In my post of 2017-09-29, I mentioned the word infinitesimal used in a broadcast from Radio National, Australia. In the same interview is also remembered the old commercial from Esso, “Put a tiger in your tank”, which can be answered by “What is the use of a tiger in tank, if there is a jackass at the steering wheel?” (See also the transcript in reference #3 below).

As a parallel, watch the two videos in references #4 and 5 below. So what is the use of high speed automated routing system for packages when they are treated so badly at the destination?

But everything in Brazil is not as pessimistic as it may seem from the examples above. The Swedish-Brazilian Chamber of Commerce (Swedcham) just published its annual survey of the business climate in Brazil for 70 Swedish companies. Despite the Brazilian recession, 36% of the companies say that they are satisfied with the present business climate. You can read the complete report in reference # 6 below.

Finally, here are two interesting examples of how AI (artificial intelligence) is helping out in the fields of health and beauty:

  • In an eye clinic in the Aravind hospital in Madurai, India, AI is examining photos taken of the eyes of diabetic patients. If they are not treated in time, there is a risk that they may go blind. So together with Google, the hospital has developed a computer program to examine the photos of the retinal fundus of the eye. Tests have shown that the program has the same accuracy as the professional ophthalmologist, up to 90 %, and in much less time. See references # 7 and 8 below.
  • Intel has developed a mobile application (named Face It) that uses computer vision to acquire data about a user’s facial structure as well as machine learning to determine the user’s face shape. This information is then combined with manually inputted information to give the user a personalized set of hair and beard styles that are guaranteed to make the user look his best. A personalized list of tips are also generated for the user to take into account when getting a haircut. See the screenshot and reference # 9 below.

FaceIt

Example of tips generated by Face It

That’s what I learned in school !

Refs.:

1: Summertime

2: Janis Joplin – Summertime, Live 1969

3: Micropayments could amount to large sums for conservation

4: Shipping Warehouse Robots

5: Flagra de funcionário dos Correios jogando encomendas

6: Swedish business climate in Brazil 2017

7: AI räddar synen för diabetiker

8: Ophthalmoscopy

9: Face It – The Artificially Intelligent Hairstylist

*: What did you learn in school today ?

2017-09-23 (Primavera)

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Today, I learned that:

Since yesterday was the day of the equinox, when day and night have the same duration all over the world, today on the Southern hemisphere is the first day of Primavera, a word used in e.g. the Portuguese language to denote the season of Spring. It originated in ancient Rome, where it meant the beginning of Summer. Nowadays, it is Spring, but nevertheless I think the word is so graceful!

The photo below shows Rio Tietê, a very important waterway in the State of São Paulo, Brazil. It starts in the east, only 22 km from the South Atlantic ocean, but instead of taking the easiest route, it crosses all of the state to finally merge with Rio Paraná 1 150 km to the West. Se reference #1 below for more interesting information.

Tiete

A photo taken on 2017-07-23 of Rio Tietê, a very important river in the North of the State of São Paulo, Brazil. It starts in the East, only 22 km from the South Atlantic ocean, but does not flow there. Instead it continues 1 100 km to the West, where it finally ends up merging with Rio Paraná. This bridge of highway SP-333 over the river is more than 2 km long.

In my latest post I invited you to a technical seminar in São Paulo on 2017-09-12. I was fortunate enough to start the seminar with my presentation of “A walk down the memory lane of electronics”. The seminar was a huge success, thanks everyone who showed up! In case you could not make it, do not worry, here are three photos from my presentation:

Tech Seminar foto 1

A photo, taken by Jonas Lindström, at the very beginning of the speech, where I detail the contents.

Swedcham 20170912

A photo from my speech. My daughter Karina shows the actual phone while I present it on the screen.

Tech Seminar foto 2

Photo taken by Jonas Lindström. During the Questions & Answers section, I express my views on the future of gadgets, on my shirt is written ” I’m not always right – but I’m never wrong!”. Behind me are also two of the other speakers at the event, Guilherme Maciel and Johan Åhlund.

In reference # 2 below is the complete presentation and reference #3 is how Nordic Light reported the event. Enjoy!

That’s what I learned in school !

Refs.:

1: Rio Tietê

2: A walk down the memory lane of electronics

3: Swedcham news, from the past into the future

*: What did you learn in school today ?

2017-09-03 (Sunday)

Posted on by What did you learn in School today ?

Today, I learned that:

Exactly 50 years ago today, on 1967-09-03, Sweden switched from driving on the left-hand side to the right-hand side of the road. In my post of 2016-09-03 I gave an extensive report about the whole procedure. Today, I will complement with some interesting facts.

Did you know that:

  • Mainly island nations still drive on the left-hand side, such as United Kingdom and its former colonies (Ireland, Malta, East Africa, India, Southeast Asia, Australia and New Zealand), but also Japan. Reference # 1 has a complete list.

London1994-08-08

A photo from a country that insists on driving on the left-hand side, taken in London on 1984-08-08.

  • On 2009-09-07, the Pacific nation Samoa changed from driving on the right-hand to the left-hand side of the road, thus permitting import of cars with the steering wheel located on the right-hand side from its neighbours Australia and New Zealand, cheaper than long transports from Europe or USA. And then in 2011, the Samoan people lost December 30 when the country moved from the eastern to the western side of the International Date Line. They are now 3 hours ahead of New Zealand, instead of the former 21 hours behind. See also reference # 2 below.
  • There is nothing that says that driving on any of the sides is less dangerous than on the other side. Radio Sweden told us that last Friday in a science program (in Swedish). See reference #3.

Petropolis

Even in countries using right-hand traffic, there are examples of local exceptions. This photo was taken in the city of Petrópolis, RJ, Brazil. The road sign here alerts the drivers to use ‘MÃO INGLESA’ (“ENGLISH HAND”), i.e. to drive on the left-hand side.

Where will you be on September 12? In case you have not got a ticket to Apple’s launch of their new iPhone, then I have a suggestion for you:

Come to São Paulo, SP, Brazil, and listen to me and my colleagues present technology in the past, present and future! If that sounds interesting, then you can find an invitation in reference #4 below. See you there!

That’s what I learned in school !

Refs.:

1: Right- and left-hand traffic

2: Samoa

3: Höger eller vänster – vägvalet som splittrar världen

4: Tech seminar- Walking along memory lane into the future – Sept 12

*: What did you learn in school today ?

2016-08-13 (Lördag/Saturday)

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Idag lärde jag mig, att:

Augusti är den fina månad när man kan njuta av kräftor i Sverige. När jag var barn brukade vi fiska vid Sämsjön, som ju är vida känd för sina kräftor. Men det var på den tiden innan kräftpesten slog ut nästan hela det inhemska beståendet.

Dagens bild härrör därför ifrån just Sämsjön. För precis 10 år sedan, augusti 2006, tog jag ett underbart foto över solnedgången från Ekåsudden utöver Sämsjön. Min vän Cecilia blev förtjust i fotot när jag använde det som min ID-bild på Wordfeud, varför jag sände henne det. Som tack målade hon en tavla inspirerad av motivet och resultatet kan ni se ovan, tjusigt eller hur? Men som den konstnär hon är, så blir hon aldrig riktigt nöjd med resultatet utan filar fortfarande på detaljer. Vem vet en dag blir hon helt klar, till dess får vi nöja oss (!) med denna tavla. Jag tycker inte att något så fint behöver förbättras, men låt oss se! Tack Cecilia för att jag fick ställa ut din tavla på webben!

Last Tuesday, while visiting São Paulo, I had the opportunity to participate in a seminar at the Swedish-Brazilian Chamber of Commerce (Swedcham) with the title “Main Tech Trends Shaping the Market and Business Environment”, hosted by Andre Gildin, founder of RKKG Consulting, with many years of experience in leading positions at Ericsson, see also reference #1 below.

According to the abstract for the seminar, “We live in a transition world, where everyone is talking about the digital and connected environment… so what is really driving these changes? Andre Gildin will explore the main technology trends that are shaping the market and its impact on the way companies make business.” And that is exactly what he did. A very interesting status report about the technological changes that are, or will very soon be, affecting our every-day lives. If that sounds as interesting to you as it was to me, I urge you to look at the presentation in reference #2 below. My sincere thanks to Andre for sharing his insights with the world!

AG

Andre Gildin presenting the proposal from Arcade City on how to replace Uber and offer ride sharing, slide # 46 in his presentation on 2016-08-09.

… Tack för idag, slut för idag! / That’s what I learned in school !

Refs.:

1: Programme for ‘Main Tech Trends Shaping the Market and Business Environment’

2: Minutes from ‘Main Tech Trends Shaping the Market and Business Environment’

+: What did you learn in school today ?