Author Archives: Pedro Diaz

About Pedro Diaz

An interpreter of language, media and society. The cultural broker or interpreter renders the message accurately, conveying the content and nature of the original idea, taking into consideration its cultural setting. Bridging different cultures together.

It’s 2023 summer, and high season for tourists on the north coast of Sao Paulo BRL after two years of dealing with covid-19, people are ready to decompress at the beach.

Itamambuca Beach, Ubatuba, SP BRL 2023 photo by Pedro Diaz

We will investigate a place called Ubatuba, known for hundreds of beaches and home to World Surf League champion Felipe Toledo. What does it take for this city to accommodate a multitude of visitors? Ubatuba, with a population of around 92 thousand, is popular with middle-class Brazil on the north coast of Sao Paulo. The coastal town will have to work overtime to accommodate 1,5 million visitors in Praia Grande in the Christmas & New Year holidays, which is just one of the many beaches it offers. The north coast of Sao Paulo expects up to 5 million visitors this summer.

Three necessary pieces of information to enjoy your summer vacation to the fullest on the north coast are 1. Traffic, 2. Safety, 3. Waste.

How to avoid traffic?

Wake up early, you will have an early start to your day, and you will beat everyone to the best spot on the beach. The best option is a bicycle that’s how locals get around. The next best option is a small car or motorcycle. If you are stuck in traffic, remember Brazil is a vast country and there is space for everyone stay patient there’s space for you, your friends, and your family at the beach. The image below illustrates a typical traffic flow for a Saturday afternoon in Ubatuba.

                              Image 2.0 Traffic Flow Average day

Below is live traffic, and today is Saturday, 1/07/2023

                                         Image 3.0 Traffic High Season

You can tell that Praia Grande and Itagua turn into bottleneck areas, and traffic occurs. The big problem is that many pedestrians cross back and forth in Praia Grande. Part of the solution is pedestrian bridges to solve the pain point. Leaving Ubatuba on Sunday afternoon is a mistake and a hellish traffic experience.

In addition, the BR 101 Rio Santos is undergoing paving recovery improvements at various points along the route to the capital of Rio de Janeiro. In Ubatuba, the works for applying asphaltic micro-surfacing will take place from km 52.1 to km 8, with a completion forecast for January 10th, 2023.

How to stay safe?

1st, don’t drink too much, which is easier said than done on vacations.

The State of Sao Paulo will have Operation Verão (Summer) +(Safe) Seguro will be carried out in two stages, December 22, to January 30, 2022 and the second, from January 31 to March 6, 2022. The actions cover Baixada Santista, North Coast and Litoral Sul (in Vale do Ribeira). The municipalities covered are: Guarujá, Santos, São Vicente, Praia Grande, Iguape, Cananéia, Peruíbe, Ilha Comprida, Itanhaém, Mongaguá, Cubatão, Bertioga, Ilhabela, São Sebastião, Ubatuba and Caraguatatuba. All 16 cities have the reinforcement of teams from the Highway Policing Command (CPRv), Fire Department (CCB), Traffic Policing (CPTran), Environmental Policing (CPAmb), Shock Policing (CPChq) and Aviation (CavPM) .

2,939 military police are committed to reinforcing patrols in coastal cities, with 2,327 in Baixada Santista and 612 on the North Coast. Part of this force is made up of 1,838 soldiers trained on the 17th. To carry out the activities, the MPs have the support of 270 vehicles, 74 vessels, five aircraft and 25 drones. The Civil Police also participate in the operation and has full force committed to the streets, police stations, and investigative actions.

Please don’t drink and drive, which seems part of many cultures in many countries (USA, MEX), not just Brazil. Please don’t go into the ocean after drinking much alcohol, especially at night. Take lock your car don’t leave any belongings visible to eye.

Who is going to pick up the waste?

SANEVAP Saneamento Ambiental offers the public and private sector modern solutions in ​​sanitation, urban cleaning and waste management. The City Hall of Ubatuba reinforces that Sanepav will double the staff for the services in the 2022/2023 season. Summer season is on December 19th and will remain until March 1st, 2023, the company informs that in low season there are eight trucks, 48 ​​collectors and 16 drivers. And for this summer season and the new collection schedule, 98 collectors will be working, 32 drivers with 17 trucks.

In addition, we have independent recycling companies around the city, like Boomerang recycling, which collects, separates, and bales recycling materials here in Ubatuba. There also people of collect aluminum cans around the city. Please separate your organic waste from your recyclables in different bags.

Company Basic Sanitation do Estado de São Paulo S.A (SABESP) is preparing a series of actions to serve residents and tourists along the entire coast of São Paulo during the high season. On the North Coast, which should receive nearly triple the number of visitors over the next three months, Sabesp is carrying out a series of actions to ensure water security and the entire functioning of the sewage infrastructure. R$ 34 million were invested in actions aimed at more excellent reliability in the region’s water supply and sewage collection services. In addition to this equipment, the population will be able to count on 58 power generators, 9 tank trucks and 14 trucks for cleaning and unblocking sewage networks.

Most important, pick up after yourself! Please separate your organic waste from your recyclables. Dispose of your cigarette buds correctly don’t just toss them on the floor. We should all be thinking of zero-waste and recycling and reusing everything. Have fun but respect your environment. Use sunblock and drink a lot of water, and you will be ok.

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Journalism Homework

What are the topics that science and technology reporters might cover?

Science and technology reporters might cover topics such as electric cars, self-driving automobiles, energy transitioning, sustainability, space, astronomy, physics, aircraft, and the list can go on and on. Science and technology seem that can be part of any field because we need science and technology even when it comes to farming vegetables and or data.  Science and technology reporters seem to be ahead of the general population regarding what our future will turn out to be.

Speaking from your own experience, what science and technology topics are the audiences most interested in?

In my experience, audiences are interested in science and technology involving social media, banking, and entertainment. The question is vague because each audience is looking for science and technology to help their specific field. Depending on the audience, the topics will change. In general, I would say audiences are interested in science and technology topics regarding health and well-being. Also, any technology or science that can make your life more convenient is something audiences would be most interested in.

Do you know what a follow-up story is? What are the reasons for writing a follow-up story?

A Follow-up story is going back for results, diagnosis, and plans based on the original story/hypotheses. The main reason for writing a follow-up story is to understand the results and conclusion of the original piece. Also, a follow-up story’s purpose is to find out If the plans have been executed and to determine if the hypothesis is true.

In your opinion, what does it take to be a good science and technology journalist?

If you are interested in your subject matter is going to make you a good science and technology journalist. To be good science and technology journalist, think you must be able to take complex ideas and simplify them to the general public and create examples of the application of science and technology for everyday use.

Who is the person that controls you?

I am reading the Discipline Equals Freedom Field Manual by Jocko Willink, and there is a part at the beginning titled “The person you can control.” These thoughts from Jocko apply 100% to how to deal with my family members.

I have been living away from my family’s house for two years. When I got back, I started giving shit to my sister on how she should live her life. Starting from having green grass in the desert is not sustainable. In addition, I was criticizing her consumerism; why do you have some man TVs and not a lot of books? Finally, my better half told me to stop being annoying, and it hit me, shut the fuck up! It was exhausting, so why do I do this?

First, it was because I thought that my perspective could help improve my sister’s life. It’s not coming from the wrong place, but most of the time, please, you just got to shut up.

The importance of shutting the fuck up. OMG, please stop oversharing your opinion. I almost want to get a tattoo “why don’t you just shut the fuck up?

It brings me to meat potatoes and this post about which person you can control.

“People are not who you want them to be. Kill your idols. Sure there are things we can learn from people – but people aren’t going to be what you think they are- what they should be.

People, even those you have put up on a pedestal, will be faulted, weak, egomaniacal, and condescending. They are going to be lazy, entitled, and shortsighted. They will not be perfect, far from it.

That’s fine. Learn from their weaknesses. Of course: Learn from their strengths and mimic and copy them in what they do well. But equally as important: Learn from their faults.

See what not to do.

Because you can’t control other people, you can’t make them what you want them to be. You can’t make them who you want them to be.

The only person you can control is you. So focus on making yourself who you want you to be:

FASTER, STRONGER. SMARTER. MORE HUMBLE. LESS EGO.

Discipline your body—free your mind. Get up early, and go. Get after it, and you will become the person you want to be. And you become that person through:

One. Small. Decision. At. A. Time.” – Jocko Willink

Excellent advice because you can’t control your siblings, you can’t control your spouse, you can’t control your parents, and you can’t control your boss. So what can you do? You can barely contain yourself sometimes. So you need to focus on yourself and shut the fuck up.

Word of the week

Dynamic

Definition:

Characterized by constant change, activity , or progress.

A force that stimulates change or progress within a system or process.

A force or factor that controls or influences a process of growth, change, interaction, or activity a dynamic force or factor – Webster Dictionary

Reference:

https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/dynamic

Conference Interpreting

Im wrapping up my work week and the video below comes up in my Youtube feed. After watching this videos it made feel proud of the work that I do on the weekly basis which is consecutive interpreting. In addition it motivated me to look into conference interpreting as my next step in my career. I taught me about the different types of interpreting and I realized that adrenaline forms part of my work. If you are interested interpreting please watch this video it’s a great production.

Interpreting