cuckoo cuckoo....!

As I mentioned before, Switzerland is a watch temple. All types of very expensive watches from the middle expensive to the most expensive. We cannot leave behind one of the most famous watches ever: the cuckoo clock! Which is not Swiss in its origin. WHAT???? No, it is not Swiss, I am sorry.

One of the most gifted souvenirs from a trip to Switzerland, the cuckoo clock originated in the Black Forest in the province of Baden-Württemburg in Germany and it depicted mostly hunt images carved in wood.

The idea came in 1640 with a traveler that brought glass from this same region to sell "abroad", back from one of his many trips, he returned with a simple Bohemian clock operated with an interesting mechanism (and not so ornamented like today). Someone was for sure fascinated by this technical wonder that kept time much better than hourglass or sundials (both used in that region by that time) and took it serious. So the idea developed quite well in the region.

The first clocks were rather primitive. They used toothed wheels made of wood and simple stones as weights. Instead of a pendulum, they used a piece of wood called a "Waag" that moved forward and back above the clock dial, to make the clock keep time. Most of the people who made clocks at that time were not the rich farmers, but the so-called "Häuslers". in that region, usually the oldest son of a farmer inherited the land and his siblings only got a small piece of land. Those "Häuslers" had to work for other farmers to survive during the winter-months, and clock making was a welcome way for them to earn a little money. In 1690, the whole industry of clock making had developed in the high Black Forest, so much that it was even sold for other countries like Russia.
Before the Swiss chalets, with animals, this one costs around USS 8000. Beautiful, isn't it?

In about 1730, the cuckoo clock may have been invented by Franz Anton Ketterer, a well-known Black Forest clockmaker. Ketterer used the church organ pipe technology as the basis for the production of the cuckoo's sound and still used today: two bellows send air through the pipes.

One of the first, dated from the 18th century.

According to the Lötscher company, the single company in the entire Switzerland responsible for producing the only genuine Swiss cuckoo clock, the wood is the critical raw material for the manufacture of cuckoo clocks, because the wood casing is the primary feature that distinguishes the cuckoo clock in appearance. Cuckoo clocks are made from the wood of the linden tree, a hardwood that grows in Europe. Some parts of the housing may also be made of walnut. Before starting the work, wood workers purchase the linden and walnut woods well in advance so the wood can be aged for two-three years. This way of drying the wood is the only way to guarantee that the wood doesn’t crack any more in humid or dry air.

The Lötscher Co. "labs".

The only model Lütscher produces is the chalet model and they affirm this is a Swiss invention (two types of typical Swiss chalets exists: the Brienzer and the Emmenthaler). Their parts are manufactured in two parts: one is the wood box and the other is the mechanics, made of metal. They have two factories in Switzerland, one in the Bern canton in the city of Brienz, home of the wood carvers, and the other in Fallanden, a small village close to Zürich, where the clocks are set up. All of the clocks are handmade, hand carved and hand assembled and the wood box takes three months to fabricate. Besides the box and the mechanics, accessories like dancing characters, water wheels, animals and the sound of the cuckoo and other musics are added and these pieces have mechanical movements, springs, that need to be wound up daily or every eight days. The first is the most popular model, becoming almost a daily ritual for its owner.

Here are curious facts:
1. the mechanical movements of the watch are imported from Germany. How come? Simple, there are no companies in Switzerland that produce this mechanism for the cuckoo clocks. I exists only in that country.

2. the most sold model is the 570 which represents a typical chalet of the mountain regions of the Bern canton. It might have an avarage price but some, not only form this brand, can reach the 7000 euro price.
The 570 model, a hit!

3. besides the cuckoo sound, the other slager (hit) melody for years has been the Edelweiss ou "Fröhlicher Wanderer" (the happy wanderer), written by Friedrich-Wilhelm Möller shortly after World War II. It is often mistaken for a German folk song, but it is actually an original composition.

What about the future? Even though some models of cuckoo clocks are now outfitted with quartz movements and electronics, part of the cuckoo clock's charm may be its old-fashioned mechanical movement. When paired with beautifully carved wood and rustic style, the spell of the cuckoo's song on the hour is guaranteed to bring smiles to those who prize childlike delights, exquisite craftsmanship for years to come, collection, or simply for those who want to keep their roots back to Germany, Austria, Switzerland, and other European localities where cuckoo clocks are traditional ornaments for home as many families in America do.

With moving pieces!

Besides the information that cuckoo clocks are not originally Swiss, another info amazes tourists: several of the not so expensive quartz watches or clocks sold here are imported from China, Korea and Japan. So take care when you come to Switzerland to buy your original Swiss wristwatch or cuckoo clock!

Maestro is a 2005 award-winning computer animated short film, written, produced and directed by Géza Tóth in Budapest, Hungary. It was nominated for Best Animated Short Film during the 79th Academy Awards in 2007. The film depicts the minutes before a "maestro"'s show and his preparation for it as aided by a mechanical assistantthat has something to do with this.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w1DvsQ3pF5Y

Sources: www.cuckooclock.de/, www.loetscher.ch/clocks.htm, wikipedia

Trust!

What can you see in this pic? I know it is not so good quality, any idea?
Swiss people really trust each other. Or is it just me who thinks that?
Another day by the end of our shopping session at IKEA Aubonne we discovered an amazing feature there. Something that I am not sure would ever work in Brazil or maybe Hungary. I am not saying that we are not trustworthy, just it is difficult to believe it would work out!


It was nothing but a pay it yourself cashier. Of course you just can pass in this queue if you have up to 10 items. Also sometimes there are some helpers in case you don't know how to operate the machine. But isn't it interesting? As I know it exists also in Finland. Will in the future all shops be like that?

An applause for the trust!

REDUCE x REUSE x RECYCLE

It is a fact. Switzerland is one of the most developed countries in the world. And not for less the Swiss people know and enjoy that a lot. They are patient, they prefer to do any kind of job with precision (even if that means very slow) than make it fast and without quality. All over these years they have learned "some" new things and some of them got introduced into their culture.

I think I can already say that recycling is part of that culture. And it is recycle or pay fine! THis is one of the few countries in the world that really take it serious. They learn as kids to respect the 3R policy (REDUCE! REUSE! RECYCLE!).

The different types of trashes in each different colored bag and trash can which are collected in a fixed time of the year fixed at the beginning of the year and they don't bring everything they see, the person who is collecting checks it first and decides wether or not to bring it. They recycle everything: from the usual paper, aluminum, batteries, pet bottles, clothes, glasses, to coffee pods and mobile telephones! Even when they buy a new TV or a washing machine, the shop is obliged to bring away the old one, since a tax is included for this in the price of the new product.

Trash collection calendar for Lausanne, each deject in its right place, even kids can do it!

Mobile telephone collecting station for recycling. Do they really recycle or they sell them to poorer countries?eheheh

Sometimes, the pieces of furniture they don't need anymore they exchange with others or just put it to the side of the house. Who needs go and pick them up. If not necessary they bring it anyway.

Exchange markets! You can find reliques sometimes!


Switzerland produces around 2.1 million tons of domestic trash, the equivalent to 361 kg/year per habitant. This is where this country differentiates it from the others: more than 60% of the dejects is transformed. And the government way of making this happen is touching the citizen pocket, the trash bags are quite expensive, not to mention the 60 swiss franc/ year trash.


Glasses and aluminum cans, 91% of them are recycled. Two thirds of the paper is reused and so is more than 80% of the PET plastic bottles (the average in Europe is between 20% and 40%) and 60% of the batteries. They are not collected in a negligent way, papers are nicely organized in piles before being taken away. This comes from the old times, when kids gathered and brought them themselves to the company in exchange for some money with which they payed their school trips. Nowadays companies are responsible for the collection. Besides, some schools still promote the collection. In some cantons you have to pay if you produce more trash. Even coffee pods, or those Nescafe cartridges, are recycled. There are separate collection containers for them! Amazing no?

Nescafe pods! Environment friend and with nice design, aren't they stylish?

Zurich, a model city in the recycling sector, has "two "power plants" that utilizes part of the trash as "fuel", incinerating and generating 70% of the city heating. In Bern, the capital, part of the old city and some government buildings are heated with trash as "fuel".

In the canton of Zug, the company Reststoffverwertungs AG (RVA) received a prize in the innovation sector in 2006. They collect plastic dejects like plastic bags (the trash bags are one of the worse), garden chairs, toys, shampoo bottles and so on and transform it into a type of extra light crude oil (petroleum).

How?Think back there: plastic is composed most exclusively of petroleum. Consider that a city with 100 000 inhabitants produce 2 000 tons of plastic trash per year; if the industrial trash is added, it increases to 6 000 tons. With this, RVA can produce 7.5 million liters of fuel, which can then be used to heat a 3 000 houses for a year.

So they collect the trash in special bags and pay for it, a bag with 400 L costs 15 Swiss fr. They transport it to the city of Sihlbrugg where RVA is located. There the plastic is ground, then a magnet and a special recipient to clean dejects separates not necessary things like wood, glass, metal, and paper since the quality of the oil depends on the how clean the plastic was. Then it is subjected to a temperature range from 300 to 400 C in a reactor without pressure which break the plastic molecules. The gases formed are condensed, cooled and liquefied in fuel form.

It is a fact this process is not cheap. They invested 5 million Swiss fr in this technology in exchange of 7.5 million liters of oil per year which is just a pilot step since they are producing only gasoline. Soon, it will be possible to produce diesel.

LEt's think twice before we throw away any plastic, starting from that one coming around and under the fruit trays or your nice shining white (or black) laptop.
Sources: wikipedia, swissinfo, http://www.plastoil.ch/

Suntanning X Sunburning

As the summer is coming (yes, for one part of the world it is), picture this: vacation, beautiful beach with a clean light sand, a coconut water (Brazilians are crazy about it), a chaise long for laying down and a nice warming sun! Can you imagine yourself lying on the chair for hours long or inside the playing inside the water all day long? Take care!

When you have a sunburn, it is really a burn provoked by the sun ultraviolet (UV) radiation. Besides the uncomfortable feeling of pain, hot to the touch, fatigue and even nausea. It can be avoided by usage of sunblocks, hats, umbrellas and, used by many people nowadays, clothing. The only cure for it is slow healing, although some skin creams can help with the symptoms. To avoid it, what if we expose our nice bodies to the sun slowly,in short periods of time day by day. This way the moderate sun tanning without burning can also prevent subsequent sunburn, as it increases the amount of melanin, the skin pigment that protects it against the sun rays, like it is a natural defense of the skin against overexposure (check the post below).

Somebody said moderate suntan?

Here I think it would be useful to mention the two types of UV radiation often mentioned on sunscreens or blockers: the UVA and UVB. The first is more uniformly present through days and seasons and it is blocked more by clothing than by many sunscreens. It is responsible for provoking aging/wrinkles more than UVB and to cause melanomas. UVB causes the direct DNA damage. It is reduced by mostly all sunscreens depending on its sun protection factor (SPF), though it is more likely to cause sunburn as a result of overexposure. Also, it is thought to cause the formation of moles and some non-melanoma skin cancer. Besides, it induces vitamin D production in our skin!

The darkening of the skin, or sun tanning, develops when the UV A radiation oxidizes pre-existing melanin leading to fast darkening of it. It can also be formed by a second mechanism, when the production of melanin (melanogenesis) is increased as a reaction of the body to photodamage from UV B radiation leading to delayed tanning which is just visible about 72 hours after exposure, but lasts longer than the tanning caused by oxidation of existing melanin.

So, the sunburn and the increase in melanin production are both triggered by direct DNA damage provoked by the UV radiation. In both cases or the DNA is repaired and melanin production is increased to prevent future damage, or the cell in which the DNA can't be fixed dies and this leads to skin replacement. Doesn't it sound like sunburn is a warning to keep us out of the bad effects of the sun.

Skin replacement rulez!

Now if indirect DNA damage happens a cancer called malignant melanoma may occur if the damage is not properly repaired. Of course not every exposure to UV results in cancer (read newer post).

I think this hurts a little bit!

These are preventive measures you can follow if you want to suntan, instead of sunburn:
1. Choose sunscreens that block both UVA and UVB. It is important to buy a good brand, to be sure it will not clog your pores or cause allergies.

2. How much to apply? A thick layer, most of us are sorry on how expensive it was and just use a few.


3. Which SPF? It will depend on your skin and how strong is the sun in the place you are going to. I start with minimum SPF 30 for the body and 50 for the face, but I am not so white. My sisters who are much whiter than me start with SPF 50.


4. Remember that even though you applied a nice thick layer of the cream that doesn't mean you can stay the entire day frying at the sun! Best protection is achieved when we apply it 15 to 30 minutes before exposure, followed by one reapplication 15 to 30 minutes after the sun exposure begins. Repeat it after you go swimming, sweat, and rub.

5. Avoid sun exposure between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. I found the following: "sun rays are stronger at higher elevations (mountains) and lower latitudes (near the equator). One way to deal with time zones, daylight saving time (summer time) and latitude is to check shadow length. If a person's shadow is shorter than their actual height, the risk of sunburn is much higher." Even if you stay under an umbrella, the ray will reflect on the floor to you, wear creams anyway, once I had a nice sunburn of my bikini laces on my sides because of this. It did hurt a lot, and believe me, I was not exposed to the sun!

6. Wear good quality anti-UV sunglasses (I can be mistaken, but I don't think a 10 dollars sunglasses can be good, sorry if I am). Why? If your skin can sunburn, of course your eyes also can.

7. Ah, you are not at the beach and no sand to reflect it back? Be aware that snow and water are very reflective and can greatly increase the amount of UV radiation to which the skin is exposed.

8. Nowadays, some innovations are here or on the way. There are sun protective clothing that were designed specially for outdoor sporters, they can filter the UV radiation. Researchers are developing a type of sunscreen in capsules, you take it and some kind of protection develops on your skin. Interesting isn't it?

9. I keep far from artificial tanning, but this is MY opinion.

The American Academy of Dermatology recommends the use of sunscreens, wearing sun protective clothing and avoiding the sun altogether.

To remember how dangerous sun can be, I can mention that sunburn is not limited only to us animals. It is also significant and common cause of damage to trees and plants whose sunburn is more commonly called as sun-scorching.

So good luck on your next tanning experience! and take care!


Sources: wikipedia, pubmed, www.liguecancer.ch.

Melano... what?

Melanocytes are cells present in the bottom layer of the skin's epidermis, the middle layer of the eye, the inner ear, meninges, bones and heart. Through a process called melanogenesis, these cells produce melanin, the pigment that gives hair, skin, and eyes the color they have. So next time you sun bath and become tanned, instead of burned you can say your melanocytes did a quite well melanogenesis job! Ok, don't be so nerd!

Position of melanocytes in the skin

Produced from the amino acid tyrosine, two forms of melanin exist in hair and skin: the most common called eumelanin, a brown-black polymer, and pheomelanin, a red-brown polymer, largely responsible for red hair and freckles.

Melanocytes comprise from 5% to 10% of the cells in epidermis. So the difference in skin color between light- and dark skinned people is due not to the number (quantity) of melanocytes in their skin, but to the melanocytes' level of activity (quantity and relative amounts of eumelanin and pheomelanin). Skin color is formed as follows: melanocytes insert granules of melanin into specialized cellular vesicles which is then transferred into the other skin cells of the human epidermis. The melanosomes in each recipient cell accumulate "over" the cell nucleus protecting the DNA from mutations caused by radiation of the sun's ultraviolet rays.

People whose ancestors lived for long periods in the regions of the globe near the equator generally have larger quantities of eumelanin in their skins. This makes their skins brown or black and protects them against high levels of exposure to the sun, which more frequently results in melanomas in lighter skinned people. On the other hand, albinos produce fewer or have a lack of the enzyme that is required for melanocytes to produce melanin from tyrosine!

Map of skin color distribution!

Why some get more and others get less suntanned? Because there are both basic and activated levels of melanogenesis and lighter-skinned people generally have low to basic levels of melanogenesis.

The most recent scientific evidence indicates that all humans evolved in Africa followed by migration, populating the rest of the world. It is most likely that the first people had relatively large numbers of eumelanin producing melanocytes and, accordingly, darker skin (as displayed by the indigenous people of Africa, today). As some of these original peoples migrated and settled in areas of Asia and Europe, the necessity for eumelanin production decreased in climates where radiation from the sun was less intense. Thus variations in genes ("sequences of DNA responsible for a characteristic in our body") involved in melanin production began to appear in the population, resulting in lighter hair and skin in humans residing at northern latitudes.

Light-skinned peoples who migrated toward the equator had to acclimatize to the much stronger solar radiation. Most people's skin darkens when exposed to UV light, giving them more protection when it is needed. This is the physiological purpose of sun tanning. Dark-skinned people, who produce more skin-protecting eumelanin, have a greater protection against sunburn and the development of melanoma, a potentially deadly form of skin cancer.

This doesn't mean that we can go around exposing ourselves to the sun without thinking before.

Check the next post to know what to do! Take care!


Sourcesssss: Wikipedia, NAtional Cancer institute, SEER

A simple wristwatch?

One of the professions I thought of having a long long time ago was Marketing. Why? Well, I really enjoy good advertisements. I remember I was a teenager and every year I watched the winners of the Golden Lion prize in the Festival de Cannes. In Brazil we have very good publicists like Washington Olivetto who already received this prize, worked in the DPZ and then co-founded the W/Brasil and many others W/ all through the world.

Even in times of crisis, this year's Baselworld, the world's biggest jewel and watch fair, was successful. Participants like the well known brands Pattek Philipe, Chanel, Chopard, Dior, Maurice Lacroix, Swatch and many others were there to impress the visitors with their style, luxe, design and a lot of technology. Some even look like pieces of art with a "don't touch" me face.

These are products that don't ever need advertisement. One example? Rolex. I have seen them many times around here, I mean the product, but not its propaganda.

Founded in 1905 by Wilsdorf and his brother-in-law in London, the trademark Rolex was just registered in 1908, when it also had its first office opened in Switzerland, and in 1919 they moved the company to Geneva. Why the name Rolex? No one knows for sure, maybe it came from the fact that they wanted the brand to be easily pronounceable in any language, maybe because in French the phrase "horlogerie exquise" (?), or maybe because Wilsdorf was a Rolls Royce driver and just loved the car quality, so he put Rol and TIMEX together to make Rolex (????). The Rolex Oyster

Up to today, they were responsible for a series of innovations in this field: the first official chronometer certification for a wristwatch (1910), most watches by that time were pocket watches; from 1914, when Rolex was awarded by the Kew Observatory in Great Britain with a CLASS A precision certificate, it became well known by people and from that year on it became even more famous. In 1926, they developed the first waterproof model of watch, the Oyster, which one year later was used by the English woman Mercedes Gleitze to swim the Channel. Following the launch of the Prince model, with the Rolex Oyster Perpetual they invented and patented the first rotor-wound water-resistant wristwatch, precursor of today’s self-winding wristwatches. And many other innovations like the first water-resistant wrist-chronometer to show the date, the first water-resistance to 100 metres, the first self-winding, water-resistant wristwatch to display time simultaneously in any two time zones, they also participated in the development of the original quartz watch movements. In 2005, happened the launch of the Prince model, inspired by the 1929 original.

The Rolex Oyster Perpetual

Like many high-priced, brand-name accessories, Rolex watches are frequently counterfeited. Often illegally sold on the street and on the internet, these fakes are mainly produced in China due to the ease in copying the general design and can be bought on retail anywhere from $5 to $1000—for high end replicas fabricated in solid gold. By some accounts, over 75% of all replica watches produced annually are copies of Rolex Oyster Perpetual designs.

Nowadays there are Rolexes to fit anybody's needs. You can even ask yourself which Rolex watch would Batman or Wolverine choose? Batman has some for the everyday life as the magnate Bruce Wayne, probably when he is Batman he probably uses a Batwatch together with his utility belt. If you remember well, Wolverine often fights Magnet, one of the many X-Men enemies and who is a mutant master of magnetism. So he would prefer to wear a Rolex Milgauss, designed in 1954 as an antimagnetic watch specifically for those who work in areas where electromagnetic fields can damage the perfect timing of a watch, like power plants.

The Rolex Milgaus

Source: wikipedia, rolex.com.