The occasional grinning nerd with an overcomplicated watch, well, I can take that. Timekeeping is boring, I guess! But there is a limit to novelty. An inscrutable pocket watch? I… I just can’t. Tokyoflash has crossed the line. More »
Tokyoflash – Watches – Jewelry – Shopping – Clocks and Watches
Foi anunciado pela Fiat que mais dois novos modelos de sua linha entrarão no mercado chileno, a saber, o Punto Evo e o Linea sedan. Nenhuma informação a respeito das versões que serão comercializadas do Punto foi divulgada, e a versão do Linea será importada da Turquia.
O Linea virá da Turquia provavelmente por seu motor 1.4 de 77 cv e outra versão 1.4 turbo com 120 cv. Seus preços serão de R$ 25.964 para o Linea e R$ 35.703 para a versão top de linha.
A Fiat planeja até o final desse ano introduzir o Punto Evo Abarth no mercado chileno. Vamos aguardar maiores informações a respeito de novos lançamentos no mercado.
Via | Carplace
A human interest story, brought to us by the fine people at KGO-TV in San Francisco. It goes something like this: a woman had saved up for a very long time to buy an Apple iPad. So goes into an Apple Store, tells the clerk that she’d like to buy an iPad, then whips out the requisite $600. Six-hundred in cash, mind you. Then the Apple clerk drops a bombshell: sorry, but we don’t accept cash here.
While it may seem unusual, there’s no law on the books that says Apple has to accept your money, cash or otherwise. It’s well within its rights to say, “Yeah, we only accept credit or debit cards here.”
Apple says that’s the policy in order to prevent evildoers from buying a bunch of iPads with cash, then turning around then putting those iPads on the gray market. (Apple limits iPads to two per person. So it swipes your card and says, “Whoa, buddy, says here you already bought two iPads. We can’t sell you this.”
On one hand, I can see people rallying around the woman in the story. Her circumstances are such that you’re quick to say, “Hey, Apple, stop being a bunch of jerks and let the woman have the iPad already. What’s the big deal?”
On the other hand, Apple can simply tap the sign and say “policy is policy.”
You can’t fight City Hall.
Filed under: Coupe, Performance, BMW, Rumormill
Hot on the trails of BMW‘s victorious return to the 24 Hours of Nürburgring this year, rumors have surfaced that an even hotter version of the M3 GTS is on the way. The orange wündermobile was unveiled barely six months ago, complete with 450-horsepower V8, upgraded brakes, rolling stock, suspension and aero package and a stripped interior. But if that’s not enough to tickle your fancy, a few supposedly informed fanboys say that Munich is preparing to celebrate – and bid farewell to – the E92 M3 with an even fiercer derivative.
Tentatively dubbed the M3 GTS-R, the ultimate 3 Series is expected to benefit from yet another power upgrade, plus more carbon fiber body panels – all decked in matte black – to further reduce weight and pack even wider wheel arches packing Y-shaped five-spoke rims and blending into fat side sills. There’s even word of a streetable implementation of the company’s F1-derived KERS regenerative braking system for push-to-pass boost. Sounds tasty; stay tuned for more. Thanks for the tip, Barry!
Gallery: BMW M3 GTS
[Source: M3Post]
Rumormill: BMW preparing even hotter M3 GTS-R originally appeared on Autoblog on Tue, 18 May 2010 10:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Managing an application’s state can sometimes require complex interaction with persistence and messaging with various resources, or it can be as simple as keeping track of a counter from one view to the next.
Two popular techniques to pass references to objects from one view to the next are to create properties in the Application Delegate, or to continue to pass references from one view to the next like a relay race passes a baton from one runner to the next using a series of carefully placed update methods making for an allocation nightmare and increase the opportunities for memory leaks or the hard to track down crashes. Sometimes this need in programming is referred to as implementing Global Variables. There is also a well established design pattern that can assist with this need as well, it is called the Singleton Pattern.
The Singleton Pattern is a derivative of the Factory Pattern that ensures that one and only one instance of an Object can ever exist. By creating one or more implementations of the Singleton Pattern within a given application, the concept of ‘global variables’ can better be managed through tighter control. This allows for what is called lazy instantiation. If you do not need the variable based on what is going on in the application, then do not ask for or create an instance of one. In Objective-C, Apple has outlined the recommended technique for implementing the singleton pattern.
Objective-C Singleton Pattern
static MySingletonClass *sharedGizmoManager = nil;
(MySingletonClass*)sharedManager{
if (sharedSingletonManager == nil) {
sharedSingletonManager = [[super allocWithZone:NULL] init];
}
return sharedGizmoManager;
}
(id)allocWithZone:(NSZone *)zone{
return [[self sharedManager] retain];
}
(id)copyWithZone:(NSZone *)zone{
return self;
}
(id)retain{
return self;
}
(NSUInteger)retainCount{
return NSUIntegerMax;
}
(void)release{
//do nothing
}
(id)autorelease{
return self;
}
But you may find that the following is all that is necessary:
Singleton.h
#import <Foundation/Foundation.h>
@interface Singleton : NSObject {
}
+ (Singleton*) retrieveSingleton;
@end
Singleton.m
#import "Singleton.h"
@implementation Singleton
static Singleton *sharedSingleton = nil;
+ (Singleton*) retrieveSingleton {
@synchronized(self) {
if (sharedSingleton == nil) {
sharedSingleton = [[Singleton alloc] init];
}
}
return sharedSingleton;
}
+ (id) allocWithZone:(NSZone *) zone {
@synchronized(self) {
if (sharedSingleton == nil) {
sharedSingleton = [super allocWithZone:zone];
return sharedSingleton;
}
}
return nil;
}
@end
Try and keep each singleton’s scope limited to manage only the information that is related to a particular use case and not as a catch-all for all global information across the application. It is probably best to utilize each singleton as a delegate to the information it is responsible for managing, and not use it as a means to gain access to any objects it has associations with. Although on the iPhone, and when being used in primarily a read only or a write seldom implementation, the risk of writing code that is not thread safe increases when utilizing shared objects. Keeping concurrency in mind, and utilizing the singleton as a delegate to the information at hand, one can watch out for multi thread related issues and deal with them in kind. One thing to watch out for would be include updating or setting properties of the singleton from within an implemented perform selector or a notification. If concurrency issues do arise, it may become necessary to synchronize access to certain properties or methods.
So why not just keep adding properties to the AppDelegate? After all, the AppDelegate is a singleton as well and is therefore accessible by invoking the sharedApplication class method. The problem with this techniques is that you end up loading up the application with too much information that may or may not be necessary depending on what functions the user chooses to evoke. It could also lead to longer and longer startup times. Get the application started as quickly as possible, and don’t leave the user hanging for too long.
Keep in mind that this is not the best technique to employ if all you need is a means to define and gain access to Global Constants. The quickest way to do that is to create a Precompiled Prefix Header file and include that in your project. By default, most of the projects generated in XCode that create iPhone Applications will include a file with an extension of .pch. This file will initially look like the following:
#ifdef __OBJC__ #import <Foundation/Foundation.h> #import <UIKit/UIKit.h> #endif
One can then add any number of #define statements that will be included in all header files across the entire project.
#define SOME_STRING_CONSTANT @"My Important String"
The Singleton Pattern can be used to make the complex and ugly means of sharing a simple variable between two different views or view controls an easy task. If used sparingly and some basic guidelines are followed as not to bloat the application and create a multi thread nightmare to debug, this technique can be quite useful. Much more so than passing Objects back and forth among views or by breaking the encapsulation of the AppDelegate by assigning it more responsibility than it should have.
References
Tragedy has again hit the Travolta family. The two dogs of the actor died in a freak accident at an airport. Through an email sent to the Bangor Daily News newspaper, airport officials of the city asserted that: “At about 1 am, on May 13, 2010, a passenger plane with family members of John Travolta , landed at Bangor International Airport in Maine. “ The officials added: “Someone who was not a member of the family, brought the two dogs for a walk when a truck approached the airport jet actor and accidentally hit and killed the animals.” For now, John, who lost his son Jett 16 months ago because of an illness, has not commented on what happened.
It is unknown if John Travolta was the one who piloted the plane. He and his wife have a home in Islesboro on the coast of Maine and is usually the actor pilots his own plane to the airport.
No related posts.
About a month ago we shared a video of our new office space under construction. There’s been a lot of progress since (new video soon).
I thought it would be a good time to share some more details about the new office. We’re aiming to move in the first week of July.
First, why are we getting a new office space? For the past seven or eight years we’ve been sharing an office with Coudal Partners. It’s their office, we just rent a strip of desks and share the the common areas (conference room, kitchen, etc.). It’s been great in every way. We’ve made good friends, worked on some great projects together, and started a company together (The Deck).
But it’s time for us to move into our own space. We’ve got 9 people in Chicago now, and only 5 desks at the office. We’re getting in Coudal’s way (they haven’t said this, but we definitely feel like we are). And we need privacy — currently we have to leave the office and talk in the hallway whenever we have a private call to make. It’s just time.
Also, this is a luxury item for us. When we launched 37signals in 1999 we shared an office space for about two years. Then we got on our own temporary raw space for a few years. That space was right up against the train and we used doors for desks. Then we’ve been sharing the current office with Coudal for the past 7 years. So in many ways this is a luxury purchase for us. We don’t need this space — we could continue to work the way we work today. It’s definitely getting cramped, and people don’t have the privacy they need, but we could have continued to get by with what we had. But we decided that eleven years into our business we could afford to experiment with a dedicated space built out just the way we wanted. We believe it will pay off.
When we started thinking about what we wanted out of our own space, we realized we didn’t just want a place to work. We wanted a place to share our ideas and learn from others. We used to give workshops a few times a year, but we stopped because it was a hassle to book venues and deal with all that crap. We wanted to get back into the flow of doing semi-regular workshops and master classes. We wanted our own venue.
We also wanted to make sure the work environment followed our general principals: Open in general, quiet when we need it, and easy group collaboration without interrupting other people. We also wanted to set up dedicated spaces for private phone calls, recording audio/video/screencasts, and room for expansion – specifically for our customer service/support team.
So those were the big picture ideas. We selected Brininstool + Lynch as our architects and worked with Grubb & Ellis to help us find a space. We looked at a variety of spaces – everything from house-like spaces to raw floors in empty loft buildings. In the end we took an empty floor so we could build out the space exactly as we wanted. We got a lovely corner space with tons of natural light.
The wall of windows on the bottom faces north. We have 12 desks lined up against those windows. Along that window wall there is a build-in full-length credenza for extra desk space and storage for each desk.
A company called ACTA is acting out, but in a good way and will not be sent to its room for a timeout. What ACTA is doing is pulling out all stops in regard to bringing hydrogen power products to market.
In a recent announcement, ACTA said it will be using micro wind turbines and water to bring hydrogen generators inside one’s residence for home use, “The combined system is being developed for use in homes that are not connected to the electricity grid and for remote renewable energy storage applications. It will also act as a demonstrator for larger-scale peak energy shaving applications.
“Energy generated from a wind turbine will be used to produce hydrogen from water using Acta’s unique electrolysis technology. The pure, dry, compressed hydrogen can be stored and then used, on demand, to produce electricity through a mid-sized fuel cell. The Company believes that future applications will include distributed power microgeneration and storage, and ultimately that the system can be scaled up to utility-sized installations for use with commercial wind farms.” Also, these units could be used for home hydrogen fueling stations as well.”
But, putting a hydrogen generator the size of a refrigerator is not the only thing ACTA is acting upon. I’ve talked before about the ACTA hydrogen bike, the ACTA hydrogen fuel cell for outboard motorboats and ACTA hydrogen fuel injection systems for increasing gas mileage and reducing emissions.
The combined heat and power (CHP) system from ACTA is just their latest product offering in the field of hydrogen fuel and alternative energy. As ACTA brings more and diverse hydrogen energy products to market one will soon notice that they are becoming a major player within this market space. Unlike some emerging technology companies that start hot and fade away quickly, ACTA is beginning to see a profit from their line of hydrogen products.
ACTA is acting like a major player already, filling niches in the marketplace that other companies are failing to act upon. It is the pioneers of today who will be the mainstream businesses of the new energy tomorrow. And that day will come shortly.
Home builders had a good month in April. Construction of new homes improved again last month, as housing starts rose by 5.8% to an annualized rate of 672,000 from March’s revised level of 635,000, according to the Census Bureau (.pdf). That beat expectations of 650,000 and also marked a huge 40.9% rise compared to April 2009.
While the new construction data sounds great, new permits declined last month. They fell by 11.5% to an annualized rate of 606,000. There were still 15.9% additional new permits than in April 2009, however. Fewer new permits might indicate that new construction is slowing back down, with the home buyer credit now expired.
First, let’s look at some charts to give these numbers some perspective. Here’s one showing housing starts:
As you can see, there’s been a fairly steady rise for the past year. But this chart also shows just how far new home construction has fallen from its peak in 2006. Permits tell a similar story:
The fairly steep fall in April for permits marks a big difference compared to another rise for starts.
It’s plausible that the end of the home buyer credit has something to do with this disparity. It applied to any contracts signed through April 30th. As a result, much of the new construction that broke ground might have continued to benefit from the credit, if some of those homes were already spoken for. New permits occur at an earlier stage in home building, however. Consequently, fewer of those contracts might have been signed by April 30th, so the credit didn’t benefit them as much. Builders are also likely just anticipating a decline in demand for new homes now that the credit has expired. The drop in permits likely foreshadows what we’ll see in home building and sales numbers in May and beyond, without the government credit.
This report should be considered along with yesterday’s news that homebuilders are more optimistic. The National Association of Home Builders said its confidence index rose to its highest level since August 2007. The index reading indicates that builders are still generally negative about the market, however. The report also says, although the market picked up with the home buyer credit in place, the builders expect demand to decline now that it has expired.
Fewer new homes being built isn’t necessarily a bad thing. While it’s obviously not great for the construction industry, it’s arguably better for the housing market. There’s still a big inventory of existing homes for sale. Moreover, there are still very high numbers of foreclosures hitting the market. Buyers should work on drawing down the current inventory before building new houses.
The big problem with building fewer homes, of course, is fewer construction jobs. It has been one of the worst industries hit due to the housing collapse-induced recession. As home building slows, the hope would be that more construction workers might find work renovating newly purchased existing homes or foreclosures. But as the charts above show, even additional renovation isn’t likely to put the number of construction jobs anywhere near what was seen in 2006.
Note: All numbers above are seasonally adjusted.
(Nav Image Credit: Concrete Forms/flickr)
National Association of Home Builders – Construction – Housing starts – Real estate economics – Business
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From Green Right Now Reports
Environmentally minded teens looking for a place to interact, share ideas and learn about careers and university programs can turn to a new social networking site Planet Connect.
Designed by teens – the best advisors on social networking – Planet Connect was launched this spring by the National Environmental Education Foundation in partnership with The Weather Channel. Students will find lots of info about environmental topics and about environmental clubs and activities around the country.
The networking capabilities of the site allow students across the country to share exciting environmental news tidbits and strategies for having an impact in their schools and communities.
“In many ways students are leaders in the climate change discussion, and The Weather Channel is proud to partner with Planet Connect in this exciting environmental exchange,” Lynn Brindell, executive vice president of strategic marketing at The Weather Channel, said in a statement.
The Electronic Frontier Foundation EFF has revealed the results of an interesting study regarding online privacy. While most people seem concerned with sites like Facebook or Google amassing too much private information or making it too public, it looks like a user’s browser can be as much of a risk to privacy as anythin… (read more)
Fans of the PixelJunk series have probably heard by now that there’s a PixelJunk Shooter sequel in the works. It may have been a bit unsurprising, but Q-Games today officially confirmed that production for the game is in full
37signals Podcast transcript: “Addressing criticism of 37signals (Part 2 of 2)”
Transcript posted for latest episode (#14) which discusses criticism of REWORK.
Mariah Carey’s been setting the stage on fire with her booming vocals and power ballads for more than 20 years, but on Monday the Grammy-winning singer was forced to put out an actual fire. Mariah took to her Twitter account to tell fans about an electrical blaze that broke out under her feet as she was waiting to take the stage at a concert in Egypt.
“In Egypt getting ready to go on stage and suddenly there was a surge of power and an electrical fire started under my feet!” she Tweeted. “Naturally, my emergency instincts kicked in and I put out the flames w/a towel.”
This is the second time in a year that Mariah has had a close encounter with flames. In 2009, the crooner was celebrating Valentine’s Day with hubby Nick Cannon when a fire broke out in the couple’s master bedroom.
“He (Nick) had given me an enormous amount of roses, so I picked up the vase and poured out the roses, and went back and forth from the bathroom putting out the flames with water… I’m good in a crisis,” she said at the time.
John Travolta’s two dogs were struck and killed by a service truck at an airport in Maine last Thursday. City officials confirmed the story to the Bangor Daily News today.
Officials have released the following statement regarding the accident: “At approximately 1 a.m. on Thursday, May 13, 2010, an airplane carrying members of the John Travolta family landed at Bangor International Airport. While there, two small dogs were taken for a walk by someone who is not a family member.”
According to officials, an airport service pickup truck was approaching the airplane and did not seem to see the dogs. Unfortunately, the dogs were hit and killed. The airport is investigating the accident. The city will make no further comment to respect the family’s privacy.
“The airport takes safety very seriously,” airport director Rebecca Hupp told the BDN, “Many flights come and go without incidents. Clearly, this is an unfortunate accident. Our deepest sympathies are with the family.”
John Travolta and his family have not yet issued a statement regarding this.
No related posts.
The European Union experiment could be coming to an end. As the euro continues to slide, a wide range of interested parties — from international investors to op-ed pages — are seriously considering the once unthinkable: Greece might become the first country to drop the euro.
Last week the EU and the European Central Bank unveiled a trillion-dollar bailout plan to stem the “contagion” from Greece’s colossal debt burden, but there is not enough money to back up Europe’s debts. Greece will almost certainly default and switch to a cheaper currency to avoid a long and painful recession.
Here are two reasons why Greece will have to leave the euro and three reasons why it will still be in a world of hurt (thanks to AEI’s Desmond Lachman):
2 Reasons for Greece to Bail
(…really, two sides of the same coin)
1) Wages Must Fall. Wages and prices in Greece will have to fall by nearly 20 percent for the country to regain competitiveness. There are a couple ways to achieve that. One is a deep, lasting, painful recession. How deep, lasting and painful? As Paul Krugman notes, “unemployment has risen from 6 percent before the crisis to 22.3 percent
now — and wages are, indeed, falling. But even in Latvia labor costs
have fallen only 5.4 percent from their peak; so it will take years of
suffering to restore competitiveness.” There is another way. Drop the euro, move to a currency you can control and devalue like crazy.
2) Exports Must Rise. To bring down its deficit, Greece will have to
cut spending by nearly 10 percent of GDP, which is an incredible amount
of demand to take out of the economy. How do you replace lower domestic
demand? With higher foreign demand, also known as exports. A cheaper
currency means cheaper olives, which means more people who can afford more olives, which means more demand for olives.
A devalued drachma would increase sales of Greek products abroad.
And 3 Reasons Why It Will Hurt
1) No More EU Benefits. As the rules appear to be written, if Greece leaves the euro, it leaves the European Union. So what? Well, Greece receives structural transfers from the European Union because it’s a poorer country. That will change if Greece drops the currency. What’s more, Greece’s closest economic ties are with EU countries. If it leaves the EU, it leaves on unfavorable terms, and could lose trade preferences like low tariffs. (On the other hand, Lachman allows, it’s hard to know exactly how Greece would transition out. After all, there weren’t supposed to be EU bailouts in the original charter and now we’ve got a $1 trillion emergency bailout fund.)
2) No More Special Rates. Another huge advantage of the euro is that it allowed Greece to borrow at low interest rates (for a while, at least). Markets convinced themselves that Greece would integrate its fiscal policy with the other countries in the Union, and that the euro was impregnable, which allowed a typically troubled nation like Greece to borrow at near Germany’s interest rate levels. Following default and a currency devaluation, Greece won’t have that special treatment among international investors.
3) Bank Runs. Anybody who’s got a euro deposit that might be translated into drachmas should, and will, think seriously about transferring their money to Germany. After all, imagine that you deposit $100 in Thompson Bank. Then by some dictate, I convert your dollars to dereks, at 80% value. You will not like that! So preemptively, you’ll pull your money and put it into Indiviglio Bank or McArdle Bank. That’s basically what’s already happening in some banks in Greece.
Greece – European Union – European Central Bank – Paul Krugman – Germany
Reader Mike sent me a media release for a book signing by a guy named James Henry (a name like that screams old-fashioned white knighter), who authored a book titled “The Laws of Love: A Guide to Gallantry“. Here is an excerpt of the release:
AS COURTSHIP DECLINES, CONCERN FOR CHIVALRY IS ON THE RISE
A New Book The Laws of Love: A Guide to Gallantry, Helps Induce Gallantry.
Book Launch and Signing: Wednesday February 10th & Sunday, February 14th 2010
[Washington, DC] – In a time when courtship is on the decline and hedonism is on the rise, one gentleman has stood up against the tide with the power of words and seductive suggestion. Washington, DC native James Henry, an author galvanized by the decline of chivalry, announces the release of his new book, The Laws of Love: The Guide to Gallantry,with a reception and book signing on Wednesday, February 10th at ACKC chocolate shop and Saturday and Sunday of Valentine’s weekend (February 13th & 14th) at the newly opened The Tasting Room wine bars in Reston, VA and Friendship Heights.
A contemporary manual, inspired by a 19th century French love guide, gives gallant advice on the art of courtship for today’s love-starved society.
“These days with the instant nature of news and information, few people make the time to read anything in depth, so I felt that good messages could be better conveyed with fun illustrations and humorous maxims.” Consider them “inspiration to greatness” describes Henry.
Next Wednesday, February 10th, in the lead up to Valentine’s Day, Henry will officially release his new publication with a book signing at ACKC, a chocolate shop and café in Logan Circle, Washington, DC. [ed: a chocolate shop and cafe sounds like the perfect venue for a book this emasculating.]
Now I wonder why a 19th century French love guide would recommend chivalry for men? I’m trying to think about how 19th century France differed from 21st century America, but I just can’t quite put my finger on it. It’s a mystery!
I’m not an anti-chivalry crusader. If you want to be Gallant to the world’s Goofuses, go right ahead. You’ll be digging your own celibacy grave, but that’s one less competitor to me. If you live in some weird time warp American town where gallantry will help get you laid with hot babes, then be all the white knight you can be. Game is about doing what works.
But you’ll be working against the odds. Millions of men from all over the world have reached the conclusion through actual experience in the field that opening doors, throwing jackets over puddles, waiting to sit until she’s been seated first, and buying her drinks are tingle killers of the first order. Gallant doesn’t go home with the babe in 2010 America; Gallant watches perplexed as the babe thanks him for the free drink and then make outs with Gus the Inconsiderate Douchebag.
I have a hard time believing that this guy James Henry is a native of DC and still thinks gallantry is what will help men score with DC girls. Either he’s lying for fun and profit, or he’s gay.
About the only reason I could recommend chivalry as a course of action for the typical man would be if we lived in a world where nearly all men stopped indulging women, and white knighters abandoned their lances for a more cynical, self-centered calculation. With chivalry long dead, a lone knight-errant could conceivably stride onto the scene and turn girls’ heads by doing something no other man is doing. In such a scenario, where women theoretically craved the chivalric attentions of men, buying a girl a free drink might actually be good game. But I really don’t see any evidence for this happening at all in our lifetimes. Chivalry is pretty much dead as it is, and girls are still responding positively to “I don’t buy girls drinks, but you can buy me one.”
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[JURIST] Portuguese President Anibal Cavaco Silva [official website, in Portuguese] on Monday signed a bill that legalizes same-sex marriage [JURIST news archive] but stops short of allowing same-sex couples to adopt. The bill was approved [JURIST report] by the Portuguese Parliament [official website, in Portuguese] in January and found to be constitutional [text, in Portuguese] by the Constitutional Court [official website, in Portuguese] last month. Silva indicated he was unhappy with the manner in which the bill was passed but that he was signing the law so parliament could move on to other matters. He also indicated that he could have chosen to veto the bill, stating [press release, in Portuguese]:
The Parliamentary bill which allows marriage between persons of the same gender was submitted by me to the Constitutional Court for preventive investigation, and considered by this body as not unconstitutional. This, however, would not prevent the possibility of the President of the Republic using the vetoing power conferred upon him by the Constitution and return it to Parliament. However, regard should be given to the practical effects of such a decision and take into due account the superior national interest, in the face of the dramatic situation of the Country. As such, I believe that I should not contribute towards the unnecessary dragging out of this debate, which would only accentuate divisions among the Portuguese and stray the attention of politicians from the resolution of the issues which so grievously affect people’s lives.
Same-sex marriage is now recognized by six countries in Europe including Belgium, the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden, and Norway [JURIST reports], while several other countries including the UK, France, and Germany recognize civil unions between same-sex partners.
Many countries are currently debating the issue of same-sex marriage, with varying results. Earlier this month, Argentina’s lower house approved a bill [JURIST report] that would legalize same-sex marriage and allow same-sex couples to adopt. Last month, Italy’s Constitutional Court rejected a challenge [JURIST report] to the constitutionality of the country’s ban on same-sex marriage. In the US, individual states determine marital rights for same-sex couples. Same-sex marriage is currently legal in Massachusetts, Connecticut, Iowa, Vermont, New Hampshire, and Washington DC [JURIST reports]. Same-sex civil unions are currently recognized in Washington, New Jersey, Oregon, and Nevada [JURIST reports].
