International, Portugal and Madeira News from Paul Abbiati:
Madeira Carnaval: one of the best in Europe: 18-21 February
Film of 2010 Carnaval
Portugal’s coast : one of best testing sites in Europe for ocean energy
From Clean Technica.com
“The WaveRoller arrived on January 2nd at Portugal’s Peniche Shipyard for a much anticipated pilot test this summer off the coast of Portugal, one of the best testing sites in Europe for ocean energy. The scaled-up version for the pilot test is to be tested in the same waters near the sea shore of Peniche where its smaller prototype showed promise..
Wave energy involves very large machines that must survive harsh underwater conditions. Even this pre-commercial version weighs 280 tons, and the test has been financed by the European Commission.
The Waveroller is anchored on the sea bottom at a depth of 10-25 meters and unlike the majority of the ideas being pursued in wave energy, using surface waves, it takes advantage of the back-and-forth movement of the surge pushing back and forth close to the sea floor.
The invention was inspired by a complete accident, when the Finnish diver Rauno Koivusaari almost got hit on the head by a powerfully flapping door on a shipwreck 15 years ago, and had a Eureka moment, and began working on the idea.
I met the new CEO, John Liljelund in Finland on a green blogger’s tour, and he was thrilled at the prospect of this pilot test, but told me that testing is so prohibitively expensive in wave energy, that it really has slowed the pace of this last frontier of renewable energy innovation.
For example, each of the three “doors” of the units weighs twenty tons, and of course it has to be constructed to withstand typical underwater wear and tear, yet as a pilot project – it is a “one-off” – with none of the cost amortization that mass production brings.
Concert celebrating New Year, Igreja do Colegio, City Square Funchal, Saturday night 14th January 9pm
Bandolins Orchestra & Wine-tasting at Wine Institute
Weekend markets in Madeira: Feira de Artesanato ‘Made in Caniço’ market
Feira de Artesanato ‘Made in Caniço’ market this weekend
Saturday and Sunday in the Largo da Igreja do Caniço
10 e as 18 horas no sábado e das 9 às 14 horas no domingo.
This Market is monthly.. the second weekend of each month. image above from Diario Newspaper
images from Madeira Tourism Facebook pages or Wikicommons unless otherwise stated
Nice Carnival, was made in a bad year of the flood. Lets hope this year nice and dry.
Festa in Santa Cruz this weekend – Festa do Senhor Santo Amaro. Do It Yourself Espetada on the beach – excellent!
from dnoticias.pt…..”Everything is in place” for reimbursements in health centers……
The regional secretary for Social Affairs guaranteed today that “everything is in place and running smoothly” for, as of Monday, the health centers to ensure repayment of users sharing the drugs purchased at pharmacies.
“The Regional Secretariat for Social Affairs informs the population of the Autonomous Region of Madeira from the day January 16, 2012 for reimbursement to the reimbursement of the drug user becomes itself through health centers,” says a note by the secretariat issued Tuesday.
Health centers are thus perform a new task in particular to repay the reimbursement of medicines purchased at pharmacies.
Francisco Ramos, through a spokeswoman, says that “there will be enhancement of employees’ health centers to give vent to all requests.
The delegate of the Order of Pharmacists Wood, John Cerqueira, agrees with the measure for providing “a close” to the population rather than at present that requires the user to send a refund in Funchal and not in your area, “a Northern people had to move to Funchal for a refund. ”
John Cerqueira doubt, however, that health services have sufficient human resources to successfully complete this new task.
“I think it will not be easy, waiting for Monday for a deeper clearance,” he said.
In the document issued on Tuesday, protection explains that “To this end, users should contact the health center in your area of residence, accompanied by the relevant technical prescription been filled, your ID card and its bank identification number (BIN), if any. ”
“We also inform that the refund will be made by bank transfer or through the respective health center,” the statement said, adding that “this procedure will remain in force until the current situation is normalized.”
The National Association of Pharmacies (ANF) suspended at 00:00 on Monday to dispensing medications to credit institutions in the archipelago due to the failure of the Regional Government’s plan debt payments to pharmacies, worth 77 million euros.