Miguel Fernández y Fernández, engineer

At 20 In July 1967, we spent 15 days at CIAW and 15 days actually and legally embarked, in maneuvers on the high seas aboard the Brazilian naval squadron, in my case on the “Cruiser Barroso”, the rest of EFORM distributed among a frigate, two destroyers, a corvette and a submarine, almost all of them, in a certain way, second-hand vessels from the Second World War, that is, projects from the 1930s. The opposition to the government claimed that such ships were pushed on us in

From 18 to 20 In my time, the citizen turned 18 and had to “enlist” for military service, a service that normally lasted one year, daily, during which, it was said, the fellow would learn to “be a man” and “become an adult”. Registration, and the first presentation, were mandatory, but one could request postponement for about 3 seasons (3 years). Those who were taking the entrance exam for some university course usually requested these postponements, hoping to attend a C

A friend of ours, a hydraulic-sanitary engineer, went to take part in an event at his grandchildren’s school, an American bilingual school in a Brazilian city. Upon going to the bathroom, he came across an unusual notice, in Portuguese and in English: “do not place used toilet paper in the toilet bowl, place it in the basket.” Now, toilet paper, made of small cellulose fibers, produced to dissolve in water, especially after being used to clean the bottom, is meant to be disp

Y’ALL have certainly already heard that we are living in the age of specialists. My trade is carpenter. At first I built houses, I built chicken coops, and I even built churches. But then I saw that a specialist was needed in my trade. I thought and thought until I found my specialty. I stayed with it! My people, y’all are talking to the best outhouse builder in all this Pixiri lowland. My first customer was Pedrinho Sargão. He had heard that I was specialized and decided to

>>> 2009jul/set, ABES Bio Magazine He began his professional career in 1952 at the then-renowned Saturnino de Brito Engineering Office, where he eventually became Technical Director, participating in the design and construction of water supply and sanitary sewerage systems for Natal, Caicó, and Mossoró (RN), Guarabira, Mamanguape, and Campina Grande (PB), Fortaleza (CE); the construction of Brasília (DF); the Landulfo Alves Refinery (BA), USIMINAS and ACESITA (MG), as well a

The boys were good boys. They were having some very nice chats in one of the neighborhood little squares. There were also some guys from another little group. They had united because of common objectives: they had no objectives. Suddenly boredom took hold of everyone. The program was very boring. One of them remembered a party at a school, and suggested they go there to mess up the people’s party. After some discussions, they took the last drag on the weed, threw away the

The other day I went to a marble workshop on Rua Bela (beneath the Linha Vermelha overpass). Coming along Avenida Brasil, I passed the place and had to turn back, making a loop from the São Cristóvão fairgrounds through São Januário Street. Nowadays, people no longer pay attention to the route itself, only to the GPS app of their choice. It had been a long time since I had driven that way, or perhaps I simply had not been paying attention. That day I decided to rely on the t

In 1972 or 1973, the architect Júlio Rubbo, who had already been director of the Urban Cleaning Department of Porto Alegre, of Dmae, was a nationally known figure, quite active in ABES, in Aidis and in the respective congresses. He lived in Porto Alegre. In this episode, I believe he was director and/or consultant in São Leopoldo (or Gramado or Canela, according to Percy). The roads were narrower than today, and it was common for people to ask for and give rides, a habit th

I saw loves arriving, I saw loves departing, I saw passions that ended, I saw passions that never ended. Were they not passions? I swam, I played, I sailed and I loved, I won and I lost, I left and I was left, I fell ill and recovered, I traveled and returned, I went and I came back, I worked and I produced. Stopping, I never even tried. I have laughed, and I have cried, I heard silences, I heard acts of malice, I heard acts of kindness, I heard lies, I heard truths, I heard

>>>Bio magazine, jan/mar2020 The late engineer Adilson Seroa da Motta, one of the founders-organizers of our ABES, of whom I had the honor and luck of being a student at the School of Engineering of UFRJ in 1970, was married to Mrs. Mary and had two beautiful daughters (Glória and Regina). For this reason, they were much harassed by the young men, especially at congresses. I remember this not only because Adilson always deserves to be remembered, but because of a story that

One of the best teachers I ever had was my chemistry teacher, Victor Maurício Nótrica, during the three years (from 1963 to 1965) of the Scientific track (High School) at Cap-FNFi and at the Vetor Preparatory Course (1965, evening classes, in Copacabana), which prepared students for the Engineering entrance examinations. Victor also taught at Andrews School and at the Miguel Couto Preparatory Course (for medical school entrance exams). Those preparatory courses were famous (t

Those who visited Rio for the first time were amazed by the profusion of volleyball nets spread across the sandy beaches. Today it is even an Olympic sport: beach volleyball. With its own rules and highly organized tournaments, those volleyball nets were true NGOs (non-governmental organizations), with honest purposes, belonging to groups of people who pooled their money to buy the equipment and pay someone to set up, take down, maintain, and store the net and the boundary t

Engineer José Ubaldo Telles served as Technical Director and President of Seneago on more than one occasion. We met through Manoel Inácio during our professional activities. He was a serious man, dedicated to Saneago and to sanitation, a man from Goiás who spoke little, with deep rural roots, married to Mrs. Iraci, and the father of six children. Around 1983, he owned—or perhaps still owns—a farm near Santa Terezinha de Goiás, along the banks of the Rio dos Bois (I believe i

Once upon a time there was a “mixed-capital company”, in truth a state-owned company, in a Latin American country, providing water supply services to a large region, in the last century. In this company, some professionals stood out, especially the production director, an engineer named Moreira. Without belittling the other directors, it was he who, in a certain way, carried the company’s day-to-day operations on his back. His directorate could not fail. If it failed, the ci

I was at home, because of a cold, which kept me from going to the office to work, not because of me, but because of the others. It is just that, nowadays, if we sneeze at work, everyone looks at you as if you were a criminal or a terrorist who is going to kill colleagues through the contagion of an alien virus. In the old days, we went to work sick or not, even dying, but we went. Now, since we have become a rich country and a rich society, we can allow ourselves these pett

People arrive inside cans conventionally called cars. It reaches a point at which the cars stop being cars and begin to form a traffic jam. Then people get out of the cars and converge toward the entrance, and stop being people and become “mass”. This mass crowds at the gates of the cement mass called Maracanã. Before the gate there is a little mass made up of people who had arranged to meet acquaintances around the so-called Bellini statue, without foreseeing that other

They met around 1977. She was about 27, the secretary of a professional colleague of his. He was about 30. Both single. She had culture and beauty well above average, green-honey eyes, light brown hair, a beautiful body, the manner of an experienced and insinuating woman, even daring. He was dark-haired, wearing a mustache to look older, about 5 to 10 cm taller than her, thin, discovering the world, insecure for his age, but also daring. They began to go out, hidden from he

_ “If rogues knew the advantages of being honest, they would be honest out of roguery” The first time I heard this aphorism was from the mouth of engineer A.J. da Costa Nunes, I believe in 1986 or 87. It seemed to me extendable to many people who think they are “smart”, and to evil people. After all, prisons are full of them and we are out here enjoying the free world, free, light and loose. With the exceptions that confirm the rule. With time, today I think there are too

The company operated a reasonably sized potable water supply system. Perhaps because of a simplistic cost reduction (lower salaries), a short time before, it had changed the technical director, with Eng. Pessôa leaving and Eng. Calis coming in. After about six months in the position, and having implemented some novelties, Eng. Calis called the company’s technical consultant, Eng. Fernando, for a meeting and to show the improvements he had made in the system and, with this,

It was a beautiful Saturday night back in 1964, in a month of September in Maceió, and the family of Mr. Jorge and Mrs. Marieta all went to a “debutante ball” at the famous Fênix club, where the local aristocracy gathered. The party was a success. The girls who turned 15 that year, their parents, grandparents, cousins, friends, the whole family, the suitors, the cream of Alagoas society present. Plenty of food and drinks, and of excellent quality. First-rate music, by a famo