Toggles said: "If memory serves, Mr. Paulo is Brazilian by birth and may just speak a bit of Portuguese."
Thomas said: "Steve: Thanks for the information! It's very nice to know that. Paulo, isso é verdade? is it true?"
Sadly it cannot be confirmed or denied, it's not a yes or no question.
I'm one of those people who has no static definition, it depends on who you ask. I was born and raised in Brazil, moved to US nearly 20 years ago. If you ask people in Brazil, they'll tell you I'm "too Americanized"... if you ask some people in US, they'll say I'm "not American enough"... and if you ask the lawyers, they'll say I'm "more American than the natives", just like Lieutenant Worf used to out-klingon the Klingons in Star Trek: The Next Generation -- that comes from learning/dealing with a different culture looking from the outside, so there are plenty of times when the natives say something egregious and I tell them something along the lines of "oh, sure, if what you're saying were true, that would imply a, b and c, and Federal Law says not a, Constitution says not b and State Law here says not c, so good luck with that" and if there are lawyers around they tell the original person that I'm right and they are wrong. And no, I'm not a lawyer.
I've lived here for long enough to understand the natives and even behave like them when appropriate, but I also understand that there is no one true answer, there isn't even only one answer or only one right answer -- there are, more often than not, multiple answers and many may be true and it's not necessarily true that one answer will be better than any others. Just look at the responses above, some people refuse to accept that a certain design is rougher on the clothes and others refuse to accept that that design is just as gentle as the others -- why? because they are not using the machines in the same way the other people are. Who's right, who's wrong? No one -- some people always do the laundry in the same way no matter what machine they use, some people always obey the user's guide, some people do something else entirely. Different parameters, different outcomes. Without more details, we'll be spinning around in circles. Meanwhile, everyone feels "virtuous", because "they are doing the right thing, everyone else is doing it the wrong way" and, frankly, most people are not looking around and asking for the details, most people just get puzzled by the entire situation.
And to be honest with y'all, I don't think of myself as of one nationality -- I've lived with and around lots of different people, from all corners of the world. All I can say is that people are the same no matter where they came from, we are way more similar than different, and to me, it's sad that we feel like we need to emphasize the tiniest differences, blow them out of proportion until we look different. Sting said long ago that "what may save you and me is that the Russians love their children too" and I agree.
That's why I chose that username: I consider myself a person who lives on planet Earth, with everyone else. Just your average Earthling, trying to live my life in peace, making mistakes and hopefully learning from them although, to be completely honest with you, I primarily try to learn from other people's mistakes, it hurts less in the end. ;-)
Cheers,
-- Paulo.
PS: Thomas, I've answered your question about the KitchenAid mixer in the original thread, dunno if you saw it or not.
