A MarketPlace of Ideas                        

I encountered a delicious bean salad at an "a kilo" restaurant in Brazil.  You make it as follows:

1. cook great northern beans with a little salt, olive oil and garlic.  Drain afterwards
2. put in a large container and add some more olive oil and mix to lightly coat the beans
3. add chip chopped green and red bell peppers and onion
4. add some sort of acid.  I like to use lime juice but you can also use vinegar.  Add and mix a bit at a time until it suits your taste.

EAT!

I have a friend in Brazil who lives in a house in the forest 1 kilometer by trail.  There is also a minor drug dealer living along the trail not too far away. I recently visited him and mentioned the brother of a fellow I rented a car off of had been shot to death.  The story I was told  was that a motocyclist had an altercation with his brother and that subsequently the motorcyclist shot him. 

My friend with the house in the forest corrected that story with a rather sizable revision.  The murder occurred very close to his house in the woods and the body was found there.    It turns out the deceased had robbed a 21 year old girl on Joaguina beach and then not satisfied in some manner stuffed her into the trunk of a car.   Whilst driving thereafter someone hit the car in the rear end and injured the young lady turning her into a quadraplegic.  As it turns out her father was a former policeman.  Somehow the bad guy did not know this and did not immediately recognize he should get out of town.  Two months after this car wreck he was probably lured onto this trail with the stated purpose being obtaining drugs.   His body was later found when the drug dealer went to do his periodic check of the water supply on the top of the hill and smelled something very bad.    When he looked for what is was he found the 19 year old robber.   The robber had a shotgun wound to the face and stomach. Either one being sufficient to kill him it was suggested to me that it was a message.  Now I am told the people with shotguns in Brazil are mostly the cops and of course who else would have a better motive for this sort of thing? 

In Brazil the maximum time you can get for any crime is 30 years.   What we call "life in prison" is only 30 years there.  Thus the father of this girl decided to exact his own justice.   I do not blame him one iota.  I asked my friend if he was scared that a murder had occurred right next to his house.  His reply was "not one bit" because he knew exactly what the story was and everyone else did but that it is not being investigated.  Mmm….Tough luck scumbag in this case.

Every time I take a trip here in Brazil I put my computer in the safe..   I call it "safe mode".

So I thought by coming to Brazil I could get away from hearing about his lord most merciful Barack Obama by returning to Brazil for another extended stay.  The crisis has slowed down business to the point that its not that much of a loss for me.  I am tired of the press fawning and standing in line to provide Obama with oral favors whilst on their knees.  What have I found out?  Many Brazilians see right through "The Messiah".  Many people from Portugal also.  The press always trys to paint the rest of th world as gullible fools that support the democrat party line but let me tell you that is a completely confected story.

So what happens?  There is talk of Obama visiting Brazil.  I have already given up the brazilian fist bump because Obama uses it.  Please do not make me give up my paradise Brazil Mr President.  Please do not visit.  There is nothing for you here.  Just a beautiful country with beautiful people who you would be very out of place with given your finger flipping white person hating self.  I’m just a typical white person who left the god damned country because I can not stand your psycho babble leftist policies that are a flimsy excuse to loot the country. 

Can you just please stay away?   They know you are a fraud just as much as I do.  Brazil has had MORE than its share of charlatans and they spot you coming a 6000 miles away.

…. oh and by the way….most people I know here think Lula is a putz.  A socialist using tax money to buy votes just like you do.  In fact he wants the term limits lifted so he can run YET again.  In a country that was a military dictatorship until only  25 years ago you can imagine that goes over like a lead balloon. 

I am curious of one thing however.  When you Jon Stewart-like in the press are providing your oral favors to Obama does he like it more straight on or more of a from the side thing?  I guess we would know if you did your job and interviewed Mr. Sinclair.

My question for Jon Stewart is "Do you spit or do you swallow?"

The brazilian economy is booming because it is one based more on commodities.  In spite of this the common person there is somewhat stymied in relation to career, jobs and starting businesses.  This is because they have a built in bias against this.  The ruling class there tends not to want to share power and influence as much as here.  Over time this may decrease.   One way of compensating for this psychologically is to take an endless string of classes.  By doing this they can tell themselves they are doing something but in reality for the most part they are marking time.  As a result they take many many more classes than the standard american.  You might be shocked to find out how many english ( and other language ) schools they have there.

The reason for this post is for me to record a website referral to this one that I want to investigate.  Its called:  http://fisicadivertida.ning.com/ 

Many Brazilian side streets go for a VERY long time without a right or left side turn exit.  This one goes on for about a mile before you get a choice!  In the states a typical residential neighborhood would have side streets every 300 feet or so.

Very cute these two!  My neighbors.

Sugar cane ethanol is great.  You can smell a subtle caramel scent that comes from it.  Click here to access internet olfactory interface Its great stuff to gargle with or rinse your skin with or use as aftershave. The nice thing about ethanol is that its not toxic like isopropyl alcohol.  Thus you can use it like gin to brush your teeth and they will feel very smooth.  The caramel scent is there because when you heat sugar it caramelizes.   Your body will absorb some alchohol if you rub it on your skin.  Thus using USA rubbing alcohol you are going to absorb a much less friendly version of alcohol with Isopropyl. I can buy 1 liter for the equivalent of 2 dollars here in Brazil.  Its one of those small subtle delights you can have on the cheap.  Its not denatured and I have seen guys that look like they are preparing for a picnic pick up 10 bottles at a time.  Not a good idea but I think they do drink it.  But then it is their body after all. But the USA is too uptight about taxing every last drop of ethanol.   They want to protect the jerks who control this particular business.  Its very annoying to me.   I am not a drinker and all I get when I drink is a headache.  But I do like to rinse with it. If you do get your hands on some of this stuff make sure to stay away from open flame.  Its highly flamable and its what they use to light their barbeque grills!!