Posted in Brazil Facts, News, Rio de Janeiro on 17. Jun, 2011
Hi all, Not to sound like a dinosaur, but I am frequently amazed by the unstoppable progression of technology. I received an e-mail my my good friend Greg this week. Greg is a convert. I brought him to Brazil years ago, and he fell in love with the place same as me. We returned together [...]
Posted in News, Rio de Janeiro on 02. Jun, 2011
Hi all, This Saturday the government of Rio de Janeiro state (the state in which the city of Rio lies is also called Rio de Janeiro) launches the Renda Melhor (Better Income) program. The ambitious three-year, billion-real (US$638 million) program is intended to eradicate extreme poverty in RJ. 340,000 families will benefit from the program. [...]
Posted in Brazil Facts, News on 29. May, 2011
Hi all, Last Wednesday in the wee hours, Brazil’s government passed a new law governing the use of large tracts of Amazon rainforest. The new forest code (código florestal in Portuguese) purportedly would allow trees to be cut down in areas totaling the area of the southern state of Parana, shown in green in the [...]
Posted in News, Rio de Janeiro on 24. May, 2011
Hi all, Most weekdays I catch the metro, and most weekdays I grab a Destak (which would translate as something like “highlights”), a free tabloid newspaper distributed outside many of the metro stations. Destak allows me to kind of keep up with the news while sharpening my Portuguese. Most of the headlines are of the [...]
Posted in Brazil Facts, News, Rio de Janeiro on 09. Apr, 2011
Hi all, Just recently I wrote here that violence in Rio is largely confined to the favelas and is “rational” in the sense that it is primarily driven by the profit motive, as rival drug gangs battle for control. (See post “You think Brazil is dangerous?“) While I will stand by those words, senseless violence [...]
Posted in Brazil Facts, News, Random Musings on 22. Mar, 2011
Hi all, As I noted in my last post, many Brazilians are wary of the US and its current overtures. Some Brazilians take an even harder stance, denouncing US “imperialism”. I witnessed such a protest on Sunday a few blocks from my home. Before US citizens shrug off such protests as baseless and irrelevant, they [...]
Posted in Brazil Facts, My Trips, News, Podcasts, Random Musings, Rio de Janeiro on 14. Feb, 2011
Hi all! As Mark Twain once said, “The rumors of my death have been greatly exaggerated.” No, I’m not dead, just MIA. I spent 2 months in the US, spending the holidays and helping my mother prepare her house for sale. ANYWAY, I got busy and let the blog lapse. But I am back and [...]
Posted in Brazil Facts, News, Rio de Janeiro on 20. Sep, 2010
Hi all, I hope that you had a good weekend. It was overcast and occasionally rainy here in Rio, which means that most Cariocas stayed inside. It is amazing how much the weather dictates the demeanor of the city. My friend and JohnInBrazil reader Fabio Bossard sent me a notice about an upcoming animated movie about [...]
Posted in 2016 Olympics, News, Rio de Janeiro, World Cup 2014 on 30. Aug, 2010
Hi all, Typically I write about the pleasanter things here in Rio and Brazil – and there are many to write about. But I won’t deny that there are severe problems, endemic problems. Foremost among these in Rio is crime fueled by the war against drug traffickers. The most recent battle erupted last weekend when a [...]
Posted in Brazil Facts, News, Random Musings on 25. Apr, 2010
Hi all, I am still without electricity at home, but will post as often as I can. And speaking of electricity: James Cameron, director of the blockbuster Avatar, arrived in Brazil recently along with two stars of the film, Sigourney Weaver and Joel David Moore, to protest the planned construction of a huge hydroelectric dam [...]
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