this week i

continued to work from rio de janeiro..

..despite ample distractions.

think it's a good day for data visualization when the financial times and flowingdata.com are both covering the same story.

cabled up the mountain.  the little red speck atop the other range is christ.

wandered through museums.

admired graffiti artists' attention to detail..

..less so the political correctness of preferential seating signs.

 

ate amazonian puddin'.

got you you little fucker.

walked by the ocean..

..to see brazil: modernity superimposed on an ancient world.

spent the weekend in salvador..

where the ocean meets the bay of all saints

home to a magnificent sky

a thousand churches

..and a thousand and one reminders.

ate food by the kilogram.

would describe this scene as 'typically human' or 'typical of humanity'.. in the best way.

in

 entered the market..

..though the best merchandise will come to you.

loved the parks..

the slopes

the trees

..and the symbolism.

walked a 5k pilgrimage through tropical winter downpours..

..to the house of god.

returned to rio, better judgment be damned.

5/26/11

this week i

surrendered to my latin roots.

figured out a new cheap-cabs-in-unfamiliar-airports trick.  head to the 'departures' drop-off point (often on a different level than the 'arrivals' pick-up point) to find the taxi drivers who aren't stationed at the airport or connected to a company; most city-based cabbies will probably be happy just to get a second fare for their trip back downtown.

worked remotely.  probably won't make any friends with this one.

got hooked on the music.  ..and the food.  ..and the company.

 ..and the old folks in the park using the public nautili.

 
hailed the first plane to brasilia.

beelined to the party.

withheld judgment.  hey, at least it's not barf.

would put persimmon on my death row dinner request list.

toured the ministries..

..the towers..

..and a used book store.

picnicked under the daytime moon.

met brazilian roger ebert.

crossed the bridge over the man-made lake..

..for a gala at the capital cultural center.

smurfed out.

headed back for more.

5/19/11

this week i

saw the exceptionally talented julian lage while eating overpriced, tasteless blues alley food.

laughed at statistical overload.

infinite looped madeleine peyroux, track three the best on careless love and track four the best on dreamland.

headed to the ocean to camp, to sleep..

..to disconnect.

drove through his birthplace of talbot county and read the narrative of the life of frederick douglass, an intensely intelligent human being.  he discusses hypocrisy..

between the christianity of this land and the christianity of christ, i recognize the widest possible difference

there is not a man beneath the canopy of heaven that does not know that slavery is wrong for him.

..teaching himself to read..

when i met with any boy who i knew could write, i would tell him i could write as well as he.  the next word would be, "i don't believe you.  let me see you try it."  i would then make the letters which i had been so fortunate as to learn, and ask him to beat that.  in this way i got a good many lessons in writing, which it is quite possible i should never have gotten in any other way.

..physical and mental anguish of slavery..

memory was given to man for some wise purpose.  the past is...the mirror in which we may discern the dim outlines of the future and by which we may make them more symmetrical.

the banishment of all light and knowledge

awakened at the dawn of day by the most heart-rending shrieks of an own aunt of mine, whom he used to tie up to a joist, and whip upon her naked back till she was literally covered with blood.  no words, no tears, no prayers, from his gory victim, seemed to move his iron heart from its bloody purpose...i never shall forget it whilst i remember any thing.

..and the glory of escape.

in coming to a fixed determination to run away, we did more than patrick henry, when he resolved upon liberty or death.  with us it was a doubtful liberty at most, and almost certain death if we failed.

fugitive slaves 'are among the heroes of our age.  romance has no storms of more thrilling interest than theirs.  classical antiquity has preserved no examples of adventurous trial more worthy of renown.'

5/12/11

this week i

got my abstract about statistical programming shortcuts written up in the bureau of labor statistics' monthly labor review. 

walked to the white house the night they announced bin laden's death.

didn't feel right celebrating revenge with them..

laughing for camera crews

 ..and doing pull-ups from light posts.

will save it for when we end these wars.  the kiss in times square was powerful because he came home.

read an excellent brief history and significance of the kalashnikov - "private industry turned out to be a combination of 'salesmanship, sham science, cover-ups, chicanery, incompetence, and no small amount of dishonesty by a gun manufacturer [colt] and senior american military officers'."

had forgotten about philadelphia..

home to many a mural

moist morning marathons

mano y mano doorknobs

..and mirrors everywhere.

drank in the stained glass.

ate locally.

learned about the trinities.

browsed chocolatier stands..

..get the 'chocolate on my mind' reference but not the onion one.

witnessed hipster jealousy.

found my old secret admirer scooby doo in laura's closet - a priceless heirloom.  when you squeeze his tummy, he says, "ri ruv roo."

saw the mutter museum firsthand.  the leader in anatomical abnormalities, both actual and artistic.  if you go, prepare yourself for pickled infants.

accidentally timed my visit with the philadelphia international festival of the arts street fair.

think this is a beautiful family.  no sarcasm.

made new friends.

waited for the main event..

..some more patient than others.

blew my mind..

..musicians and acrobats from fifteen stories up.

hardened my belief that our two continents are the promised land.

5/5/11