Doc wrote:Typhoon wrote:Nonc Hilaire wrote:Zika indeed. Virus is becoming the medical hobgoblin of C21.
. . .Centuries of protein-deficient diets and chronic illness have resulted in more than 30 percent of the population in northern Brazil being mentally and physically stunted, according to medical experts and government officials. Even in more prosperous southern Brazil, about 10 percent of the population is of subnormal height, researchers say.
In the most severe cases, known here as Brazilian Pygmies or homens nanicos, researchers say brain capacity is 40 percent to 60 percent below normal and the height of adult males is a foot or more under the 5-foot-9-inch average for men worldwide . . .
http://articles.chicagotribune.com/1992 ... e-da-silva
Quite.
Meanwhile, the current and former top politicians and bureaucrats in Brazil are now implicated in schemes to steal billions from the public purse.
I like Brazil, I really do. I have wonderful memories of the time I spent there. However, one cannot ignore reality:
Brazil is the country of the future . . .
. . . and always will be.
Given the current situation maybe Brasil is the future of the world and always will be.
BTW CS what parts of Brazil have you been to?
One hopes not. Either Brasil or the rest of the planet.
Brasil:
Rio de Janeiro
Cabo Frio
São Paulo
Drove by myself on 101, along the Costa Verde, in a rental car from Rio de Janeiro to Caraguatatuba to visit friends and back:
Angra dos Reis
Past the "Vaga-lume". The nuclear power station on the coast nicknamed "The Firefly" for its reliability.
Ubatuba
Took a major wrong turn at "Albuquerque*", as Bugs Bunny would say, but thanks to the kindness of the locals found my way back to the main highway.
A beautiful coastal drive.
*Don't recall the actual name of the town where I ended up lost.
May the gods preserve and defend me from self-righteous altruists; I can defend myself from my enemies and my friends.