It's been a month since I went to Brasil. I am planning on going back, learning as quickly as I can. It's likely that I won't be able to make it back until next winter, but I will plan on it. I need to stay in touch with the friends I made over there. There are many conferences that I can attend to make my stay work-related, but the plane ticket is my main expense. I'm planning on keeping my Brasilian telephone number and giving it to my friends so that they can call me for cheap or free. Of course they can call me on Skype for free as well. We're lucky that we live in such a well-connected society, it's just up to us to stay in touch.

A video I watched today said that Vila Prudente is a favela. I actually visited that neighborhood while I was there and didn't think it was a favela. If that is the definition of a favela, then my eyes deceive me. Certainly the neighborhood may be much poorer than some of the neighborhoods I visited, but it looks quite beautiful (see the street view if you want to know what I mean). Maybe that is the definition of the favela, poverty in a beautiful place. It didn't connect with me that there would be any crime in that neighborhood. The video is about how the residents are getting people involved with documentary films.

What's new with me? Well, since I'm back in Seattle, I may start up yet another blog at blog.altsci.com (not started yet) which will keep a little more info on my day to day and will collect all the other blogs. One problem I have is that I have too many blogs. In one way it's good to separate topics but on the other hand most people who visit my blog are looking for me rather than my topic. I would love to attract more people interested in my subject matter but maybe I should post more subject matter. I can do that.