Re: broken schools

D <nospam@example.net> writes:

On Thu, 27 Feb 2025, Salvador Mirzo wrote:
>

But sadly I have also heard that polarization and leftists vs rightist
has infiltrated brazil as well. =( I hope it won't become as bad as
the US, that would be really bad for the country.

>
You can definitely say that.  This theme is very interesting for people
interested in Brazil or perhaps the US.  The US has a huge influence in

...

Brazil today.

>
Thank you! Very interesting, I had no idea!

An excellent reference to how it got where it is is

  United States Penetration of Brazil
  Jan Knippers Black,
  University of Pennsylvania Press, 1977
  ISBN 0-8122-7720-1.

I also imagine that it would be difficult to work from the beach. Too many
beautiful women, it must be very distracting!

>
You're quite right.  It is indeed *very* distracting.  In fact,
observing such things has given the conclusion that visual stimili (at
least in myself) is a really strong physiological thing: it seems quite

>
I also imagine that in south america it is still fashionable for women to be
women, and that women are feminine? I hope so... I like that!

Lol.  A declaration like that won't get much support around here. :)
We're living in a globalized world.  Even news casters now use words
like ``spoiler''.  Literally---no translation needed.  My geography
teachers in elementary school now seem like prophets.

stronger than any will power.  I started out reading at the beach so I
would have something to do there, staying longer in the sun.  So my slow
reading doesn't defeat that purpose.  I also often go during week days,
when the beach is not crowded with people.  It worked out so well that

>
Aha... so that's how you get any work done! I imagine if you would go during
beach rush hour, you'd not get a lot of things done. ;)

Lol.  You're quite right.  One thing that's happening is that I'm a very
approachable person and being there nearly every day brings new friends.
Now every now then there appears someone to chat.  I feel unable to tell
anyone to go away, even because---when people approach for chat---it's
evidently the case that they're in need of something.  (They might also
think that I'm killing time.)  I never really tell them to go away.
That doesn't help the work much.  Nevertheless, one of my deadlines got
extended by a week and so I was able to get a project's phase done---I'm
on time!

it seems to work like a second phase of my work schedule.  I write in
the morning and read in the afternoon, intermixed with walking,
swimming and biking.  I cannot do it *every* day because I need to
[be] ``the office'' some days.

>
Sounds like you have a very nice job there!

It's my favorite ever.  My at-the-office phase restarts in two weeks.

Bad coffee?? Doesn't brazil have the best coffee in the world?? Be
thankful that you don't have to drink the crap I have here in
europe. ;)

>
I think we produce wonderful coffee, but I also think that wonderful
coffee is mostly exported.  Makes perfect sense: you sell your best
products to your best customers (those that pay more).  That's a sorry
thing when living in a country with too many poor people: the industry
brings the cheapest things for you.

>
Ahhh.... never thought about that. On the other hand, there are
counter examples. When I went to japan, I had the best green tea I
ever had! Up until that point, I thought I didn't like green tea. It
always tasted horrible. Then in japan I went to some kind of luxury
tea tasting, and it was really, really good!

Interesting.

And what about beef? I heard there are wars in south america over
whether argentina or brazil has the best beef? Who is right?

I never quite heard of wars, but surely Argentina is known as one of the
best bovine meat producers.  And so in Brazil's south.  Historically,
they have a lot of tradition (and still do).  So Argentina or not, it's
that whole region, going beyond Brazil and Argentina.

As a teenager (with my family), I traveled once to a beach place in the
state of Rio de Janeiro and one thing got stuck in my memory about a
dinner we had an Argentine restaurant.  The (small) place was run by the
owner himself, who was an Argentine.  The meat was unforgettable.
Brazil's south is known as people who know how to barbeque like no one.
I'm sure the same applies to the Argentines.

But I consider coffee---no matter how good quality if might be---a drug
to be totally kept on a leash.  I don't think we should make regular use
of any stimulants---of any drug at all.

>
Ahh... and here I drink between 0.5 and 0.7 liters per day! ;)

That's a huge quantity.

But I don't have to drink it... from time to time I just stop when I
get tired of it and move to tea instead, and never experience any
negative withdrawal symptoms. My favourite tea is Lapsang.

If you don't completely, then at least stop as you already do but then
don't substitute it for tea or any other caffeine or theobromine intake
(such as cocoa products like chocolate).  Let your system rest from
these substances.  The less you take in, the more tolerant you become.
The more you do, the less you get.

I am probably a naturalist.  If coffee ``accelerates your physiology'',
then we can say that such ``speed'' is not the natural way of your body.
If you do it every day, you're totally not respecting the natural way of
the system.  Not a religious thing at all---recall that perspective I
had on tattoos.  So this is another illustration of why I find myself
more religious than the vast number of very religious people I've ever
met.

>
Well, maybe principled? I think religious has many supernatural connotations
that I find nto so good to mix up in these kinds of discussions.

``Principled'' it is.  Words don't really matter.  We need them here,
but they're just the tags on the pointers.  Remember Juliet?  ``What's
in a name?''