20 October 2018.....um

18 October 2018

So, I am back from Brazil. I haven’t eaten anything today yet and might not. It seems like every time I eat something I end up more hungry, so I probably won’t eat much the next few days. I don’t have much food in my house anyway so I better go shopping. 

One thing I like so much better about where I was in Brazil, Bahia, is they don’t use daylight savings. Most of the country does. Still, I loved having the sun start to rise at 5:00 am. It went down sooner but I don’t care. Maybe I need to move somewhere that doesn’t use daylight savings. I love waking up and having the sun up. I really don’t care if if gets dark early at night. As far as I am concerned. Daylight savings is a scam. 

I love so many things about Brazil. But for someone like me, in a wheelchair, you are at best an afterthought. Everything is made for people that walk in mind. Almost the only place I could go and feel free to move is the mall. Mall’s are not Brazil. I can go to a mall in the US. But one place I discovered at the mall there is called Bob’s Burgers. I think the hamburgers they make are the best. Fast food, but better than anything in the US. 

In some ways I love Brazil a Libertarian Mecca. In other way I hate how difficult it is for a person like me, in a wheelchair, to move around. Some things the government regulates so much. You almost want to pass out.  Example, in the US, if you want to get married, buy a marriage license and in one to three days you can be married. Brazil, go to the courthouse. Let them do essentially do a background check. Two weeks later, maybe a month, you can get married, civil or religious, you still need someone from the courthouse there to make it “legal”. If you are divorced, like me, you have to provide a copy of the divorce decree. If the decree is not in Portuguese you have to have it translated. In my case crazy expensive. I still love Brazil, but in some ways the government makes things crazy hard,  other ways the government stays out of your way. I would say no good balance. If you view things different let me know. 

20 October 2018

Last night my children came. They love the candies and flip flops I brought then. 

Well, I saw a headline this morning. Mega millions lottery is 1.6 billion. First, I think lottery is a stupid idea. Not much more than a tax on the poorest people. Granted, not only poor people participate. Poor people are more likely.  

1.6 billion dollars. That could be divided a lot off different ways. And everyone would still be richer than they were before. 1 million. 2 million. 5 million each. 

The education of our children. While I personally don’t like the idea of public education. A lot of good could be done. Increase teacher salaries. Make lunch free for all students. More field trips. There are lots of different ideas. 

Needless to say. I think lotteries are a bad idea. If you like them great.