An article about pseudo-random numbers and their uses. I've been interested by randomness in physics and mathematics for years...

I'm in Rio for the month. I'm happy.

Another installment of Salgado's 'Genesis' series of photographs. Now, Congo.

From BoingBoing, a piece of web zen: bad English assembly instructions, weird signposts, old-school instruction films and such jewels.

An article about the new exhibit at Tate Modern, with works by troubled teenagers.

Do you think you get too much spam? Me too. But it could be worse -- Bill Gates receives 4 million emails a day.

On China's first youth culture, linglei.

An obituary of Yasser Arafat.

The insurgency in Iraq is as strong as it's ever been, and now the U.S. election is over, marines are getting ready to take Fallujah in what's likely to be a bloodbath.

With the reelection of Bush, the U.S. is getting ready to launch weapons in space, thus violating yet another international treaty.

A talk about how the main problems in analytical philosophy during the last 60 years are represented in the works of Monty Pithon.

Dois surfistas brasileiros com um inglês meio ruim estavam pegando um avião nos Estados Unidos. Quando passaram no controle de segurança e as malas estavam sendo abertas, um deles disse ´Tem uma bomba de sucção nessa mala´, só que traduziu bomba de sucção como ´bomb´ ao invés de ´pump´. Resultado: foram presos e correm o risco de pegar até 5 anos de prisão, ou U$250000 de multa.

Saturn's moon Titan is receiving a visit -- the Huyghens, a robot launched from the Cassini probe. It's going to go down into Titan's atmosphere, recording data as it descends, but scientists do not know whether it'll land with a thud, a splash or a squelch.

A critical view of AMD's 'popular computer' black-box. I wonder if that's the system Brazil is adopting, it may be a mistake.

An itemized account of what the next 4 years will be like for the U.S. and the rest of the world.

Changing subject: more comment about the Man of Flores.

Pode haver cristaos fundamentalistas perigosos em alguns paises, mas alguns deles sao inofensivos.

Another dangerous monkey.

Monkeys in a temple in India are attacking children, which apparently hasn't happened before. Are they also in a foul mood?

Today is shaping up as a dark day for the world. I don't think I feel like commenting on it. Let's cheer up.
About 20% of the Arctic ice cap has already melted, and the rest should have melted by 2070. Of course this insalubrious event could be partially reversed in the case of a nuclear (or 'nucular' , perhaps I should say) winter, which suddenly looks like a not unlikely possibility.

Around 100 000 civilians have died in Iraq, as a result of the American-led invasion.

Nature magazine has lots of info about the new-found hominid bones - the Flores man.

More on the 'hobbit' hominids. It turns out the natives of the islands where the bones were found have tales of small, hairy men and women -- there's even a possibility that some surviving specimens exist. This would overturn dramatically our self perception of the ruling species on Earth, think of the consequences for ethics and religion for example.

Fossils were found of a new Homo species that coexisted with modern humans about 18000 years ago. They were 1m tall, and are being nicknamed 'the hobbits'.

One of my first posts in this weblog was about Wikipedia, the open-source collaborative online encyclopedia. It already has more than 1 000 000 entries. More about it.

A video of a cat in zero-g, actually on a plane following a parabolic flight path.

The winners and runners-up of the Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2004 competition.

A nice website about mosaics.

This woman is hacking the hardware and software of Aibo and similar robot dogs to implement pack behavior.

'Canto de Ossanha' tocada por Baden Powell me lembra o segundo movimento da 7a sinfonia de Beethoven.

An article giving a user's view of the new endeavour of Google, Desktop search. It basically indexes and searches your files using some of the same algorithms that Google uses, as fast as Google does, and seamlessly puts the two together whenever you do a search. For people with many files and extensive email correspondence, it will enable you to find stuff you'd never thought you'd see again.

A German TV channel is planning something similar to the Truman Show.

A small sample of cultured rat's brain cells has been interfaced with a computer, and 'programmed' to control a simulated fighter plane. Sounds like science fiction, but it's real.

The James Bond-like escape a Soviet spy did from a British prison, as reported by the Guardian in 1966.

O governo brasileiro tem um projeto de computador popular, que deve ser comercializado ate dezembro. Custara R$1000, e podera ser financiado por R$50,00 por mes. A ideia e' vender 5 milhoes de computadores a esses precos subsidiados, que incluem 20h/mes de acesso a internet.

A weird corporate blackmail plot in France, involving 2000 credit cards straped to road signs.

On the different forms of vote suppression or plain fraud during the U.S. presidential elections of 2000.

On the disenfranchisement of black voters in the U.S. .

A tourist trip to see the Chernobyl nuclear accident site.

The Guardian has asked its readers in the U.K. to write to undecided voters in the U.S., to try and influence their vote. Check out some of the feedback: some of it is hate mail!link

Ex-workers from Guantanamo Bay describe the types of torture they witnessed there.

When you buy diamonds, think about where they're coming from.

Um artigo descrevendo como os físicos estão diversificando suas atividades de pesquisa, e atacando problemas em biologia, sociologia, etc.

A look at the violence in Colombia.

On the balance of the latest invasion of Gaza by Israel: 100 Palestinians dead, among them 20 children under 16.

A list of 12 places and ecosystems on Earth which will suffer most immediately with global warming.

The whole world is sitting powerlessly watching the U.S. presidential election race, which should affect us all immensely. Unfortunately, only U.S. citizens get to vote. Well, the Guardian newspaper in the U.K. has assembled a little manual on how to influence American voters from abroad, by donating money to the campaign, writing personally to an unaffiliated voter in a swing state, or manifesting your ideas on talk-show radio programs.

Hands to arms, fellow world citizens!

On the true story of St. Bernard's dogs being used by avalanche rescue teams.

U.S. seizes webservers from independent media sites.

On the totalitarian dictatorship in Turkmenistan, with details of a cult of personality comparable to that of Mao Tse Tung and Kim Jong Il.

An interview with primatologist Jane Goodall.

The future dictionary of America, a politically-charged initiative that saw many writers (re-)define the meaning of expressions such as 'axis of evil', 'condoleesy', 'environment'. Check an extract.

Bush seems to have been wired during the second presidential campaign debate. A bulge was seen on his back (suggesting an electronic device), and recently, during D-day celebrations in France, a voice was captured by CNN saying exactly what the president would say a few moments later. Article in The Guardian.

Ariel Sharon's chief aide speaks out, saying the U.S. openly supports Israel and is against a Palestinian state:

"Effectively, this whole package called the Palestinian state, with all that it entails, has been removed indefinitely from our agenda. And all this with authority and permission. All with a presidential blessing and the ratification of both houses of Congress."

Gameshow arrests real criminals -- see quote below. The disquieting thing is that the TV channel involved wants to turn this into a real show.

"Hampshire police invited 150 people to the Great Big Giveaway Show in Portsmouth and offered them a chance to win big prizes.

However, the invitees were wanted for traffic and bail offences, non-payment of fines, common assault, criminal damage and drink-driving and the police used the pretext of the gameshow to entice them out of their homes.

The "guests" were frisked as they arrived and had their identities checked by a police officer dressed in a dinner suit."

Hand-drawn holograms, and related do-it-yourself optical stuff.

Stop Press! the IgNobel Prizes are out. By the way, today there'll be a couple of Nobel prize laureates here in my institute. And the prime minister.

A review of the first 25 years of the literary magazine Granta, one of my favourites.

Martin Amis writes about Diego Maradona.

Essa é boa: Lars von Trier já produziu 3 filmes pornô, e está produzindo o quarto, agora um filme gay. Ele tem até um manifesto, uma espécie de 'dogma pornô'!

An Observer profile of Bono.

Many security analysts and retired Generals of the U.S. army agree: what's going on in Iraq is even less justified, and well-planned, than the campaign against Vietnam.

For linux geeks: how to install linux on a dead badger.

An interview with Wong Kar-Wai, in which he describes the troubled genesis of his new film, 2046.

On the increasing use of blogging by academics.

An interview with Stephen King, who has just finished the 7-book series for which he hopes to be remembered in the future.

The short-list for the Man Booker prize. The only author I've read is David Mitchell (number9dream and Ghostwritten), and I quite recommend him.

An article about why the whole world should vote in the U.S. presidential elections. It's a bit of a joke, but there are some good points in the argument, after all we're all afected by the outcome. It also has some statistics of Bush's approval rate in Europe: Kerry would outvote Bush 6 to 1 !

It has finally happened: the president of the main hotel and catering trade association in France has acknowledged the legendary surliness of French, and specially Parisian, waiters. Quote from the Guardian article:

["Customers are right to complain of a poor or non-existent welcome, an excessively long wait and a lack of basic courtesy and reactivity," said André Dugoin.]

An article in the Guardian about the continuing popularity of the Brazilian president Lula.

More about the underground cinema fanatics in Paris.

On a follow-up to the article by a Russian journalist, a second one has been drugged upon arrival in Beslan. Apparently someone very powerful is very bothered by the journalism coverage of the massacre.

Sebastião Salgado, the great Brazilian photographer, is starting a new epic project: over the next eight years he'll be photographing some of the most pristine areas of the world, as a token of hope that we won't completely destroy our planet. Link to an interview, link to an on-line gallery.

On how used bookshops in England are taking advantage of the web.

An article by a Russian journalist describing how the Russian press is servile to the government.

The diary of a white-collar criminal who was incarcerated in one hell of a prison (for American standards, of course).

Police have found a clandestine cinema and restaurant in the catacombs of Paris. Me faz lembrar o Cine-buraco no Rio...

The Science Museum is opening its archive of 170000 objects to public guided tours.

An interview with a woman who had a 'bionic ear' implanted. She went from complete deafness to hearing things other people can't.

The strange story of a guy who posted himself home.

A list of embarassments Microsoft has suffered because of ignorance of geography and cultural misunderstandings.

I'm in Cambridge, U.K., today is the end of the workshop that brought me here, happening at the Newton Institute. It's been fun and quite productive! With this my summer travelling season ends.

A review of Roger Penrose's new book. I had the pleasure to help him with some references on quantum information!

Reading groups are a phenomenon in England. An atypical one has won a prize -- all male, they meet in a pub and have quite lively (OK, swearing) literary discussions. What one member says:

"Despite the brickbats from workmates - 'I know people who haven't read a book since primary school' - Owen has no regrets: 'It's an excuse to drink with male colleagues. It was this or a morris dancing troupe.' "

An article about Nigerian musician Fela Kuti, whose music I like a lot.

A Guardian review of Ruy Castro's book on Garrincha.

On a book debunking the myths surrounding the original Olimpic games.

A controversial essay on drug use in sports.

I'm on holidays in Rio de Janeiro, hence the silence here. Fittingly, here's an apology of idleness.

A democrat is investigating unexplained withdrawals by the U.S. from the fund which should be accumulating Iraq's oil money for reconstruction work. As if profiting from destroying the country and then again from reconstructing it wasn't enough for Bush's mates, they seem to be taking money directly from the source.

An article on how it is like to have been born with no sense of smell.

Slavery shame blights Brazilian interior.

About short short stories (a la Scliar).

An article in The Guardian about the myth of Ernesto Che Guevara, my namesake.

The life-story of a Pulitzer prize winning author who was once homeless and now, at 53, published his first novel to great acclaim.

An article about the British and French honours system (Knighthoods and the like). O Brasil também tem, mas é muito menos conhecido do público. Aliás, existe até uma Academia Brasileira de Ciências...

De volta ao Canada, depois de duas semanas em Paris.

Ate 2020, poluicao em Sao Paulo deve custar aos cofres publicos R$5 bilhoes, para tratamento de doencas causadas ou agravadas pela poluicao. Para se ter uma ideia do problema, isso corresponde a 9 vezes o orcamento de Saude de SP.

An exhibition put together by Israeli soldiers shows pictures and interviews with soldiers in the Palestinian city of Hebron. The army confiscated the damning testimonies.

At least 92 Russians were killed in militant attacks in the Russian republic of Ingushetia, which is risking becoming a new Chechnya.

A collection of links about the summer solstice (today!).

A Pulitzer prize-winning jornalist exposes Israel's strategy to support Kurdish separatists.

An article in the magazine "Philosophy Now" about the unease with which many scientists view philosophy.

An extract of the new book by Germaine Greer, "Whitefella Jump Up: The Shortest Way To Nationhood", on the unresolved tension between white and aboriginal identities in modern Australia.

If everything goes according to plan, this next Monday, June 21st, there will happen the first commercial launch of a recoverable manned spacecraft. It belongs to a company intending to bag the X Prize, to be given to the first private company to take three people to a suborbital flight (min 100Km of altitude) and repeat the feat with the same spaceship within two weeks.

Mongolians have traditionally used only first names for a long time. Now the government needs them to pick family names, only they are all going for 'Borjigin', which was Genghis Khan's tribe name...

I also have problems with countries whose phone books have low entropy. Try, as I have, finding a particular paper on quantum physics by an author called Wang!

A profile of Ikea.

A concerned U.S. parent failed to make his daughter's school exclude the line 'one nation, under **god**' from their daily pledge of alliance. He argued that this violated the separation between state and religion, but (unfortunately, in my opinion) the process was dismissed on a technicality.

Tem gente que reclama que o meu blog é impessoal... acho que em parte é porque costumo escrever textos acadêmicos de física -- difícil encontrar um registro mais impessoal e objetivo do que esse. Além disso, pelo que vejo pela internet, blogs de auto-contemplação tendem a ser chatíssimos!

Escrevo as notinhas deste blog em inglês porque é a língua dos textos que comento, e da maior parte das minhas conversas e leituras desde que fui morar fora do Brasil. Infelizmente eu quase não tenho chance de falar português aqui no Canadá. A exceção é minha boca suja quando estou jogando sinuca com o pessoal do Instituto. Agora de vez em quando meus parceiros de sinuca exclamam ´Carrraio!´ ou ´putaquiparriuu!´ com sotaque fortíssimo, sempre me pegam de surpresa e isso me diverte.

Meteorito atinge casa na Nova Zelandia. Do artigo:

["Estava na cozinha preparando o café da manhã quando escutei uma explosão", disse Brenda.
Seu marido se deu conta que havia uma pedra embaixo do computador, que estava quente e que antes havia arrebentado o sofá da sala.]
Imagina o susto!

An article on the network of prisons around the world where the U.S. government sends prisoners (from Al-Qaeda and Iraq) to be tortured for information. This includes a well-known case of a Syrian-born Canadian who was captured in a flight stop-over in New York and sent to be tortured in Syria.

VIP clubbers in Barcelona now can have a computer chip implanted in their arms. They can buy drinks and with a quick scan their accounts are debited accordingly.

D-day probably wouldn't have been possible if it weren't for the huge Red Army offensive on the eastern front. This article details the scale and significance of the Soviet attack, which is not being recalled and celebrated as much as D-day. Quote:

"It does not disparage the brave men who died in the North African desert or the cold forests around Bastogne to recall that 70% of the Wehrmacht is buried not in French fields but on the Russian steppes. In the struggle against Nazism, approximately 40 "Ivans" died for every "Private Ryan". Scholars now believe that as many as 27 million Soviet soldiers and citizens perished in the second world war."

An article about the Bilderberg group, a secretive society of very influential people who meet anually.

The U.S. is now one of a handful of countries demanding a special visa for foreign journalists. A Guardian journalist was not aware of that, and in spite of being married to a U.S. citizen and having an american son, was detained for 26 hours and deported back to the U.K. .

For the first time a German chancellor will be alongside Allied leaders in D-day commemorations. The resentment with Czech republic and Russia still remains -- not enough time to thaw since 1989.

On the murder of a 12-year old by a class-mate inside their school. In 2002 the age for criminal responsibility in Japan was decreased from 16 to 14. Looks like Battle Royale, doesn't it?

Another article about the mea culpa of the New York Times, about bad reporting in the run-up to the Iraq conflict. The NYT was just one out of a number of players who should have known better than blindly supporting the drive to war based on lies.

Some time ago I reported on a conference in Cuba, to remember and discuss the Cuban missile crisis 40 years after it happened. This is another report of a close shave with nuclear war, prompted by a deffective Russian radar system. People tend to overestimate the competence and common-sense of civil and military leaders, while sub-estimating the risk of accidental, or purposeful, nuclear war.

A thoughtful article by Susan Sontag on Bush's government stance on, and the public acceptance of, violence and torture.

This small island off the coast of Japan used to house a thriving community of coal miners. In 1974 the coal ran out and the island was abandoned. This site has two photo galleries, of the island during its downfall in 1974 and another from the abandoned island. The latter pictures show a desolate scenario where Man seems to have gone extinct.

This photo gallery reminded me of my last visit to Venice, when I saw a strange fortress-like island off the main one. Later I found it to be Venice's San Michele island, the city's cemetery since 1810.

The story behind an amateur nerd and his gargantuous project of a computer-generated movie, and how it is now being finished as a big production. I wonder if, and when, it will become practical to create a whole film single-handedly using a personal computer.

A cool fun/educational kit which enables you to build a fuel-cell model car.

The essay referred to below is available on-line here.

A chilling reminder of the dangers of U.S. military power - an extract from an article in the Guardian:
"In 1992, General Colin Powell, chairman of the joint chiefs, awarded the prize for his strategy essay competition at the National Defence University to Lieutenant Colonel Charles Dunlap for The Origins of the American Military Coup of 2012. His cautionary tale imagined an incapable civilian government creating a vacuum that drew a competent military into a coup disastrous for democracy. The military, of course, is bound to uphold the constitution. But Dunlap wrote: "The catastrophe that occurred on our watch took place because we failed to speak out against policies we knew were wrong. It's too late for me to do any more. But it's not for you."

The Origins of the American Military Coup of 2012 is today circulating among top US military strategists. "

An article about the genius of Nabokov and his novel Pnin. He's one of my favourite writers, and coincidentally I'm just awaiting delivery of this novel...

An interview with Pedro Almodovar, in which he speaks about his new film, elections in Spain, and his maturing as a film-maker.

I've just re-watched the film 'Chungking Express' by Wong Kar Wai. It is very good, it seems a bit of a Hong Kong take on the French Nouvelle Vague. It actually tells two stories, I like the second much better. His later 'In the mood for love' is a much bigger production with great atmosphere and sound-track of Argentinian tangos.

An European patent which can be described well as the Doomsday Device of Dr. Strangelove.

Um blog de um grupo de artistas de Viena: monochrom. This video was found there, it shows an unfortunate encounter between a deep-sea robot and a crab.

A dispatch from within Falluja, describing the situation there.

Who would guess, Mickey Mouse once spent a week trying to kill himself.

A website called 'Insultingly stupid movie physics', which delivers what it promises. Worth a look!
By the way, I found this website by browsing a nice blog on technological/cultural trends, see boingboing.

An extract from O: The Intimate History of the Orgasm by Jonathan Margolis

At least half of the 700 or so Iraqis killed by allied troops in Falluja were women or children. So much for the American claims that "95% of the killed were insurgents".

18 years ago, an Israeli scientist was imprisoned for letting the world know about Israel's nuclear weapons. He is about to be released now, this is a Guardian profile of him.

Today I read an article on Philosophy Now magazine, describing points of contact between existencialism and Peanuts, the comic strip. Existentialist angst similar to that appearing in Peanuts also shows up in Douglas Coupland's writing, notably in Life After God. Keeping more or less on this track, a tongue-in-cheek article on How to achieve happiness.

Walter Salles Jr writing about great South-American films.

A long profile of painter Lucian Freud, whose recent work is in an exhibition in London.

"Found Magazine" publishes notes, photographs and other personal objects found in parks, streets, libraries... the idea is intriguing, and the magazine has enjoyed a fair amount of success.

An article by a biographer of Edward Teller, father of the H bomb. The article is titled: Meet the real Dr. Strangelove.

An article about wikis, webpages that anyone can edit at will. I browsed, and even contributed to wikipedia, it's an interesting idea on "open source" content.

Israel's supreme court is close to deciding whether state-sponsored assassinations are war crimes or not.

This sounds like science fiction, but it's fact. Some researchers have developed a plant that turn its leaves red to signal it's growing over a land mine.

A week spent with refugees in England. See also the film 'Dirty Pretty Things'.

An article about ideas of terraforming Mars.

An interesting peek at Stanley Kubrick's archive.

Marco Evaristti, a Danish artist, has just dyed an iceberg red. He's the one with the golden-fish-in-blender fame.

An interesting article about traditional Chinese medicine, and how western medicine is catching up with it, identifying the active compounds in some of the extracts used.

Bush had approved a plan to attack the Taliban before September 11th, it transpires.

On a curious film I saw recently, whose star is a dwarf: The Station Agent.

A few reviews of Mel Gibson's 'Passion of Christ' film: one by David Mamet, and one by Julia Neuberger, a rabbi.

An article by Andrew Jarecki, director of the film 'Capturing the Friedmans', a very good, if disturbing, documentary I've seen recently.

The Coca Cola company has another PR disaster in their hands. In the U.K., they're withdrawing their Dasani water make from the market, because it contains unacceptable levels of a cancer-causing substance. On top of that, it was revealed that they were just adding some minerals to water from the tap, and contaminating it in the process (as well as increasing the price from 0.03 to 95 pence per bottle). What a shame! This reminds me of their launch, and subsequent withdrawal, of their Fruitopia juice drink in Brazil, which failed spectacularly as we have much better, cheaper, fresh juice in any corner shop...

A bizarre website, with no apparent goal other than befuddle the visitor. It works.

A well-humoured account of a climb of the Kilimanjaro. It reminded me of a 12-hour long ordeal I went through with some friends (?) up a mountain in the Spanish Pirenees...

An interview with the British prisoners recently released from Guantanamo.

A comment on the use of torture by US officials in Guantanamo.

How to behave in a public bath-house, or sento, in Japan.

An article about how Rio funk may find its way into the U.K.'s music scene.

An article on the popular success of contemporary documentary cinema. And a link to the work of Edward Burtynsky, a photographer whose exhibition at Art Gallery of Ontario I have just visited today. While we're at art, check out a peculiar journal, Strange Attractor.

A profile of John Kerry, probable democrat candidate to the white house.

A profile of Wladimir Putin, now he's running for a certain new term as Russian president.

An article on Christiania, the world's best known commune.

The account of a professor of cinema and his two-decade long obsession with finding the original print of John Cassavetes' first film, 'Shadows'. It resulted in a book. This reminds me of other Quixotic film quests, like the fictional one described in Paul Auster's 'The book of illusions'. In William Gibson's latest, 'Pattern recognition', there also is a cult of film snippets being distributed anonymously on the web.

Some of the Britons detained at Guantanamo are going to be released. This is an article describing the conditions they, and other 650 or so, have been held in.

Shark bites more than it can chew. An Australian had to swim to shore and drive away to get help to detach a shark from his leg.

An article about the nuclear bombing of Paris in 2009. You read it right.

An article on a group of Israeli women who go to military checkpoints to try to stop soldiers harassing Palestinians.

The first of a series of articles on ethical living.

An extract from the new book by George Soros, who is taking it upon himself to campaign to avoid having Bush re-elected.

An article by Naomi Klein, on the clashes in Iraq resulting from the popular demand for direct elections.

On the debate raging in Japan over sending troops to Iraq, or more generally over re-militarization.