The Power of Melanin

Thirty eight years ago someone shot dead Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. The guy who one day has an inspiring dream of eradicating from Earth any sort of racial segregation was silent forever, but his words and thoughts remain alive more than ever. I truly believe the humankind is making progress towards unifying the races, but I think we’re still at least 500 years far from the ideal. Why? Well, just about 150 years ago we still had black slaves all over the world. And what is 150 years in history? It is absolutely nothing, it is just like 5 minutes ago. The damage was made and it takes time (in historical scale) to heal up. Personally, I love everything that comes from the black community. Most of my friends when I was a boy were black (Pingo, Edson, Manoel), most of my best friends today are black (Dija, Najin), several people that raised me were black (Nice, Bi, Maria Preta, Carlinhos), I love Blues music, Capoeira, Hip Hop, the best athletes in the world are black, and the list keeps going on and on. But, there is a scientific aspect that says it all: melanin. It is well known that the planet is heating up, and within few more thousands of years, if you don’t have enough melanin you will be in dire straits my friend. Therefore, melanin is synonymous of… yes, evolution! It is the way the human beings will evolve!!! Therefore, if you never had a dream like the one Dr. King had, you should at least start dreaming of one day having more melanin in your body than what you’ve got know – or start planning to live your life in the north (or south) pole.

Munich: well made movie, but biased

Today I watched Munich, the latest movie from Spielberg (http://www.munichmovie.com/). Well, first of all, I'm glad my wife did not come with me - if it was too much blood for me, who can stay up for hours watching History Channel (aka, “World War I and II” channel), can't imagine how it would be for her. But anyways, back to the movie, very well made. However, when I read the review in Time Magazine prior to watching it, it surprised me when the critics said the movie wasn't biased to any side - I had to see it to believe. And sure enough, the movie IS biased to one side. I won't be expressing here my thoughts about the Israel/Palestine conflict, it wouldn’t be politically correct, but please do not portrait one side as being the good/poor guys, and the other as being the tyrannies. I don’t mind people telling any (I mean, any) true story that happened in the past thru movies, but please stop spreading this erroneous and hypocritical ideology – we all know what really happens down there.

2005 Summary Report

• Lowlights
  o Farewell to Nena
  o Farewell to John Paul II
  o Family issues
  o Surgery (that hurt!)
  o First full year without my Mom
  o Natural disasters on Earth (Tsunami, Katrina)
  o Artificial disasters on Earth (Iraq War, Mensalao)
• Highlights
  o Family issues slowly being resolved
  o My wife
  o New house!
  o Good health
  o UW
  o Squash
  o My MS Team
  o My sister’s new life
  o Fernando de Noronha
  o My friends
• Red Flags
  o UW – Operating Systems coming
  o Uneasy mind – need to relax more
• Next Steps
  o Invest on family union
  o Invest on family expansion
  o Invest on education
  o Invest on charity
  o Invest on existing and new friendships
  o Invest on work
  o Invest on my house
  o Invest on relaxation
• In a Nutshell
  o 2005: not the best, not the worst. But not the best for sure!
  o 2006: full of promises!
• Final Message
  o Very, very, very happy New Year!! May God bless you all, and give you a very solid health, happiness, peace, love, forgiveness, courage, friendship, determination, faith, wealth, and that 2006 be the best year of your lives, at least until 2007…
• Oh, and One More Thing
  o …And may Brazil be Soccer World Champion for the sixth time! Go Brazil!!!