Good morning, Netizens...

[Rio de Janeiro, Brazil]

Last month the International Olympic Committee chairman announced that Brazil will host the 2016 International Olympics. Late yesterday the electrical power for most major cities in Brazil, including Rio de Janeiro, went out, casting an estimated 60 million people into darkness. Say, we understand power outages in Spokane, Washington, don't we?

Twenty-some years ago I traveled across the Brazilian Rain Forest and it made a lasting impression on me. Big bugs, big snakes, but even bigger rain storms that seemingly swept in out of nowhere, with lightning that never seemed to stop. According to various sources, a severe storm compromised the power lines between the dam, the giant Itaipu hydroelectric dam, which exists on the border between Brazil and Paraguay. It knocked power out to most of the major cities of Brazil and portions of Paraguay for what news sources suggest were between 2 and 5 hours.

Hooligans ran rampant through the streets of Rio, but no official records of their arrests have been released. Look on the bright side: the hookers could no longer take credit cards. Yes, they do that as Brazil is a modern, emerging nation.

Okay, let's spin this ahead a few years, shall we? The Olympics are underway and millions of tourists are in attendance. Am I crazy in worrying about the fragile electrical infrastructure during the Olympic games? Maybe by then they will have fixed things; perhaps not.

Dave

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