Without a doubt, the oldest and most well-recognized brand in the “Expat” niche is Escape Artist (see: EscapeArtist.com). I moved to South America in 2004, prior to that I lived in South Florida and Miami for 12 years, from where my career took me all over the Bahamas, Central America and the Caribbean. Back in those days, before embarking on any new destination, I would use Escape Artist for my research, to know what to expect on the ground, where I was going.
I’m not just saying that. This is not a paid endorsement of Escape Artist because back in the 90’s there was no better resource for “boots-on-the-ground” information about the places I was planning to visit. See, I was the webmaster for the Bahamas Out Islands and founded a company called OffshoreNet, we helped people invest offshore. I was interested to learn about all the offshore tax havens and back then, as it remains to this day, there’s no place where as much practical, useful information, can be found about the overseas world around us.
So it came as great (and pleasant) surprise today, when I read the following message from Escape Artist:
[box]Escape Artist is a premiere online destination for information on living, working, playing, investing and retiring internationally. Readers enjoy the breadth and depth of country and lifestyle specific content Escape Artist is known for publishing. Our readers also appreciate personal stories and unique perspectives on living, working, playing, investing and retiring in foreign nations.
If you have experience with living, working, playing, investing and / or retiring internationally, and would like to share your knowledge with others, becoming a Contributing Writer for Escape Artist could be an excellent opportunity for you. It will give you a chance to share your wisdom and personal experiences with a diverse community of people. It will give you exposure in the publication field. It will give you the satisfaction of knowing that your published works are helping someone who is making an important life decision in the area of international life.
If you would like to become a Contributing Writer, please contact adam@escapeartist.com. Send any writings you have, and we will read it and get back to you quickly. We look forward to hearing all of your unique and valuable knowledge and experiences.[/box]
The above message was posted today, to which I immediately responded, and to which they immediately replied: please submit a story for review.
This is my first story for Escape Artist, hopefully I’ll pass the audition.
Escape Artist in the Big Pineapple ~ Sao Paulo, Brasil
If New York City is “The Big Apple”, then it justs stands to reason that Sao Paulo is “The Big Pineapple!” With a grid twice the size of the LA basin and a population nearly triple that of Manhattan, this fabulous megalopolis, which is ugly beyond description on the surface and sweet beyond your wildest dreams inside, truly deserves this distinction of “The Big Pineapple”. The extremely hard-to-peel outer layers of this place, will finally yield the reader into the sweet and sticky heart, of a fabulous city of incredible juice.
This is the story of an Expat Canuck, an escape artist extraordinaire, living in the greatest city (in his opinion) on earth; Sao Paulo, Brasil.
It’s not just the electricity, or juice of the Big Pineapple, it’s what you gain access to within a 200 mile radius, not to mention two excellent airports and one major, super-efficient bus depot, which is connected to the subway system and all forms of surface transportation, in other words; easy to get started traveling, to all or any part of Brasil. It’s like all roads lead to Rome, or in this case “Sampa”, the most common nick-name for the Cidade da Garoa (the city of drizzle) as it’s commonly known.
Sampa is in the middle of a rainforest, not just any rainforest but the Floresta Atlantica (Atlantic Rainforest). The world’s most biologically diverse forest, not to be confused with the Amazon which is loaded with dangerous creatures, Floresta Atlantica has nothing that can hurt you, aside from the mud and water. Rain is a constant, except in the short dry season, or quasi-winter. Modern man in nature, describes Sao Paulo. This city exemplifies how 21 million people can live in a rainforest. Every street shows signs of the forest reclaiming what is her’s, everywhere you look you’re reminded that there’s something more powerful underneath you and every day you can feel, and often even smell, the juice from the power of nature.
On the civilized side of the coin, you have a 60×60 km grid of human habitation, stretching towards the sky and spreading in every direction, like a plant of the rainforest. On this grid you can find every type of luxury, every creature comfort, every cuisine, ethnicity, religion, sport (except winter sports), style and fashion.
Self-portrait of Casey Neistat standing in front of a camera on a tripod atop a sand dune in the desert with camels in the background. Apparently taken during filming “Make It Count” for Nike.
Casey Neistat is a Game-Changer
The back-story, in case you’ve never heard of Casey Neistat, is that he was an accomplished filmmaker who also had created YouTube videos that had gone viral (over one million views). His YouTube channel grew in popularity, so he started making videos more often.
Other people started making videos about Casey because he has won several film awards, plus the word got around about his New York City “Wildly Functional Studio“. Then on his birthday last year, March 25th, he announces on his YouTube channel that from that day forward he’s going to produce one new film per day, to be released as a daily VLOG (video log), his channel started growing, faster and faster, first to one million subscribers, then rapidly to two million, as of this writing he’s at 2,274,587. His new daily videos (VLOG) can reach a half million views in the first twenty-four hours, this is a completely new phenomenon. Casey Neistat is becoming the first YouTube celebrity to go mainstream.
About one week ago Casey Neistat drops a hint in his daily VLOG that he’s in discussion with Samsung in New York City, then a few days later he drops the “Huge Announcement” that Samsung, the main sponsor for this year’s Academy Awards in Los Angeles, California, is sending Casey Neistat to the Oscars, with all-access back-stage and red-carpet pass. Plus, they set him up in a rock-star hotel room, big enough and stocked enough, to throw the biggest after-party in LA. And, on top of that they present him with a James Bond looking briefcase, that when opened has fiber optic lights to showcase 3 new Samsung gadgets that rival anything in the current hi-tech gadget market, including: 1) Galaxy phone 2) VR Headset 3) 3D camera.
Samsung made sure Casey Neistat had the coolest opportunity ever given to any web geek, they put the best person they could have ever imagined, in a position, with the best equipment, supreme film editing skills and keen sense of curiosity, where he could do something never done before. Take the audience (us) backstage and in the theater, of the 88th Academy Awards.
Casey Owen Neistat; born March 25, 1981 is an American film director, producer, creator of popular YouTube videos, and co-founder of social media company, Beme. Neistat and his brother, Van, are the creators of the HBO series, The Neistat Brothers.
Early life
Neistat was born and raised in New London, Connecticut. He dropped out of Ledyard High School in the 10th grade at age 15 and did not return to school or graduate. From age 17 until 20 he lived in a trailer park with his girlfriend, Robin, and their son, Owen. It was during this time Neistat was on welfare, a detail cited by Neistat when delivering his own biography. In 2001 Neistat moved to New York City.
Early career
Prior to moving to New York City, Neistat worked as a dishwasher and short order cook in Mystic, Connecticut. His first job in New York City was as a bike messenger.
Tom Sachs Films
In mid-2001 Neistat and his brother Van began working with the artist Tom Sachs, ultimately making a series of films about the artist’s sculptures and installations. This was the earliest work done by the brothers as a collective.
iPod’s Dirty Secret
Neistat first gained international exposure in 2003 for a three-minute film titled iPod’s Dirty Secret, criticizing Apple’s lack of a battery replacement program for the iPod. The film received national media attention and brought broad attention on Apple’s policy towards iPod battery replacements. The video clip begins with a phone call to the Apple Support 800 number, and a conversation between Casey Neistat and an operator named Ryan. Casey explains that after 18 months of use his iPod battery is dead. Ryan suggests that for the cost of labor and shipping to replace the battery Casey is better off buying a new iPod. To the music of NWA’s rap song “Express Yourself” the brothers begin a “public service announcement” campaign to inform consumers about the batteries. Using a stenciled sign reading “iPod’s Unreplaceable Battery Lasts Only 18 Months”, they spray paint the warning over iPod advertisement posters on the streets of Manhattan.
The film was posted to the Internet on September 20, 2003 and within six days was viewed over a million times. The film quickly attracted media attention and the controversy was covered worldwide by over 130 sources including The Washington Post, Rolling Stone Magazine, Fox News, CBS News, and BBC News. The film was praised as “wonderfully renegade” by the Washington Post.
Apple officially announced a battery replacement policy on November 14, 2003 and also announced an extended iPod warranty program on November 21. The Washington Post incorrectly stated that both programs were announced “days after” the movie became public. Fox News set the date of the policy change at “two weeks” after the posting of the clip and Neil Cavuto called it a “David and Goliath story” on Fox News Your World. Apple spokeswoman Natalie Sequeira denied any connection between the film and the new policy, stating the policy revision had been in the works for months before the film was released.
Science experiments
In 2004 Neistat and his brother created a film series titled Science Experiments. The 15 minute series featured a number of short films documenting various experiments. The series was included in the 26th Sao Paulo Biennial in São Paulo, Brazil. The work was popular and was eventually featured in Creative Time’s59th Minute program showing a one-minute excerpt from Neistat’s film every 59 minutes on the Panasonic Time Square Astrovision.
Television and film
HBO series
In July 2008, Home Box Office HBO purchased an eight-episode television series, “The Neistat Brothers”, for just under $2 million. The series was created by Casey Neistat, Van Neistat, Mason Daugherty and Tom Scott. Independent film producer Christine Vachon served as consulting producer. Written and directed by Casey and Van, the show is autobiographical and told in the first person. Each of the eight episodes is made up of short stories about the brothers’ lives. The show premiered June 4, 2010 at midnight on HBO.
The Hollywood Reporter said ‘the Neistat Brothers are to film what Dr. Seuss is to literature’. Hank Stuever of the Washington post noted ‘the Neistats exhibit an enthusiasm for life that you can’t help but love’. The show was not without detractors. The blog The Zeitgeisty Report called the show ‘A cutesy, hipster-y, pretentious mess’ and went on to suggest it was “the most irritating show in HBO’s history.”
The Pleasure of Being Robbed
Casey Neistat served as Executive Producer on the 2008 film The Pleasure of Being Robbed. The film premiered at the 2008 Cannes Film Festival.
Daddy Longlegs
Neistat along with Tom Scott was the producer of Josh and Benny Safdie’ssecond feature film, which premiered at Cannes under an alternate title Go Get Some Rosemary in 2009. Film critic A.O. Scott praised its “loose, intimate shooting-style,” and the film’s star Ronald Bronstein’s performance. He called it a “lovely, hair-raising film”. Neistat and Scott alongside director’s Josh and Benny Safdie won the Cassavetes Award at the 2011 Independent Spirit Awards for the film, under its American title: Daddy Longlegs.
Internet videos
Neistat has released 430 (as of February 6th, 2016) short movies on YouTube since the account was opened on February 15, 2010. The subject matter of the movies varies greatly and most feature Neistat. On August 24, 2015, Neistat reached 1 million subscribers on his YouTube channel.
As of February 2016, Casey has 2.2 million subscribers on YouTube.
Free $2 Bill Stickers
Casey Neistat made a video on February 14, 2012 that is almost 3 minutes long. He talks about how he made “a bunch of $2 bill stickers” and that he will give them away free to anyone who sends him a self-addressed stamped envelope to his address and he would send you stickers back. It also shows him in New York City putting them on various objects around the city.
Chatroulette
On February 23, 2010 Neistat released a 5-minute movie about the internet site Chatroulette on Vimeo. The film was described as a 6-minute video that explains what the Chatroulette site is, how it works, and why people use it. Various experiments are conducted in the video with the findings presented in stop frame animations. One experiment found that people on Chatroulette are much more likely to talk to a woman. While 95% “nexted” Neistat, his female friend Genevieve was clicked away by only 5%.
Subway emergency brakes
In 2010 Neistat made a video about when, and when not, to use the emergency brake cord on train cars in the New York City Subway. According to the video, one should only use the emergency brake when the motion of the train poses an imminent threat to life or limb.
Bike lanes
In 2011 Neistat made a video critical of the New York City Police Department‘s ticketing of cyclists in New York City for riding outside of the marked bike lanes. In the video Neistat films an encounter with an officer wherein he receives a $50 summons for not riding within the marked lanes. Neistat then proceeds to comically ride his bike in the lane crashing into various obstructions to highlight his argument that the lanes are not always the safest place for cyclists to ride. As described in a June 24, 2011 article in the New York Times, “[Neistat] followed the officer’s order to the letter, keeping to the bike lane even when the way was blocked. And he had a friend record his painful-looking pratfalls as he crashed into obstructions, including a moving truck and a police cruiser, like a modern-day Buster Keaton.” The Guardian said that “within 24 hours, [the Bike Lanes video] has gone beyond viral and is getting him huge mainstream media attention.”
In response, New York Magazine called Neistat a “Bike-Lane Vigilante” and the film was covered by most main stream media outlets.Additionally, TIME named Bike Lanes number 8 on their Top 10 Creative Videos of 2011 list.
Neistat’s grandmother
Louise Neistat (Born Louise Celice Grossman), Casey Neistat’s grandmother, was a tap dancer and one of the Radio City Music Hall’sRockettes during World War II. In 2004, Casey directed a video in which his grandmother made the “world’s greatest french toast” and delivered it to his son, Owen. This video can be found on Casey’s “Casey Neistat Classics” YouTube channel.
On October 31, 2011 Casey Neistat posted a 4-minute short film on YouTube about her. The video opens with Casey asking his grandmother how many more years she thinks she will put on her annual tap dance show then inter-cuts various press clippings from her accomplished life with footage from her most recent tap dance show, the focus of her accomplishments being the money her tap dancing has raised for cancer research-related charities. The video was tweeted by YouTube’s official Twitter handle and appeared on numerous news and viral video websites including the Huffington Post. 22 days after the video was released Louise Neistat died of natural causes; Casey wrote her obituary and delivered the eulogy.
Make It Count
Make It Count is a video written, directed and starring Casey Neistat for Nike. The video begins with scrolling text that reads;
“Nike asked me to make a movie about what it means to #makeitcount Instead of making their movie I spent the entire budget traveling around the world with my friend Max. We’d keep going until the money ran out. It took 10 days.”
The video then begins in earnest with Neistat and his collaborator Max Joseph traveling to the airport. Fast editing of their travels with interludes of inspirational quotes make up the film ultimately ending with Neistat returning to New York City where the story began. On April 8, 2012 Nike launched the video on their official YouTube page titled MAKE IT COUNT. The next day Neistat launched the video on his official YouTube. Neistat’s posting went viral, as within the first 5 days the film had been viewed over 3 million times.
Mashable’s Zoe Fox commented that it was “The Best Branding Story Ever Told”. A number of main stream outlets referred to Neistat’s production of the film as ‘going rogue’ including CNNGo, Fast Company and CondeNaste Traveler.
Snapchat Stories
Neistat has also begun to use Snapchat to capture moments of his life and add them to his “story”. He then adds these stories to a secondary YouTube account titled Casey Neistat’s Snap Stories. Videos for this are roughly made on a daily basis, with some days having multiple videos and other days none at all. There is no main theme to these as they showcase all different parts of his life or whatever he is doing that day.
In 2014, Neistat was listed on New Media Rockstars Top 100 Channels, ranked at #82.
Daily vlogs
Neistat started to post daily vlogs on March 25, 2015 which can be found on his YouTube channel. On May 15, 2015 his 52nd vlog post, “The Vice President, Outer Space and the Baby,” Neistat stated that he sees his vlogs more as a forum opposed to a daily journal. On January 19, 2016 Neistat posted his 300th vlog.
Snowboarding with the NYPD
On January 23, 2016, during the January 2016 United States blizzard, which caused travel bans in New York City, Neistat and Jesse Wellens filmed a video through the empty streets of New York City. The 2-minute, 41-second video, titled “Snowboarding with the NYPD,” showed Neistat being towed on a rope (he later revealed that he forgot the rope at his Connecticut home and was using a HDMI cable) on the streets and through places like Times Square. The video went viral and gained 6.5 million views on YouTube within 24 hours. Casey later released a behind the scenes video that details the making of the video.
In his July 8, 2015 vlog, Neistat announced that he has been working with Matt Hackett on building a video sharing app called Beme. The first version of Beme was launched on July 17, 2015. Designed as an alternative to highly edited content found in social media, the app enables users to produce unedited 4-second videos, which are immediately uploaded and shared with the user’s subscribers, without the ability to review the video. Users respond to shared content by sending “reactions”, photographs of themselves, back to the video uploader.
Beme released the first version of the app on July 17, 2015. Shortly after the launch, BuzzFeed described Beme’s minimalist design as “deceptively simple and decidedly weird.” The New York Times explained that Beme’s user experience is “as if the phone becomes a stand-in for one’s body, the camera facing outward to capture what the user is experiencing.” Within eight days of the app’s release, Beme users had shared 1.1 million videos and logged 2.4 million reactions.
Advertising
In addition to his career in television and film, Neistat also directs television commercials, having worked with clients such as Nike, Inc, Google, J.Crew, and Mercedes-Benz.
Public speaking
Neistat has lectured on topics related to filmmaking and his life experiences.
On October 15, 2010 Neistat spoke at the South Carolina Arts Education Association Fall Conference. He was the events Special Feature Media Artist.
On February 2, 2011 Neistat Lectured in the Celeste Bartos Theater at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City. The lecture was described as “Casey Neistat will show and tell you how he taught himself everything from design to filmmaking since he dropped out of high school. His tools are simple; a camera, a marker, paper and scissors and anything that surrounds him, which he incorporates into stories on topics such as the subway’s emergency brake and Facebook’s privacy settings.” Tickets for the event were $40 and it was sold out. Neistat concluded his lecture by inviting Q and A participants onto the stage to choose a gift from his large cardboard box labeled Party Favors, gifts included an iPad, fake Rolex and cases of beer.
Casey Neistat spoke at The Nantucket Project on October 2, 2011. Described as an event experience that brings together a select group of eminent and accomplished visionaries, thinkers, innovators and performers to one of the most storied places in the United States. Neistat spoke for a predetermined 20 minutes along with presenters such as politician Rahm Emanuel, American BusinessmanEddie Lampert, former United States Secretary of the TreasuryLawrence Summers, Google Executive Charman Eric Schmidt and stage director Julie Taymor. Neistat’s lecture was described as a ‘witty explanation of how he chooses his topics and his methods of production gave hope to every potential filmmaker, at any income level’.
Neistat spoke at the TEDx Parker School in Chicago on March 24, 2012. The events theme was The Eye Opening Experience.
Personal life
On February 18, 2013 Neistat became engaged to Candice Pool, who is featured in many of his films. On December 29, 2013, Candice and Casey were married in Cape Town, South Africa. They have a daughter, Francine. Neistat has a son, Owen, from a previous relationship with Robin Harris.
Just writing those words for this title: “On becoming a filmmaker” makes my hands shake because in my mind that distinction is reserved for people next to the Gods. I’m a huge Terantino fan but way before that, and for ever after, I’m a freak for Stanley Kubrick, as well as an absolute groupie of David Lynch but my list of adoration for movie cinema doesn’t stop there, rather it starts there and goes on for pages.
There are so many great filmmakers that it staggers the imagination, it’s just that I never thought, or supposed, that I would ever have the chance to be one of them AND now I do because tonight, in Hollywood, it’s the Academy Awards, better known as the “Oscars” and for the first time in history and Internet geek, like me, is bringing the info to the masses by Video Logging (vlogging) and preparing a film, for the masses, over the night. His name is Casey Neistat and he’s my new hero!
This is the “reality” of reality TV! One person creates the entire episode, every time, with no hidden agenda or sponsored message. Pure reality, streamed in your face, every day. We have crossed an important demarcation point from which we may actually gain ground and become much closer to the real “truth”, than what is currently called “Reality Television”. We have reached a major milestone, where youtube and all of the social infrastructure that surrounds it, all of a sudden becomes as important as mainstream media’s canned, packaged, over-produced and heavily-processed, mind-numbing, made-for-the-masses, mainstream “synthetic truth”, film-production.
We Internet geeks and Youtube warriors have crossed the Rubicon, there’s no coming back and it’s up to us, now that Casey has breached the gate, to attack! The door is open for us and the entire world is turning towards a new information source. It’s one to the many, or one to none, it doesn’t matter, we all have been given the green-light and shown the future.
Have you ever wondered, what was the best of the best city in the world, for night life?
Wonder no-more, I’m going to tell you.
[box type=”note” style=”rounded” border=”full”]There is no Bar-Culture on earth like Brazil. How do I know this? = Experience.[/box]
I will admit, that Barcelona, Perth in Western Australia rocks and Hong Kong is cool but after 12 years living in Miami I set the bar very high, and having lived in, and or partied at, practically the best night-life spots on the planet, speaking from 55 years of experience and weighing it against California, which for me is the Mecca, I can honestly say that Sampa (Sao Paulo) is so far above and beyond those other night-life experiences as to warrant it’s own category.
[box]Sampa, or as I prefer to call it, the “Big Pineapple” is in a league of it’s own, as the most fabulous city on earth – with no rivals.[/box]
The “Big Pineapple” was the name my Amigo and attorney, Gustavo – (note: smokin-hot poker player) gave to place, as far as I know, unless someone else had named it “the Big Pineapple” but from my limited research, Gustavo named it – “the Big Pineapple” and to me and, if Hunter S. Thompson was still alive, just like; Elvis has left the building, then he, Hunter, and actually both, would concur, that Sampa (Sao Paulo, Brasil) is the “the Big Pineapple”, without a doubt.
Cidade da Garoa, is the moniker Sao Paulo wears – the city of drizzle, which is too true. This city is inside a rain-forest, the natives, or to be more politically correct, the indigenous people, called it a “forest of stone” because of all the the concrete towers. Truly, it’s not like anything you’ve ever seen. Take for example the Los Angeles basin, of if you prefer; LA, it has a physical footprint, on mostly flat land, of 60km by 30km, pushed-up against the Pacific. This grid is 60km by 60km but realistically over twice the footprint of LA.
So what makes it so sweet, to earn the Pineapple distinction? That’s the best question you could ever ask because like a Pineapple, you must not be fooled what you see on the surface. In order to taste the sweetness of Sampa, you must bite into what you do not see on the surface and sink your teeth into something that is beyond your (due to previous programming) ability to comprehend. That is, the sweetness, of what twenty-one million people living together, in an un-harmonic harmony, sounds and feel like – love!
Pedra Grande is actually the name of this magical place I discovered about 100km from Sao Paulo. Big Rock Brazil was a brand idea for creating a mountain bike resort on a private property in Pedra Grande. Btw: (by the way) Pedra translates to English as stone or rock and grande is large or big, well the name “Big Rock Brazil”, for marketing purposes, just seemed like a no-brainer.
My friends that own the magical place called “Pousada Pedra Grande Atibaia“ liked the Gringo brand idea, next we developed a website BigRockBrazil.com and started planning some ideas for helping them grow their business, as well as recruit a crew to build North American “style” downhill mountain bike trails. Check out the best mountain bike comparisons on NicheReviewed.com to help you choose a great bike for these trails. This Pousada/resort has the best natural terrain of anywhere in Brazil for building a mountain bike park, with a 7km public road access all the way to the top of Pedra Grand (Big Rock).
A haven for those seeking challenging mountain bike terrain, for downhill, enduro and or free riding in a tropical mountain paradise, only 100 km from Sao Paulo. Located 15km from the city of Atibaia, occupies an area of 90 acres, with an average altitude of 1200 m.
Founded in the 1970s, Pousada Pedra Grande Atibaia, offers you a unique service, one of the most beautiful regions, located on the mountain, near the tourist city of Pedra Grande, a place full of history and culture. Ever since the beginning, this family-owned operation has been designing, developing, building and grooming a network of walking, hiking and mountain-bike riding trails, as well as extreme and ultra sport courses, to provide wide variety of recreation and rainforest action/adventure sports, from the valley bottom, all the way to the top of the famous Pedra Grande.
Being in touch with nature, with the fauna and the native flora of the Atlantic Forest, rest comfortably, have fun with family and friends, do business or attend events, training and sports.
The reason for reading the Ultimate Thinking Machine is to understand that there is an optimistic future, according to the world’s foremost futurist, Ray Kurzweil and he’s in good company amongst academics and tech mavens from Silicon Valley. They all share a consensus that our world will be better in the future. There are plenty of reasons to believe that we’re just going through some challenging times at present.
Let’s try to be clear about where we’re currently at. It’s my contention, based on all the available information, that our world first contracted chronic Dystopia in 1963 from what was a coup d’etat but more well known as the Kennedy assassination (unless you believe the magic bullet theory). This act was followed by four decades of nefarious skulduggery, tyranny and global domination, pillaging and looting, leading up to the greatest act of psychological warfare ever enacted on NYC to the world, then broadcast to every inhabitant on earth, repeatedly, with the greatest amount of deep emotional programming.
[box]Every one of us, has been affected permanently, by powerful psychological programming.[/box]
The first step in curing any malady is to recognize that there is a Dis-ease. Let’s call a spade a spade, dystopia is a disease. Next, identify the symptoms, for example; lethargy, depression, resentment of authority, pessimism, lack of trust in financial systems, and loss of ambition, just to name a few. Plus, fast-forward to today and add to our diagnosis additional mitigating factors such as chemtrails, Fukishima, the end of Europe (as we knew it), imminent and unavoidable economic collapse, Trump or Hitlery for President in 2016 and WW3 in Syria. Now, to suggest that we’re in stage 3 terminal dystopia sounds like an understatement.
To deny or ignore the dire straights that we currently find our world in, a person would need to be either brain-dead or completely ignorant. It’s really easy to understand how a person can catch this curse.
[box]The sixty four thousand dollar question is; how do we get rid of this sickening dis-ease?[/box]
So what’s a person suffering from too much truth supposed to do? Treatment: Get over it. Recommendation: Move on, there’s nothing to see here….
Raymond “Ray” Kurzweil; (born February 12, 1948) is an American author, computer scientist, inventor and futurist. Kurzweil received the 1999 National Medal of Technology and Innovation, the United States’ highest honor in technology, from President Clinton in a White House ceremony. He was the recipient of the $500,000 Lemelson-MIT Prize for 2001, the world’s largest for innovation. And in 2002 he was inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame, established by the U.S. Patent Office. He has received twenty honorary doctorates, and honors from three U.S. presidents.
[box type=”note”]For the past several decades, Kurzweil’s most effective and common approach to doing creative work has been conducted during his lucid dreamlike state which immediately precedes his awakening state. He claims to have constructed inventions, solved difficult problems, such as algorithmic, business strategy, organizational, and interpersonal problems, and written speeches in this state.[/box]
Kurzweil has been described as a “restless genius” by The Wall Street Journal and “the ultimate thinking machine” by Forbes. PBS included Kurzweil as one of 16 “revolutionaries who made America” along with other inventors of the past two centuries. Inc. magazine ranked him #8 among the “most fascinating” entrepreneurs in the United States and called him “Edison’s rightful heir”.
Kurzweil – the thinking machine quote;
“I realize that most inventions fail not because the R&D department can’t get them to work, but because the timing is wrong—not all of the enabling factors are at play where they are needed. Inventing is a lot like surfing: you have to anticipate and catch the wave at just the right moment.”
Kurzweil has authored seven books, five of which have been national bestsellers. The Age of Spiritual Machines has been translated into 9 languages and was the #1 best-selling book on Amazon in science. Kurzweil’s book The Singularity Is Near was a The New York Times bestseller, and has been the #1 book on Amazon in both science and philosophy. Kurzweil speaks widely to audiences public and private and regularly delivers keynote speeches at industry conferences like DEMO, SXSW and TED. He maintains the news website KurzweilAI.net, which has over three million readers annually.
Future predictions by the Ultimate Thinking Machine Ray Kurzweil
In 1999, Kurzweil published a second book titled The Age of Spiritual Machines, which goes into more depth explaining his futurist ideas. The third and final part of the book is devoted to predictions over the coming century, from 2009 through 2099. In The Singularity Is Near he makes fewer concrete short-term predictions, but includes many longer-term visions.
He states that with radical life extension will come radical life enhancement. He says he is confident that within 10 years we will have the option to spend some of our time in 3D virtual environments that appear just as real as real reality, but these will not yet be made possible via direct interaction with our nervous system. “If you look at video games and how we went from pong to the virtual reality we have available today, it is highly likely that immortality in essence will be possible.” He claims to know that 20 to 25 years from now, we will have millions of blood-cell sized devices, known as nanobots, inside our bodies fighting against diseases, improving our memory, and cognitive abilities.
Kurzweil claims to know that a machine will pass the Turing test by 2029, and that around 2045, “the pace of change will be so astonishingly quick that we won’t be able to keep up, unless we enhance our own intelligence by merging with the intelligent machines we are creating”. Shortly after, Kurzweil claims to know that humans will be a hybrid of biological and non-biological intelligence that becomes increasingly dominated by its non-biological component. He stresses that “AI is not an intelligent invasion from Mars. These are brain extenders that we have created to expand our own mental reach. They are part of our civilization. They are part of who we are.
So over the next few decades our human-machine civilization will become increasingly dominated by its non-biological component. In Transcendent Man Kurzweil states “We humans are going to start linking with each other and become a metaconnection we will all be connected and all be omnipresent, plugged into this global network that is connected to billions of people, and filled with data.” Kurzweil states in a press conference that we are the only species that goes beyond our limitations- “we didn’t stay in the caves, we didn’t stay on the planet, and we’re not going to stay with the limitations of our biology”. In his singularity based documentary he is quoted saying “I think people are fooling themselves when they say they have accepted death”.
In 2008, Kurzweil said in an expert panel in the National Academy of Engineering that solar power will scale up to produce all the energy needs of Earth’s people in 20 years. According to Kurzweil, we only need to capture 1 part in 10,000 of the energy from the Sun that hits Earth’s surface to meet all of humanity’s energy needs.
To be original – is the most important key to success for a vlog on Youtube but you must also be genuine and tell a worthwhile story in a thought-provoking style. To share your journey and inspire others to take action and improve their lives and/or the lives of others around them. This is the desired result, the purpose and the best reason to go to the effort to design and produce a vlog but can only happen with great story-telling – therein lays the challenge.
In order to tell a story that never ends, you need a vlog design which is somewhat of a format combined with an editorial calendar. The idea here is to create a cohesive story-strategy, where each new episode connects to the next but throughout the course of a month, several activities would repeat on certain days of the week. For example; Sunday’s on the bike in the Park, a weekly update with a media partner, in my case; “Peace Revolution” and one day per week in the studio, another example; “A day at the bookstore”.
As for each episode of the vlog, the best on Youtube all have a format. Some use time-lapse, almost all good vlogs have music tracks and most have custom graphics and make use of what are called “call-outs”, which is large text blocks, often made into bullet points. The trend is to provide as much added information to as many frames as possible, often sound effects are synced to match the graphics. The production quality of the very best vlog is on par with Television and/or film because many of the vloggers are using the same, or almost equivalent film editing software as the leading film studios. Many of the best vlogs are created by expert film makers, but most are people who are self-taught.
As for cameras and technology, this is what is most amazing, in many cases mobile phones are the cameras and almost any computer that can download film editing software will do. Microsoft includes a film editing software on most computers, or it’s a matter of minutes to download one of several that will do the job. You just need to know what you’re doing and that’s the tough issue because these types of software have a very steep learning curve, although there are lot’s of good tutorials and how-to guides,
[box type=”tick” size=”large” style=”rounded” border=”full”]At the end of the day it’s all about the story and how the story is told but if it’s not consistent it’ll never get traction.[/box]
Inspire and motivate self-improvement and harm-reduction. The siliconpalms vlog is a positive attitude outlet, with the objective to create a good vibe every day and to provide value to anyone who watches and listens to the meaningful message.
Combat the blues and overcome lethargy by changing the way you think about the world. Improve your lifestyle and defeat dystopia by reducing your consumption of substances, put down that bong and pick-up a pen. Design your own movie script, starring you, as the ultimate escape-artist. Escape from the Drudge Report, escape from Facebook and escape from whatever might be holding you back and hanging you up.
One of the reasons I started the siliconpalms vlog was to document my own transformation. You see; I found myself in a challenging predicament, by the age of 55, something I never expected or planned, something that started-out so innocently and over time grew into a bigger and bigger problem, until I was carrying a monkey on my back. Yep, you guessed it, I woke-up one day I knew I’d become an escape artist with an addiction to fun, that’s why one of the themes of the siliconpalms vlog is good vibrations, which is my method for putting negative thinking, in the rear-view mirror.
This is a new and exciting chapter in my life. I’m making something positive out of something negative and it’s my sincere hope that I’ll inspire and motivate someone to take action and stand in their power. Face yourself and make a decision to make the lifestyle changes necessary to get the monkey off your back, whatever it may be.
My story is compelling because I have a unique perspective and I live in one of the most vibrant and exciting cities in the world, Sao Paulo, Brazil. I’m a people-person and have friends all over the world, not virtual friends, real-world, real people friends but what makes the story interesting is the day-to-day interactions with regular folks, everywhere I go. It’s all about love.
Santa Catarina (Portuguese pronunciation for: Saint Catherine) is a state in southern Brazil with the perfect climate year round for mountain bike riding and action sports. The very best of the Floresta Atlantica, beside the largest natural preserves and huge state parks bursting with rivers and waterfalls. Aside from the natural beauty, according to the Index of Economic Well-Being, Santa Catarina was ranked as the Brazilian state with the highest economic well-being and standard of living.
My favourite place to stay in all of Brazil, is a little Pousada called the “Full Moon” on the southern tip of the magical island of Florianopolis.
Quality of life is very high by Brazilian and Latin American standards. It is the Brazilian state with the highest levels of income, education and public health, and one of the lowest rates of illiteracy. Santa Catarina boasts Brazil’s highest average life expectancy and lowest homicide rate in addition to lower levels of corruption. The cities of the state are also considered the most “livable” in Brazil, appearing as the most “clean, safe and organized” of the country. In recent decades, Santa Catarina has been dubbed “the Brazil that worked”.
Geography
Santa Catarina is in a very strategic position in Mercosul, the South American Common Market. Its position in the map is situated between the parallel 25º57’41” and 29º23’55” of the Southern latitude and between the meridians 48º19’37” and 53º50’00” of Western longitude. Florianópolis, its capital, is 1,673 km (1,040 mi) from Brasilia, 705 km (438 mi) from São Paulo, 1,144 km (711 mi) from Rio de Janeiro and 1,850 km (1,150 mi) from Buenos Aires.
The Serra Geral, a southern extension of the Serra do Mar, runs north and south through the state parallel to the Atlantic coast, dividing the state between a narrow coastal plain and a larger plateau region to the west.
The Atlantic coast of Santa Catarina has many beaches, islands, bays, inlets, and lagoons. The humid tropical Serra do Mar coastal forests cover the narrow coastal zone, which is crossed by numerous short streams from the wooded slopes of the serras.
The central part of the state is home to the Araucaria moist forests, dominated by emergent Brazilian pines (Araucaria angustifolia). The drainage of the plateau is westward to the Paraná River, the rivers being tributaries of the Iguaçu, which forms its northern boundary, and of the Uruguay River, which forms its southern boundary. The semi-deciduous Paraná-Paraíba interior forests occupy the westernmost valleys of the Iguaçu and Uruguay rivers.
The highest point of the state is the Morro da Boa Vista, with an altitude of 1,827 m, and the second highest point is the Morro da Igreja, in the town of Urubici, with an altitude of 1,822 m.
Demographics
According to the IBGE of 2008, there were 6,091,000 people residing in the state. The population density was 61.53 inhabitants per square kilometre (159.4 /sq mi).
Urbanization: 83% (2006); Population growth: 2% (1991–2000); Houses: 1,836,000 (2006).
The last PNAD (National Research for Sample of Domiciles) census revealed the following numbers: 5,297,000 White people (86.96%), 608,000 Brown (Multiracial) people (9.98%), 160,000 Black people (2.63%), 15,000 Asian people (0.25%), 5,000 Amerindian people (0.09%).
People of Portuguese ancestry, mostly Azoreans, predominate on the coast. People of German descent predominate in the northeast region (Itajaí Valley) and in the north (Joinville region). There are many German communities in the west. People of Italian descent predominate in the south, as well in many areas in the west. People of African, Amerindian or Japanese origins are small communities in a few towns.
According to a genetic study from 2013, Brazilians in Santa Catarina have 79.7% European, 11.4% African and 8.9% Amerindian ancestries, respectively. A genetic study found out an isolated Azorean-Brazilian community from Santa Catarina to have between 80,6% to 93,5% european input, along with 12,6% to 6,8% african and 4,1% to 2,4% native american ancestries.
Without a doubt, the oldest and most well-recognized brand in the “Expat” niche is Escape Artist (see: EscapeArtist.com). I moved to South America in 2004, prior to that I lived in South Florida and Miami for 12 years, from where my career took me all over the Bahamas, Central America and the Caribbean. Back in those days, before embarking on any new destination, I would use Escape Artist for my research, to know what to expect on the ground, where I was going.
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