Rio
08/25/09 12:16 AM
I recently returned from a trip to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. I was there for a symposium on the co-evolution of massive black holes and their host galaxies. The symposium was part of the International Astronomical Union’s (IAU) General Assembly. These are the same people who decided 3 years ago that Pluto is no longer a planet (yes!!).
Rio was an interesting place to visit. I realize that most of the international traveling I have done has been to fairly wealthy countries, where I have visited cities like London, Paris, Milan, Tel Aviv. Brazil is still a developing country, and Rio has a lot of poverty. Whenever I told anyone I was going to Rio, the typical response was: “Oh, isn’t it dangerous there?” Well, yes, there is a lot of crime, but I had no problems. The airport is in the northern part of the city and there are a lot of favelas (slums) in that part of the city, so that was our first view of Rio. The wealthy live in the southern part. Our driver, Roger, tried to make it sound like it's not so bad. He pointed out that while the houses and buildings in the slums are ugly, they are built out of concrete and brick. That is better, I suppose, than flimsy wooden structures. After a tour of the slums, we went through a tunnel, and when we came out, it was as if we were in a different city. It was much nicer. But, in general, the city is dirty, and there are plenty of poor people even in the southern section. There were people sleeping out on the sidewalk, and beggars would come up to you asking for money. People would also walk near -or even on- the beach trying to sell various items, such as purses made out of soda can tabs. They were all very persistent, but harmless. Perhaps, I sound a little snobbish, but I’m just reporting on what I saw. I’m glad that I had the opportunity to go and see what it’s like there. It makes me appreciate more all that we have here in the US. Even the police cars there looked old and rundown, which is very different than the brand new Dodge Chargers that the Gainesville police have.
The scenery in and around Rio is beautiful, though. It’s interesting to have a city of 6 million people in such a beautiful location. I like the combination of mountains and beach in the same place. I really liked the virgin islands for that reason, especially Tortola in the British Virgin Islands. I have posted pictures here.
Rio was an interesting place to visit. I realize that most of the international traveling I have done has been to fairly wealthy countries, where I have visited cities like London, Paris, Milan, Tel Aviv. Brazil is still a developing country, and Rio has a lot of poverty. Whenever I told anyone I was going to Rio, the typical response was: “Oh, isn’t it dangerous there?” Well, yes, there is a lot of crime, but I had no problems. The airport is in the northern part of the city and there are a lot of favelas (slums) in that part of the city, so that was our first view of Rio. The wealthy live in the southern part. Our driver, Roger, tried to make it sound like it's not so bad. He pointed out that while the houses and buildings in the slums are ugly, they are built out of concrete and brick. That is better, I suppose, than flimsy wooden structures. After a tour of the slums, we went through a tunnel, and when we came out, it was as if we were in a different city. It was much nicer. But, in general, the city is dirty, and there are plenty of poor people even in the southern section. There were people sleeping out on the sidewalk, and beggars would come up to you asking for money. People would also walk near -or even on- the beach trying to sell various items, such as purses made out of soda can tabs. They were all very persistent, but harmless. Perhaps, I sound a little snobbish, but I’m just reporting on what I saw. I’m glad that I had the opportunity to go and see what it’s like there. It makes me appreciate more all that we have here in the US. Even the police cars there looked old and rundown, which is very different than the brand new Dodge Chargers that the Gainesville police have.
The scenery in and around Rio is beautiful, though. It’s interesting to have a city of 6 million people in such a beautiful location. I like the combination of mountains and beach in the same place. I really liked the virgin islands for that reason, especially Tortola in the British Virgin Islands. I have posted pictures here.
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Recent Travels (Updated)
08/25/09 12:16 AM
I have been traveling the past several weeks. I started with a Memorial Day weekend trip with some friends to Atlanta and Blue Ridge, GA. We visited the Georgia Aquarium, which is really quite nice. Visually, they did a very nice job with the design. However, there seemed to be less focus on education than on being visually pleasing, as compared to other aquariums that I have visited. We continued north from Atlanta to a small town called Blue Ridge. We went whitewater rafting on the Ocoee River. It was my first time, and it was a lot of fun. No one fell out of the boat, but we did fall on top of each other. We ended the trip with a factory tour at the Mayfield Dairy, where they process milk.
After returning to Gainesville, I left the next day for New Jersey. Two days later, I was on a plane to Vancouver, Canada, with my parents. We spent 3 days in Vancouver, which is a very nice city. We then boarded a cruise ship, heading through the ‘Inside Passage’ to Alaska. The scenery there is gorgeous, and I will post some pictures eventually. We took 1300 pictures, so I will have to choose a sample of the best ones. Here are a couple:
After returning to Gainesville, I left the next day for New Jersey. Two days later, I was on a plane to Vancouver, Canada, with my parents. We spent 3 days in Vancouver, which is a very nice city. We then boarded a cruise ship, heading through the ‘Inside Passage’ to Alaska. The scenery there is gorgeous, and I will post some pictures eventually. We took 1300 pictures, so I will have to choose a sample of the best ones. Here are a couple:
Update: Pictures posted!
History of dancapellupo.com
04/06/09 06:26 PM
Back in the summer of 2005, I had to make a webpage to describe my summer research project. So, I learned some basic HTML, and I decided to use this knowledge to also create a website where I could post pictures for friends and family to see
(this was just a couple months before Facebook added the capability of posting photo albums). To the right is the first iteration of my website. Later, during my last semester of college, I took a class on programming with HTML and Javascript. I learned a couple tips for how to create a better layout for the website, and I created the second iteration of my website. I used Javascript to create a photo gallery that was easier to set-up than when I only knew HTML. You can still see this design in the College Years pictures on the current site. Later on, I learned style sheets which made
updates and changes to the website design easier. However, I had issues with Internet Explorer compatibility. I even set-up two versions of the website, one for IE and one for every other browser. What a pain! I always recommend that people switch to a browser that actually adheres to accepted standards. Oh well, IE8 is supposed to be different. I made a couple other changes during this time. I started hosting my website with GoDaddy.com, and I purchased the domain name www.dancapellupo.com. Besides giving me a website name that people can easily find and remember, I also had the ability to add php and other fancy stuff to my website. That’s when I started using Coppermine for posting photos. It’s designed by other people and made to work in all major web browsers (including IE). The layout was somewhat customizable, but I never loved it. In two upcoming posts, I will discuss what I now use to develop my website...
