I arrived in Salvador, Bahia, Brazil earlier this week and asked my friends about Brazil’s recent blackout. They said that, happily, the city had not been affected. When I read a newspaper on the last leg of the trip down, I noticed that a new word of English derivation seems to have entered Brazilian Portuguese: “blecaute,” which is how “black out” would be written phonetically. Since arriving, I have noted the contrast between the jobs situation in the USA and Brazil. Local news stories feature Ford’s plan to expand its factory which, directly and indirectly, is expected to create 11,000 jobs. Prosperity is showing via more traffic jams from more cars on the road!