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Dispatches from Rio: A Week of AI, Satire, and Saturday Reflections

What a week it has been here in Rio de Janeiro! From diving into the mechanics of blog growth with Python to scripting “lost” sitcom episodes and debating the true meaning of fairness, the conversation has covered everything from the technical to the philosophical. Whether you are looking for a laugh, a deep dive into American history, or a peek into a typical retired day in Brazil, there is something here for you.

What to Expect: In this review, I’ve curated the week’s journey to give you a quick way to catch up. Below, you will find the Top Posts by Category based on community engagement, followed by a comprehensive list of The Weekly Blog Posts From BeingKevin, each with a quick hook and summary to get you started.

My Blog Pick Of The Week With The Most Likes

Blog of the Week — 2026-08-29

Covering 2026-08-24 to 2026-08-29

This week’s spotlight goes to Second Wind Leisure Perspectives for their post “The Flower Hour #45: Advice from a Sunflower”, which picked up 111 likes and 139 comments. If you’re into books, it’s worth a read.

For the Flower Hour, I’m offering advice from a sunflower 🙂…

👉 Read it here

Top Posts by Category

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Also worth your time this week

• Daily Prompt: Pandora by Rang-Rivaz (63 likes)
• Life: Communication lines- Broken? Life Lessons by Keep it alive (52 likes)
• Travel: MOUNT ELLINOR CLIMB – TOUGHIE!!! Great views. Great weather. Mean Trail. by deetezellimountainstories (13 likes)
• Books: Summer Between the Pages by Georgi Kisyov – Reflections & Books (89 likes)
• Writing: Shell Game by Flirting in Space (88 likes)
• Humor: What’s the weirdest coincidence you’ve ever experienced? (FoolZ²) by Wise FoolZ (41 likes)
• Culture: I’M SAD AND HEARTBROKEN! by pamen269’s Blog (13 likes)
• Food: Pear Cake by Culinary Delights from around the World (39 likes)

The Weekly Blog Posts From BeingKevin

The Week in Review: From Satirical Soccer Rules to the Hidden Costs of Living the Dream
What a week it has been! If you’ve been following along, you know we’ve covered everything from corporate consultants invading the soccer field to deeply personal reflections on family, history, and even a surprise book release. Grab a hot cup of coffee (perhaps with a side of pão de queijo) and let’s dive into a recap of the week’s conversations.

In this week’s review, here is a quick look at what you can expect:
Top Posts by Category – The standout posts from around the web, curated and categorized for your weekend reading.
The Weekly Blog Posts From BeingKevin – A complete digest of all 13 of my posts from this past week, packed with humor, history, and honest thoughts.

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Sol e Sombra — A Story of a Mother and Son

This week’s final post was also one of the most personal. Sol e Sombra – Autismo de mãe para filho is a book written by my wife, Luisa Santos Wholley, telling the story of a mother’s journey through autism with her son. The book is written in Portuguese, and we’ll be attending the book release at the Bienal de São Paulo on September 12.

The post is a short introduction to the book, the story behind it, and the people who made it possible. It is especially meaningful because our son Nick created the artwork for the cover.

It’s a very different kind of post for BeingKevin, but that’s part of what this blog is about. Sometimes the biggest stories aren’t about history or politics or technology. Sometimes they’re about family.

Read the full post: Sol e Sombra →

The Hidden Cost of Living the Dream

Retirement in Brazil has been one of the best decisions I’ve ever made. But living the dream doesn’t mean the dream comes without a price.

In this week’s Coffee with Kevin, I looked at the part of retiring abroad that doesn’t always make the travel brochures: distance from family. Living thousands of miles from the United States means missing birthdays, family dinners, everyday moments, and watching grandchildren grow between visits.

The irony is that the time I spend with my family now can actually be more meaningful because when I visit, we deliberately make time for each other. Still, there is no getting around the fact that Brazil and the United States are a very long flight apart.

I wouldn’t trade the life I’ve built here. But loving one place doesn’t mean you stop loving another.

Read the full post: The Hidden Cost of Living the Dream →

My New Hobby: Web Development and Building Websites for Small Businesses

Apparently retirement wasn’t enough.

What started as an attempt to brush up on HTML, CSS, and JavaScript has turned into something considerably more interesting. I’m now working on Old Guy Web Works, a small project aimed at helping small businesses and individuals build simple, clean websites without all the unnecessary complexity.

I’m building the sites myself, hosting them through GitHub, and developing a few portfolio projects before officially offering the service.

The name pretty much says it all: I’m an old guy, I work on the web, and apparently I have enough of a sense of humor to name a business after both facts.

Not bad for a hobby that was supposed to be nothing more than brushing up on some old technology.

Read the full post: My New Hobby — Web Development and Building Websites for Small Businesses →

Weekend Watch & Read: Netflix, Best Sellers, and a Book Review

Friday brought another edition of Weekend Watch & Read, where I look at what people are watching in the United States and Brazil, what readers are buying, and what I’ve been reading myself.

This week, Outer Banks topped both Netflix lists, showing one of those interesting overlaps between American and Brazilian audiences. The New York Times lists offered plenty of other reading choices, from fiction to nonfiction.

But the real focus of the post was my review of Say Nothing by Patrick Radden Keefe.

I gave the book five stars. What I expected to be primarily a murder mystery turned into a fascinating history of the IRA, Northern Ireland, political violence, divided loyalties, and the Troubles. Keefe manages to make a complicated period of history accessible while keeping the story moving like a thriller.

For anyone interested in Irish history or simply a great piece of nonfiction, this one is worth a look.

Read the full post: Weekend Watch & Read →

Seinfeld and the Big Coincidence Debate

Sometimes a writing prompt gives you something profound to think about.

Other times, it reminds you of Seinfeld.

I recently watched the episode “The Statue” and immediately noticed the perfect coincidence: the next writing prompt happened to ask about the biggest coincidence I’d ever experienced.

Naturally, I had to write about Seinfeld.

The episode features Elaine and Rava debating whether there can be such a thing as a “big coincidence” or whether a coincidence is simply a coincidence. And somehow, the timing of the writing prompt created my own little Seinfeld coincidence.

It’s not exactly a philosophical breakthrough, but it is a pretty good excuse to talk about one of my favorite television shows.

Read the full post: Seinfeld and the Big Coincidence Debate →

1776 Was Never Guaranteed

This week’s history piece took us back to the American Revolution and challenged one of the biggest assumptions we make about history: that the outcome was inevitable.

It wasn’t.

In early 1776, the colonies were divided, the Continental Army was struggling, many colonists weren’t looking for independence at all, and Britain possessed enormous military and economic advantages.

The Revolution succeeded because circumstances, leadership, timing, political mistakes, and growing resentment eventually came together. Thomas Paine helped turn frustration into something people could understand. Washington’s army survived despite conditions that were often desperate.

The larger lesson is what makes the history relevant today. Institutions can survive disagreement. What they have much more difficulty surviving is the loss of trust when people begin to believe they’re being managed rather than represented.

History doesn’t always repeat itself, but human behavior has an annoying habit of doing so.

Read the full post: 1776 Was Never Guaranteed →

Books I Hated but Finished Anyway

This might be the most honest book-related post of the week.

The question was simple: What’s a book you never finished but still think about?

My answer was basically, “I don’t have one.”

I’ve never started a book and failed to finish it. Even when I absolutely hated the book, I finished it anyway.

Two examples immediately came to mind: 1984 and Atlas Shrugged.

Both are considered classics. Both are widely regarded as must-reads. And I thought both were a slog.

But once I buy a book, apparently my stubbornness takes over. I can complain about it for hundreds of pages, but I’m going to finish the damn thing.

So I don’t really have books I never finished.

I have books I wish I hadn’t finished.

Read the full post: Books I Hated but Finished Anyway →

How a Jewish Movement Became Christianity

This was one of the week’s deeper historical pieces.

The basic question was straightforward: How did a movement centered around a Jewish teacher named Jesus eventually become Christianity?

Jesus was Jewish. His earliest followers were Jewish. They initially saw themselves not as members of a new religion but as Jews who believed Jesus was the promised Messiah.

The transformation happened gradually. The inclusion of Gentiles, the work of Paul, the destruction of the Second Temple, and the eventual separation between Rabbinic Judaism and Christianity all played important roles.

But the post goes beyond the historical timeline and asks a larger question about institutions, power, faith, and what happens when organizations built around an idea begin protecting the institution itself.

It’s history, but it’s also a look at what happens when human beings get involved with systems of belief and power.

Read the full post: How a Jewish Movement Became Christianity →

If I Could Vacation in TV Shows

If you could spend a week inside a television show, where would you go?

My answer was probably more complicated than it needed to be.

I’d spend one week in The Walking Dead, assuming I could somehow survive it. Then I’d spend a week in Seinfeld, where the biggest problem might be an argument over absolutely nothing.

Week three would be Friends, partly because they seem to spend half their lives sitting around a coffee shop—and since I was writing the post from a coffee shop in Brazil, I figured I was already halfway there.

And week four?

I’d stay home.

After zombies, Seinfeld-level nonsense, and sitcom drama, I’d probably need a vacation from my vacation.

Read the full post: If I Could Vacation in TV Shows →

One of My Favorite Spots — GoCoffee Brazil

Sometimes a blog post doesn’t need to be complicated.

Sometimes you just need coffee, pão de queijo, and a coxinha.

GoCoffee has become one of my favorite places in Brazil. I stop there several times a week, and they’ve reached the point where they know me when I walk through the door.

That’s one of the things I enjoy most about becoming a regular somewhere. It’s not just the food or the coffee. It’s the familiarity. The people know you, they know what you usually order, and suddenly a coffee shop becomes part of your daily life.

For me, GoCoffee has also become a place where I spend time working on the blog, learning new technology, and enjoying retirement one coffee at a time.

Not a bad way to spend a couple of hours.

Read the full post: One of My Favorite Spots — GoCoffee Brazil →

The Greatest Generation

One of this week’s writing prompts asked which historical event I’d want to go back and witness.

My answer wasn’t actually an event.

It was a generation.

I chose the Greatest Generation—the people who lived through the Great Depression, World War II, and enormous changes in American life.

What fascinates me isn’t simply what they endured. It’s how they kept moving forward despite having none of the conveniences we consider essential today.

No smartphones. No internet. No Google to tell them how to fix everything.

They had each other.

For me, that’s what makes their story worth remembering. They faced enormous challenges, adapted, sacrificed, and ultimately helped build the world that followed.

If I could go back, that’s the period I’d want to see.

Read the full post: The Greatest Generation →

American Management Has Improved Soccer

And then there was this.

If Americans bought soccer, naturally we would improve it.

At least that’s the premise of this week’s satire.

The imaginary American management consultants have decided soccer needs more efficiency, more productivity, more revenue, more technology, and considerably less of the game people actually enjoy.

AI referees. Electrical shocks for offsides. Water bottles attached to players’ heads. A new penalty-kick system that basically turns the kick into a wrestling match. Players who fake injuries become permanent obstacles on the field.

And, naturally, there must be more advertising.

The whole thing is a joke about American corporate management and our seemingly irresistible desire to “improve” things that were already working perfectly well.

Because if something has worked for hundreds of years, surely somebody eventually needs to create a PowerPoint presentation about fixing it.

Read the full post: American Management Has Improved Soccer →

The Tattoo I Might Still Get

The week began with a surprisingly personal question: If you had to get a tattoo right now, what would it be and why?

At 63, with five tattoos already, I probably don’t need another one.

But I haven’t completely ruled it out.

If I do get one more, I’m considering something that combines the three places that matter to my identity: America, Brazil, and my Irish heritage.

The idea is to weave the American and Brazilian flags together around my Irish Celtic cross.

It would represent where I came from, where I now call home, and the heritage that came before both.

And honestly?

I think it would look pretty damn good.

Read the full post: The Tattoo I Might Still Get →

Closing

And that’s the week at BeingKevin.

Thirteen posts covering everything from history and religion to books, television, soccer, technology, coffee, retirement, family, Brazil, and a possible future tattoo.

That’s probably what I like most about this blog. It doesn’t have to fit neatly into one box.

Some days I’m talking about the American Revolution. Other days I’m sitting in a Brazilian coffee shop. Sometimes I’m looking at the history of Christianity, and sometimes I’m trying to figure out how to turn a hobby into a small web development business.

And occasionally, I spend an entire post explaining why soccer needs electrical shocks.

That’s BeingKevin.

Thanks for spending some time with me this week. If you missed a post, hopefully this gives you a reason to go back and take a look. And if you’ve been following along all week, thank you for being here.

There’s always something else coming next week.

More stories. More opinions. More history. More Brazil.

And, knowing me, probably at least one thing I probably shouldn’t have written down.

I’ll see you next week.