Expat Files – 10.08.17

#1- Shipping Container Houses: everything you wanted to know about planning such projects in Latin America- the pros the cons, the good the bad and the ugly. Its odd that there are containers galore “south of the border”. They’re everywhere yet Latins are not constructing container homes or even thinking about the possibilities. If you try to bring up the …

Expat Files – 09.24.17

#1- (Anti)Social Media in Latin America and how its negatively affecting the local population: Yes, a certain small percentage of middle and upper-class Latins are addicted to Twitter and Facebook (who’d a thunk?) They have even invented a new vocabulary word for those particular stupid addictions. That said, about 80% of Latinos with little or no discretionary income have found …

Expat Files – 09.22.17

#1- Expat Eddie outlines a few of his own pointed Latin learning experiences as a gringo boss, including interviewing, hiring, firing, managing and training Latin workers. #2- When gringos get into car accidents. What if a gringo didn’t know Spanish, had an expired driver’s license and no insurance. On top of that, what if he totaled the other guy’s car, …

Looking into the Eyes of Central American Refugees in a Time of Hate and Fear

When I crossed the border, a man with his shirt unbuttoned down to his belly and sweat pouring down his chest took my passport, glanced at it for no more than two seconds, then stamped it with a smile and cheerily barked to me “welcome to Mexico.” My entry into Mexico couldn’t have been easier, because I’m from Australia and …

The Larger The City You Live In, The More Magnetic Particles Enter Your Brain

Can traffic fumes go to your head? Ultra-fine particles of metal in exhaust gases fly up our noses and travel into our brains, where they contribute to diseases associated with the central nervous system, and the more congested the city, the bigger the problem. Iron nanoparticles were already known to be present in the brain — but they were thought …

Nika Knight – Linking Alzheimer’s to Pollution, Study Finds ‘Abundant’ Toxic Nanoparticles in Human Brains

Toxic magnetic nanoparticles from air pollution have been discovered in “abundant” quantities in human brains, according to a new study. The study, published Monday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), is particularly alarming because other research recently raised the strong possibility of a link between such particles and Alzheimer’s disease. “Magnetite in the brain is not something you …

California Bill Would Require State to Post Links to Vaccine Injury Reporting and Vaccine Injury Compensation

Last year California became the first state in the U.S. to remove the religious exemption for childhood vaccines, in spite of overwhelming opposition from parents, doctors, and other community leaders. Now, California Assemblyman Travis Allen has introduced legislation that would require the California Health and Human Services Agency to provide information to the public regarding the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System and the National Vaccine Injury …

Resistance Radio – Morris Berman – 03.13.16

Morris Berman is well known as an innovative cultural historian and social critic. He has taught at a number of universities in Europe and North America, and has held visiting endowed chairs at Incarnate Word College (San Antonio), the University of New Mexico, and Weber State University. He is the author of a trilogy on the evolution of human consciousness–-The Reenchantment of the World (1981), Coming to Our Senses (1989), and Wandering God: A Study in Nomadic Spirituality (2000)–and in 2000 his Twilight of American Culture was named a “Notable Book” by the New York Times Book Review. Dr. Berman relocated to Mexico in 2006, and during 2008-9 was a Visiting Professor at the Tecnologico de Monterrey, Mexico City. In 2015 he published a study of Japan called Neurotic Beauty, and 2016 the publication of his second novel the political satire, The Man Without Qualities.

CESAR CHELALA – Environmental Degradation’s Heavy Toll on Women and Children

In 1975, at the Mexico City First World Conference on Women, Vandana Shiva, the Indian scholar and environmental activist, introduced the issue of women’s relationship to the environment. At the time, concern was raised about the depletion of forestry resources and women’s role in agriculture, and a connection was made between the impact environmental development had on women. Over the …