a Geographer's Place

For those who don’t know it, one of my interests is the US-Mexico border. Last weekend, a professor and myself took some students to investigate the towns of Sasabe, Arizona and Sasabe, Mexico in the Altar Valley. (Go find it on a map…pic below). In Sasabe, AZ, there are maybe a few dozen residents with a single store (that has EVERYthing—literally…mattresses, shoes, pork & beans, curling irons, Fruit Loops, you name it!) and post office; ranching is the main form of livelihood. In Sasabe, Mexico we estimated the population to be 3,000 to 4,000 people. The main form of livelihood in Sasabe, MX is anyone’s guess...the town is not much to speak of, as this photo shows. One thing that IS present? The ever-watchful eye of “Big Brother”. The US Border patrol has a real, on-the-ground fence (see pic), mobile watchtowers (see pic), and a virtual fence that looks like a radio tower but is actually a sophisticated surveillance system, complete with 24/7 Pinkerton security! The US-Mexico...

I have a friend who says, “Laughing: it’s like jogging for your insides.” Indeed! Few things are better than a good guffaw. While there are many different types of laughs, any laugh is a good sign of happiness. Take the song I Love to Laugh from the Disney version of Mary Poppins . It outlines many of the various ways people laugh: through their noses, hissing, blasting, fast, “twitter like birds”, and a myriad of other ways. I've seen people laugh with their entire body! Have you ever laughed until you’re crying? How about laughing so much your stomach hurts? See…laughing like that is a workout! I’ve laughed so much that I’ve been sore the following morning. What a great feeling! And a couple years ago health scientists at Vanderbilt University found that 10 to 15 minutes of hearty laughing per day can burn up to 50 calories! That’s about 1.5 calories per minute (in comparison, jogging burns 10 calories per minute). That means, if you laugh 15 minutes a day, you lose the calori...