#937 – The Expat Files: Security Cameras, Insects, Water Filters, and Data Privacy

Automatically transcribed from the original recording; names and wording may contain errors.

[00:00] South of the border down Mexico way That's where I fell in love when the stars above came out to play and now I wonder Hello there all you ex-pat wannabes. I'm Johnny Mueller and you're listening to the expat files living in Latin America The show that tells you just what it's like to live work play and or retire down here in Latin America It's a mix of the good the bad the ugly and the great and it's all right here. So let's get started Here we go first a little correction regarding the last show I did on security camera Don't know if it was a brain fart or what but every time I mentioned a camera called a turret camera You know a turrets like turret on a castle a round and tall lookout station usually on a corner

[00:50] Anyway, instead of turret what I meant to say was dome camera So if you listen to that show again every time I said turret camera, I meant dome camera Which is totally self-explanatory Because a dome camera looks like a little dark glass dome and on that note You heard me say if I had to pick just one style of camera to use everywhere I'd pick that turret camera what I really meant to say was the dome camera That means there are actually three not two general camera body styles bullet turret and dome So then what would you use the turret camera for well a real turret camera is motorized You use a joystick with it to follow people around or it's got motion sensing software and automatically

[01:36] Follows moving things around and because of all that additional electronics. They are more expensive than the other two types You heard me mention in the last show for consumer use for our use not industrial use You probably will never need a turret camera because if you need full wide-angle coverage All you have to do is mount two cameras side by side and you'll get a field of view of around 200 degrees That's more than a half a circle, which is 360 degrees about 200 degrees is a human's field of view when looking straight ahead Now turret cameras are often used in commercial settings and you'll see them installed most often where there's a corner Because then it could be rotated and swiveled back and forth you get full coverage on both sides of the corner That would be around 270 degrees if you wanted that kind of coverage with stationary fixed lens cameras like bullet or dome cameras

[02:25] You'd need three of them mounted there to get 270 degrees of coverage you get the idea But just note you don't need turret cameras However lately I've been seeing a lot of cameras that look like turret cameras, but they're really not they've got the body style All right, but they've got no motors inside of them. So there's no movement They're stationary cameras just like the bullet and dome styles So then what's the advantage of getting a camera that looks like a turret camera, but doesn't act like one Well, there's no advantage at all except they do look rather imposing when you see when you really think there's some serious surveillance going on But they also especially if they're located high up on a house or garage Whatever tends to become excellent houses for spiders wasps and bees Because they're always looking for a little protected cubby holes and spaces to lay eggs and build nests and hives

[03:11] And your turret camera body styles have lots of little angles and open little slots it's really amazing how insects and other creepy creatures find those things and hunker down and Man, if there's one thing I hate is getting up on a ladder grabbing a pole and whacking away at a hornet's nest I've done that more times than I like to count. I can think of better ways to spend an afternoon But if you're into mystery suspense adrenaline and the unknown the excitement of nest and hive removal might just be up your alley And you know what if you live here in Latin America, unless you live in a high-rise residential tower somewhere You will have to deal with that kind of stuff Or as I'd say the vast majority of Latinos don't even bother they let those things get as big as footballs Latinos are in to live and let live unless one of those nests or hives appears indoors

[03:57] And even then sometimes they'll leave them alone as for me I like to nip them in the bud soon as I see them swarming. I'm on it I strike when the nest or hive is small because when that hive or nest gets much bigger than a tennis ball things could get ugly Oh, by the way, I'll never forget the time. I was at an internet cafe in El Salvador Inside there was a peaked vaulted roof and right at the top a giant wasp nest with those little critters going in and out of the opening Continuously, man, it was creeping me out. But no one else there seemed to mind that thing had to have been there forever Thankfully, they never dropped down to human level They just continuously went in and out of the hive and out an opening in the wall to the outside Yep, it was a strange case of live and let live. All right, same thing with bats In fact, I've been to a few outdoor restaurants where the vaulted ceiling in the bathroom had a couple of bats hanging

[04:48] But as gringos and expats, we don't like those things at all and won't tolerate them around our houses When those hives and nests start appearing we go after them The question is who's gonna do the dirty deed you your maintenance guy or you're gonna rope the neighbor kid into it Because if you don't eliminate the problem, it's not that you're in too much danger getting attacked It's just that a certain number of them will find their way into your house Through a crack in the door Remember, there's no weather stripping on doors or maybe through a window or an attic vent because you know 95% of windows down here do not have screens Though since I've dealt with these things a number of times over the years seems like Every year I go after at least one or two Anyway, I found not only is there a best time a day to go after these guys, you know They don't fly around at night

[05:34] So about an hour to a half hour before dusk seems to be the best time to whack them because they're all pretty calm They're inside and none of them are buzzing around Another good tip that'll save you a lot of grief is to buy one of those Telescoping painting poles or rods if you have one of those will be at a nice safe distance When you need to go on the offensive and give them a whack I've got one made out of aluminum. It extends probably around 20 feet Oh, and by the way, once you've knocked one of those things down and it hits the ground You'll find they get pretty angry and that's a given then they start coming out But within a couple of minutes after all the chaos and they get themselves oriented again. It's kind of funny They head back up to where the nest was buzz around it for 10 or 20 minutes and then within a half an hour

[06:19] They've migrated off to who knows where but they're just gone Then if the nest on the ground is big bigger than let's say a tennis ball I'll just leave it there and toss it in the garbage or over the fence the next day by then It'll be empty at least no wasps with wings But there'll be plenty of dead ones in the larval stage still stuck in their little honeycomb cells Now you'd think with all the bee and wasps nests. I've tackled over the years. I'd I got stung at least once Well, I have been but only once and it was in Chicago before I ever came down to Latin America So, is it luck? Nope I think it's all about that telescoping extension pole By the way You should know that here in Latin America the wasps bees and other insects can be intimidating Simply because they're so much bigger than the ones you're used to in fact once a year when certain flowers are blooming

[07:07] I'd see with some regularity a bee that was so big and bulky that I wonder how it can even fly I'll tell you I never want to get stung by one of those things Think about the biggest bumblebee yellow jacket you ever saw I'm talking about a type of bee with a reddish orange stripe on it That's three or four times larger than any bee I've ever seen up in Chicago Same thing with wasps and certain other insects down here. Sure. They come in all sizes and there are some very tiny ones, too But when you're talking about the gigantic ones, they are intimidating. Normally, they won't bother you at all unless you happen to get in their space Luckily enough when you get close to a nester hive Especially when you're walking through the woods through the brush or through a big garden You can hear those things a half a block away and believe me when you hear that unmistakable sound

[07:56] Whether you can see it or not. It's time to head in the opposite direction Now I don't know about you, but a lot of people are allergic to bee and wasps things though down here You don't hear much about insect or bee sting allergies at all But I can tell you this if you've got a cleaning lady maintenance guy or gardener And you bring up the subject of bees or wasps Seems everyone has a story about someone in the family Usually uncle Julio out in the compo who got just a little too wild with his machete while chopping in the bush And that was the end of uncle Julio Not only that seems like every maintenance guy and gardener has somebody in the family who got nailed by a snake, too Always once again a story of bad luck while wielding a machete out in the bush But as for that kind of stuff happening to gringos and expats not saying it's never happened

[08:43] But I can tell you this after being down here around 30 years now and knowing and running into countless gringos and expats I've never heard it brought up or mentioned at all But when it comes to locals, especially ones who live out in the boonies, everyone's got a story Oh and as far as the last couple of shows I did talking about setting up surveillance systems and cameras I certainly expected a steady stream of emails on the subject. I was right. They're coming in hard and heavy So what I'm gonna do this weekend or next is To put together a little summary of what I think you should have if you're setting up any kind of home Security camera system just give me a week or two And I'll have something concrete to send to all you guys and gals who are interested in setting up a cheap effective and very high quality surveillance system

[09:29] So again, if you want more information on the subject and what I recommend just send me an email the expat files at gmail.com Speaking of emails Here's one that came in from a good friend of the show Chris Also an alumni of one of my expat insider seminars a great guy Well along on his plan B and he says in this email Johnny in regards to that portable water Filtration system you carry around with you the one that you recommend that we should get to is that filter good enough for use Long-term in an apartment or just for traveling Well, Chris, here's the poop on that as most you longtime listeners No, I use a very specific portable water purification system. The main filter itself is a Sawyer filter

[10:14] That's a W Y ER. It'll last you a lifetime Good for and I know this is hard to believe a million gallons go on their website. Check it out You'll see I'm right. It's basically the same system and NASA uses for space shots It's a tiny little filter only around three or four inches long and about an inch and a half wide takes out 99.9% of bacteria cysts and viruses and when it gets clogged The flow rate will diminish in all you have to do is back flush it It comes these days when you order kit with a plastic syringe that you attach to the outlet You give it a good solid blast of water and it back flushes the thing and you're good to go again But for how long well as far as that goes I've been using the same filter around three years now and I only had to back flush it once though most often

[11:04] I'm using it in Latin American cities However, if you're hiking or exploring way out in the boonies and you're taking water from a lake or a river Let's say well Yes, you can do that because it comes with a little bag attachment So you can take water from anywhere River Lake swimming pool toilet tank horse trough buffalo watering hole You name it you put the suspect water in the little bag put the cap on squeeze it It forces the water through the filter and the water that comes out Absolutely clean and you use that if you're out camping or hiking or worse case if the grid goes down and there's no water pressure In your house because normally to use the thing in your house or hotel room, whatever it comes with a rubberized cowl Stick over your faucet then you open up the water valve

[11:49] But not too much or the back pressure will blow it off the faucet and you'll get a soaker After you use it a while you'll get a feel for it now to me The only problem with that filter is that it does not take out organics like pesticides herbicides chemical Residues like diluted concentrations of the millions of medications people take daily including birth control pills Psychotropic drugs and NSA D's that eventually get into the water supply through your toilet Turns out so many Americans are taking those things that a lot of it ends up in their pee gets flushed down the crapper and Ends up in our water supply again Now in that nice, in fact, my brother just showed me of a water analysis in Chicago right on the tap You know They get their water from Lake Michigan and all the sewers and drainage systems

[12:36] After going through some kind of cursory water treatment plant, which is never enough ends up back in Lake, Michigan Everything's recycled turns out in regular Chicago tap water. There are over a hundred different harmful chemicals most of them in microscopic Concentrations but a lot of them Toxic and who knows about all the interactions and secondary effects when all that stuff reenters your body Where she had all industrialized countries, especially the US the water supplies all have traces of glide faucet You know round up a known carcinogen and mutagen In fact upon analysis our own bodies are so loaded with residues of man-made chemicals That if we were meat to be sold in a supermarket The FDA would consider us to be too toxic to be edible or at best

[13:23] There would be warnings like they have for some fish coming out of the oceans in the Great Lakes Advising it's not recommended to eat human flesh in this case more than once or twice a month Just like the mercury warnings for tuna So in the end all the herbicides pesticides plastics detergents deodorants perfumes hair products Solvents cleaners, etc. That are supposed to make our lives easier in life more convenient are Accumulating within us. It's a tragic experiment that will not end well So when it comes to water sure you want to get out the bacteria the viruses the cysts, etc but you want to get the organics and heavy metals out to and the so-called Microplastics that exist in all of us to one of the cheapest and easiest ways to do that is to run your water through a carbon filter

[14:12] That's why with my particular version of the Sawyer portable filter. I added another stage to it a carbon stage It's a little plastic cartridge about as big as a tennis ball that you can fill up with granulated activated charcoal Then you're all set. So how long will the charcoal remain activated? Well, I like to change out the charcoal after about every hundred gallons Because you know, eventually the charcoal does get depleted as it removes the chemicals So then how did I come up with that hundred gallon figure? Well, I experimented a bit Turns out about five years ago or so I was in Roatan Honduras when I first tried out that little carbon attachment that I use all the time now Before that in my travels I've been using that Sawyer filter all by itself and I'd noticed every once in a while depending what a country and city

[14:59] I'd be in there'd be a little aftertaste in the water Obviously something was getting through certainly some kind of unknown organic now coincidentally the hotel I was at in Roatan, Honduras had some funny tasting water And when I used just the Sawyer filter didn't take out that taste So I attached the charcoal filter and I used the hell out of it I even filled up around ten five gallon jugs for the neighbor guy saved him something like 30 bucks because at the grocery stores And other outlets a five-gallon they call got a phone of pure water or supposedly pure water Cost about three bucks at the time. So anyway during that two or three months hours in Roatan I realized with that charcoal filter adapter I could get a little over a hundred gallons of water without any kind of aftertaste

[15:45] But after hitting about a hundred twenty five gallons, it started to creep back So I've been using that as kind of a guideline. I figure about a hundred gallons is just right with one caveat I noticed that people who use any kind of portable water filter want really fast flow They want to fill up their bottles in a hurry Oh, and by the way, I always use stainless steel or glass bottles when I store or carry water with me However, the most important thing regarding that charcoal filter that's taking out the organics now You should not force the water through at a high velocity In other words fill your bottles slowly You want the water to have as much slow contact with the charcoal as possible So then how fast or slow should you make the water drip out of the hose? Well, let me conjure a mental image for you. Not such a pretty one either

[16:35] But certainly memorable picture a guy peeing an old guy peeing a guy with a prostate problem with a stream That's plenty weak, but not so weak as to be coming out dribble per dribble a stream All right, but a very slow and weak one I'd say about the diameter of a swizzle stick in a cocktail would be perfect You're thinking it'll take forever to fill up a bottle that way wouldn't it? Well at that rate, it would probably take you about a minute a full minute to fill up a standard 500 milliliter water bottle And probably five minutes to fill up a gallon jug so what you just stick the end of the hose in the bottle or the jug and Walk away for a while to do other things. You don't have to sit there and stare at it You know the watched pot never boils sort of thing. Oh and one more thing I know people don't count the gallons. So these days I don't either

[17:23] So oftentimes right before I'm gonna go off on another trip I changed the charcoal because charcoal itself is dirt cheap at least the way I buy it It's dirt cheap. In fact, I'm looking at my double sealed bag of charcoal right now The point is you have to get the right kind of charcoal. You absolutely need to get the stuff that's made from crushed coconut I know that sounds weird But trust me if you go on Amazon you'll see at least 20 different kinds of charcoal for sale Almost all of them for used in filters in fish tanks for fish tanks It doesn't matter what kind you get but for filtering things for human use You should never use what they call bituminous charcoal or charcoal made out of coal because coal often has other Chemicals embedded in it whereas charcoal made from coconuts is absolutely pure and organic

[18:08] So you want what they call food grade charcoal as mentioned if you go on Amazon You're gonna see 20 or 30 different kinds of charcoal What you want to get is a special kind of granular activated carbon made out of coconuts And the last time I bought a bag of that maybe two years ago Five pounds for 28 bucks and with that amount I could recharge my little water filter container at least 50 times That's about 60 cents every time I recharged it. So do the math for around 60 cents I could get a hundred gallons of pure water. Here's some more math Suppose you drink a gallon of water a day. That means 30 gallons a month, right? or 360 gallons of pure water a year So let's say using a bit of overkill you're a single person using this little portable water filter at home all the time

[18:56] And once a month you replace the charcoal. That means if you buy this five pound bag of charcoal for 28 bucks Let's round it to 30. That means a $30 bag of this charcoal will last you four to five years Again, that's for a single person drinking a gallon of water a day and most people don't drink that much though It's recommended most people don't but again the most important thing to remember in trying to get the maximum life out of your carbon or charcoal Same thing is making sure you have a very slow rate of flow You want the water to have as much contact with the charcoal as possible now with an under counter system We have a carbon block filter. You don't really have to worry about the flow You can really pump the water through it because you've got a very thick piece of carbon block filtering it But we're talking about the portable system with granular activated charcoal here

[19:44] Not the block the thing is though If you're gonna use this saw your filter with the carbon add-on as a portable unit and forever and ever at your house You'll find it's a pain in the ass to keep plugging it into your faucet every day day in and day out your best bet is to get a gallon or five gallon jug hopefully made out of glass and Fill those up maybe once a week now as for me if I'm gonna live in a place for more than six months I'll usually install a permanent or semi-permanent under the counter system with three canisters With its own little mini gooseneck water faucet You can pick up all the parts necessary for that for under a hundred bucks Either at a local pool jacuzzi and hot tub store or directly from Amazon now Of course, you know, I mentioned Amazon here and there in various shows. I'll tell you right now

[20:32] I despise the way they become a data collection agent for Google fake book Instagram Flattle Skype and everyone else out there collecting your data and they're in bed with the US government's cloud services and the NSA too But they are the absolute go-to company of last resort if you're living in the third world And want to get your hands on certain specific things and you just don't want to waste your time running all over the place Amazon is for better or for worse a one-stop shop and very convenient though I wouldn't say the tear of Jeff Bezos came down with the coronavirus, you know and ended up in that big cloud in the sky Oh, and don't you think it's an ironic twist of fate that people who travel the most like me to blow hired Hollywood types malignant politicians George Soros and Jamie Diamond types

[21:18] Oh and the Pope just happened to be the most at risk for catching the virus and who says life ain't fair Oh and speaking of governments and companies collecting your data You could easily use a little subterfuge and avoid all that just use an encrypted email service and a VPN Because of that I rarely get pop-up windows and when I do they're directed at me based on the country I'm coming out of with my VPN For example If I'm using my VPN to appear like I'm coming out of Brazil and I'm really in Colombia all my pop-up ads will be in Portuguese Directed to some guy they think sitting on a computer in Sao Paulo. That's why you should use a VPN, too There's no better way to screw with governments advertisers and data whores And if you're not worried about that kind of stuff and you think it's not much of a problem. You ain't heard nothing yet

[22:07] I'm sure you know about start page.com and duck duck go those are privacy focused browsers If you use those instead of the usual suspects like Google Chrome Microsoft Edge or Yahoo They're not tracking you accumulating or selling your data and you'll almost never get pop-up windows But here's what you didn't know Duck duck go has been compiling a data set of web trackers It's called tracker radar and according to the data. They just released they're reporting that on the web. There are 5,326 domains used by 1,727 companies to track users that's you and me and your data preferences and patterns online So according to their data as of last week, there are

[22:54] 1,727 companies Tracking and collecting your data right now. That's your Twitter fake book Skype Instagram What's up Amazon Google Maps Google Translate and everything you've ever googled and everything you've got stored in the cloud Then of course, you've got the 17 or so government alphabet agencies tracking you to question is are you alright with that? I'm not that's why I use an encrypted mail service and a VPN So every time I log into my computer it appears through my IP address as if I'm in some other country you With me. I'll fuck with you. Oh, but they all say why you gave us permission by clicking the box in the user agreement Well, technically that's true But since they don't abide by the rules and treat you and your data like a piece of meat for sale

[23:42] Who says you have to treat them with anything but contempt my advice make it as hard as possible for those Goals to collect your data better yet give them bad data and lead them down the wrong rabbit hole that said here are some more important tips about water filtration You just heard me babble on about how the carbon in coconut removes organics Now I'll just mention right here that for a permanent under the counter setup You want to have a canister with a carbon block filter not just regular granulated activated carbon You want a solid carbon block filter? That's very important. They'll last around five to ten times longer than granulated carbon, too And the cost only about ten bucks on Amazon and even in a household with four people in it a filter like that

[24:30] Which is the final stage of your three filters should last you a year. Alright, that said what about heavy metals? We're seeing them more and more in water supplies due to industrial processes and waste discharged into rivers lakes and landfills Well, guess what you can remove all the heavy metals and organics safely and ultra cheaply by using that $20 Refillable catered and carbon portable filter housing. I just mentioned with one modification When you fill it you put it half carbon and half with a different kind of media called KDF 55 or KDF 85 process media and get that where else Amazon In other words, if you're worried about heavy metals and you've got that portable filter you let the water flow through that media I just mentioned KDF 55 or KDF 85 mixed with granulated carbon

[25:17] So if you're worried about heavy metals, just use KDF 55 or KDF 85 process media And it costs about ten bucks a pound if you want to use it with your under counter setup You just buy an extra canister. That's something like 15 20 bucks. I'm sure you've seen those things. They're very common They're three and a half inch by ten inch They're usually blue and that canister with the process media will go right before your final carbon block filter stage So how does that KDF 55 KDF 85 process media work? Well removes up to 99% of water soluble lead mercury nickel chromium and other dissolved metals The question is if you put such a canister under your counter in line with your other canisters Then you'll have four canisters under your counter So then how many pounds of that media at ten bucks a pound to fill up a ten inch regular common blue canister filter housing

[26:09] And how many gallons on average will it filter? Well, here's the trick You take one of those canisters and you fill it about half full with that KDF 55 filtration media You fill the rest of it up with activated carbon granules because if you fill the whole thing up then over time It might be too much of a pressure drop Anyway, the company recommends they use one pound of that media That's ten bucks if you're using a standard ten inch blue cartridge The amazing thing is the company says it's good for 10,000 gallons That's at least five years for a family of four But the company also says you have to back flush it a couple of times during that period Because they say the cartridge will plug up long before the granular KDF media has expired and by back flushing It'll return to its regular state of flow

[26:56] Now I know the removal of heavy metal seems a bit more complicated than just standard water purification system If you're interested, send me an email the expat files at gmail.com and I'll send you the dope In fact, if you want detailed information on how to set up all this stuff Send me an email the expert files at gmail.com. Oh and don't forget to go to expat plan B Com to pick up my hundred plus page Latin American health care report. You're gonna need it That is of course, unless you're a millennial then you won't need it because you're invincible in a way You're right because for us baby boomers time taken away is our kryptonite You've been listening to the expat files living in Latin America If you need some help with your own plan B We can schedule a one-on-one phone or Skype consult Just send me an email the expat files at gmail.com

[27:44] And if you want to get on the waiting list for my next week long expat insider seminar in Central America Where you're guaranteed to get a two to five year head start on your plan B Send me an email the expat files at gmail.com