Wednesday, April 20, 2011

The Week in Buenos Aires, Argentina - April 20, 2011

(I spend quite a bit of time trying to stay up-to-date here in the Paris of the Palmtrees and its environs ...so I´ve decided to pass along the news and tidbits that get sent my way every week.  
If you´re an expat or a traveller planning a visit, I hope you´ll find it useful and pass it along.  If you have an item or a question for next Wednesday´s post, email me at letters@yanquimike.com.ar)

The expat community´s own Taos Turner kicked off the week with another article in The Wall Street Journal about the national administration´s policy of fining economists that publish inflation data that disagrees with the official published figures.  The official line is that consumer prices are up  "only" about 10% on the year, while many independent analysts place it more in the neighborhood of 25%.  He reports that two more authors of dissenting figures got smacked with quarter million dollar fines for "lack of scientific rigor."  I talked with Brian McMahon, an economist in Córdoba about another WSJ article regarding current policy of weakening the peso even as the dollar falls.  I hope to write about that discussion here soon.

The huge open-source software community got a big write-up in CNET .  Eric Mack talked at length with Hernan Saltiel at the FLISOL event in Buenos Aires and the article is an eye-opener for anyone not familiar with Argentine software talent.

Closed-door restaurants "puertas ceradas" here in Buenos Aires got a nice write-up from The Urban Grocer and Casa Felix was profiled.  Hurry now: tommorow, the closed-door brewery, Buena Birra Social Club is having a special evening of their artesanal beers with a menu of food and wine.  Don´t forget to check out their beer garden swarming with hops vines.

Argentine mental patients will live-stream internet broadcasts 24 hours a day beginning this week from the famed Borda Hospital in Buenos Aires.  For 20 years, the inmates have been broadcasting via a low-power station on Saturdays.

The Argentine economy is "white hot" and making the news along with strikes for higher wages in the oil fields, among lemon pickers, fish packers, and on the legendary #60 city busline.  Some or all of these strikes have been resolved.

NPR has a nice piece on Pedro Canale´s new album, Rio Arriba with lots of streaming links.

A new book claims that Israel armed the dictatorship during the Falkland Islands´ War.

What´d I leave out?  Lemme know what favorite story from this week didn´t find its way in here ...and please let me know your favorite upcoming events and happenings for next week!

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