Articles

HUMOR

Seeing Spots

August 2007

Patient:  Nurse, I keep seeing spots in front of my eyes.

Nurse:  Have you ever seen a doctor?

Patient:  No, only spots.

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Copyright Unknown.

POETICA

“I just wanted to be sure of You”

By A. A. Milne

Piglet sidled up to Pooh from behind.

“Pooh”, he whispered.

“Yes Piglet?”

“Nothing” said Piglet, taking Pooh’s paw.

“I just wanted to be sure of you”.

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© A. A. Milne. All rights reserved.

FAMOUS QUOTATIONS

It Comes from Within

By Anna Freud (1895-1982), British Psychoanalyst and Daughter of Sigmund Freud

“I was always looking outside myself for strength and confidence, but it comes from within. It was there all the time.”

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© Anna Freud. All rights reserved.

CONSUMER ALERT

Silver Supplement Warnings

Source: Harvard Health Letter

August 2007

Beware: This supplement can turn your skin blue, permanently.

Colloidal silver is peddled as a cold medicine, decongestant, all-around germ fighter, and a kind of cure-all. Is there any legitimate reason for taking the dietary supplement? The short answer is no, and there may be some serious and strange side effects, reports the August 2007 issue of the Harvard Health Letter.

Silver has several uses in conventional medicine. Silver sulfadiazine is used to treat serious burns. Fabric impregnated with silver is sometimes used as a dressing for wounds or skin infections. And silver nitrate is occasionally used to treat warts and corns.

But there’s no proof that taking colloidal silver by mouth has any benefits. As for harm, brain and nerve damage from silver exposure is rare, but colloidal silver can cause kidney damage, stomach distress, and headaches.

The most common problem associated with silver exposure is argyria: The skin turns a bluish gray as granules of silver accumulate in the body. The conjunctiva (the membrane that covers the eyes) and internal organs may also be affected. Once silver is deposited, there’s no way to get it out, so the discoloration may be permanent.

Will the colloidal silver products currently on the market turn you blue? The Harvard Health Letter says if you use them for a short time and in recommended amounts, probably not. But some people overdo it. For example, a 59-year-old man was sent to the emergency room because he looked cyanotic—the bluish color that indicates you’re not getting enough oxygen. It turned out he’d been taking a homemade version of colloidal silver whenever he felt a cold coming on.

http://www.health.harvard.edu

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© 2000–2007 President and Fellows of Harvard College. All rights reserved.

FOOD PEOPLE

Hugo Liu and the Synthetic Cookbook

August 2007

Hugo Liu is an America On-Line Fellow at MIT’s Media Laboratory and a Postdoctoral Scholar in MIT’s Comparative Media Studies Program. With a background in computational linguistics and a bent for aesthetics, Hugo’s doctoral dissertation pioneered the computational modeling and simulation of people’s tastes and their critical perspective.

The Synthetic Cookbook

Through a collaboration with MIT’s Counter Intelligence group and culinary historian Barbara Wheaton, Hugo created the Synesthetic Cookbook - an interactive collection of 160,000 recipes that can be explored by tastes, moods, and imagery.

Gulp Fiction (cookbook)

His latest dynamic cookbook, Gulp Fiction, explores the combinatorial possibilities of food by automatically composing known influences into new recipes.

About Hugo Liu

Hugo’s work in artificial intelligence and design aesthetics has been reviewed in periodicals such as Technology Review, Slashdot, and New York Times Magazine. He has lectured and published over 30 academic articles on topics ranging from computation and philosophy, to emotion, art and creativity. His recent editorial works include a workshop volume on computational approaches to beauty and happiness, and a journal special issue on the semantics of people and culture.

Hugo Liu is a faculty advisor to MIT’s Convergence Culture Consortium; and through his design consultancy, he advises cutting edge ventures in the Internet reputation and taste space such as McAfee SiteAdvisor, Haystack Media, and ScanScout.

Hugo earned a Ph.D. in Media Arts and Sciences from MIT’s School of Architecture and Planning, and bachelors and masters degrees in Computer Science.

© 2007 Garden of Healing®. All rights reserved.

SPECIAL REPORTS - CLEAN WATER

Swiss to use Ozone to clean Waters

Pilotversuch für noch saubereres Wasser

Source: www.swissinfo.org

August 2007

A pilot study is set to combat a new enemy of Switzerland’s lakes and rivers: micro-contamination.

Der Zustand von Seen und Flüssen in der Schweiz ist nach einer Periode ständiger Verbesserung stabil. Heute gibt es eine neue Herausforderung für sie: die Mikroverunreinigungen.

While water quality has improved progressively over the past three decades, the situation has stabilised. The Federal Environment Office, which is behind the initiative, will now use ozone to purify Swiss waters.

Micro-contamination is caused by minute traces of so-called organic elements such as herbicides, cleaning materials and medicines.

These are to be found in very low concentrations in water, from a billionth (nanogram) to a millionth (microgram) of a gram per litre.

A nanogram of contamination is the equivalent of a headache pill dissolved in a 25-metre long swimming pool, according to the Federal Environment Office.

The pilot project - at Regensdorf near Zurich - seeks to minimise micro-contamination passing from water used in residential areas into lakes and rivers.

A special technique involving ozone will be administered in addition to other purification methods, Alberto Bianchi, head of the water protection agency in canton Ticino, told swissinfo.

Liquid oxygen or O2 is converted into ozone or O3. “This is then added to sewage water, which enables the removal of micro-contaminants,” Bianchi explained.

Challenges

Current sewage plants are geared towards eliminating nitrates and phosphates, which cause rapid growth in algae and water plants, which in turn use up oxygen reserves in the water.

These plants are unable to eliminate micro-contaminants completely.

However, combating micro-contamination is not only a technical problem. Sometimes, certain substances are found in surprisingly high concentrations. This is true of medicines, which are often used unnecessarily.

“The real challenge lies in consuming such products sensibly,” stressed Bianchi. “Medicine should only be taken if it is absolutely necessary.”

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Swissinfo: SRG SSR idée suisse

Source: http://www.swissinfo.org/eng/swissinfo.html?siteSect=105&sid=8052930

© Copyright Swiss Radio International (SRI) 2001