MiraFlow Review

An online acquaintance of mine wrote a description of his experiences with MiraFlow, a contact lens cleaning solution that he prefers over Clear Care. At Lens101 Forum he writes:

Back in the good old days - the late 80s, when I first started wearing soft contacts - the standard routine for soft contacts was a three step process. Clean the lens, rinse it off with saline, and then disinfect. There was even a time when heat disinfection was the preferred approach, with cases that fit into small electronic heaters, although in a pinch, you could toss the case into a pot of boiling water. Saline took up significant

Book Review of The Constant Economy by Zac Goldsmith, Part III

Start at the beginning, Part I

Goldsmith examines how industrial methods, from fishing to farming, greatly damage our environment and health to the detriment of long-term profit itself. The use of pesticides and antibiotics in non-organic farming results in millions of tax dollars being spent on water pollution clean-up. Industrial fisheries employ sixty-mile-long lines, or ‘draggers’ that destroy coral reefs simply by rolling over them. By destroying coral reefs, which act as fishing nurseries, and eliminating much of the adult fish, reproduction has been choked. In some areas, the destruction is so severe that the government had to ban fishing for decades so that fish can repopulate, such as in Newfoundland.

Goldsmith also examines our usage of distribution of energy, including how the status quo is incredibly inefficient and certain technologies are more efficient than others. Having large power plants, instead of a decentralized power system, results in energy being sent over long distances. When electricity is sent over long distances, communities lose up to 1/3 of the original energy. In contrast, a grid tapping into a diversity of power sources from the private sector optimizes localization and technological innovation. Importantly, Goldsmith notes that fossil fuels are subsidized anyway, and therefore not actually cheaper; if we were simply to shift that subsidization towards green technology, countries would save tax money in the long-term. Finally, Goldsmith criticizes nuclear power for the following reasons:

Book Review of The Constant Economy by Zac Goldsmith, Part II

Start at the beginning: Part I

Akin to economist EF Schumacher, Goldsmith emphasizes the importance of local trade and decision-making, and opposes our increasing globalization and large-scale economics. Goldsmith argues that countries and communities with political power that is diffused through the local levels have greater happiness and societal health. He argues for more direct democracy, as opposed to a government of representatives. [Here I must disagree, because such direct democracy leads to effective mob rule, nor can a mass of citizens decide knowledgeably on a complex issue. Goldsmith’s argument for direct democracy is his weakest and most ambiguous in this book.]

Economies should be localized in as many ways as possible. On the global level, relying on foreign crops, as the UK does, is unreliable and therefore ultimately unsustainable, as the nation becomes dependent upon the health of foreign societies. On the national level, any government-purchased food (for school cafeterias, prisons, hospitals) should be purchased from the farms local to the government buildings. In fact, one of Goldsmith’s suggestions is that food-growing become part of the public school curriculum, in

Book Review of The Constant Economy, by Zac Goldsmith - Part I

Book Review and Summary of The Constant Economy by Zac Goldsmith

conservative environmentalism

Zac Goldsmith, editor of the Ecologist magazine and current Conservative prospective parliamentary candidate in Britain, outlines a number of political policies designed to move industrialized countries (focusing on Britain in particular) towards a more sustainable economy. In addition, he compiles many critical facts that demonstrate the absolute necessity of change. His book, The Constant Economy, incorporates these facts and ideas into one practical vision for an economically-stable, environmentally-sustainable economy.

As a British politician, Goldsmith goes into detail into fixing Britain’s particular problems through Britain’s particular governmental structure. However, I’ve generalized his ideas for the purposes of this review.

One of the themes of Goldsmith’s recommended policies is the idea that governments should set

Fevers are Good for You!

Or, Learn to Trust Your Body

Evolutionary Medicine

Fevers are misunderstood. They're the misunderstood good guys of our bodies. In fact, without fevers, none of us would be here today. All of our ancestors would have been wiped out, including our non-human ones. No animal, in fact, could survive. That's how important fevers are.

The fever is a way for your body to fight off infections. Its strategy is nothing less than brilliant, because it surprisingly involves a lot of trickery and guile. 

Infections are when something invades your body, sets up camp, and multiplies itself like crazy. Bacteria can enter your throat, find all sorts of food in their for its own growth, leaving children behind, and so forth. They begin to populate your body.

But like all populations, they need more and more food to sustain themselves with. Normally, that would be your own body. Whatever makes you sick is actually eating you alive.

What a fever does, however, is simultaneously encourage the growth of the bacteria, while taking away its food. Bacteria like to grow in warm places (which is why putting food in a refrigerator keeps bacteria and fungi from growing on your food), so when your body temperature rises, it's going to grow more. Bacteria cells don't make a conscious decision about this - they're more machines than man - so if you heat them up, they're going to multiply faster.

Bacteria also need iron to grow. As your body takes away the iron in your blood serum (so any iron that's not already inside your blood cells), bacteria is starved of one nutrient it desperately needs. In combination with your body heat encouraging growth, this imposes a situation of overpopulation on the bacteria in your body. It keeps producing more and more malnourished bacteria, which is easy for the body to take care of. Eventually, the whole population starves and dies.

Raising your body temperature also helps your white blood cells, the police and detectives of your immune

Small is Still Beautiful Review, Part IV

Part IV, and final part, of the book review and summary of Small is Still Beautiful by Joseph Pearce. See Part III here, See Part II here, and Part I here. 

Finally, the book reiterates EF Schumacher’s call for a fundamental shift in the way we frame economics to include a strong consideration of human values and lifestyles. This is a variation of the idea that if the mind is pure, the land is pure – a concept Schumacher should be familiar with from his research in his development of “Buddhist economics.” If we correct our realization of what is important in life, our economy, our society, and our environment will improve. Economics also ought to understand the interdependence of each ecological phenomenon, whether it is a cow, a fruit tree, grain fields, insects, birds, and so forth. Finally, economics should focus on the quality of life of people, rather on the quantity of material production.

Schumacher differentiates the difference between need and greed. The idea that “need is limited, but greed is unlimited” is best connected to the realization that Earth is not actually overpopulated, but rather its people have become too greedy, through Gandhi’s statement that “Earth provides enough to satisfy every man’s need, but not every man’s greed.” Quite simply, if people were to reduce their materialism, then more natural resources would be available for more people. Thus, our ‘overpopulation’ is actually a result of greedy, materialistic lifestyles that drain our natural resources beyond sustainability.

Small is Still Beautiful Review, Part III

Part III of my Small is Still Beautiful book review and summary. See Part II here, and Part I here.

Schumacher outlines several ways governments can convert towards a small scale economy in the following ways:

1.      Favor small businesses and discourage larger businesses through a graduated tax.

2.      Reduce regulation: regulation decreases the ability for small business to be competitive, because it results in less flexibility for small businesses to serve the local population, increased costs from hiring lawyers, and more bureaucracy from dealing with red tape. Furthermore, small businesses cannot afford lobbyists to tip competition in their favor. In particular, overregulation limits innovation on green, sustainable farming.

3.      Stop subsidizing intensive farming. When New Zealand stopped subsidizing farming, its pasture lands began to recover, and agriculture recovered economically.

4.      Subsidize organic farming.

5.      Redistribute private property so that more individuals hold land, as opposed to a few

Small is Still Beautiful Review, Part II

This is Part II of my Small is Still Beautiful book review and summary. See Part I here

Heavy industrialization is a critical aspect of large scale economies, which is environmentally and socially damaging, especially of third-world countries. Industrialization requires heavy capital investment and high energy/electricity input (think of how much resources it takes to build a factory), resulting in debt, resulting in a need for greater production to overcome the sum of debt, interest, and resulting inflation. The inevitable result is that debt and environmental destruction only increases, leaving the workers with little advances in material wealth, let alone happiness. In addition, heavy industrialization inevitably leads to high unemployment rates, since factories are designed to eliminate the need for manual labor.

It is important to note that industrialization not only occurs in the cities, but in agriculture as well. Governments subsidize the use of environmentally destructive pesticides, antibiotics, intensive farming and livestock techniques, all of which leave the land unusable (similar to what happened in the Dust Bowl that led to the Great Depression). This industrialization of agriculture also leads to higher unemployment rates (because industrialization always moves towards requiring fewer workers), which forces millions into the cities, accelerating urban growth.

Urban growth is inherently environmentally destructive in the following ways:

Small is Still Beautiful Review, Part I

For obvious reasons, questions of the environment are a hot topic. What a lot of people have trouble with are the economic implications of "saving the environment." But these concerns aren't nothing new, and start as late as the 1970s. One such person to approach this question is EF Schumacher.   conservative environmentalism

How to Cure Your Allergies with Vitamin C

Note: By using the information presented in this blog, you agree to the terms described in the post entitled "Mission Statement and Disclaimer." Basically, you are solely responsible for whatever personal usage of this information.

Or, how to cure your allergies

This product claims that it's "delicious" and "chewable," and has rose hips. Rose hips are primarily there for flavor; although it contains Vitamin C, it's not going to account for the entire 500 mg in a tablet. Vitamins C is fairly easy to absorb, so you don't have to worry about choosing a product with the right supplements (unlike Vitamin D or E). So pay big attention to price. Speaking of which, you can order this particular product online if you click the picture above.

My Personal Success

My college had an outdoor arboretum, with exotic trees from all over the world. Combined with the fact that my school was entirely composed of nerds (who already have a naturally tendency to have allergies), this meant that every single person on campus had allergies during the springtime, whether or not they had allergies before they went to college.

Sadly, having had severe allergies BEFORE I had ever stepped onto the campus, I was dying every spring.

Until one life-changing semester when one of my biology professors

Clear Care - Hydrogen Peroxide Lens Cleaner Part I

How does Clear Care work? Does Clear Care work?
Note: By using the information presented in this blog, you agree to the terms described in the post entitled "Mission Statement and Disclaimer." Basically, you can't sue.

Clear Care

The packaging, complete with basic directions.
How does Clear Care work?

Overview: Clear Care, by CIBA Vision, is a new lens cleaner solution. However, unlike most lens cleaner solutions, this uses hydrogen peroxide. The hydrogen peroxide presumably disinfects and removes protein from the lenses better than an enzymatic cleaner. Plus, the bubbling is really cool to watch.

Mechanics: There are really two main things that a lens cleaner does. First: disinfect it. Second: remove proteins.

Disinfecting the lens basically keeps your eye from becoming infected by bacteria or fungus. This is pretty important, and not always guaranteed, considering that Bausch & Lomb’s ReNu with MoistureLoc actually caused fungal infections, leading to a lawsuit from some 600 users.

Removing proteins from the lenses will keep your lenses “fresher” longer. These proteins naturally come from your eyes, and when they build up on your

Clear Care - Hydrogen Peroxide Lens Cleaner Part II

Most Clear Care packages contain two bottles of solution. I'd buy this over the single one simply to save money, and save the environment extra lens cases. Click on the picture to purchase online.

How does Clear Care work? Does Clear Care work?

Comparison to other products:

Most lens cleaners use enzymes. Enzymes are proteins that act, in strict scientific terms, act as catalysts (which make reactions go much faster than they otherwise would). Basically, they help a chemical reaction go even faster. In our case, these enzymes help destroy the skin of germs and remove proteins.

Enzymes can drill holes into the skin of germs, just like hydrogen peroxide. They’re just not as strong. As we saw, certain enzyme-based cleaners can allow, or even help, infections to occur. Hydrogen peroxide, however, reacts with virtually anything that’s part of a living organism. That’s why you can never put hydrogen peroxide in your eye – it’ll burn like crazy, because the hydrogen peroxide molecules are reacting with (read: destroying) the cells that make up your eye! Lens cleaner enzymes, on the other hand, have no problem being in your eye (unless you decide to go crazy with it).

So in terms of disinfection, Clear Care has the advantage. What about protein removal?

Protein removal is a bit more complicated. On one hand, certain enzymes are experts at ripping apart proteins in general. On the other, because enzymes are proteins, they can get stuck into the lens surfaces as well. Hydrogen peroxide has the potential to react with proteins, but this is a far cry from ripping them in half. Again, the hydrogen peroxide cleaner mostly works by bubbles.

Click to see the details in hi-res.

So in terms of protein removal, I’d call a tie here.

Risks:

Personal Health

As long as you follow the directions, you’re fine. Don’t use any other hydrogen

http://www.lens101.com

For contact lens wearers, there's a nice forum I stumbled upon. People there are knowledgeable and actually very friendly! You'll get answers to your questions quite quickly as well.

http://www.lens101.com

Curing Allergies with Vitamin C

Note: By using the information presented in this blog, you agree to the terms described in the post entitled "Mission Statement and Disclaimer." Basically, you can't sue.

Or, how to cure your allergies

This product claims that it's "delicious" and "chewable," and has rose hips. Rose hips are primarily there for flavor; although it contains Vitamin C, it's not going to account for 500 mg in a small tablet. Vitamins C is fairly easy to absorb, so you don't have to worry about choosing a product with the right supplements (unlike Vitamin D or E). So pay big attention to price. Speaking of which, you can order this particular product online if you click the picture above.

My own Personal Experience

My college had an outdoor arboretum, with exotic trees from all over the world. Combined with the fact that my school was entirely composed of nerds (who already have a naturally tendency to have allergies), this meant that every single person on campus had allergies during the springtime, whether or not they had allergies before they went to college.

Sadly, having had severe allergies BEFORE I had ever stepped onto the campus, I was dying every spring.

Until one life-changing semester when one of my biology professors introduced me to the awesome power of Vitamin C. You see, she had actually attended the school when she was an undergrad, and had allergies worse than mine. Her throat could actually close up from all the pollen. But, she told me, when she had taken massive doses of vitamin C, she had actually cured herself of allergies!

Curing Allergies with Vitamin C, Part II

Note: By using the information presented in this blog, you agree to the terms described in the post entitled "Mission Statement and Disclaimer." Basically, you can't sue.

Or How to Cure Your Allergies, Part II

So this is the routine you should follow.

1. Every day, take at least 5 grams (5,000 milligrams or mg) of Vitamin C
2. Spread them out throughout the day. Don't take them all at once, otherwise your body won't be able to digest all of that Vitamin C at once (remember diffusion in high school chemistry and biology? Your intestines absorb vitamins and nutrients into the blood stream via diffusion. If you have too much Vitamin C running through your intestines, your blood