Anemia is a lack of iron in the blood, impoverishing the sufferer's hemoglobin to the point that it is inefficient at carrying oxygen. The sufferer is flimsy and weak, and tends to pass out frequently. It is exceedingly rare in rich countries, but all too common in poorer ones, where food of any kind is hard to get, let alone iron-rich food.
A simple blood test on centrifuged blood can definitely prove a case of anemia (verses another disease causing dizziness, lack of muscle tone, frequent loss of consciousness and so on), except that centrifuges are expensive machines that count on electricity, which is severely lacking in the regions that most frequently report anemia. Not to mention that the centrifuge itself tends to be unfordable, being an expensive machine that costs thousands of dollars.
Discovery News is reporting rescue from a most unlikely source. An excellent medical centrifuge has been crafted from a simple Salad Shooter. Ironic because the salad shooter has long been decried by various radicals as a symbol of western decadence, serving no useful function. The main draw is its ability to achieve a high rate of rotation with only a minor application of hand-power, requiring no electricity, steam, or other power source unavailable in the regions that need it the most.
One begins to wonder what other technology can be recycled into a useful medical device.
Showing posts with label Conversion. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Conversion. Show all posts
Wednesday, June 9, 2010
Saturday, September 19, 2009
Treehouse
Are you the kind of person who'd like to live as low-impact as physically possible? Or maybe you have a teen-aged child that you'd like as far away from your house as possible due to their loud and annoying music? Do you have a very large tree on your property? If so, maybe "mad engineering" industries' tree-house program is for you!
You will need:
* A huge tree
* 100 pounds of planks
* 10 boxes of nails
* Pipe
* Two or so windows
* Ladder (can make it out of more planks)
* Plywood.
* Electrical wires
* Electric outlets
* Insulation
Install the ladder into the tree.
High up, but below the top of the tree, construct a frame of planks. This is the floor. Try to use existing branches for support, and install support beams where plausible. (As many as you can, because it would suck if the floor gave way.)
Attach the pipe to the tree. (Possibly near the ladder, but definitely in a way that one doesn't trip over it.)
Lay plywood over the floor, but don't attach it yet. We may need to lay something under.
Thread electrical and phone wire through the pipe. They can be attached to an existing installation.
Install framed walls to the edge of the floor. Where you want the windows to be, have a short beam up to a horizontal one.
Attach plywood to the outside of the walls. This may require a crane, or a second ladder.
Install interior electrical. Thread up from the pipe, drill small holes in the wall frame, and thread through. Nail boxes and outlets to the frame, according to code.
Install insulation, hiding the exposed electrical work.
Attach plywood floor. Cover with hardwood, or carpet.
Frame in a ceiling, then a roof on that. (Keep the rain out.) Cover the roof with plywood, and then something waterproof. (Probably actual roofing shingles.)
Move in a small amount of furniture. Probably a chair, or a bed, a desk, and maybe a TV.
What happens next depends on what the tree-house was built for. If it's a "low ecological impact" dwelling, then you should build a garage nearby for any vehicles you own, and put solar panels on that to provide the power. (And if you're remote, batteries for night.) If this is a teenager's pad, and your house is two stories, maybe an external door and a bridge to your house, so they can come to dinner.
In any case, it's one of many strange dwellings that I can semi-describe how to build.
You will need:
* A huge tree
* 100 pounds of planks
* 10 boxes of nails
* Pipe
* Two or so windows
* Ladder (can make it out of more planks)
* Plywood.
* Electrical wires
* Electric outlets
* Insulation
Install the ladder into the tree.
High up, but below the top of the tree, construct a frame of planks. This is the floor. Try to use existing branches for support, and install support beams where plausible. (As many as you can, because it would suck if the floor gave way.)
Attach the pipe to the tree. (Possibly near the ladder, but definitely in a way that one doesn't trip over it.)
Lay plywood over the floor, but don't attach it yet. We may need to lay something under.
Thread electrical and phone wire through the pipe. They can be attached to an existing installation.
Install framed walls to the edge of the floor. Where you want the windows to be, have a short beam up to a horizontal one.
Attach plywood to the outside of the walls. This may require a crane, or a second ladder.
Install interior electrical. Thread up from the pipe, drill small holes in the wall frame, and thread through. Nail boxes and outlets to the frame, according to code.
Install insulation, hiding the exposed electrical work.
Attach plywood floor. Cover with hardwood, or carpet.
Frame in a ceiling, then a roof on that. (Keep the rain out.) Cover the roof with plywood, and then something waterproof. (Probably actual roofing shingles.)
Move in a small amount of furniture. Probably a chair, or a bed, a desk, and maybe a TV.
What happens next depends on what the tree-house was built for. If it's a "low ecological impact" dwelling, then you should build a garage nearby for any vehicles you own, and put solar panels on that to provide the power. (And if you're remote, batteries for night.) If this is a teenager's pad, and your house is two stories, maybe an external door and a bridge to your house, so they can come to dinner.
In any case, it's one of many strange dwellings that I can semi-describe how to build.
Monday, March 10, 2008
Island Hopping
A number of places in this world have a lot of money and a lot of population, but no room. This tends to make the people miserable, as the rent increases continuously, everything gets crowded, and other problems occur because of the high population. Some of these places can no longer expand, because the surrounding land is owned by other entities. In particular, I think of New York City in the United States, whose surrounding land is owned by New Jersey, Yonkers, and Pennsylvania, and also Japan, an island nation with territorial arguments with Korea, China, and Russia. Japan especially suffers from crowding, since it has half the population of the United States, but is smaller than even the state of California in area. According to Wikipedia, California is 423,97 km^2, while Japan is merely 377,873 km².
For the crowded places on earth that have the money to deal with it, I suggest a land-filling policy, as most of these places are costal. The Netherlands have reclaimed 1/5th of their land from the ocean, so I know this is do-able. While it is possible to reclaim straight from the shore, many shore constructions were built because they were close to the shore, so to preserve land values, this technique should be used to create new islands.
After the site has been selected, workers should construct a caisson, a watertight pressurized tube, and install a pillar in the ocean. This should be done around the entire parameter of the would-be island. The watertight part can be removed when the pillars are fully constructed, and may or may not be recyclable, depending on how the construction and removal works. The pillars should all have notches facing each other. A large metal or plastic sheet of considerable thickness is placed between the notches, forming a water-tight seal. When the water is pumped from the center, this leaves a giant hole in the sea.
The hole should be filled with, at first, cheap materials. Especially garbage. Garbage should be readily available from any overcrowded area. Middle layers can even contain toxic waste between layers of cement. When the hole is almost filled, the top layer should be filled with only soil or compost, as this layer will directly be used by the inhabitants of the new island. It would also be wise to put a subway system, underground wiring, or water pipes, as appropriate, in this layer.
Finally, when the surface has been reached by the dirt layer, the island is avaialble for construction. Developers should move in and build large, high density apartments and businesses, and construct a means of transportation to the rest of the city, by bridge, subway, or ferry. Finally, everyone moves in, having more room to grow and build.
I recommend that New York build to the east or Northeast in the Atlantic to avoid the possibility of claims from New Jersey, and similarly recommend that Japan expand east into the Pacific to avoid conflicts with Korea.
I estimate this method to cost $5 million per square kilometer.
For the crowded places on earth that have the money to deal with it, I suggest a land-filling policy, as most of these places are costal. The Netherlands have reclaimed 1/5th of their land from the ocean, so I know this is do-able. While it is possible to reclaim straight from the shore, many shore constructions were built because they were close to the shore, so to preserve land values, this technique should be used to create new islands.
After the site has been selected, workers should construct a caisson, a watertight pressurized tube, and install a pillar in the ocean. This should be done around the entire parameter of the would-be island. The watertight part can be removed when the pillars are fully constructed, and may or may not be recyclable, depending on how the construction and removal works. The pillars should all have notches facing each other. A large metal or plastic sheet of considerable thickness is placed between the notches, forming a water-tight seal. When the water is pumped from the center, this leaves a giant hole in the sea.
The hole should be filled with, at first, cheap materials. Especially garbage. Garbage should be readily available from any overcrowded area. Middle layers can even contain toxic waste between layers of cement. When the hole is almost filled, the top layer should be filled with only soil or compost, as this layer will directly be used by the inhabitants of the new island. It would also be wise to put a subway system, underground wiring, or water pipes, as appropriate, in this layer.
Finally, when the surface has been reached by the dirt layer, the island is avaialble for construction. Developers should move in and build large, high density apartments and businesses, and construct a means of transportation to the rest of the city, by bridge, subway, or ferry. Finally, everyone moves in, having more room to grow and build.
I recommend that New York build to the east or Northeast in the Atlantic to avoid the possibility of claims from New Jersey, and similarly recommend that Japan expand east into the Pacific to avoid conflicts with Korea.
I estimate this method to cost $5 million per square kilometer.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
