[geeks] OLPCs for sale...

[Geoffrey S. Mendelson]

While we are talking about things that would do better than an laptop
in developing countries, I wanted to point out something I just learned
about. 

	http://www.msrcorp.com/filters/miox.asp

It's a device that uses salt and electricity to produce kill bacteria
viruses, etc in water. This particular unit is pocket sized and expensive,
a larger, cheaper unit would change many people's lives for the better.

It is important to note that the "purified" water is free of bacteria
and viruses after sitting for 15 minutes, in 30 it is free of giardia, a
one celled organism that caused severe gastric distress. At one time it
was called "Montezuma's revenge" but has since spread to the U.S.,
Europe and Asia.

	http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giardia

In 4 hours it kills off cryptospridium.

	http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cryptosporidium

Personally, if I had $400 to donate to a village in Africa,
I would rather give them one of these, a bunch of batteries
and a lot of LED lanterns. 

I don't know if it uses their special salt, sold with test kits for $18
or not, I suspect not. For example we are supposed to use salt in our
dishwasher that cost $9 a kilo, instead we use "kosher" salt (coarse
salt with no additives) which costs around $.50 a kilo.


Geoff.

-- 
Geoffrey S. Mendelson, Jerusalem, Israel gsm at mendelson.com  N3OWJ/4X1GM
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