What is Digg?104 Comments
- Makubex, on 10/11/2007, -9/+85"You have to suck pretty hard at first to get it moist, but after that it's easy,"
Tell that to my girlfriend. - Pseudorious, on 10/11/2007, -3/+53RTFA
- HBNDonut, on 10/11/2007, -4/+54Maybe theyre already using these in the toilet water at that school.
- lichme5000, on 10/11/2007, -4/+40Two things:
A) This sounds like a terrific idea, and I hope it catches on.
2) Why is it that the first post of every single digg story is made by a moron? Is that some kind of requirement? - Ghost9, on 10/11/2007, -0/+31Profit however is what makes innovation happen so fast. In the end, humanity benefits one way or another, might as well make it fast.
- vroom101, on 10/11/2007, -2/+28Article on one page:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/19121634/site/newsweek/print/1/displaymode/1098/
@EntropyMan
From the article: ". . . The nine-inch-long straw filters up to 185 gallons of water--about a year's worth of use--after which it needs to be replaced." - WarpFox, on 10/11/2007, -2/+23he didn't even have to RTFA, it's in the damn description "for a year"
- scheibs14, on 10/11/2007, -1/+21@makubex
Please tell me you didn't just create an account for your pretend girlfriend - rocke86, on 10/11/2007, -0/+18"I wonder if there's a mechanism in place to back flush the filters so that they don't become clogged."
Read the instructions, to flush it blow through the filter.
http://www.lifestraw.com/en/high/instructions.asp
Nice idea, and no electricity required. I would like to see one that matches the $100 laptop's colors. : ) - inactive, on 10/11/2007, -0/+18sorry for spam
heres there website
http://www.lifestraw.com/en/high/maincont2.asp - M3RCINIAN, on 10/11/2007, -7/+23Just add water!
- inactive, on 10/11/2007, -0/+16"The LifeStraw currently does not filter out Giardia lamblia, a common parasite (making it a bad choice for U.S. backpackers looking for a way around boiling their camp water), but Vestergaard Frandsen says the company is working on solving that problem."
I'll be keeping my eye on this...having a straw that is safe enough to drink water while camping in the USA would be awesome! - mal1964, on 10/11/2007, -4/+20@makubex girlfriend,
"You have to suck pretty hard at first to get it moist, but after that it's easy," - GMorgan, on 10/11/2007, -2/+17Even if it takes out only half of parasites, that is still a large boon. The real question is can you win the PR battle to get people using it. Some people will use this and still get sick, you have to make people accept that it reduces the chances of illness rather than ends them. There are still plenty of people in the west fearful of preventative medicine because you can still get ill or die even if you take preventative steps.
- bemenaker, on 10/11/2007, -0/+12That's not spam, you're being helpful.
- inactive, on 10/11/2007, -0/+12just because it costs 50 cents to make, theres still research costs, admin costs, payin salaries, everything, not just the item
- bightchee, on 10/11/2007, -1/+12It's inventions like these that bring a tear to my eye for how beautiful it is that science can better the world in this way.
- EntropyMan, on 10/11/2007, -0/+8@gr3yn3t and @lichme, I didn't ask my question well, but all it needed was a direct answer.
As for commenting on posts in the queue, it's because the conversations are usually better, quieter, more informed, and it generally avoids dealing with immature *****. By the time a story hits the front page, the average maturity of the comments drops by 15 years. Have fun expressing your inner dickishness though. Knock yourself out.
BTW, I also think the straw is great. My question was actually about something else (see above), though I know it wasn't clear. - AlphaEta, on 10/11/2007, -3/+11I wonder if there's a mechanism in place to back flush the filters so that they don't become clogged.
I'm sure the straw can filter 185 gallons of tap water, but I seriously doubt it can filter that much pond, well or river water. The particulate content is way too high and those filters would become clogged in no time.
It's a nice idea though. - ashmon, on 10/11/2007, -3/+11I think you mean "That's what she said."
- gr3yn3t, on 10/11/2007, -5/+13http://digg.com/users/EntropyMan/news/commented
Looks like he just lurks around the upcoming stories to get a word in edgewise.. - gert527, on 10/11/2007, -9/+16we need more innovation like this, more humanity less profit.
- techsmack, on 10/11/2007, -0/+7Wired mag had something about this, like a year or two ago. Seems like quite an invention. I believe it was something that the red cross was hoping to adapt in the event of another Tsunami or of course New Orleans... Definitely a must have for a trip to Mexico
- EntropyMan, on 10/11/2007, -3/+10@vrooom, thanks for answering directly.
I actually saw the "for a year" part of the description and read the article. What I was inelegantly trying to ask was how many times can it be cleaned before replacing it? Apparently, it needs to be flushed regularly, but after the 186 gallons, you just throw it away? That's what I find odd -- even if filters need to be replaced.
For a lot of places this would be used, $3 is quite a bit of money. And people will probably try to clean these and reuse, instructions notwithstanding. It's not a "consume and dispose" kind of world, except in the West.
Anyway, sorry for not being clear about the question. - MakubexsLady, on 10/11/2007, -5/+12@ mal1964
Thanks! I was wondering what I was doing wrong! - philba, on 10/11/2007, -0/+6@ubuwalker - actually this looks to be a very appropriate technology. all those measures work but are a hassle or require supplies. And, have you ever tasted water with those purifier tablets??? nasty.
- johnhummel, on 10/11/2007, -0/+6alphaeta: In that case, I'd probably pre-strain it using some fabric (a bit of cloth over a cup - heck, my shirt in a pinch, dip cup into water, drink from straw). Same kind of thing I'd do when camping before either treating or boiling the water.
- AlphaEta, on 10/11/2007, -0/+6Ah, cool... thanks rocke86!
I guess I should have thought to read the instructions. - Chebyshev, on 10/11/2007, -0/+5More people might know Giardiasis by the more common name of Beaver Fever. It is definitely not pleasant.
- RAiNsTorm, on 10/11/2007, -0/+5I'm into ultralight backpacking/camping and I use a Frontier "straw" which filters and purifies up to 200 gallons of water and costs about $6-7 retail and is readily available. I'm stil cool with this just for the cost factor, but those Frontiers could easily be sold for $3-4 to these nations.
- szembek, on 10/11/2007, -1/+6A) This is a list
2)I label each step differently
iii) I am a fool. - mstoneburner, on 10/11/2007, -0/+5Africa.
- bemenaker, on 10/11/2007, -0/+5Yes there are hand pumps you can buy for making any water safe, including from "beaver fever" but they cost a lot more than $3. This is meant to be a cheap solution for a global problem. I first read about this a year ago. It's a great start.
- jcarrion1976, on 10/11/2007, -2/+7True free-market capitalism at its best.
Nice to see that.
We need more people like that solving world problems. - cheekybastard, on 10/11/2007, -0/+5Very nice. Karma and a profit.
- bemenaker, on 10/11/2007, -0/+5Q14. What is the impact of saline water on the lifetime of LifeStraw®?
It is expected that continuously drinking saline water through the LifeStraw® would reduce effective life to 350 litres.
From the FAQ, so it does desalinate? - Nutmegan, on 10/11/2007, -1/+5This would help solve a major world issue if they can get it right—far bigger than global warming.
- Skye16, on 10/11/2007, -0/+43$ for a year. 3$ for substantially less time being sick or dying. 3$ for however-much in doctor's fees. 3$ for more time spent amassing more food or better living conditions, instead of ***** out your intestines or just laying around, making others take care of you.
3$ a year is not so very bad.
it's at least a step in the right direction, and may eventually help provide a tipping point for people struggling for survival to start struggling for prosperity. with prosperity comes infrastructure and with infrastructure comes centralized sanitary water systems and with centralized sanitary water systems (and sewage systems) comes an awful lot of benefits.
This may not be the end-all be-all of clean water, but it's a hell of a lot better than drinking untouched rancid feces from a local river. - Pseudorious, on 10/11/2007, -1/+5This is a moderately priced, large incremental improvement developed on a cost-benefit basis relative to what people can afford.
If you've gone camping in North America, there's a reasonable chance you've had Giardia and not thought it severe enough to seek medical attention. There exist many nastier parasites in Africa that truly debilitate, and the lifestraw provides an effective preventative measure against them. Learn about guinea worm and schistosomiasis to see what severe water-born parasites can do. - Pseudorious, on 10/11/2007, -7/+11We already knew that he didn't read the articles.
- inactive, on 10/11/2007, -1/+5where can i get one?
- illuminatiwatch, on 10/11/2007, -0/+4this is good news.. but hardly new. I wonder why, in the video, the woman throws the contaminants netted in her makeshift cloth filter back into the well?? And we worry about reusing bottles of water because of bacteria...
- Leomarth, on 10/11/2007, -1/+5When they make a device this size that'll desalinate water, that'll be another huge breakthrough.
- allywilson, on 10/11/2007, -4/+8@spuy767
Symbiosis with the land? Correct me if I'm wrong, but for the last 10 thousand years (no creationist jokes please...) human beings have been moving away from being at the mercy of nature. Heck, who knows, one day we might remove ourselves from adversely affecting it entirely - peace at last? - Toast1185, on 10/11/2007, -0/+4No, but sticking a filter in a tube that does something useful takes quite a bit of development costs.
- tizz66, on 10/11/2007, -0/+4shadowspawn: That's still 99% safer than the ***** water they're forced to drink now - that's called progress. If we had to wait until something was 100% bulletproof before we ever considered using it, we'd probably still be cavemen. This is progress, but there's more to be done.
- munkyxtc, on 10/11/2007, -0/+4This is a great step in the right direction. When these go into mass production even if they cost $10 each you could still purchase 100k of these which I definately think has a better cost to benefit factor than most of the items currently being purchased for aiding 3rd world countries.
- AlphaEta, on 10/11/2007, -0/+4Giardia isn't a bacterium... it's a protist.
Here's a cool fact sheet: http://www.cdc.gov/Ncidod/dpd/parasites/giardiasis/factsht_giardia.htm - tomatogirl, on 10/11/2007, -0/+4Giardia is not just in America -- it's a problem worldwide.
Still, this looks like an excellent product and hopefully it will continue to improve. - Coded1, on 10/11/2007, -0/+3@error...
You're forgetting they have no piping, no home plumbing, no streets, ...
Paying $0.66 multiplied by the number of people in your city, lets say 30,000 people .66x30000 = $19,800 per payment cycle for *you* to get clean water. These people cannot afford even that, these straws are likely to be subsidized by health organizations. Don't forget as well much of your water is also paid at a federal level coming out of taxes that are not specifically for water but for maintenance and R & D. In many of these poor countries building such an infrastructure, even with enough money is difficult because of government inabilities and corruption.
This way each person gets control, control over their own water supply. Being portable it makes every body of water a drinking fountain, so really they are getting a much better deal, how many times away from home do you have to pay or go out of your way for water? In Canada the average bottle of water is $1CDN for 500ml, outside of my house in most cases this is the only option as most places would rather put up a drink machine rather than a water fountain.
So as an initial asking price it is still a very good price and product, you should even look into getting one ;) -
Show 51 - 100 of 103 discussions
© Digg Inc. 2009
— Content created and posted by Digg users is