I just watched an interesting documentary titled Britain’s Really Disgusting Food hosted by Alex Riley. This documentary exposed the use of MRM in the production of a variety of frozen meat products. The main topic of this documentary was Mechanically Recovered Meat (MRM).

MRM is produced by removing all the good portions of meat (breast, thigh, etc.) and then crushing the remaining skeleton along with connective tissue and fat against a mesh in a mechanical device to produce a pile of crushed bones and and a slurry. The resulting meat slurry is called MRM and is typically used in Hot Dogs, Chicken nuggets and burgers. Also, cheap brand frozen foods (meat pies, kievs, etc.) cost less because they typically use MRM. MRM has been around for a while, but not so well known to the general public.

Alex was able to create a Chicken Kiev that met the FSA requirements, but had only 19% chicken (MRM-type stuff). And he was able to sell the Kievs to rich dudes at a food fair! Alex tried to  get the FSA’s attention with a sarcastic “Eat Waste Save Animals” (by eating rubbish like MRM products, you maximize utilization of an animal, thereby saving the slaughtering of more animals) demonstration in front of the FSA office in London. Check out the video below:

There are other documentaries in this series. You can check them out on YouTube.

Another startling revelation in this documentary was the manner in which most frozen meat products are imported into the UK (and being very cheap). Here’s an example : Chicken slaughtered in Brazil, salted and frozen, then shipped to Netherlands, unsalted and thawed, then injected with water, frozen again and then shipped to the UK. Yikes!

I remembered a pair of American-style Hot Dog (Ye Olde Oak) cans in my Kitchen cabinet (bought them a year ago, but hadn’t consumed them as I’ve been avoiding processed meats). I checked the label and just besides the banner “Highest Quality Hot Dogs”, the list of ingredients read – 60% Mechanically Recovered Chicken, Pork collagen, EXXX, etc……the cans went straight into my dustbin! So, every time you think of popping into that Burger shop around the corner, think about MRM!

There’s a glass trough filled with clear water before you. To this trough, you add some filthy water, some stinking pond water with moss and algae, some filth from the sewers, some rabbit crap and then stir the contents in the trough. You now have a trough containing a revolting mixture before you. Would you, even in the wildest of your dreams, think about drinking water from this trough? Probably not!! However, Michael Pritchard will do it without hesitation as he is the inventor of the Lifesaver bottle, supposedly the world’s first ultra-filtration bottle which will allow you to drink water from any source, from the cleanest to the most polluted. The filtration concept itself is simple – apart from activated carbon found in almost all water filters, the Lifesaver bottle uses filter membranes with pores smaller than the smallest virus, thereby blocking all pathogens and unwanted pollutants. The FAQs on the company website also claim that you could drink your own urine if passed through a Lifesaver bottle, but it’s not recommended [ perhaps as it makes urine therapy less effective!! ]

Watch Michael Pritchard’s demo of the Lifesaver bottle (at TED) below:

The Lifesaver bottle or jerry can could save the lives of millions of people around the world in dire need of drinking water, but for this ultra filtration technology to really change the world, it must be affordable, safe to use and easily accessible.

The Lifesaver bottle scores well on safety. The bottle has been tested and certified by the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (laboratory test results). Also, when the bottle’s filtering mechanism expires, the filtering system simply shuts down preventing unsafe consumption of water.

Regarding affordability, you can check the cost of Lifesaver products here. They are expensive and will not be affordable by the people who need them most. Michael Pritchard believes that developed countries which provide massive aid to developing countries can include these bottles as part of their aid packages. However, for Lifesaver products to be more affordable and easily accessible, perhaps Michael should license the technology to manufacturers around the world with utmost importance given to adherence to quality. The developing and poor countries wherein people are more likely to fall short of drinking water are typically also the countries where corruption is widely prevalent and so many fake bottles could be manufactured thereby putting several lives in danger. So, while this technology is wonderful in the benefits it can bring to millions, there’s still more to be done to realize the benefits.

Sony Ericsson’s recently launched Motion Activated MH907 headphones allows you to just do what comes naturally to listen to music and receive calls on your mobile.

The downside to this wonderful innovation is that the MH907 works only with Fast ports on Sony Ericsson phones. There are Fast port to 3.5mm jack adaptors available, but I don’t know if the adaptors prevent the motion activation functionality.

The motion activated headphones work as follows (image adapted from Sony Ericsson’s website):

Watch Sony Ericsson’s ad video below:

Visit the Sony Ericsson website for more details

I support open source and free software and I use quite a lot of such software. However, this does not make me anti-capitalist and hate everything proprietary. If it weren’t for the capitalist businesses, the world would not have been as industrialized as it is today. Even though the recent credit crisis which plagued (and perhaps still plaguing) the world was primarily caused by capitalist business (private banks), history has shown that governments cannot run businesses efficiently. Yet, the knives are always out for some capitalist businesses. The rulings passed by the European Commission (EC) of the European Union (EU) against the capitalist powerhouse Microsoft seem to have been made on hatred for Microsoft and everything proprietary. 

Well, I’m far from being a fan of Microsoft. Yet, I cannot deny that Microsoft has introduced the world of computing to many millions of people, primarily with their desktop Operating Systems. Microsoft may not be a technology pioneer, but it has certainly been excellent at doing business and dominating the world software market with its products.

Here are the key rulings passed against Microsoft by the EC:

• March 2004: Microsoft penalised with a $613 million fine, 120 days to divulge some Windows code to enable other vendor products be interoperable with Windows and 90 days to offer a Windows Operating System without Windows Media Player.
• July 2006: Microsoft fined $357 million for failing to comply with the anti-competition ruling made against in in March 2004 (mentioned above).
• February 2008: Microsoft fined £1.35 billion for failing to comply with the anti-competition ruling of March 2004

In addition to the above rulings, the EC also announced:

• May 2008: EC was going to investigate Microsoft Office’s OpenDocument Format Support
• January 2009: EC was going to investigate Microsoft’s bundling of IE with its Windows Operating Systems.

Unsurprisingly, companies that goaded the EC to push Microsoft to one corner are Microsoft’s competitors – Novell, Sun Microsystems, Opera, Mozilla and Google. Well, I am surprised that Google became involved as I thought it usually just lets its products speak for themselves.

Well, I believe that the EC’s rulings against Microsoft and other investigations are unfair. Microsoft has every right to keep its own code proprietary and why should Microsoft pay the price of being so successful and dominant in the software market? Why can’t Microsoft’s competitors develop better products and market them better to remove Microsoft’s dominance? Yes, Microsoft has the great advantage of using its Operating System to enable its other products reach the masses. So what? Why can’t other companies develop better Operating Systems and bundle them with better products? I do appreciate the requirement to release code to enable other vendors make their products interoperable with Windows (that’s the only part of the ruling I agree with), but requiring Microsoft to strip down its OS and remove products like Windows Media Player and IE is simply ludicrous.

The EC’s ruling, in effect, stipulates an upper limit for a successful software business. If you’re doing great and nobody else can do better, you got to slow down to allow others to catch up.

Why isn’t the EC bothered about the following?:

• Apple bundling the Safari browser with the Mac OS X
• Google striking a deal with Sony to ship all Sony PCs/laptops with the Chrome browser

Perhaps, the EC believes that Microsoft enjoyed its success for too long and now while Microsoft is being punished for moving too fast towards world domination, other companies should be allowed to catch up!! And which browser do you think Google will bundle along with its Chrome OS due to be released next year? The EC’s ruling against Microsoft has set a bad precedent.

I recently came across some cool pants (created by Distilled Clothing, a San Francisco-based men’s fashion line) which block potentially harmful Electro-Magnetic Fields (EMF blocker) like those caused by radiation used by mobile phones.

According to Distilled, “The jury may still be out on whether Electro Magnetic Fields from mobile phones hurt us but phones are legally allowed to emit 1.6 watts per kilogram of radio frequency and one might prefer some insurance. Hence this pant with copper and nickel plated pocket bags that block potentially harmful radiation.”

The EMF Blocker pant design pattern has been open sourced by Distilled and is available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 License

Some photos of the EMF Blocker pant (courtesy mattymerrill’s photostream) are shown below:

Like the tagline “Protect yourself and your future progeny”

Recently, I came across a whacky website which attempts to address an issue which probably many people have experienced while watching movies at the cinema, especially those long movies – the urge to empty the bladder (pee)! Well, a Flash developer, Dan Florio had just that experience while watching King Kong and developed a website Runpee.com to assist cinema goers in identifying when to run to pee so as not to miss the best parts of a movie!

Here’s a screenshot of the Flash application that powers Runpee.com.

The screenshot above provides the pee times for the movie “The Time Traveler’s Wife” indicating that you may pee for around 4 mins at around 46 mins into the movie and obviously, at the end of the movie (for as long as you like). You will also have the option of getting to know what happens in the movie during those precious 4 minutes (you can unscramble the encrypted spoiler).

Well, Runpee.com was launched in August 2008 and is apparently gaining popularity very quickly. It seems that a collaborative effort is underway to analyze pee times for various movies, not just Hollywood, but even regional movies across the world.

I’m sure that Indians could benefit enormously from Runpee.com stats given the very long duration of Indian movies. Also, identifying pee times for Indian movies will be easy (most often during songs) and some entire movies may be just pee time.

Perhaps movie producers and directors will have to take note of a new metric for their movies – the RunPeeCount. i.e. the number of times you can pee during a movie without missing anything interesting. Obviously, movies with the lowest RunPeeCount rule! And imagine what this website will do for cinema owners. They’ll need to upgrade their WC facilities  to accommodate huge queues at specific times of a movie’s running time. Imagine watching “The Time Traveler’s Wife” and @ 46 mins, almost everybody says “It’s pee time” and rushes towards the nearest exit!

Whoa! I’ve never typed/uttered the word “pee” so many times in such a short period. Visit the website and have fun!

I was a kid when I became mesmerized by Michael Jackson’s moonwalk. Back then, India’s only television channel, Doordarshan telecasted the Grammy Awards and I remember my family and I enjoying MJ’s performance at the 1988 Grammy awards. That performance is so fresh in mind, such that on watching it again today, it took me back to those cherished days. I remember my Dad buying the album "Bad" on audio cassette and my brothers and I playing the entire album very often and singing along. I remember learning by rote the lyrics for "The Way you make me feel" (still remember them!). Whoa! MJ simply was the best – the complete entertainer! Everybody tried to sing and dance like him. Years later, the King of Pop became involved in controversies and I was not sure what to believe (I’m still clueless). Sadly, MJ passed away on 25th June and his memorial service was held yesterday.

Michael Joseph Jackson, thanks a zillion for the wonderful songs, music and dance. You will never ever be forgotten. May your soul RIP.

Here are two videos with some of my favourite MJ songs:

(1) The 1988 Grammy Awards ("The way you make me feel" and "Man In The Mirror")

(2) We are the World (along with others)

A few months ago, when I was researching baby bottles for my daughter, I came across several articles on the use of Bisphenol A in the plastics used to make baby bottles and its harmful effects on health. More research led to me alter my lifestyle and become more environmentally friendly. So, based on the various articles I’ve read, a brief description of what you need to know about BPA and how to avoid it is given below.

(1) What is BPA?

Bisphenol A (BPA) is a chemical compound invented by Russian chemist  Aleksandr P. Dianin in 1891. The first reported synthesis of BPA was from Thomas Zincke of the University of Marburg, Germany. The suffix ‘A’ symbolizes Acetone as BPA is prepared by the condensation of acetone with two equivalents of phenol.

(2) What is BPA used for?

In 1936, Dr. Pierre Castan (Switzerland) and Dr. S.O. Greenlee (US) first synthesized BPA-based epoxy resins. Epoxy resins are widely used in adhesives, can linings, composite materials like those using carbon fibre, fibreglass, etc.

In 1953, Dr. Hermann Schnell of Bayer in Germany and Dr. Dan Fox of General Electric in the United States independently developed manufacturing processes for a new plastic material, polycarbonate, using BPA as the starting material. Due to its properties of optical clarity, shatter resistance and high heat resistance, polycarbonate soon found its way into our everyday lives as the primary constituent material in drinking bottles, optical discs, lenses, automobile headlamps, lab equipment, etc.

(3) Why do I need to bother about BPA?

As described above, BPA has invaded our everyday lives via the use of polycarbonates and epoxy resins. Several studies on BPA have indicated that at certain levels of consumption, it could cause endocrine disruption (interference with the normal functioning of hormones generated by the endocrine system), heart disease, diabetes and cancer. Some studies have also linked BPA to obesity and neurotoxicity.

BPA has been known to leach from the plastic lining of canned foods and also from polycarbonate plastics when subjected to washing with abrasive detergents, acidic liquids and high-temperature liquids.

Although there have been some reports that BPA used in polycarbonates and epoxy resins for common consumer products does not pose a health risk, there are two clearly divided opinions on the harmful effects on BPA with each one backed up by various studies, Canada has banned the import, sale and marketing of polycarbonate baby bottles and companies like Wal-Mart, Nalgene, Camelbak and Toys-R-Us have switched to BPA-free bottles and plastic goods. Surely then, the safest bet is to stay away from BPA.

(4) How do I identify which products have BPA?

BPA is predominantly used in plastics, being a constituent material of polycarbonate. First and foremost, you need to understand the various groups of plastics. Read this article to understand how to decipher the Plastic Identification Code(PIC). Plastic products with PIC #3 (PVC) and #7 (other) are typically associated with BPA. Since PIC #7 is a catch-all for all types of plastics other than those classified within PIC #1 to #6, plastics that do not contain BPA could also be identified with PIC #7. For example, leading water bottle manufacturers CamelBak and Nalgene use Eastman Tritan (a copolyester plastic that does not contain BPA) and their bottles are tagged with PIC #7.

Other than using the PIC to determine whether your plastic product is BPA-free, a safe bet is to choose plastic products which bear a BPA-Free logo. The safest and best option to stay away from BPA is to replace your plastic product with good quality stainless steel, wherever possible.

(5) How do I avoid BPA?

Given the widespread use of BPA, it’s unlikely that you can completely stay away from every product that contains the chemical. However, you can significantly reduce, if not eliminate the consumption of BPA. Here are some steps you can take to avoid the harmful effects of BPA:

• Use either BPA-free or stainless steel reusable bottles for drinking liquids. Do not reuse mineral water bottles.
• Do not heat food in plastic containers (irrespective of the PIC) in a microwave.
• Do not use harsh detergents or the dishwasher to wash plastic containers.
• Do not store acidic liquids and foods (eg. orange juice, meat marinades) in plastic containers.
• Avoid using canned food/drink as much as possible.

What I have done to avoid BPA since I became aware of the controversy surrounding it:

First and foremost, I replaced my daughter’s feeding bottles with BPA-free versions from ASDA. Now, there is an increasing number of manufacturers making BPA-free baby bottles. Some examples are Tommee Tippee, Born Free and Philips AVENT.

I then ordered a CamelBak Better Bottle (BPA-Free) for use as a drinking water bottle at office and when it arrived, I observed that it had PIC #7, but no BPA-Free logo. So, I returned the CamelBak bottle. After a little bit of googling, I came across the stainless steel Klean Kanteen. I purchased two Klean Kanteens, an 18 oz Kanteen for office and a 40 oz Kanteen for use at home. I love the Klean Kanteens and no longer use any plastics at home or office for consumption of drinking water. Although the Klean Kanteen is an expensive purchase, it will definitely be cheaper in the long run and will contribute towards a clean, green environment through reuse. Before the arrival of my Klean Kanteen, I bought 500 ml mineral water bottles at least twice a week and after consumption, I chucked the bottles away into the recycling bin. Now, with my reusable Klean Kanteen, not only do I save money by not purchasing mineral water, I also ensure that I reduce my burden on recycling, even if in a small way.

References:

1.    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bisphenol_A
2.    http://www.bisphenolafree.org/
3.    http://www.bisphenol-a.org/pdf/DiscoveryandUseOctober2002.pdf
4.    http://www.chemeurope.com/news/e/81778/
5.    http://www.kleankanteen.com/about/bpa.html

Recently, when I searched for the various options for milk deliveries to my home, I became aware of the different types of milk and more research gave me a whole new perspective of milk, the dairy industry and the marketing gimmicks that get the better of consumers.

Basically, raw milk is milk which we get directly from the cow (or goat, etc. – I will stick with cow in this post). i.e. the milk that leaves the cow’s udders is raw milk. Given below are some details on the typical processes that raw milk undergoes.

The most common milk available in supermarkets in the UK is standardized, pasteurized, homogenized milk. When I pick up a bottle of milk in the supermarket, I see “Standardized, Pasteurized and Homogenized” milk – like it’s all good for you. Let me explain this little ad on the milk bottles.

According to an article on the Journal of Dairy Science website, Van Slyke defines standardized (or adjusted) milk as “milk in which the original fat content has been changed, and also the ratio of fat to the other milk solids, by the removal of milk-fat, or by the addition of skim-milk, or by the addition of cream.” This explains the skimmed and semi-skimmed milk. So, standardized milk means tampered milk. i.e. milk whose constituents are modified.

Pasteurization of raw milk is required as a bacteria-free dairy farm and milk handling/transportation cannot be guaranteed (that’s why the sale of raw milk is illegal in many countries – all sold milk must be at least pasteurized). Pasteurized milk is also referred to as Fresh Milk. UHT is just taking pasteurization a step further for the convenience of storage.

Homogenization is done for aesthetic purposes (and perhaps for smoother taste). There have been concerns about homogenization in medical circles. In his book “The XO factor”, Kurt Oster suggests that homogenization of milk causes an enzyme in milk called Xanthine Oxidase, to break up and pass undigested through the human intestine and into the blood stream where it can eventually destroy arteries and lead to heart disease. Oster’s theory has not been proved till date, but homogenization is not required for safety and is a redundant process that simply takes us away further from natural, raw milk.

So, in that little ad on milk bottles, the only required process is Pasteurization, which does not alter the composition of milk (apart from killing harmful bacteria). However, Standardization and Homogenization alter the fundamental composition of milk and are redundant. Arla Dairies runs a TV ad for its Cravendale milk brand, with a catchy slogan like “Cravendale tastes so good cows want it back”. Cravendale milk actually goes through another “filtration” process which Arla Dairies claims removes even more bacteria (middle ground between pasteurization and UHT). If cows actually taste Cravendale milk, they may not even recognize it, given the amount of processing it’s undergone.

Finally, I decided to consume milk in a form which is as close to raw milk in composition, but safe for consumption. So, I started consuming Pasteurized, Unhomogenized milk (Gold Top) and it takes me back to my younger days – when my Mum would boil the milk we get and we’d see a lot of cream form at the top during cooling. And my coffees and teas taste better!

It’s been a while now since the global economy has been affected by the credit crisis or credit crunch and there have been a myriad of presentations, discussions, etc. in magazines, on TV, at the cafe, etc. explaining why we have this credit crisis. While almost everybody will have some idea of what got us into this mess by now, I just came across this wonderful visual presentation by Jonathan Jarvis, which will enable all the folks who didn’t bother getting to know the credit crisis, obtain a good understanding of the credit crisis quite quickly. Set aside around 12 minutes to watch it and I  hope you enjoy it like I did. If a picture is worth a thousand words, then a video is worth a million!

NOTE: If the video is not displayed, then you may need to download and install the Adobe flash plugin

The Tata Nano was finally commercially launched on 23rd March 2009, much to the joy of many Indians. I appreciate Ratan Tata’s aspirations to improve the standard of living of the average middle-class Indian family, but to me, his launch of the Tata Nano will benefit his business and actually cause a lot of heartache for Indians. Here’s why:

The number of road accidents, people killed in road accidents and people injured in road accidents in India has been steadily increasing over the past decade, due to the prevalence of the following:

(1) Corruption in Road Transport Offices (RTOs) with respect to the the issue of driving licenses, thereby allowing people who do not possess the required skills and road safety awareness, to drive recklessly on Indian roads.
(2) Bad Infrastructure. i.e. narrow roads, poor or no traffic engineering, poorly maintained roads with potholes, unmarked and uncovered pits left behind after roadside work, lack of proper road signs, etc.
(3) Lack of traffic discipline among Indian motorists, the majority of whom think that traffic lights are just festive lights intended to decorate the roads.

The low cost of the Nano would make most two-wheeler owners switch to the four wheels of the Nano and when this happens, given the facts mentioned above, all hell will break loose on Indian roads and probably the average life expectancy at birth, of Indians will dip. How can Ratan Tata not see this coming? Doesn’t he travel on Indian roads? Perhaps, he’s chauffeured around in a tinted glass limousine and too busy to notice.

A couple of years ago, I stumbled upon this hilarious flowchart for problem solving. Unfortunately, I do not know who authored this flowchart to give credit where it’s due.

Perhaps for all its simplicity, this flowchart may become the next version of ITIL’s Incident/Problem Management. Maybe then more organizations will become ITIL-compliant .