Wednesday, February 4, 2009

Eye.

This is coolbert:

Thanks here to the Chicago Tribune from yesterday.

Here is an invention, unique and amazing, that is now being used by the U.S. military in Africa. As part of winning the "hearts and minds" of the African populace.

"NATION & WORLD"

"Man has vision for helping world's poor"

"OXFORD England - - Joshua Silver, a lifelong tinkerer, was fiddling around one day with a cheap water filled lens he'd built as an optics experiment when he noticed something interesting."

"By adding or removing water he could not only change the power of the lens, he found, but he also could use it to very accurately correct his own nearsightedness."

"With this technology, you can make your own prescription eye wear."

Eyeglasses on demand for the wearer, without the need for an optometrist to make measurements and write the proper prescription to correct the vision of the patient.

EYEGLASSES NOW BEING PASSED OUT BY THE U.S. MILITARY IN AFRICA.

"The reaction from the new wearers 'is universal,' said Maj. Kevin White, a U.S. Marine Corps logistics expert who persuaded the U.S. Department of Defense to buy and hand out 20,000 pairs of the glasses as humanitarian aid in Angola, Georgia and other nations."

"White [using a Google search], turned up the self-adjusting glasses. White flew to Oxford for a look and within days had persuaded his impressed superiors to place a big order."

"'I've never seen the military move that fast,' he said."

Dig this stuff:

"in sub-Saharan Africa . . . the ratio of opticians to residents is purportedly 1 to 1 million."

WOW!!

Such "hearts and mind" projects can do A LOT of good for the people of Africa. Indeed! Even passing out tablets containing micro-nutrients too can dramatically improve the overall health of the general public in Africa. A public sorely in need of good nutrition essential to health. Simple and relatively cheap measures can go a LONG WAY to solving the myriad of difficulties as found in sub-Saharan Africa.

And win a lot of friends for America along the way. Such is the hope.

coolbert.

No comments: