Cornwall's eco chic boutique retreat

http://issue.stylist.co.uk/c4196eb6f72e1289f3380d67ff7f06b9.s2f

Seems like paradise to me! Off season is GBP 180 per room.

Finally someone is thinking bacteria...

I am fascinated by bacteria, and particularly interested in how bacteria contributes toand influences the human body. I will not go into much detail how I got interested in the subject but I am excited that a lot of research is happening on bacteria and human health.

It was when I lived in Germany that I first had my eyes opened to good bacteria. I do come from the country of natural yoghurt, full of healthy bacteria, but still it was in Deutschland that I got truly interested in the subject.
The first book I read was in German - The Microbiological Therapy (Leitfaden - der Microbiologischen Therapie) by Michael Martin. I find it a very interesting Subject: babies born through cesarean section are fed additionally bacteria.

13 years Later (I actually read the book in 2003) I finally see this topic being discussed in public - of course I might have missed a lot of publication - being quite busy working on my cleaning business.

So here it is an article on bacteria - it's what is inside that counts - by Mark Henderson

Bacteria in your intestines say as much about your health as your DNA: The consequences for medical science are huge: personalised treatment, safer drugs, even advances in understanding autism and schizophrenia.

The most shocking scientific fact of all and that I often use to convince my cleaning clients that antibacterial cleaners that not all bacteria is bad is that:

Count up our cells, however, and a more nuanced picture emerges. A typical adult boasts about 10 trillion cells in solid tissues and another 25 trillion red blood cells that supply the others with oxygen. But large as these numbers may seem, they are but minority players in the rich ecosystems that are our bodies. Our own cells are outnumbered at least ten to one by others that do not even belong to the same branch of the tree of life as we do. From a cellular perspective all of us are mostly bacteria. The adult human body is home to more than 100 trillion bacteria.

It's simply ASTONISHING.
It's also a great shame that no one Biology Textbook - in the average school contains this information. We are living in utter oblivion for who we really are.
100 trillion of bacteria in an adult body, 100 trillion, 100 trillion with a tri!


I have always had this big mind with all this big ideas - I once read a book, a science fiction book - that's where I got the basics for my personal take on conscious human evolution. The book was Slant, by Greg Bear (my most favourite writer of all time). Here is THE quote that completely blew me away:

So it all begins in bed.... Sex is often confused with reproduction. but bacteria engage with sex for the sheer desperate necessary joy of it - sex is their visit to the community library, the communal cookbook. They wriggle themselves through seas of recipes, little circular bits of DNA called plasmids. When they absorb a plasmid they don't necessarily reproduce, but they still swap genetic material, that's what bacteriologists call sex. Unlike us, however, bacterial sex - this kind of swap - can even occur between totally different kinds, what we once regarded as different species. But there are no true species in bacteria. We know now that bacteria are not grouped into species, as such, but evanescent communities we call microgens, or even more currently, ecobacters.

This is from a Sci-Fi book...

and then few pages later...

What makes us special? Like Bacteria, as social animals, we engage in communal sharing of information. We call it education, and the result is culture. The shape of our society relies on spoken and written language, the language of signs, the next level of language above the molecular. Some insert another level between these two, that of instinctual behaviour, but I believe that's just another kind of language of signs.

It's about several pages long thesis - it's a fascinating read, but as short of time I would only highly recommend you to read Slant by Greg Bear.

But before I conclude this article - here is what really did my head in:

Evolution is a kind of thought, a making of hypotheses to solve the problems posed by a changing environment. Bacteria operate as an immense community, not so much evolving as exchanging recipes, both competing and cooperating. We are comprised of alliances of cells that are made up of old alliances between different sorts of bacteria. We are, in effect, colonies of colonies of bacteria that have learnt many new tricks, including slavish cooperation.
.....

All separation is a convenient illusion, all competition is the churning of the engines of sex. Our social conventions give our culture shape, just as cell wall holds in the protoplasm; but we are soon approaching a time when education will overcome convention, when logic and knowledge must replace rote and automatism. This century can be characterized as a time of conflicts between old errors, old patterns of thinking, and new discoveries about ourselves. We have no big father in the sky, at least none that is willing to talk with us on any consistent basis.


...If we all think alike, if we all become uniform and bland, we shrivel up and die, and the great process shudders to an end. Uniformity is death, in the economics or in biology. Diversity within communication and cooperation is life. Everything your forebears, your ancestors, everything you have ever done, will have been for naught, if we ignore these basic bacterial lessons.

I hope this to at least intrigue a few of us.

I will probably have to come back to this post as the subject is of immense importance to me and I actually believe - our evolution, conscious human evolution must be on everyone's mind and th example with bacteria - just gives answer to the too many questions for the future, for living in a sustainable world, in creating a sustainable culture.

I will appreciate any comments and if you could share some of your related ideas - that will be great.

26 December 2009
Further to the above reading please read about the Human Microbiome Project.

otal microbial cells found in association with humans may exceed the total number of cells making up the human body by a factor of ten-to-one. The total number of genes associated with the human microbiome could exceed the total number of human genes by a factor of 100-to-one.

Green Your office

Since I have decided to start a cleaning business, I have been planning this day, when I will be creating our own green your office campaign.

Now finally at this stage, I was checking out the competition, proud to say just one position above us in the google search for #greenofficecleaning - Green Your Office. They have the best articles on their blog.

My favourite is about the electrocuted(%-) salty water as a cleaning solution- how amazing is that! But to find out more read the comment in the NYtimes

Here is another american article about electrolyzing salty water.

From the above article - Here is how it actually work:
DO NOT TRY THIS AT HOME!!!

"Here's how it works. Electrolyzed water is produced by applying a low-voltage electrical charge to saltwater. Sodium ions form sodium hydroxide (NaOH), a strong base that cleans much like a detergent. Chloride ions form hypochlorous acid (HClO), which is a powerful disinfectant. The potent compounds are rendered harmless either by doing their job cleaning and disinfecting or they are simply rendered inactive over time."

Lift Off- Best Viewed Large

Lift Off- Best Viewed Large
Originally uploaded by aussiegall

I wanted to send this to my brother but then I better blog about bees.

My latest account of London city bee was last Friday when a giant black bee was flirting with my housemates sunflowers.

I love bees and for some reason i am partiularly fond of wasps too.

There are so many good things to say about bees.

Here is a link to an eye openning article about the danger of loosing our UK bees - if this happens that will be a total disaster.

@Aussiegall - thanks for the beautiful image.

Here it is: well i couldnt find the article but here is a video about a new urban beehive.

a link to the British Beekeepers' Association: http://www.britishbee.org.uk/

say NO to dirt!

Lush Hair

The first time I ever died my hair was with henna, and quite along time ago. Instinctively I have always avoided artificial chemicals and products full of them - specifically make up and hair products, and I have experimented with various natural materials and methods.

My favourite is the clay facial mask, bath and of course henna.

Here is one of my favourite brands - Lush - their henna is called poo but it contains a bunch of natural, lovely and safe ingredients -100%.

They make your hair look shiny, feel healthy with absolutely no risk at all.

Here are some more about it:
LUSH Henna Hair Coloring Products

What Is Henna?
Henna or ‘Lawsonia inermis’ is a privet type bush that grows abundantly throughout the eastern countries. It has a natural, vibrant red color that also coats hair to add loads of shine.

Henna quality depends on which country it is grown in. For instance, Egyptian and Pakistan henna gives a weak orange. Lush uses the finest henna in the world, which is grown in Iran (Persia) and gives a vibrant red color. Obtaining Iranian henna is not simple, but we are lucky enough to have a supply line into the UK. We purchase it by the container load (a few tons at a time) to offer the finest possible henna to our customers.

History
Hennas have been used since 3400 BC and is are well documented safe methods for dying hair (and skin). Hennas offer a safe alternative to coloring with commercial hair dyes. A henna can be modified with other ingredients like chamomile, rhubarb, coffee, and indigo.

OUCH: Originally, common commercial hair dyes were a product of the carpet dying industry in France. Such dyes were fatal substances and resulted in the deaths of many people.

Click here to go the Lush website and read more.

And that reminds me of a very important issue... The Codex Alimentarius.

Our top client hair and beauty salon Gielly Green is famous for their... sofas

We've been working with Gielly Green right from the start and it has been an great pleasure to look after this amazing space.

I couldn't resist blogging about their beautiful interior design, which the owners Fred Gielly and Shai Greenberg have designed themsleves.

Here is an exract from one of the articles on their designs from the ESMagazine:

Dentists use them, but every household should own one (it turns from an armchair into a bed/massage table in seconds).

I had the great pleasure to have sat on one, while I had the best ever hairwash/massage. Heavenly! ...and highly recommended - www.giellygreen.co.uk; t:02070243060...


The salon opened in Ocotber 2008 and it is a spa, beauty and hair paradise right in the heart of London.



Fred Gielly and the Reception area Shai Greenberg and him designed themselves.