Refrigeration Technology
Dr. Booth taught me A-level physics in the mid-1960s and he instilled a love in the subject, that I still have. I even count Advanced Level Physics
One thing he said was that in a few years, we would be using the Peltier effect for heating and cooling. He was right about the technology, but it is only in the last few years that we have seen practical applications of the effect.
I have just purchased a Baumatic wine-cooler from Currys.
Baumatic Wine Cooler
The salesman said it was a normal fridge, working with coolant, pumps and fans. It isn’t, as it’s a Peltier effect fridge.
It will be interesting to see how it works.
One point to notice is that it is a lot cheaper than a comparable cooler working in the normal way. But does it use more or less electricity?
Aspall Cyder in Greene King Pubs
My local pubs, which are Greene King, have now started serving Aspall Cyder on draught. I’m not sure whether this is Greene King policy, but I suspect that as Aspall is a Suffolk brand and we tend to be parochial, you can’t sell Strongbow against a proper local cyder. So I suspect that Greene King have had to allow their landlords to stock a rival product, as Aspall is distributed by Adnams.
If you haven’t tried it yet, draught Aspall Cyder has made me forget all about trying to find any decent gluten-free beer.
Was Robert Enke a Coeliac?
When I heard of the sad death of Robert Enke, the German goalkeeper, I wondered if his depression was caused by being a coeliac. Note that one of the symptoms of coeliac disease is depression, because your brain doesn’t get all the vitamins it needs. All top class sportsmen are fit and extremely well-monitored for any small health problem. They also often take high-pasta diets to improve stamina.
There have been several cases of top-class sportsman suffering depression and other similar problems, when they appear to have everything going for them.
I would never have posted this question, but someone found this blog, by typing “Robert Enke Coeliac” into a search engine. So I’m not the only person who thinks that this might possibly have been his problem. Note that I said might and I’m only speculating.
It should also be said, that if one in a hundred of the UK population is a coeliac, why is Hayley Turner, the very successful jockey, the only known coeliac?
An Uplifting Idea
When you live alone as I do, you sometimes get up in a miserable mood. You wonder why you bother and perhaps a better idea would be to get another bottle of cyder, sink back under the duvet and listen to the radio. I don’t often, in that I have the responsibility of a basset hound, who has to be let out to do her business.
This morning wasn’t one of those mornings, but a friend pointed me to this item in the Daily Mail.
Ruth Amos was just 16, when she designed the StairSteady, a device to help the elderly and infirm get up the stairs more easily. It looks very good and I suspect it will do very well. Good luck to her!
I speak with grim experience. My late wife’s cancer meant that in her last days she couldn’t climb the stairs to bed. Her pride said she was going to sleep in her bed and she came down every day until the day before she died. But our house has innumerable short stair cases and installing a stair lift would have been impossibly expensive, as we’d have needed three short ones. But it would not have been difficult to install three of Ruth’s devices.
If you read the comments on the Daily Mail article, some are saying it is expensive. It is not, as I suspect most have to be individually made-to-measure and designed to be robust. For instance, if the person using the device stumbled, it would have to support the weight of the heaviest. Strength never comes cheap!
But, because it is cheaper and more adaptable than a stair-lift, I suspect that in many cases, it will be cost-effective to install the device in a house, to keep the user in their own home.
Ruth and her idea have really got my day off on a high!
I shall be watching the progress of the StairSteady.
The Anonymous Widower 