Is Match Of The Day Better Without The Chattering?
The BBC have just announced that last night’s Match of the Day-Lite had a million more viewers than last week’s full-fat edition.
I watched last night’s program and enjoyed it.
Perhaps, if the BBC wants to save money, they could go to a lite-format for MotD.
And whilst, they’re at it if they want more viewers, why not do MotD editions for the three other divisions?
Coeliacs And Migraines
Yesterday, I watched BBC Morning Live about migraines.
I used to suffer from migraine-like symptoms, especially, if I was in a room with small tungsten downlights. One real tennis court at Cambridge caused them and the other didn’t, as the lights were different.
In 1997, I was diagnosed as a coeliac and went gluten-free.
I’ve not had the symptoms since!
I also stopped nail-biting, which I’d done since I was about five. Incidentally, I’ve had others tell me, they stopped nail-biting after being diagnosed as a coeliac and going gluten-free.
On the program, the doctor has just said that women have a 1-in-5 chance of having a migraine, whereas with men it’s 1-in-15.
The NHS web site says this about who’s affected by coeliac disease.
Coeliac disease is a condition that affects at least 1 in every 100 people in the UK.
But some experts think this may be underestimated because milder cases may go undiagnosed or be misdiagnosed as other digestive conditions, such as irritable bowel syndrome (IBS).
Reported cases of coeliac disease are around 3 times higher in women than men.
Now there’s a thing!
Paul Newman; The Cat, Has Died
It has just been announced on BBC Breakfast that the rare felis statione at Liverpool South Parkway, who was known as Paul Newman, has died.
He had a five minute slot on the telly!
RIP, Paul
National Grid Goes Carbon-Free With Hydrogen-Powered Substation Trial
The title of this post, is the same as that of this press release from National Grid.
These are the main bullet points.
- Hydrogen powered unit (HPU) quietly provided carbon-free electricity to National Grid’s Deeside Centre for Innovation
- Only emission is water
- HPUs could save an estimated 500,000 kg of carbon across all National Grid substation sites
I am an Electrical Engineer and I had never realised that all those electricity substations around the country need a backup electricity generator.
These four paragraphs describe the trial and the generator used.
A GeoPura 250kW hydrogen power unit (HPU) contained within a transportable shipping container measuring 7.2 m by 2.5 m was installed at DCI and produced the energy to power low-voltage equipment needed for National Grid’s innovation testing projects and site operations. The trial tested the capabilities and feasibility of HPUs as direct replacements for backup diesel generators across more than 250 National Grid substation sites, the data will now be analysed and shared later this year.
National Grid currently use diesel generators alongside batteries to provide backup power to a substation for key activities such as cooling fans, pumps, and lighting, enabling it to continue to perform its crucial role in the electricity transmission system.
These backup generators are rarely used and have less than a 1% chance of operating per year, however, on the rare occasion that backup power is required, changing from diesel to low-carbon emission alternatives have the potential to reduce carbon intensity by 90%* and save over 500,000 kg of carbon emissions.
The HPU at Deeside has power capabilities of up to 100 kW in continuous operation mode and up to 250 kW for 45 minutes and uses 100% green hydrogen. The unit is quieter and the hydrogen cannisters used to fuel the generators can be safely stored on site.
I have some thoughts.
Deeside Centre For Innovation
The Deeside Centre for Innovation (DCI), a state-of-the-art testing facility hosting a 400 kV modified substation, designed as a unique environment for development and trial of innovative technologies and practices.
I think there’s something rather cunning about the DCI, as it means that anybody with a good idea will probably approach National Grid for help with the testing.
Visit Deeside Centre for Innovation for more information.
GeoPura
GeoPura has a totally zero-emissions answer to how we’re going to generate, store and distribute the vast amount of energy required to decarbonise our global economies. Or so their web site says!
This page on GeoPura’s web site, gives several case studies of how they work.
They would appear to provide zero-carbon power in widespread locations for Winterwatch, Springwatch etc. for the BBC.
Ruby Wax, Melanie Brown and Emily Atack Climb Pikes Peak
I have just watched these three ladies climb Pikes Peak in Colorado.
Around the age of 18, I used to regularly read the American car magazine; Road & Track and was fascinated to read about the annual hill climb, that took place on the 14,000 foot Pikes Peak.
I am surprised that the hill climb up Pikes Peak was not mentioned in the program.
I have only driven at anywhere near that height once, although, I flew my Cessna 340 at 24,000 ft several times.
When C and I had a memorable holiday in Ecuador, we took a small Chevrolet Metro, up to about 12,000 feet in the Andes.
Cars cough badly at that altitude!
Violence Against Women
The BBC is rightly having a campaign against domestic violence and violence against women in general.
It also appears to me, that women seem to get killed and attacked, a lot more than they did a couple of decades ago.
Is there too much violence against women in TV dramas, so men with small brains think it is acceptable? Surely, it is also wrong to have a TV drama called Killing Eve?
I have only watched a couple of TV dramas or films, in the last couple of years; Some Like It Hot and SAS Rogue Heroes.
Crossrail’s Fans At Canary Wharf Station
I have just watched today’s episode of The Fifteen Billion Pound Railway on the BBC.
In one storyline, they negotiate a giant ventilation fan into Canary Wharf station.
Installing the fans is a fascinating tale, where in the end the last movements are performed using hover-pads and several strong men.
I am reminded of a tale I heard in my youth.
- At the age of 15 and 16, I spent two summers working at a company in North London called Enfield Rolling Mills.
- The boss of the company was John Grimston, who was a friend of my father and ERM were the largest customer of his printing business.
- I got a superb introduction to working in a large factory, where I installed simple valve-based electronic control systems on heavy machinery.
The most important rolling mill in the company, was a mill, that reduced copper wirebars to wire about half a centimetre in diameter.
- The machine had been acquired from Krupp, as war-reparations after the First World War and was still marked with Krupp’s trademark of three interlocked railway tyres.
- Enfield Rolling Mills had a trademark of four rings.
- The hot wire zig-zagged from one side to the other and it was turned by men using tongs.
- The machine was powered by a massive flywheel driven by an electric motor.
At some time in the 1950s, the flywheel needed to be replaced, by a new 96-ton wheel.
The Chief Engineer of the company was an Austrian Jew, known to all as Shimmy, which was a contraction of his surname Shimatovich.
- He had spent some time in a Nazi concentration camp and walked with a distinct stoop.
- He was widely recognised as one of the experts on roll grinding and very much respected by management, staff and workers alike.
- He had supposedly calculated, that if the new flywheel had come off its bearings at full speed, it would have gone a couple of miles through all the housing surrounding the factory.
There was very much a problem of how the new flywheel would be installed until Shimmy announced at a Board Meeting. “We will do it the way, we’d have done it in the concentration camp. We will use men! But our men are fit, well-fed and strong.”
So one Sunday morning, a large force turned up and rolled the flywheel off the low loader and into position using ropes, blocks and tackle and other equipment, that would have been familiar to ancient builders, after which it was duly fixed in place.
The job was completed just before one and the Managing Director of the company then asked if anybody would like a drink and indicated that everybody follow him to the company’s social club.
They arrived just as the steward was cleaning the last of the glasses and getting ready to lock up. On being asked to provide a large number of pints of bitter, he announced he was closed.
On this the Managing Director, by the name of Freddie Pluty, who was a strong man picked up the steward and sat him on the bar.
He then asked the two large workers at the front of the queue. “Are you going to hit him or shall I?”
They got their drinks.
Worried For Clive
On a bus on Saturday, I sat next to a lady of about my age and we got talking about Russia’s illegal attack on Ukraine.
We then started talking about BBC’s news correspondent in Ukraine; Clive Myrie.
We were both worried about Clive.
This article on the BBC is entitled Racism In Russia: Stories Of Prejudice and it details a stories of a black student and others in the country. I also remember, when I went to see Ipswich play in Moscow, that a black fan told me he had been abused on the Moscow Metro.
I do wonder that if Kyiv falls, that Clive will not have an easy time.
Let’s hope Clive was born lucky!
How Defunct Coal Mines Could Heat UK Homes
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on Mining Technology.
This is the introductory paragraph.
In a country with no operational coal mines, the UK Coal Authority has proposed to once again turn these operations to heating homes and businesses. But this time, they will not provide coal for burning. The plan, to take warm water from flooded mines, would turn an environmental problem into a community solution, and the idea is spreading.
The reason, I’m posting this is two-fold.
There was a report on this edition of Countryfile, which should be available until the end of 2022. The relevant section starts at 38.5 minutes into the program.
Charlotte Adams is featured in this report and the Countryfile program. I first came across Charlotte and her fascinating work at a lecture in 2018, which I wrote about in Can Abandoned Mines Heat Our Future?
The Anonymous Widower 