by Fern Shaw | Oct 23, 2014 | Water Coolers
Once upon a time there was a planet called Pluto, and a cartoon character dog too, lest we forget. Then, the powers that be decided that Pluto wasn’t a planet and it was demoted. I thought that this must’ve been very demoralising for said planet, to be a former planet and now just a …?
Apparently, in order for an object to be a planet, you would need a satellite or moon orbiting around you, but both Venus and Mercury don’t have moons and it’s not the size of the planet that counts, so I wasn’t sure what the issue was.
What happened when Pluto was discovered?
In 1930 staff at the Lowell Observatory issued a circular entitled “Discovery of a solar system body apparently trans-neptunian” for distribution to astronomers around the world. The announcement describes a new “object” and makes no claim of a planet discovery. This object later became known as Pluto.
There are many things that make Pluto quite different from the planets Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune. But one difference is truly fundamental, and it explains why Pluto is not classified as a planet. Unlike any of the planets, Pluto is embedded in a vast swarm of bodies similar to itself. Pluto is therefore analogous to the asteroid Ceres in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. Pluto has many friends orbiting nearby, which is not the case for any of the planets. The planets accumulate, eject, or otherwise control all the mass in their immediate proximity. Pluto and Ceres are not able to do that; therefore they belong to a class that is really quite distinct from the eight planets.
In August of 2006, the International Astronomical Union (IAU) voted to update the definition of what makes a planet. According to their decision a planet must satisfy the following three criteria:
- It must be an object which independently orbits the Sun;
- It must have enough mass so that gravity pulls it into a roughly spheroidal shape;
- It must be large enough to ‘dominate’ its orbit (i.e. its mass must be much larger than anything else which crosses its orbit).
And Bob’s your uncle, Pluto was no longer a planet. Pluto the Dog’s still going strong though, so there’s that. What does this inter planetary sojourn have to do with all things water, you ask? Well, seeing as I’m literally lurking at the water cooler harassing, listening for ideas most of the working day, that’s as close as dammit. In my not so humble opinion.
by Fern Shaw | Oct 8, 2014 | Charity, water cooler, Water Coolers
When you type blogs in English English (not a typo), but your Office is set to American English (default for the globe it would seem) you very quickly develop a sense of humour or humor, with all the typo’s in the different spellings e.g. organise vs. organize; and then with measurements – litres or liters vs. gallons, etcetera, etcetera.
So, imagine my delight when I was advised that the AquaAid Group were water winging their way across the Atlantic and opening up a bottleless water cooler company in the States. The United States of America that is. This meant that for once, when I typed a blog, my spell and grammar check would take seconds instead of minutes.
Even more amazing is that their flagship company HQ is in the City of Luuurve, San Francisco. We will be supplying bottles water coolers all around the San Francisco and (can it even get any better!) San José and Sacramento, all in the (uno momento as I remap my map brain to see states vs. counties) very fabulous (translate), rather marvelous State of Californ I A. Yessiree Bob, we’ve arrived!
Before you get all worked up and think your fave blogista is in town, sadly, this is not the case. When I heard that AquaAid was opening up in the City of Love, I did suggest that perhaps I should be on the scouting party list, but I gathered from the deafening silence that this was unlikely to happen. That’s OH KAY though, as I get to be involved in the manner that I’m best accustomed to – in cyberspace.
As you may have noticed from the different spelling in the logo above, AquAid in the States will be known as AquaAid, to avoid any confusion as to its pronunciation.
As Uffe Hansen, Group Manager of AquAid, says, “We really believe that our mix of high quality products, great service and charitable donations will be a winner in the US Market, as it has been in the UK. We are starting with one office in San Francisco, but hope to open a second in Los Angeles within 18 months”,
More relevant information about us:
Water coolers are our business, and making the world a better place is our passion. That’s what drives us to deliver exceptional products and service to all of our customers.
The AquaAid Group has been supplying bottleless water coolers since its foundation in 1998. Today, we supply an estimated 30,000 customers with 55,000 water coolers from 26 depots.
Our day to day focus is based on solid business principles:
- High quality water coolers, from US manufacturers.
- Environmentally friendly products, removing the need for deliveries of bottled water around the country.
- Most advanced filtration in the bottleless water cooler industry.
- Six-monthly servicing of water coolers, offering peace of mind that your water cooler will always dispense the highest quality water.
- Next day call-outs in the rare event your water cooler develops a fault.
- Local service. No call centers, no sub-contract engineers, just good honest service from a company you can trust.
So, there you have it – we’ve gone Stateside. If you’re planning to relocate to the States, you can now ‘take’ AquAid or AquaAid, rather, with you. If you’re already there, get in touch, we have a dynamic team happy to assist.
by Fern Shaw | Sep 2, 2014 | water cooler, Water Coolers
I’ve hit a bit of creative burnout, people. Happens to the best of us. It may have something to do with that inevitable, eventual information overload, or the hailstorm I slid through yesterday, or the fact that I’ve not been getting my full 6 hours sleep a night. Who knows? So here I slump. Hence the title, ‘slumping at the water cooler’. It goes without saying that the HOD and her gang are casting dark looks at me, but I’ve sort of perfected the ‘speak to the hand’ ignore – when I’m not slumping or draping myself over the bottle fed, I upend myself (a little like the water bottle does) and hang upside down, trapeze like. If anyone approaches with a battle light in their eyes, I just lift my top lip, showing my fangs, uhh, canines, ever so slightly. Works like a charm I tell you.
So, the idea today is all about free association, which as you may have twigged by now, is rather a speciality of mine. Before you chip in, no, you can’t play – this is a game I play all on my ownsome. Off we go:
Penguins – Opus & Bill – fabulous, fabulous cartoon from Berkeley Breathed circa the ‘80’s. I passed my passion for Opus onto a dear friend of mine who named his cat after him.
Cat on a hot tin roof – Fiddler on the Roof – To Kill a Mockingbird: A life changing novel by Harper Lee. Cannot even begin to explain the connection there.
Wacky Wicks – Beechies – Strawberry Beechies and that bubble-gum smell. Still a favourite.
Nosferatu – Dracul – Dracula – Nazgul (the winged creatures from The Lord of the Rings). Okay, that one, perhaps, is not so difficult to figure out.
So, there you have it, dear people, plenty of brain fodder for you to go and eddicate yourselves with. Pleasure.
Psst. The photo of the penguin baba was initially chose for no reason at all – just because it’s a really good photo and also because it’s of a cute, fluffy, baby penguin. This of course started the Penguin – Opus etc. association. Powerful stuff, eh?
by Fern Shaw | Aug 4, 2014 | Water, water cooler, Water Coolers
What I know about maths could fit on one hand, both hands, at a stretch.
The first one that boggles my mind is the Fibonacci numbers that are Nature’s numbering system.
Another example is from The Girl Who Played with Fire by Stieg Larsson. In it, there’s mention made of Fermat’s Last Theorem, which Lisbeth Salander attacks with relish. It’s round about here that my grey matter literally freezes and I’m not joking – I can almost feel my brain kick into neutral. There’s actually little wonder that I spend so much time at the water cooler, my brain grinds to a halt so often that I need to drink lots of water to lubricate it to start functioning again!
Having said this, I do believe that the Fibonacci numbers do kind of, sort of, make sense. There’s symmetry in there that appeals to my rather particular warped logic. All of these equations point to connections that are just there or have been there all along if we just choose to open ourselves up to this magic.
Here’s why I think this:
I’m history mad. When it comes to my forefathers, colour me fascinated. Racial memory, call it what you will, whenever I hear about certain ancient tribes, something resonates within me. One particular example of this is the Vikings. I watch a series called Vikings. I see how fierce they were but also discover that they were also interested in farming and fertile earth and all good things. I see some of their rituals which are, to put it politely, rather brutal.
Not one week later, I start watching another series, Shetland and in the second episode, it shows a centuries old Scottish festival called, wait for it, Up Helly Aa. Part of the festival involves the dragging of a galley through the streets of various towns, culminating in lit torches being thrown into the galley, setting it alight and the galley being consumed in fire. (Early galleys were made from a light timber frame covered with canvas or alternatively old boats, whose useful life afloat was over, were converted and subsequently sent to Valhalla). The festival seems to have derived from the Norse culture, some of whom invaded the Shetlands in the 12th century. We all know by now my wish to have a Viking burial, see Tornados are water, who knew? Sometime in all of this, I watched another program and there was mention made of Freya, the Norse goddess of love and fertility, who I only learnt about while watching Vikings.
So now it seems that there is this symmetry and connectivity in choices that I’ve made – okay, watching Vikings was very much a conscious decision, but I had no clue that Shetland would have all the ancient Viking elements in it nor that they would be burning galleys at festivals or that Freya is mentioned on more than one occasion all of a sardine.
I’m going to leave this with you to ponder over. My brain hurts and I need to drink water.
by Fern Shaw | Jul 14, 2014 | Health and Hydration, Water, water cooler, Water Coolers
Bananas are Best!
I found this Scottish children’s song:
Chorus
Banana, banana, bananas are the best
A nice squishy middle in a big yella vest
Today or manyana, ah’ll be sayin ‘Can ah,
Can ah have a ba-na-na?
What am ah goin to have for ma tea? Banana!
Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday? Banana!
What’s ma Sunday dinner goin to be? Banana!
Can ah have a ba-na-na?
(Chorus)
Fifty million monkeys can’t be wrong – banana!
From totie wans tae Old King Kong – banana!
They all love to sing this song – banana!
‘Can ah have a ba-na-na?’
Lovely! I can see me singing this for the next few weeks and getting myself some serious skew looks!
Now for the amazing properties of the banana peel:
Banana peels are full of antioxidants, minerals, and vitamins, so they can naturally cure many ailments and can aid cell regeneration.
* Water Filtration – Research shows they have a capacity to absorb lead and copper from water.
I wouldn’t suggest trying this using the office water cooler + AquAid’s water doesn’t need to be filtered. So there. J
Bug Bites – Just rub a banana peel on a bug bite to soothe the skin and reduce the itch.
Bruises – With regenerative properties, banana peel can speed up the healing of bruises.
Teeth Whitening – Rub the inside of a banana peel on your teeth for a couple of minutes every other day, and your teeth could be noticeably whiter in a few weeks.
Warts – Banana peels help eliminate warts and prevent their return. Tape or somehow strap a piece of banana peel to the wart overnight for about a week or rub the banana peel on the affected area daily. This can also work for plantar warts. A potato skin has been known to be able to do the same thing.
Scrapes and Scratches – Rub a banana peel on small cuts or scratches and it can help promote healing
Splinters – The enzymes help dislodge the splinter and can help kick-start the healing process if you tape a piece of the peel over a splinter for a couple hours.
Acne – A banana peel can soothe the inflammation and irritation of acne. It also helps to prevent future outbreaks. Rub a peel over the acne every night. You should see a positive change within a few days.
Psoriasis – Once or twice a day, try rubbing a banana peel on a psoriasis-affected area. Bananas have properties to reduce itchiness, moisturize, and heal psoriasis. You should see noticeable differences in a few days.
Rashes and Itches – Poison ivy, mild rashes, dry skin, irritated skin and even sunburn. Banana peel is good for relieving itch and promotes healing of the skin. Rub the peel over the rash or affected are twice daily until it is gone. If you notice it getting worse you should see a professional.
Oh, the photo. I’m in no way suggesting that you try this at home (or anywhere for that matter). Nor should you immerse bananas in your water cooler for summery tasting water. It’ll just be messy and most likely you’ll be getting the bill for cleaning out said water cooler.
*excerpts from an article at Natural Cures Not Medicine
by Fern Shaw | Jul 8, 2014 | Water, water cooler, Water Coolers
Image ~ Darrin Gatewood
I thought my parrot had finally fallen off its perch when I read the headline.
Water cooling your PC? Mais oui, according to various articles.
Whether you’re using a desktop or laptop computer, there’s a good chance that if you stop what you’re doing and listen carefully, you’ll hear the whirring of a small fan. If your computer has a high-end video card and lots of processing power, you might even hear more than one.
In most computers, fans do a pretty good job of keeping electronic components cool. But for people who want to use high-end hardware or coax their PCs into running faster, a fan might not have enough power for the job. If a computer generates too much heat, liquid cooling, also known as water cooling, can be a better solution. It might seem a little counter-intuitive to put liquids near delicate electronic equipment, but cooling with water is far more efficient than cooling with air.
A liquid-cooling system for a PC works a lot like the cooling system of a car. Both take advantage of a basic principle of thermodynamics – that heat moves from warmer objects to cooler objects. As the cooler object gets warmer, the warmer object gets cooler. You can experience this principle first hand by putting your hand flat on a cool spot on your desk for several seconds. When you lift your hand, your palm will be a little cooler, and the spot where your hand was will be a little warmer.
Well, colour me watercated.
What’s even more impressive is apparently you can fit your own pc water cooler system in your own home. I’d suggest trying it at the office too, but fearless guinea pig that I am, I tried and well, let’s just say that my fans were working overtime once I received the response that I did.
Before any of you get into hot (harf harf harf) water in your work place, I’ll save you the trouble and tell you that asking if you can experiment and replenish your water cooling system using water from the office water cooler is most likely to get you a big, fat ‘No!’ in reply.
