by Fern Shaw | Dec 18, 2013 | Health and Hydration
Many people mistakenly believe that wine, spirits and even beer, for example, contain no kilojoules and that this is reserved solely for food. Not true according to the below comparisons.
So you may see a lot of people who will eat sparingly, but sip away at the wine and spirits (and even beer) and wonder why they’re not losing weight.
Here are a few examples of wines vs. spirits in the kilojoules department:
- 225ml glass of white wine = 659 kilojoules
- 225ml glass of red wine = 641 kilojoules
- 225ml glass of full strength beer = 341 kilojoules
- 225ml glass of vodka (30ml tot) and soda = 266 kilojoules
- 225ml glass of gin (30ml) and tonic = 545 kilojoules
Two large glasses (450ml) of white wine (1 318 kJ) are equivalent to:
- Five chocolate chip biscuits – 1245 kJ
- Seven jelly snakes – 1 292 kJ
- Four medium apples – 1 354 kJ
- Twelve squares of milk chocolate – 1 350 kJ
- Five large, hard boiled eggs – 1 283 kJ
- Seven chicken nuggets – 1 353 kJ
- One toasted ham and cheese sandwich – 1 244 kJ
225ml glass of soda water = 0 kJ
225ml glass of water = 0 kJ
Doubtful though that anyone would want to spend the rest of their weight conscious lives calculating kilojoule content per mm of lettuce or dollop of mayonnaise (lots!), however these comparisons should give one pause when embarking on a liquid diet in the hopes of staving off the pounds from eating.
Rather chug-a-lug the soda or spring water with your next packet of jelly snakes. J
And if you don’t already have a water cooler in your office, speak nicely to the office manager and perhaps they’ll get one in for you (ask them to speak to us to arrange this). Then you can chug-a-lug as much water as you like!
Perhaps you can even join us in our Drink Water Daily Challenge and really see the results. We’d love to have you on board with us.
by Fern Shaw | Dec 2, 2013 | Health and Hydration
See, this is the difference when it comes to a passion. Or, as the French say, ‘une grande passion’. Just sounds so much more appealing when coached in those terms, doesn’t it?
Because in water cooler supplier terms, water of life means what it says – an absolute necessity – without water, not much life going on. But-t-t-t-t-t-t to a whisky drinker, ‘Water of Life’, means pretty much the same thing, but there’s an incredible history and la passion behind that expression too!
So, for your eddication:
‘*The Gaelic “usquebaugh”, meaning “Water of Life”, phonetically became “usky” and then “whisky” in English. However it is known, Scotch Whisky, Scotch or Whisky (as opposed to whiskey), it has captivated a global market.
Scotland has internationally protected the term “Scotch”. For a whisky to be labelled Scotch it has to be produced in Scotland. If it is to be called Scotch, it cannot be produced in England, Wales, Ireland, America or anywhere else. Excellent whiskies are made by similar methods in other countries, notably Japan, but they cannot be called Scotches. They are most often referred to as “whiskey”. While they might be splendid whiskies, they do not captivate the tastes of Scotland.’
As you may have gathered at this point, I have a slight yen for the usquebaugh – the single malt variety that is. The more peat, seaweed and evocativeness, the better.
Many people (more for me I say) don’t ‘get’ whisky (or whiskey for that matter), probably in a similar manner to me not ‘getting’ brandy. You must understand (ooo! Tina Turner!) when I was introduced to whisky and for a number of years thereafter, I had no concept of the multi-billion pound industry that whisky is. All I knew is that I really liked the stuff. Pretty simple really.
Anyhow, water for you may be a little different to the water for me.
What I do think is worthy of a mention though, is that were you aware that a lot of the water that AquAid supplies to its customers is from Scotland – more specifically, that the water is drawn from 120 metres beneath the ancient, unspoiled Lammermuir Hills, where it is naturally filtered by deep layers of hard basalt rock and red sandstone?
Now, add into the mix the fact that the first process in whisky making is finding a plentiful supply of water. Scotland has some of the purest water in the world. Most distilleries are built on good reliable water sources, which can be springs or boreholes. Each unique water source adds to the character and flavour of the whisky.
Hmmm, don’t know about you, but that’s an easy parallel to draw there and I think credit must be given to me for my superlative good taste in the ‘water of life’!
*Excerpts from – A Brief History of Scotch Whisky
by Fern Shaw | Dec 2, 2013 | Uncategorized
The water wheel was most likely first invented around 400BC. Its uses were multiple; including milling flour in gristmills and grinding wood into pulp for papermaking, but other uses include hammering wrought iron, machining, ore crushing and pounding fibre for use in the manufacture of cloth.
Water power was an important source of energy in ancient China civilization. One of the most intriguing applications was for iron. Water power was also applied at an early date to grinding grain. Large rotary mills appeared in China about the same time as in Europe (2nd century BC). But while for centuries Europe relied heavily on slave- and donkey-powered mills, in China the waterwheel was a critical power supply.
Chinese waterwheels were typically horizontal (illustration left). The vertical wheel, however, was known. It was used to operate trip hammers for hulling rice and crushing ore. The edge-runner mill was another commonly used crushing device. With the latter a circular stone on edge running around a lower millstone was used to pulverize. The edge runner appeared in China in the 5th century AD. Both the trip hammer and edge runner were not used in Europe until eight centuries later.
Throughout the first 13 centuries AD, technological innovations filtered slowly but steadily from the advanced East to the somewhat more backward West. Carried at first through central Asia over the 4,000-mile Silk Route and later by sea, some innovations were exported swiftly, while others (like waterwheel paraphernalia) took centuries.
The first description of a water wheel that can be definitely identified as vertical is from Vitruvius, an engineer of the Augustan Age (31 BC – 14 AD), who composed a 10 volume treatise on all aspects of Roman engineering. One of the most remarkable Roman applications of a waterwheel was at Barbegal (illustration right) near Arles in southern France. Dating from the 4th Century AD, the factory was an immense flour mill which employed 16 overshot water wheels.
Some water wheels are fed by water from a mill pond, which is formed when a flowing stream is dammed. A channel for the water flowing to or from a water wheel is called a mill race or simply a “race”, and is customarily divided into sections. The race bringing water from the mill pond to the water wheel is a headrace; the one carrying water after it has left the wheel is commonly referred to as a tailrace.
Now you know. Of course, we at AquAid don’t make use of water wheels to bring your water to you, nor do we employ water wheels to dispense your cool, fresh drinking water, but rather a range of water coolers, all designed to best suit your requirements.
by Fern Shaw | Nov 25, 2013 | Charity, water cooler, Water Coolers
The Bupa Great Birmingham Run is the biggest half marathon in the Midlands.
‘Formerly known as the Birmingham Half Marathon the event was first staged in staged in 2008 and in 2009 also incorporated the World Half Marathon Championships.
England’s second city is the perfect stage for the event which attracts competitors from across the UK and around the world.
In 2012 Kenyan Micah Kogo won a thrilling sprint for the line ahead of Abera Kuma to set a new course record. Kogo, who dominated the race almost from the start, breasted the tape in a time of one hour and 17 seconds to deny his Ethiopian rival victory by two seconds with World record holder and pre-race favourite Zersenay Tadese third in 1:01:06.
On a very misty morning, Kogo – after losing the previous month’s Bupa Great North Run by a second – made amends by smashing the course record of 1:01:29 set a year ago by the legendary Ethiopian, Haile Gebrselassie.
The women’s race saw Sara Moreira taking total control in the last three miles to notch a runaway victory ahead of Ethiopia’s former World Half Marathon champion Berhane Adere.
The course takes in some of the city’s most iconic sights including the Bullring, the Cadbury’s factory in Bournville and Edgbaston cricket ground. Live music from ‘bands on the run’ keep you motivated every step of the way and thousands of supporters turn out to cheer finishers across the line on Broad Street in the heart of the city centre. ‘
Our Scott Barnbrook, of AquAid Birmingham, is quite the individual when it comes to participating in events for charity and/or improving his health. A recap here.
Good on yer, Scott, for competing in and finishing this rather marvellous and historical marathon!
Remember though, whether you’re running or exerting yourself in any kind of strenuous activity, you need to keep hydrated. This means drinking water. If you’re just zooming around your cubicle at 36 revolutions p/m, that also counts.
For any water cooler requirements, contact Scott at AquAid Birmingham, he or his team will be happy to help.
by Fern Shaw | Nov 13, 2013 | water cooler, Water Coolers
Even though AquAid have ensured from Day 1 that the water coolers that we supply are of tip top quality and are supplied to the customer in a manner that is most practical to the customer’s requirements, life is such that water coolers can have off days.
As we know, anything that has a mechanism can play up and they do. While researching water cooler fails, I happened upon some accidents of the more unusual variety. As you may by now know, I’m all for the slightly off the beaten track incidents – they just really appeal to my sense of funny. Be warned, some of these are not for the faint of heart:
Molasses spill
A molasses pipeline in Honolulu Harbour, Hawaii, was pumping the syrupy substance onto a ship when it sprung a leak, dumping hundreds of thousands of gallons of the goo into the ocean. The sugary fluid, which sunk to the bottom, killed thousands of fish, attracting sharks and other scavengers.
The Hawaii spill is not the first molasses mishap. A truck in Wagontire, Oregon, swerved to avoid a deer in 2008, spilling hundreds of gallons of molasses over the highway. And in 1919, during the Boston Molasses Disaster, a tank carrying 2.5 million gallons of molasses burst, flooding the city’s streets and killing 21 people.
Whale guts
In 2004, a whale carcass exploded while being transported from a beach where it died to a laboratory in the Taiwanese city of Tainan, according to BBC News. Gas build-up inside the decomposing cetacean was thought to be responsible for the explosion, which took 13 hours and 50 workers to clean up.
Rubber ducks
In 1992, 29,000 rubber duck toys, being shipped from China to the U.S. company The First Years Inc., washed overboard in the Pacific Ocean, the Daily Mail reported. Some 10,000 of the duckies floated northward, while the remainder took a southerly route. They have washed up in Hawaii, Australia and even the Arctic.
Honeybees
In the past few years, honeybees have spilled onto highways in Montana, Canada and California, where 10 million to 16 million angry buzzers responded by stinging fire fighters, police and drivers. Honeybee hives are regularly shipped to farms around the country to pollinate crops, since colony collapse disorder has decimated local bee populations.
I suppose, in this sea of rather grisly and sticky accounts of spills and mishaps, it’s nice to know that should your water cooler malfunction to such a degree, the worst thing spilling will be water – really not hard to clean up and no sticky, messy residue.
Just remember to keep that weird worker in IT from trying to suck the water from the carpets – it’s just really not done.
