by Fern Shaw | Aug 4, 2014 | Health and Hydration, Water
Humans and animals have always had a rather tempestuous relationship. Everyone has their own belief system about this relationship, mine is pretty simple. I believe that we humanoids are by our mere presence obligated to look after animals. They are pretty magnificent creatures and have every right to enjoy their existence on this Earth. But, then, that’s just me.
Animals have fascinated me since I was the sprog of sprogs. Wild animals especially. Their capabilities have always astounded me, whether it’s an ant that can carry 100x its body weight or how about a hummingbird’s wings that can beat at an astonishing 200 times per second!
So, this led me to wonder – which animals are the heavyweights – hyuk hyuk – when it comes to water storage or the ability to last the longest without water?
As one would imagine, the camel is usually the animal that comes to mind. What is a little surprising though, is that the beautiful giraffe – or ‘jarfie’ as my family calls it – and the teensy kangaroo rat can go as long as the camel, if not longer, without slaking their thirst.
Camels
Camels have humps on their back filled with fatty tissue, not water. But one gram of fat is equivalent to one gram of water when metabolised. Storing fat in their humps, instead of having the fat distributed evenly throughout their entire body, allows the camel to keep cool. Otherwise, the overall body fat would act as insulation and cause extreme heat within the camel’s body. The fatty tissue in the hump is a source of energy and water that the camel uses when needed.
They rehydrate faster than any other mammal, able to gulp down 113 litres of water in just 13 minutes.
Giraffes
Giraffes can go longer periods of time without drinking water than a camel. Giraffes get most of their water intake from plant sources. Acacia leaves are the main plant food source for giraffes. They only drink water once every few days. Their bodies do not have resources to store water. However, their plant diet is plentiful and provides a large portion of their water intake
Growing up to 18 feet in height and weighing up to two tons, these gentle vegetarians need to eat around 34 kilograms of leaves and fruit per day.
Due to the high water content in the food they eat, giraffes have the ability to go weeks without drinking water – though when they do, they do it in a big way, guzzling up to 45 litres at a time.
Kangaroo Rats
In terms of endurance, kangaroo rats blow everybody else out of the water. Not that they need to be in the water either. Kangaroo rats drink water rarely. They live in arid environments and are able to metabolise water from their food, which consists primarily of seeds.
‘Roo-rats can go without water for so long because their bodies have evolved to conserve it. For example, most species of kangaroo rats have no sweat glands. Kangaroo rats may take their eschewing of water a little bit far, however, when you consider their bathing habits. In what may be the least refreshing bath known to the animal kingdom, kangaroo rats clean themselves by rolling in the dust.
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 | Aug 4, 2014 | Health and Hydration
As we all know – and as Gravesend especially knows – a recorded 25.7 °C two weeks ago – summer is most definitely here.
Being all things water, one can imagine that I’ll be coming out with reams of ‘drink thy water’ tomes, but just for argy bargy’s sake, today, I’m not.
Yep, you read right, today I’m not going to be talking drink water; today I’m talking about how to keep hydrated externally. Watch this sportsfans!
See that sponge? That’s your skin, that is! (If not looked after …)
Seriously though, are there ways other than drinking sufficient water to keep your skin well moisturised and plumped up smooth or this just an old wives tale?
Blogista Shaw went walkabout (cyber style) and came across some pretty good tips:
- 1. Wear protective clothing over your skin. A lot of clothing in outdoor stores and fashion stores has a UV protection rating. The UV protection rating is a good indicator of how clothing can act as an excellent barrier against the sun’s rays. Cover up as much skin as you can, using lightweight fabrics when it’s really hot and uncomfortable. Choose fabrics that won’t itch, scratch, or overheat you and choose light colours over dark ones, to keep the heat level down. My own personal jury is still out on this light colour clothing vs. dark, but that’s for another time.
- 2.Wear a hat. Your facial skin will benefit enormously from a permanent ring of shade over it in the heat of the sun. This I can attest to. I have the coolest soft cowgirl style hat that I’ve had for years that’s all UV protected as above and it has served me well. Plus, it looks very styling!
- 3. Give your skin a break. By watching the weather over summer, you can work out the days when you won’t need to slather on the chemicals, such as when it’s pouring with rain or it’s a very overcast day. Be sure to pop on your hat and cover clothing as usual because UV rays still penetrate the clouds; you can at least allow your skin a break from the sun cream.
- 4. If you’re going on holiday and you’re driving, then take your make-up off before you leave as it gives your skin time to breathe. Leave your make-up off as often as possible while you’re on holiday. This is a great opportunity to let your skin breathe and be free from the chemicals in cosmetics.
- 5. Rinse skin after swimming. This is especially important when you’ve been swimming in chlorinated environments as the chlorine can dry out your skin and for some people it can even result in an allergic reaction. And whereas the salt in the sea can be very healing for cuts, grazes and unhappy ‘winter feet’, the same can’t be said for chlorinated water.
Now you know. More in the next insert. ‘Peace an’ love, peace an’ love, people’ as Ringo says!
by Fern Shaw | Jul 14, 2014 | Health and Hydration, Water
Refreshing Fruit, Veggie, Herb and Spice Infused Water
You may remember that at the beginning of the year, we had a Drink Water Daily Challenge. I was impressed by how many AquAid customers accepted the challenge and threw themselves into the fray with wild abandon. Even more impressive was the staying power and the results. At the very least, I’m hoping it increased some people’s daily water intake.
Now, in the height of summer, we’re loosening up a bit and having a bit more fun with our water. Here are a few recipes to get you started:
Lemon, lavender and mint infused water:
- Add 1/2 cup of dried lavender, a handful of fresh mint and one sliced lemon to a litre of water.
- Place the infusion in the fridge for approximately 25 minutes, drain the liquids and you should end up with a light pink cool drink that really tastes like lavender, mint and lemon!
I’ve some other marvellous ideas. The amount of water and the period for infusion is pretty much the same as for the above recipe, but as with most infusions, the longer the infusion time, the more chance the fruit / veggie / herbs / spices have to, well, um … infuse:
* Creamsicle: Orange slices and one vanilla bean, sliced down the centre.
* Blackberry: Handful of blackberries, lime slices and mint sprigs.
* Garden: Fresh sprigs of rosemary and/or basil.
* Herbs: Fresh sprigs of rosemary, mint, lemon and cucumber slices.
* Berry Basil: Fresh strawberries, sliced (green tops on for aesthetics) down the centre and handful of fresh basil.
* Ginger Cream: Slices of fresh ginger and one vanilla bean, sliced down the centre.
* Citrus: Slices of oranges, limes, and lemons.
* Melon: Slices of watermelon and limes.
* Tropical: Slices of fresh pineapple, watermelon and lime.
* Mojito: Sliced fresh pineapple, a slice or two of fresh ginger, handful of mint sprigs.
* Peaches and Cream: Slices of very ripe peaches and one vanilla bean, sliced down the centre.
The only things that I would avoid are fruits that tend to mush easily such as mango or raspberries. In my opinion, these are too soft to withstand all the ice bumping against them. After an hour, they will look less pretty and more like a blob of mushy ick. Not what you’re going for, I assume.
Mason jars with pretty colour chequered tops seem to be all the rage. If you’re not bovvered about looks, any old glass (or plastic if you’re on the go) container will do.
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.
