by Fern Shaw | Apr 25, 2014 | Water, water cooler
The image is of John Collier’s painting of Queen Guinevere’s Maying
May Day, not to be confused with the emergency ‘mayday’, on May 1 is an ancient Northern Hemisphere spring festival and usually a public holiday. It is also a traditional spring holiday in many cultures. May Day coincides with International Workers’ Day, and in many countries that celebrate the latter, it may be referred to as “May Day”.
The emergency call: ‘Mayday, Mayday, Mayday,’ is believed to have originated in 1923 with Frederick Stanley Mockford (1897–1962). A senior radio officer at Croydon Airport in London, Mockford was asked to think of a word that would indicate distress and would easily be understood by all pilots and ground staff in an emergency. Since much of the traffic at the time was between Croydon and Le Bourget Airport in Paris, he proposed the word “Mayday” from the French “m’aider” (“venez m’aider” meaning “come help me”). Now you know!
Back to the topic at hand though;
Traditional British May Day rites and celebrations include Morris dancing, crowning a May Queen and celebrations involving a maypole. Much of this tradition derives from the pagan Anglo-Saxon customs held during “Þrimilci-mōnaþ” (the Old English name for the month of May meaning Month of Three Milkings) along with many Celtic traditions.
May Day has been a traditional day of festivities throughout the centuries. May Day is most associated with towns and villages celebrating springtime fertility (of the soil, livestock, and people) and revelry with village fetes and community gatherings. Since the reform of the Catholic calendar, May 1 is the Feast of St Joseph the Worker, the patron saint of workers. Seeding has been completed by this date and it was convenient to give farm labourers a day off. Perhaps the most significant of the traditions is the maypole, around which traditional dancers circle with ribbons.
The May Day bank holiday, on the first Monday in May, was traditionally the only one to affect the state school calendar, although new arrangements in some areas to even out the length of school terms mean that Good Friday (a common law holiday) and Easter Monday (a bank holiday), which vary from year to year, may also fall during term time. The Spring Bank Holiday on the first Monday in May was created in 1978.
Now, what has this to do with water coolers one may ask? Hm, well, May 1st is in spring; spring means renewal; May blossoms; blossoms require water as without water there would be no blossoms blossoming; crops growing and without hydrated humans to grow those crops … you get the general idea.
So, should you need water to keep you hale and hearty in order to produce food and rig up maypoles, think of us, AquAid, for all your hydration requirements!
by Fern Shaw | Feb 4, 2014 | Health and Hydration, Water
During these winter months, our thoughts turn to keeping warm and a rather pleasant way to do this is by drinking a cuppa.
Today I’m concentrating on coffee.
Here’s some random info to keep your brain warm too.
Coffee shop culture has been ‘trending’ for decades now, in some instances ‘doing coffee’ is even more popular than meeting at the pub. People’s lifestyles and attitudes to their choice of beverages and where they spend their time to socialise have significantly changed – this could also be a factor of most societies becoming multi-cultural and a cup of java is the preferred drink instead of drinking alcohol.
A few little known coffee facts
Coffee is a term applied to the drink, the beans and the genus Coffea which is part of the Madder family.
There are over thirty species of genus, but we only use three of them.
- C. arabica
- C. canephora and
- C. liberica.
The coffee plants bloom fragrant white flowers but only for a few days.
It takes about five years to grow before a coffee tree can produce a full harvest.
AquAid not only supply a wide range of water coolers for the workplace and schools, but also a range of water boilers and hot drinks – Kenco Coffee being one:
There’s a wide range of authentic Kenco coffee flavours to choose from including:
- dark, medium or light roast
- Columbian, Kenyan or Carte Noir blends
- rich espresso
- creamy cappuccino
- de-caf coffees.
Happy keeping warm day to you
by Fern Shaw | Feb 4, 2014 | Health and Hydration
You might be thinking that Aquaporins are a new product from AquAid. You’d be wrong – although the name is reminiscent of pouring water, so perhaps not such a stretch. *Nudge, nudge, wink, wink to new product division*
But what are they exactly?
Dumb bunny explanation:
Membranes which replicate the way nature removes salt from water, for example in the kidneys or in mangroves.
Slightly less dumb bunny explanation:
An aquaporin is a specialized protein located in the cell membrane of body cells. It forms the mechanism responsible for pumping water into and out of the cell as needed. Aquaporins are part of the large family of major intrinsic proteins, proteins that form pores or channels in the cell membrane, and work to regulate the composition of the inside of the cell.
The aquaporin was discovered by Peter Agre of Johns Hopkins University in 1992. Agre won the 2003 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his discovery. He discovered aquaporins serendipitously during a study on the Rh blood group antigen, confirming long-held suspicions by the scientific community that a mechanism for transporting water across the cell membrane existed.
Aquaporins conduct water into and out of the cell, but prevent the movement of ions and other solutes across the cell wall. A specialized form of aquaporin, called an aquaglyceroporin, does allow the movement of some solutes into and out of the cell, but like regular aquaporins, it does not allow charged particles, or ions, to pass through. Some solutes that aquaglyceroporins allow to cross the cell membrane are ammonia, carbon dioxide, and urea. The types of solutes allowed through by aquaporins depend on the size of the protein channel.
How else could Aquaporins benefit mankind?
They could dramatically reduce the energy needed in desalination and the scope there is pretty far reaching – think space suits.
Remember, with AquAid’s water coolers; water; boilers; fountains – you won’t need any desalination set up – all you’ll get is cool fresh drinking water (and of course, your clever body will take care of the rest).
by Fern Shaw | Jan 27, 2014 | Water, Water Coolers
Photo: Mike Hollingshead
I have had a life-long fascination with tornadoes. Forgetting for a moment the absolutely devastating effect they have on life, limb and property, I think they are amaaaaazing. Just recently I tried my second ditch attempt with loved ones about my burial service and what I’d like. It bombed almost as badly as the first ditch attempt.
In a previous blog about dams, I mentioned 007. It is precisely because of one of his movies that my aversion for cremation set me on the alternative path of how my earthly remains are to be disposed of. Don’t blame me, blame 007!
The first idea involved a leaky wooden boat, bows and arrows, a beach, sea and fire. The second idea is some brave person travels with me to Kansas in tornado season; drives me as close as dammit to a raging tornado and leaves me there. This will then fulfil my dream (hopefully) of me finally being able to see the inside of the funnel. I would imagine that if I am in the correct path and I am swept up, I’ll probably only have seconds (if that) to have a look see – after that I’ll be toast.
Anyhow, as it happens no-one I know is too keen on this idea either. Perhaps I can speak nicely to the storm chasers when the time comes.
What are tornadoes you ask?
Tornadoes are rotating columns of air formed in intense thunderstorms. If the vortex extends from the cloud all the way to the ground, then it’s officially a tornado. The funnel cloud is an actual cloud; the low pressure causes the air to expand and cool below the dew point. However, a tornado can exist without a funnel cloud; if the air is dry enough, the only visible sign of a tornado might be a small dimple in the base of the parent cloud. The lower part of a tornado funnel can also consist of dust and debris blown up from the ground.
The dew point in case you were wondering is the temperature below which the water vapour in air at constant barometric pressure condenses into liquid water at the same rate at which it evaporates. The condensed water is called dew when it forms on a solid surface. Now you know.
To think that little ol’ innocent dew could be responsible for such wracking ruin is quite something.
So as if it’s not bad enough to be rejected outright by the loved ones, I was told at the office that no-one’s prepared to participate in my storm chasing demise.
But then, that might be based on my mentioning that I’d like to use our Orio Water Cooler as a tornado test dummy. It might have been, can’t be sure.
by Fern Shaw | Jan 16, 2014 | Health and Hydration
Water Cooler Tales – Volume I
The primary difference between distilled water and spring water is the purification process, though there may also be differences when it comes to where the water comes from or how it is processed. In general, spring water has been pumped from a natural spring, and usually contains a number of minerals. Manufacturers filter it for impurities like dirt and bacteria, but typically leave the minerals and other naturally occurring elements in to improve the overall taste. Distilled water, on the other hand, is boiled for so long that the water molecules become vapour, essentially shedding both impurities and minerals. The result is a very pure product that contains basically nothing but hydrogen and oxygen.
People can typically drink both versions, though distilled water is not usually designed for hydration. While spring water is often marketed as a natural way to hydrate the body, distilled versions are more commonly used in settings that requite ultra-pure water, like heavy industry or scientific labs. It may also be recommended for use in household appliances since the lack of minerals means there won’t usually be any build-up over time.
Lack of Minerals
Distilled water has had all of the naturally occurring minerals in tap or well water removed. If you only drink distilled water, you may not consume enough of the minerals present in tap water, such as magnesium or calcium, according to the World Health Organization. Consistently drinking distilled water may cause a deficiency in one of the 14 micronutrients WHO identifies as necessary for your health.
Sourcing
One of the first things to think about when discussing distilled water and spring water is where each comes from. Spring water originates in natural ‘springs’, which are freshwater pools and streams that come from underground aquifers and are present in varying sizes in most parts of the world. Some springs are more renowned than others for their drinking water, and the mineral content can vary dramatically from place to place.
Distilled water might come from a spring, but it could just as easily come from a river, a reservoir, or even the ocean. Where distillation is concerned, the process is much more important than the source.
In the next volume, we’ll talk about further differences between spring water and distilled water and the best uses for both.
