Author Archives: Nolli

Keep the home fires burning (now with added Physics)

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Stove fans are used to improve the circulation of heat which in turn reduces hot and cold spots throughout the home.

It doesn’t have any batteries so how does it work?

The stove fan is powered by the Peltier effect. This effect is due to a temperature difference by transferring heat between two electrical junctions.

The thermoelectric circuit is generated since it is composed of materials with different Seebeck coefficients. This is due to the junctions being made of doped* semiconductors.

In a Peltier fan the configuration is that of a  thermoelectric generator. 

*Doping is the intentional introduction of impurities to modulate electrical properties

RED Gardens – New page

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These photos were taken in July 2019 in Cloughjordan Ecovillage, Co. Tipperary, Ireland

RED Gardens Project, (Research Education and Development) consists of 6 family scale gardens each one 100m2 (1000sqf) and following a different methodology, or approach to growing vegetables. There is also a larger Black Plot, of about 1000m2 (1/4 acre) which is exploring issues and possibilities of an intermediate scale growing space.

Bruce Darrell manages all of the gardens and related research projects, as well as scripting, filming, illustrating, and editing the videos on this youtube channel:

Welcome to Craggy Island

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Inisheer Island (Inis Oirr), Aran Islands, Co. Galway
More about the wreck of The Plassey: https://www.doolin2aranferries.com/blog/plassey-famous-shipwreck-inis-oirr/
The islands supports arctic, Mediterranean and alpine plants side-by-side, due to the unusual environment. Like the Burren, the Aran islands are renowned for their remarkable assemblage of plants and animals.
The grikes (crevices) provide moist shelter, thus supporting a wide range of plants including dwarf shrubs. 

Homemade blackcurrant jam

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Blackcurrants (Ribes nigrum) can be harvested from late June to early July
Simmer 300g of blackcurrants with 250ml of water for about 20 minutes.
Add 300g of sugar and the juice of one lemon. Heat vigorously until temperature reaches 105ºC.
Pour the jam into warm sterilised jars close the lid and allow to cool. Tastes excellent on hot buttered toast with a nice cup of tea.

“Travel and change of place impart new vigour to the mind.”

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 – Seneca

It’s a phenomenal time to be a chess fan

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Carlson vs Caruana, London 2018

“Carlsen-Caruana is the matchup that the chess world was hoping for. It’s world No. 1 versus world No. 2—the first World Championship match between the top two since Garry Kasparov and Anatoly Karpov went at it for the fifth and final time in 1990. Caruana only sits three Elo rating points behind Carlsen at 2832 to 2835, both the highest combined rating and the smallest ratings difference in World Championship history.”

‘I don’t see you guys rating
The kind of mate I’m contemplating
I’d let you watch, I would invite you
But the queens we use would not excite you”

For Uncle Rodney

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Kranji War Cemetery, Singapore

If I should die, think only this of me:
That there’s some corner of a foreign field
That is forever England. There shall be
In that rich earth a richer dust concealed;
A dust whom England bore, shaped, made aware,
Gave, once, her flowers to love, her ways to roam,
A body of England’s, breathing English air,
Washed by the rivers, blest by the suns of home.
And think, this heart, all evil shed away,
A pulse in the eternal mind, no less
Gives somewhere back the thoughts by England given;
Her sights and sounds; dreams happy as her day;
And laughter, learnt of friends; and gentleness,
In hearts at peace, under an English heaven.

Rupert Brooke (1887 – 1915)

Crataegus pinnatifida

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Commonly known as Snow Hawthorn  these red fruits which grow up to about 35 mm in diameter are now in season.

The ones in this picture, taken yesterday, are from Xiong Xian County in Hebei Province, near the city of Baotou.

Chinese Hawthorn, click for larger image
山楂 (mountain hawthorn) or 大红果 (big, red fruit)

They are used to make a number of deserts and snacks. In Northern China they are often sold dipped in a sugar candy coating on a wooden skewer  much like toffee apples are  in Europe and are called 糖葫芦 (tanghulu).

They have been associated with various medicinal properties especially as a digestive aid.