Patio Heating at it's Worst
I thought that we had hit a low with gas fired patio heaters, then some bright spark decided to make something even more convenient - electric patio heaters.
The worst thing is that now all of the pubs and restaurants are using them to heat their outdoor seating areas. I walked past a pub last night, the temperature was below freezing, the electric patio heaters were on and there was nobody sitting outside.
Sunday, November 28, 2010
Monday, November 08, 2010
Engineering
I work in engineering, my hobby is model engineering and I enjoy reading about science and engineering. When written down it looks a tad sad, but engineering is what gets me up and ready to start the day and what I think about.
The thing is I like a mental challenge, a problem to solve or improve it's overall performance in some way.
My contribution to everyone is http://www.diracdelta.co.uk a collection of pages that is just growing and growing with calculations, equations, conversions etc...
I work in engineering, my hobby is model engineering and I enjoy reading about science and engineering. When written down it looks a tad sad, but engineering is what gets me up and ready to start the day and what I think about.
The thing is I like a mental challenge, a problem to solve or improve it's overall performance in some way.
My contribution to everyone is http://www.diracdelta.co.uk a collection of pages that is just growing and growing with calculations, equations, conversions etc...
Monday, August 03, 2009
Over Engineered
Sometimes things are just over engineered. Not even sure that is the correct expression to use as it may be argued that they are under-engineered. The item I'm thinking about is the razor and what made me consider this was buying replacement blades for a Gillette Fusion - a 4 blade razor that vibrates.......
Great to market and create a real fuss about. The problem is the blades are so close together that they get clogged very easily - the vibration doesn't help here. Also, the price of replacement blades is double that of more normal units. So I bought a Wilkinson Protector 3 with 5 spare blades for the price of just 4 replacement blades for the Fusion. There is something completely wrong there somewhere........
The thing is - the Wilkinson Protector 3 gives a better finish - so there you have it a far better more balanced piece of engineering that just gets the job done. Not so sure that there is a marketing line in that though................
Sometimes things are just over engineered. Not even sure that is the correct expression to use as it may be argued that they are under-engineered. The item I'm thinking about is the razor and what made me consider this was buying replacement blades for a Gillette Fusion - a 4 blade razor that vibrates.......
Great to market and create a real fuss about. The problem is the blades are so close together that they get clogged very easily - the vibration doesn't help here. Also, the price of replacement blades is double that of more normal units. So I bought a Wilkinson Protector 3 with 5 spare blades for the price of just 4 replacement blades for the Fusion. There is something completely wrong there somewhere........
The thing is - the Wilkinson Protector 3 gives a better finish - so there you have it a far better more balanced piece of engineering that just gets the job done. Not so sure that there is a marketing line in that though................
Thursday, July 30, 2009
Corrupted Link
Every now and again you should check the links that you add to your site. I know that you're not responsible for other site content, but nothing worse than clicking on a link and finding that it gives a problem. Well I just happened to click on a link to a site that we had included, luckily McAfee immediately warned me that the site was running software that was trying to gain access to my PC. The site was science.blogdig.net - now maybe there was no major problem, but I really don't want any issues....
Every now and again you should check the links that you add to your site. I know that you're not responsible for other site content, but nothing worse than clicking on a link and finding that it gives a problem. Well I just happened to click on a link to a site that we had included, luckily McAfee immediately warned me that the site was running software that was trying to gain access to my PC. The site was science.blogdig.net - now maybe there was no major problem, but I really don't want any issues....
Saturday, October 04, 2008
Site Statistics
I know this is a science and engineering blog and so I should keep it exactly on that course, but sometimes things happen that shake that all up a bit.
The reason I'm writing is that over the last week or so the number of visitors that are being sent to our encyclopedia have dropped dramatically and it all appears to be down to Google. The pagerank hasn't changed, as per some blogs that appear to have a significant change going from a PR4 to a PR3. No, we have remained at a PR6 - that should mean we have a reasonable rating should it not?
This has happened before. The numbers dropped for a week or slightly more and then returned to normal.......
Well it started to drop at the end of September 2008 and I will let you know any updates.
I know this is a science and engineering blog and so I should keep it exactly on that course, but sometimes things happen that shake that all up a bit.
The reason I'm writing is that over the last week or so the number of visitors that are being sent to our encyclopedia have dropped dramatically and it all appears to be down to Google. The pagerank hasn't changed, as per some blogs that appear to have a significant change going from a PR4 to a PR3. No, we have remained at a PR6 - that should mean we have a reasonable rating should it not?
This has happened before. The numbers dropped for a week or slightly more and then returned to normal.......
Well it started to drop at the end of September 2008 and I will let you know any updates.
Thursday, September 25, 2008
Credit Crunch
With all of the talk of banks failing and credit problems spinning around the world it feels like there may be a shift to good old fashioned values and with that maybe people will start caring again for engineering. For so long the brokers have considered themselves all important with huge salaries and stating that they are the backbone of the UK.
Well, maybe it is time the engineering community showed the bankers of the UK who fundamentally underpins the countries wealth and prosperity. With all of the environmental pressure and people looking for lower energy solutions the UK is in a good position.
Looking at it another way, not having so much money floating around may make people properly assess what is good for the environment rather than just what is trendy or over hyped by venture capitalist money.
With all of the talk of banks failing and credit problems spinning around the world it feels like there may be a shift to good old fashioned values and with that maybe people will start caring again for engineering. For so long the brokers have considered themselves all important with huge salaries and stating that they are the backbone of the UK.
Well, maybe it is time the engineering community showed the bankers of the UK who fundamentally underpins the countries wealth and prosperity. With all of the environmental pressure and people looking for lower energy solutions the UK is in a good position.
Looking at it another way, not having so much money floating around may make people properly assess what is good for the environment rather than just what is trendy or over hyped by venture capitalist money.
Monday, May 12, 2008
Why an Engineer?
What makes us tick and want to be engineers, why not give it all in and be an accountant? Why not study law and make more money?
Luckily money does not make us all happy. I like to work out how things work. I like solving problems with the result being something tangible. I don't think that seeing some share prices increase or decrease would give me quite the same feeling of well being, achievement or just that warm glow when it all clicks into place.
Sometimes engineering is frustrating and very annoying, mostly this is when politics creeps into the main issue which is solving a problem or designing a component.
I like art and find that it often goes hand in hand with an engineering solution. There is something elegant and rather creative about a very good engineering design.
I'm hooked and think we should encourage others to join in the fun....
What makes us tick and want to be engineers, why not give it all in and be an accountant? Why not study law and make more money?
Luckily money does not make us all happy. I like to work out how things work. I like solving problems with the result being something tangible. I don't think that seeing some share prices increase or decrease would give me quite the same feeling of well being, achievement or just that warm glow when it all clicks into place.
Sometimes engineering is frustrating and very annoying, mostly this is when politics creeps into the main issue which is solving a problem or designing a component.
I like art and find that it often goes hand in hand with an engineering solution. There is something elegant and rather creative about a very good engineering design.
I'm hooked and think we should encourage others to join in the fun....
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