So it's friday the 13th.

Not normally into that sort of mumbo jumbo about bad luck and all however anything that could go wrong seems to be happening (IT systems here). Maybe it's sunspots or maybe because it's time for stuff to play up.

Anyways, after todday I may just start to note the next friday 13th's and go lock myself in my room for the day...

 

I suggest the liberal application of a fizzy brown tonic known as beer......

This is known to have at first a calming effect......

Closely followed by the "who gives a toss" and then the "bollocks to the lot of you" mood....

A really good dose can bring side effects however, the "what have we got to BBQ", "I'm just going to nude up" & ever popular....."I'm such a stud" amongst the top 10.

For a real three kegger....you can expect to become suddenly religous and to become very intimate with certain porcelain bathroom accessory

And since it's already 4:43 here I'm gonna get 2 hours head start on you......ready.... set .....

 

Well bad luck start today when I woke myself at 830am... ****

then I drift myself to work at 1030... sit there and chat with Kalli on line.

Did 45 minute of work and a meeting.

Now I am sitting in the tea room watching cricket.

Gilly has lbw to a good ball.

Such good luck today

 

I had somewhat of a slow start myself this morning.

Have been keeping a low profile before I go away next week. Let's just say certain calls have not been returned.

They seek him here, they seek him there...

 

Was a witch and now a bitch huh?

 

Just a note on beer. Did you know that an Australian by the name of James Harrison invented the electric refrigerator in 1851 for the express purpose of cooling his beer. Story has it that when he owned the Geelong Advertiser he would place his beer behing the printing press and realised that the beer was cooled by the action of the printing press.

Anyway a bit of triva for you.

 

Heh heh heh. My wife loves Hello Kitty, and she also calls me a Toad (she's canadian, and the only thing she knew about Australia before she met me was that Queensland was being invaded by cane toads). Hence for my keropi avatar

 

I'm going to walk under a ladder while chasing my black kitty around

 

meow!

 

Not what this says:

The first known artificial refrigeration was demonstrated by William Cullen at the University of Glasgow in 1748. However, he did not use his discovery for any practical purpose. In 1805, an American inventor, Oliver Evans, designed the first refrigeration machine. The first practical refrigerating machine was built by Jacob Perkins in 1834; it used ether in a vapor compression cycle. An American physician, John Gorrie, built a refrigerator based on Oliver Evans' design in 1844 to make ice to cool the air for his yellow fever patients. German engineer Carl von Linden, patented not a refrigerator but the process of liquifying gas in 1876 that is part of basic refrigeration technology.

Side Note: Improved refrigerator designs were patented by African American inventors, Thomas Elkins (11/4/1879 U.S. patent #221,222) and John Standard (7/14/1891 U.S. patent #455,891).

But then, there's this:

The irony of artificial refrigeration is that some of its greatest breakthroughs came in the chilly land of Scotland. From 1750 to 1850, Scotland was the world center of scientific and engineering thought. It was in 1748 that William Cullen of Scotland demonstrated that the evaporation of ether in a partial vacuum produces cold.

Ninety years later in 1837, James Harrison, a Scottish journalist, moved to Australia from Glasgow and set about designing his own refrigeration machine. In 1855 he succeeded in creating and patenting an ether liquid-vapour compression fridge. The compressor worked by exerting pressure on a refrigerant gas, forcing it to pass through a condenser, where it cooled down and liquefied. The liquid then circulated through the refrigeration coils and vaporized again, cooling down the surrounding air.

Australia was in desperate need of refrigeration because of its lack of natural ice needed for keeping food cool. Harrison was convinced that the economic salvation of Australia lay in the marketing of her millions of sheep and cows to the millions of Europeans. But without refrigeration, it was impossible to ship the mutton across the 100 Degree-plus Equator.

Harrison spent his last penny to equip the Norfolk ship with a chemical freezing mixture for twenty tons of beef and mutton at Melbourne. But when the meat arrived in London, it was discovered that the chemical tanks had leaked and ruined the entire cargo. As a result, James Harrison went into bankruptcy, even being forced to sell his successful newspaper business. Though Harrison was financially devastated, he did open the door for the economic salvation of Australia. Other successful refrigerated voyages followed, which finally convinced Europe that Australia had something to offer, and that frozen food could be both safe and delectable.

And, as usual, Wikipedia comes through with the goods:

James Harrison (1816 - September 3, 1893) was a Scottish-born Australian pioneer in the field of mechanical refrigeration. Born in Ben Lomond, Scotland he trained as a printing apprentice in Glasgow and worked in London before emigrating to Sydney, Australia in 1837. Two years later he moved south where he was commissioned to establish the Geelong Advertiser in 1840, and in 1842 he purchased the paper. It was while he owned this paper from 1842 to 1862 that his interest for refrigeration and ice-making began to develop.

Harrison's first mechanical ice-making machine begun operation in 1851 on the banks of the Barwon River at Rocky Point in Geelong, Australia. His first commercial ice-making machine followed in 1854 and his patent for an ether liquid-vapour compression refrigeration system was granted in 1855. Using a compressor upon a refrigerant gas, then forcing the compressed gas to pass through a condenser, where it cooled down and liquefied. The liquefied gas then circulated through the refrigeration coils and vaporising again, cooling down the surrounding system. The machine employed a 5 m flywheel and produced 3000 kg of ice per day.

Though he had commercial success establishing a second ice company back in Sydney in 1860, he later entered the debate of how to compete against the American advantage of un-refrigated beef sales to Britain. Presenting Fresh Meat frozen and packed as if for a voyage, so that the refrigerating process may be continued for any required period, and in 1873 prepared the sailing ship Norfolk for an experimental beef shipment to Britain. His choice of a cold room system instead of installing a refrigation system upon the ship itself proved disastrous when the ice was consumed faster than expected. The experiment failed, ruining public confidence in refrigated meat at that time.

Hmm, I appear to have strayed off-topic.

 

Azza I did know that, sold beer for 11 years!! LOL alot!!

And Dave....you have way too much time on your hands......not just the research but the colour coding.....damn man ......go get a coldie

 

and it's 6:38 and for some reason the missus is making me drink gin....pretty blue bottle though!

 

I'm a fast mover and like to check facts - remember, Google is your friend. Took me all of three minutes.

 

bleah. I got my story from a science mag. didn't think to check if it was kosher.

 

and for this we acredit you mo coolness...........dave.......google?.......ie mini microsoft?....you need some chillin...and i need less gin!!!!!!!!!!! damn 9:30!!!!!!

 

WTF are you on about Mike?? Got the gin goggles on?

 

Sorry to hear that Kall - okay now?

 

Hah, you're lucky. My Mum, may she RIP, used to poke at sores with a finger to see how much it hurt before spraying it with stuff that made you feel like you'd just entered the 7th circle of hell. And if you cried you were told you were a sook...when you were 5.

 

Still not up there Kall . We copped the whole string tied to the slamming door thing. I don't know what was worse - the slam or the waiting for it.