sethoflagos

How happy do you think a lone lion is? Unless of course he's lucky enough to bump into a lone human enjoying his freedom from the shackles of companionship.

Having spent a year working in and exploring a deeply remote part of the Gabonese rainforest, I know this feeling well. There's nothing quite as liberating as walking solo a couple of kilometres down a forest track at dawn, guessing how recently something else had been there from the strength of their scent, and the freshness of their scat. But I also found out how it feels to have an arm temporarily paralysed from the bite of an unknown species of spider; having my vehicle charged by an irate forest buffalo; being caught unawares by a young bull elephant taking a paddle 20 paces to the right of where I was fishing a remote pool for tilapia. Even out birdwatching here in Nigeria, I've turned to find my route back to the wankpanzer blocked by a large spotted hyaena. This type of freedom comes at a cost: the imminent and quite real threat of being removed from the gene pool. Do you feel lucky?

Food and nutrition threads seem to be quite popular, but they bridge a number of our standard fora, and hence get scattered across Chemistry, Biology, Other, and the Lounge. Could we consider a dedicated forum? It would certainly help search and locate old non-highlighted threads, and provide a convenient parking space for off-topic excursions. In my schooldays, it was called 'Domestic Science' though I appreciate that terminology might not be everyone's cup of ginseng tea.

You make it sound as if it were a splash lubrication system. Pretty sure it isn't. The mesh isn't simply a filter. It functions as what we call a diffuser - spreading out any turbulence and uneven flow above it smoothly over its full area to promote a steady, even flow through the perforations. This ensures that within reasonable tolerance, drainage rate equals pumping rate. Honestly, I think you're imagining issues where none exist.

You're welcome. Before proceeding, I should admit that my practical experience of recips is based primarily on large industrial units (100 HP and upwards) of 1950's vintage. The basic principles still apply, but minor details may vary for small workshop units. No. Cold starts cause wear so it's not something I'd think of trying without good reason. Cold oil may still take a while to return due to the higher viscosity. Generally, it may be any force acting in opposition to the desired direction of (gravity) flow. No simple synonym springs to mind. If the unit was built by a reputable manufacturer, this should be cause to have some confidence in their competence. That would be the least of your problems. A more common issue would be oil being drawn into the cylinder on the suction stroke due to eg a blocked inlet filter. Again, trust the manufacturer and follow the operation and maintenance manual to the letter. Remember that reciprocating compressors have an appreciable positive working crankcase pressure by design. Google 'compressor crankcase pressure' for all the good words on this.

Netanyahoo was on the box today gloating over yesterday's actions taken to curb the Islamist 'genocide' against Nigerian Christians. Made me remember how much I was changed standing for a while beside a small plot on the site of the former Bergen-Belsen concentration camp fifty years ago. I need a new word because 'irony' is a couple of magnitudes short of the mark.

Consensus here in Abuja seems to be that it was the least worst diplomatic solution available at short notice. The fact that the attack occurred on the first anniversary of an ill-judged airstrike that killed ten innocent civilians in the same state has not been missed by our media even if was by others.

I did, but forgot. Refresher for us both.

You don bomb Naija? On Christmas Day? For what? God punish you!!

It's a closed, fixed volume system, so it pressurises during operation by Gay-Lussac's Law. This both reinforces the seals and helps avoid pump cavitation. Good engineering and use of the specified viscosity oil should prevent suction starvation. I'd be a little concerned about dumping pressure rapidly while the engine is hot and then resealing as this will pull a vacuum for which the oil seals may not be designed to withstand. If it works, don't fix it.

There was a bit of red apparent in the early sediment of those batches, but it cleared as fermentation progressed. Lemon juice had made it pretty acidic from the start. The green was more persistent, eventually fading a little and settling out in the bottle. The only high pH test I did was with a dash of Domestos that bleached everything immediately.

& @exchemist. Six or seven batches later, the 'mystery green' has only been encountered with one particular Indian brand of cane sugar. I've not been able to duplicate it with either cane jaggery or a local Nigerian brand of 'raw' cane sugar. Given that much commercial brown sugar is (according to Wikipedia etc.) refined white sugar that has subsequently been further processed, I am unable to discount the use of a synthetic green dye. Btw - Top Tip. Unless you're particularly fond of significantly bitter undertones, think twice before making ginger beer with jaggery.

I don't really see any issue here. You and @swansont have pointed out that the sump oil level must obviously fall during operation if the lubrication system is to do its job. Part and parcel of this is that hot, pressurised air must migrate from the crankcase and valve gear into the sump by displacement. When the compressor is switched off, the cylinder fins help cool and depressurise the upper air spaces more quickly than the sump creating a backpressure that partially inhibits oil drainage return through narrow ducts due to surface tension effects. Unless someone unscrews the oil filler plug allowing pressures to equalise.

Give or take a few bars in Lagos... Merry Marxmas y'all 🥳🍻

It's a bit of a grisly picture, but when I look at myself in a mirror, I think I'm essentially seeing the 2D surface of my face from behind with all the wet bits removed. This is what comes of four decades of fiddling around with contact lenses.

Unclear. The lower Rhine is not deep. My comment was more applicable to the latter part of your quote concerning @studiot 's friend's borehole source. Apologies if this caused confusion.

In northern Europe, once you get below about 10 metres soil depth, the annual variation in temperature is barely significant. Moreover, the thermal inertia is so high relative to vertical heat flux, that most groundwater analyses I've worked with over the years show around a six-month lag between surface and sub-surface temperatures. ie the higher borehole temperature peak (such as it is) tends to occur in the winter months. Which is somewhat counterintuitive. But useful perhaps.

Btw: I couldn't resist sampling the fermented cucumber this afternoon. Delicious! And quite different to the pickled version.

It's an issue in diaspora populations, particularly northern Europe where a dark skin reduces solar vitamin D synthesis between three- and five-fold compared to the white population.

No! Cast inedible Mac at a camel, Biden. It's a con.

And yet a substantial percentage of the world's population gain much of their carbohydrate and most of their protein intake from them without undue GI distress. I wonder if FODMAP sensitivity arises in part due to the typically impoverished diet of Western industrialised nations. Where of course, most of the limited research in the area will have been done, with all the consequent selection bias that implies.

Very much not my field, but I'm guessing that the gut biota produce short chain fatty acids from it that we use? My understanding is that it gives the gut downstream of the small intestine a bit of work to do that highly processed foods generally don't.

Two things I seem (touchwood) to have said farewell to recently are a beerbelly and chronic IBS. I'm loathe to claim any particular factors as being critically significant to either of these, but my working hypothesis is that they correlate with ditching a pub grub diet in favour of a) increasing fruit and veg intake b) switching carbohydrate intake from chips, rice and pasta to wholewheat flatbreads and pulses. Perhaps @CharonY can shed light on whether the more resistant starches of the latter are the good dietary move my subjective experience and unlearned research seems to suggest Sometimes I do but not on this occasion. As it's my first go at fermented cucumbers I'd like to see the full natural sequence first without too much tampering with the process. This ferment is quite vigorous anyway so I don't think there's much of an issue.

Apparently the kefir organisms are quite sensitive to both ambient temperature and humidity. As I'm currently living in Abuja (central Nigeria) and looking at six solid months of mid-thirties Celsius and 25% RH, perhaps we're going to be a little too hot and dry here. But you've whetted my appetite, so I think I'll have a bash at making dahi, an Indian version that should be a better match for our climate. And I am very partial to mint raita. Though I think I'll steer clear of the bhang lassi. Well, based entirely (😉) on your recommendation I've given it a go. The cucumbers available were a fair bit larger than what I'd have preferred, but I scooped out the seeds (sandwich filler) and cut them into spears. Also a bayleaf and a few scent leaves should hopefully supply enough tannin to help prevent them from disintegrating. Being from the vine, these will certainly attract Kahm yeast, so I employed @StringJunky 's 'floating roof' barrier in a 32 fl oz Kilner. A bit got in through the gap, so I added enough vegetable oil to make a decent seal, and everything appears to be progressing fine. A few more days of hubble-bubble and after chilling in the fridge, we'll see what we get. Looking forward to it.

Absolutely. I was also intrigued by the efficiency with which it removed uranium from seawater. Up to present, the sequential order of serpentinisation reactions has been largely inferred from terrestrial ophiolites which have been strongly overprinted with later processes. It will be interesting to see how much of the old guesswork holds up now the geologists have an extensive fresh section to study. I wonder how much of that chapter will need to be rewritten. 🙂 I'd also be interested to get a little hint on how Abuja acquired our local landmark, Zuma Rock. https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/cb/Abuja_monuments_36.jpg