what more could we ask for?

one of those days when you look on the world through clear glass [cant afford coloured lenses, which is quite de rigueur in dobuy]. a day when a cricket legend made it worth getting up at the crack of dawn [on a friday 9 am IS dawn] for this cricket leg end.


given our cricketing heritage [familial and place of origin] we tend to take cricket at a somewhat closer-than-arm's-length distance. and while we have not had the fortune of meeting the truly greats, meeting dave whatmore today was for us a grand experience. and what made it better was his knowledge of our native area!


our thoughts flit to ranji, vinoo, allan, michaels, colin, ian and gordon [amongst others] this day! when in dobuy, be a chinaman!!

conditioned air!

on a day of general gloom and cafard-ish muses came a dollop of sunshine - the ancestral demense is now air-conditioned! conditioned air has always been a quest for that part of mankind that inhabits sudoriferous climes, but we never really felt the need, even in the sandy vastness of dobuy. however, a recent downgrading of the pater's health parameters back in the native necessitated this installation and we are feeling quite chuffed!


as always this triggered a train of thought leading us to speculate on conditioned air processes over the centuries. the aztecs and other tribes closer to the big bang than current specimens went au naturel with just the jollies hidden. further away from the big bang the japanese - that race of aggressive portability - came out with the foldable hand-held fan [the akomeogi] which like all good japanese things made its way round the planet. victorian england was quite a fan of fans as evidenced by several dozen images of queen vic clutching them.


in the native, where the heat, to the gora-sahib, was akin to the heat of the big bang, the fan was at once a symbol of royalty, a languid show of grace and a tool to cool. the pankha came out of british bengal and soon was a status symbol.


here in the sands we condition air from the loo to the blue! our tourist pitch to lure unsuspecting friends and family is: 'ac to come to dobuy and ac to stay'. paradoxically, in our humble dacha we have the con on at full tilt and use a thick quilt to keep warm [the duality of the gemini...!]


now that the guv is about to become a cooler dude [was always a cool one!] we raise a glass of chablis and wish him a rapid recovery! santé!

the art of uncorking champagne

we never stop learning. especially where spiritual quests are concerned.


this tutorial from the telegraph, london: with the festive season going on people have lots of reasons to pop that bottle of bubbly and now scientists at Coventry University have developed a mathematical formula which enables people to uncork the bottle without wasting even a single drop of champagne.


the formula, which has been named "smith's law" after its founder, dr. steve smith, is p = t / 4.5 + 1, where p stands for pressure and t indicates the temperature.

it is based on the well-known fact that the pressure in a typical bottle of champagne at room temperature is equivalent to the pressure of a double - decker bus tyre.
as per the formula to stop the cork from flying off, the temperature of the liquid should be between 5C and 7C, which means that the pressure will be 2 to 2.5 atmospheres, a third lower than when the bottle is at room temperature.
the researcher says that keeping the temperature right is the most important thing as if you get the temperature right, the pressure will be right and you will be able to enjoy the champagne at its best.

bertie will be pleased methinks. 

since we are a four letter word...

...we like four letter stuff: food, book, trvl, quiz, wine, gals, cars, wrds, four, bars, moms, pops