Flamingo

The bright pink colour of flamingos comes from pigments called carotenoids, which the birds acquire from their prey, but carotenoids fade quickly in sunlight, so flamingos' feathers bleach over time.

Doors

Hinges on doors are not hung at equal spacings. In the UK hinges hang 6 inches down from the top of the door and 9 inches up from the bottom. This is because of the optical illusion created by the eyesight of 'foreshortening' when looking down at the bottom hinge. In the USA the space is 5" and 10" with the exception of some western states where 7" and 11" is the norm. The middle hinge is always placed equally between the two.

A French door was also known as a French window. Basically it was a window that served the purpose of a door at the end of the Renaissance period around the time of Louis XIV the Great, the Sun King. The original French doors were constructed of individual, single paned pieces of glass and wood. The window/doors led out on balconies and allowed for the maximum amount of light to enter the room.

Salt

Chemists define the mineral halite, or common table salt, as sodium chloride (NaCl). The combination of sodium, an unstable metal that burns when wet, and chloride, a derivative of the poisonous gas chlorine, creates the world's most widely used preservative and food condiment.

 

It's Been One Week

Monday 4th March                                                                              Monday 11th March

The difference one week can make

The Elster-Saale Canal

The construction of the Canal was drafted in 1926. It was meant to connect Leipzig with the river Saale near the village of Kreypau. Work started at Burghausen near Leipzig in July 1933. The construction work was stopped in February 1943 because of the war. Less than 11.5 km of the canal were finished.

This canal would have given Leipzig access to the Elbe via the Saale and thus to Hamburg and the North Sea. The canal was planned for ships up to 1,000 tonnes in weight. Plans to resurrect the building of the canal were drawn up in February 2007.

The Sun Rising

The Sun Rising by John Donne

Busy old fool, unruly sun,

Why dost thou thus,

Through windows, and through curtains call on us?

Must to thy motions lovers' seasons run?

Saucy pedantic wretch, go chide

Late school boys and sour prentices,

Go tell court huntsmen that the king will ride,

Call country ants to harvest offices,

Love, all alike, no season knows nor clime,

Nor hours, days, months, which are the rags of time.

Buildings in Black and White

A balconet (or balconette) is an architectural term to describe a false balcony, often referred to as "Juliet balconies"

Ivy acts as a thermal blanket, warming up walls by an average of 15 per cent in cold weather and cooling the surface temperature of the wall in hot weather by an average of 36 per cent.