#Celsius is just better for nuance in temperature

[the-isopodcalypse]

Like the average American I will defend my right to use Fahrenheit for temperature in all things, but when it comes to Hot Drink, I demand Celsius. Because this is Science and if middle achool science class taught me anything, it was we use metric when we do Science.

[pinene]

The thing about Fahrenheit vs Celsius is that they’re such fundamentally different ways of thinking about contextualizing weather that it’s just neat. Like you explaining Fahrenheit as relative to the body makes absolutely no sense to me, and people trying to explain it as 40 degrees = 40% hot means nothing. I cannot even fathom what that means. Similarly you seem to see conceptualizing weather as what the water outside is doing as nonsense information you can’t act on. This is cool as hell! It’s cool that humans can come up with such different systems for a fixed natural thing, weather. There isn’t an objective answer to which system is better because of how different the root concepts are. I just wish everyone could accept that instead of being mean to each other about it

Well first of all, “40% hot” is utterly asinine. I also would have no clue how to interpret that and do not co-sign that as a way to explain Fahrenheit. Also what where did I say Fahrenheit is relative to the body, what does that even mean?

Anyway I get what you’re saying and generally agree, but I’ve never claimed that Fahrenheit is overall superior, or even good..? My sole claim is that the precision it inherently has with the range of temperatures we are likely to encounter on earth makes it more nuanced for discussing the weather, and I appreciate that. The convenience of “0 is freezing and 100 is boiling!” falls apart when you’re discussing weather— which never approaches anywhere near the boiling point of water.

Not sure what you mean by “what the water outside is doing”. The water is never, ever boiling outside. The temp doesn’t even get halfway to 100. so.. how is that helpful to you? Sure it can freeze but that only tells you how the temp is signed?

Shrug. Again. My point is that I live somewhere where, on average, the coldest it gets is 40f/5c, and the hottest is maybe 105f/41c. That’s 65 degrees of precision in F, and only 36 in C. To describe the entire range of temperature I experience. Obviously I’m choosing the former..

[tripcabinet]

Exploring the Dynamic Tapestry of Singapore’s Weather: A Melange of Tropical Wonders

Introduction:

A tropical and diverse island nation in the heart of Southeast Asia, Singapore is not only known for its breathtaking climate and rich cultural diversity but also its unique, ever-changing weather Singh enjoys a warm climate that contributes to greenery and vibrant vegetation. In this blog, we will explore the fascinating world of Singapore’s weather, exploring its nuances, seasonal changes, and impact on the daily lives of its inhabitants. And what better way to experience this tropical paradise than with a Singapore tour package from Indore carefully managed by Trip Cabinet?

Tropical Splendor: The Foundation of Singapore’s Climate Singapore is located just north of the equator and has a tropical rainforest. This means that the island experiences consistently high temperatures throughout the year, averaging 25 to 31 degrees Celsius (77 to 88 degrees Fahrenheit), and, due to its equatorial location, cold water is slightly larger, making the atmosphere brighter and more active.

2. Monsoons: The Rhythm of Rain and Shine

Singapore’s weather is inspired by way of monsoon seasons: the Northeast Monsoon and the Southwest Monsoon. The Northeast Monsoon generally occurs from December to March, bringing with it heavier rainfall and cooler temperatures. Meanwhile, the Southwest Monsoon, which spans from June to September, brings drier conditions and warmer temperatures. The transitional months of April, May, October, and November are characterized by inter-monsoon intervals, marked by way of occasional thunderstorms and varying weather styles.

3. The Dance of Rain: Coping with Singapore’s Showers

Rainfall is an everyday feature in Singapore, and the island gets a mean annual rainfall of around 95 inches. The rain frequently comes in quick, severe bursts, presenting a respite from the warmth. While some may also view the rain as an inconvenience. Singaporeans have embraced it as an imperative part of their everyday lives. The town keeps itself well-prepared for the showers, employing a sturdy drainage system that prevents flooding and ensures the seamless movement of the town.

4. Temperature Extremes: Navigating the Heatwaves and Cool Spells

While Singapore maintains tremendously high temperatures, there are occasional heatwaves, especially all through the Southwest Monsoon season. These durations can see temperatures upward push above the standard averages. Prompting citizens to seek refuge indoors or cool off in the numerous air-conditioned spaces scattered across the metropolis. Conversely, throughout the Northeast Monsoon, cooler temperatures offer a nice contrast, making outside sports extra exciting.

5. Seasonal Celebrations: Weather’s Influence on Festivals and Events

Singapore’s weather plays an important role in shaping the country’s cultural and social calendar. Festivals and events are often organized around the weather. Ensuring that locals and visitors can participate in celebrations with extreme rain or heat like traditional popular Chinese New Year celebrations The cooler months of January and February don’t stop them.

Conclusion: 

The incredible tapestry of Singapore’s climate is a harmonious mix of heat, rain, and occasional cold. The rainy and sunny weather creates a lush, lush environment and the city is vibrant with life. Thanks to their resilience and adaptability. Singaporeans have learned to accept the ever-changing weather. Making it an integral part of their unique cultural identity. Book Trip Cabinet’s Singapore tour package from Indore on this exciting journey, and be sure to have an easy and memorable experience in this tropical paradise. Whether you’re a resident or a visitor, experiencing Singapore’s weather is more about immersing yourself in Lyon’s dynamic and vibrant spirit than just understanding the weather.

[sciencespies]

Slow research to understand fast change

https://sciencespies.com/nature/slow-research-to-understand-fast-change/

Slow research to understand fast change

In a world that’s changing fast, the Long Term Ecological Research (LTER) Network can seem almost an anachronism. Yet the patience and persistence that have generated 40 years of careful, reliable science about the Earth’s changing ecosystems may prove to be just what’s needed in this rapidly shifting world. We can’t wait for a crystal ball — and we don’t have to. By harnessing decades of rich data, scientists are beginning to forecast future conditions and plan ways to manage, mitigate, or adapt to likely changes in ecosystems that will impact human economies, health and wellbeing.

The National Science Foundation established the LTER Network more than 40 years ago to provide an alternative to funding models that favored constant innovation over continuity. The model has proven to be extraordinarily successful at both.

This month, in the Ecological Society of America’s open-access journal Ecosphere, LTER researchers present examples of how changing populations — of fish, herbs, trees, kelp, birds and more — both reflect and influence the structure and resilience of ecosystems. The research collection contains 25 vignettes of the unexpected lessons drawn from long term research on populations of plants, animals and microbes — just one small slice of the usable knowledge being generated by this program.

Ecologist Peter Groffman, who led the special collection, says the program is well-positioned to detect big changes. “Climate change is affecting ecological systems in really complex ways that are difficult to see and assess,” Groffman said. “Observing from one point in time or through one method only reveals a slice of the situation. The scientists in the LTER Network combine long-term observations, experiments, models and theory to build up a more comprehensive picture.”

He also highlights the program’s team-oriented approach as being instrumental to its success. “The collaborative and inclusive nature of the network greatly facilitates our ability to address the very hardest questions in ecology and environmental science, and to share that information with the world,” he explained. “We appreciate the National Science Foundation’s vision of a lasting network that makes this environmental problem-solving possible.”

Examples cluster around five main themes:

State change. Ecologists have known for decades that one small additional push could tip an ecosystem from prairie to shrubland or from mangrove forest to estuary. But just recognizing a true state change, let alone anticipating and avoiding such transitions, has been largely out of reach. At the Konza Prairie LTER, experimental manipulations of fire frequency, grazing, climate and nutrients allow researchers to identify signs of an impending shift from prairie to juniper woodland, factors (such as decreased fire frequency) that would exacerbate these shifts, and the conditions that would be needed to support restoration.

Connectivity. Bringing together researchers from multiple disciplines in one location allows LTER researchers to discern the connections between air, water, plants, microbes, soil and humans that are difficult for individual researchers to capture. In the McMurdo Dry Valleys of Antarctica, summer temperatures normally hover around the freezing point. The summer of 2002 was slightly warmer and windier than average, but solar radiation held steady. Suddenly, streams flowed, soil organisms flourished, and lake productivity increased in this otherwise dry and frozen landscape. Liquid water closed the connections among landscape components that otherwise remained quite separate. LTER researchers, thoroughly familiar with the usual range of conditions, were able to capture and analyze every nuance of the change.

Time lags. Time lags are the ultimate “cold case” in ecology. Something — a change in management practices, a fire or hurricane, the gain or loss of a species — changes the way an ecosystem responds years or decades later. Without knowing the history of the system, it is easy to mistake the final straw for the underlying cause. Two decades of slowly warming sea surface temperatures, punctuated by the decadal excursions of El Niño and the Pacific Decadal Oscillation, appeared to produce no discernible change in krill populations of the California Current Ecosystem. Only when researchers also included the previous 40 years of observations by a related project did they detect an increase in krill populations — driven by higher concentrations of nutrients in deeper ocean layers.

Cascading effects. Multi-layered, complex linkages in ecosystems can cause changes to propagate in ways that are difficult to anticipate. In the simplest example, reduced predation releases pressure on a population of grazers. More grazers survive, which in turn decimates the plant life at the bottom of the food chain. At Gull Lake in Michigan, increased growth of Microcystis, a toxic cyanobacterium, followed the arrival of zebra mussels in the early 1990s. Typically, Microcystis does better in warmer water, but as water temperatures increased at Gull Lake, Microcystis populations declined. Multiple experiments suggested that the presence of zebra mussels facilitated the growth of Microcystis, perhaps by grazing on the cyanobacterium’s competitors. When a heat wave caused a massive die-off of zebra mussels in Gull Lake, the microcystin toxin declined by ~80%, thus providing a whole-lake confirmation of the experimental results.

Resilience. What qualities allow an ecosystem to retain its basic functions in the face of changing conditions? Or to return to the same basic form after a major disturbance? With temperature, nutrients, storms, water, and biodiversity all changing at once in the real world, controlled experiments allow LTER researchers to disentangle interacting influences on resilience. The BioCON experiment, established in 1997 at Cedar Creek LTER, separates the effects of biodiversity loss, increased nitrogen, and increased carbon dioxide, with nitrogen additions decreasing species richness by 16%. In the related TeRaCON experiments, researchers found that high biodiversity can mitigate microclimatic conditions by the equivalent of 2 degrees Celsius.

Story Source:

Materials provided by Ecological Society of America. Note: Content may be edited for style and length.

#Nature

[aspire-to-the-light]

Breaking Character

You have to be a little careful with identity expression.

It’s a really powerful tool, because of how many ways it’s constantly reinforced, and how available it can be. If I make being kind part of my identity, then kind actions become easier for me to take, more available, more obvious. I hesitate about being unkind, because this isn’t who I am, and it hurts to act inconsistently with my core identity. People expect me to be kind, and so come to me for help and give me opportunities to practise kindness. The expectation to be kind also provides social pressure to keep being kind; people act kindly to me expecting I’ll reciprocate, or introduce people and say “hey this is person and they will help you”, or put me in some official position that requires being kind - and then I feel obligated to act in the ways people believe I will.

(”Kind” is not a central part of my identity; I don’t like a lot of the connotations and associated affect. I identify with some similar traits, but mostly picked “kind” because it’s an easy example.)

So identity can be incredibly useful, when you deliberately cultivate an identity based on traits you both possess and endorse, which helps you differentiate your social role and motivate you to be good and remember who you are.

But things inevitably creep into your identity that you didn’t put there. (And I’m not using “identity” in a way that requires you to “identify with” a thing before it’s part of your identity.) Any trait you have that all your friends know you possess, any running joke about how <trait> you are, anything people mention when they’re saying “you know, <name>, remember, the one who <trait> and does <activity> and has super long purple hair...”

I am a super-high-energy person with incredible levels of extraversion. I am bouncy and extravert and Loud! and Excitable!! and sometimes VERY HAPPY!!! And sometimes I inspire people to go Do Stuff because I love the world SO FUCKING MUCH and sometimes I make stuff happen because people get swept up in ENERGY!!!! and I love people and I love lights and I love music and I am always up for things and I cannot! sit! still!

...except sometimes I’m not. Sometimes I want to curl up in my room and hide from the party and take a nap.

But everyone knows that I am high-energy. That’s part of why I am so high energy; because people are high-energy around me, invite me to high-energy things, buy me fidget spinners and obnoxiously bright neon orange T-shirts. So when I hide in my room, people come in and say, “Accalia? Why are you hiding in your room, don’t you love parties? Did we do something wrong? You’re way way quieter than you usually are ... are you okay?”

Hiding in my room is breaking character.

Most people don’t, can’t, have particularly nuanced models of most of the people they know. I can handle modelling “Bob, who is honest and brash and arrogant and always contributes their share and fun to debate with”, but it’s really difficult to handle “Bob, who is honest to our friend-group because they used to lie fairly casually but it got them in some trouble and they feel bad about it and are trying to be better, but still can’t kick their habit of sometimes exaggerating stories, and also doesn’t feel a need to be honest on government forms or to family or authority figures, and who compartmentalises a few secrets they keep about their opinions on X and so doesn’t conceptualise lying about that as lying, and who can sometimes try a bit too hard to be honest in areas where they care about it and end up actually saying more self-deprecating/offensive/hurtful things than they’d endorse because they over-correct away from hiding things, and <equal level of detail about traits like brash and arrogant and contributing and fun-debating>”.

Simplifying away this nuance is often really useful! If you were constantly aware of all of it, you’d miss the forest for the trees. I know plenty of people who are unable to label themselves with any particular personality trait because they can always name a few situational counter-examples; I should write a different post if I want to talk about the ways that hurts people, but it is important to be able to see the trends, to be able to say, “OK, there are some things I definitely back away from, but overall I’m a brave person.”

But if you have this level of model of someone, the comic-book-character kind of model where person X always behaves helpfully because they are a helpful person, then it’s helpful to remind yourself often that people are complex and that it’s okay to break character.

When people check if I’m OK because I’m hiding in my room, that’s fairly harmless. In fact it’s probably justified, because it is out of character for me, and that can sometimes mean something’s wrong.

There are less-harmless examples.

I’m really bad at arithmetic. I know that I’m bad at arithmetic, and so I build workarounds like using a calculator because I don’t trust my mental math, and then I don’t practise mathematics because I’m always using my calculator. Other people know I can’t do arithmetic and that this has held me back from learning much math, so they helpfully add things up for me or don’t involve me in math conversations or excuse me from obligations where I’d have to get arithmetic right. And, while this has the downside of reinforcing my bad-at-math-ness and giving me no opportunities to improve, I do appreciate the support systems.

...except when I break character. Sometimes I’m feeling really motivated, or there’s a particular thing that’s highly intuitive for me, or I remember something, and I do some math. And people are surprised, because OMG, Accalia did a math? Accalia never does a math! This must be some kind of special occasion and we should give lots of positive reinforcement! Yay Accalia, you did some math despite math being really hard for you!

They mean well, but so often it ends up reinforcing, “Accalia, you are really bad at math, and any time you do succeed at math, it’s a special thing that happened due to unusual circumstances. You have the Comic Book Character Trait of being extremely Bad At Math and you should not update towards there being some times or ways or methods in which you can do math, because this is a Weird and Out Of Character Occurrence.”

So just... let people have moments of nuance and situational dependence and complexity, without it affecting your perception of their core traits.

There’s a running joke about me being a lava demon who wants ridiculously high temperatures, because most of the time I’m comfortable at 30 Celsius and will cover myself in many many blankets if it’s colder than that. But this is affected by medications and hormone cycle and day-to-day variation and sometimes I just feel like I need a cold breeze to cut through my cotton wool. And I want to be able to keep the running joke about infiltrating human society as a fire spirit, but I also do not want “you? too hot? when does that ever happen???” when I break character.

Let people sometimes be outgoing, without reminding them that they’re usually so shy. Let people sometimes have a good day without expecting them to be capable of just as much stuff on all future days. Let people sometimes be afraid without it putting in jeopardy their status as a fundamentally brave person. Let people sometimes need hugs even though they normally hate all physical contact.

It’s a tricky balance to strike, because the idea is not to never have ideas about someone’s character traits. Having character traits is really important. Complexity and exceptions and nuance exists, and that is okay, because traits are not conditional on there being no exceptions; let a person’s traits and identity be clear and simplified and strong, without the exceptions invalidating the trait or the trait invalidating the exceptions.

[smitty7535-blog]

Wine Storage Tips Making The Most of Your Wine

Wine Storage Tips: Making The Most Of Your Treasure Wine has been set apart from the other beverages consumed by humans, rather like the gods and goddesses themselves were set apart from mere mortals in their aerie on Mount Olympus, since the first flagon of grape was allowed to ferment. Wine has had a role to play in religious ceremonies form the time of the ancient Greeks to the Christian rituals of today, and when it is released from its bottle like a genie, wine has almost the same effect. Yet wine, for all its mystery, requires some rather mundane care. Wine which is not to be consumed immediately needs to be sorted, and its proper storage has certain rituals of its own. For those uninitiated into those rituals, wine storage tips might prove helpful. Although many people love to store their wine in plain sight of the envious eyes of their visitors, or because the shade of the burgundy exactly matches the roses on Grandmother’s china, the first of the wine storage tips is that wine should be stored away from light and heat. If you’re not going to be drinking the lovely burgundy within a few weeks, put it back in the wine storage rack in a dark cool part of the house. Watching The Humidity And while you’re putting it back, check the humidity in your main wine storage area. The second of the wine storage tips is that you don’t want the humidity to drop to a level at which the bottle corks will begin to dry out and shrink. If they do, air will get into the bottle s and the wine will eventually deteriorate. Storing Leftover Wine Another of the more useful wine storage tips regards what you should do after the party with the wine in your half-empty bottles. Feeding it to the kitchen sink hardly seems justified; if you can find the cork and it still fits, just replace it and make sure to finish the wine in the next couple of days. For more info see http://www.winestoragerating.com/Articles/Wine_Storage_Temperature.php on Wine Storage Temperature. Nitrogen Sealing But if you’ve had as much wine as you can take for a while, and you can find one, get yourself a nitrogen wine storage unit. It has a cylinder of nitrogen attached to a hose, and the hose is fitted to the bottle of leftover wine, pressurizing it with nitrogen gas so that the wine is protected from oxygen in the air. Oxygen will destroy the wine’s magical properties, but nitrogen will leave them intact. The final, and most obvious, of the wine storage tips, is to forego the entire storage process and drink the wine as soon as you bring it home. That’s why you bought it! WineHomeBrewClub.com   Wine Storage Temperature And The Art Of Imbibing Modern science, when applied to the millennia old art of wine making, has let the great vineyards of the world produce many vintages which to not need to age in their bottles for extended periods before reaching the peaks of flavor and aroma. But the question remains of how to store other vintages for which the journey to perfection will take more time. A wine cellar is the perfect answer for those who have both the space and the money to indulge in one. For the rest of us, though, something more modest will have to do, and any wine storage which is to succeed will have to be done at the proper wine storage temperature. Finding the correct wine storage temperature is not really mystery; warm is bad; cool is good. Heat will cause wine to deteriorate just as it causes fresh fruits, vegetable, meats, and dairy products to deteriorate. On the other hand, going to far in the chilly direction can also be dangerous; frozen wine, unlike frozen grape juice, does not a Popsicle make. Frozen wine, in fact, loses forever its aroma and taste. Color Coded Temperatures One of the factors which should influence your choice of wine storage temperatures is the color of the liquid in the wine bottle. Is it white, or red, or something in between? Once a bottle of wine has been fetched from wherever you keep it during its long nap, you want it at the optimum serving temperature before you drink it. Red wines should not be served chilled; the cold will rob the wine of its ability to dazzle your palate with all the sublet tones and nuances of its flavors and aromas. A temperature of about 65F, or 18C, will show off your merlots, pinots, and burgundies to their best advantage. White wines and blushes are to red wines what ice is to blood; they need to be thoroughly chilled before serving if they are to have any impact whatsoever. No matter their wine storage temperature where you have been keeping them, get them to 39 F, or 4C, before taking the first sip. For more info see http://www.winestoragerating.com/Articles/Wine_Storage_Temperature.php on Wine Storage Temperature. Enjoying The Drink All wines, no matter their color and their wine storage temperatures, should be given a chance to breathe after they have been opened. They should be allowed at least fifteen minutes--thirty would be much better-- of exposure to the air before they are poured and consumed, and they should never, ever, ever be swallowed without being allowed some intimacy with the drinker’s mouth and tongue. If you are brave enough, or drinking alone, you can even try trilling--gently gargling--the wine so that it comes into contact with every part of your mouth.   WineHomeBrewClub.com Wine Storage Temperature And Serving Suggestions The love of wine has existed since the dawn of time. Fossil vines, 60-million-years-old, are the earliest scientific evidence of grapes. The earliest written account of viniculture is in the Old Testament of the Bible which tells us that Noah planted a vineyard and made wine (well with all those animals on the Ark what was he expected to do!) Exactly when it was discovered is unknown, but an ancient Persian fable credits a lady of the court with the discovery of wine. This Princess, having lost favor with the King, attempted to poison herself by eating some table grapes that had spoiled in a jar. She became intoxicated and giddy and fell asleep. When she awoke, she found the stresses that had made her life intolerable had dispersed. Returning to the source of her relief, her subsequent conduct changed so remarkably that she regained the King's favor. He shared his daughter's discovery with his court and ... The wine industry and consumption continues to grow every year. Wine connoisseur are continually buying great wine to keep either for later consumption or for investment. One of the most important aspects to ensure your wine stays fresh during storage is the wine storage temperature. The basics of wine storage temperature are fairly simple. First, the wine should be kept cool. Like most beverages and foods, heat is the natural enemy of wine. A cool temperature is optimal, but the temperature should not lowered too much as this too will harm the wine. In the unlikely event that the wine freezes, it will probably only be suitable for vinegar! The basics of wine storage are really straightforward with whites, reds, and blushes. However, the serving preparation for each of these wine types is different and something worth discussing. After removing the bottle from storage, getting your wine to the correct temperature is important. With red wines, such as a merlot or sheraz, approximately 65 degrees Fahrenheit (18 degrees Celsius) is what is recommended. This is basically room temperature. Secret tip: in a room of about 70 degrees Fahrenheit the wine, due to being a liquid will naturally be cooler. It is highly advised to not chill red wines. This is a more common error than you think, the cold can be very destructive on the wine and its flavor. With whites and many blushes the need for refrigeration before serving is key. Chilling truly brings out the flavor. For these types of wine 39 degrees Fahrenheit or 4 degrees Celsius is usually a good temperature. In the case of both darker wines and the lighter types, it is advisable to let the bottle ‘breathe’ after opening. It is recommended you do this about half an hour before drinking (longer is often better) Now to tasting. Swish the wine around the mouth to truly get the most out of the flavor. I however recommend drinking as opposed to spitting it out! In the end ENJOY the wine, it is after all a pleasure that has been with us for centuries.     Wine Storage is the Key to Preserving and Aging your Wine Wine storage is key to the success of any collection. If you enjoy collecting find wines then you will want to look into the best of all wine storage options. There are many different ways to store your wine but no matter which wine storage solution you choose you will need to keep the conditions constant. The temperature of any wine storage space needs to be at a constant 50-60 degrees. There should also be plenty of ventilation of the area and this wine storage should be far away from the main area of the house. You do not want to have your wine collection suffering due to too much vibration and you need to keep any source of light to a minimum. No sunlight should be permitted into the wine storage area. You can use a wine cellar for your wine storage or you can have a special cooler. Wine racks are a necessary part of your wine storage. The wine racks can be made of metal or wood and the wine storage that you choose will be a matter of personal taste. Both of these sorts of racks are wonderful to look at but the metal racks tend to be more flamboyant and stylish while the wood racks are classic and traditional in style. You may want to choose your racks in order to have them match the rest of your wine storage solution. The final choices that you make will be affected somewhat by whether or not you are planning to show off your wine cellar to your friends. If you are then your wine storage solutions will need to be a little more coordinated. So look into the wine racks and other wine storage options that will all look well together. Your wine storage area can look like those of a professional wine collector. It is not hard to do but it can cost you a little money. Your temporary wine storage options are a little simpler. Just before you serve your wine you will probably want to chill it, this of course depends on the wine. In order to store your wine for chilling you can look into cool wine storage solutions. Wine coolers are easy to find, you can find them in many department stores or wine stores. Even the Internet is a great source for finding these types of wine storage options.   Wine Cellar Cooling Units Building a wine cellar can create the ideal environment to store your wines. Temperature is always a major consideration in wine storage and the ideal wine storage temperature is between 55ºF and 58ºF (13ºC–15ºC), although any temperature between 40º–65ºF (5º–18ºC) will suffice as long as it doesn’t fluctuate too much. Ideally, the humidity should be around 70%. If you can't achieve these temperatures in your passive wine cellar then you may require a wine cellar cooling unit. A standard home refrigerator makes a poor wine cooling solution for several reasons. It is designed specifically to store and look after food products, not to store wines. An atmosphere that works well for meat and vegetables is far too cold and dry for your expensive wine. The preferred temperature for home refrigeration is somewhere between 35ºF and 38ºF (1.7 to 3.3ºC) Home – or even commercial – refrigeration equipment is built to cool food quickly to prevent it spoiling. This is achieved by blasting cold air until the desired temperature is reached. Then a cycle kicks in whereby once the set temperature is reached, the refrigerator shuts off. When the temperature rises to a pre-determined point, cold air is again blasted. This continuous fluctuating temperature cycle isn't good for your wines. Standard refrigeration equipment is designed not only to cool but also to remove moisture. Wine gives off neither heat nor moisture so you end up with an environment that's way too dry for wine. This will cause wine corks to shrink, which will allow air to get in. Once the air is in contact with your wine the irreversible process of oxidation begins and your wine is ruined! Vibration can also be an issue with a home refrigerator. Wine requires a calm vibration-free environment in which to develop so any vibration will eventually destroy a fine wine. Similarly, home air conditioning provides a poor environment for aging your wines, as it removes the humidity from the air which can lead to corks drying out. Additionally, if air conditioning is only turned on at certain times during the day then the wine will become subject to wide temperature fluctuations, which will inevitably cause irreparable damage to your wine. To properly cool and humidify a cellar you will need a cooling system designed specifically for cooling a wine cellar. Wine cellar cooling units can be set at any temperature within the optimum range for successfully aging wines and they cool the air slowly and gently. They are designed to maintain humidity rather than dehydrating the cellar although sometimes additional humidification may be required in extremely dry climates. This type of wine cellar cooling unit is usually installed approximately 18 inches from the top of the room in order to achieve maximum cooling. The unit will also require an unobstructed airflow and adequate ventilation to dissipate the heat generated by the unit. It is also possible to install a split air system into a wine cellar although these units can be very expensive with prices running into many thousands of dollars. A split air system is installed outside the wine cellar and the supply and return air is ducted to and from the wine cellar. This wine cellar refrigeration system works like a central air-conditioning system and is similarly quiet. This system would usually include electronic controls and a digital display. There are many options available with split system cooling including humidifiers, dehumidifiers and alarm units. With the addition of the options, a split air system will provide you with total control of your wine cellar refrigeration, albeit at a large cost. If you find that your wine cellar requires a cooling unit it is worthwhile shopping around and comparing brands. There are few bargains, however, you should be able to save money with a little research.      

http://winehomebrewclub.com/wine-storage-tips-making-the-most-of-your-wine/

[kelsusit]

Acer Predator Triton 700

When it comes to raw specs, the Acer Predator Triton 700 sits pretty high atop the gaming laptop market. There is so much power packed into an impossibly thin chassis here – it's an impressive triumph of engineering. That said, it's not unique for a high quality laptop to be both thin and powerful. 

For instance, the Asus ROG Zephyrus is slightly thinner and packs similar hardware inside, while the Alienware 15 R3 is comparatively much thicker while offering slightly less in the way of power.

Both the Zephyrus and the Alienware beat out the Triton's $2,999 (£2,999, AU$4,999) price tag while including arguably better screens. Both of the Triton's competitors have displays with 120Hz refresh rates, but all three laptops have G-Sync enabled displays to cut down screen tearing.

Price and availability

The Triton 700’s jumping-off price is $1,999 (£2,999, AU$4,999). That drops the graphics card down to a GTX 1060 6GB and cuts the RAM in half, but otherwise they're identical machines. The entry level model isn't available in Australia, so, if you really want one, it will set you back AU$4,999. In the UK, the available models aren't yet for sale, but they're identical to the US, with the exception of the higher-end Triton having 1TB of storage.

Value-wise, the Triton runs neck and neck with the Zephyrus and Alienware. They trade some features for others, but none of them really leap ahead in terms of value when up against the other. They're all enormously expensive, even at their lower-end models.

Design

The Predator is unassuming for such a powerful laptop. It lacks the audacious design of similar computers, and is probably the most understated of the three when closed. A Predator logo on the lid is the only thing really giving away its purpose as a powerful, mobile gaming computer.

The inside, however, is quite attractive, but simultaneously takes some getting used to. Form follows function, but in the case of the Triton, it's hard to figure out what elements influenced its unusual design. There isn't a track pad below the keyboard, like you'd expect to find. Instead, the keyboard runs all the way along the bottom edge and a beautiful piece of glass sits directly below the screen. 

That glass is the Triton's touchpad, and it's positioned directly above the graphics card. In fact, you can see elements of the GTX 1080 beneath it, subtly lit from below. Using it feels wonderful. The Gorilla Glass is familiar to the touch, and fingers glide across it effortlessly. 

Getting the hang of it is a bit of a challenge, unfortunately. Using it means holding your hand in a unusual way as to avoid the keyboard, and there is no mouse button. Clicks are done through Windows gestures, which require some learning. More times than can be counted, we went for the expected trackpad location, only to come up short.

For games that can be played with a trackpad, like FTL for instance, it's definitely a pain. Instead of shifting a finger down from the keyboard to trackpad like on an ordinary laptop, you need to move your entire arm. Not such a big deal when web surfing, but it's not fun when playing games.

It's not a bug, it's a feature

While it definitely looks awesome, having the trackpad directly over the graphics card means it gets hot – extremely hot. In fact, the entire Triton gets so hot under load it's uncomfortable to touch. It does an admirable job moving heat from both the CPU and GPU, with the included monitoring software showing temperatures in the upper seventies. But all that heat sticks around the body of the laptop itself.

It's not an exaggeration to say we feel uncomfortable handling it when it is running at full capacity.

All that heat is moved admirably away from the delicate processors with some pretty loud fans. Watching a movie or playing a loud game at full volume drowns out the fans, but for something like PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds, where hearing footsteps is crucial to winning, you're going to want to wear a set of headphones.

The keyboard is phenomenal. Not only does it look great, with dynamic RGB themes rendered bright and colorful, it also feels great. It's one of the best-feeling laptop keyboards we've ever tested. Each key has an incredibly satisfying click to it, and the click itself borders on ASMR.

Playing PUBG with the keyboard is an absolute joy, and any game with a WASD control scheme will benefit from being played on the Triton 700. If there's one complaint, it's the space bar doesn't quite feel deep enough, but that's it.

With a GTX 1080 inside, the Triton is ready to handle whatever you throw at it. The available 32GB of RAM is also a welcome touch and, combined with the Core i7-7700 processor and hefty graphics card, the Triton would make an excellent mobile video processing work station, so long as you don't try to work away from an outlet.

When it comes to raw performance, the Triton delivers. It bested both the Zephyrus and Alienware in every gaming test and only really stumbles on battery life. 

It's definitely a capable gaming machine, having no problem running PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds. PUBG isn't the most graphically intense game, but it's extremely processor intensive, and the i7-7700HQ had no problem keeping up. The mushy textures and pop-in PUBG is famous for never made themselves apparent.

Deus Ex on Ultra was the only time the Triton struggled, slowing things down to a paltry 19 frames per second (fps), but on low it comfortably reached a zippy 127fps.

Running the Deus Ex benchmark on Ultra settings got the Triton up to its most alarming temperature. We actually recoiled when we touched the trackpad. PUBG and Total War: Warhammer got the Triton hot under the collar, but not to the same extremes. 

As great as games look, they don't sound great. The stereo speakers on the Triton don't have a lot of volume to them, and they lack nuance and range. The speakers produce a flat, almost hollow sound unfitting of a laptop of this price and pedigree. There is nothing exciting or remarkable about them. They sound about as ordinary as the speakers on a budget laptop. It's a big disappointment.

Battery life and cooling

The Triton's battery is its Achilles heel. In our TechRadar movie test, watching Guardians of the Galaxy on loop at 50% screen brightness and volume, the Triton only lasted 2 hours 6 minutes. 

The PCMark 8 battery test returned a result of 1 hour 39 minutes, putting it behind the Zephyrus and the Alienware 15 as well. For as mobile as the Triton is, we wish we could take it around without worry of the device losing power within two hours.

The Predator includes a hardware monitoring suite to adjust fan speed, overclock and make adjustments to the RGB patterns on the keyboard. We left the fan on auto, but full-blast made a noticeable difference in cooling the CPU and GPU. The monitoring software showed a high temperature of 79 degrees Celsius for both processors under maximum load, which was honestly lower than we expected based on how hot the laptop was to touch.

We liked

For sheer power in a thin laptop, you'd be hard pressed to find something better. The Triton 700 absolutely dominates when it comes to gaming. While the screen is only 1080p, it wouldn't have any problem with 1440p through an external monitor. The positively sublime keyboard makes gaming an even more enjoyable experience for games with classic mouse and keyboard controls. Just make sure you pack a good gaming mouse in your laptop bag.

We disliked

All that power comes at a hefty price, however, which doesn’t deliver in key areas. This is easily the hottest laptop we've tested. It's so hot that it's alarming, and while the cooling system does an excellent job making sure the tender components inside are kept at safe temperatures, it fails to keep the rest of the laptop from getting unbelievably hot. Battery life is abysmal, so thankfully the power brick isn't too bulky, but it also gets really hot while charging.

Final verdict

Power and portability in a laptop are both here in satisfying amounts. This is an excellent desktop replacement that doesn't feel like a scaled-back desktop in terms of bulk. The screen is a joy to look at – despite its resolution for such a price – and the keyboard is phenomenal. From a strictly performance numbers stand-point, this is an amazing laptop.

The heat is absolutely concerning. We used the laptop in relatively cool environments and it was still on the cusp of being too hot to handle. The monitoring software gives a little peace of mind, but the first time you touch the trackpad under load, you will recoil.

The trade off on heat for all that power is a deal breaker. At $2,999, it doesn't feel good owning a laptop that feels like it's on the cusp of heat failure. As the machine ages and it inevitably collects dust, it doesn't seem like the cooling system will be able to keep up with the massive output. It's the single most surprising and disappointing problem with an otherwise excellent gaming laptop.

Acer Predator Triton 700

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Visit Mo'orea – The Heart of Mother Earth

There are many places around the world that deem themselves the hearts of the planet but here’s the thing: none of them are as beautiful as Mo’orea, nor are they shaped like a heart. There you go: the uncontested winner of the “who’s who” competition (wink). Located in French Polynesia right next to famous sister-islands like Tahiti and Bora Bora, Mo’orea (one of the Windward Islands) is a more reserved and less tourist-afflicted beauty standing the test of time unwaveringly. Formerly known as Aimeho, it has a population of just over 16,000 – an excellent place for everyone who prefers the more silent places of the planet.

Mo’orea is located within the bounds of the humid tropical climate zone and this makes it an excellent paradise. With temperatures over 21 degrees all year long (and this is taking the winter months into consideration as well), it cannot let you down. What’s important to know about the temperature-fluctuations of the island is that it never gets too hot, nor does it cool down. With a maximum temperature of 34 degrees Celsius, it grants you nothing but stability and reliability. The only thing that you have to keep an eye on is the humidity. Rains are frequent and they hit like a hammer. But no worries for even the raindrops are warm (wink). Oh, and for those who are interested in details, we recommend that you check research tropical hurricane seasons.

TRANSPORT:

There are two ways in which one can get to Mo’orea: either by boat or by air. The latter possibility is a bit more expensive but it makes use of the Temae Airport (also known as Mo’orea Airport) and those of its possible destinations: Bora Bora, Huahine-Fare (Huahine), Papeete (Tahiti), and Raiatea. The most common way to get to the whole island cluster is to hop on an international flight and land in Tahiti. From there, use the aforementioned methods. One thing to know though: there are two types of ferries that head to Mo’orea from Papeete (a slow kind and a faster kind). The faster ones cost only a little bit more and they will take you to the island in half the time, so this is the one that we recommend. Do keep an eye on the timetables, though, because they do tend to be out-dated – ask around from the locals to stay on the safe side. Oh, and when you do get on the ferry, enjoy, because the sights that you behold are unmatched anywhere else in the world.

SIGHTS AND ACTIVITIES:

First and foremost, know that Mo’orea is one of the best places for snorkelling in the world. Its shallow waters and exquisite marine life make it an excellent pastime whenever your heart desires. There are areas close to renowned hotels as well that have larger numbers of stingrays and reef sharks. If you are unafraid of these majestic beings then we highly recommend that you do not leave such an awe-inspiring experience out. The only thing to keep an eye out for towards the end of the lagoon is stronger waves that tend to infiltrate the sanctum. Mind your swimming and all should be well.

Jet Ski tours are probably one of the most practiced activities on Mo’orea because the surrounding waters are so welcoming that they must absolutely be braved. What’s even better is that you can find dockworkers directly and establish a price that is convenient for the both of you (might need a little bit of French haggling). Tours tend to last 2.5 to 3 hours and the things that you will see will come to par with the ones that snorkelling offers.

For those of you who enjoy the subtle nuances of shopping, we are happy to tell you that Mo’orea has small knickknack shops that can offer you a myriad of things from black pearls to exquisite souvenirs. Oh, and if you gentlemen are planning on surprising your ladies with jaw-dropping items, consider buying them black pearls fashioned into rings (wink).

The best possible place for you to visit on Mo’orea is the Belvedere Lookout. With a clear panoramic view of the sacred Mount Rōtui and a 360-degree view of the island. If you long to be in the centre of the heart of the Earth, this is the place for you to be. Inhale the warm breeze and remember that you are experiencing what others only dream of. Getting up there is easy: rent a car, a scooter or an ATV.

Besides the aforementioned pastimes, you can also hit the public beaches and bask in the brilliance of the pure azure waters of the South Pacific. The water will always be around 24-28 degrees Celsius, so fret not for you are not in danger of freezing (wink). Mosquitos can be nuisance, though, so pack protection more than ever!

CONCLUSION:

Mo’orea’s tranquillity can only be matched by its beauty and sanctity. Absorb what you can and take it with you for it is not only the Heart of Mother Earth but, in a sense, also yours. Talk to the people for they will most often consider you family and enjoy your stay.

Visit Mo’orea – The Heart of Mother Earth was originally published on Freeminimaps - discover authentic experiences!