Ancient and modern

I hope to talk in more detail about this weekend soon, having had a fascinating Couchsurfer staying at my place for a couple of days.

Today we went for lunch with another of Santiago's 20 or so active Couchsurfers for a delicious, traditional Galician meal. I was thoroughly impressed when our host bought out his Gallego water cooler, a device which is traditionally taken into the fields while working a hard day in the hot sun. The jug is made of a slightly porous material which lets the water slowly through where it evaporates and cools the contents.

What is more, Fara has written the equation for the rate of cooling of the water onto the outside of his vessel. This formula takes into account the humidity in the air, the surface area of water in contact with the container, the outside temperature, and the specific heat capacity of water.

Flash Slideshow

At some point I'll also post up a photo of the crutch converted into a flute but that will have to wait until a more reasonable hour...