Septic Tank Inspections

Schematic of a septic tank. Image courtesy Tilley, E., Ulrich, L., Lüthi, C., Reymond, Ph., Zurbrügg, C., CC BY-SA 4.0 , via Wikimedia Commons

The smell of overflowing septic tanks is something I encounter regularly, cycling the highways and byways of Kildare. Two incidences yesterday in the Suncroft area and one close to Narraghmore Game Reserve. Maybe there are other issues that cause smell though like bad drainage or older systems that don't agitate the contents of the tank? Agitation increases the oxygen content of liquid in a septic tank, improving the rate of aerobic bacterial growth and speeding up the digestion of sewage. This recent article from the Kildare Nationalist by Finian Coghlan fills us in with the details of the inspections.

Plate Tectonics and Finger Nails

Image created using by Bing Image Creator.

Plate tectonics is a theory, superseding and encompassing the earlier continental drift theory, that the Earth's continents make large scale movements over geological time. The process is really slow, and occurs at the same rate finger nails grow: about 0.1 mm a day. That's 36.5 mm a year, 36.5 m per millennium and 36.5 km per million years or 3650 km in 100 million years. Ireland, or more correctly the parts that make up Ireland, were once located south of the equator in tropical seas. (I found a rock once in the midlands, when helping to dig a deep hole. The rock was embedded with large fossilised cockles). Over millions of years the parts drifted northward and merged, to make the island. The dividing line between the northern and southern parts of the island of Ireland runs roughly down a line between Louth and Kerry.

Force Between Magnets Over a Distance

Public domain image via Pixabay

As you probably know, like poles of magnets repel and unlike poles attract. The force between two magnets increases as they're brought closer together, but how does it vary? Many things in nature follow an inverse square law. So the luminous intensity of an omnidirectional (the same in all directions) light source or loudness of an omnidirectional sound source follows an inverse square law. If you move 3 times further away from a sound than your original position, the loudness reduces by a factor of 9. At 100 times the original distance, the loudness reduces by 100 x 100 =10,000 times. Similarly for the brightness of a light. That's because the sound or light flux is passing through an imaginary sphere and the surface area of a sphere depends on the square of its radius (4πr²). In this Quora post, we discover that for a magnet, the scenario is a lot more complicated because fields aren't uniformly shaped.

Tree Manslaughter

Dead apricot tree. © EugeneBrennan

So I tied a rope around a limb of this apricot tree that I grew from a stone around 2003, because it was growing across the driveway and the rope was to pull it inwards. Nothing wrong with that and usually you thread the rope through something soft like a scrap of garden hose so it doesn't damage the bark. Then over time, the tension normally goes out of the limb and it stays in place and the rope can be removed. However I left the rope in place, thinking it would be swallowed by the bark, just like what sometimes happens to park benches and the vascular channels in the bark would merge and create a bypass for sap. But apparently not. What happens is that a tree actually gets strangled as the trunk expands and flow of sap and nutrients can't get past the bottleneck. So I queried it on a Facebook gardening group and was accused of murder and was lucky to escape without being virtually lynched.

I think the tree looks nice though even though it's dead.

© Eugene Brennan

 

Ardnacrusha to Dublin Transmission Line and Mystery Engine House

Image courtesy Military Archives.

Just noticed the base of one of the pylons of the 110 kV line from Ardnacrusha to Dublin in the top left of this photo of Kilcullen Bridge from the military archives (Click on the link in the image caption to open the image viewer which has a zoom facility). Ardnacrusha hydro-electric power station was commissioned in 1929, and presumably the transmission line dated from then. The line was dismantled in the 60s or maybe early 70s? When the photo was taken, power was delivered directly from Newbridge/Kildare to Kilcullen at 10 kV and there's a transformer in Nugent's field for dropping voltage from that 10 kV to around 230 V. There was no substation in the town at the time, or at least when the last edition 6" OSI map shown was drafted. The map is post-1939 as the Nicholastown housing estate has been built. The 38 kV station at Sunnyhill we have now is fed from the 110 kV substation on the N81 near Stratford-on-Slaney.

The record in the archives at the link below also has an aerial view of the bridge looking south. On desktop/laptop, right click and open the image in a new tab to view at full size. There isn't a zoom facility in the viewer.
I still haven't found out what was housed in the "Engine Ho.", located approximately where Scoil Bhríde is now. A stationary engine for pumping water from a well for the convent? Or maybe a machine for making meal for feeding animals on the convent "farm"? Or did the convent have their own electricity and this was where the engine and generator was located? Maybe someone knows.

Image courtesy Tailte Éireann (OSI)

 

Well Fancy That!

St Brigid's Well, Kilcullen. © Eugene Brennan

KCA have added a nice new gravel ramp leading up to the bottom step at St. Brigid's Well which will help us older or short-legged folk negotiate the incline. The riser of the step was always quite tall. The others are a bit tall too. The gravel ramp should be safer than the existing stone one which is probably risky in the winter because of ice and algae. The steps are somewhat slippy, possibly because the hard rock has become worn and polished from traffic. In winter the situation is worse because of algae, but KCA (I presume) have regularly sanded the steps which helped and made them safe

St Brigid's Well, Kilcullen. Ramp added to reduce step height. © Eugene Brennan

 

On This International Women's Day, Remembering Irish Pioneers of Science and Technology

Jocelyn Bell Burnell, Kathleen Lonsdale, Mary Parsons, Kay McNulty and Mary Ward. See below for Image attributions.

 

Jocelyn Bell Burnell (1943 - ) who as a graduate student, discovered astronomical objects called pulsars in 1967.

 

Kathleen Lonsdale (1903 – 1971), a crystallographer from Newbridge, who used new techniques such as X-ray diffraction and Fourier spectral methods to investigate hydrocarbons. She was also the first woman to become a member and president of several male-dominated scientific institutions.

 

Mary Parsons, Countess of Rosse (1813 – 1885). An amateur astronomer and blacksmith and a pioneer in making photos from wax paper negatives.

 

Kay McNulty (1921 – 2006) Software engineer and one of the six original programmers of ENIAC, a room-sized early computer, used by the US military to calculate artillery firing tables.

 

Mary Ward (1827 –1869) Naturalist, amateur astronomer, microscopist, author, and artist who wrote several books about her discoveries in microscopy including A World of Wonders Revealed by the Microscope.

 

Image attributions:

 

Photo of Jocelyn Bell Burnell at Launch_of_IYA_2009,_Paris_-_Grygar,_Bell_Burnell.jpg: Astronomical Institute, Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic derivative work: Anrie, CC BY-SA 3.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

 

Photo of Kay McNulty by Zebbie, CC BY-SA 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

 

All other images, public domain.

How Much Does the Length of a Day Vary By?

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Every four years we have a leap year and an extra day is added to the calendar in February. That's because the time it takes for the Earth to orbit the Sun is approximately 365.25 days. Considering the Earth's orbit as approximately a circular path around the Sun, If we didn't compensate for the extra quarter day, the Earth would end up being a little short of a full 360 degrees of its way around the Sun on the 31st December (a quarter day short). Eventually 31st of December would fall earlier and earlier in the seasons until it ended up in the summer. By adding an extra day every four years, the Earth is allowed to "catch up" in its orbit. Similarly, a day, or the time it takes the Earth to revolve on its axis isn't exactly 24 hours long and is influenced by environmental and geological events. In fact in 2025, the length of time between the longest and shortest day was approximately 1.6 mS. It mightn't seem like a lot, but to keep everything in sync, leap seconds have to be added onto Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) every so often. The leap second was introduced in 1972. The most recent leap second adjustment was in December 31, 2016. However leap seconds are controversial and cause issues with critical systems that rely on accurate timekeeping. 

More info here.

Linear Park at the Riverside Site

Site plan courtesy and by permission of Darmody Architecture.

Work is progressing on the "riparian" linear park, which is a component of Phase 3 of the Riverside development. I had to Google riparian, and it's apparently a term for the transition zone between land and river, often wetland. Not a good place to fit in more houses I guess at this location without a lot of expense, because of the danger of landslides. A new path is being laid at the moment. It appears to be a decent width too, not like the one on the south of the town to the motorway bridge. Possibly it has to meet newer standards and allow the passage of a certain number of pedestrians without traffic congestion. Or perhaps it's a dual-purpose pavement/cycle path.

Drawings are available here:

https://idocsweb.kildarecoco.ie/iDocsWe.../listFiles.aspx...

 

Construction works on the riverside park, Kilcullen. © Eugene Brennan

© Eugene Brennan

© Eugene Brennan

© Eugene Brennan

Dunlavin Water Supply Rationalisation Project

If you're wondering why the R412 between Brannockstown and Dunlavin has been closed since 24th March, it's to install a new water mains to supply Dunlavin. A new booster pumping station will also be installed at the existing Brannockstown Pumping Station site. The contract for the upgrade was awarded to David Walshe Civil Engineering Ltd.

"....The new pipeline represents a €9 million investment in improving water supply security and resilience for homes and businesses in Dunlavin"

Big Picture Science Podcast — Your Mind on Movies

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Apparently your blood coagulates when you watch a horror movie, preparing you for bleeding. In this podcast episode, we hear why.

Broadband Charges

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Not sure what everyone pays for broadband? I pay €40 per month at the moment with a loyalty discount to Vodafone (increasing to €45 after 6 months), which gives me unlimited national calls and 100 Mb/s broadband (I ring them every year and negotiate a discount for a year's contract). Free TV channels come from a satellite dish (All the British terrestrial channels are on satellite and some others, worth watching). Vodafone keep trying to sell me 1 Gb/s fibre broadband, but that's actually about €10 dearer per month than copper (which is perfectly adequate). Copper lines that we've had since the nineteenth century for telegraphy and telephony will eventually be phased out, although it may be a while as older legacy systems like alarms may still need that infrastructure.

Horizontal Line Illusion

Image courtesy illusionist Victoria Skye.

More proof that things aren't always as they seem. Use a ruler to measure and confirm they are straight and horizontal.

Squint and almost close your eyes and they become straight. Or look from a distance and tilt your head sideways. Once the visual cues can't be clearly seen, your brain doesn't make false assumptions.

Science Friday Podcast — Latest Episode

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The latest episode features stories about high energy neutrinos from distant supernovae, the FDA approving a new, non-opioid painkiller, what happens to your body when you're grieving and deep oceans on Uranus.

Real-Time Information From EirGrid

Screenshot from the EirGrid website.

Historical stats and real-time graphs of system demand and generation, fuel mix, frequency of supply and interconnector imports and exports are available on the EirGrid website. At 3 pm today, demand is 5.485 gigawatt (GW) and wind generation provides 21.8% of that. Peak demand is forecast to occur at 6.30 pm today and is expected to be 6.34 GW.

1 GW = 1000 MW (megawatt) or 1,000,000 kW. Think of 1 GW as the power used by one million, one bar electric fires.

Golden Falls Releases Through the Spillways

Golden Falls dam. © Eugene Brennan

High flows at Golden Falls today, which were forecast to be 10 m³/s all day. The releases are due to recent heavy rainfall. I always end up here late in the afternoon on dull days, so the high contrast in the scene means photos aren't the best. So the sky gets washed out if I increase the exposure.

© Eugene Brennan

 

© Eugene Brennan

 

Five Reasons Why I Hate Grass Verges

Seduisant, CC BY 3.0  via Wikimedia Commons

I'm not sure when or where the design idea originated or what their function is. Maybe a trendy landscaping idea imported from the US where concrete jungles needed some greening up along the roadside to break the monotony. We've enough green already in Ireland and an abundance of hedgerows. Maybe reserve them for places more "concretey"?

They waste "real estate" that be could be used for creating adequately wide foothpaths. Sometimes they're as wide as the lane of the adjoining road and often wider than the foothpath.
They're usually full of dog shit and other nasty stuff.
They're an unpleasant obstacle when crossing a road, especially when grass is allowed to grow long for biodiversity reasons and then ends up soaking wet. Usually there are an inadequate number, if any, crossing points in the verges.
They often end up with huge, unsightly ruts in them when trucks decide to pull in and park on them.
If there's any broken glass from smashed bottles in them, it can't be seen when the grass is allowed to grow long, potentially leading to foot injuries.

Any more reasons why they're impractical?

Odlums Mill Demise

© Eugene Brennan

Reading about the demise of Odlums Mill in Sallins and commencement of demolition work last month led me down a rabbit hole to this 2019 article from The Irish Times. Apparently, according to the article, there were 900 mills still in operation in Ireland in the 1940s. In the Kilcullen region alone, there were around seven mills operating at various periods over the centuries: a corn mill just north of the bridge in the town itself, which was demolished in the 80s, two more at Carnalway/Harristown, one on the Mill Stream at New Abbey and another in Mile Mill in the field behind The Mill pub. At Ardenode between Kilcullen and Ballymore, there was a mill on the Toor Brook, a tributary of the Liffey. There was also of course the large woollen mill in Ballymore Eustace and water powered cotton factory at Inchaquire (located on the left side of the road, between the two turns for Colbinstown), both of which employed hundreds of people.

Mower Troubleshooting

Public domain image by Skitterphoto on Pixabay

I've written this guide and added bits to it over the years. Basically it's knowledge I gained over 43 years, looking after the maintenance on my mower. There's also a basic guide, linked to in this one. Might help before you resort to sending your mower off to get fixed.

Hear Today, Gone Tomorrow

Public domain image courtesy Pexels.

Remember when you were young and could hear the high pitched whine of the horizontal line scan transformer in a TV that was using the 625 line system? The line output or LOPT transformer operated at 15,625 Hz, and you could tell that the TV was turned on, even with the sound turned down. Before that in the early 70s, vertical resolution was 405 lines. Young children can hear up to a frequency of 20 kHz. Most of us over 50 can only hear to 10 kHz.