Technology

Okay. I don't need to remind you guys that I knows stuff about stuff and one of the stuffs I know some stuff about is technology. I hasten to add that if anyone took the time and trouble to document what I don't know about stuff it would make the whole Encyclopedia Britannica look like a pamphlet. Anyways.....

Many of us are becoming used to seeing the tall, slender wind turbines which dot the landscape. These are called wind farms because they are where wind is generated. If you doubt this just ask yourself if you ever see them moving when there is no wind - QED. They move to create wind so that we get weather and so that we can peg out our washing.

Before we had these wonderful inventions our forefathers used what little wind there was to crush stuff and this is an example of the technology they used. This is Thelnetham Mill in Suffolk and evidence that they had less wind to work with is that they needed bigger sails to catch the wind. How they used it to crush stuff is a bit technical but I'm sure it involves compressing the wind in some way because otherwise it wouldn't be heavy enough to crush stuff. The stuff they crushed was usually wheat which they crushed into flour. We don't need to do that anymore because we get flour from Tescos or Waitrose. This bit of kit dates back to 1819 which is before Tescos opened 24 hours a day hence the need for local wheat crushing provision.

And in case anyone wonders - yes I'm still employed by the Open University to support students on level 1 technology modules (I've even written bits of content) but they tend to keep me away from this kind of technology - it's too complex for level 1.

A smashing day. Early start. Some staff training and then chatting to a group of students at varying stages of their degrees. Also two staff are OU folk; one a graduate and the other very close to completing an LLB. The drive home was long but the scenery was glorious - they grow pigs in Norfolk and Suffolk; we don't grow them round here, and there were vast vistas of cereals swaying golden in the wind from the wind farms. Lots of very blippable scenes but nowhere to stop and take the shots. Now to get a load of washing on and I have a nice piece of salmon to steam but I might enjoy a small snoozle first.

We've passed the equator of the week mes amigos - coasting downhill from here!