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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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All the sashweights i have seen in NY are cast iron. my house has double hung windows and sash weights, but all the sash ropes have been replaced with chains that don't wear out.
sashweight were also used a weapons, since they were cheap and readily available. thugs (now is a good word!) would bash your head in with a sashweight in the early years of the last century in some of the less savory neighborhoods of large cities.
most modern double hung windows are spring-loaded.
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Joined: Jun 2001
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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>Mexicans used to cool drinking water by storing it in a large unglazed ceramic container
They still do, especially out in the sticks where running water and electricity are still hard to come by. Also, many people still use them because they like the taste. I have one in my kitchen right now. Whenever anyone in my family goes to visit in Mexico and mine is broken, they bring me another. The flavor of the water is much like the smell of caliche after a rain. It is called "olla" but also can be called "cántaro". These were the jugs carried to the well or river for filling. I only saw a large one on a ranch near Big Bend National Park. Most household sized "cántaros" hold 1-1 and 1/2 gallons.
What you fashioned out of a canteen and a sock is known as a "cantina" or a "cantimplora", thus the americanized version, canteen. They are normally made from metal and covered with coarsely woven wool or heavy canvas. Unglazed clay is a much better medium for cooling. Compare tile roofs to metal roofs. Evaporative cooling only works well where the humidity is negligible.
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Joined: Jan 2001
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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Over fifty years ago, almost all sash cords were vegetable fibre that could be attacked by molds or simply become stiff and weak from age. It used to be quite startling to have a fifty year old sash cord break during the night, and cause the sash weight to fall with a thump that would wake up all the occupants of the house. Nylon cord would undoubtedly last much longer. I have no idea how expensive chain would be.
But the newer devices take up less space, are easier and less expensive to install, are less susceptible to heat loss and drafts, and work more smoothly.
I found several sites by entering "pictures window sashes cords sash weights" into Yahoo! search box. But none were good enough to tempt me to post URL.
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Joined: Jan 2001
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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Thanks, consuelo. The definition of "caliche" in my dictionary seems not to fit your description, and I think yours is to be preferred. The dictionary speaks of alternating very wet and dry seasons bringing up dissolved calcium carbonate which then dries out on the surface. In my freshman year in high school my home room teacher taught Spanish she learned as a girl with her father, who was a prospector in Southwest. I still remember her telling about their leading a couple pack burros up an arroyo when suddenly her father grabbed her and dashed up the banks just seconds before a wall of water came tearing down the dry gully.
I don't remember her praising the odor of caliche on that occasion.
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Joined: Jun 2001
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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Yes, flash flooding is terrifying and very dangerous. The water moves with such force that nothing, including boulders, vehicles, trees, etc. can withstand it. Normally this occurs when it is raining hard further up in the mountains. I lived for a time between the twin canyons sacred to the Apache between the Rio Grande and the Rio Conchos. It was very graphically revealed to me where the saying "God willing and the creek don't rise." came from. A calm rain falling then and there did not cause more than a slight swelling of the canyons output and smelled delicious. In the desert, any rain is welcome, at least in the first several minutes. The natives of the area always refered to the hardpacked hardpan, white crusted clay-based soil as caliche. I always understood it to refer to the soil, anyway.
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Joined: Nov 2000
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old hand
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old hand
Joined: Nov 2000
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Various things spring to mind:
(1) As part of what I assume to be a global swing to bottled "mineral" or "spring" waters, it's not uncommon to see a clay water dispenser in the kitchens and lunch rooms of Oz. Whilst the big plastic bottles are far more common, the unglazed or partly glazed clay equivalent are present in force.
(2) Intrigued to see the use of the word "bubbler". This is what we called them in the schoolyards and parks of Sydney, but you get a blank stare when you use the word here in Perth (on the other side of the country). Over here it's the far more "pucka" English: "drinking fountain". What's the word where YOU are?
(3) Sash cords in Oz have always been made from cotton rope. It must be a braided rather than wound rope or it won't run through the rollers effectively. The weights are cast iron - may have been lead once upon a time, but I doubt it.
(4) Sisal water bags have always been an important part of Australia, their constant weeping keeps the contents cool through evaporation. Whilst you don't see them a lot any more, they're readily available at camping stores and those quaint general stores in the bush that carry EVERYTHING! There is even a "flash" model with a leather backing plate and buckles so you can affix it it to the tray or roo bar of your vehicle. When referring to a REALLY hot day, old timers and rural folk may say, "It was about 120 degrees in the water bag"
(5) The "smell" of rain is technically incorrect - water by definition has no smell. The beautiful earthy smell immediately before a downpour on a hot dusty day is actually how your nose inteprets the spores of certain soil bacteria - released as the humidity level approaches 100%!! (In microbiol classes we were asked to identify certain bacteria and fungi by their smell. It was fascinating to see people's faces when they smelt the "rainy" dish - eyes would widen and a big smile would spread across their face - usually with the comment, "It smells like a thunderstorm!")
stales
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Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
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The usual terminology in the UK for the style of windows which incorporate these counterweights is "sash windows". There is a history of the windows and an image library at the site of the one of the main UK suppliers/restorers of sash windows: The origins of the sash window have been the subject of much investigation and speculation. Until recently, the general opinion tended to be that the sash was invented in Holland in the late 17th Century. Recently, however, valuable research work undertaken by Dr Hinte Louw, of the University of Newcastle Upon Tyne, suggests that the sash could have been invented earlier in the 17th Century in England. Another school of thought suggest that the sash originated in France and spread to England via Holland.
The word "sash", derived from the French "chassis" , means frame.
Charles Brooking, Historian, and curator of the Box Sash Museum.
Copyright Original Box Sash Window Company.For a history of these windows in the UK see: ref library at http://www.boxsash.com/
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Posts: 11,613
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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to the tray or roo bar of your vehicleEr--would you please elaborate on what parts of a vehicle both of these things are? As far as I know, the only vehicles that have trays here are limousines. Oh, there are ash trays, but in a lot of models the front is flush with the dashboard, so you couldn't really hook anything on to them. Needless to say, we don't have roo bars here. Rhubarb, yes, and there is a lovely one in England, as well...  THANK YOU for explaining the "thunderstorm smell"! I've always wanted to know what that was caused by. I am getting more and more impressed by you, sir! 
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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there is a second aroma to thunderstorms, ozone. unless the ground get very dry, and in the northeast US, that is pretty rare, you can get the soft earthy smell of bacteria from sitting or lieing on the grass. some slime mold even has the same sort of fresh, moist scent.
but after lightning has struck nearby, you can smell ozone.
the whole of the eastern (east of rockies) US gets thunderstorms pretty regularly in the summer, the further south, the more you get. NY get about 2 a month in the summer, and we have had them every month of the year, (including thunder and lightning snow storms) but florida get thunderstorms about 3 times a week.
while i have heard bubblers i never use it for a water fountain.
and the ropes for sashes, were two ply, an inner core, with a woven (braided) cover, that was a polished cotton. the same sort of rope/line that was use for clothes lines. In NY, and in many cities, clothes lines ran from an apartment kitchen, to a telephone pole in the back yard. there were pullies at either end, and the clothes line rope had to be durable, and rot resistant. other cities had the same system, (boston, phily, etc,) county clothes lines usually didn't have pullies, and were lighter weight rope. and often, where only strung when needed, then, wound up like a water hose till the next wash day.
water is, at its best, clear, oderless, and tasteless. such water is sometime called sweet. filtered rainwater is the best example of such water. in places where the ground water is especially harsh, many collect rain water. municiple systems can be ground water, running (river) water or reservior water. reserviors, which are collected rain water, provided the catchment area is pristine, is usually the best tasting. (most tastless!)
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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"(In microbiol classes we were asked to identify certain bacteria and fungi by their smell."
Dear stales: I hope they have stopped asking anybody to smell cultures any more. Particularly with coccidioides immitis, one whiff can be fatal for some people.
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