Complaints About Purchases

Up till now (2015), if the item you ordered did not work, or the mail order item did not arrive, and the retailer refused to resolve the complaint, your last resort was to start proceedings in the small claims court.

Now an impartial complaints service - Ombudsman Services - has set up a new online system to make it easier to complain and seek compensation from online and high street retailers.

1. Complain directly to the company or retailer first.
2. If they refuse to resolve the complaint, visit ombudsman-services.org and follow the step-by-step process.
3. The Ombudsman's decisions are binding and enforceable by law.

Feature in Good Housekeeping, September 2015

TV Set Facts

Information found March 2016.

Technology

• Digital TV: The way that TV broadcasts are transmitted to your home. Older TVs may need a digital set top box to receive transmissions.
• HDTV: High definition TV is a digital system that produces better picture quality.
• IDTV: Integrated digital television sets have a digital receiver built in.
• Full HT TV: Has just over 2 million pixels comprising the picture.
• 4K Ultra HD TV: Has over 8 million pixels comprising the picture. The brightness of the colours, the sharpness of the images and the overall clarity of the picture are vastly improved.
• Smart TV: This feature allows you to access digital content such as catch up TV and streaming services from the internet via apps. However, if you want to record and store programmes for viewing later you will need a Freeview/Sky/Virgin box. 

Screen Types

• LED (light emitting diodes) screen: Produces high resolution with good contrast, brightness and colour depth. Lightweight and compact, so easily situated in any room. More choice as easier to produce. Usually cheaper in price.
• OLED (organic light emitting diodes): The latest in TV technology produces deeper blacks and a smoother image, along with reduced motion blur, than LED. Lower energy consumption than LED. Screens generally thinner.
• Curved screens: Developed to deliver a more immersive viewing experience for everyone watching, regardless of their angle, as well as offering the latest colour and depth enhancing technology

Screen Size

• Screen size is measured diagonally from corner to corner and only includes the actual visible screen itself, not the surrounding frame.
• A 50” TV (2016) takes up roughly the same size as a 42” TV did back in 2008.
• Work out how far away from the screen you will be and use the viewing distances to decide on screen size.

Viewing Distances

• Up to 1.5m = 32" screen
• 1.5m to 2m = 32" to 39" screen
• 2m to 2.5m = 40" to 45" screen
• 2.5m to 3m = 46" to 55"
• Over 3m     = over 56" screen

Screen Positioning

• The ideal position for high definition is from a distance equal to three or four times the height of your screen. (E.g. For a 42" screen showing HD signals, you need to sit about nine feet away.)

Sound

• Although TVs come with built in speakers, a sound bar can give better quality sound. Wireless sound bars avoid the need for trailing cables.

Various sources

Educational Tests

Tests are intended to spot strengths and weaknesses, but each person develops abilities differently over time.

Subject tests have test scores (quantitative measure). In school this is usually supplemented with teachers observations (qualitative measure). They indicate areas of strength and weakness.

Ability tests give an average score, usually based on three areas: non-verbal (abstract sets of geometrical and numerical symbols to test logic and reason); verbal (comprehension, relationship between items, vocabulary); quantitative (numerical ability).

National tests do not just test children's abilities - they are intended to provide a form of measurement for government targets.

Rather than focus on learning to the test, encourage creative thinking: choose a cuddly toy or household item or a simple object (e.g. housebrick) and come up with as many ideas as you can about what you can do with it.

Have to take a test? Remove fear of the unknown by finding out what the test involves - do some practice runs if possible. Understand the marking system - which parts get the largest amount of marks. prioritize those areas that need more work and/or sections which carry most marks.

Main source: Make Your Child Brilliant by Bernadette Tynon. Quadrille, 2008 (ISBN 978-184400-579-6)

Eco Housing Facts 2006

Engineer Richard Bointon has built his house with the following eco friendly features.

• Walls: Hi-density concrete blocks with a thick layer of rockwool insulation on the outside, which is then civered with a waterproof membrane. "This acts like a storage heater because the concrete stays the same temperature all year round. RB"
• Roof: There are over 270 individual solar tiles on the roof instead of the more usual large panels. In the loft there is an 'inverter' which allows RB to sell any excess electricity he generates to the National Grid.
• Windows: Double glazed and filled with argon gas; they offer three times the insulation required by building regulations.
• Water: Two giant water tanks collect up to 2,000 litres of rainwater (grey water) from the gutters and downpipes. A pump takes it to the loft from where a pressure system delivers it to the loos for flushing and to the washing machine. Mains water is used for drinking, cooking and showers. A state-of-the-art hot water tank heats water in an instant.
• Sewage: A customised septic tank is buried in the garden.
• Conservatory: A two-storey glass conservatory runs along the front of the house, incorporating the living rooms with a spectacular 'minstrels' gallery' leading to bedrooms and bathrooms. It faces south allowing the sun to warm the air inside. The hot air rises by convection to the top of the house, leading to natural circulation of air. Two log burners help out in winter.
• Floor: The wooden floor sits on thick slabs of pink foam insulation.
• Ventilation: Extractors suck all the damp, warm air from the bathrooms and kitchen and pump it to a heat exchanger in the loft, which helps heat the house. "We achieve 72% heat recovery in the house; it is totally air-tight with no draughts. RB"

For more details: bointon.demon.co.uk/eden.htm
2006 Daily Mirror news item

Room Temperatures in the Home

There is a broad consensus on what we need for health.

Public Health England recommends the following levels:

• 21 degrees C for living areas
• 18 degrees C for bedrooms

• Below 16 degrees C, breathing may be affected
• At 12 degrees C, blood pressure starts to rise 

**********
Comfort cannot be defined absolutely, but the World Health Organization's standard for warmth says 18C (64F) is suitable for healthy people who are appropriately dressed. For those with respiratory problems or allergies, they recommend a minimum of 16C (60.8C); and for the sick, disabled, very old or very young, a minimum of 20C (68F).

**********
Living room temperatures

• 18 to 21 C = comfortable temperature
• 9 to 12 C or 24+ C = risk of stroke and heart attack
• 21 to 24 C or 16 to 18 C = some discomfort
• 12 to 16 C risk of respiratory disease
• Less than 9 C = risk of hypothermia

Source: Study by housing expert Richard Moore

Desiderata

Go placidly amid the noise and the haste, and remember what peace there may be in silence. As far as possible, without surrender, be on good terms with all persons.
Speak your truth quietly and clearly; and listen to others, even to the dull and the ignorant; they too have their story.
Avoid loud and aggressive persons; they are vexatious to the spirit. If you compare yourself with others, you may become vain or bitter, for always there will be greater and lesser persons than yourself.
Enjoy your achievements as well as your plans. Keep interested in your own career, however humble; it is a real possession in the changing fortunes of time.
Exercise caution in your business affairs, for the world is full of trickery. But let this not blind you to what virtue there is; many persons strive for high ideals, and everywhere life is full of heroism.
Be yourself. Especially, do not feign affection. Neither be cynical about love; for in the face of all aridity and disenchantment it is as perennial as the grass.
Take kindly the counsel of the years, gracefully surrendering the things of youth.
Nurture strength of spirit to shield you in sudden misfortune. But do not distress yourself with dark imaginings. Many fears are born of fatigue and loneliness.
Beyond a wholesome discipline, be gentle with yourself. You are a child of the universe no less than the trees and the stars; you have a right to be here.
And whether or not it is clear to you, no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should. Therefore be at peace with God, whatever you conceive Him to be.
And whatever your labors and aspirations, in the noisy confusion of life, keep peace in your soul. With all its sham, drudgery and broken dreams, it is still a beautiful world. Be cheerful. Strive to be happy.
Max Ehrman, 1927

Max Ehrman (1872-1945) wrote the prose poem Desiderata in 1927. It was included by Rev. Frederick Yates in a compilation  of devotional materials for his congregation; the compilation included the church's foundation date (Old Saint Paul's Church, Baltimore, AD 1621) and so the text's authorship was (and still is) widely mistaken to be 1692.

M

I Sing the Life by Jane Duncan

I found this poem in The Singing Life: The Story of a Family in the Shadow of Cancer by Elizabeth Bryan (Vermillion, 2008).

I Sing the Life
I sing the life that is born in all of us,
Ours to use the best way we can.
I sing the death that is yet in store for us
Linking back to the place we began.

The paths we travel are often in shadow
But words are lanterns to guide our feet
And the joy of friendship and peace of solitude
Help the myth and the meaning to meet.

We tread the labyrinth of our being
To reach the shore on the other side.
We feel the wear and the grime of our journeying
Each alone, with the thread for our guide.

Jane Duncan

Winter Roads

To clear an area of snow effectively

• When it snows, shovel it out of the way, then sweep the area clear, then sprinkle with salt. Do not use water as this will quickly re-freeze leaving icy patches.
• You can use salt from one of the council grit bins if it is for a public road, or your own table salt if for your private driveway or land. One tablespoon of salt for one square metre of road or pavement should be spread thinly to be most effective.

Can I be sued if I clear a pavement or road myself?

• There is no law preventing you from clearing snow and ice on the pavement outside your property, pathways to your property, or public spaces. 
• It is unlikely you would face any legal liability, as long as you are careful and use reasonable care to ensure you do not make the pavement or pathway clearly more dangerous than before.
• People using areas affected by snow and ice also have a responsibility to be careful themselves.

Salt facts

• Salt is not as effective once the surface temperature reaches below minus 8 degrees C.
• Salt requires tyre action to make it more efficient.
• If it rains, the salt will be washed off the road; we (Wiltshire Council) always try to salt after it has rained. 
• Putting salt on thick snow will do nothing; the snow must be removed before salt is put down.

Wiltshire Council Your Wiltshire Magazine (2010?)

Solid Sugar and Honey

Has your brown sugar hardened into lumps?
Microwave in a suitable bowl next to a mug of water, on full power (800W) in 1 minute bursts, until you can break down the lumps.

Store in an airtight container to keep it soft.

Has your runny honey set solid?
Place the jar in a bowl of hot water until smooth again.
Or remove the lid and microwave the jar for 10 second bursts until runny again.

In Good Housekeeping, October 2015

Learning Styles

People usually have a primary learning style (though some prefer a mixture): visual learners (like to see things), auditory learners (like to listen to explanations) or kinaesthetic learners (doing things). For example, in learning languages, some just need to hear a word to remember it, others want to see it written down. Each type of learning enables the brain to store and retrieve information on a number of different levels.

2016 You can find online tests to work out your preferred learning style. Here are a few.

• http://www.brainboxx.co.uk/a3_aspects/pages/vak_quest.htm
• http://www.whatismylearningstyle.com/learning-style-test-1.html
• http://acceleratedlearning.com/method/test_flash.html 
• http://www.edutopia.org/multiple-intelligences-assessment

Music seems to affect learning. (1) Hearing Mozart before an intelligence test seems to increase the score. (2) Baroque music (e.g. Bach, Albinoni, Handel) can produce a relaxed but alert mental state that helps learning by encouraging left-right brain connectivity. (3) Rock music is counter productive in relation to learning.

Age and ability are not interdependent. Children can be at one level in one subject and a different level in another, and within a class there will be a range of abilities. In a documentary a few years ago, adult literacy learners were helped by identifying and then using their preferred learning style.

Whatever your age, the following can help your learning.
Be active, not passive, in your learning. Don't simply accept the information presented in textbooks, handouts or slides. Write down notes by hand as the physical action helps learning (don't type text into a tablet). Then change the information around - use drawings, connection maps, make mobiles, create your own mnemonics, make a rhyme about it. With maths, work things out by writing in Chinagraph pencil (can be wiped off with a damp cloth) on a window or mirror (bear safety in mind - use only strong and secure windows). Experiment with different techniques to find our what works best for you.

Main source: Make Your Child Brilliant by Bernadette Tynon. Quadrille, 2008 (ISBN 978-184400-579-6)

Brain Facts

While there is a small difference in brain size between the sexes (1.25kg for women and 1.35kg for men), they process information and solve problems at the same speed, but use the brain differently to do so.

The right and left hemispheres of the brain are connected by a band of tissue called the corpus callosum, without which the brain finds it hard to process information. Songs help this connectivity as they use both hemispheres (right for tonality, sound, music and rhythm and left for language processing and rationality) and it appears that songs help Alzheimer's sufferers in accessing information.

The most effective learning occurs when we are enjoying ourselves. The brain is not built to have limits. It tries to make conections between what it already knows and new facts. A variety of sensory input can make it difficult to focus on the facts (eg. tv news - actual news and distractions of clothes & hair of the newsreader, activity behind them). Storytelling gives connections to unrelated facts, making them easier to remember. Rote learning makes no new connections. Child's 'why' questions: if you simply tell them, their brain struggles to file it efficiently. Ask them what they think and explore the topic together - they will start with information they already know.

With a healthy diet, brain cells grow throughout life. Exercise gets oxygen to the brain (which uses 20% of the oxygen we breathe. Stuck on a problem - use a trampoline for a few minutes as the brain has to coordinate major muscle groups for balance (just as good for adults).

Main source:
Make Your Child Brilliant by Bernadette Tynon. Quadrille, 2008 (ISBN 978-184400-579-6)

Calendars and Time

A moon (lunar) month is 28 days. There are 13 lunar months in a year, totalling 364 days. Adding 1 more day (365 days) makes a  year, hence the expression common in folk tales of  'a year and a day'.

Alternatives have been proposed to the current Gregorian (Western/Christain) Calendar to even out the irregularity of the months. However there are issues around religious observance days, the need to reconcile academic terms, implications for the working week (shift rotas, weekends), and peasant economies where there is not enough need for permanent shops and trading is done through several interlocking market cycles, each based in a different village, not to mention finding acceptable-to-all names for the weekdays and months.

• Perpetual 364 day calendar plus 1 day per year.
• Perpetual monthly international fixed calendar: 13 months of 28 days plus (a) New Year's day every year and (b) Sol day every leap year. Every date is fixed on the same weekday (e.g. 1, 8, 15 and 22 are always Sundays).
• Perpetual trimester calendar (World calendar): Months are 31, 30, 30 in each trimester (3 months). Every date falls on the same day of the week (Jan. 6th is always a Friday, Feb. 6th is always a Monday). Dec. 30 is followed by World's day every year and Jun. 30 by Leap Tear day in leap years (neither have a day of the week).
• Calendar reform.

Interesting fact: The Plaiades (also known as the Seven Sisters): the only constellation noted and named by every culture on earth, past and present.

Carrots Good for Eye Health

Carrots contain carotenoids which can slow age-related macular degeneration (AMD). A recent Harvard University-led study used data from a population survey that tracked more than 100,000 over-50s over a period of 25 years.

It found that those who consumed the highest levels of carotenoids (lutein and zeaxanthin) had a 40% lower risk of developing the advanced form of AMD than those who ate the least. As well as carrots, good sources of carotenoids are dark leafy vegetables and eggs.

Another recent study (AREDS2) found that a supplement of 10mg lutein and 2mg zeaxanthin (together with key vitamins, minerals and fish oils) reduced the progression of established AMD by 26%.

Item in Lifespan Breaking News, Winter 2015