England Out of the World Cup: Now the Post Mortem

With England's football team crashing out of the World Cup after losing 4 - 1 to Germany, there now follows the inevitable post mortem. There are the usual questions - why do players who perform at the top class for their clubs on a weekly basis play so poorly for their country? How can such individually gifted players fail to gel as a team? And then there are recriminations - on this occasion there is no individual player to blame, so the manager is in the firing line. It has to be said that this World Cup campaign was particularly poor. We will get to hear in a couple of weeks whether the Football Association will support Fabio Cappello or whether he will be sacked and a new hope sought. Either way there is the qualification stage of Euro 2012 to look forward to. The question is, will England fare any better?

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Are Black and Decker Can Openers any Better Than any Others?

The idea of a Black and Decker can opener may surprise you little, after this is a company better know for making power tools rather kitchen accessories. In fact they make a range of can openers including the small hand held "Gizmo", the under the counter "Spacemaker" and tall devices intended for specialising in large cans. You could make do with a hand held device of course, but for many people this is just unnecessary effort. Also for many older people and people who find using hand devices difficult this is simply not an option. If you are looking for a new can opener then a Black and Decker can opener is a pretty safe option as they are an established and reputable brand and there is a large range to choose from.

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Digital TV Recorders - Farewell to the VCR

I remember a time when the VCR was at the cutting edge of technology. It seemed wondrous that we could actually record programmes to to watch whenever we wanted and not be restricted to whenever the TV schedulers thought we should be watching. The only problems were the ever increasing pile of cassettes we accumulated and the fact that they only had a limited life - record over them a few times and first the sound would deteriorate and then the picture quality. And then there was the risk of accidentally recording over something that you really wanted to keep.

Digital TV recorders overcome all of these problems, and the newer ones have a large memory so you need not worry about running out of space. They usually allow you to do things like pause live TV so you can go and answer the phone, make a drink, or whatever else interrupts your usual viewing, and not miss anything. Also they often now have other features like being able to access music via the internet and some give you access to a video library.

Things have certainly moved on since the days of the VCR!!

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England's World Cup Stalls Against Algeria

It should have been straightforward. A victory against Algeria would have seen them pretty much through to the next round. Instead it was a painful display against a team who are no known for success in international football. Although Algeria never really looked like scoring, England's attempts on goal were pretty lacklustre never really making the goalkeeper having to make too much of a save. Overall, the team's performance was pretty poor with the passing in the middle of the pitch lacking accuracy and what seemed like a general lack of belief within the team.

Now, only a win against Slovenia will guarantee to see them through. A draw would make a theoretically possible, but unlikely. England's dream of World Cup glory for the first time in 44 years feels a very long way away.

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"Tasty" Catfish

Did you know that the catfish has more tastebuds than any other creature on earth? No, me neither. Apparently, unlike other creatures, the catfish does not have tastebuds just in its mouth, but they are in fact spread over its entire body. This includes its whiskers, fins, back and tail! Catfish are normally about 6 inches long but over this small body they manage to pack in a quarter of a million tastebuds. Why they have quite so many I don't really know - I guess it is a means of finding out what is around them, whether this should be potential food or a predator. Most things must taste pretty salty though!

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Legionnaire's Disease Danger .......From Your Car!

For many years now all public buildings have had to take precautions against Legionnaire's Disease. Particular attention has been given to heating and air conditioning systems with their tendencies to spread fine droplets of water through the air. Also areas to look at have been shower equipment, so there has been plenty of attention given to hotels making sure that they keep their shower heads clean. One area that has not been given much attention though is one thing that most of us have - our cars! It turns out that actually one of main culprits for causing Legionnaire's Disease is the windscreen wiper waters in our cars. Who would have thought it! I suppose it makes sense though if you think about it - you have water sitting in a plastic bottle for extended period and then squirted out in a fine mist.

However, it seems that all you need to do is use screenwash. This actually kills the bacteria as well as cleans your windscreen. Problem solved!!

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Why You Should Consider a Downdraft Gas Cooktop

The standard solution to getting rid of cooking smells from your home is to use an extractor hood that fits above your cooker. However, for many kitchens this is just not feasible due to the amount of space available, the layout of the kitchen or simply to do with aesthetics. If this is the case then a downdraft gas cooktop could be for you.

These type of cooktops have a powerful fan as an integral part of it which actually pulls the odors, steam and smoke downwards before it has chance to drift into the rest of your home. This is then sent through a series of pipes outside.

Of course extractor hoods are normally above the cooking area for a good reason - hot air always rises. Therefore, the fan needs to be of a suitable strength to pull this hot air downwards, but at the same time not being so strong that it becomes an annoyance. It also means that they are not particularly suitable for very small kitchens as there is insufficient airflow.

For some kitchens, the downdraft gas cooktop offers significant advantages, particularly where an extractor hood would get in the way or would be unsightly.