Hard Water?
Hard water is irritating - it leaves stains in kettles, pots and pans which require a lot of effort to remove.But is it bad for health?
I think it is pretty clear from literature that it is not - but, the literature is conflicting in terms of whether it is GOOD for you. Drinking hard water will not increase your risk of developing cardiovascular diseases and coronary heart disease (a recent UK study - I just read the abstract - states that increased levels of magnesium has a weak correlation with increased CVD, with a P-value of 0.08 - we cannot make good interpretations out of this data). However, whether drinking hard water has protective effects as previously claimed - that is controversial.
Another fact: household ion-exchange water softeners puts Na+/K+/H+ into the water. Hmms, when you take ions out of the water, you have to replace it - that is A level chemistry - to maintain neutrality. Unless the softener precipitates the ions together with the anions in the water (or get rid of the anion as a gas) or the pH of the water is changed - if not, the addition of another cation is inevitable.
If the water is temporarily hard (i.e. caused by CaCO3) - boiling can get rid of the hardness provided that the ppt is removed. If the water is permenantly hard (caused by MgCl2/CaCl2 etc.), boiling won't work.
Hmms, whenever I filter my water, it is mostly because I do not trust the infrastructure - like the one in Baltimore, in which the water pipes might be 100 years old - and water hardness has not really crossed my mind.
Hahaha just eat and drink whatever - as long as you have a balanced diet! Sunday Chen Li and I went to M&S and I almost wanted to buy the whole food section back; she has to go against her stereotypical gender role to keep me from buying FOOD. Anyway, I have already finished the two packets of cookies that I bought (they are amazing). Oh well. I know that anything in excess is not good :P
And we were supposed to go and watch the Trinity fireworks tonight - but we were simply too tired after work to go anywhere. Tomorrow would be St John's May Ball, they have fireworks too, but Italy vs. France would be a lot more exciting :P
Plans for upcoming weekends:
21/6 (Sat): London (Bring Khian Hong and Chen Li around a bit, then go to St Paul's Cathedral and the Tate Modern)
22/6 (Sun): Need some time alone - thinking of going to Granchester to chill and read after church (heard that there is an orchard and a teahouse there where people can drink tea and chill - hopefully won't have drunk aunties and students there spoiling the mood.)
28/6 - 29/6: No plan yet
5/7 - 6/7: Dublin, Ireland
12/7 - 13/7: No plan yet
19/7 - 20/7: No plan yet
26/7 - 27/7: Khian Hong and Chen Li leaving, Sushi coming
2/8 - 3/8: Sushi is here: I am running out of ideas where to bring her to...
9/8: leaving for Avignon
(That would be about it for summer :( )
AND A*STAR STILL HAVE NOT SETTLED OUR ALLOWANCES YET. I don't understand why it is so difficult to give us money - they know the UK regulations, and if they were to let us come here to work, what is the problem with abiding by them?
IF - I won't be too surprised judging by their record - they decide to drop the scheme in the future because they find it difficult to abide by the UK regulations (just like how they ceased their collaborations with Hopkins because of differences in vision and motives), A*STAR would have scored another own goal on the international stage. I won't be on their side.
The two of them from Wisconsin are living with £300 cash (which they have used ~30% to 40%) for the whole 8-week period, they have limited access to their money in the US because they do not have a BOA account, and yes they are running out of money. I am willing to help definitely - thing is, this shouldn't even need to happen.
One of our initial encounters with government bureaucracy - we just have to deal with it (not live with it!)...
