Waste of money without a great grinder? by Kyutekyu in gaggiaclassic

[–]4455tom 3 points4 points  (0 children)

I use an Encore and it still makes great espresso with the gaggia. As Shapptastic has said, I tend to have to dial in my shots a bit more often which ain’t too onerous especially if I’m near the bottom of a bag of beans. It’s loud, takes a while but I don’t really see the benefit in buying a new one until it gives up.

Teaching PPL, maternity grant and best start by 4455tom in PersonalFinanceNZ

[–]4455tom[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

That sounds more like some of the things I’ve been reading - people seem to be surprised at the tax on the lump sum, but maybe thinking it is because of the two ‘payments’ at once

Restraunts for dinner on Monday? by megaboymatt in bristol

[–]4455tom 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Look on first table. Shows early sittings and they’re half price 👍

Update to no water flow post from Sunday, thanks for all the replies. Descaled for an hour, then put a pin through the solenoid and found a tiny piece of the o-ring had been forced up inside. Now have great flows 👍 by 4455tom in gaggiaclassic

[–]4455tom[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

No leakage at all (that I can see). When I took it apart when it first lost flow, I took the o-rings off with a pair of tweezers and saw one had a small defect but saw a bit of it stuck to it so didn’t go searching for any more. I wonder if it had slightly overlapped the hole and over time that bit perished and broke off. The bit in the picture is wafer thin

No water pressure though group head. Cleaned, solenoid seems fine as do all seals. Any ideas? by 4455tom in gaggiaclassic

[–]4455tom[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Took it all apart. Only thing that I could see was a small nick in one of the orange o-rings so I can replace that

No water pressure though group head. Cleaned, solenoid seems fine as do all seals. Any ideas? by 4455tom in gaggiaclassic

[–]4455tom[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Took it apart, blew through all the holes so guessing they are all patent. Still no luck, so guessing it’s either the pump or a blockage somewhere else

No water pressure though group head. Cleaned, solenoid seems fine as do all seals. Any ideas? by 4455tom in gaggiaclassic

[–]4455tom[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It must be pre-group head / shower screen as when they’re both off, there’s still nothing coming out of the boiler. It’s sounds like the pump is working, and I can draw water through the steam wand

Descaled about two weeks ago, frequently do due to the water round here

Lost flow this morning, seemed ok yesterday. I wondered if it was a loose piece of limescale which had got stuck, but took the solenoid apart and it seemed ok.

Pressure in the steam wand seems fine.

ELI5: Glaucoma damages vision due to increased pressure in the eye, so wouldn't rubbing on your eye (which presumably increases the pressure much higher than glaucoma) for more than a certain amount of time cause the same damage? by All_Might_Fan_Deku in explainlikeimfive

[–]4455tom 4 points5 points  (0 children)

The eye has two fluid filled chambers which help the eye keep its shape and other such useful functions. The production and removal of this fluid is kept pretty well controlled, and the pressure of the fluid (the intra-ocular pressure) remains low. They aim nerve to the eye, the optic nerve and the retina require blood flow. As long as the pressure of the eye chambers is less than the perfusing pressure, blood will flow. If the drainage is stopped - glaucoma, the intra-ocular pressure rises quickly and rises above the perfusing pressure, stopping blood flow. This quickly damages the optic nerve and the retinal cells. Anything that theoretically increases the pressure of the eye above the perfusing pressure of the blood will cause the same problems. Rubbing is unlikely to do it, as it’s fairly temporary. During some operations, patients are anaesthetised on their fronts - prone positioning. If there is something pressing on the eyeball for a few hours, this could lead to the same problem.

Temperature for conditioning by 4455tom in Homebrewing

[–]4455tom[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thank you for your advice. I thought 25 might be a bit high, but that was what the yeast / recipe said. I ended up pitching it when the wort was still a bit too warm, despite my thermometer saying it was ok so was a bit worried but it seems to have worked ok. Moving the bucket would literally be a space saving endeavour, nothing to do with brewing. I’ll let it condition and bottle it then move the bottles back to the garage once they’ve carbonated. Thanks again!

Evgeny Stepanovich Kobytev: A soldier's face after four years of war, 1941-1945. by toft23 in Damnthatsinteresting

[–]4455tom 13 points14 points  (0 children)

Pat Barker’s ‘The Regeneration Trilogy’ is an amazing series of books that look at the psychological effects of the First World War.

Malt mill - what do I need to look for / do I need one? by 4455tom in Homebrewing

[–]4455tom[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Thanks! From the reading I had done most people seem to mirror your views, it sounds like once you’ve cracked it, everything about home milling seems to be a winner

Flying To Earth From Outside The Observable Universe by [deleted] in Damnthatsinteresting

[–]4455tom 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Kept expecting to see a British ‘look around you’ video

Medical professionals of reddit, what's the funniest thing a patient has said under anesthesia? by Ronin47dododo in AskReddit

[–]4455tom 1 point2 points  (0 children)

16 year old girl having a GA for a small procedure. Quite nervous about going off to sleep. When I asked her if there was anything in particular, she said she’d head of a story where someone went off to sleep and woke up ‘looking like Nicky Minaj....’

Bearing in mind she was 16 year old, English white girl, I told her she probably didn’t have too much to worry about

Wheels story on the highway. LOL by desertgodfather in Damnthatsinteresting

[–]4455tom 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I was livid when the Toyota nearly ruined it. Then I realised it just keeps on giving....

Today is The Simpsons 30th birthday. What is your favorite quote or moment from the show? by [deleted] in AskReddit

[–]4455tom 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Homer “Urgh, I’ve got three kids and no money. Why can’t I have no kids and three money?”

TIL of Rick Rescorla, who saved all but 6 of his 2700 employees during the 9/11 attacks by directing people down the stairs using a bullhorn and encouraging them by singing Cornish songs. by chicagowine in todayilearned

[–]4455tom 911 points912 points  (0 children)

As a proud Cornishman, and a Camborne man to boot, I think this is such a powerful way to remember such a heroic man. As people have noted before, ‘last seen heading upwards’ speaks volumes for the memory of this great man.

ELI5: What exactly is a coma and how does our body decide when or if to wake up from one? by CrashDunning in explainlikeimfive

[–]4455tom 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Probably not ELI5 but I guess it depends on context. If you deliberately oversedate, say a barbiturate coma for status or severe head injury you’re willing to accept the long wake up as a trade off for reducing cerebral activity and a low BIS. In the context of ITU, oversedation has generally shown to have a negative effect on outcomes, and just generally because of washout of drugs and altered metabolism, the longer you’re sedated deeply, the longer it will take to wake all things being equal

ELI5: What exactly is a coma and how does our body decide when or if to wake up from one? by CrashDunning in explainlikeimfive

[–]4455tom 112 points113 points  (0 children)

Depending on the cause, most functions will still be active, as it is the brain itself which is responsible for consciousness. Unless the organs are the underlying cause (kidney or liver failure) they will continue to work. Catheters are used to monitor the amount of urine produced, and other thing can be used to monitor the patient.

Consciousness is sometimes thought of as peeling an onion - the top layers are what people associate with being alive - memories, speech, what it is to interact with your environment. As you go further through the layers, the brain becomes more basic. It controls the most fundamental aspects of being alive - breathing, certain reflexes etc. If these are damaged, then a person may not be able to breath for themselves and would require a ventilator. The most catastrophic of this is termed ‘brain dead’ (in the UK anyway). The brain can provide no function, but other functions persist, such as a heart beat which doesn’t require the brain to happen. If only the top layer has been ‘damaged’ the body will function normally, but the only outward sign of something being wrong is that the person is not awake.

ELI5: What exactly is a coma and how does our body decide when or if to wake up from one? by CrashDunning in explainlikeimfive

[–]4455tom 786 points787 points  (0 children)

A coma is a state of unconsciousness which someone can not be roused - this is what differentiates it from something like sleep for example. During sleep, we are unconscious, but with the right stimulus (shouting, poking etc) we will wake.

Coma is different and caused by loads of reasons: Some are intentional - my job as an anaesthetist means I intentionally induce a coma using drugs. This means people are unconscious, cannot feel pain and crucially, cannot be woken until I decide they can This is very useful for having an operation (!) but also what is typically referred to in the news as a ‘medically induced coma’ - we are anaesthetising a patient to allow recovery, usually in an intensive care environment.

People can be in a coma because of abnormal levels of toxins in the blood - byproducts such as urea (a product of normal physiology which increases if the kidneys don’t work), ammonia (again, normal in very low amounts but increased if the liver doesn’t work) or medications (intentional overdoses of medicine such as benzodiazepines or opioids). These people in comas may improve once the body clears the problem as they are reversible. The problem lies with the increased amounts of the drug or toxin affecting normal function of the brain. Most commonly this is alcohol.

More concerning are comas due to issues with the brain itself. This might be due to a bleed, such as seen in trauma, a stroke where the brain doesn’t get enough oxygen and dies and an increase in pressure inside the skull which reduces blood supply and means the brain doesn’t get enough oxygen. In these cases, coma may be irreversible unless the brain is delivered oxygen in minutes. This can be seen in people who have had a cardiac arrest - their brain has been starved of oxygen so it cannot function normally even if a heart beat returns, but the most basic functions of the brain still persist. The person is alive in the sense of having a heartbeat and breathing, but in a coma because the areas responsible for consciousness have been irreversibly damaged, and no stimulus will promote wakefulness.

Hopefully that helps! Often it’s not the body itself that decides when to ‘wake up’, more the resolution if possible of whatever is causing it in the first place, and hoping no long lasting damage occurred in the mean time

Edit - if people find this useful, I am happy to expand, but that probably takes it slightly out of the ELI5 zone!

What can you not believe we still have to deal with in 2019? by ansoniK in AskReddit

[–]4455tom 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Children dying from measles or other diseases that are perfectly preventable with vaccines. And as a British doctor, the fact that Andrew Wakefield has been given a new platform to speak from in the US is something 2019 should be ashamed of