Fix it Friday!
Ray and Jenny to the rescue! Join them every Friday morning between 9am and 12pm as they put the nation's minds at ease! Updated every Friday with the most frequently asked questions.
What week of the year has the best weather statistically? I’m trying to choose a wedding date in Cavan. It may come down to that!
Well based on recent anecdotal evidence, you’d say April and May were the best. Certainly in the last two years.
But for true statistics we contacted Met Eireann. Their statistics don’t narrow it down to weeks, but they do have the stats on monthly conditions. You can find them out yourself o their website www.met.ie. Click on the ‘Climate’ tab on the left column and then click on ‘Climate Average and Extremes’. You’ll find the average results from all 15 weather stations around the country. The nearest one we could find to Cavan was the Clones measurement.
July is the best month weather-wise for you in that area.
July has:
Highest average temperatures - 18.6 C
Highest average sunshine hours per day – 4.28hr
Lowest average rainfall – 60.4mm per month
Lowest wind speeds – 6.9 knots
Do you know when did goalkeepers start wearing gloves? Was watching 1979 FA Cup Final last night and keepers were not wearing any. Can you help? Alan in Dublin.
The first reported use of goalkeeping gloves was in 1952 in an St Mirren vs Celtic game. Before the 1960s it was uncommon for goalkeepers to wear gloves except under very poor weather conditions when they were just used for warmth. The use of gloves designed for grip steadily became more popular into the 1980s by which time most professionals had adopted the use of gloves. In the late 1990s gloves offering hyperextension protection became available and soon had become a very mainstream product.
Ray, can you sort out an age-old argument between my friend Paddy Stapleton and I. We both love Jaffa Cakes, but here’s the problem – he thinks they are biscuits, but I think they are, in fact, a cakes. Technically I think they are cakes for some tax reason. Can you tell us are they biscuits of cakes. Mickey B in Navan.
You’re right Mickey B. In the UK, there is no VAT on cakes or biscuits. However, there is VAT on chocolate covered biscuits. So this meant that Jaffa Cakes would be liable for VAT if Revenue could prove they were biscuits. It went to court in 1991, and McVities and during the case, McVities produced a ‘large’ Jaffa Cake as evidence. They pointed out that cakes get hard when they go stale, whereas biscuits soften. Jaffa Cakes go hard, therefore they are a cake. This is to do with moisture content. When all was taken into consideration, the Judge ruled that Jaffa Cakes we cakes and not biscuits.
The same distinction between ‘cakes and biscuits’ and ‘chocolate-covered biscuits’ applies in Ireland. The Revenue commissioners here apply VAT of 21% on chocolate covered biscuits, but only 13 and a half per cent on cakes and non-chocolate covered biscuits. If you search for ‘jaffa cakes’ www.revenue.ie , you’ll see how Jaffa’s are treated as a special case:
VAT Rates
Food, Jaffa Cakes
Rate: 13.5
Section/Sch: Para(xxxi)6th Sch.
Order:
Remarks: Regarded as a cake as the moisture content >12%
Decision:
Reference:
How come the plastic cups or bowls in a dishwasher never get dried?
It’s all about the heat. The thing about plastic is that it's lighter, there's less material there, which means less stored heat. When a dishwasher gets hot at the end of it's cycle, it relies on the fact that the plates retain heat, and that heat gradually evaporates the water. A plate or a mug might have ten times more heat stored in it than a plastic cup. That’s called heat retention. The other factor is heat conductivity. There’s a lot of heat stored down the sides of the upside down cup. The heat will conduct up the walls of the cup to evaporate the water that lies in the upturned base of the cup. But in a plastic cup, the heat stored in the walls won't conduct its way up the walls to where the water is.
Fix it Friday: what does the name Tesco stand for?
Here’s what the official Tesco site tells us:
Tesco was founded by Jack Cohen, who served with the Royal Air Force during the First World War. After returning in 1919, 21 year old Jack invested 30 pounds of his reward for military service to buy surplus food stockpiles and he opened a little stall in East London. On the first day he had a four pound turnover and one pound profit. Little by little, his business started to boom and Jack expanded to other markets all over London. He also began wholesale trade.
The first line of Cohen brand goods placed on the market was Tesco tea. In 1924, the name which the company later took on as its corporate name emerged. The name Tesco contains the initials of the owner of the firm, Mr. T. E. Stockwell, who supplied the firm with tea and of the initials of Jack’s surname – Cohen. Towards the end of the twenties, instead of stall trade Jack focused on window shop trade taking place on the main street. In 1929, the name Tesco first flared above a shop provided with a lock in North London (Burnt Oak, Edgware).