Saturday, October 20, 2007

Reproductive tourism & other matters

I have heard of all kinds of tourism but learned a new phrase today when I stumbled upon Doctor hails 'reproductive tourism' as Indians make outsourced babies ... in Middle East Times. The dateline of the AFP story by Paul Peachey is March 29, 2006, ANAND, India. It is all about professional surrogate mothers and makes interesting reading.

Nostalgia: A clock of time

Responding to a query from me, an expert, Mr. Thomas has been kind enough to send me a clarification. His website http://www.tronico.fi/OH6NT/clocksF.htm is quite interesting and I recommend a visit. The relevant portion of his message reads,

“You have a nice clock. But it is not made in Great Britain, it is made
in USA by Waterbury Clock Co., in Connecticut, between 1857-1944 when
this factory was active.”

Well, our clock has been with us at least from the 1910s. My grandfather died in 1919.

Kerosene fans

Reader Anup has left the following comment on the ‘clock’ post

“Kerosene operated fans? That's something I had not heard of, maybe you could explain that to interested people like me, would be nice to now about such technology that existed those days. I remember seeing old clocks such as the one that you mention, in my grand father's house back in the seventies. I am not sure what happened to it because years later, no one is clear about where it went. I love these old clocks, even if they work erratically.”

I am not competent to explain the technology except to say that kerosene is a fuel that produces energy and energy runs motors. In remote places, some who could afford, had kerosene operated fans and refrigerators. I have seen those even from my young days. These products, I believe, are still being manufactured.

Ends.

Also see:

An antique washing machine

2 comments:

Maddy said...

not surprising...surrogation for profit seems to be catching up- if you recall it came to the silver screens for the first time in the mohanlal movie 'dasaratham'....

when my dad used to work in the estates, we had one of those kerosene fridges. nobody believes me when i say such technology existed!!

Unknown said...

Yes, Maddy, I remember Dasaratham - Mohanlal, Murali as the paralyzed husband. A challenging theme, particularly 15 or so years back. I think Siby Malayil (?) handled it well.
About technology - will any child of today believe that there was a time when one could just lift a telephone receiver and say the number? No dialing, no pressing switches!