Posts Tagged ‘educational’

Bleeding a Lighter for Consistent Performance

Even very high-end lighters will need to be bled out now and again. The substance being bled is air which becomes trapped in the lighter and which prevents it from functioning correctly. To correct this, one usually simply depresses the fuel release valve far enough to allow gas to be discharged but not so far that the ignition mechanism is tripped. One can verify the flow of gas by holding the lighter close enough to their ear to hear gas escape.

Most often, a lighter that is failing to provide a sustained flame has air trapped in the reservoir, fuel supply line or both. On some lighters, one will be able to see these components. Most high-end cigar lighters, however, have opaque cases which makes this impossible. To determine if this is the problem, one can simply hold down the fuel release and listen for the hissing sound of gas escaping. It there is no hiss audible, there is likely a fuel problem.

Bleeding the lighter is the best solution to this. One takes advantage of the fact that the lighter begins to release fuel before it ignites to perform this task. Simply hold down the ignition button far enough to allow butane to flow but do not depress it fully. The lighter should begin emitting the characteristic hiss of escaping butane in very short order and a consistent flow of fuel will be restored. This can be done even when the lighter is working correctly to ensure that the problem doesn’t manifest.

One can avoid this situation altogether by properly filling their lighter. Most often, air is introduced into the reservoir when the lighter is attached to a butane can with an uneven seal. This results in air being forced into the reservoir. Because the butane is a liquid and the air is a gas, the air floats to the top of the reservoir and fills the fuel line. The most common, and most ineffective, response to this seen is when individuals shake their lighter after becoming frustrated with turning the wheel or pressing the button over and over again.

Butane lighters are generally very reliable and having air become trapped in the fuel line or reservoir is fairly rare. If it happens persistently, one may wish to have their lighter serviced by a qualified technician. Never attempt to adjust any of the valves, aside from the flame height knob, without professional assistance. This will generally void the warranty and make the situation much worse than it was to begin with, the last thing one wants with an expensive lighter!

Dave Sabot is the owner of specialty cigar lighters store. With expert knowledge of cigar accessories, including windproof lighters, Dave also authors a highly rated blog featuring tips on how to lighter repair.

What is the Educational Value of the Zoo?

I am a very active zoo visitor; I often go more to a zoo in a week than most people do in year. In all my zoo visits I have learned that animal behavior isnt limited to across a watery moat, steel fencing, or glass window. It goes on everyday in the crowds of visitors which come to the zoo.

There has always been an ongoing argument about the educational value of the zoo compared to the animal suffering in the cages. An argument which, of course, wont be solved here but will give you a lot more to the think about in the end.

Yes, I do agree with all those that say, Animals should be free in the wild. I do not feel that we have the right to lock up animals for our own use in this manner. Animals like humans in prison will and do develop mental problems, behavior usually gets worse over time, and nothing good come out of it.

In all my years of going to the zoos I have found few people get any educational value from the visit. No one reads the signs, people past exhibits so fast they miss the animal, and most do not even stop long enough to really take a good look and reflect about the animal they are viewing. Many people spend the day speed walking, dragging one or more child, and wishing they hadnt promised to go to the zoo that day. I dont see must educational value to visitors or a reason to make animals suffer if people act that way.

Then you wonder about the school field trips, yes kids do get to see animals they might never see in the wild. They do hear, at least, some interesting facts about the animals. Do they really learn anything? I doubt it very much, most kids in those groups are too excited to just be free from the burden of school and having to sit still all day they cant pay attention to learning. Did you ever hear anything at the zoo field trips? I never did. Once the kids have a quick run through the zoo, they are fed like cattle and shoved back on a bus. How much educational value did the child get from the trip? I know the teachers would rather be in a pit of live snakes than go on a field trip with ten thousand screaming kids.

The sad thing is the adults really. Going to the zoo all the time, I have over heard some very interesting conversations between adults. Things said that convince me that the human race overall has a low IQ. One of the most common things I hear is people seeing a mother and her baby, and then calling the mother a he. I didnt know males got pregnant (No, I didnt forget about certain species, we dont want to get that complicated here).

Often adults cannot even pronounce the name of the animal. They usually get by calling it whatever name they know close to it. I can understand the Latin scientific names can be pretty hard, but Orangutan does not have a g at the end of it. Yes, the little things can lead to much bigger problems. How can you care about an animal to help save it from them becoming extinct (which we are causing), which probably has a higher IQ than you, if you cant even pronounce the name us humans gave to it?

What is the educational value of the zoo to the overall human population; Very little, in my opinion.

There are however, those cases and individuals from which the lack of a zoo might not have made them into the person they are today. Those people are now on the leading forefront of trying to save from the human race the very right for these animals to exist. So while most people get little to no educational value, hopefully just enough seeds are sparked to keep anymore animals from going extinct.

Do I like seeing a Polar Bear in a cage? No, but if it sparks enough people to help save all the polar bears from extinction at the hand of the human race then it is worth it. We can however make that Polar Bears life active, interesting, and fulfilling.

So what do we do now? Do we close all the zoos and set the animals free in the wild? Do we design the zoo a bit better forcing people to learn? The last time I looked, almost every sign at the zoo had the word Endangered on it. Oh well, after all the animals go extinct, man will be next.

World Zoo Today is a global news site dedicated to zoos, aquariums, wildlife, and conservation. Sara’s motto is “One World One Zoo”, this world on which we live is one giant zoo, we are the current zookeepers.