Strange stuff I know

There’s all manner of realisations that come with reaching the stage in life when you use the word “old” to describe yourself – and one which has amused me, is looking back on all the bits and pieces of strange stuff which have become lodged in my brain.

Of course, I’m not talking about things in which I have an interest…

The most recent realisation came after my mother moved to the US to live with my sister. When that three letter word (tax) came up and my sister was after all manner of financial information on my mother, I said “but what about the US-UK reciprocal tax agreement?” My siblings looked at me and asked, as if with one voice “is that a thing?” And, you know what… turns out it is a thing. I’ve no idea how I knew. But apparently I know more than the financial adviser my sister has engaged – so he’s been given some homework to do. I don’t have high hopes my mother will be paying the right amount of tax quite yet.

Back in the 1980s, I worked for a Dutch engineering company and for some unknown reason, a couple of things I learned there have stuck with me.

The first is that PCB stands for Polycarbonate Biphenyls. Aforementioned Dutch company made a product that didn’t use PCBs so, with PCBs being nasty carcinogenic stuff, our PR company arranged for an event at the House of Commons to raise the profile of the subject (and to draw attention to our product). Our engineers dusted up on their relevant knowledge, but I lost 14lbs in 2 weeks after being told I’d also need to speak knowledgeably and confidently on the subject, as MPs would always rather speak to a young woman than a man. This turned out to be true, so my stressful cramming was worth it, even if the suit I had to buy last minute was never used again 😉 PCBs were eventually banned worldwide in 2001.

The second is that 1kW does not equal 1kVa, because electrical systems are rarely ever 100% efficient. In fact, 0.8kW (sometimes 0.75kW depending upon the power factor) equals 1kVA. Kilowatts measure what is called “actual” power, whereas kilovolt amps measure what is called “apparent” power, or the amount of power in use in a system. Sorry… are you still awake at the back? 😉 This was my first introduction to the concept of UPS (uninterruptable power supply) systems, which the company rated in kVA – and I foolishly asked why. I enjoyed my time working with engineers, but oh my, do they love people who ask why. 😀

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I love brains! I view them as a vast filing cabinet, if one with a size limitation. While I know they’re adept at sorting the information being received every single second, I also see them as having a role in reviewing that information, to decide if it’s needed any longer – a bit like doing a wardrobe review and removing stuff you’ve not worn for a year. And that’s largely been born out by the vast amounts of stuff which I used to know, but no longer remember. And yet there are these odd things hanging on in there…

The weird thing is I cannot remember how long I’ve known about the tax agreement, nor how it got there in the first place. And while I can see where the second and third items came from, I cannot for the life of me work out why my brain thinks that knowledge will be useful for me to hang onto.

Brains – fabulous things, but weird in their own wonderful ways! 🙂

Do you have strange stuff that you know? And can you remember how that knowledge got there?

© Debs Carey, 2024