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Links for 2016-07-25

  • Kelsey Hightower – healthz: Stop reverse engineering applications and start monitoring from the inside

    his Monitorama 2016 talk, talking about the “deep health checks” concept (which I implemented at Swrve earlier this year ;)

    (tags: monitorama health deep-health-checks healthz testing availability reliability)

  • The sweat houses of Leitrim

    I never knew we had a native take on the sauna, the “teach alluis”:

    Sweathouses were used for the treatment for a wide range of ailments up to the late 19th and early 20th centuries, primarily rheumatism but also including sciatica, lameness, sore eyes, gout, skin disorders, psychiatric disorders, impotence and infertility. Surviving records indicate that treatment was often a group activity for 4-8 persons. The sweathouse was heated by filling the interior with fuel (turf, heather, wood etc. as available), and firing the structure for a period of up to two days to heat the stone structure, the hot ashes were then raked out and the interior floor lined with bracken, grass or straw. The bathers entered and blocked the entrance with turves, clothes or some other means. The sweating period could last a number of hours while the structure retained heat. Some authors note that water was thrown on hot stones to create steam. Afterwards, the “patients” would either take a cold plunge in the nearby water source, or go home and rest for a few hours, or simply return to their normal daily activities.
    (via Aileen)

    (tags: via:aileen sweating sweat-houses irish history saunas heat)