Misc

Tuesday, October 25. 2005

Freezing in the South

Jon Abernathy recently returned to Oregeon from Florida and blogged about the overuse of air conditioning there. I find it's much the same here in South Carolina. We keep the summer temperature in our house at around 78°F, higher than anyone else I know. It gives us a few extra bucks to spend or save. Stores and restaurants here are usually ridiculously cold.

His comment reminded me of a fitting 32-year-old passage in a Travis McGee novel, The Turquoise Lament:

...Trade periodicals harp on how customer traffic flow is increased by keeping the thermostat low. In the densely urban areas, the heat output of all the overspecified [cooling] systems so raises the ambient temperature the the big compressors have to kick in more often to keep the store at 67 degrees.

The knowledgeable general practitioner and the specialist in respiratory diseases will both tell you that it is a total idiocy to subject the human animal to abrupt temperature variations of more than 15 degrees. He gets sick. He has more virus infections. He takes more time off from work. He feels rotten.

Were there a Florida law stating that all thermostats would have to be blocked so as to prevent a lower interior temperature than 75 degrees in all public places, all stores, all homes, all hotels and motels, Florida Power and Light would be able to give up their huge smoking plans for new power plants. We would all be healthier. We would be able to dress more sensibly.

Maybe those overworked compressors are part of the reason for the Atlanta Heat Island which sends storms and pollution our way.

Update 2006-08-06: I came across this Slate article on the same subject.

Posted by Mike Boone in Misc at 14:42 | Comments (0) | Trackbacks (0)

Friday, October 21. 2005

Flying Around

Last weekend a longtime friend came down in his Cessna from Rock Hill, SC. He took me flying last October too. This time we did some more buzzing of Greenwood County. Instead of heading directly for the lake, we flew over the city and then into the south part of the county. I thought it would be fun to see Ninety Six National Historic Site from the air. This was an American Revolutionary War battlefield. The British had an interesting star-shaped fort and the park has a grassy mound outline of the star. I had a little trouble picking the park out from the air with all the other open fields in the area, but I finally found it and we circled around. Click on the photo for a better look.

Then we headed up Lake Greenwood. I was surprised to be able to see the SC mountains from this area. Those mountains are up close to the NC/SC border. My friend said it was an exceptionally clear day. Then it was back to the airport, landing on the newly-paved runway. Lots of fun. Someday I'll get a pilot's license and start yet another hobby!

Posted by Mike Boone in Misc at 15:51 | Comments (0) | Trackbacks (0)

Thursday, October 6. 2005

Finally Some Rain!

Last night we finally got some rain here, thanks to Tropical Storm Tammy. Except for a couple minor sprinkles, it's the first rain we've had since a brief shower from the edge of Hurricane Katrina back in August!

Update 2005-10-09: Maybe it was too much of a good thing. The airport data shows 3.23 inches of rain on the 6th and 7th. All that rain played havoc with our underground electrical feed. Yesterday morning, the major appliances wouldn't work, and the lights in half the rooms only came on slightly, glowing a dim orange. Very odd symptoms. After a couple visits by the electic company, I now have a temporary transformer outside the house. Apparently one of the feed wires was damaged by the inundation of water. So I guess they'll be digging soon.