Air conditioning raising controversy

[eschaton]

Originally Posted by Pedestrian

As the representative "old person" in this crowd, let me say that most "old people" prefer air temperatures warmer than their younger fellows. That's why so many of us move to Florida or Arizona. Personally, I find myself more frequently cold than I used to be and one of the coldest places I regularly go is the air condtioned grocery stores in Arizona. They are so cold I hate grocery shopping from late spring to early autumn when they have it on. Some other places like restaurants and so on can also be severely over-cooled but I always assume that's for the comfort of the folks working in the kitchen.

I'm 39 and very much looking forward to when my internal thermostat changes as I age. As it stands now if I go to bed in a room warmer than 75 - even if I'm just in my boxers and have a light sheet on - I wake up in a pool of my own sweat. I'm really only comfortable in rooms set at 68 or less. I loathe being outside in the summer as well.

[Pedestrian]

^^Yeah, but too often when your thermostat changes, so do your taste buds. It's a running joke with my friends who know I like spicey/hot food that I enjoy sitting in my favorite Arizona Mexican joint listening to older folks complaining about the salsa being "too hot" and demanding of their servers what on the menu isn't "spicey"--I think the salsa is fine and could be hotter.

I used to be with you on the temps because, as I mentioned, I grew up suffering through Washington DC's notoriously miserable summers before private homes of the middle class had A/C. Once I could afford it, I swore I'd never be without it . . . until I discovered moving to San Francisco where you don't need it is an alternative (high temp today was a balmy 67F).

Again, to repeat, these days when I'm in AZ I keep my programmable thermostat set at 76 in the daytime (perfectly comfortable when the humidity is about 5%) and 68 at night because I still like sleeping with a blanket.

[Sun Belt]

Originally Posted by Pedestrian

I used to be with you on the temps because, as I mentioned, I grew up suffering through Washington DC's notoriously miserable summers before private homes of the middle class had A/C. Once I could afford it, I swore I'd never be without it . . . until I discovered moving to San Francisco where you don't need it is an alternative (high temp today was a balmy 67F).

You sound like my dad. He grew up in Charleston, SC in the 1940s and 50s without AC until he was 14 and then moved to Manhattan. He absolutely hates hot and humid weather to this day because of those years.

On some of those stifling summer nights they would sleep on the porch. Sounds cool, but then you have to factor in the bugs, gators and whatever else was out there.

[10023]

Originally Posted by Pedestrian

^^Yeah, but too often when your thermostat changes, so do your taste buds. It's a running joke with my friends who know I like spicey/hot food that I enjoy sitting in my favorite Arizona Mexican joint listening to older folks complaining about the salsa being "too hot" and demanding of their servers what on the menu isn't "spicey"--I think the salsa is fine and could be hotter.

Is this a function of aging or generation? Americans (and Brits) over 60, maybe even 50, tend to have very narrow palates and a discomfort with unfamiliar foods just as a result of what the American/British diet was like in their formative years.

I don’t think people of my generation who grew up on Mexican, Thai, Sichuanese, etc will be asking for the mildest dish possible just because we get older. We might need to take an antacid, but that’s not a question of taste.

[eschaton]

Originally Posted by 10023

Is this a function of aging or generation? Americans (and Brits) over 60, maybe even 50, tend to have very narrow palates and a discomfort with unfamiliar foods just as a result of what the American/British diet was like in their formative years.

I don’t think people of my generation who grew up on Mexican, Thai, Sichuanese, etc will be asking for the mildest dish possible just because we get older. We might need to take an antacid, but that’s not a question of taste.

I went through a period a few years back where although my mouth was still fine with spicy foods, a lot of them (including sriracha) caused my intestinal track to go into revolt. Thankfully it resolved itself somehow. I think it had to do with a shifting microbiome or something. But I have heard a fair amount of people complain about the same thing as they get older - that the bottom half of the digestive system just can't handle it any longer.

[lrt's friend]

Originally Posted by eschaton

I went through a period a few years back where although my mouth was still fine with spicey foods, a lot of them (including siracha) caused my intestinal track to go into revolt. Thankfully it resolved itself somehow. I think it had something do do with a shifting microbiome or something. But I have heard a fair amount of people complain about the same thing as they get older - that the bottom half of the digestive system just can't handle it any longer.

I wish I had learned about probiotics years ago. I now take a probiotic pill twice a day (they are in the vitamin section of the pharmacy) and my digestive issues have really settled down. I think this improves the bacterial culture of the digestive system. Many yoghurts do the same thing but I am a bit lactose intolerant as well.

[JManc]

Originally Posted by eschaton

I went through a period a few years back where although my mouth was still fine with spicey foods, a lot of them (including siracha) caused my intestinal track to go into revolt. Thankfully it resolved itself somehow. I think it had something do do with a shifting microbiome or something. But I have heard a fair amount of people complain about the same thing as they get older - that the bottom half of the digestive system just can't handle it any longer.

My dad is 72 and can drink a bottle of hot sauce and not even phase him.

[Pedestrian]

Originally Posted by lrt's friend

I wish I had learned about probiotics years ago. I now take a probiotic pill twice a day (they are in the vitamin section of the pharmacy) and my digestive issues have really settled down. I think this improves the bacterial culture of the digestive system. Many yoghurts do the same thing but I am a bit lactose intolerant as well.

I drink a glass of kfir as “breakfast” almost every morning.

[Pedestrian]

Originally Posted by JManc

My dad is 72 and can drink a bottle of hot sauce and not even phase him.

About the only time spiciness has given me pause was the time the guy in the Indian restaurant asked how I wanted my curry and I said what I usually do: “Make it the way you would if you were eating it” i think he was playing with me. But when it comes to hot sauce, I prefer flavor over pure heat which is why I think New Orleans restaurants are smart to put Crystal on their tables rather than Tabasco and why I prefer a Thai brand of sriracha over the ubiquitous American made one with the rooster on the bottle. For Mexican food it’s gotta be Cholula.

[niwell]

I wouldn't exactly call it spicy, but Crystal hot sauce is one of my favourite as a general sauce to put on a "normal" meal. It's hard to find here so I brought back 3 of the large bottles from New Orleans - 2 are gone already...

[Pedestrian]

Originally Posted by niwell

I wouldn't exactly call it spicy, but Crystal hot sauce is one of my favourite as a general sauce to put on a "normal" meal. It's hard to find here so I brought back 3 of the large bottles from New Orleans - 2 are gone already...

You can get it on Amazon.com and other online sites.

[niwell]

Originally Posted by Pedestrian

You can get it on Amazon.com and other online sites.

I actually tried a few times and had my order cancelled as they didn't ship to Canada! That may have changed since though. I have found a local source for when I run out it's just not as cheap as I would like.

[mousquet]

Fact is it's been hotter and hotter in dense cities like mine in summer.
I don't care what the creepy greedy Conservatives say about that.
They say humans can't be responsible for it, cause they're so greedy for retarded coal (seriously, who the hell still does coal but sorry underdeveloped countries?), oil, any hydrocarbon and any lazy crap to make easy money.
But all reliable/independent scientists reply that we've never seen such fast heating in Earth's history.
That's like 4.5 billion years old, huh. Not 6000 years.
Ha ha, freaking dorks...

And I simply say the cleaner you are, the better anyway.

There would be simple tricks to cool down cities. For example, avoiding that kind of crappy asphalt or macadam as much as possible.


https://www.dreamstime.com/royalty-f...e-image6789405

It captures heat during the day, while it's exposed to the sun, then releases at night.
Another evil cheap thing by those who won't pay taxes for decent public amenities.
That's how people complain that it's too hot for them to get any rest at night.
They sweat their sheets and all.

Something effective to cool down cities would be more trees, grass and plants, and gardeners.
And more skyscrapers to manage density more efficiently, so you don't have to pay for thousands of miles of subway and commuter railways.
Really...

Even my country's nuclear plants are crappy today. Those don't cause any heating, but they're dangerously unsafe, vulnerable to terrorism and we could fully take advantage of renewable energy already, if it wasn't for the nasty French nuclear lobby.

By now, we have the technology to be clean. But retarded backwards lobbies are annoying.

[JManc]

Originally Posted by mousquet

Even my country's nuclear plants are crappy today. Those don't cause any heating, but they're dangerously unsafe, vulnerable to terrorism and we could fully take advantage of renewable energy already, if it wasn't for the nasty French nuclear lobby.

By now, we have the technology to be clean. But retarded backwards lobbies are annoying.

i wasn't aware of the french having issues with their nuclear plants. Renewable energy is a great and all but it could never fully support a country the size of France the way nuclear power can. In the near future perhaps but we aren't there yet.

[lio45]

My parents' house is almost entirely under the shade of a gigantic maple, and we've always known it made a huge difference - they actually don't need A/C. Even this summer with all the heatwaves we got, the difference was striking between their place - decently comfortable without A/C - vs others (including mine) which are exposed to the sun's rays.

Given it's a deciduous tree, it has basically no downside - it's leafless in winter so it doesn't prevent the winter sun from heating the roof as much as it can when that's welcome, and it goes and serves as a giant umbrella just when that's what's needed from it.

This solution on a massive scale would obviously only work in low-rise neighborhoods, but that'd already be that.

[mousquet]

Originally Posted by JManc

i wasn't aware of the french having issues with their nuclear plants. Renewable energy is a great and all but it could never fully support a country the size of France the way nuclear power can. In the near future perhaps but we aren't there yet.

Some are dangerously aging and should be torn down. Not all, but some.

I'm even losing confidence in the French public authorities in this fucked up capitalism that's all about abstract shareholding and financial assets nowadays.

Shareholding in what? For example, see your country's industry. It is ruined. The NYC financial establishment ruined it all.
Now some are complaining that Mercedes-Benz is all over the place. But hey, what's left of Cadillac? The Germans didn't ruin their industry.
That's all their merit.

And yes, of course we could be there already if those cynical Maoist Chinese hadn't monopolized the solar panel market for their selfish butts.
You watch what they did. They first sold theirs on outrageously lower sale - they could afford it, since their "employees" have still been slaves - to ruin the competition, then it's all theirs in the end.
They own the entire solar panel market now. They've got a monopoly on that hugely strategic thing.
It took only a few years for them to do that. Things are super fast nowadays. This is no longer any 1980s.

[Pedestrian]

Originally Posted by JManc

i wasn't aware of the french having issues with their nuclear plants. Renewable energy is a great and all but it could never fully support a country the size of France the way nuclear power can. In the near future perhaps but we aren't there yet.

There are a couple of new types of nuclear power plants that are safer, cleaner and we really need if the dogmatists will let it happen.

One is the molten salt reactor:

Molten Salt Reactors
By Nick Touran, Ph.D.

Molten Salt Reactors (MSRs) are nuclear reactors that use a fluid fuel in the form of very hot fluoride or chloride salt instead of the solid fuel used in most reactors. Since the fuel salt is liquid, it can be both the fuel (producing the heat) and the coolant (transporting the heat to the power plant). There are many different types of MSRs, but the most talked about one is definitely the Liquid Fluoride Thorium Reactor (LFTR). This MSR has Thorium and Uranium dissolved in a fluoride salt and can get planet-scale amounts of energy out of our natural resources of Thorium minerals, much like a fast breeder can get large amounts of energy out of our Uranium minerals. There are also fast breeder fluoride MSRs that don’t use Th at all. And there are chloride salt based fast MSRs that are usually studied as nuclear waste-burners due to their extraordinary amount of very fast neutrons.

https://whatisnuclear.com/msr.html

Another are the small modular plants:

This new technology could save the troubled nuclear power industry
Small nuclear reactors, funded by investors like Bill Gates, are emerging in the US as cheaper, safer alternatives to traditional nuclear power plant designs
Debbie Carlson
Sun 16 Oct 2016 09.30 EDT Last modified on Wed 14 Feb 2018 12.56 EST

Unlike other nuclear reactors that usually produce about 1,000 megawatts of carbon-free electricity, the small modular reactors, like the ones Utah is planning, are designed to be a fraction of the size at 50 to 300 megawatts. Rather than using electrically operated pumps and motors to circulate coolant and keep the core of the nuclear reactor at a low temperature, as happens in traditional plants, small reactors use no pumps and motors and instead rely on passive means such as gravity and conduction ­­to cool the reactors

The compact size and other new improvements, including the ability to assemble all the components in a factory rather than on a project site, in theory make the small modular reactors much cheaper to build than traditional nuclear power plants that cost about $10bn and take a decade to secure permits and build . . . .

. . . the small reactor design eases the challenge of using nuclear power to complement the group’s intermittent renewable energy sources, such as wind and solar. Current nuclear plants are designed to produce electricity without interruption; adjusting the levels of energy output quickly in response to any sudden increase or drop of renewable energy generation is difficult to do. Small reactors can operate independently, allowing a plant to vary its output more dynamically, McGough said . . . .

https://www.theguardian.com/sustaina...ant-technology

Both types mentioned have the huge advantage that if they lose electrical power, they don't melt down Fukushima-style. The molten salt plants just start cooling down under such circumstances and the modular plants might even continue to operate.

[Pedestrian]

Originally Posted by mousquet

those cynical Maoist Chinese hadn't monopolized the solar panel market for their selfish butts.
You watch what they did. They first sold theirs on outrageously lower sale - they could afford it, since their "employees" have still been slaves - to ruin the competition, then it's all theirs in the end.
They own the entire solar panel market now. They've got a monopoly on that hugely strategic thing.
It took only a few years for them to do that. Things are super fast nowadays. This is no longer any 1980s.

Trump has already slapped a big tariff on Chinese solar panels. The US (and I'd imagine France) have the capability to produce these panels and if the Chinese ones are priced out the local industries will revive--or possibly new industries will spring up in smaller Asian countries.

[Sun Belt]

It takes like 30 years to build a nuclear power plant today in the U.S.

Mousquet, where or what does France do with all of the nuclear waste?

[dubu]

i hate air conditioning. i also hate dying in the heat. thats why i stay somewhere where its not real hot. too many bad experiences in the heat