Hot

Yeah, it's hot. No one knows that better than I. I know it better than all the talking TV heads that pretend to be your parents, urging you to drink lots of water and wear light colored clothing because I am out there in it all afternoon long.

They also urge you to take lots of breaks, and I keep wondering how many foremen or crew chiefs have been informed that "Larry Moore told me it's OK to take an extra break, 'cause it's hot," as an employee wanders off to sit down under a tree.

All that aside, does anyone remember the summer of 1980? We didn't have high nineties and low hundreds. There were 17 days of 108 or better, and other days of lesser but still high temperatures, besting the heat we are sagging from this past week. I remember that summer, and how hot the ramp was at the airport, and how heavy the radio seemed that we had to carry and how ineffective the air conditioning in each airplane was against the wall of hot air outside. I had to wear a white dress shirt, a tie, and try to look presentable, finally going home soaked through and through. And I remember that each day was just like the one before with no end in sight.

That went on for weeks and weeks and still wasn't as hot or unpleasant as the summers of 1934 and 1936 which were hot and dusty. Add to that, there was very little air conditioning employed in those days. Not many heat warnings, advisories and excessive heat alerts either. How did the people survive?

Global warming? Well, yeah, the globe is warmer, at least right around here. Look around, the glaciers are gone. They were gone before we had cars, coal-fired electric power plants and Al Gore--possibly the largest source of heat pollution around. Yeah it's hot. It's been hot before and will be hot again. It will be cold again too. Something else to remember: How much we bitched and moaned about how cold it was five and six months ago. Conjure that up--and enjoy the heat.