[CxofxJFm]

I'll bet these Moonbat hypocrite idiots have the A/C up on high in their house/office right now. What morons.

Only an environmentalist idiot freak like this could hate one of the greatest inventions of the 20th century. One that eased the suffering of millions and made life more comfortable for all of us. Early pioneers could only dream of A/C during the heat waves of summer while they sweated away in stifiling heat. These idots would like to see us get rid of A/C (except for them, of course) and return to the "good old days" of sweltering in the heat. Morons.

http://www.salon.com/books/feature/2...010/index.html

"Losing Our Cool": The high price of staying cool

How air conditioning changed the American landscape, transformed our politics, and is endangering our health

By Ryan Brown

In the last half century, air conditioning has joined fireworks, swimming pools and charred hamburgers as a ubiquitous ingredient of an American summer. It’s no exaggeration to say it has changed the way this country functions, shaping everything from where we’re willing to live (Las Vegas, anyone?) to the amount of sex we have (more: It’s never too hot to get it on when the A.C. is blasting). Nine out of 10 new homes in this country are built with central air conditioning, and Americans now use as much electricity to power our A.C. as the entire continent of Africa uses for, well, everything. It has so thoroughly scrambled our way of life that when the National Academy of Engineering chose its 20 greatest engineering accomplishments of the last century, A.C. not only made the list, it clocked in ahead of spacecraft, highways and even the Internet.

But as science writer Stan Cox argues in his new book, "Losing Our Cool: Uncomfortable Truths About Our Air-Conditioned World (and Finding New Ways to Get Through the Summer)," the dizzying rise of air conditioning comes at a steep personal and societal price. We stay inside longer, exercise less, and get sick more often — and the electricity used to power all that A.C. is helping push the fast-forward button on global warming. The invention has also changed American politics: Love it or hate it, refrigerated cooling has been a major boon to the Republican Party. The advent of A.C. helped launch the massive Southern and Western population growth that’s transformed our electoral map in the last half century. Cox navigates all of these scientific and social angles with relative ease, providing a clear explanation of how A.C. made the leap from luxury to necessity in the United States and examining how we can learn to manage the addiction before we refrigerate ourselves into the apocalypse.

Salon spoke to Cox about our jonesing for cold air, how A.C. lands Republicans in the White House, and why Congress should be forced to meet outside in the summer.

Something like 85 percent of Americans now have air conditioning in their homes — and we now completely expect it when we go to work or the grocery store. How did we get so dependent on A.C. anyway?

[LarpBulaBus]

What is a "Moonbat?" Do I need a Rush translator?


Well, well. I googled the word and guess what? In nearly every result the words "Rush Limbaugh" came up. How did I know?

[heltduell]

I figure it takes one to know what one is, DES. (Or you could look it up, )

It doesn't take a genius to follow the logic that Cox is apparently using in this book. I know I'm much more likely to stay indoors on days like today (100+ temperatures, high humidiy) than I am on normal summer days. My husband would like to retire to Florida some day, something I would never consider without AC. So it likely HAS contributed to the growth of cities in the South like Dallas, Houston, and Phoenix. I'm not really certain why so few of the liberal northerners have apparently moved to those cities, and why Texas and Arizona are still dominated by such conservative factions, so without reading the book I don't know why he's drawn such a conclusion about the political effect, if, indeed, he has! (When it's Regis quoting Rush, one can never be sure....)

[StincPriene]

I wouldn't be too surprised, actually. There's actually evidence that air conditioning is linked to the rise in obesity; turns out that most people eat less when they're warmer, and being that air conditioning makes us cold all the time, people eat more. And even though this article says nothing about it, I can connect a few dots and guess at how air conditioning is linked to the rise in conservative stupidity as well.