General Discussion Thread

[viola]

Happy forum anniversary Helia!

[Mélusine]

Situation in France seems... errr... "funny". Can I stay in Netherlands a few more days ?

[urbicande]

It's the Glorious 25th of May. 

Truth! Justice! Freedom! Reasonably-Priced Love! And a Hard-Boiled Egg!

[Laufey]

It's the Glorious 25th of May. 

I know where my towel is.

[Róisín]

Sadly, the lilac is out of season in Australia. Maybe Sam Vimes has some?

[Lazy8]

Air conditioning is evil and it needs to die a quick and painful death. Hopefully by being boiled in something. Seriously, everywhere from the building where I work to public transportation has the stuff blasting the second the temperature gets above 70F (that's about 20C for those people who live in sensible countries that use the metric system) and I am getting so sick of being punished because I dressed for the weather instead of trying to stuff myself into some stupid suit.

(Oh yes, and have I mentioned that currently my office is also running the heater, even though it's 80F (that's about 26C for those people who live in sensible countries that use the metric system) outside, yet my office is still freezing because apparently I can't be trusted to control the temperature in my own workspace. I should do a calculation sometime of how much money the university is wasting by not giving us thermostats, followed up by the country's carbon footprint due to air conditioning alone.)

[Róisín]

Lazy8, I feel you on that one! I think all you can do is wear layers, and add or subtract them as needed.

Could be worse. There's an environmental vice practiced by rich yuppies in the Adelaide Hills that really makes me grind my teeth. Our summers are hot (gets above 40C/100F quite often) and our winters freezing. Christmas here is in the middle of summer. So these fools hold a traditional English Christmas - blazing open fire, brandy, full roast, plum pudding and all that. And so as not to die of heatstroke, they also run their airconditioners at full freeze while doing all this. In bushfire season, when there are lots of power outages anyway. Aaarrgh!

[Lazy8]

Lazy8, I feel you on that one! I think all you can do is wear layers, and add or subtract them as needed.

Could be worse. There's an environmental vice practiced by rich yuppies in the Adelaide Hills that really makes me grind my teeth. Our summers are hot (gets above 40C/100F quite often) and our winters freezing. Christmas here is in the middle of summer. So these fools hold a traditional English Christmas - blazing open fire, brandy, full roast, plum pudding and all that. And so as not to die of heatstroke, they also run their airconditioners at full freeze while doing all this. In bushfire season, when there are lots of power outages anyway. Aaarrgh!

...yeah, can't even comment on that one. Too much rage.

And about all I can do at the moment is periodically cuddle up next to the heater, since I don't have any more layers to put on since I shouldn't need them because it's almost summer. Stubborn personality trait of mine: "I shouldn't have to do it, therefore I refuse to do it!", even though I almost never accomplish anything other than making myself miserable.

[Unlos]

It's the Glorious 25th of May. 

Truth! Justice! Freedom! Reasonably-Priced Love! And a Hard-Boiled Egg!

Yess.

[Iceea]

...yeah, can't even comment on that one. Too much rage.

And about all I can do at the moment is periodically cuddle up next to the heater, since I don't have any more layers to put on since I shouldn't need them because it's almost summer. Stubborn personality trait of mine: "I shouldn't have to do it, therefore I refuse to do it!", even though I almost never accomplish anything other than making myself miserable.

I work in a building with a lot of electronic equipment which is on 24/7/365, it requires extensive AC. Our offices run off the same system which was never balanced right. During the winter there is heating system and I have a thermostat valve under my desk. So when the lab gets too cool I can retreat to my office. In the summer the heat is off and the AC is our source of heat cool etc. I have hanging on my office door a flannel shirt, a fleece vest, and a hat. Depending on the state of the AC system and the outside weather, the AC system has external sensors to adjust itself like when it's really cold in the winter time it shuts off the active AC and uses the outside air directly to save energy, I will add or subtract layers as needed. The hat is when I have to work in close proximity to a register. You do what you need to do to be, somewhat, comfortable.
It also seems to be a truism that the more broken the system seems to be, the more recalcitrant are those who are charged with its maintenance. But you've already found that out I'm sure.
I went to engineering college at WPI where as part of your degree you do medium size project/paper on some aspect of technology and how it relates to everyday life. There was a story that a student wanted to do a study of why there are so many HVAC systems that are dysfunctional. He couldn't find a professor to be his supervisor for the project.

[urbicande]

It's looking to be 86F/30C this coming few days when I'm camping.

I'd LOVE a little AC

[WrittenEmber]

We've been regularly above 90F/32C all month where I'm at, and have already hit 100F/38C a few times, yet I still have to wear long sleeves to work because they run the AC so hard. And we're a casual dress office, too, so nobody wears suits or anything like that. I actually see coworkers sitting at their desks with lap blankets over their legs or around their shoulders.

I wouldn't mind the low temps, if they were natural. But,

A) we're wasting energy to break your heart, and
B) the temp difference between indoors and outdoors only makes the high outdoor temps harder to cope with.

Shouldn't there be a happy medium? Keep it cooler than outside, sure. 100F can be dangerous. But we don't need to crank it down to 65F/18C, really we don't.

[Tr]

Shouldn't there be a happy medium? Keep it cooler than outside, sure. 100F can be dangerous. But we don't need to crank it down to 65F/18C, really we don't.

The temperature control at my school was really messed up today. In one room, it was frigid, in the next, 90F. I've been putting my sweater on/off all day, despite it being 90F outside.
Also, the weather seems to have decided it wants to be chilly at night and HOT during the day.

[Purple Wyrm]

The aircon in my office appears to have been designed by molemen who have never set foot on the surface of the planet. As far as we can tell, the temperature sensors are on the outside so if it's boiling hot out there the aircon sets itself to arctic, and if it's cold outside it tries to warm us up. Which is all well and good, except if you're working in a smallish room with five people and seven computers and it happens to be a cold day what you really want is cooling, not the breath from an industrial furnace blasting through the vents.

[Kelpie]

I have a problem. It's called; 'my sister is starting a new D&D campaign and the premise is startlingly similar to SSSS and please stop me before I just make Mikkel as my character'. The basic outline I got is that we are in a Scandinavian-y country in her setting, are all members of some military group, are all very underqualified, and going on an expedition to map a new dimension that is probably very dangerous. AND I CAN'T THINK OF ANY CHARACTERS, because she went 'hey you could be the medic', and now I just want to be Mikkel.