New Yorkers: Big Babies About Heat
New York is experiencing a heat wave this week. (So is Beijing; see photo at left.) Every time I hear someone complain about it I wonder if that person would have survived life 75 or 100 years ago, before air conditioning. I also wonder if that person realizes just how much of the world gets along without air conditioning. (Iraq, for example, where much of the population still only has 6 or 8 hours of electricity a day despite claims for years by the U.S. that the country would have infrastructure by now.) The New York women who complain about the heat would never have lasted a century ago, when women were required to wear many layers before stepping outdoors.
