Hey Florida, Turn off the Fucking Air Conditioning!

[Hypno-Toad]

It’s freezing in my office. It’s freezing in my apartment.

I LOVE IT!!!

[Martha_Medea]

Too right, I was in Miami airport last week (and in San Juan airport the week before Easter) and I froze in the air-conditioning, to the extent that my teeth were chattering!

Excessive use of aircon is one of my pet peeves. I live in the Caribbean, and I’m convinced it’s counterproductive. You’re shocking your body into adapting to extreme temperatures by moving in and out of airconditioned spaces, instead of letting it acclimatise to the heat, which in turn should help you cope with it. My sister-in-law who works in a icy bank is always sick.

We don’t use it at home - ceiling fans are enough to keep us cool in our well-ventilated second floor apartment. Our neighbours run aircon all night every night all year round, even when the outside night-time temp is lower than the minimum setting. They pay about seven times what we do in electricity bills.

I don’t mind aircon in moderation, and do use it in my car more often than not, but it’s insane to have to take winter clothes in order to watch a movie or take an inter-city bus, as you have to do in the Dominican Republic.

It dismays me to see cooler parts of the world succumbing - summers may have got a degree or two hotter in the last few years but we always used to cope perfectly well without it in the Mediterranean region.

[tashabot]

Man, 'round these parts everyone always turns the AC way too high, which is ridiculous considering how expensive power is.

The only time I actually like being freezing is when I’m sleeping (which we have a window unit for). I love my face to be cold and the rest of me warm, tucked up next to my husband, who loves it cold because he produces too much heat. It’s like having my own little biological heater next to me.

~Tasha

[Terrifel]

@Leaffan

What’s up in Florida? I’m colder than I would be at home. I can’t imagine a restaurant staying in business if 62F was as warm as it got in the winter. So why is 62F a reasonable temperature for A/C in FLA?

April is mating season for American alligators, which are extremely active at this time of year. They’re cold-blooded though, so keeping your A/C high discourages the local gators from wandering inside.

[Leaffan]

@Terrifel

April is mating season for American alligators, which are extremely active at this time of year. They’re cold-blooded though, so keeping your A/C high discourages the local gators from wandering inside.

:smack: Makes perfect sense now. (not!)

[LouisB]

@Nava

The botijo is a specially-shaped unglazed clay jar. It’s (usually) almost round, with a handle, a funnel-shaped hole that’s large enough to pour water in and a very pointed nipple you drink from (you don’t touch the nipple, you pour from it into your mouth - the trick to avoid choking is to make sure you’re poiting at your tongue and not your tonsils). Water is cooled because of capilarization drawing it out to the surface, where it evaporates, absorbing heat from the “bulk water” in the container. The nipples of a waterskin and of a botijo are pretty much the same shape.

The porrón is glass. It has a long funnel (used to pour beer or wine in and as the handle) and a long conical spout with a tiny hole at the end. You can pour from the porrón to a glass but the traditional usage is same as the botijo, pouring directly into your mouth. I remember a documentary about ten years ago that indicated porrones as one of our biggest exports to China (the other two top items at the time were Chupachups candy and buttons).

Thank you; my ignorance of these things has been wiped out. I’ve seen pictures of both but didn’t know their names. For what it’s worth, I’ve never mastered drinking from a wine skin, but it wasn’t for a lack of trying.