From: viking@iastate.edu (Dan Sorenson)
Subject: Re: Air conditioning not a luxury....
Organization: Iowa State University, Ames IA
Date: Fri, 14 Aug 1992 05:59:50 GMT

 mwilson@ncratl.AtlantaGA.NCR.COM (Mark Wilson) writes:

>In <11AUG92.07565241@wl.aecl.ca> zukicn@wl.aecl.ca writes:

	I'll pick on both of you a bit.

>I congratulate you on your courage and endurance.  I have a few questions
>though.  What is your humidity like and how long are your summers.

	Iowa gets generally around the 90's, with humidity varying from
40% to 90% depending on what's happened lately.  I notice this most
when riding my motorcycle, as I always wear leathers and a helmet.  In
humid Iowa summers, 85% can cause heat stroke because sweating is very
ineffective.  Strangely, I've heard of cases of hypothermia from desert
riders because perspiring is too effective there.  In a car with limited
airflow, AC is not a necessity, but it makes more sense to run it when
the vents aren't adequate.

>BTW, my car has air conditioning, and on days when the high
>is only 30-35C, by the time I drive home, I generally don,t need the
>air conditioning either.  Personally I don't use it because I'm cheap.

	Same here.  I only get 25mpg in my truck, so I'll turn it on full
blast when coasting down a hill and shit it off when climbing a hill.  It
generally drives my passengers nuts, but when *they* pay for the gas I'll
run it however much they like.  BTW: when the sun is closer to vertical
it does get hotter due to infrared (or is it UV?) having less atmosphere
to penetrate before heating you, even if the ambient temp doesn't change
much.  That's why shade feels so good, even if the temp isn't any lower.

>>IMHO, the role of government is to protect well being of only you and me, but
>>also the generations after us. Human race have in past survived extended 

>That is not the governments job, that is your job and my job.  I get very
>uneasy when anybody says "I'm doing this for your own good."  Especially
>when that somebody has as much power as the government does.  I do not
>believe that a benevolent government is possible.

	Giving money and power to a government is like giving whiskey and
car keys to teenage boys is how I heard it put.  I agree.  Recent court
decisions have shown the police are not required to protect me from a
criminal (wander over to talk.politics.guns for the cites on this), and
I feel no compelling reason to let them decide my best interest when this
is the sort of care they seem able to give me.

>>-Also, do not underestimate technology. Here at Delco we make all kinds of
>>-equipment that is used to make sure you can take a family of five
>>-and stuff on a long comfortable trip and still get mileage which was
>>-unthinkable a few years back. 180 hp 10 years ago meant a 5 liter V8 at
>>-10 mpg, now it's a high tech DOHC 2.3 liter at 33 mpg. 

	The 1967 Shelby Mustang had a 302ci V-8 and a 4-speed transmission.
306hp in stock tune, 17mpg.  I'm getting 115hp from ethanol-blended unleaded
and 45ci on my motorcycle, and still delivering a consistent 55mpg on the
highway even with the increased aerodynamic drag over a car.  I might also
note this motor is a SOHC, two-valve inline four manufactured in 1974.  My
'52 Kaiser weighs a nearly two tons and gets 22mpg from a 225ci inline six
flathead, three-speed transmission, and overdrive.  Horsepower is about 110.
Technology hasn't moved us *that* far forward in the intervening years.

<Dan Sorenson, DoD #1066 |"There'll be angels on Ariels in leather>
<z1dan@exnet.iastate.edu | and chrome, Ridin' down from heaven    >
<viking@iastate.edu      | just to carry me home." -- R. Thompson >
< ISU thinks I need more education, which they provide for a fee. >


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