positive thinking?

http://www.sciencedaily.com/upi/index.php?feed=Science&article=UPI-1-20060718-15511600-bc-norway-hypothermia.xml

"Norwegian scientists study hypothermia"

I found it amusing to see this article posted today, when almost the whole country is sweltering under a heat wave. Especially because I don't have air-conditioning in my car or home. Luckily, I do have air conditioning at work. Besides fans at home, I have a spray bottle with water in it that I spray myself with if I get to hot. I try to remember to carry it in my car when I go out in the heat. Well, at least I'm not contributing as much as most people to global warming! I'll try to think of this study on hypothermia when I'm driving home in a few minutes. It's after 8:35pm, and 92 F.

An example of positive feedback is that the hotter it is, the more power people use for air conditioning and water, which causes more local and global warming. Presumbably, it causes less power to be used for heat in the winter. I wonder whether it balances out.

An example of how schools don't educate people in many areas of importance is a lady I knew a few years ago. She was a college graduate, and didn't know that using water uses power. She thought you just turn on the tap and the water comes out. Of course, it takes energy to purify water before and after it is used, and to move it from one place to another. I would say a lot of history instruction could be replaced with more useful courses. We should have basic history instruction, but being required to memorize dates and names long enough to pass a test is really useless. I occasionally use algebra and even calculus in everyday life, but I have never found it harmful that I don't know the names of most of the kings of England and when they ruled. Besides, if schools tried to teach history which was true enough to be of possible use, traditionalists would raise a firestorm of protest, thus adding to global warming :)