Small towns aren't bad in the cold

[steuard]

It is cold in Alma today. When I walked in this morning, the temperature was right around 0 degrees Fahrenheit, but the wind chill was something like -8F (though the wind chill forecast had been for -17F; maybe we lucked out).

I bundled all up before leaving the house: long underwear, jeans, a warm coat, gloves sealed in at my wrists, a hat, and a ski mask covering the bottom half of my face. So I had no exposed skin: just my glasses peeking out in front. I plunged out into the cold, and started to walk the 3/4 mile or so to work.

It actually wasn't that bad, though the chill did immediately start trying to seep through the chinks in my armor. But as I headed west toward campus, an SUV slowed down next to me. I nodded politely, but kept walking: walking fast enough to generate some warmth was important. The driver rolled the window down and asked, "Do you want a ride to campus?" I said, "No thanks!" as I kept going, and my cheerful tone wasn't really even forced: I do enjoy braving the elements from time to time. But she said, "Are you sure? It's awfully cold." And I looked over and thought, "Oh, it's Sandy, the photography professor who got us our cats! Why the heck am I saying no?" So I said, "Thanks!" and jumped into the passenger seat.

Once I was belted in, I pulled down my mask so I could breathe a little better, and I smiled and went to thank her again. And we looked at each other. "Oh! You're not who I thought you were!" she said. I laughed, because neither was she! So we introduced ourselves, and she still gave me a lift to campus. I would have been fine, but I was grateful anyway. I don't think I would have been quite so careless in Chicago, though.

So that was my weather-related excitement for the day. Walking home should be fun, too, though it's supposed to be much warmer: +8F (though the forecast says it'll feel like -8F).

[In other news, I'm wearing my winter coat at my desk. (Not zipped up, though.) What brilliant architect decided that *metal* window frames were a reasonable choice in Michigan? Or anywhere? Metal is one of the best heat conductors out there: that's why we cook in metal pans!]

Comments

[beth_leonard]

When I was little and people sometimes still hitch-hiked my mom told me never to pick up hitch-hikers and never to hitch-hike. I got it in my head that doing either of these things was a bad-guy type of thing to do. And then one day my mom picked up two young girls hitch-hiking. She explained to me that she did it because she didn't want the girls to get hurt, and this added some nuance to my world view.

When I was a teenager, I was riding with an uncle from a small town without my parents present from one part of a family gathering to the after-party. He told me how he had picked up a hitch-hiker that morning and had done his good deed for the day. My worldview changed yet again. I never thought someone could think picking up random hitchhikers and just helping people out was a "good" thing to do.

Several years ago before I had kids, I was traveling past midnight in the snow and I saw a wrecked car on the side of the road, and a few blocks later saw a hitch-hiker. He smelled of booze and I asked if it was his car back there. He said it wasn't he was just walking home, but I made a judgement call and picked him up anyway and drove him into town. It was freezing and I was concerned for his safety. Parts of me still feel guilty for having done that, it was dangerous and "wrong" from my childhood world-view. But then a few weeks ago, there was a widely publicized story about a missing Lake Tahoe girl, who was later found dead of exposure after leaving a New Year's Eve party at which she had been drinking. I think I did the right thing.

Life isn't the same set of "right" and "wrong" that we teach our kids. There is so much more nuance to it.

--Beth

[nemene.livejournal.com]

There is a world of difference between good, and safe - and it is murky grey which one is 'right' in each situation.

[feuervogel]

I really only ever took away that it was unsafe for me to hitchhike or pick up hitchers from all the instruction not to do it, not that it was Wrong or Evil or Bad. Just that since I'm a girl, I was probably going to get raped and/or murdered if I did.

[robbbbbb.livejournal.com]

We use metal frame (usually aluminum) windows because aluminum forming was cheap and easily understood at the time that sort of framing was done. This has been replaced by a whole industry (the vinyl window industry) which has figured out how to make vinyl cost-competitive with aluminum, and thus brought energy-efficiency into everyone's home. Joseph Schumpeter says, "Hi!"

While I was unemployed I interviewed at a couple of places in the industry, and I got a chance to (a) do a little research and (b) see it up close and personal. It's a big and important industry.

[akjdg.livejournal.com]

Some (certainly not all, alas) aluminum window frames are designed with a thermal break to retard conduction through the frame. Try jogging at -15F sometime. You stop worrying about cold flesh, and start contemplating novel ways to channel air in and out through your nose/mouth to keep your nose from freezing and your lungs from freezing. The tongue has lots of blood flow. It's quite useful in this regard.