Summer's Here, and the Time is Right...

...to break out the air conditioners. I would like to raise a glass to John Gorrie, the man who invented air conditioning back in 1851, more than 50 years before Willis Carrier made the first electric-powered A/C device in 1902.

My wife and I have talked about going old-school when we build our new house, including going off the grid. Of course, I'd still need internet. After all, how else would I get to impart these words of wisdom to the masses? Not that I've got 'masses' reading this yet. Someday...

Anyway, I got the idea about going off the grid from watching an old television show called Connections. It's a show that demonstrates how inventions have led down particular paths, paths that could never have been anticipated by the people who started them. For example, one episode traces how the first credit banking in Medieval Europe eventually led to refrigeration, and the moon landings. It's crazy, but the steps are clearly laid out. I mention that particular episode because it relates to the air conditioner, which is a very important thing right now. But the whole show is a blast to watch, and some of the stuff people came up with is truly bizarre. An electrified bed to help stimulate conception? Who thinks of stuff like that? Oh, and if you ever wondered where the term 'limelight' in show business came from, it's explained in this series, too.

Sometimes I think it would be cool to rebuild some of those old inventions; they might not be as sleek, or even as efficient, as today's technology, but you'd certainly have some conversation pieces when people came to visit. If they did visit; people might think you're just slightly...off. Some of us are used to that reaction, of course, but it might not sit well with my wife. Still: "That's your air conditioner?" "Yep. It doubles as an ice-maker and an emergency toilet, too. Don't ask."

Of course, I'm not very mechanically-inclined. That's my son's department, so I'll get him to build them. I'm sure he'll be happy to do so. Or, like everyone else, he'll think his father's completely nuts, as well. Still, it would be very cool, pun only slightly intended.

I've got a story about cooling things down in my short-story anthology, A Universe of Possibilities, available now at Amazon. Check it out; you're sure to find something you like in there.