Originally Posted by
Mobile 155
However when I lived in the northern part of our country the cold has almost paralyzed me. Exercising in Montana in the deep winter even after a few weeks with my sister was just not going to happen outside. I had the clothing, I looked like an Eskimo, and after just a few minutes glove-less hands were out of the question.
How cold was it? I keep planning to spend more time in colder climates when I get the chance, but want to avoid heating as much as possible, so I've been banking on layering warm clothing (including mittens) to be able to exercise outside (though I would probably want to exercise more inside just to warm the place up with body heat. Speaking of body heat and eskimos, I've heard the inside of an igloo stays above freezing with just body heat and maybe a candle. I wonder how small a super-insulated hut would have to be to stay warm with just body heat (and by 'warm,' I mean 50s-60s Farenheight in the winter, well maybe 'tolerable' would be a better word to use than 'warm.' Certainly I'd be toasty warm in my layers of fleece pajamas, though; or maybe flannel, idk.
Having also lived in the desert I don't see why someone would live without air conditioning if it is available.
I assume the humidity is so low in the desert, you could manage the heat just by insulating a place really well and painting the roof white to reflect the sun away. Doesn't the temperature go down really low at night in the desert?
Originally Posted by
cooker
Mutations can speed things along but even in common gene alleles and within families or tribes, there is always a range of function. Until just the past century or so, infant mortality was one of the biggest drivers of evolution and if a few kids in an adobe village got a fever during the hot season, the ones with the least genetic suitability to the desert climate would not pass on their genes. Also individuals who found the heat oppressive might pack up their DNA and move north ("I got winter in my blood").
I think a lot of adaptation happens in the gut flora. I.e. it's not so much your dna that is surviving disease, it's your gut flora - and then your white blood cells are taking whatever gets into your blood stream and manufacturing anti-bodies, which are like an active form of genetic adaptation that aren't dependent on changes in your core DNA.
Originally Posted by
MikeOK
I would guess about 20-30 years. I can remember not having ac when I was a kid. I used to get into trouble letting the refrigerator door open to try and cool down lol. We were absolutely miserable.
I also remember not having ac and loving it when it came out, even worshipping it you could say. But I have since learned that you get addicted and, like with painkillers, the more you take the more you suffer withdrawal. Now I can sit comfortably inside at 80 and even feel a little chilly when it drops below that. If the indoor temp goes up into the mid or upper 80s, I just turn on a fan and sweat a little to cool down evaporatively.
Originally Posted by
Machka
It's 9C here. If we're lucky, it might get to 13C by about 2 pm.
Maybe it would be colder there without the northern hemisphere melting the polar ice as we've been doing with our cars and power plants up here. You're welcome for the free heat.