July 6, 2008
A Hot Topic For Summer: A.C.
You'll Have To Pry Ben Stein's Air Conditioner From His Hot, Sweaty Hands
-
Ben Stein no longer needs to anticipate summers with dread, thanks to the miracle of compressors and freon gas. (AP)
-
Play CBS Video Video Ben Stein Cools Down In this opinion commentary, "Sunday Morning" contributor Ben Stein pays due respect to the invention of the air conditioner, as he notes that the summer season would be nearly unbearable without A.C.
-
Photo Essay The Art Of Cool Here's a look at how some people around the U.S. beat the heat in 2005.
Let us now praise famous men:
In particular Willis Havilland Carrier, the main inventor of the greatest gift to mankind since The Constitution … namely, air conditioning.
Like most Americans of my generation in most parts of this nation, as a child I approached summer in my hometown, Silver Spring Maryland, with dread.
The heat and humidity were unbearable … sweaty, oppressive days … torture trying to sleep in painful heat, drenched in perspiration, sheets wet from fevered cruel heat.
Summer car travel was genuine agony.
The only places of refuge were a few stores and all movie theatres. I often wonder if movies seemed so much better in those days mostly because of the air conditioning in the theater.
Then, my parents bought me a little window Carrier air conditioner. Paradise! I worshiped that little machine.
Then in 1956, my Dad got the whole house air conditioned. The mood in the home was permanently better.
Now, of course, we take air conditioning for granted. Or, maybe not. I thank Willis Havilland Carrier every time I press the buttons, twirl the thermostat, breathe in cool, gorgeous air, take those negative ions into my blood stream, feel protected from the vicious heat of summer.
I know we all have to be careful about energy. But we all have to also not die from heat.
When I think what air conditioning does, what a miracle it is in terms of human well-being, what a change it has made in human happiness, I have to be humbled.
Take away my Cadillac if you must. Make me wear a sweater and a coat in the winter indoors. Make me do anything. But please, leave me with that gift from Mr. Carrier and all of his colleagues: blissful, blessed A.C. Long may it cool.
© MMVIII, CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Best-selling author Mitch Albom on his first nonfiction work since "Tuesdays with Morrie."
it all goes to the highest bidder, the republicons are greed driven,
and that why gas is $5 a gallon and no one can afford air conditioning any longer
More mudslinging and innuendo? Just another jtait post. Are you paid for this bs?
Posted by elz523
----
You do know by copy/quoting his posts you help him sling the mud don''t you?
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Posted by JTait2 at 04:01 PM : Jul 06, 2008
Hmmm, that makes 2 people who think that Ben Stein is intelligent, but Steins mother really shouldn''t count.
Why does Obama avoid town house meetings?
Why does Obama avoid public debates?
Why doesn''''t Obama want us to meet his Father''''''''s
side of his family?
What''''s in Obama''''s passport documents that he doesn''''t want us to see?
Why doesn''''t he show us his birth certificate?
WHAT IS OBAMA HIDING????????
How can anyone by so STUPID to support a person for President who is so obviously hiding something????
Because they are hiding something too.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Posted by JTait2 at 03:48 PM : Jul 06, 2008
More mudslinging and innuendo? Just another jtait post. Are you paid for this bs?
none of us will be able to afford air conditioning
responding to him is a waste of time,
he wants to change the topic from the fact that the mess he describes was and is still being created by
G Bush, J McBushSame, J Lieberman, republicon fascists
Obama does not have to fix this mess , he is not the president, Hey Tait2 , when you get off work at the
fascist computer bank, why dont you ask Bush to fix this mess that you republicons created
republicons are the new NAZI party
Gas prices continue to rise.
TODAYS RESULTS:
Food prices are rising.
Families are cutting their vacations short.
Workers are looking for alternative transportation.
Visits to family and friends are being reconsidered.
Public transportation lines are longer.
Airlines are cutting flights.
Short trips are being combined.
Heating oil is rising.
Recreational activities are being affected.
Some services are becoming limited.
Jobs in transportation are being lost.
Manufacturing is slowing down.
Something Must be Done to Stop This NOW!!!
Does Obama have a solution??? NO!
OBAMA DOESN''''T EVEN HAVE A CLUE!!!!
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Posted by JTait2 at 09:10 AM : Jul 06, 2008
You''ve gotta be kidding. Obama has a plan. It won''t solve anything in the short-term. Neither will McCains, other than that $.18 per gallon tax that we need for roads and that, will only last for the summer, hasn''t been proposed as legislation, so is really just rhetoric.
We need long-term solutions and drilling for more oil is not a long-term solution. It will only lead to getting us back to where we are today.
If you want a solution to the above, start conserving.
Obama didn''t cause this problem. Bush did: through sweetheart deals with oil companies that sold out our soldiers for Iraqi oil and Afghan oil pipelines, through discouragement of alternative energy and any steps to combat Global Warming, through doubling our national debt and encouraging weak Fed lending practices that encouraged ordinary Americans to double theirs (debt=falling dollar=rising oil prices).
Now McSame, who you want in office, is promising to maintain this failed policy? Thanks, but no thanks. (Now you''re gonna tell me you''re for Hillary: POS)
- by elz523 July 6, 2008 1:03 PM EDT
- Not me man! Give me the fresh air!
- Reply to this comment
See all 13 Comments