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Author Topic: Brrrrrr rrr rrr!  (Read 11160 times)

Offline TechPro

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Brrrrrr rrr rrr!
« on: February 02, 2011, 06:16:08 AM »
I like Winter.  I really do.  You'll have to forgive me for that.  It most likely has a lot to do with where I grew up.

It was a small town in those days, electricity had been invented and so the homes were modernized with, lights, indoor plumbing, some (but not all) even had touch-tone telephones.  Wait, it's still a small town.  In fact, due to the economy it's even smaller.  The weather in that little town would on occasion reach as high as 100 degrees Fahrenheit during the midst of the summer which was normal for the dry, arid, very 'western' community with almost all AM radio stations playing Country (FM was a new fad).  However the warm 'growing season' only lasted about three months because the other nine months of the year the weather frequently reached freezing and lower.  I remember thinking that the winter had not really become an normal winter until it hit 30 below Fahrenheit.  I do not remember a Halloween without at least a couple inches of snow, often a foot or so.

My mother would get concerned about the welfare of her children (wasn't she nice?) during the winter and knowing that the home's furnace tended to also reduce humidity, she would place small humidifiers in the bedrooms.  We didn't have much money so these were cheap 'humidifiers' that did nothing more but create a fine moist spray by simply spraying out a nozzle.  The rest of the room would get it's humidity by osmosis.  This was done by filling the base of the 'humidifier' with water and put a motorized cover on top.  The motor had a spinning shaft it inserted into the water, and that spin would cause water to gently spray out a nozzle.

My bedroom which I shared with a brother, was poorly insulated.  Did I say insulated?  Actually, there was no insulation but it was fully enclosed and sported five (yes, five) windows having once been a porch.  This bedroom had it's own electric radiator style heater mounted on one wall, about a foot above the floor.  On the floor, just in front of that heater we would place this 'humidifier' and that worked pretty well, or so we thought until we woke up one morning to a fast 'thump, thump, thump, thump...' noise.

The water in the bottom of the 'humidifier' had actually froze to the spinning shaft of the 'humidifier' and the poor thing was spinning that lump of ice around and around as best it could.  That was the year my Dad decided that room could use a little more insulation, which he did when he had enough money.

Ah, the memories.  Brought back usually by those times when I'd rather be inside blowing up virtual bots in virtual mines rather than go anywhere outside.  I live somewhere else now, but it still gets cold.

It is -18 outside this morning and I don't even want to know what the wind chill could be. So many public schools have closed today because of the cold, that one TV station started listing what schools have NOT closed.  ;)

Offline Scyphi

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Re: Brrrrrr rrr rrr!
« Reply #1 on: February 02, 2011, 06:53:57 AM »
Heard this story before. :P
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Offline -<WillyP>-

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Re: Brrrrrr rrr rrr!
« Reply #2 on: February 02, 2011, 07:47:28 AM »
Yeah me too.  Well, not really, but I grew up in an old drafty house in a very small town in Maine, and we also had steam heat.  I had one window in my tiny bedroom, and often would climb out it and sit on the porch roof. 

For humidity, my dad would adjust the thingy on the end of the radiators to emit a little steam.  Of course, I could never control my natural curiosity, ie I took everything apart, including those thingies on the end of the radiator.  It's a wonder we had any heat at all.  The worst though was when I took the water meter apart.  I couldn't get it back together because the water was gushing out so fast.  So I did what 6 or 8 year old boy would do under the circumstance, I ran and hid in the woods.

Betcha never heard that story before, Scy...  ;)
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Offline TechPro

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Re: Brrrrrr rrr rrr!
« Reply #3 on: February 02, 2011, 08:00:41 AM »
After I wrote that Soupe... temps dropped another 2 degrees.

Offline VANGUARD

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Re: Brrrrrr rrr rrr!
« Reply #4 on: February 02, 2011, 08:11:00 AM »
going to www.weather.com and then typing in 55426 shows my weather. right now, -2, says it feels like -17 (as of 10:10 central time)

It's Groundhog Day, and the groundhog did NOT see his shadow, meaning an early spring.
But I hate to pop the bubble on such good news, but it'd be impossible for him not to see his shadow. too much snow to get above ground and through all that snow  ;D

Offline Planet Orange [phx13]

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Re: Brrrrrr rrr rrr!
« Reply #5 on: February 02, 2011, 08:49:01 AM »
It's cold everywhere right now. Heck, even Phoenix dropped to 25 degrees last night.
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Offline Kaiaatzl

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Re: Brrrrrr rrr rrr!
« Reply #6 on: February 02, 2011, 09:35:50 AM »
I dread winter until it comes, then I like it.

Offline VANGUARD

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Re: Brrrrrr rrr rrr!
« Reply #7 on: February 02, 2011, 12:22:54 PM »
i like winter for a month, maybe two. that's about it. less if it's really cold and a heaping amount of snow. like one of those winters where practically every state gets snow. I think that's happened sometime before...sounds recent..

Offline Kaiaatzl

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Re: Brrrrrr rrr rrr!
« Reply #8 on: February 02, 2011, 03:10:44 PM »
Today is about 4 degrees farenheit if my conversion is right... cool and refreshing.

Offline Darkflamewolf

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Re: Brrrrrr rrr rrr!
« Reply #9 on: February 02, 2011, 08:27:23 PM »
Wimps, I live in Minot, ND where it is winter 9 months of the year and -25 consistently with wind chill sometimes down to -40 to -60. :P

Offline Kaiaatzl

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Re: Brrrrrr rrr rrr!
« Reply #10 on: February 02, 2011, 10:03:06 PM »
Well -40 windchill is when it starts to feel somewhat cold... instead of "refreshing".
Winnipeg used to have an awesome page on Uncyclopedia but it's not there anymore :(.
BTW Wolfie, what's the hottest temperature you can stand?
« Last Edit: February 02, 2011, 10:05:19 PM by wazzazzle »

Offline Alieo

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Re: Brrrrrr rrr rrr!
« Reply #11 on: February 03, 2011, 12:13:29 AM »
I guess I'm the oddest one of the bunch here fretting about this cold... I mean, I am absolutely miserable and it's 27ºF. NOTHING like you guys' -20 or -40 temps. I can't even fathom such an atrocity.

Here's my temperature comfort scale, all in Fahrenheit:

Unbearable Cold: Negative Infinity to 0º (Space Suit MANDATORY)
Intolerable Cold: 0º - 30º (Full body covering required/ Space Suit Optional)
Uncomfortable Cold: 30º - 45º (Heavy Jacket/Ear and Nose Coverings)
Annoyingly Cold: 45º - 60º (Hoodie Weather/Ear Coverings with an additional layer)
Cool: 60º - 75º (Hoodie only)
Sub-Mild: 75º - 85º (Still wearing long pants)
Mild: 85º - 95º; 75% Humidity or Higher (Shorts/flips optional) [Perfect House temperature]
Comfortable: 95º - 105º; 75% Humidity or Higher (PERFECT!!!)
Warm: 105º - 120º; 75% Humidity or Higher (I'm still not burning up yet!)
Warmer: 120º - 135º; 80% Humidity or Higher (Skin feels rejuvenated and alive)
Comfortable Sauna: 135º - 150º; 80% Humidity or Higher (Relaxing to me)
A Little Hot: 150º - 165º; 90% Humidity or Higher (Still doesn't make me break a sweat as I sit in these temperatures in my car during my 30 minute break in the summers. Does not make me feel tired or dehydrated. It feels refreshing to me. Last safe heat range.)
Hot: 165º - 180º; X% Humidity doesn't matter! (Dangerous heat. Getting too hot for me. Will most likely crack a bead or two of sweat.)
Dangerously Hot/ Sizzling: 180º - 195º (I think this is the temperature you can start cooking an egg sunny side up!)
Pre-Boiling: 195º - 211º (Never been in this temperature range before, but I'd prefer it over 27º!!!)
Boiling: 212º - 2199º (Too hot for ANY adapted human being to the heat.)
Liquid Aluminum: 2200º + (Okay so these last categories were for fun, but seriously... I LOVE LOVE LOVE the heat. I'm probably a rare breed.)

By the way, this is me walking my dog in 27º weather this morning. I'm sure this is bound to make y'all LOL at my hatred for the cold...
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Offline Kaiaatzl

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Re: Brrrrrr rrr rrr!
« Reply #12 on: February 03, 2011, 05:51:31 AM »

Here's my temperature comfort scale, all in Fahrenheit:

Unbearable Cold: Negative Infinity...


If it was all in Kelvins you could make that phrase a little better :P.  After all there is no "negative infinity" in temperatures.
(If I had to rate the 10 most annoying things I had to continually do in chemistry courses, conversion to Kelvins would definitely make it in there... of course for someone who uses Fahrenheit all the time it would probably be number 1...)

In Winnipeg Groundhog day is cliche'd crap.  We don't get any thaw until April regardless of whether we can read the mind of a rodent and what that mind says ;).  I think I remember when I lived in Toronto we took it as seriously as Americans though... no idea how serious that is, it was 15 years ago and I wasn't even school age yet, lol.  Couldn't have been too serious though.
« Last Edit: February 03, 2011, 05:55:20 AM by wazzazzle »

Offline -<WillyP>-

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Re: Brrrrrr rrr rrr!
« Reply #13 on: February 03, 2011, 07:03:04 AM »
Meanwhile back in New Hampshire...

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Offline Scyphi

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Re: Brrrrrr rrr rrr!
« Reply #14 on: February 03, 2011, 07:23:46 AM »
Quote from: Alieo
By the way, this is me walking my dog in 27º weather this morning. I'm sure this is bound to make y'all LOL at my hatred for the cold...

Yep...I'm LOLing at the moment. :P

Quote from: wazzazzle
In Winnipeg Groundhog day is cliche'd crap.  We don't get any thaw until April regardless of whether we can read the mind of a rodent and what that mind says.

Kind of how it works here, too. Snow's usually here to stay on into March, sometimes into April, depending on the year. Anything different from that, and it's a highly irregular year. Not good either, because it means less snowpack in the mountains which means less water for the farmers.  :-\

@ WillyP: I saw that pic on the news. I'm still trying to figure out how that driver managed to pull that off. At least it's unlikely nobody got seriously hurt in that. :)
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