It's too hot to think

How did people live south of the Mason Dixon before A/C? I know air conditioning is a prodigious waste of energy, and the power generated to bring it to us depletes our fossil fuel reserves and adds to greenhouse gas emissions. Tell me about it in January; I'll be concerned then. But right now I don't care. How did people live here before A/C?

It's too hot to think. Even with A/C, unless the thermostat is set far too low to be at all defensible. No wonder schools take the summer off. It's too hot to work outside. Yet some people do. How? Clearly, before A/C, nobody was born in the southeast during April or May.

All you can do is sit, and drip, and wait for October.

Okay, okay, I know it gets even hotter elsewhere on this planet. Maybe even more humid. I don't envy the people who live there, either. All I know is that it's too hot to live in this part of the world.

Note: this was originally posted on ketches, yaks & hawks 5 August 2007