Bring the Heat
Well, lo and behold, the first major heat wave of the year is upon us, and of course here in Syracuse, that means the temperature finally broke 70. OK, that one's not really funny anymore, especially when you're in a sweltering townhouse with the outside temperature at 90 and muggy, and you can't even open the damn windows because the morons who run this place PAINTED THEM SHUT!!!
Sorry, had to blow off steam. High temperatures often make for short tempers. This is perfect road rage weather, not that I can back that up with any proof, none that I've seen firsthand anyway. However, I do not wish to complain about this heat. I have no right to, as I was the genius who decided to go out in this intense heat and humidity and play basketball the last two evenings. If you're going to do that, do go out around or after sunset (7-8pm). This time of year is excellent for squeezing in those 18 holes or a couple games of 3-on-3 after work, because it doesn't get dark around here until after 9pm. And bring lots of water, at least a good 20 oz. bottle, because sweating is inevitable, and even without the sun bearing down on you, the mugginess of the air will take a lot out of you quickly.
Also be advised that even if you plan on spending just a short time in the sun that you put on sunblock. I was back down in Jersey City last weekend visiting the ex-housemate, and we went out on what was predicted to be a relatively short walk to a local burger joint, only it didn't turn out that way. Over an hour later, we finally arrived at our destination, and mind you we still had to walk back. It was during the worst time to be out in the sun (10am-2pm), and so I managed to get sunburned (again). You would think that after the awful sun-related experience I had last month (see column #41), I would have learned my lesson, but I did not, and thus I relay it on to you.
Most importantly, the other reason I do not choose to complain about hot, sticky weather is the fact that I have been pre-conditioned not to. Just as the Blizzard of '93 completely hardened my resolve in regard to dealing with snow, the summer of '99 forever enabled me to be ever vigilant in the face of, well, hellish temperatures. That summer, I was taking classes at Susquehanna and working in the PR office down there, and it was a scorcher; the temps were nudging up close to 100 degrees every day for nearly two weeks straight, and it was humid on top of that. And I lived in a room of an old house with only the services of a small desk fan to keep cool. If you can survive this, 89 and muggy is a walk in the park. But oh were those 90 cents a gallon gas prices sweet.
Which brings me to energy prices (betcha didn't think I was going to go into a political rant on ya). Here in New York, of course, we survived the awful winter and the high electric bills it brought, and even gas prices are dropping. Out in California, they got bigger problems. You thought the state government here was messed up, at least they didn't try to mess with our energy production. They did just that out in Cali, holding prices down by government decree while they built no new power plants, refineries, nothing. Meanwhile, the population is rising faster than the Mariners' winning percentage, because for some reason, everyone wants to live in California. And why is that, by the way? I don't see any redeeming qualities about that part of the country. They have earthquakes, oppressive heat in the summer, it never snows (snow is nice sometimes, don't get me wrong), there's all the fake plastic people in Hollywood, rich snobs in Beverly Hills, Robert Downey, Jr., but hey, I think you see my point. So all these poor souls go west, young man, and they just plain ran out of electricity. Which means the power companies had to buy it from other states, like Texas. Now, sensing a gold mine (after all, when your desperate, you'll pay ANYTHING for stuff), the outside suppliers charged them an arm and a leg, and since they couldn't hike prices, the power companies all went belly-up and now California has rolling blackouts.
So, since the state government essentially caused the problem, what have they chosen to do about it? Pass the buck, of course; do you ever see anyone in government admit it's their fault when something goes wrong? Their governor now says it's the fault of the oil barons in Texas who sold the poor power companies expensive power, while if he had just invested in a couple power plants, the power companies wouldn't have had to look elsewhere. Of course, the reasoning behind the governor's blaming strategy lies with this simple question: who's the most well-known former Texas oilman today? Answer: President Bush. And so, through this convoluted logic, Gov. Davis has blamed President Bush for the problems in California.
The worst part of it is that now Gov. Davis and his fellow Democrats want Bush to do exactly what got California into this problem in the first place: cap prices. Now, I read the Constitution pretty strictly and to the letter, and I have never seen the words "the federal government has the power to control prices" in the Constitution. Oh by the way, enemies of campaign finance reform, it doesn't say "money equals speech" in the Constitution, either. Gee, I'm such a moderate...
Anyhoo, quite simply stated, the federal government does not have the power, nor should it have the power, to control prices, whether of energy or otherwise. So, what does the Constitution say we do about it. Well, let's flip over to the 10th Amendment, an amendment that doesn't get much attention, but in my opinion, is just as important as the 1st, 2nd, 4th, and 5th Amendments. It says simply, "Powers not given to the federal government are reserved to the states". In other words, (gasp) it's CALIFORNIA'S RESPONSIBILITY to fix this problem. And doesn't that make sense; after all, it's CALIFORNIA'S PROBLEM!!!
So the moral of the story is, hmm, what is the moral of the story? As usual I have managed to fill a lot of space without trying to figure out how it all ties together. I guess the moral of the story is there is no reason to complain. About heat (although I do sometimes), about snow (although I do sometimes), about gas prices (yeah, that too). And also invest in electricity futures, cuz the way things are going so far this summer, somebody may as well make a killing off all this.
Sorry, had to blow off steam. High temperatures often make for short tempers. This is perfect road rage weather, not that I can back that up with any proof, none that I've seen firsthand anyway. However, I do not wish to complain about this heat. I have no right to, as I was the genius who decided to go out in this intense heat and humidity and play basketball the last two evenings. If you're going to do that, do go out around or after sunset (7-8pm). This time of year is excellent for squeezing in those 18 holes or a couple games of 3-on-3 after work, because it doesn't get dark around here until after 9pm. And bring lots of water, at least a good 20 oz. bottle, because sweating is inevitable, and even without the sun bearing down on you, the mugginess of the air will take a lot out of you quickly.
Also be advised that even if you plan on spending just a short time in the sun that you put on sunblock. I was back down in Jersey City last weekend visiting the ex-housemate, and we went out on what was predicted to be a relatively short walk to a local burger joint, only it didn't turn out that way. Over an hour later, we finally arrived at our destination, and mind you we still had to walk back. It was during the worst time to be out in the sun (10am-2pm), and so I managed to get sunburned (again). You would think that after the awful sun-related experience I had last month (see column #41), I would have learned my lesson, but I did not, and thus I relay it on to you.
Most importantly, the other reason I do not choose to complain about hot, sticky weather is the fact that I have been pre-conditioned not to. Just as the Blizzard of '93 completely hardened my resolve in regard to dealing with snow, the summer of '99 forever enabled me to be ever vigilant in the face of, well, hellish temperatures. That summer, I was taking classes at Susquehanna and working in the PR office down there, and it was a scorcher; the temps were nudging up close to 100 degrees every day for nearly two weeks straight, and it was humid on top of that. And I lived in a room of an old house with only the services of a small desk fan to keep cool. If you can survive this, 89 and muggy is a walk in the park. But oh were those 90 cents a gallon gas prices sweet.
Which brings me to energy prices (betcha didn't think I was going to go into a political rant on ya). Here in New York, of course, we survived the awful winter and the high electric bills it brought, and even gas prices are dropping. Out in California, they got bigger problems. You thought the state government here was messed up, at least they didn't try to mess with our energy production. They did just that out in Cali, holding prices down by government decree while they built no new power plants, refineries, nothing. Meanwhile, the population is rising faster than the Mariners' winning percentage, because for some reason, everyone wants to live in California. And why is that, by the way? I don't see any redeeming qualities about that part of the country. They have earthquakes, oppressive heat in the summer, it never snows (snow is nice sometimes, don't get me wrong), there's all the fake plastic people in Hollywood, rich snobs in Beverly Hills, Robert Downey, Jr., but hey, I think you see my point. So all these poor souls go west, young man, and they just plain ran out of electricity. Which means the power companies had to buy it from other states, like Texas. Now, sensing a gold mine (after all, when your desperate, you'll pay ANYTHING for stuff), the outside suppliers charged them an arm and a leg, and since they couldn't hike prices, the power companies all went belly-up and now California has rolling blackouts.
So, since the state government essentially caused the problem, what have they chosen to do about it? Pass the buck, of course; do you ever see anyone in government admit it's their fault when something goes wrong? Their governor now says it's the fault of the oil barons in Texas who sold the poor power companies expensive power, while if he had just invested in a couple power plants, the power companies wouldn't have had to look elsewhere. Of course, the reasoning behind the governor's blaming strategy lies with this simple question: who's the most well-known former Texas oilman today? Answer: President Bush. And so, through this convoluted logic, Gov. Davis has blamed President Bush for the problems in California.
The worst part of it is that now Gov. Davis and his fellow Democrats want Bush to do exactly what got California into this problem in the first place: cap prices. Now, I read the Constitution pretty strictly and to the letter, and I have never seen the words "the federal government has the power to control prices" in the Constitution. Oh by the way, enemies of campaign finance reform, it doesn't say "money equals speech" in the Constitution, either. Gee, I'm such a moderate...
Anyhoo, quite simply stated, the federal government does not have the power, nor should it have the power, to control prices, whether of energy or otherwise. So, what does the Constitution say we do about it. Well, let's flip over to the 10th Amendment, an amendment that doesn't get much attention, but in my opinion, is just as important as the 1st, 2nd, 4th, and 5th Amendments. It says simply, "Powers not given to the federal government are reserved to the states". In other words, (gasp) it's CALIFORNIA'S RESPONSIBILITY to fix this problem. And doesn't that make sense; after all, it's CALIFORNIA'S PROBLEM!!!
So the moral of the story is, hmm, what is the moral of the story? As usual I have managed to fill a lot of space without trying to figure out how it all ties together. I guess the moral of the story is there is no reason to complain. About heat (although I do sometimes), about snow (although I do sometimes), about gas prices (yeah, that too). And also invest in electricity futures, cuz the way things are going so far this summer, somebody may as well make a killing off all this.
posted by Dave | 7:54 PM
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