Thermodynamics
It's strange, those experiences or little tidbits of information that really aren't all that important, but seem to get permanently lodged in your head.
After being sick all day (I slept until 2:30pm after having called into work, and I've been sort of languishing my apartment ever since then — too sore to really move around much), I felt up to some food, and, finding a frozen self-rising crust pizza margherita in the freezer, popped it into the oven. Approximately 25 – 27 minutes later (or when cheese melted and the crust golden brown), removing the little tomato and basil pizza from the oven, I was immediately reminded of an "energy saving tip" from my old apartment's newsletter.
You know those — the little 2 page glossy newsletters some apartment complexes put out once every month or two or three which are little more than a tactic to make their friendly reminders to put trash out on the right day and not make too much noise actually seem a little more friendly, at the same time bundling them with an odd collection of knowledge that never seems to fit (and my old building's newsletter was notoriously eclectic — I remember one containing a recipe, 3 movie reviews, a poem, and video rental tips).
Anyway, this specific one, being for one of the several hot summer months, had a section on summer energy saving strategies. Most were good recommendations: keep windows and blinds closed during the day, turn off unnecessary lights and appliances, replace air conditioner filters often, and so on. However, one tip utterly perplexed me: "To prevent the heat from escaping into your loft, causing extra work for your air conditioning unit, close the oven door quickly after use, and leave it closed until he oven has cooled completely."
Granted, I understand that not all people are physics geniuses, but seriously, folks, where do they think the heat is really going to go, door open OR closed? It's a pretty safe assumption that it's not going to crawl back into the heating elements, be magically converted back into electricity, and flow through the breaker box and out of the apartment. There's a valid argument that keeping the door closed might allow the heat to escape through a vent outside, but how many ovens have you ever seen whose vent wasn't right there on top, underneath one of the stove elements?
I guess whoever wrote the tip was only trying to be helpful, but it's just one more chalk mark on the scorecard of how utterly gullible people are when it comes to apparently helpful, yet false information.
Yeah, I rant about it a lot, but for Christ's sake, people, grow up a little, right?
Rice doesn't kill birds, cell phones don't make gas stations explode, swallowed chewing gum doesn't stay in your stomach for even 24 hours (let alone 7 years), swimming after eating will not give you cramps, and now, I guess we need to add to the list that keeping your oven door closed in no way prevents your apartment from getting heated up (only more slowly).
I don't know why that one little thing latched into my brain so fiercely, but perhaps, with each silly warning, I lose a little more faith in humankind's ability to take care of itself (as if all the frivolous lawsuits from people tripping over cracks in "other people's sidewalks", and so on, weren't indication enough).
I'm curious to find out what ridiculous activity I'll be warned about next. . . .
* * *
At any rate, it's time for a muscle-relaxant tea / joint comfort tea cocktail, and then head to bed — have much catching up to do tomorrow.
After being sick all day (I slept until 2:30pm after having called into work, and I've been sort of languishing my apartment ever since then — too sore to really move around much), I felt up to some food, and, finding a frozen self-rising crust pizza margherita in the freezer, popped it into the oven. Approximately 25 – 27 minutes later (or when cheese melted and the crust golden brown), removing the little tomato and basil pizza from the oven, I was immediately reminded of an "energy saving tip" from my old apartment's newsletter.
You know those — the little 2 page glossy newsletters some apartment complexes put out once every month or two or three which are little more than a tactic to make their friendly reminders to put trash out on the right day and not make too much noise actually seem a little more friendly, at the same time bundling them with an odd collection of knowledge that never seems to fit (and my old building's newsletter was notoriously eclectic — I remember one containing a recipe, 3 movie reviews, a poem, and video rental tips).
Anyway, this specific one, being for one of the several hot summer months, had a section on summer energy saving strategies. Most were good recommendations: keep windows and blinds closed during the day, turn off unnecessary lights and appliances, replace air conditioner filters often, and so on. However, one tip utterly perplexed me: "To prevent the heat from escaping into your loft, causing extra work for your air conditioning unit, close the oven door quickly after use, and leave it closed until he oven has cooled completely."
Granted, I understand that not all people are physics geniuses, but seriously, folks, where do they think the heat is really going to go, door open OR closed? It's a pretty safe assumption that it's not going to crawl back into the heating elements, be magically converted back into electricity, and flow through the breaker box and out of the apartment. There's a valid argument that keeping the door closed might allow the heat to escape through a vent outside, but how many ovens have you ever seen whose vent wasn't right there on top, underneath one of the stove elements?
I guess whoever wrote the tip was only trying to be helpful, but it's just one more chalk mark on the scorecard of how utterly gullible people are when it comes to apparently helpful, yet false information.
Yeah, I rant about it a lot, but for Christ's sake, people, grow up a little, right?
Rice doesn't kill birds, cell phones don't make gas stations explode, swallowed chewing gum doesn't stay in your stomach for even 24 hours (let alone 7 years), swimming after eating will not give you cramps, and now, I guess we need to add to the list that keeping your oven door closed in no way prevents your apartment from getting heated up (only more slowly).
I don't know why that one little thing latched into my brain so fiercely, but perhaps, with each silly warning, I lose a little more faith in humankind's ability to take care of itself (as if all the frivolous lawsuits from people tripping over cracks in "other people's sidewalks", and so on, weren't indication enough).
I'm curious to find out what ridiculous activity I'll be warned about next. . . .
* * *
At any rate, it's time for a muscle-relaxant tea / joint comfort tea cocktail, and then head to bed — have much catching up to do tomorrow.