That's Hot

I changed the tagline of this blog from "because you should sweat the small stuff. at least glow." to "finding the meaningless of life." This change was necessary because I was stepping on Kevin James' toes. I woke up at my friend Sarah's house last week after our birthday party, and her extensive DVD collection was in my line of sight. Of course, the first DVD I notice is of Kevin James' standup routine. His tagline is "sweat the small stuff." Now, when my blog becomes famous, I cannot be accused of copying the King of Queens.

Ok, now to more interesting topics like feedback loops. I dived into advanced neuroscience courses this past year, and I honestly cannot say I understand much. However, one thing I did learn was how to draw pretty diagrams of positive and negative feedback loops. To refresh your memory or teach you something new, a positive feedback loop acts like this: A increases/causes the production of B which in turn increases/causes the production of A. A negative feedback loop acts this way: A increases/causes the production of B which in turn prevents the production of A.

Why this boring lesson? I always love a good metaphor so I'm going to attempt one now (forgive me if it backfires). For the past few weeks that I have been at home in Memphis, the heat has been unforgiving. Weeks of +100 degree temperatures + humidity - rain = can't breathe. What is the solution to this problem? Well, eradicating global warming is the long term answer. Moving to South Africa where it is now winter would be a moderate term answer. For right now, air conditioning is a good way to stay alive.

This is the point the metaphor enters. A normally hot day can be represented by a negative feedback loop. The heat encourages one to turn on the A/C which in turn decreases the heat. A cooled house. Yay - smiles all around. Let me tell you my current situation. On the lovely triple digit days, my house decides to go into positive feedback mode. The unbearable heat encourages me to turn on the A/C that proves to be dysfunctional because of the unbearable heat, thus leading to more hot weather. A stuffy house. Boo - sweat all around.

A working-A/C-blessed Jenny is cooler than a dysfunctional-A/C-cursed Jenny.

~Jenny