Sometimes You Just Have To Turn It All Off
Heat Wave Pro Tip: Shut the crap off
So when the lesser heat wave hits stop being a cheap pirate and actually buy stuff you want to watch on Blu-ray so you don’t have to have the computer on at the same time as the TV.
But when that crap gets real you need to respond in kind. When it’s 31°C or higher out and you can’t get your place below 26°C in the middle of the night you’ve got a problem. So here are some tips to beat the heat.
Shut down everything you don’t absolutely need. Nothing uses power perfectly; everything in the expenditure of power to perform work creates heat either intentionally or almost as a waste by-product.
Even CF lights generate some heat; you can’t have light without heat. Although thankfully CF lights produce much less heat that incandescent bulbs we’re going for maximum heat reduction here so shut it all down. Everything you can get away with. Make like its Earth Hour. Think about it this way, not only will it help the environment and the power grid but it will also help your electric bill stay down. Keep the fans running and if you’ve got A/C, well, can we be friends? I’ll bring over Rock Band to play. But for those of us who don’t have A/C the ideal situation would be to shut off all your lights and then use a hand-crank powered flashlight for when you need it. It’ll be fun, like camping.
But that’s not all. The biggest sources of heat are probably your TV and computer. Again LCDs limit this to a great degree but if you want to mean business you’ve got to shut that stuff off completely whenever you can. For me we watch Countdown, Rachel Maddow, Daily Show, and Colbert Report and then shut it down. If there’s 10 minutes or more between shows, shut it down. For the computer I check my e-mail, Twitter, Facebook and maybe a couple message boards and then power down.
But then what?
Well, inspired by the Final Fantasy Marathon, which by the way raised over $50,000 for Autism, I picked up a used copy of Final Fantasy III (Japanese numbering, not North American so I’ve never played this game before and neither have you, mom) for the DS for $20 at EB. The 3-D nature of it takes a little getting used to but after Mario Marathon and the Final Fantasy Marathon I think I need to finally get over my hatred of 3-D environments for games that don’t need to be 3-D. This will be easier for me firm in the knowledge that New Super Mario Bros Wii is due out this holiday season and sounds like everything I’ve ever wanted in a non Star Trek video game. So now I can love both 3-D and side-scrollers as they seem to be able to coexist in this brave new world. Apparently the original non-remake versions of Final Fantasy I and III (Again, Japanese numbering) are going to be released on Virtual Console sometime in the near future as well. But I digress. The point is the original DS generates almost no heat and the battery lasts freaking forever. That thing’s been sitting on my nightstand for months and hasn’t lost practically any of its last charge. So sitting in the dark playing a Final Fantasy game I’ve never played before that only cost $20 and doesn’t generate practically any heat is a total win. And let me tell you the music is fantastic and the graphics are amazing for a handheld. Lots of fun, I’m very impressed.
Vampire power is also a concern, not just for the environment and your power bill either. Ever picked up a large adapter that’s been running for awhile? Cold isn’t the right word to describe it. Go Scrooge; unplug everything that won’t create a massive pain in the butt to plug back in. Do it for yourself, do it for the environment – fight global warming to the max when it’s at its hottest, you’ll be able to sleep better at night for a couple of reasons.
