Rant #3,387: Heat Wave

New Yorkers complain about everything, and we certainly complain about the weather.

During the winter, we complain about how cold it is, completely missing the point that it is supposed to be cold during the winter months.

Now that it is the summer, I have heard nothing but complaints at how very hot it is--again, forgetting about the fact that it is supposed to be hot during the summer.

The heat we have now--mixed with the humidity--pretty much hits you right in the face, and it did so again today, where it hit 95 in my neck of the woods.

The actual temperature is supposed to come down a bit, but with the humidity mixed in, it simply is uncomfirtable--

And health wise for people like me, it is pretty bad.

New York State is talking about making all of the state's schools air conditioned, at least in part because it is getting uncomfortably warm earlier in the year, like this year when the heat came in June, or when kids were still in school.

This is an argument that has been around fir generations; I remember talk about air conditioning classrooms when I went to New York City schools in the 1960s and 1970s, and even when we moved to Long Island, there was talk about air conditioning the high school in the mid-1970s.

I never went to an air conditioned school in grade school, junior high school, or high school, only enjoying air conditioned classrooms when I reached college and grad school levels.

To air condition schools will cost millions, especially for older facilities which might have to be reconfigured to an extent to allow for air conditioning.

I do remember that some teachers I had, probably in high school, had fans in their classrooms, but I remember that the bulk of the classrooms that I had my classes in used those long rods to open and close the windows, and when it got warm, yes, it was quite uncomfortable.

And the heat is getting to everyone.

One local TV reporter is pushing the envelope a bit on what she is wearing when she does a location report.

Last week, I saw the reporter wear a top that showed a glimpse of a bare midriff, and the next day, she wore a top so low cut that she got away with only because she is as thin as a rail.

Look, I like looking at beautiful women as much as the next guy, but what she wore was totally inappropriate.

Many of the TV reporters wear light jackets over what they wear, and I am sure the jackets come off when they are not on camera, but you can bet that this particular reporter--a nice looking lady who is probably in her mid-20s--was spoken to, because she hasn't worn anything like this during the last couple of days of broadcasts.

Male reporters' attire is also changing, and if they are in the field, the jackets and ties are off, but if they are in the studio, the jackets and ties remain on them as they have been traditionally.

Attire is not what it once was on TV or in our regular lives, but there is a time and a place for everything, and reporting the news is not the place for the ladies to be showing too much.

Yes, there is a difference between the physique of men and women, and sorry, ladies, you still cannot--and should not--show too much when covering an on-location news story or when you are in the studio.

Back to the schools ...

Look, it would be easy for me to say, "Heck, I lived without air conditioning in my classrooms throughout my school years, so why can't today's kids be like I was--they don't need it to be educated."

But then I think back, and again, I remember how unbearable it was in the classroom when it got to the last month of the school year in June.

And during my brief teaching career, I remember the sweat pouring down from me during those hot June days.

The schools have heat for the colder months--would we want teachers and students to go without that?

But then again, is it worth the expense to cool down a school for just a month each year during the school year?

I just don't know ... but I won't sweat it--

I am not school age anymore, and I just paid a pretty penny of my own money to air condition my new residence's bedrooms.

And I am still hot!

Is it December yet?