Date: 7/30/2006

Headline: Surfing USA -- A selection from the week's blogosphere

Hot Weather Rule?
sacramento.metblogs.com
It frightens me that there are residences here in Sacramento that are not air-conditioned.

Three people are dead -- most likely because of the heat. It seems like air conditioning should be mandatory. Especially now, when it matters.

I recall when I lived in Minneapolis there was a law that the city wouldn't turn off people's heat if they couldn't pay during the winter. It's called the Cold Weather Rule. Turning off the heat was akin to murder. I wonder if not cooling a living space in this kind of weather is comparable. I'm thinking it may very well be. Maybe we should vote in a Hot Weather Rule. It might save someone's life.

Hot and sweaty
nessacery.blogspot.com
It's nearly 1 a.m. and still 86 degrees outside, but with the 46 percent humidity it feels more like 90. We aren't supposed to get this kind of humidity in Sacramento. We're supposed to have that infamous "dry heat." The humidity makes the air weigh heavy upon you, coating your entire body with a layer of perspiration simply from stepping outside.

I'm in my bedroom and can hear the dogs getting in and out of their wading pool outside my window. I wish we still had a pool. I'd be floating in it right now if we did.

Mental note: Next year, take an Alaskan cruise in July.

Our Texas summer
www.writegrrrl.com
Good lord, if I wanted sticky triple-digit temperatures, I would've stayed in Texas. At least there when you get the muggy, you also -- eventually -- get the thunderstorms.

When it looks like rain, feels like rain and smells like rain -- well, then, it should rain.

The hopeless thermostat
lunasea237.blogspot.com
We are among the few in the neighborhood with central air conditioning, but our poor machine is overtaxed and can't get the house below about 90 degrees. Still, it's much better than 114. We set it at 78 anyway, because it will keep trying if the thermostat is set there. If we set it to 75 or below, it gets overwhelmed and wallows in feelings of hopelessness.

Serving some hot whine
mayagirl.blogspot.com
I had grandiose plans for my birthday this year. Last year was so much fun, but this year the heat is soul-sucking. ...

If only it would cool off at night, I could handle the 112-degree temps. I grew up in the desert, where sundown signified a significant drop in temperatures. I woke up sweaty today. Damn high pressure ridge -- I want my Delta Breeze back. So until my brain isn't being fried regularly, I can't even contemplate any birthday plans that don't involve a freezer and uninterrupted sleep.

This concludes my daily whine about the weather. On to more interesting topics. ...

Of heat and chicken soup
allykatworld.blogspot.com
This heat is making me irritable. ... For example: The guy my roommate just started dating is sick. So she decides to bring him over to our place and make him chicken soup. Who makes soup when it is over 100 degrees outside? Our place has a power outage ... and I am sitting in a hot apartment with the smell of hot soup wafting through the air for four hours.

I am also now paranoid that I am going to get sick. He was lying on my couch, touching all of my things. Germs everywhere! I am in a wedding next weekend. ... I can't get sick. I know. I am horrible, evil, awful. I get that. The poor guy is sick. But I just have to be honest: Couldn't she make him soup at his place?

A trustworthy ally?
threeknockdownrule.blogspot.com
America trembles ... as Iran threatens a boycott of American products. The massive buying power of the prosperous and affluent Iranian population may be directed elsewhere.

The good news, though, is that once again, the population of Iran shows how totally out of step their leaders are with their citizens. We need to do everything we can to encourage the Iranian people to remove their nut-job leadership from power. After America failed to support the shah in the 1970s, and failed to support the overthrow of Saddam Hussein after Desert Storm, the Iranian people would be insane to count on America supporting a revolution. That's one of the (many) reasons we need to stick it out in Iraq. The only way we're going to be able to convince them that we are a trustworthy ally is to demonstrate that we're a trustworthy ally.

Hezbollah is responsible
www.sactodan.com
Hezbollah bears full responsibility for the death of civilians on both sides of the border. By launching rockets against Israel's cities, they are responsible for the deaths they have caused. By placing rockets and other weapons in civilian housing in Lebanon, they are also responsible for the deaths caused by Israeli retaliation.

-- Compiled by John Hughes, jhughes@sacbee.com