A Mighty Wind

     Nature is an incredible thing. Just one month ago I was walking to and from work in two shirts, a coat, and a hat. Now, I am wearing short sleeves up top and nothing else (on the top that is). I believe today it got up into the high 80s and I can feel the humidity crawling up from the tropics. At night we leave the windows open and I've now directed the fan at me so I can enjoy the breeze while I sleep. I guess we jumped from winter to summer and I find myself asking, "What happened to spring?"
     Speaking of fans...here's a little something I bet you're not aware of. Did you know that Koreans (many of them) believe that if you go to sleep with a fan on in the room with all the doors and windows closed, you will die?! If you don't believe me, check out this link (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fan_death).

   
     I won't go into all the details that the link mentions (you can read about them there), but I have asked students about this alleged phenomenon and they have indeed supported its validity--much to my amusement, I should mention. I've slept in closed rooms with fans running for many years and when I tell them this, their eyes get big and they tell me that I should stop for fear of death. I usually then laugh and tell them that it's simply not true to which they often say, "But I heard it on the news". The media is a powerful thing, I guess.