I don’t know where you live, but it’s probably hot. It seems like most of the country is in the
grip of a terrible heat wave, and air conditioners are working overtime to try
and keep the nation’s BO level at a tolerable mild funk. Of course, as temperatures crack triple
digits, our technology to keep cool falls under greater strain.

This is where Murphy’s Law comes into play. Anything that can go wrong will go wrong, and
the more you use a piece of equipment, the more likely you are to break
it. Unsurprisingly, the hotter the
weather gets, the more you depends on that AC to keep you from frying eggs on
your forehead.

Why did I remind everyone just how hot it is
outside?

Well, my car is ancient, and as such, stuff is starting to
go wrong on it, including the air conditioning. On your average internal combustion engine, the air conditioning runs
off the same drive belt that runs the power steering and all the other
important technical stuff that I don’t really understand. When you turn on the air conditioning and the
compressor cycles on, it adds additional strain to the power steering. The main bearing of the power steering is
threatening to go out every time I put that extra strain on the drive belt by
turning on the air conditioning.

I’m trying my best to avoid using the air conditioning, but
if I have to choose between sweating buckets sitting on a burning hot leather
seat and wrestling with the wheel and being cool, I’ll take my chances with
manual steering. Or I could refrain from
using my car’s air conditioner, preserve my power steering, and graft an air
conditioner onto the roof of my car like University of Houston graduate Scott Dawson.

You gotta see this to believe it. It’s incredible that A) he thought to do
this, B) it actually works, and C) nobody’s stolen the air conditioner
yet. There are probably easier ways to
save $1200, but none are quite this impressive.

(photo credit:  MyFox Houston)