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> It’s 85 degrees outside the Terry Thomas building; inside it’s 78 degrees In other words, no better than working in a shaded outdoor area. That’s too hot to
by dev_dull 8y ago
> It’s 85 degrees outside the Terry Thomas building; inside it’s 78 degrees
In other words, no better than working in a shaded outdoor area. That’s too hot to work in my opinion. I think they can do a lot better.
- zavi 8y ago> You forget how hardwired humans are to really enjoy the natural environment," she said. People get respite from being connected to nature, she said, "even in an urban environment like a city" Um, no I don't think I'll enjoy working @ 78F much.
- aurelian15 8y agoWhy? 25°C is absolutely fine for working inside, at least for me. A little cooler and I need a sweater and long pants. This summer I've mainly worked at home (no AC, Southern Ontario), because I don't want to bring my winter clothes to work. Combine a room cooled to 20°C, the AC breeze, and me sitting at a desk without a scarf and I have a sore throat in under two hours.
- mindcrime 8y ago78°F is at least 10° too hot for me to be comfortable. I'd go nuts if I had to work in that kind of heat all day.
- colordrops 8y agoEven in short clothing?
- deleted 8y ago[deleted]
- loeg 8y agoIt's a fine temperature for remaining completely sedentary, but I like to be able to walk to the bus or cafe, or up and down stairs, without breaking a sweat.
- adenadel 8y agoTo be fair, the average daily high in Seattle during the summer is 75F. You would only have to deal with temperatures like that for 2-3 weeks per year. Seattle is currently having a heat wave, which is the reason for the temperature in the article.
- kranner 8y agoThat’s 25 degrees Celsius. Hardly too hot. With the right clothing, most people should be able to adjust.
- electrograv 8y agoThere’s a reason offices are air conditioned the way they are, trust me. While some of you lucky people can tolerate these temperatures comfortably, a significant percentage of the population sweats profusely in anything beyond 70 degrees Fahrenheit (I’m one of them). Those of us who suffer from this would LOVE to trade places with the people who complain of the terrible effort of “putting on a sweater in the summer time” when it’s a bit too cool inside. Unfortunately, we do not have the luxury of peeling off our skin when we are sweating uncontrollably in a 78F room, that some say is “not too hot”. It’s important to recognize that humans are very diverse creatures, and office environments have to deal with the complex task of accommodating a wide range of physiologies.
- tangentspace 8y agoDo you think people were terribly uncomfortable at ambient temperatures due to their physiology before AC was invented? In natural conditions, I'd expect people who sweat more to actually be more comfortable with natural airflow causing evaporative cooling. Unfortunately, in modern well sealed buildings with little air flow, this adaptation would be counterproductive. It sounds like this building was an experiment aimed at rediscovering what a natural air flow would feel like in an office environment. I love my AC, personally, but I'd still be curious to see what 78 feels like in that building, it might not be so bad. I do enjoy working outside on the patio when it's warm out with a nice cool breeze.
- electrograv 8y ago> Do you think people were terribly uncomfortable at ambient temperatures due to their physiology before AC was invented? Absolutely, unquestionably, YES! (Certainly for some people). Those sufficiently uncomfortable would migrate to climates better suited to their physiology, if their physiology didn’t adapt to the environment; for example, my ancestors were from extreme cold environments, and I am without a doubt FAR more comfortable in 50 degree F weather in a T shirt than I am in 70 degree weather. And to me with the right clothing, everything down to and even below freezing is quite pleasant. Prior to much modern technology, just surviving and staying alive as a human was a miserable, painful experience. We have it so, so good today, compared to our ancestors just a hundred years ago, let alone thousands. Virtually every measure of human suffering (extreme poverty, starvation, sickness, death, etc) is dramatically lowering with each generation. It is a wonderful thing that modern advancements allows us to be comfortable, which then further frees our minds to pursue even greater and more wonderful endeavors.
- snegu 8y agoI would love this. I have to dress for two different climates on summer workdays - skirt/shorts and short sleeves for outside, jeans and sweater (plus a sweatshirt over it) for inside. It's absurd how overly air-conditioned office environments are.
- jon_richards 8y ago>skirt It's because offices are stuck air conditioning to a level that makes suits comfortable. There was a big brouhaha about it in England a couple years ago.
- patriot_prayer 8y agothere's no article of clothing one can put on to become cooler, so it makes sense that the prevailing temp would be cooler.
- craftyguy 8y agoNASA has a wardrobe that contradicts you.
- skriticos2 8y agoI think GP meant reasonably acquirable. You can't exactly order a NASA space suit on Amazon, can you?
- lowercased 8y agoperhaps not a real one, but... it's amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Charades-Astronaut-Space-Costume-Jumpsuit/dp/B002HPBF0K https://www.amazon.com/Charades-Astronaut-Space-Costume-Jump...
- felix_nagaand 8y agoIs walmart adding that to next year's summer line?
- dahdum 8y ago78 with Seattle’s high humidity sounds like a constant slight discomfort to me. I can handle the heat and humidity and be comfortable, but not while wearing business casual.
- loeg 8y agoSeattle is usually either 85 or humid; not both. Hot summer days have moderate/low humidity compared to most places I've been.
- seanmcdirmid 8y agoI wish. Swamp coolers still aren’t very effective in Seattle st 85+f. It’s AC or bust if you want to stay cool.
- paulcole 8y agoHigh humidity compared to Phoenix maybe. If you’re uncomfortable in Seattle’s humidity god help you if you ever visit anywhere in Florida.
- userbinator 8y agoYes, 85 is well beyond "constant sweating even when not moving or doing anything" temperatures for me, and I wouldn't want to be in a room of coworkers doing the same either. 78 would be at the edge of idle sweating.
- electrograv 8y agoAnd for some of us (myself, for example) 68 without a breeze is my threshold of constant idle sweating. I have to set up a tower fan under my monitor at work to be comfortable (this is with office AC set to low 70s, which is way too hot for me), and at home I have AC set to 65-68 pretty much all the time. People who complain about having to put on a sweater have no idea how miserable it is for those of us who have to sit for 8+ hours in an environment sweating profusely when it gets too hot. This is why office AC is the way it is. You can put on a sweater. I cannot take off my skin.
- syshum 8y agoIt is even worse when the office is set to 75 because some people continually complain "its too cold" and you have a dress code of Long Pants, Collared Button down shirt, etc.... Like fucking roasting all day...
- scarejunba 8y agoAnd there's some of us who turn into a pile of red and brown goo at anything over 25 F. I'm much more comfortable in the nude with snow packed onto my torso than I am at this furnace of 68 F.
- Filligree 8y agoAh. Found the Finn.
- stephengillie 8y agoAlso Seattlites.
- cm2012 8y agoI work from home and keep my office at 60. I would die at 78, hah.
- Johnny555 8y agoI think they can do a lot better Without electricity? 78 is tolerable with a breeze (and moderate humidity). I live in the Seattle area without AC and it's fine. Open the windows at night with a window fan to bring in cool air (I don't have a breeze-inducing courtyard), close the windows and the blinds in the daytime to keep out the sun. Even in 90 degree weather outside, the bedrooms on the third floor stay under 75 degrees and by bedtime it's typically cooler than that so the fan keeps it cool.
- syshum 8y ago>>78 is tolerable with a breeze (and moderate humidity). Maybe for you.... over 75 is not tolerable to me, I can not sleep at over 72 even if I have an industrial fan blowing over me.... My AC is set year round in my home to 68-70 and that is pushing it for me, In the winter my heat is set to 60-65 I love the cold, this is why I live in the Northern US and not Florida
- seanmcdirmid 8y agoI live in the Seattle area without an AC, it’s fine but I can only code at home in the morning and at night, I’m not going to use my computer between 12 and 6PM during a heat wave without a huge ass fan next to me, and even then it doesn’t work out well.
- GuB-42 8y ago78F (25.5C) is not that hot. On my A/C unit, 25C is the factory default setting in cooling mode (20C for heating). I don't know why but in the US, people tend to set their A/C to arctic mode.
- mcphage 8y ago25C but dry (what you get with an A/C) is a lot more pleasant than 25C and humid.
- cup-of-tea 8y agoAm I reading this correctly? 25 degrees Celsius is too hot to work? Just think about all the people who have to actual work, as in manual labour, outside in the full heat, and you're complaining about sitting at a desk at 25 degrees. You should be ashamed of yourself.
- tomcooks 8y ago> That’s too hot to work in my opinion. > in my opinion. > my opinion. > opinion
- raverbashing 8y agoWhile you might have a point, there's no need to gatekeep Also while physical labor is definitely hard under the heat, intellectual work can grind to a halt depending on the temperature To the point where I'm really skeptical of places that don't offer any kind of climate control where it is needed (and apparently that's quickly becoming "everywhere")
- cup-of-tea 8y agoGatekeep? What's that supposed to mean? What am I gatekeeping?
- dang 8y agoWe've asked you several times in the past to stop violating the site guidelines. If you continue to post like this, we will ban you. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
- cup-of-tea 8y agoIs this a culture clash? In my part of the world my post would have been considered perfectly acceptable and civil. Have you ever watched a British debate? We don't all pretend to like each other and put on a false overly agreeable facade. We're allowed to disagree with people and it's great.