From: "Dan'l Danehy-Oakes" 
Subject: RE: (urth) Lupine Humor: A Challenge
Date: Mon, 6 May 2002 13:05:41 -0700

> I don't suppose it's really a joke, and it's not that subtle, but I've
> always found it funny; it's one of Wolfe's little digs at the eggheads of
> academe, from CASTLEVIEW (pp. 36-37). Lisa Solomon is talking about the
> fireplace:
>
> "Do you know, I read just today that open fires don't actually heat a
> building? It seems they draw in more cold air than they warm; just think
> of all those ignorant people who froze themselves to death, and never
> realized it, for thousands of years."

Huh. And I took it as more of a dig at Lisa -- because she's right as
far as she goes, but Wolfe is enough of an engineer to know that "they
draw in more cold air than they warm" is actually true for a house with 
any kind of central heating ... having an open fire in one room of the
house can actually way raise your heating bill. (The best solution is a 
sealed fireplace with a passive or active heat-return system, which we
actually have in our house, but that's getting way off topic...)

--Blattid


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