I work in a large library. It is heated. This is important because recently the temperatures have been 254 Kelvin (We use the Kelvin temperature measurement system here at clerkmanifesto, but this translates roughly to minus two degrees F or minus 19 C). But no matter how one tots it up it all translates to cold.
But inside, with all our heat, it is a basically comfortable 295 Kelvins.
So why, so often when I come to the front desk of the library in my cozy long sleeve striped shirt and dashing black cotton stocking hat, am I so immediately chilled?
The answer is not because of cold air rushing through our front doors!
Not only do we have double doors creating a dead space entry vestibule, but we also have a long entry hallway.
No, the answer is ice cubes.
Human ice cubes.
Library patrons go out to the bus, or climb into their cold cars, and come to the library. They walk across the bitterly icy parking lot in their thick parkas, and the freezing cold seeps into all their clothes and hair and bones. Then they walk into the library, and like ice cubes in a room temperature drink, they start to dissolve, cooling the air all around them.
We don't control the thermostat here.
All we can really do around here is run up and down the stairs a few times and exude.
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