Dawn of Air Con

Here I am, in Encyclopedia freefall. And now I’m taking a break from my project to jot down some thoughts.

Did you know that octopus wrestling used to be a real thing? Yeah, it was briefly a sport in the 1940s or 50s or something. Doesn’t say what made it stop, so I’m hoping it was a brief fad that people quickly realised was silly, and also not very nice to the octopus.

Also, air conditioning in Australia was first introduced in Canberra in 1926. Imagine that. Makes sense that air conditioning services would be up and running before anyone else in the country. The first type of air con unit was evaporative, after which the technology was improved to the point where now we just point a remote control at the unit on the wall and it says a fun, friendly phrase before switching on and detecting the temperature we need. Some don’t even need that much; they just turn on at their own whim when they think we need it, like gentlemen. I haven’t seen one, but I’m sure they do exist.

Now I’m reading about Canberra in the 1940s and how there was a great sandbag shortage, so the woman used to fill sacks with their petticoats and use them to stop bullets. Except there weren’t any bullets, because Canberra was never attacked, but I think it was all just preparing for the worst.

I guess they must’ve at least had air conditioning to last them through the harsh war time, unless electricity was rationed. But then I also read that until very recently, air conditioning in Canberra was restricted to very posh houses, and nothing like that ducted stuff either.

This has all been very useful information…for my assignment on the risks of inducing childbirth in cows that are over three weeks overdue.

-Sal