Changing Temperatures With A Switch or It's Not What You Feel

September 29, 2006

by David B. South and Freda Parker

It's What You Think You Feel!

In what seems like a lifetime ago, I worked for the Chicago Northwestern Railway, managing the keypunch department of their computer operations. Inside a room large enough to be a small gym, my department included all the equipment for 45 keypunch machines as well as areas for material handling and for the department manager and his assistant.

A graph recorder, that continually recorded the temperature and humidity of the room on a paper disc, decorated the front wall of this room.

Beginning with my first day there, I could see that that temperature and humidity never varied, not by half of a degree -- day, night, weekends, whatever.

I concluded that whoever had set this room up had done a really first class job of making sure it was not subjected to changes in temperature and/or humidity. I knew that such changes could affect, not only the operators, but the keypunch cards and machines.

One day, about a week after I had assumed my duties, I went over to chat with Danny McGuire, the keypunch supervisor. We began discussing procedures, how he and I could interact and what I could do to make the operation smoother and better.

While we sat there talking, one of the keypunch operators from the far end of the room came by. She said "Danny, it's getting cold back there." She was obviously talking about the back corner of this big room, where I could see some of her coworkers donning scarves to protect themselves from the cold.

Danny replied, "I'll take care of it in a minute."

Nevertheless, he continued sitting, and a few minutes later, another operator from the same general area came by and said, "It's getting really cold."

Again Danny replied, "I'll get it in a minute." But again we continued our discussion.

Soon a third operator -- this one from another corner of the room -- approached us. She said, "Danny, it's getting hot in our area," and Danny said, "I'll take care of it in just a few minutes."

By then, I could no longer stand it. I said, "Danny, I can see that recorder on the front wall and this room temperature hasn't changed one iota in the last week. How can you do anything about it?"

Danny smiled and said, "I used to try and explain that to the keypunch operators, but I found it was much easier to just adjust the temperature."

I said, "Okay, but just how do you adjust the temperature?"

He said, "Follow me." We walked through the keypunch room, turned a corner at the back and walked into an eight-foot-square, almost empty closet, that had once been used for equipment storage.

Now that closet's only occupant was a big electrical switch hanging on one of its walls. That electrical switch had no wires going into it and no wires going out of it. It was simply a three-pole, two-twenty volt switch.

Danny grabbed its handle, swung it down, and the switch CLUNKED. That clunk was heard throughout the keypunch room.

Danny said, "Okay," and we walked back to his desk area.

I smiled and asked, "Danny, how many times a day do you adjust the temperature in this room?"

He smiled back, "Usually about three times a day."

"You have tried to explain it?" I asked.

"Oh yes," he replied. "More than once. That's how I learned that it was just easier to adjust."

During the next fifteen minutes, as Danny and I resumed our discussion, I saw scarves being shed and put back into drawers. Obviously, the temperature was just fine.

I can't tell you how many times I have thought about this over the years -- especially after laying down, taking a short nap and waking up feeling cold.

I know the house hasn't changed temperature. It is just that my body has changed temperature.

Then I think about adjusting the temperature in the keypunch room and I ask myself: How often do we have someone adjust our temperature by simply throwing a noisy mechanical switch? How often do we go to the thermostat in our house and change it, when, in reality, it is our own body thermostat that has done the changing?

I like to relate this fun story because it is just a fun story. I am not denigrating the operators in the keypunch department. I really liked them; they did a great job.

What I am trying to do is point out a fact: The human mind is extremely powerful. It can change our body temperature. It can change how we feel on any number of subjects by a flick of a switch. We, as humans, need to use our heads and recognize that we do have this innate power. We need to control it, instead of it controlling us. We need to use our intellect to decide when we should buy a new house, when we should buy a new car, how we should live our lives. Our emotions are not trustworthy enough to rely on. Our Intellect must monitor those emotions.

More President's Spheres

Changing Temperatures With A Switch or It's Not What You Feel

It's What You Think You Feel!

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