Inquiring Minds Sometimes Ask Preposterous Questions

This week I've been part of a team of Enumerators doing Census work at a large university apartment complex, assisting my supervisor with the quality control portion of the job. So instead of walking from unit to unit contacting the residents I've been checking to make sure the forms turned in by the other team members doing the actual door knocking are filled out completely and accurately.

The temperatures each day have been in the low 90s with normal July humidity. My 'work station' was a beach towel spread out on the ground under a large oak tree. Even in the shade it was hot, though, and it didn't take long for my body to be covered in sweat. The occasional breezes were a real blessing.

During each day's four hour shift I drank plenty of water, and at the appropriate times ate the substantial lunch and snacks I brought with me. Even though I was much less active than usual, each day on the way home I was famished. Tonight I had a normal dinner, then twenty minutes later followed it up with a handful of almonds. Ten minutes after that I cut up a tomato and ate it, and followed that up with some baked squash!

Eventually Hubby Tony went out to run an errand. While he was gone I decided to see what Google had to say about my extra-large appetite. I searched for Need more calories sitting in the heat? The first hit said that yes, when your body has to work harder to cool itself it leads to increased calorie burn. The second and third hits disagreed. (Overall, half of them said yes and half said no.)

Right after the first result, in the 'People also ask' section I expanded some of the questions related to my original question to see what the answer was. I learned a little bit about Does temperature affect calories burned? Do you lose weight when it's hot? Do you burn more calories if you sweat more? Can you burn fat with heat?

Those made sense. But then evidently someone wanted to know Do you lose weight when you fart? I could have clicked over to a whole search based on that question, but I really had no desire to know the answer to that one.

Five years ago today:  Greased