“Do you know,” one of my students said, “that somewhere in NSW is the hottest place in the world today?”

“I really like your air conditioning,” I replied.

“That’s hotter than the Middle East!”

“Maybe you’re wrong?”

But, no, apparently not, though the fact that it was winter over there might have made that target a little easier to get.

Still, when you have a weekend of heat that can buckle train tracks, overload powerlines–maybe it was the heat that killed my microwave–what you really need is a bit of arson. Because that really brings the whole thing home, yes it does.