Today, Akiva and I were walking back from shul in Cambridge's oppressive heat and humidity. And, we ran out of water in the tote bag. I was so relieved that the 1369 Coffee House person invited us to fill the water bottle from their ice-water tap (what mensches! even though I told them I didn't have money to buy a drink that day because of shabbat!). Akiva and I were there, and it reminded me of about a decade ago when the same thing happened and we were walking by the "Coal & Ice" people and that guy gave Akiva an ice cube and a "shabbat shalom" as we passed.
Akiva had severe dehydration when he was three days old, resulting in neonatal hospitalization and a lot of scary things. Thank Gd that is all passed now, years later (and indeed it was resolved after a few days at the time), but honestly, I am still relieved when any of the boys has a good strong urination. :) Yes, they gave me permission to state that in the blog!
Water and its science are obviously so crucial to our health and our environment in the broader sense. It surprises me that hydrology and fluid mechanics are so rarely taught at the high-school level I think sometimes that everyday, applicable topics are considered too trite for the really strong science students - this happens when those students are not encouraged to enroll for Environmental Science or Statistics, but rather to focus on Advanced Placement courses that may tend to the more theoretical. I think it happens in the humanities as well, though I can't be sure because that is not my field - students may be steered away from "contemporary topics" classes and toward more traditional honors courses in literature and history.
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