Could you be a Coldtarian?

[Anguille]

Béatrice de Géa for The New York Times
Justen Ladda revels in the chill of his unheated loft. More Photos >



January 20, 2010
Chilled by Choice

By PENELOPE GREEN

"SERIOUS cold, Justen Ladda said, is when the sponge in the kitchen sink feels like wood or the toothpaste freezes or the refrigerator turns itself off, as it did one particularly frigid day last winter. Not that Mr. Ladda, a 56-year-old sculptor who has lived heat-free in his Lower East Side loft for three decades, is bothered by such extremes. “Winter comes and goes,” he’ll tell you blithely, adjusting his black wool scarf and watch cap. (Along with fingerless gloves, long underwear and felt slippers, they are part of Mr. Ladda’s at-home uniform when the mercury dips.)
Mr. Ladda, whose work is in the permanent collection of the Museum of Modern Art, decided long ago to live without central heating. Proper temperature control, you see, would require insulating his wooden ceiling, and ruining its fine acoustics. “I know this sounds really lame, but I listen to a lot of music and it just sounds better,” he said. Also, the rent on his unimproved live-work loft is only $300, well below many people’s winter utility bills. "



for more - For Some, a Warm Home Is Not a Priority - NYTimes.com

 

[dilloduck]

no way

 

[Anguille]

chicken!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[chanel]

There's a thin line between creative genius and cuckoo. He may have crossed it.

I HATE the friggin cold!

 

[dilloduck]

chicken!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I've been cold--and I've been hot and I've discovered that being hot is much preferable to shivering my ass off under 50 layers of clothes.

 

[Anguille]

Here in New England we come from hardier stock. You all are spoiled.

 

[Anguille]

chicken!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I've been cold--and I've been hot and I've discovered that being hot is much preferable to shivering my ass off under 50 layers of clothes.

I hate the heat. I hate overheated houses. I do like a sauna now and then.

 

[dilloduck]

Here in New England we come from hardier stock. You all are spoiled.

I was raised in South Dakota and Minnesota. My "stock" came from Sweden and Prussia.
Now I bet if they were given the choice like I was they would prefer not to have to chop holes in the ice every day so the cattle could drink.

 

[☭proletarian☭]

Here in New England we come from hardier stock. You all are spoiled.

Sayeth the Dutch and Dane in me: fucketh the cold

 

[chanel]

I have less tolerance for the cold as I get colder. I used to love skiing and now I do two runs and say "what the hell am I doing? To the bar - pronto!" I'm going to be one of those wrinkled alcoholic old ladies in Miami one day. That is my dream. Lol

 

[Anguille]

Here in New England we come from hardier stock. You all are spoiled.

I was raised in South Dakota and Minnesota. My "stock" came from Sweden and Prussia.
Now I bet if they were given the choice like I was they would prefer not to have to chop holes in the ice every day so the cattle could drink.

My stock came from Sweden, Denmark and Westphalia. My stock says your stock is a sissy!.

 

[dilloduck]

Here in New England we come from hardier stock. You all are spoiled.

I was raised in South Dakota and Minnesota. My "stock" came from Sweden and Prussia.
Now I bet if they were given the choice like I was they would prefer not to have to chop holes in the ice every day so the cattle could drink.

My stock came from Sweden, Denmark and Westphalia. My stock says your stock is a sissy!.

Bend over and say that.

 

[Colin]

Not me. Not any more! But I know a man who is. He's currently experiencing winter somewhere in the mountains of Afghanistan. Poor bastard!

 

[Baruch Menachem]

I keep the temperature here at 55*. That is as far down as I really want to go.

I wear lots of layers and a hat indoors.

And the darn light bill is still over $80. Mostly I think from all the computers going when my kids are here.

 

[Anguille]

I keep the temperature here at 55*. That is as far down as I really want to go.

I wear lots of layers and a hat indoors.

And the darn light bill is still over $80. Mostly I think from all the computers going when my kids are here.

55 is admirable. The lowest ours went this winter was 38 but mostly it hovers at 50. We heat the kitchen with the oven and have electric blankets for the living room sofas for unacclimated guests.

 

[Samson]

I have less tolerance for the cold as I get colder. . Lol

Profound.....Very Profound.

I LOVE the Cold, and believe that freezing to death would be a very pleasent way to exit my mortal coil.

 

[Anguille]

I have less tolerance for the cold as I get colder. . Lol

Profound.....Very Profound.

I LOVE the Cold, and believe that freezing to death would be a very pleasent way to exit my mortal coil.

I love the cold too. Except in my toes and fingers. Then I'm all chanel.

I've heard that freezing to death is not so great, unless the hallucinations it produces happen to be pleasant ones. But I also would choose to freeze to death if I found it necessary to die. It's bloodless and seems a dignified way to go.

Cold air is refreshing. Since we stopped using the radiators 4 years ago, we have had far fewer colds and sinus infections. Almost none, actually. It's a waste to heat air and furniture. Keep your circulation going, wear sensible warm clothes and it's no more of a hardship living with lower tems that it was for the millions of generations who survived before us without central heating. You gain less winter fat too, if the extra calories you consume go to maintaining body heat.

 

[uscitizen]

I have less tolerance for the cold as I get colder. . Lol

Profound.....Very Profound.

I LOVE the Cold, and believe that freezing to death would be a very pleasent way to exit my mortal coil.

It would be a better death than the one that most of us have.

 

[Samson]

I have less tolerance for the cold as I get colder. . Lol

Profound.....Very Profound.

I LOVE the Cold, and believe that freezing to death would be a very pleasent way to exit my mortal coil.

I love the cold too. Except in my toes and fingers. Then I'm all chanel.

I've heard that freezing to death is not so great, unless the hallucinations it produces happen to be pleasant ones. But I also would choose to freeze to death if I found it necessary to die. It's bloodless and seems a dignified way to go.

Cold air is refreshing. Since we stopped using the radiators 4 years ago, we have had far fewer colds and sinus infections. Almost none, actually. It's a waste to heat air and furniture. Keep your circulation going, wear sensible warm clothes and it's no more of a hardship living with lower tems that it was for the millions of generations who survived before us without central heating. You gain less winter fat too, if the extra calories you consume go to maintaining body heat.

Every Spring here in Boulder County there's always a report or three about some elderly gentleman that went into the local Rockies during the winter who got lost, froze, and is found.

I've always suspected the guy is found clutching an empty bottle of vodka in one hand, and his highschool yearbook in the other.

He also has an MP3 player, volume at maximum, listening to Sinatra sing "I Did It My Way."

We should move in together Ang. We could admonish each other to "PUT ON SOME FREAKIN' CLOTHES IF YOU'RE COLD!!!"

My idiocentricty of wearing leather shooting gloves (thin enough for me to pick change from my pocket) is my main solution to cold. This, 85% wool shirts, and a leather coat that wieghs 25 lbs work for me.

 

[uscitizen]

It is much easier on the family if they believe the poor old guy got confused and lost and froze to death as opposed to finding him with his brains blown all over.