The hearth vs flat screen TV: The winner is

The hearth was not just fire and cooking, it brought families together. [File, Standard]

The invention of fire is heralded as a watershed in human civilisation. It became a source of security against wild animals, made food tastier and killed pathogens in the raw food. It made a harsh environment friendlier, we could warm ourselves while wearing scant clothes. That was long before the age of air conditioning and clothes for different seasons.

Few have any connections to the age of the "open fire," which is now easily found through a gas cooker or an electric heater. In the tropics, warming ourselves is not an issue. I laugh when I hear "Nairobians" complaining of cold in July. Can you follow up temperatures on weather channel for a few faraway places? My suggestions; Iqaluit in Canada, Nuuk in Greenland or Antarctica. In the temperate regions, air conditioning took over from open fires.