As in the classic “chicken or the egg” causality dilemma, I often wonder whether I simply notice delicious irony, or if I create the situations that give rise to my bemused delight.

In my cub reporter days, I worked part-time at a service station and auto parts store. My job primarily consisted of accepting payment from those purchasing gas and selling the sundries one might pick up at a neighborhood quick-stop shop. 

I’m proud to bring the readers of Process Heating the opportunity to learn about thermal fluid heating safety with no-cost webinar on September 27 at 2 p.m. E.T. Join us live or register in advance and watch the recorded even on demand.

As you may notice while turning the pages of this issue, for the first time in more than a decade, Process Heating is publishing a full slate of technical articles instead of our annual Products Guide. 

The long days of late spring and early summer are finally upon us, and I relish seeing blue skies even as I return home from running errands in the evenings. Aside from the warmer ambient temperatures, I love this time of year most because it is so nap friendly. A quick snooze on the couch after dinner can be enjoyed, and I can still enjoy streaming sunshine as I resume my daily duties.

Charmed by the snaggletooth grin of the beaming Girl Scout on Facebook, I ordered cookies again this year. There she was, in all of her prepubescent glory: my friend’s daughter, a proud Junior Girl Scout, hoping to sell hundreds of boxes in support of her troop. 

In this issue of Process Heating, we include articles about heat transfer fluids, heat recovery and pollution control technologies, among others.

Just before the New Year, I read an interesting statistic: the New Year’s Eve holiday would mark the only time in 200 years when all of children in the world (at least as we in the U.S. define them) would have been born in the 21st century while all of the adults on the Earth were born in the 20th century.

It’s funny sometimes how life’s little coincidences come together. Not long ago, I traveled with friends to Lincoln, Neb., to see the Wisconsin Badgers play the Nebraska Cornhuskers. 

As fate would have it, the first article I ever worked on for Process Heating related to heat transfer fluids. “Check Your Fluid Before It Checks Production” appeared in our May/June 1995 issue, and it focused on the common tests that are performed on industrial heat transfer fluids to determine whether a fluid changeout was needed in a system.