Taking the little things for granted...

[Crankin]

There have been several incidences of copper theft around Boston, one of which resulted in 2 deaths. That was in a power sub station in one of the towns I used to live in. Two guys broke in and zapped themselves when trying to steal the copper. Some monuments of historical significance have been vandalized, also.
RM, I feel your pain. I lived through a couple of shorter power outages in Phx in the summer, with 2 little kids. Spokewrench is right. The valley did not used to be so hot. It used to get cooler at night (before I lived there) like it does in Tucson. Several people I knew in college actually experienced sleeping outside on the porch, with the wet sheets being blown by a fan. This was the first type of evaporative cooling. We had a "cooler" on our first house, along with the AC. It saved a lot of $, but I found it expanded all the wood in the house because of the moisture and it was hard to open and shut doors! We used it in April and May and Sept./Oct. but a lot of people I knew grew up with only a cooler and no AC. I can't imagine that. You are right, it's a health hazzard and definitely worse if we lost power here in the winter, where I could light the fireplace!

[HappyAnika]

As Robin and Spoke said, PHX used to not be so hot, and it would cool off at night. The population didn't take off in the valley until A/C became commonplace in the 70's. All that asphalt, concrete, stucco, and landscaping rock soaks up all that heat, then releases it at night. When I lived in Tucson, my A/C died, my dog and I went to stay with a friend at his parents' house. They lived out toward the base of Mt. Lemon and I loved going out there at night because it was so cool in the less densely populated area, it was actually pleasant to be outside.

It sucks being there when the A/C goes out. Everything gets hot, candles get mushy, you wonder about medications that say "store between 65 and 85 degrees F" . . .