Are You Ready to Wear This Space Helmet Around the SouthCoast?

When I first saw something online about the MicroClimate air, my initial reaction was to laugh out loud. Can you imagine? I thought. Even if the thing was outfitted with HEPA filters, it seemed so unreal to me that I didn't even give it a second to think that this could actually be a thing.

I thought it was 100 percent a joke. I mean, who would walk around the SouthCoast with a space helmet looking like the newest NASA astronaut? Don't get me wrong, the NASA spacesuits are cool as heck, and I'd kill to wear one, but I'm not going to be headed to Trucchi's in one anytime soon.

Amazingly, though, the more I investigate, the more and more it looks like this company is dead serious about selling these things. A quick look at internet archives on web.archive.org shows that the home page, MicroClimate.com, has been used to sell medical solutions since the fall of 1996. If this is a joke, it was a well-thought-out joke that was hatched back in the Clinton administration.

MicroClimate described itself as "a complete line of personal cooling systems for medical, commercial, and personal needs. Our systems are designed to relieve heat stress, alleviate some of the most distressing symptoms of neurological diseases, even relieve headaches, sore muscles, and aching joints."

In a nutshell, they sold personal cooling systems that were used at work, at home, and in the medical field – not that different than the category we are talking about today.

We were joking around about wearing these this morning, but is it any stranger than what we would have said back in February if someone had told us that everyone was going to be wearing masks in public?

For $199, if this thing would allow us to get back to normal (not the "new normal," but actual normal) until the vaccine is widespread, I just might be in.

The only drawback that I can think of is what to do if you have an itchy nose. Just thinking about it makes me want to itch my nose right now. Also, sneezes. Sneezes could be complicated.