Just trying to understand this: because you are more likely to die on the job, you have to contribute more to your retirement fund than other government employees? And the likelihood that you will live long enough to collect retirement is less than for other government employees? Is it because if you die before retirement, your spouse will collect your retirement? I'm just confused.

We have an attic fan that we keep on all summer, which is supposed to make us use less air conditioning, but to be honest I don't know if it saves us any money. I like the idea of the roof sprinkler system but it is against a city ordinance to hose down your patio, so I imagine they would frown on that around here.