How many fans are running in your house right now?

Quick!  Answer the question quickly without thinking too much about it, then read the post.

I was thinking about this question just now as I sat here listening to my laptop fan.  Then as I started to think more about it I realized, “there are a crap load of fans running right now.”

First, and most obvious, the fan on my laptop.  My wife is sitting here using her laptop as well, so that makes 2.  Next I thought of the fan on the furnace, we are running it just to circulate air.  Next I realized there is a fan going on our water heater (it’s a power exhaust model).  As I thought more I remembered my desktop computer upstairs is running, so that’s 3 more fans there, CPU, power converter, and computer case.  That made me realize there’s a fan or two in my cable box keeping it cool too since it’s basically a computer.  A fan running on the compressor in the fridge.  Is there a fan in my rear projection TV?  A fan in the bathroom I left on and there is a fan on the A/C unit outside just waiting to pop on (okay, that’s not technically in the house).  I’m still not even sure that’s all of them.

Anyway, the point is (or was), that I never realized how much we rely on these little (sometimes big), simple machines that were invented in the early 1800′s, and haven’t really changed much.  They are still inefficent, like they were in the 1800′s, but they obviously they do the job best since they haven’t been replaced by some other invention.  I bet after reading this and giving some thought you have discovered there are a few more fans running in you house and your earlier answer was wrong.