Nine Days Wonderings

Some semi-connected, semi-serious questions relating to the current "nine days" period, which is observed with mourning customs, such as avoiding meat and wine, every year from the 1st to the 9th day of the Hebrew month of Av, the latter ("Tisha B'Av") being a day of fasting and more intense mourning:

1. Why did I start craving meat by about 11am yesterday (Sunday), a point in the day/week when I would never be eating meat yet anyway?
   
2. Conversely, my son Shalom and daughter Shayna never like eating meat, and look forward every year to the extra dairy meals this week. Does that still meet the letter of the law? The spirit? Ditto for me and wearing slippers on Tisha B'Av.
3. If air conditioning had been invented in the time of the gemara, would we have to turn it off on Tisha B'Av as one of the "innuyim" [afflictions]?
   
4. The chain of events leading to the 2nd Temple's destruction started with a man being made to feel uncomfortable at a party. Today, there's a pervasive trend towards simchas being more and more lavish, with an undeniable element of one-upsmanship and flaunting of (genuine or ostensible) wealth. Have we learned anything?
5. Did moving the Disengagement to start right after the nine days, really diminish anyone's association of the two?
   
6. What if one sets out to mourn the destruction of Jerusalem, but personal grief overwhelms such attempts? Does the mourning "count" anyway?